THE LATEST | CANADACBC: Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a frank assessment of how he views the world in a provocative speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, where he said the longstanding U.S.-led, rules-based international order is over and middle powers like Canada must pivot to avoid falling prey to further “coercion” from powerful actors…
“We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful, and American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for frameworks for resolving disputes. So, we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct: we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy, and geopolitics laid bare the risks of extreme global integration.”…
Politico: Carney was walking a political high-wire — balancing the need to stand with European allies facing an unprecedented attack on their sovereignty from Trump’s Greenland annexation threats, while not provoking a mercurial president ahead of this year’s review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, with billions of dollars at stake.
Carney said all is not lost in the world order, calling on middle powers to come together to “build something bigger, better, stronger, more just.”
“This is the task of the middle powers, the countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and most to gain from genuine cooperation,” Carney added…
National Post: But unlike other world leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and E.U. Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen who explicitly named the U.S. and its president, Carney never uttered the words “United States,” “Trump” or any other country.
Yet in the same speech, he called on other countries to call out powerful states who engage in bullying or coercion.
“Apply the same standards to allies and rivals. When middle powers criticize economic intimidation from one direction but stay silent when it comes from another, we are keeping the sign in the window,” he said in reference to an earlier metaphor of a shopkeeper maintaining a pro-Communist sign in his store window despite not believing in the message…
The Globe and Mail: He said there is strength in numbers in this new reality.
“Middle powers must act together, because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”
As one example of middle powers working together, Mr. Carney said Canada stands firmly committed to the collective defence of Greenland under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland’s future,” the Prime Minister said.
“Our commitment to NATO’s Article Five is unwavering,” he said, referring to the collective defence section in the NATO treaty that states an armed attack against one or more members in Europe or North America is considered an attack against all…
Full text and video: Mark Carney tells World Economic Forum ‘the old order is not coming back’
What Carney’s Davos speech says about his strategy for the U.S., Greenland and beyond