Carney and rules-based order, Davos… Rubio and a speech out of Nazi Germany, Munich?

Carney and rules-based order, Davos… Rubio and a speech out of Nazi Germany, Munich?

 

Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to collaborate with the US to build a “new Western century”, describing US-Europe ties as “civilisational”.

-       Marco Rubio wants to build a ‘new Western century’. Will Europe join? – Aljazeera

By Gregg Wall (2-20-26)

It should have been lost on no one that Secretary of State Rubio gave his “New Western Century” speech last Saturday… akin to Nazi ideology, mythology, Blut und Boden… in the same city as the beer hall putsch, the city of the Munich Pact that saw Hitler’s rise, Europe’s fall, and launched WW2.  The secretary of state appeared to want to make Manifest Destiny great again and invited Europe along for the ride (some might say Rubio insisted?).  Zero surprise, Rubio echoed Trumpian themes in his speech to the Europeans: eliminate liberal/progressive policies, shed your post-colonial guilt (i.e. glory in your white supremacy), pivot supply chains and purchases away from China, and shut down immigration. Moreover, Rubio seemed to insist that Europe stay out of American technology, buy US arms, and defer to and support American energy dominance. This, as the United States runs up record trade imbalances and seemingly can’t quit China (which remains a top trading partner and produces, historically, some of the greatest trade deficits for the U.S.)… making Trump not only boorish and an ogre, but an insufferable hypocrite. 

As I wrote in 2024, read here and here, centrist and corporatist leaders throughout the West have fallen and been voted out of office due to their failure & refusal to address the very real economic needs of their citizens and the wage & wealth inequality that comes with financialization, globalization, and neoliberalism.  And in a great many instances, these centrist and corporatists have walked far-right populists and authoritarians to power, like Trump and Rubio. In the darkness, there are two positive elements, certainly from my perspective: one, not only is political duopoly increasingly being recognized for what it is (i.e. a fraud and a front for oligarchy); but two, the populist right parties, which momentarily are ascendent, are already failing. The reason for that failure is that the populist right, being creatures of and in bed with the very same oligarchs and multinationals that sponsor the duopoly, have little or nothing to offer aside from culture wars, hate, rage, and xenophobia. That is to say, their economic policies, but for the exception of exhibiting a more libertarian bent, or statist twist, are by and large the same dereg, globalist, neoliberal policies as the duopoly.  All this is to say, the very same deregulatory, neoliberal policies that are failing the duopoly are also failing the far-right populists.

These populist right parties are already in trouble with Trump failing domestically and Trump running around bailing out… either financially or rhetorically or via threats (sometimes all three)… authoritarian leaders and states that Trump perceives as his natural allies, such as:  Milei in Argentina; Bolsonaro in Brazil; allegedly, insurrections in Alberta CA; Takaichi in Japan; Netanyahu in Israel; and of course, right-wing types in Latin America, such as President Kast in Chile.

In short, dereg, globalization, neoliberalism, political duopoly… centrist & corporatist politicians… are failing throughout the West.  Financialization is not just a dead end, it’s crippling and a net drag.  Only to be replaced with white-wing bigots, racists, & haters with identical or near identical economic policies: greed & oligarchy first.  Look at the countries and their far-right populist governments Trump has bailed out or may bail out.  Libertarian & neoliberal failure are everywhere.

 

 

 

 

The arrogance and the law of the jungle tone of the Rubio speech is in keeping with America’s treatment of allies, friends, and imagined foes amplified since Trump’s second inauguration and bookends perfectly with Canadian PM Carney’s speech given a month ago at Davos, which laid out an alternative path for middle powers (versus the hegemony & sometimes tyranny afforded by great powers). 

Mr. Carney made quite a splash at Davos by calling out the obvious (all the other leaders were apparently too timid or weak)… simply put, the U.S. is not a beacon of light and the rules-based order is dead (my words, not Carney’s).  That Canada and the EU middle powers should unite, against the fading light, against power, greed, and the law of the jungle that Mr. Trump fully embraces.  But unless PM Carney deals with the simultaneous failure of deregulation, financialization, and neoliberalism… and the egregious impoverishment of the Canadian people (i.e. affordability and well-paying jobs)… Carney’s domestic mandate – like that of PM Starmer & so many peers – may soon fade, as will the political foundation liberals need to achieve Carney’s new world order. 

That is to say, Carney’s vision is no vision if he doesn’t address the affordability, housing, and growing healthcare crisis in this nation.  The far-right, the populist right leaders are always willing to exploit their polarized base of support to deflect and distract from their corruption, greed, looting, privatization, and neoliberal policies.  Trade agreements don’t pay Canada’s rent; in fact, globalization and neoliberalism deletes Canadian labour (add in the labour cancelling goals of AI and it looks very grim).  Unless Canadians are prosperous and can afford life… unless Canada has a strong vibrant middle class, Mr. Carney’s vision will likely be very short lived or come to nothing.  At the moment, Canadians are beset on all sides by corporate greed and six consecutive years of corporate price gouging.  A devalued Canadian currency… Bank of Canada’s policy, in a classic beggar thy neighbor approach…  does absolutely nothing for Canadians and makes their purchasing power weaker still. 

Mainstream/Establishment economists love to hang their hat on precious GDP and growth … but look at the U.S, where GDP growth is meaningless, doesn’t put food on the table, doesn’t pay the rent, or come close to paying for-profit healthcare bills. Instead, GDP & growth pools in the accounts of the billionaire and monopolies.  More specifically, in regards American GDP, welcome to a command economy.  When 40% of the US economy is government spending, GDP is whatever Dictator Trump decides to make it.  When dereg and neoliberalism fails, money printing and military Keynesianism takes over.

Hence, Trump’s attempts to hijack the Federal Reserve, run a low rate regime, engineer QE, and push ultra accommodative monetary policy to lesson debt service loads; hence, Trump’s proposal to boost defense spending to 1.5 trillion.   

But with this much fraud and looting w/in the Department of War (unable to pass audits, year after year)… the American people receive nothing except endless austerity and the IOU for $42 trillion in national debt.   

This serves as a cautionary tale for Canada, the EU, and the UK… who share with America a failed economic paradigm, colossal & growing debt, a predatory economic aristocracy, highly detrimental financialization, and the drive for greater military spending as a panacea (as often as not driven by economic decline and Trump’s & Rubio’s obvious threats). 

PM Carney seems to be going down the well-worn path of heads of state embracing deregulation, globalization, and neoliberalism… and capital & greed first policies, like supply-side and trickle-down.  Policies that finished off Trudeau and countless other centrists and corporatists, like Sunak, Starmer, Draghi, Biden, Harris, Scholz, Merkel, and Macron, etc., etc.  These neoliberal policies… clouded & obscured in words and ideas like triangulation, three-dimensional chess, and variable geometry… are just more of the same.  A “neoliberal same” that has seen the middle class eviscerated and billionaire net worth soar… wage and wealth inequality skyrocket… they’ve also seen soaring poverty and life itself has become unaffordable for far too many. 

Carney is riding a wave right now because of Trump and it’s doubtful that Carney would have been elected without Trump’s ravings.  I certainly wish Mr. Carney all success.  Carney comes off as calming, professional, and staid, during a time of chaos… so I understand the attraction for a great many Canadians.  But remember who Carney is… a banker, and where he comes from… private equity.  And remember who Carney serves: Great Wealth.

As part of the PM’s pivot, he needs to rebuild the Canadian middle class and address affordability & labour concerns… or all his efforts at variable geometry will, likely, amount to precious little or at best more of the same.  Trade is great, but the last two decades have seen the middle class throughout the West destroyed, including Canada’s.  Trade must be labour focused, not mere arbitrage and a race to the bottom. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2026