Nicolas Lecaussin is Director of IREF (Institute for Economic and Fiscal Research). His latest book:
The Lessons Givers: Why France is in Bulk!
(Ed. du Rocher).
FIGAROVOX.- Is Donald Trump's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize a surprise?
How was this proposition argued?
Nicolas LECAUSSIN.-
Trump is the target and the obsession of the vast majority of the media as well as a large part of the "specialists" of the United States.
One can imagine the shock they received on learning of the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize of the one who accumulates all possible faults!
This proposal comes from a member of the Norwegian Parliament, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, who invoked the peace agreement - historic, it is true - between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
This agreement was signed on September 15 at the White House and it gives hope for future openings between Israel and other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
It should be noted that this member of the Norwegian Parliament and one of his colleagues had already suggested the name of Trump in 2018 during talks between the United States and North Korea.
Read also:
"Trumpophobia, this disease that prevents thinking"
Did the US President really help restore peace in the Middle East?
Remember when President Trump announced in May 2018 the move of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem, everyone predicted the apocalypse in the Middle East!
However, not only did this not happen, but the progress was real, even more important than for many, many years in the past.
Moreover, his policy completely discredits that of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
President Trump has therefore decided to get out of the denuclearization agreement with Iran signed by Obama, since the mullahs' regime did not respect it anyway, and to attempt a rapprochement between Israel and the other Muslim countries in the region. .
So far, he has succeeded.
At the start of his presidency, he launched murderous tweets against the North Korean dictator, raising fears of a major clash.
They nevertheless ended up meeting ...
If Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, why could Donald Trump not be the next winner?
Have any Americans in the Republican Party received this award before him?
Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize not for specific action, but for
"seeking peace and progress in a world without nuclear weapons
.
"
Rather vague, if one wonders what he actually accomplished… when one remembers even the terrible Syrian conflict or the expansion of the Islamic State.
On the contrary, Trump's action is very concrete.
Contrary to what his detractors have said about him, he has often sought to establish peace and maintain good relations with other leaders, including dictators.
At the start of his presidency, he launched murderous tweets against the North Korean dictator, raising fears of a major clash.
They nevertheless ended up meeting ... And even though Trump left the negotiating table in May 2018, North Korea has since had much less "fun" launching missiles over Japan, as it has. had done under Obama.
Trump, however, has probably understood that this Communist dictatorship, which survives thanks to China, will never - like all Communist dictatorships - honor its commitments and will always seek to pressure South Korea and the West for aid.
Yes, there have been Republican winners - Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root (Democrat then Republican), Charles Dawes, Frank B. Kellogg, Nicholas Murray Butler, Henry Kissinger - but most (except Kissinger) were awarded at the start of the 20th century. century.
Doesn't this appointment invite us to reassess Donald Trump's record, especially in terms of foreign policy?
Do we have a fair view of him in Europe?
Trump's successes or contributions in foreign policy are generally underestimated, if not ignored, by many Europeans.
Let us recall some facts: Trump largely contributed to the end of the caliphate of Daesh in March 2019, he eliminated some figures of international terrorism like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, instigator of many large-scale actions, including anti-American;
peace is back (at least, for now) in Iraq, a country in full economic development.
There remains Afghanistan where the announced withdrawal of part of the American soldiers could pose security problems.
Again, Trump tried an approach and some negotiations with the Taliban, but I think he understood that it would be a waste of time.
It would also recognize a fundamentalist and terrorist movement.
Of all the heads of state, it is Trump who has shown the most courage in condemning the Chinese dictatorship and its responsibility in the spread of Covid-19.
Moreover, of all the heads of state, it is Trump who has shown the most courage to condemn the Chinese dictatorship and its responsibility in the spread of Covid-19.
It also took courage to denounce the WHO's subjugation to the Beijing regime, which it did by withdrawing from this organization.
It has, together with Australia, strengthened a military presence in the China Sea to counter increasingly aggressive Chinese expansionism.
With regard to Russia, its policy is a little more ambiguous.
He is reaching out to Putin while strengthening NATO forces in eastern and northern Europe.
He shows his annoyance with Merkel and the Nord Stream 2 gas project which would make Germany dependent on Russia and withdraw troops based in Germany.
But he moved them to the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania where there have never been so many American troops and which will house more than 450 Patriot missiles.
A few days ago, two B52 bombers flew over Ukraine, accompanied by Ukrainian fighter jets.
All of these are warnings sent to the autocrat Putin.
In February 2019, he also withdrew from the Nuclear Disarmament Treaty with Moscow because Russia did not respect it.
Has Trump invented a new doctrine for American diplomacy?
And can we already define its geopolitical line?
There is often a bit of confusion, but also something Reaganian in Trump's diplomacy.
He does not hesitate to point the finger at countries which represent "evil", as Reagan spoke of "
the Empire of evil"
in connection with the Soviet Union.
If I had to retain a few highlights of his diplomacy, it would be his speech at the UN in September 2018 in which he recalls the damage of socialism in the world, his speech in Poland, in early September 2019 on freedoms and the importance of the fight for democracy, insisting on NATO's role, and finally its tweets in Farsi, in early January 2020, for Iranian demonstrators.
Courageous and very rare.
