Mark Carney reveals imperialists are finding out what it's like to be a victim of imperialism

Canadian prime minister and former bank of England governor Mark Carney is receiving praise for telling the truth about the imperialist machine he was willingly part of. He spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos and pleaded with the worst people imaginable for a new, better world. The billionaires who normally discuss how to enslave humanity must have been confused, but they applauded anyway.

Carney began his historic speech with an explanation of how Canada had enjoyed being part of the empire while it was beneficial:

For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability. The bargain was simple: integrate deeply, play by the rules, and enjoy mutual prosperity and security.

And then he went on to explain how the US is turning against its vassals who are discovering what it is like to be part of the global south:

This bargain no longer works. 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 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.

By “great powers”, Carney means the US — other leaders aren’t weaponising sanctions and tariffs, Trump is. And while it is fair to say Trump has gone further than his recent predecessors in this regard, it’s also fair to say every US president has done these things.

What Carney described is nothing new, and I don’t recall him speaking out when other countries were the victims of US bullying. Carney backed the kidnapping of Maduro and accepted a role on the Gaza Board of Peace as one of Gaza’s unelected rulers. He is still part of the problem he is describing, a problem that is hurting the global south more than Canada.

Global south countries are divided into two categories: those who obey and those who are sanctioned. Both categories find their people impoverished. Any attempt to escape the trap, makes their leaders brutal dictators who must be overthrown. That’s how the rules-based order has always worked.

Nicolas Maduro found a way to beat the sanctions by restructuring the Venezuelan economy which became the fastest growing in Latin America for two consecutive years. That, as much as the oil, explains why he was kidnapped by Trump.

The global south has been bullied by the US for the longest time. How else do you think the capitalist machine functioned? You didn’t think it was based on fair play, did you? It was only when Canada became a victim of the empire, when Trump imposed tariffs and spoke of annexing its neighbour that Carney finally, reluctantly spoke out.

Carney did not even bother pretending he was duped. He admitted that he, and everyone, always knew the “rules-based order” was a lie, but he was willing to go along with that lie because Canada benefitted from it. Now he is nervous that the world is being carved into spheres of influence and Canada is within Trump’s sphere. If the US takes Greenland, Canada might be next.

You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination. Every day we are reminded that 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 the weak must suffer what they must.

Carney’s words are welcome because they are showing that anti-imperialists were right all along. They are showing that every imperialist intervention is based on lies. We must now make the following point clear: what is unacceptable for Canada is unacceptable for everyone.

Anti-imperialism is becoming a matter of survival for Canada, just as it has always been for the global south. Carney described how to take the first steps towards change:

It means naming reality. Stop invoking the “rules-based international order” as though it still functions as advertised. Call the system what it is: a period where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as a weapon of coercion.

I don’t want to lay into Carney too hard because although I see him as hypocritical, his words were mostly good. Whether they were sincere is another matter, but at least he is talking of treating countries equally, which is all the global south has ever asked for.

What would it mean for middle powers to ‘live in truth’? It means naming reality. It means acting consistently, applying the same standards to allies and rivals. When middle powers criticise economic intimidation from one direction but stay silent when it comes from another, we are keeping the sign in the window.

Carney seems to be learning lessons from China that you must make your nation economically independent and strong enough to resist coercion.

It means reducing the leverage that enables coercion. Building a strong domestic economy should always be every government’s priority. Diversification internationally is not just economic prudence; it is the material foundation for honest foreign policy.

Carney acknowledged that the weaker nations get pushed around by this lie called “international law” and are forced to accept bad deals for their people.

Matt Kennard wrote a book called Silent Coup explaining how during the “fall” of the British Empire, our leaders played a key role in shaping international law so imperialism could continue, just in a less obvious form. That way of doing things lasted about 80 years, but it is coming to an end because although those rules favoured the powerful, they at least restrained them to an extent.

In a time when Israel wants to genocide its way to Greater Israel and Trump wants to bomb his way out of the Epstein files, the lie takes too much effort to maintain. It is simpler to say “might is right” and consolidate as much power as you can. In the struggle for resources, middle powers are finding they are no longer a wanted part of the imperialist machine and are instead its targets.

Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. Nostalgia is not a strategy. The old order is not coming back. We actively take on the world as it is, with open eyes.

Canada is engaging strategically, building coalitions, issue by issue, with partners who share enough common ground to act together. We aim to be both principled and pragmatic. The power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong if we choose to wield them together.

The world faces a choice: we can let the power dynamics play out to their natural conclusion or we can choose a future of cooperation.

The biggest problems with the world are the US and Israel. By forging closer ties with BRICS nations, isolating the US, and giving up on the idea of telling other countries what type of government they should have, Europe and Canada can choose stability. If we don’t stand together, we will enter a world where leaders who don’t obey are abducted or assassinated. Today, it is Maduro or Khamenei. Next it could be Carney.

A world where every leader is always on edge, wondering if they will be next, is a world where major wars are inevitable. Given we have the destructive capacity to end humanity, we are reaching a crossroads. How world leaders respond to this moment may well decide if we make it out of this century.

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