It was cold and windy in Prague. I had arrived less than an hour ago, and a slight drizzle had turned into a shower.
I was sitting in a small cafe, sipping a cappuccino with a croissant, talking to a very dear friend, Jaro, whom I had not seen for some time.
It was 10:35 am, and in another 15 minutes, I was to cross the square to the well-recognized Klaus Auditorium, which from outside looked like the Colosseum of Rome.
I had received an invitation six weeks ago from the Chairman of the Global Strategic Strategy Forum (GSSF), Claude Muller.
The GSSF was born in Germany after 9/11 by Muller, who, whilst a Swiss citizen, was predominantly of German origin.
Since 2002, the GSSF has held one meeting a year to gauge the thoughts of a group of 200 to 300 attendees in a special format that I have not known before by any organization.
I knew they held meetings in Tokyo, Delhi, Nairobi, Paris, Chicago, Ottawa, Cape Town, Santiago, and Mexico City, among many other cities.
GSSF meetings take place in large locations in a unique format. There is a master chair for Muller, plus three co-chairs from different countries in different sectors, usually sitting on a center stage, with the audience in a full three-sided circle.
Although I did not know Muller before nor had attended the GSSF before, his invitation piqued my interest, and so here I was, giving Jaro a goodbye and walking across the square, holding an umbrella to avoid the rain.
The entrance was full of arrivals, registering, and as I looked for a clear booth, my name was called from behind me.
It was Daniel Mesner. I knew him from a number of global events I had attended where he was the organizer.
Daniel, in his early forties, was a workaholic with a unique eye for detail and precision. Dressed in a three-piece navy suit, a white shirt with a pin collar, and a red and blue tie, he looked prepared for his task as he was the first face of the GSSF through receiving participants.
After exchanging pleasantries – as I had not seen Daniel since a year ago in Davos – he shepherded me to a fast-track registration, and in a few moments, I was seated in the huge auditorium in the third row, where all seats were pre-arranged for all participants.
The large auditorium with a ceiling of over 25 meters was almost full. The stage was dark, and I introduced myself to the gentleman on my right, who was from Italy, Aldo Russo, the owner of a hospitality holding company owning hotels across Europe and North Africa.
On my left was Susan Talbert, the owner of a series of confectionery factories across the US.
The darkened stage then suddenly lit up, and the noise from the participants attending quietened as Muller appeared on stage.
After welcoming the audience, he said that they’d come from 68 nations, 41 business sectors, and 22 think tanks, in addition to 10 global health experts and 36 military professionals from 28 countries.
It sounded quite daunting.
Muller continued by explaining the manner to be recognized by him as Chair. Apparently, a system in the right arm of each chair would call upon Muller to recognize the caller, who would have two-five minutes to then address the stage and the participants.
Next, Muller introduced his three co-chairs: Sam Burns, an American, Chairman and CEO of Sharper, an AI company that owns data centers on three continents, Alexandra Ivanova, who had a Russian and Hungarian background and was a military intelligence expert and founder of a drone company, plus Hamdan Ali from the UAE, who is the chairman and owner of several shopping malls in the UAE, India, and Singapore.
Muller explained the rules of the next three-hour meeting. Then he gave the floor to the three co-chairs, where each had to express, in no more than five minutes, how they saw the world unfolding in the next year.
Sam was very positive and optimistic and clearly saw economic growth, but ominously stated that the world would be divided into three tribes.
He said the first tribe was the winners, first and foremost, America will have the power, technology, and economy that will keep them on the top of the heap. Sam added China, Switzerland, India, Israel, plus a few other countries.
Then he listed the middle countries that would survive but have a silent voice. Some countries in that sector, in his opinion, were Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, Iran, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Egypt, Brazil, Turkey, amongst others.
The rest, he said, were the losers, and this would be a large basket of countries.
Moving from Sam to Alexandra, she was more realistic with a focused vision on the fact that we were at a crossroads between a more human world or a world devoid of humanity.
Alexandra ended on the fact that 50 countries out of 194 nations on Earth are at war.
“Not a promising sign,” she said, “as AGI is finding new grounds of advancement for which the general public is unaware.”
Hamdan spoke last and took a middle-of-the-road approach, saying that the business world would receive a positive, surprising shock soon that only those who are ready for it will gain.
As for the state of the world, he clearly stated that the leaders and military experts need to find negotiated solutions before someone pushes the envelope. He closed by commenting that a lot of money was being made during conflicts with a military focus.
Muller thanked the three co-chairs and opened up the floor. On the screen above, the name Farah appeared, stating her nationality was American and her sector was finance. A young, blond, athletic-looking woman stood up four rows behind me to the left.
Farah addressed Alexandra, asking her what the chances of a third world war were.
Alexandra, without blinking as though she had studied the subject, said no more than 20 percent, but that for more conflicts, such as what is currently going on, 70 percent.
Another name jumped on the screen, Sean, nationality South African, and sector military. Sean addressed his question to Alexandra, asking about what initiated the Israel, US, Iran war, and what was the chance of a nuclear weapon being used.
Alexandra, without taking a breath, answered sharply that the reason for the war was Netanyahu wanting to stay out of jail and having Israel be the hegemony in the Middle East.
As for the risk of a nuclear weapon being used, less than five percent was her answer.
The next six interventions were from participants from France, Singapore, India, America, and Canada, all focused on economic issues and the impact of deglobalization.
A question came from Ahmed from Syria, a medical expert who explained that in the past 24 months, he witnessed with a team of doctors over 60,000 unnecessary civilian deaths in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon, and asked how that could be stopped.
None of the three co-chairs had an answer. A man in the front row got up and screamed, “Stop the wars!” but his scream was answered by Muller’s intervention, saying that to stop the war, everything in this room needed to act.
Silence in the face of genocide, war, and occupation begets hatred, terrorism, and chaos.
Next, the name Craig flashed on the screen, and he commented on the destruction of Syria and how Mossad recruited Julani to oust Bashar and take over, not caring that Julani is a terrorist. A discussion followed between Craig, who was the owner of a grain trading conglomerate, and Sam, the co-chair.
Sam emphasized that with Israel occupying 20 percent of Syria and Julani ruling Syria, the prospects for Syria are dim at best. The three following speakers confirmed Craig’s assessment, and you could see Muller absorbing the Syrian status quo with a dark face of concern.
The next speaker was Raj, an Indian owner of transportation, chemical, and communication companies. His point was about nuclear weapons, and he exhausted his five minutes with an extremely well-presented strategic assessment of the global nuclear map.
I noted from his presentation that whilst India, China and Pakistan plus now North Korea owned nuclear weapons, there was zero possibility of their use.
On the other hand, Israel, which has over 90 nuclear weapons and wants no balance of power in the Middle East, attacks Iran for no reason except to ensure its role as hegemon in the region and to dictate its policies of exterminating the Palestinians and achieving its plan of Greater Israel.
Moreover, Israel entangled America in the war as a cover, whilst Iran is no threat to the US.
Raj was followed by Lucy from the Netherlands. Lucy owned spas and beauty products in the US and Europe. Lucy’s comment build on Raj’s that Israel, after the assassination of Rabin, has been the fuel for multiple wars in the Middle East. Lucy mentioned Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, and Iraq.
A conversation followed between Lucy and Alexandra deep into nuclear weaponry, ending in a surprise statement from Lucy.
“So what if Iran owned a nuclear weapon?” she asked. Alexandra’s response was astonishing, as she said nothing changes except that it will be Iran’s deterrent instead of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Huthis.
Lucy was followed by Tian Yu from China, the owner of an AI company producing robots. His statement focused on the fact that Netanyahu, since 2004, has been saying publicly that Iran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon plus has inserted in the global perception that that is not acceptable.
“My question is, why is Iran not a sovereign nation when it has an older history and presence than Israel? Iran or another Arab country having a nuclear weapon may keep Israel from bombing away at its will in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Gaza, and more,” he concluded.
Rafael from Spain, owner of an aircraft charter company, speaking in a very Spanish accent explained that it was a farce that Pete Hegseth gave as an explanation that the reason for Americans joining Israel in attacking Iran is that Iranian protesters shouted “Death to America”.
If that were the real reason, America should be at war with a dozen countries.
In my opinion, the next dozen interventions had a few more positive aspects related to advancement in the medical health field, longevity, robotics, and data centers. The downside of interventions focused on viral breakouts, poverty, loss of humanity, and wars.
The event came to a close with Muller thanking the participants and summarizing the takeaway points.
As I stood up to leave, Aldo said to Susan and me that American and Chinese intelligence confirm that Iran is far from having a nuclear weapon. The real danger is embedded in what will emerge from AGI.
Susan retorted, “Let’s assume Iran has a nuclear weapon… So what? No chance Iran would use it.”
Aldo concurred, and as I bid them goodbye, I pondered the sad state of affairs of a war that should have never taken place.
About the author
M. Shafik Gabr is a renowned leader in international business, innovation, investment and one of the world’s premier collectors of Orientalist art, and an accomplished philanthropist.
During his career, Gabr established over 25 companies plus three investment holding companies including ARTOC Group for Investment and Development which, established in 1971, is a multi-disciplined investment holding company with businesses in infrastructure, automotive, engineering, construction and real estate, over the past three years focusing on investment in technology and artificial intelligence.
Gabr is the Chairman and a founding member of Egypt’s International Economic Forum, a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, a Board Member of Stanhope Capital, an International Chairman of the Sadat Congressional Gold Medal Committee, and a Member of the Parliamentary Intelligence Security Forum.
Gabr is a Member of the Metropolitan Museum’s International Council and serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Financial Stability, the Advisory Board of The Middle East Institute, and the Global Advisory Council of the Mayo Clinic.
Through the Shafik Gabr Social Development Foundation, Gabr is helping to improve elementary-school education in Egypt, introducing students to arts and culture and promoting sports and physical fitness for youth. The Foundation has its first Medical and Social Development Center in Mokattam, Cairo, offering free medical and health services.
In 2012 Gabr established in the US the Shafik Gabr Foundation which supports educational and medical initiatives plus launched in November 2012 the ‘East-West: The Art of Dialogue initiative promoting exchanges between the US and Egypt with the purpose of cultural dialogue and bridge-building.
Gabr holds a BA in Economics and Management from the American University in Cairo and an MA in Economics from the University of London.
