Carney and the Carnie
Speech! … Speech! This year’s gathering in Davos was ultimately a tale of two speeches. One that drew a standing ovation. One that drew gasps. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered an honest account of the rupture in the world order. He didn’t have to mention who ruptured it, but he did call for clear-eyed views and reactions to the dramatic change. I’ve often argued that Americans may forgive themselves for Trump, but our allies may not. The breaking point has arrived. “The middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” NYT (Gift Article): Canada Flexes on Global Stage With an Eye to Its Own Survival. “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 … Recently, great powers began using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.” Here’s the full speech in text and on video.
+ In The Atlantic (Gift Article), Robert Kagan goes deep on the American own goal, destroying the world order it has led for decades. America vs. The World. “For decades, much of the world supported a United States that acted on these principles and accepted America’s power, despite its flaws and errors, precisely because it did not act solely out of narrow self-interest—much less in the narrow, selfish interest of a single ruler. That era is over.”
+ While the headlines out of Davos on Wednesday were all about Trump’s insistence that the US military wouldn’t invade Greenland, his own meandering speech included a critique of Carney, saying, Canada “lives because of the United States” and should be grateful (which is a weird way of convincing someone you’re not the hegemon they described), confused Iceland and Greenland several times, waxed nostalgic about NATO calling him Daddy, and mumbled something (I’m really not sure what) about rare earths. From Bloomberg: A Stunned Davos Crowd Takes in Trump’s Case for Greenland.
+ It’s not unthinkable that the US could get a military and mineral deal related to Greenland. The bigger question is how these relentless attacks on our allies will impact our role in the world moving forward. WSJ (Gift Article): Greenland Clash Risks Undermining America’s Place in World Economic Order.
