The former Greek finance minister and the ex-U.S. national security adviser engaged in a tense standoff in the 2020 Holberg Debate on whether global stability is possible.
At the 2020 Holberg Debate, Ambassador John Bolton and Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister and a member of the Hellenic Parliament, clash over their views of how to manage threats to regional and global stability.
The debate took place on Dec. 5 by video link. The moderator, Scott Gates, a professor of political science at the University of Oslo (UiO), was in Bergen, Norway.
The Holberg Debate is an annual event organized by the Holberg Prize. The debate is inspired by Ludvig Holberg‘s Enlightenment ideas and aims to explore pressing issues of the day.
The Holberg Prize is an international research prize awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology. The Prize was established by the Norwegian government in 2003 and is administered by the University of Bergen.
Itos amazinjg to hesr Bolton condemning other countries for doing things his won governments do still worse If I’m not mistaken it was he who threatened an honest weapons inspector in Syria saying “We know where your children live.”He should not be sllowed to speak anywhere.
It was the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons who he threatened for daring to put out a report before the 2003 invasion that Iraq had no chemical weapons.
About 1 hour & 12 minutes into the dialogue, Yanis identifies China has having the worst human rights records against its people.
How very ironic that Yanis doesn’t even recognize that in America, we have in our prison system (privatized, btw) millions and millions of Black/Hispanic Whites working for pennies making things for who? Oh, the huge conglomerates like Amazon, Big Tech & other huge US corporations. In 2008, 6-8 million families in the US, lost their homes due to Obama/Guithner saving the Big Banks with TRILLIONS of taxpayer’s money.
In the US, we now have the largest homeless population in the world. Most working Americans are making a pittance of earnings; we pay the highest medical care costs in the world. Now comes Covid- it’s estimated 5-6 MILLION *more* families will lose their homes or their apartments by simply throwing them out on the streets.
Yet neither Yanis, and for sure, Bolton make no mention of this huge disparity between our Super-Billionaires, vs the common citizen.
We gave up on Bolton decades ago, and it sounds like Yanis is just as much a Capitalist who sees only what he wants to see. That’s what today’s Capitalist is all about.
So far it seems left vs right argument. The left slaming the right for the wars to this I disagree. It was two extreme ideologies that brought on the wars. Totalitarians and communists the crash did not help but European countries were on the way to conflict. Capitalism works fascism does not. What we are seeing now is “fascism with a smile”. Governments and corporations working together to consolidate power and wealth. Another attempt at fascist ideology slowly and methodically until humanity as no options left. Until then it will be divide and conquer. Ethically..monetarily..class…educational l..propaganda.. but in the end there will be large corporations owned by the rich and governments protcting them with laws. We see it today. If you open your eyes. Both of these men just give people something to argue about.. while Governments and Globalists finish turning the heat up on we frogs.
I saw this as a teaching moment for Varoufakis to educate those who still inhabit the swamp.
The moderating style seemed a bit awkward although the subject matter was difficult.
Name-calling REALY! Mr. Bolton?
Articulating a solution requires Not Name-calling, but identifiable facts.
The moderator made this so-called debate almost unwatchable. Took all the continuity out.
One is a plant & not a socialists, the other is a freak!
What you get when you combine a preprogramed, ideological true believer with an articulate, left leaning do-gooder in a faux debate with a not as smart as he thinks he is moderator is two hours and twenty three minutes of wondering what the Bretton Woods agreement was all about.
Good summary.
Surely a little unfair pairing a European intellectual with a US dullard psychopath and war criminal? Especially when they can’t be n the same room. As one would imagine Bolton sticks to the script and uses any and every opportunity to push the poorly informed propaganda clichés. Russia Russia Russia, simultaneously about to collapse at any second whilst also about to take over the world, (actually John out here in the real world Russia has the 6th largest economy in the world and is about to overtake Germany as the fifth) The Chinese and their Uigher problem, how dare they try to re educate their extreme muslim jihadis when what we do is carpet bomb ours or just arm them and use them to kill their and our ‘enemies’. The US is a busted flush and will remain so under Biden and all the libtards did was ‘lesser of two evil’ voting and got … well… evil for their endeavours.
It’s beyond me why a scholar of Varoufakis’ stature would debate a war criminal who should be incarcerated in the Hague.