When Trump flew to Alaska for his meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin last week, he said that the main goal of the meeting was a ceasefire in Ukraine. If it did not happen, he would be disappointed, he said and threatened with "serious consequences".
But shortly after he spoke with his Russian colleague, he changed his mind and repeated Putin's opinion that a ceasefire is not necessary.
He confirmed his new position at the meeting with Zelenskyj at the White House on Monday:
I do not think you need a ceasefire. If you look at the six agreements I have signed this year, all of them were during war. I have not implemented any ceasefire, he said.
Ceasefire – not peace
The White House website claims that the Trump administration has brokered peace in seven conflicts, six of them this year: Azerbaijan and Armenia, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and Congo-Kinshasa, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia.
But it's not quite right to say that he actually brokered peace in all cases. In several cases, it's just a ceasefire that has been reached.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are perhaps the most successful case. After several years of sporadic warfare, the arch-enemies' leaders met at the White House in August to sign a declaration to strive for a peace agreement in the future.
Regarding Cambodia and Thailand, Trump himself has written on social media that he called the countries' leaders to urge just a ceasefire and that the war is ending. A ceasefire has been reached, which both parties accuse each other of violating. No peace agreement has been signed.
India and Pakistan have also only reached a ceasefire – and India denies that US involvement led to it, writes The Guardian.
Bombed first – then ceasefire
The conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia is about Ethiopia building a large dam on the Nile, which Egypt fears will reduce the water supply downstream. No full-scale war is underway between the two states – but the fundamental issue of the dam is not resolved either.
The US was involved in negotiating a declaration to put an end to the fighting between Congo-Kinshasa and the Rwanda-connected militia M23 earlier in the summer. But the violence has continued despite this – and on Monday, a deadline to reach a peace agreement expired.
The twelve-day war between Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire only after the US entered the war and attacked Iranian facilities with heavy bombs. No peace agreement has been signed.
A ceasefire is an agreement between warring parties to cease hostilities. A ceasefire can be limited in time and space, but also without a time limit.
It is common for peace agreements, which are an agreement on more lasting peace, to be negotiated first after a ceasefire.
Source: NE
