Davos: Germany Seeks 'Multipolar' World05/26 06:15

   

   DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed hopes 
Friday for global cooperation on climate change, hunger and war, while dozens 
of climate activists demonstrated in the Swiss town of Davos as a meeting of 
global elites ended with many words but little concrete action to solve the 
world's most pressing crises.

   The German leader ratcheted up his criticism of Moscow's military onslaught 
in Ukraine during a speech on the last day of the World Economic Forum's annual 
meeting. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to return to a world 
order in which the strongest dictate what is right, in which freedom, 
sovereignty and self-determination are not."

   Voicing hopes for countries to work together on shared crises, Scholz said 
today's world is no longer bipolar as it was during the Cold War era -- when 
United States and the Soviet Union dominated geopolitics.

   "If some want to take us back to the past of nationalism, imperialism and 
war, our answer is 'not with us.' We stand for the future," he said in the 
final major address of the week in Davos. "When we realize that our world is 
becoming multipolar, then that must spur us on to even more multilateralism, to 
even more international cooperation."

   As he spoke, scores of young people protested across town behind banners 
that read "Cut the (BS)!" and "There is no Planet B" -- adding a coda of 
condemnation to the gathering of elites in Davos that is often derided for 
being more about talk, business and relationship-building than action. Forum 
organizers reject such claims, insisting they want to improve the state of the 
world by drawing in decision-makers.

   The yearly gathering in the Swiss Alps -- twice suspended over the COVID-19 
pandemic -- has been overshadowed this year by the war in Ukraine, rising food 
and fuel prices, and signs that governments aren't doing enough to fight global 
warning. That has doused many moods in the face of a can-do spirit by many 
innovators and entrepreneurs on hand for the event.

   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and 
an array of lawmakers, local officials and business leaders who made the 
journey or joined by video link captured the spotlight to drum up support for 
their country's grueling and uncertain campaign to oust Russian forces.

   Russian President Vladimir Putin's campaign has drawn international scorn 
and unsettled his allies, and as a result, Russian envoys from business and 
government who have been staples at Davos since the end of the Soviet Union 
weren't invited this year.

   Kuleba voiced little hope that the war could come to a negotiated end, or 
even a pause, anytime soon.

   "The moment Russia will agree to a cease-fire will be the moment it will be 
one step away from losing the war," he told reporters late Wednesday. "They 
(the Russians) will agree to a cease-fire with only one purpose: to save 
themselves from losing the war. Until then, this war will continue."

   Kuleba has pressed for Western powers to supply Ukraine with weapons like 
multiple-launch rocket systems and pointed to a "saga" about obtaining Gepard 
tanks from Germany, among other things his government has discussed with Berlin.

   "We clearly understand that Germany will not be a country that will lead the 
process of supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons we need," Kuleba said. "Let's 
make it clear: If we don't get heavy weapons, we get killed."

   The upshot of Ukraine's efforts is to rally countries around a budding 
democracy with ambitions to join the European Union -- the free-world and 
free-market club -- in the face of an onslaught by a Russian regime that clamps 
down on dissent and centralizes power in one man: Putin.

   Meanwhile, a deadly school shooting Tuesday in Texas was on many minds in 
Davos. More broadly, battles against global warming, a food crisis, and 
cyberattacks by hackers from Russia and beyond have exposed how progressive 
leaders from civil society, corporations and government have struggled to cope 
in a world facing simultaneous crises.

   Many touched on the need to find solutions to the blockade of Ukrainian 
ports, preventing its critical stocks of wheat, barley and sunflower oil from 
getting to the world and threatening food insecurity in countries in Africa, 
the Middle East and Asia. The European Union and United States have accused 
Russia of using food supplies as a weapon and say there have been talks of 
opening secure shipping corridors.

   Russian officials are blaming Western sanctions or Ukrainian mines in the 
sea.

   "This food crisis is real, and we must find solutions," WTO Director-General 
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on a trade panel Wednesday.

   Davos once again churned up ideas from innovators and officials, but 
translating those into action could take time -- and may not happen at all. The 
meeting is above all a talkfest, and concrete, high-profile achievements and 
announcements have been few this year.

   Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, a leading crusader against climate 
change, briefly railed against failed efforts for gun control in the United 
States before trumpeting a new system to monitor greenhouse gas emissions by 
satellite. That will increase needed scrutiny and transparency about the 
burning of carbon and other planet-warming gases by businesses around the 
globe, he said.

   Gore, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N.'s top body on climate 
science for their work on climate change, pointed to an initiative known as 
Climate Trace that combines more than 300 satellites with machine learning to 
create algorithms and zero in on emission hotspots worldwide. It's expected to 
release results in October from 500 largest sources of emissions.

   "We are about to enter an age of radical transparency," he said.