Vladimir Putin decided to make a speech at the Davos Forum to announce his proposals for the "Great Reset." However, capitalism is unwilling to reset.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos next week, Russia 1 TV reports.
The topic of the forum is "The Great Reset", which means that billionaires and political leaders (one percent of the world's population) understand that neoliberalism has exhausted its potential and remains under the pressure of protest everywhere.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the fortune of American billionaires has grown by more than $1 trillion (the fortune of Russian billionaires has grown by $13.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI)). At the same time, the number of unemployed, undernourished people and those living in declining living standards has increased by hundreds of millions. The middle class, the foundation of capitalism, is turning into the poor.
The Great Reset was conceived by WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab, who claims that the state affairs in global economy has deteriorated significantly due to many factors, including the devastating impact of the pandemic on our society worldwide.
Schwab believes that the world should act together and quickly to change all aspects of our society and economy, including the creation of new social agreements and working conditions.
"Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a "Great Reset" of capitalism," Schwab said.
However, realists understand that capitalism is not going to and will not be reformed, whereas making capitalism more responsive is a prerogative of the state. Vladimir Putin will speak at the forum when it has become almost impossible to come to common world decisions. Rather, it goes about ways to find partners to create "competitive multilateralism" that can be capable of developing and applying new rules of the game.
Nikita Meslennikov, economist and leading expert at the Institute of Contemporary Development, told Pravda.Ru, that "the COVID pandemic will last for a long time, so this topic will definitely determine the agenda of the Davos Forum.
Healthcare problems, issues of data exchange, experience in combating coronavirus, vaccination are coming to the fore.
"Counteraction should be collective, so this is already the first issue on the agenda, which one can speak about and discuss absolutely openly," Nikita Maslennikov said.
It is worthy of note that it was Putin who set forth the initiative about "green corridors", duty-free trade in medicines and personal protective equipment within the framework of measures to counter COVID, the expert added.
The second problem, which the president may raise at the forum, Nikita Maslennikov believes, is the "poorly predictable" state of affairs in the global economy coupled with "significant risks" in the form of trade wars. Here one should target reforms of the World Trade Organization (WTO) while searching for compromises, protecting intellectual property and abandoning protectionist measures that have been advancing in many countries during the recent years.
The third challenge is combating climate change. Russia also has its own ideas at this point, the economist noted.
"If the European Union introduces a carbon tax, we will need to provide for a certain transition period so that other countries, including Russia, could get ready and take their own measures to control CO2 emissions," Nikita Maslennikov said.
The fourth problem is the problem of the world debt. The fifth problem is the problem of instability of the world monetary system.
According to the economist, the Russian Federation will demonstrate maximum openness and vital interest in being open to the world at the Davos Forum. "We do not fence ourselves off from anyone or anything. We are ready to cooperate in all directions, given that our legitimate interests are respected too."
"Vladimir Putin may also speak about sanctions and the need to extend the START-3 treaty. Indeed, there are a lot of problems in the world, and Russia's role is big enough for the entire world to be interested in what Russia's position is all about on all those issues," Nikita Maslennikov told Pravda.Ru.
According to him, it is very important to use this tribune, because no other platform is available yet due to difficulties in bilateral relations with the European Union and the United States of America.
The Davos Forum is to be held remotely on January 25-29. Putin appeared at the forum last in 2011 (Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - in 2013).
Meanwhile, the #BetterThanDavos movement has been gathering pace in the world, as people all over the world reject the Davos agenda and call for "the abolition of billionaires."