Davos Newbies

My major holiday reading certainly wasn’t light: Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar. It’s a fascinating, gripping read, exposing both the horror and the political intelligence of Stalin and his courtiers, many of whom of course did not survive his regime.

Just as slinging “fascist” around is ridiculous in most political discussions, so too with Stalinist. After all, Stalin probably tops the charts of the last century’s three major dictators for number of people killed. No one alive today, thankfully, is coming close to challenging that record. But I have to confess that there were many points in Stalin where my thoughts turned to today’s Washington. Consider some of the parallels. Stalin’s absurd promotion of the pseudo-science of Trofim Lysenko. Check. The elevation of doctrine over truth. Check. The importance of agreeing with the leader even if decisions are clearly wrong. Check. The relentless manipulation of news. Check.

In a very un-American way, I vanished for the past week with my family to spend some time in the mountains, enjoying the fresh air and skiing. I’ve spent most of the past 30 years in places where whole nations shut down around Christmas. Even when I worked at the World Economic Forum, with the Davos Annual Meeting less than a month away, Christmas was largely lights out for the organization.

The US is certainly different. My impressions are undoubtedly colored by the minor kerfuffle that sprang up concerning my business, in the few days before Christmas. But even without that, it is striking how little variation in the daily rhythm and routine is practiced here. Some of the difference is certainly healthy. As a secular Jew, I have to say I felt the huge emphasis on Christmas – to the exclusion of any other holiday – in Europe wearying. It’s a relief that Chanukah and other traditions get fair billing in the US.

But America would certainly benefit from a bigger breather than most people seem to take. So I did take a decent break, including from Davos Newbies.