Mark Carney's speech in Davos

[Scooter]

Well worth a listen if you have a half hour (or <20 min if you skip the Q&A). It's refreshing to hear an adult speak about foreign affairs.

No doubt the Trump cabal will not take kindly to any of the jabs he took at them.

[BoSoxGal]

Thank you for posting this, Janis Ian posted the transcript online but I wanted to find a video because the one clip I saw was so good.

Imagine having a leader who is so intelligent and so well spoken - I envy you Canadians. The time of Obama seems like another world to me now.

In the coming fight, I’m wholeheartedly rooting for NATO.

[ex-khobar Andy]

"Nostalgia is not a strategy."

A few days ago there was one of those Top 50 or whatever lists on Facebook: name the most thoughtful lines in pop music. I don't remember what came top; but my comment was Glenn Frey of the Eagles, from Lyin' Eyes: "I guess every form of refuge has its price"

[MajGenl.Meade]

But more recently, great powers have begun 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.

The multilateral institutions on which middle powers have relied — the WTO, the UN, the COP — the very architecture of collective problem solving, are under threat.

And as a result, many countries are drawing the same conclusions — that they must develop greater strategic autonomy: in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance and supply chains.

And this impulse is understandable. A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself.

But let's be clear-eyed about where this leads. A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable.

The disadvantage of such clear speech is that Trump and his Minions can't understand it. How refreshing to hear a world leader make sense, speak clearly and with respect both for the audience (even for T and the Ms) and for language. Not to mention his position as a principled leader of a real country.

[BoSoxGal]

By comparison the current speech is fantastical gibberish rantings by a total LUNATIC.