And more, what he described as strategy is what he is already doing. Since becoming PM, he has cultivated partnerships with other countries from Europe & Asia to China focusing on economics returns but also using them to further an environmental priority. The reinstitution of e-vehicles preferred country tariffs of %6 with China is an example of his layered approach with an icing of ignoring from the US vehicle %100 tariff.
Words are important. Action even more so. Combined they hold promise of surviving this mess.
I'm not sure that Carney is intent in making Canada a leader in the middle power space. It seems that he is ready though to establish a Middle Power University where nations can be taught to think for themselves and guide them to a destiny that uniquely their own. The old world order (pre Carney speech) depended on institutions and rules backed by hegemons. This gives way to the Carney Doctrine where alliances are the defining factor where respect for local laws and customs can be valued and sometimes changed in order to make security and economic gains for multiple nations. New day and I'm glad to see at least the start of it.
Mark Carney just stood on the Davos stage and said the quiet part out loud: the US‑led “rules‑based order” is over, the old system is not coming back, and middle powers either get a seat at the table or end up on the menu. That is polite diplomatic language for “the world you thought you lived in is already gone.”
This isn’t a panel soundbite; it’s a doctrine moment in open view, confirming what many suspected but few in power were willing to say on record: great powers are now using economic integration as a weapon, multilateral institutions are hollowed out, and middle powers must quietly re‑arm, re‑wire their economies, and form new coalitions just to avoid being eaten alive.
The new piece on Geopolitics in Plain Sight takes this Carney shockwave and connects it to what almost nobody is spelling out: how this “rules‑based order is dead” admission locks in a new era of great‑power espionage, energy blackmail, financial coercion and narrative warfare—and how countries like India, Canada and others are already repositioning themselves in that shadow system while most people are still arguing over headlines.
If this Davos moment makes you feel like the real map of power just flipped and nobody sent you the memo, that’s exactly who this work is for. Read it now. Subscribe. In a world where the illusion of rules is gone, understanding the hidden rules that replace them stops being “interesting” and starts being survival.
The rupturing of an old order (1918, 1945, 1989) has always yielded the hope of something new, with new institutions designed to give a new order some kind of shape.
The post-war order of institutions led by the US lasted from 1945 to 2025. It is dead. Let's see what emerges.
And more, what he described as strategy is what he is already doing. Since becoming PM, he has cultivated partnerships with other countries from Europe & Asia to China focusing on economics returns but also using them to further an environmental priority. The reinstitution of e-vehicles preferred country tariffs of %6 with China is an example of his layered approach with an icing of ignoring from the US vehicle %100 tariff.
Words are important. Action even more so. Combined they hold promise of surviving this mess.
Somehow I don’t see Prime Minister Carney shaking in his boots over Idiot47’s comment.
Simply excellence analysis Markham - keep on giving your thoughts/analysis!🇨🇦🇨🇦👍👍👍
I'm not sure that Carney is intent in making Canada a leader in the middle power space. It seems that he is ready though to establish a Middle Power University where nations can be taught to think for themselves and guide them to a destiny that uniquely their own. The old world order (pre Carney speech) depended on institutions and rules backed by hegemons. This gives way to the Carney Doctrine where alliances are the defining factor where respect for local laws and customs can be valued and sometimes changed in order to make security and economic gains for multiple nations. New day and I'm glad to see at least the start of it.
Excellent article as always Mark!
Mark Carney just stood on the Davos stage and said the quiet part out loud: the US‑led “rules‑based order” is over, the old system is not coming back, and middle powers either get a seat at the table or end up on the menu. That is polite diplomatic language for “the world you thought you lived in is already gone.”
This isn’t a panel soundbite; it’s a doctrine moment in open view, confirming what many suspected but few in power were willing to say on record: great powers are now using economic integration as a weapon, multilateral institutions are hollowed out, and middle powers must quietly re‑arm, re‑wire their economies, and form new coalitions just to avoid being eaten alive.
The new piece on Geopolitics in Plain Sight takes this Carney shockwave and connects it to what almost nobody is spelling out: how this “rules‑based order is dead” admission locks in a new era of great‑power espionage, energy blackmail, financial coercion and narrative warfare—and how countries like India, Canada and others are already repositioning themselves in that shadow system while most people are still arguing over headlines.
If this Davos moment makes you feel like the real map of power just flipped and nobody sent you the memo, that’s exactly who this work is for. Read it now. Subscribe. In a world where the illusion of rules is gone, understanding the hidden rules that replace them stops being “interesting” and starts being survival.
🔗 https://open.substack.com/pub/geopoliticsinplainsight/p/the-raw-files-indian-intelligence?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Our PM Carney has thrown down the guantlet and stands proud... can the rest of us do less?
The rupturing of an old order (1918, 1945, 1989) has always yielded the hope of something new, with new institutions designed to give a new order some kind of shape.
The post-war order of institutions led by the US lasted from 1945 to 2025. It is dead. Let's see what emerges.