When Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, his message was unmistakable and deeply consequential for countries like ours. The familiar rules-based international order, he argued, is no longer holding. What is emerging is not a temporary disruption, but a new global reality defined by intensifying power rivalries, fractured alliances, and economic coercion. Carney did not present this as an abstract geopolitical theory. He framed it as a practical challenge for middle powers. “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” he said. “The rules-based order is fading. The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” For Canada, this was not a distant warning. It...