What are the most important things that we can do to secure development and prosperity in the world? It is simply to end the wars. It is peace first – easy to say, but difficult to implement. I have a friend who doesn’t even want to talk about other issues unless we have agreed that the wars must end first, then other things can follow, and we can begin prioritizing other issues, and they are many, too. But without peace, without direct military wars and conflicts going on, there cannot be much else.
The most visible wars today are the War in Ukraine and the War in Gaza, both of them unjustified and certainly without reason to go on for over two years, and almost one year, respectively. The West is involved in both wars, and it could stop them immediately if there is will. The War in Ukraine, where Russia invaded its neighbour on 24 February 2024, should never have begun if Russia had behaved as it should, and if Europe, America, and NATO had done what they should have done to prevent it.
The supplies of weapons from the West to Ukraine have led to the war raging for longer than it would have otherwise, and it has also become more brutal, with high numbers of dead, injured, insane and crippled, never to become normal human beings again – with families, friends, communities, cities, and wide villages becoming sending areas of refugees and internally displaced people. Also Russian individuals and communities have suffered.
The Orthodox Church and other religions have failed in their roles and duties. We have all failed to do what we should and could to reduce and end the war. If we are pacifists, believers or not, or just ordinary secular people, we should have done more to stop the war. Alas, we have all failed. We have not even made peace talks and peace negotiations begin. When President Orban of Hungary took it up with the Russian President Putin recently and also visited China, he was blamed by the West for doing so. Earlier, when the Pope suggested talks, no concrete follow-up was seen. The EU and the West should long ago have taken initiatives, and so should certainly Ukraine. Russia says it is ready for talks, but the other side seems unwilling to believe in their real intentions.
Presidential candidate in USA, Donald Trump, says he will end the War in Ukraine if he is elected to be the USA’s next president, even before he is sworn in, and there are media reports that he has already spoken with the parties. If he could be crucial in ending the war soon, that would be enough for many to vote for him – and for people in other countries to look at him with milder eyes. His newly selected candidate for Vice President, J.D. Vance, has also given some specifics for what he believes is required to begin talks and negotiations, including that Ukraine must cede some land in the east to Russia, and Crimea. He has also said that Ukraine must remain neutral, which means not becoming a NATO member, but possibly it can develop closer ties with the EU. He has said that he believes it to be likely that the USA needs to be involved in longer-term peace-keeping in the region, well, assuming it would only be peace-keeping and policing, not taking over control in conflict with Russia’s and other European countries interests in the region. Some of these issues are not easy to accept for Ukraine, Russia, NATO, Europe, and the West in general.
It is certainly about time that there are some concrete issues presented about how to end the War in Ukraine, which began in 2022, although the conflict had begun in East Ukraine earlier, in 2010, and the annexation of Crimea in 2014. That is a long time of a war-like conflict and war, especially for two countries and people that are actually cousins, earlier having lived together as one country. In the future, they will both benefit from close cooperation. Alas, it will take decades to rebuild trust and establish true friendly relations, and it will be after Putin and Zelensky are gone, and also when NATO and the Europeans have new leaders and visions.
The other terrible war that the international community is shocked about is the Israeli War against Hamas and Palestine in Gaza. The war soon raged for a year after Israel overreacted to Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Israel’s overreaction to Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel cannot be justified, as can not much of what Israel has done to the Palestinians in the recent decades, well, all the time since the creation of Israel on 14 August 1948. The way Israel was created by the small UN of the time, and the general approval of the West, indeed the USA, the neighbouring countries, and allowed operating since, at the expense of the Palestinians, and also the will of many liberal Jews is a deep scar on the whole international community. The sympathy and support for Israel have declined and can hardly be restored, and a so-called ‘two-state solution’ is rather an evasive talking term than a likely possible reality.
The increase in support for the Palestinians is not visible in action, just in bleak words, from the international community and the neighbours, including Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries. As always in such conflicts, there are East-West dimensions to it, obviously with the USA playing a key role, but also Russia, although less openly, in contact with Iran and Syria.
Naturally, all this worries the people in Palestine, Israel, the other countries in the region, and the international community for possible further spread of the conflict. I believe, though, that the immediate concern should be about the Palestinian people, children, youth, adults¸, and the elderly. It is indeed a scar on the whole of humanity that Israel’s brutal war behaviour has been allowed to take place, with daily crimes and unspeakable suffering.
I don’t quite know what Trump and Vance will do about the conflict, if they become the next rulers of the USA from 20 January 2025. We know that both Trump and Vance are friends of Israel. I still optimistically believe that they will take measures to end the war, but on what terms is another thing, short-term and long-term? Sadly, the current Biden administration has not used the power it has had to end the war and prevent Israel from its outrageous behaviour, yes, mostly through funding from the USA and a silent nod from the West, although many countries have also criticised it. If Vice President Kamala Harris should become a candidate for President and win, it is not likely that she will implement a very different approach from what President Biden has implemented Hence, strange and contradictory as it may be, Trump is probably the best choice for change towards peace, well in spite of his major support from the large group of Evangelical Christian voters.
Finally, today, let me apologise for only having written about two of the wars in the world, although the major ones. The wars must end before and along with addressing broader development issues, indeed the situation in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, elsewhere in Africa, and in other countries. The structural wars and injustices between the Global North and the Global South should be corrected, within countries, especially in the Global South.
Atle Hetland
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@yahoo.com