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notices and features - Date published:
5:30 pm, February 24th, 2022 - 33 comments
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Pretty miserable day for the world.
Yes, my heart sinks over Ukraine and Russia. The Covid situation in NZ is in your face.
I try to limit the news so I can recharge.
No, no.
Britain, Denmark, and Mike Hoskings have all declared Covid-19 is over. We are through the other side.
Happy days…
You notice the most amazing things if you just look up from your phone every once in a while and stare at the TV.
But is this what you mean? This is really dreadful:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018831879/person-in-wheelchair-dies-after-waiting-6-hours-for-ambulance
Just watching the news.
Geezes Lisa Carrington is built like a brick shit house.
Don't get me wrong, still beautiful, but wouldn't want to f' with her lol
Oh I dunno ….
I think "make the man some eggs" might end up with a fist thrust into your face with her.
Interesting though as, as I say, lovely lady
depends how you read that third sentence of yours
Geezes Lisa Carrington is built like a brick shit house.
Just when you thought standards on The Standard had gone as low as they could go…
I agree 100% that the comment was ‘tasteless’, but please don’t judge this site by one of its worst commenters.
Rents continuing to rise. 'Only' up 6% in January (since Jan 2021) – averaged across NZ.
Although this is a slower rise than 2021 (8%), I don't think a continued increase is something to be celebrated.
Even Auckland (which has had the drag of inner city apartments usually occupied by overseas students) increased for the first time since September.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/300525203/rents-break-records-but-pace-of-growth-slowing
I freely admit I don't know what the answer is – but current policies aren't working.
The government has been loading costs onto landlords in a hot property market. I'm surprised anyone would be surprised that rents have risen.
not the 'war on landlords'=they were all gunna sell up….oh that's right …still the best game in ..town.
The feudal system in new …clothes.
The mistake is lumping all landlords into one basket. Landlords without mortgages may make different decisions than those with mortgages. At the end of the day, if capital values and rents keep rising ahead of any investment alternative, as you say it's still the best game in town.
Geopolitical stability, climate change, and the Russian invasion are incompatible, if Peter Zeihan is to be believed.
Question 1: What is the purpose of NATO?
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/nato
The Soviet Union does not exist anymore, so why does NATO, and why has it expanded regularly since 1949?
Certainly could be argued that NATO was formed as security against what came after the Soviet Union, but looks like they've been conducting a soft cold war well after the real cold war finished.
Question 2: Should NATO be disbanded?
You might want to ask European governments situated right next to Russia.
We are much more likely to see NATO expand membership after this.
That's the problem as far as I can see. US state and business hegemony influencing the region, against previous agreements.
Russia has said enough.
Putin has said he want to, "de-Nazify" Ukraine. What does he mean by this?
Simple – he will kill people until no-one opposes him. Same as he does with domestic opposition. One trick pony, our Vlad – only surprise is which poison he reaches for.
It's a call-back to the hallowed days of the Great Patriotic War.
And to be fair, the Azov battalion are apparently a good training unit for international nazis and their philosophical xenophobic kin, so that's another reason to never lie down with those pricks no matter how desperate you are.
But really, Putin is trying to rebuild Russia's sphere of control back to the old soviet borders – or as much as possible. If he's Making Russia Great Again, his citizens might not notice his opposition and russian reporters keep getting whacked.
But if it gets too expensive in roubles and lives, it might backfire.
Neo Nazi groups are fighting on the frontline with the tacit acceptance of the Ukrainian govt .They have a disproprtionate influence on politicians by way of threats of violence
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraine-turns-a-blind-eye-to-ultrarightist-militia/2017/02/12/dbf9ea3c-ecab-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html
There is also the Azov Batallion
https://www.risetopeace.org/2021/07/21/azov-battalion-guardian-angels-or-notorious-extremists/risetopece/
Not particularly nice people .
And Stepan Bandera who collaborated with the Nazis is considered a hero in Kiev.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-march-stepan-bandera/31635671.html
This is the difference between Western Ukraine and Eastern , anti Russian and pro respectively
'
The West, led by the Americans believe they've been entrusted by God to decide the fate of other people. the US prefers not to be guided by International Law but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their own exceptionalism, believing that they can decide the destiny of the world and that only they can ever be right" -Putin
Too true…unfortunately.
Watch the crash re-armament of NATO. The Balts will be under no illusions as to who is next if Putin succeeds with his war of aggression. The Finns will seek support from Sweden. A general European war within the next five years is not out of the question. Putin is fucked in the head.
The Poles likely feel they're the next domino – might be time they installed a new Tsar again.
And so it goes until the nukes cut loose.The triumphalist West , after Gorbachev agreed to a reunited Germany ,welched on its promises to leave a cordon sanitaire around Russia and now the chickens have come home to roost .
What absolute rubbish. The peoples of the former soviet republics did not want to live under the corrupt and inept rule of the Kremlin – frankly who would? Now Putin is just murdering yet another country to make the world safe for kleptocracy.
Well no surprise here. This is what the West has goaded and pushed for ever since they backed the Nazi 2014 coup. Talk about climate change and sea rising, the North Atlantic has spilled over into and taken over the worlds other seas. However the Western paper tigers in their death throes can only blame their own meddling for the current situation and their crocodile tears fool only fools.
Anker et al. I was reading something else and this popped up on my feed. Re Kathleen Stock. The ripples of the disgusting campaign against her are spreading wider but thankfully some sense, belatedly, is returning to the population around Hove/Brighton.
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2022/02/22/green-candidate-quits-party-after-stock-campaign-questions/
Thanks for posting Shanreagh.
"Tom Pashby was widely quoted supporting the campaign against Professor Kathleen Stock, which lead to her quitting the University of Sussex. The campaign, which featured masked figures setting off flares and posters describing her as a transphobe being put up across the campus".
Tom, (they/them who identifies as non binary) , a new Green candiate, was challenged about this by other Green party members. He then quit the party.
Good on the Brighton Green party members. Our Green party here are a million miles away from standing up for people like Kathleen Stock, who have been viciously attacked by gender activists.
New term, rather than gender critical, pro reality. I prefer it.
Excellent resumé of the current protest situation here and elsewhere from Bryan Gould:
https://bryangould.com/world-wide-fascism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=world-wide-fascism
In sidebar but worth a special mention.
Anne, I agree with his views especially the funding aspect. This will sound like a cracked record as I have mentioned it here several times, but the opportunity has existed since since the hacking into the GiveSendGo donation site for the Canadian truckers for journos to do some investigating.
The hackers are willing to share names with accredited journalists. They have done work already that shows that at least $103,000 was donated to the truckers convoy campaign by bank accounts in NZ. Our journos could get the info, find them and interview or try to those people.
An investigative journalist working a standard 'from the known to the unknown' approach could investigate this. The basis for this approach is that people who have made donations to the truckers in Canada may also be making donations here.
Of course the Police may also have the list and warned the journos off, you' hope the Police are looking at it. I hope the Police are also seeking warrants to investigate the accounts of all the major players at the NZ protest.
The freezing of the funds in the Canadian protest was done under Emergency law to save time. This peaceful action had a major impact on the success of stoppage/removal of the protestors from Ottawa.
Of course the Police may also have the list and warned the journos off, you' hope the Police are looking at it.
That is the problem. The police hate anything which has a political element to it. If it is a straightforward criminal act that's fine, but as soon as it becomes murky, grubby with off-shore political connotations they run a mile. I can attest to this from personal experience.