Yet the claim to have settled those conflicts is embellished
and in some cases contradicted by continued violence in countries like DR
Congo, where Rwanda-backed rebels missed a deadline to reach a peace deal in
Doha on Tuesday.
In Iran, the US carried out its own strikes using bunker-buster bombs against military and nuclear facilities before strong-arming Iran to accept a ceasefire. India has denied that Trump played any role in reaching a ceasefire deal with Pakistan to end days of strikes over the disputed Kashmir territory in May. Egypt and Ethiopia have no deal to settle the root of their conflict – a Nile River dam constructed by Ethiopia that would divert water from Egypt. And Serbia has denied it had any plans to pursue a war with Kosovo, although Trump took credit for preventing one.
The idea that President Trump has ended or resolved six or more conflicts or wars in this term has become a talking point for not only the President, but GOP strategists and pundits, implying or stating outright that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
It can be five wars, as the President contended in Scotland. Or it can be "six wars," as Trump trumpeted on the day of his meeting with President Zelenskyy.
Or it can be seven conflicts or wars, as effective Trump apologist Scott Jennings recently boasted on Abby Philip's CNN NewsNight.
On Israel-Iran, Donald Trump declared a "Complete and Total CEASEFIRE" after American forces largely destroyed one of three nuclear sites targeted. Politifact wrote that the President's "decision to bomb Iran likely ended the conflict more quickly." Even so, it concluded that "Trump's statement (i.e., of having ended six wars) contains an element of truth but it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False."
President Trump, or more likely Secretary of State Marco Rubio, does deserve a small amount of credit for at least making an effort. But the cessation of wars turns out to have been ceasefires and in some cases, not even a ceasefire. And in Israel's fight against Hamas, effectively won several months ago, Trump made matters worse when it supported the blockade by the Israeli government of the Gaza strip on March 2, facilitating famine by preventing shipments of food, water, shelter, and medication. More damaging to peace and justice in the region, Israel has since the beginning of the second Trump Administration more actively sought ethnic cleansing/transfer of Gazans from Gaza.
President Trump has emboldened the government in Jerusalem, whose policy has been dictated by religious extremism. In eastern Europe, he has emboldened Vladimir Putin by his lukewarm support of Kiev.
Nonetheless, at the end of the first seven months of his Administration, President Trump has been less destructive globally than domestically. He has not been a total disaster on the international front, though closer to that than to the great peacemaker his disciples insist he is..
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