United Nations, February 20 – US President Donald Trump is trying to position his Board of Peace (BoP) as a super international organization that would oversee the UN while expanding its own scope beyond Gaza, for which it was originally established.
“The Board of Peace is going to essentially oversee the United Nations and ensure that it runs properly,” he said at the first meeting of the group on Thursday.
Spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric, sidestepped Trump's assertion and cited the UN Charter.
“What is clear, if you look at the UN Charter, which remains our guiding principle, the work of the UN is overseen by Member States through the General Assembly and the Security Council,” he said when a reporter asked him during his briefing about Trump's statement.
Trump did acknowledge the endorsement given by the Security Council for the BoP to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza and rebuild it, a limited mandate.
He said of his ambitions for the BoP, “I think we can expand our work to other areas as we succeed in Gaza.”
After Gaza, he said, “We can do many other things.”
“We can do almost anything we want to do. And we will do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” he added.
He reiterated his criticism of the UN that “it has not lived up to (its) potential.”
The fundamental reason for the UN’s failure to end conflicts is the veto power of the five permanent members, including the US, that limits the Security Council’s powers to act.
Trump, on the other hand, unilaterally used the economic, political, and military might of the US to support his diplomacy.
But the president said that the UN has “tremendous potential”, and “some very good people at the United Nations” and offered help to strengthen it.
The UN is struggling financially because the US has not paid its dues and owes about $4 billion, and officials have warned it could go broke mid-year if Washington doesn’t pay up.
Trump said, “They need help, and they need financial help. We’re going to help them financially, and we’re going to make sure the United Nations is viable.”
But he did not give an assurance that he would release the UN dues, even though most of it has been approved by Congress.
“We’re going to strengthen the United Nations,” he added.
As is his wont, Trump projected his offers to help the UN through the lens of his legacy.
“Someday, I won’t be here. The United Nations will be. I think, (it) is going to be much stronger,” he said.
“I think it’s going to eventually live up to potential,” he added. “That’ll be a big day.”
Trump said that he was going to speak to Guterres “in a little while”.
Dujarric said, “We’re expecting a call”, but as of Thursday night (local time), there was no sign of a Trump conversation with Guterres, who is in India for the AI impact summit.
Trump called Guterres a “good man” with whom he “had a good relationship”.
But he quickly resurrected his complaint about the malfunctioning escalator and the teleprompter when he visited the UN headquarters in September to speak to the General Assembly.
“They did turn off my teleprompter,” and “I had an escalator that stopped,” he said.
“Luckily, my movie star First Lady was in front of me because I put my hand on a certain part of her body” to steady her when the escalator stopped, “just boom.”
Amazon recently released a documentary on Melania Trump, elevating her to a “movie star” for Trump.
Before his complaint about the teleprompter and the escalator, Trump had said, “We’re going to make sure its facilities are good.”
