By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos
Two key reasons Donald Trump won the election (with a narrow majority, as American society appears more polarized than ever between two major blocs) were his opposition to the war in Ukraine, while, on the other hand, the Democrats alienated a critical mass of their voters due to their stance on the war in Ukraine and their lack of opposition to the genocide of the Palestinians. The latter issue was absolutely decisive for the election outcome in the states that determined the result.
The issue of Ukraine is, of course, extremely important. The ongoing war only serves to destroy this country, cause major ecological disasters, and maintain an elevated risk of nuclear war. Every rational person hopes Trump remains consistent on this issue. And it is an indisputable fact that the division of the “collective West” between a more peace-leaning (American) and a more war-leaning (European) tendency, regarding Ukraine, somewhat limits the destructive capabilities of this bloc, whose petty leaders seem capable of even blowing up the planet to avoid losing their hegemony over it.
For Ukraine, of course, we must wait to see if the new President lives up to the expectations he has created. On other issues, however, Donald Trump can hardly be considered a pacifist. Among other things, he threatens war with Iran, advocates for the expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine, has provided Israel with even more lethal bombs than those already used, calls for increased military spending, demands from Europeans to raise theirs to an outrageous 5% (something they are ready to do, ironically citing the need for autonomy from the Americans !), his candidate for Chief of Staff speaks of increasing the number of states where American nuclear weapons will be stationed (https://infobrics.org/post/
One area of particular interest to the new President is the highly dangerous and destabilizing plans for anti-ballistic and space weapons. Barely settled into the presidential chair, Donald Trump signed an executive order to create, with the help of Elon Musk, a giant “Iron Dome” for America, which will include space-based interceptors and structures for tracking and monitoring hypersonic and ballistic missiles. This is a revival of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) launched by President Reagan and suspended by President Clinton.
If such a system were to succeed, it would render the U.S. invulnerable to a potential nuclear attack by Russia or China, and if invulnerable, they could attack without fear of retaliation.
Programs of this kind, aimed at creating defensive systems against nuclear attacks—even if they seem very difficult to achieve—compel the adversary to respond by expanding its nuclear arsenal, while potentially marking the first step toward deploying nuclear weapons in space. Russia may lift quantitative restrictions on its weapons if the U.S. proceeds with such programs, which would render any notion of strategic stability unthinkable, as highlighted in an article by Russian Ambassador Grigory Maskov in the journal International Affairs:
“A missile arms race is already in full swing. The same is true for the large-scale modernization of nuclear arsenals and the vehicles for weapons of mass destruction. The militarization of space is another area under development, and in the near future, it could become another theater of military confrontation. New technologies (artificial intelligence, quantum computers, etc.) that can multiply the enemy’s potential in strategic areas, including anti-missile defense, are beginning to play a role here.”
(https://tass.com/politics/
Elon Musk, who wants to launch this program, tries to downplay the risk of nuclear war (https://www.youtube.com/
One gets the impression that the “billionaire gang” around Trump consists of somewhat psychopathological cases—individuals suffering from delusions of grandeur and omnipotence, more detached from any social reference than any ruling class in history. Their only homeland seems to be their colossal egos. They are closely tied to major banks like Goldman Sachs, the American military-industrial and military-technological complex, the CIA, and Israel, which, incidentally, supported with their companies’ products in the slaughter of Palestinians, while Musk also aided Ukraine in its war effort. They treat the planet as a plot to be exploited and its inhabitants as annoying ants. Terrified by the idea of death, they build massive underground bunkers, contemplate migrating to Mars, or invest heavily in research on… immortality (!) The billionaire-led quest for immortality.
Meanwhile, in parallel with all that, Mr. Trump says he wants to discuss with Russia and China the reduction of defense budgets and nuclear arsenals. It remains to be seen how all this will align, what constitutes rhetoric, and what constitutes serious policy.
