Author Archive

Peters to Pence on the Pacific – a return to colonialism?

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 pm, January 14th, 2019 - 120 comments

Winston Peters went to Washington last December to see US VP Mike Pence and invited the US to engage more in the South-West Pacific without informing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Patrick Smellie described this apparent oversight as “deeply worrying.” Even more worrying is what Peters said when he was there.

New Zealand First or America First?

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 pm, December 19th, 2018 - 37 comments

In Washington last week Winston Peters urged America to involve itself more in the Pacific, in a speech the Prime Minister was apparently unaware of. Referring to Africa, John Bolton outlined what that involvement would mean – American interests first and only. Dangerous with the neocons in charge of the playpen.

 

Safe from prying 5Eyes

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 pm, December 8th, 2018 - 62 comments

I like my Huawei phone. Apparently the US National Security Agency can’t break its encryption. That’s presumably the “security” issue why Spark is being blocked from using Huawei, and why Meng Wanzhou is held hostage in Canada at the behest of US neocons.

Yanking our chain

Written By: - Date published: 10:32 pm, December 3rd, 2018 - 46 comments

Tracy Watkins is in Korea paid for by the US to head off any support fro President Moon’s visit here. The US security chiefs are here in Wellington today with the 40-grit sandpaper. A high-ranking Russia “expert” from the UK was here last week because they thought Winston Peters wasn’t sufficiently outraged by the Skripal false flag affair. We’re in the gun in the information wars.

Spooked!

Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, November 29th, 2018 - 29 comments

The GCSB ban on Spark’s use of Huawei technology means this government  has gone from “honest broker” to poodle in a very short time. Pressure has been applied by the US and others, apparently fearing we are the “soft underbelly” of the Five Eyes spy network. Maybe its time we got out of that too – it was designed for war.

Political interference

Written By: - Date published: 10:35 pm, November 20th, 2018 - 82 comments

China certainly has interfered  in New Zealand politics, most notably by the offer of a free trade deal which delivered huge benefits to our economy.  Party and government officials all stressed to us that they were grateful for New Zealand’s support for their accession to the World Trade Organisation,  the rule-based trade body. The US and Australia in contrast want to build a military base on Manus Island north of Papua.

The Guns of November 2018

Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, November 10th, 2018 - 188 comments

On 11 November 1918 the guns fell silent across Europe’s slaughter. In the Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman described how that dreadful war started by accident. Daniel Ellsberg warns us now that accidents could happen again, this time in the nuclear age. Ellsberg says first strike is America’s policy, making accidental nuclear winter all the more likely.

Is Politik a propaganda mouthpiece for the UK Embassy?

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, September 8th, 2018 - 29 comments

In Politik’s 7 September issue we are told that Western diplomats in Wellington are surprised that Winston Peters has not accused Russia of the Skripal poisoning or joined some other countries in taking reprisals. Editor Richard Harman quotes a source to tell us that the British in particular were “pissed” at Peters’ response. Well dearie me. I’m with Winston, a wise old owl.

“Creating quagmires” – US policy in Syria

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, September 5th, 2018 - 82 comments

Things are coming to a head in Syria, with a key meeting on 7 August between Syria, Turkey and Russia to discuss future strategy re the Idlib enclave where terrorist groups have been concentrated. The US and its allies want to retain influence, having lost it to Russia. A shooting war based on a false flag is a real albeit disastrous possibility to maintain US “quagmire” policy in the Middle East to date.

The future of the left

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, July 1st, 2018 - 40 comments

Australian Guardian columnist Van Badham writes “the future of the left is bright if it looks like Jacinda Ardern and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes.” She concludes “We can hope the influence of Jacinda Ardern and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes spread, or we can ensure that it does. The stakes for the marginalised remain life and death.” Very worth a read.

 

Photoshop Wars?

Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, April 17th, 2018 - 56 comments

The Independent’s Robert Fisk reports from  Douma, where he interviewed one of the clinic doctors who said that the images that outraged Trump, May and Macron were real, but the cause was oxygen starvation from dust, not poisonous gas. Could it be that misleading images started a bombing war? What might this say about Western values?

Evidence-based foreign policy

Written By: - Date published: 6:07 pm, April 2nd, 2018 - 99 comments

In the second stage of a false flag attack, facts go out the window and the sole issue becomes “are you for us or against us.” Our media and National Party politicians are well into this stage in the Skripal affair. But as questions mount and skeptics proliferate from all sides, Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters may well be wiser than media advisers by not following blindly  the western herd. 26 countries is not the whole world. Update: Porton Down unable to establish Novichok of Russian origin.

Underpants not Underarm

Written By: - Date published: 9:45 pm, March 25th, 2018 - 17 comments

In the days of the British Raj unsportsmanlike behaviour was condemned by saying “it isn’t cricket.” Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft hiding ball-tampering sandpaper in his trousers in a forlorn attempt to avoid the cameras showed that for Aussies “it is cricket.” We’ve seen it before of course with the Chappells. Heads must roll.

Russian to Judgment

Written By: - Date published: 5:55 pm, March 16th, 2018 - 517 comments

The possible poisoning of Sergei Skripal and the consequent  hysteria have all the signs of another false flag operation, as we saw before the second American invasion of Iraq. The chain of circumstantial evidence has more holes in it than a swiss cheese, and while  attempted murder (if that is what it is) is a criminal act Winston Peters and Jeremy Corbyn are sane voices calling for evidence before any attribution still less action.

Tax Haven Man in Town

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 pm, February 20th, 2018 - 11 comments

The Lord Mayor of the City of London is visiting New Zealand. Its not Sadiq Khan, Charles Bowman is a PwC partner leading London’s financial centre lobby. He’s here to talk to business and regulators. He’ll no doubt be talking up  more deregulation.

The Dogs of War

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 pm, January 31st, 2018 - 20 comments

At a Union/NDP conference in March 2002 in Ottawa I saw wall-to-wall US TV attacking Iraq in my room. My caucus report  that America was going to war was instinctive. Helen Clark stood up immediately and said that we wouldn’t be following. The US war dogs are barking again, this time over Korea. A recent […]

Jac-in-da-Box

Written By: - Date published: 6:58 pm, January 15th, 2018 - 48 comments

“Wedger Wayne” Mapp in todays’s Spinoff does his best to stuff Jacinda Ardern into a Tony Blair “Third Way”  box. Too glib by far.  True in 2002 Blair did promise to eliminate child poverty by 2020; but poverty’s now the highest in 20 years in Britain. I’d back Jacinda to do much better. Besides, instead of Mandy she’s got David Parker.

The Yellow Peril?

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 pm, November 15th, 2017 - 338 comments

What’s with the academic panic epidemic about China? Two in our media in the same week, referencing each other with vague warnings about the Chinese bogey. It’s not quite Lionel Terry in Haining Street again; more likely in my view a case of singing to someones else’s geopolitical tune. No prizes for guessing whose.

 

800th Anniversary of Charter of the Forest

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 pm, November 5th, 2017 - 21 comments

Issued alongside the Magna Carta on November 6, 1217, the Charter of the Forest is among the first ecological charters in history and among the first to assert the rights of ordinary people to the right to subsistence. 800 years old tomorrow.

Books but no beds

Written By: - Date published: 6:11 pm, October 18th, 2017 - 19 comments

Most viewed story on the Guardian website today: “New Zealand library cracks case of missing books.” Turns out some of Auckland’s 23,000 homeless were hiding bookmarked books in odd places so they wouldn’t lose their place. The library will now keep their books safe. Good on them. Finding homes for homeless must be a high priority for Aotearoa’s next government.

Passchendaele and Pyongyang

Written By: - Date published: 3:14 pm, October 12th, 2017 - 19 comments

The massive artillery barrage at Passchendaele was supposed to cut the German wire and make advance easy. All it did was churn up the mud though which so many doomed New Zealanders slogged and died. A monument to military incompetence and political disaster. These days they prefer bombs, which are equally deadly and equally futile. Its time we said no more.

Politics or Policy?

Written By: - Date published: 5:46 pm, October 9th, 2017 - 56 comments

Policy is everything, Winston Peters said today. This should not be a surprise. Before every election, he has refused to give any hint of Party support preference until after the vote. But he will have thought a lot about what he might want, as it has long been clear that his Party would decide the outcome. So what are his policies?

She’s got what it takes

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 am, September 17th, 2017 - 73 comments

Great read in London today – full page Guardian article headlined “I’ve got what it takes, says the charismatic Labour leader taking New Zealand by storm.” Send it far and wide.

 

Fire and Fury over North Korea

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 12th, 2017 - 60 comments

Donald Trump may not know it but Koreans certainly remember  the last time the United States unleashed fire and fury over North Korea. In the 1950s, B-29s used bombs and napalm to flatten every North Korean city. Gen Curtis Lemay boasted that the USAF killed off 20% of the population. That’s why this time they have nuclear weapons.

Politics in the Age of Populism

Written By: - Date published: 9:28 pm, July 6th, 2017 - 3 comments

Bryce Edwards, Stephanie Rodgers and Rob Egan. Connolly Hall, Guildford Street, Wellington, 5:30 pm Friday 7th July.Fabian society, all welcome.

New information on Glenda Hughes?

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, June 28th, 2017 - 43 comments

On 20 June  after Melanie Read’s Newsroom interview Andrew Geddis blogged about possible obstruction of justice by a National Party Board member. That was based on new information in the Barclay case, and may be why the Police have since re-interviewed Glenys Dickson.

Follow the money

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 pm, June 22nd, 2017 - 49 comments

Bill English’s texted electorate chair Stuart Davie on 21st February 2016 saying Glenys Dickson was given an extra payout from the Leader’s fund “to avoid potential legal action.” It was the only source available for an extra payout for confidentiality. English said today no-one in February knew there was any issue of illegality. Then what legal action and why an extra payment?

Dirty Politics 2017 style

Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, June 8th, 2017 - 27 comments

Latest polls and some anecdotal evidence from the doorstep are showing a move back to the Tories in Britain. If so it may in part be due to last-minute dark and dirty personally targeted Facebook advertising to voters in marginal seats. They cost so will need to be watched later on here.

Hager Hit & Run and NZ’s Asian wars

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 pm, June 5th, 2017 - 13 comments

Nicky Hager will talk about his book Hit and Run, and the issues it raises about New Zealand’s values and role in the world at 5:30pm on Wednesday 7th June at Connolly Hall, Guildford Terrace, Wellington. The book is about important events and the incoherence of New Zealand fighting it’s longest ever war in Central Asia. This talk is particularly timely in view of this week’s visit of the American Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

Scots git on Q+A

Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, March 27th, 2017 - 12 comments

I went to Q+A yesterday in search of political comment and was astonished to see John McTernan aka “Malcolm Tucker without the charm” given ten minutes to burble. McTernan promotes himself as a former political adviser to Blair and Gillard, but his last real job was chief of staff to Jim Murphy who led the Scottish Labour Party to oblivion in 2015.

Social investment meets the surveillance state

Written By: - Date published: 11:14 pm, March 4th, 2017 - 45 comments

First they came for the budgeting services. Now we know that every social service agency  has to provide clients’ private personal data to the Ministry of Social Development or get no funding. Apparently it’s  essential to Bill English’s much-touted and little understood “social investment” strategy, which is sounding more like something out of Orwell’s 1984. […]

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