Foreign Digest: Trump’s Board of Peace, Iran, Russia and Ukraine

Board of Peace: Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” held its initial meeting, after being snubbed by most European and some other United States allies. The Board is intended ostensibly to administer the Gaza Strip and provide a forum for other international disputes. The unusual structure of it has given some States pause or caused them to reject the invitations to join, such as the Holy See, which expressed perplexity over the Board's structure and expressed the concern that it would supplant the United Nations. For example, Trump would be chairman for life, holds unilateral veto power, and the invitation-only form costs $1 billion to join. The European Union and Italy, an ally whose center-right Prime Minister is close with Trump and acts as a bridge between the two sides of the Atlantic, will participate only as observers. The Italian Constitution prohibits participating in any organization in which Italy would not have voting parity, which Board of Peace members would not have. Most other key allies that were invited have not joined, but some dictatorships and a few allies have. Iran: Over a million people turned out for the Day of Action rallies for Iran around the world, including in American cities over a week ago. There was also a new round of protests in several cities in Iran, despite the killing of thousands of Iranians by the Islamic Republic and mass arrests of others, with threatened executions, after the largest round of protests in years last month. The theocratic Shi’ite Muslim Iranian regime foments Islamic revolution throughout the Islamic world, especially among fellow Shi’ites, and is the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism. Iran has been developing a nuclear weapon program. The Islamic Republic arms the Russian Federation for its aggression against Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine: Trump has delayed a vote by the United States Congress on sanctions against the Russian Federation for its aggression against Ukraine through his pressure on the majority Republican caucuses of each chamber. There is strong bipartisan support for Ukraine. Today is the fourth anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia had invaded the former Soviet Republic in 2014, seizing Crimea and then fomented a separatist rebellion in the Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine. Russia’s aggression violates the Unted Nations Charter, as the organization was formed after the Second World War to oppose aggression, as well as Russian recognition of Ukrainian independence and agreements to respect Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity that were given in exchange for Ukraine giving up its Soviet nuclear weapons and missiles, a deal which was supposed to be backed by American and British security guarantees for Ukraine. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin is an ex-Soviet intelligence officer who intends to restore the Soviet Union and Russian Empire. Russia invaded the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 2008 and has kept troops in Moldova, a former Soviet Republic west of Ukraine, against Moldova’s wishes in support of a breakaway region of Russian-speakers.