



Rahul Jacob: Great power rivalry between the US and China is putting the developing world at risk
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. More than three decades ago, the legendary Warren Buffett returned a call to a fact-checker, explaining what he meant when he used the term “elephant-bumping affairs." Buffett was gently deriding talkathons such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and CEO summits hosted by business magazines. I was then working for Fortune magazine in New York and was the fact-checker Buffett called.
I couldn’t help smiling as he remarked that these summits were where large egos went to bump into others of their tribe. That early lesson from a man who was a role model of self-deprecating humility for me made me sceptical of Davos, where the WEF holds its annual huddle. This was only heightened when I attended the WEF’s satellite summits in India and China.
These reinforced what Buffett said, but with a corollary: Such events make it possible for busy people to take a brief holiday while seeming busy. But, this year’s WEF was different. There was plenty of news, ranging from US President Donald Trump’s disavowal of the use of force to take over Greenland to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s overpraised speech calling out US hegemony.
There has been a change, of course, in leadership at the WEF itself with the resignation last April of founder Klaus Schwab after whistleblowers reportedly accused him of research manipulation and financial impropriety. Schwab and his wife were cleared of the charges, but Larry Fink, BlackRock founder and WEF co-chair, now seems in control. Fink mused about moving it from Davos to Dublin or Detroit.
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