Ritter’s Rant 071: Give Peace a Chance?

Hello and welcome to this edition of Ritter's Rant. All we are saying is give peace a chance. Um these are famous lyrics from a song written by John Linen and performed with the uh Plastic Ono band I think uh back in 1969. And uh I think it gained uh global uh relevance and uh resonance when it was performed at the 1969 Toronto U rock and roll concert. Uh you know, and it it was seen as an anti-war anthem. In 1969, the United States was kneedeep in the Vietnam War and uh there were anti-war protests all over the world protesting that conflict and conflict in general. Um, and they were just begging the governments, give peace a chance. Well, Donald Trump, the world's greatest peacemaker, according to him, I mean, he stopped eight or nine wars, depending on who's counting, um, appears confused on the issue. I mean, on the one hand, he just wrote a letter to Norway's prime minister saying because the Nobel Peace Prize Committee didn't give him, Donald Trump, the Peace Prize, despite the fact that he stopped more wars than any other person alive, uh he's turning his back on peace and he is going to look for other options to resolve problems, namely Greenland, where he is threatened to go to war against Europe, NATO, and the Danish army. um in order to make Greenland part of the United States. Um I mean this is schizophrenic. This is not normal behavior. Uh but then again nothing about the Nobel Peace Prize lately has been normal. I mean my god they gave it to Barack Obama uh when he became president for doing nothing. Um they they've given it to Shireen Ibati, a uh an Iranian activist who today uh is calling for the sanctioning the starvation of her own people. And he gave it to Machado, a uh a Venezuelan opposition leader who today is actively talking about uh using military force, military force to liberate the people of Venezuela. These aren't peaceful acts. And yet the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has seen fit to give the title peace laurate to these war makers. So maybe Donald Trump's decided that the best way to get the peace prize is to go to war because apparently war is what the peace committee really likes to see. Um but then he goes ahead and spoils this good narrative because now Donald Trump is talking about creating a global peace board. Now originally this was designed to be a board to resolve the issue in Gaza. But Donald Trump has decided that now he can expand this and this will be a peace board, a peace council that will bring peace to the world. Now he will head it. This of course is not about international law. Donald Trump has famously said that he doesn't care about international law. He doesn't take guidance from international law. No, he takes guidance only from his own personal sense of morality. And now his moral conscience apparently tells him that peace is a good idea. Um he turned his back briefly, but now he's back in the peace game. He is the chairman of the board, so to speak. And of course being Donald Trump, you got to pay him a billion dollars to get on the board. But he has sent out invitations to everybody. And there's a lot of nations out there who while bulking at the billion dollar price tag are saying that u maybe being a member of the board is exactly what they want to do that this might be the way forward. One of those nations that has received an invitation is Russia. China has likewise received an invitation. These are curious choices uh for joining this this peace board because what is Donald Trump's peace board? It's not an extension of international law. It's not an extension of the rule of laws set forth by the United Nations Charter. Indeed, one can articulate an argument that says that the Peace Board is about finding an alternative to the United Nations, an alternative to the Security Council, one that the United States is in charge of, not international law. This sounds an awful lot like the US dominated rules-based international order that previously defined America's global hegemony. It's the rules-based international order, a rejection of such that brought Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping together in Beijing on February 4th of 2022 on the eve of the Chinese of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Why did they come together? Because they were rejecting the rules-based international order. They came together and issued a 5,000word joint manifesto where they said, "We will not be part of the rules-based international order. We will oppose the rules-based international order and the vehicle of our opposition will be the law-based international order. The law of course being derived from the charter of the United Nations, the foundational document of international law in a post second world war environment. Vladimir Putin just gave a very interesting speech in Russia where he said that you know the United States is turning his back on international law but not Russia. Russia believes in the charter. The charter is the one thing that defines who we are and what we are globally. The charter brings us together and Russia is firmly committed to the charter. So one has to wonder how Russia could simultaneously articulate support for the United Nations charter which includes the role of the security council and be a member of Donald Trump's peace board. Now the Russians are very pragmatic, very diplomatic and um they they they don't take any rash actions which is why Dimmitri Peskov the speaker for the Kremlin has said that Russia has received the invitation and is considering all of its options. I would imagine the Chinese are doing the same. Now you don't want to provoke Donald Trump because I mean as we saw sometimes he responds irrationally. The Nobel Prize Committee didn't give him his peace prize, so he blamed them for his turn to war. Who knows what kind of diplomacy um machinations will uh will transpire in the days and weeks to come. But what is known is that um when Donald Trump says peace, he means war. And when he says war, sometimes he means peace. This is Orwellian beyond belief. Let's just break it down. All we the people of the world are saying is give peace a chance. Let's hope that Donald Trump and this peace board can achieve that objective. This has been my rant. Next time a thought crosses my mind, I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks.

Donald Trump is crafting an Orwellian dystopia, where war is peace, and peace is war.