Trump's Board of Peace: Facing the Odds in a World Addicted to Conflict

Opinion Piece

In a bold move that challenges the entrenched powers of perpetual war, President Donald J. Trump has launched the Board of Peace, an international body aimed at mediating global conflicts and fostering stability. Established in January 2026 with Trump as its lifelong chairman, the Board began with oversight of Gaza's reconstruction but quickly expanded its ambitions to address worldwide disputes, potentially eclipsing bodies like the United Nations Security Council.

Yet, this initiative faces formidable opposition from forces that thrive on chaos: the military-industrial complex (MIC), which reaps billions from endless warfare, and globalist elites who exploit division to advance their supranational agendas. Using the ongoing Ukraine conflict as a stark example, it's clear the deck is stacked against peace—but Trump's strategies offer a roadmap to push back.

"Beware the Military Industrial Complex"

The MIC, a sprawling network of defense contractors, lobbyists, and policymakers, has long been criticized for prioritizing profits over peace. As President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned in 1961, this "conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry" wields unwarranted influence. In recent years, that influence has ballooned. Global defense spending hit $2.72 trillion in 2024, with U.S. firms like Lockheed Martin, RTX, and General Dynamics securing over one-third of Pentagon contracts—totaling nearly $2.4 trillion from 2020 to 2024.

These companies aren't just building weapons, they're engineering dependency on conflict. Stock buybacks and dividends soar while production lags, diverting funds from innovation to shareholder enrichment. Unfortunately, the U.S. does not have a MIC monopoly. Countless other countries are dependent on the sale of the instruments of war to fuel their struggling economies. A clear case in point is Iran, whose economy has been decimated by global sanctions but still makes $billion by selling drones and other instruments of war to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Ukraine. Since Russia's 2022 invasion, U.S. military aid has exceeded $65 billion, much of it funneled to American contractors for arms like artillery, drones, and munitions. U.S. arms exports jumped from 35% to 43% of the global market between 2014-2019 and 2020-2024, driven by the war. Contractors reported record revenues—Lockheed alone netted $313 billion in Pentagon deals over five years—while the conflict dragged on, claiming lives and draining treasuries. This isn't altruism; it's a business model. As one report notes, the Ukraine war has "set cash registers ringing" for U.S. firms, revitalizing an industry that thrives on attrition. Peace in Ukraine would mean fewer contracts, lower profits, and a hit to the MIC's bottom line. No wonder lobbyists and hawks in Washington resist any deal that ends the fighting.

For deeper insight into how the MIC profits from Ukraine, watch:

The Globalist Threat

Compounding this is the role of globalists—elites in transnational institutions like the UN, EU, and World Economic Forum—who, critics argue, use war to deepen divisions and consolidate power. Anti-globalist thinkers portray these forces as engineering crises to erode national sovereignty, promoting a "New World Order" where borders dissolve and control centralizes in unelected bodies. In Ukraine, this manifests as prolonged conflict that weakens Europe, boosts migration flows, and justifies expanded NATO influence—dividing the public between "cosmopolitans" and "nationalists," as one analyst describes the fracture. The war exacerbates economic strife, low birthrates, and identity erosion in the West, creating fertile ground for globalist interventions. Trump's Board of Peace, with its emphasis on national leaders over bureaucratic elites, directly threatens this paradigm by offering an alternative to UN-style multi-lateralism.

Explore more on how Trump's Board of Peace impacts globalists and war:

Once again we can use Ukraine as the perfect example of how the MIC and globalist agendas intersect. The conflict has not only enriched the MIC but also deepened Europe's reliance on U.S. energy and arms, advancing a globalist agenda of interconnected dependencies. Russia's invasion was met with sanctions and aid packages that, while defensive, prolonged the stalemate. Proposals for peace, like Trump's earlier 28-point plan—which included ceasefires, territorial concessions, and caps on Ukraine's military—were derided as capitulation, even as they aimed to halt the bloodshed. Globalist hawks in Brussels and Washington pushed for escalation, framing any compromise as weakness. Yet, as Trump noted in a recent interview, Putin seems open to deals, while resistance often comes from those invested in the status quo.

Despite these headwinds, Trump has tools to combat these powers. On the MIC front, his January 2026 executive order, "Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting," cracks down on profiteering by barring under performing contractors from stock buybacks and dividends until they boost production and meet deadlines. It ties executive pay to performance metrics, shifting incentives from Wall Street to the battlefield. Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, while massive, includes reforms to "supercharge" the industrial base, emphasizing efficiency over endless spending. The FY26 National Defense Authorization Act bolsters this with authorities to onshore supply chains and grow manufacturing jobs, reducing the MIC's grip.

See Trump's stance on the MIC and globalists; his stance is unapologetically nationalist:

"Give Peace a Chance"

The Board of Peace's charter grants him veto power and focuses on practical deals over ideological grandstanding, as seen in its Gaza role. In Ukraine, his peace proposals link security guarantees to realistic compromises, like 15-year U.S. commitments in exchange for territorial adjustments and NATO neutrality—moves that prioritize sovereignty over endless alliance expansion. By inviting diverse nations like Saudi Arabia and Turkey to join the Board, Trump builds coalitions outside globalist strongholds.

The Board of Peace may be an uphill battle, but it's a necessary one. In a world where war profiteers and division-sowers hold sway, Trump's initiative reminds us that true strength lies in resolving conflicts, not perpetuating them. If successful, it could redefine global order—not through endless strife, but through pragmatic peace.