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Speech! ... Speech! This year’s gathering in Davos was ultimately a tale of two speeches. One that drew a standing ovation. One that drew gasps. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered an honest account of the rupture in the world order. He didn’t have to mention who ruptured it, but he did call for clear-eyed views and reactions to the dramatic change. I’ve often argued that Americans may forgive themselves for Trump, but our allies may not. The breaking point has arrived. “The middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” NYT (Gift Article): Canada Flexes on Global Stage With an Eye to Its Own Survival. “We placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct: we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition ... Recently, great powers began 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.” Here’s the full speech in text and on video.
+ In The Atlantic (Gift Article), Robert Kagan goes deep on the American own goal, destroying the world order it has led for decades. America vs. The World. “For decades, much of the world supported a United States that acted on these principles and accepted America’s power, despite its flaws and errors, precisely because it did not act solely out of narrow self-interest—much less in the narrow, selfish interest of a single ruler. That era is over.”
+ While the headlines out of Davos on Wednesday were all about Trump’s insistence that the US military wouldn’t invade Greenland, his own meandering speech included a critique of Carney, saying, Canada “lives because of the United States” and should be grateful (which is a weird way of convincing someone you’re not the hegemon they described), confused Iceland and Greenland several times, waxed nostalgic about NATO calling him Daddy, and mumbled something (I’m really not sure what) about rare earths. From Bloomberg: A Stunned Davos Crowd Takes in Trump’s Case for Greenland.
+ It’s not unthinkable that the US could get a military and mineral deal related to Greenland. The bigger question is how these relentless attacks on our allies will impact our role in the world moving forward. WSJ (Gift Article): Greenland Clash Risks Undermining America’s Place in World Economic Order.
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Projection Racket
“There were no promises of an impartial investigation. There was no regret or remorse. There was little empathy for her family — for her parents, her partner or the children she left behind. From the moment the world learned about her death, the administration pronounced the shooting not only justified but an act of heroism worthy of praise and celebration. It isn’t just the lying; it’s that the lies are wildly exaggerated and easily refutable.” Radley Balko in the NYT (Gift Article): I’ve Covered Police Abuse for 20 Years. What ICE Is Doing Is Different. “The lies this administration is telling about Ms. Good aren’t those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They’re those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything. They’re a projection of power.”
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Dropping Some Knowledge
“Nothing American or Canadian policy makers did—no amount of law enforcement, harm reduction, or opioid-settlement funds—made deaths start falling, the paper implies. America and Canada’s drug problem might be in China’s hands.” The Atlanticon some really good news that experts are racing to explain. The Real Reason for the Drop in Fentanyl Overdoses.
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Vowel Movements
“The always interesting Bonnie Tsui on the connection between creativity and physical activity. “For someone who is not a professional swimmer, I spend an awful lot of time under water. I consider it an act of mobile meditation: Sensory input is muffled, so the chaos of the surface world eventually recedes. What’s left is activity—familiar, comforting, and hypnotic, almost second nature. My brain, normally trying to create order out of chaos, is free to fumble for deeper meaning. This is especially useful as a writer: I believe I generate my best material while swimming.” Why So Many Writers Are Athletes. (Can we change that headline to Why So Many Writers Attempt Physical Activity, No Matter How Embarrassing? I really don’t want my pilates instructor to extend my plank session to punish me for describing myself as an athlete...)
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Extra, Extra
Bad Beats: “So far, even if fans are losing trust in the product, they’re still watching and the leagues keep making money.” Sports-Betting Scandals Are Ubiquitous. Whether Fans Will Care Is an Open Question. (I worry a lot less about whether the scandals will affect the betting business and a lot more about the way the betting business will create an era of gambling addiction.)
+ Payback Time? “The ruling revealed an overlooked consequence of Trump’s pardon for some Jan. 6 offenders: Not only did it free them from prison but it emboldened them to demand payback from the government.” They ransacked the U.S. Capitol and want the government to pay them back.
+ Better Off Fed: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared likely to block President Donald Trump from immediately firing Democratic-appointed Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board, a move that would prevent Trump from exerting greater influence over the powerful central bank that guides the economy.” (This, and the dropping of the Greenland military threats, combined to boost the market, bigly.)
+ Chips on the Table: “I think this is crazy. It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.” Trump didn’t give the only controversial speech at Davos. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei unloaded on both the administration and chip companies (including a really big one that invests in his company) over the decision to sell AI to China.
+ Faith In Nathan: “Nathan’s Famous, which opened as a 5-cent hot dog stand in Coney Island more than a century ago, has been sold to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods in an all-cash $450 million deal, the companies announced Wednesday.”