by Anton Troianovski
January 21, 2026
from NYTimes Website

Article also HERE

Israel, Saudi Arabia and other nations

have said they would join

President Trump's proposed "Board of Peace,"

but France, Norway and Sweden have said no.

Credit: Allison Robbert for The New York Times



The initiative is the latest example

of the president's dismantling the

post-World War II international system

and building a new one,

with himself at the center...

In the proposed charter of the "Board of Peace" that the United States sent to national capitals in recent weeks, one man has the power to veto decisions, approve the agenda, invite members, dissolve the board entirely and designate his own successor.
 

His name is spelled out in Article 3.2:

"Donald J. Trump shall serve as inaugural chairman."

"If Trump, then peace," Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, one of President Trump's closest allies in Europe, wrote on Facebook on Sunday after Mr. Trump invited him to join the board.

 

"We have, of course, accepted this honorable invitation."

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Belarus, Pakistan and several more countries also said they were joining, ahead of the signing ceremony Thursday in Switzerland.

But many officials and experts in international affairs were stunned by the breadth of the initiative, the latest example of Mr. Trump taking apart the American-built, post-World War II international system and building a new one, with himself at 'the center'...

"This is a direct assault on the United Nations," said Marc Weller, a Cambridge international law professor who specializes in peace negotiations and has worked closely with the global body.

 

"This initiative is likely to be seen as a takeover of the world order by one individual in his own image."

The U.N. Security Council itself endorsed the creation of a Board of Peace in November in a resolution welcoming the U.S.-brokered peace plan to end Israel's war in Gaza.

According to that resolution, the board is to function as,

a "transitional administration" through 2027 to oversee the redevelopment of Gaza.

But in unveiling the Board of Peace in the last week, the Trump administration has cast Gaza as only a part of what the new institution would do.

While its powers are not defined, its mission would overlap with the United Nations' aim of maintaining international peace and security.

"Trump has proven himself a pretty capable and aggressive leader," said Fred Fleitz, the chief of staff of the National Security Council for part of Mr. Trump's first term.

 

"This is taking advantage of it."

The proposed charter, seen by The New York Times, says the board would seek to,

"secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict."

The U.N. Security Council

endorsed the creation

of the Board of Peace in November in a resolution

welcoming the U.S.-brokered peace plan

to end Israel's war in Gaza,

but the board's mission apparently

would extend beyond Gaza.

Credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump's peace envoy, who was named as a member of the group's "executive board," told CNBC that more than 20 countries had already agreed to join and that the Board of Peace would be,

"a great group of leaders coming together" in "sharing opinion to achieve peace."

He listed Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Sudan and Syria as among the places in need of,

"bridging relationships."

"I wish the United Nations could do more," Mr. Trump said Tuesday.

 

"I wish we didn't need a Board of Peace."

Asked whether he wanted the board to replace the United Nations, Mr. Trump said that it "might."

He added:

"I believe you got to let the U.N. continue because the potential is so great."

The United Nations itself has sought to play down any tensions.

A spokesman, Farhan Haq, told reporters that it,

"has coexisted alongside any number of organizations."

But the Trump administration's ambiguous messaging about the Board of Peace has added to the head-spinning nature of an extraordinary January in American foreign policy.

The U.S. attack on Venezuela, the threats of strikes on Iran and Mr. Trump's demands to take over Greenland,

...have all sent the message that the United States is seeking to exert its global power in a newly unilateral way.

The Board of Peace, with its sprawling mission and with Mr. Trump as its long-term chairman, appeared to be an attempt at building an institution to codify the American dominance that the president envisions.

Norway, Sweden and France have already said they do not intend to join.

The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said his country would say,

"no to creating an organization as it has been presented, which would replace the United Nations," according to The Associated Press.

"The bond of trust has been broken" between the United States and its allies, said R. Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, China and elsewhere.

 

"The overreach by the administration on Greenland and the miscalculation they have made has really brought about a different European view and Canadian view."

Two weeks ago, Mr. Trump withdrew from 66 international organizations that his administration deemed "wasteful, ineffective, and harmful."

He has suggested that he sees his board filling some of that vacuum - offering the world a more assertive brand of American engagement, personified by Mr. Trump.

The Board of Peace,

"will be established as a new international organization",

...Mr. Trump wrote in his letter to Mr. Orban, which the Hungarian prime minister posted online.

The organization's charter says in its opening line that "durable peace" requires,

"the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed."

Mr. Fleitz, who is now at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank close to the administration, said the decision to include Russia and China among the invited members reflected the intended "broad-based" nature of the board.

"They want to reduce the possibility that various countries will try to sabotage it," he said.

Russia and China have veto power on the U.N. Security Council, so they would be likely to look askance at any weakening of the body.

But both have also tried to curry favor with Mr. Trump.

China has said it was invited but not whether it would accept.

 

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia also stopped short of accepting the invitation, saying his foreign ministry needed to analyze the matter.

But in an example of how countries can try to use Mr. Trump's ambitions to advance their own interests, Mr. Putin added that Russia was prepared to contribute $1 billion to the board - as long as the money comes out of the Russian assets that were frozen in the West after Mr. Putin "invaded" Ukraine.

The draft charter for the board stipulates the $1 billion fee for countries that seek to stay on for longer than a three-year term.

A U.S. official said on Tuesday that the board,

"will implement the highest financial controls and oversight mechanisms" for the cash it collects, and that "funds will sit only in approved accounts at reputable banks."

The U.S. official confirmed that Mr. Trump 'could' play a central role in the board even after leaving the presidency.

Mr. Trump can hold the chairmanship,

"until he resigns it," the official said.

 

"A future U.S. president, however, may choose to appoint or designate the United States' representative to the board."

Mr. Weller, the peace negotiations specialist, argued that the expected $1 billion contributions could further sap funding from the United Nations, whose agencies were told by the United States in December that they needed to "adapt, shrink or die."

And he said that the central personal role envisioned for Mr. Trump was unlike any other agreement he had seen in his experience in international affairs.

It was, he said, unlikely to represent a sustainable pathway to world "peace"...

"Peace in the world requires a broad, international consensus," Mr. Weller said.

 

"That can hardly be created through a new institution that is entirely dependent on the will of one man"...

The Board of Peace

by Sam Sifton
February 19, 2026
from NYTimes Website

Article also HERE

President Trump in Davos last month.

Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times



Today we look at

President Trump's

new diplomatic initiative...

Today, President Trump greets his creation.

 The Board of Peace will hold its first gathering since more than 20 nations signed the board's founding charter last month.

 

Delegates will talk about how to rebuild Gaza.

But the board, a kind of Trump-aligned alternative to the United Nations, is aiming much higher.

It wants to,

"secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict," according to the charter.

That's a lot of places beyond Gaza.

It also promises to be a nimble peacekeeping body, presumably unlike the diplomats at the United Nations.

It sounds like something off a pitch deck:

a start-up meant to disrupt international statecraft.

Trump has offered many out-of-the-box ideas, and some of them have succeeded.

Will this one...?

How the Board Works

Member nations must cough up $1 billion to secure a permanent board seat.

If they don't pay, they lose their spot after three years.

The recruits are an odd assortment - not all America's traditional friends.

They include Argentina, Hungary, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

 

Seven European nations, including France and Britain, have declined the offer.

 

Trump rescinded Canada's invitation after the prime minister criticized U.S. foreign policy.

 

Russia said it would pony up if the United States thawed its bank accounts.

Trump is the chairman - not just while he's president, but for life..!

He can invite new countries to join or expel others.

 

He decides who is on the executive committee.

 

Among them are Jared Kushner, his son-in-law; and Tony Blair, a former British prime minister.

 

Trump is the "final authority" on all matters related to the board and its operations.

There are not a lot of checks and balances.

He makes the calls...

What is the Board Doing?

The original idea was to execute Trump's blueprint for postwar Gaza, which he outlined in a 20-point peace plan in September.

Trump says member nations have already pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding the territory. (The United Nations has estimated the cost at more than $50 billion.)

The Trump administration concedes that the challenges in Gaza are enormous.

 

For 60 million tons of rubble to be cleared, the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas must hold.

Israel has killed more than 600 Palestinians since the ostensible peace began, and Hamas has yet to agree to disarm, as Trump envisions.

American officials hope both sides will agree to the board's proposal for this, but they caution not to expect any overnight miracles.

"There are big chunks of this plan where the rubber just hasn't hit the road yet," Aaron Boxerman, who covers Israel and Gaza, told me yesterday afternoon.

So, we'll see...

The U.N. Security Council approved Trump's 20-point plan and blessed the creation of the Board of Peace last November. But now some nations feel buyer's remorse, Farnaz Fassihi, who covers the U.N., told me.

Some, like France and Britain, won't join it.

"Very awkward," Farnaz said.

What's Next?

Many experts in international affairs worry about what they see as a worst-case scenario:

The Trump administration could weaken the multilateral diplomatic system that the United States helped build after World War II - and replace it with something more rapacious and less stable, led by Trump...!

Scholars point to a country trying to flex its global power in a new and unilateral way.

They cite threats against Iran, the saber rattling with Denmark over Greenland and the U.S. attack on Venezuela earlier this year.

Not to mention tariffs that rise and fall on short notice.

"Peace in the world requires a broad, international consensus," an international law professor (Marc Weller) who specializes in peace negotiations told The Times in above article.

 

"That can hardly be created through a new institution that is entirely dependent on the will of one man"...!