Trump's Peace Council initiative may be 'copying Putin' — journalist

Journalist Vitaly Portnikov spoke about this on Espreso TV.

"I have the impression that Donald Trump is simply trying to use the Peace Council mechanism to extend his political life for some time after he ceases to be President of the United States. By the way, let me remind you that this mechanism has been approved by the UN Security Council. So, we say that with Greenland, Trump is copying Putin. But not entirely, because he's not resorting to annexation of Greenland. Let's see what happens next. With the Peace Council - this could also be copying Putin: using a completely legitimate mechanism to become the uncrowned leader of the U.S. - president of the world after 2029," the journalist noted.

According to him, from Trump's point of view, Americans will definitely elect the successor he proposes to them. But this successor will simply obey Donald Trump - the head of the Peace Council and leader of the globe - just as Russian President Medvedev obeyed Prime Minister Putin, in whose hands all power in Russia was concentrated.

"How's that for a copy? But also absolutely strange, because we understand - if Donald Trump loses real levers of power in 2029, then all these presidents and prime ministers who go to the Peace Council will flee from there if the new U.S. president doesn't tell them to stay. But that will be a different story if it depends on him. And most importantly - this Peace Council can't decide anything, because the UN Security Council, no matter how criticized, is a council of nuclear powers that restrains these states from any military actions against each other. Can this Council send troops somewhere without a mandate? Where are the guarantees that other countries won't resist these troops? And if these are ordinary American troops that can't be stopped because Trump will act by right of force? Then why does he need the Peace Council? Because it doesn't legitimize anything. NATO behaved exactly the same way during the Yugoslavia situation - the operation was carried out without a UN Security Council mandate. So for now, this is all animation, not reality," Portnikov concluded.

What is known about Trump's Peace Council

On January 16, American leader Donald Trump announced the creation of a Peace Council to handle post-war governance of the Gaza sector, as well as the transition to the next stage of a 20-point peace plan for the region.

Its members include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff, the U.S. president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, American billionaire and CEO of investment company Apollo Global Management Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel.

On January 19, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin received an invitation from the U.S. to join the Gaza Peace Council. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko's office stated that Trump invited him to this Council as well.

In contrast, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he will not accept U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal and will not join his Gaza Peace Council.

Later it became known that Polish leader Karol Nawrocki also received an invitation. In response, he stated that a state's entry into any international organization requires consent from the Council of Ministers and ratification by the Sejm.

China also received an invitation from the United States to join the Gaza Peace Council.