It’s no secret President Donald Trump yearns for the Nobel Peace Prize. The award he has received from Fifa, a soccer league, is a joke. So too are the so-called peace terms Trump is negotiating with President Vladamir Putin of Russia over the fate of Ukraine. But the joke isn’t funny.
Trump and Putin are putting together a plan to cede parts of Ukraine to Russia, even sections of Ukraine not yet occupied by Russia since its invasion in 2022. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine isn’t part of the negotiations, the developments of which Trump merely reports to him. Zelensky is denied any in-put, as he is reduced to pleading for help from Great Britain, France, and Germany.
A major stumbling block is the notion of Ukraine joining NATO, a scenario to which Putin voices strong objection. Trump’s latest plan no longer makes a condition of precluding Ukraine from joining NATO. But neither is there language permitting Ukraine to join NATO. There is no doubt Putin will respond with aggression in the event of Ukraine’s potential NATO membership.
Indeed, there is no doubt of Putin’s aggression regardless of the terms being negotiated between him and Trump. What will NATO’s response be should Russia again attack Ukraine after the current negotiations are shoved down Ukraine’s throat? That’s the question. Another very real scenario is that Trump will go so far as to withdraw U.S. membership from NATO if Europe comes to the aid of Ukraine. Trump has already made clear his contempt for our NATO allies.
Will Trump at last garner the Nobel Peace Prize? After all, former President Barack Obama was awarded the prize in his first term as president and no one is sure why. The difference is that Trump, as opposed to merely having done nothing to merit the Nobel Peace Prize, is moving in a direction counter to any lasting peace. Awarding Russian aggression by breaking up Ukraine is hardly in the interest of peace. Nor will Russia satisfy itself with only a portion of Ukraine, as it eyes making Ukraine part of Russia in full, imagining a map reflecting that of Russia and Ukraine during the Soviet regime (which was dissolved in 1991).
The only prize Trump deserves will be named after Neville Chamberlain, who agreed with Hitler in 1938 to cede the Sudentland section of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany, only to see early the following year Hitler seize the rest of Czechoslovakia. Even this didn’t motivate Chamberlain, as he issued a mere warning that any further Nazi measures in Europe would prompt British action. As feared (and expected), Hitler implemented further aggression in his attack on Poland on September 1, 1939. It was only then that Chamberlain acted, having declared war on Nazi Germany two days later. It’s also worth mentioning that just as Zelensky hasn’t been consulted in the talks between Trump and Putin, so too was President Edvard Benes left out of the talks between Chamberlain and Hitler in 1938. And just as Hitler stressed in 1938 that the sections of Czechoslovakia he was seeking were German speaking, Putin has emphasized that the parts of Ukraine he seeks are Russian speaking. Can anyone doubt the pattern in today’s Europe as an analogy to 1938?
Trump has made clear that Ukraine cannot hope for the U.S. to come to its rescue. Should Russia swallow Ukraine in its entirety, Trump will only blame Zelensky for not cooperating with Putin. We don’t know exactly what Trump will do if Russia devours Ukraine. But we know what he won’t do.
Trump has stated perfunctory support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity. But such support is annulled by his insistence that Ukraine is to be divided in favor of Russia. Vice President J.D. Vance earlier this year scolded Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House for not saying “thank you” to Trump. Is Zelensky really supposed to be thankful to Trump for breaking up Ukraine?
Chamberlain stated at the conclusion of the Munich Agreement in 1938 that Hitler was “a man to be trusted.” Upon his return to England, he declared “Peace in our time.” Trump has extended even more warmth to Putin in an obvious friendship he has nurtured with the Russian autocrat. Putin has obviously obtained from Trump the green light to annex all of Ukraine in the near future.
Hitler was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1938. Time argued then that this dubious honor was not to endorse Hitler’s aggression, but to acknowledge him as the most important newsmaker of the year. Trump has already been named Time’s Person of the Year for 2024. Doubtful he will again be named Person of the Year.
But just as doubtful is the chance of Trump being the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. As stated in a prior column, when one counts among his friends Putin along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Xi Jinping of China, his candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize is diminished. Trump can look only to Chamberlain in his effort to carve a legacy. Appeasement of a dictator intent on world conquest isn’t an enviable legacy. Nor is Trump’s spite for our NATO allies.
John O’Neill is an Allen Park freelance writer and a graduate of Wayne State University.
