With due respect to that commenter on TDB, who probably meant well (but there’s no link for context), I think such statement, on its own, is naive and orthodox and smells like sentimental nostalgia. It seems to be oblivious of internet, online, digital, or social media activism, for example. Now, if you were to combine old-school activism, whatever that is, and ‘modernise’ it, with digital activism you start to make much more sense. Some things that used to work in ‘the old days’ are still incredibly effective …
All political action needs good strategy and this is a great topic for a post here.
I think digital communications can help if coordinated well with offline activism – informing people; setting up a meet point; telling people what to bring with them; informing them of issues behind the activism, etc.
Just the words take me back to my early days listening to pop music.
You have revived in my head the music of the truly great Chuck Berry.
I’m off to YouTube to listen again to the song of my youth.
If the commenter is that keen on changing budgetary proprities, they wil be organising their resistance through the Council budget process, which is on now.
If you think that’s just too hard and cumbersome, you will be surprised to read that on current consultation numbers, Aucklands currently favour increasing taxes on transport, directly upon Aucklanders.
If the blogger really thinks that “keyboard warriors” have no effect, they will be surprised that the Council budget including the transport project priorities alter after consultation by betwee\n 20 and 25%.
The blogger would do well to have a chat with Generation Zero and ask them: what part did marching up the street in crowds play to changing the entire transport policies of two parties (who are now in government), and draft the Zero Carbon bill (now heading for Parliament).
But as usual, at The Daily Blog, it’s really important to feel real, get out there on the streets, get all mo’shizzle with the kids, and rather than change the system, get out there like Lisa Praeger did yesterday and take to the pavement with a sledgehammer.
For which she was duly arrested for destroying public property.
But if you think that sledgehammers are the way to go, here is an assessment of Prager’s sledgehammering technique and her results (bad; ) and a bit of practical advice on how to do it properly and save your back.
i made my way over to a tpp march/protest one day the only discomfort i suffered was the bit were i was in danger of being hugged by strangers. nice people but hardly pulse raising.
It is good to see people fighting back in Christchurch against the looting of water from the area for private overseas profit.
Court is one thing.
Cantabrians could follow the Bolivian example and boot foreign water companies out.
That is what the people in California thought.
Until there was a drought nobody worried that outsiders had bought up “old” water rights.
Then they found crops being bowled.
The owners of the water rights could make more from on selling water than keeping 50 year walnut trees, workers and factories.
Jobs went. Local economy crumbled. We need to protect our free water from predators like that.
I only ask because there a parts of India (very large parts) where sinking a bore down 100-200 feet produces the most pristine H2O…..far superior to the shit we’ve seen in Hawkes Bay and Canterbury.
There are also people a lot more concerned and knowledgable about preserving the water table than most seem to be in NZ (and that’s despite the lack of rubbish collection and preponderance of surface pollution).
They could teach a few farmers about how to handle cow shit too
False equivalence, I never said it should be free. I just don’t object to bottling water and selling it. It’d be better if they only sold in reusable bottles of course.
My understanding from recent news was that another issue with this water take was the drilling of a new well bore alongside a shallower one and the subsequent risk of cross contamination between two aquifers. The site was formerly a wool scouring plant and that may compound the problem. The deeper bore reaches into the aquifer supplying Christchurch drinking water.
The very idea that a water right for a radically different purpose should be transferable is absurd. The bottling company should have had to make a fresh application based on the situation regarding water now and in the foreseeable future, not leech off a right that should have expired with the demise of the business that secured it legitimately.
According to the article I’ve cited above, a lawyer disagrees and legal action has been filed. The deeper bore was drilled against Council advice.
Is there any legal or moral constraint to the practice of buying a factory with an existing water use (in this case for wool scouring ) in order to use the water right for another and entirely different purpose (in this case the selling of the water overseas by an overseas owner)?
Apart from the ethical issue, there is a practical issue of possible contamination of a city water supply as well.
How long before overseas companies buy a Marlborough vineyard with an existing water right and bottle that, without bothering with cycling it first through a grape vine?
10 litres of bottled costs $27 in China. A vineyard may have a water right of 12 litres per vine per day. That, for a 5 ha vineyard, is 159,000 litres per day. At the $27/10l price, that is $430,000 per day- $157,285,800 per annum. I bet that’s just a bit more than a 5ha vineyard produces in wine!
My point exactly. Seller selling “on behalf of citizens” Councils, (in this case ECAN a political construct), not knowing the real worth of the item, not doing what they should for their rate payers, being sloppy and ignorant, even dubious or dangerous in their actions.
Were the sales legitimate?
How many wells is the new owner of the old scouring works allowed to sink?
How come they can enlarge the original right to such a degree?
The law will decide, and this will pause work while that is settled, quite rightly.
Merely requiring formal legality is setting a pretty low bar.
What sort of people do you think exercise the most influence over what is legal and what is not?
Historically, looting of the commons has often been made legal.
Well that may be true when the sale is to the “Crown”. This is not the case here.
Our law says you must show true ownership to sell something legally. ECAN?????
When I read this article about the WWF, it reminded me about the book End Game by Derek Jensen. I would recommend Standard readers read Jensen for their enlightenment.
This quote of Jensen’s sums up the problem.
“Make no mistake, our economic system can do no other than destroy everything it encounters. That’s what happens when you convert living beings to cash. That conversion, from living trees to lumber, schools of cod to fish sticks, and onward to numbers on a ledger, is the central process of our economic system. Psychologically, it is the central process of our enculturation; we are most handsomely rewarded in direct relation to the manner in which we can help increase the Gross National Product.”
We abandon capitalism or our children and grandchildren die.
Except if you are a female surfer getting a nice big sponsorship deal from a bikini maker who suddenly sees no value in the deal.
A woman being paid in a mutually entered into contract to wear a high cut bikini in a televised competition is surely exercising her agency to chose what she wears, and has to have an expectation of close up shots.
In those circumstance it is worrying that a TV broadcaster feels browbeaten by various feminist puritans into self censorship over broadcasting images of a woman’s backside.
why the hell would they wear them if they don’t want you to look . serious question ?
surly if a woman has her boobs and but hanging out i’m allowed to enjoy the view ?
(no touching rude comments or wolf whistles of course)
I know this might come as a surprise (seriously, but listen to this) – some women like the way they feel when they dress in different ways and it has nothing to do with men.
There is a difference between quietly appreciating the beauty of someone’s body, and ogling. Camera operators zooming in on bikini bottoms is clearly in the latter category. It makes women feel uncomfortable, so just don’t do it.
Short answer no. Unless a woman gives express and enthusiastic consent to be looked at by a male, regardless of what she is wearing … it’s unwanted ogling. All unwanted male sexual behaviour is either criminal or shameful. Don’t do it, look elsewhere.
“LAST CHANCE TO SIGN! PETITION TO SAVE TE KUHA FROM COAL MINING CLOSES THIS SUNDAY, 18 MARCH!”
It’s astonishing and appalling that a Government that says all the right words about the need for action on climate change may nevertheless let a new coal mine go ahead on the West Coast, when it could stop that mine with the stroke of a pen.
Good point Jenny, are Labour Greenies? I think it’s neoliberalism first, liberalism 2nd and environmentalism is just something to try and pretend to do.
Natz and NZ First are similar neoliberalism first, liberalism 2nd and environmentalism something to deny as being loony.
Then when Pike river happens they can’t work out why neoliberalism first, liberalism 2nd and environmentalism something to deny as being loony doesn’t work out in any way, they kill people, leave them to die because they can’t organise a rescue and don’t even get their economic gain as they actually bankrupt their own company. But hey, no lessons learnt no doubt.
I seem to remember RMA removed endangered snails for mining to take place and then DoC accidentally froze them to death.
I’m just wondering who are the loonies and most incompetent here. The environmentalists or the neoliberalists.
I note that NZ is one of the few western nations to so far fail to condemn the Russians for their assassination attacks in the UK. NZ is silent on the matter.
Is this because Peter’s is a Russian apologist and Arden’s afraid to do the right thing and formally condemn Russia’s actions because of her fear as to what Peter’s might do? Like throw a hissy fit and damage the coalition.
Probably standing by the notion , innocent until proven guilty, and in a proper court of law if you don’t mind
Old fashioned ,I know, but worth sticking with
Why are we not continuously condemning Russia for the mass slaughter it is perpetuating in Syria by backing Assad? Now that is a real issue.
Teresa May is grandstanding on this issue, using one boy in blue as a hook, but taking no genuine action at all that will jeopardise Britain’s trading links with Russia or the funding her Conservative Party mates receive from Russian mates.
Screw the British, why should we support them? I say sanction bust – we may even make up all the money we lost when they couldn’t wait to kick us into touch when they joined the EU.
To paraphrase Lord Palmerston (a British politician) “…New Zealand has no eternal friends, New Zealand has no perpetual enemies, New Zealand has only eternal and perpetual interests…”
And I reckon it is more in our interests to sell heaps of stuff to Russia than it is to stand with our ex-colonial master.
We owe the British nothing. They’d sell us down the river in a flash if it suited them. They didn’t give a shit about the impact on our economy when they joined the EU.
This dispute between our ex-colonial master and Russia over an event that occurred in a country on the other side of the world has got zilch to do with us.
It is in our interests to do a trade deal with Russia. Backing the British in their spat with Russia? Not so much.
But this isn’t the moment to enter a new trade deal with Russia – overtly endorsing their murderous attack. The time to sell Russia butter and apples was back when that gibbering idiot John Key quashed the trade deal, which, if we were already doing it we could continue without attracting trade reprisals.
We trade with lots of countries that do awful things domestically and internationally.
Conservatives get upset about this only when it is one of our ‘official enemies’ e.g. Russia.
There is no consistent principle behind what you are saying – just propagandist braying.
it may be….but it would also pay to remember that their payment history isnt great and their main exports are fossil fuels, military hardware and oligarchs
Look, fuck it
I’m sick of this shoddy out of date rubbish
Are you still in the Lada era?
Just lose the age old prejudices and get some new information
And this is just the top 10
“Mineral fuels including oil: US$173.3 billion (48.5% of total exports)
Iron, steel: $18.8 billion (5.3%)
Gems, precious metals: $11 billion (3.1%)
Machinery including computers: $8.5 billion (2.4%)
Wood: $7.9 billion (2.2%)
Cereals: $7.5 billion (2.1%)
Fertilizers: $7.2 billion (2%)
Aluminum: $6.7 billion (1.9%)
Copper: $4.7 billion (1.3%)
Electrical machinery, equipment: $4.3 billion (1.2%)
Russia’s top 10 exports accounted for 70% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Copper was the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up 42.2% from 2016 to 2017.
In second place for improving export sales was Russian cereals which was up 34.3%, led by higher international sales of wheat, barley and corn.
Close behind, Russia’s shipments of iron and steel posted the third-fastest gain in value up 32.9%.
Up 6.7%, electrical machinery and equipment posted the smallest increase among Russia’s top 10 export categories.’
lol
you may wish to speak to some in the industry about dealing with Russian exporters and the quality of their product…..they make china look positively angelic
Where did you get these figures from and why do they not include sales of arms?
This isn’t a terribly good source but the Russian exports of arms seem to be about $US15 billion/year
That number, if correct, should put them at number 3 in your list.
theres a significant ‘unspecified commodities’ category in the trade figures that could account for many things….essentially oil.coal and gas make up over 60% of exports
They also do a breakdown of US exports, similarly not specifying arms sales
For that :from Wiki
2012–2016
Rank Supplier Arms Exp
1 United States 47,169
2 Russia 33,186
3 China 9,132
4 France 8,564
5 Germany 7,946
6 United Kingdom 6,586
7 Spain 3,958
8 Italy 3,823
9 Ukraine 3,677
10 Israel 3,233
US has the record, Russia second, mostly its the members of the SC plus Germany
a country which overwhelmingly relies on the export of soon to be stranded assets that has a history of default…..how much importance do you want to place on a trade agreement with that entity, especially when coupled with enforcement concerns?…..i would suggest not very much at all.
The causes of that particular default are unchanged in Russia today….their foreign reserves are about 100 billion short of their current external debt position ….. and reserves disappear very fast in a poor trading environment,
And the stranded assets???….or do you think theres a future for oil,gas and coal?
Alwyn who doesn’ t know what FB means.
Russia hasn’t stood still spies will have stolen any tech deficiencies they have had.
So if you think Russia hasn’t kept up to date,how come they are so successful at cyber warfare.
Alwyn is still pumping out their fake news and propaganda Putin’s Puppet.
“Alwyn is still pumping out their fake news and propaganda Putin’s Puppet”
Are you always as drunk and incoherent at this time of day?
By the way. When are you going to tell me where the “Mankato” University you are fond of talking about is? https://thestandard.org.nz/joyce-resigns-from-parliament/#comment-1457868
Strange bedfellows Farrar and sections of the intellectual left.
I hear “Puteen and his 13 troll dwarfs” comes out in paperback next year. Soon to be followed by “Sauron’s chemical weapons attack – we know it was you.. so tell us why it wasn’t!” Straight to dvd.
I think any assassinations are not OK by any country.
As well as all the usual countries you would expect, USA had the most drone assassinations under the Obama government. NZ is pretty much trying to ignore the deaths of civilians from our own military in Afghanistan.
Don’t forget the UK started bombing Iraq illegally and against what many of the British people wanted.
So I think while it’s disgusting that apparently Russian’s are openly assassinating people in the UK, it’s not like it’s a one off or they are alone in the world assassinating people in other countries.
Assassination is a growth industry of governments. And its hypocritical to condemn when you are guilty of it yourself.
So far we have May’s assertion that Porton Down has identified the nerve agent as from the Novichok group , originally developed (so it is said, no samples have been scientifically analysed and identified up to now)30 years ago in Russia, and Uzbekistan
Personally, what with the collapse of the Soviet Union and all those chemists who decamped to the west, I’m not convinced Russia managed to hang on to it
So , and wrongly I think, May has identified the means
The motive?
Oh Jesus, you pick it
Sending a message?
Not the kind of message I’d be going for if the OPCW had just declared I’d destroyed all my chemical weapons.
Revenge?
In intelligence circles apparently there is a convention that Spy swaps are sacrosanct,you don’t go after ex spies pardoned and released as part of a spy swap otherwise you fuck up the whole system, its against your interests
Stupidity?
Nah
Noobody knows at present except maybe the victims and I hope they recover, or the perpetrators
Let the OPCW do their work I say instead of muddying the waters with pre emptive
declarations of retaliation
Sorry Cinny, a bit of a long rant
Skripal’s area of concern or operation was Russia. If his killing was politically motivated, and the means of killing him suggest it was not a random local attack, then the obvious suspect is some state or person aggrieved by his activities. In his case that means Russia rather than North Korea, the other country that recently carried out a nerve gas assassination.
The poisoning of former agents is a Russian trope. There was the thalium umbrella poisoning, and the Yuschenko poisoning as well as the Litvinenko poisoning in England and a number of others.
May has stated that the agent was Novichok. It is doubtful she is so up on nerve agents as to have made that up – it will be the finding of some person better qualified in nerve agent chemistry than bloggers. The investigators will be annoyed she let that cat out of the bag as they prefer to contain such details to sort false claims of responsibility. Novichok is of Russian origin, and it is probable that if anyone has access to any it would be the FSB.
Stuart, could you point to those agents who had been arrested then pardoned as part of a spy swap?Then assassinated
Thanks , because I’m not finding it
Litvinenko.. ex FSB…employee of Berezovsky, who himself was rubbished by a British judge .Never part of a spy swap as far as I can tell
The thalium umbrella poisoning..never heard of it
The ricin umbrella poisoning on the other hand takes us back to 1978, when a Bulgarian dissident and writer was “implanted ” with a ricin pellet, via umbrella spike
So that was Georgi Markov, killed by a Bulgarian agent who may or may not have been helped by the KGB
That is still speculation
Yuschenko..A Ukrainian presidential candidate poisoned with dioxin at a dinner in Kiev.Survived after an illness of about 18 mths
Scientists have not been able to determine where the toxin( same as in Agent Orange)came from or who the perpetrator was.But knowing what a hellhole Ukraine has been with its gangsters and warring oligarchs, take your pick
Again, as the spy swap program is considered sacrosanct on all sides, can you point to me your examples , because I have read that this is the first time, and a real departure
Russia being the only possessor of Novichoks?
No, I don’t think the world works like that, I’ve banged on about that already. Even Macro recognises that others would most probably have it
Thalium relates to Nikolai Evgenievich Khokhlov of course – did your FSB briefing not include it?
Ricin – Russian deniability if you buy it. I certainly don’t.
and of course the Russians have “no motive at all” to poison Ukrainian politicians – it’s like the BUK – must’ve been some other aggressive invading imperialistic power with late soviet weapons systems.
“I don’t think the world works like that”
Russia certainly possessed the Novichok agents in greater quantity and accessibility than any other nation during the time that they were developing them.
Although it is possible other parties or nations have the capacity to recreate Novichok, such a sophisticated operation could probably find a more reliable and less obtrusive means of disposing of Skripal, supposing they wished to do so. Your counter presumption, that unknown parties offed Skripal to fit up Russia suffers from lack of evidence. There is simply nothing to suggest that it is anything other than a convenient Kremlin fantasy.
Still looking for the thalium umbrella
Khokhlov I’m afraid is going too far back for me, the Soviet days
I’m looking for previous instances of agents released in spy swaps who then get assassinated by the Russian govt
Never happened before because its against ones own interests to undermine the swap system
And I don’t know who poisoned the Skripals, and neither do you, but by god, there’s certainly a lot of capital being made out of it
And it certainly isn’t going to make for a fair and just investigation
For all I know some family member of someone betrayed by Skripal hired a hitman, a lot of murky things go in in Eastern Europe, it seems to be aswill with weapons sold on the black market
I just find it hard to believe that Russia would sully its reputation for something as petty as revenge, when it had just completed the arduous and long process under the OPCW of destroying its chemical weapons
To then turn around 6 months later and provocatively use a chemical weapon on a target that would point straight back to itself just doesn’t cut the logic mustard http://www.dw.com/en/russia-destroys-last-cold-war-era-chemical-weapons/a-40714097
So why go the enormous expense of destroying your chemical weapons under the auspices of the OPCW
Thats about reputation, first and foremost
Otherwise, why do it?
In 2008 Oleg Gordievsky alleged he’d poisoned with the same substance.
Police are investigating allegations that a former Russian spy who defected to Britain was poisoned in an attempt to assassinate him.
Oleg Gordievsky spent 34 hours unconscious in hospital after falling ill at his home in Guildford in November. He was initially partially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers.
Mr Gordievsky, the highest-ranking Soviet spy to defect to the West, claimed he was the victim of a Kremlin-inspired assassination attempt similar to that alleged to have killed the former security agent Alexander Litvinenko.
“I’ve known for some time that I am on the assassination list drawn up by rogue elements in Moscow. It was obvious to me I had been poisoned,” he told The Mail on Sunday. He accused MI6 of forcing Special Branch to drop its early investigations into his allegations.
Mr Gordievsky claims he was poisoned with thallium, a highly toxic metal used in insecticides which was favoured by the KGB in assassinations during the Cold War. Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium, a radioactive element.
Russia more comfortable with its enemies creating economic inequality and helping fund divisive right wing backward looking Nationalism.
Putin is playing the West cyber warfare unstoppable Hypersonic ICBM’s
Ukraine Georgian and Crimean land grabs.
Backing the Sryrian regime .
Arms sales are one of Russia’s main exports ,creating conflict’s helps increase sales as oil prices are down.
Thank you all for the info, you guys are awesome. Helps to get my head around it all. Wonder if there’s anyone who doesn’t make money via war, far out.
theresa may, she’s worn, unpopular and clinging to leadership, desperate now to mark her mark.
Putin…. knocking people off is part of the Russian culture, maybe he’s just over people blaming Russia and is either being bold about his moves or ignoring the critics and just being Putin. Maybe it has nothing to do with Putin. Standby for the doco-drama film…
Media have a huge part to play in this, I wonder who is really pushing the narrative and what do they have to gain…war sells papers/gets clicks.
Time for NZ to become a republic lolololol 🙂 🙂 ?
Am sick of all the global conflict/greed, thought we would have evolved more by now.
Humans are like a culture of yeast in an finite ecosystem as yeast greedily gobbling up all the sugar exceating alcohol eventually killing its self at around 13% alcohol.
Humans are greedily gobbling up all the resources the planet has killing any one who gets in the way and the environment with all our forms of excrement.
As awful as the alleged attack on Russian double agent and his daughter, it is not as awful as the proven Russian and the Assad regime continued breach of the U.N. Security Council mandated 30 day ceasefire for Eastern Ghouta. Despite the fact that Security Council member Russia had voted for the resolution. Russia’s ally Syria, had voted for the resolution in the General Assembly.
“Briefing Security Council on Syria Ceasefire Resolution, Secretary-General Says Humanitarian Convoys Remain Unable to Safely Enter Eastern Ghouta”
Despite the demands of the Security Council’s resolution for a ceasefire in Syria, humanitarian convoys had not been able to enter eastern Ghouta without impediment, members heard today as the Secretary‑General provided an update on the situation.
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary‑General, reporting on the implementation of resolution 2401 (2018), said that there had been no cessation of hostilities in parts of Syria, and violence continued not only in eastern Ghouta but also in Afrin, Idlib, and Damascus and its suburbs. The delivery of humanitarian aid had not been safe or unimpeded, and no sieges had been lifted. He also underscored that efforts to combat terrorist groups did not supersede those humanitarian obligations.
In a disgusting act devoid of humanitarian principles, the Syrian regime has been removing medical supplies from few aid convoys that have been allowed to enter the besieged region of Eastern Ghouta. Though terrible, this act is in keeping with the regime’s targeting of independent hospitals and rescue workers.
On 5 March, the United Nations had sent an inter‑agency convoy of 46 trucks to Douma in eastern Ghouta with food for 27,500 people, representing only one third of the requested beneficiaries, all in desperate need, he continued. Syrian authorities had removed most of the health supplies, with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating that only 30 per cent of medical supplies in the convoy had been allowed to proceed. On 9 March, a 13‑truck convoy had reached Douma, delivering the remaining food assistance. Shelling occurred nearby, despite assurances given by all parties. In Douma, relief workers described conditions as shocking: people sheltering in overcrowded basements with limited access to food, water and sanitation. In eastern Ghouta, health partners advised that some 1,000 people required urgent medical evacuation, which the United Nations was ready to support, in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. A prioritized list of those in greatest need had been shared with Syria, and he urged a positive response.
Both Haley and Trump are finally beginning to accept the truth of Putin.
And by the time Mueller is done with the entire Trump organisation and family, they will be both apologising for their complicity with Putin, and in jail where they should be:
Some of the comments on this site smack of McCarthyism in the 50s.
There are many Russophobic folk here.
A study of the Syrian War shows bad being done on all sides, yet we are continually hectored on this site by the neocons that only Assad and Russia are had.
For some reason they feel that Putin and RTV have a monopoly on propaganda.
They so easily forget 9/11, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, the Ukraine…
Yes its great when the International Community gets its shit together and decides the outcome of an investigation before the evidence is produced and presented as per international conventions like the CWC
I’m so proud!
Don’t you just love the rule of law?
They got their shit together in 2011 , too, and did Libya over real good
Well, Ghadaffi had it coming what with the viagra and the black mercenaries and the genocide and all
And those Rooskies deserve it , they’re so STOOOOPID always gassing and things at the most embarrassing times for them , just when the OPCW declares them free of chemical weapons, elections coming up, the World Cup, finalising Nordstream.
Its worked out well for the weapons industry though, bumper sales
Kaching!
,
Sometimes the most obvious explanation for an event is the most obvious and given that the main suspect nation has considerable form and that initial evidence points in a certain direction it is not surprising that there is condemnation from like minded countries.
There will of course be ongoing investigation and I’m sure there will be behind the scenes communication and maneuvering between the UK and Russia, I’m hoping there will be a bit of a change in behavior once Putin is voted back in and he will roll back on the rather extreme nationalism and bigotry that have been on display over the last several months.
Alwyn who doesn’ t know what FB means.
Russia hasn’t stood still spies will have stolen any tech deficiencies they have had.
So if you think Russia hasn’t kept up to date,how come they are so successful at cyber warfare.
Alwyn is still pumping out their fake news and propaganda Putin’s Puppet.Put
You may not be aware of the seriousness of the use of chemical weapons against another country Ed, or more likely be concerned to downplay it out of misplaced loyalty to your Kremlin master.
In this instance the presence of the WMD is already established – it is not a PR artifact to be sold to US opinion formers.
No Sir, we should be asking what planet you come from? Because it’s sounds like you are not following the events in the Baltic States, Putin comments IRT Finland and Sweden of late.
How refreshing to have a party leader willing and able to stand up to bullshit, and media frenzies, and exercise wise judgment, with a clear and sensible way forward.
Recognise that there are 2 possibilities (the Russian government, or Mafia-like rogues who’ve acquired the chemical agents as the result of lax Russian oversight); Complete an investigation. Hold the perps to account. Exclude Russian money from the UK political system. Stop servicing Russian chronic capitalism int he UK.
I question why are there only these 2 possibilities, both originating in Russia?
Soviet era chemists (like Mirzayanov , the self declared creator of Novichok)have spread far and wide in the world, Israel, Canada, Uk, Us,their knowledge and expertise welcome
Mirzayanov has published a book on the Soviet program, complete with formulas for the legendary novichoks
Please, doesn’t logic lead to the idea that the ability to produce novichoks is now out there in the wide world?
As well, Russia may be the inheritor state of the Soviet Union, but after 1991 it was a lawless chaotic mess, incapable of maintaining security ,and totally vulnerable to the criminal looting and pillaging that indeed went on all through the soviet satellite states
When a society collapses, everythings up for grab
As an example
Who but the Russian government would be interested in killing a retiree and his daughter? Their is no motive other than retribution and message sending. While Trump is so obviously pro-Russia, Putin is using that to play some dirty tricks because he knows there will be little consequence.
Would the Russian government kill people for political purposes? Yes.
Would the UK government kill people for political purposes? Yes.
Would most governments in the world kill people for political purposes? Yes.
Would the Russian government kill a retired British spy….?
Trump is so obviously pro Russia he’s sent lethal weapons to Ukraine, increased sanctions, bombed its allies in Syria,weighed in with all the other toadies at the UN denouncing Putin
Are you some kind of political virgin?
Unaware of mischief making amongst the various intelligence agencies over the last few hundred years?
the perfect crime…. get rid of a nuisance whether he knows too much about the Steele dossier..or has become too demanding, maybe wants his BMW upgraded one too many times..
Who knows who he’s pissed off
Traitors aren’t known for their loyalty or moral fibre
Kill a lot of birds with one stone, upping the pressure on Russia to comply, to “behave” , code for opening up wide for foreign corporations, stop opposing American imperialism
Big picture here
“Who but the Russian government would be interested in killing a retiree and his daughter?”
Depends…..he could have pissed off anyone, who knows? He will, his daughter will not.
I seem to remember that the Americans have refused to destroy their stocks of chemical weapons. Surely they have the capacity to manufacture the nerve agent used in the UK attack, and who is to say they haven’t allowed this to be used, by accident or design, by some other country; vicious secretly nuclear-powered Israel comes to mind.
I can’t see why Israel would attempt to murder this particular retired British spy BG.
It would be good to know what Sergei Skripal was doing in his retirement and what circles he moved in, or in what/whose orbits he traveled.
It would also be good to have the identity of the poison verified by the relevant international bodies, as well as clarity on where Novichok was purportedly produced in the first place (both Uzbekistan and deep in Russia have been reported) before getting on to the signature of this particular sample.
When I saw the initial reports (in the Guardian) I immediately thought “here we go”. I was going to throw up a post and map the progress of mainstream reporting as things built. Wish I hadn’t been so damned lazy.
Yep
We have been told in various news accounts he met regularly with his old handler Pablo Miller who also lives in Salisbury and up until his Linked in profile was scrubbed, still working for his old boss Steele , ie Orbis who would have handled Skripals spy drops (the old plastic rock in Moscow caper)until 2004 when he was discovered
Often the beginning of a story , before an “official ” story has emerged, includes a lot more information
When the official story coalesces you only get the stuff that reinforces the already agreed
When Russia opened up its chemical weapons facilities to the OPCW, there should be some documentation available
Then there’s the other exiled Russian who spied for Britain claiming that Skripal regularly visited the Russian Embassy
“Last night, another former Russian agent exiled in the UK, Valery Morozov, claimed that Mr Skripal had maintained ties with Russian intelligence and visited the Russian embassy in London “every month”.
Mr Morozov told Channel 4 news “If you have a military intelligence officer working in the Russian diplomatic service, living after retirement in the UK, working in cyber-security and every month going to the embassy to meet military intelligence officers – for me being political refugee, it is either a certain danger or, frankly speaking, I thought that this contact might not be very good for me because it can bring some questions from British officials.”
Who knows
I have read that he was missing Russia
Berezovsky was said to be wanting to repair relations with Putin and hoped to return shortly before his demise too
Seemed he led a pretty quiet life
I’ve also read that Yulia came over every 2nd month
China would be a better case for a third party – a stoush between the west and Russia reduces the pressure on them. But it would be a mighty long shot.
Bill about Corbyn
Nevertheless he has to watch his back, and pull his punches
Witness how Macron was pulled pretty smartly in to line after showing too much spunk
And the pressure we ourselves are under from the Brits and God knows who else over the FTA with Russia
Funnily enough, after Crimea, and the trade delegation was practically pulled off the plane, NZ quietly continued to trade with Russia, Fonterra in particular
This happened in 2002 and 2003 when the drum for war against Iraq was beaten loudly and repetitively by the media.
I understand the media’s motivations. They are owned by large financial interests and War is profitable.
What I don’t understand is the number of neocons and Mcarthyites on this site.
I’m not counting the obvious trolls, but others who are left wing domestically but have a blind spot internationally; despite Iraq, they still cling to the Blairite doctrine.
Two civilians and a policeman were hospitalized after what has proven to be a chemical attack. Fact. You can bleat about Novichok but you’re not qualified to dispute Portland Down’s evidence and neither is MoonofAlabama.
There was good reason to suppose that Iraqi envoys (Zahawie) visited Niger in search of “yellowcake” uranium ore, but no evidence of a deal or a shipment.
Can you spot the difference?
One relates to an actual attack – the other is little more than an intention.
The fact of the attack proves the existence of some kind of chemical agent.
Yes, but after the existence of Novichok became known to the West, are you sure that the West did not reproduce it to look for antidotes? Maybe 6 miles away from Shrewsbury?
Sorry, but at my age with what I have read in History, I lack your confidence in the veracity of what the standard western media spew out.
Tonkin Gulf… Weapons of Mass destruction… Hit and Run… How often have we really been told the truth?
A natural disaster, being copied by an unnatural disaster.
The proto-dinosaurids of the Permian era were not responsible for deliberately burning the coal, that destroyed their climate, causing the extinction of 90% of all life on earth.
The coal fields were ignited by the intrusion of liquid magma from the Earth’s core.
A more advanced warm blooded species has found a way to deliberately burn all that buried carbon and put it back into the atmosphere.
“Burning coal may have caused Earth’s worst mass extinction”
Levels of various metals in the rock samples were critical in identifying the culprit of this mass extinction event. As in end-Permian samples collected from other locations around the world, Burger didn’t find the kinds of rare metals that are associated with asteroid impacts. There simply isn’t evidence that an asteroid struck at the right time to cause the Great Dying.
However, Burger did find high levels of mercury and lead in his samples, coinciding with the end of the Permian period. Mercury has also been identified in end-Permian samples from other sites. Lead and mercury aren’t associated with volcanic ash, but they are a byproduct of burning coal. Burger also identified a shift from heavier carbon-13 to lighter carbon-12; the latter results from burning fossil fuels.
Scientists are observing many of the same signs of dangerously rapid climate change today. There’s more lighter carbon-12 in the atmosphere because the increase in atmospheric carbon levels is due entirely to humans burning fossil fuels. There are an increasing number of dead zones in the oceans. Burning coal was causing acid rain, although we largely solved that problem through Clean Air Acts, and in the US, a sulfur dioxide cap and trade system implemented by a Republican administration.
We’ve had less success in tackling carbon dioxide pollution, which continues to rise. As a result, the oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, and temperatures increasingly hot. Scientists today also worry about potentially large releases of methane from the ocean floor and Arctic.
These are some of the similarities between the climate change that nearly wiped out life on Earth 252 million years ago and the climate change today. Both appear to have largely been caused by burning coal. A 2011 study found that over the past 500 years, species are now going extinct at least as fast as they did during the five previous mass extinction events.
It’s enough to make you think; maybe coal isn’t so beautiful and clean after all.
“This full potential can only be realised, when government promotes energy development.”
As a new fossil fuel pall is being threatened to be expanded around the globe, one small country needs to take an independent stand, to show that another way is possible.
With these incredible resources my government we will not only achieve the energy independence, we have been looking for so long, but American energy dominance.
And we are gonna be an exporter, an exporter.
We will be dominant. We will export American energy all over the world, all around the globe.
These energy exports will create countless jobs for our people, and provide true energy security to our friends, partners and allies, all across the globe.
This full potential can only be realised, when government promotes energy development.
Lots of Fonterra reps in the room. In his speech he mentioned their commitment to no more new coal fired dryers in a few years. A wry smile: “Well … it’s a start.”
Lol. It’s going to be really interesting to see what changes in the next decade if we get three terms of a govt with the Greens holding that portfolio.
How I learned to stop worrying and love my census.
A few weeks back I decided to take the option of requesting paper forms. Went to the census website, clicked the request paper form option and completed the request. I got a reply saying that it would take up to a week to receive the forms.
A week later, nothing.
So I went online again to the census site, and used the page to submit a question – saying I hadn’t received my paper form.
Both submissions required a contact address. I gave them my email addy.
Another week past – nothing. Last evening I had a knock on my door. My first thought on opening it, especially as it looked like someone official with logos and clip board, etc, was that it was finally someone delivering my census forms. But then I focused on the Mercury logos, and said” Oh, you’re from Mercury. Not interested.” – the guy thought I must have had a bad experience with Mercury in the past.
Then I went to my letter box and found 2 envelops from the census people. I thought it must finally be my forms. But, No. Each envelop contained a repeat of the original form with my code, telling me how to complete the census.
So then I tried to request paper forms by my landline. I took the phone away from my ear to key in my code. When I got the phone back to my ear, I caught the end of something telling me to key something into the keypad, but not what – couldn’t get back to the automaton telling me what to do next.
Gave up on that and went back to making another online request.
I did recall that some people were told the online census often only works properly with google chrome.
So since last night I have made requests on 3 different browsers for paper forms – plus sent a message saying how useless the system is.
It’s now become something of an experiment – how much of a hole is this in the census instructions?
Now, I know some people will say that I should just complete the online form – it’s easier. But any submission of data via the Internet is hackable. I dislike the way we are increasingly pressured to put our data online.
And if they give you an option for complying with a legal requirement, it bloody well should work.
I had similar problems, not as bad but still made me think of really dysfunctional systems. I just phoned them directly and sorted it out that way. Not great, but it did work out in the end.
Did you get a person on the phone? how? Which number? because all I’ve seen/heard are automatons.
Edit: hah. I rang the number. Ignored the option to press #1 to request a form, and pressed#2 to talk to someone in English.
The guy said he had now ordered paper forms to be sent to me. He said the system had read my request for paper forms as a request for new forms just with the code (not the paper ones).
I’m always impressed how Brisband produces some great thinkers on the left. You know the left that actually sees there is a class struggle going on. That the nature of liberal capitalism is effectively one of conflict. Also good to see the ALP has as much bullshit thinking on economics as NZLP.
If you need a dose of reality, then this piece is for you, if you are happy with the current crop of voodoo economics then please avoid. I’d also point out the author uses Marx and marxists analysis in their argument, so that might be a bit much, if you think it would be a bit much for you, then again, please avoid.
There needs to be a wider public conversation around ‘Is This The Sort of Country/Economy We Want’. The sort of thing that was once covered to some degree by documentaries and discussion panels on Public Television.
For instance, we have the Government promising more RSE workers* and, more importantly, refugees to the Hawkes Bay for apple picking.
Now ignoring the fact that Refugee settlement is not supposed to be a source of cheap labour for seasonal jobs, the fact is there is a well recognised housing crisis in the Bay.
Not to mention the report pointing out that the Hawkes Bay was not equipped for refugees.
I dread this development, its only a matter of time before we have shanty towns as part of our ‘Regional Economic Development Plan….infact we already have orchard workers living in shipping containers…but out of sight is out of mind apparently
*which is what Labour campaigned on, hence there were more orchard owners than pickers at their electionaring road show..that Labour didn’t campaign on better wages for pickers is odd, given its such a ‘great’ industry, yet binn rates haven’t increased in 25 years, and most orchards are now just paying minimum hourly wage, tough luck when it rains..
Good evening Eric young from Prime News it good to see a lot of people like you showing respect for Maori culture.
Its a shame to see that bridge collapse America my condolences to all the people who got hurt.
Southern response government insurance the way they behave is because shonky started that bad behaviour and a lot of government agencies behave like that insurance company.
Its good to see Te papa up grading it facilities It a excellent museum. Ka kite ano.
Newshub on TV3 the plastic bottles were forced on to us and we were cond into using plastic milk bottles by multi national companies we should not have abandoned glass bottles they are the environmental friendly option glass bottles provided a streem of pocket money for the mokos
Its a good thing to switch back to glass bottles.
Good Ron Marks I see he is a honorable Kiwi leader who respect OUR environment he recycl every thing he can Ka pai Kia kaha Ka kite ano.
Is it just me, or are we seeing the degree of pedantry rising on TS….especially this year…from a fair few contributors.
How about we just acknowledge how very clever and educated and sophisticated with huge dicks some people are.
Also that some (others-not me of course) just don’t/cannot live up to the smartness, the smarminess, the value, the richness, the supreme intellect of some contributors here.
Truly, i just live in awe sometimes and wish I could be ‘like Mike’ and others.
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Meteorological Service has a heavy rain warning still in place for the whole of the country after a weekend of flooding, although some floodwaters have receded. Flood and flash flood warnings and alerts are also in place, including a warning for all flash flood-prone areas, small ...
Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said: “Grant Robertson has now admitted that he ...
A challenge to all the resolute keyboard heroes out there: Get active!
“Cyber space warriorism get’s us no where, it’s just therapeutic venting at a distance.”
A quote from a commentator on The Daily Blog.
If we want to effect change, we need to take to the streets! We need to get in the face of authority and, yes, risk personal discomfort.
Change won’t happen in cyberspace!
With due respect to that commenter on TDB, who probably meant well (but there’s no link for context), I think such statement, on its own, is naive and orthodox and smells like sentimental nostalgia. It seems to be oblivious of internet, online, digital, or social media activism, for example. Now, if you were to combine old-school activism, whatever that is, and ‘modernise’ it, with digital activism you start to make much more sense. Some things that used to work in ‘the old days’ are still incredibly effective …
All political action needs good strategy and this is a great topic for a post here.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/03/15/must-read-stepping-over-the-homeless-on-our-way-to-the-americas-cup-village/
Last comment by JohnnyBG who seems to have had an activist past.
I think digital communications can help if coordinated well with offline activism – informing people; setting up a meet point; telling people what to bring with them; informing them of issues behind the activism, etc.
JohnnyBG was a guitarist, and no key board hero.
“Who never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell.”
His activist past is well documented,
“Go go
Go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go
Johnny B. Goode”
Just the words take me back to my early days listening to pop music.
You have revived in my head the music of the truly great Chuck Berry.
I’m off to YouTube to listen again to the song of my youth.
If the commenter is that keen on changing budgetary proprities, they wil be organising their resistance through the Council budget process, which is on now.
If you think that’s just too hard and cumbersome, you will be surprised to read that on current consultation numbers, Aucklands currently favour increasing taxes on transport, directly upon Aucklanders.
If the blogger really thinks that “keyboard warriors” have no effect, they will be surprised that the Council budget including the transport project priorities alter after consultation by betwee\n 20 and 25%.
The blogger would do well to have a chat with Generation Zero and ask them: what part did marching up the street in crowds play to changing the entire transport policies of two parties (who are now in government), and draft the Zero Carbon bill (now heading for Parliament).
But as usual, at The Daily Blog, it’s really important to feel real, get out there on the streets, get all mo’shizzle with the kids, and rather than change the system, get out there like Lisa Praeger did yesterday and take to the pavement with a sledgehammer.
For which she was duly arrested for destroying public property.
And achieved nothing.
For those who are not up with the play re Lisa Prager and her sledgehammer, here is an article on Stuff this morning:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/central-leader/102298217/anticycleway-protester-arrested-after-destroying-traffic-island-with-sledgehammer
But if you think that sledgehammers are the way to go, here is an assessment of Prager’s sledgehammering technique and her results (bad; ) and a bit of practical advice on how to do it properly and save your back.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland/15-03-2018/the-spinoff-reviews-new-zealand-56-lisa-pragers-sledgehammer-technique/
Some much more sane advice from Marianne Elliott to Prager
https://twitter.com/zenpeacekeeper/status/974113987062251520
i made my way over to a tpp march/protest one day the only discomfort i suffered was the bit were i was in danger of being hugged by strangers. nice people but hardly pulse raising.
At the Labour Party Youth Wing camp were you?
“i was in danger of being hugged by strangers”
It is good to see people fighting back in Christchurch against the looting of water from the area for private overseas profit.
Court is one thing.
Cantabrians could follow the Bolivian example and boot foreign water companies out.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/102307238/ecan-accused-of-bending-the-law-over-consents-for-water-bottling-plants
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hn9wujK0ho4
They could, but Is it really a practical solution in New Zealand where we like to give everyone a fair go?
The total sum being removed for bottling is marginal as a percentage
That is what the people in California thought.
Until there was a drought nobody worried that outsiders had bought up “old” water rights.
Then they found crops being bowled.
The owners of the water rights could make more from on selling water than keeping 50 year walnut trees, workers and factories.
Jobs went. Local economy crumbled. We need to protect our free water from predators like that.
That’s what the people of India thought.
And CocaCola took their water.
Coca Cola took all the water in India? Do you understand the meaning of hyperbole?
I’d drink coke before I drank the water in India and I despise coke.
You mean in ALL of India @ SM or are you just being your usual ‘know it all’ pompous smart arse gittus?
Ditt Tuppence.
I only ask because there a parts of India (very large parts) where sinking a bore down 100-200 feet produces the most pristine H2O…..far superior to the shit we’ve seen in Hawkes Bay and Canterbury.
There are also people a lot more concerned and knowledgable about preserving the water table than most seem to be in NZ (and that’s despite the lack of rubbish collection and preponderance of surface pollution).
They could teach a few farmers about how to handle cow shit too
The total iron sands being removed from Australia is marginal as a percentage too.On that basis it should be free as well.
False equivalence, I never said it should be free. I just don’t object to bottling water and selling it. It’d be better if they only sold in reusable bottles of course.
That’s probably why they have limits on the amount allowed to be taken so they can prevent this Being an issue.
The key word being “Probably”
And that’s why people are getting active – they want to know or already know whether that “probably” is true or not.
As they and many people ought to.
But it is
My understanding from recent news was that another issue with this water take was the drilling of a new well bore alongside a shallower one and the subsequent risk of cross contamination between two aquifers. The site was formerly a wool scouring plant and that may compound the problem. The deeper bore reaches into the aquifer supplying Christchurch drinking water.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/03/chinese-company-drills-water-bore-in-christchurch-despite-council-warning.html
The very idea that a water right for a radically different purpose should be transferable is absurd. The bottling company should have had to make a fresh application based on the situation regarding water now and in the foreseeable future, not leech off a right that should have expired with the demise of the business that secured it legitimately.
You know it’s not looting if they are doing it legally right?
According to the article I’ve cited above, a lawyer disagrees and legal action has been filed. The deeper bore was drilled against Council advice.
Is there any legal or moral constraint to the practice of buying a factory with an existing water use (in this case for wool scouring ) in order to use the water right for another and entirely different purpose (in this case the selling of the water overseas by an overseas owner)?
Apart from the ethical issue, there is a practical issue of possible contamination of a city water supply as well.
How long before overseas companies buy a Marlborough vineyard with an existing water right and bottle that, without bothering with cycling it first through a grape vine?
10 litres of bottled costs $27 in China. A vineyard may have a water right of 12 litres per vine per day. That, for a 5 ha vineyard, is 159,000 litres per day. At the $27/10l price, that is $430,000 per day- $157,285,800 per annum. I bet that’s just a bit more than a 5ha vineyard produces in wine!
My point exactly. Seller selling “on behalf of citizens” Councils, (in this case ECAN a political construct), not knowing the real worth of the item, not doing what they should for their rate payers, being sloppy and ignorant, even dubious or dangerous in their actions.
Were the sales legitimate?
How many wells is the new owner of the old scouring works allowed to sink?
How come they can enlarge the original right to such a degree?
The law will decide, and this will pause work while that is settled, quite rightly.
Merely requiring formal legality is setting a pretty low bar.
What sort of people do you think exercise the most influence over what is legal and what is not?
Historically, looting of the commons has often been made legal.
You do realise looting is legal under neoliberal economics right?
Well that may be true when the sale is to the “Crown”. This is not the case here.
Our law says you must show true ownership to sell something legally. ECAN?????
Elegantly phrased, Grey Area. And on the button.
That’s how neoliberalism work.
Organised theft.
AJ put out a fascinating documentary a couple of years back, on this very topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV08Ifh9Nz8
Nature wasn’t produced to be sold. It’s not just another product.
“By examining the commercialisation of nature, something that has been in the making for nearly 50 years, we speak to the biggest players in this global arena – the economists championing a “green” economy and the environmentalists challenging it.”
I read the news today.
“Global warming threatening species’ survival, WWF warns
Up to half of the plant and animal species in the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon could be extinct by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report warns.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/352643/global-warming-threatening-species-survival-wwf-warns
When I read this article about the WWF, it reminded me about the book End Game by Derek Jensen. I would recommend Standard readers read Jensen for their enlightenment.
This quote of Jensen’s sums up the problem.
“Make no mistake, our economic system can do no other than destroy everything it encounters. That’s what happens when you convert living beings to cash. That conversion, from living trees to lumber, schools of cod to fish sticks, and onward to numbers on a ledger, is the central process of our economic system. Psychologically, it is the central process of our enculturation; we are most handsomely rewarded in direct relation to the manner in which we can help increase the Gross National Product.”
We abandon capitalism or our children and grandchildren die.
The new puritans are having their way, at least for now…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12011927
“”All cinematographers have been instructed to exercise discretion while shooting the women’s heats.”
(my bold)
Seems okay.
Except if you are a female surfer getting a nice big sponsorship deal from a bikini maker who suddenly sees no value in the deal.
A woman being paid in a mutually entered into contract to wear a high cut bikini in a televised competition is surely exercising her agency to chose what she wears, and has to have an expectation of close up shots.
In those circumstance it is worrying that a TV broadcaster feels browbeaten by various feminist puritans into self censorship over broadcasting images of a woman’s backside.
Worrying…
No, it’s not…
why the hell would they wear them if they don’t want you to look . serious question ?
surly if a woman has her boobs and but hanging out i’m allowed to enjoy the view ?
(no touching rude comments or wolf whistles of course)
I know this might come as a surprise (seriously, but listen to this) – some women like the way they feel when they dress in different ways and it has nothing to do with men.
There is a difference between quietly appreciating the beauty of someone’s body, and ogling. Camera operators zooming in on bikini bottoms is clearly in the latter category. It makes women feel uncomfortable, so just don’t do it.
Short answer no. Unless a woman gives express and enthusiastic consent to be looked at by a male, regardless of what she is wearing … it’s unwanted ogling. All unwanted male sexual behaviour is either criminal or shameful. Don’t do it, look elsewhere.
“LAST CHANCE TO SIGN! PETITION TO SAVE TE KUHA FROM COAL MINING CLOSES THIS SUNDAY, 18 MARCH!”
Good point Jenny, are Labour Greenies? I think it’s neoliberalism first, liberalism 2nd and environmentalism is just something to try and pretend to do.
Natz and NZ First are similar neoliberalism first, liberalism 2nd and environmentalism something to deny as being loony.
Then when Pike river happens they can’t work out why neoliberalism first, liberalism 2nd and environmentalism something to deny as being loony doesn’t work out in any way, they kill people, leave them to die because they can’t organise a rescue and don’t even get their economic gain as they actually bankrupt their own company. But hey, no lessons learnt no doubt.
I seem to remember RMA removed endangered snails for mining to take place and then DoC accidentally froze them to death.
I’m just wondering who are the loonies and most incompetent here. The environmentalists or the neoliberalists.
I note that NZ is one of the few western nations to so far fail to condemn the Russians for their assassination attacks in the UK. NZ is silent on the matter.
Is this because Peter’s is a Russian apologist and Arden’s afraid to do the right thing and formally condemn Russia’s actions because of her fear as to what Peter’s might do? Like throw a hissy fit and damage the coalition.
Just thought you should bring Kiwiblog’s attack lines over here, did you? (This morning’s headline post: NZ Silent on Russia)
Even if s/he is – so what? The point being made is that Winston and this government are not condemning Russia for the attacks.
Why?
Probably standing by the notion , innocent until proven guilty, and in a proper court of law if you don’t mind
Old fashioned ,I know, but worth sticking with
Why are we not continuously condemning Russia for the mass slaughter it is perpetuating in Syria by backing Assad? Now that is a real issue.
Teresa May is grandstanding on this issue, using one boy in blue as a hook, but taking no genuine action at all that will jeopardise Britain’s trading links with Russia or the funding her Conservative Party mates receive from Russian mates.
Why are we not condemning Saudi Arabia and its backers (USA GB included) for the mass slaughter being perpetuated in the Yemen?
Screw the British, why should we support them? I say sanction bust – we may even make up all the money we lost when they couldn’t wait to kick us into touch when they joined the EU.
To paraphrase Lord Palmerston (a British politician) “…New Zealand has no eternal friends, New Zealand has no perpetual enemies, New Zealand has only eternal and perpetual interests…”
And I reckon it is more in our interests to sell heaps of stuff to Russia than it is to stand with our ex-colonial master.
“Screw the British, why should we support them? I say sanction bust ”
So …. screw the fact that used an nerve agent to kill people in the street – we could make a few bob out of this ?
We owe the British nothing. They’d sell us down the river in a flash if it suited them. They didn’t give a shit about the impact on our economy when they joined the EU.
This dispute between our ex-colonial master and Russia over an event that occurred in a country on the other side of the world has got zilch to do with us.
It is in our interests to do a trade deal with Russia. Backing the British in their spat with Russia? Not so much.
They sure as hell aren’t saints.
But this isn’t the moment to enter a new trade deal with Russia – overtly endorsing their murderous attack. The time to sell Russia butter and apples was back when that gibbering idiot John Key quashed the trade deal, which, if we were already doing it we could continue without attracting trade reprisals.
NZ trades with ‘murderous attackers’…
Has been for an age…
‘Thinking’ it matters when a trade deal with Russia is signed could create poor perception…
Not really, thinking. Is it…
A good place to drop this item by David Townsend. British commentator and writer:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/352665/ex-russian-spy-poisoning-what-s-the-real-fall-out
My reckons: he’s got it about right. 😉
Yes – pretty good.
We trade with lots of countries that do awful things domestically and internationally.
Conservatives get upset about this only when it is one of our ‘official enemies’ e.g. Russia.
There is no consistent principle behind what you are saying – just propagandist braying.
it may be….but it would also pay to remember that their payment history isnt great and their main exports are fossil fuels, military hardware and oligarchs
Look, fuck it
I’m sick of this shoddy out of date rubbish
Are you still in the Lada era?
Just lose the age old prejudices and get some new information
And this is just the top 10
“Mineral fuels including oil: US$173.3 billion (48.5% of total exports)
Iron, steel: $18.8 billion (5.3%)
Gems, precious metals: $11 billion (3.1%)
Machinery including computers: $8.5 billion (2.4%)
Wood: $7.9 billion (2.2%)
Cereals: $7.5 billion (2.1%)
Fertilizers: $7.2 billion (2%)
Aluminum: $6.7 billion (1.9%)
Copper: $4.7 billion (1.3%)
Electrical machinery, equipment: $4.3 billion (1.2%)
Russia’s top 10 exports accounted for 70% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Copper was the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up 42.2% from 2016 to 2017.
In second place for improving export sales was Russian cereals which was up 34.3%, led by higher international sales of wheat, barley and corn.
Close behind, Russia’s shipments of iron and steel posted the third-fastest gain in value up 32.9%.
Up 6.7%, electrical machinery and equipment posted the smallest increase among Russia’s top 10 export categories.’
lol
you may wish to speak to some in the industry about dealing with Russian exporters and the quality of their product…..they make china look positively angelic
48.5% mineral fuels.
13% mining.
All owned by oligarchs and the Russian state.
Pat was pretty close.
Russia had the largest Grain exports for 2 years running
Not insignificant
And arms exports were at about the same level last year, but doesn’t seem to be on that list…
Where did you get these figures from and why do they not include sales of arms?
This isn’t a terribly good source but the Russian exports of arms seem to be about $US15 billion/year
That number, if correct, should put them at number 3 in your list.
theres a significant ‘unspecified commodities’ category in the trade figures that could account for many things….essentially oil.coal and gas make up over 60% of exports
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/exports
http://www.worldstopexports.com/russias-top-10-exports/
They also do a breakdown of US exports, similarly not specifying arms sales
For that :from Wiki
2012–2016
Rank Supplier Arms Exp
1 United States 47,169
2 Russia 33,186
3 China 9,132
4 France 8,564
5 Germany 7,946
6 United Kingdom 6,586
7 Spain 3,958
8 Italy 3,823
9 Ukraine 3,677
10 Israel 3,233
US has the record, Russia second, mostly its the members of the SC plus Germany
a country which overwhelmingly relies on the export of soon to be stranded assets that has a history of default…..how much importance do you want to place on a trade agreement with that entity, especially when coupled with enforcement concerns?…..i would suggest not very much at all.
And when was the last default and why?
https://www.pragcap.com/the-russian-default-what-happened/
And its foreign exchange reserves are looking pretty healthy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_foreign-exchange_reserves
The causes of that particular default are unchanged in Russia today….their foreign reserves are about 100 billion short of their current external debt position ….. and reserves disappear very fast in a poor trading environment,
And the stranded assets???….or do you think theres a future for oil,gas and coal?
Russian computers? Pass me the floppy disc.
“floppy disc”.
Are you serious? The latest model I have seen has just got a cassette tape.
Others still use punch cards and paper tape.
Alwyn who doesn’ t know what FB means.
Russia hasn’t stood still spies will have stolen any tech deficiencies they have had.
So if you think Russia hasn’t kept up to date,how come they are so successful at cyber warfare.
Alwyn is still pumping out their fake news and propaganda Putin’s Puppet.
“Alwyn is still pumping out their fake news and propaganda Putin’s Puppet”
Are you always as drunk and incoherent at this time of day?
By the way. When are you going to tell me where the “Mankato” University you are fond of talking about is?
https://thestandard.org.nz/joyce-resigns-from-parliament/#comment-1457868
Rainbow Warrior, sanky, Rainbow Warrior.
Strange bedfellows Farrar and sections of the intellectual left.
I hear “Puteen and his 13 troll dwarfs” comes out in paperback next year. Soon to be followed by “Sauron’s chemical weapons attack – we know it was you.. so tell us why it wasn’t!” Straight to dvd.
Many on this site have forgotten the legal principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’
As they seems so keen for war, maybe they can jump on planes to the Baltic States as volunteers.
You’ve forgotten that this site isn’t a court of law, just a reflection of people’s opinions given the available information
PS
No
A column in Politik earlier today on this matter is my source for my post.
I note that NZ has so far failed to condemn Saudi Arabia for bombing Yemen.
Is this because New Zealand is a close ally of the United States, which is the main backer and supplier of the Saudi regime?
Why not try to debate the point of the thread?
Yeah Jenny, why are you not following the rwnj attack line?
I get the confusion, the hardright are tossing around so many conspiracy theories these days, it’s hard to keep up.
How are the people in Aleppo these days Jenny?
You do realise that the US has backed ISIS in the Syrian War?
And that ISIS have been responsible for ghastly slaughter against civilians.
Sorry, why exactly do we have to in any way engage in diplomatic activity in this particular case?
I think any assassinations are not OK by any country.
As well as all the usual countries you would expect, USA had the most drone assassinations under the Obama government. NZ is pretty much trying to ignore the deaths of civilians from our own military in Afghanistan.
Don’t forget the UK started bombing Iraq illegally and against what many of the British people wanted.
So I think while it’s disgusting that apparently Russian’s are openly assassinating people in the UK, it’s not like it’s a one off or they are alone in the world assassinating people in other countries.
Assassination is a growth industry of governments. And its hypocritical to condemn when you are guilty of it yourself.
Question please… how do people know for sure that is was Russia, or is it all assumptions based on the nerve agent used and the target selected?
So far we have May’s assertion that Porton Down has identified the nerve agent as from the Novichok group , originally developed (so it is said, no samples have been scientifically analysed and identified up to now)30 years ago in Russia, and Uzbekistan
Personally, what with the collapse of the Soviet Union and all those chemists who decamped to the west, I’m not convinced Russia managed to hang on to it
So , and wrongly I think, May has identified the means
The motive?
Oh Jesus, you pick it
Sending a message?
Not the kind of message I’d be going for if the OPCW had just declared I’d destroyed all my chemical weapons.
Revenge?
In intelligence circles apparently there is a convention that Spy swaps are sacrosanct,you don’t go after ex spies pardoned and released as part of a spy swap otherwise you fuck up the whole system, its against your interests
Stupidity?
Nah
Noobody knows at present except maybe the victims and I hope they recover, or the perpetrators
Let the OPCW do their work I say instead of muddying the waters with pre emptive
declarations of retaliation
Sorry Cinny, a bit of a long rant
There are three things really.
Skripal’s area of concern or operation was Russia. If his killing was politically motivated, and the means of killing him suggest it was not a random local attack, then the obvious suspect is some state or person aggrieved by his activities. In his case that means Russia rather than North Korea, the other country that recently carried out a nerve gas assassination.
The poisoning of former agents is a Russian trope. There was the thalium umbrella poisoning, and the Yuschenko poisoning as well as the Litvinenko poisoning in England and a number of others.
May has stated that the agent was Novichok. It is doubtful she is so up on nerve agents as to have made that up – it will be the finding of some person better qualified in nerve agent chemistry than bloggers. The investigators will be annoyed she let that cat out of the bag as they prefer to contain such details to sort false claims of responsibility. Novichok is of Russian origin, and it is probable that if anyone has access to any it would be the FSB.
Stuart, could you point to those agents who had been arrested then pardoned as part of a spy swap?Then assassinated
Thanks , because I’m not finding it
Litvinenko.. ex FSB…employee of Berezovsky, who himself was rubbished by a British judge .Never part of a spy swap as far as I can tell
The thalium umbrella poisoning..never heard of it
The ricin umbrella poisoning on the other hand takes us back to 1978, when a Bulgarian dissident and writer was “implanted ” with a ricin pellet, via umbrella spike
So that was Georgi Markov, killed by a Bulgarian agent who may or may not have been helped by the KGB
That is still speculation
Yuschenko..A Ukrainian presidential candidate poisoned with dioxin at a dinner in Kiev.Survived after an illness of about 18 mths
Scientists have not been able to determine where the toxin( same as in Agent Orange)came from or who the perpetrator was.But knowing what a hellhole Ukraine has been with its gangsters and warring oligarchs, take your pick
Again, as the spy swap program is considered sacrosanct on all sides, can you point to me your examples , because I have read that this is the first time, and a real departure
Russia being the only possessor of Novichoks?
No, I don’t think the world works like that, I’ve banged on about that already. Even Macro recognises that others would most probably have it
Thalium relates to Nikolai Evgenievich Khokhlov of course – did your FSB briefing not include it?
Ricin – Russian deniability if you buy it. I certainly don’t.
and of course the Russians have “no motive at all” to poison Ukrainian politicians – it’s like the BUK – must’ve been some other aggressive invading imperialistic power with late soviet weapons systems.
“I don’t think the world works like that”
Russia certainly possessed the Novichok agents in greater quantity and accessibility than any other nation during the time that they were developing them.
Although it is possible other parties or nations have the capacity to recreate Novichok, such a sophisticated operation could probably find a more reliable and less obtrusive means of disposing of Skripal, supposing they wished to do so. Your counter presumption, that unknown parties offed Skripal to fit up Russia suffers from lack of evidence. There is simply nothing to suggest that it is anything other than a convenient Kremlin fantasy.
Still looking for the thalium umbrella
Khokhlov I’m afraid is going too far back for me, the Soviet days
I’m looking for previous instances of agents released in spy swaps who then get assassinated by the Russian govt
Never happened before because its against ones own interests to undermine the swap system
And I don’t know who poisoned the Skripals, and neither do you, but by god, there’s certainly a lot of capital being made out of it
And it certainly isn’t going to make for a fair and just investigation
For all I know some family member of someone betrayed by Skripal hired a hitman, a lot of murky things go in in Eastern Europe, it seems to be aswill with weapons sold on the black market
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/moldova-nuclear-weapons-isis/409456/
I just find it hard to believe that Russia would sully its reputation for something as petty as revenge, when it had just completed the arduous and long process under the OPCW of destroying its chemical weapons
To then turn around 6 months later and provocatively use a chemical weapon on a target that would point straight back to itself just doesn’t cut the logic mustard
http://www.dw.com/en/russia-destroys-last-cold-war-era-chemical-weapons/a-40714097
Gangsters don’t give a rats about their reputations.
/
So why go the enormous expense of destroying your chemical weapons under the auspices of the OPCW
Thats about reputation, first and foremost
Otherwise, why do it?
To collect the $15.7 billion in US funding provided for their destruction?
https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/9354/00Dec_Mostoller.pdf;sequence=1
you think they spent the money on fur coats and taxis instead?
Stuart is beginning to sound like a character in Dr. Stranglelove.
Perhaps you should ask why the US canceled the funding – which was originally to have been a mere $1.7 billion.
Whereas you’re sounding a lot like Harley Quin Ed – the pathetic dupe of a crook that the world and his wife knows for a compulsive liar.
Stuart.
This isn’t a John Wayne film.
It’s a little more complex than the goodies vs the baddies.
Anyway, it would appear no amount of reason will work.
Check out flights to Warsaw.
You can enlist on arrival.
“This isn’t a John Wayne film.”
No shit Sherlock. Try The Spy who Came In From The Cold.
Or The Twelve Chairs.
Flights to Riga are only just over $1250 on 27th April.
” it would appear no amount of reason will work”
Over the last year Ed, you’ve produced little or no reasoning.
Which is why we are concerned by your irrational attachment to this murderous dictator.
Stand up for your principles Ed – make the case for the butcher of Grozny. Such a progressive genocide!
Volunteer Stuart.
Don’t expect others to fight for you.
“Volunteer Stuart.
Don’t expect others to fight for you.”
You know what Ed – I’ll volunteer to defend here if I must – in self defense against malign aggression.
Part of that would necessarily involve rooting out the fifth columnists anyway – there seem to be quite a few of them.
Gangsters…like US, Saudi, ISIS, fascist Ukraine ?
Sure eddy, and there’s nothing those people won’t stoop to.
Reputation?
Hah!
In 2008 Oleg Gordievsky alleged he’d poisoned with the same substance.
Police are investigating allegations that a former Russian spy who defected to Britain was poisoned in an attempt to assassinate him.
Oleg Gordievsky spent 34 hours unconscious in hospital after falling ill at his home in Guildford in November. He was initially partially paralysed and still has no feeling in his fingers.
Mr Gordievsky, the highest-ranking Soviet spy to defect to the West, claimed he was the victim of a Kremlin-inspired assassination attempt similar to that alleged to have killed the former security agent Alexander Litvinenko.
“I’ve known for some time that I am on the assassination list drawn up by rogue elements in Moscow. It was obvious to me I had been poisoned,” he told The Mail on Sunday. He accused MI6 of forcing Special Branch to drop its early investigations into his allegations.
Mr Gordievsky claims he was poisoned with thallium, a highly toxic metal used in insecticides which was favoured by the KGB in assassinations during the Cold War. Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium, a radioactive element.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/double-agent-gordievsky-claims-he-was-poisoned-by-the-kremlin-805308.html
So what happened next/
I’m all ears
Don’t leave me hanging
When did he die?
Russia more comfortable with its enemies creating economic inequality and helping fund divisive right wing backward looking Nationalism.
Putin is playing the West cyber warfare unstoppable Hypersonic ICBM’s
Ukraine Georgian and Crimean land grabs.
Backing the Sryrian regime .
Arms sales are one of Russia’s main exports ,creating conflict’s helps increase sales as oil prices are down.
Thank you all for the info, you guys are awesome. Helps to get my head around it all. Wonder if there’s anyone who doesn’t make money via war, far out.
theresa may, she’s worn, unpopular and clinging to leadership, desperate now to mark her mark.
Putin…. knocking people off is part of the Russian culture, maybe he’s just over people blaming Russia and is either being bold about his moves or ignoring the critics and just being Putin. Maybe it has nothing to do with Putin. Standby for the doco-drama film…
Media have a huge part to play in this, I wonder who is really pushing the narrative and what do they have to gain…war sells papers/gets clicks.
Time for NZ to become a republic lolololol 🙂 🙂 ?
Am sick of all the global conflict/greed, thought we would have evolved more by now.
Humans are like a culture of yeast in an finite ecosystem as yeast greedily gobbling up all the sugar exceating alcohol eventually killing its self at around 13% alcohol.
Humans are greedily gobbling up all the resources the planet has killing any one who gets in the way and the environment with all our forms of excrement.
Ukraine’s Democratic government was removed by a coup funded by the US.
Who are the gangsters ?
No James.
Honour UN Resolution 2401
As awful as the alleged attack on Russian double agent and his daughter, it is not as awful as the proven Russian and the Assad regime continued breach of the U.N. Security Council mandated 30 day ceasefire for Eastern Ghouta. Despite the fact that Security Council member Russia had voted for the resolution. Russia’s ally Syria, had voted for the resolution in the General Assembly.
“Briefing Security Council on Syria Ceasefire Resolution, Secretary-General Says Humanitarian Convoys Remain Unable to Safely Enter Eastern Ghouta”
In a disgusting act devoid of humanitarian principles, the Syrian regime has been removing medical supplies from few aid convoys that have been allowed to enter the besieged region of Eastern Ghouta. Though terrible, this act is in keeping with the regime’s targeting of independent hospitals and rescue workers.
For some balance to the narrative about the Syrian War, here’s what happening in Afrin.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-latest-activists-syrian-strikes-target-rebel-enclave/2018/03/15/a0150818-282c-11e8-a227-fd2b009466bc_story.html
Great to see the United States, Germany, France, Britain, form a common voice condemning Russia for the poisoning attack on an ex-spy:
http://www.dw.com/en/france-germany-uk-us-blame-moscow-for-ex-spy-chemical-attack-joint-declaration/a-42990115
Both Haley and Trump are finally beginning to accept the truth of Putin.
And by the time Mueller is done with the entire Trump organisation and family, they will be both apologising for their complicity with Putin, and in jail where they should be:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mueller-subpoena-trump-organization_us_5aaab9e3e4b04221740d4a0a
The Truth of Putin..
‘Truth’ is impossible…
The imperialist nations relentless bare faced ‘attacks’ on Russia, are deflectionary tactics of the most hypocritical nature…
😆 this could’ve been penned by one of the current directors of a Russian troll farm – reminds me of good old Fisiani’s posts about ‘honest John Key’
To be clear to you as well, mullet…so as you can’t misunderstand….
I’ll not be spending energy replying to your comments…not one more…
The level of your comments is far lower than your chronological age group…
Great thanks for that.
Ed?
That was an ed comment. No argument, no point, just mindless slander.
Best way to handle.
in your (very) humble opinion.
Still waiting for you to back up your accusations in the other thread BTW.
Some of the comments on this site smack of McCarthyism in the 50s.
There are many Russophobic folk here.
A study of the Syrian War shows bad being done on all sides, yet we are continually hectored on this site by the neocons that only Assad and Russia are had.
For some reason they feel that Putin and RTV have a monopoly on propaganda.
They so easily forget 9/11, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, the Ukraine…
Yes its great when the International Community gets its shit together and decides the outcome of an investigation before the evidence is produced and presented as per international conventions like the CWC
I’m so proud!
Don’t you just love the rule of law?
They got their shit together in 2011 , too, and did Libya over real good
Well, Ghadaffi had it coming what with the viagra and the black mercenaries and the genocide and all
And those Rooskies deserve it , they’re so STOOOOPID always gassing and things at the most embarrassing times for them , just when the OPCW declares them free of chemical weapons, elections coming up, the World Cup, finalising Nordstream.
Its worked out well for the weapons industry though, bumper sales
Kaching!
,
Sometimes the most obvious explanation for an event is the most obvious and given that the main suspect nation has considerable form and that initial evidence points in a certain direction it is not surprising that there is condemnation from like minded countries.
There will of course be ongoing investigation and I’m sure there will be behind the scenes communication and maneuvering between the UK and Russia, I’m hoping there will be a bit of a change in behavior once Putin is voted back in and he will roll back on the rather extreme nationalism and bigotry that have been on display over the last several months.
I thought we prided ourselves on due process, rule of law, natural justice etc
normal criminal law would declare this a mistrial
from the start
It’s almost like…. the 1% need more money…. quick start a war… an assination that assumes the russians did it should do the trick.
Personally I’m just not convinced that it was the Russians. Something seems way off, I might be wrong, but it just seems too obvious.
Yes Cinny. Seems that way to me also. Mind you they are all a bunch of crooks, only some of them are our crooks.
Alwyn who doesn’ t know what FB means.
Russia hasn’t stood still spies will have stolen any tech deficiencies they have had.
So if you think Russia hasn’t kept up to date,how come they are so successful at cyber warfare.
Alwyn is still pumping out their fake news and propaganda Putin’s Puppet.Put
There is certainly a drive for war.
Asking why suddenly makes the conversation interesting.
Is it because an economic crash is about to happen?
Capitalism usually deals with its crises with violence.
This was an act of war, not mere criminality.
Had Britain used nerve gas to kill a British defector in Russia the trolls would be screaming about an attack on a sovereign nation.
This is still conjecture
Get a grip
Nonsense – a WMD has been used on British soil.
That’s as casus belli as it gets.
Get a grip.
Remember WMD?
You may not be aware of the seriousness of the use of chemical weapons against another country Ed, or more likely be concerned to downplay it out of misplaced loyalty to your Kremlin master.
In this instance the presence of the WMD is already established – it is not a PR artifact to be sold to US opinion formers.
Conjecture.
I really hope they let you nowhere near a jury.
You should volunteer Stuart.
Mark Mitchell has contacts.
I may not need to volunteer Ed, Putin is doing his best to bring the war to us.
Yes Russia is about to invade Europe.
What planet are you on?
The planet where Ukraine is part of eastern Europe Ed, a country upon which Putin’s militaristic ambitions have been solidly established.
No Sir, we should be asking what planet you come from? Because it’s sounds like you are not following the events in the Baltic States, Putin comments IRT Finland and Sweden of late.
For what it’s worth, at least one prominent politician kinda gets it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/15/salisbury-attack-conflict-britain-cold-war
How refreshing to have a party leader willing and able to stand up to bullshit, and media frenzies, and exercise wise judgment, with a clear and sensible way forward.
Recognise that there are 2 possibilities (the Russian government, or Mafia-like rogues who’ve acquired the chemical agents as the result of lax Russian oversight); Complete an investigation. Hold the perps to account. Exclude Russian money from the UK political system. Stop servicing Russian chronic capitalism int he UK.
I question why are there only these 2 possibilities, both originating in Russia?
Soviet era chemists (like Mirzayanov , the self declared creator of Novichok)have spread far and wide in the world, Israel, Canada, Uk, Us,their knowledge and expertise welcome
Mirzayanov has published a book on the Soviet program, complete with formulas for the legendary novichoks
Please, doesn’t logic lead to the idea that the ability to produce novichoks is now out there in the wide world?
As well, Russia may be the inheritor state of the Soviet Union, but after 1991 it was a lawless chaotic mess, incapable of maintaining security ,and totally vulnerable to the criminal looting and pillaging that indeed went on all through the soviet satellite states
When a society collapses, everythings up for grab
As an example
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/moldova-nuclear-weapons-isis/409456/
Who but the Russian government would be interested in killing a retiree and his daughter? Their is no motive other than retribution and message sending. While Trump is so obviously pro-Russia, Putin is using that to play some dirty tricks because he knows there will be little consequence.
Would the Russian government kill people for political purposes? Yes.
Would the UK government kill people for political purposes? Yes.
Would most governments in the world kill people for political purposes? Yes.
Would the Russian government kill a retired British spy….?
Trump is so obviously pro Russia he’s sent lethal weapons to Ukraine, increased sanctions, bombed its allies in Syria,weighed in with all the other toadies at the UN denouncing Putin
Are you some kind of political virgin?
Unaware of mischief making amongst the various intelligence agencies over the last few hundred years?
the perfect crime…. get rid of a nuisance whether he knows too much about the Steele dossier..or has become too demanding, maybe wants his BMW upgraded one too many times..
Who knows who he’s pissed off
Traitors aren’t known for their loyalty or moral fibre
Kill a lot of birds with one stone, upping the pressure on Russia to comply, to “behave” , code for opening up wide for foreign corporations, stop opposing American imperialism
Big picture here
“Who but the Russian government would be interested in killing a retiree and his daughter?”
Depends…..he could have pissed off anyone, who knows? He will, his daughter will not.
There is a third option.
I seem to remember that the Americans have refused to destroy their stocks of chemical weapons. Surely they have the capacity to manufacture the nerve agent used in the UK attack, and who is to say they haven’t allowed this to be used, by accident or design, by some other country; vicious secretly nuclear-powered Israel comes to mind.
I can’t see why Israel would attempt to murder this particular retired British spy BG.
It would be good to know what Sergei Skripal was doing in his retirement and what circles he moved in, or in what/whose orbits he traveled.
It would also be good to have the identity of the poison verified by the relevant international bodies, as well as clarity on where Novichok was purportedly produced in the first place (both Uzbekistan and deep in Russia have been reported) before getting on to the signature of this particular sample.
When I saw the initial reports (in the Guardian) I immediately thought “here we go”. I was going to throw up a post and map the progress of mainstream reporting as things built. Wish I hadn’t been so damned lazy.
Yep
We have been told in various news accounts he met regularly with his old handler Pablo Miller who also lives in Salisbury and up until his Linked in profile was scrubbed, still working for his old boss Steele , ie Orbis who would have handled Skripals spy drops (the old plastic rock in Moscow caper)until 2004 when he was discovered
Often the beginning of a story , before an “official ” story has emerged, includes a lot more information
When the official story coalesces you only get the stuff that reinforces the already agreed
When Russia opened up its chemical weapons facilities to the OPCW, there should be some documentation available
Then there’s the other exiled Russian who spied for Britain claiming that Skripal regularly visited the Russian Embassy
“Last night, another former Russian agent exiled in the UK, Valery Morozov, claimed that Mr Skripal had maintained ties with Russian intelligence and visited the Russian embassy in London “every month”.
Mr Morozov told Channel 4 news “If you have a military intelligence officer working in the Russian diplomatic service, living after retirement in the UK, working in cyber-security and every month going to the embassy to meet military intelligence officers – for me being political refugee, it is either a certain danger or, frankly speaking, I thought that this contact might not be very good for me because it can bring some questions from British officials.”
Who knows
I have read that he was missing Russia
Berezovsky was said to be wanting to repair relations with Putin and hoped to return shortly before his demise too
Seemed he led a pretty quiet life
I’ve also read that Yulia came over every 2nd month
China would be a better case for a third party – a stoush between the west and Russia reduces the pressure on them. But it would be a mighty long shot.
Those two possibilities aren’t necessarily unconnected Karoraina.
He agrees completely with the action taken by May, but wants more punishment for Russians.
Fair enough.
Corbyn wants to get at the truth. May is just racking up rhetoric to make herself look strong because – look over here not Brxit.
Corbyn wants to wind back the cold war rhetoric and bluster, get at the truth, and respond appropriately to the real problems with Russia.
RNZ OP from ex UK Labour MP – on what May’s measures will achieve – very little of significance.
Bill about Corbyn
Nevertheless he has to watch his back, and pull his punches
Witness how Macron was pulled pretty smartly in to line after showing too much spunk
And the pressure we ourselves are under from the Brits and God knows who else over the FTA with Russia
Funnily enough, after Crimea, and the trade delegation was practically pulled off the plane, NZ quietly continued to trade with Russia, Fonterra in particular
Yup. I read him being circumspect in his words. So agreeing with May’s premise, with caveats, while condemning her reaction.
This happened in 2002 and 2003 when the drum for war against Iraq was beaten loudly and repetitively by the media.
I understand the media’s motivations. They are owned by large financial interests and War is profitable.
What I don’t understand is the number of neocons and Mcarthyites on this site.
I’m not counting the obvious trolls, but others who are left wing domestically but have a blind spot internationally; despite Iraq, they still cling to the Blairite doctrine.
You’re a fool Ed.
The Niger yellowcake was a recycled speculation – the Skripal chemical agent was unquestionably a real chemical agent.
I really hope you’re not on the jury in trials.
Yes, I’m sure you prefer nodding dogs. Have no fear – teachers are routinely struck from juries because they are not readily swayed by legal rhetoric.
Stuart it is you who is repeating the propaganda.
We are questioning it.
Remember WMD and Saddam Hussain – it pays not to accept what you’re told unquestioningly.
Oh wake up you pathetic indoctrinated sheep.
Two civilians and a policeman were hospitalized after what has proven to be a chemical attack. Fact. You can bleat about Novichok but you’re not qualified to dispute Portland Down’s evidence and neither is MoonofAlabama.
There was good reason to suppose that Iraqi envoys (Zahawie) visited Niger in search of “yellowcake” uranium ore, but no evidence of a deal or a shipment.
Can you spot the difference?
One relates to an actual attack – the other is little more than an intention.
The fact of the attack proves the existence of some kind of chemical agent.
Yes, but after the existence of Novichok became known to the West, are you sure that the West did not reproduce it to look for antidotes? Maybe 6 miles away from Shrewsbury?
Sorry, but at my age with what I have read in History, I lack your confidence in the veracity of what the standard western media spew out.
Tonkin Gulf… Weapons of Mass destruction… Hit and Run… How often have we really been told the truth?
A natural disaster, being copied by an unnatural disaster.
The proto-dinosaurids of the Permian era were not responsible for deliberately burning the coal, that destroyed their climate, causing the extinction of 90% of all life on earth.
The coal fields were ignited by the intrusion of liquid magma from the Earth’s core.
A more advanced warm blooded species has found a way to deliberately burn all that buried carbon and put it back into the atmosphere.
“Burning coal may have caused Earth’s worst mass extinction”
“Eerie similarities to today”
“Clean, clean coal”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezH2ED6RBcg
“This full potential can only be realised, when government promotes energy development.”
As a new fossil fuel pall is being threatened to be expanded around the globe, one small country needs to take an independent stand, to show that another way is possible.
No New Coal Mines.
New-Coal Free New Zealand
Shaw was interesting last night.
Lots of Fonterra reps in the room. In his speech he mentioned their commitment to no more new coal fired dryers in a few years. A wry smile: “Well … it’s a start.”
Lol. It’s going to be really interesting to see what changes in the next decade if we get three terms of a govt with the Greens holding that portfolio.
How I learned to stop worrying and love my census.
A few weeks back I decided to take the option of requesting paper forms. Went to the census website, clicked the request paper form option and completed the request. I got a reply saying that it would take up to a week to receive the forms.
A week later, nothing.
So I went online again to the census site, and used the page to submit a question – saying I hadn’t received my paper form.
Both submissions required a contact address. I gave them my email addy.
Another week past – nothing. Last evening I had a knock on my door. My first thought on opening it, especially as it looked like someone official with logos and clip board, etc, was that it was finally someone delivering my census forms. But then I focused on the Mercury logos, and said” Oh, you’re from Mercury. Not interested.” – the guy thought I must have had a bad experience with Mercury in the past.
Then I went to my letter box and found 2 envelops from the census people. I thought it must finally be my forms. But, No. Each envelop contained a repeat of the original form with my code, telling me how to complete the census.
So then I tried to request paper forms by my landline. I took the phone away from my ear to key in my code. When I got the phone back to my ear, I caught the end of something telling me to key something into the keypad, but not what – couldn’t get back to the automaton telling me what to do next.
Gave up on that and went back to making another online request.
I did recall that some people were told the online census often only works properly with google chrome.
So since last night I have made requests on 3 different browsers for paper forms – plus sent a message saying how useless the system is.
It’s now become something of an experiment – how much of a hole is this in the census instructions?
Now, I know some people will say that I should just complete the online form – it’s easier. But any submission of data via the Internet is hackable. I dislike the way we are increasingly pressured to put our data online.
And if they give you an option for complying with a legal requirement, it bloody well should work.
“And if they give you an option for complying with a legal requirement, it bloody well should work.”
100%.
One hopes there’ll be a significant clearout at Stats NZ after this debarcle.
I had similar problems, not as bad but still made me think of really dysfunctional systems. I just phoned them directly and sorted it out that way. Not great, but it did work out in the end.
Did you get a person on the phone? how? Which number? because all I’ve seen/heard are automatons.
Edit: hah. I rang the number. Ignored the option to press #1 to request a form, and pressed#2 to talk to someone in English.
The guy said he had now ordered paper forms to be sent to me. He said the system had read my request for paper forms as a request for new forms just with the code (not the paper ones).
Why the waka jumping Bill should not move forward in any format:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/03/15/96985/academics-slam-waka-jumping-bill
Plastic particles found in ‘brand after brand’ of bottled water study
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12013675
Yuk – can’t understand the consumer purchasing decision when buying bottled water in NZ.
I’m always impressed how Brisband produces some great thinkers on the left. You know the left that actually sees there is a class struggle going on. That the nature of liberal capitalism is effectively one of conflict. Also good to see the ALP has as much bullshit thinking on economics as NZLP.
If you need a dose of reality, then this piece is for you, if you are happy with the current crop of voodoo economics then please avoid. I’d also point out the author uses Marx and marxists analysis in their argument, so that might be a bit much, if you think it would be a bit much for you, then again, please avoid.
https://libcom.org/blog/anti-shorten-alp-still-selling-bullshit-13032018
There needs to be a wider public conversation around ‘Is This The Sort of Country/Economy We Want’. The sort of thing that was once covered to some degree by documentaries and discussion panels on Public Television.
For instance, we have the Government promising more RSE workers* and, more importantly, refugees to the Hawkes Bay for apple picking.
Now ignoring the fact that Refugee settlement is not supposed to be a source of cheap labour for seasonal jobs, the fact is there is a well recognised housing crisis in the Bay.
Not to mention the report pointing out that the Hawkes Bay was not equipped for refugees.
I dread this development, its only a matter of time before we have shanty towns as part of our ‘Regional Economic Development Plan….infact we already have orchard workers living in shipping containers…but out of sight is out of mind apparently
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/76781805/napier-and-hastings-rejected-for-refugee-settlement-over-safety-concerns
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018636100/govt-may-settle-refugees-in-hawke-s-bay-to-meet-labour-shortage
http://www.communityhousing.org.nz/resources/article/hawkes-bay-families-struggle-moving-on-from-transitional-housing
*which is what Labour campaigned on, hence there were more orchard owners than pickers at their electionaring road show..that Labour didn’t campaign on better wages for pickers is odd, given its such a ‘great’ industry, yet binn rates haven’t increased in 25 years, and most orchards are now just paying minimum hourly wage, tough luck when it rains..
Good evening Eric young from Prime News it good to see a lot of people like you showing respect for Maori culture.
Its a shame to see that bridge collapse America my condolences to all the people who got hurt.
Southern response government insurance the way they behave is because shonky started that bad behaviour and a lot of government agencies behave like that insurance company.
Its good to see Te papa up grading it facilities It a excellent museum. Ka kite ano.
Eric young from Prime News its a good sports day for ECO MAORI Kia kaha Ka kite ano
Newshub on TV3 the plastic bottles were forced on to us and we were cond into using plastic milk bottles by multi national companies we should not have abandoned glass bottles they are the environmental friendly option glass bottles provided a streem of pocket money for the mokos
Its a good thing to switch back to glass bottles.
Good Ron Marks I see he is a honorable Kiwi leader who respect OUR environment he recycl every thing he can Ka pai Kia kaha Ka kite ano.
Good music The Sound Radio midnight Special kai pai Ka kite ano
Excellent sound from the Sound Radio station Kia kaha Ka kite ano
Titanium good song Polly and Grant Iv got about 1/2 kg of titanium in my legs keep up the good music Ka kite ano
Some one should remind that moron Mark Mitchell who was singling out Ron Mark and his transport that when you are in a glass house don’t throw stones.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10720727
Is it just me, or are we seeing the degree of pedantry rising on TS….especially this year…from a fair few contributors.
How about we just acknowledge how very clever and educated and sophisticated with huge dicks some people are.
Also that some (others-not me of course) just don’t/cannot live up to the smartness, the smarminess, the value, the richness, the supreme intellect of some contributors here.
Truly, i just live in awe sometimes and wish I could be ‘like Mike’ and others.