Canada has a new, confident strut. We held the world spotlight for a few days at the G8 and G20 meetings in Muskoka and Toronto, where we asserted our impressive record on fiscal management and led an international consensus on deficit reduction. Canada, some say, has finally found its footing on the global stage after years of stumbling.

Canadians have much to be grateful for, including little attention from the US... Unlike America’s border with its southern neighbor, the border with its northern neighbor is calm and orderly.

Today, the world seems to be entering a period when, if not a hundred, at least a dozen varieties of Weltpolitik are being pursued by great and emerging powers alike. Reconciling these competing strategic visions of the world, in particular of global crisis, will make international diplomacy more complicated than ever.

Rising middle-level powers such as Turkey and Iran in the Middle East and Brazil in South America now are challenging the diplomatic supremacy of Washington. Earlier this month, the new contours of diplomatic power were on display in Istanbul.