Everyone considers the Middle East and Eastern European conflicts “permanent.”
However, if the Arab-Israeli confrontation does not require proof of its longevity, the Russo-Ukrainian one is worth examining.
The ongoing shooting war between Russia and Ukraine approaches its second anniversary. Nevertheless, it is viewed as simply a logical continuation of the deadly struggle between European civilization and the medieval armies of Tartars/Mongols from the Far East, known as Orda (sometimes called Golden Horde). That fight continued for centuries; in the process, the Orda established many vassal political entities. Some subordinates even survived until the present. For example, Russia is one of the remnants of the Orda (the name itself is hijacked from the term “Kievan Rus,” the original name for the country nowadays called “Ukraine”).
The origins of the Middle East and East European strife differ, but there is a lot of focus on their histories as a solution. Yet they remain intractable.
The reason is simple—all previous attempts to “solve” these disputes utilizing the historical narrative have failed spectacularly.
Why not concentrate exclusively on the current state of affairs instead? Of course, from such a point of view, any potential remedy will probably be considered unfair by one or both parties, but it could be “the solution.”
Note that both feuds have one intriguing characteristic. On one side of the barricades are hydrocarbon-rich countries (Muslim states and Russia) and, on the other side, countries deprived of hydrocarbon riches (Israel and Ukraine).
Moreover, the Ortho-Muslim side repeatedly weaponizes hydrocarbons to achieve their geopolitical goals.
If Donald Trump manages to become Trump-47, he could laser focus on that clear distinction and implement an attractive (but certainly not “optimal” or “fair”) enduring panacea to these “perpetual” squabbles.
During phase one, Trump could deploy the Ortho-Muslim hydrocarbon arsenal against them and drown the world in hydrocarbons.
The United States has such a vast supply of natural gas and oil that removing some government regulations can bring an abundance of reliable hydrocarbons to the world market. A decade or so of inexpensive American oil and gas will bankrupt the Ortho-Muslim producers.
For phase two, Trump would direct phase one profits to create the New Manhattan Project—not for nuclear fission (atomic bomb) but for nuclear fusion.
The success of such an endeavor is highly possible. It is not guaranteed, but today’s nuclear fusion knowledge is exponentially greater than understanding nuclear reactions at the beginning of the WWII-era Manhattan Project. Nuclear fusion already exists in nature—it lights up the stars. It is also used by humans (in an uncontrolled, wild form) in hydrogen bombs.
Taming nuclear fusion energy is the right task for Trump-47. The project’s astronomic scale corresponds to Trump’s construction, governance, and ambition caliber. Successful completion would achieve the desired planet-wide paradigm shift. Post-fusion, hydrocarbons will still be in demand but in microscopic quantities compared to today. It is known that most of the petro-dictators have wasted enormous hydrocarbon profits. Consequently, they will face a thorny dilemma: elementary physical survival or continued terrorism sponsorship.
The described two-phase approach would starve the imperialistic ambitions of petro-terror nations.
There is no escape; the new paradigm is that they cannot negotiate any settlement. A mere announcement of a Trump-magnitude fusion project would turn arrogant petro-theocracies increasingly polite, concessive, and cooperative.
Ortho-Muslim states could not appeal to the United Nations or the Davos clique to stop dirt-cheap and clean fusion energy flow. Even China will abandon them.
Russia, which lost a significant part of its industrial base in the post-Soviet years, will enjoy cold Siberian forests. Middle Eastern petro-kingdoms will continue to delight in hot sand. None of them would have the stomach or resources to attack their neighbors.
From that perspective, Islam (and the Russian version of Orthodox Christianity to some degree) would finally enter the epoch of the much-wanted Reformation.
In that, Islam would follow Western Christianity and Judaism, which have done it and brought them up to speed of civilization.
The outlined proposal is more practical than the unnecessary visits of political celebrities to Israel or the non-stop pilgrimage of Western dignitaries to Ukraine. Israel and Ukraine do not need VIP visitors. They do not need extra armaments per se. They need Donald Trump to solve the problem once and for all.
The late Soviet dissident and political prisoner Vladimir Bukovsky said, “I am prepared to make the following bet: If two cruise missiles were to be launched at Lubyanka [the KGB headquarters in Moscow], then the level of terrorism worldwide would drop by approximately 80 percent.”
Did he speak figuratively and really mean the two phases above? If so, genuine American dissident Donald Trump—unjustly prosecuted like Bukovsky—is the one who can cut through multiple Gordian knots.
[Originally published at American Thinker]
