TemUN

The no longer so peaceful peace president has announced the creation of the Board of Peace for Gaza. He will lead this organization, which will give world leaders another way to tie their identities and fates to his. Assuming he decides they’re cool enough to join his new club.

U.S. President Donald Trump has put the price that countries must pay for a permanent seat on the Gaza Board of Peace at $1 billion. The White House has invited at least 60 world leaders to join a body that Washington initially linked to the resolution of the war in the Palestinian enclave, but which takes the form of a global assembly that would have Trump as its leader, according to a draft of the founding charter to which Reuters and Bloomberg have had access.

The charter, which the U.S. has sent to the countries invited to participate, says that Trump will have the right to decide who aspires to join the club and when and where their meetings and votes will be held. He will also have the final say on the decisions of the board, described in the draft as an entity to “promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”

I assume that “$1 billion” is a typo and there is at least one digit after the 1.

To date Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán and Vietnam’s Communist Party chief, To Lam have accepted, but no word on whether they paid for the permanent membership of an organization that might do nothing more than give the pettiest president another outlet for his tantrums.

Back to the AP article.

The official said the money raised would go to rebuilding Gaza.

No one believes this. Sure, the few dollars that slip through tRump’s slimy grasp might make its way to people who are allegedly planning to rebuild Gaza into a beach resort (Kushner and Witkoff are double-hatting on this thing). But by the time all the grifting is over, there won’t be much left for so much as a bag of cement.

In letters sent Friday to world leaders inviting them to be “founding members,” Trump said the Board of Peace would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.”

What are the chances this pitch is not the standard “Buy My Exclusive Membership Card” pitch with some hasty find/replace? Are negative chances a thing?

That could become a potential rival to the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful body of the global entity created in the wake of World War II.

It could be a rival to the U.N. In the same way I could be a potential rival in a Lupita Nyong’o look-alike contest. If I were the only person left alive on the planet. And even then, probably not. For example, Israel has already objected because the members of the well-oiled peace machine didn’t bother to get its input.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protested on January 17 over the configuration of Gaza’s Executive Board of Peace. As soon as the Sabbath ended, Netanyahu posted a statement in Hebrew in which he said that the composition of that body had not been coordinated with Israel and is contrary to Israeli policy. Although Netanyahu did not go into detail, his objection appears to be the inclusion of a minister from Turkey, and representatives of Qatar and Egypt, two countries that have condemned the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis.

I guess Netanyahu will need to purchase a membership if he wants His Peacefulness to care. There might be a slight fine for the impertinence of suggesting his opinion matters.

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