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When will the penny drop at Davos?

  It’s not unusual for environmental risk to come up at the World Economic Forum, held this month in Davos, notes Natural Security columnist Chris Wood. “What appears to be harder for the high-net-worth and high-power-quotient individuals meeting in the Alps to accept, is that the rising incidence, mounting costs and escalating risk of natural security failures proceed directly from the very system that the World Economic Forum was invented to promote,” he writes in his new column, Davos: Pantomimes of Concern From the One Percent. Excerpt: The one percent are meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week—or at least, that fraction of the

Militant workers China’s new nightmare

China’s workers are not convinced by their government’s new stance, that low economic growth is “normal.” It’s a nightmarish scenario for China, warns International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe in his new column, Labour unrest surges as China’s economy slows. An excerpt: As China’s economy slows to a crawl, the Communist Party is facing one of its worst nightmares: a militant labour movement. The Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, which collects data on strikes and lockouts in China as well as promoting workers’ rights, says there has been a dramatic upturn in labour unrest across the country. As the country’s economy slowed to its

The Saudi King, Abdullah, is Dead

The death today of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sets in motion what will be one of the most important successions in that country and the Middle East for many years. It is an involved and complex process involving at least two generations and many ambitious figures in a royal family that includes over 10,000 people. Here is a column about the succession our international affairs writer Jonathan Manthorpe wrote two weeks ago, which sets out the players and the script. Excerpt of Saudi Arabia succession struggle looms as king ails: It’s been a long time coming, but the looming crisis

Noteworthy: Davos, Ebola, media matters

The World Economic Forum, AKA the “annual summit for the one per cent,” kicks off in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, tomorrow. Subjects range from bicycles for African kids to global trade, Ebola to climate change, “honey laundering” to oil markets. Switzerland’s tourism industry is delighted at the publicity. Even China’s premier will be there. For the rest of us, well, there’s always online attendance. Click here for the WEF agenda and links to online webcasts. Speaking of Ebola, there’s (somewhat) good news. The head of the United Nations said progress in fighting the disease in West Africa shows it can be done. The World Health

New Facts, and some Opinions

A spat of major new global reports on health, climate, and inequality contain warnings that can be met only by  joint action, the kind of community response that has fallen out of favour lately in much of the West.  Today Oxfam released, in the lead up to the World Economic Forum that starts Wednesday in Davos, a prediction that would be bizarre were it not so shocking: “Richest 1% will own more than all the rest by 2016,” said the press release for a new report.   “Wealth: Having It All and Wanting More, a research paper published today by Oxfam,

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