During the high-profile signing ceremony, Trump underscored his role in ending one of Africa's longest-running and bloodiest conflicts. Viewed in this light, Trump's interest in African affairs is clear. He appointed Massad Boulos as an adviser on African and Middle Eastern affairs. Boulos initiated talks with several African nations and visited Libya on 23 July to meet with warring factions, in an effort to revive stalled negotiations.
As for the war in Ukraine, Trump succeeded in bringing the issue to the negotiating table, although a significant breakthrough has yet to be achieved. Three rounds of talks were held in Türkiye, during which the two sides agreed to exchange prisoners. These discussions offered a glimmer of hope for a ceasefire, a longer truce, or at least temporary pauses in hostilities.
Furthermore, Trump also hosted Putin in Alaska on 15 August, marking the Russian president's first visit to the US in a decade and his first meeting with a US president since June 2021, when he shook hands with Biden in Geneva.
'Absolute victory' in Gaza
But despite Trump's diplomatic efforts to end various conflicts, major obstacles remain on his path to one of the world's most prestigious awards. Chief among these stumbling blocks is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose insistence on an "absolute victory" in Gaza denies Trump the milestone achievement that could bring the accolade within his reach—particularly now that Israel's main military objectives have largely been met with Hamas severely weakened and unable to pose a real threat to Israel.
The Israeli premier is also fumbling Trump's peace moves in Syria. Despite the US president's decision to lift sanctions on the war-torn country and expressed desire to see peace and stability restored, Israel has been fomenting strife and bombing at will, undermining the very objective Trump is shooting for.
The Trump administration took particular issue with Israel's military moves in Syria's southern province of Sweida, with US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, issuing a rare rebuke to Tel Aviv. He stressed that Washington had neither been consulted nor informed beforehand.
And so Netanyahu appears to be in the way of Trump's ambition to join the line-up of the four US presidents to have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919), Jimmy Carter (2002), and Barack Obama (2009).
Whether or not Trump is willing or able to curb Netanyahu's insatiable appetite for war in the Middle East remains to be seen, but recent comments by the Israeli prime minister bode badly for Trump's chances at a peace prize.
Last week, Netanyahu said during a televised interview in Israel that he connected to the idea of a Greater Israel, which would stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates River—swallowing whole areas of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and even Saudi Arabia.
With his seemingly unquenchable thirst for war, it looks like Netanyahu is the main roadblock on Trump's path to a Nobel.
