Free Republic

Top business leaders this week delivered an expletive-laden plea in defense of climate action, describing the backlash to Europe’s green transition as an “aberration.” In an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte said he disagreed with the suggestion that it may just be a matter of time before net zero is dismissed in Europe, saying short-term thinking on this issue is “bulls---.” Asked about political leaders backtracking on their much-vaunted European Green New Deal and Norway’s oil fund reportedly defending a push from companies to water down their climate goals, Bäte...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Spain's refusal to meet the NATO defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product will mean a tougher trade deal for the southern European country. Speaking at a news conference at NATO's annual summit in the Netherlands, Trump said it was "terrible" that Spain wouldn't commit to meeting the target by 2035. "You know they are doing very well. The economy is [doing] very well. And that economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening," Trump said. "You know what we're going to do? We're negotiating with...

A group of some of the world's most powerful oil producers on Wednesday agreed to impose deep output cuts, seeking to spur a recovery in crude prices despite calls from the U.S. to pump more to help the global economy.

Speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy, Guriev said it was extremely difficult to predict what might happen when Putin is eventually replaced as president. “So, probably initially it will be some kind of ultra-nationalist guy or military junta, but it will not last for long exactly because the system is built around Putin. And eventually, I think the system will collapse,” Guriev said. “It could be months, it could be several years, it could be North Korea on steroids, who knows? But it could also be a situation where the system collapses and somebody who...