Mark Carney was in the room when two starkly different visions of the world order were laid before the United Nations General Assembly.
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visions → lay → Assembly
One came from the secretary-general of the UN, António Guterres.
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One → come → UN
The other came from Donald Trump.
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other → come → Trump
It was immediately evident, within the span of two hours, which world view would be embraced by Canada’s prime minister.
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view → embrace → minister
Guterres, making his last address to the general assembly, framed his speech as a manifesto, which could also stand as a powerful sequel to the speech Carney gave in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of this year.
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Carney → make → year
It couldn’t have been more different than Trump’s, which was a 40-minute round of self-congratulation, bravado and warnings to other nations about going offside with his hard-fisted diplomacy.
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which → go → diplomacy
Where Guterres talked of the need for multilateral world order and a stronger United Nations, Trump laid out his ambition to dominate the world and boasted of how he forced cuts at the UN.
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he → talk → UN
Where Guterres warned of the need to regulate artificial intelligence, Trump made a bid to rename it “super intelligence” and shrugged off regulation.
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Trump → warn → regulation
Where Trump mocked climate change as a hoax, the UN secretary-general placed it among the chief worries of the world right now.
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general → mock → world
“To the victor go the spoils,” Trump proclaimed about the U.S. incursion into Venezuela earlier this year.
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Trump → go → Venezuela
“No country can solve today’s challenges alone,” Guterres said.
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Guterres → solve → challenges
“Superpowers must recognize their power has limits.”
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power → recognize → limits
Carney opted for a diplomatic nonanswer when asked directly which speech spoke best to him.
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speech → opt → him
But no one needed to read between the lines of his opening statement at the press conference of where he lands on the scale with Guterres on one end and Trump at the other.
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he → need → other
“What comes ahead?
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What → come → ?
It’s not wishful multilateralism, which defends only the status quo, nor a cold realpolitik that dismantles the status quo altogether.
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that → ’ → quo
The alternative that Canada and many others are pursuing is values-based realism,” Carney said.
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Carney → pursue → that
“Progress can be signalled through monologue, only achieved through dialogue and action.”
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Progress → signal → dialogue
For a president who’s been staying up late in recent weeks to post insulting memes about Canada, his UN address was notably silent on the current disintegrating relationship with this country.
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address → stay → country
Nor did Carney and Trump have any meetings while in the same building.
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Carney → have → building
Carney shrugged that off.
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Carney → shrug → that
“I find that when you have 160 leaders come to New York, that it’s most valuable to meet those who you don’t normally see,” Carney said when asked at the news conference about it.
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Carney → find → it
“That’s what I did last year at the general assembly, and that’s what I always intended to do here.”
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I → ’ → what
Nor did Carney bite when asked where he stood on the matter of artificial intelligence — was he with Guterres or Trump?
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he → bite → Guterres
The prime minister said he favours regulation, given his previous life in the financial sector, but that he would listen to citizens and Canadian expertise.
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he → say → citizens
Ever since Davos, a view has been emerging of Carney as the unofficial leader of nations united against Trump.
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view → emerge → Trump
In July, the Wall Street Journal dubbed him in a headline: “The Canadian Who Steered Europe Away From the U.S.”
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Who → dub → U.S.
The “new alliance” announced last week when Carney addressed the European Union was another step in that emerging international reputation for this prime minister.
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Carney → announce → minister
Trump called that “laughable,” but no one was laughing on Tuesday when Guterres laid down the new world order as he sees it, and it sounded an awful lot like what Carney has been saying.
They both said on Tuesday, without mentioning Trump, that the future of the world won’t be written by just one nation.
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future → call → nation
They both said multilateralism still is that best future.
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multilateralism → say → ?
Guterres said history argues for that view; Carney said that realism makes that true.
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that → say → view
Carney and Trump arrived at this general assembly meeting with two different objectives.
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Carney → arrive → objectives
For Trump, it was a flying visit, as is his practice, arriving in the room after Guterres spoke and staying just long enough to put himself at the centre for a day.
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Guterres → arrive → day
For Carney, this is a networking occasion over multiple days, loaded with low-profile meetings, and eschewing the opportunity to take centre stage himself.
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this → load → stage
The differences between these two leaders, and their world views, grow sharper every day.
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differences → grow → leaders
No one at the UN general assembly will be asked to vote between Trump and Carney, but Guterres’ speech was a strong hint of how that vote would turn out.
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vote → ask → Trump
The Aporia
