Musharraf on the Islamic Bomb
Pervez Musharraf, speaking at Davos, is a bit peevish: We are a nuclear state. Why does the world insist on calling this an Islamic bomb? There is no Hindu bomb or Jew bomb or Buddhist Bomb or...
View ArticleOptimism over Africa
Paul Collier and other old Africa hands gathered in Davos on Wednesday to talk about "Africa’s governance dividend". The past few years have seen Africa’s strongest growth in living memory, and the...
View ArticleSocGen: The Cause of Monday’s Sell-Off?
Was a single 30-year old French equity-derivatives trader directly responsible for the emergency 75bp rate cut that Ben Bernanke announced on Tuesday morning? It’s entirely possible. The fraud at...
View ArticleThe Power of Collaborative Innovation In Action
The theme of Davos this year is "the power of collaborative innovation". As it happens, I’m talking to one veteran delegate who explains that I’m wearing a piece of collaborative innovation around my...
View ArticleDavos Surprise: Rick Warren
The biggest surprise of Davos so far for me? Rick Warren. Being a cosmopolitan atheist type, I’d heard of him, of course, but thought he was, well, author of a bestselling self-help book and pastor of...
View ArticleGates: Underwhelming
Bill Gates, dishevelled as ever, launched into a hugely-anticipated speech this evening in Davos, the closest thing that this conference has to a keynote. Gates managed to splash the speech all over...
View ArticleWhy I Still Think WSJ.com Will be Free
I’ve said repeatedly on this site that Rupert Murdoch should and will make WSJ.com free. So how am I feeling now that he seems to have said precisely the opposite in Davos? Not quite as wrong as you...
View ArticleSharing a Cab with an Ayatollah
My Only In Davos moment this morning: sharing a cab from the train station to the conference center with an honest-to-goodness ayatollah, Mahdi Hadavi. He was a panelist at a session I attended...
View ArticleThe Millennium Development Goals Take Center Stage in Davos
If Bono did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. The big press conference at Davos today was full of important people making important statements about how very important it is that we meet...
View ArticleGetting Results in Davos
I’ve been on a mini-crusade while in Davos: every time I meet someone with a truncated RSS feed or no RSS feed at all, I get all evangelistic on them about the wonders of full RSS. And guess what –...
View ArticleDavos: Bearishness Rules
I’ve only just arrived in Davos, and already I’m wondering how I’m going to be able to cope: the scene here is far crazier than at any other gabfest I’ve been to. The smart people just blow it off...
View ArticleBut What Does He Think About Motherhood and Apple Pie?
I just walked into the opening press conference at Davos, where the co-chairmen of the World Economic Forum are talking about what they are looking to talk about and achieve. Tony Blair is beaming...
View ArticleDavos Moment of the Day
Igor Shevchenko, a Ukrainian lawyer, introduces himself to Walter Isaacson of the Aspen Institute; it just so happens (really!) that Shevchenko has a copy of Isaacson’s biography of Henry Kissinger in...
View ArticleDavos Round-Up
Ned Phelps: Nice guy. And prescient, too: he put all his Nobel Prize money into bonds. Esther Dyson: Speaks fluent Russian. Mike Arrington: Rocked up in faded bluejeans and dirty white sneakers....
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