“The Great Reset and the New World Order”. What awaits next?

Author: Almantas Stankūnas

 

Last spring the EU‘s collective efforts to combat COVID-19 failed with many saying that this was a lesson that would encourage states to regain EU delegated powers, restore vital production at the national level and resist plans to federalize and health globalization in general.

But that was just an illusion. After all, the pursuit of centralizing world governance is the main goal of neoliberalism, merging with neocommunism and thus of the two post influential ideologies in the world today. At least there was no need to wait long for the answer.

One of the main architects of the World Economic Forum are Klaus Shwab and Thierry Mallerete published a book called “COVID-19: The Great Reset”. By publishing this book they announced their plans to introduce a new world order as soon as possible. 

Due to the influence of these authors, this book should be considered as a programmatic rather than a scientific analysis of world development trends. The most questionable statements mentioned in the book are discussed below. 

Despite the relatively low number of COVID-19 deaths compared to any other pandemic ever, the current pandemic is given the rank of near-epoch-making events, distinguishing the era before and after COVID-19.

The book suggests that the 14th-century plague in Europe led to the Enlightenment and the development of modern human. By this suggestion, without any arguments at all, states that the consequences of COVID-19 are predicted to be disproportionately greater than those of the Spanish flu, the Great Depression or the 2008 consequences of the financial crisis. 

The book consists of three main parts: macro reloading, micro reloading (business and industry) and human reloading. Their exclusion and names are self-referenced references show that according to them, they are fundamentally changing the world. 

The first part of this book emphasizes the need to speed up the political response to events such as this pandemic and advises that this must be done by abandoning normal democratic governance. It proposes to set up a comprehensive global network for monitoring and reporting on COVID-19-like illnesses, but neither verbally accuses China of concealing information about the beginning of COVID-19, nor it says something on how to ensure that dictatorships do not conceal information in the future.

The impact of the pandemic on the economy is estimated to be the largest in 100 years and unemployment is projected to equal the year of the Great Depression in the US.  It is rightly observed that GDP in the modern economy is no longer an appropriate measure of public welfare, but the validity of alternative indicators are not considered. Mention is made of the need to limit consumption, given the planet’s limited natural resources, and of new values such as respect for the environment or responsible eating, which should become the new social norms. Their implementation has two levels. The first one is “mild” through social pressure and “hard” coercion which is not discussed in the book. The question arises as to halting GDP growth directly linked to production, or even calling for it to be reduced as a result of a corresponding reorientation of activities. However, it is not considered how the problem will be solved when, by halting production, the majority of the world’s population in poor countries will still be poorly supplied. 

The book identifies problems that have been identified more than once, omits long-known issues and the complexity of which still prevents the implementation of change. 

This book shows us a noteworthy scheme on how rich countries can increase their debts from central banks and write them off later on. In this way, voters of those countries gain the expectation that politicians, if they wish so, will be able to provide additional benefits and incentives to the economy without raising taxes and limiting only possible inflation. The possibility of introducing so-called “helicopter money” – the distribution of benefits to people for doing nothing is also being mentioned, but again, the negative social consequences of such decisions are not even mentioned. 

It also highlights the unequal access of countries to borrow additional funds cheaply and virtually without restrictions. But the authors of this book criticize the flaws in the democratic electoral process where politicians can become the executors of unsustainable voter expectations. The US dollar is projected to end as the world’s main reserve currency and the most promising alternative to it is considered a digital currency. It is also stressed that Trump’s policy increases the risk of US dollar dominance, implying the need to change the US President.

The logical conclusion of such teaching is that it is necessary to: 

1. to equalize access to credit for all parties;
2. to eliminate public influence in the distribution of money by politicians; 
3. to achieve the first objectives by introducing a single global currency and a global political level, not directly elected on a planet-wide basis, to decide how much, when and whom additional money is to be distributed and to control its use. 

The section on The Great Reset without any strong arguments argues that the worst-hit Anglo-Saxon countries have been hit hardest by the pandemic, while the failures of neo-communist countries (such as Spain) are being silenced. It’s hoped that inequality will diminish as societies cannot tolerate the current unfair distribution of rewards. This requires mass protests, especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries (US and UK) where inequality is most pronounced. The feeling of inciting unrest is putting pressure on the authorities in these countries is not neglected. It is said that taxes will inevitably arise and the state-controlled sector will grow. The emphasis is on the necessary changes, such as the nationalization of companies or the state becoming their shareholders, but not the need to prevent “tax havens”.

The book’s proposal to renew countries’ social contracts with societies, to include global surveillance when it is needed to combat pandemics, tackle climate changes, increase gender equality and implement LGBT standards are noteworthy. It is stated that youth organizations will be at the forefront of these changes. 

According to the authors, it is necessary to significantly increase the cost of social security but it is not even mentioned how to do so to maintain the competitive attractiveness of capital internationally. The logical solution to this problem would be to introduce a mandatory tax floor at the supranational level, but without cheap borrowing and the transparent use of public finances, third world countries will not be able to create their social protection. Given the scale of corruption in many of these countries, it becomes inevitable to introduce direct governances of supranational institutions. 

Such a path is not emphasized yet, but the social pressure exerted by public organizations is indeed mentioned – allusions to the coping of the new communist chunweibs with private businesses that do not want to carry out unofficial demands.  

The chapter on geopolitical overload states that the US is losing the hegemony of global governances and that it is necessary to strengthen supranational governances structures and work as closely as possible with China, whose threat is thus diminished. Europe is being warned of another of immigrants too. 

The authors predict that the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly accelerate the robotization of all production and service sectors, which will shorten supply chains and reduce production dependence on supplies from distant countries. While this contradicts the general trend of the book to promote globalization, this nuance is not considered. 

In particular, the note is the authors’ claim that tracking and tracing people is important for pandemic management that it has been used effectively by Asian countries in particular. It’s alleged that the introduction of such measures in the face of a threat may subsequently become acceptable to the public “as has already happened in China”. 

While gloomy global surveillance scenarios are discussed, the discussion on this topic finishes with reassurance that after this pandemic people will be more concerned about safety from dangerous diseases and therefore surveillance will be relevant at all times. 

The government will have to take care that the rights are not violated in doing so. No government has reconciled these things with the public as this is not possible in principle unless simply declaring surveillance to be democratic. 

If we trust the authors, the state regulation of the private sectors will strengthen, its partial nationalization will take place due to the increased state support. Restrictions are projected to lay off workers, buy out shares, pay bonuses to executives and dividends to shareholders, higher business taxation, the transfer of supplies of key goods to the state, and pressure from politicians to increase wages and workers’ guarantees. As mentioned earlier, there is no discussion on how to reconcile increasing business costs with competition in the global economy for capital. 

Interestingly, the book argues that there is no longer any objection that the goal of companies should be not only profits and the interests of shareholders but the interests of all parties involved. It goes on to explain that companies will not be able to pay large dividends, bonuses to executives, ignore the environment, social guarantees, gender policies and so on. Otherwise, they will be pressured by different types of activists. 

The authors take such neo-communist business regulation for granted and do not even consider the usual ways of tax regulation. Interestingly, the manifestations of their proposed business regulation abound in China which is not criticized in the book so it can serve as a model for other countries. 

The book’s conclusions distinguish between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic worlds. The challenges of the former were growing inequality, a growing sense of injustice, deepening geopolitical confrontations, political polarization, rising public finance deficits and growing debts, excessive financialization, inefficient or non-existent global governance, deteriorating environmental situation. It is further discussed that COVID-19 has exacerbated all of this and, according to the authors of the book, this COVID-19 pandemic could be a warning signal against a major storm so that we can take urgent action before the world is hit by major shocks. It is therefore argued that a The Great Reset is needed. While it may be unpleasant, it is necessary. 

It is acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic is indeed incomparably less threatening than any other pandemic in the last 2000 years, but it is argued that its impact is very large due to the complex effects mentioned in the book on other areas. Hence the need to review social contracts with the public, thaw wage increases, protect the environment and make proper use of rapidly evolving technologies for the public good. 

Much greater cooperation at the international level is cited as an absolute prerequisite for Greater Congestion. It is necessary to review and fundamentally change failed processes, rules, ideas and institutions. Social movements are called for to bring about change, but no mention is made of what and how they should be used. 

As the main threats to the world such threats as nuclear war, climate change, depletion of sources and social exclusion are mentioned. 

The book also says that international movements (the authors do not name which ones exactly) are increasingly demanding a better future and that GDP growth can be reduced due to greater common prosperity. 

 

It’s important to note that the section of conclusions omits some of the controversial ideas in the main text of the book, so to properly evaluate the book it is necessary to read the entire text. 

A large part of the book consists of a reflection on the real issues at stake: social inequality, societal impoverishment, environmental and resource challenges, the threat of cross-border and domestic conflicts, health/pandemics and other issues too. In this way, the impression of the intentions of the best authors of the book is formed and trust grows. However, real intentions only begin to unfold once we delve into the proposed solutions:

1. Restructuring and strengthening of supranational institutions; 
2. Replacement of policies aimed at defending national interests and classic business management measures (D. Trump USA, etc.); 
3. Exaltation of collective behaviour of society against individualistic, but not free choice of members of society, but the coercive imposition of behaviour. Narrowing democratic governance by creating opportunities for the introduction of dictatorial rule without major obstacles; 
4. Further consolidation of neo-communist ideologies such as gender ideology and highlighting minority rights etc; 
5. The motivation of business behaviour (taxes, provision of social guarantees for employees, investment in green etc.) through social movements controlled by unclear behind-the-scenes forces. The nature of those movements can be predicted from the positive attitude towards Black Lives Matter and Antifa in 2020 US; 
6. Implementation of global tracking and tracing people; 
7. In the long run, the introduction of a new single world currency and the possibility of issuing it without limiting the amount of indebtedness, but only taking into account the level of inflation. Borrowing of this currency by decision of supranational institutions should be open to all parties, and its issuance and lending should be handled by non-elected representatives of supranational institutions. At the same time, this could mean the intention to use financial instruments to overthrow non-policy-makers in several supranational institutions and/or to introduce direct management in many countries that are unable to manage public finances properly.

For a deeper understanding of the The Great Reset, it is also important to note what is not mentioned and suggested: 

1. A condition that robotization and increased production security reduce the scale of global economic cooperation.
2. To prevent the richest people from evading taxes through preferential taxation countries and thus address the lack of funds for social needs due to under-collection of taxes.
3. There is no allusion to human nature and the definition of the Common Good based on it. 
4. There is no mention of the growing problem of natural family breakdown, increasing sexual dysfunction, declining critical birth rates in some countries. 
5. Problems caused by silent migration. 
6. The problems posed by the largely dictatorial regimes of China and others are not discussed. 
7. There is no allusion to the contribution of religions, especially Christianity, to improving mental health and increasing solidarity among members of society in the face of a pandemic or other challenges. The relationship of governments and public organizations with religious communities are discussed neither. This suggests that addressing this issue is not appropriate at this time, as the attitudes of religious communities are not in line with the agenda of the The Great Reset. This question will likely be raised later when society is better prepared to propose another model of spirituality for the new era. 

Taking these bullet points together it can be summarized that: 

1. The COVID-19 pandemic was chosen as a pretext to accelerate The Great Reset by artificially inflating the negative consequences of the pandemic. 
2. The goal of resettlement is the creation of a new man and a new global order based on a neo-communist ideology that provides for the rule of a dehumanized mass by a small elite group and the existence of a private but wealthy business and wealthy elite. 
3. The Chinese regime may be chosen as the primary model of the new order.

Because of the above and in particular, the role of the book’s authors and the Davos Forum in the world it is important to carry out an as in-depth and comprehensive study of the book, follow what has been suggested since its publication and will continue to be suggested by Davos Forum sponsors and global responses:

In general, reading this relevant and interesting book, it is impossible to get rid of the impression that its authors drew inspiration and ideas from the already existing prototypes of the New World Order they proposed. The real prototypes are first and foremost China and Russia today. 

There is no doubt that the global pandemic is indeed a major threat that needs to be taken seriously. However, Schwab‘s book should be carefully read and seen as a timely warning that escaping democratic control by citizens that struggle could turn into a struggle against humanity and human freedom and pave the way for totalitarian global elite rule and an unprecedented part of great humanity. 

The unprecedented restriction on freedom of expression and the persecution of conservative political opponents that has started after 2020 January 6th in the US and Western countries confirm the urgency of the The Great Reset.