David Farrar: The Carney speech

Canadian PM Mark Carney got a lot of attention for his speech at Davos where he bluntly said the liberal rules based order we have had for decades is dead, and we need to realise it.

His full speech is here. Some extracts [below]:

Michael Rainsborough: The End of the World Order as We Know It – Nice of You to Notice

For the past week the global commentariat has been behaving like someone who suddenly realises, halfway through his morning espresso, that his house burned down sometime last Tuesday and everyone else has been politely stepping around the ashes ever since.

Donald Trump announces, quite openly, that the United States wants to take Greenland, one way or another. Washington sharpens the tariff knife. NATO’s obituary is proclaimed yet again. The United States, we are solemnly informed, can no longer be trusted as an ally and that it is even a predatory state. The West is finished.

Cue panic. Cue Davos. Cue the anguished cries of people who have not had to think seriously about power since the mid-1980s.

David Harvey: Power Shifts and the Rules Based Order

The Illusion of Certainty in International Affairs

In contemporary international affairs, the “rules‑based international order” usually refers to the post‑1945, largely Western‑led system of institutions, norms, and practices that seek to structure state behaviour through agreed rules rather than raw power or ad hoc deals. The term is politically contested and not synonymous with positive international law, even though it heavily draws on, and often claims the legitimacy of, the UN Charter system and wider treaty and customary frameworks.

Bruce Logan: Palestinian State

In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, we were entertained in our childish way by watching movies featuring the Three Stooges, Moe, Larry, and Shemp. The farce and slapstick were frequently about one Stooge hitting one of the others on the head with a rubber hammer, which always seemed to be conveniently nearby. Well, I think it was rubber. Each bang on the head was accompanied by a resounding boing, apparently to emphasise the emptiness of the skull being struck. All nine or ten years of us laughed uproariously.

David Farrar: Liberals a minority Government again

As expected the Liberal Party won the Canadian election, but they have fallen short of a majority.

Here’s how each party has gone.

Philip Crump: Mark Carney Calls an Early Snap Election

As widely anticipated, Canada’s newly appointed Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has today called a snap election on April 28, a decisive move that could solidify his premiership and capitalise on rapidly shifting political currents. Having assumed the Liberal Party leadership from Justin Trudeau on March 9, Carney faces a pivotal moment. With Canada entangled in a trade war with the United States and polls showing a strong Liberal resurgence, this strategic decision should prove to be the right call, provided it avoids the missteps that derailed Britain’s Theresa May in 2017.

Philip Crump: Mark Carney - Canada's Unelected PM

In many ways, Mark Carney becoming the Canadian Prime Minister is a very conventional appointment given his stellar credentials and global ambition. But the means by which he secured the Premiership hinges on a curious constitutional glitch that originates from Westminster.

On Sunday, the Liberal Party of Canada elected Carney as its leader in a landslide, with 85.9% of the vote, paving the way for him to succeed Justin Trudeau, who resigned in January amid cratering approval ratings.