Last month we observed the pantomime on the world stage and this month, we have started a new year with a reality TV show in Davos, and darker events in Minneapolis. It’s beyond our pay grade to speculate on when normality might return, but we can hope. Meanwhile, we note a real cause for celebration: the liberation of ideas and actions in the world outside of the chaos in Washington. Europe is acting with more independence, standing up to US bullying on Greenland, and gradually taking over military support for Ukraine; Canada is doing trade deals with China; India, the world's most populous nation, is rapidly growing in economic importance, and the EU has signed the Mercosur agreement with Latin America to create (more…)