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UN expert: Allow women and girls to speak on sex, gender and gender identity without intimidation or fear

Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, May 24th, 2023 - 153 comments

“I am deeply concerned at the escalation of intimidation and threats against women and girls for expressing their opinions and beliefs regarding their needs and rights based on their sex and/or sexual orientation”

– Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Pause With Map In Hand and Scratch Their Heads

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, November 13th, 2022 - 19 comments

If 2020 was the worst year in my lifetime how does 2022 compare?

Russian roulette

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, September 23rd, 2022 - 277 comments

Vladimir Putin has effectively conceded that the Ukraine war is not going well for Russia by seeking to conscript 300,000 new soldiers, planning for referenda in Russian held areas and threatening the use of Nuclear weapons if Russia’s modified territorial integrity is threatened.

Should We Just Settle?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, March 29th, 2022 - 60 comments

New Zealand does not have to settle for being small, quiet, and weak.

Who Pays the Price of Sanctions

Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, March 20th, 2022 - 194 comments

New Zealand’s sanctions on Russia have not stopped the war in Ukraine. They may have made our parliamentarians feel better, and Tony Blinken was quick to congratulate us on falling into line with the US “high-impact sanctions.” The language is combative, but the evidence shows sanctions do not  work. They can have significant blow-back effects, particularly if not combined with effective diplomacy.

The International Legion of Territorial Defence

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, March 7th, 2022 - 107 comments

However much infighting there was on the Spanish Republican side between leftists, Communists, anarchists and others, you could be confident that the Nazis were on the other side.  In the Ukraine it is not so simple.

Remarkably Hopeful

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, March 1st, 2022 - 18 comments

We will probably never get over the feeling that somehow, if enough people just banded together, it would all get better again, like we did when the United Nations charter was struck.

Big developments in Beijing

Written By: - Date published: 4:44 pm, February 7th, 2022 - 31 comments

The meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping is likely to set the geopolitical direction for the 21st century. If ‘divide and rule’ was the mantra for the US’s hegemonic rule in the 20th century, ‘unite and share’ looks like setting the tone for the 21st. Co-operation rather than competition is the mantra, and “friendship between the two states has no limits.” A truly remarkable turnaround.

Blinken and Blind-Sided?

Written By: - Date published: 2:54 pm, January 16th, 2022 - 17 comments

Russian peacekeepers are already leaving Kazakhstan having nipped the ‘colour revolution’ in the bud. Blinken clearly didn’t have a clue when he said Russians never leave the house. Russian intelligence was superb. Now we wait for Russia’s response to US likely refusal to pull back from its borders. One thing I’d bet on – no invasion of Ukraine.

The Top 20 Biggest U.S. Military Interventions, Best to Worst

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, August 31st, 2021 - 76 comments

With the last flights coming out of Kabul, it’s time to review whether this US attitude to the world is a good idea.

About the Hate Speech law changes

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, July 6th, 2021 - 94 comments

The debate about the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to hate speech laws continues, with the level of heat increasing, but the level of actual understanding of what is being proposed in critical shortage.

Hate speech wide-eyed scaremongering

Written By: - Date published: 11:13 am, June 30th, 2021 - 111 comments

A guest post by Clint Smith who has actually analysed the effect of the proposed changes and makes comment on the detail of what is proposed.

Oppose this new hate speech bill

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, June 26th, 2021 - 206 comments

Hate speech is about to get a lot more criminalised with much stronger penalties. It’s worth going back to what the Royal Commission actually considered, since that’s the basis of proposing this law. The Royal Commission in fact found that trying to protect religion from very strong opinions is simply not a good idea: … we acknowledge that there […]

What to do about Palestine

Written By: - Date published: 4:04 pm, May 18th, 2021 - 12 comments

The war in Gaza has continued with 197 Palestinians including 58 children being killed and with significant damage to infrastructure including hospitals and

Will we rebuild better?

Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, May 17th, 2021 - 36 comments

There’s a question Covid19 allows us to ask that we haven’t been able to ask since the end of World War 2: can we all just co-operate to get along – as a species?

National’s use of the dog whistle and its hatred of UN conventions

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, May 10th, 2021 - 52 comments

Judith Collins has applied the dog whistle to the He Puapua report and suggested that it is evidence of the Government wanting to radically change New Zealand society.  But a check through history shows that the report is based on an International Treaty that National signed up to.

The boy from Matamata

Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, October 28th, 2020 - 43 comments

Trump deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell, who is also a Kiwi, has announced his candidacy to be head of the OECD.  The Greens have announced their opposition because he has been part of inhumane decisions and also decisions that undermine international institutions.  The right back him because he is a kiwi.  What should Labour do?

The four horsemen of the apocalypse

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, June 4th, 2020 - 16 comments

Ok so this is the worst year I can think of in my lifetime. But apocalyptopia it ain’t.

How Africa has weathered the COVID-19 storm

Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, May 27th, 2020 - 14 comments

Ramaphosa has no doubt learnt from his predecessor Thabo Mbeki’s abysmal response to the HIV crisis in South Africa where inaction by the government caused the virus to spread quickly. Sadly it’s through these sort of deadly mistakes that politicians learn the importance of prevention in public health.

 

Pandemics are no a time for inward-looking nationalism

Written By: - Date published: 4:37 am, April 9th, 2020 - 41 comments

Originally posted on Nick Kelly’s Blog

Trump is focused on the November US Presidential Election. His anti-Chinese, nationalist, America First rhetoric is his go-to response to keep his political base onside. He is placing his political ambition ahead of millions of lives both in the US and globally. Trump has placed electoral politics ahead of leadership that could save millions of lives.

Oh Look! (What. a. surprise.)

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, February 8th, 2020 - 20 comments

Mainstream media yet again aiding and abetting the character assassination of whistle blowers.

McClay accused of supporting China’s mass detention of muslims

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, January 17th, 2020 - 51 comments

Freedom House has criticised National MP Todd McClay for reinforcing Chinese descriptions of the mass imprisonment of Muslim minorities as vocational training centres.

LBJ Redux

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, January 7th, 2020 - 36 comments

What if the American assassination of General Soleimani results in the complete withdrawal of US troops from the Middle East?

OPCW Scandal.

Written By: - Date published: 11:14 am, January 3rd, 2020 - 40 comments

There was no chemical attack in Douma.

Unrelentingly negative

Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, September 26th, 2019 - 29 comments

National has chosen to attack Jacinda Ardern on her trip to New York for doing too much and not enough at the same time.  It seems to be a pattern.

Fairy tales of eternal economic growth

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 24th, 2019 - 67 comments

Greta Thunberg has spoken at the UN Climate Change summit and has warned the world that it is stealing the dreams and hopes of young people through its failure to address climate change.

China, Climate Conference, and New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, September 18th, 2019 - 4 comments

At the United Nations Climate Action Summit next weekend the question may be asked what would happen if China stopped buying Australian coal?

Missile test shows US bad faith on INF Treaty

Written By: - Date published: 4:43 pm, August 27th, 2019 - 9 comments

US’s recent test of an intermediate range missile shows that the reasons given for its withdrawal from the INF treaty were spurious. It also shows up the gullibility of our MFAT, who voted against a Russian proposal for dialogue late last year in the UN on the grounds that it was a “sidestep.”

Splitters!

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, April 26th, 2019 - 34 comments

David Moffett, a Former board member of the New Conservative Party has announced the launch of a new new conservative party.

Trump’s brilliant strategy to dismantle US dollar hegemony

Written By: - Date published: 5:05 pm, February 3rd, 2019 - 56 comments

Polymath economist Professor Michael Hudson’s latest article is a geopolitical panoramic masterpiece, sparked by outrage at a series of concurrent events on January 31 which he predicts means that 2019 will be the “year of global fracture.” Definitely worth a read.      

COP24

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, December 17th, 2018 - 23 comments

Nearly 200 nations agreed to the accord in Poland over the weekend. And the goal is to seek to limit global temperature rises to below two degrees Celsius.

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