Like many punters who have tried to do business with Donald Trump in the past, the UN has found itself a victim of a classic bait-and-switch, thinking it was buying one thing, but getting quite another.
When they voted to endorse the board of peace in November, other members of the UN security council hoped they were binding Trump into a Gaza peace process, but it now appears they were hoodwinked into backing a Trump-dominated pay-to-play club: a global version of his Mar-a-Lago court aimed at supplanting the UN itself.
The outline of Trump’s “board of peace” which has emerged over the past few days is a long way from the body that the council thought it was endorsing. Resolution 2803 was passed 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining, as an attempt to give a UN imprimatur to a Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. The discussions leading up to the vote on 18 November, and the text of the resolution, were all about the conflict. […]
Two months on, there is not a single mention of Gaza in the “board of peace” charter sent out to national capitals. That document instead portrays the board as a permanent fixture to promote peace and good governance around the world. It will be “pragmatic” and “results-oriented”, it will be “a more nimble and effective international peace-building body”, and will have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed”. […]
Joining the board, on the other hand, involves undermining the UN, submission to Trump’s will and acquiescence in his vision of future of world governance – an imperial court where vassal states pay cash and vie for the ear of the orange emperor. Läs artikel