Very Slowly Some World Leaders Grow a Spine – Trump’s Arrogant Claims over Greenland and Europe’s Response
Image: On left a provocative map of Greenland captioned “Soon” as posted January 7th on X by Katie Miller – wife of Steven Miller (White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor) from Yahoo News; on right USA President Trump’s text to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, of Norway
Trump’s Arrogant Claims over Greenland and Europe’s Response.
Current USA Foreign Policy – An Update.
22 January 2026 Minor alterations 23 January
Introduction
The verbal battles over Greenland, are only the most recent USA attempt to demonstrate its’ world hegemony. Above is pictured, the text sent by Trump to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway on 19 January 2026. It parallels the USA’s capture of President Maduro, in the height of its arrogance and threats. We will leave aside Trump’s pique at not getting the Nobel Peace Prize.
But Greenland is only the latest salvo of what is to come. Already the first month of 2026 has been a tumultuous year in 2026. Several alarming events in both the USA domestic and foreign policy have – and will further – affect the working classes of the world. These of course, go beyond the European Community as we discuss below.
However, the pattern is clear. In January, we saw two major new features unfold. These mark an even greater and escalating risk of open inter-imperialist war.
These two new features are:
i) An even more overt and heightened, increasing aggression of the USA. We will briefly discuss four examples Venezuela, Greenland, Ukraine and Gaza and the so-called “Peace Board”. We will deal with events in Iran separately.
ii) An evident ‘resistance’ of what one statesman – Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney calls “the middle powers”. The European Union has as a whole begun to move more towards the direction of resistance urged by President Macron of France.
The “anti-USA” resistance of some of the “middle Powers” – is not unexpected. Nor is it either uniform or quick or, at present, irrevocable. It definitely fits the description of history in a “zig-zag” or the “parallelogram of forces” – as labelled by Frederick Engels:
“So with all the other accidents, and apparent accidents, of history. The further the particular sphere which we are investigating is removed from the economic sphere and approaches that of pure abstract ideology, the more shall we find it exhibiting accidents in its development, the more will its curve run in a zig-zag.”
Frederick Engels: Letter to Walther Borgius, January 25, 1894; Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 50; at Rougenet
This article updates prior analyses. We examine some of the latest twists and zig-zags of USA foreign policy; and in especial the responses elicited to it in the EU. We first place the events in their strategic framework.
1. Overall strategy of Trump’s government and the dominant current international divisions
In February 2025, we wrote on Greenland and its rare earth and geographic strategic value, and Trump’s claims on the territory:
“The current attacks of President Trump and USA upon the national independence of Greenland show a reversion to an older form of overt – naked – imperialist method of the USA.”
“The Greenlandic people stand against USA and Danish imperialism”;
February 11, 2025 MLRG.online here;
We pointed out that this fits a simple pattern of imperial bullying and presaged a new world war:
“The pattern of bullying used against Greenland is the same used (before) …It fits into the larger pattern of an increasing risk of a new inter-imperialist war.”
Ibid.
The increasing risks of the new USA aggressive strategy are described in general (“Theses at a time of an obvious attempted re-division of world ‘spheres of interest’ From February 6, 2020, republished August 15, 2025 at MLRG.online here)
We also described how it has played out in various specific areas of the world, for example in Bangla Desh (Bay of Bengal 23 August, 2024 Marxist-Leninist Research Group.online at Bangla Desh here. )
And finally we pointed to the two current major enemies of USA imperialism. Namely, the imperialist People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the imperialist European Union (EU):
“These short theses begin with recognising there is a core unity of the USA ruling class who enabled Trump to come to power. This unity is one that does not resist the onslaught on the working class and the notions of dissent and free speech. Despite the repugnance of some of the ruling class for him, the ruling class wants a serious restructure of the state.
But this required that was necessary to ensure a victory of Trump. Several ‘mis-steps’ of the Democratic Party were made to ensure this outcome.
For the ruling class of the USA is united on their need to secure their profit base. In this, it is necessary that it prepare for a coming battle with its major international opponent – the Chinese state. The European Union (EU) is another opponent – but one of less urgency than that of China. However, the EU – in particular Germany – has been closely tied to the markets of China in terms of both an export and an import base. So the USA ruling class is threatening it.
In order to tackle their agenda the USA ruling class regime is forced to make far-sweeping changes. These are disruptive by nature. Therefore, the goals of the ruling class of the USA now are to re-structure its state to ensure its hegemony against its main rivals, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the European Union.”
Theses on The Trump 2 Administration and the USA Ruling Class: A re-set to a new imperialist order 13th April, 2025; at: 13th April 2025; MLRG
Moreover, the domestic attacks within the USA verify that Trump was
“restructuring the USA state and removing basic democratic rights and disempowering workers”…
“To optimally achieve facing its current targets, the USA ruling class is attempting to carry through major changes. These aim at no less than the complete submission of the working class and the working class or petit-bourgeois managers of the state.
“To effect this, the ruling class aims to erase a whole era of reforms in the USA post-war.:
Thesis 4, in: Theses on The Trump 2 Administration and the USA Ruling Class: A re-set to a new imperialist order 13th April, 2025; at:
13th April 2025; MLRG
Recently startling confirmation has emerged of the enmity shown by the USA against the EU. The USA has delivered a major setback against the PRC by ensuring its’ supply of oil from Venezuela is cut. This has also helped jeopardise the PRC supply of oil from Iran to the PRC. Thus the USA has now returned its focus of attention to Europe.
2. Are we at a new stage of USA aggression? The heightened and increasing aggression of the USA
That we have arrived at a new escalatory stage in the preparations for a new inter-imperialist war is evident. It is evidenced by 4 examples that we highlight below.
i) The case of Venezuela
Venezuela was the first most blatant expression of the newly brushed off “Monroe Doctrine”. But instead of a USA marine landing of forces in the country, a sophisticated snatch operation was launched. The capture by USA forces of Maduro and his wife was assisted by high officials in ex-President Maduro’s own cabinet ( “The Capture of Nicolaus Maduro and the current strategy of USA imperialism” MLRG.online 4 January 2026 at: MLRG.Online 4 January, 2026).
This inner cabinet betrayal of their co-capitalist Maduro, was led by – Delcey Rodriguez . As we have now become aware, this “accommodation: with the USA was in long negotiation since August 2025 – as reported by the “Miami Herald”:
“A group of senior Venezuelan government officials, led by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, who is president of the National Assembly, have quietly promoted a series of initiatives in recent months aimed at presenting themselves to Washington as a “more acceptable” alternative to Nicolás Maduro’s regime, according to people with direct knowledge of the talks.
The proposals, funneled through intermediaries in Qatar, sought to persuade sectors of the U.S. government that a “Madurismo without Maduro” could enable a peaceful transition in Venezuela—preserving political stability without dismantling the ruling apparatus…
Qatari mediators presented to the U.S. two formal proposals this year, one in April and another in September. Both outlined potential governing mechanisms without Maduro in power. In those scenarios, Delcy Rodríguez would serve as the institutional continuity figure, …
The central argument, the sources said, was that the Rodríguez siblings represent a “more palatable” version of so-called chavismo — the socialist ideology named for deceased leader Hugo Chávez… The ‘Cartel Lite’ formula…”
Antonio María Delgado; “Venezuelan leaders offered U.S. a path to
stay in power without Maduro”; Miami Herald; October 16, 2025
Rodriguez is now entrusted but – is also being carefully monitored for compliance – by USA imperialism – to do the USA bidding:
“In Washington, Venezuela represents the first big test of Trump’s revised Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-century nostrum that the US should dominate the Americas by ejecting foreign powers. It could also make or break the career of Marco Rubio, his Cuban-American secretary of state, who has become the public face of Venezuela strategy…
Trump and Rubio have laid out an initial list of demands that the Venezuelan government must comply with: an end to drug trafficking, cutting links with countries deemed hostile to the US, “total access” for the US to operate in Venezuela, and oil revenues to be controlled by Washington…
To ensure compliance, Trump has threatened Rodríguez with consequences “worse than Maduro” if she fails to deliver. He has also said that a task force of advanced warships and planes, capable of intercepting oil tankers or launching missile or drone attacks on Venezuela, will remain stationed in the Caribbean indefinitely.”
Michael Stott and Andres Schipani; “Is Venezuela’s ‘compliant’ new regime sustainable?” Financial Times London (FT); 19 January 2025
This has allowed the state of Venezuela to be fully returned from a state of the national capitalist class into a new pro-USA comprador state.
Considerable scepticism about the oil reserves of Venezuela not being lucrative enough in the short term has been expressed by USA capitalists. This arises from both the poor infra-structure of the oil industry there, and the ‘heavy’ and ‘dirty’ nature of the oil.
“Despite Trump’s efforts to portray Venezuela as a new paradise for US oil investment, industry executives are less sure, giving a lukewarm verdict after a White House meeting on January 9. Exxon, the largest US major, said Venezuela was currently “uninvestable” while ConocoPhillips said the country’s oil sector needed reorganising. Both companies had assets worth billions of dollars seized by the Chavistas. Only Chevron, which continued to operate in Venezuela, was optimistic about the prospects of raising output quickly.”
Michael Stott and Andres Schipani; “Is Venezuela’s ‘compliant’ new regime sustainable?” FT; 19 January 2025
Another industry expert based in the UK corroborates this:
“From all available reports, the condition of the existing production facilities, pipelines, and other infrastructure is desperately weak and has been a primary cause of the steady decline in oil production over the last decade. Twelve years ago, Venezuela was producing 2.4 to 2.5 million barrels of oil every day. The figures now is below 1 million.
Reconstruction will be a costly process but will also take time. Many skilled staff from the industry have emigrated to escape the Maduro regime over the last decade and are not likely to be rushing to give up their new lives in the US and elsewhere to return home. It will take years to recreate the skill base on which PDVSA and the wider energy industry in Venezuela were built. It is hard to see how, even in an orderly political environment, oil production can be raised by more than a few hundred million barrels a day within the next two years.”
Nick Butler Energy Economist. Visiting Professor Kings College London; “Venezuela – was this a coup for oil ? 4th January 2026; at Butler 4th January
However, Butler does not minimise the effect upon the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and on the neighbouring mineral and oil reserves of Guyana:
“the American take over of Venezuela threatens the interests (including substantial debts) built up there in recent years by China. Some estimates put the scale of Chinese investments and debts at more than $ 100 bn… On a twenty-year horizon a return to Venezuela, if the country can be stabilised, will be seen as a tremendous opportunity for open access to a new source of resources – not just of oil and gas but also of the strategic minerals which are important for the industries of the future. There has been no thorough survey, meaning that all estimates are speculative but Venezuela’s Guyana shield geology in the south of the country is believed to hold substantial reserves of gold, iron ore, copper, nickel, cassiterite, niobium, and other valuable minerals.”
Butler N; Ibid.
And as often is the case, the bluntest assessments in the bourgeois press – after all the bourgeoisie need to know some of the real facts (!) – come from the Financial Times:
“Barely a week after Maduro’s ousting, a team of American and Venezuelan officials had put in place the complex legal and financial framework needed to allow the shipment and sale of up to 50mn barrels of Venezuelan crude worth around $2.6bn under US supervision…
But oil is not the only US objective in Venezuela. Rubio has tried to nuance his boss’s remarks, outlining a three-step process – stabilisation, recovery and transition – and placing more emphasis on the need for a return to democracy over time. Washington is also determined to remove the Cuban, Iranian, Chinese and Russian presence from Venezuela.”
Michael Stott and Andres Schipani; “Is Venezuela’s ‘compliant’ new regime sustainable?” FT; 19 January 2025
ii) The case of Greenland, Denmark and the European Union (EU)
Having secured Maduro inside a Brooklyn jail, Trump and his cabinet decided to renew the pressure on the EU with demands to purchase Greenland.
There is no doubt some military legitimacy to the USA’s claims that with the receding sea ice layer due to climate change, and increasing international tensions – that the sea passage ways are more vulnerable to both Chinese and Russian penetration.
Previously, we showed a map with the positioning of Russian bases around the perimeters facing Greenland MLRG-Greenland February 2025 . This map also shows the “GIUK” Gap (“an area in the northern Atlantic Ocean that forms a naval “choke point” – Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, the gap being the two stretches of open ocean among these three landmasses. It separates the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea from the open Atlantic Ocean (Wikipedia).
We also noted the hunt for rare earth minerals drove the USA aggression (The Greenlandic people stand against USA and Danish imperialism MLRG.online 6 February 2025; at MLRG-Greenland February 2025 ).
No matter that the USA already has a wide-ranging Cold War era agreement for its bases:
“Under a little-known Cold War agreement, the United States already enjoys sweeping military access in Greenland. Right now, the United States has one base in a very remote corner of the island. But the agreement allows it to “construct, install, maintain, and operate” military bases across Greenland, “house personnel” and “control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft.” It was signed in 1951 by the United States and Denmark, which
colonized Greenland more than 300 years ago and still controls
some of its affairs.
“The U.S. has such a free hand in Greenland that it can pretty much do what it wants,” said Mikkel Runge Olesen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen.
“I have a very hard time seeing that the U.S. couldn’t get pretty much everything it wanted,” he said, adding, “if it just asked nicely.”
Jeffrey Gettleman, Amelia Nierenberg and Maya Tekeli; “Buy Greenland? Take It? Why? An Old Pact Already Gives Trump a Free Hand”; January 7, 2026 NYT
Unsurprisingly, the EU has supported Danish and Greenlandic refusal to sell to Trump. The latter, in typical style, threatens retaliation. The EU leaders have been “bending over backwards to find compromises“:
“In vowing to impose punishing tariffs on allies who oppose his ambition to acquire Greenland, Donald Trump has dealt European leaders a brutal lesson: their painstaking efforts to appease the US president and protect the transatlantic relationship have failed.
Since Trump returned to power, EU and Nato capitals have bent over backwards to find compromises, swallowing demands to spend more on defence, accepting unbalanced trade deals, changing regulations to suit the White House and ignoring barbs about Europe’s “civilisational erasure”.
Henry Foy, Richard Milne, Laura Pitel, Ben Hall ‘It’s about trust’: Donald Trump’s fresh tariff threats push Europe to harden its stance”; Financial Times 19 January, 2026
But the previous period of trying to appease Trump is coming to an end. The worst EU offenders were probably Prime Minister Starmer of the UK, and Chancellor Merz of Germany. Increasingly the views of President Macron of France to be sterner have become more predominant:
“An Élysée official said on Sunday that the French president would request that the EU activate its so-called anti-coercion instrument that can restrict access to the single market for American companies.
“He will be in contact throughout the day with his European counterparts and will request, on France’s behalf, the activation of the anti-coercion instrument,” said an Élysée official.”
Alice Hancock, Leila Abboud, Amy Kazmin, Richard Milne; “France urges EU to use most potent trade weapon in response to Trump Greenland threat”; FT 19 January 2026
But still, the European leaders are moving very slowly in a complex dance as they watch for every reaction and new posture of Trump. As the Financial Times comments:
“Conciliatory officials argued the approach was necessary to protect two priorities they said could not be sacrificed: maintaining US support for Nato and achieving a fair peace deal in Ukraine. But Trump’s tariff threats against the UK, France, Germany, and five other allies crossed a red line that demanded a change in strategy, almost a dozen European diplomats and officials told the FT.”
Foy et al; ‘It’s about trust’: Donald Trump’s fresh tariff threats push Europe to harden its stance” FT Ibid 19th January 2026
The EU are already on the cusp of having some greater freedom of action. That since they finally signed a major trade agreement with the markets of South America known as the Mercosur countries:
“EU chiefs and leaders of South America’s Mercosur bloc have signed a long-awaited blockbuster trade deal after more than a quarter of a century of talks, though hurdles remain before the application of the broad commercial agreement. … Once it is ratified by the blocs’ member states, the agreement will create one of the largest free trade zones in the world with a population of more than 700mn people. Total goods exchanged between the EU and Mercosur reached €111bn in 2024.“
Michael Pooler, Andy Bounds, Ciara Nugent “EU and Mercosur bloc sign trade deal after decades of talks”; FT 17 January 2026.
It is true that in especial the Green Party of Germany has refused to ratify this – siding with the most extreme rightwing of the EU parliament. That includes the German fascists the AfD. We expect this refusal to ratify in the short term will be overcome by the bureaucrats at the top including Ursula von der Leyen– President of the European Commission
In addition, the Europeans have made preparations for a so-called “economic bazooka” of trade reprisals against the USA. These instruments were readied in the first round of tariff bargaining with Trump earlier in 2025. But the Europeans collectively held them in reserve. They wished to placate him instead. It seems that the EU is now far more ready to impose these counter-tariffs;
“EU capitals are considering hitting the US with €93bn worth of tariffs or restricting American companies from the bloc’s market in response to Donald Trump’s threats to Nato allies opposed to his campaign to take over Greenland. The move marks the most serious crisis in transatlantic relations for decades.
The retaliation measures are being drawn up to give European leaders leverage in pivotal meetings with the US president at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, officials involved in the preparations said.
They are bidding to find a compromise that would avoid a deep rupture in the Western military alliance, which would pose an existential threat to Europe’s security.
The tariff list was prepared last year but suspended until February 6 to avoid a full-blown trade war. Its reactivation was discussed on Sunday by the EU’s 27 ambassadors, along with the so-called anti-coercion instrument (ACI) that can limit the access of American companies to the internal market, as the bloc wrestled over how to respond to the US president’s threat with punitive tariffs.
“Henry Foy, Mercedes Ruehl; “EU readies €93bn tariffs in retaliation for Trump’s Greenland threat” FT 19th January 2026
The claims and counter-claims continue. Despite claims that the USA would continue pressing on Greenland, the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Trump appear to have come to an accommodation of “limited sovereignty” over USA bases in Greenland.
But this has not been discussed at a table with the Danes and the Greenland Government representatives. The latter are still maintaining some resistance, but the EU leaders with Rutte are under-cutting them considerably. It is likely – but not certain – that Rutte and the remainder of the EU leaders will put such immense pressure on Denmark and Greenland that they will succumb.
Once more, their worry remains how this plays out in Ukraine:
“Europe has much to lose from a full-blown rupture in the transatlantic alliance. Supplies of US weapons and intelligence to Ukraine are critical to Kyiv’s ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion, and European capitals would not be able to immediately augment either at scale.
Europeans “will have to balance any steps they could take against the risks to their own defence capabilities if the US, for example, blocked the sale of weapons and munitions, either destined for Ukraine or for Nato countries themselves, or cut off the supply of US imagery and intelligence”, said Ian Bond, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform. The White House’s leadership of the Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations also means Europe fears that by upsetting Trump they could doom Kyiv and the wider continent to a pro-Russia resolution to the war.”
Foy, Milne, Pitel, Hall ‘It’s about trust’: Donald Trump’s fresh tariff threats push Europe to harden its stance” FT Ibid 19th January 2026
It is also true that the EU has one further potential counter-weapon against the USA. Namely, its holdings of US treasury securities:
“As of November, using Treasury department data, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Ireland, Norway, and Germany owned $2.84tn in US Treasuries, more than 30 percent of the total foreign-held US Treasury market.
Already, just the risk of unpredictable American policy affecting demand for US debt is pushing large asset managers to rethink portfolios. In an interview with the FT this month, Dan Ivascyn, chief investment officer of the California-headquartered fund manager Pimco, said: “We’re in a multiyear period of some diversification away from US assets.”
Rebecca Patterson; “Treasuries could be Europe’s best defence for Greenland; FT January 21, 2026
Exactly when – and indeed if – that card will be played remains uncertain.
iii) The case of the Ukraine
The resolution of this war, initiated as a war of imperialist aggression by Russia on an independent Ukraine, is yet to be finalised. But as we have pointed out the USA is leaning heavily on the Ukraine to make major concessions in terms of land-sovereignity and the likelihood of joining either NATO or the EU in the short term.
(See After Alaska Summit Trump and Putin will further squeeze Zelensky and the European Union; MLRG.online August 15th, 2025 at ; and “ Trump and Putin Squeeze Zelensky and European leaders“; November 26, 2025; at MLRG.online August 15, 2025
Of course, the relevance of this in the context of this summary of the events of January 2026 lies in the resulting pressures on the leaders of the EU. They have stalled – but are being pressed to conform with the USA wishes.
What are those USA wishes in relation to the Ukraine? To acquire rare earth rights in Ukraine; and to weaken NATO; and to attempt to wean Russia away from the pull of the PRC, even if this can only be in the short term.
iv The case of the Gazan center of the USA plans for the Middle East and the “Board of Peace”
All of the above machinations and bullyings of the USA are bad enough. But perhaps the most audacious new manouevre made by Trump – is around the issue of what happens now in Gaza?
The genocidal attacks on Palestine have been extensively covered before at MLRG.online. The Palestinian resistance continues but is dramatically weakened. The false “Peace” – is only a “peace” that is binding the Palestinian representatives. Meanwhile it gives a free hand to Israel. What does Israel do with that freedom? It continues the brutal repressions and ‘quieter’ forms of destroying Gazan and West Bank Palestinians.
The original Trumpian plans for a ‘Gazan Riviera” have morphed into a far more dangerous project. Ultimately, the new plans are to usurp the United Nations almost entirely:
“… President Trump said he planned to establish and lead a “Board of Peace” to oversee the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza… letters went out asking countries to join the newly minted body, among them U.S. allies like Canada, France, Britain, and Saudi Arabia. But Russia and Belarus, hardly allies, were also on the list. And a review of the body’s charter – which governments received alongside their invitations – suggested that Mr. Trump hopes the Board of Peace could get involved in all kinds of global conflicts, not just the one in the Gaza Strip. … the Trump administration appeared to be setting up the board as a potential American-dominated rival to the United Nations, which Mr. Trump has long accused of liberal bias and waste… As chairman, Mr. Trump would have considerable influence over the Board of Peace. With countries being asked to pay more than $1 billion for permanent membership, its budget could be substantial… Last week, the White House named a “Gaza Executive Board” that includes Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s
envoy.”
Aaron Boxerman and Isabel Kershner “What to Know About Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza”; NYT 19 January 2026
The “Gaza Executive Board” of course, includes that other well-known rascal of the international capitalist, former PM of the UK, Sir Tony Blair. Other “great” scoundrels invited include Putin, Orban and other such notables:
“US President Donald Trump has invited Vladimir Putin to a “Board of Peace The text also appears to give Trump huge powers over the body, including a veto over the Board of Peace’s decisions and the “exclusive authority” to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities.
This board will sit above an advisory body that will include former UK prime minister Sir Tony Blair, private equity boss Marc Rowan and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Below this will be an executive board dealing with Gaza.
The US has not said how many countries are set to take upseats on the “Board of Peace”.
Kazakhstan said on Monday that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had accepted an invitation to join alongside leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and To Lam, head of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party.
Trump has also invited Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko…”
Max Seddon, James Shotter “Trump has invited Putin to join ‘Board of Peace’, Kremlin says NYT; 19 January 2026
Also invited – and someone who has accepted – was Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime minister. Which brings up his recent much-lauded speech…
3. The Response of the Canadian Prime Minister Carney at Davos 2026
Marxist-Leninists must cautiously weigh the words of bourgeois states representatives, and take them with at least a grain of salt. But nonetheless, at times – frank talk from government leaders sometimes emerges.
Such for instance is how we should assess the speech given by the Prime Minister of Canada at the World Economic Forum at Davos this week. Having newly armed himself and Canada, with a renewed economic relationship with the PRC – which had been faltering, PM Mark Carney responded to the challenge of Trump’s hegemonic ambitions. Being the immediate neighbour of the USA – Canada is especially vulnerable.
He began his speech on the 21st January 2026 with a clear map of his main points for his audience:
“Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story and the beginning of a brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints. But I also submit to you that other countries, particularly middle powers like Canada, are not powerless. They have the capacity to build a new order that embodies our values, like respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.”
Read Mark Carney’s full speech on middle powers navigating a rapidly changing world” CBC News; Jan 20, 2026; at: CBC Mark Carney Speech
He received a standing ovation in Davos, and the bourgeois press, and many academic commentators (including for example, Adam Tooze) have also received it well.
“Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has said that the US-led global system of governance is enduring “a rupture,” defined by great power competition and a “fading” rules-based order.
His speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forumcomes a day before US President Donald Trump was set to address the gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
Since entering Canadian politics in 2025, Carney has repeatedly warned that the world was not going to return to a pre-Trump normal. He re-affirmed that message on Tuesday, in a speech that did not name Trump but offered an analysis of the president’s impact on global affairs. “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said.”
“Mark Carney tells Davos the old world order is ‘not coming back’ as Trump heads to Switzerland”; Guardian January 21, 2026; at Guardian January 21 2026
The Canadian press has of course been loudly trumpeting how good Carney is, carrying the full speech everywhere. And indeed the speech is a repudiation of Trump – in words:
“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. The multilateral institutions on which middle powers have relied — the WTO, the UN, the COP — 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.”
Read Mark Carney’s full speech on middle powers navigating a rapidly changing world” CBC News; Jan 20, 2026; at: CBC Mark Carney Speech
The strategy Carney suggests is what he claims that Canada has been doing – a “variable geometry” – by which he simply means making alliances that do not include the USA:
“And we are rapidly diversifying abroad. We’ve agreed a comprehensive strategic partnership with the EU, including joining SAFE, the European defence procurement arrangements.
We have signed 12 other trade and security deals on four continents in six months…
In the past few days, we have concluded new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar.
We’re negotiating free trade pacts with India, ASEAN, Thailand, Philippines and Mercosur.
We’re doing something else. To help solve global problems, we are pursuing variable geometry — in other words, different coalitions for different issues based on common values and interests…
Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.
But I’d also say that great powers can afford, for now, to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity and the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not. But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what’s offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating.
This is not sovereignty. It’s the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.
In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: compete with each other for favour or to combine to create a third path with impact.
We shouldn’t allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong — if we choose to wield them together…
We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn’t mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
Read Mark Carney’s full speech on middle powers navigating a rapidly changing world” CBC News; Jan 20, 2026; at: CBC Mark Carney Speech
However, as some Canadian critics such as the New Democratic Party orientated Yves Engler rightly point out – Carney’s ‘words’ do not exactly always match his actions as Prime Minister:
“Days ago, Carney said he would join the Trump-chaired, international law violating, so-called ‘Gaza Board of Peace’. The PM has repeatedly said Canada would only accept a “Zionist Palestinian state” and his foreign affairs minister, Anita Anand, described Canada’s “unwavering support for Israel’s security.” In practice, this means refusing to uphold Canadian law – on arms sales, registered charities, foreign enlistment and war criminals in Canada — vis-à-vis a genocidal apartheid state.
Two weeks ago, Carney “welcomed” the US kidnapping Venezuela’s president in a crass violation of international law that killed about 100 people. Canadian soldiers working through NORAD and Operation Caribbe, as well as integrated in US units, likely assisted US violence on Venezuela.
Last week Carney echoed US/Israeli statements on Iran. Israel was hoping to reignite its summer war on that country, which Carney backed. In June Canada’s PM immediately labelled Israel’s destruction of multiple buildings in Tehran and the assassination of numerous scientists and military officials as “defending itself”. A month ago, foreign minister Anand publicly rejected restarting diplomatic relations with Tehran. (Canada has sanctions on Iran, labels the country a state-sponsor of terror and lists part of its military a terrorist organization.)
Carney’s Canada remains part of the Haiti Core Group, which has been dictating that country’s affairs since the US/France/Canada overthrew its elected government in 2004. Canada remains part of the imperialistic Five Eyes, NATO and NORAD. Last year Carney hosted the G7.
Under pressure from Trump, Carney has radically increased Canadian military spending. This country’s armed forces are structured to assist US global power projection. Despite Trump’s annexation threats, it’s unclear if a single one of the hundreds of treaty-level agreements, memoranda of understanding and bilateral forums on defence Canada has with the US military has been paused or canceled.”
Yves Engler “Once again Liberals talk the talk — but where’s the walk?”21 January 2026; at Yves Engler Blog re Carney Speech
All these points are legitimate. We have also discussed how Canada has been made into a branch plant of the USA over the last 30 years and longer (See A Short Marxist-Leninist History of Canadian Nationalism – USA and Canadian Relations; MLRG.online March 9, 2025; and The Goals of Trump’s New Tariff Wars March 14, 2025 MLRG.online; at Canada new Tariff Wars
But Carney – has made it clear that even he has “limits” … However, how exactly this will play put in the ‘zig-zag’ – we will have to await to see.
Conclusion
That Trump is on a new drive in the offensive on behalf of the majority of the USA ruling class is evident. This is, however, meeting some resistance in Europe and Canada – not even to discuss in the areas of the PRC influences.
At Davos, for example, one of his lieutenants, Howard Lutnick was heckled:
“US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick was heckled at a World Economic Forum dinner in Davos, with European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde walking out during his speech…
“We’re not going to Davos to uphold the status quo. We’re going to confront it head-on.” He also wrote: “We are here at Davos to make one thing crystal clear: With President Trump, capitalism has a new sheriff in town.”
“Howard Lutnick heckled at Davos dinner as Christine Lagarde walks out.” FT January 21, 2025; 2026.
Such things have not been happening until now. Somehow the Europeans are growing a spine…. maybe slowly… and some more than others. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany remarks:
“”We have entered an era of great power politics,” Merz said. “The new world of the great powers is founded upon power, strength and when necessary, force. It is not a cozy place.”
Wesley Dockery; “Davos: Germany’s Merz says old world order ‘unraveling'”; 22 January 2026; Deutsches Welle January 22 2026
His ongoing stripping of Germany’s social net, and transferring massive resources to new arming of a stronger armed forces. But he remains sure that the best bet for the EU is in the USA alliance:
“Merz said a “world where only power counts is a dangerous place.” He recalled the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933 to 1945, which “pulled the world into a black abyss.”
At the same time, he urged Europe not to give up on the NATO alliance and its relationship with the US.”
Ibid; January 22 2026
And thus the zig-zag continues. The international workers and toilers cannot rely on such shallow “resistance”. Neither in Germany, Canada, Denmark or Greenland.
The need for Marxist-Leninist parties in all countries mounts ever more. Only that can stop the moves to a new war, and turn the social turmoil into a real movement for socialism.
