Trump Burnishes His Nobel Peace Prize Résumé

Israel’s determination to take over Gaza City prompted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to halt weapons exports to Israel that might be used in the operation. Josué Michels’s feature story this morning explores the prophetic significance of this revealing act.

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Trump negotiates another peace deal: On Friday, President Trump brokered an agreement at the White House between Armenia and Azerbaijan aiming to end the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It adds to the list of peace deals he takes credit for, including Thailand and Cambodia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan—and he is still pushing hard to end the Ukraine war.

In this case, Trump seems to have accomplished what Vladimir Putin could not. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict began in 1988. After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, hostilities between the two former Soviet republics escalated, leading to wars and skirmishes that killed tens of thousands. Russia tried to mediate a solution in the 1990s but failed to secure a comprehensive agreement. When war started again in 2020, Putin brokered a ceasefire, but it didn’t last. In December 2022, Azerbaijan blocked the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, and after 10 months it launched an offensive to secure total control of Nagorno-Karabakh. This prompted the mass exodus of some 100,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia. Widely regarded as ethnic cleansing, it was the largest displacement of Armenians since the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Russia lost its status as a viable mediator.

Details on this new deal are sparse, but it does aim for a more comprehensive resolution. Most notably, it will create the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (tripp), a 20-mile transit corridor (known as the Zangezur corridor) through Armenia that connects mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, a patch of territory it is otherwise cut off from.

• This corridor aims to enhance regional connectivity, allowing goods and people to move between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Central Asia without passing through Russia or Iran.
• This exclave shares a small border with Turkey, so this creates a land route for Azerbaijan with one of its closest allies.

Will the deal hold? Time will tell, but Bible prophecy suggests it will have some unintended consequences.

Both Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan, and Nikol Pashinyan, prime minister of Armenia, praised Trump’s personal engagement, proposing his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. And the agreement aligns with U.S. goals to counter Russian, Iranian and Chinese influence in the South Caucasus, enhancing access to energy resources and trade routes. It strengthens Western presence in a region bordering Russia, Iran and Turkey.

However, Russia or Iran may try to undermine the deal. Iran has threatened to block the tripp. Armenian diaspora groups and critics argue that it fails to address the 2023 ethnic cleansing of Armenians and the return of displaced Armenians. They view it as legitimizing Azerbaijan’s military gains. Some are concerned the deal could give Azerbaijan easier access to weapon supplies from Turkey, paving the way for more total victory over Armenia.

As Stephan Pechdimaldji wrote in the National Interest, “[U]pon closer examination, this agreement proves to be toothless and a feeble attempt to portray Azerbaijan as a trusted partner. Put simply, it is rich in symbolism and lacking in substance.” He wrote:

Despite this overwhelming evidence of Azerbaijan’s true intentions, President Trump continues to ignore the realities on the ground. In many ways, Trump is reneging on his campaign promise to protect Christian Armenians from further persecution and hold Azerbaijan responsible for its actions. He seems more interested in Azerbaijan’s natural resources than he is in the lives of Armenians or regional stability.

Prophecy shows that Russia is going to regain a significant measure of its former empire and power. It also shows that America’s influence is going to be snuffed out. To whatever degree this peace deal weakens Russia’s or strengthens America’s influence in the Caucasus, it will not change this overarching prophetic picture.

It is unclear the extent to which President Trump’s peace efforts will restore America’s lost prestige, but in the end, the curses God is bringing on America will overtake us. Trump’s efforts to bring peace to these conflicts, well intentioned as they may be, are built on a shaky foundation, as Gerald Flurry wrote in “Deadly Flaw in Mideast Peace Deals.” Isaiah prophesies that as end-time events unfold, increasingly showing the illusory nature of all of man’s efforts to end war, “the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.”

Another nation joins the “State of Palestine” bandwagon: Australia will recognize a “State of Palestine” at the start of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today.

• “Australia was the first country to raise its hand at the United Nations in support of Resolution 181, to create the State of Israel—and a Palestinian state,” Albanese said. “More than 77 years later, the world can no longer wait for the implementation of that resolution to be negotiated between the parties.”

This follows the leads of France, the United Kingdom and Canada, who have all made similar pledges. Less than an hour after Albanese made his statement, the New Zealand government said it was considering following suit and would announce its decision next month.

Albanese said his decision came after receiving guarantees from the Palestinian Authority that Hamas would be left out of the governing structure.

Most of the world recognizes a “State of Palestine.” The main exceptions are most of the major economies of the West. France, the UK, Canada and now Australia are changing this. The Western world becoming “ready for a ‘State of Palestine’” is, as we covered last week, leaving Israel more isolated than ever.

IN OTHER NEWS

Trump plans to meet with Putin in Alaska this Friday to help negotiate a settlement to the Ukraine war. Russia’s conditions are for Ukraine to cede territory from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Trump said this past Friday there could be “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” to end the war—but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed on Saturday that he would not accept ceding any territory to Russia as part of a deal. Still, there is a chance Zelenskyy may also attend the meeting. In light of President Trump’s previous negotiations, the Trumpet doesn’t expect this effort to bring lasting peace.

Trump has ordered the U.S. military to use force against Latin American drug cartels, the New York Times reported on Friday. Our In Brief by Andrew Miiller has the details.

American authorities arrested two Chinese nationals smuggling tens of millions of dollars’ worth of microchips involved in AI training. See our In Brief to learn more.

India pivoting toward Asia: As the U.S. places high tariffs on this Asian powerhouse, it is driving New Delhi toward strengthening ties with its neighbors in Asia, as our In Brief reports.