Alexander Stubb

“Western firms have nonetheless recognized the South’s potential. According to DataReportal, nine of Facebook’s ten biggest audiences are Global South countries. Netflix has started buying African and Middle Eastern content to maintain its market position. Plenty of innovation and growth is also homegrown. Southeast Asia has become a hub for mobile technology and ecommerce. Brazil and Chile are investing in wind and solar power. Gulf countries are pushing AI and blockchain. Africa has advanced in mobile communication and fintech. Kenya’s mobile payment system M-Pesa shows how entrepreneurs in developing countries create tech solutions to everyday challenges. Writing in the African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, Professor Timothy Waema noted that M-Pesa once channeled more transactions in Kenya in a day than Western Union did in the entire world. Beyond digital, Saudi Arabia’s smart city project “Neom” points to the level of ambition, creativity, and resources that some countries—at least in the upper income bracket—can mobilize. Its car-free city would run entirely on clean energy and be optimized by artificial intelligence. India has made strides in its space program. Its advances in biotechnology were apparent when it became one of the world’s largest COVID vaccine suppliers.”
― Alexander Stubb, The Triangle of Power

“War is always a failure of humanity. It is a collective failure of our fundamental values.”
― Alexander Stubb