It is estimated that the war-ravaged Ukraine, according to the World Bank, the European Commission and the UN, needs USD 486 billion in next decade for the rehabilitation of its refugees estimated about six million spread in different parts of the world, especially in Europe and the USA.
The cost of the rehabilitation of Ukrenians and their industries is about 2.8 times of the current GDP of the country.
With the return of the Trump Administration in the US an optimism for peace is expected to dawn in 2025, but the path to end the conflict is full of challenges, especially in the contemporary geo-politics.
The US reluctance to end the avoidable Russian-Ukrainian conflict is hardly a secret. It is also attributed to the industrial-military complex, especially the American weapon manufacturers. They have already provided more weapons and explosives estimated to be worth billions of the US dollars from the American treasury; and thus, for liberally funding Ukraine in the war, this lobby has contributed more than 2.5 billion USD to Trump’s political opponent, Kamala Harris. On the other hand, his supporters could raise only a few million USD in this keenly contested election.
The campaign witnessed unprecedented bitterness between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. It included assassination attempts against Trump, misinformation campaign and efforts to implicate him in cooked up legal cases. Earlier, during his tenure in the Whitehouse, he and his associates were ensnared without any evidence that they were in collusion with the Russians. They, however, were finally exonerated during the enquiry headed by special counsel, Robert Mueller.
With the spectacular victory in the polls, the world had witnessed a mini revolution on the small hours of November 5, when Donald Trump, a Republican nominee, finally trounced his formidable rival, Kamala Harris, a Democratic party nominee in the one of the most controversial elections held in the past half-a-century for the American presidency.
It is called a mini revolution, because it may revert the contemporary role of Washington, as the sole policeman of the earth, to be more focused for rehabilitation of its economy; which has been suffering due to the greed of more profits by promoting conflicts. The successive Administration have been promoting conflicts and wars as a key component of the American strategic policy worldwide. It also has been catering to a section of its corporate world engaged in inventing deadly weapons and technologies.
Admittedly, it is a Herculean task for any US Administration to reorient this policy. Donald Trump is no exception. It is to be seen how he embarks upon to usher in paradigm reforms, promised during the intense election campaign. He has already announced his agenda for seeking a new term in Whitehouse; and the issue is whether he would really be able to take forward the commitment for peace. The agenda of curtailing the funds being liberally extended to the American proxies, whether for fanning up fratricide in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine, or radical Islam from West Asia to Bangladesh, including the military establishment of Pakistan, is going to be one of challenging assignments for the new Administration.
The efforts for rehabilitation requires resource mobilization at an unprecedented scale.
Being an astute businessman having a worldwide experience in the construction business, Donald Trump, may try to reposition American companies, for rehabilitation of the people suffering due to the conflicts instead of indulging in weapon manufacturing.
At present, only the European Union has committed itself to raise the much-needed financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The US is giving liberal military assistance to the country facing aggression from Russia, but the war-hit people need more humanitarian assistance.
Admittedly, the war industries, estimated to be numbering about 100, most of them US-based, have been in an upbeat mood since the Eastern European War flare up with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. They have so far made a business to the tune of 592 billion USD in2023 alone. The notable among them are Lockheed Martine (USA), Raytheon Technologies (USA), Boeing (USA) others. Lockheed Martine alone sold weapons to the tune of 60.34 billion USD in the past two years.
During his previous tenure, Donald Trump had initiated peace process in West Asia bringing Israel and the Arab World closer to end their perennial conflict. It had begun
with the Abraham Accord i.e. the religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam having common roots should cooperate with each other instead of following the medieval agenda of being at war with each other, perhaps extending the era of the conflict of the cross and crescent. He, however, could not pursue his peace agenda by losing the presidency to Joe Biden of the Democratic Party. In spite of being a key figure in the evolution of the American foreign policy, as the head of the foreign affairs committee of Senate for 12 years, he did little to promote peace in the world. He, despite his old age was keen to contest for a second term . He, however, was dissuaded from joining the election fray, perhaps, by the former US President, Barrack Obama; thus, Kamala Harris, the current vice-president, was fielded even without being endorsed by the primaries.
It is believed that the proposed reconstruction might offer opportunities to the real estate developers across the continents, especially in India; and China. China has recently show-cased a new series of the building materials, at the Canton fair.
The funds for the re-construction might also be mopped up from the oil-rich gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Gopal Misra has been associated with national and international media. His books on journalism and geo-politics have been well-appreciated. Views are personal.
