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Globalization and Its Discontents
Some notable quotes from Davos
At a forum lunch on European expansion, attended by senior officials from four countries seeking admission to the European Union, the eminent U.S. columnist who acted as moderator introduced one of the participants as the "Prime Minister of Slovakia." The distinguished guest, stony-faced, replied that he was in fact Prime Minister of SLOVENIA. "You made the same mistake as George W. Bush," said the P.M., Janez Drnovsek. "Yes," replied the world-renowned pundit, his face turning beet red, "but I have no excuse." To make matters worse for the beleaguered Slovene, when the pundit called on him to sum up his thoughts at the end of the lunch, referring to him, accurately this time, as Prime Minister of Slovenia, the pundit's wife loudly corrected him: "No, you mean Foreign Minister." Drnovsek turned gray: "I am PRIME Minister." Some guys just get no respect.
"We have to abolish this ridiculous rotating E.U. presidency, which changes hands every six months. Frankly, the U.S. Treasury Secretary is just not going to hop on a plane to go meet with the Latvian Finance Minister when, after some future enlargement, it is Latvia's turn to be President. Some of my best friends are Latvian, but let's be realistic."- Charles Grant, Center for European Reform (U.K.)
"Another criterion for E.U. membership should be what I call Historical Infrastructure. Applicants should have sufficiently deep historical and cultural roots to join Europe. On those grounds, in my opinion, our friends from ex-Yugoslavia should not become members of the E.U." - Milos Zeman, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
"If we don't play God, who will? There seem to me to be three possibilities: there is a God, but he doesnąt care about evil and suffering; there is a God who cares, but He or She is a bit of an underachiever; or there is no God. Personally, I believe the latter." ‹ Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University
"Whose life are we talking about? If it is competent patients who can express their view, then they are in a position to judge [on doctor-assisted suicide or euthanasia]. The value of life ranges from quite a lot in the case of one who wants to go on living and has something to look forward to less than zero for those who are in a situation of intolerable suffering ... We ought to let competent people make their own decisions." - Peter Singer
"I knew nothing about computers when I became Prime Minister, so I took a computer course in my own constituency. There were different people in the class--pensioners, young people, students. There was a bloke next to me who was long-term unemployed. Well, we took a battery of tests and I did very badly. At one point he said to me, "How's it going?" I said fine, and I remarked that he seemed very nervous. "Does it make you nervous to sit next to the Prime Minister?" I asked. "No, no, it's not that," he said. "It's just that we've been taking all these tests and I've been doing better than you. But I'm unemployed and you're the Prime Minister!" - Tony Blair, British Prime Minister
"Globalization is turning Karl Marx's slogan--'workers of the world unite!'--on its head. The new message is 'Workers of the World, compete!'"
"There is a backlash against globalization. The recent fiasco in Seattle is a healthy reminder ... You can easily see protectionism looming under the phrases on ecology and social dumping." - Percy Barnevik, Chairman of Investor AB (Sweden)
"Celebrating Seattle's failure is like celebrating the Berlin Wall going up."
"This is NOT a case of a few wealthy white guys trying to fix the rules for the rest of the world."
"Globalization is not an ideology. It is a process that began when the first person stood upright, walked across a paddock and borrowed, or probably stole, someone else's goods. A process that is not all bad."
"We didn't need any help from protesters to fail in Seattle--we did that all on our own. The problem is it just wasn't ripe. We were too far apart on certain issues." - Mike Moore, Director-General, World Trade Organization
"A peculiar alliance has recently come into life. Forces from the extreme left, the extreme right, environmentalist groups, trade unions of developed countries and some self-appointed representatives of civil society, are gathering around a common endeavor: To save the people of developing countries from development." - Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico
"A guy with a bad heart bought a lottery ticket. His wife checked the number and realized he'd won a million dollars. She was afraid to tell him because she was afraid the shock would kill him. So she told his doctor and the doctor said, 'Leave it to me.' The doctor comes to the house and says to the unknowing winner, 'What would you do if you won $100,000?' 'I'd buy a nice car.' 'How about $200,000?' 'I'd buy a car and a house.' 'How about a million dollars?' 'I'd give half to you.' The doctor dropped dead." - Participant in a dinner on stress, Thursday night
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