Davos Newbies

Security v civil liberties

Jon Zittrain, director of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center, made valiant efforts as moderator of the session on security and civil liberties. He teased and cajoled the panellists and generated a lively debate on topics ranging from the treatment of prisoners in Camp X-Ray to identity cards to the International Court of Justice.

But with the best will in the world, Davos remains a very civil place. I was surprised that Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, didn’t lay into Republican senator Orrin Hatch. She said the right things — “Human rights isn’t an obstacle to security. It’s key to security” — but was polite, not incensed.

More on Davos on the Hudson

Even Davos Newbies can’t keep up with everything going on here. For other perspectives, I’d recommend Dan Gillmor’s Davos weblog (that’s called blogrolling), and as I pointed out yesterday, The New York Times is worth a look. Alex Kuczynski, who has already horrified me, has done it again with this account of parties. According to the article Lehman Brothers are paying Elton John $1 million to perform at their party tonight. That’s disgusting and reprehensible, even if it makes “business” sense for Lehman.

Oh no

I went to lunch (with 150 others) with US Treasury secretary Paul O’Neill to judge whether the low opinions I hear universally about him were accurate. The answer is yes.

It’s not so much what O’Neill said, which was mostly familiar nostrums about developing countries needing to improve their governance and our need to find better ways to deploy aid. Two things struck me. First, he seems out of his depth when specific economic questions are asked. He tells an anecdote (of which more later) and then either — depending on your point of view — sidesteps the question or fails to get the point.

His anecdotes invariably harken back to his experiences as CEO of Alcoa. That’s my second takeaway: the only times O’Neill showed enthusiasm or interest were when he was talking about “his” company (he never used the past tense). I’d heard that vice president Cheney had to twist O’Neill’s arm to take the job. It seems clear that he really, really wishes he were still in Pittsburgh.

Be scared

The session on science, source of security or vulnerability, offered gloomy but provocative fare.

“Extreme pessimism strikes me as the only rational stance,” said cosmologist Martin Rees. He foresees a world where the dissemination of genetic technologies means thousands or even millions of individuals can create weapons of mass destruction.

Fortunately Nobel prizewinning physicist George Charpak reckons if we can teach our kids science, they will be good citizens and not prone to fanaticism. He didn’t make clear how that would help, but he did paint an encouraging portrait of what his programme is achieving in French schools.

The other notable thing about the session was the quality both of the questions and questioners. Only in Davos (even in NY) can you have George Soros, Nobelist Sidney Prusiner and World Bank chief scientist Bob Watson in the audience asking the questions.