What is Trump's Board of Peace? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines. And today we're looking at. Donald Trump's socalled Board of Peace, which was supposed to help Gaza, but now. apparently has much wider ambitions. We're joined by our Middle East analyst, Sebastian Usher. And Sebastian, what is. this board of peace? >> Well, we still don't 100% know um when. it was first spoken about, when Mr. Trump first presented it did seem that. it was really locked into Gaza and.

trying to resolve the conflict there. It. seemed to be an offshoot of that. Since. then we've seen several other boards. splinter and above them is reigning the. board of all boards. It seems the board. of peace which has now morphed into. something which could be much wider and. essentially invitations have been sent. out to world leaders of all kinds. I. mean, how they would all get on within. this board of peace. How much peace. there would be if they were all in one. room together, I think is a big.

question. But it's being presented by. the Trump administration as something. that can sort of oversee the world, conflicts across the world, moving away. from Gaza, really not specifically. focused on that. And you know, we've. heard from a number of world leaders. that they've received invitations. Some. of them like President Putin, his. spokesperson, saying that they're. looking into it. Some like France saying. that they were very much up for it when.

it was about Gaza, but if it's a. potential replacement for the UN. Security Council, that's not what we're. interested in. And then a number of. countries, Hungary, Argentina, sorry, just looking at the at some of the. names, Morocco, Vietnam, Barus have. joined up. Israel has joined up. There. was some speculation that the Israeli. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. wouldn't want to because there would be. people on the board of peace that are. very much um people that he wouldn't.

want to be in the same room as like the. Turkish president. >> But that's a separate board, isn't it? >> That's exactly now. That's the way it. seems to be developing. Um so, so yes, I. mean we should talk about the other. boards. >> because it's quite a complicated. structure. Although uh Mr. Trump does. seem to have huge overarching powers. over this whole body. >> That's how it looks at the moment. I. mean it looks like I mean all the issues. of the UN UN Security Council and the. way that you know the powerful countries.

have the veto so can block I mean you. look at Israel you look at other issues. around the world look at Ukraine and. often no action is taken because one. country which is very closely involved. in that decides to veto any move. Well, this seems almost to be boiling down to. one man will now have that veto for. everything across the world. If this. develops into a genuine powerful entity. that has a role that can to some extent. uh uh fulfill some of what the UN has. been doing, which I think is certainly.

what President Trump and his. administration would be looking at. I. mean, they have been absolutely. uh their criticism of the UN on every. level has been intense throughout. um. and they would essentially like the UN. in so many areas to be replaced. Gaza. being the first one of all. So, you. know, it really comes down to is this. going to be shaped only by the Trump. administration, only by the US or as. more countries come in and get involved, will they be able to shape the way. forward on this and be able to turn it.

into something which would not just seem. to be a vehicle for President Trump? Because underneath that board of peace, which countries have been invited to. join, is an executive board. And so far, the majority of members on that. executive board are Trump loyalists like. Steve Wickoff or Jared Kushner and. controversially the former British Prime. Minister Tony Blair and the US Secretary. of State Marco Rubio, um a billionaire. US financia Mark Rowan, etc. So these.

are people who are all of a very. particular type, one could say, who. would all have probably a pretty. consistent perspective on global issues. Now there's that executive board which. is under the board of peace which my. understanding at the moment is that they. would be looking across the world at. issues. Then there's another executive. board which is specifically about Gaza. on which Tony Blair also features. But. there are other regional leaders uh from. from from from Egypt, from Turkey, etc.

uh on that board that is supposed to be. overseeing the reconstruction of Gaza. when and if that ever begins to happen. Then subsidiary to that is a. technocratic committee of Palestinians. who've been named who are supposed to be. involved in the day-to-day governance of. Gaza. But what this talk about the board. of peace seems to have done and. certainly from a perspective of many. people who want to see action taken on. Gaza is moving it away from that and.

making action in the immediate future. being taken on Gaza and and and and. making phase two of Gaza be put into. action seemed to be a more distant. possibility. So rather than be being. something which is going to uh uh be. very proactive in forcing that forward, it feels at the moment it might be. actually distancing itself and making. that less likely to be happening. >> because apparently the draft of the.

charter doesn't even mention Gaza. >> No mention of Gaza. It's moved away from. that. We really are a bit in the dark. about this at the moment. I mean how. much this is a separate structure and. not weakening or diminishing the role of. the board which is specifically about. Gaza the executive board is is an open. question. But then that brings you into. the whole issue of what the Trump. administration what Israel what other. entities around actually want to do. about Gaza. How much do they really want. to move forward on this second phase?

President Trump has talked about it a. lot, but of course he has many other. issues at the moment that are at the. forefront even more than Gaza has been. for some time and is he going to listen. as we as as we've seen before to. perspective of the Israeli Prime. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more than. anyone else? But there there are wider. questions about the credibility of this. board given that Russia which invaded. Ukraine has been invited to be on it and. given that uh member countries are being. asked to cough up a billion dollars each.

if they want permanent membership. >> I mean of course of course I mean that. that that's a huge issue but as I say if. you look at the UN security council. that's not so different. You look at the. UN that is many countries obviously. pulling in different direction. Critics. would say this is uh designed to. undermine the UN which is the big. arbiter of global security since the. Second World War. >> Oh, absolutely. I mean, President Trump. hasn't specifically put it that way, but. he has, you know, as as I'm saying, his. track record, the administration's track.

record is essentially to criticize and. condemn the UN and almost every level. and to bypass it as well when it wants. to. So there's no doubt however this may. have been stated publicly that this is. being projected as a way of bypassing. the UN and that role that it's played. Now many people would be critical of the. way the UN has has operated all these. years but having another uh uh entity. which seems to be even less wide ranging. in the powers spread out across the. world that you know in in the security.

council there are four or five countries. which really call the shots. This is one. where maybe it's only the US is going to. call the shots and maybe just President. Trump and also the issue is President. Trump at the moment if this gets off the. ground I think is in you know he's the. eternal leader of this board of peace. He doesn't have to be president of the. US anymore. It hasn't been stated. We'll. see whether it's the president of US or. President Trump but at the moment it. seems to be Mr. Trump even after he. leaves the White House. >> That seems to be where it's going. So it.

would give him a huge leverage. potentially still after that. You talk. about the billion dollars. Now the. billion dollars is an order, you know, I. mean many people have made the. comparison with with with with Mr. Trump's famous club Mara Lago, you know, you sign up a membership, you pay for. that membership. So if you want to be a. permanent member the moment I think you. get three years as a member and then or. you could be kicked out by President. Trump before that he's made clear but. three years if you want to be a. permanent member you pay a billion. dollars. Now that clearly is an attempt.

to be able to finance an operation that. again would be able to match the UN on. the ground. And going back to Gaza, we're seeing the way that it that that. the US has backed Israel in its attack, its condemnation of the UN and other aid. agencies there and trying to provide an. alternative. We saw that before the. ceasefire with, you know, an operation. that was set up to bypass the UN and it. failed, but that's continuing. So I. think that is something we should look.

at of where this might be going. >> Sebastian, thank you. And if you like. this episode, please subscribe to us. here on YouTube. And if you have any. other stories you'd like us to cover, please leave a comment below. And for. more international news, you can always. download our global news podcast from. wherever you get your podcasts.