In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos-style message lands as these speeches are meant to land: optimistic, forward-looking and reassuring.

In a world supposedly drifting toward multipolarity, the claim is that countries like Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea and much of Europe can diversify partnerships, keep trade flowing and avoid being dragged into a great-power brawl.

It is a comforting idea. As strategy, it is incomplete.