Cold War Davos
The premise of the World Economic Forum is that if you bring powerful people together across borders, they can solve some of the world’s thorniest problems.
- If this year’s forumis any indication, the biggest geopolitical players can’t even gather in the same room anymore, Axios’ Dave Lawler reports.
At Davoses past, Russian oligarchs — including Oleg Deripaska — threw lavish parties. Vodka flowed at the Russia House, centrally located on the Promenade.
- This year, Russian companies were banned, Deripaska is sanctioned, and the Russia House was converted into the Russian War Crimes House.
- There was little Chinese participation this year, due partly to the onerous COVID restrictions on travel to and from China.
The buzz: With the autocratic powers absent, Davos felt like a trans-Atlantic lovefest. Panel topics included “European Unity” and “The Resurgence of the West.”
- “We’ve had this holiday from historyfor 30 years, right? And Davos has been very much a part of that,” former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb tells Axios, referring to the post-Cold War decades in Europe in which walls came down and war seemed distant.
The forum’s idealism about power and globalization can feel like a relic of a time when supply chains were expanding, the connective force of the internet felt boundless, and the U.S.-led liberal order stood preeminent.
- “The things that were supposed to bring us together are actually driving us apart at the moment, because everything can be weaponized,” Stubb says.
What to watch: While Russia is out of the Davos club, China — given its massive market and geopolitical weight — is still being cautiously courted, including by Western officials and executives.
- Before U.S. climate envoy John Kerry appeared alongside his Chinese counterpart — the only time officials from the two superpowers shared a stage — Axios overheard him discussing how to handle it with his team: “Do I say I’m happy to be here with my friend?”
- Kerry did use that word in the end, before noting “the serious disagreements between our countries.”
- Axios Twitter videoon Cold War Davos.
Πηγή: axios.com
