Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
KAJ performing Bara Bada Bastu for Sweden at the First Semi-Final in St. Jakobshalle
At Eurovision 2025: Glitter, geopolitics, and a sauna diss track
Europe’s glitter-soaked, pyrotechnic-powered, music competition fever dream – otherwise known as the Eurovision Song Contest – takes place Saturday in Basel, Switzerland at 9pm CEST (3pm ET). It’s part talent show, part geopolitical popularity contest, and fully unhinged fun. Eurovision is officially “non-political,” but that’s never really the case: Ukraine won in 2023 after Russia’s invasion; Israel’s 2024 entry was about the Oct. 7 attacks.
Unlike in the past two years, politics is taking a relative backseat this time out. Nonetheless, this year’s entries include not one but two European diss tracks. Here are a few standouts.
KAJ - Bara Bada Bastu | Sweden 🇸🇪
The odds-on favorite to win, Sweden’s “Bara bada bastu” by the comedy-music act KAJ, makes fun of neighboring Finland’s obsession with saunas. The Nordic diss track draws from Epadunk, a Swedish genre of music that blends EDM with tractor culture. Which is apparently a thing!
Tommy Cash - Espresso Macchiato | Estonia 🇪🇪
Members of the Italian government tried (and failed) to get Estonia’s viral “Espresso Macchiato” by Tommy Cash banned for perpetuating Italian stereotypes. With lines like “Mi money numeroso, I’m sweating like a mafioso,” they may have a point. Mamma mia!
Shkodra Elektronike - Zjerm | Albania 🇦🇱
Albania's entry “Zjerm” is a fusion of pop, electronic and traditional Albanian folk music, anchored by infectious Middle Eastern strings. Sung by Shkondra Electronike, an Albanian duo living in Italy, Zjerm Albania’s best chance of making the top 10 in over a decade.
JJ - Wasted Love | Austria 🇦🇹
Austria's song, an operatic techno-banger “Wasted Love” by JJ is another contender for the top spot. It’s high-energy, surreal, and dramatic, a perfect Eurovision contender. Be sure to listen to the song—mid track it shifts from the Opera House to the rave, and JJ ends on a superhuman high note.
Tautumeitas - Bur Man Laimi | Latvia 🇱🇻
Latvia’s dreamy “ Bur man laimi” by the all-female sextet Tautumeitas is a dark horse candidate but very much worth the listen. The ethereal, hypnotic track is heavy on traditional drumming and polyphonic harmonies. It sounds like it’s being sung by elves casting a spell, and maybe it is… the title translates to “a chant for happiness.”
Let us know who you're rooting for! Send us a note at gzerodaily@gzeromedia.com.
Why neither the US nor China is the world’s strongest country
What is the strongest country in the world? Parag Khanna, bestselling author and CEO of the data analytics company AlphaGeo, argues that the answer isn’t as obvious as the United States or China.
Many indices rank nations based on GDP, military strength, population, or freedom. Khanna and his team have created a new one that includes all those factors and more. The goal is to provide investors, academics, and even digital nomads a clearer sense of how safe, resilient, and stable a nation is.
Khanna calls it the Periodic Table of States, and ranks nearly 200 countries on key factors like “strength,” which is a measure of might, wealth, and resources, alongside “stateness,” a geopolitical term referring to authority and governance.
Which country came out on top? Switzerland. Germany was a close second. And the US and China didn’t make the top 5.
GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke to Khanna about the table, why democracy doesn’t necessarily mean stability, and where the US is heading politically in the era of President Trump 2.0.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 2025.
Day Two: The view for AI from Davos
GZERO’s very own Tony Maciulis is in the Alps this week to report on the 55th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
_______
It’s Day Two in Davos, and those of us here woke up to the flurry of executive orders from President Donald Trump, many of which were expected but still create complications for dialogues here focused on climate financing and cooperation on AI and tech policy, for example. Trump will address the forum directly via videoconference this Thursday afternoon (as we’ve been told, though there are small rumors he may come in person. I think those odds are slim, but …)
Today was a big day for keynote speeches and conversations with world leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Germany’s embattled Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang addressed the forum, focusing on trade, innovation, multilateralism, and, in Zelensky’s case, the need to rally support for Ukraine.
Also, our own Ian Bremmer offered his take on the start of Trump’s presidency in a panel discussion in the Congress Centre today. Watch here.
At the forum’s AI House, discussions today focused on mitigating bias, accelerating global adoption of AI, and AI’s role in helping safeguard the environment.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a special Global Stage premiere from Davos, “The AI Economy: An Engine for Local Growth,” streaming at 11 a.m. ET. The program features Ian, Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño, and G42’s CEO Peng Xiao. Details here.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a speech during United Nations Security Council at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United Sates of America on September 24, 2024.
Zelensky snubs China’s peace push, Trump vows to end war “very quickly”
Switzerland’s foreign ministry expressed support for the peace plan China and Brazil are pushing to end Russia’s war in Ukraine on Sunday, but it’s a non-starter for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he “cannot understand the logic of Switzerland’s decision.”The plan would require Ukraine and Russia to begin negotiations in an international peace conference without any guarantee of Ukraine retaining its territorial integrity.
After the plan was pitched at the UN General Assembly on Friday, Zelensky said that proposing “alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles” would only allow Moscow to continue waging war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was equally dismissive of Beijing’s efforts,commenting that “China is allowing its companies to take actions that are actually helping Putin continue the aggression.”
Meanwhile, at Trump Tower…
Zelensky also met with Republican presidential contender Donald Trump on Friday, hoping to shore up his support amid weakening resolve from key Republicans. Trump promised to settle the war "very quickly" if elected in November, claiming a good relationship with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Zelensky described the meeting as “very productive,” stating on X: “We share the common view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped. Putin cannot win. Ukrainians must prevail.”Municipality workers remove debris from the streets after flooding in Sheikh Jalal district, Baghlan province, Afghanistan May 12, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Devastating floods, COVID reporter released, Catalonia votes, Swiss contestant wins Eurovision
315: At least 315 people in northern Afghanistan have died in severe floods that also injured over 1,600 others, wiped out thousands of homes, and devastated livestock herds that feed the region. Aid agencies expect chaos. It’s been a bad month for floods worldwide — similar inundations in southern Brazil and Kenya have killed hundreds in recent weeks.
4: Lawyer and journalist Zhang Zhan has been released from prison in China four years after being detained for her reporting on the government’s draconian response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In jail, Zhang’s health suffered severely, with her weight dropping to below 90 lbs at one point. Her former lawyer says Zhang will either be returned home or sent somewhere to do a few months of “soft prison” time while cloistered from the rest of the world.
9: Candidates from nine parties competed for seats in local elections in the wealthy, independence-leaning Spanish region of Catalonia on Sunday, and the Socialist candidate supported by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to squeak out a win. If no party wins a majority outright, the Socialists will likely need to hammer together a coalition to maintain control.
2: Students walked out on two major commencement speakers this weekend. Dozens of Duke graduates turned their backs on comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and Virginia Commonwealth University grads gave the same treatment to Gov. Glenn Youngkin. In addition to the walkouts, several more campuses saw major demonstrations surrounding their commencement activities.
Graphic Truth: Who's who at Davos
For one week, heads of state, business titans, and thought leaders gather in the Swiss Alps and discuss the world’s most pressing problems. With all of that money, political power, and intelligence in the same room, Davos is, in theory, the perfect place to get big things done.
But that’s not always the case. This year's Davos didn’t surmount tangible progress on climate change, the war in the Middle East, or any of the countless political issues that were on the table to be discussed. Overall, global politics took a backseat at the World Economic Forum. Could this be because political leaders were vastly outnumbered by CEOs? To find out, we looked at who was in the room where it (didn’t) happen.
A pinch of the Davos "secret sauce"?
The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will begin in Davos, Switzerland, tomorrow, bringing together 2,800 of the world’s most powerful people, including 60 or so heads of state and government.
This year’s theme, as declared by Klaus Schwab, is to “rebuild trust” in a fractured world. The WEF founder was talking about trust in a more certain and optimistic future for people around the globe. But the forum has its own credibility issues that have led many to question whether it is a malign, even malevolent, institution.
On the left, it is pilloried as a gathering of billionaires who have plundered the world and destabilized democracies. In his book “Davos Man: How Billionaires Devoured the World,” New York Times economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman depicted a group of rootless, self-interested internationalists, whose wealth and power are so vast that they believe they are entitled to write the rules for the rest of us.
On the right, Schwab’s idea of a “Great Reset” after the pandemic, which promoted the idea of “stakeholder capitalism,” has been viewed with increasing hysteria. On Fox News, right-wing commentator Ned Ryun said the WEF wants to “create feudalism 2.0, in which we are serfs and they are the lords ruling over us. You’ll have nothing and be happy,” he said, riffing off an essay written by Danish politician Ida Auken for the WEF in 2016, in which she suggested the forum has a goal of limiting ownership of private property.
Davos Man – the perception is that the summit is overwhelmingly attended by men over age 50 – needs a makeover, and the forum could do worse than point to its own history as a constructive force for peace and stability.
In 1988, Greece and Turkey were pulled back from the brink of war to sign the Davos Declaration; in 1989, North and South Korea held their first ministerial meeting in the Swiss Alps, while East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl met to discuss reunification. In 1992, F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela came together in Davos for the first time outside of South Africa, a visit Mandela later said changed his perception of the world.
The world is in dire need of more exchanges like that – more truth and reconciliation.
Before this year’s meeting, the WEF released its latest Global Risk Perception Study (more on this later). Spoiler alert: The outlook for the world is negative and is expected to get worse over the next decade. Two-thirds of the respondents to the study predict a multipolar world will dominate global affairs over the next 10 years, as the great powers set and enforce, but also contest, rules and norms.
But this is Davos’ secret sauce: Everyone is there (except the Russians, who were not invited). Attendees share meals and build personal relationships. Those behind-the-scenes conversations go unseen by the public but can pave the way for future compromises and agreements.
The formal themes of the forum revolve around four pillars: security and cooperation; growth and jobs; artificial intelligence; and, longer-term strategies for climate change.
But WEF President Børge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister, was clear that much of the focus will be on high-level diplomatic talks on wars in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Africa.
“We will make sure we bring together the right people … to see how we can solve this very challenging world,” he said.
This year, the Chinese are back with their biggest delegation since Xi Jinping addressed the forum in 2017, when he portrayed China as a responsible nation and a leader on environmental causes. Premier Li Qiang will lead a large delegation of government officials to send the message that China is open for business. (See Watching below).
Liming Chen, the WEF’s Greater China chairman, wrote in the China Daily this week that Davos acts as a window for Beijing to understand the world and the world to understand China.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will take part in talks on Gaza with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Other attendees will be French President Emmanuel Macron; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has invited representatives from more than 100 countries to a meeting on Sunday to increase support for Ukraine’s peace proposal.
In a world where transnational risks are increasing and global cooperation is eroding, Davos’ blend of bankers and businesspeople; journalists and academics; politicians and royalty (British princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are listed as delegates) is unique.
Follow this newsletter over the next couple of weeks and we’ll tell you how it unfolds.
Skyline view of Davos, Switz., with the St. Johann church in the foreground.
WEF’s worst global threats: Can we weather the storm?
This year’s survey suggests that AI-powered misinformation is the world’s biggest short-term threat. False and misleading information, powered by artificial intelligence, threatens to erode democracy and polarize populations, it says.
In a big election year in the United States, Britain, India, Mexico, and Indonesia, many of the 1,500 respondents from the worlds of business and government worried that fake information could be used to raise questions about the legitimacy of election results.
The WEF report says rapid advances in technology are creating new problems and making existing ones worse. There are concerns that AI chatbots like ChatGPT mean synthetic content could be created to misinform and disinform.
AI is one of the four central themes of the forum, with major industry players like Open AI’s Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, attending.
Extreme weather was the second most pressing short-term risk to the global economy, followed by societal polarization, cyber insecurity, and inter-state armed conflict.
Within 10 years, extreme weather is expected to become the biggest concern, followed by other environmental risks – changes to the Earth’s systems, biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapses, and national resource shortages.
The report’s authors point out that preparedness for global risk has never been more important but that it’s increasingly hindered by a lack of consensus and cooperation.
So we’ll be watching deliberations at Davos this week with the hope of seeing more signs of both.