Daily review 04/03/2022

49 comments on “Daily review 04/03/2022 ”

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1. Anker 1

   4 March 2022 at 6:32 pm

   Horrified by what is happening in Ukraine. Makes our situation at Parliament look very insignificant
   • Hongi Ika 1.1

     4 March 2022 at 8:44 pm

     What's happening in NZ is Chicken Feed compared to what is going on in Europe at present.
2. Grafton Gully 2

   4 March 2022 at 6:41 pm

   Covid toll on children.

   "Our findings show that numbers of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death almost doubled in 6 months compared with the amount after the first 14 months of the pandemic. Over the entire 20-month period, 5·0 million COVID-19 deaths meant that 5·2 million children lost a parent or caregiver. Our data on children's ages and circumstances should support pandemic response planning for children globally."

   https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(22)00005-0/fulltext
3. Muttonbird 3

   4 March 2022 at 6:50 pm

   I see Chris Luxon is delivering another state of the nation speech on Sunday, barely two weeks since he gave his last state of the nation speech.

   Are we to endure state of the nation speeches regularly and fortnightly from Chris Luxon?
   • Barfly 3.1

     4 March 2022 at 7:20 pm

     As long as the Nats consider it 'profitable' they will keep doing it. Ugh
     • Muttonbird 3.1.1

       4 March 2022 at 7:46 pm

       He has to say something though. Corporate speak won't cut it with NZ at the moment, especially after what we have been through.
       • Hongi Ika 3.1.1.1

         4 March 2022 at 7:54 pm

         Personally I don't think Chrome Dome will cut the mustard he hasn't got the rat cunning his mentor John Key had.
         • Muttonbird 3.1.1.1.1

           4 March 2022 at 7:59 pm

           Agree. Too nice, which says something about the people who voted for Key.
         • georgecom 3.1.1.1.2

           4 March 2022 at 8:05 pm

           the subject of RATS features in pretty much all of his comments, it's almost the Nat policy on covid 19
           • Hongi Ika 3.1.1.1.2.1

             4 March 2022 at 8:30 pm

             He's obviously a RAT specialist and this is the line that Crosby Textor have advised him to go down.
             • PsyclingLeft.Always …

               4 March 2022 at 8:39 pm

               Ratlines…..would even Crosby Textor stoop so low? Well I suppose that depth has never been plumbed. FAR down…
           • Incognito 3.1.1.1.2.2

             4 March 2022 at 8:34 pm

             The Nats don’t do policy, they do bullet points – policy is for politicians with real responsibility for governing this country.
             • Hongi Ika …

               4 March 2022 at 8:42 pm

               Luxon probably doesn't know National's Policy off the back of hiss hand so he is obviously treading very carefully.
               • Incognito …

                 4 March 2022 at 8:52 pm

                 Come on, how hard can it be to memorise a few bullet points? The guy used to run an airline so being LOTO is a walk in the park without tinklers on.
                 • Hongi Ika …

                   4 March 2022 at 11:13 pm

                   I guess if he does know LOTO inside out politics should be a piece of cake.
4. Joe90 4

   4 March 2022 at 6:53 pm

   "They're just like us! They aren't from one of those shitholes that we dont give a rat's about! They matter!"

   /

   https://twitter.com/non_philosophy/status/1498000420815396872

   https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1498000420815396872.html
   • Hongi Ika 4.1

     4 March 2022 at 11:15 pm

     Yeah for FFS these are white people who are just like you and I.
5. Ed 5

   4 March 2022 at 7:41 pm

   I highly recommend people on the Standard read or listen to John Mearsheimer on the Ukraine.

   His principal work on Ukraine is “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault: The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin,"

   There is now the first Mearsheimer talk online after the Russian invasion.

   Turn off the MSM and instead watch him explain the causes and his predictions.

   This man might just save humanity, if he's listened to.

   He starts talking at 3.49.
   • joe90 5.1

     4 March 2022 at 8:38 pm

     So Ukrainian self determination should take a back seat to Russia's imperialist ideology, Poots is as paranoid AF about Russians getting above themselves and wanting a Western way of life, Ukrainian desires for a Western way of life be fucked and they should STFU and do what they're told. Or else. And fascists.

     And besides, Poots would never do such a thing and even if he did, he couldn't. And if he ever did what he would never and couldn't do it would be too hard and it might bankrupt Russia too, so he wouldn't.

     Have I got that right?

     When Russian leaders look at Western social engineering in Ukraine, they worry that
     their country might be next. And such fears are hardly groundless. In September 2013,
     Gershman wrote in The Washington Post, “Ukraine’s choice to join Europe will
     accelerate the demise of the ideology of Russian imperialism that Putin represents.” He added: “Russians, too, face a choice, and Putin may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.”

     […]

     The West’s triple package of policies — NATO enlargement, EU expansion, and
     democracy promotion — added fuel to a fire waiting to ignite. The spark came in
     November 2013, when Yanukovych rejected a major economic deal he had been
     negotiating with the EU and decided to accept a $15 billion Russian counter offer instead. That decision gave rise to antigovernment demonstrations that escalated over
     the following three months and that by mid-February had led to the deaths of some one hundred protesters. Western emissaries hurriedly flew to Kiev to resolve the crisis. On February 21, the government and the opposition struck a deal that allowed Yanukovych to stay in power until new elections were held. But it immediately fell apart, and Yanukovych fled to Russia the next day. The new government in Kiev was pro-Western and anti-Russian to the core, and it contained four high-ranking members who could legitimately be labeled neofascists.

     […]

     Other analysts allege, more plausibly, that Putin regrets the demise of the Soviet Union and is determined to reverse it by expanding Russia’s borders. According to this
     interpretation, Putin, having taken Crimea, is now testing the waters to see if the time is right to conquer Ukraine, or at least its eastern part, and he will eventually behave
     aggressively toward other countries in Russia’s neighborhood. For some in this camp,
     Putin represents a modern-day Adolf Hitler, and striking any kind of deal with him
     would repeat the mistake of Munich. Thus, NATO must admit Georgia and Ukraine to
     contain Russia before it dominates its neighbors and threatens western Europe.
     This argument falls apart on close inspection. If Putin were committed to creating a
     greater Russia, signs of his intentions would almost certainly have arisen before
     February 22. But there is virtually no evidence that he was bent on taking Crimea, much less any other territory in Ukraine, before that date. Even Western leaders who supported NATO expansion were not doing so out of a fear that Russia was about to use military force. Putin’s actions in Crimea took them by complete surprise and appear to have been a spontaneous reaction to Yanukovych’s ouster. Right afterward, even Putin said he opposed Crimean secession, before quickly changing his mind.
     Besides, even if it wanted to, Russia lacks the capability to easily conquer and annex
     eastern Ukraine, much less the entire country. Roughly 15 million people — one-third of Ukraine’s population — live between the Dnieper River, which bisects the country, and the Russian border. An overwhelming majority of those people want to remain part of Ukraine and would surely resist a Russian occupation. Furthermore, Russia’s mediocre army, which shows few signs of turning into a modern Wehrmacht, would have little chance of pacifying all of Ukraine. Moscow is also poorly positioned to pay for a costly occupation; its weak economy would suffer even more in the face of the resulting sanctions.

     https://www.natur.cuni.cz/geografie/socialni-geografie-a-regionalni-rozvoj/studium/doktorske-studium/kolokvium/kolokvium-2013-2014-materialy/ukrajina-a-rusko-mearsheimer-souleimanov.pdf
     • Andrew Miller 5.1.1

       4 March 2022 at 10:10 pm

       “So Ukrainian self determination should take a back seat to Russia's imperialist ideology”

       Yes, but it’s “legitimate strategic interests”.
   • Andrew Miller 5.2

     4 March 2022 at 10:08 pm

     You suggest that people turn off the MSM and listen Mearshiemer.
     For starters the idea that the solution to a single view you disagree with is a different single view but just one you do agree with is hardly a serious proposition.
     I’d also be curious as to your understanding of Realist theory or to be specific in Mearshiemer’s case ‘offensive neo realism’ because its one thing to nod along with something that confirms your prior world view, quite another to actually grasp where he’s coming from and it’s implications.
     Realist theory makes a bunch of assumptions without which the theory doesn’t make sense, it’s subject to serious critiques because of the implications of those assumptions.
     In simple terms arguing for a ‘balance of power’ as the correct endgame without accounting for the nature of any particular regime has serious implications, one’s which may actually be worse than disrupting the balance power.
     My guess is that whenever I see anyone sharing clips of Mearshiemer they don’t understand any of that, they’re just happy to find something that looks like it justifies their reflexive ani Americanism.
     I’m also assuming you haven’t watch the clip of Mearshiemer saying Putin wouldn’t actually invade because it was bad strategy, Putin was a really smart guy and why would he invade when he was already winning.
     I bet clips of Mearshiemer saying that aren’t making rounds?
     • weston 5.2.1

       4 March 2022 at 10:57 pm

       A vast amount of commentators all around the world were supprised putin invaded andrew so why would anyone bother making a clip of mearshiemer saying the same ?
       • SPC 5.2.1.1

         4 March 2022 at 11:06 pm

         I was arguing Putin would not be so dumb because he had Germany spending 1% on defence, signing up to Nordstrom and preventing SWIFT sanctions on Russia …
   • SPC 5.3

     4 March 2022 at 11:04 pm

     His argument is simple – hegemony to Europeans in Europe, in Asia to Asians and Americans in the Americas. He bases it on the Monroe Doctrine.

     This was supposedly superseded by the UN in 1945 – collective security of nations (which 1949-1990 was the Cold War) internationalism.

     He however re-imagines the Monroe Doctrine as a form containment of Russia and China without confrontation by respecting their regional supremacy.

     The British (balance of power in Europe) and now American policy is to reject such regional dominance as a threat to the international regime/collective security of nations.
   • weston 5.4

     4 March 2022 at 11:09 pm

     Hey ed thanks for that good line up of good thinkers without the hysteria most refreshing !!
6. Muttonbird 6

   4 March 2022 at 8:07 pm

   It's all in here. Why we are doing what we are doing.

   https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300532964/covid19-how-nz-is-avoiding-the-omicron-perfect-storm-thats-killing-hundreds-in-hong-kong

   We're just about out the other side now so it would be great if the anti mandate, pandemic minimisers would shut up for the next few weeks.
   • Anne 6.1

     4 March 2022 at 8:14 pm

     Sorry mate. They're on to their next tactic now:

     https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/127949237/ipca-receives-more-than-1600-complaints-over-parliament-occupation-fire-association-says-use-of-fire-hoses-by-police-unacceptable

     One of the oldest tricks in the playbook… produce screeds of letters of complaint and pass then on to supporters to sign and send? Lets face it VoF have plenty of money coming from 'we'd like to know who' to be able to conduct such a campaign.

     Yep we know the Fire Service Union is not happy but… grist for the mill among the freedom lovers.
     • Anne 6.1.1

       4 March 2022 at 8:34 pm

       Someone mentioned Chris Trotter's latest post earlier today. Worth repeating the link:

       https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/03/03/beware-the-backlash-the-state-will-not-be-surprised-a-second-time/

       I think he's close to the truth. Our security boffins will not be pleased with recent events.
       • Muttonbird 6.1.1.1

         4 March 2022 at 8:53 pm

         Thanks, Anne, but I always struggle to read Trotter's dirge. This one is the usual shite, taking a bob each way.

         He admitted this of himself at least;

         That so many members of the Free Speech movement genuflect to the Right, rather than the Left.

         Maybe there is hope Trotter's own reflection in the mirror might one day be free of misty condensation.

         But the end. This is where Trotter really channels his alt-right fantasies and literally rallies his friends to action;

         To the stone-throwers and tent-burners out there, girding their loins for another crack at the lizard people and their lackeys, the most useful advice is simple and direct:

         From now on, assume that you are not alone.

         What a dangerous, bumptious wanker.
         • Anne 6.1.1.1.1

           4 March 2022 at 9:23 pm

           Oh I wouldn't go that far M. He has a flowery turn of phrase which often leaves me perplexed but I wouldn't describe him as dangerous. He's basically right. The NZ security apparatus will be ramped up several notches after the antics in Wellington. Somewhat ironic given its the 'freedom lovers' who are at least partially responsible.
         • Robert Guyton 6.1.1.1.2

           5 March 2022 at 9:04 am

           I took,

           "From now on, assume that you are not alone.",

           to mean, you'll be being watched (by the state).
   • mauī 6.2

     4 March 2022 at 8:34 pm

     Shouldnt all the protestors be in hospital or dead by now?
     • Incognito 6.2.1

       4 March 2022 at 8:36 pm

       Shouldn’t you be in bed by now?
       • Anne 6.2.1.1

         4 March 2022 at 8:38 pm

         
       • mauī 6.2.1.2

         5 March 2022 at 1:04 am

         That you Trevor?
         • Incognito 6.2.1.2.1

           5 March 2022 at 11:03 am

           quack
           • RedLogix 6.2.1.2.1.1

             5 March 2022 at 11:19 am

             Why did the duck wear pants ?

             ….

             To cover it's butt-quack.
             • Incognito …

               5 March 2022 at 11:37 am

               Real ducks go commando and use a coattail.

               Bottoms up!
     • Hongi Ika 6.2.2

       4 March 2022 at 8:39 pm

       If they were in China or Russia they probably would be.
       • Hongi Ika 6.2.2.1

         4 March 2022 at 9:08 pm

         Not in Bed but Dead.
   • Hongi Ika 6.3

     4 March 2022 at 8:36 pm

     I still don't understand what these mandate's are and quite honestly I don't give a flying fuck. As far as I am concerned a Man Date is when two male go out on a date. I have some friends who have been down to Wellington however they have got themselves so wound up on the big Conspiracy Thing and an extreme dislike for Labour and Jacinda, it is verging on physcotic behaviour imo.
     • Peter 6.3.1

       4 March 2022 at 10:02 pm

       Let's keep telling it like it is – there are many who have got themselves wound up in some big Conspiracy Thing. They want to attack someone, Jacinda is it.

       Every now and then we read of someone who's been done over in some online scam. We shake our heads and look to make sense of how someone could be sucked in. And sometimes it's again and again. The conspiracy thing shows there are so many really dumb people.

       Remember the Billy TK things before the last election? When we said, "Nah, people aren't that stupid"? They are.
7. observer 7

   4 March 2022 at 8:07 pm

   A thoughtful piece by Max Rashbrooke on the post-riot future. Sums it up well: these are not the "down the middle" divisions of the Springbok tour, and healing requires both tough and gentle, as he puts it, not either/or.

   https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2022/mar/04/nzs-parliament-protests-were-frightening-but-they-dont-mean-the-country-is-splintering
8. georgecom 8

   4 March 2022 at 8:10 pm

   In light of the news today of Russian forces shelling a nuclear power station, I was reminded of this song Russians now 40 years old but still with some resonance. Lyrics slightly altered

   In Europe and America there's a growing feeling of hysteria
   Conditioned to respond to all the threats
   In the rhetorical speeches of ex Soviets
   Mister Putin said, "We will bury you"
   I don't subscribe to this point of view
   It'd be such an ignorant thing to do
   If the Russians love their children too
   How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy?
   There is no monopoly on common sense
   On either side of the political fence
   We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
   Believe me when I say to you
   I hope the Russians love their children too

   There’s no such thing as a winnable war
   It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore
9. Shanreagh 9

   4 March 2022 at 9:32 pm

   This is a short spoof on the Canadian Trucker convoy – based on Willie Wonka. A bit cheesy.
10. Tony Veitch (not etc.) 10

    4 March 2022 at 9:37 pm

    Bugger – the girls lost to the West Indies in the opening match of the World Cup.

    An exciting, if not exactly a good game.

    Where's Pucky for a comment?
    • Puckish Rogue 10.1

      4 March 2022 at 10:20 pm

      Been busy at work so no time to post (yes really), expect something on the mens cricket on sunday
11. joe90 11

    4 March 2022 at 9:52 pm

    So, I remembered this and given the state of the world, I had a wee play…

    https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
    • weka 11.1

      4 March 2022 at 10:01 pm

      I'm guessing that's a barrel of laughs.

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