Prime Minister of Canada delivered a stunning speech in Davos 2026. The way he spoke was direct, striking and gentle at the same time. This speech will not change anything for sure. However the fact that someone (PM of a G7 country) spoke out about the disintegration of the world order in the World Economic Forum indicates that everything is changing dramatically right now.
We live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can and weak must suffer what they must.
The Power of the Powerless
He used an analogy that was written in an essay called 'The power of the powerless' by Czech dissident Václav Havel, later president, in 1978. Havel asked a simple question: How did the communist system sustain itself?
His answer begin with every shopkeeper place a sign in front of their shops says, workers of the world unite. Nobody believes it but they keep placing the signs because they can avoid trouble through signal compliance as everybody keeps placing the sign so system sustains itself with total participation. Living within a lie. System persists through participation of ordinary people in rituals they privately know to be false.
Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down. We placed the sign before but this bargain no longer works.
From Integration to Fragmentation
We are in the midst of a rupture not a transition
When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself.
We are no longer just relying on the strength of our values, but also the value of our strength.
Middle powers must produce strength at home.
Value-Based Reality and Variable Geometry
Value-based reality is a twofold approach, different coalitions for different issues based on common interests
• Principled: Maintaining a commitment to fundamental values like human rights, sovereignty, and the UN charter.
• Pragmatic: Accepting the world, recognizing that not every country will share all values and that participation must be strategic.
Middle powers must act together because if we are not in the table, we are on the menu. Great powers can afford to go it alone and they have the leverage to dictate terms.
Nostalgia is not a strategy
You can watch the speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izDAOvHz5Wc
Share your thoughts on the speech in the comments.
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