Listen to the speeches and the corridor conversations in Davos and it is hard to avoid the impression that the west — as a political concept — is on the point of collapse.
Nobody puts it quite like that. On the contrary, Joe Biden, the outgoing US vice-president, argued that “the defence of free nations in Europe has always been America’s fight”. Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trump’s appointed emissary to the World Economic Forum, also battled to convince his audience that the incoming president understands the importance of both Nato and the EU.
But both Mr Biden and Mr Scaramucci protested a little too much. Neither man could erase the impact of Mr Trump’s remark that Nato is “obsolete”, his praise for Britain’s decision to leave the EU and his view that “if you ask me, more countries will leave”. If the Trump administration follows through on such comments on Nato and the EU, the US would be pulling back from the two key institutions underpinning the Atlantic alliance.