"Like most of the world's government's, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's administration has neither condemned nor endorsed the US drone strike which killed Soleimani, only calling for a de-escalation of hostilities. Jon Stevenson, a New Zealand journalist who has spent years covering conflict and politics in the Middle East, felt that was not enough. "I am concerned that there has been a lack not just of political leadership but of moral leadership by Western politicians. They need to step up now and make it clear to the Trump administration that they're very concerned," he said." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406940/iran-s-embassy-calls-on-nz-to-promote-peace-and-security
I've been dismayed by the lack of western moral leadership since the Nixon era, so I agree with Jon. I also agree with the call from the Iranian embassy.
As regards neither condemning nor condoning the drone strike, I'm agnostic. If the general was indeed about to launch terrorist strikes, Trump was right to take him out. Trouble is, we only have Trump's word for that. Okay, he seems to have gotten Putin on board, which suggests that the intelligence shared was persuasive. Even so, unless Trump shares it with Ardern & Peters he can't complain if they stand on the sidelines watching.
Any helpful foreign policy initiative would have to direct Iran onto the path of peaceful coexistence – a fact that the Iranian embassy would do well to note. Provocation works both ways, and denuclearising has to be real, not fake…
Or, do you mean that Putin recognises that it is not in Russia's interests , or that of most of the world , to have an all out war in that region, and that de escalation is better than further insanity?
Less than a year ago Iran was declared to be compliant with the terms of the JCPOA treaty
What evidence are you aware of(I don't mean the unspecified claims of certain "intelligence" reports) that he was engaged in conspiracies to attack the US?
Was Suleimani's support of the Palestinians enough to declare him a terrorist?
I know who I think are the world's biggest terrorists.
Haven't had a chance to examine your links yet. It's a moot topic and I agree that Trump ought to disclose his evidence re the general's terrorist organising. At that top level of geopolitics the tradition is to do so only with other relevant leaders and intelligence chiefs. Sharing that info with the public is routinely avoided.
I read your OM comment and your source thoroughly.No mention of Suleiman in that BBC source
Are you assuming rather than stating that intelligence prior to the Suleiman killing was shared and discussed with Putin ?
I have come across no such report .
The tradition of secret intelligence reports has been widely used in the past for very dodgy purposes and I wouldnt put much store by it. Remember Key and his secret advice about imminent jihadist threats to justify further surveillance .Lying bastards, and we shouldn't fall for it every time.
It is not unusual for Russia and the US to share intelligence re terrorism
Famously Russia attempted to warn Obama about the Tsarnaev brothers in 2013
We read our own inferences into news reports. BBC tells us about the understanding developed between Trump & Putin in regard to intelligence sharing and looming terrorist attacks. BBC tells us they talked on the phone a few days before the assassination. Doesn't tell us why or what about. So we can deduce that from what promptly happened.
A possible scenario: "Hey Putin, I'm about to take out some Iranian general who is organising a terrorist attack. It'll make me look like a terrorist too, goddam it, but life ain't a bowl of peaches." "Bugger! He may be Shia, but he's been useful. Give me the details of what he was planning."
Do you see the BBC more or less of a master at directing opinion and sly suggestions or any less intent on 'crafting' "news" than all the other big media players?
It is possible that everyone, including the Iranian government, are actually pleased to see the end of Suleiman. He, as part of the Revolutionary Guards, essentially was operating a parallel Iranian foreign policy to that of the Iranian government, a much more aggressive policy than the government would really like. That was probably complicating things for all the relevant governments with influence in the region, including Russia.
If the Iranian response is as limited as at present, it would indicate that the Iranians are not going to do that much to "avenge" Suleiman. To me that shows they want to put his form of foreign policy behind them.
This is all sheer speculation on my part, but from what I read, a lot of Iranians in government would like to see the Revolutionary Guards influence, both within and without Iran, curtailed. They have generally made life for the government of Iran, in the conventional sense of governing, a lot more difficult than it otherwise would be.
Wheels within wheels. Wayne's point is a good one. Roman history informs us that the inconvenience of successful military leaders often had emperors rearranging the chess board. Younger folk would get the point from Game of Thrones too.
Had a history of Mossad on my bookshelf for a few years ("Every Spy a Prince", I think). The Israelis had the model of factions within revolutionary Iran all competing together, extremists and moderates, building that model from a couple of defectors and agents.
That basically directed their foreign policy to Iran for a couple of decades. Dunno about now.
Good one. To be honest, it's never occurred to me to go looking for a history of Mossad. But I did get an eye-opening glimpse into that recently, courtesy of a book from the New Plymouth library by an investigative journalist who had compiled all the evidence that Mossad organised 9/11 using Arab stooges. He even had quotes from retirees that documented the origin of the scenario back around '79.
I paid attention to the Iran situation in the early years of the revolution. I remember learning how the mullahs eliminated the leftists. I was somewhat sympathetic to them from a nationalist perspective (inasmuch as the CIA took out Mossadegh in '53) but their ruthlessness proved they were merely fundamentalists so I got bored & ignored them after that.
If they were smart, they'd liberalise by allowing the secular option to become available to Iranians. The racist regime in South Africa yielded to the future, as did the communists, but no, these turkeys still want to pretend that it's the 7th century AD.
Interesting commentary from the New Yorker, which suggests Suleimani was doing the bidding of the Iranian govt, rather than forming his own separate power base
I suspect that Wayne had the Stalin model in mind. No apparent independent power base via deliberate effort towards creating that, but a de facto one produced by results, mana, reputation.
Pragmatists use levers that are available. The cleverest learn from experience that operating in the middle between powers that be, serving both sides ad hoc, in accord with what the situation requires, catalyses necessary progress. Partisans render themselves impotent by painting themselves into their corner.
Assad is Alawite. "Alawite doctrine incorporates Islamic, Gnostic, neo-Platonic, Christian and other elements and has, therefore, been described as syncretic." [Wikipedia] So the Shia orthodoxy can only perform regional liaison via a competent independent player. A general in the revolutionary guard with a track record of military success has the mana to do such liaison. The dead one had fought the Taliban with success, so Putin & Assad valued his expertise.
People I've talked to who have family in Iran, say the biggest hand up the Revolutionary Guards got was the sanctions imposed by the US. In that it not only has it made them more powerful in a political sense, but in economic terms as well.
So if we really want to curtail the Revolutionary Guards, then sanctions need to be looked at.
Suleiman was a revered and enormously popular person and will be a martyr, at least in the eyes of his many followers. This may not sit well with the theocratic leadership (government) but it won’t necessarily stop his followers from trying to avenge him. There are too many factions and splinter groups and it is not the most cohesive of societies.
My hypothesis will be tested by the extent of the overall reaction by Iran in the coming weeks.
Icognitio makes the point that the various elements who were Suleiman's loyal supporters will undertake numerous terrorist type actions against US interests. That is possible. But if that gets out of hand, the Iranian government will try to curtail it.
As for the scale of support, even if only 10% of Iranians supported the Revolutionary Guards, that is still 10 million people. Many of the other 90% fear the Guards, who have for decades been a repressive and violent faction within Iran. They have killed literally tens of thousands of Iranians.
However, I think it is already clear that the Iranian government is trying to limit the scale of reaction. No doubt there is intense diplomacy going on, particularly with various European nations.
Actually, I did not specify the type(s) of revenge. It is quite telling that you made that assumption. Many seem to look down on this ‘enemy’ as if they are some backwards barbarians stuck in the 7th century AD. It might explain the level of flippancy in and of their comments.
Perhaps they proved they aren't barbarians by getting revenge in a non-violent manner? I know, too great a break with tradition to be feasible, but it seems to have happened in the rocket attack.
Then again, the Iranian regime is apparently telling its people that they killed 80 American terrorists. Do you believe them?
You think describing America as the Great Satan is a form of contemporary sophistication?? Focus on the Great Satan successfully distracts everyone's attention from all the little Satans. Seems rather discriminatory! 😉 But did you have another form of revenge in mind?
Not your usual insightful analysis but more flippancy.
Do I base my whole thinking on one rocket attack and an alleged 80 casualties?
You think, talk, and act as a Westerner without religion, myths, symbols, and heroes. Your only tool is your cool rationality. No wonder you are puzzled, but don’t worry, you are not alone.
We can certainly hope Iran will choose to turn away from escalation. But Iran has form for liking their revenge served cold with a side of plausible deniability.
Like Hezbollah, Iran has appeared to attack soft targets thousands of miles from its borders. In 2012 Khameini vowed to “punish the perpetrators” of a hit against an Iranian nuclear chemist, the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist Israel was believed to have assassinated over a two-year span. Amid fears of retaliation in Israel or on U.S. soil, attacks instead took place as far afield as Georgia, India, and Thailand—where a series of bomb blasts wounded nine Israeli diplomats—and in Bulgaria, where another explosion killed five Israeli tourists, the Wall Street Journal reports. Iran has denied that it perpetrated any of the bombings.
This is very long and not the easiest style but it's well worth reading and I think you have the stamina for it .It gives a different perspective on Suleimani , one that is valuable as a counterpoint to the "official " view
I've cited his analysis on other topics in the past here once or twice: he's always worth reading. This one is sufficiently deep that a second reading may be required, for more leisurely contemplation, and I admit to just scanning some paragraphs.
His problem as a communicator in this article is that of coming to a point. It's as if he knows there's one there somewhere but he can't quite crystallise it. Ain't enough to bemoan the banalities of US foreign policy, or the ham-fisted use of US military force. We learnt that when LBJ was president in the 1960s, and have had to be reminded by every president since for reasons that remain obscure!
"It may, perhaps, be a bit of a stretch to suggest that he wanted peace with the Americans, but there is strong evidence in support of his actively working towards mutually-beneficial co-operation with his latter-day fatal adversary where appropriate and where this could actually be in some measure attained."
If so, then we must draw the conclusion that he wasn't serious enough to make it obvious to US leaders and other relevant world leaders. Perhaps because his own leaders prevented him doing so! Religious nutters tend to be useless at geopolitics.
We've all become inured to this kind of thing. It's always "too expensive" or "we're working on it" or "it's very difficult", but the result is the same and the longer it goes on the more entrenched as nornal and acceptable it becomes. Even discussion about the cause of the problem is limited to whether the correct "need score" was applied.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal grows, with whistleblower Brittany Kaiser releasing further internal documents from Cambridge Analytica.
Very good interviews on on Democracy Now! yesterday. "“The Great Hack”: Big Data Firms Helped Sway the 2016 Election. Could It Happen Again in 2020?" and a must watch for anyone concerned about 'meddling in elections'
This is the big story – forget Russia, Comey, Hillary, DNC. All bit players, CA would have to be the big one.
Labour’s KiwiBuild programme will build 100,000 high quality, affordable homes over 10 years, with 50% of them in Auckland. Standalone houses in Auckland will cost $500,000 to $600,000, with apartments and townhouses under $500,000. Outside Auckland, houses will range from $300,000 to $500,000.
We will be dropping the target of 100,000 houses over ten years. Instead of the target, we will focus on building as many homes as we can, as fast as we can, in the right places.
A fresh attack has been launched at Baghdad, with rockets falling near the US embassy in Iraq.
Iraqi military officials have confirmed to AAP that two rockets have fallen inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions.
Stalin, who sent millions to Gulag camps, has never been more popular in Russia. 70% of Russians say they approve of his legacy.
This is the result of a Kremlin campaign, spearheaded by Vladimir Putin, to rewrite Soviet history.
The Generation Gulag project started with a conversation between Coda journalists @antelava & @katia_patin. They wanted to hear from the eyewitnesses of Soviet authoritarianism about what it’s like to see their past being rewritten.
In Russia, authorities have imprisoned prominent Gulag historians and forced Gulag museums to register as “foreign agents.” Last year in southern Russia, police officers dressed up in KGB uniforms — in celebration of the Soviet “heroes” who rounded up millions of Russians.
Almost half of young Russians say they have never heard of the Stalin-era purges, known as the Great Terror.
Olga Shirokaya’s father was arrested and executed at the height of the purge in 1938. In a second wave of mass arrests, Olga was sent to a camp in 1950:
Olga’s Shirokaya was a child when Stalin’s purges reached a fever-pitch. It was 1938. Her father was arrested and executed. Twelve years later, Olga, now a young woman, was sent to the camps herself. The KGB accused her of “self-indoctrination.”
As an infant, ballet dancer Azari Plesetsky was sent to a special Gulag camp for the wives and children of Stalin’s “enemies of the people.”
“The most unpleasant and shameful part is that many people today try to forget about these wounds and not reopen them. But we must reopen them,” Azari Plesetsky told our journalist @oksanabaulina
Russian authorities aren’t invested in coming to terms with the horror of the Gulag. Instead, “they want it to become part of the tapestry of the past that has no special significance, no special meaning and no special lessons,” said author @anneapplebaum
Distorting the past is serving regimes around the world. As part of our disinformation coverage, we’re tracking how governments do it.
Here, @isocockerell looks at how China tried to re-engineer the history of Muslims in the country.
In the next few weeks, we will share the stories and the messages Gulag survivors have for us about our era.
But we don’t want to stop here. Share your own family’s story from the Gulag using the hashtag #GenerationGulag
To #stayonthestory of rewriting history, matters of disinformation, and more, subscribe to our newsletter now: eepurl.com/c7_NSz
"But it got crazier still. Enter J K Rowling, the author, who expressed support for Forstater on Twitter. At this point the Twitterati decided Rowling was a far juicier target than Forstater, and turned on her like a swarm of angry wasps."
"The Forstater-Rowling story encapsulated two of last year's dominant themes: the neo-Marxist Left's intolerance of dissent, and the crucial role of the ironically misnamed "social" media in howling down anyone who dares to question approved ideology."
"It also highlighted the sheer aggressiveness of minority-group activists in attacking anyone who challenges them. The standard tactic is to demand that the dissenter be sacked, regardless of whether their personal views have any bearing on their ability to do their job."
Stuff's cultural analyst wonders if the left learnt anything in 2019. Dunno why. People learn by themselves most of the time. They only do it collectively at school or university. Not all leftists are pc drones, so he's generalising – putting up a straw man to wave at Stuff readers under the false assumption that they will be impressed.
"The so-called "bathroom battles" are evolving into a key issue in the American culture wars." It could be resolved by creating a third category, neither male nor female. Public toilets with the third option wearing the sign Whatever…
Whats funny to me is that JK Rowling was the wokest of woke celebrities, remaining in Europe check, bring in the refugees double check, declaring Dumbledore to be gay (after the books were sold of course) triple check, announcing that Hermione was never specified as white (ignoring all the official illustrations, being described as going very brown in the sun and turning white) quadruple check
Yet supporting a (oops nealy forgot to add it) cis-gendered woman and suddenly its all over in the blink of eye
Why these celebrities continue to pander to nutbars on twitter is beyond me
Why these celebrities continue to pander to nutbars on twitter is beyond me
Mr du Fresne muttered something about “freedom of expression” but apparently the Left has been taken over and is dominated by a fringe of “nutbars” whose “aim is to intimidate people into silence” (regardless of whether they are Left or Right).
Mr du Fresne’s tacit concern is that it will lose the Left votes; he reminds me of a commenter here
I'm not interested in votes as much as the idea that celebrities (especially extremely wealthy ones) pander to groups that just seem to be waiting for them to stumble so they can tear them down
Maybe subconscious feelings of guilt over just how much money they have so they feel a need to be punished for it…
"The report sets out the details of Ross’s allegations about the Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Society (NZ) Ltd. Government members are concerned about the circumstances surrounding the involvement of a which is “owned by a China-based entity and controlled by a Chinese foreign national. “ We also note that Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd carries out the business of exporting horses to China from New Zealand,” the report says."
“Government members believe it is noteworthy that a former Minister (alleged to be Todd McClay) less than a year before the donation was received, met with the founder of Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd, Mr Lang Lin, in China in July 2016. The former Minister has been quoted in the media as saying the local electorate meeting was where Mr Lang indicated “that Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd would like to support the National Party”.”
Since the invasion is by inner Mongolians, not outer, we can expect a more civilised outcome. So is it all about racing, or pet food? If the former, Winston may have perceived the threat. Although one of the Mongol companies wants to back the Nats, the other may be in talks with Winnie, in the hope of supporting the govt. Capitalists usually fund both sides to create a win/win outcome no matter what happens. The Mongols may be demonstrating that they know how to play the game.
…and you hoover up government subsidies in the process
The Herald reported on Wednesday that the 21-year-old fourth year student from China who is pursuing a double degree had her enrolment terminated for not telling the university about the change in her mental condition.
She was allegedly raped at an Auckland mental health unit in late October and tried to take her own life a month later.
"F**k what an utter lack of compassion and decency," one said on Facebook.
Another said: "The University of Auckland all you needed to do was let the girl have a damn break cos LORD KNOWS the pressure of university can mess with your mental health.
"Expulsion seems pretty extreme. Could've given her some time to get better and once she felt fit, return to her studies. From my understanding, this girl's family have spent upward of $100k sending their daughter to your school so WASSUP?"
A simple matter of key performance indicators. The previous government imposed KPIs on universities relating to student completion rates, the current government hasn't removed them, so the managerialists running the universities have a very strong incentive to assess whether an individual student is an asset or a liability from a KPI perspective, and act accordingly. This student had fallen into the "liability" category, hence the expulsion. People work to the KPIs they're given, with consequences that are often unintended by the people imposing the KPIs.
Another NZ university demonstrating its committment to "pastoral care". Been a bit of that over the last year or so.
PM is right – completion rates are a KPI. Brought in because when universities became mass education, they were a relatively safe haven from WINZ harrassment about perennial unemployment because uni funding was "bums on seats", period. So the same student would take the same paper many, many times because there was no such thing as "academic requirements". If you failed, it didn't affect your ability to enrol again next year.
" Kiwis should make a New Year’s resolution to move their bank accounts to Kiwibank, or one of the other wholly owned New Zealand banks, said Social Credit Leader Chris Leitch "
The big four Aussie owned banks dragged over $6 billion in profit out of the back pockets of Kiwis last year – four times more profit than the 10 largest companies on the NZ Stock Exchange.
Fair enough…I take it that you feel this way because the big 4 banks are making a profit operating in NZ. If customers move to Kiwbank, do you want Kiwibank make a profit out of the back pockets of their customers?
"Had even a quarter of that massive profit gone instead to Kiwibank, through Kiwis having moved their accounts last year, dividends to the Government would have provided over $1.5 billion dollars extra for health care and education"
Who would disagree with more money for the essential services kiwis want too see supported instead of the profits used too benefit the Australian economy.
"On Tuesday, Esper had said that the "exquisite intelligence" on the threat posed by Soleimani that drove the US military to target him in a drone strike would be shared only with the Gang of Eight — a group of eight lawmakers made up of congressional leaders from both parties as well as the Intelligence Committee chairs — saying "most Members (of Congress) will not have access to that.""
So those two guys were part of the eight? If so, the disclosure seems to have failed to impress them as adequate. Is this just a grey area of the constitution? President thinks he can assassinate as long as he doesn't declare war (because only congress can)?
No, neither of them are on the "gang of eight" for intelligence. Those are McTurtle and Schumer (party leaders in the Senate), McCarthy and Pelosi (party leaders in the House), Burr and Warner (Repug chair on Dem vice-chair on Senate intelligence committee), Schiff and Nunes (Dem chair and Repug ranking member on the House intelligence committee).
In general terms, I think there's very little patience for the "we have the intelligence but we can't tell it to you, just trust us" line. The Iraq WMD debacle probably removed trust for that kind of line for any president, let alone the current administration that lies much more frequently than it says anything resembling truth.
Speaking of waves of the future, Boris Johnson’s resounding victory in Britain’s general election earlier this month marks another significant change I’ve been waiting to see. The change in question isn’t the Conservative victory—the Tories won the last four British elections, after all—but the strategy Johnson used to deal out a savage defeat to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, which was exactly the same strategy Donald Trump used to win his come-from-behind victory in 2016. Like Trump, Johnson realized that his nation’s leftward party had abandoned its working class voters in order to pander to the comfortable classes. He went to the working class voters Labour had abandoned and spoke to them about the issues that concerned them—above all, an end to the open borders and free trade agreements that drove down working class wages in order to boost middle class salaries and investment class profits—and found them more than willing to listen.
To judge from his comments at the time, Trump stumbled onto that strategy by accident, and it took him a while to figure out what was happening and how to keep doing it. Johnson, with three years of hindsight to figure that out, didn’t have to rely on trial and error. His campaign was admirably precise; it focused on the issues that mattered to working class Britons—above all, on drawing a line under the delaying tactics of the Remainer minority and giving Britain the Brexit it voted for. When the other parties protested “But what about the issues that matter to the comfortable classes?” he rolled his eyes and kept on talking about Brexit.
Now he’s sitting comfortably in No. 10 with a bigger majority than Margaret Thatcher had, and he’s doubling down on the same strategy; discarding the austerity policies (austerity for the poor, that is, and kleptocracy for the rich) that came in with Thatcher, and gearing up to reorient Britain’s social welfare policies toward providing benefits directly to the poor and away from providing well-paying government jobs to the middle class. While plenty of pundits and media personalities are still busy duplicating the mistake of the Democrats over here, and doing their level best not to learn the obvious lessons of their loss, a significant number of writers and thinkers—some of them within the Labour fold—have grasped the implications of the election and begun to talk about it."
It does seem to be something afflicting english speaking left wing parties. In NZ Labour does appear to be more interested in the middle class leaving the working class wide open to be scooped up (will Bridges step up to take them or will the Greens be able to do it) but it does ask the question as to why its happening, why are left wing parties more interested in the middle class and academics than the working class
Speaking of who was the last Labour MP not to be university educated or from the middle class?
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I’m on the London Overground watching what the phones people are holding are doing to their faces: The man-bun guy who could not be less impressed by what he's seeing but cannot stop reading; the woman who's impatient for a response; the one who’s frowning; the one who’s puzzled; the ...
You don't have no prescriptionYou don't have to take no pillsYou don't have no prescriptionAnd baby don't have to take no pillsIf you come to see meDoctor Brown will cure your ills.Songwriters: Waymon Glasco.Dr Luxon. Image: David and Grok.First, they came for the Bottom FeedersAnd I did not speak outBecause ...
The Health Minister says the striking doctors already “well remunerated,” and are “walking away from” and “hurting” their patients. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16:Simeon Brown has attacked1 doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even ...
The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries. This is the finding of a new ...
Hi,When Trump raised tariffs against China to 145%, he destined many small businesses to annihilation. The Daily podcast captured the mass chaos by zooming in and talking to one person, Beth Benike, a small-business owner who will likely lose her home very soon.She pointed out that no, she wasn’t surprised ...
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Illustration credit: Jonathan McHugh (New Statesman)The other day, a subscriber said they were unsubscribing because they needed “some good news”.I empathised. Don’t we all.I skimmed a NZME article about the impacts of tariffs this morning with analysis from Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr. Kerr, their Chief Economist, suggested another recession is the ...
Let’s assume, as prudence demands we assume, that the United States will not at any predictable time go back to being its old, reliable self. This means its allies must be prepared indefinitely to lean ...
Over the last three rather tumultuous US trade policy weeks, I’ve read these four books. I started with Irwin (whose book had sat on my pile for years, consulted from time to time but not read) in a week of lots of flights and hanging around airports/hotels, and then one ...
Indonesia could do without an increase in military spending that the Ministry of Defence is proposing. The country has more pressing issues, including public welfare and human rights. Moreover, the transparency and accountability to justify ...
Former Hutt City councillor Chris Milne has slithered back into the spotlight, not as a principled dissenter, but as a vindictive puppeteer of digital venom. The revelations from a recent court case paint a damning portrait of a man whose departure from Hutt City Council in 2022 was merely the ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
The economy is not doing what it was supposed to when PM Christopher Luxon said in January it was ‘going for growth.’ Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15:New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and ...
This is a guest post by Lewis Creed, managing editor of the University of Auckland student publication Craccum, which is currently running a campaign for a safer Symonds Street in the wake of a horrific recent crash.The post has two parts: 1) Craccum’s original call for safety (6 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff has published an opinion piece which makes the case for a different approach to economic development, as proposed in the CTU’s Aotearoa Reimagined programme. The number of people studying to become teachers has jumped after several years of low enrolment. The coalition has directed Health New ...
The growth of China’s AI industry gives it great influence over emerging technologies. That creates security risks for countries using those technologies. So, Australia must foster its own domestic AI industry to protect its interests. ...
Unfortunately we have another National Party government in power at the moment, and as a consequence, another economic dumpster fire taking hold. Inflation’s hurting Kiwis, and instead of providing relief, National is fiddling while wallets burn.Prime Minister Chris Luxon's response is a tired remix of tax cuts for the rich ...
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girlsWho do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveSongwriters: Damon Albarn / Graham Leslie Coxon / Alexander Rowntree David / Alexander James Steven.Last month, I wrote about the Birds and Bees being ...
Australia needs to reevaluate its security priorities and establish a more dynamic regulatory framework for cybersecurity. To advance in this area, it can learn from Britain’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which presents a compelling ...
Deputy PM Winston Peters likes nothing more than to portray himself as the only wise old head while everyone else is losing theirs. Yet this time, his “old master” routine isn’t working. What global trade is experiencing is more than the usual swings and roundabouts of market sentiment. President Donald ...
President Trump’s hopes of ending the war in Ukraine seemed more driven by ego than realistic analysis. Professor Vladimir Brovkin’s latest video above highlights the internal conflicts within the USA, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine, which are currently hindering peace talks and clarity. Brovkin pointed out major contradictions within ...
In the cesspool that is often New Zealand’s online political discourse, few figures wield their influence as destructively as Ani O’Brien. Masquerading as a champion of free speech and women’s rights, O’Brien’s campaigns are a masterclass in bad faith, built on a foundation of lies, selective outrage, and a knack ...
The international challenge confronting Australia today is unparalleled, at least since the 1940s. It requires what the late Brendan Sargeant, a defence analyst, called strategic imagination. We need more than shrewd economic manoeuvring and a ...
This year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a fully hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from April 27 to May 2. This year, I'll join the event on site in Vienna for the full week and I've already picked several sessions I plan ...
Here’s a book that looks not in at China but out from China. David Daokui Li’s China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict is a refreshing offering in that Li is very much ...
The New Zealand National Party has long mastered the art of crafting messaging that resonates with a large number of desperate, often white middle-class, voters. From their 2023 campaign mantra of “getting our country back on track” to promises of economic revival, safer streets, and better education, their rhetoric paints ...
A global contest of ideas is underway, and democracy as an ideal is at stake. Democracies must respond by lifting support for public service media with an international footprint. With the recent decision by the ...
It is almost six weeks since the shock announcement early on the afternoon of Wednesday 5 March that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, was resigning effective 31 March, and that in fact he had already left and an acting Governor was already in place. Orr had been ...
The PSA surveyed more than 900 of its members, with 55 percent of respondents saying AI is used at their place of work, despite most workers not being in trained in how to use the technology safely. Figures to be released on Thursday are expected to show inflation has risen ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
ANALYSIS:By Ben Bohane This week Cambodia marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the murderous Khmer Rouge, and Vietnam celebrates the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces in April 1975. They are being commemorated very differently; after all, there’s nothing to celebrate in Cambodia. ...
By Gujari Singh in Washington The Trump administration has issued a new executive order opening up vast swathes of protected ocean to commercial exploitation, including areas within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. It allows commercial fishing in areas long considered off-limits due to their ecological significance — despite ...
New Zealand commemoration lead John McLeod said a small team, including members of the NZDF and the NZ Embassy, assisted in the covering up of remains that were exposed. ...
This Bill is a great opportunity to improve our system of government across all levels. Let’s make sure we get it right and give the public a say on a simple and enduring solution. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney Tech giant Google has just suffered another legal blow in the United States, losing a landmark antitrust case. This follows on from the company’s loss in a similar case last ...
Paddy GowerAmanda Luxon. I mean what can you say. Easter is a good time to publish my latest reckons at Stuff because without exaggeration or making too much of things, Amanda Luxon walks among us like Jesus but probably with better shoes.Jesus healed. How good is that? It’s really good, ...
How can an afternoon be long when it starts at one o’clock and finishes at half past three? Beauden thought about that as he stood at the back of the classroom and looked through the large window to the upper grounds where his colleague Monty Spiers was taking a phys ed ...
Alex Casey delves into the enduring success of The Artist’s Way, a self-help book beloved by everyone from retirees to famous rappers. On the video call, my mum is gesticulating so wildly while recounting all her recent creative endeavours that she knocks her cup of tea over a work-in-progress jigsaw ...
Feijoa scholar Kate Evans reviews the dish everybody raves about at Metro’s 2024 restaurant of the year, Forest. People have been telling me I need to try the deep-fried feijoa dessert at Forest for about three years now. I’m embarrassed it took me this long, but it takes a lot ...
Chef, author and reality television judge Colin Fassnidge takes us through his life in television. Colin Fassnidge is a huge television fan. He watches every blockbuster TV series the moment it drops and scores every single show on his Instagram account. It’s a habit that recently caught the attention of ...
Why are shops on Parnell Road allowed to open on Easter Sunday? It’s all thanks to an obsolete rule from the 1970s that’s been ‘frozen in time’.Originally published in 2023.Under our current trading laws, most stores are required to stay closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday (along ...
Yael Shochat, chef-owner of Auckland restaurant Ima Cuisine, shares the recipe for her hot cross buns – regularly voted among the best in the city.Originally published in 2019.HOT CROSS BUNSMakes 12You may use equal weights of pre-ground spices, but you’ll get a much better flavour if ...
Gràinne Moss knows she can’t tackle the final leg of one of the world’s toughest swimming challenges alone.In her quest to complete the Oceans Seven marathon challenge, 38 years after she began, she’s enlisted the help of two remarkable women – one barely out of her teens, and the other ...
By Susana Leiataua, RNZ National presenter There are calls for greater transparency about what the HMNZS Manawanui was doing before it sank in Samoa last October — including whether the New Zealand warship was performing specific security for King Charles and Queen Camilla. The Manawanui grounded on the reef off ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased its lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put the party ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers ...
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The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) Haymitch’s Hunger Games. 2 Careless People: A ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased their lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put them ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers the ...
A new poem by Tusiata Avia. How to make a terrorist First make a whistling sound which is the sound of a bomb just before it lands on a house. Then make an exploding sound which is the sound of the bomb which kills a father, decapitates a mother, roasts ...
The top-rated Scrabble players in the country go head-to-head this Easter weekend. Watch games live from 9.30am on the stream below.How does it all work?The Masters is different to most Scrabble tournaments in that it’s invitational, open only to the top-rated players in the country. The ...
Books editor Claire Mabey appraises all the Austen-adapted films from 1990 onwards to separate the delightful from the duds.For the purists, read our ranking of Jane Austen’s novels here.It is a truth universally acknowledged that not everything is created equal. Since 1990 there have been 12 attempts to ...
To arrive through the heavy red door of Margot in Newtown is to be invited to the best dinner party in town, hosted by the best friends you haven’t yet made. Table Service is a column about food and hospitality in Wellington, written by Nick Iles.Hospitality is a term ...
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)A free copy of the author’s new memoir was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway contest. Readers were asked to share their feelings about Mau, a former broadcaster and one of the most powerful figures in the New Zealand #metoo ...
Analysis: The announcement last week that Colossal Biosciences in the USA had “de-extincted” the dire wolf, which was last seen 13,000 years ago, was reported worldwide.The three wolf pups generated equal parts fascination and widespread scientific criticism. But is this actually de-extinction, and what are the implications for the potential ...
We recommend the best – and longest – television series to watch this holiday weekend. As the Easter holiday weekend descends and the weather turns a little grim, many of us will turn to the trusty old television for comfort and entertainment. If you’re lucky, you’ll have some time over ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gode Bola, Lecturer in Hydrology, University of Kinshasa The April 2025 flooding disaster in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wasn’t just about intense rainfall. It was a symptom of recent land use change which has occurred rapidly in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton, now seriously on the back foot, has made an extraordinarily big “aspirational” commitment at the back end of this campaign. He says he wants to see a move to indexing personal income ...
Essay by Keith Rankin. Operation Gomorrah may have been the most cynical event of World War Two (WW2). Not only did the name fully convey the intent of the war crimes about to be committed, it, also represented the single biggest 24-hour murder toll for the European war that I ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Tietz, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design, UNSW Sydney A New South Wales Senate inquiry into public toilets is underway, looking into the provision, design and maintenance of public toilets across the state. Whenever I mention this inquiry, however, everyone nervously ...
Shrinking budgets and job insecurity means there are fewer opportunities for young journalists, and that’s bad news, especially in regional Australia, reports 360infoANALYSIS:By Jee Young Lee of the University of Canberra Australia risks losing a generation of young journalists, particularly in the regions where they face the closure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tessa Charles, Accelerator Physicist, Monash University An artist’s impression of the tunnel of the proposed Future Circular Collider.CERN The Large Hadron Collider has been responsible for astounding advances in physics: the discovery of the elusive, long-sought Higgs boson as well as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer McKay, Professor in Business Law, University of South Australia Parkova/Shutterstock Could someone take you to court over an agreement you made – or at least appeared to make – by sending a “👍”? Emojis can have more legal weight ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trang Nguyen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Global Food and Resources, University of Adelaide Stokkete, Shutterstock Australians waste around 7.68 million tonnes of food a year. This costs the economy an estimated A$36.6 billion and households up to $2,500 annually. ...
"Like most of the world's government's, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's administration has neither condemned nor endorsed the US drone strike which killed Soleimani, only calling for a de-escalation of hostilities. Jon Stevenson, a New Zealand journalist who has spent years covering conflict and politics in the Middle East, felt that was not enough. "I am concerned that there has been a lack not just of political leadership but of moral leadership by Western politicians. They need to step up now and make it clear to the Trump administration that they're very concerned," he said." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406940/iran-s-embassy-calls-on-nz-to-promote-peace-and-security
I've been dismayed by the lack of western moral leadership since the Nixon era, so I agree with Jon. I also agree with the call from the Iranian embassy.
As regards neither condemning nor condoning the drone strike, I'm agnostic. If the general was indeed about to launch terrorist strikes, Trump was right to take him out. Trouble is, we only have Trump's word for that. Okay, he seems to have gotten Putin on board, which suggests that the intelligence shared was persuasive. Even so, unless Trump shares it with Ardern & Peters he can't complain if they stand on the sidelines watching.
Any helpful foreign policy initiative would have to direct Iran onto the path of peaceful coexistence – a fact that the Iranian embassy would do well to note. Provocation works both ways, and denuclearising has to be real, not fake…
Hi Dennis
What information do you have that Putin is "on board" with the killing of Suleiman?
It was Suleiman , on a trip to Moscow, who persuaded Russia to enter the fray in Syria
Russia is a long time ally with Iran , and has decried the assassination of Suleiman
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/qasem-soleimani-killing-russia-warns-united-states-of-grave-consequences/
Or, do you mean that Putin recognises that it is not in Russia's interests , or that of most of the world , to have an all out war in that region, and that de escalation is better than further insanity?
Less than a year ago Iran was declared to be compliant with the terms of the JCPOA treaty
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-04/news/iaea-says-iran-abiding-nuclear-deal
The US withdrew from this treaty a month later .For what reason, if not provocation?
Suleiman worked with the US against the Taliban, and was hugely successful in defeating ISIS
When assassinated, he was on a diplomatic mission seeking to ease hostilities between Saudi, Iran and Iraq
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/01/06/soleimani-peace-mission-assassinated-trump-lie-imminent-attacks/
What evidence are you aware of(I don't mean the unspecified claims of certain "intelligence" reports) that he was engaged in conspiracies to attack the US?
Was Suleimani's support of the Palestinians enough to declare him a terrorist?
I know who I think are the world's biggest terrorists.
Our 5 Eyes partner
Too difficult to edit what with all that nbsp carry on to delete
Correction: Iran was still complying with the IPCOA treaty a year after Trump withdrew
Here's a very recent article about Iran's compliance
https://newrepublic.com/article/156140/iran-not-abandoned-nuclear-deal
Hi Francesca, it was yesterday OM#8 I discussed that, but here's the source again: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50941754
Haven't had a chance to examine your links yet. It's a moot topic and I agree that Trump ought to disclose his evidence re the general's terrorist organising. At that top level of geopolitics the tradition is to do so only with other relevant leaders and intelligence chiefs. Sharing that info with the public is routinely avoided.
I read your OM comment and your source thoroughly.No mention of Suleiman in that BBC source
Are you assuming rather than stating that intelligence prior to the Suleiman killing was shared and discussed with Putin ?
I have come across no such report .
The tradition of secret intelligence reports has been widely used in the past for very dodgy purposes and I wouldnt put much store by it. Remember Key and his secret advice about imminent jihadist threats to justify further surveillance .Lying bastards, and we shouldn't fall for it every time.
It is not unusual for Russia and the US to share intelligence re terrorism
Famously Russia attempted to warn Obama about the Tsarnaev brothers in 2013
(Boston Bombers)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-explosions-boston-congress/russia-warned-u-s-about-boston-marathon-bomb-suspect-tsarnaev-report-idUSBREA2P02Q20140326
But it seems only Israel was informed about Suleiman prior to his assassination
We read our own inferences into news reports. BBC tells us about the understanding developed between Trump & Putin in regard to intelligence sharing and looming terrorist attacks. BBC tells us they talked on the phone a few days before the assassination. Doesn't tell us why or what about. So we can deduce that from what promptly happened.
A possible scenario: "Hey Putin, I'm about to take out some Iranian general who is organising a terrorist attack. It'll make me look like a terrorist too, goddam it, but life ain't a bowl of peaches." "Bugger! He may be Shia, but he's been useful. Give me the details of what he was planning."
Iran is a long term ally to Russia , the US is a long time adversary
Russia stands by its allies
I would very much doubt the US would tip Putin off on a strike on Russia's long time ally and not expect Putin to pass that news on
The BBC is a master at directing opinion and sly suggestions, I'd be very careful of deducing anything from their crafted "news"
Do you see the BBC more or less of a master at directing opinion and sly suggestions or any less intent on 'crafting' "news" than all the other big media players?
Dennis used the BBC as a stand up source.
I'm wary of all major media
It is possible that everyone, including the Iranian government, are actually pleased to see the end of Suleiman. He, as part of the Revolutionary Guards, essentially was operating a parallel Iranian foreign policy to that of the Iranian government, a much more aggressive policy than the government would really like. That was probably complicating things for all the relevant governments with influence in the region, including Russia.
If the Iranian response is as limited as at present, it would indicate that the Iranians are not going to do that much to "avenge" Suleiman. To me that shows they want to put his form of foreign policy behind them.
This is all sheer speculation on my part, but from what I read, a lot of Iranians in government would like to see the Revolutionary Guards influence, both within and without Iran, curtailed. They have generally made life for the government of Iran, in the conventional sense of governing, a lot more difficult than it otherwise would be.
So the US officials who proposed this course of action may have been doing their Iranian counterparts a favour? Generous.
Wheels within wheels. Wayne's point is a good one. Roman history informs us that the inconvenience of successful military leaders often had emperors rearranging the chess board. Younger folk would get the point from Game of Thrones too.
Had a history of Mossad on my bookshelf for a few years ("Every Spy a Prince", I think). The Israelis had the model of factions within revolutionary Iran all competing together, extremists and moderates, building that model from a couple of defectors and agents.
That basically directed their foreign policy to Iran for a couple of decades. Dunno about now.
Good one. To be honest, it's never occurred to me to go looking for a history of Mossad. But I did get an eye-opening glimpse into that recently, courtesy of a book from the New Plymouth library by an investigative journalist who had compiled all the evidence that Mossad organised 9/11 using Arab stooges. He even had quotes from retirees that documented the origin of the scenario back around '79.
I paid attention to the Iran situation in the early years of the revolution. I remember learning how the mullahs eliminated the leftists. I was somewhat sympathetic to them from a nationalist perspective (inasmuch as the CIA took out Mossadegh in '53) but their ruthlessness proved they were merely fundamentalists so I got bored & ignored them after that.
If they were smart, they'd liberalise by allowing the secular option to become available to Iranians. The racist regime in South Africa yielded to the future, as did the communists, but no, these turkeys still want to pretend that it's the 7th century AD.
Iran's a fascinating country – liberal in many ways, but ruled by a paranoid and totalitarian theocracy.
Basically, I suspect the main reason the regime gained and maintains power is the USA – the shared external aggressor.
As for mossad doing 911 – yeah, nah. The penalty for failure would be insane, and their boy was in the WH anyway.
@McFlock
This guy makes the same point, and that the assassination of Suleiman has reinforced the regime's position.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/iran-price-riots-collective-effervescence-200108090421877.html
on the other hand…
Interesting commentary from the New Yorker, which suggests Suleimani was doing the bidding of the Iranian govt, rather than forming his own separate power base
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-meaning-of-qassem-suleimanis-death-in-the-middle-east
I suspect that Wayne had the Stalin model in mind. No apparent independent power base via deliberate effort towards creating that, but a de facto one produced by results, mana, reputation.
Pragmatists use levers that are available. The cleverest learn from experience that operating in the middle between powers that be, serving both sides ad hoc, in accord with what the situation requires, catalyses necessary progress. Partisans render themselves impotent by painting themselves into their corner.
Assad is Alawite. "Alawite doctrine incorporates Islamic, Gnostic, neo-Platonic, Christian and other elements and has, therefore, been described as syncretic." [Wikipedia] So the Shia orthodoxy can only perform regional liaison via a competent independent player. A general in the revolutionary guard with a track record of military success has the mana to do such liaison. The dead one had fought the Taliban with success, so Putin & Assad valued his expertise.
People I've talked to who have family in Iran, say the biggest hand up the Revolutionary Guards got was the sanctions imposed by the US. In that it not only has it made them more powerful in a political sense, but in economic terms as well.
So if we really want to curtail the Revolutionary Guards, then sanctions need to be looked at.
Interesting comment, thanks.
Suleiman was a revered and enormously popular person and will be a martyr, at least in the eyes of his many followers. This may not sit well with the theocratic leadership (government) but it won’t necessarily stop his followers from trying to avenge him. There are too many factions and splinter groups and it is not the most cohesive of societies.
The killing has probably united the Iraqi people and the Iranians more than Suleimani could have dreamed of .
However, they still have to take into account the sentiments of their people
I do not think the mass outcry of the general populace was faked
And which arm of the govt are you referring to ?
The Supreme Leader Khameini or some of the many different elements that make up the political system there
Are you saying that Suleiman's defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq was a policy that the Iranian govt would not be in favour of ?
My hypothesis will be tested by the extent of the overall reaction by Iran in the coming weeks.
Icognitio makes the point that the various elements who were Suleiman's loyal supporters will undertake numerous terrorist type actions against US interests. That is possible. But if that gets out of hand, the Iranian government will try to curtail it.
As for the scale of support, even if only 10% of Iranians supported the Revolutionary Guards, that is still 10 million people. Many of the other 90% fear the Guards, who have for decades been a repressive and violent faction within Iran. They have killed literally tens of thousands of Iranians.
However, I think it is already clear that the Iranian government is trying to limit the scale of reaction. No doubt there is intense diplomacy going on, particularly with various European nations.
Actually, I did not specify the type(s) of revenge. It is quite telling that you made that assumption. Many seem to look down on this ‘enemy’ as if they are some backwards barbarians stuck in the 7th century AD. It might explain the level of flippancy in and of their comments.
Perhaps they proved they aren't barbarians by getting revenge in a non-violent manner? I know, too great a break with tradition to be feasible, but it seems to have happened in the rocket attack.
Then again, the Iranian regime is apparently telling its people that they killed 80 American terrorists. Do you believe them?
You think describing America as the Great Satan is a form of contemporary sophistication?? Focus on the Great Satan successfully distracts everyone's attention from all the little Satans. Seems rather discriminatory! 😉 But did you have another form of revenge in mind?
Not your usual insightful analysis but more flippancy.
Do I base my whole thinking on one rocket attack and an alleged 80 casualties?
You think, talk, and act as a Westerner without religion, myths, symbols, and heroes. Your only tool is your cool rationality. No wonder you are puzzled, but don’t worry, you are not alone.
We can certainly hope Iran will choose to turn away from escalation. But Iran has form for liking their revenge served cold with a side of plausible deniability.
burn
https://twitter.com/dvglasgow/status/1214520422122885121
Dennis
This is very long and not the easiest style but it's well worth reading and I think you have the stamina for it .It gives a different perspective on Suleimani , one that is valuable as a counterpoint to the "official " view
From our very own Curwen Ares Rolinson
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/01/08/death-is-as-nothing-compared-to-vindication-on-soleimani-and-the-soleimani-doctrine-in-2018-and-the-present/
I've cited his analysis on other topics in the past here once or twice: he's always worth reading. This one is sufficiently deep that a second reading may be required, for more leisurely contemplation, and I admit to just scanning some paragraphs.
His problem as a communicator in this article is that of coming to a point. It's as if he knows there's one there somewhere but he can't quite crystallise it. Ain't enough to bemoan the banalities of US foreign policy, or the ham-fisted use of US military force. We learnt that when LBJ was president in the 1960s, and have had to be reminded by every president since for reasons that remain obscure!
"It may, perhaps, be a bit of a stretch to suggest that he wanted peace with the Americans, but there is strong evidence in support of his actively working towards mutually-beneficial co-operation with his latter-day fatal adversary where appropriate and where this could actually be in some measure attained."
If so, then we must draw the conclusion that he wasn't serious enough to make it obvious to US leaders and other relevant world leaders. Perhaps because his own leaders prevented him doing so! Religious nutters tend to be useless at geopolitics.
Well thanks for doing me the courtesy of reading that article
We've all become inured to this kind of thing. It's always "too expensive" or "we're working on it" or "it's very difficult", but the result is the same and the longer it goes on the more entrenched as nornal and acceptable it becomes. Even discussion about the cause of the problem is limited to whether the correct "need score" was applied.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118655632/73yearold-faces-long-wait-for-social-housing-in-christchurch
The Cambridge Analytica scandal grows, with whistleblower Brittany Kaiser releasing further internal documents from Cambridge Analytica.
Very good interviews on on Democracy Now! yesterday. "“The Great Hack”: Big Data Firms Helped Sway the 2016 Election. Could It Happen Again in 2020?" and a must watch for anyone concerned about 'meddling in elections'
This is the big story – forget Russia, Comey, Hillary, DNC. All bit players, CA would have to be the big one.
At least 65 countries.
https://twitter.com/HindsightFiles/status/1214039510859825153
https://twitter.com/HindsightFiles
So is kiwibuild still a thing?
https://www.labour.org.nz/housing
Build 100,000 affordable homes across the country
Labour’s KiwiBuild programme will build 100,000 high quality, affordable homes over 10 years, with 50% of them in Auckland. Standalone houses in Auckland will cost $500,000 to $600,000, with apartments and townhouses under $500,000. Outside Auckland, houses will range from $300,000 to $500,000.
Yup
https://www.labour.org.nz/housing_reset
This is apparently not uncommon???
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12299087
Of course Poots and co are trying to stuff this down the memory hole.
https://twitter.com/CodaStory/status/1214944184089661454
Stalin, who sent millions to Gulag camps, has never been more popular in Russia. 70% of Russians say they approve of his legacy.
This is the result of a Kremlin campaign, spearheaded by Vladimir Putin, to rewrite Soviet history.
The Generation Gulag project started with a conversation between Coda journalists @antelava & @katia_patin. They wanted to hear from the eyewitnesses of Soviet authoritarianism about what it’s like to see their past being rewritten.
In Russia, authorities have imprisoned prominent Gulag historians and forced Gulag museums to register as “foreign agents.” Last year in southern Russia, police officers dressed up in KGB uniforms — in celebration of the Soviet “heroes” who rounded up millions of Russians.
Almost half of young Russians say they have never heard of the Stalin-era purges, known as the Great Terror.
Olga Shirokaya’s father was arrested and executed at the height of the purge in 1938. In a second wave of mass arrests, Olga was sent to a camp in 1950:
Olga’s Shirokaya was a child when Stalin’s purges reached a fever-pitch. It was 1938. Her father was arrested and executed. Twelve years later, Olga, now a young woman, was sent to the camps herself. The KGB accused her of “self-indoctrination.”
As an infant, ballet dancer Azari Plesetsky was sent to a special Gulag camp for the wives and children of Stalin’s “enemies of the people.”
“The most unpleasant and shameful part is that many people today try to forget about these wounds and not reopen them. But we must reopen them,” Azari Plesetsky told our journalist @oksanabaulina
Russian authorities aren’t invested in coming to terms with the horror of the Gulag. Instead, “they want it to become part of the tapestry of the past that has no special significance, no special meaning and no special lessons,” said author @anneapplebaum
Distorting the past is serving regimes around the world. As part of our disinformation coverage, we’re tracking how governments do it.
Here, @isocockerell looks at how China tried to re-engineer the history of Muslims in the country.
In the next few weeks, we will share the stories and the messages Gulag survivors have for us about our era.
But we don’t want to stop here. Share your own family’s story from the Gulag using the hashtag #GenerationGulag
To #stayonthestory of rewriting history, matters of disinformation, and more, subscribe to our newsletter now:
eepurl.com/c7_NSz
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1214944184089661454.html
https://codastory.com/series/generation-gulag/
[Held up in Moderation because it exceeded the link limit]
"But it got crazier still. Enter J K Rowling, the author, who expressed support for Forstater on Twitter. At this point the Twitterati decided Rowling was a far juicier target than Forstater, and turned on her like a swarm of angry wasps."
"She was attacked as transphobic – 2019's most tiresome buzzword – and condemned as a terf, or trans-exclusionary radical feminist. The author's leftist credentials (Rowling campaigned against Brexit and once donated £1 million to the British Labour Party) were no protection." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/118556579/has-the-left-learned-anything-from-the-lessons-of-2019
"The Forstater-Rowling story encapsulated two of last year's dominant themes: the neo-Marxist Left's intolerance of dissent, and the crucial role of the ironically misnamed "social" media in howling down anyone who dares to question approved ideology."
"It also highlighted the sheer aggressiveness of minority-group activists in attacking anyone who challenges them. The standard tactic is to demand that the dissenter be sacked, regardless of whether their personal views have any bearing on their ability to do their job."
Stuff's cultural analyst wonders if the left learnt anything in 2019. Dunno why. People learn by themselves most of the time. They only do it collectively at school or university. Not all leftists are pc drones, so he's generalising – putting up a straw man to wave at Stuff readers under the false assumption that they will be impressed.
"The so-called "bathroom battles" are evolving into a key issue in the American culture wars." It could be resolved by creating a third category, neither male nor female. Public toilets with the third option wearing the sign Whatever…
I read that this morning and I can’t be bothered unpacking this piece by Karl du Fresne.
In case you wonder, he wasn’t “wondering”; it was entirely rhetorical (and a highly manipulative rant IMO).
He's a sour dickhead, is as far as I can be bothered going.
Whats funny to me is that JK Rowling was the wokest of woke celebrities, remaining in Europe check, bring in the refugees double check, declaring Dumbledore to be gay (after the books were sold of course) triple check, announcing that Hermione was never specified as white (ignoring all the official illustrations, being described as going very brown in the sun and turning white) quadruple check
Yet supporting a (oops nealy forgot to add it) cis-gendered woman and suddenly its all over in the blink of eye
Why these celebrities continue to pander to nutbars on twitter is beyond me
Mr du Fresne muttered something about “freedom of expression” but apparently the Left has been taken over and is dominated by a fringe of “nutbars” whose “aim is to intimidate people into silence” (regardless of whether they are Left or Right).
Mr du Fresne’s tacit concern is that it will lose the Left votes; he reminds me of a commenter here
I'm not interested in votes as much as the idea that celebrities (especially extremely wealthy ones) pander to groups that just seem to be waiting for them to stumble so they can tear them down
Maybe subconscious feelings of guilt over just how much money they have so they feel a need to be punished for it…
Once again he gets it:
So the Mongols have invaded Aotearoa. Not kidding, I can cite evidence provided by Richard Harman. I did a check to see if he had a take on Iran, and was surprised to not encounter his paywall. https://www.politik.co.nz/2019/12/11/the-politics-of-electoral-law-reform/
"The report sets out the details of Ross’s allegations about the Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Society (NZ) Ltd. Government members are concerned about the circumstances surrounding the involvement of a which is “owned by a China-based entity and controlled by a Chinese foreign national. “ We also note that Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd carries out the business of exporting horses to China from New Zealand,” the report says."
“Government members believe it is noteworthy that a former Minister (alleged to be Todd McClay) less than a year before the donation was received, met with the founder of Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd, Mr Lang Lin, in China in July 2016. The former Minister has been quoted in the media as saying the local electorate meeting was where Mr Lang indicated “that Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd would like to support the National Party”.”
Since the invasion is by inner Mongolians, not outer, we can expect a more civilised outcome. So is it all about racing, or pet food? If the former, Winston may have perceived the threat. Although one of the Mongol companies wants to back the Nats, the other may be in talks with Winnie, in the hope of supporting the govt. Capitalists usually fund both sides to create a win/win outcome no matter what happens. The Mongols may be demonstrating that they know how to play the game.
Auckland University, you suck
…and you hoover up government subsidies in the process
A simple matter of key performance indicators. The previous government imposed KPIs on universities relating to student completion rates, the current government hasn't removed them, so the managerialists running the universities have a very strong incentive to assess whether an individual student is an asset or a liability from a KPI perspective, and act accordingly. This student had fallen into the "liability" category, hence the expulsion. People work to the KPIs they're given, with consequences that are often unintended by the people imposing the KPIs.
Another NZ university demonstrating its committment to "pastoral care". Been a bit of that over the last year or so.
PM is right – completion rates are a KPI. Brought in because when universities became mass education, they were a relatively safe haven from WINZ harrassment about perennial unemployment because uni funding was "bums on seats", period. So the same student would take the same paper many, many times because there was no such thing as "academic requirements". If you failed, it didn't affect your ability to enrol again next year.
" Kiwis should make a New Year’s resolution to move their bank accounts to Kiwibank, or one of the other wholly owned New Zealand banks, said Social Credit Leader Chris Leitch "
The big four Aussie owned banks dragged over $6 billion in profit out of the back pockets of Kiwis last year – four times more profit than the 10 largest companies on the NZ Stock Exchange.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/01/08/kiwis-should-move-their-accounts-to-a-nz-owned-bank-social-credit
Fair enough…I take it that you feel this way because the big 4 banks are making a profit operating in NZ. If customers move to Kiwbank, do you want Kiwibank make a profit out of the back pockets of their customers?
"Had even a quarter of that massive profit gone instead to Kiwibank, through Kiwis having moved their accounts last year, dividends to the Government would have provided over $1.5 billion dollars extra for health care and education"
Who would disagree with more money for the essential services kiwis want too see supported instead of the profits used too benefit the Australian economy.
Interesting. Mike Lee and Rand Paul a wee bit tetchy about getting bullshitted in a classified briefing about the reasons to assassinate Soleimani.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/08/politics/iran-briefing-senators/index.html
"On Tuesday, Esper had said that the "exquisite intelligence" on the threat posed by Soleimani that drove the US military to target him in a drone strike would be shared only with the Gang of Eight — a group of eight lawmakers made up of congressional leaders from both parties as well as the Intelligence Committee chairs — saying "most Members (of Congress) will not have access to that.""
So those two guys were part of the eight? If so, the disclosure seems to have failed to impress them as adequate. Is this just a grey area of the constitution? President thinks he can assassinate as long as he doesn't declare war (because only congress can)?
No, neither of them are on the "gang of eight" for intelligence. Those are McTurtle and Schumer (party leaders in the Senate), McCarthy and Pelosi (party leaders in the House), Burr and Warner (Repug chair on Dem vice-chair on Senate intelligence committee), Schiff and Nunes (Dem chair and Repug ranking member on the House intelligence committee).
In general terms, I think there's very little patience for the "we have the intelligence but we can't tell it to you, just trust us" line. The Iraq WMD debacle probably removed trust for that kind of line for any president, let alone the current administration that lies much more frequently than it says anything resembling truth.
So – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/407004/national-party-says-nz-should-ignore-iran-s-advice-and-not-pick-a-side-in-tensions-with-the-us. Given that this fucker made his fortune being a mercenary and possible war criminal in Iraq, who needs his advice. Respect the sovereignty of Iraq and bring the troops home!!!!
"
Speaking of waves of the future, Boris Johnson’s resounding victory in Britain’s general election earlier this month marks another significant change I’ve been waiting to see. The change in question isn’t the Conservative victory—the Tories won the last four British elections, after all—but the strategy Johnson used to deal out a savage defeat to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, which was exactly the same strategy Donald Trump used to win his come-from-behind victory in 2016. Like Trump, Johnson realized that his nation’s leftward party had abandoned its working class voters in order to pander to the comfortable classes. He went to the working class voters Labour had abandoned and spoke to them about the issues that concerned them—above all, an end to the open borders and free trade agreements that drove down working class wages in order to boost middle class salaries and investment class profits—and found them more than willing to listen.
To judge from his comments at the time, Trump stumbled onto that strategy by accident, and it took him a while to figure out what was happening and how to keep doing it. Johnson, with three years of hindsight to figure that out, didn’t have to rely on trial and error. His campaign was admirably precise; it focused on the issues that mattered to working class Britons—above all, on drawing a line under the delaying tactics of the Remainer minority and giving Britain the Brexit it voted for. When the other parties protested “But what about the issues that matter to the comfortable classes?” he rolled his eyes and kept on talking about Brexit.
Now he’s sitting comfortably in No. 10 with a bigger majority than Margaret Thatcher had, and he’s doubling down on the same strategy; discarding the austerity policies (austerity for the poor, that is, and kleptocracy for the rich) that came in with Thatcher, and gearing up to reorient Britain’s social welfare policies toward providing benefits directly to the poor and away from providing well-paying government jobs to the middle class. While plenty of pundits and media personalities are still busy duplicating the mistake of the Democrats over here, and doing their level best not to learn the obvious lessons of their loss, a significant number of writers and thinkers—some of them within the Labour fold—have grasped the implications of the election and begun to talk about it."
https://www.ecosophia.net/to-the-shores-of-a-surging-ocean/
It does seem to be something afflicting english speaking left wing parties. In NZ Labour does appear to be more interested in the middle class leaving the working class wide open to be scooped up (will Bridges step up to take them or will the Greens be able to do it) but it does ask the question as to why its happening, why are left wing parties more interested in the middle class and academics than the working class
Speaking of who was the last Labour MP not to be university educated or from the middle class?