US President Donald Trump, in typical style, boasted that he has ended more than one or two wars since he took office again on January 20 of this year. Trump even asked to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this year - something that could not happen purely technically, since the deadline for his nomination expired at the end of January - a few days after he took office. But how many conflicts has the 47th US president actually resolved?
Trump boasted that he had ended six, seven, eight wars this year, the French television station "France 24" noted in a report. However, this is, to put it mildly, controversial, especially since his definition of a resolved conflict is too broad.
THE END OF THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE IS NOT IN VISIBILITY
During the election campaign last year, Trump vowed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine a few hours after taking the oath. However, nearly 11 months have passed since then, and the end of the conflict is still not in sight...
In fact, Trump has gradually backed down on the deadlines, admitting that the task is not easy at all, given the irreconcilable and incompatible positions of the two sides in the conflict, which have been clinging to a dead grip of exhaustion for nearly four years.
Yesterday, the US president spoke by phone about Ukraine with the leaders of the three European powers - France, Germany and Great Britain, and confided, quoted by Agence France-Presse, that he had told them "pretty strong words".
According to him, European leaders want to organize a meeting on Ukraine at the end of this week, but the participation of the US is not guaranteed.
"Before we go to a meeting, there are things we want to know... We don't want to waste our time," he said at the White House Trump.
"Sometimes you have to let people fight to the end, and sometimes you don't", he added significantly.
THE WAR IN GAZA IS OVER, BUT THE CONFLICT IS NOT AT ALL SETTLED
In the Middle East - one of the most volatile regions on the planet - a truce between Israel and "Hamas" brokered by Trump came into effect in October. The agreement did indeed largely end the war in the Gaza Strip, which had erupted two years earlier with the Palestinian Islamist movement's attack on southern Israeli settlements, and the remaining hostages were released alive.
However, Trump's plan leaves for later sensitive issues such as the creation of a Palestinian state. As a result, its implementation has predictably stalled after the first phase, with prospects for a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still remaining very distant.
However, in recent days, there has been an intensification of diplomatic efforts in an attempt to move on to the implementation of the second phase of the plan.
LACK OF PROGRESS ON IRAN
There has also been no progress in the negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program, which Trump initiated after returning to the White House, Reuters notes. Moreover, the United States joined Israel's campaign of air strikes on targets related to this program in June.
As a result, the situation remains tense and unstable. Iran, which supports "Hamas" and other anti-Israel movements such as "Hezbollah," although weakened by the Israeli campaign, continues to reject the US demand that it stop enriching uranium. And Israel still warns that it will strike again if it feels threatened.
OTHER TRUMP FAILURES
The US president took credit for settling the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. In his presence in October in Malaysia, a ceasefire agreement was signed between these neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. However, the conflict flared up again at the beginning of this week. Incidentally, Trump announced yesterday that he would talk today with the leaders of both countries.
The situation is similar in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is becoming the scene of a bloody conflict in which neighboring Rwanda and Burundi are involved. Earlier this month, Trump brought together the leaders of DR Congo and Rwanda in Washington for a peace signing ceremony, even as fighting in the war-torn region continues, Reuters reported.
Yesterday, the M23 rebel group, backed by the Rwandan army, seized the town of Uvira in DR Congo, just outside Burundi's largest city, Bujumbura. AFP described the development as a blow to the United States and its peacekeeping ambitions in the mineral-rich region of Central Africa.
THE US PRESIDENT HAS SOME SUCCESS
Trump has also achieved some successes.
For example, the US president brokered a ceasefire between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan in May. The two countries then engaged in four days of clashes that were ended after the intervention of two senior US officials - Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The ceasefire agreement, announced on May 10, however, does not address the fundamental problems that have plagued relations between India and Pakistan since they gained independence from the British Empire in 1947, Reuters notes. Moreover, Delhi denies that the truce was due to US pressure.
Trump also boasted of ending another decades-old conflict - that between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He brought together in Washington the leaders of the two warring former Soviet republics in the South Caucasus, who signed a joint declaration on August 8, committing them to strive for a peace treaty. And although one has not yet been signed, some stabilization and positive dynamics are observed.
CURIOUS CLAIMS BY TRUMP
The US president also took credit for settling two conflicts that did not actually exist.
The first is between Ethiopia and Egypt in connection with the megadam built on the Nile River by the former country. In July, Trump vowed to solve "this problem", and later White House press secretary Caroline Levitt included Egypt and Ethiopia in the list of conflicts "that the (US) president has ended", Reuters recalls.
In September, however, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed opened the dam despite the objections of neighboring Egypt and Sudan. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in turn, warned that he would protect his country's interests.
However, a real conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt - two countries that do not border each other and are actually more than 2,000 kilometers apart - never came to fruition.
In the Balkans, relations between Serbia and Kosovo remain tense - nearly five years after they reached agreements to improve their economic relations with Trump's mediation, Reuters reports. Again without providing evidence, the White House incumbent announced in June that he had "stopped a war" between the two neighboring countries during his first term and that he would "fix things again" in his second.
However, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in July that "in the last few weeks" Trump had prevented further escalation of tensions in the region. However, she did not go into details, and her Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic denied that an escalation was imminent.
TRUMP and THE NOBEL
The US president did not hide either his ambitions for the Nobel Peace Prize or his disappointment after not receiving it at the expense of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The Norwegian Nobel Committee "puts politics above peace", reacted critically to the White House's decision.
At the same time, Trump has repeatedly raised the issue of a possible US military intervention in Venezuela, ruled by socialist President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters notes.
This would definitely not increase his chances of receiving the much-coveted Nobel next year. Concerned about US support, Machado, however, dedicated part of the award to Trump, who stated that he himself deserves this honor.
Incidentally, the leaders of a number of countries for which relations with Washington are of strategic importance were quick to express support for the Nobel ambitions of the owner of the White House.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nominated Trump for the Nobel a few hours after the US president announced the agreement to end the war in Gaza. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, said that Trump should receive the most prestigious international award for his contribution to peace if he manages to achieve a ceasefire with Russia.
It is too early to say whether the US president will win the coveted Nobel Peace Prize next year. However, Trump has already received a kind of consolation prize for his disappointment this year. He was awarded the newly established Peace Prize by the World Football Federation (FIFA) last week at a ceremony in Washington to draw the group stage of the 23rd World Cup, which will be held next year in the United States, Mexico and Canada.