Much of the talk in Davos is of doom and gloom. One man isn’t so downbeat.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry struck a rare note of optimism Friday in a speech to executives preoccupied by the faltering world economy, China’s woes and the rise of geopolitical risk.
Yes, a “narrow tribalism, aggressive nationalism” and “violent extremists” present a real threat, but that isn’t the whole story, according to the top U.S. diplomat. Rather, the world should grasp “a powerful sense of confidence in what we can achieve,” he said.
“We are not living in a new normal” blighted by terrorism and war “and we don’t have to,” Kerry told an audience at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort.
Don’t you feel better knowing that you have just been imagining all of this? I know I am now reconsidering my relocation to an undisclosed bunker in the Arizona desert.
Here’s some perspective that I tweeted on Wednesday morning:
8 days since Obama’s #SOTU assured us world was safe & economy sound: 5 int’l terror incidents, stock mkt has worst 3 wk start to a yr EVER
— SFK (@stephenkruiser) January 20, 2016
And that’s just since last week.
While some may contend that a positive outlook is healthier, I would posit that it’s rather dangerous when the rose colored glasses are being worn by the people in power during these precarious times. By any rational measure, the world has been an extraordinarily unpleasant place for a few years now, and especially so since the terror attacks in Paris last November.
When the people charged with protecting us have a “Hey, it’s all cool,” attitude when everything is anything, but bad things can happen.
Like the Iranians developing nukes.
Stay tuned…
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