Tuesday 25 June 2024

Will Trump pledge to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine in TV debate?

Donald Trump is always full of promises. He said he would end the war in Ukraine on day one of his presidency if he wins the election in November and, no doubt he has a scheme up his sleeve to stop the war in Gaza, too. But will he reveal all when he comes up against Joe Biden at the first presidential TV debate in Milwaukee on Thursday? General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said a long time ago that the only way the war in Ukraine would end would be by negotiation. He saw from the beginning that there was never going to be an outright military victory by either side. But since then, the war has escalated and escalated and there are no signs of peace. But now there are murmurings in Germany that it's time for a peaceful settlement and I suspect Trump will latch onto that if he is asked directly how he plans to bring the terrible conflict to a close in such a short timeframe. But I doubt he will be transparent about exactly what he has in mind. Sine he first made the pledge, a lot has happened, not least the announcement by the International Criminal Court in The Hague that there should be an arrest warrant for President Putin on war crimes charges. There is an arrest warrant also for his former defence minister and his chief of the general staff, announced today. Will Trump do business with a leader who is on the Most Wanted list? Biden will no doubt give his full backing to Ukraine to help them fight the Russians for as long as it takes. But I suspect that line is going to have to be fudged at some point. "For as long as it takes" means there will be more and more destruction and more and more deaths. That can't be in Ukraine's best interest.

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