Now in another unpredictable gesture, Trump has officially announced his proposal of cutting the defence budget of three super powers U.S., China and Russia by half as a part of the global move to restore peace among nations and speed up development through those funds. The cutting of the defence budget of the U.S. has been refrain of the left wing world peace movement and the leaders of the Left parties, especially the Communist Parties which generally call Trump as an imperialist and expansionist. Now the same Trump has initiated serious moves to end the two major wars in two continents and also offering for 50 per cent cut in its defence budget if Russia and China, two other big powers agree.

This is a bizarre politico-diplomatic situation which is currently being confronted by the American Left as also the Communist Parties of Europe including Britain. The Socialist senator in U.S. Congress Bernie Sanders who only last year submitted his amendment for cut in defence budget and stoppage of supplies of weapons to Ukraine by Biden administration told The Guardian in an interview on February 19 that he was focusing on the domestic issues in America including Trump’s moves to cut funds for medicare and earlier allotted funds for the welfare of workers, but avoided mentioning Trump’s present moves to end the two wars and offer on cutting defence budget. Sanders is the most consistent fighter for the demands of the American workers and trade unions. As the chairman of the Congress committee on labour and health, he persuaded the Biden administration in doing a lot of pro-people programmes for the common U.S. citizens, especially people of colour.

Biden regime implemented a few pro-labour programmes but Sanders and the Left of the Democratic Party failed to persuade President Biden to change the U.S. foreign policy. Biden regime increased its aid to Ukraine and did not respond to any peace moves by Russian President Putin. So while, in respect of the domestic issues, Biden regime gave lot of concessions to the working people, students and women, as regards foreign policy, the U.S. regime under Democratic Biden followed the same pro-war policy of imperialism. Even the U.S. Communist Party while extending its support to the Democratic Candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential elections mentioned of the positive measures taken by the Biden regime in favour of the workers. At the same time the CP of USA pointed out how the Biden administration had followed the same foreign imperialist policy.

But the second term President Donald Trump, while disrupting all known rules of global order including withdrawal from WHO and Paris Climate agreement, has been successful in organizing ceasefire in Gaza though his method may be a bit coercive.. Simultaneously, as per his commitment, the initiative to end Ukraine war led to the high level officials meeting on February 18 at Riyadh leading to the formation of a top order committee for follow up and arranging the summit between Trump and Putin. The far right Republican, a hardcore anti-communist and the emerging leader of the Global Right along with the world’s richest man Elon Musk, is turning as the greatest exponent of global peace. It is a bit bizarre development confounding the conventional approach of the Left but it is there and the global left and the peace movement have to deal with this Trump phenomenon in its entirety.

While Sanders has said in his interview that millions of Americans will go to the streets in defence of their rights and facilities, he has to finally come out with his stand on the latest global moves of Trump. Trump can be fought in USA by the progressives focusing on the issues of the working class and the underprivileged, but at the same time, the Democratic Party has to respond to the genuine peace moves by Trump if it helps in stopping the killings and destruction.

Sanders said ”Trumpism will not be defeated by politicians inside the DC beltway. It will only be defeated by millions of Americans, in every state in this country, coming together in a strong, grassroots movement which says no to oligarchy, no to authoritarianism, no to kleptocracy, no to massive cuts in programs that working people desperately need, no to huge tax breaks for the richest people in our country. And that’s what these events are about.”

According to Bernie Sanders, while Trump moves us away from democracy, while the middle class continues to decline, the wealthiest people in the country have never ever had it so good. Today, the three major oligarchs, Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, are worth $905bn – that is more wealth than the bottom half of American society – 170 million people. And, incredibly, since Trump’s election their wealth has grown by $217bn.. So Sanders is determined to fight against Trump on the issues of inequality in the American society which is expected to widen at a far more faster pace in second Trump regime.

The Communist Party of USA is still studying the situation relating to Peace moves on war in Ukraine but the Communist Party of Britain has come out with an official statement extending support to the peace talks on Ukraine war. The Party’s international secretary Kevan Nelson said on Wednesday that ‘ it is a bit rich for British and EU politicians to complain about their own exclusion from the Riyadh summit when they have spent two years fuelling the conflict instead of trying to initiate a peace process’’. He hoped an agreement to keep Ukraine out of NATO would end the 20 year long eastward march of NATO and the EU to Russia’s western borders and ridiculed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s proposal for British troops to be stationed in Ukraine as peacekeepers. The CPB reaffirmed its long standing policy of withdrawal from NATO and opposition to any U.S. militarization.

The unpredictability of Trump in terms of dealing with the major wars has led the global bodies like World Peace Council and the International bodies for nuclear disarmament to rethink their line of campaign. There is a bit of coercion in Trump’s moves, but if the moves lead to the final end of the wars, that is a great event for global peace and humanity. Perhaps Global Left will opt for the dual strategy of offering support to Trump’s peace moves while opposing fully its other far right dictatorial policies both within the country and outside.. 2025 is turning to have Interesting Times. (IPA Service)