Faisal Islam: Global disruption looms large over biggest-ever Davos

And on Wednesday he will be here pushing the Team USA message at a time of bewilderment in much of the rest of the world, especially in Europe. Trump is due to speak at what will be the biggest Davos ever, driven by his presence and his policies, which have caused what one of the cerebral sessions of WEF might refer to with a snappy title like “The Great Global Disruption”.

Trump is the disruptor in chief, certainly right now. And he will be pursued by other world leaders and corporate bosses about his attempt to coerce Europe economically to sell Greenland. The Forum will be both the centre of the world this week – and totally bizarre.

“A spirit of dialogue” is the official theme, and while there are certainly opportunities at an event like this for conversations not possible elsewhere, there is much in the US administration’s approach that seems to be opposed to the call for global cooperation that is the essence of this place.

Reuters A view of St Johann church and the town of Davos ahead of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. There is a light covering of snow across the town and mountains can be seen in the backgroundReuters
Davos, nestled in the Swiss Alps, is not friendly home territory for the US president
After all, Davos is not a great brand in Planet Make America Great Again (MAGA).

The conference in the Swiss Alps is more often the brunt of attacks like that from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who once claimed his state was the place where the “Davos agenda is dead on arrival” and promised he would resist its “woke banks” and “lab grown meat”.

This year there have been suggestions that the White House insisted on the Forum playing down its typical green, global development and “woke” agendas in favour of hard-nosed business issues.

Meanwhile, America’s biggest companies have been shaken down to create a “USA House” in a church for delegates to celebrate the World Cup and the 250th anniversary of US independence.

Given the global arguments over borders and sovereign power from Greenland to Caracas to the Donbas, and the world leader’s present, it is not impossible to envisage some sort of summit like Yalta – the 1945 meeting that gathered the leaders of the US, UK and Russia to plot the defeat of Germany – on the sidelines.

Why does Trump want Greenland and what could it mean for Nato?

Continue reading…