Pauses Without Peace: What Last Year’s Ceasefires Reveal About Global Conflict Management

Summary

In this episode Gopi Krishna Bhamidipati examines how the Trump administration’s diplomatic interventions in 2025‑2026 produced ceasefires across Gaza, the Israel‑Iran clash, India‑Pakistan tensions, the Thailand‑Cambodia border dispute, and Ukraine‑Russia, but stopped short of achieving lasting political settlements. The host argues that U.S. statecraft has shifted toward managing escalation—enforcing negative peace—rather than fostering the positive peace that requires consent, legitimacy, and structural change. Each case study shows that while American pressure can temporarily halt fighting, it often leaves underlying zero‑sum issues untouched, turning ceasefires into tactical pauses rather than bridges to resolution. The episode concludes that future U.S. strategy must link ceasefires to enforceable political pathways and invest in capacity‑building to move from war management to durable peace.