It seems the Americans are more concerned with the upcoming October 31 Halloween festivities than with the American elections to be held on Tuesday, November 5. Americans have been trying on costumes... They have been placing make-believe ghosts, skeletons, ghouls, and goblins in their front yards... All are getting ready for trick-or-treat...

And in preparation for Halloween, there seems to be no or very little concern among the general American population for the wars raging between NATO, Ukraine, and Russia, between the U.S., Israel, the Palestinians, and Iran, or for the potential flashpoints between the U.S., South Korea, and North Korea, or between the U.S., Taiwan, and China, between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and between Moldova and Transnistria, for example.

And there appears to be practically no concern at all for the horrors taking place in Libya and the Sahel, in Sudan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Haiti, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, just to mention a few.

With global tensions mounting, Homo Geopoliticus is truly at an “inflection point,” a term the Biden administration loves to overuse, that could shift the world toward global war or toward global peace.

The question remains: Which presidential candidate, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, is more likely to be able to prevent the real chances of a direct confrontation between the major and regional powers? Which of the two leaders will be able to prevent events from spiraling out of control? Which leader will be able to prevent war between the U.S., NATO, and Russia, or between the U.S. and China—now that regional wars are already scintillating across the planet?

These are not issues for children to gaze into the eyes of a warlock or a witch in the hope of a future treat. It is not certain that either candidate and his or her foreign policy team possess the foresight to prevent the next global war. Yet, as I argued in my last Meer article, it is time for Americans to wake up: Harris is the better option.

Trump is definitely the riskier character. His domestic and international politics are ill-conceived and dangerous. His stories about “migrants” eating dogs and cats are make-believe. As a wannabe Mussolini, Trump is already accusing those who opposed his policies when he was president of “treason.” And now he is threatening the repression of “leftists” who oppose his policies, while concurrently wanting to grant amnesty to those Trumpists who used violence in attacking the Capitol in January 2021—including amnesty for those who threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence.

For her part, Harris may support the jailing of Trumpists who engaged in violence during the January 2021 Capitol takeover, but she will not imprison people who protest non-violently just because they do not agree with her policies. This is reason enough to vote for Harris.

On the international side, Trump claims that he will end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. That is an absurd boast for an individual who did nothing to prevent the war before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Contrary to his constant bragging, Trump did nothing to bring the Russians and Ukrainians to a compromise over the Donbass and other issues—even though he had the power and influence to do so at the time.

Trump’s decision to drop out of the JCPOA Iran nuclear accord negotiated by Obama is largely responsible for the augmentation of tensions between the U.S. and Israel with Iran once the latter reacted by enriching uranium closer to a weapons grade level. Trump’s decision to dump the Iran nuclear accord fell into Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s geopolitical game of expanding Israeli settlements and obstructing the very possibility of a two-state solution.

Now Netanyahu is praying for Trump’s presidential victory and hoping to destroy the chances of a Democrat victory. This is all in the hope that Trump will protect him against the Israeli population, who oppose his corrupt policies and his efforts to stay in power forever through a perilous war that could soon set aflame the entire region—particularly if Israel and Iran go head-to-head and expand the war from Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, Syria, and Iraq—and to shipping lanes of the Arabo-Persian Gulf region itself, if not to the Gulf monarchies, and perhaps beyond.

Trump is a loser who pretends to win!

Trump’s absolute failure to reach a long-lasting accord with “rocket man” Kim Jong Un without appropriate State Department preparations has continued to inflame the Korean peninsula. Now, in the years after Trump’s media show with Kim, Pyongyang has strengthened its defense ties to Russia. It is providing arms and special forces to assist Putin’s war against Ukraine. At the same time, Putin has strengthened defense support for Kim—thereby augmenting the threat of war between North and South Korea.

Trump’s strong support for Taiwanese independence—rather than seeking diplomatic ways to bring China and Taiwan into a mutual compromise—has intensified tensions across the Taiwan Straits. U.S. backing for Taiwanese independence forces Taiwan into dependence upon U.S. defenses and risks drawing the U.S. into direct confrontation with China in a conflict that could easily escalate to the use of nuclear weapons. With major Chinese military maneuvers in October 2024 once again overtly threatening a blockade of the island, the time could soon be coming that will test which side, the US or Chinese, is the “paper tiger”…

Trump’s decision to dump the 1987 INF treaty that banned land-, but not sea-, based intermediate-range missiles—without the slightest effort to renegotiate that treaty with Moscow—has resulted in a new global arms race with Russia, China, and other states to develop these war-fighting weapons. The Biden administration is now threatening to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Germany against Russia and in the Philippines against China.

Contrary to his present claims that there were no wars during his time as president, Trump’s Reaganite “Peace through Strength” policies and pretend Nixonian “madman” behavior have exacerbated global tensions and set the stage for the onslaught of the war between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Iran. In many ways, the Biden administration has followed in Trump’s footsteps and has not been able to alter course.

The next president must engage in negotiation and sustainable peace!

An aging and erratic Trump had his chance as president, and now it is time to give Harris a chance. If she does become president, Harris will need to reassess Biden's policies as soon as possible—if she is to succeed in implementing a diplomatic path toward sustainable global peace.

A more honest and generally trustworthy Harris has much more chance to achieve peace than does an totally unpredictable and untrustworthy Trump, who dumps agreement after agreement, treaty after treaty and who cares more about playing “tricks” against his both enemies and allies alike while keeping the treats and tax cuts more for himself and his wealthy cronies than for the majority of Americans.

If Harris wins, that does not mean sitting down and doing nothing. It means pressing the Harris administration to support Ukraine, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan—but in such a way as to implement peace settlements as soon as possible before these wars intensify and widen any further!

The results of the U.S. presidential elections will not be Halloween make-believe... The skeletons are already real.