Opinion: Oh, the times, they are a-changin'

In April of 2023, I penned an editorial that reported on the Chinese and Russian efforts to curtail conflict in the Middle East.

The article ended with the contemplation, “Is the U.S. losing the Mid-East? Where are the proposals from the West? China and Russia are the peace seekers?”

It began to look like the U.S. had abdicated one of our principles, the one about preserving world peace.

Since that time, we have found ourselves embroiled, ever deeper, in conflicts in Ukraine and the Midled East.

Comes now Donald J. Trump, who even prior to his inauguration, with his ham-handed diplomacy of pressure applied to belligerents, has engineered a cease fire in Gaza. This cease fire marks the first time in four years the United States has championed a cessation of hostilities, rather than a continuation or an escalation of war.

Should you doubt who deserves credit for this achievement, avail yourselves of the

newspapers “Israel Times” or “Haaretz.”

The Haaretz headline -- “Trump’s Mideast Envoy Forced Netanyahu to Accept a Gaza Plan He Repeatedly Rejected” -- and the Times banner -- “Arab officials: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year” -- says it all.

Next up Ukraine.

President Trump will be pushing this boulder uphill, ala Sisyphus, even against many in his own party.

Although both Presidents Obama and Trump (in his first term) agreed that Ukraine was not an existential threat to the U.S., Biden’s CIA Director, William J. Burns, who authored the “Nyet means Nyet” cable against NATO expansion in Ukraine while he was U.S. ambassador to Russia, also knew this, but seems to have forgotten that truism.

President Trump once again openly recognizes Russia’s concern about NATO on its doorstep, and understands that concern.

This open admission of a valid Russian concern for NATO on its border in Ukraine could provide a foundational plank for peace negotiations. The president’s remark has caused distinguished American economist and public policy analyst Prof. Jeffery Sachs to remark that this is, “One of the most important things Trump has ever said.”

In the words of Bob Dylan:

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don’t stand in the doorway

Don’t block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin’

Will soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin’

Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:

[email protected]