This is obviously the beginning of the end for the Russian Imperialist invasion and occupation of Ukraine.
Amazing, and joyous.
The Russians have long signaled a false flag atrocity in Kherson that they can blame on Ukraine, with the purpose of inflaming Russian public opinion against Ukraine to shore up flagging support for this war
The worry must be:
Will the Russian imperialists, accept this defeat?
The realisation of which will be the acceptance of the fact that this is the start of their inevitable total route from all of the occupied territories.
Or will the Russian Federation imperialists try and rob this hard won victory of any celebration, with a false flag attack, and continue the war?
There was some talk about the Russians blowing the Kakhovka dam. But they probably would have done that by now if they were going to, and it really isn't in their interests to do that anyway.
The Russians could set up their artillery on the other side of the river and start pounding away at Kherson and its regions. But Ukraine now has longer range and more precise artillery, so could probably eliminate that threat fairly quickly.
The biggest worry at the moment is that the Russians might be getting Iranian ballistic missiles (having used up most of their own). This would allow them to target Ukrainian power infrastructure again, and would be difficult to stop.
Hence why the US really needs to start sending longer range ATACMs missiles to Ukraine so Ukraine can target the launch sites, and Russian airfields in the region.
I find it intriguing, that maybe you are starting to realise that Ukraine is not getting all the support from the US they would have got, if Ukraine was simply a Yankee puppet state, acting in America's interests, against Ukraine's own best interests.
Sort of makes a lie of pro war trolls lie that this is a proxy war between the US and Russia. And not a war for national independence from a foreign invader.
For goodness sake even Russia let the Vietnamese have MIG fighter jets to fight their invader.
And even though that war too was accused of being a proxy war between the super powers it too was a war for national independence from a foreign invader
Sure the super powers like to see their rivals getting a black eye from one of the countries subject to their imperial expansion, and so will back their effort to liberate themselves. But that alone does not make it a proxy war.
The US has always refused to set up a "fly zone", presumably because they wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia for fear of setting off a nuclear war. However they could have sent planes for the Ukrainians themselves to use. Why didn't they? Is it because the Russians would have no way of ascertaining who would have been flying them if the the did?
And why does Poland need US permission to send planes anyway?
Standard contract of weapons suppliers is that any on selling has to be approved by the country of the weapons manufacturer. We needed USA permission to sell our old Skyhawks (I think the deal fell through)
But Western officials worry that if Ukrainian pilots go to a NATO country to pick up fighter jets and then fly them back into contested Ukrainian airspace, where they might have to engage with Russian fighters, Moscow will view the country they left from as a combatant and therefore fair game.
And NATO’s core tenet, spelled out in Article 5 of its charter, is that an attack on any member country is an attack on all, meaning all 30 member states would be obligated to join the fight.
“The intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in Russian reaction that could increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.
Victory due to a Russian planned withdrawal, not bad ay. Just waiting for the imminent Russian army collapse like it was supposed to do after Kharkov.. right?
For an area that voted to join Russia, my best guess would be that the populace is not celebrating as you depict it.
So, why did the Russians feel the need to withdraw in the first place.
And, what was the referendum vote? Nearly 100% as I remember. So, if that result wasn't a complete fabrication as most countries believe, there should be huge protests greeting the Ukrainian arrival. I expect you will be able to post videos of that.
Because their forces are consolidated on the eastern side of the river. Having a single outpost on the western side means its vulnerable. Makes sense to withdraw then right?
I don't think the result was 100% in Kherson, but how would these countries know what an accurate result was if they're already anti-Russia to begin with. Also there is no doubt that the eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are generally pro Russian, this is backed up by their voting preference for Yanukovych pre-2014 when the situation there wasn't muddied by war and propaganda.
So you agree the result was bogus then? Voting at the point of a gun generally isn't very democratic.
"Also there is no doubt that the eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are generally pro Russian,"
Torturing and killing your "citizens" isn't usually great for patriotism.
And, how long do you think the Russians will be able to hang there on the other side of the river, with the Ukrainians having longer range and more accurate artillery, especially HIMARS.
Russia can hold on as long as it likes. They have a stable frontline, air superiority, drone superiority, tank superiority, artillery and missile superiority. They've been destroying NATO equipment en mass as they repel attacks, and each military aid package Ukraine receives from other countries just gets weaker and weaker.
There has been much bullshit said, mostly on msm ,about the referendums in the donbas calling them 'rigged ' etc .Their are multiple interviews of actual civilians living in these areas participating in the referendums so before you go accusing others Anne of having brains that are "easy to manipulate "you might like to actually inform yourself !!
This is one from Eva Bartlett who did many such interviews at the time
And heres another by Patrick Lancaster he also has done many interviews on this subject .
In all the material ive seen on these referendums they have been conducted in an orderly lawful manner nothing " rigged " about them.
Anyway, I was wearing my “Armed Forces of the Ukraine” teeshirt at the mall today and I got a “Slava Ukraine!” from a couple of women so I was right pleased.
That would seem appropriate if they thought you were a member of the Ukrainian army who had deserted, fled the homeland, and ended up about as far away from the front lines as possible.
I could be wrong of course. My mastery of the Slavic languages isn't very high.
"Biden said he decided to deny U.S. aircraft to guarantee Ukraine’s skies because, “We’re not going to get into a third world war, taking on Russian aircraft and directly engage.” In a reference to Ukraine’s request for the longer-range Army Tactical Missile System, made by Lockheed Martin, Biden said he’s denied the Ukrainians such missiles, “because I’m not looking for them to start bombing Russian territory.”"
– Biden said he’s denied the Ukrainians such missiles, “because I’m not looking for them to start bombing Russian territory.”" –
Makes a lie of the Russian troll farm claim that this is a 'US/Natzo' proxy war to destroy Russia, Instead of what it is, a war for independence from an expansionist imperial power.
Unfortunately for the Russian Federation, (and China), they have come late to the imperialist carve up of the world.
And as their growth economies butt up against the established global powers, (which are having their own struggles with 'growth'), war is the inevitable result.
Infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible War and biosphere collapse are the result.
I agree with Jan Logie on this one. If it's too dangerous for Fisheries observers to work on these small ships – because they drift with no active watch, and are at risk of collision; then those vessels should not be eligible for or be granted NZ fisheries quota.
Maritime NZ says that watchkeeping is a requirement, but FNZ has no capacity to enforce it. Yanking the fishing quota would be a fine enforcement method.
Terrible for those small business owners (it's in the neighbourhood for me – so I know the businesses concerned). Many of them (e.g. the Malaysian cafe or Subway) won't have anything significantly 'saleable' on the premises, or any cash – so it's pure love of destruction driving these criminals.
Not excusing them when they do target shops to steal to order – but at least it's understandable.
Oh, you're offended? After calling everyone else warmongers?
Wow solipsism – so hypocrisy.
But of course you didn’t answer the question. What are you trying to hide Adam? Do you deny an uncritical admiration for Putin, even after all his crimes?
You just can't stop can you. Lies, misdirection and making shit up.
Is the president of Indonesia a Putin puppet, or uncritical of his admiration of Putin now as well? In that he is calling for what I'm calling for. In your world obviously that must be the case.
Can't think that the war is wasteful, otherwise your a Putin supporter in Stuart Munro's small little world.
So let me ask once again, prove I support a despot, just once, anywhere on this site. One example. You must have something with which to back your claims?
No, nothing, then may I suggest, you're full of shit.
Now your back to calling me a putin puppet – how very droll.
Can you read? Obviously via your comments, comprehension is a major problem for you.
Let me make it simpler for you – your boy Zelenskyy is a dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. On the other side is another dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. Both of which are war warmongers getting civilians killed to boost their egos.
Both swinging dicks around, rather than sorting out a settlement.
But then again, you might find that hard to comprehend. Someone who loathes all sides in this conflict.
Let me reiterate because of your inability to think, my position has not changed from day one of this war. This war is stupid, and should end before it spills out into something worse.
Leaving me with one conclusion, Stuart Munro you are just another tool for spreading hate and war.
As I don't support rulers who use civilians as human shields, pass anti worker laws, arrest and detain people for trying to leave the country. I'm not shocked you give them a free pass.
The Ukraine Oligarchs are proving themselves to be far right Anti-worker assholes, so I see why you support them.
At this point I'm not surprised to see you cluching your pearls. It's all you got left.
Millions of ordinary Ukrainians are putting body and soul on the line to defend their nation; either on the front or in support. The astonishing morale and commitment of their military is well understood as one of the key reasons why they have outperformed all pre-war expectations this past year.
Your shameful false equivalence spits on their sacrifice.
As I don't support rulers who use civilians as human shields, pass anti worker laws, arrest and detain people for trying to leave the country. I'm not shocked you give them a free pass.
Oh but you do – you consistently take the side of Putin like some soulless soviet aparatchik.
Putin's regime surpasses all your unsupported (as usual) allegations against Ukraine by orders of magnitude.
But you consistently ignore any evidence that does not support your inane prejudices, and thus you have become a Judas goat, a flagrant fascist supporter running agit prop against a Left site.
you consistently take the side of Putin like some soulless soviet aparatchik.
See your back to lies again, I don't take the side of Putin and if you read anything I said, rather than fall into know it all, fucktard mod. You'd comprehend that.
Your Bush like, your with us or you against us logic is fubar.
Totally supported facts just to counter all the propaganda you have been spoon feed. .
How about you grow up Stuart Munro and realise this is probably the most propagandized war in history. And knowing the truth is quite difficult.
I'm calling for an end to the war, a negotiated settlement to stop the insanity. And what do I get from you and the other war monger fuck trads on this site – YOUR A FUCKING PUTIN PUPPET – shut the fuck up.
How about you go on line and read what the people who actually support putin are saying, it's very far from what I'm saying.
War never helps working people. It only enriches weapons makers and other war profiteering scum. They must be laughing their heads off at how simple it is to manipulate people like you.
please stop the abuse and personal attacks. If the conversation has gotten to the point where this is all you can do, then maybe it's time to step away and focus on something else.
Well I’ve also just told Stuart to pull his head in, so I’m not sure that is quite true.
I don’t read every comment on TS. I don’t like reading the war debate, because I find them tedious. You can always reply to me somewhere on site with a link pointing out that someone is lying about your views. You know me well enough that I have a very low tolerance for people making shit up about others and I will act if I see that happening.
I do have limits on my time, so getting my attention is a better bet than taking the chance that I will read something off my own bat.
You are called a Putin dupe repeatedly because you repeat his propaganda, and link his propaganda sites ad nauseum.
There is no sign of balance, or thought, or anything resembling morality – but you seem to imagine that your ill-founded reckons are not merely worthy of our attention, but are more persuasive and informed than those of the people on the ground.
The people on the ground are in this instance the Ukrainians. They want self-determination – but your version of political morality is so empty that you appear to believe that they must instead suffer the oppressive rule of Russian kleptocracy.
As a apologist for that regime, and a consistent and untiring enemy of Ukraine, you have no claim to enlightened values, nor to any pretention to the Left.
You're just a latter day Jean Brodie who's swapped Putin for Mussolini.
Pacifism. Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, ‘he that is not with me is against me’. The idea that you can somehow remain aloof from and superior to the struggle, while living on food which British sailors have to risk their lives to bring you, is a bourgeois illusion bred of money and security. Mr Savage remarks that ‘according to this type of reasoning, a German or Japanese pacifist would be “objectively pro-British”.’ But of course he would be! That is why pacifist activities are not permitted in those countries (in both of them the penalty is, or can be, beheading) while both the Germans and the Japanese do all they can to encourage the spread of pacifism in British and American territories. The Germans even run a spurious ‘freedom’ station which serves out pacifist propaganda indistinguishable from that of the P.P.U. They would stimulate pacifism in Russia as well if they could, but in that case they have tougher babies to deal with. In so far as it takes effect at all, pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism.
I am not interested in pacifism as a ‘moral phenomenon’. If Mr Savage and others imagine that one can somehow ‘overcome’ the German army by lying on one’s back, let them go on imagining it, but let them also wonder occasionally whether this is not an illusion due to security, too much money and a simple ignorance of the way in which things actually happen. As an ex-Indian civil servant, it always makes me shout with laughter to hear, for instance, Gandhi named as an example of the success of non-violence. As long as twenty years ago it was cynically admitted in Anglo-Indian circles that Gandhi was very useful to the British government. So he will be to the Japanese if they get there. Despotic governments can stand ‘moral force’ till the cows come home; what they fear is physical force. But though not much interested in the ‘theory’ of pacifism, I am interested in the psychological processes by which pacifists who have started out with an alleged horror of violence end up with a marked tendency to be fascinated by the success and power of Nazism. Even pacifists who wouldn’t own to any such fascination are beginning to claim that a Nazi victory is desirable in itself.
“Socialism,” George Orwell famously wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), draws towards it ”with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist and feminist in England.” His tirade against such “cranks” is memorably extended in other passages of the book to include “vegetarians with wilting beards,” the “outer-suburban creeping Jesus” eager to begin his yoga exercises, and ”that dreary tribe of high-minded women and sandal-wearers and bearded fruit-juice drinkers who come flocking towards the smell of ‘progress’ like bluebottles to a dead cat.”
Pacifists get a bad rap in wartime, but they're not all quaking in their sandals.
Quakers
Though a small religious movement, the Society of Friends (Quakers) organized relief and advocated rescue in Europe before, during, and after the Holocaust. The American Friends Service Committee became an important part of a rescue network helping refugees. The group worked in French internment camps, hid Jewish children, and assisted thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish refugees with immigration and resettlement to the United States.
…
Early Quakers were among the leaders of the anti-slavery movement in the United States. Quakers are also pacifists, responding to wartime calls for service seeking out non-combat roles such driving ambulances or serving in conscientious objector work camps.
…
For their relief efforts, their work with refugees, and for their overall promotion of peace, the American Friends Service Committee and their British counterparts, the Friends Service Council, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.
Beating the peace drum isn't always a pointless / thankless task – takes all kinds.
Family story. My grandfather went to WW1 and served in the trenches. Family history is (he'd died before I was born) that he and his mates had the utmost respect for the Quaker ambulance drivers and medics on the front lines – 'they risked their lives every day to save others – without even the means to protect themselves'.
OTOH, they had nothing but contempt for the 'Conshies' – regarding them as cowards.
I guessed as much. The huge waste of human life and destruction of infrastructure profoundly saddens me but there is one way to end this – for the Russians leave to Ukraine. The negotiations about reparations to rebuild Ukraine can begin then.
FTX after filing chapter 11 bankruptcy, freezing accounts,and freezing transactions,has now been hacked with a substantive number of irregularities ( 260-600m$ into the ether)
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Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
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Victory for the Ukrainians in Kherson. Amazing scenes as the population celebrates liberation.
Take that Putin fan bois.
Yes. It makes a really great start to the day.
A CNN reporter reporting from Kherson as Ukrainian troops march in for those of us who want to BIRG a bit.
This is obviously the beginning of the end for the Russian Imperialist invasion and occupation of Ukraine.
Amazing, and joyous.
The Russians have long signaled a false flag atrocity in Kherson that they can blame on Ukraine, with the purpose of inflaming Russian public opinion against Ukraine to shore up flagging support for this war
The worry must be:
Will the Russian imperialists, accept this defeat?
The realisation of which will be the acceptance of the fact that this is the start of their inevitable total route from all of the occupied territories.
Or will the Russian Federation imperialists try and rob this hard won victory of any celebration, with a false flag attack, and continue the war?
I guess that is a worry.
There was some talk about the Russians blowing the Kakhovka dam. But they probably would have done that by now if they were going to, and it really isn't in their interests to do that anyway.
The Russians could set up their artillery on the other side of the river and start pounding away at Kherson and its regions. But Ukraine now has longer range and more precise artillery, so could probably eliminate that threat fairly quickly.
The biggest worry at the moment is that the Russians might be getting Iranian ballistic missiles (having used up most of their own). This would allow them to target Ukrainian power infrastructure again, and would be difficult to stop.
Hence why the US really needs to start sending longer range ATACMs missiles to Ukraine so Ukraine can target the launch sites, and Russian airfields in the region.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-military-leaders-are-reluctant-provide-longer-range-missiles-ukrain-rcna48072
Yes, that is old news, from September. I have seen reports to indicate that things may have changed in that respect.
As well as not supplying Ukraine with the long range Himars that Ukraine requested, The US vetoed Poland supplying Ukraine with MIG fighter jets.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/9/us-rejects-poland-offer-to-send-mig-29-fighter-jets-to-ukraine
I find it intriguing, that maybe you are starting to realise that Ukraine is not getting all the support from the US they would have got, if Ukraine was simply a Yankee puppet state, acting in America's interests, against Ukraine's own best interests.
Sort of makes a lie of pro war trolls lie that this is a proxy war between the US and Russia. And not a war for national independence from a foreign invader.
For goodness sake even Russia let the Vietnamese have MIG fighter jets to fight their invader.
https://www.rbth.com/blogs/2015/04/30/vietnam_war_the_critical_role_of_russian_weapons_42917
And even though that war too was accused of being a proxy war between the super powers it too was a war for national independence from a foreign invader
Sure the super powers like to see their rivals getting a black eye from one of the countries subject to their imperial expansion, and so will back their effort to liberate themselves. But that alone does not make it a proxy war.
The US has always refused to set up a "fly zone", presumably because they wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia for fear of setting off a nuclear war. However they could have sent planes for the Ukrainians themselves to use. Why didn't they? Is it because the Russians would have no way of ascertaining who would have been flying them if the the did?
And why does Poland need US permission to send planes anyway?
Standard contract of weapons suppliers is that any on selling has to be approved by the country of the weapons manufacturer. We needed USA permission to sell our old Skyhawks (I think the deal fell through)
Complicated by Poland's NATO membership.
But Western officials worry that if Ukrainian pilots go to a NATO country to pick up fighter jets and then fly them back into contested Ukrainian airspace, where they might have to engage with Russian fighters, Moscow will view the country they left from as a combatant and therefore fair game.
And NATO’s core tenet, spelled out in Article 5 of its charter, is that an attack on any member country is an attack on all, meaning all 30 member states would be obligated to join the fight.
“The intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in Russian reaction that could increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-reject-polands-plan-give-ukraine-soviet-era-fighter-jets-rcna19396
Victory due to a Russian planned withdrawal, not bad ay. Just waiting for the imminent Russian army collapse like it was supposed to do after Kharkov.. right?
For an area that voted to join Russia, my best guess would be that the populace is not celebrating as you depict it.
So, why did the Russians feel the need to withdraw in the first place.
And, what was the referendum vote? Nearly 100% as I remember. So, if that result wasn't a complete fabrication as most countries believe, there should be huge protests greeting the Ukrainian arrival. I expect you will be able to post videos of that.
Because their forces are consolidated on the eastern side of the river. Having a single outpost on the western side means its vulnerable. Makes sense to withdraw then right?
I don't think the result was 100% in Kherson, but how would these countries know what an accurate result was if they're already anti-Russia to begin with. Also there is no doubt that the eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are generally pro Russian, this is backed up by their voting preference for Yanukovych pre-2014 when the situation there wasn't muddied by war and propaganda.
"I don't think the result was 100% in Kherson… "
So you agree the result was bogus then? Voting at the point of a gun generally isn't very democratic.
"Also there is no doubt that the eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are generally pro Russian,"
Torturing and killing your "citizens" isn't usually great for patriotism.
And, how long do you think the Russians will be able to hang there on the other side of the river, with the Ukrainians having longer range and more accurate artillery, especially HIMARS.
Russia can hold on as long as it likes. They have a stable frontline, air superiority, drone superiority, tank superiority, artillery and missile superiority. They've been destroying NATO equipment en mass as they repel attacks, and each military aid package Ukraine receives from other countries just gets weaker and weaker.
So, you don't understand what a rigged referendum is? I feel sorry for you. It really must hurt having a brain so easy to manipulate.
Sounds like Trump and his stolen election
Same author.
There has been much bullshit said, mostly on msm ,about the referendums in the donbas calling them 'rigged ' etc .Their are multiple interviews of actual civilians living in these areas participating in the referendums so before you go accusing others Anne of having brains that are "easy to manipulate "you might like to actually inform yourself !!
This is one from Eva Bartlett who did many such interviews at the time
And heres another by Patrick Lancaster he also has done many interviews on this subject .
In all the material ive seen on these referendums they have been conducted in an orderly lawful manner nothing " rigged " about them.
OMG they walk amongst us.
Anyway, I was wearing my “Armed Forces of the Ukraine” teeshirt at the mall today and I got a “Slava Ukraine!” from a couple of women so I was right pleased.
But doesn't that mean "Cowardly Deserter"?
That would seem appropriate if they thought you were a member of the Ukrainian army who had deserted, fled the homeland, and ended up about as far away from the front lines as possible.
I could be wrong of course. My mastery of the Slavic languages isn't very high.
You’re comments are such a yawn <yawn>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slava_Ukraini
Whoosh!
I can't understand Russian reasoning (!!!) Kherson controls the canal which waters the Crimean Peninsula. If Ukraine cuts that off, Crimea must fall.
What on earth is going on in Putin's head?
Well the canal intake appears to be on the east side of the river so how would Ukraine cut it off do you think Tony ?
Historically Left Bank Ukraine.
lol what part of "retreat" don't you understand?
– Biden said he’s denied the Ukrainians such missiles, “because I’m not looking for them to start bombing Russian territory.”" –
Makes a lie of the Russian troll farm claim that this is a 'US/Natzo' proxy war to destroy Russia, Instead of what it is, a war for independence from an expansionist imperial power.
Growth and expansion is innate to capitalism.
Unfortunately for the Russian Federation, (and China), they have come late to the imperialist carve up of the world.
And as their growth economies butt up against the established global powers, (which are having their own struggles with 'growth'), war is the inevitable result.
Infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible War and biosphere collapse are the result.
You would be surprised how things change. A lot of stuff Ukraine is using now was denied them at the start of the war.
Either this is an old man moment, or Biden has let the cat out of the bag:
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-joe-bidens-claim-himars-given-ukraine-have-160-mile-range-1758739
Biden said there are 600 mile range rockets for Himars and 160 mile rockets, and that they haven't given Ukraine the 600 mile versions.
I wpould bet dollars to donuts the US has provided a limited number of ATACMS to Ukraine.
Funniest event of the week for me was Zelensky picking up the Oscar !!!!
From the Evening Standard
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0Hh3RZJwuwo
It would have been much funnier if Sean Penn had slid his Oscar to Zelensky down a comically long table.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/vladimir-putin-ukraine-russia-crisis-long-table-kremlin-memes-rcna16670
Even funnier if one of the sushi plates in this meme was replaced with Sean Penn's Oscar.
https://twitter.com/mrsahuquillo/status/1493280099034140676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1493280099034140676%7Ctwgr%5Ee1c8fef3051ac14d0dd8d5877541d928ce472d12%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fiframe.nbcnews.com%2FjPwst0q%3F_showcaption%3Dtrueapp%3D1
Yes its a funny old war.. it appears as though once again Russia has come to Ukraines aid by donating huge stockpiles of weaponry. Nice one Vlad.
they can burn these weapons to be warm this winter.
I agree with Jan Logie on this one. If it's too dangerous for Fisheries observers to work on these small ships – because they drift with no active watch, and are at risk of collision; then those vessels should not be eligible for or be granted NZ fisheries quota.
Maritime NZ says that watchkeeping is a requirement, but FNZ has no capacity to enforce it. Yanking the fishing quota would be a fine enforcement method.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/130411297/fisheries-observers-removed-over-health-and-safety-fears
Maritime NZ should be deticketing anyone failing to keep a watch.
But they're useless – only good for prosecuting the survivors of things like White Island.
They're a disgrace to the profession.
Another quiet night for the police. Only five ram raids!
Thieves ram raid, smash into five Auckland businesses overnight – NZ Herald
Terrible for those small business owners (it's in the neighbourhood for me – so I know the businesses concerned). Many of them (e.g. the Malaysian cafe or Subway) won't have anything significantly 'saleable' on the premises, or any cash – so it's pure love of destruction driving these criminals.
Not excusing them when they do target shops to steal to order – but at least it's understandable.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/aut-nursing-students-cared-for-convicts-put-in-dangerous-situations-on-placement-student/BYW4KOTVVREKTCW464KVUMZKP4/
Something is going very wrong with nursing training. We will lose these trainees nurses before they even are registered nurses.
Student nurses to be paid well for placements, petrol money, car parking would be a good start.
Dumping them in potential unsafe situations not o.k.
China has peaked, Russia is being routed, Trump is finished – there is hope in the world.
Yes that is worth a post of itself.
When you appoint a profiteer to run your wars.
How General Surovikin helped Putin and oligarch Gennady Timchenko enrich themselves in Syria.
https://twitter.com/pevchikh/status/1590740802116145154
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1590740802116145154.html
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QWad-NOAlYk&feature=youtu.be
(English subtitles)
When you lose Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin…
https://twitter.com/thissmallplanet/status/1591194638370902016
That Russian general looks like something straight out of an Austin Powers movie. I expect to see a mini-me show up before long. LOL.
Who ? I thought that was Luxon and a few Nat Party oilioglarcs.
Semper Augustus harvest as Crypto economy shrinks to small economy.
https://twitter.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1591017390598340608?cxt=HHwWgICq4eP4tpQsAAAA
FBX in Chapter 11 bankruptcy as associated Zombies,fall over.
https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1590951516860387328?cxt=HHwWgMColbb-mJQsAAAA
The warmongers out in force today.
Too soon.
https://www.usip.org/drafting-peace-agreement-five-phases
A bit cryptic.
Needs to be – he means rolling over to give Vlad a last quarter win.
Say's Stuart Munro, your one of the worst spreading pro war propaganda.
But like all warmongering trolls, your only defence is to smear anyone who is anti- war, as putin puppet.
Sad man, just fucking sad.
No need to smear you – you chose that hill to die on.
Thinking folk aren't too keen to get behind murderous despots – why are you?
Think you better put up where I supported a despot, or shut the fuck up with you bullshit lies and trolling.
Do you deny supporting Putin, or do you deny that he's a despot?
But wait, you double down with your lies and bullshit.
You really are a total fucking loser.
Oh, you're offended? After calling everyone else warmongers?
Wow solipsism – so hypocrisy.
But of course you didn’t answer the question. What are you trying to hide Adam? Do you deny an uncritical admiration for Putin, even after all his crimes?
You just can't stop can you. Lies, misdirection and making shit up.
Is the president of Indonesia a Putin puppet, or uncritical of his admiration of Putin now as well? In that he is calling for what I'm calling for. In your world obviously that must be the case.
Can't think that the war is wasteful, otherwise your a Putin supporter in Stuart Munro's small little world.
So let me ask once again, prove I support a despot, just once, anywhere on this site. One example. You must have something with which to back your claims?
No, nothing, then may I suggest, you're full of shit.
You know, if your constant ad homs did not demonstrate what a shriveled husk of a human being you were, I might be offended.
Answer the question, Putin poppet.
Do you deny you support him, or do you deny he's a despot?
Come clean – speak your truth as you see it and stop slinking away like some cowardly postmodern poseur.
Now your back to calling me a putin puppet – how very droll.
Can you read? Obviously via your comments, comprehension is a major problem for you.
Let me make it simpler for you – your boy Zelenskyy is a dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. On the other side is another dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. Both of which are war warmongers getting civilians killed to boost their egos.
Both swinging dicks around, rather than sorting out a settlement.
But then again, you might find that hard to comprehend. Someone who loathes all sides in this conflict.
Let me reiterate because of your inability to think, my position has not changed from day one of this war. This war is stupid, and should end before it spills out into something worse.
Leaving me with one conclusion, Stuart Munro you are just another tool for spreading hate and war.
Zelenskyy is a dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy. On the other side is another dick representing a corrupt and fubar oligarchy.
Ah the old false equivalence – how original.
Invasion – everybody does it, right?
Except, my little cabbage, Ukraine does not.
It's difficult keeping international politics straight I suppose – we just expected too much of you.
No prizes for seconds..
As I don't support rulers who use civilians as human shields, pass anti worker laws, arrest and detain people for trying to leave the country. I'm not shocked you give them a free pass.
The Ukraine Oligarchs are proving themselves to be far right Anti-worker assholes, so I see why you support them.
At this point I'm not surprised to see you cluching your pearls. It's all you got left.
@Adam
Millions of ordinary Ukrainians are putting body and soul on the line to defend their nation; either on the front or in support. The astonishing morale and commitment of their military is well understood as one of the key reasons why they have outperformed all pre-war expectations this past year.
Your shameful false equivalence spits on their sacrifice.
As I don't support rulers who use civilians as human shields, pass anti worker laws, arrest and detain people for trying to leave the country. I'm not shocked you give them a free pass.
Oh but you do – you consistently take the side of Putin like some soulless soviet aparatchik.
Putin's regime surpasses all your unsupported (as usual) allegations against Ukraine by orders of magnitude.
But you consistently ignore any evidence that does not support your inane prejudices, and thus you have become a Judas goat, a flagrant fascist supporter running agit prop against a Left site.
Shameless.
See your back to lies again, I don't take the side of Putin and if you read anything I said, rather than fall into know it all, fucktard mod. You'd comprehend that.
Your Bush like, your with us or you against us logic is fubar.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-labour-law-wrecks-workers-rights/
https://www.solidaritycenter.org/more-attacks-on-rights-of-ukrainian-workers/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/19/zrjy-j19.html
https://www.dw.com/en/how-ukrainian-men-try-to-get-around-the-ban-to-leave-the-country/a-62529639
Totally supported facts just to counter all the propaganda you have been spoon feed. .
How about you grow up Stuart Munro and realise this is probably the most propagandized war in history. And knowing the truth is quite difficult.
I'm calling for an end to the war, a negotiated settlement to stop the insanity. And what do I get from you and the other war monger fuck trads on this site – YOUR A FUCKING PUTIN PUPPET – shut the fuck up.
How about you go on line and read what the people who actually support putin are saying, it's very far from what I'm saying.
War never helps working people. It only enriches weapons makers and other war profiteering scum. They must be laughing their heads off at how simple it is to manipulate people like you.
tone down the abuse please adam.
please stop the abuse and personal attacks. If the conversation has gotten to the point where this is all you can do, then maybe it's time to step away and focus on something else.
@ RedLogix
You can't call out bad leaders, because sacrifice….
You really are just an out and out jingoist these days Red.
Come on weka, I've been called a putin puppet over and over with no fucking evidence that I am. It's tiresome.
I'm sick to fucking death of everytime I argue for a settlement to this conflict, I'm attacked for supporting putin. Or some other bullshit.
I'll stop now, as you obviously can't support peace on this web site.
Well I’ve also just told Stuart to pull his head in, so I’m not sure that is quite true.
I don’t read every comment on TS. I don’t like reading the war debate, because I find them tedious. You can always reply to me somewhere on site with a link pointing out that someone is lying about your views. You know me well enough that I have a very low tolerance for people making shit up about others and I will act if I see that happening.
I do have limits on my time, so getting my attention is a better bet than taking the chance that I will read something off my own bat.
You are called a Putin dupe repeatedly because you repeat his propaganda, and link his propaganda sites ad nauseum.
There is no sign of balance, or thought, or anything resembling morality – but you seem to imagine that your ill-founded reckons are not merely worthy of our attention, but are more persuasive and informed than those of the people on the ground.
The people on the ground are in this instance the Ukrainians. They want self-determination – but your version of political morality is so empty that you appear to believe that they must instead suffer the oppressive rule of Russian kleptocracy.
As a apologist for that regime, and a consistent and untiring enemy of Ukraine, you have no claim to enlightened values, nor to any pretention to the Left.
You're just a latter day Jean Brodie who's swapped Putin for Mussolini.
I asked you to stop with the personal attacks. Are you going to or not?
Eric Blair had pacifism's number.
Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist.
https://archive.ph/XxZj#selection-59.0-65.129
From your link:
If you judge a man by the company he keeps, then Blair was all over the place.
Pacifists get a bad rap in wartime, but they're not all quaking in their sandals.
Beating the peace drum isn't always a pointless / thankless task – takes all kinds.
https://quaker.org/legacy/minnfm/peace/integrity_of_german_friends_duri.htm
Family story. My grandfather went to WW1 and served in the trenches. Family history is (he'd died before I was born) that he and his mates had the utmost respect for the Quaker ambulance drivers and medics on the front lines – 'they risked their lives every day to save others – without even the means to protect themselves'.
OTOH, they had nothing but contempt for the 'Conshies' – regarding them as cowards.
If Orwell was alive today, he would be regarded as 'anti-woke'.
So if you don't kill Russians, and support the killing of Russians, your a fascist now.
Your arguments are getting desperate joe90
And sound somewhat like those who support Putin and co. Which I think the word I’m look for is…..
If I intended engaging with you, I would've.
//
You never engage, you're too much of a Russophobia to engage with anything which is not war porn against Russia.
I guessed as much. The huge waste of human life and destruction of infrastructure profoundly saddens me but there is one way to end this – for the Russians leave to Ukraine. The negotiations about reparations to rebuild Ukraine can begin then.
Looks like we're seeing the return of plague ships. Why in the age of Covid do people think going on a cruise is a good idea? Humans I guess.
Cruise ship with 800 cases docks in Sydney.
You bloody Aussies keep sending us 501s and we'll keep sending you PLAGUE SHIPS.
FTX after filing chapter 11 bankruptcy, freezing accounts,and freezing transactions,has now been hacked with a substantive number of irregularities ( 260-600m$ into the ether)
https://twitter.com/business/status/1591309921185923072?cxt=HHwWgIC8vab8u5UsAAAA