Canada’s prime minister calls on middle powers to act as counterweight to US and China in remarkable Davos speech

Invoking Vaclav Havel, he said it was time to stop pretending that what the western powers called a rules-based order was not a self-serving sham.

“Great powers can afford, for now, to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity and the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not. But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what’s offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating,” he said

“Being a happy vassal is one thing, being a miserable slave is something else,” he said.

“If you back down now, you’re going to lose your dignity, and that’s probably the most precious thing you can have in a democracy, it’s your dignity.”

  • Quilotoa@lemmy.caEnglish
    861·
    18 hours ago

    I watched the speech. It’s one of the most profound, intelligent speeches I’ve ever heard a politician give.

    • MoonManKipper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      361·
      17 hours ago

      Agreed, we should always expect such coherence and conciseness from our leaders. Up your game Starmer!

      • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        11·
        9 hours ago

        Carney himself wrote it. He’s attended Davos 30+ times so is quite comfortable speaking to the rich rabble.

      • jaxxed@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        13 hours ago

        I guarantee you Carney was heavily involved in writing it. Nobody writes that speech alone, but he isn’t the kind of guy to leave it to others.

        • orbitz@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          5 hours ago

          There were mentions that he wrote his own speech from others. From what I understand it’s probably true since that would be his regular type of conference as a head banker previously. I’ll be honest haven’t listened to it or know a lot about Carney but this is what I’ve gleened in comments about his speech. Guess I knew about his banker credentials before and he helped us through the 08 crisis which Canada went through decently. Though I had no idea who he was until the leader of the liberal party

          From everything I’ve read about his speech, which I will listen to at some point, makes me feel better with him in charge if we aren’t going to be more progressive.