Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, November 21st, 2023 - 43 comments
Hamas is deploying a set of tough ethical calculations as it planned its attack on Israeli civilians to kill, rape, and kidnap as it did.
Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, November 21st, 2023 - 34 comments
Earlier this week the New Zealand Labour Party made a statement on Palestine and it was a good one.
Certainly much better than the positions adopted by its sister Labour parties overseas.
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, November 20th, 2023 - 19 comments
RNZ’s flagship Morning Report was particularly bad today, especially in this 8-minute item, titled on its website “UN expert on Palestinian rights cries for children killed.”
Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, November 16th, 2023 - 43 comments
56 UK Labour MPs including 8 front-benchers defied the Leader and the Whip and voted for a SNP amendment to the King’s speech calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, November 16th, 2023 - 2 comments
One has to really feel for those trying to write political satire these days. How can a satirist be more ridiculous than many of our political leaders they wish to lampoon? Case in point, yesterday’s “resignation letter” from sacked former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, November 16th, 2023 - 12 comments
We are further away from peace in parts of the world than a decade ago. But pessimism about peace isn’t a foregone conclusion.
Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, November 12th, 2023 - 88 comments
There is a growing recognition that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip constitute war crimes.
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 pm, November 11th, 2023 - 19 comments
“Jewish people exterminating men, women and children in a concentration camp is _______.”
How do you finish a sentence like that?
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, November 11th, 2023 - 9 comments
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano have announced a deal whereby Australia is offering permanent residency to Tuvaluans affected by climate change, and a security guarantee that will bind both countries close together.
Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, October 31st, 2023 - 57 comments
Unlike the other four Eyes, New Zealand voted for a UNGA resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza. The US had previously vetoed a ceasefire resolution. Finally on RNZ, Ben Strang asked whether Israel’s response to HAMAS is also a “war crime?’
Written By: - Date published: 10:17 pm, October 25th, 2023 - 22 comments
The new government is leaving it to the old government to carry the ball on Gaza. Both governments have dropped it. The 5Eyes formula of “Israel’s right to defend itself” does not extend any right to the indiscriminate bombing, and refusal to allow any water, food or fuel to innocents in Gaza.
Written By: - Date published: 4:22 pm, October 20th, 2023 - 129 comments
Nanaia Mahuta’s carefully crafted responses to the Palestinian crisis underlines that the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks by targeting civilians is disproportionate and completely unjustified.
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, October 10th, 2023 - 28 comments
I don’t want to talk about Saudi Arabia but it’s time.
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, October 10th, 2023 - 5 comments
The sad thing about the NZ COVID response is that overall it did deliver in that it protected the public health system and saved lives. But expectations about stopping all community transmission were set too high, and walking back from that politically has been challenging for Labour.
Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, October 6th, 2023 - 15 comments
The minor leader’s debate last night confirmed the fact that David Seymour and Winston Peters hate each other.
Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, October 5th, 2023 - 7 comments
Alexander Gillespie complains that kiwis are not being given answers on foreign policy in the election. Given the state of flux in the world, and the questions he poses, it is probably just as well. The answers might all be dangerous.
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, October 5th, 2023 - 9 comments
In recent times Goldman Sax has warned National that its policies will hurt the economy. And S&P has praised Labour’s handling of the economy and expressed a high assessment of various factors relating to the country.
Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, September 21st, 2023 - 7 comments
A year ago this month, the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget destroyed once and for all the myth that the Tories are better at managing the economy. The New Zealand National Party could not even wait until they were in government to prove the same applies to them.
Written By: - Date published: 5:06 am, September 17th, 2023 - 9 comments
I like my Huawei phone. I’m looking forward to the new Mate 60Pro. It’s launch means the US-led sanctions aiming to crush Huawei, with New Zealand as a fast follower, have completely failed to set back Chinese technology.
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 pm, September 6th, 2023 - 9 comments
New security-state documents show Wellington aligning its military with the “rules-based international order” while preparing Kiwis for war with key trading partner China, writes Mick Hall.
Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, September 4th, 2023 - 70 comments
Yes we could do the next five weeks on teeth and taxes, but actually China is pulling us down and our political parties need to make it an election issue.
Written By: - Date published: 1:09 am, September 4th, 2023 - 20 comments
It is said that there is a thin line between bravery and stupidity. Posting a link to my blog post which said that Jeremy Corbyn was not fit to be Prime Minister, to the ‘Labour London Left’ WhatsApp group. I will leave it to the reader to decide which one that was.
Written By: - Date published: 5:51 am, August 27th, 2023 - 25 comments
Belief in capricious gods would explain the perplexing habit of governments with intelligent and informed people to embrace policies which are manifestly an example of self-destructive stupidity. Clever people doing stupid things.
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, August 26th, 2023 - 4 comments
New Zealand Parliamentarians are certainly facing foreign-funded political interference from China. It’s just not from the official Communist Party-led nation.
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, August 18th, 2023 - 103 comments
David Seymour yesterday hit a new low in race baiting when he said that “in my fantasy we’d send a guy called Guy Fawkes in [to the ministry of Pacific Peoples] and it’d be all over”.
Written By: - Date published: 10:32 am, August 17th, 2023 - 70 comments
Winston’s term with Ardern shows what high-delivery, low-foolishness government looked like. That’s why he’s rising again.
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, August 7th, 2023 - 44 comments
Last week the Government released a document titled the Defence Policy Strategy Statement. Helen Clark has expressed the concern that the strategy suggests that as a country New Zealand is abandoning its capacity to think for itself.
Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, August 3rd, 2023 - 30 comments
The question the citizens of the United States will have to ask shortly is not merely how on earth a person like this is a viable candidate for president. The question is really: how could the United States enable a sitting President to carry out this scale of crime?
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, July 22nd, 2023 - 26 comments
There will be no respite for any of us this year and National has no cure for it.
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, July 17th, 2023 - 27 comments
The Solomon Islands signed an agreement with China on law enforcement and security matters suggests that New Zealand should review the decades of support given to the Solomon Island Government.
Written By: - Date published: 3:22 am, July 10th, 2023 - 13 comments
Support for the Conservative and Unionist Party is collapsing, but this is turning to cynicism and rage rather than enthusiastic support for a Labour Government next year. There is a possibility that in 18 months’ time, UK Labour are in Government, but have lost the London Mayoralty.
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