"You can't build a new world order out of words, only actions create real order," Ukraine president asserts

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Politicians rarely say anything very interesting in speeches. At most, there might be a kernel of news slipped in between the banalities and outpourings of self-congratulation.

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That’s apparently what the audience expected when Prime Minister Mark Carney strolled onto the stage at Davos. Instead, it got a pointed assessment of Canada’s view of “the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.” It was enough to startle the billionaires, bureaucrats, political leaders and associated hangers-on into giving him a rare standing ovation. Maybe that’s what happens when politicians actually say what they think.

So what, right?

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Any leader can give a good speech now and again. As has been pointed out, not least by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a speech is just words. It changes nothing in itself. Carney’s included no new programs, no agreements, no international treaties or material actions likely to make the world any different when he left the platform........

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