Transcription
Pretty much everyone around the world can see that Western foreign policy is extremely hypocritical. Western governments love to talk about democracy and human rights, but they're constantly waging wars. The United States has carried out military interventions in the majority of the countries on Earth.
And when the US government bombs a foreign country, like most recently Venezuela and Iran, and before that Syria and Yemen and Libya, European governments almost always support these blatant US wars of aggression. And don't even get me started about Gaza, where European governments join the US in giving Israel tens of billions of dollars of weapons and military equipment to completely destroy Gaza to bomb women and children. And yet these same Western governments constantly lecture the rest of the world and wag their fingers lecturing other countries about democracy and human rights.
And in recent years, Western governments have popularized the phrase the rules-based international order. And they never clearly define what they mean by the so-called rules-based order because in reality, it's western governments that make those rules and then they violate them whenever it's politically convenient. But Donald Trump has taken off the mask and shown the true face of Western imperialism. The Trump administration is openly attacking international law. Trump himself said, quote, "I don't need international law," end quote. And he said that the power of the US empire is only limited by quote, "my own morality," end quote.
And now Trump is not only targeting the global south but also targeting Western allies with his very aggressive foreign policy which has exposed the extreme hypocrisy of all of this. Because when the US was bombing countries in the Middle East and West Asia and bombing countries in Africa and Latin America, most Western governments went along with it. They had no problem. They were junior partners of imperialism working together with the US to fight against the global south.
But now that the US is targeting them, now that Trump is threatening to colonize Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a European country and a NATO ally. And now that Trump is also talking about annexing Canada and making it the so-called 51st state, this has forced some Western government officials to say the truth that pretty much everyone in the rest of the world has known for many decades. But the illusion is gone. We can all see very clearly what is now happening.
And the perfect example of this is a speech that was delivered by Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Corporate media outlets heaped praise on Carney, saying that he delivered such a brave speech, acknowledging that the so-called rules-based order is dead.
"Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself."
Western media outlets portrayed the Canadian prime minister as a brave hero who was standing up to Donald Trump. But what they conveniently left out was the deep hypocrisy of this speech. Because Mark Carney's remarks were not motivated by altruism and love for freedom in democracy. And because Canada is so concerned about international law and the violation of the sovereignty of other countries, no, this speech was entirely self-interested.
What's happening is these very same Western imperialist governments that supported US hegemony for decades, as Carney admitted in his speech, "and American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods." These other western countries were totally complicit in the crimes of the US empire, but now that they are being targeted by the US Empire, they're no longer complicit in these crimes. They're the new targets of these crimes and they're terrified.
So, the reason Carney gave the speech is it was a call to action. It was a call for other so-called middle powers like Canada and European countries to unify, to unite, to try to defend themselves as the US empire goes completely rogue.
"The middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."
These so-called middle powers are extremely scared because they know they're not superpowers and they can't defend themselves against the US military. And they can see that Trump is just attacking all international multilateral institutions. So they're trying to work together to implement protective measures to stop this crazy US rogue regime from running them over.
The multilateral institutions on which the middle powers have relied, the WTO, the UN, the COP, the architecture, 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 can't feed itself, fuel itself, or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself.
Canada's Prime Minister Carney also admitted that the so-called rules-based international order that Western governments love to bloat about was always deeply hypocritical and that international law was not actually applied when powerful countries like the US Empire invaded countries and violated their sovereignty like how the US invaded Iraq in 2003 in blatant violation of international law. Carney admitted that there were always these deep double standards.
"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 we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful."
However, Canada's prime minister acknowledged that Western middle powers went along with this unjust, hypocritical imperialist system because it benefited them. He used the term American hegemony, global dominance by the US Empire and said that it benefited some of these other western imperialist powers like Canada and they were provided with collective security in the form of NATO led by the US Empire as well as what he called a stable financial system 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.
Now, the financial system has not been stable at all, but Mark Carney previously worked on Wall Street for the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, and then he was a central banker who ran the central banks of Canada and England. So, he's been a beneficiary of the US dominated global financial system, the heart of which is located in Wall Street. And the blood in the veins of that system is the US dollar. And this system is now coming apart. We see more and more countries de-dollarizing. US hegemony is weakening. Which is precisely why the US empire is becoming so aggressive to try to desperately hold on to its global dominance to drag the world back to the unipolar era of US global dominance.
But this is why Canada's Prime Minister Carney says that this is not just a transition, it's a rupture.
"Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy, and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration. 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."
He admits that Canada and other western middle powers went along with this imperialist system and supported the exploitation of the global south, the global majority because it benefited them. He said, quote, "This fiction was useful." End quote. But then he complained that quote, "this bargain no longer works." End quote.
So previously Canada helped the US empire to exploit the global south in countries like Haiti. Canada participated in the colonial military occupation of Haiti or in Libya. In 2011, US-led NATO forces destroyed the government of Libya and Canada played an important role in that imperial war. And of course, when we're talking about Canada's complicity in imperialism, we have to talk about Gaza because the horrific crimes against humanity carried out by Israel, against the Palestinian people were only possible due to the significant support that Israel has gotten from Western governments, not only the US government, which under both Joe Biden, the Democrat, and Donald Trump, the Republican, the US has given Israel tens of billions of dollars of weapons, weapons and military aid and other forms of support.
But it wasn't just the US. Canada has also been selling weapons to Israel that have been used to carry out these war crimes. And a poll of Canadians found that a slight majority of the population, 55%, opposes Canada's weapon sales to Israel. And due to the massive public outrage and protests in Canada, the Canadian government was forced to claim that it was going to stop selling weapons to Israel. At least that's what it promised. And this was in 2024 under the previous prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who is from the same centrist Liberal Party of the current prime minister, Mark Carney.
But in reality, that wasn't true. The Canadian government lied. It claimed it would stop selling weapons to Israel, but Canada's state media outlet CBC admitted in 2025 that Canada has continued sending weapons to Israel that have been used against the Palestinian people. And this is why there have still been protests going on in Canada while Mark Carney is going to Davos and bloviating on the international stage about how he's standing up to Trump and defending the rules-based order. Meanwhile, Canada continues to send weapons to Israel through the US.
So in this way, Carney is still allied with Trump. And it is true that around the world, Canada has a much better reputation than the US because the US is a crazy rogue regime that is constantly invading countries and bombing them and imposing sanctions and organizing coups and carrying out regime change operations. It's a crazy empire. But Canada has very often been complicit in the US Empire's worst crimes. And yet, many people often don't know about Canada's role. It's been much better at whitewashing its image.
But if you look at recent votes at the United Nations, you can see that Canada sometimes joins the US in voting against the rest of the world. Like in 2023 in the UN General Assembly, there was a vote on a resolution that called for supporting the Palestine Refugees Agency, UNRWA. 156 countries supported it. The six countries that voted against were the US, Israel, Canada, and three tiny island countries. Similarly, every year at the UN General Assembly, there is a vote on a resolution that condemns Israel's illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and the occupied Golan Heights, which is Syrian territory according to international law. And in 2023, once again, Canada joined the US in voting against the rest of the world. It was the US, Canada, Hungary, Israel, and three small island nations voting against the rest of the world and voting against international law. Similarly, when there was a vote in the UN General Assembly in 2024 calling to admit Palestine as a full member state of the UN, Canada and many European countries abstained in the vote. Again, going against the will of the vast majority of the international community.
But it's not just on issues related to Israel-Palestine. Canada and the West more broadly often vote against the rest of the world, the global North against the global South. In 2023, there was a UN General Assembly vote condemning sanctions which are known as unilateral coercive measures which violate international law and they violate human rights. And Canada joined the US and pretty much all of Europe in voting in support of sanctions that violate international law. And by the way, this all happened when Canada had the centrist liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau. If you go back to the previous conservative, you know, the right-wing leaders like Stephen Harper, Canada was even more pro-US. And let's not forget that when the US invaded Iraq in 2003 in an illegal war of aggression, Stephen Harper, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party, openly supported the US-led invasion of Iraq. Now, Harper at that time was not prime minister. There was a Liberal prime minister, Jean Chrétien. But in 2006, Harper did become prime minister. He formed a conservative government in Canada and openly supported these illegal US wars of aggression. So this kind of blatant hypocrisy is nothing new for Canada.
Now Prime Minister Mark Carney talks about the rules-based order, but Canada was always a willing participant and accomplice in this US-led imperialist system. But now the Canadian government is very scared, rightfully, because the US Empire has turned its sights on Canada. Again, I already pointed out how Trump is threatening to colonize Canada and make it the so-called 51st state of the United States. In fact, what's crazy is the Financial Times reported that the US government has been supporting far-right separatist groups inside Canada. More specifically, US State Department officials have been repeatedly meeting with leaders of the separatist movement in Alberta in Western Canada, which, uncoincidentally, is a wealthy oil-rich province, and Trump wants to exploit the province's natural resources. So, the Trump administration has been openly supporting these fringe far-right extremists. And by the way, they are asking for $500 billion dollars from the US in order to bankroll their separatist movement. So the US government is blatantly interfering in Canada's internal affairs and violating the sovereignty of its northern neighbor.
And this is why Mark Carney warned in his Davos speech that middle powers like Canada want to be at the table.
"So they're not on the menu. The middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."
So this is why Mark Carney is so angry because his argument is the whole point was the Western powers were supposed to unite as imperialist partners in crime. The Europeans and the Canadians were supposed to be the little brothers of the US Empire, but now this ferocious, mad US empire is targeting its own allies and threatening to colonize them as well, just as Trump is threatening to colonize Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which is a member of NATO.
And this has infuriated the European Union because Europe's argument is just like Canada's. We were supposed to be your imperialist allies. Together, we were supposed to exploit the global South. In fact, France's multi-millionaire banker turned president, Emmanuel Macron, who's quite similar politically to Mark Carney in Canada. These are bankers, and they're not in any way left-wing. These are center-right neoliberal technocrats and imperialists. And yet now that they're being targeted by the US Empire, suddenly they're defenders of sovereignty after they've been violating the sovereignty of the global South for so many, not just decades, for centuries.
But anyway, the point is is that Emmanuel Macron, the French president, sent this text message to Trump in which he said, quote, "We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland." End quote. So the message is clear. The European middle powers want to reunite with the US empire in order to exploit Syria and Iran and the global South countries. They want to go back to this great imperialist bargain.
As Mark Carney put it, "this bargain no longer works."
But the US Empire is entering a whole new stage of imperialism where it's now going to target its own so-called allies, not just the global South. Because again, the goal of the US empire is total global hegemony to exploit all of the countries on Earth, all of their workers, to exploit all of their natural resources to enrich billionaire oligarchs on Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Donald Trump has made that as clear as day. And this is why the US government is waging a full frontal assault on international law. Trump is making it clear that the US empire does not care about international law. Again, that's not new, but saying it very explicitly. And he's even going a step further and saying that he's going to physically expand the territory of the US empire by colonizing foreign countries and directly attacking the fundamental concept of sovereignty.
Now sovereignty is the most important sacred principle of international politics and this goes back hundreds of years well before the creation of the United Nations after World War II. The idea that a government has sovereignty over its territory that should not be violated goes back to 1648 to the Westphalian system established by the so-called Peace of Westphalia when the European powers came together and signed peace treaties ending the 30 Years' War. Of course the European powers were deeply hypocritical. They were already colonial powers. They denied sovereignty to their colonies in Latin America and they went on to colonize most of the world in Asia and Africa. So yes, it is very important to emphasize that there's always been deep hypocrisy in these Western claims to support sovereignty. They only really cared about their own sovereignty, not the sovereignty of the foreign countries that they were colonizing.
But after World War II, when the European empires destroyed themselves and also the Japanese Empire, these empires fought in the most brutal war in human history and the weakening and the destruction of those empires led to the victory of anti-colonial movements across the global South. There were waves of national liberation struggles that overthrew their colonizers all across Asia and Africa in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. And even though the US-led Western imperialist powers continued to try to destabilize foreign governments and overthrow them and meddle in their internal affairs, the CIA carried out dozens of coups all around the world and regime change operations. Certainly, it was endlessly hypocritical, but at the very least, the concept of sovereignty was written into international law and the Western imperialist powers were not able to actually colonize more territory, to physically take control of more territory.
The US Empire is trying to drag the world back to 19th century style European colonialism and to destroy any semblance of international law. So this is why these Western so-called middle powers like Canada which have been complicit in this US-led imperialist system for so long, this is why they are now desperately seeking alternatives. This is why many European leaders have been traveling to China and trying to improve relations with China. And this is why Canada's prime minister Mark Carney took a trip to Beijing in January to meet with President Xi Jinping and to come to a new trade agreement because Canada recognizes that it is much too dependent on the US and it has to diversify its foreign relations.
And yet previously the Canadian government always criticized China over so-called democracy and human rights and all of that propagandistic nonsense. But now that it's no longer convenient, Canada has totally abandoned that superficial rhetoric which shows that it never actually believed in this nonsense about democracy and human rights. It was simply public relations. And as soon as it became politically convenient, Canada simply abandoned the pretense and is now trying to act more explicitly in its national interest to defend itself.
But I'm very skeptical about this supposed pivot. Once again, I think it's mostly for PR because Donald Trump has been openly threatening Canada. And Trump said that if Canada signs a trade deal with China, he will punish Canada with 100% tariffs. And immediately after Trump made those threats, what did Carney do? He took a few steps back and said, "No, no, no, no, no. Don't worry. We're not going to actually sign a free trade deal with China." Which shows once again that a lot of this is for public relations, but rhetoric doesn't actually matter. What truly matters is action, not words, action.
And I have no doubt that Canada would like to diversify its trade relations, but this is going to be very, very difficult. Canada is in an extremely precarious situation because nearly 80% of Canada's exports go to the United States. That is absolutely crazy. And about half of Canada's imports come from the United States. This means that Trump's threats of tariffs on Canada could devastate the Canadian economy. Trump is weaponizing that dependency.
Now, if you look at what exactly Canada exports, its biggest export is crude petroleum, oil. Canada is a major oil producer and the US actually imports a lot of Canada's crude even though the US is the world's number one oil producer because Canada produces a lot of heavy crude whereas the US mostly produces light crude. So it is potentially possible for Canada to redirect some of those exports from the US and instead to export those goods to China. However, that is much easier said than done because the reality is that most of Canada's oil pipelines go to the United States because of this structure of economic dependency that goes back many decades. Canada does have one pipeline that goes to the western Pacific coast that's called the Trans Mountain Pipeline, but as the name suggests, it goes through this very mountainous area in Alberta and British Columbia, these two western provinces of Canada. So if Canada wanted to make new pipelines going to the Pacific coast in order to export that oil to China, they would have to build more pipelines through this very mountainous terrain. And obviously that is quite difficult.
Now in addition to oil, another important product that Canada exports a lot of is cars. But these are not cars being produced by Canadian companies. These are cars being produced primarily by US companies that have factories inside Canada. And this is why Canada's Prime Minister Carney signed this deal with China, lifting Canadian tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, EVs, allowing China to sell EVs in the Canadian market. Because Canada is also seeking investment from Chinese companies like BYD, which is now the world's number one producer of electric vehicles. It overtook Tesla.
Because from Canada's perspective, they don't really care what the company is. None of these companies is Canadian. Whether or not it's a US company or a Chinese company, they don't care. What Canada wants is the investment and the jobs created in the local economy. But this is of course angering the US government and US car companies because they don't want to deal with Chinese competition. This is why the US government put 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs because US car companies know they simply cannot compete with Chinese automakers. Chinese EVs are much better quality and they cost significantly less than US cars, especially than cars produced by Tesla.
So for Canada, it's a no-brainer. But the US is deathly afraid of Chinese competition, which is why the US government is now once again threatening Canada and telling Canada that it needs to reverse its decision to allow Chinese EVs in its domestic market. So again, what all of this shows is that Canada has now recognized that its extreme dependency on the US is a major vulnerability and it is desperately seeking alternatives. This is why Carney took this trip to Beijing and tried to improve relations with China. It was the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China in nearly a decade.
And this is also why the UK's prime minister Keir Starmer likewise visited China and met with China's president Xi Jinping also in January just a few weeks after Carney visited. And then this came just after France's president Emmanuel Macron took another trip to Beijing in December 2025 because these same European leaders that love to bloviate about democracy and human rights and all of that nonsense, they showed that they actually don't care about that. It's just propaganda. It's rhetoric. It's public relations.
But now that they are concerned about the US Empire turning against them, abandoning its erstwhile accomplices and junior partners in crime and now seeking to colonize European territory and potentially even colonize Canada, of course, these Western so-called middle powers are totally terrified and they are desperately seeking alternatives.
If you want to learn more about how Europe is trying to improve its relations with China, because European leaders like Canada have recognized that they are way too dependent on the US economically, technologically, militarily, and in terms of energy. If you want to learn more about that, you should check out this other video that I did here at Geopolitical Economy Report. I will link to that in the description below. On that note, I'm going to conclude. I am Ben Norton. I am the editor-in-chief of Geopolitical Economy Report. I want to thank everyone for joining me today. Please like and subscribe. Please share this. I will see you all next time.