Klaus Schwab is like a WWF wrestler. He is a pantomime villain, playing a part to amuse and distract the people who really should be aiming their bullets at the puppet-masters whom we rarely see. He is a sort of human shield to deflect bullets from … who exactly? Larry Fink? I really don’t know. Maybe none of us even know his name.
Or, maybe the WEF is just Facebook for the private-jet set, and really is nothing to worry about. After all, people with common interests, like tennis, or repairing old computers, like to find places to socialise, and so why shouldn’t Mohammed bin Salman, Peter Mandelson, Jamie Dimon, Tony Blair, Mikhail Fridman and Keir Starmer all get together in an insanely expensive Swiss ski resort once a year?
I recall that famous interview in which Prince Andrew defended his friendship with Epstein. The prince said that he had to remain on good terms with Epstein, because of his contacts. Why does the prince want these contacts? Not because they are great company (I can barely imagine anyone as boring as Jamie Dimon), but because they are the people who decide what happens to the rest of us, and knowing that information is itself power, and being close to them creates the possibility of influencing the future, which we all imagine we might do at the ballot box, but probably don’t.