Death by remote drone

Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, May 22nd, 2014 - 202 comments
Categories: john key, national, war - Tags:

Pakistan drone killing picture of child

So John Key is relaxed about the possible role that New Zealand has in extra judicial killing via drones that is occurring far too often.

He was asked yesterday in Parliament about the subject.

David Cunliffe asked if he had “sought or received any advice on whether remote operations such as drone strikes against non-combatants or in non-declared conflicts are compatible with international law?”  Key’s response was a terse “no”.

Key said earlier this week that he was totally comfortable with the GCSB passing on intelligence which led to drone attacks on foreign soil because it was in the pursuit of “very bad people”.  The Herald article by Issac Davidson then says this:

The Prime Minister said he was not briefed about the drone strike which killed New Zealander Daryl Jones in Yemen last year.

“I wasn’t aware of … and didn’t have any involvement or prior knowledge of that particular strike.

“What I can say is that New Zealand has internationally in the past … gathered information, Afghanistan is an example of that, and that information is given to ISAF [International Security Assistance Force].

“What ISAF used that information for and how it’s actually used, I don’t know but I can’t rule out that that isn’t used for activities undertaken by the Americans.”

Asked whether this information could have led to drone strikes, he said: “It’s possible. I can’t rule that out.”

He added: “It would be in the pursuit of trying to hold to account very bad people.”

Key’s candour is unusual.  Normally you would think that he would avoid the subject by claiming the issue related to an operational matter.  Martyn Bradbury has suggested that Key knows what sort of information is going to be released by Edward Snowden in due course and is getting ready for it and I suspect that Martyn is right.

Idiot Savant and Gordon Campbell have both expressed misgivings as to the legality of what is happening.  It is difficult to understand how International Law could sanction the indiscriminate killing of children in third world countries.

And this brings into strong focus the importance of metadata.  As said by David Cole:

Of course knowing the content of a call can be crucial to establishing a particular threat. But metadata alone can provide an extremely detailed picture of a person’s most intimate associations and interests, and it’s actually much easier as a technological matter to search huge amounts of metadata than to listen to millions of phone calls. As NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker has said, “metadata absolutely tells you everything about somebody’s life. If you have enough metadata, you don’t really need content.” When I quoted Baker at a recent debate at Johns Hopkins University, my opponent, General Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and the CIA, called Baker’s comment “absolutely correct,” and raised him one, asserting, “We kill people based on metadata.”

John Key’s indifference to all of this is plain to see.  Holding to account “very bad people” by extrajudicial killing of civilians, including a New Zealander is something that a civilised nation should not countenance.

202 comments on “Death by remote drone ”

  1. Enough is Enough 1

    Hear Hear

    Key should be held liable for war crimes for his actions and admissions this week.

    Bush (both of them), Blair and Obama should be in the dock with him

    • Gosman 1.1

      What war crime would they have committed? As far as I know attacking enemy targets from the air and killing people isn’t a war crime. Even causing civilian casualties is not a war crime if you haven’t deliberately targetted them (i.e. made the purpose of the attack the destructions of civilians).

      • mickysavage 1.1.1

        So which countries is America at war with. For instance does this justify drone strikes in Pakistan?

        • Gosman 1.1.1.1

          Interestingly, when it comes to fighting insurgencies, cross border raids into nations that you are not formally at war with are the norm rather than exception. This occured in places like South East Asia, Southern Africa and obviously in Afghanistan. The British (and others) used to do it frequently in colonial times as well.

          • RJL 1.1.1.1.1

            Interestingly, murdering people in countries that you are not at war with is a war crime.

            Yes, Britain frequently committed war crimes during the colonial period. Or at least she would have if war crimes were an international legal instrument at the time. International law around war crimes was, of course, more recently formulated; in the aftermath of the American Civil War and again after WW1 and after WW2.

            • Gosman 1.1.1.1.1.1

              I’m not sure that is accurate. What convention states you cannot target enemy combatants in another country that you are not at war with?

              • framu

                whats the ratio of death of combatant to death of the innocent in drone strikes?

                notice how your deliberately only talking about combatants when everyone else is talking about, well, the people that get killed?

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                Which country is the US at war with?

                • Gosman

                  You can fight combatants even if you aren’t at war with a country. The US was never formally at War with North Vietnam for example.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    See my comment 1.1.2.1

                    • Gosman

                      The Korean war is another example. The UN forces were basically fighting the troops of a country they didn’t even recognise formally.

              • RJL

                It’s the one of the main principles of international law. You cannot invade another country.

                As minarch notes see the Kellogg–Briand Pact, and equivalent statements in the UN charter, etc.

                Also, even if you are at war with a country you cannot murder either soldiers or civilians.

                • Gosman

                  How can you avoid trying to murder a soldier you are fighting against in a war? I thought that was the whole point of war.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    You stupid bastard, the objective in war is to win while leaving the enemy’s armies and property completely intact.

                  • RJL

                    For somebody who seems convinced that drone murders are not war crimes, you seem to know fuck all about war crimes.

                    Read up on the difference between a battlefield fatality and murder.

                    • Gosman

                      For someone trying to tell me about war crimes you don’t seem to understand that invading another country is not necessarily illegal and is certainly not a war crime.

                    • Hi Gosman,

                      Invading another country when it is not an act of direct self-defence is a supreme war crime:

                      The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing…to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”[2] Article 39 of the United Nations Charter provides that the UN Security Council shall determine the existence of any act of aggression and “shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security”.

                      The example given in the link of when invading another country might be illegal but not a war crime is when there is an ongoing border dispute and the land claims are contested.

                      Your claim that invasion is not only sometimes not a war crime but can also not be illegal just seems unsupported.

              • Draco T Bastard

                That would be the protocol against starting a war in the first place. Attacking inside another nation is an act of war and so attacking inside a nation that you’re not at war with is starting a war.

                The correct protocol is to get the nation where the combatants are to deal with the combatants.

                What we see as the US kills people around the world is a rogue nation in action. As such the UN should be putting in place sanctions against them. Funny how the only people who end up with such sanctions is those the US doesn’t like.

                • Gosman

                  Attacking inside another nation is not necessarily an act of war. It certainly doesn’t mean you are formally at war with that nation. There are lots of exanples of countries (e.g. Pakistan and India) having exchanges of artillery fire but the nations still being formally at peace. Deaths caused as a result are not classified as war crimes either.

              • the pigman

                They’re not enemy combatants if you’re not at war with them.

                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Armed_Conflict
                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_war

                You could argue they’re unlawful combatants (a line the U.S. has tried) if, well, they were actually engaging in acts of war. But there you are, defending the indefensible, claiming that indiscriminate murder of another country’s civilians is totally cool, man.

            • Gosman 1.1.1.1.1.2

              The Geneva convention and the Hague conventions are actually more a product of the 19th Century. Although admittedly the Hague convention was put out in the early 20th but before WWI.

            • Populuxe1 1.1.1.1.1.3

              Not if you have the permission of the legitimate government it apparently isn’t

          • Travellerev 1.1.1.1.2

            For those of you interested in the legality of even the Afghan war waged since 2011. Waged to catch Osama bin Laden, Liberate women, Help innocent people, GOD (Gold, Oil and Drugs) here is a good case being made for it to be illegal even if you’re still stupid enough to believe that two planes can collapse three steel reinforced buildings in free fall speed with one of them (not hit by a plane) reinforced twice against a close up nuclear blast.

            And while you ask yourself if it is OK to bomb people with a drone here is what an ex drone operators have to say about it and here is what the European countries think of it.

            John Key is a callous, shameless liar and war criminal who happily admitted to it. He should be send to the Hague with his war criminal friends Bush, Blair, Cameron, Obama et all.

            • Travellerev 1.1.1.1.2.1

              And am I the only one who thinks that John Key is behaving like a father explaining to his children there are very bad people and we should all be very scared here?

              FFS, I remember the tone of my father giving me the very bad people schpiel. It wasn’t until I was about 45 when I had to deal with some really, really bad people and you know what? They where the ones in the Paunamu stone washed suits and white as freshly fallen snow! Smarmy, callous and arrogant. Oh oops, I just described our dear leader!

              • Oh, and did I mention that preparing for a war of aggression in and of itself is classified as crime against humanity according to the principles set during the Nuremberg trials.

                This makes the Southern Katipo military exercises which we hosted for NATO criminal in and of itself. The scenario was after all invasion of a country to remove a “rogue” politician.

                John Key hosted it, he owns it.

                No wonder Obama loves his creamy whit tush! He’s one of the boys now!

        • Ad 1.1.1.2

          Eurasia

      • Draco T Bastard 1.1.2

        Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
        Protection of the civilian population

        4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:

        (c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

        5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:

        (b) an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

        So simple even a RWNJ should be able to understand them.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.2.1

          One of the defining characteristics of a RWNJ is that, given the opportunity, they will have to have that distinction made clear to them by their lawyer at The Hague.

        • Gosman 1.1.2.2

          I would argue that a drone attack is far less indiscrininate than alternatives such as an all out invasion.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.2.2.1

            “Less indiscriminate” ≠ we’re all good here.

            • Gosman 1.1.2.2.1.1

              Agreed but if we were to take the letter of the law in the way Draco is implying it applies then War itself becomes a war crime. Some may argue that it is but international diplomacy doesn’t regard it as such.

              When it comes down to it whether something is a war crime or not is mainly related to intention or deliberate negligence. If you ignored the massive risk to civilians or deliberately targetted them then that is likely a war crime. However it is difficult to prove especially in relation to drone strikes I would suggest.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                Oh gosh, difficult. I expect the nations that give a fuck should probably retain some shit hot lawyers then.

                • Gosman

                  Or refuse to even participate in the whole international set up for war crimes as the US has done.

                  • Richard Christie

                    or refuse to even participate in the whole international set up for war crimes as the US has done.

                    lol. – why would the US avoid such a forum do you wonder?

              • Draco T Bastard

                Agreed but if we were to take the letter of the law in the way Draco is implying it applies then War itself becomes a war crime.

                Moron, it is:

                The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing…to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

                If you ignored the massive risk

                Which, of course, is what the US does.

                However it is difficult to prove especially in relation to drone strikes I would suggest.

                Nope. Using explosives where civilians are likely to be constitutes a war crime.

          • joe90 1.1.2.2.2

            I would argue that a drone attack is far less indiscrininate than alternatives such as an all out invasion.

            .

            The stupid is strong.

            .

            Larry Lewis, a principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, a research group with close ties to the US military, studied air strikes in Afghanistan from mid-2010 to mid-2011, using classified military data on the strikes and the civilian casualties they caused. Lewis told the Guardian he found that the missile strikes conducted by remotely piloted aircraft, commonly known as drones, were 10 times more deadly to Afghan civilians than those performed by fighter jets.

            http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/02/us-drone-strikes-afghan-civilians

      • Huginn 1.1.3

        Gosman
        extra-judicial killings are, by definition outside of the law – and therefore criminal

  2. shorts 2

    I can see how key is comfortable sharing information with his, opps I mean our, allies on these matters… what I don’t understand is if we’re actually seriously trying for a non permanent seat on the UN Security Council, as we’re lead to believe, then surely this sort of thing might be quite important to those we are asking to vote for us and a threat to us gaining many much needed votes

    All leads to the thought that Mr Key doesn’t take his job or the implications of that which he is involved with very seriously at all – I guess if he’s not clipping the ticket financially its all just boring to him

  3. Philj 3

    xox
    Doesn’t Key realise that Uncle Sam is the pariah of the world?Any friend of his is . . .

    • One Anonymous Bloke 3.1

      Easy to say, the US is a pariah, until you consider the facts. How long is that queue for green cards?

      In other news, a Mr. Phil J today turned down an invitation to the White House saying “I’m not dining with those pariahs!”

  4. Gosman 4

    Why is a drone strike any difference to a traditional airstrike or artillery attack?

    • Dave 4.1

      It isn’t different, but what you have in this current situation is a police action being carried out by a military, in a non declared war, killing people indiscriminately, because the American public cannot handle more deaths of service men and women. A conventional explosion is an explosion, regardless of where it came from. Nice attempt at a diversion there Gossie.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 4.2

      Gosman, the issue is legality, not method. Please try and keep up.

      • Gosman 4.2.1

        Did you disagree that with the US operation that led to Osama Bin Laden’s death then?

        • RJL 4.2.1.1

          Depends on the specifics of that case doesn’t it.

          If Bin Laden was unavoidably killed while in the process of apprehension by special forces engaged in a “police” action, then it would be “fine”. Alternatively, if Bin Laden was executed by a special forces assassination team, then that would be murder and a war crime.

          In either case, Pakistan is free to complain/take-action over US agents penetrating their air-space, etc.

          • Gosman 4.2.1.1.1

            Agreed to an extent. Soldiers are often given a large anount of lee way to determe if an enemy combatant is a threat or not and how to eliminate that threat. It is likely that they were under orders to eliminate the threat posed by Bin Laden without having to capture him alive. Bin Laden would have had to have been explicitly surrendering to avoid being killed on that operation I suspect.

            • RJL 4.2.1.1.1.1

              Open literature is ambigious as to whether it was a “kill” mission or a “capture or kill” mission.

              The US has no motivation to clarify, and presumably never will (or at least not for 100 years or whenever the relevant documents are declassified).

              • Colonial Viper

                Open literature is ambigious as to whether it was a “kill” mission or a “capture or kill” mission.

                And where does dumping the body into the sea instead of returning it to relatives or to Saudi Arabia come into it?

                Basically everything we know about the op was a lie for media purposes from minute one.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  It “comes into it” in terms of Hector and Achilles, and stupidity, and macho posturing.

                • RJL

                  Dumping the body at sea seemed to be very sensible, and I don’t think it was illegal (regardless of whether the kill itself was legal).

                  It was very sensible because it prevented Bin Laden’s burial / tomb becoming some sort of pilgrimage site. It minimised the capability of Al Qaeda to turn Bin Laden into a martyr with broader appeal.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Please explain to me how you believe Fort Meade could become a Jihadist pilgrimage site. Also please explain to me why Bin Laden’s body was not returned to Saudi authorities.

                    The more inhumanely the Americans treat the bodies of their enemies the more their dead and wounded servicemen are likely to pay the price in the field…put it this way, with this the US set the bar very low.

                    BTW in the US it is now legal to detain a US citizen without charge, indefinitely, in a military detention facility. Legal is not the same as moral, as you well know.

                    • Te Reo Putake

                      Fort Meade isn’t in Saudi Arabia, cv. If the yanks had returned the body to the Saudi’s, as you suggest, then there was a chance his burial site would have become a shrine, so the burial at sea seems reasonable in the circs. At least he got a formal burial, a lot of his victims never had that option.

                      Regarding the legality of his killing; he declared war on the states, killed thousands of their citizens, and was armed when confronted. He got what he deserved.

        • framu 4.2.1.2

          do ends justify means?

          serious question

          • Colonial Viper 4.2.1.2.1

            In this case the ends being to kill a crippled old man with chronic kidney disease who was stuck under virtual house arrest, and whose organisation had done fuck all with him for the years after 9/11.

            • Populuxe1 4.2.1.2.1.1

              Oh sorry, where did I put my tiny violin. He wasn’t old, he was 54. Nor is there any real evidence for any of that except that put out there by al-Qaeda. Of course we know you’ll believe anything fed to you provided it’s by a critic of the Great White Satan.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 4.2.1.3

          I don’t support the death penalty. I think the US does a perfectly good job of making its own enemies with or without bin Laden’s enthusiastic assistance.

          • Gosman 4.2.1.3.1

            Would you have supported it if the US went in to capture him to bring him to trial?

            • One Anonymous Bloke 4.2.1.3.1.1

              That’s what they should have done from the start. Routine police work would have captured him long before 2011.

              PS: that also presupposes a world in which they hadn’t used the people of Afghanistan, Palestine, etc as pawns in their proxy wars against imaginary bogeymen, and it’s never too late to start.

              • Colonial Viper

                CIA used senior doctor in fake vaccination programme to try and capture Bin Laden

                Basically there’s no low step the security and intelligence services won’t stoop to.

                The U.S. government will no longer use vaccinations as a front to obtain intelligence, according to a newly-released letter from the White House

                How fucking reassuring.

                In March 2012, Dr. Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor involved in the operation, was convicted of high treason…By that time, at least 16 Pakistani aid workers had been killed in attacks blamed on vaccine suspicion.

                Ah well a bit of collateral damage from that op, a few healthcare and aid workers killed, too bad, spook central business as usual.

                http://abcnews.go.com/Health/lasting-fallout-fake-vaccination-programs/story?id=23795483

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  The art of warfare is deception.

                • srylands

                  Which part of “the U.S. government will no longer use vaccinations as a front” didn’t you understand?

                  Anyway I thought you hated vaccinations on account they are not alternative, they don’t work, and the companies that make them are owned by foreign rich pricks (or words to that effect)?

                  You should be really into fake vaccination programmes.

                  • Tracey

                    problem is that fake vaccination programmes in africa and other places to gain dna in the ‘war on terror” mean that next time vaccination programmes are run in those countries the civilians will be reluctant to sign up because they were duped last time. They differ from you slylands, in that when they are fooled once, they are wary… you have been duped over and over by the Keyster and keep going back for more

    • David H 4.3

      You really want to know that Gosman? Money! The almighty Dollar that says that it’s cheaper to have some gum chewing kid on about 15 bucks an hour, in bumfuck Arkansas, push a button on a drone and kill some poor sod and all those in close proximity to him/her. Than it is to fire up 80 million dollar jets and all the other shit that goes with them, same with the Artillery. Cheaper at 500k per missile.

      • Gosman 4.3.1

        It is more cost effective then. Surely that is a good thing.

        • framu 4.3.1.1

          seriously? Just how low does your lack of morals go?

          • One Anonymous Bloke 4.3.1.1.1

            If the story is war, the moral of the story is make it short and cheap.

            • framu 4.3.1.1.1.1

              to be the “winner” – sure.

              • framu

                sorry not “to be the winner” – i meant “for the winner”

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  Yes well if the choice is between Sociopathic Uncle Sam and sociopathic bigot armed with a sword cutting heads off in the public square I’m still rooting for Uncle Sam.

                  • Populuxe1

                    Pretty much. I’ve never understood the logic of whining “but America…” when discussing the perfidies of other states and organisations.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Oh, well I can explain: it’s because having ethics is piss-easy in peacetime. If we (or our allies) abandon them in response to hardship we don’t have anything to fight for.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Yes well if the choice is between Sociopathic Uncle Sam and sociopathic bigot armed with a sword cutting heads off in the public square I’m still rooting for Uncle Sam.

                    Even if Uncle Sam put in power the “sociopathic bigot armed with a sword cutting heads off in the public square” in the first place?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Yes, because Uncle Sam is the worst sociopath we know apart from all the other ones, and Uncle Sam is elected (by arguably the worst system apart from all the other ones).

                      Not to say we don’t demand the stupid asshole improve his behaviour, but.

            • Pascal's bookie 4.3.1.1.1.2

              “If the story is war, the moral of the story is make it short and cheap.”

              This presupposes some wonky things when you apply it to the current drones operations.

              Like, ‘there is x number of enemies and when we kill enough of them the war is over’

              that’s daft. All having cheap attacks available has done, is lower the cost of attacks. What that means is that the threshold for ‘worthwhile target’ has dropped. The cost of deploying naval assets to send tomahawks into Yemen would make it not worthwhile. Drones make it worthwhile because the cost has dropped, not because the value of the targets has changed

              The strategic value of killing those people hasn’t changed. It remains at ‘fuck all’. The war hasn’t become shorter because they killed yet another guy whose metadata showed he had x links to suspected AQ organisers or what-have-you.

              This war can go on, literally, forever. There will never be zero targets ‘worth’ hitting when the cost of hitting them is ‘fuck all’. You may as well hit people who could concievably be a threat at some point in the future, maybe. Why not? You get the political benefit of ‘killing AQ’ with essentially no cost whatsoever when in seen in the context of the US military budget.

              yay freedom.

              • +1

                Drones reduce the cost of killing; they also reduce the cost of bad PR (‘we’re not really at war and, look, none of our boys are dying’).

                At what frequency does the intensity of drone strikes start to look less like ‘surgical targeting’ and more like conventional war at a distance?

                • Colonial Viper

                  Hellfire II missile system

                  http://defense-update.com/products/h/hellfire.htm

                  Thermobaric version of the Hellfire

                  Hellfire thermobaric warhead using a metal augmented explosive charge is used primarily in urban warfare, against bunkers, buildings caves and other concealed targets. This warhead is designed to inflict greater damage in multi-room structures, compared to the Hellfire’s standard or blast-fragmentation warheads. The Metal Augmented Charge or MAC (Thermobaric) Hellfire, designated AGM-114N, has completed rapid development cycle in 2002 and was deployed during OIF by US Marines Helicopters in Iraq. The new warhead contains a fluorinated aluminum powder that is layered between the warhead casing and the PBXN-112 explosive fill. When the explosive detonates, the aluminum mixture is dispersed and rapidly burns. The resultant sustained high pressure is extremely effective against enemy personnel and structures. The AGM-114N is designed for deployment from helicopters such as the AH-1W or UAVs such as the Predator drones.

                  This is what they are putting on Predator and Reaper drones nowadays. Read up all the technical specs, features and options.

                  How is mankind so ingenious, politicians so willing to fund these weapon programmes, yet child poverty and illiteracy is still rife?

                  As Commander Adama himself once questioned…do we really deserve to survive.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                PB: my point is that a war without end (like this one) is neither short nor cheap.

          • Gosman 4.3.1.1.2

            I remember the 1980’s. The left was always banging on how much defence was costing countries like the US.

            • Colonial Viper 4.3.1.1.2.1

              “Defense” You idiot, it’s the US Department of War. “Defense” is the PR term.

            • Draco T Bastard 4.3.1.1.2.2

              The mistake you make is that you believe things like aircraft carriers and the aircraft on them have anything to do with defense. They’re designed to project military power across the globe which means that they’re designed to prosecute offense against other nations.

              • Populuxe1

                I am not familiar with this magical approach to engineering – that’s like saying a gun can be specially defined for offense and defense. Engineering doesn’t recognise your ideological distinctions, it just does its job. If anything aircraft carriers exist to reduce the need to for any physical altercation through the implied threat of overwhelming force. Certain countries with border difficulties with China – Taiwan and the Philippines come to mind – find it reassuring.

                • Draco T Bastard

                  Really, you can’t see any difference to a defensive installation that can’t be moved or has limited movement and something designed to cruise the entire world?

          • thatguynz 4.3.1.1.3

            Seemingly about as far as his lack of intelligence.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 4.3.1.2

          Nah Gossie, war without end is not cost effective. cf Sun Tzu.

          • Gosman 4.3.1.2.1

            I actually agree with you. I’m not a fan of the War on “Terror”. It just provides an excuse for dodgy practices and excesses by the State. However that doesn’t mean the actions carried out are illegal though. They certainly don’t constitute a war crime in my mind.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 4.3.1.2.1.1

              They’re too stupid to be wrong.

              • Gosman

                Like most things in war (and life) some are and some aren’t. Aggressive military action against an insurgency can achieve the aim of reducing the effectiveness of that insurgency but usually only if coupled with political/diplomatic action. This is the part that tends to be lacking somewhat in these sorts of actions.

  5. captain hook 5

    I know what you mean about drones micky.
    gosman is boring me to death!

  6. One Anonymous Bloke 6

    Killing “bad people” doesn’t “hold them to account”. That would involve a judicial process.

  7. Gosman 7

    Killing one’s enemies certainly removes them from the equation going forward.

    • mickysavage 7.1

      Killing the children of people who were otherwise neutral about you creates enemies.

      • Gosman 7.1.1

        Most likely. Hence why that should be avoided.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1.1.1

          So, you’re arguing that this “good thing” “should be avoided”? Or are you simply providing evidence of your personal ethical poverty and confusion?

          • Gosman 7.1.1.1.1

            I’m agreeing that killing of non combatants such as children breeds greater resentment against the forces who carried out the attack and should be avoided for military as well as for the obvious ethical reasons.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1.1.1.1.1

              This could lead to OAB’s first law of assymetric warfare: thou shalt not attack thine martyr-fetishing religious enemy with explosives at a large family wedding, you stupid bastard, what were you thinking.

    • fender 7.2

      Those innocent children aren’t enemies you dropkick.

    • framu 7.3

      gosman – trooling so hard (as youve being doing so much of the last few days) to the point where youve basiclly thrown your humanity out the window to keep your sordid game going isnt a very good look

  8. Will@Welly 8

    Let’s look at the legalities of this. Daryl Jones was a New Zealander living in Australia. He had gone off and joined the Taliban. Essentially he was a mercenary, a ‘free agent’ fighting abroad. He was not ‘fighting’ against the New Zealand Government.
    The last ‘crime’ still to be punishable by capital punishment was treason, but even that has been abolished.
    So what ‘crime’ was Daryl Jones committing? For the GCSB to track him, then to hand that information over to another Government’s agency, that led to his death, is truly astounding.
    He was a private individual.
    If you or I take exception to what this Government decrees, are we likely to suffer similar retribution?
    John Key’s answer is yes!

    Thanks Micky for a great post. This has weighed heavily on my conscience for sometime. This shows how corrupt our Government has become.

    The killing of children is a consequence of these actions. As can be seen here in New Zealand with child poverty, John Key neither cares nor worries about future generations. Shonkey is all about the money

    • Gosman 8.1

      Mercenaries aren’t protected by the same set of conventions as other combatants.

      • Johnm 8.1.1

        For f’s sake someone put some pet food down for Gossy so he’ll calm down for awhile and give us peace! Our very own right wing pussy 🙂

      • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.2

        It would be “interesting” to see a lawyer make a case that Daryl Jones was a mercenary. Mercenaries get paid, not indoctrinated.

      • Populuxe1 8.1.3

        Nor for that matter are terrorists, especially terrorists and mercenaries in active hostilities with our nominal allies.

        • Colonial Viper 8.1.3.1

          Meh, more Pentagon legal fictions to get around whatever international law and human rights conventions there are in order to do whatever the fuck they want, when they want, how they want.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.3.1.1

            This.

            People in the CIA, for example, know this shit. They know what the current ruling cabal is doing is illegal. Look at the power struggle going on over torture, as though the stupid bastards learned nothing from Salem.

            Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens. Schiller.

            • Populuxe1 8.1.3.1.1.1

              Unsere Freunde zeigen uns, was wir tun können; unsere Feinde uns lehren, was wir tun müssen. Goethe.

              • felix

                Could you please walk me through what that quote means in terms of us, our friends, and our enemies in the current context?

  9. A.Ziffel 9

    Micky, does Labour have a policy on this subject?

    • mickysavage 9.1

      There is nothing specific in the policy platform but from the comments made by various Labour MPs I am sure that they will be opposed. There is a general statement that “Our international vision is for a peaceful, nuclear weapon-free, prosperous, and interconnected world where … human rights and differences are respected …

      • Colonial Viper 9.1.1

        Just playing devils advocate. How about a more specific question Mickey: “would Labour support the use of US military drone strikes in carefully vetted and legal operations designed to help safeguard the safety and security of NZ and allied soldiers in Afghanistan? If not, why not?”

        • One Anonymous Bloke 9.1.1.1

          What will the sixth Labour government do to realign foreign policy? Will such realignment be a part of the review of the GCSB? What if any changes will be made to agreements with Five-Eyes partners in this regard?

  10. Johnm 10

    NZ and the U$ are not in a state of war with Yemen. Therefore the killing of a New Zealand citizen is murder by Shonkey’s U$ bosses. Is that not clear? Shonkey has endorsed murder.What is not crystal clear about that I ask?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1

      They could attempt to make a case for justifiable homicide. I’d still like to see them hauled before a judge so their sorry-ass lawyer can try it.

    • Populuxe1 10.2

      Al-Qaida declared war on the US rather spectacularly and have not ever, as far as I am aware, pressed for peace talks. They are therefore enemy combatants and the Yemeni government has given the US permission to pursue them on their territory. You don’t have a case.

      • Colonial Viper 10.2.1

        Meh. How can a bunch of people the US insists are non military enemy combatants “declare war”? How can that declaration possibly justify the US invasion of countries who had nothing to do with 9/11? And how is it that Saudi Arabia, where the vast majority of 9/11 attackers came from, was not attacked by the US itself?

        • thatguynz 10.2.1.1

          +1

        • Populuxe1 10.2.1.2

          Meh. Empty rhetoric. Paramilitary if you insist – they inflict targeted strikes, are organised, have funds, have weapons, seek more weapons, and god help us if they get their hands on a Pakistani or North Korean nuke. If it walks like a duck it can declare war.

          The second Iraq war was wrong. Not arguing it. Red herring on your part, though I’m not particularly sad to see Saddam gone. However it’s quite a different thing if you have the permission of the legitimate government as in Afghanistan or Yemen. Pakistan is murkier, but then again given the stupid games their generals were playing, who knows.

          Saudi. Given that you seem to be under the impression that Johnny al-Qaeda’s vague one time NZ citizenship somehow makes him our responsibility, I’m pretty fucking glad it doesn’t work that way. Given that the US once funded Osama themselves, perhaps they should blow themselves up. Unless Al-Qaeda is acting on the direct orders of the Saudis, which I doubt, I don’t see what you’re on about except to perhaps draw attention to the need to change your nappy.

  11. Wayne 11

    On last Tuesday, Diplosphere, a new think tank in Wellington, held a forum on this subject in the Beehive Theater. It was Chatham House rules but I am sure they have a summary on their website. About 150 present.

    The speakers were Paul Buchanan, Nicky Hagar, Professor Jackson of Otago, Professor Costi of VUW, Professor Campbell McLachlan of VUW and myself.

    A range of views of the legality of drone strikes. Pretty much everyone agreed they were legal in an armed conflict, as in Afghanistan, though for some that was a pretty reluctant agreement. It was generally accepted that international law allows enemy combatants to be engaged by military means. I would note that an armed conflict has different rules to the use of force that could be used by police.

    Much less agreement on their use in say Yemen, even if it is proved the targets were Al Qaeda leaders running training camps in the desert beyond the jurisdiction of the Yemen govt, but where the Yemen govt has given the green light for their use. The majority view was they were illegal in all circumstances, but there was a range of views if there is actual evidence of Al Qaeda planning a specific attack from their base.

    A bit of discussion on the Bin Laden raid. Some were of the view that it was illegal. Others, including myself, accepted that it was legal. All agreed that the US forces should have tried to arrest him (if that was reasonably practicable) and try him in a court.

    • Gosman 11.1

      The question though is if they are illegal does being involved with an attack mean you have committed a specific war crime (i.e. one that would carry a penalty at say the Hague War Crimes Tribunal) and if so what would the crime be exactly?

      • Wayne 11.1.1

        Well, you would have to do a lot more than simply being a member of “5 eyes” and advising that a New Zealander had joined Al Qaeda.

        If that was all that was required, just about every democracy, and quite a few other nations would be at risk of being declared complicit, since most democracies share intelligence on who is active in Al Qaeda. And so they should.

        An interesting comparison can be made between the Somali pirates and Al Qaeda. There is an international maritime mission against the pirates. It involves all sorts of nations. Usually the pirates are arrested and tried.

        But in some instances there will be a battle. It always turns out bad for the pirates – see the Tom Hanks movie as an example.

        What is the difference between pirates and Al Qaeda? Well the pirates are not planning to blow up the international flight you might want to travel in, or the hotel you intend to stay in. So there is a different risk assessment of impact of loosing track of pirates and of Al Qaeda operatives.

        But that begs the question of whether the threshold for attacking Al Qaeda with airstrikes (which is what drones strikes are) should be higher, i.e. be shown to planning an actual terrorist attack, as opposed to simply be training in explosives, weapons etc at the terrorist camp.

        International law requires that the threat of attack has to be imminent, and real, and that there is no other alternative. Does training of itself meet that requirement?

        • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.1

          International law requires that the threat of attack has to be imminent, and real, and that there is no other alternative. Does training of itself meet that requirement?

          Brilliant Wayne, I’m looking forward to yet another NZ militarised police action on some rural iwi “terrorist” group that’s in “training”. All cleverly justified up to and after the point, in front of cameras even. And that went so well, didn’t it. Don’t forget that not all Al Qaeda is bad Al Qaeda; apparently if you are Al Qaeda looking to take out Assad, you are good Al Qaeda and will get weapons and funding to continue war in Syria. And Iraq is now crawling with Al Qaeda ever since the US got rid of Saddam Hussein under the pretext that he was in with Al Qaeda but of course he was a secular leader who never permitted them in Iraq. FFS.

          Frankly, you keep talking as if ordinary people continue to trust the interpretations and judgements of ‘the powers that be’ in these matters. Do you hear that dripping tap? That’s social trust in the political elite going away in the USA and in other western countries. (As an aside, just wait for the anti-Europe brigade to gain dozens more MPs in the European Union elections next week. Political irony 101). Closing in on single digit approval of Congress. Obama’s approval rating remains in the 40% range – mainly because he still gives a good speech. Where the latest Amnesty International survey found that 66% of Americans believe that if held by their own authorities they could, or would probably be tortured by their own government. No doubt it would be completely justifiably and legal, if it happened.

          In 2011 the US extrajudicialy droned Anwar al-Awlaki, a US born muslim, in Yemen, for being a terrorist (a label which in NZ got applied to people supposedly dressing up in surplus army fatigues and playing pretend war-games with .22s).

          Two weeks later they also drone killed his 16 year old son, a boy that was a US citizen who was not on any terrorism list. A US official later justified this killing as ‘well the kid should have had a more responsible father’.

          This is one case we know of. There will be many others that we don’t.

          https://news.vice.com/article/killing-anwar-al-awlaki-with-a-drone-strike-was-legal-and-thats-scary

          Fuck this Wayne. The US Gov also has a bunch of very cleverly written memos justifying how all this activity is above board and necessary and of course, legal. And it’s a billion dollar business backing it all up and making it happen. But it is still wrong. I suppose if it ever gets found that NZer got killed unlawfully the NZ government could open up its wallet and offer his family US$100 in compensation and funeral costs.

          I hear that’s what they give Afghani relatives when drones happen to take out their family members by accident.

          • Gosman 11.1.1.1.1

            The West is not providing weapons to Al Qaida in Syria. They have taken great pains to try to ensure support is directed to other forces.

            • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.1.1.1

              Oh right. That kind of thing works really well, like providing the Iraqi army with thousands of light arms…which ended up in the hands of Shia and Sunni insurgents.

              Of course, the Saudis and the Qataris have no problem using money given to them from the US, to support Muslim jihadists in Syria. It’s nice how having “intermediaries” can keep ones own hands clean.

              • Gosman

                I agree it is very difficult to control once the weapons and other support is out of your hands but the West has made efforts to direct support to groups that are not linked with Islamic extremists. The Qataries on the other hand are not so discerning.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 11.2

      How do we persuade the US to give up their stupid illegal activities then? By shrugging our shoulders and passing the buck to them, as McCully did recently in the House? By shrugging his shoulders and offering us up for sale, like your party’s fuck-awful “Prime Minister™”, Dr. Mapp?

      Grow a pair man.

  12. JAK 12

    “It would be in pursuit of trying to hold to account very bad people”

    A line fed to the PM of New Zealand by his minders

    “would be” is a fail

    “trying to hold to account” not a legal concept, as far as I know

    “very bad people” resonates

    John does populist sound bites

  13. fisiani 13

    Please campaign on this at the election.
    Labour supports and hugs terrorists and their friends.
    National protects NZ from terrorism.
    Gee -that will lots of votes for Labour.

    • Naturesong 13.1

      National Government rips up the obligations New Zealand has under multiple international treaties and is complicit in war crimes.
      Resulting in increased risk of terrorism against New Zealand citizens.

      If assassination programs now win votes in New Zealand, our society is at grave risk.

      Don’t they teach history at school anymore?

    • Bearded Git 13.2

      Sounds like a pretty good thing to campaign on to me fizzy. I would rather lose the election than campaign on a shrug of the shoulders at indiscriminate killing of civilians. Key makes me sick.

      BTW IMO the terrorist threat is much over-hyped (like the so-called war-on-drugs). My guess is that more kids will die from polio in Pakistan due to the CIA hunt for Osama than were killed on 11/9/01 (about 2900).

      • fisiani 13.2.1

        Attitudes seen here regarding hugging the terrorists are typical of the McCarten style extreme Left that will make Labour unelectable. Carry on comrades. Better to lose with your ideals pristine than win with populism. On a 0-100 political Left-Right scale Labour/Greens are currently 10-55 whilst National are 40-85. Draw up a mean distribution graph and measure the area under the curve. In 2011 I calculated Labour/Greens as 15-60 That’s why it was so close. It will still be close in 2014. If NZF are not in Parliament then John Key will be PM. If NZF are in parliament then Winston will choose who is PM. Simple.

        • Pascal's bookie 13.2.1.1

          Laugh.

          1st, why a normal distribution?

          2nd, if Nat is 40-85 why is there no party getting significant support to their right

          3rd You’re an idiot.

          • fisiani 13.2.1.1.1

            There is no right wing element to politics in NZ of any significant size. 95% of New Zealanders including ACT and the Conservatives would fit within the Democrat Party in the USA. No Party in NZ is compatible with Republicans and certainly only a few crackpots that would be Tea Party in style and content.

            • Pascal's bookie 13.2.1.1.1.1

              Still makes no sense fis.

              Coz if you’re talking about some spectrum of universally available political opinions, then all nz parties would be within a 5-10% band at the very outside.

              • fisiani

                All NZ political opinions do not extend to 0-10 and 90-100. NZ is essentially a Centre Left country which currently supports a Centre Right Government because the far left government in unacceptable.

  14. captain hook 14

    gee whiz; Labour supports detaining raving lunatics. up against the wall and spread ’em fishyannie!

  15. srylands 15

    These are seriously bad people. They deserve to die. I just do not see what the issue is. Anyway the USA will not give a toss what New Zealand thinks.

    What is your alternative? Arrest them? If there is clear evidence that these people are a danger to civilians in free countries, I have no issue with the USA military killing them. If New Zealanders get caught up in supporting terrorists then silly them.

    You will get zero traction on this as an election issue except amongst the loony left, and their votes are already set.

    Go after mainstream New Zealand.

    • mickysavage 15.1

      Do you include the kids who have been killed and who are referred to as “bug splats”?

      • felix 15.1.1

        You heard him micky. They are seriously bad kids and they deserve to die.

        • Colonial Viper 15.1.1.1

          And mainstream NZers apparently don’t care about a few kiddie “bug splats.” Shitlands said so, so it must be trues.

    • Naturesong 15.2

      Assassination = Good
      Rule of Law = Bad

      Yup, we understand your argument. It’s one of moral and ethical bankruptcy.

    • Kaplan 15.3

      Would you feel the same if drones were flying over your neighbourhood picking of ‘seriously bad people’ and the occasional innocent bystander?

      • Tracey 15.3.1

        slylands would never be around “those” kinds of people… he hangs with rich folks and they dont never do nottin bad, or at least dont get randomly bombed for it.

    • Pascal's bookie 15.4

      “If there is clear evidence that these people are a danger to civilians in free countries”

      Good for you. And I suppose you’re also happy to just take Mr. Anonymous Official’s word as evidence for that being the case too huh.

      What a fine citizen of a free country you are sry. Doubleplusgood, have a Victory gin.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 15.5

      “…they deserve to die…”

      “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?”

    • Tracey 15.6

      The market says yeeeeeeeeeees

  16. Martin 16

    Goering was quite relaxed too at Nuremburg War trials

    • Colonial Viper 16.1

      And shipping Jews and gypsies off to concentration camps was made entirely legal at the time, approved by the German courts, even. So, no problem.

      • Tracey 16.1.1

        and the us made quite alot of money staying out of that war…

        • Colonial Viper 16.1.1.1

          The US made quite a lot of money selling machine tools and technology to German factories before the war, as well as providing finance to German industry.

          • Populuxe1 16.1.1.1.1

            And…. Godwin

            • Tracey 16.1.1.1.1.1

              do you mean the US didnt make lots of money selling stuff to the germans which was used in part to keep jews, communists, the disabled, gypsies, homosexuals in camps and experimented on and executed?

              Otherwise your “godwin” is just a lazy way to try to shut down an argument you don’t care for.

  17. hoom 17

    There are a lot of bad guys in the world perpetrating crimes that have massive real effect on economies & peoples lives, but those guys tend to get short sentences that are reduced on appeal if they don’t get let off on technicalities, if they ever even get taken to trial.

    Why do those guys get proper finicky legal procedure but its OK to just blow these other guys up?

    I say governments should try applying the same standard of evidence & level of punishment to Corporate fraud, Tax Avoidance & similar ‘white collar’ type crimes for a while.

    Lets see just how ‘comfortable’ these guys are with it then.

  18. Clemgeopin 18

    Another serious worry is this :
    Today, USA has the ability to go to any country it chooses and kill any person it chooses for any reason it chooses.
    In the not too distant future, what is there to stop any other country or countries to develop even more powerful, more sophisticated, radar undetectable drones, satellites and stuff and cause havoc to US and other countries and to their civilians either to avenge all this or as a new kind of terrorist for new kind of misadventure?
    Isn’t US by its actions unwittingly sowing the seeds of unimaginable consequences for all of us?

    • Draco T Bastard 18.1

      Who said that they were unwitting?

      • Clemgeopin 18.1.1

        Are you saying that US is wittingly sowing the seeds of unimaginable consequences for all of us? Is sowing the seeds of unimaginable consequences their actual ‘intention’?

        • Draco T Bastard 18.1.1.1

          I’m not saying it, I’m suggesting it as a possibility.

          A few studies and books have outlined that atrocities committed by one society in another tends to get blow back in the initiating society. It is unlikely that the US Administration is unaware of these findings and fear has been used as a form of societal control before.

          • Colonial Viper 18.1.1.1.1

            US specialists know full well the dynamics of arms races. They may not be “intentionally” creating ‘unimaginable consequences’ but arems races are highly predictable – they know that the more they visibly arm themselves up the more it will also happen internationally.

            BTW this is not a negative; it is in fact a most profitable state of affairs for companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

    • Gosman 18.2

      The US doesn’t have the ability to go to any country it likes and carry out drone attacks. It couldn’t do this in China or Russia for example and it is unlikely to do do in places like Japan or Australia.

      • Colonial Viper 18.2.1

        Gossie you have no fucking idea what US and Israeli made drones are or aren’t capable of, and with hundreds of bases on foreign soil right around the world, plus global US mil satellite comms, I would say the reach of these drones is far and wide.

        Nice though you think that Russian and Chinese civilians may be the ones who are safest from being droned.

      • Tracey 18.2.2

        Of course they have the ability to go to china or russia with their drones, and they could. They don’t because of the level of retaliation… you know, some of their civilians might die in a retaliatory attack.

        • Colonial Viper 18.2.2.1

          uh, they don’t care what happens to their own civilians in any kind of retaliatory attack (after all lack of public healthcare in the USA kills tens of thousands a year at a minimum, but so what?); but they definitely don’t want US banking and corporate interests in China or Russia to be damaged.

          • Tracey 18.2.2.1.1

            You know, look what happened when 2000 died on their shores, imagine if they lost the numbers that others have lost in wars in the 20th century alone…

            • Colonial Viper 18.2.2.1.1.1

              Paying honour to 2000 dead by killing a million more (not hyperbole, direct and indirect deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere).

              • Tracey

                that was my point. Look at their reaction to losing (relatively speaking) only 2000 civilians on their home soil. They know China and Russia have the ability and ideological will to do severe damage on US soil.

          • Populuxe1 18.2.2.1.2

            Actually they kind of do – in case you haven’t noticed, the drive to use drones and remote warfare in the first place is because the domestic US population is over the whole thing of their kids coming home in body bags. That may not penetrate the tinfoil hat of your confirmation bias, but I’ll leave it there anyway.

      • Clemgeopin 18.2.3

        The reason US may not attack such countries is not because it does not have the capability to do so, but because of political, economic, military and PR considerations. China and Russia are capable of counter attack in various ways while Japan and Australia are allies.

        US does not have similar restrains in engaging with nations such as Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

        In my opinion, US has escalated the future danger to all of us. They must find a better more intelligent way of making this world a better place.

        • Populuxe1 18.2.3.1

          The US isn’t engaged with Yemen, Afghanistan or Pakistan. There is no state of war.

  19. Lloyd 19

    Lets ignore the morality of killing people who associate with people who are probably involved in organisations that bomb or shoot other people. Lets look at the real and potential collateral damage of what US military and CIA have done .

    Bombing someone in the midst of a populated area with occasional random civilian deaths means that the bombed person (“terrorist”) and the surrounding population are seen by the surrounding population as the common target. (Ask New Yorkers, did they feel targeted after 9-11?). Each drone strike in Pakistan probably generates several future jihadists for each “terrorist” killed. Drone strikes must be a failing policy as it means that the US is not reducing the number of people willing to take violent action against the US (and any Kiwi), but is increasing the threat.

    Using polio vaccination as a means of spying just gives a real reason for negative attitudes of ignorant mullahs to oppose polio vaccination programmes. The lack of elimination of polio in the world is probably a much greater threat to residents of both the USA and New Zealand than being killed by a terrorist. Tourists or refugees can pick up the disease from the Muslim areas that still have the disease endemic in some parts of the population and cause an outbreak in the western world fairly easily. Considering the 60 or so medical workers in Pakistan who have been killed attempting to eliminate polio as the only collateral damage is simplistic and ignorant.

    You and I are both potential collateral damage from the US drone killing and the polio vaccination spying programmes.

  20. Colonial Viper 20

    The most advanced military drones and operational doctrine came from…ISRAEL

    This is where the US got it all from. Israel developed an extensive military drone capability to take on the Palestinians and passed it all on to the USA for millions in profits.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Iu-a-irAiA

    • Draco T Bastard 20.1

      And they got Shock & Awe from Germany.

      Failure to learn from enemies and allies is a quick way to being overwhelmed.

      Now, if they’d just learn from history.

      • Gosman 20.1.1

        Blitzkrieg is not the same as Shock and awe. There are quite major differences.

        • Colonial Viper 20.1.1.1

          Please list 4. Doctrinal differences please, not technological or tactical ones.

          • Gosman 20.1.1.1.1

            Shock and awe is based on ovewhelming dominance, especially in airpower, theatre wide whereas Blitzkrieg is more about the selected use of firepower at a local level to achieve temporary dominance to overwhelm the enemy in that location.

            Shock and awe is aimed at destroying the enemy’s comand and control infrastructure up front and lower their fighting effectiveness before the use of ground forces by dominating the airspace. Blitzkrieg is utilising ground forces to break through and bypass main areas of enemy resistance and then sew confusion amongst the enemy by attacking the main lines of communication.

            Blitzkrieg was designed to counter an enemy that was around equal strength. Shock and awe does not work against an enemy that has parity in strength.

            Blitzkrieg is about rapid movement of forces away from contact with the enemy. Shock and awe is about application of firepower against that enemy.

            • Draco T Bastard 20.1.1.1.1.1

              The first time I read about the Blitzkrieg it described it exactly the same way as you’ve just done. It was a while ago and the book was old even then.

              And, after all that, what makes you think that the US didn’t get the idea of Shock and Awe from Germany’s use of Blitzkrieg?

              Silly question of course as all you’re doing is engaging in diversion.

  21. felix 21

    Couple of years ago we had “good intel” that there were “terrorists” in NZ running “training camps” with “weapons and explosives”.

    Good to see all these righties – including John Key – would have supported drone strikes in the Ureweras.

    Sure a few kids might’ve died, but these were very bad people.

    • Colonial Viper 21.1

      And the kids should have had more “responsible parents”…(link in a comment I have in moderation)

    • One Anonymous Bloke 21.2

      Nah, the righties know they wouldn’t get away with it unless there’d been some actual terrorism…

      • Colonial Viper 21.2.1

        While the lefties thought they could get away with a simple police/SIS/special forces op.

  22. tricledrown 22

    Gosman.
    Shocl awe different than blitzkreig.
    Yeah right only for marketing purposes.
    Droning on gos.
    Drone killings are turning more and more people into terrorists.
    Formet CIA intelligence officers have complained while it may be a good shory term solution longterm the resentment built up by indiscriminanent killings is encouraging more terrorists to take up arms.
    Its Lazy warfare.
    Of course the Right wing war mungers love it as right winger only can think shorterm and simple solutions.
    The US empire is desperately trying to hold on to its dominant position at all costs bringing home body bags is not a popular political solution.

  23. Tracey 23

    Did the herald and stuff online miss the Banks trial yesterday? can’t find their summaries in today’s front pages.

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    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    10 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    24 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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