Trump’s ‘Bored’ of Peace?
And Greenland’s Looking Reeeeeal Nice
As everyone at the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos zips up their $3,000 Moncler parkas, Donald Trump has dropped a new must-have accessory: the”Board of Peace.” Initially established last year during US-led efforts to end the war in Gaza, this new international body - chaired for life by Trump - seeks to promote peace in conflict-affected areas globally. However, as of January 22nd, the UK remains unwilling to sign up, citing broader concerns and Russia’s invitation: “We have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be commitment to peace in Ukraine,” said UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
So what are Trump’s true intentions for this Board of Peace? Or is he simply bored and wants a piece (of Greenland)?
Is Trump Bored of Peace?
The evidence suggests he’s definitely swiped left on traditional diplomacy. After being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, Trump sent a breakup text to Norway’s Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store. He wrote:
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace... but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States.”
In the end, Machado ‘gifted’ her prize to Trump, despite the Nobel Committee citing that the Prize cannot be “revoked, shared or transferred to others”, suggesting that the Nobel Peace Prize itself might be a joke in itself. This shift in rhetoric has manifested in a chilling new ‘Monroe Doctrine’ for the 2020s. This week, the Davos air was thick with talk of Greenland. Trump intensified his demand to annex the autonomous territory, claiming it is “our territory” and vital for national security against Russia and China. While he appeared to rule out immediate military force in a rambling Wednesday speech saying, “I don’t want to use force”, he had earlier threatened to do things “the hard way” and imposed 10% tariffs on eight European nations to extort a sale. By Wednesday evening, he claimed a “framework deal” with NATO’s Mark Rutte to secure US interests in the Arctic, though European leaders remain skeptical of its legitimacy.
The shadow of Venezuela also looms large. Following the US military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, Trump’s administration has moved to assert total control over the nation’s oil interests, promising US oil giants total safety to invest billions.
A New World Order
For the United Nations, the Board of Peace represents an existential threat. Trump has already initiated the withdrawal of the US from 66 international organizations, including 31 UN entities. By creating a ‘pay-to-play’ alternative, where permanent seats can be purchased for $1 billion, Trump is effectively attempting to replace 80 years of multilateralism with a ‘Mar-a-Lago of Geopolitics’.
In this new world order, power is concentrated entirely in the hands of the Chairman, who can issue resolutions unilaterally, essentially a top-down project to assert Trump’s control over global affairs. Traditional alliances are replaced by transactional “memberships,” and sovereignty, whether in Caracas or Nuuk, is negotiable for the right price. If the price of entry is a billion dollars and the price of exit is a trade war, the world may soon find that Trump’s version of peace is more exhausting than the chaos it claims to cure.