Canada’s prime minister refuses to sustain any longer the illusion of the ‘rules-based order’
By Herbert Rothschild
Major historical shifts don’t occur at a single moment, but single moments can be convenient historical markers. I predict that the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that took place last week will become one of them. It will mark the independence of NATO countries from subservience to the United States and thus a major step toward the end of our global hegemony.
While other U.S. commentators will probably fault President Donald Trump for making our country less great, I’m grateful. His pursuit of personal power and profit has persuaded other national leaders that it’s no longer in their interest to cooperate with U.S. pursuit of power and profit.
Trump accomplished this desirable end by what can only be called a bizarre intention to wrest Greenland from Denmark. National defense was the pretext, but currently the U.S. Space Force operates the Pituffik Space Base for missile warning and defense and surveillance, and if it had deemed further installations necessary for defense against Russian attack, Denmark would probably have agreed. What could any sane observer conclude except that Trump’s motive was megalomania?
Trump didn’t even rule out the use of force to take Greenland. On Jan. 6, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and, of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal.”
Did Trump and his “team” realize that they were threatening a military attack on a member of the NATO alliance, which under Article 5 would trigger a united military resistance by all 32 of its members, including the U.S.? When he coupled that threat with the threat to impose a 10% tariff on countries resisting his takeover of Greenland, which would then rise to 25% on June 1 if he didn’t get his way, the leaders of other nations realized that U.S. leadership now means chaos, not order.
The most cogent assessment of what has been but can no longer be came from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in his speech at the WEF on its second day. I urge you to read the speech in its entirety.
Carney began by citing a 1978 essay called “The Power of the Powerless” by Czech dissident Václav Havel, who became president when Soviet control of Czechoslovakia ended. Havel said that an authoritarian system’s power “comes not from its truth, but from everyone’s willingness to perform as if it were true. And its fragility comes from the same source. When even one person stops performing . . . the illusion begins to crack.” Then Carney said it was time for companies and countries to stop sustaining the illusion.
What illusion? Havel was talking about the Communist system. Carney was talking about the international order over which the U.S. has presided since the end of World War II. Here is how he talked about the “rule-based order” that in my columns I have repeatedly called a self-serving sham:
“For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, praised its principles and benefited from its predictability. We could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.
“We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.
“This fiction was useful, and American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes. So, we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality.”
What an amazing admission! That countries like his and so many other First World countries refrained from calling out U.S. aggressions, subversions and all their attendant hypocrisies because they benefited as well.
Then he concludes, “This bargain no longer works.” He went on to say that “The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy. But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger and more just.”
The remainder of Carney’s speech is about building that better, stronger and more just order and what he perceives as a pivotal role for “the middle powers,” strong nations like his but not global superpowers. That part of the speech deserves the attention it is garnering. But it was his opening that interested me much more.
And that’s because I have borne the pain of being a citizen of a country that destroyed the lives of millions of people and the hopes of millions more in its exercise of global hegemony. Carney didn’t mention those people — Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, Pacific and Caribbean islanders. He wasn’t obligated to, and what he said was sufficiently courageous. But we should bear them in mind and pray that they will be the chief beneficiaries of the more just order Carney called upon the countries at the World Economic Forum to build.
For people in this country, Trump’s presidency has caused great pain and will cause more. Anticipating that, I published a column shortly after his inauguration titled “Contextualizing the coming repression.” In it I wrote, “Like most of my readers, I’m anxious about what the second Trump presidency will bring. I remind myself, however, that for most of my life people in many parts of the world have been suffering in large measure because of the actions of my country. [They] . . . have had to endure miseries compared to which whatever I may have to endure in the next four years will be slight.”
I ended it by saying, “Perhaps the coming repression at home will serve to globalize our moral consciences,” meaning that we could now relate to the overseas victims of the abuses of power by our Republican and Democratic administrations alike. If so, we will welcome the long-overdue rejection of U.S. leadership to which Trump’s insufferably vain and stupid behavior in the international arena has led.
Herbert Rothschild’s columns appear Fridays. Opinions expressed in them represent the author’s views. Email Rothschild at [email protected]. Email letters to the editor and Viewpoint submissions to [email protected].
