Trump's Board of Peace: Imperialism Gets a Corporate Rebrand

Analysis of: World leaders gather in Washington for Donald Trump’s first Board of Peace meeting - US politics live
The Guardian | February 19, 2026

TL;DR

Trump's 'Board of Peace' brings authoritarians together to carve up Gaza while preparing war on Iran. This is imperialism rebranded—a fee-paying club of dictators replacing multilateral institutions to serve US capital's regional interests.

Analytical Focus:Contradictions Historical Context Interconnections

The inauguration of Trump's 'Board of Peace' represents a crystallization of contradictions within the post-WWII imperial order. What we witness is not simply diplomatic theater but a structural reorganization of how Western capitalism—particularly US capital—exercises dominion over strategic territories. The Board explicitly sidesteps the United Nations, replacing even the limited democratic veneer of multilateral institutions with a 'fee-paying members' club' dominated by authoritarian regimes. This is governance as shareholder meeting, with Jared Kushner positioned as de facto CEO of Gaza's future. The material stakes are immense: control over Gaza's reconstruction (estimated at $70 billion, with only $5 billion pledged), the planned 5,000-person military base spanning 350 acres, and the broader consolidation of US military hegemony through the largest air power buildup since the 2003 Iraq invasion. The simultaneous preparation for potential strikes on Iran reveals the Board of Peace as fundamentally a board of war—'peace' serving as ideological cover for imperial expansion. The exclusion of Palestinian representation while Israel holds a seat exposes whose 'peace' this actually serves. Historically, this echoes earlier moments of imperial partition—the Berlin Conference, the Sykes-Picot Agreement—where great powers divided territories without consulting the colonized. The Lancet study's revelation that over 75,000 Palestinians died in the first 16 months (3-4% of Gaza's population) provides the material context: this 'peace' follows systematic destruction, positioning US-aligned capital to profit from reconstruction while maintaining permanent military occupation. The expulsion of Doctors Without Borders for refusing to surrender staff data to Israel completes the picture of humanitarian space being subordinated to military-security logic.

Class Dynamics

Actors: US state apparatus and military-industrial complex, Transnational capitalist class (reconstruction contractors, defense industry), Authoritarian client states, Palestinian working class and refugees, Israeli settler-colonial state, European imperial powers (abstaining), Humanitarian organizations (MSF)

Beneficiaries: US defense contractors positioned for Iran conflict, Reconstruction firms connected to Board of Peace, Authoritarian regimes gaining US legitimacy, Israeli state consolidating territorial control, Kushner family and connected investors

Harmed Parties: Palestinian population (75,000+ killed, millions displaced), Iranian civilians facing potential bombardment, Humanitarian workers expelled from Gaza, US and global working class (funding imperial projects), Regional populations facing destabilization

The Board of Peace institutionalizes a hierarchy where US capital sits at apex, distributing access to reconstruction profits and military protection to client states in exchange for political support. Palestinian self-determination is structurally excluded—they are objects of governance, not subjects. The absence of major European allies reveals fractures within the imperial core, though this represents tactical disagreement over methods rather than fundamental opposition to Western hegemony.

Material Conditions

Economic Factors: $70 billion Gaza reconstruction market, $5 billion pledged reconstruction funds (capital accumulation opportunity), Defense industry contracts for Middle East buildup, Strategic positioning for Iran's resources, Control of Eastern Mediterranean corridor

The planned military base and reconstruction framework establish a colonial mode of production: Palestinian labor will rebuild infrastructure they don't control, creating surplus value extracted by foreign capital under military occupation. The 'International Stabilisation Force' provides the coercive apparatus necessary for this extraction. Defense contractors and construction firms operate in what David Harvey terms 'accumulation by dispossession'—profiting from destruction they participated in creating.

Resources at Stake: Gaza's strategic coastal territory, Potential offshore gas reserves, Iran's oil and natural gas, Military positioning in Persian Gulf shipping lanes, Reconstruction contracts as capital accumulation vehicle

Historical Context

Precedents: 2003 Iraq invasion and subsequent occupation/reconstruction profiteering, Berlin Conference (1884-85) partition of Africa, Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) dividing Ottoman territories, Marshall Plan as US hegemonic consolidation tool, Structural adjustment programs imposed on Global South

This represents late-stage neoliberal imperialism's mutation under conditions of declining US hegemony. Unable to maintain dominance through multilateral institutions where rivals have growing influence, US capital constructs parallel structures under direct executive control. The explicit embrace of authoritarian allies (contrasted with Cold War-era 'democracy promotion' rhetoric) signals ideological exhaustion—legitimacy derived purely from power rather than liberal pretense. The fusion of Trump family business interests with state policy (Kushner leading Gaza governance) represents the open merger of state and capital that neoliberalism always implied but previously obscured.

Contradictions

Primary: A 'Board of Peace' preparing for war: the institution's stated purpose (peace, reconstruction) directly contradicts its material function (military occupation, imperial consolidation, war preparation against Iran). This mirrors capitalism's fundamental contradiction—social production for private appropriation—manifested in geopolitics.

Secondary: Democratic legitimacy crisis: excluding Palestinians and allied democracies while including dictators undermines ideological justification, Reconstruction funding gap: $5B pledged vs $70B needed guarantees permanent crisis management rather than genuine rebuilding, European fracture: major allies refusing participation signals imperial coordination breakdown, Military overextension: simultaneous Gaza occupation and Iran war preparation strains even US capacity, Humanitarian expulsion: removing MSF eliminates independent witnesses to ongoing violence

These contradictions are unlikely to resolve into stable equilibrium. Insufficient reconstruction funding guarantees continued Palestinian immiseration and resistance. Military overextension, particularly if Iran strikes proceed, risks regional conflagration exceeding US management capacity. The legitimacy deficit—rule through pure force without ideological cover—tends historically toward either escalating repression or systemic crisis. The European abstention, while currently passive, creates potential for alternative power configurations should US-led order falter.

Global Interconnections

The Board of Peace must be understood within the broader restructuring of global imperialism under conditions of US relative decline. As China's Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS expansion challenge dollar hegemony, the US pivots toward more direct, coercive control of strategic regions rather than rule through multilateral institutions it once dominated. The Middle East—with its energy resources, shipping lanes, and position between competing powers—becomes the primary arena for this consolidation. The simultaneous Gaza occupation and Iran war preparation represent two fronts of the same campaign: securing US dominance over the region's resources and transit routes while preventing the emergence of any independent regional power. Russia and Iran's joint naval exercises signal counter-hegemonic coordination, however tentative. The expulsion of humanitarian organizations and international observers follows a pattern seen from Yemen to Ukraine—creating information vacuums that enable escalation. For the global working class, this means continued extraction of resources toward military spending, refugee crises requiring international response, and the ever-present threat of wider war that would devastate working people across multiple continents while enriching defense contractors and reconstruction profiteers.

Conclusion

The Board of Peace reveals imperialism's current form with unusual clarity: stripped of democratic pretense, run as corporate enterprise, built on mass death, and preparing further war while claiming peace. For those seeking to understand and oppose this system, the task is twofold. First, material solidarity with Palestinian resistance and Iranian civilians facing bombardment—opposing one's own government's imperial projects as the primary responsibility of citizens in imperial core nations. Second, recognizing that this restructuring of global governance reflects systemic crisis, not strength. The contradictions are real and exploitable. European hesitation, reconstruction funding gaps, and military overextension create openings. The Lancet study documenting 75,000 deaths represents the kind of counter-hegemonic knowledge production that undermines imperial legitimacy. Every crack in the edifice is an opportunity for those building alternatives.

Suggested Reading

• Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by V.I. Lenin (1917) Lenin's analysis of imperialism as capitalism's necessary expansion explains why the US must control strategic territories and why 'peace' institutions serve war preparation—the Board of Peace exemplifies finance capital's drive to partition the world.
• The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961) Fanon's analysis of colonial violence and the psychological dimensions of occupation illuminates both the systematic destruction documented in Gaza and the resistance that imperial 'stabilization' forces inevitably generate.
• The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (2007) Klein's documentation of how disasters are exploited for capitalist restructuring directly applies to Gaza's reconstruction—systematic destruction creating profit opportunities for connected capital under military occupation.
• The New Imperialism by David Harvey (2003) Harvey's concept of 'accumulation by dispossession' provides the theoretical framework for understanding how Gaza's destruction and reconstruction functions as capital accumulation, and how territorial control serves financialized capitalism.