[foxdemon]

It’s that time again. Thought I’d start a Davos thread because Trump is sure to make it interesting.

I don’t know why the commies are protesting against Trump attending. He is sure to disrupt the event. Isn’t what they are trying to do too?

Modi is opening so seems India is stepping up to challenge Xi Jinping from last year. Will the Chinese leadership team be there again this year?

Plenty of celebs turning up to demonstrate their support for global capital as usual.

Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-davos-meeting-merkel/merkel-could-join-macron-in-davos-for-epic-clash-with-trump-idUSKBN1F30HB

Merkel could join Macron in Davos for epic clash with Trump
Noah Barkin
5 MIN READ
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering joining French President Emmanuel Macron at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week in what could turn into an epic clash of competing world views with U.S. President Donald Trump.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel give a joint news conference after the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, December 15, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Vidal
Merkel, who has been struggling to put together a government since a German election in September, had been expected to skip the annual gathering of leaders, CEOs, bankers and celebrities in the Swiss Alps for a third straight year.

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But after clinching a preliminary coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) on Friday, German officials said Merkel could travel to Davos after all, possibly setting up a major confrontation with Trump, who is expected to speak on the final day of the forum.

An appearance would signal Merkel’s return to the world stage after months of political limbo in which she has avoided the limelight and been dismissed by some in the German and international media as a spent force.

It would also allow her and Macron, who is scheduled to speak at the forum on Jan. 24, two days before Trump, to reaffirm their commitment to reforming the European Union after Britain’s decision to leave, and to defend liberal democratic values in the face of Trump’s “America First” policies.

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert was coy last week when asked whether she might attend the WEF, which will run from Jan. 23-26 under the banner “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World” and will attract some 60 heads of state and government.

But after clinching a preliminary deal with the SPD, the chances that she could attend appear to have risen. German officials said no final decision had been taken and that Merkel may wait for the outcome of an SPD congress in Bonn next Sunday - where the party will formally decide whether to enter coalition talks with her conservatives - before committing.

Officials at the WEF said they believed Merkel was still considering whether to attend. If she does, it is unlikely that she or Macron would overlap with Trump, who is expected to arrive on the afternoon of Jan. 25.

This year’s forum will be opened by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Jan. 23. Britain’s Theresa May, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu are also expected, as well as celebrities such as actress Cate Blanchett and musician Elton John.

Last year’s gathering took place in the week leading up to Trump’s inauguration and was headlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who signaled his readiness to fill the vacuum in global leadership created by America’s shift inward.

UNITED IN ANTIPATHY

FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump confer at the start of the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/John MacDougall/Pool/File Photo
Since then, Trump has pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade deal with Asian countries, announced a withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and threatened to torpedo an agreement between Western powers and Iran aimed at curbing its nuclear program.

He has stirred fears of conflict with North Korea by engaging in an escalating war of words with its leader Kim Jong Un. Last week, he stirred international outrage by referring to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries”, according to members of Congress who attended a meeting in the White House.

On Saturday, some 500 demonstrators marched in the Swiss capital Bern to protest against Trump’s plans to attend the WEF.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets French President Emmanuel Macron in New York, U.S., September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
“There are very few things in the world that unite countries as much as their antipathy towards Trump and what he is doing,” said Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, and a regular at Davos.

“In the United States he may have 40 percent who approve of what he’s doing. In the Davos crowd it is closer to 5 percent.”

The visit by Trump will be the first by a U.S. president since Bill Clinton in 2000. He will be accompanied by a large delegation that is expected to include his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Merkel has had a frosty relationship with Trump, who accused her during his campaign for the presidency of “ruining Germany” by allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees, many fleeing war in the Middle East, into the country in 2015.

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She was hailed in some Western media as the last defender of liberal democratic values after Trump’s victory. Since then, the election of Macron, a pro-European centrist who, like Merkel, supports free trade and the global rules-based order, has given her a powerful ally in the confrontation with Trump.

Macron is slated to speak for 45 minutes in the evening of Jan. 24 in Davos, a ski resort in eastern Switzerland.

“My instinct tells me that Macron will go big,” said Robin Niblett, director of the Chatham House think tank in London. “He won’t just talk about Europe. He will try to take up the mantle of the free world under Europe’s wing.”

If he is joined by Merkel, who has made seven appearances at the WEF since becoming chancellor in 2005, that message may resonate even louder.

Reporting by Noah Barkin; Editing by Dale Hudson

[Rugoz]

I wish they would do that WEF meeting on a cruise ship somewhere in the Atlantic ocean.

[Beren]

He [Trump] is sure to disrupt the event.

I'd rather expect Trump to be as much civilised and cultivated as he can and read a nice speech from the teleprompter.

[foxdemon]

Most attention in the media is on Trump but other world leaders will be there. Of greatest importance is of course Modi. Odd that the Indians are talking free trade after they hit Canada and Australia with huge tariffs on pulse imports recently.

The big Xi isn’t coming this year. He is sending Lui He to lead the Chinese delegation.



http://www.livemint.com/Politics/AJd2ulpKWH8HLmHqQGHQnO/WEFDavos-PM-Modi-to-apprise-world-leaders-of-reforms-inve.html

WEF Davos 2018: Narendra Modi to apprise world leaders of reforms, investment readiness
PM Narendra Modi PM will also host a round table dinner on 22 January for 60 top CEOs at WEF Davos 2018 from 22-23 January

Last Published: Fri, Jan 19 2018. 10 01 PM IST
PTI

In addition to the keynote address, PM Modi will also have bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset at WEF, Davos. Photo: Reuters
In addition to the keynote address, PM Modi will also have bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset at WEF, Davos. Photo: Reuters
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will impress upon world leaders at World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos next week that India is an open economy and ready for global investments across sectors, top government officials said on Friday.

Announcing details of Modi’s visit to the Swiss resort for WEF, secretary (economic relations) in the external affairs ministry, Vijay Gokhale said, “it will be a 24 hour visit but a very focused one”. In the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister since 1997, Modi will be in Davos on 22-23 January, and address the opening plenary of the WEF.

“Our economy has expanded significantly since the last time an Indian prime minister went to Davos and therefore this visit is very important,” Gokhale said. “In addition to the keynote address, Modi will also have bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset. Besides, there will be scope for pull asides, details of which are being worked out,” he said.

This will be a very significant visit and will give a message about our engagements with the world, he said. The focus will be on prime minister’s vision about India’s economy’s at the domestic as well as global level. Talking about the business engagements of Indian leaders in Davos, Ramesh Abhishek, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), said that PM will also host a round table dinner on 22 January for 60 top chief executive officers (CEOs) including 40 from global corporates and 20 from India.

They will include CEOs of Airbus, Hitachi, BAE Systems and IBM. Modi will also have an interaction with 120 members of the investor community at WEF on 23 January which will include heads of General Motors, Salesforce and Royal Dutch Shell, Nestle and JP Morgan.

Abhishek said DIPP will also host a welcome reception for the WEF members, where 1,500 people are expected. “We will showcase India’s progress while also giving a taste of Indian cuisine as well as of Indian culture and heritage,” he said. Besides PM, there will be six union ministers including Arun Jaitley who will address three sessions on 24 January.

Suresh Parbhu will have nine sessions over three days, Dharmendra Pradhan will have five sessions, Piyush Goyal (10), Jitendra Singh (3) and M.J. Akbar (2). There will also be a large number of round tables including on financial inclusion in India. Abhishek said the reforms that have been taken in the last few years will be showcased in Davos.

“The central message the prime minister will give is that India is open and ready to do business in a big way. We want to tell the world to come and invest in India,” Gokhale said. “PM’s message will be about India being an economy that can be engine of global growth. We want others to participate in our growth and want to participate in others’ growth as well,” he added.

When asked why PM has chosen to go Davos this year, Gokhale said: “My sense is that PM wanted things to change on the ground before speaking about them. We have already opened our economy and it is no more the case that we are going to do it.”

The five-day WEF annual meeting 2018 beginning on 22 January will be attended by 70 state heads. Besides, 38 heads of major international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as also nearly 2,000 CEOs will be present.

The theme of the meeting, spread over 400 sessions, would be on creating a shared future in a fractured world. The meeting will also see the largest ever proportion of women leaders (21%), with all co-chairs being women this time, including social entrepreneur Chetna Sinha from India and IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

[Hong Wu]

Does anyone honestly expect Germany to still exist in 5 generations? I think only degenerates care what Merkel has to say.

[Decky]

Unless Germany can go back to being Communist (working class in charge, walls, immigration controls, nationalised industries etc) then it is doomed. Fucked 'em anyway. Some Germans lives in paradise and they choose to throw it all away to be part of the capitalist Christian Democratic Union's love affair with cheap imported labour.

[Sivad]

Does anyone honestly expect Germany to still exist in 5 generations?

I hope not, Germany is a neoliberal shithole.

[Beren]

[Atlantis]

https://www.facebook.com/euronews/videos/10155696113403110/

Make Europe big again! And he's not wrong, either:

This year will be the year we have to design a 10 year strategy for Europe. Because in this current environment, Europe has a responsibility and role to play vis-à-vis China and the US. Because our vision, our DNA, in terms of relationship between freedom, justice, fairness, individual rights is unique. We just have this kind of balance between these different values in Europe. You have a strong approach for freedom in the US, the approach of fairness is very different. You don’t have the same approach of freedom in China. It’s not a big discovery. So, this synthesis, which is the core of globalisation and our multilateral approach was made in Europe. And if we want to avoid this fragmentation of the World, we need a stronger Europe. It’s absolutely key. And my view is that we have to redesign a 10-year strategy - because that is not an overnight-strategy - a 10-year strategy to make Europe an actual, economic, social, green, scientific, and political pole. That’s what we have to build. Which means, we need more ambition in order to have a more sovereign, united and democratic Europe. ... Those who don’t want to move forward should not block the most ambitious people in the room.

Xi's claim to be the "leader of the free world" is a joke. Nor can Trump be a leader of anything, as the last UN vote showed.

Europe will find its natural place at the center of the world once it has gotten rid of the shackles of Anglo imperialism.

[Beren]

And on artificial intelligence, we’re only at the beginning of what AI can achieve, says May.

I just wonder whether what would happen if AI took over the UK government right now.

'Did you actually vote to leave the EU in a referendum?'

'Does not compute... Does not compute... Switch to dictatorship mode immediately!'

[Atlantis]

I just wonder whether what would happen if AI took over the UK government right now.

It would undoubtedly be an infinite improvement over the Brexit government. Better artificial intelligence than no intelligence at all.

[Beren]

It would undoubtedly be an infinite improvement over the Brexit government. Better artificial intelligence than no intelligence at all.

Experiments with AI government should definitely start in the White House and Downing Street. No more harm could be done there anyway.

[Beren]

Trump arrives to his audience; reporters shout out a few questions.

Asked what his message is to Davos, he replies “Peace and prosperity”.

There are a few laughs.

Showtime!

[Atlantis]

Experiments with AI government should definitely start in the White House and Downing Street. No more harm could be done there anyway.

I think you underestimate the potential dangers of combining AI with the emotional immaturity of these retards. Just imagine the US plutocracy flooding the world with Trump clones.

[colliric]

http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/ ... 0olhh.html

God, what a meddling cunt, and a senile old bastard at that... No wonder his own country wants him out and never coming back...

https://hotair.com/archives/2018/01/18/ ... rge-soros/

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemit ... ate-533337

[Beren]

George Soros: Facebook and Google a menace to society

• Billionaire says social media companies’ ‘days are numbered’

• Soros warns of ‘far-reaching adverse consequences’ for democracy

Olivia Solon in San Francisco

Fri 26 Jan 2018 07.35 GMT First published on Thu 25 Jan 2018 23.03 GMT

Facebook and Google have become “obstacles to innovation” and are a “menace” to society whose “days are numbered”, said billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.

“Mining and oil companies exploit the physical environment; social media companies exploit the social environment,” said the Hungarian-American businessman, according to a transcript of his speech.

“This is particularly nefarious because social media companies influence how people think and behave without them even being aware of it. This has far-reaching adverse consequences on the functioning of democracy, particularly on the integrity of elections.”

In addition to skewing democracy, social media companies “deceive their users by manipulating their attention and directing it towards their own commercial purposes” and “deliberately engineer addiction to the services they provide”. The latter, he said, “can be very harmful, particularly for adolescents”.

“The power to shape people’s attention is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few companies. It takes a real effort to assert and defend what John Stuart Mill called ‘the freedom of mind’. There is a possibility that once lost, people who grow up in the digital age will have difficulty in regaining it. This may have far-reaching political consequences.”

Soros warned of an “even more alarming prospect” on the horizon if data-rich internet companies such as Facebook and Google paired their corporate surveillance systems with state-sponsored surveillance – a trend that’s already emerging in places such as the Philippines.

“This may well result in a web of totalitarian control the likes of which not even Aldous Huxley or George Orwell could have imagined,” he said.

The companies, which he described as “ever more powerful monopolies” are unlikely to change their behaviour without regulation.

“The internet monopolies have neither the will nor the inclination to protect society against the consequences of their actions. That turns them into a menace and it falls to the regulatory authorities to protect society against them,” he said.

He said Davos was a good place to announce: “Their days are numbered.”

He also echoed the words of world wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee when he said the tech giants had become “obstacles to innovation” that need to be regulated as public utilities “aimed at preserving competition, innovation and fair and open universal access”.

During the same speech, Soros also criticised Donald Trump’s leadership, saying he had put the US on course for a nuclear war with North Korea.

Soros is the latest high-profile business person to speak out about these internet platforms at Davos. Earlier this week, Salesforce’s chief executive, Marc Benioff, said that Facebook should be regulated like a cigarette company because it’s addictive and harmful.

In November, Roger McNamee, who was an early investor in Facebook, described Facebook and Google as threats to public health.

In the same month Facebook’s founding chairman, Sean Parker, criticised his former employer: “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains,” he said.

Remarks delivered at the World Economic Forum

Thank you @colliric for highlighting the super-intelligent election campaign of the Hungarian government completely based on anti-Soros conspiracy theories.

And here is Angela Merkel's speech, if someone's interested. I wonder whether she stressed the importance of artificial intelligence too.

[ness31]

Well, I’ve learned two things in this thread-

1. Davos is a place in Switzerland. Yup, didn’t know, don’t judge

2. Soros is a palindrome

Gotta say, found the second point marginally more interesting.

[colliric]

Thank you @colliric for highlighting the super-intelligent election campaign of the Hungarian government completely based on anti-Soros conspiracy theories.

He's a meddling cunt. Now got him on record saying he'll do anything to get rid of "Nuclear Threat" Donald Trump by 2020 and "Keep Britain in the EU as long as possible".. Wink wink nudge nudge 2018 a couple of billion bucks to the Democratic Party war chest.

No wonder his own country's government hates his guts. No wonder Putin hates his guts. No wonder almost everyone with a brain interested in politics hates his guts.

He just gave Alex Jones years of material to work with....

[Beren]

No wonder almost everyone with a brain interested in politics hates his guts.

You mean yourself and alike, huh? It makes me glad the Hungarian government is the most colliric of all.

He just gave Alex Jones years of material to work with....

What a great final conclusion!

[colliric]

What a great final conclusion!

It's true and you know it.

He's now on record saying outright he'll do anything to keep Britain locked in the EU(apparently against their will, what the fuck was that statement about? Why imply against their will? Do they not have a democratic right to leave?) and get rid of Trump wink wink nudge nudge 2018 election donation rigging...

He literally threatened to orchestrate the removal the President of the United States by 2020.

He should be arrested. What an undemocratic rich pig. Fuck him. I hope the Hungarian Government finds a crime he has committed to charge him with. He is a backstabbing traitor.