Bored of Peace: Axis Powers for a Globalised Age

Where Donald Trump’s first tenure as President of the United States was concerned with making America great again, it is quickly becoming apparent he has broadened his horizons with his second innings. Growing weary of his global reputation as an obtrusive, childish bully, he’s spent the last year showing the world all he wants to do is bring about peace – granted, of course, he gets the credit. A big gold medal would be nice, too.

This is, of course, referring to Trump’s indignation at being snubbed by the Norwegian Nobel Foundation this past year when they did not award him their coveted peace prize. Due to his apparent involvement in ending eight wars in 2025 (an ever-rising number with, seemingly, very little validity), he felt more than entitled to the prize – so much so, in fact, that he used the snub as justification to threaten Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere with an invasion of Greenland. The leader of the free world “no longer feels obligated to think purely of peace”, as he sees it. A troubling sentiment indeed.

So, with threats of European military invasions looming and the denouncement of NATO and the United Nations (UN), this week saw the inaugural meeting of Trump’s “Board of Peace” – a gleaming new peacekeeping initiative, laden with nepotism and war criminals at the helm, set to rival the “empty words” of the UN with “real action”. Meeting alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with the notable exception of various European leaders, sat a who’s-who of national populism from across the globe: Javier Milei of Argentina, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Viktor Orban of Hungary notably occupied the front row alongside Trump.

It's difficult to say whether this was the congregation the self-appointed Chairman-for-life was hoping for at his first annual meeting, as aside from Canada’s Mark Carney, whose invitation was rescinded by Trump, many of the world’s leaders were absent by choice. Although ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair sits on the Executive Board, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper gave the excuse of trepidation surrounding Putin’s invitation as the reason for Keir Starmer skipping the ceremony. For an international body with aspirations to usurp the UN this certainly doesn’t aid credibility; however, it doesn’t seem a stretch to imagine that Trump will be happy to see nobody likely to oppose him enter the agreement.

Trump’s squabbles and tantrums often elicit hyperbolic media reactions, further disconnecting his already confusing and erratic actions from reality. Some would even credit that abstracted hyperbole as the reason he’s in a position of power in the first place. This time, however, something seems different. The ridiculous statements to the press, outlandish manifesto promises on immigration and the economy, even threats of occupying neighbouring territories, no longer feel like they’re taking place a world away. As the world continues to bend the knee to the new brand of Trumpist politics, and as he makes his speeches not from the White House, but from a European stage, history appears to be repeating itself more and more each day.

Atop the throne of international politics sits a man offering an alternative to the world order. A man sending masked officers to offer the weak a choice of imprisonment or death. A man who sees little wrong with the capture of a leader ruling a continent away. A man telling Europe he will not rule out a military invasion to take what he sees to be his. But, most importantly, there sits a man who will not be told “no”. Drawing comparisons between the America of today and the Germany of the 1930s could be seen as insensitive, but the fact of the matter is that the comparisons are there to be made.

The Board of Peace forming a matter of days after the Greenland dispute with Stoere truly hammers this concern home. The chairman of this peacekeeping organisation’s threats has resulted in the military intervention of a number of the world’s most powerful states, and in its wake, Europe is left not united but entirely divided. Aside from genuine military threats, Trump consistently undermines any political opposition he may have in the continent, including even some of the US’s most consistent allies in the UK and France. With the lessons we’ve learned from history, this should band the continent together. But what the Board of Peace represents isn’t just the populist polarisation made so popular by Trump’s administration, but a sign to the world that even the United Nations aren’t safe from the President’s far-reaching culture of division.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/President of Azerbaijan (president.az)

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