Bored of Peace

America controls the world, and will continue to do so until Russia is prosperous and Europe united. The future of mankind depends upon the action of America during the next half-century. If America advances smoothly upon the path of capitalistic imperialism which is indicated by present tendencies and opportunities, there will be a gradually increasing oppression of the rest of the world, a widening gulf between the wealth of the New World and the poverty of the Old, a growing hatred of America among the exploited nations, and at last, under socialist guidance, a world-wide revolt involving repudiation of all debts to America. 
–Bertrand Russell (1923)

As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech yesterday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, in apparent rebuke of American imperialist hegemony and bullying, reverberated around the world, I was reminded of a chapter from his 1923 essay, “The Prospects of Industrial Civilisation,” by British philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Back then, Russell didn’t know that China would supersede Russia as a dominant world power. While his prediction of America becoming an oppressor of the rest of the world is being actualised, I don’t think he would have dreamed that it would be led by an ignorant, conceited, covetous cretin like Donald Trump.

Russell went on to question what could possibly be his motherland, England’s role in such an event, painting a very foreboding picture of what might transpire. He made no mention of France, however, probably because he didn’t suspect they could have a leading role in the dystopia he envisaged.

Whether, in such a struggle, England would be on the side of America or on that of Europe and Asia, it is impossible to guess; it would depend upon whether the Americans had thought our friendship or our trade the better worth securing. In either event, the war would probably be so long and so destructive that nothing would be left of European civilization at the end, while America itself would be reduced to poverty and might experience at home the socialism which had been crushed elsewhere. 

Thus a not improbable outcome would be a class war in America, leading to the destruction of industrialism, the death by starvation and disease of about half the population of the globe, and ultimately the return to a simpler manner of life. After reverting for centuries to the life of Red Indians, the Americans might be re-discovered by a second Columbus, hunting wild beasts with bows and arrows on Manhattan Island. Then the process would no doubt begin anew, reaching a similar futile culmination and a similar tragic collapse.

Here again, Russell couldn’t have possibly dreamed that England would be led by such a craven coward as Keir Starmer, who has proved since his election as Prime Minister to be such a convivial lapdog and partner-in-crime to Donald Trump. Likewise, French President Emmanuel Macron has been a willing enabler and accomplice to Trump in more than two years of genocide in Gaza, mangling the international rules-based order and undermining international humanitarian law.

That last part concludes an admittedly long-winded introduction, but was essential to what follows.

Trump concocted a plan last year, undoubtedly with the help of some very nasty people in his orbit, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to end the conflict (because it’s being called that by the West to avoid being called antisemitic) in Gaza. Phase 1 commenced in October 2025 with a ceasefire that, ironically, never actually materialised, although the Western world still pretends it’s in effect. Israel has violated the ceasefire over 1244 times since October 10, killing around 466 Palestinians (as of January 15, 2026).

Phase 2 of the Gaza Peace Plan (I won’t blame you if you wretch as I do each time I hear that outrageous lie) is planned to be launched at the WEF in Davos on 22 January with the signing ceremony for Trump’s farcical Board of Peace. While this Board was apparently conceived to rebuild Gaza, which was flattened by Israel with bombs supplied by America, Trump has, in recent times, insinuated that it would be expanded to resolve “conflicts” worldwide. The cynic in me wonders if these “conflicts” will be settled in the same fictitious manner as the eight other conflicts Trump continues to claim he resolved ad nauseam.

Why the world needs a separate body external to the United Nations, which is a longstanding and properly proficient existing forum, becomes apparent once you realise how the Board of Peace is constituted like a despotic Ponzi scheme.

The BoP, according to its preamble, is “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” and will “undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law.” It doesn’t reveal if this “international law” is the same law which America, including England and France, spurned when it was applied to hold them accountable for gross human rights violations and war crimes in Gaza. Maybe this Board will finally define which laws its members will exempt themselves from and use punitively against everyone else.

Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, elects himself as the BoP’s lifelong chairman and will hold unprecedented exclusive powers, including the power to appoint and remove members of the executive board. Members are kindly requested to “donate” USD $1,000,000,000 to the Board, and anyone contributing more than that stupendous amount will qualify for an exemption from the three-year membership term. How very nice and cosy!

Currently, the Board of Peace, chaired by Trum,p includes seven executive members:

• Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, who is a vociferous warmonger
• Steve Witkoff, a Trump henchman appointed to assist Israel in pretending to maintain ceasefires, and a billionaire real-estate developer
• Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and billionaire real-estate developer, who, like the previous one, has openly boasted of turning Gaza into a French Riviera-like playground for the well-heeled
• Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and well-known warmonger, is noted particularly for lying about Iraq having WMD’s
• Marc Rowan, yet another billionaire US financier and CEO of Apollo Global Management
• Robert Gabriel, a Trump aide on the National Security Council and no doubt responsible for some of Trump’s insane national policies
• Ajay Banga, World Bank president. He’s there either as a token Brown person or to serve some other sinister role in international banking

So far, of the countries invited to join, the clearly fascistic Presidents of Hungary and Argentina have jumped at the chance. Israel’s Netanyahu was coy at first, but he’s now in as well. I imagine he couldn’t allow others to have all the fun “rebuilding” the pulverised Gaza he so painstakingly engineered. France’s Emmanuel Macron indicated that he will not join. Trump responded to the apparent rebuke by releasing a private message Macron had sent him, which, while revealing Trump’s petty vindictiveness, also exposes the hypocrite Macron truly is.

Meanwhile, Mark Carney, in his speech at Davos, reminded us that:

It seems that every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry. That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.

It’s truly amazing that he couldn’t detect the hypocrisy of his own complicity pertaining to Gaza in this statement. Both these men had no qualms about supporting Israel materially in the Gaza genocide, but now pretend to care about international law and order and human rights. Macron, especially, thinks that Brown people are expendable, if you read between the lines in his message to Trump.

England’s Keir Starmer is also reportedly not willing to accept the offer to join Trump’s Board of Peace, but perhaps both these hypocrites will be made an offer they cannot refuse. Wink! Wink!

Clearly, Trump’s shady contrivance is no Board of Peace. For anyone who believes anything of the sort, I have a bridge unscathed from bombing to sell you in Gaza. Trump has constituted what appears to be both an extrajudicial body and a Ponzi scheme. Clearly, the veiled intention is to form a climate conducive to ongoing war so that this dubious body can function in perpetuity while enriching the handful of swindlers running it.