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|  | JANUARY 27, 2006
By Jack Ewing Condi Dials in to DavosWhile defending the Administration by video link, she had this advice for Hamas: "You can't have one foot in politics and one in terror"The World Economic Forum in Davos is not a Bush Administration kind of gathering, perhaps because it draws a heavily European crowd prone to be critical of the war in Iraq and issues such as the U.S. stand on global warming. So give U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice credit for taking part by video link on a Jan. 26 panel discussing the loaded topic, U.S. Values. Appearing on a giant screen, sitting next to an American flag, Rice used the platform to deliver the Administration's statement on the Palestinian elections and the apparent victory of Hamas radicals. She began by congratulating the Palestinians on holding free and fair elections, with a heavy turnout. "We believe the aspirations for peace and change remain," she said, attributing Hamas' victory to voter frustration at years of corruption under Yasser Arafat's Al Fatah. She went on to warn, though: "You can't have one foot in politics and one in terror." (See BW Online, 1/26/06, "Can Hamas Change Its Ways?") Having ensured that her statement on Palestine, and not the rest of the Davos panel, would dominate the next day's headlines, Rice went on to defend the Administration's conduct of the war on terror. "We have had to do some difficult things," she conceded, but added, "We have been able to fight the war on terrorism and stay within our values." DEMOCRACY IN ACTION? It was a tough, though not hostile panel. "The means [used to fight the war on terrorism] seem to contradict the values the U.S. stands for," said Daniel Vasella, chairman and CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis (NVS ). Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel challenged Rice's claim that U.S. policy is spreading democracy in the Middle East. "Hamas won," Wiesel said. "This is surely not a democratic moment. What do we do now?" Rice kept her cool. A free election, she said, "has to be a cause for hope. Democracy and wanton terrorism are incompatible." She argued that elections in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Iraq are proof that the Muslim world is becoming more democratic. Then Wiesel, pain etched on his face, raised an even tougher issue: Iran's nuclear program. After describing Iranians as "a great people...hijacked by a minority," Rice said the U.S. would pursue sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. "We obviously are alarmed," she said, but added, "We still have diplomatic means to get Iran to return to more sensible policies." Call it a phone-in foreign policy, but at Davos, anyway, it seemed to work. Sports: The Great Unifier Can sports save the world? Yes. End of story. Or so seemed to be the conclusion of a Jan. 26 Davos panel entitled, Can a Ball Change the World? It was a highly partisan group, including NBA Commissioner David Stern; Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee; and Charles Denson, co-president of Nike (NKE ). "The biggest family in the world is the football [soccer] family," said legendary player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele. At its best, Davos features lively discussion of big issues by people who might otherwise never meet. But sometimes panels are stacked with folks all on the same side of an issue, with the result that there is little debate -- and little progress toward the World Economic Forum's goal of creating a better world. There's no question that sports can exert positive influence on society. Pele told how warring sides in a Nigerian civil conflict in the 1960s called a truce to allow a game against Brazil. (He didn't mention the infamous "Soccer War" between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969 or Britain's notorious football hooligans.) Nike's Denson pointed out that money spent promoting sports saves three times as much later on in the form of lower health care costs. And the NBA's Stern recalled how basketball star Magic Johnson's 1991 admission that he was HIV positive totally changed the U.S. debate about AIDS. FUTURE GOALS. All good points -- and timely, considering that both the Winter Olympics and soccer's World Cup will be held this year. But since everyone agrees that sports is a good thing, it's probably not necessary to hold a panel to say so, unless the panel goes further and talks about how much more could be done to exploit the power of sports. This discussion skimmed over some of the tough issues that belong to the athletic world, such as doping and the corrupting influence of sports gambling. At least, that was the case until the World Economic Forum audience got a chance to ask questions. Then the discussion suddenly got interesting. A Chinese journalist noted that a milk producer from his country has become a sponsor of the Beijing Games in 2008. In the future, he asked, would the IOC favor sponsors who produce healthy things like milk over sponsors such as Coca-Cola (KO ) or Budweiser (BUD ) beer? The IOC's Rogge answered blandly that Games organizers hold sponsors to standards of social responsibility, and that Coke and Budweiser fully comply. Another listener asked about corruption in sports. That prompted an admission by Rogge that "we have indications that some sports results have been manipulated." He said that both the IOC and FIFA, the Zurich-based group that oversees World Cup football, are working on solutions. But then the time was up. It was a debate that deserves to continue. Celebrity Spotting They're everywhere. Billionaire Google (GOOG ) co-founder Sergey Brin waves away a reporter while chatting on the phone. Oh, there goes U2 rocker and activist Bono. Then an elegant-looking woman in a gray skirt and jacket comes down a side stairway of the Davos Congress Center. Yes, it's Angelina Jolie, here in her capacity as U.N. refugee ambassador. It's easy to overlook the guy with black hair with her: Doesn't Brad Pitt have blonde hair? But his name tag confirms it's him. He looks relaxed about the commotion around him, and stands guard outside a bathroom door while Angelina uses the facilities. Moments after they disappear, there's another commotion. This time it's Pakistani President Perez Musharraf, pursued by a camera team. Unlikely juxtapositions are part of the Davos experience.  Ewing is BusinessWeek's Frankfurt bureau chief Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. 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