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Nassim Taleb is an unlikely choice to play the Jimmy Stewart role in a 21st-century remake of the Depression-era classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [1]. But the tale of a naive do-gooder who tries to remind a corrupt political class of its obligations was re-enacted this week when Taleb attended the Wall Street Journal's Future of Finance conference in Washington, D.C. A French- and Arabic-speaking former options trader with a taste for obscure Greek philosophers and the ambition to be seen as a literary figure, Taleb has grown famous for his book The Black Swan [2], which has sold...

The following text is a transcript of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Good afternoon, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, --snip-- Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake. True, the state's increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent. The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in...

Surprise and even shock were among the reactions to my recent column about how elite members of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, were considering a proposal for a new global television network to usher in a state of "global governance." It sounded authoritarian, even totalitarian, to some. Here are more of the troubling details. The media proposal, which was included in "The Global Agenda 2009" report, is to create "a new global network" with "the capacity to connect the world, bridging cultures and peoples, and telling us who we are and what we mean to each...

Reports from the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, suggest that most of the world's leaders are convinced that the current crisis is the result of inherent flaws in capitalism, and are eager to impose new international rules to save the world. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is calling on President Obama to join him in creating a new economic system. "Simply tweaking the old system won't do," he says. He wants "a system of open markets, unambiguously regulated by an activist state, and one in which the state intervenes to reduce the greater inequalities that competitive markets will...

Davos was a pretty grim affair by all accounts. Lots of finger-pointing at the U.S.A. Even more perplexity at just what the heck is going on. Solutions for "shaping a post-crisis world," as this year's pow-wow was billed, were few and far between. But once the attendees got past the various stages of grief, confusion and anger, says Lenny Mendonca, chairman of the McKinsey Global Institute in San Francisco, three takeaways emerged. One, getting out of the world's perilous situation requires globally coordinated solutions. Two, the U.S. retains the mantle of responsibility for leading the way. "There was huge enthusiasm...

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) – The world is entering an era of big government with only state muscle powerful enough to fight the economic crisis, top leaders signalled at the Davos summit. News of mass job losses and fears of social unrest and protectionism reverberated around the gloomy halls of the World Economic Forum. But the absence of any senior member of President Barack Obama's US administration in the Swiss resort and nationalist rumblings in Washington left doubts about how closely the major powers will take up the battle together. The "go-go years" are over, admitted HSBC chairman Stephen Green talking...

In Davos, protectionism is a dirty word The beggar-thy-neighbour phase has begun in earnest. "Buy American" legislation has advanced from a barely credible threat to imminent reality on Capitol Hill in just weeks. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 11:31PM GMT 31 Jan 2009 The House has voted for a bill that prohibits the use of foreign steel in most infrastructure projects funded by Barack Obama's $820bn (£563bn) rescue package. The Senate is drawing up plans to widen that to all manufactured goods. This is what happens when a country loses half a million jobs a month, and when the state...

WEF 2009: Global crisis 'has destroyed 40pc of world wealth' The past five quarters have seen 40pc of the world's wealth destroyed and business leaders expect the global economic crisis can only get worse. By Edmund Conway in Davos Last Updated: 5:42AM GMT 29 Jan 2009 Steve Schwarzman, chairman of private equity giant Blackstone, said an "almost incomprehensible" amount of cash had evaporated since the financial crisis took hold. "Business will be very different," he added. His comments came on a day of the World Economic Forum characterised by the gloom of its participants and warnings that the crisis will...

Video of her speech Valerie Jarrett: 'America Stands Ready to Lead Again' "In the 21st century our security is shared," says Valerie Jarrett, top adviser to President Barack Obama. She outlines steps the new administration is taking to establish peace in the Middle East, eradicate global poverty, and fight climate change. ~~~ Video - Valerie B. Jarrett: The New US Agenda"

Former President Bill Clinton (L) and Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum attend a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos January 29, 2009 Russian Prime Minsiter Vladimir Putin, center, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, seen during a reception hosted by Putin for participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009. Second right is artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiyev.

Thousands of jubilant Turks welcomed their prime minister home on Friday, thronging the airport and later chanting "Turkey is proud of you!" after he publicly confronted the Israeli president over the Gaza war. But some commentators expressed concern that the outburst at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, would hurt Turkey's bid to be an international mediator. Some media in Israel, an ally of Turkey, suggested that the Turkish leader was a hypocrite. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won praise in Gaza, where Turkish flags fluttered from a ruined mosque. But a former Israeli diplomat said the Turkish leader...

Now that the WEF’s self-styled global governors are faced with a major crisis, they are clueless By Peter Foster The typically pretentious theme of this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos is “Shaping the Post-Crisis World.” But didn’t Davos shape the pre-crisis world, and thus the crisis itself? The annual Alpine gabfest has long been the epicentre of ‘globaloney,’ a mixture of serious discussion, subversive ideas and outright flakery. It has certainly never — as some critics believe — been about promoting capitalism. Rather it has always been a mercantilist stew in which big businessmen, big government and big international...

Turkish PM leaves stage during debate with Peres over Gaza Israeli-Turkish relations took a dramatic turn for the worse in Davos Thursday night when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed red-faced off the stage at the World Economic Forum after sparring with President Shimon Peres over the fighting in Gaza. Erdogan was angry over being cut off by a panel moderator after listening to an impassioned monologue by Peres defending Operation Cast Lead. Peres's defense was prompted by harsh criticism leveled at Israel not only by Erdogan, but also by the two other panelists, Arab League head Amr Moussa...

Former US president Bill Clinton mocked Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's lecturing of Western countries on the virtues of private enterprise on Thursday. At the opening of the Davos forum on Wednesday, Putin gave an acid speech in which he stressed the faults of the US economic system and cautioned against state power -- a reference to US bank and insurance nationalisations. "I'm glad to hear Prime Minister Putin come out for free enterprise. I hope it works for him," Clinton said to laughter in the conference hall here, poking fun at Putin's credentials on the subject. The former Russian...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, red-faced after verbally sparring with President Shimon Peres over the recent fighting in Gaza. Erdogan was angry after being cut off by a panel moderator after listening to an impassioned monologue by Peres defending Israel's recent 22-day offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Fortune) -- The Russians are upset that the U.S. dollar is the world's principal reserve currency, and this week in Davos they have been putting forward suggestions for how to fix the issue. First came Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called in a speech on Wednesday for efforts to "facilitate the emergence of several reserve currencies." On Thursday it was the turn of German Gref, a former Economics Minister who is now CEO of Russia's largest bank, state-owned Sberbank. His proposal during a panel discussion went even further than Putin's: In the absence of any serious competitors to...

Putin has called for concerted action to break the stranglehold of the US dollar and create a new global structure of regional powers. "The one reserve currency has become a danger to the world economy: that is now obvious to everybody," he said in a speech at the World Economic Forum. It is the first time that a Russian leader has set foot in the sanctum sanctorum of global capitalism at Davos. Mr Putin said the leading powers should ensure an "irreversible" move towards a system of multiple reserve currencies, questioning the "reliability" of the US dollar as a safe...

Leaders at economic forum see meltdown as chance to expand government controlNEW YORK – A call to utilize the current global economic crisis as a panic in which governments worldwide can move to nationalize banks is emerging from the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The forum's founder, Klaus Schwab, told CNN yesterday the current global economic slowdown is a "transformational crisis" that should be utilized to shape a "new world." "Above all else this is a crisis of confidence," Schwab said. "To restore confidence you have to establish signposts that the world after the crisis will be different....

Chinese and Russian leaders Wen Jiabao and Vladimir Putin have blamed the United States for causing the global economic crisis on a gloomy first day of the Davos forum. Both leaders on Wednesday called for a new attitude by US President Barack Obama, while deepening pessimism over the future of the global economy enshrouded the World Economic Forum. Chinese premier Wen said America's voracious appetite for debt and "blind pursuit of profit" had led to the worst recession since the Great Depression which has rocked the 2,500-strong political and business elite gathered in the Swiss mountain resort. Putin said the...

It is hard to believe, but a majority of Americans (including Christians and conservatives) seem oblivious to the fact that there is a very real, very legitimate New World Order (NWO) unfolding. In the face of overwhelming evidence, most Americans not only seem totally unaware of this reality, they seem unwilling to even remotely entertain the notion. On one hand, it is understandable that so many Americans would be ignorant of the emerging New World Order. After all, the mainstream media refuses to report, or even acknowledge, the NWO. Even "conservative" commentators and talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh,...

President Obama’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is being urged to lay the foundation for “global governance” by considering “international taxation” measures to loot more money from U.S. taxpayers. The recommendation is included in the report, “The Global Agenda 2009,” which is being considered by the World Economic Forum (WEF), meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 28th - February 1st. The WEF is not an official government group but does include dozens of government, corporate and labor leaders at its annual meetings. Media companies such as News Corporation (parent of Fox News, the Fox Business Network, and the Wall Street...

Mood of sobriety and self-recrimination at Davos By Gillian Tett in London Published: January 25 2009 19:17 | Last updated: January 25 2009 19:17 In recent years, Goldman Sachs has been renowned for hosting one of the hottest parties during the World Economic Forum’s glittering annual meeting in Davos. No longer. This year, in a nod to the new mood of sobriety and self-recrimination, the US broker has quietly cancelled its party and sharply reduced its delegation to the event, which starts on Wednesday. It is far from alone. John Thain was due to host a high-profile breakfast meeting on...

Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on behalf of the Obama administration, officials said. The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported Saturday that the five-day, invitation-only forum draws leading business leaders from around the world. White House National Security Adviser James Jones and economic adviser Lawrence Summers had been planning to attend, but will remain in Washington to attend to domestic issues. "Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president who is in touch each day with elected officials, business and community leaders across the nation about the economic challenges they face, will...

Capitalism in crisis has Davos forum scaling back on glitz this year1 hour, 36 minutes ago By Bradley S. Klapper, The Associated Press GENEVA - No Bono, no Angelina. With capitalism in crisis, the 2,500 business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week will find less star power than usual. Organizers say the five-day event that starts Wednesday will focus on work and on shaping the world after the crisis ends. **SNIP** Appropriately, perhaps, one session has been titled "Update 2009: The Return to State Power" and will assess governments now taking a stronger...

The words of communist China's Premier Wen Jiabao and former communist Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will dominate the start of the elite five-day meeting on Wednesday. GENEVA - LEADERS from Russia and China are the star attractions among a record number of heads of state and government gathering in the Swiss winter resort of Davos this week to discuss how to get the global economy off the skids. With the capitalist world suffering its worst battering since the Great Depression, the words of communist China's Premier Wen Jiabao and former communist Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will dominate...

White House Criticizes Envoy Over Iran January 30, 2008 The New York Times Helene Cooper WASHINGTON -- White House officials expressed anger on Tuesday about an appearance in which the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, sat beside the Iranian foreign minister at a panel of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Saturday. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, and the Bush administration has limited its official high-level dealings with Iran to discussions about Iraq, primarily in Baghdad. Administration officials said that Mr. Khalilzad’s appearance beside Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in...

Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them. Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his...

~excerpt~ UNLESS YOU'VE BEEN hiding in a cave somewhere or posted to a UN humanitarian assistance project site in North Korea, you know that the latest contest in the U.S. election is over who can come up with the sexiest stimulus package for the economy. Both Obama and Clinton have put forth their own plans as part of campaign one-upmanship. Meanwhile, the Congress has proposed a bipartisan plan that would send checks to taxpayers to encourage extra spending and pump up the economy. Increasing worries about the state of the U.S. economy dominated the sidebar conversations and media coverage of...

Plan B swings into effect to change mood of America Anatole Kaletsky: Economic view It was not quite the way they expressed it, but the message from the policymakers at Davos was clear enough: Plan B is swinging into action. What is Plan B? Two weeks ago I wrote on this page that the global credit crunch was near its end – in terms of time, though not necessarily of price. What I meant was that stock market prices might still fall a long way and some financial institutions might even go bankrupt, but the time for these events to...

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - - Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan warned the European Union against becoming a "club of Christians" as he pushed Saturday for Ankara's membership in the bloc. "If the EU finds itself as a club of Christians.... it is against the very soul of the EU," Babacan told reporters on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. EU heavyweights France and Germany are both opposed to full Turkish membership, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been particularly vocal on the issue, arguing that the mainly Muslim country does not...

Bono confesses sins to 'father' Al Gore Jan 24 02:09 PM US/Eastern ‘Gulfstream-Flying Rock Star’ Bono Confesses Carbon Sins to ‘Father’ Al Gore Having climate campaigner Al Gore round to your house is to open yourself to a self-flagellating guilt trip, Irish rock star Bono confessed Thursday. Sharing a stage with the former US vice president at the annual gathering of world movers and shakers in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the U2 frontman joked that their friendship was a source of pressure on the domestic front. "He's been round my house and it's like... here's the recycler Al,...

Capitalism Doesn't Work, Mr. Gates? By Lawrence Kudlow Friday, January 25, 2008 Bill Gates, bloviating at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is issuing a clarion call for a "kinder capitalism" to aid the world's poor. Gates says he has grown impatient with the shortcomings of capitalism. He thinks it's failing much of the world. This, of course, from a guy who's worth around $35 billion (give or take a billion). Don't you just love it? A guy without a college degree who invented a new technology process in his garage that literally changed the entire world, a guy...

Bill Gates seems to think there are bugs in the operating system of the modern economy. It doesn’t fight poverty well enough and sometimes suffers debilitating crashes. While attending the World Economic Forum at Davos, he called for a more “creative capitalism” than the one that America hasn’t had to seriously reboot since The Great Depression. He defined “creative capitalism” as follows: "The challenge here is to design a system including profit and recognition to do more for the poor," he said, calling for a new form of "creative capitalism.""Creative capitalism is an approach where governments, businesses and NGOs (non-government...

Excerpt - Free enterprise has been good to Bill Gates. But later today, the Microsoft Corp. chairman will call for a revision of capitalism. In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the software tycoon plans to call for a "creative capitalism" that uses market forces to address poor-country needs that he feels are being ignored. "We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well," Mr. Gates will tell world leaders at the forum, according to a copy of the speech seen by The Wall...

Today, President Bush participated in a briefing with Mayors on Free Trade Agreements. LINK The President postponed an event today to promote an advertising campaign on preventing prescription drug abuse after actor Heath Ledger's death from a possible drug overdose, the White House said. LEDGER DEATH Vice President Cheney spoke to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C. Cheney wants surveillance law expanded Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is in Davos, Switzerland where she gave the keynote address today to the World Economic Forum. Press Briefing Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Dollar's golden era is ending, warns Soros By Edmund Conway in Davos Last Updated: 8:10pm GMT 23/01/2008 The billionaire investor famous for "breaking" the Bank of England in the 1990s has warned that Britain is heading for a recession. George Soros said that a recession in both the United States and Britain "will be very difficult to avoid". He was speaking on the fringes of the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland, where many of the world's top politicians and businessmen are meeting. The billionaire investor expects the dollar to be usurped as the top currency The warning is...

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she believed the nuclear stand-off with Iran could be resolved diplomatically but that Tehran must not be allowed to become a nuclear weapons power. Just one day after getting agreement on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution against Tehran, Rice offered the incentive of a "more normal relationship" and expanded trade if Iran gave up sensitive nuclear work, according to the prepared text of her speech to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. "Ultimately, though, we believe that we can resolve this problem through diplomacy," Rice said...

DAVOS, Switzerland : The annual Davos gathering of the world's political and business elite opened Wednesday, dominated by the deep cut in US interest rates aimed at preventing recession and supporting world stock markets. In recent years the annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort has been against a backdrop of bumper corporate profits, strong economic growth and tame inflation. But as the 38th World Economic Forum opened the global economy is now faced with huge slides in stock markets, slowing growth, the sub-prime crisis and increasing oil, food and other commodity prices. "I don't know whether there will be...

The Davos Question hopes to add a public voice to the World Economic Forum Record your YouTube video on how to make the world a better place If highly ranked your video could be watched by world leaders at Davos (CNN) -- What will be the biggest question asked at Davos this year? The environment, economic development and energy security will all be hot topics discussed by the rich and powerful who will gather in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum from January 23 to 27. Have your say and make yourself heard at this year's World Economic Forum....

LONDON (MarketWatch) - With the world's financial markets teetering on the brink of panic, the world's most powerful executives, financiers and politicians will be searching for answers to the global credit meltdown when they gather for their annual retreat next week in the Swiss Alps. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos isn't designed to produce detailed policy proposals, but participants say it will provide a platform to take a look at what went wrong. And front and center will be a look at how the practice of selling mortgages to home buyers and then re-packaging them...

GENEVA — The icy Swiss mountains are to host the world's business and political elite this week for their annual gathering in Davos, where the cooling temperature of the world economy is set to focus minds. The Davos event, a unique spectacle of wealth, power and debate, begins Wednesday when chief executives and heads of state gather in the chic Alpine ski resort for five days of public discussions and private deal-making. Started in 1971 and known as the World Economic Forum, the gathering provides a unique opportunity to gauge the mood and preoccupations of some of the world's most...

Chávez lashes out at Mexico On the same day the Calderón administration took steps to ease rocky relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Venezuela´s Hugo Chávez on Thursday hurled personal insults at his Mexican counterpart Wire reports El Universal Viernes 02 de febrero de 2007 On the same day the Calderón administration took steps to ease rocky relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Venezuela´s Hugo Chávez on Thursday hurled personal insults at his Mexican counterpart. Chávez´s ire was raised as he attacked Calderón for comments the latter made in Davos, Switzerland, last week criticizing countries that "nationalize industries" and "interfere in the...

SEN. Barack Obama might want to tell George Soros to shut up, now that the Hungarian-born billionaire has equated the George W. Bush administration with the Third Reich. Soros, who spent $26 million trying to beat Bush two years ago, is a key supporter of the media-darling Illinois Democrat's presidential campaign. But last week at Davos, Soros made folks like Gwyneth Paltrow and Sean Penn look downright patriotic. After asserting that the United States is recognizing the error it made in Iraq, Soros said, "To what extent it recognizes the mistake will determine its future." He went on to say...

Why doesn’t John Kerry just go ahead and move to France now? He’ll be happier having escaped an ungrateful nation; Americans - particularly those of us in Massachusetts - will be ecstatic and the French will be miserable. Trifecta! Fox’s Brit Hume, responding to complaints about Sen. Kerry leaving home to criticize American foreign policy, pointedly asks, “Is it really fair to John Kerry to argue that when he’s in Switzerland, he’s away from home?” But there he was, just 48 hours after wishing his lifelong presidential fantasies a tearful goodbye, on the stage in Davos, unloading both rhetorical barrels...

Critics say hardball tactics could come back to haunt Moscow. Alexander Medvedev went to Davos with the tall task of convincing European leaders and others that they have nothing to fear from the state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom. The company enraged European leaders earlier this month when it temporarily shut off the flow of oil through a key pipeline due to a dispute with Belarus. The move came a year after it had similarly clamped off natural gas supplies due to a dispute with Ukraine. "I'd like to assure all of the people in this room there is no reason...

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - Celebrity sightings may have been scarce, but the annual gathering of the world's most powerful people in Davos still managed to wrap its air of serious debate in a sheen of glamour. For all the grave talk about the dangers of climate change at the four-day meeting of corporate and political leaders, petrol-guzzling limousines and SUVs remained the transport mode of choice for the vast majority of participants. For the really "serious money," the road was left behind altogether in favour of a helicopter entry and departure to the small ski resort high in the Swiss...

The World Economic Forum in Davos is a sanctuary for America-bashers. John Kerry was the star there yesterday. In case you missed it, Allah's got video and the lowdown. All I can say is: Thank God for the Swift Boat Veterans. Davos is getting feedback. LGF'ers are leading the charge. Matt at Blackfive notes that while Kerry schmoozed former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, evidence of Iranian special ops orchestration of the horrific attack on US troops in Kerbala is building.

These pics of Kerry and Khatami are from Iranian regime site. Article talks about how Khatami was successful in changing the world opinion about Iran and how Kerry speaks against Pres. Bush. Regime loves it. Feel free to caption

DAVOS (AFP) - US Senator and presidential hopeful John McCain said the time had come for China to justify its superpower aspirations and "step up" over issues like the North Korean nuclear crisis. "It's time for China to step up in the world and assume their responsibilities," McCain told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. "So far, some of us ... have been very disappointed in their lack of maturity," he added. McCain, considered a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, said allowing Pyonyang to develop nuclear weapons...

DAVOS, Switzerland Democratic Senator John Kerry says the Bush administration's foreign policy has caused the U-S to become --quote-- "a sort of international pariah."