DAVOS, SWITZERLAND – A hedge fund investor told me she attends the World Economic Forum each year “so that I’ll know what to short.” Her argument was that in a world filled with economic and geopolitical pessimism (the dominant mood at Davos this year), it may be time for optimism to “long”.

It is difficult to disagree with the idea that Davos is more about conventional wisdom than investing solutions. For most of the past 50 years, the WEF was the leading global convener for business and international elites. Fourth Industrial RevolutionAnd in creating positive change such as increased social responsibility by CEOs.

However, it’s clear that this year’s dominant theme was collective despair without any obvious solutions. The European conflict that has been the most deadly since World War II continues without resolution. Global economic growth slows and inflation grows, and COVID and all of its variations persists well into its third year. This includes a heavy pounding from China. related supply chains.

Davos also had another story to tell.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president has awakened the West collectively from its sleep. Europe responded by committing more of its collective effort, while taxpayers in Europe are funding weapons to help Ukraine. fighting for shared freedoms. The cryptocurrency crowd is even more elite than Davos. They are looking for ways to send aid faster and more efficiently to Ukraine, while they recover from their billions of losses. Terra crypto scandal.

Davos taking Russians off of its invite list was a first. This is a sign that the world must fight against certain crimes.

“In Davos our solidarity is most prominent with people who are suffering from the atrocities caused by this war.” saidKlaus Schwab was the Forum’s founding chairman and current executive chair. The WEF called forA Marshall Plan for Ukraine’s Reconstruction, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Davos crowdIt should also use Russian assets to accomplish this mission, as shown in the video.

China’s President Xi Jinping was not present. He has previously used Davos to proclaim himself a champion of a better world and most recently, on January 17 when he spoke to a virtual WEF session.

He stated, “We must abandon the Cold War mentality” and instead seek peace and coexistence. saidJust days earlier, he signed with Putin a joint declaration agreeing to a “relationship”without limits.” This was just a few months before Putin started his war.

It is possible to wonder if Xi tried to persuade Putin about his views. told his January Davos audience: History has proven time and again that confrontation is not a solution to problems. It only leads to disastrous consequences.

This week most repeated storyVictor Pinchuk was a Ukrainian businessman turned philanthropist and philanthropist. He transformed the “Russia House,” a perennial Russian house, into the “Russian War Crimes House.”

Russian officials and businessmen gathered on the main drag of the ski resort in order to enjoy vodka shots and have held meetings there. Its walls were covered in photographs, and there was a large screen that showed Putin’s atrocities.

Bjorn Geldhof (exhibition curator) said that Russia came to Davos for many years to show its true self to the world. told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro. “We are representing war crimes that Russia is committing in Ukraine, but war crimes that were also committed in Chechnya, that were committed in Syria — so what we are showing is the reality from Russia that most people don’t speak about.”

These and many other reasons have led me to be “short-sighted” in my pessimism, and “long-sighted” in optimism, as I travel back home from Washington, D.C. on Saturday. I act less out of any conviction that a positive outcome will be achieved than I do because we all face the same costs if we fail to use this time for a common cause.

My bet is that the optimism and heroism that Ukrainians display will overcome the complacency which has decimated global democracy for most of the last three decades. As Russia gains control of eastern Ukraine, I believe that Ukrainians will be more determined to win and overcome fatigue.

Christopher Coons, Delaware Senator told the Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor in Davos: “I think it’s fairly obvious that the Russian plan is to grind it out … and to count on the West to come apart in some way and frankly to lose interest and be distracted by high energy costs and our own elections.”

I also hope, against all previous experiences, that this week’s school shootingThe Uvalde massacre in Texas left 21 people dead. This shows that the United States has the ability to address domestic problems while mobilizing the rest of the world for Ukraine’s defeat. One can draw hope from the new $40 billion aid packageFor Ukraine, Washington’s poisonous partisanship doesn’t have to be irreparable.

Only hope can be found in Sweden and Finland. applications to join NATOThe Swedish government ended a 200 year history of neutrality towards Sweden. This was not done to harm Putin, but to strengthen the unity of transatlantic communities against future threats. NATO is likely to defeat Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan. objections.

The President Joe Biden trip this week to AsiaThis was also positive, as it created a new economic planTo promote relations with his friends and abandoned the outdated concept of “strategic ambiguity” toward TaiwanIt is not necessary to wage war, but rather to stop it.

That was Antony Blinken, Secretary of State. speechThe link between Putin’s war and China’s challenge was captured at George Washington University Thursday

He said that Beijing’s support of Putin’s war in Ukraine should alarm all those who live and work in the Indo-Pacific. Later, he added, “We can’t rely on Beijing changing its course.” We will create a strategic environment around Beijing in order to promote our vision of an inclusive, open international system.

It’s a worthwhile outcome.

— Frederick Kempe is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Atlantic Council.