Gavriil Grigorov / Sputnik / Kremlin / EPA
Donald Trump e Vladimir Putin
Around 60 countries were invited to the Council of which Trump is expected to be “president for life” and where a captive seat will cost billions. However, the North American president leaves a warning: “I no longer feel obliged to think only about peace”.
Vladimir Putin was invited to join Donald Trump’s initiative aimed at peace in Gaza, according to the Kremlin.
Participation in the Peace Council will now be analyzed by Russian authorities, who say they expect contacts with Washington on the matter, according to a copy of the invitation letter and a draft statute consulted by .
According to the letter, the proposal calls for Trump to be “president for life” of the Council. The initiative would begin by focusing on the conflict in Gaza, before being extended to other international hotspotswith the stated aim of boosting conflict resolution efforts on a global scale.
The international reception of the plan was marked by caution. Several governments reacted cautiously on Sunday, admitting fears that the new mechanism could conflict with the work of the United Nations or weaken existing processes within the multilateral framework.
Hungary, whose prime minister is described as a close ally of Trump, was one of the few capitals to publicly offer unreserved acceptance. Diplomats indicated that the invitations were sent to around 60 countries and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday.
One of the invitations went to the president of Brazil, Lula da Silvawhich will also evaluate whether or not to accept joining the new council — a very sensitive decision with potential diplomatic costs, points out (Israel declared Lula ‘persona non grata’ after he compared the Israeli action in Gaza to the Holocaust and classified it as genocide).
In addition to Lula, also the president of Argentina, Javier Mileyconfirmed that he had been invited to join the board and stated that it would be “an honor” to participate in the initiative.
The institutional design of the Peace Council also includes a financial component: the letter states that member states would have terms limited to three years, unless they contribute $1 billion to finance the organization’s activities, a condition that would guarantee them permanent member status.
However, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, accepted the invitation, according to spokesman Ruslan Zheldibay, stating that the country intends to contribute to a stable peace in the Middle East and to strengthening trust between States.
The Kremlin also took the opportunity to comment that it was “difficult to disagree” with experts who argue that Trump would “make world history” if he took control of , although spokesman Dmitry Peskov avoided discussing whether this would be positive or negative.
Trump insisted this Sunday that the time has come to eliminate the Russian threat on the island and stated, in a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr, that after Norway did not award him the Nobel Peace Prize, “he no longer feels obliged to think only about peace”.
“Dear Jonas: Given that your country decided not to award me the Nobel Peace Prize for preventing eight wars, and more, I no longer feel obliged to think only about peacealthough this is always predominant, but now I can think about what is good and appropriate for the United States”, he stated in a message released by PBS News correspondent, Nick Schifrin.
