Excerpt from today’s Coffee & Covid re Carnage.

Yesterday, various warmup acts delivered their own speeches at the World Economic Forum.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark “Big Top” Carney, fresh from his trip to make deals with authoritarian communists in China, perhaps unaware of the irony, delivered a rousing speech in which he repeatedly quoted iconic Cold War anticommunist Václav Havel. You can’t make it up. Carney fans called his speech, which earned a standing ovation from attendees, “Canada’s divorce from America.” Chinese dissidents were unimpressed:

If I understood the Prime Minister correctly, Carney was inviting other “middle-power” governments to join him in opposing the United States, after conceding that “Great Powers” run the show. “Middle powers must act together because, if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney soberly told them. His idea was that if they all work together, they can stand up to the Great Power (America)— like the plucky ...

“Your new Chinese EV shows up. It’s slick. Quiet. Affordable. Feels futuristic. Big screen. Facial recognition. Voice commands. Seamless phone pairing. Friends are impressed. You feel ahead of the curve.

You shrug off the privacy talk. Everything collects data now. Teslas do it. Phones do it. Credit cards do it. If Western companies already know everything about you, what’s the difference if China does too?

You drive it everywhere. Work. Gym. Kids school. Late night stops. Weekend visits. Friends pile in. Conversations happen. Phones sync. Contacts upload. Cabin mics stay on. Cameras stay active. The car learns your routines better than you do.

Then the world shifts.

China moves on Taiwan. Or Ottawa gets caught red-handed in another China scandal. Public sentiment turns. You’re angry. You post. You argue. You mock the regime. Maybe you donate to a cause. Maybe a friend does and you support them. It feels harmless. This is Canada. You’re entitled to an opinion.

Two days later, something changes.

Your ...