Dazzling rhetoric hides partiality as a self-appointed ruler steps into history<\/p>\n
The 20-point Gaza peace proposal of 29 September 2025, proclaimed by US President Donald Trump as if unveiling destiny itself, demands scrutiny \u2013 not only for its\u00a0all-or-nothing approach and lack of parity, but also for this pressing question: why rely on a biased broker?
\nIn a thrilling, yet chilling, replay of Napoleon\u2019s self-coronation on 2 December 1804, Trump appointed himself de facto governor of Gaza on 29 September 2025 \u2013 a day he hailed as one of the greatest in the history of civilization.
\nAs politicians so often do, Trump insisted he had merely been asked to take the role. Yet even if true, that would hardly justify accepting it. Refusal, in fact, might have been the wiser choice \u2013 raising the odds of genuine peace.<\/p>\n
The Coronation of Napoleon, oil on canvas by Jacques-Louis David, 1805\u201307<\/p>\n
Newspeak in action
\nTrump intends to head a so-called \u201cBoard of Peace,\u201d a term that ominously echoes Orwellian newspeak \u2013 language engineered to reshape thought itself.
\nThis kind of rhetoric inverts meaning, as when war is called peace. It slims the vocabulary, reducing words like \u201cterrible\u201d or \u201cawful\u201d to a single term: \u201cungood.\u201d Authority is dressed in a positive light, as with the Ministry of Love, which oversees torture. And it erases subtle distinctions, collapsing everything worse than bad into \u201cplusungood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Prof. Schlevogt\u2019s Compass No. 27: Unraveling the Gaza peace ploy \u2013 Vital questions buried by hype<\/p>\n
The \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d is a textbook case of newspeak in action: a name that promises harmony while masking control (semantic inversion), simplifies authority into a single, reassuring label (reduction of vocabulary), recasts power as benevolence (positive framing of authority), and wipes out subtle distinctions about its actions or impact (suppression of nuance).
\nDetractors may argue that in oldspeak \u2013 the traditional, straightforward language of the past \u2013 the proper term for Trump\u2019s apparatus would be \u201cColonial Council\u201d or, more scorching, \u201cProtectorate Administration.\u201d
\nIsrael\u2019s greatest friend ever
\nGiven that the Gaza role demands impartiality, it is striking that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly hailed Trump as the \u201cgreatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.\u201d
\nAt the 29 September 2025 press conference, Netanyahu remarked on Trump\u2019s Gaza regime: \u201cThe fact that you\u2019re taking this on I think helps a lot to make sure that everything flows in the direction that we want.\u201d Independence? Apparently, no masks are needed anymore.
\nAccording to talk show host Tucker Carlson \u2013 whom Russian President Vladimir Putin deemed trustworthy enough to grant an interview \u2013 Netanyahu publicly boasted that he controls both Trump and the US, a claim the prime minister later denied.
\nEven if Trump has not been pulled by Netanyahu\u2019s strings like a puppet on a stage, his foreign, economic, and military policies leave little doubt where his allegiance lies \u2013 blending theatrical flair with uncompromising support that will mark his presidency indelibly in the annals of US-Israel relations.
\nDuring his tenure, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital and affirmed Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, vetoed UN resolutions critical of Israeli policies, and inundated the country with advanced military aid, from F-35s to precision munitions. This flow of weapons, remarkably, continued unabated during Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, which the UN classified as genocide.
\nIn 2025, Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court after it had issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war. Critics may argue that inviting an indicted war criminal to the White House borders on complicity.
\nTrump also barred the Palestinian delegation from attending the 2025 UN General Assembly in New York \u2013 a brazen affront to international norms that, astonishingly, drew only muted condemnation and underscores the urgency of relocating the UN headquarters to a nation that truly respects the rule of law.
\nAgainst this backdrop \u2013 and given Trump\u2019s mercurial temperament \u2013 designating the US president as governor of Gaza invites striking, if unsettling, analogies.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump says snubbing him for Nobel would \u2018insult\u2019 US<\/p>\n
Henry VIII as marriage counselor
\nPundits may say that Trump\u2019s Gaza appointment is like naming a bull keeper of a china shop, putting Henry VIII in charge of marriage counseling, or entrusting Hannibal, Rome\u2019s deadliest enemy, with the eternal city\u2019s defenses.
\nStaunch Romans would never have approved such a choice, nor would Palestinian nationalists accept Trump as their protective ruler \u2013 yet another built-in obstacle threatening to unravel the peace ploy.
\nA Palestinian negotiator relying on Trump\u2019s assurance that Israel will honor its commitments once his key bargaining chip \u2013 the hostages \u2013 has been relinquished is like a mouse trusting a cat\u2019s promise that a befriended cat will not eat it. In nature, the mouse will almost certainly be devoured by both; in politics, the likely outcome is no different.
\nA dishonest broker in the West
\nTrump\u2019s Gaza appointment epitomizes a larger problem: the US posing as an honest broker in the Middle East.
\nWashington is widely seen as a biased mediator in the Israel-Palestine conflict, consistently shielding Israel with massive financial and military aid \u2013 granting it unrivaled access to the world\u2019s most advanced military technology \u2013 vetoing UN resolutions critical of it, and pressuring Palestinians to compromise, all of which erode its credibility as an honest broker.
\nThis unwavering support has persisted throughout the history of the Jewish state. As of January 2025, US aid to Israel totaled an estimated $298 billion, adjusted for inflation.
\nEven US presidents who occasionally took a more critical stance towards Israel still greenlit massive aid packages. Take President Barack Obama: Broadly supportive overall, he sometimes took issue with Israel, especially over settlement expansion, and pressed for concessions to advance peace.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia weighs in on Palestinian statehood<\/p>\n
During his administration (2009\u20132017), the US provided the Jewish state with over $26 billion in assistance, covering both military and economic aid. Adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars, this amounts to roughly $38 billion. In addition, a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) \u2013 the most generous military aid commitment in US history \u2013 signed in 2016, pledged $38 billion from 2019 to 2028.
\nBy consistently privileging Israel\u2019s political positions and security, the US is seen less as a neutral mediator and more as a partisan actor in the Middle East conflict.
\nPalestinians, confronted with a partial mediator offering a peace plan that places them squarely between a hammer and an anvil, would be wise to seek a truly honest broker. To find one, they must look East.
\nAn honest broker in the East
\nUnlike the US, Russia maintains strong ties not only with Israel but with virtually all key Muslim states, deftly balancing alliances while asserting influence on the ground. Its past engagement in Syria \u2013 preserving stability, brokering ceasefires, and protecting strategic interests \u2013 demonstrates its capacity for constructive mediation.
\nBy safeguarding its own interests, Russia emerges as a credible arbiter: a superpower invested in regional stability rather than favoritism, and thus a potentially more reliable mediator for Palestine. With deep, far-reaching regional credibility, bolstered by boots on the ground, Moscow is better positioned than the US to act as an honest broker in the Middle East.
\nIn its new role, Russia could help regional stakeholders resolve the root causes of the Israel-Palestine conflict \u2013 contentious matters egregiously neglected in the US Gaza peace ploy. The next fateful act is about to unfold.
\n[Part 2 of a series on the 20-point Gaza peace plan. To be continued. Previous column in the series: Part 1, published on 1 October 2025: Prof. Schlevogt\u2019s Compass No. 27: Unraveling the Gaza peace ploy \u2013 Vital questions buried by hype]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dazzling rhetoric hides partiality as a self-appointed ruler steps into history The 20-point Gaza peace proposal of 29 September 2025, proclaimed by US President Donald Trump as if unveiling destiny…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t