In Davos, in the bowels of the beast

Davos, January 17, 8:30 p.m. At the gas station and its Pronto store on Talstrasse, there is a crowd. It’s time for the drivers. They come to fill up on fuel and sandwiches before heading back into the traffic jams, because their evening is far from over. The World Economic Forum (WEF) officially opened a few hours earlier, signaling the great return in the flesh of the leaders in the Grisons city in January. The black limousines and minibuses move more slowly than the muffled pedestrians, drawing a red and white band in the night that encircles the event zone in the armored city.