President Trump inaugurated his Board of Peace, the body for resolving international conflicts and mapping out a future of the war-torn Gaza Strip, at the World Economic Forum on Thursday.
"Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do," Trump said before signing documents formally establishing the initiative.
The board's exact eventual makeup is unclear, but he was joined on stage by leaders, foreign ministers, and other top officials representing 19 other countries, including Argentina, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Hungary, Morocco, Bahrain, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
France, Norway, Sweden, and other nations, however, have indicated they will not participate because of concerns that the board could seek to replace the United Nations (U.N.) as the main venue for resolving conflicts.
As AFN has noted, there are also concerns from countries like Israel that Turkey and Qatar are part of the Board of Peace, as both have been allies of the Hamas terrorist group that carried out the October 2023 massacre of more than 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children.
Bob Maginnis of Maginnis Strategies, LLC. says Trump is including them to shake things up.
"He's not a fan of the United Nations, which continues to fail in maintaining peace," Maginnis notes. "They're worse than useless with regards to what's going on in Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere; all they are is a sounding board for the Left."
He looks at this from Trump's perspective and says it is clear that Turkey and Qatar are included in the Board of Peace so the U.S. has some control over what they are doing.
"You kind of have to bring them into your tent in order to get them to buy into it to make it work," the defense analyst explains. "The alternative is to allow some U.N.-like organization to oversee that, which would be not only a waste of our taxpayer money, whatever we put into it, but it would never accomplish our best interest."
The board's aim is to support peace processes with post-conflict stabilization, governance and reconstruction support, and peacebuilding "in accordance with international law." Gaza will be its first test, but Trump, the chairman, has ambitions for the Board of Peace to extend to other conflicts.
Its powers are drawn from its charter and pay-to-play member cooperation, so its real influence will depend on who joins, how much money they contribute, and how much the countries of the world choose to recognize its authority.
