The Dictatorship
Donald Trump’s breathtakingly autocratic ‘Board of Peace’
In Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, under the sharp, thin air of the Swiss Alps, we witnessed what may be the final curtain call for the post-1945 international order. President Donald Trump, flanked by a curious mélange of Middle Eastern monarchs, South American populists and high-finance titans, held up a signed leather-bound folder. With that flourish, the “Board of Peace” was no longer a rhetorical flourish from the campaign trail but an official international organization and arguably the most radical disruption to global governance in 80 years.
It establishes a “might-makes-right” alternative to the United Nations.
What began as a localized mechanism to manage the reconstruction of a shattered Gazahas in the span of a few months, morphed into something far more ambitious. The charter signed at the World Economic Forum doesn’t just outline a plan for Palestinian demilitarization, but it also establishes a “might-makes-right” alternative to the United Nations. By inviting nations to a “pay-to-play” model of diplomacy, where a permanent seat reportedly requires a $1 billion entry feeTrump is attempting to do to global stability what he once did to the New York skyline: privatize it, brand it and center it on his own persona.
To understand the appeal of Trump’s board, one must first acknowledge the profound paralysis of the United Nations. For decades, the U.N. Security Council has been a graveyard of good intentions, hamstrung by the veto power of rival superpowers. The “strong” point of Trump’s venture is its hyper-transactional efficiency. The inclusion of figures such as Tony Blair and World Bank head Ajay Banga alongside billionaires such as Marc Rowan suggests a “CEO approach” to conflict resolution. For countries such as Pakistan, Egypt and the UAEwho were among the first to sign Wednesday, the promise of a nimble body that actually moves money and rebuilds infrastructure is undeniably seductive.
Yet this efficiency comes at the cost of democratic norms. While the U.N. relies on the agonizingly slow process of building consensus among 193 nations, the Board of Peace would operate on the principle of the “inner circle.” In this new paradigm, geopolitical influence is no longer inherited through post-war treaties but purchased through capital commitments. By explicitly linking permanent membership to a 10-figure checkTrump is effectively issuing shares in global stability. Shareholders, if you will, will decide the fate of subsidiaries, the subsidiaries being the small, resource-poor nations that will inevitably find themselves on the board’s agenda.
However, the weaknesses of this new architecture are glaring and potentially fatal to the concept of international law. First, the board creates what amounts to a paywall of diplomacy. The $1 billion price tag for permanent membership turns global stability into a luxury good. Second, the governance is breathtakingly autocratic. The draft charter names Trump as “Chairman for Life” with the exclusive authority to modify the board’s entities. This isn’t a multilateral treaty; It is a corporate takeover of geopolitics.
We are seeing a dangerous schism in the Western alliance.
Furthermore, we are seeing a dangerous schism in the Western alliance. While Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Argentina’s Javier Mile have rushed to sign, the moral core of Europe has stayed away. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper made it clear today that London would not sign onto a body that includes Russian President Vladimir Putin as a potential partner while the war in Ukraine still rages.
This tension reached its zenith during the recent standoff over Greenlandwhere Trump used the threat of tariffs to force a
“framework deal.” It signals that the board’s reach is not limited to war zones like Gaza; it is, instead, intended to be a tool for territorial and economic leverage across the globe.
The central question is whether the Board of Peace can truly replace the U.N. Security Council. The short answer is no, but it can certainly make it irrelevant. Trump’s dismissive comment this week that “the U.N. never helped me” reveals the core philosophy: He isn’t looking to fix the international system — he is looking to exit it.
If the board becomes the primary vehicle for reconstruction funds, then the U.N. will become a vestigial organ, a debating club for a world that no longer exists. We are moving into a “post-legal” world where conflicts are not resolved through shared principles, but settled through high-stakes negotiations between a few powerful men in a mountain resort. The tragedy is that the world does need a more effective peace-building body. But peace is not a real estate development. This week in Davos, the “American Century” didn’t just end — it was rebranded and sold to the highest bidder.
Imran Khalid is a geostrategic analyst and columnist on international affairs. His commentaries have appeared across leading American, European, Asia-Pacific and African publications.
The suspect in an attack at a synagogue near Detroit lost several family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon this month, according to the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn and community leaders.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, lost his two brothers and a niece and nephew in the strike on their home, according to those sources. Whether that played a role in the motive for the attack remains unclear, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer deferred a question about it to the FBI on Friday, citing an ongoing investigation.
Authorities are looking at the possibility Ghazali may have had familial ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon, two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told MS NOW.
Ghazali died in the Thursday attack, in which authorities say he drove a car into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, injuring a security officer. Ghazali was a resident of Dearborn Heights, Mayor Mo Baydoun said in a Facebook post. Baydoun also said in that post that Ghazali “lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon” this month.
The Thursday attack in Michigan came as the U.S. and Israel wage a war with Iranwhich they launched on Feb. 28. Security around Jewish communities in places such as New York has been heightened since the conflict began.
Ghazali first came to the U.S. in 2011 on a spousal visa before being granted citizenship in 2016, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said.
In a phone interview with Fox host Brian Kilmeade, President Donald Trump appeared to blame former President Joe Biden for Ghazali’s entry into the country when asked about the Michigan attack and the deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Michigan.
“They came in a lot through Biden, and they came in through other presidents, frankly, and it’s a disgrace,” Trump said.
Temple Israel describes itself as the country’s largest Jewish Reform congregation, and it also has an early childhood education center on site that more than 100 kids attend, Whitmer said. All children were safely evacuated following the attack, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
“This is targeting babies who are Jewish,” Whitmer said. “That’s antisemitism at its absolute worst.”
The security guard who was injured was hospitalized but is expected to recover.
Whitmer on Friday thanked the synagogue’s security personnel, who she said “were selfless in their courage and they saved lives.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., added that if the synagogue’s private security, local law enforcement and first responders “had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone.”
Andrew Bossone and Chris O’Leary contributed to this report.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
Marc Santia is an investigative correspondent for MS NOW.
The Dictatorship
Missile strikes a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say
BAGHDAD (AP) — A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, two Iraqi security officials said.
Associated Press footage showed a column of smoke rising Saturday morning over the embassy compound.
The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four airports serving Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia, halted all flights on Friday evening for over an hour because of a strong chemical smell that was impeding air traffic controllers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The ground stop affected Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Richmond International Airport, FAA Secretary Sean Duffy announced on social media Friday. The declaration caused flight delays to soar to roughly two hours across some of the busiest airports in the country.
Flights began to leave the airports after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, but the ground stop — which prevents planes from landing at an airport — remained in place.
The smell was coming from Potomac TRACON, Duffy wrote, referring to a terminal radar approach control facility that manages air traffic for the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Virginia, and the Richmond-Charlottesville areas, according to the FAA website.
A spokesperson for the federal agency didn’t respond to an emailed question clarifying how the smell was affecting traffic controllers on Friday evening.
Between 25% and one-third of all flights departing from the four airports affected were delayed after the ground stop.
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