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Ongoing reports and analysis

U.S. President Donald Trump knows that boards don’t do deals and mediate complex historic conflicts. Mediators do. That’s why he has turned much of U.S. diplomacy into a family business, deploying his son-in-law and one of his best friends to negotiate simultaneously conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Gaza, and Iran. But he also knows that boards can raise money, help him reprise his Apprentice role as chairman (for life), and create camera-ready moments even if serious movement toward implementing his Gaza deal isn’t on the horizon yet. On the more serious side, internationalizing the Gaza problem may actually make sense given the many hands that will be required to fix what now seems hopelessly unfixable. As the Board of Peace meets in Washington this week, reportedly to announce funding for Gaza and the contributors to the much-anticipated international stabilization force, here are some takeaways.

Who’s In and Who’s Not

U.S. President Donald Trump knows that boards don’t do deals and mediate complex historic conflicts. Mediators do. That’s why he has turned much of U.S. diplomacy into a family business, deploying his son-in-law and one of his best friends to negotiate simultaneously conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Gaza, and Iran. But he also knows that boards can raise money, help him reprise his Apprentice role as chairman (for life), and create camera-ready moments even if serious movement toward implementing his Gaza deal isn’t on the horizon yet. On the more serious side, internationalizing the Gaza problem may actually make sense given the many hands that will be required to fix what now seems hopelessly unfixable. As the Board of Peace meets in Washington this week, reportedly to announce funding for Gaza and the contributors to the much-anticipated international stabilization force, here are some takeaways.

Who’s In and Who’s Not

Initially, Trump invited around 60 countries to join the Board of Peace. At its launch in Davos, Switzerland, some 25 had signed on; the number has now reached at least 35. It’s a curious collection of countries that seem to fall into three groups with considerable overlap: those that are friendly with Trump; those that want to get into his good graces; and those that........

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