14. 10. 2026 / Ivan Větvička
At 11am Central European Summer Time on Friday 9 October 2026, Navi Pillay was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Once again, Donald Trump’s glittering dream evaporated, triggering a barrage of statements from him and a flurry of action by his administration. Trump is frantically courting dictators, undermining Ukraine, threatening Norway and spinning tales about an American Greenland… Judge for yourselves how much he has managed to do in just four days:
As early as 10.37pm CEST on Friday, the Guardian reported that Trump had announced a deal with Vladimir Putin for the immediate export of 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel to the US and world markets, with further deliveries to follow soon. At a rally in Syracuse that evening, local time, Trump said he would not forget Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize and declared that he had “got Greenland”.
On Saturday 10 October, the Financial Times reported that the US administration had threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine if it continued attacking Russian oil refineries. Accounts differ as to whether the threat was made during Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Miami on Friday 9 October or somewhat later. In any case, Friday’s meeting took place after the Americans knew that their president had not won the Nobel Prize.
On Sunday 11 October, Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, effective immediately. Ukrainian officials said they had not been informed beforehand.
On Monday 12 October, Trump raised the possibility of meeting Kim Jong Un during his visit to Asia in November.
On Tuesday 13 October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had received no warning from its partners about the launch of Russian ballistic missiles that struck Kyiv the previous night.
Of course, some of these moves by the Trump administration had been planned before this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was announced. Trump has been seeking an autumn meeting with Kim Jong Un since August. Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, was already seeking licences in Washington for Russian diesel exports to the US in September. An agreement between Denmark, Greenland and the US was signed on 22 September. It will expand the US military presence on the island and give Washington a say in approving investments in its strategic sectors from countries outside NATO and the EU. The agreement still requires parliamentary approval and does not transfer ownership of Greenland to the United States. Trump has not acquired the island he so covets.
The timing and tone of Trump’s statements, however, probably do have something to do with his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He may also have agreed to the diesel deal only after learning that he had once again missed out on the prize. The democratic world has disappointed him, and he is now taking revenge — something I feared as far back as December 2025: What will happen if Donald Trump does not win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Donald Trump wants to leave a significant mark on history. But he has already done so. No one from within the democratic West has done more to damage it since the end of the Second World War. He is also the pettiest president in the history of the United States.
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