Trump’s recent threat of new tariffs to Russia not only refutes his claim of being a peacemaker but also exposes a deep nexus between the US war economy and geopolitics.
Trump’s Illusion of Peace
Contrary to his pledges and claims, the Trump establishment is adhering to the ways of its predecessors. During his election campaign, Donald Trump claimed he would end the Russia-Ukraine conflict within days. He was even seen insulting his Ukrainian counterpart live on TV. He blamed the Ukrainian president for igniting and prolonging the war, a statement that is deemed factually correct by all neutral analysts. However, the following events suggest that this was also a mere scripted propaganda and hypocrisy to materialize the ulterior motives of the US administration.
The Military-Industrial Complex and the Business of War
Since the end of World War 2, the United States has been responsible for the majority of the global conflicts. In many parts of the world, the US started armed uprisings and conflicts. Modest estimates that the human cost of the US wars from 2001 to 2003 is 4.5 million people. Undoubtedly, the real number is much higher than that. Many countries and nations have been pushed into starvation and hunger due to these US-sparked wars and conflicts. This makes people think about the real intentions of the US establishment behind this global violence and chaos.
Due to the propaganda and hypocrisy of the US establishment, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has been transformed into more than a mere territorial dispute. All unfolding events in this conflict follow the same geopolitical playbook seen in other regional conflicts, driven by the United States and its European allies. For decades, the US has dominated as the world’s leading supplier of arms, with corporate giants such as Boeing Defense, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Technologies serving as the central pillars of what former President Eisenhower famously warned about: the “military-industrial complex.”
Past global events indicate that these corporations are not merely passive beneficiaries of international conflicts; they actively fuel global tensions, as their growth depends directly on them. In every global conflict, the pattern remains consistent: first, a crisis is provoked; then, a moral justification is crafted; finally, they intervene as the key arms supplier to the conflict’s self-proclaimed victim. All the ongoing and previous global conflicts since World War 2 follow the same script.
Ukraine: A Proxy in a Broader Geopolitical Game
The US establishment is following the same script in Ukraine. The ongoing events suggest that Trump’s pledge to establish peace between Russia and Ukraine and his public humiliation of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were merely a hoax. The Trump administration sought to achieve certain ambitions through this media spectacle. Gaining access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals was one of the prime motives of the Trump administration. The United States coerced the Ukrainian government to sign a mineral deal to gain Washington’s support against Russia.
Moreover, the Trump administration seeks to increase US arms sales by perpetuating the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Previously, he admired the Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “savvy” or “genius.” Western media have aptly described his recent policy shift on the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a “tonal U-turn.” Trump’s 50-day ultimatum to Russia regarding the peaceful conclusion of this conflict is also a part of his plan to further escalate the crisis between the two sides. At the time of this article’s publication, Trump had shortened the ultimatum to just 10–12 days, signaling a more aggressive and time-sensitive posture likely aimed at increasing pressure rather than fostering resolution. The Trump administration knows that its shallow threat of 100 percent tariffs and other diplomatic optics are not going to have any significant impact on the Russian economy. These sanction threats are coupled with the announcement of a new arms package for Ukraine.
In another cunning move, Trump has repaired the US ties with NATO, an alliance he formerly declared obsolete. His proposal of European funding for the arms supplied to Ukraine is intended to absolve his administration of any direct political or financial risk at the international and domestic levels. However, all these developments have further exposed the US hypocrisy. By increasing arms sales to Ukraine and threatening Russia, Trump is emboldening Kyiv to further intensify its military offensive against Moscow. However, just like the former proxies of the United States, Trump is pushing Ukraine towards destruction and devastation. The Ukrainian establishment needs to acknowledge that the Western governments are using their imprudent President Volodymyr Zelensky to achieve their geopolitical and geostrategic ambitions, and the only loser in this conflict will be the Ukrainian citizens.
Аbbas Hashemite – is a political observer and research analyst for regional and global geopolitical issues. He is currently working as an independent researcher and journalist
