The great lesson from the Canadian Prime Minister

"No one watching this Davos speech can come to any other conclusion than that the President of the United States is suffering from a mental disorder. It is both shameful and extremely dangerous." This tweet from American international policy expert Tom Nichols sums up the feeling Donald Trump's audience must have had in Davos when they heard a speech full of inconsistencies, falsehoods, and constant confusion. Trump confused Greenland with Iceland and then referred to the Danish island as "a piece of ice," before questioning the commitment of NATO allies and lamenting the stock market decline. Admittedly, the headline that sticks is that he claims he will not use force in Greenland. But what credibility does someone who is a compulsive liar and has no respect for international norms have?

Fortunately, in Europe and also in other countries traditionally allied with the United States, such as Canada, people are beginning to take notice of the situation. In Davos we saw French President Emmanuel Macron proclaim: "We prefer respect to bullies. Science to politicization. And the rule of law to brutality." And we also heard a magnificent speech from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in which he warned that we are not facing a transition but a breakdown of the international order in which non-superpower countries have only two options: either they kneel before one of them, losing their sovereignty and dignity, or they try to "you're on the menu."

Carney's words carry special weight, as he governs a country with a nearly 9,000 km border with the United States, with which it shares highly interconnected economies. But Trump believes Canada should be the 51st state of the United States. Carney knows, therefore, that if Trump goes after Greenland, he could be next. That is why he is calling for immediate action, forging broad alliances that will limit the actions of these hegemonic actors.

At the other extreme, however, we have the example of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who continues his strategy of ridiculously praising Trump even after the latter publicly laughed at those who call him "daddyCarney made it clear that appeasement won't work with Trump, just as it didn't work with Hitler in Munich. One positive aspect of unabashed American imperialism is that it makes its puppets in Europe, like Vox, look very bad. Even the Italian Giorgia Meloni, who seemed to be the closest leader to Eastern Europe (like Orbán), has begun to rebel against Washington.