Between Giants: The Middle Power Paradox

At January's World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney argued that the old world order is not coming back. He went on to say that we are now in an era of great power rivalry, and that middle powers, like Canada, should come together to counter the rise of great powers. So what could the new order look like, and just how much influence can middle powers wield compared to the U.S. and China? They may be smaller by GDP standards but they are not without importance geopolitically. In this episode of Talking Geopolitics, host Christian Smith is joined by GPF Chairman George Friedman to discuss it all, to examine why the U.S. and Canada can't just decouple from one another, and what will happen to Cuba now that it has reached a tipping point in its economy and its defense. Visit for world-class geopolitical analysis and discussion and to access our full 2026 Forecast: Re-anchoring the World.

You can listen to Between Giants: The Middle Power Paradox online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Between Giants: The Middle Power Paradox is an episode from Geopolitical Futures Podcast by Geopolitical Futures.

This episode is 33:09 long.

This episode was published on Feb 10, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Geopolitical Futures Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.