opinions
Arne O. Holm says:
Donald Trump Is Not a Disease That Can Be Cured
Comment: They wanted us to believe that US institutions would save the world from Donald Trump. A sort of trump card to take the edge off statements saying that the US had a running start away from democracy and into a sort of autocracy.
Published
Modified
This is a comment written by a member of the editorial staff. All views expressed are the writer's own.
But things suddenly quieted down.
Together with Israel, Donald Trump has now lit a fire, the sparks of which spread across the world. Some are still holding on to the belief that the US midterm election in the fall will strip Trump of some of his power. Others are not even sure of whether Trump will allow an election. Or accept a defeat.
Arsonist
No matter the outcome, the US arsonist has caused irreparable damage.
Including to a European fire corps that is increasingly isolated in its defense of Ukraine, in a desperate defense battle against Russia. As if to underline his contempt for European democracies, Trump lifted sanctions a few hours ago and opened up for trade with Russian oil. This occurs at the same time as China loses its energy supply from Iran and thereby also directs its trade toward Russia.
This means that the Russian war machine, which is exclusively funded by the export of oil and gas, receives a boost that makes it possible to strengthen its deadly attacks on Ukraine.
As resilient as a withered dandelion.
The US institutions that supposedly were to stop this are currently as resilient as a withered dandelion in a fresh breeze.
Nuclear weapons
The fact that everything is turned on its head is perhaps best illustrated by how Europe, after having ransacked its toolbox, has dug out its nuclear weapons to spread them to more countries. In principle, Finland has already agreed and will lift a long-term ban on nuclear weapons.
Even such extreme proposals hardly spark discussion. Within NATO, it is more or less accepted that we can no longer trust the US. The security guarantees are currently flying like a swarm of bees over Iran because the US i led by a president that believes he has the right to kill other countries' leaders. He also believes he has the right to name who will succeed the dead.
Some of the American aircraft were supposed to participate in a major military exercise in the Arctic right now, Cold Response. But they were redirected to the Middle East at the last minute. What is a military exercise compared to the excitement of being able to start a real war instead?
The success of war is measured, macabrely enough, in the stock market's rise and fall.
Far right
Instead of relying on American institutions, everything now revolves around protecting our own. In a Western world where the success of war is grotesquely measured by the rise and fall of the stock market, democracies are threatened by extreme forces on the far right wing.
The power of these political movements will rise in line with the fact that war in Europe and war in the Middle East send the price of food and energy skyrocketing. Public services are simultaneously put under severe pressure because money is being shifted into defence budgets.
If any European politicians are still sitting with folded hands waiting for Trump to pass, as if he were an infection that could be cured with antibiotics, they should immediately get up from their chairs and use their energy to defend what is left of European democracies.
