# Between Giants: The Middle Power Paradox

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/talking-geopolitics-1114411/between-giants-the-middle-power-paradox
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/talking-geopolitics-1114411/between-giants-the-middle-power-paradox.md
Podcast: [Talking Geopolitics](https://stenobird.com/podcast/talking-geopolitics-1114411)
Published: 2026-02-10T19:20:00+00:00
Episode link: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/geopoliticalfutures/id/40063815
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/geopoliticalfutures/TG2026_E5_mixdown_-14_-14.mp3?dest-id=576122
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/talking-geopolitics-1114411/episodes/between-giants-the-middle-power-paradox
Duration seconds: 1989

## Resource

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 www.geopoliticalfutures.com for world-class geopolitical analysis and discussion and to access our full 2026 Forecast: Re-anchoring the World.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/talking-geopolitics-1114411/episodes/between-giants-the-middle-power-paradox/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/talking-geopolitics-1114411/between-giants-the-middle-power-paradox.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.