By Dr Arun Mitra
Trump’s warning that “all hell will break out in West Asia” if the hostages being held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day has put the world into great worry and put away off the hopes of an early peaceful settlement. The whole world knows that hell has already broken on the Middle East particularly the Gaza. It seems Trump is not satisfied with the death of 46000 persons as reported by the ministry of health in Gaza today. More than 70% of them being, women and children. The number of the injured is reported to be more than 109,000.
Out of a population of 2.3 million over 1.5 million have been displaced. Almost all of the Gaza has been turned into rubbles. Netanyahu government is not allowing humanitarian aid in the form of food, medicines and other essential needs. Now even the water supply is being withheld. This shows their intention to make the people die of starvation and thirst. Hygienic conditions are extremely poor making the population highly vulnerable to infectious diseases. In the absence of proper living arrangements in this harsh winter children are dying of hypothermia.
What more hell Trump wants to break? The US is supplying huge amount of arms to the Zionist regime. Neither the US nor the Israeli government is serious about the hostages. If even after so much of destruction and killings and hardly any resistance from Hamas they have not been able to find the hostages; where have they vanished? Israel has failed to produce any evidence of hostages in the hospitals or tunnels but still is bombarding them with impunity. There is large scale destruction in Lebanon and west Bank. They have already achieved a regime change in Syria. How many more innocent persons Mr Trump wants to die?
Trump has also threatened to use force to take Panama Canal, Greenland and renaming of Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America. He has also proposed Canada to be one the states of the USA. This is a dangerous expansionist design reminiscent of similar designs of Hitler and his allies which ultimately led to Second World War. He has even suggested imposing tariffs on Denmark if it resists his offer to purchase Greenland. His son Don Jr has already arrived in Greenland for a private visit.
He has also declared that he would demand far higher defence spending from NATO allies. Trump said NATO members should spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defence instead of the current 2% target.
It should be noted with concern that the arms expenditure has already gone sky high in the last few years. The world military expenditure rose to $2240bn in 2022 with $82.9bn spent on nuclear weapons alone. As per the International Campaign to Abolish of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), in 2023, the nine nuclear-armed states spent $10.8 billion (13.4%) more on their nuclear arsenals than the year before, which means $2,898 per second.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in a report on 12th June 2023 has pointed out that number of operational nuclear weapons has increased because several countries have expanded their long-term force modernization plans. At present it is estimated that there were 12512 warheads in January 2023. The report further elaborates that Russia and the USA together possess almost 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. This arms expenditure is at the cost of exchequer for social welfare schemes.
Trump’s views on climate change are well known. What will be his stand after take over this time? Trump is citing the need for economic security for all this. Is he out to please the Military Industrial Complex in the US?
Whereas some countries view his statements with concern, there is also a voice of discord. Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, said on X, “President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats.”
Mr Trump should see the writing on the wall. The world wants peace, end to arms race and abolition of nuclear weapons. Global community has shown their intent by passing the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons in the UN General Assembly in July 2017.
During the election campaign he had repeatedly said that he is not going to start the wars as being projected but will end the wars. But in his recent statements he has betrayed his own words spoken a few weeks back.
Donald Trump should see the writing on the wall and desist from such dangerous rhetoric. Any escalation in the on-going wars or addition of new wars increases the threat of nuclear weapons, which would be catastrophic. (IPA Service)
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