Earlier this year, on January 22nd at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland, President Donald Trump inaugurated what he called his “Board of Peace’. It was described as an international organization with the stated purpose of promoting “peacekeeping” around the world.
The Board of Peace (BoP) was established by Trump himself, initiated particularly by his interest in seeing peace between Israel and the Palestinians over a longstanding period of conflict that had spanned generations. Mr. Trump proclaimed that he is the Chairman of the Board for life, with the body consisting of many countries, each of them being required to pay as much as one billion dollars for a three-year validation.
So ambitious was he in its establishment, that Trump took the bold liberty to declare that the Board of Peace could potentially replace the United Nations. He described it as “the most prestigious Board ever assembled, at any time, in any place”. He even purported that the BoP would soon take over the functions of the UN.
But with all of the conflict in the world today, the major part of which has been generated by Trump himself, it is obvious that by his own whims and fancies he has willfully pioneered adverse global disturbances that run counter to any semblance of peace as we know it.
So what really is the function of the Board of Peace? Now with the on-going war which Trump and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu have initiated against Iran, this Board of Peace has, in my view, become a paradox when we consider the President’s belligerent military actions. The Board of Peace stands to make a mockery of its initiator.
Ironically, when the President took up office as America’s 47th Commander in Chief on January 20th 2025, he proudly proclaimed that he is indeed a “President of Peace”. Donald James Trump pledged to be a “peacemaker and unifier,” stating that it is his goal to end wars and that his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker”. Upon entering the presidential scene for the second term, as a “savior” of sorts, he had expressed a desire to be remembered for creating peace and unity, promising to focus on ending military conflicts around the globe.
But on the contrary, there is a massive war raging now in the Middle East. This is “Trump’s war” – Trump’s disruption of peace. It’s a war of instinct which he has engaged just to please his partner, Prime Minister Natanyahu of Israel. It’s a wretched war that has global implications, with the potential to plunge America into an economic depression, or even a recession, not to mention the potential loss of soldiers’ lives. The effects of this war will drive major countries like the UK into chaos, and smaller countries like Anguilla into potential socio-economic hardship.
But let’s go back to just before this US/Israel conflict with Iran. Television newscasts, podcasts and reels had recently demonstrated stories which depicted the brutal treatment of ordinary American folk, by Trump’s ordained Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Trump had determined to use ICE to execute brutalities in his own country, purporting that he was utilizing them as a combat force, practicing against criminal immigrant elements in America. In essence, selected American states, most of which were Democratic instead of Republican, had become, as it were Trump’s battle grounds.
But it turned out that ICE unleashed more hostility against innocent American citizens whose only “crime” was to protest against the way in which the agency was brutally treating law-abiding residents of America.
Obviously, nowhere were there more unrests and protests against the vicious injustice of the ICE brutes than in the state of Minnesota, a state that had historically always voted for democratic presidents. Here, during last January, both René Good and Alex Pretty were shot and killed in cold blood simply because they were standing up for victims, their fellow-citizens, who were down trodden by ICE.
All of this mayhem was sparked by Trump’s initiative. But my question is how can this President tout to be “a peace-keeper” and “a unifier”, when he has caused America to be so chaotic and divided? And how can he establish the Board of Peace for governing international tranquility when his deliberate aim was to instigate such misery, dread and catastrophe upon his own people in his own country. What an image of a “peacemaker and unifier” is that?
Trump induced the unrest, as he vowed to have his military style ICE agents “practice” their warlike tactics on his own American communities, instilling fear and dread in the hearts of ordinary US citizens in the guise of eradicating illegal aliens. What an image of a “peacemaker and unifier” is that?
Today, the results of Trumps instructions for ICE to execute military tactics in American cities, are that thousands of persons have been rounded up like animals for the slaughter and bundled off to detention centers where their inhumane treatment runs counter to any hope of the “American Dream”.
So how can these innocent detainees be “at peace” when they are forced to live under such deplorable conditions, with little or no hope for a brighter tomorrow? Does such conditions gender peace with a unifying fervor from a President of goodwill? And how does the Board of Peace advocate for the peace and contentment of these detainees who have been held for so long with little or no hope of relief? Is this the America which we call the “Home of the Free”?
What is even more depressing is that Trump has earmarked funds for the purchase of warehouses all across America to serve as misery holding quarters for even more captured immigrants, whether are not they have been making efforts to regularize their immigrant status.
A survey shows that these innocent people are simply not criminals, but like many members of Trump’s own German and Scottish ancestry, they had endeavoured to accept the offer of Lady Liberty in the New York Harbour whose words of welcome still ring out: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
If the intent of President Trump was to be an agent of peace for human kind in this world, it is evident that his plans to this end have miserably failed.
The induction of his “Epic Fury” War with Israel against Iran; his sudden “Absolute Resolve” incursion on Venezuela which deposed its national leader; his “Mid-Night Hammer” attack on Iran, which he claimed had obliterated its nuclear potential; his fierce threats to dominate Canada and Greenland; and the national chaos and discontent which he instigated upon his own America; all point to the maxim that his paradoxical “Board of Peace” bears no real significance. It appears only as a facade of the President’s imagination which engenders willful wars contrary to any semblance of peace.
