Wednesday Night # 2288

Global economy
It’s Davos week
‘The old order is not coming back,’ Carney says in provocative speech at Davos (see Long Reads)
Prime Minister Mark Carney says great powers are using ‘economic integration as weapons’
As it grapples with this new dynamic, Carney said Canada must be “principled and pragmatic” and turn inward to build up the country and diversify trading relationships to become less reliant on countries like the U.S., now that it’s clear “integration” can lead to “subordination.”
Mark Carney’s speech has garnered accolades from every possible commentator.
Jeremy Kinsman: Man with a Plan: Mark Carney’s Davos Speech …the most consequential speech on global affairs I have ever heard from a Canadian PM (and I drafted a few of them).
Robert Reich: O Canada – A heartfelt thanks to the truth-telling prime minister to our north.
Global Dispatches: Mark Carney’s Jaw-Dropping Davos Speech
And this from The Guardian’s Leyland Cecco
‘Nostalgia is not a strategy’: Mark Carney is emerging as the unflinching realist ready to tackle Trump

Mr. Carney has returned to Canada, not waiting around for the Trump tirade (“Trump took direct aim at Carney in his speech, claiming that Canada had had “a lot of freebies” from the US. “Canada lives because of the US: remember that, Mark, next time you make your statements.”.”)

Carney, China, automotive industry
The coverage of the Carney speech completely eclipsed any mention of his visit to Qatar and pushed what had been thorough and mostly approving coverage of the visit and renewal of relations with China  to back pages.
With respect to those trade negotiations, we might well believe that Mr Carney ‘s team had been following Peter Frise‘s playbook on EVs as discussed last Wednesday. However, Peter points out that “the actual point of the deal is to get the Chinese off the backs of our farmers and seafood harvesters and open a whole new market to ALL Canadian goods.  The EV [deal] was the price we had to pay for the Agrifood deal and to show the world that we mean business about diversification.”
Peter has become the most recent Wednesday Night media rock star. He notes that “Last week was busy with interviews and it has continued this week (Toronto Star, a couple of radio stations etc.). On Tuesday I got a call from Maclean’s Magazine with an invitation to write a 1200-word essay on the issue of Mr. Trump’s statements that the US does not need Canadian cars or anything else from Canada.”  The result is The Myth of the All-American Car

Greenland
Europe condemns Trump’s ‘new colonialism’ as Greenland crisis grows
European leaders have lined up to condemn Donald Trump’s “new colonialism” and warn that the continent was facing a crossroads as the US president said there was no going back on his goal of controlling Greenland.
Melting ice may raise Greenland’s value. Trump’s fight may be just the start.
Maps show how a melting Arctic is affecting geopolitics
“The freeing of the Arctic from sea ice, at least seasonally, will create an entirely new theater for economic and security competition,” said Joseph Majkut, director of the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And while we’ve known that is going to be the case for some time, it seems we’re at an inflection point.”

Israel/Gaza
Trump’s Billion-Dollar Board of Peace (See Long reads)
The Board of Peace and other measures to address the crisis in Gaza were unveiled in recent days after months of fragile cease-fire. On Wednesday, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s friend and special envoy, announced the start of phase two of Trump’s peace plan: “the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza,” as well as the establishment of “a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration.” The Board of Peace’s job is to oversee all this.

Small Island Developing (SIDS) and Pacific Island States
Cleo Paskal‘s is a rare WN voice raised in favour of any aspect of the US National Security Strategy
U.S.-Palau agreement shows new National Security Strategy in action
One of the new agreements with the United States is designed to help counter Chinese political warfare attacks on Palau. The initial cost to the United States is $2.2 million, exactly the sort of low-cost counter to China’s ability to disrupt and degrade the economy, politics and society of a key U.S. ally that is needed.
She also joins Donald Trump’s condemnation of the UK proposal to hand over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius but not with linking to justification for  the Greenland takeover.  What are the Chagos Islands – and why is the UK returning them to Mauritius?

What was/is she thinking?
Maria Machado is not stupid. Nor would she be unaware of the strictures surrounding the Peace Prize.
The answer? Trump considers role in Venezuela for Machado
“Unbelievably Embarrassing”: Outrage Over Machado’s Nobel Prize Gift To Trump
The Nobel Committee, however, was quick to clarify that such a transfer has no legal or symbolic standing. According to the Norwegian Nobel Institute and the Nobel Committee, once awarded, a Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred, shared, or reassigned.

Congratulations to Lisa Napoli who has completed her Master’s in Biography & Memoir at The Graduate Center, CUNY. See The Life-writing Lab for more about the program and her future endeavors. She would be a great speaker and/or workshop leader at Blue Met!

Varia
Dog wins award for movie performance, beating actors including Ethan Hawke
“He’s standing alongside performers who didn’t even need to be bribed with treats,” said film director Ben Leonberg, who also is Indy’s owner.
Indy spent more than 400 days in front of Leonberg’s cameras to eventually take home the prize. The annual contest is judged by journalists, critics, filmmakers and others in the entertainment industry who are members of the Hollywood Creative Alliance.
Indy, an 8-year-old Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, didn’t attend the ceremony but wore a black bow tie over his copper-colored fur in a video acceptance speech. Indy left the talking part to Leonberg. …
Raccoons break into liquor stores, scale skyscrapers and pick locks – studying their clever brains can clarify human intelligence, too
Despite being one of the most intriguing mammals living alongside humans, raccoons have avoided the scientific spotlight. Why aren’t more neuroscientists and psychologists studying raccoons? What have researchers missed about the mammalian brain by focusing on rodents instead?
Really? Did anyone care?
Katy Perry joins Trudeau in Davos to support former PM’s speech on value of ‘soft power’
A local story to be followed
Dozens of valuable artworks believed to be missing from Montreal [Westmount] home
As many as 60 artworks are believed to be missing from the Montreal home of a man who died over the holidays, with members of the country’s art market wondering about the fate of works by coveted artists including Lawren Harris, Emily Carr and Marc Chagall.

Long reads/audio/video
Mark Carney’s full speech on middle powers navigating a rapidly changing world
‘We actively take on the world as it is,’ says PM at World Economic Forum meeting

Canada’s Foreign Policy Priorities and Global Reputation
Canadians’ evolving priorities, from climate action to economic resilience, reflect a desire for a foreign policy that is both principled and pragmatic. This is a critical moment for Canada, as public opinion is aligned with the opportunity to use its reputation capital to advance the values and interests that Canadians care about most.

From record warming to rusting rivers, 2025 Arctic Report Card shows a region transforming faster than expected
The Arctic is transforming faster and with more far-reaching consequences than scientists expected just 20 years ago, when the first Arctic Report Card assessed the state of Earth’s far northern environment.
The snow season is dramatically shorter today, sea ice is thinning and melting earlier, and wildfire seasons are getting worse. Increasing ocean heat is reshaping ecosystems as non-Arctic marine species move northward. Thawing permafrost is releasing iron and other minerals into rivers, which degrades drinking water. And extreme storms fueled by warming seas are putting communities at risk.

Trump’s Billion-Dollar Board of Peace
The new entity has a global remit and a steep price for a permanent seat.

The Making of an Autocrat
Justin Bergman, International Affairs Editor, The Conversation
In our new podcast, The Making of an Autocrat, we asked six experts on authoritarianism and US politics to explain exactly how an autocrat is made – and whether Trump is on his way to becoming one.
This is the step-by-step guide Trump is following, tried and tested the world over by the strongmen Trump seeks to emulate.
Step 1: hijack a party
Trump’s first step was to take control of the Republican Party, explains Erica Frantz, associate professor of political science at Michigan State University.
Once a would-be autocrat dominates a party like this, they have a legitimate vehicle to begin dismantling a democracy. …