Bisan From Gaza, whose call sign is "I am still alive" returns to Rafah, her home town.
Rafah City is the so called 'Red Line" that Biden warned Israel not to attack, or else. Netanyahu ignored Biden's warning, but promised the Biden administration and the world that Israel's assault on Rafah would be limited.
Bisan shows us what Netanyahu's 'limited' attack on Rafah looks like.
P.S. Bear in mind that Israel's attack on the Capital, Gaza City, was unlimited.
Biggest funder of aid for Palestinians is the US, through USAID and UNRWA. Has been for decades.
So when Trump says "just clear the whole of Gaza" and relocate all 1.4 mil of them to other countries, it's serious.
Chances of this actually happening are still uncertain, but once the concept turns into a conference and into a plan, there's a new shape to the Middle East.
The spirit of the uprising lives on in the hearts and minds of millions of Arabs.
Haythem Guesmi is a Tunisian academic and writer.
…..The return to authoritarianism in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, was especially seized upon by many observers of the region as confirmation of the demise of Arab aspirations for democracy – everywhere, for good.
It is true that not too long after the revolutions, dictatorships made a brutal and bloody return in both Tunisia and Egypt….
…..And yet, the spirit of the 2011 Arab Spring protests is still very much alive.
In Tunisia, for example, people are bravely resisting Saied’s oppression through boycotts, strikes and sit-ins…..
…And Tunisia is only one example. From Egypt to Syria and Lebanon, the flame of revolution is not out, and hopes for a better, more democratic and egalitarian future are still very much alive.
….far from being temporary or accidental, the West’s support for Arab dictators is a fundamental pillar of their longstanding regional foreign policy…
There is a very real possibility that this fundamental pillar supporting Western domination of the Middle East could be kicked out,
If Jordan and Egypt dare go along with Trump's plan to relocate the people of Gaza, the Hashemite Royal Family of Jordan and military dictator Al Sisi of Egypt will be finished to quickly follow the Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad into the dustbin of history.
From CNN:
Trump wants to ‘clean out’ Gaza. Here’s what this could mean for the Middle East
By Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN
……Experts warn that beyond the moral and legal concerns, an influx of refugees into neighboring Arab countries could destabilize them and pose an existential threat. Agreeing to Trump’s proposal, they say, would provoke widespread public anger – an untenable risk for those governments.
“If they were to… accept being participants in and hosting Palestinians in an ethnic cleansing, that would undoubtedly be infuriating and genuinely destabilizing for both countries,” Timothy Kaldas, deputy director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, DC, told CNN.
Tunisia has been an ally of the US since 1797. The writer you copy is a malcontent looking for a form of democracy that exists in zero Arab speaking countries.
The idea of "US domination of the Middle East" is just another pinkie left fantasy. The US has been consistently defeated in almost all wars it tried after Korea and quite ineffective at peace since Camp David four decades ago.
"The moral question is which countries will take suffering Palestinians from wrecked Gaza in, and by the thousand?
EU? UK? NZ? AU? US? Anyone?"
History repeats:
1939…
….Nine Hundred and thirty German Jewish refugees set sail for Cuba in a luxury liner, the St. Louis (e.g. on May 13th), they all held official Cuban landing certificates and 734 of them possessed U.S. immigration quota numbers that would have allowed them to enter America three months to three years after disembarking in Cuba on arrival at Havana, almost all the passengers were denied entry on the grounds that their landing papers had subsequently been rescinded. After unsuccessfully negotiating with the authorities in Havana, THE SHIP’S CAPTAIN TURNED TOWARD MIAMI IN THE HOPE THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WOULD RELENT AND TAKE IN THE JEWISH IMMIGRANTS AHEAD OF THEIR SCHEDULED TIME. INSTEAD WASHINGTON ISSUED STRICT INSTRUCTIONS TO PREVENT ANY OF THE PASSENGERS FROM SETTING FOOT IN THE UNITED STATES. Having no other recourse, the St. Louis returned to Europe, where except for 287 Jews who were given asylum in England, the rest were sent back to germany the nazi’s.
Many of the remaining 643 passengers on board the St. Louis were interned in concentration camps in Europe some managed to escape and go into hiding some others managed to survive years as slave labourers, more than a third of the passengers on board the St. Louis didn't survive the camps, murdered by the Nazis. and by the world's indifference.
Not much different to today.
Another reason why Palestinians will not leave Gaza, if you are going to be abused and murdered wherever you go, you might as well be abused and murdered at home.
Not sure about the shouty caps, but you'll probably be aware of what happened to every single Jewish settlement in an Arab speaking country since 1949.
No Jewish settlement, or Jews in Arab towns in the West Bank and Gaza d survived the arrival of Arab armies in 1948.
Most of the Jews living in the wider ME (around 1 million) were in Israel by 1949. And not because they had much choice. Their properties confiscated. This because Arab states responded to the failure to end the Jewish state when it formed in 1948 by regarding the new state as a catchment for all Jews in the ME.
There were 1.2M Palestinians in the mandate area (400,000 in the area awarded for a Jewish state) and only 160,000 Arabs in the state of Israel in 1949 (by this time Israel controlled 75% of Palestine). 240,000 from the area awarded for a Jewish state in 1947 being the known number of those refugees. 400,000 others from the territory won by Israel in the war. So over 600,000 Palestinian refugees.
This meant 160,000 in Israel and 400,000 Arabs were in Gaza and the West Bank were not refugees – just under half.
Mayor Radich of Dunedin needs a gymnastics gold medal for the speed of back-flip from protesting the scaled-back Dunedin Hospital to fulsome Ministerial support and telling the people of Otago to "give themselves a pat on the back" for getting what they wanted.
Same guy that opposed then opened George Street, opposed then supported Port Chalmers-Dunedin cycleway.
It’s clever politics to promote a worst-case scenario to take the edge off the announcement of what is, essentially, the status quo. A classic case of expectations management, or political smoke screen. Then, when the real announcement is made there’s an outpouring of gratitude.
Put another way with the ferries for example, cancel then have a wave of gratefulness when a viable solution is found.
He pledged to restore trust with “actions not words” — by leading a “government of service”.
“We ran as a changed Labour party”, Starmer declared shortly after Sunak conceded defeat. “And we will govern as a changed Labour party.”
The wider Blair-Starmer parallels, on a cursory assessment, were manifest. Labour’s new majority of 174 was the largest since Blair (179). Overnight, Labour candidates had repeatedly shattered the previous Conservative-to-Labour swing record of 18.8 per cent — set by New Labour in Brent North in 1997. 46 constituencies surpassed this level in the early hours of 5 July; and the new record was set, elegantly, in Liz Truss’s former fiefdom of South West Norfolk (25.9 per cent). After fourteen years of Conservative-led government, the result appeared to herald a new political epoch. But the headline figures belied a more complex picture. Although Labour won 63 per cent of commons seats (411 MPs), it did so with just 33.7 per cent of the vote — the lowest winning share of any party since 1832. After all, Labour’s overall vote share was only around two points higher than in 2019. And turnout stood at 59.8 per cent — down from 67.3 per cent.
It meant Starmer’s Labour received half a million fewer votes than the party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The prominent pro-Starmer think tank, Labour Together, published a report after the election outlining what the party must do to win in 2029. The report reads: “In the past, winning 411 seats was the kind of victory from which a government might confidently expect 10 years in power. “This Labour government has been cautiously hired, on a trial basis, liable to prompt dismissal if it deviates even slightly from its focus on voters’ priorities.”
Self's political analysis is insightful even if his style is sufficiently florid to be likely to induce turbulent feelings in readers who have done white-water rafting. If you want to know the saga of Starmers initial learning curve, prepare to be bounced around!
Labour has been tanking since elected (due to all them factors he reported) but their trend is levelling out. Reform has been pulling conservatives out of the Tories, and the overall trend is a fairly even 3-way split…
Marina Hyde rips into AI bros, Sam Altman of ChatGPT especially, in her very witty way.
'For us little people, the choice seems to be between being data-jacked and screwed over by the undemocratic Chinese, or being data-jacked and screwed over by the post-democratic tech bros.'
Downloading and using DeepSeek as a stand-alone on closed system data is already being done. The value is not in the large language model part, but in the open-source machine-learning software. No data-scraping involved.
These people should have mmmm moment. Unfortunately we have government of morons that a opening the door to long slow car wreck instead of guiding it's people to safer ground.
Not sure bit it reads it's all below sealeval prone to liquidation (christchurch anyone) but it's all good there going to dig wetlands and use that soil to raise it, wonder what the insurance companies think?
It is part of the large area raised by the HB earthquake in 1931. The Landcorp farm mentioned used to, in days gone by, have pumps going 24/7 to keep the water at bay so farming could take place. Will the new subdivision keep these on? Napier CC already has a less than stellar reputation with the canal boat subdivisions on similarly low lying land near Awatoto.
From the side bar, an excellent piece from Mountain Tui updating on the Curia Market Research suspension. I was interested in their conclusions upholding the complaint about the gender affirming treatment poll commissioned (and written) by Family First:
In August 2024, RANZ provided an update on the Curia resignation and complaint. And the conclusion is as follows:
The question…does NOT meet acceptable research principles, methods and techniques and, because the results were published, could bring discredit to the profession.
The independent committee rejected three of the arguments put forward in Mr Farrar’s response to the independent subcommittee.
Mr. Farrar also states that although he advises clients on the relative merits of questions, ultimately he will accept the question if the client insists. This is a particular risk where the client is lobbying for a particular outcome.
The panel notes Curia Market Research could choose to return to RANZ, if it so decided, subject to conditions such as “sufficient quality assurance in respect of their questionnaire design to ensure their questions meet best practice.”
The panel did not recommend suspension as that was reserved for cases such as “fraud, making up data, push polling* etc”
A brutal assessment by RANZ of Farrar's practices and integrity, going so far as to say he could bring the entire industry into disrepute.
* I would have thought the cases highlighted in MT's article where RANZ has upheld complaints against Farrar could easily fall under the definition of push polling particularly as industry bodies appear to be responding to increasingly politically motivated but subtle changes in practice by participants.
Future usage of the term will determine whether the strict or broad definition becomes the most favored, but in all such polls, the pollster asks leading questions or suggestive questions that "push" the interviewee toward adopting an unfavourable response toward the political candidate or issue in question.
Push polls' main advantage is that they are an effective way to malign an opponent ("pushing" voters toward a predetermined point of view) while avoiding direct responsibility for the distorted or false information suggested (but not directly alleged) in the push poll. They are risky for the same reason: if credible evidence emerges that the polls were directly ordered by a campaign or candidate, it could do serious damage to that campaign.
Keep up the good work, MT, it's only with this sort of pressure the media will begin to stop and ask questions about Farrar's corrupt practices, which then feeds through to the public.
“They gotta burn off a layer of your skin, and then it has to heal for like six to eight weeks and you can’t get in the sunlight,” he said. “Then you got to do it like 12 more times.” The former “SNL” cast member said he believes he had about 200 tattoos in total and only plans on keeping a precious few.
So he's keeping editorial control of his public image, and using make it up as you go along as his operational strategy. It's an evolutionary strategy for reconfiguring yourself within your social niche. The Picts ruled Scotland for a millennium prior to the Scots, and they wore body tattoos according to Julius Caesar in the history he wrote, fought naked and were beaten by the Roman using short swords according to Before Scotland: A Prehistory. The long Pictish sword worked best for free-range warriors.
Roman armour may have had a causal influence too, one suspects. When I was a kid only sailors had tattoos, so we've been watching antique tribal signalling re-emerge within younger generations. If only someone would tell them that ancient indigenous tribes were, & most surviving are, natural equity-based economies.
Fk soft diplomacy. There'll be plenty of back-turning on the US after this. Not to mention Canada and Mexico by-passing US markets after tariffs are imposed this weekend. Trump shakes the world economy, but the outcome may not be what he thinks.
I worked with USAID people in Indonesia. Much of that 60 billion is paid to Americans working for USAID as generous salaries and per diem. Effectively much of the 60 billion "aid" stays in America in other words
There will be a very strong lobby by these people to keep their jobs and projects going.
What removing 'gender ideology' really means: NPR reports that US government sites have been censored, with the Office of Personnel Management ordering government agencies to "Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology" ', along with a corresponding memo on removal of inclusion and diversity initiatives.
'basic information had disappeared from government websites. The CDC's HIV surveillance data disappeared… the CDC's Youth Risk Survey data is no longer accessible…
The OPM says it did this ' " as part of the efforts to defend women and uphold the truth of biological sex against the radical claims of gender activists" '
Government agencies must also review all their funding and remove support for anything to do with "gender ideology" or diversity and inclusiveness.
And I bet many thought it was just about trans women. First they came…for anyone different, and those aupporting them.
'United States Forest Service website for key resources, research and adaptation tools – including those that provide vital context and vulnerability assessments for wildfires – had gone dark'
And I bet many thought it was just about trans women. First they came…for anyone different, and those supporting them.
Gender Critical Feminists knew what would happen and have been pushing back against it for a long time. This is why the split on the left has been so bad, GCFs were outnumbered by the conservatives who co-opted the issues and made them their own, and no support from the liberal left.
Many women who were previously liberal won't care that much. The left has underestimated just how pissed off so many women are. If you talk with those women, you will find that many might regret some of the other loses but believe that losing women's sex based rights is far worse. It would have been so much better if there had been middle ground. It's not the GC side that created No Debate. And now here we are.
Missing the point there, weka. Womens' rights are already bundled in there with the 'protection of women' in the anti-diversity push. The transphobia was just window-dressing. Trumo has come for all diversity initiatives at once.
'consulted with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis' expert on trans healthcare, Patrick Hunter of the Catholic Medical Association. Hunter sought to find ways to limit trans rights and medical care in the state of Florida…Hunter, meanwhile, is part of a network of anti-trans people who seek to roll back gains for LGBT citizens'
'The York Review is cited over 75 times in the Cass report. Its methodology was designed by Tilly Langton, who has promoted conversion therapy resists any form of transitioning [for adults] and holds trans identities in suspicion.';
And this EU document shows just how much anti-gender funding in the EU pushes to roll back womens' reproductive rights and LGBT initiatives.
Donald Trump is about to discover the limits of imperialism.
TV7 Israel News
@4:08 minutes
Amid an outright rejection by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah of President Trump’s proposal to temporarily relocate approximately 1.5 million Gazans to Jordan and Egypt…
….asked whether there was anything he [Trump] could do to realize his vision.
@4:35 minutes
Reporter: …..both said that they won’t take-in displaced people from Gaza; like you suggested.
Is there anything you can do to make them do that? I mean, tariffs against those countries, for example?
The King of Jordan and the dictator of Egypt could take the refugees and face revolution, or they could let Trump impose tariffs and ruin their economy, like the king or the dictator would care, as long as they can blame Trump for the people's suffering they should be OK.
I suppose Trump could use tens of $billions of US dollars to bribe Al Sisi and King Abdullah to accept the Palestinians from Gaza,..
But these potentates, generals and Royal family members and the King are just as likely to divvy up the money between them, up-sticks to Argentina or Monaco, taking the money with them, than use the money to oppress their own people on America's behalf.
Since trumps going to pick up his ball and shout my rules or no game why doesn't the rest of the world just go fuck you you nut job and create a game the USA can watch from the next cul-de-sac.
As of January 20, there were 1,601 political prisoners held by the state, according to the Venezuelan human rights group Foro Penal. It logged 83 new arrests in the first 12 days of January alone.
In August, activist and engineer Jesus Armas attended a vigil for Venezuela’s political prisoners… The then-37-year-old listened to impassioned speeches, gazed at posters emblazoned with the faces of those behind bars, and silently lit a candle in their honour. Four months later, on December 10, Armas was carted off to prison himself. Witnesses saw hooded men seize him from a cafe in the capital Caracas and bundle him into a silver vehicle with no licence plates. Only in mid-December did his family discover he was in government custody.
Armas founded a nonprofit, Ciudadania Sin Limites, in 2012 dedicated to improving access to essential public services in underserved communities.
But his family believes it was his role in the 2024 presidential campaign that led to his arrest — and subsequent torture.
Maduro's fake election results have worked so far but if T moves into state detoxification operations he won't last much longer.
Only reason for going into Venezuela, where conditions haven't been helped by US trade embargos, would be for its nationalised control of 25% of the world's untapped oil resources. Iraq 2.0. Yes, Trump, go for it. We believe it would be another massive strike by the US for freedom and democracy, because you say so.
I do not support the mistreatment of the prisoners, and aljazeera is no trump-pet. But so many countries around the world do this (saudis, anyone?) without threat of US action.
Whereas the USA warped itself from foreign trade dependent to oil-independent via the fracking tech revolution, it would get an advantage from establishing democracy instead of Maduro. Granted that US establishments of democracy in foreign countries have been persistently more sham than real! Nonetheless there's a remote possibility the yanks could get it right for a change.
Why would I be that optimistic? T is now ruled by legacy-planning. His ego requires him to go down in history as a great president. He will do whatever he thinks is necessary to achieve that outcome. Doesn't matter how unrealistic it seems to us, the guy is serious about his intent. And yes, selective morality is always the norm in geopolitics (due to the UN Security Council veto).
Trump has already generated not just a can of worms, but tens of worm-cans, both internally and internationally. There won't be enough hours in his day, or his term to 'create a legacy' in the traditional sense. He's embraced the 'Just break it!' mantra of the tech bros.
I thought Winston Peters might use the 2017 term to ‘create a legacy’. It was a silly idea to apply to a mid-tier narcisist like Winnie. So expecting similar of Trump is even sillier.
Could be. They are both also nationalist, which is conditioned by the global security niche (geopolitics). Winston is dependent on that provided by the US & T is the provider or not. So T has the initiative to create the future.
The traditional notion of manifest destiny comes to mind in contemporary context: heroic endeavour, a lure T is unlikely to resist. I agree his loose cannoning is sufficiently enterprising thus far to keep him fairly busy coping with consequences and he seems shrewd enough to learn how to adapt to control pressures but he also has a natural tendency to be self-defeating.
He intends to drive the control system forward but any system is inherently indeterminant so chances are fate will present random stuff that changes his trajectory & tests his adaptiveness in the Darwinian sense.
US refineries need heavy "sour" crude, especially to make diesel. US oil comes from shale and is light "sweet" oil. If they're cut off from Canadian tar sands and are in a similar situation with Mexico, they're probably going to have to look to Venezuela, which could get spicy as Iranian companies rebuilt and run Venezuela's oil and gas infrastructure.
So, are the other countries prepared to increase their contributions to make up the difference? It seems…. unlikely…..
Especially with the rise in right-wing (and potentially isolationist) regimes in many of the larger contributers. Germany for example. And, potentially Canada, after the coming election.
The country which may well increase contributions is China – and it's been very clear that their contributions also come with strings attached.
Would that make you happier? Instead of a US dominated world trade, we had a China dominated one?
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NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Automatic pay rises are under threat in the public service, after chief executives were sent a warning the current remuneration structure was unaffordable. ...
The Government is promising that a relaxation of gene technology regulations will provide economic growth for the country, but critics fear the new bill is too loose and a step too far.“It is using a bulldozer to crack a nut,” Jack Heinemann, professor of genetics at the University of Canterbury, ...
Comment: At the end of 2024, OpenAI disrupted the search landscape by making SearchGPT available to all users, offering real-time, AI-generated answers instead of traditional link-based results. Google’s search and ad revenue model is showing cracks, with reports of declining search traffic as users shift to AI-driven alternatives, including Google’s own ...
In 2016, the world was enthralled by Pokémon Go. Glued to their phones, hunting for the unique monsters in their own neighbourhoods, players found themselves trespassing on private property, falling into the ocean and slipping down ditches. In a cringe-inducing moment, Hillary Clinton – then a presidential nominee – urged ...
It’s a sad fact that short story collections, especially, it seems, the intriguing and quirky ones, often struggle to make it into the bestseller charts which are often clogged with badly written, woefully under-researched and frankly not very clever novels. I find this surprising at a time when our concentration ...
One man’s epic and frustrating adventures in the Wellington job market. I was informed my job was going to be cut in July 2022, and did not get a full-time role again until August 2024. During that period, I was on the dole for 10 months and did odd jobs ...
Yet again, Winston Peters has Green MPs who weren’t born in Aotearoa – oh, New Zealand, sorry – in his crosshairs. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus.Straight ...
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Ngāi Tahu wants to introduce contamination charges to address contamination in Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, the High Court has been told.In the second week of the two-month case against the Attorney-General over wai māori (freshwater), Dr Elizabeth Brown, the Rangatira of Taumutu, which sits on the lake’s edge, told Justice Melanie ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra ASIO chief Mike Burgess has warned that over the next five years Australia’s security environment will become more dynamic, diverse and degraded, with “more security surprises” in the second half of the decade than in ...
There is certainly plenty of room for better police training for dealing with protest activity that starts with a rights-based approach to ensuring people can fully exercise their human rights. ...
“We are thrilled that this Bill is making its way through the House and looks set to become law,” said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University Gumbariya/Shutterstock The Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates for the first time in four years has triggered a round of celebration. Mortgage holders are cheering the fact their monthly repayments are now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Housing supply in Australia will be a key battleground in the election campaign. With home ownership more and more out of reach for young and not so young Australians, red tape and low productivity are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Korolev, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW Sydney The United States and Russia agreed to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine at high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Ukrainian and European representatives were pointedly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University BaLL LunLa/Shutterstock Sleep is the holy grail for new parents. So no wonder many tired parents are looking for something to help their babies sleep. A TikTok trend claims ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ranjana Gupta, Senior Lecturer, Accounting Department, Auckland University of Technology Jirsak/Shutterstock The profit made on every breakfast bowl of weet-bix is tax exempt, giving Sanitarium Health Food Company, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an advantage over other breakfast food companies. ...
A closer look at some of the homegrown talent currently commanding television screens around the globe. The new season of The White Lotus hit our screens this week, and with it a familiar face in New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly. To secure a role in one of the world’s most ...
"This is a crisis of the Government’s own making and the unit is another sign of desperation," said PSA acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Perugia, Senior Lecturer, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University Australia’s housing crisis has created a push for fast-tracked construction. Federal, state and territory governments have set a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years. Increasing housing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ash Watson, Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock When we’re uncomfortable we say the “vibe is off”. When we’re having a good time we’re “vibing”. To assess the mood we do a “vibe check”. And when the atmosphere in ...
What’s up with the man from Epsom? The leader of the Act Party has been in plenty of headlines in the last two weeks, ranging from a controversial letter to police on behalf of constituent Philip Polkinghorne (written before David Seymour was a minister) to an attempt to drive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Stephenson, Deputy Director, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Australian National University Newly published research has found clear evidence that openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer+ (LGBTIQ+) Australian politicians were disproportionately targeted with personal abuse on social media at the ...
Bisan From Gaza, whose call sign is "I am still alive" returns to Rafah, her home town.
Rafah City is the so called 'Red Line" that Biden warned Israel not to attack, or else. Netanyahu ignored Biden's warning, but promised the Biden administration and the world that Israel's assault on Rafah would be limited.
Bisan shows us what Netanyahu's 'limited' attack on Rafah looks like.
P.S. Bear in mind that Israel's attack on the Capital, Gaza City, was unlimited.
Is this not evidence of genocide?
Biggest funder of aid for Palestinians is the US, through USAID and UNRWA. Has been for decades.
So when Trump says "just clear the whole of Gaza" and relocate all 1.4 mil of them to other countries, it's serious.
Chances of this actually happening are still uncertain, but once the concept turns into a conference and into a plan, there's a new shape to the Middle East.
9/11 would look like child's play if Trump "clears Gaza".
Over a dozen large scale refugee camps in Syria, Jordan, and elsewhere already.
The moral question is which countries will take suffering Palestinians from wrecked Gaza in, and by the thousand?
EU? UK? NZ? AU? US? Anyone?
The Arab Spring is not dead.
There is a very real possibility that this fundamental pillar supporting Western domination of the Middle East could be kicked out,
If Jordan and Egypt dare go along with Trump's plan to relocate the people of Gaza, the Hashemite Royal Family of Jordan and military dictator Al Sisi of Egypt will be finished to quickly follow the Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad into the dustbin of history.
From CNN:
With the fall of neighbouring US backed ramparts to Israel, 140 years of Western domination of the Middle East will finally be over.
Tunisia has been an ally of the US since 1797. The writer you copy is a malcontent looking for a form of democracy that exists in zero Arab speaking countries.
The idea of "US domination of the Middle East" is just another pinkie left fantasy. The US has been consistently defeated in almost all wars it tried after Korea and quite ineffective at peace since Camp David four decades ago.
History repeats:
Many of the remaining 643 passengers on board the St. Louis were interned in concentration camps in Europe some managed to escape and go into hiding some others managed to survive years as slave labourers, more than a third of the passengers on board the St. Louis didn't survive the camps, murdered by the Nazis. and by the world's indifference.
Not much different to today.
Another reason why Palestinians will not leave Gaza, if you are going to be abused and murdered wherever you go, you might as well be abused and murdered at home.
Not sure about the shouty caps, but you'll probably be aware of what happened to every single Jewish settlement in an Arab speaking country since 1949.
The 'Shouty caps' as you call them were there by courtesy of the original copy.
As for what happened to the Jewish people in the Arab countries, or Nazi Germany for that matter, nothing justifies genocide, not even genocide.
No Jewish settlement, or Jews in Arab towns in the West Bank and Gaza d survived the arrival of Arab armies in 1948.
Most of the Jews living in the wider ME (around 1 million) were in Israel by 1949. And not because they had much choice. Their properties confiscated. This because Arab states responded to the failure to end the Jewish state when it formed in 1948 by regarding the new state as a catchment for all Jews in the ME.
There were 1.2M Palestinians in the mandate area (400,000 in the area awarded for a Jewish state) and only 160,000 Arabs in the state of Israel in 1949 (by this time Israel controlled 75% of Palestine). 240,000 from the area awarded for a Jewish state in 1947 being the known number of those refugees. 400,000 others from the territory won by Israel in the war. So over 600,000 Palestinian refugees.
This meant 160,000 in Israel and 400,000 Arabs were in Gaza and the West Bank were not refugees – just under half.
It will not be a shape conducive to US power in the region.
You've seen every enemy of Israel defeated in the last 6 months and not a single Arab state lifted a finger.
So don't try writing history yet.
Just as the natural world has physical limits the climate polluters cannot cross without devastating consequences.
The human world has political limits the imperialists cannot cross without devastating consequences.
Donald Trump is just about to discover those limits.
Mayor Radich of Dunedin needs a gymnastics gold medal for the speed of back-flip from protesting the scaled-back Dunedin Hospital to fulsome Ministerial support and telling the people of Otago to "give themselves a pat on the back" for getting what they wanted.
Same guy that opposed then opened George Street, opposed then supported Port Chalmers-Dunedin cycleway.
Vote Radich out in 2025.
Put another way with the ferries for example, cancel then have a wave of gratefulness when a viable solution is found.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/31/devils-in-the-detail-for-new-dunedin-hospital/?utm_source=Newsroom&utm_campaign=59f987b76a-Week+In+Review+01.02.2025&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71de5c4b35-59f987b76a-95522477&mc_cid=59f987b76a&mc_eid=88a3081e75
Josh Self has this excellent review the first half-year of Labour's new UK government: https://www.politics.co.uk/year-in-review/2024/12/24/year-in-review-part-two-the-unsettled-dawn-of-keir-starmer/
Self's political analysis is insightful even if his style is sufficiently florid to be likely to induce turbulent feelings in readers who have done white-water rafting. If you want to know the saga of Starmers initial learning curve, prepare to be bounced around!
100% insider baseball analysis and 0% analysis of change to country.
Yeah but due to having to focus his essay on the topic he chose. There's an interesting reciprocal trend evident in the graphic onsite here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
Labour has been tanking since elected (due to all them factors he reported) but their trend is levelling out. Reform has been pulling conservatives out of the Tories, and the overall trend is a fairly even 3-way split…
Marina Hyde rips into AI bros, Sam Altman of ChatGPT especially, in her very witty way.
'For us little people, the choice seems to be between being data-jacked and screwed over by the undemocratic Chinese, or being data-jacked and screwed over by the post-democratic tech bros.'
IMO Beijing is having a laugh here as none of the deepseek claims are proven yet.
But look what they did to the share values and observe the tiff between musk and altman as tech bros aren't on the same page.
See my comment #10 at std 29-01.
Downloading and using DeepSeek as a stand-alone on closed system data is already being done. The value is not in the large language model part, but in the open-source machine-learning software. No data-scraping involved.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360566139/details-proposal-build-1000-home-green-community-near-napier-made-public
These people should have mmmm moment. Unfortunately we have government of morons that a opening the door to long slow car wreck instead of guiding it's people to safer ground.
How close is it to the Gabrielle floodplain?
Not sure bit it reads it's all below sealeval prone to liquidation (christchurch anyone) but it's all good there going to dig wetlands and use that soil to raise it, wonder what the insurance companies think?
It is part of the large area raised by the HB earthquake in 1931. The Landcorp farm mentioned used to, in days gone by, have pumps going 24/7 to keep the water at bay so farming could take place. Will the new subdivision keep these on? Napier CC already has a less than stellar reputation with the canal boat subdivisions on similarly low lying land near Awatoto.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/weather-news/300808002/watch-three-days-of-carnage-as-cyclone-gabrielle-hits-north-island
Sounds like similar land to Crab Farm.
From the side bar, an excellent piece from Mountain Tui updating on the Curia Market Research suspension. I was interested in their conclusions upholding the complaint about the gender affirming treatment poll commissioned (and written) by Family First:
A brutal assessment by RANZ of Farrar's practices and integrity, going so far as to say he could bring the entire industry into disrepute.
* I would have thought the cases highlighted in MT's article where RANZ has upheld complaints against Farrar could easily fall under the definition of push polling particularly as industry bodies appear to be responding to increasingly politically motivated but subtle changes in practice by participants.
Keep up the good work, MT, it's only with this sort of pressure the media will begin to stop and ask questions about Farrar's corrupt practices, which then feeds through to the public.
Identity transformation can be physically painful too: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/31/entertainment/pete-davidson-burning-tattoos-off/index.html
So he's keeping editorial control of his public image, and using make it up as you go along as his operational strategy. It's an evolutionary strategy for reconfiguring yourself within your social niche. The Picts ruled Scotland for a millennium prior to the Scots, and they wore body tattoos according to Julius Caesar in the history he wrote, fought naked and were beaten by the Roman using short swords according to Before Scotland: A Prehistory. The long Pictish sword worked best for free-range warriors.
Roman armour may have had a causal influence too, one suspects. When I was a kid only sailors had tattoos, so we've been watching antique tribal signalling re-emerge within younger generations. If only someone would tell them that ancient indigenous tribes were, & most surviving are, natural equity-based economies.
I have a sneaking feeling Trump is leading up to killing off the full US$60b of USAID and foreign aid from Biden.
That would be a full humanitarian crisis.
Fk soft diplomacy. There'll be plenty of back-turning on the US after this. Not to mention Canada and Mexico by-passing US markets after tariffs are imposed this weekend. Trump shakes the world economy, but the outcome may not be what he thinks.
All those countries aren't going to replace $60b.
And the poor countries will certainly miss it.
Option 1. Nationalise the local holdings of US/first world companies.
Option 2. Turn to China or Bill Gates for a loan.
Option 3. Default on debts to the first world/World Bank.
Option 4. Strengthen ties with neighbouring countries to form a strong political and financial bloc.
Option 5. Halt arms buying.
Remember what Iceland did to rebuild when its economy collapsed in 2008, as an example.
As an aside, a lot of aid is actually the US govt buying US goods and shipping them. The local US economy may inadvertantly take a hit…own goal.
I worked with USAID people in Indonesia. Much of that 60 billion is paid to Americans working for USAID as generous salaries and per diem. Effectively much of the 60 billion "aid" stays in America in other words
There will be a very strong lobby by these people to keep their jobs and projects going.
What removing 'gender ideology' really means: NPR reports that US government sites have been censored, with the Office of Personnel Management ordering government agencies to "Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology" ', along with a corresponding memo on removal of inclusion and diversity initiatives.
'basic information had disappeared from government websites. The CDC's HIV surveillance data disappeared… the CDC's Youth Risk Survey data is no longer accessible…
The OPM says it did this ' " as part of the efforts to defend women and uphold the truth of biological sex against the radical claims of gender activists" '
Government agencies must also review all their funding and remove support for anything to do with "gender ideology" or diversity and inclusiveness.
And I bet many thought it was just about trans women. First they came…for anyone different, and those aupporting them.
Plus any government material to do with climate change.
'United States Forest Service website for key resources, research and adaptation tools – including those that provide vital context and vulnerability assessments for wildfires – had gone dark'
Gender Critical Feminists knew what would happen and have been pushing back against it for a long time. This is why the split on the left has been so bad, GCFs were outnumbered by the conservatives who co-opted the issues and made them their own, and no support from the liberal left.
Many women who were previously liberal won't care that much. The left has underestimated just how pissed off so many women are. If you talk with those women, you will find that many might regret some of the other loses but believe that losing women's sex based rights is far worse. It would have been so much better if there had been middle ground. It's not the GC side that created No Debate. And now here we are.
Missing the point there, weka. Womens' rights are already bundled in there with the 'protection of women' in the anti-diversity push. The transphobia was just window-dressing. Trumo has come for all diversity initiatives at once.
The Federal web page for the Vera Rubin Observatory has already been rewritten to remove mention of her strong advocacy for women in science.
See Shaun, in 2022. They deconstruct of the RW links of the UK anti-trans people associated with Rowling.
And this piece shows the anti-trans and right-wing bias of Hilary Cass who,
'consulted with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis' expert on trans healthcare, Patrick Hunter of the Catholic Medical Association. Hunter sought to find ways to limit trans rights and medical care in the state of Florida…Hunter, meanwhile, is part of a network of anti-trans people who seek to roll back gains for LGBT citizens'
'The York Review is cited over 75 times in the Cass report. Its methodology was designed by Tilly Langton, who has promoted conversion therapy resists any form of transitioning [for adults] and holds trans identities in suspicion.';
And this EU document shows just how much anti-gender funding in the EU pushes to roll back womens' reproductive rights and LGBT initiatives.
'
Donald Trump is about to discover the limits of imperialism.
TV7 Israel News
The King of Jordan and the dictator of Egypt could take the refugees and face revolution, or they could let Trump impose tariffs and ruin their economy, like the king or the dictator would care, as long as they can blame Trump for the people's suffering they should be OK.
I suppose Trump could use tens of $billions of US dollars to bribe Al Sisi and King Abdullah to accept the Palestinians from Gaza,..
But these potentates, generals and Royal family members and the King are just as likely to divvy up the money between them, up-sticks to Argentina or Monaco, taking the money with them, than use the money to oppress their own people on America's behalf.
Since trumps going to pick up his ball and shout my rules or no game why doesn't the rest of the world just go fuck you you nut job and create a game the USA can watch from the next cul-de-sac.
Go right ahead.
I think you are vastly under-estimating just how much the US contributes to the UN and other international support organizations.
Look at WHO funding, for example:
https://www.statista.com/chart/33800/top-contributors-to-the-world-health-organization/
Venezuela seems a prime candidate for Trump target: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2025/1/27/a-revolving-door-for-political-prisoners-venezuelan-families-cry-foul
Maduro's fake election results have worked so far but if T moves into state detoxification operations he won't last much longer.
Only reason for going into Venezuela, where conditions haven't been helped by US trade embargos, would be for its nationalised control of 25% of the world's untapped oil resources. Iraq 2.0. Yes, Trump, go for it. We believe it would be another massive strike by the US for freedom and democracy, because you say so.
I do not support the mistreatment of the prisoners, and aljazeera is no trump-pet. But so many countries around the world do this (saudis, anyone?) without threat of US action.
Whereas the USA warped itself from foreign trade dependent to oil-independent via the fracking tech revolution, it would get an advantage from establishing democracy instead of Maduro. Granted that US establishments of democracy in foreign countries have been persistently more sham than real! Nonetheless there's a remote possibility the yanks could get it right for a change.
Why would I be that optimistic? T is now ruled by legacy-planning. His ego requires him to go down in history as a great president. He will do whatever he thinks is necessary to achieve that outcome. Doesn't matter how unrealistic it seems to us, the guy is serious about his intent. And yes, selective morality is always the norm in geopolitics (due to the UN Security Council veto).
Trump has already generated not just a can of worms, but tens of worm-cans, both internally and internationally. There won't be enough hours in his day, or his term to 'create a legacy' in the traditional sense. He's embraced the 'Just break it!' mantra of the tech bros.
I thought Winston Peters might use the 2017 term to ‘create a legacy’. It was a silly idea to apply to a mid-tier narcisist like Winnie. So expecting similar of Trump is even sillier.
Could be. They are both also nationalist, which is conditioned by the global security niche (geopolitics). Winston is dependent on that provided by the US & T is the provider or not. So T has the initiative to create the future.
The traditional notion of manifest destiny comes to mind in contemporary context: heroic endeavour, a lure T is unlikely to resist. I agree his loose cannoning is sufficiently enterprising thus far to keep him fairly busy coping with consequences and he seems shrewd enough to learn how to adapt to control pressures but he also has a natural tendency to be self-defeating.
He intends to drive the control system forward but any system is inherently indeterminant so chances are fate will present random stuff that changes his trajectory & tests his adaptiveness in the Darwinian sense.
US refineries need heavy "sour" crude, especially to make diesel. US oil comes from shale and is light "sweet" oil. If they're cut off from Canadian tar sands and are in a similar situation with Mexico, they're probably going to have to look to Venezuela, which could get spicy as Iranian companies rebuilt and run Venezuela's oil and gas infrastructure.
The UN should hold an emergency General Assembly meeting as to a discussion of the future of the WTO.
The USA needs to be removed from the WTO (1994 out of GATT) and for it to be reformed and possibly renamed ITO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Trade_Organization
And the other countries are going to double or triple their contributions – to make up for the loss in funding?
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/secre_e/budget_e/budget2024_member_contribution_e.pdf
Don't see it happening myself…..
Shooting the goose whose golden eggs are a major contributor to the bottom line, strikes me as seriously short-sighted.
It only contributes $23M – 10% OF THE TOTAL.
So, are the other countries prepared to increase their contributions to make up the difference? It seems…. unlikely…..
Especially with the rise in right-wing (and potentially isolationist) regimes in many of the larger contributers. Germany for example. And, potentially Canada, after the coming election.
The country which may well increase contributions is China – and it's been very clear that their contributions also come with strings attached.
Would that make you happier? Instead of a US dominated world trade, we had a China dominated one?
Note the Pentecostal hate for New Zealand, unless it is lockstep with their religion.
https://x.com/BrianTamakiNZ/status/1885598674337882616