The World Economic Forum at Davos has always required of its participants a certain suspension of disbelief—the willingness to accept that gathering the global elite at a Swiss ski resort, where meals cost what many of the world's poorest earn in months, somehow advances the common good. Having attended several times in years past (blue badge—if you know, you know), I can attest that the cognitive dissonance was baked into the fondue from the start: High-minded panels about inequality and human rights (where the panelists are billionaires, kleptocrats, and dictators), and the moderator is in on the joke - and knows better than to ask real questions (after all, the moderator is also there to network—wouldn't want to upset anyone).
Yet a genteel pretense was maintained. The networking was relentless, the personal branding shameless, the consulting firm announcements ("New Report on Human Longevity—Unveiled at Davos!") self-serving. But everyone tacitly agreed to genuflect toward humanity's betterment.
Speaking of relentless networking and self-promotion, please do subscribe to my Substack to get updates on my work (it's free): https://stevenstrauss.substack.com/
This year, however, the absurdity has achieved new altitudes. President Trump, never one for genteel pretense, is attempting to overshadow those proceedings by formally announcing at Davos his "Board of Peace"—a body he will permanently chair, with unilateral veto power and the right to appoint his successor. Its permanent seats can be purchased for $1 billion, and Vladimir Putin has already received an invitation.[1] Critics call it a vanity-project alternative to the United Nations; or perhaps the UN reimagined by a man who branded steaks (yes, Trump really did try to market Trump-branded steaks—it’s among his myriad business failures).[2]
Speaking of cognitive dissonance: Here is a man who ran as the relentless anti-globalist, anti-elite champion of the American forgotten man - now forgetting those very voters - to bask in the sycophantic kowtowing of the global elite. Presumably, the assembled plutocrats brought their Gucci-branded knee pads.
Meanwhile, outside the alpine bubble, the world convulses with discussions of Greenland annexation, NATO's potential dissolution, and America's apparent transformation into a rogue kleptocratic authoritarian state. And inside that bubble? Judging by LinkedIn's fevered dispatches, banks and consultancies (who spend fortunes on this annual pilgrimage) continue posting breathlessly about AI frameworks and climate reports—as though the geopolitical tectonic plates weren't shifting beneath their feet.
Away from the publicity, one suspects Davos attendees are quietly debating which location Trump will invade first—Minneapolis or Greenland—and what really is in the Epstein files. But publicly, the niceties will be maintained.
And then there is Sudan—or rather, as far as I can tell, the determined effort not to discuss it. While Davos convenes under the theme "A Spirit of Dialogue", the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe unfolds with over 225,000 dead and fourteen million displaced in what the US State Department, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Genocide Watch, and Human Rights Watch have all determined or found to constitute genocide.[3] The United Arab Emirates (which happens to field the fifth-largest delegation at this year's forum and whose sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is a WEF Strategic Partner)[4] has been accused of complicity in that genocide - not only by Sudan (at the International Court of Justice), but also by US lawmakers (including Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Sara Jacobs, Senator Chris Van Hollen), a UN panel of experts, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, all of whom have documented that UAE weapons are flowing to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the group accused of committing ethnic cleansing and genocide.[5] (For the record, the UAE denies any involvement.)
Yet somehow these inconvenient realities usually fail to make it to the panel discussions. The spirit of dialogue, it seems, often does not extend to dialogues that might discomfit major sponsors.
The effect is less Bretton Woods than late-period League of Nations: An institution going through elaborate motions, while the premises underlying its existence crumble. One imagines the League's 1936 delegates discussing agricultural tariffs - while Mussolini's troops marched through Ethiopia. Davos 2026 may yet be remembered similarly—not for what was accomplished, but for what was so studiously ignored while the canapés were passed.
Speaking of relentless networking and self-promotion, please do subscribe to my Substack to get updates on my work (it's free): https://stevenstrauss.substack.com/
Steven Strauss, Ph.D. teaches, writes, and advises on leadership, strategy, organizational change, and emerging technologies—with a particular emphasis on generative AI and its implications for institutions and work. In the summer of 2026, Strauss will teach two courses at the Harvard University Summer School: Management Consulting in the Age of AI, and Innovating with Generative AI for Leaders and Managers. He served as the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs Visiting Professor at Princeton University (2014–2025) and previously taught at Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to academia, he worked at McKinsey & Company in the London office. Prior to McKinsey, Strauss worked in investment banking and capital markets. He also served as Managing Director at the New York City Economic Development Corporation under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, where he led and supported major economic transformation and innovation initiatives, including leading the work that resulted in the Applied Sciences NYC effort (Cornell Tech). In 2012, he was a Fellow at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Dr. Strauss earned a Ph.D. in Management from Yale University.
Notes:
[1] Trump announced the Board of Peace on January 15, 2026, stating it would be "the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled." See: Board of Peace Wikipedia. The charter gives Trump permanent chairmanship with veto power over all decisions. Countries can purchase permanent seats for $1 billion. See: Washington Post. Putin received an invitation, which the Kremlin confirmed. See: CNN: Putin invited to join Trump's Board of Peace. Critics have described it as a potential UN alternative and "vanity project." See: Al Jazeera.
[2] Trump Steaks was a brand of steak launched in May 2007, marketed as "The World's Greatest Steaks" and sold exclusively through The Sharper Image. It was discontinued after just two months due to dismal sales—the CEO of Sharper Image later estimated total sales at under $50,000. TIME magazine included it on a list of Trump's business failures. See: Trump Steaks Wikipedia.
[3] The US State Department formally determined in January 2025 that the RSF and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan. See: US State Department Genocide Determination. The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights reached the same conclusion in an April 2024 independent inquiry. Genocide Watch classified the situation as Stage 9—Extermination. Human Rights Watch documented targeted ethnic killings that "raise the possibility that they were acts of genocide." See: Human Rights Watch on Sudan.
[4] The UAE sent over 100 ministers and officials to Davos 2026, constituting the fifth-largest national delegation. See: The National: UAE sends more than 100 delegates to Davos. Mubadala Investment Company, the UAE's sovereign wealth fund, is listed as a World Economic Forum Strategic Partner. See: WEF Strategic Partners.
[5] Sudan filed a case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice in March 2025, accusing it of complicity in genocide through its support of the RSF. See: UN News: World Court begins hearing Sudan's case. US Representative Rashida Tlaib stated: "We must do everything in our power to stop this genocide, including cutting off all weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates who are arming and funding this ethnic cleansing." See: Rep. Tlaib on X. Representative Ilhan Omar called the UAE "arms dealers to the RSF." See: Common Dreams. Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative Sara Jacobs confirmed in January 2025 that the UAE is providing weapons to the RSF in direct violation of its assurances to Washington. See: Senator Van Hollen press release. A January 2024 UN panel of experts found reports of UAE arms shipments to the RSF "credible". Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented UAE-origin military equipment, including armored vehicles, in RSF hands.
