He also highlighted the Nobel Peace Prize that a former Finnish president, Martti Ahtisaari, received in 2008. He was cited “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts,” which included wars in Kosovo and Aceh province in Indonesia.
Seven world leaders – Israel the most prominent – had endorsed a Trump Nobel. Stubb very wisely counselled that Trump needed more – that “the best” nominations for his prize would be those from the King of Jordan and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
Then Trump drew a contrast with president Barack Obama, who was awarded the prize in 2009 “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”. Trump dissed the work of the committee: “He got elected and they gave it Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country. Not a good presidency.”
Trump added: “Nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months.” But has he?
Several reviews have concluded that Trump indeed played a strong hand for peace with Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, the ceasefires between Iran and Israel and between Cambodia and Thailand. Several of these conflicts, however, remain unresolved. And India’s Prime Minster, Narendra Modi, emphatically rejects that Trump was instrumental in the ceasefire with Pakistan.
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If Trump ultimately becomes a Nobel laureate, he would surely be forced to share the honour with other peacemakers. Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin shared the 1978 Nobel for the peace agreement between their counties. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres shared the 1994 Nobel “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”. Trump would almost certainly have to share the honour with some of the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Trump’s Gaza peace is a truly major achievement. But it is not done. There is much harder work ahead on the disarmament of Hamas, further Israel withdrawal, establishing a new governance structure for Gaza and ultimately efforts towards a Palestinian state.
Above and beyond diplomacy, the powerful underlying theme behind the Nobel Peace Prize is humanitarianism. Hence laureates Mother Teresa, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the World Food Program and Pakistani female education activist Malala Yousafzai.
But Trump has viciously attacked and ended US support for the underlying values that help secure global peace, security and prosperity. He has unilaterally cancelled billions of dollars in foreign aid. This includes terminating the USAID programs that delivered crucial health care and crisis relief.
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Trump has now withdrawn the US from UNESCO, the World Health Organisation, the Paris climate accords, the UN Human Rights Commission and others. The US is reducing its ties with the World Trade Organisation.
This decimation of America’s “soft power” across the globe can only foster conditions that will lead to more war, suffering, poverty, illness, starvation and climate catastrophe. Medical studies project that millions of people will die as a result in the coming years.
For a prize that honours nobility of purpose and selfless service to sustain and strengthen humanity worldwide, Trump is unfit to receive it. Not now. Not ever.
Trump does not have to wonder any more about the Nobel Peace Prize, the mysteries of the selection process and how best to game it. He and Alfred Nobel are done.
Bruce Wolpe is a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. He has served on the Democratic staff in the US Congress and as chief of staff to former prime minister Julia Gillard.
