Milei, Trump and the irresistible allure of founding a new UN

Argentina was one of the 50 signatory nations to the United Nations Charter at the San Francisco Conference in June 1945, as World War II was drawing to a close. It managed to make that historic commitment despite active opposition from the United States, which distrusted the de facto government of Edelmiro Farrell and the United Officers’ Group (GOU), whose vice-president was Juan Domingo Perón. Argentina eventually abandoned its stance of neutrality, which had leaned towards the Axis, declared war on Germany and Japan and – with the backing of several other Latin American countries – succeeded in overcoming US reluctance.

Eighty years later, Javier Milei might have experienced his own founding moment this Thursday in Davos, with Argentina’s formal accession to the 'Board of Peace' promoted by Donald Trump. The tycoon describes it as an "international body," originally set up to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza and the resolution of the Middle East conflict, but he is now willing to extend its reach to other crisis regions around the world.

It is not only critics of the initiative who claim that Trump wants the body to replace the United Nations – an organisation he despises, as does Milei. Trump himself hinted as much on Tuesday, before travelling to Switzerland, when asked directly by reporters. "It could be," he said. On Thursday he refined his message, saying that his Board of Peace would work "in collaboration’"with the United Nations. From the presidency of the body – which he will hold indefinitely or for as long as he wishes – Trump is seeking to elevate himself to the role of global peacemaker, a position that clearly obsesses him.

Reports from Davos noted that Milei – and by extension, Argentina – has been exempted from paying the US$1 billion demanded by Trump for a permanent seat on the commission. The value of friendship. Another reference here to the United Nations: during the years of former president Carlos Menem, a proponent of "peripheral realism," Argentina aspired to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, rotating with Brazil as representatives of the region. Germany has been one of the main drivers of UN Security Council reform. That was so long ago, though today it feels like another era.

Milei attended the signing of the Board of Peace Council on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, joining a stage designed by and for the US President. So much so that the master of ceremonies was White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Also present were the Paraguay President Santiago Peña, the presidents of Indonesia and Kazakhstan and the foreign ministers of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Jordan, according to the AFP news agency.

Amid tensions over the situation in Greenland, most EU member states had yet to decide whether to join the new entity. At the time of writing, Brazil and Mexico had not done so either. Vladimir Putin, who was invited to join, responded ironically that Trump could use US$ 1 billion from Russian funds frozen in the United States over the invasion of Ukraine to cover Russia’s entry fee.

Greenland, mon amour

Trump eased the atmosphere in Davos when, at the end of his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday night, he signalled his willingness to negotiate an agreement on the Greenland issue and lift the sanctions he had threatened against a group of eight allied countries. He said he had held a "very productive" meeting with the Dutchman and had laid the groundwork for "a future agreement." Rutte said he had not discussed the issue with Trump, but it was enough for global markets to regain their footing.

We are left wondering whether Milei has a settled view on the matter and its potential implications for the region and the global order. Access for the Argentine press to his inner circle in Davos was limited. Although he gave an interview to Bloomberg, few domestic outlets were present. His half-hour address to the Forum was less a speech than a paper on ethics and political theory, one that overflowed with scholarly references and was used to justify his defence of economic deregulation, a temperament not applied in Argentina, at least in financial matters. One of the works that inspired the speech was published simultaneously on social media, written by Milei together with his adviser Damien Reidel, the head of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA (Na-SA), the state-owned operator of the country’s three nuclear power plants. It has been said that both figures harbour ambitions of a Nobel Prize in Economics.

A world in transition, which appears to have declared the death of globalisation and ushered back in an era of imperialism, a practice pioneered by Putin in Ukraine and now pursued by Trump in the region, is spreading. What specialist Claudio Ingerflom recently described in a recommended Anfibia article as an "epochal mutation."

Milei had little more to offer than praise for his patron, as has become customary. ‘The world has begun to awaken. The best proof of this is what is happening in America with the rebirth of the ideas of freedom. Therefore, America will be the beacon of light that re-illuminates the entire West." America is the name the United States uses to refer to itself.

Trump returned the favour. He seated Milei to his right at the Board of Peace signing ceremony and shared that passage of his speech on Truth Social, the social network he owns. A pro-Trump X account posted the clip with the following caption: "[Milei] stuns the room by saying that the United States is SAVING the world from leftism and progressivism."

But the US president flew into a rage on Thursday over a New York Times poll showing that fewer than a third of voters think the United States is better off than when he returned to the White House a year ago and suggesting that his disapproval rating has risen to 56 percent. Midterm elections will be held in the United States in November.

Trump is his beacon, his light. Is Milei taking these figures into account?