Caution has served us well keeping covid Alpha,Delta and Omricon at bay using the ditch has meant our economy,health system and death rate has the best results of any country in the world.Bar none Jimmy .
You seem to. conveniently forget that we are weeks/months behind the rest of the world in our outbreaks. Surely it is foolish to follow a timetable set by others that may not be relevant to us here in NZ at this time. Or are you an 'open up and too hell with it' supporter?
Measured approaches have suited us well and will continue to do so. There is no rush while we are still surging with Omicron surely?
This has been known for at least 6-9 months. The effectiveness of these vaccines wears off.
It will take moat of decade at a minimum to figure out the cocktail of properties to get vaccines that are close to sterilising and that last for a long time. It will then take a even longer time to be sure of that.
It alwasy seems to puzzle uncreatives that everything in engineering from building bridges to making vaccines or medicines is an incremental process towards perfection.
I guess it is because they never create or do much themselves.
If you get Covid the antibodies that are built up are transitory. The transitory nature of the antibodies was found out very early on after people thought that herd immunity could work for populations and it was found it did not.
18/10/21
They found that reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 in people who had not received a vaccine could occur as soon as 3 months after initial infection, with a median risk of reinfection within 16 months, under endemic conditions.
'Various studies have shown that an immune response involving memory T and B cells emerges after covid-19 infection. But people’s immune systems tend to respond in very different ways to natural infection, notes Eleanor Riley, professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh. “The immune response after vaccination is much more homogenous,” she says, adding that most people generally have a really good response after vaccination. Data from the clinical trials of the leading vaccine candidates have found T and B cell reactivity.'
I have said/thought all along that it is the relationship of the corona virus to the common cold virus that is its biggest strength as a virus, to give it human characteristics it can 'duck and dive' and be 'nimble on its feet' and is a bit of a shape shifter.
It makes sense to me that the annual influenza vaccine could come with or without a covid booster. I know I would be a starter ……
Lprent I take your point about being creative is taken…..all creativity is incremental in my view. Eureka moments are few and far between and I much prefer Pasteur’s view that ‘Chance favours the prepared mind’. It applies everywhere from science to actual art. Another way is ‘practice makes perfect’ or rather than ‘perfect’ opens your eyes to other possibilities.
I guess there are some who think nothing happens unless there is a poll coming or been to indicate action is needed.
It's like vaccine mandates and other steps in the covid battle. Did people really expect mandates would be on forever, borders would never reopen, MIQ would be permanent? That big groups would never be able to gather?
Yes agree…obviously all those protestors at Parliament failed to react in a common sense way
Did people really expect mandates would be on forever, borders would never reopen, MIQ would be permanent? That big groups would never be able to gather?
and probably answered 'yes' to your question. Some maliciously of course and some just went 'oh right if XXXXX (insert favourite antivax/mandate mis- & dis-information spouting group) says so it must be right.'
Yes agree but but you can't expect anyone to pay attention, or think or even remember back to November 2021 can you? Heavens that is at least 4 months ago.
Caution has served us well, a staged reopening has served us well, being flexible in bringing actions forward or back depending on circumstances at the time has served us well. I am actually hearing some around saying perhaps we are being too hasty…..
Top US general (retired) provides a military appraisal of the invasion.
PETRAEUS: there are many reasons for the Russians' abysmal performance. First of all, they're fighting against a very determined, quite capable Ukrainian force that is composed of special ops, conventional forces, territorial forces and even private citizens, all of whom are determined not to allow Russia to achieve its objectives. They are fighting for their national survival, their homeland and their way of life, and they have the home-field advantage, knowing the terrain and communities.
But beyond that, the Russians are just surprisingly unprofessional. They clearly have very poor standards when it comes to performing basic tactical tasks such as achieving combined arms operations, involving armor, infantry, engineers, artillery and mortars. They are very poor at maintaining their vehicles and weapon systems and have abandoned many of them. They are also poor at resupply and logistical tasks.
The Russians also have found it difficult to go off-road. Their wheeled vehicles get mired in mud very quickly. The ground is not frozen the way they had hoped it would be. Even tracked vehicles seem to be getting mired in mud. And the Russians are just not performing sufficient preventive maintenance on their equipment.
I've served in mechanized units, with a mix of tanks and armored personnel carriers. And every single time you stop, the driver and the crew members are outside checking road wheels and final drives, pumping grease, topping off fluid levels. If you don't do preventive maintenance, then you will end up with such vehicles breaking down.
Beyond that, the Russians just have relatively unimpressive equipment, given the investment supposedly made over the past decade or so. They certainly don't have equipment comparable to what the United States has.
they didn't crater the runways in Ukraine in the first hour of combat the way we did in Iraq in 2003 to completely deny the Iraqi Air Force any opportunities to take off. In fact, the Ukrainian Air Force is still flying.
The 40-mile traffic jam we saw outside of Kyiv — this is just incompetent movement control for which normally there is doctrine and organizational structures and procedures. And then it took them days just to disperse that 40-mile column into the tree cover as opposed to being out in the open.
The Russians have been unable to take down the Ukrainian command and control system and unable to take down President Volodymyr Zelensky's access to social media and the internet. So, their cyberwarfare capabilities that seemed impressive in earlier campaigns, when the Russians took Crimea in 2014 for instance, are a whole lot less impressive this time.
Usually, the rule of thumb for urban warfare is that it requires at least five attackers to every defender. In this case, I'd argue it may be more than that because the Ukrainians are so resourceful. They will work together to prevent the Russians from taking urban areas the way that infantry and combined arms normally would do, such as the way the United States military cleared and then held cities during the Iraq War in, e.g., Ramadi and Fallujah as well as parts of Baghdad and other cities.
Such big-city battles require you to take every building and clear every room, and then you have to leave forces behind in each building or else the enemy will come back behind you and reoccupy them. So, it's incredibly soldier-intensive. The Russians have nowhere near enough soldiers to do that even for Kyiv, much less all of the other cities.
It appears that they have taken more fatalities in the first two weeks of the war than the US took in 20 years in Iraq; somewhere around 5,000 or so by most accounts, which is just stunning.
Conventional wisdom had it that Afghanistan is unique due to terrain, tribalism, guerilla warfare type conditions. They fought the British Empire to a standstill. The Russians spent years there back in the '80s & couldn't win. The US ignored tradition out of hubris, I reckon, and learnt the lesson for themselves, afresh.
Blazer the pentagon said it would take a much larger force to maintain control in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Politicians made the decisions.
Empires like testing their military so they can learn and test how good their tactics and equipment is.plus if you win a war outright there is no ongoing military spending
The military industrial complex.
Wants to keep it's budget an in peace time those budgets get cut.
Look at NZ no Airforce just a scare force.
The US has learned that much of its equipment didn't work dust and a determined guerilla army with little resources showed the US military up.
Russia is finding out the same lesson but with out the deep pockets of the western alliances.
What guarantee did the US make in Q1 2021? It certainly wasn't that the US would militarily attack Russia if they invaded. That would have required Ukraine to be part of NATO or to have a formal defence pact with the US. The most that the Ukrainians should have expected is EXACTLY what the US is doing now which is imposing extremely tough sanctions on Russia plus both financial and military aid.
The US did make a security guarantee in 1994. Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Obviously the Russians have spectacularly failed to live up to its provisions in the first 3 parts since 2014 when they annexed Ukrainian territory, directly encouraged and supported separatist successions, and started a sequence of a number of economic attacks on Ukraine.
Taking into account the commitment of Ukraine to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory within a specified period of time,
Noting the changes in the world-wide security situation, including the end of the Cold War, which have brought about conditions for deep reductions in nuclear forces,
Confirm the following:
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE Final Act, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the Principles of the CSCE Final Act, to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm, in the case of Ukraine, their commitment not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, except in the case of an attack on themselves, their territories or dependent territories, their armed forces, or their allies, by such a state in association or alliance with a nuclear weapon state.
Ukraine, The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America will consult in the event a situation arises which raises a question concerning these commitments.
This Memorandum will become applicable upon signature.
Signed in four copies having equal validity in the Ukrainian, English, and Russian languages.
The Budapest Memorandum was negotiated at political level, but it is not entirely clear whether the instrument is devoid entirely of legal provisions. It refers to assurances, but it does not impose a legal obligation of military assistance on its parties.[1][26] According to Stephen MacFarlane, a professor of international relations, "It gives signatories justification if they take action, but it does not force anyone to act in Ukraine."[25] In the US, neither the George H. W. Bush administration nor the Clinton administration was prepared to give a military commitment to Ukraine, and they did not believe the US Senate would ratify an international treaty and so the memorandum was adopted in more limited terms.[26] The memorandum has a requirement of consultation among the parties "in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning the … commitments" set out in the memorandum.[27] Whether or not the memorandum sets out legal obligations, the difficulties that Ukraine has encountered since early 2014 may cast doubt on the credibility of future security guarantees that are offered in exchange for nonproliferation commitments.[28] Regardless, the United States publicly maintains that "the Memorandum is not legally binding", calling it a "political commitment".[29]
Ukrainian international law scholars such as Olexander Zadorozhny maintain that the Memorandum is an international treaty because it satisfies the criteria for one, as fixed by the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and is "an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law".[30]
China and France gave security assurances for Ukraine in separate documents. China's governmental statement of 4 December 1994 did not call for mandatory consultations if questions arose but only for "fair consultations". France's declaration of 5 December 1994 did not mention consultations.[1]
Scholars assumed at the time that Ukraine's decision to sign the Budapest Memorandum was proof of Ukraine's development as a democracy and its desire to step away from the post-Soviet world and make first steps toward a European future. For 20 years, until the 2014 Russian military occupation of regions of Ukraine,[31] the Ukrainian nuclear disarmament was an exemplary case of nuclear non-proliferation.
It certainly gives the direct justification of military and financial support by the US and UK since Russia has invaded Ukraine.
My big issue with this is that Russia has effectively destroyed nonproliferation agreements. At the time that this was signed, Ukraine had the 3rd largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. While they didn't have the launch codes, what they did have was a lot of enriched uranium and plutonium, plus the local knowledge about how to create tactical nuclear weapons.
I doubt that Russia would have invaded if Ukraine had tactical nukes. Those large formations of Russian armour would have been sitting ducks. The damage to Ukraine would have been less than the indiscriminate bombardment of cities and the civilians in them that Russian dumb weapons has been doing in their current list of atrocities.
What the US, UK, EU and everyone else is doing is the absolute minimum response required to stop a tactical anti invasion nuclear arms race from aggressive fascist style states like Russia.
Because all security guarantees of ‘neutral’ states outside of military alliances "the Ukrainian nuclear disarmament was an exemplary case of nuclear non-proliferation." are now demonstrated to be a pitiful shield. If you have one set of idiotic arseholes like Putin and his flunkies – then there will be more.
As well as re-starting nuclear proliferation, Russia has effectively destroyed the possibility of a buffer zone of neutral states, and it has alienated potentially friendly neighbours. Even Switzerland has called it “a gross violation of international law” and imposed sanctions.
I appreciated this narrative background to the war, with perhaps a slight nod to Shakespeare… The King Must Die
Your conclusion makes sense to me. I wonder how many of the movers & shakers abroad have figured it out yet. Folks like Kissinger & Brezinski probably got it immediately. I hope they spread advice around & into the NSC & CFR particularly.
There's a lesson along the lines of Chamberlain/Munich to be learnt at the top level of western geopolitical decision-making. Time to start brainstorming a redesign of the incentive-structure of the UN Security Council, to ensure compliance with membership conditions & deter military adventures…
Is this the same Gen. David Petraeus, that was exposed as a media manipulator, lied to the FBI, and warmonger that contributed to even more harm in Iraq and Afghanistan?
IIRC, it was Rolling Stones articles I read back then, but unfortunately they are behind a paywall.. So, here's John Pilger, writing for the News International confirming the first which is relevant now:
You have talked about ‘wars of perception’ in which the news media plays a major role. What do you mean by this?
The term belongs to General David Petraeus, the current US commander in Afghanistan, who wrote in the 2006 US Counterinsurgency Manual that what mattered was not so much military superiority as persuading the public at home that you were winning, regardless of the reality. In other words, the public is the true enemy of governments that pursue unpopular colonial wars which can only be ‘won’ if the public is successfully deceived.
Another Pilger piece in the Guardian, is a reminder of the role of media in times of war and has a timely closing paragraph, given yesterday's court decision:
In my film, I asked Assange how WikiLeaks dealt with the draconian secrecy laws for which Britain is famous. "Well," he said, "when we look at the Official Secrets Act labelled documents, we see a statement that it is an offence to retain the information and it is an offence to destroy the information, so the only possible outcome is that we have to publish the information." These are extraordinary times.
Yes, I noticed that stuff at the time. When top military guys do pr, they usually spin on behalf of their govt – which became evident to me in the late 1960s (Vietnam War) – but observers must develop the habit of relating their comments to context to interpret them accurately.
Since he's now retired, we can be reasonably confident he has no current political agenda. His reputation is sufficiently flawed (by incident such as those you cited) that he would be unlikely to be offered an ambassador's position, for instance. He mentioned that he has been a Biden critic. Therefore it's very likely that he's a straightshooter in the above appraisal…
The problem for the Russian negoitiators is that they are effectively losing as Ukraine are holding them to a standstill and the sanctions bite into the a Russian army resupply.
There is no point in Ukraine conceding anything apart from ceasefire while the Russians withdraw and pay reparations. And Ukraine enters NATO.
That last is because Russia has no credibility. Having broken their security guarantees already. They have nothing else to offer.
The Ukrainians said last night they've mobilised almost 100% of their available reserves. That is almost 900,000 men. That is a game changer. The war is now a stalemate. The Ukrainians have fought the Russians to a standstill but lack the means to counter attack. A negotiated way out for Putin is urgently needed.
Wars of attrition favour those on the defensive and the current deployment of Russian troops in Ukraine make it highly probable they will continue to lose much more troops and equipment than the Ukrainians UNLESS they spend considerable efforts to eliminate pockest of resistence in their rear areas such as around Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. To do that will takes weeks of brutal fighting and they will have to give up any chance of taking Kiev.
Russia is doing better in the south for the moment, and, should they take Mariupol they will be able to run rail north with desperately needed fuel and other supplies. Of course, rail makes a lovely target too, and protecting long lines from drone and Ukrainian partisan attacks may tax an already rather busy invasion force. (No doubt Ukrainian forces are even now reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom in anticipation.) Many of the north south rail lines are already in place, including branches to locations of interest like the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
The Russians have 300 Billion in cash reserves left (after sanctions), has low national debt and most importantly it has the largest gas and oil reserves in Europe…those reserves alone with their ever increasing rising prices brought on by the sanctions/war will in effect fund Russia's war…China needs gas/oil, so no problem in selling it….not to mention the other commodities which Russia has that the US hasn’t sanctioned like Titanium, which without would effectively put a stop the production of aircraft in the US.
It seems clear that Putin has long planned for the potentiality of his red lines not being meet in the Ukraine, and has prepared for a long and brutal war if his demands for Ukraine are not fulfilled.
It is also pretty obvious that at some point soon, Putin will weaponize his big stick of gas/oil supply to Europe as winter bites….this conflict has a long way to play out yet if Putin doesn’t get what he perceives is in the best interests for Russian security in the long term.
Ukraine will never be in NATO, not unless Russia is defeated in a full scale war….and no one has the stomach for that insanity…..we hope.
It was just there as a guide to the underlying financial stability Russia had sought to (and did) establish going into this conflict….I know historical context is not your thing Mr Frank, but if you did spend a little more time researching in that field in future, you might well find it useful in understanding what is happening in the present…then hopefully your comments would reflect your new more nuanced understanding going forward…and what a relief that would be.
You get folks who seem to automatically expect others to engage with their internal melodrama. They use a bit of delusional framing here & there in their commentary as a lure. Tedious, I know, but they seem to believe doing so is an integral part of leftist political praxis.
Your last paragraph is spot on Adrian. Failure by the West to acknowledge this means that either Russia succeeds or world security spirals down. The US is as usual ok with Europe going down in flames while watching from the sidelines except that Russia would not have initiated this existential struggle unless they at least believed they had enough reach to include the US.
On the economic front there is a good article in naked capitilism about the effect of the memories of the 90s on the Russian psyche. This is the decade by which all hardship will be measured in the knowledge that this was the attempt by the west to break open Russia. That they survived, seems nothing short of a miracle to many and it was Putin who took them out of this dark place. The fact that the well off and those who profited from the pillage of the Russian state are now feeling finacial pain is just an added feature of the current refusal to allow Nato any further inches to the east
Look I put much into economic sanctions stopping Russia, but so far they have not constricted their economy by double digits. So I would not say
The Russian economy is in free fall and will be like Germany 1919 or Zimbabwe.
You need to understand Russia has a lot of natural resources, and by a lot ,I mean a hell of a lot. Other countries will stand up and take them, just not the west. So I can't see the Russian economy going into free fall at all.
Now if people like our last PM John Key had not set the financial system up, so the oligarchs and people like Putin could hide their money behind shell companies. Then I think the economic sanctions could have been targeted towards those oligarchs and Putin and been way more effective.
But once again we (the people) are screwed over by the Tory idiots in their never ending greed fetish.
@Tricledown, "Adrian a red warning bar saying the article is more than 2 years old"…my answer to Mr Frank above, obviously applies to you as well…. maybe dig a little deeper….
"The Russian government’s extensive involvement in the economy and the money it is still making from oil and gas exports — even with bans from the U.S. and Britain — will help soften the blow for many workers, pensioners and government employees in a country that has endured three serious financial crises in the past three decades. And as economists point out, Iran, a much smaller and less diversified economy, has endured sanctions misery for years over its nuclear program without a complete breakdown." https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/russia-built-economy-fortress-pain-real-83361604
Maybe you and some others around these parts would do well to keep in mind that in the minds of most our demented press/politicians we are in a state of War with Russia ourselves…so by extension most of what you will be hearing/reading on this subject with be permeated to some degree with state propaganda…which is of course always exercised in times of war.
The Russians have 300 Billion in cash reserves left
So they can afford to pay for their own civil aircraft.
They'll be grounded, or fall out of the sky, whichever comes first, within six months because of Russia's inability to maintain their airworthiness without manufacturer support.
Putin signed a law today that will make it possible for Russia to nationalize the 500+ airplanes that Western leasing companies have demanded to be returned to them.
The planes are worth more than USD 10 billion.
This is how doing business with Russia often ends.
If Russia's end goal was to make Europe bend to his will through the use of his oil then he should have started the War BEFORE winter rather than at the end. He has given Europe plenty of motivation AND time to source additional energy supplies.
Well except he wanted Europe to tacitly accept his hegemonic position over the areas of most of the former Soviet Union and not to try and encourage these nations to join the EU.
Your good at calling other people ‘fools’ l.prent,but if you only take a one sided point of view and dismiss out of hand the other sides points, then your analysis is flawed. If one only relies on western media for information on conflicts, then you are sorely misled judging by passed conflicts where Western media lies have been exposed, ie Saddam’s WMD etc etc.
If you change "Marxism" to "Bolshevism" you might be on to something. One is a vanguardist, authoritarian political movement and therefore comparable to fascism, the other isn't. You'd still have to show that Putin is a species of Bolshevik though, which could be a fun exercise.
It is said that Putin is particularly fond of the works of Ivan Ilyin (quotes him in essays), whose anti-communist prescription was apparently something called Christian Fascism.
Another major influence though, is said to be Aleksandr Dugin. He has more than a few political skeletons (declared admiration for Hitler for one), but a conservative mistrust of liberalism and a dislike of the West, chiefly America, seem to be shared with Putin.
As a political philosopher, Dugin's critiques of Western culture are an interesting outsider perspective. Sadly his velvet words serve to conceal the iron fist of Putin's tyranny.
anyone who calls dugin putin's rasputin hasn't done enough research on dugin, because if they had done so, they would have read the interview where he explicitly says he is not rasputin but rather merlin. don't trust most overnight dugin "experts"! (there are some)
As is any ideology when taken to authoritarian extremes.
At the moment we live under the crushing weight of capitalist exploitation that drove colonialism and slavery, and is now destroying the planet itself.
It is Fox News style fearmongering to characterise Marxism and left wing thought as the road the Stalinism and gulags.
Economic and political equality are good things to aim for.
Do you think that Helen Clark was excessively pessimistic then? She said this about a week ago.
"The best-case scenario is there are talks that establish a basis on which Ukraine and Russia will live in peace, side-by-side.
“That will probably mean Ukraine will need to accept it is a neutral country. It doesn’t want to be in a recreated Warsaw Pact with Russia, but it probably can’t ever be in NATO either. It is a classic buffer state, where great power interests are either side of it: it is the meat in the sandwich, and when Russia has felt the buffer’s gone, that’s when it’s gotten very, very angry.
“I can’t as I sit here see a best-case where Ukraine is able to say, ‘we’ll join what we want and do what we want’. That’s probably unrealistic.”
I'm afraid that she is almost certainly right. Whether we like it or not Russia is a nuclear state with a crazy leader. If he decides that he is going to be overthrown he just might to something really mad and try using a tactical nuclear weapon. Just a little one of course but he just might try it rather than have what he sees as his, and therefore Russia's enemy on his border.
I think the only way Putin will go is is if he has guarantees of his own impunity from penalties and keeps all his wealth, and that Ukraine and the other boundary states are neutral.
The trouble is that would mean he would have to accept that other states keep their promises. Would he do that given his own record in such things?
The idea that Russia has no credibility and therefor no ability to stop Ukraine joining NATO is, unfortunately, delusional.
"…Beyond that, the Russians just have relatively unimpressive equipment, given the investment supposedly made over the past decade or so…"
Russia's defense budget is sixty billion US per year. Most of the investment was in small numbers of advanced weapons with the hope of foreign sales that could get production lines open and fund deployment of this equipment to Russian units. The T-14 Armata "wonder tank" is instructive here. After a protracted development from the cancelled T-95 (started in 1988, cancelled in 2010) this 4th generation MBT was first seen in public in 2015, where it broke down. The Russians announced they were buying 2300 of them with deliveries complete by 2020. This was subsequently scaled back to 100 as a test batch to be delivered by 2020, now pushed out to 2025 with some reports saying less than fifty will ever be made. The reason they are not in mass production is rampant corruption, financial mismanagement and very high loss of skilled personnel, and lack of foreign sales to actually fund the production lines.
Putin has just trashed the reputation of Russian weapons, his aged arsenal is proving to be death traps for Russian troops.
" his aged arsenal is proving to be death traps for Russian troops." …..name me one tank in the world today that could defeat the Javelin (or Kornet) AT weapon?..possibly the new generation Israeli reactive armour might?
What you and others don't acknowledge is the fact that this conflict is the first time that leading edge first line military hardware has been committed against each other on a large scale by two professional armies, in open combat since probably the Korean War (some would argue Iraq/Iran)…keep in mind the Ukraine has been flooded with western weapons, namely shoulder fired AT and AA weapons….
If the Russians has exported thousands of Kornet AT weapons into Afghanistan or Iraq you can be sure that we would have seen the US abandon both those conflicts years earlier.
What we are really witnessing is the demise of the modern Main Battle Tank as an effective battlefield weapon…the writing was really on the wall when the Germans produced the first really effective disposable shoulder fired AT weapon , the Panzerfaust in WW2.
Hezbollah really sealed the fate of Main Battle Tanks in the 2006 Lebanon War when they defeated the most sophisticated Tank in the Middle East, the Israeli Merkava using only well trained and highly motivated infantry with shoulder fired weapons.
Much in line with the demise of the worlds Battleships, the Main Battle Tank will be relegated to a role as a heavy artillery support weapon in future ( is usually used like that most of the time now as far as I can tell)..I am pretty sure the US stopped using Tanks in urban battle a while back..guess the Russians are leaning why they choose that course for themselves as we speak.
Do you really think the MBT lasted right up until 2006?
I would have said it was proved to be totally defunct in 1991 when the Iraq military was destroyed in a 4 day period from 24 Feb to 28 Feb.
In open country, and good weather, it could of course be argued that the demise of the MBT happened after the Normandy landings in 1944 when the German forces could not move their armour up to the front during daylight because of the overwhelming dominance of the Allied air power.
While it is true that the Germans couldn't move their tanks around France in 1944, when they could bring them to bear, the results in terms of moral for their own troops and demoralizing the Allied troops is undeniable… at the same time German troops without air, tank or conventional AT support, once trained and armed with Panzerfaust were quite capable of defeating all Allied armour…within range of course!!
"Do you really think the MBT lasted right up until 2006?"…..I have always been surprised at the willingness of armies to bring MBT into urban battle scenario's in the modern era…but they still do.
I'm inclined to agree – tanks went the way of the battleship, and for the same reason – air power, at least as far as battlefield use is concerned.
But there is a contemporary use for tanks, in cowing subject populations, who generally lack the wherewithal to deal with them. A sudden abundance of AT weapons changes that calculation significantly however. Now the tankers fear the population they are supposed to be oppressing.
Oh Lord, alwyn. It was painfully obvious in Germany's invasion of France in 1941 that their weak tanks were reliant upon the Stukas and overwhelming airpower.
Hand-held weapons outmoding tanks is a new phenomenon to most.
Perhaps you are right, and the German tanks were terrible. I am quite unable to comment as I know absolutely nothing about a 1941 German invasion of France.
I have heard just a little about an invasion in 1940 though but that is obviously not what you are pontificating so superciliously about.
No one has really deployed in extensive combat an Active Protection System (APS) like the Israeli Trophy system. Trophy has had use in Gaza on Merkava tanks and if you believe the IDF PR it has been very successful.
But here is the weird thing – the Russians have been tinkering with doppler APS systems since the late 1970s – the Drozd system, it was even deployed on 250 tanks in the early 1980s. They retired that and developed a soft kill system called Shorta-1 in the late 1980s, and built an active system called Arena after the heavy armoured losses in the Chechen war. This was demonstrated as far back as 1995.
However, lack of funds (because none have been exported) means none have been purchased or deployed by the Russian Federation. So they've had a potential defense against top attack tandem HEAT warheads for a quarter century, but haven't deployed it due to corruption and lack of money.
This chap, a somewhat gung-ho ex-US Navy F-14 aviator, has some interesting operational insights.
Will check that out when I get home, thanks., also good insight into the Russian tank defense systems…now I know will probably be down that rabbit hole for the next night or two. ..I know this is all wrong, but at the end of all this, it will be very interesting to see what really happened militarily, as I am sure you know, very little information coming out now from anywhere can really be trusted.
I wouldn't trust IDF PR either, they are still traumatized by their loss to Hezbollah IMO, in no small part through a lack of fighting will and low moral at the time, which I believe is still a big problem for them now.
Former Australian army officer on Poot's plans A and B going to shit and plan C heading the same way.
Day 19 of the Russian invasion of #Ukraine. Today I examine the implications of Russian personnel commitments and losses, and what this now means for their campaign. 1/25 (Image – @IAPonomarenko) pic.twitter.com/995yZAOPkh
— Major General (just retired!) Mick Ryan (@WarintheFuture) March 14, 2022
an ongoing quagmire, and it makes the prospect of a negotiated resolution the only way out…
Dennis Frank
Running out of options, a negotiated solution may be the only way out for Russia. However, Putin's personal hubris may torpedo any serious peace negotiations.
On the Ukrainian side, after all the terrible hardship and losses they have suffered at Russia's hands Ukraine's leaders will not be in any mood to offer much in the way of concessions to the Russian invader..
When you're on the winning side it pays to push your advantage.
If serious peace negotiations are entered into, I imagine that Ukraine's demands will be pretty onerous for Putin to accept. Including total Russian withdrawal and ending of all hostilities, especially in the Donbass region, where Russian has been funding and supporting far right ultra nationalist Russian separatists since 2014.
If the Russian political leadership enters into negotiations to end this war, they will be lucky to not have to agree to pay reparations for war damage.
The Russian leadership would be best to concede to Ukraine's demands, in exchange they may be offered their continued control of the Crimea, in some sort of joint arrangement.
If the war continues to Russia's ultimate defeat, Russia will probably eventually be driven out of all of the Ukraine including Crimea.
Deepening the Russian leadership's problems; despite newly imposed extremely repressive laws aimed at anti-war messages and protests, .anti-war protests in Russia continue to break out.
……The 30,000 rouble (£214; $280) fine relates to her video message.
…..In the video, she called on the Russian people to protest against the war, saying only they have the power to "stop all this madness".
If Australians buy in NZ and they live in Australia, they still pay all tax on any property, with a deduction for other taxes paid. NZ equals no deduction.
If a NZer buys Aussie property, all the Aussie taxes apply selling or buying.
Ah the famous bet….yes he has been wrong before, in timing….hes been right in his description however , just not how determined the vested interests were in maintaining their position.
And zero interest rates did occur.
Keen is unconcerned about who he upsets.
And yes Hudson is another who describes it well…..unsurprising given his background.
People have spent more time online while isolating during Covid-19 lockdowns, it says.
"As a result, it is likely they have had greater exposure to disinformation, conspiracy theories and online extremist content regarding the virus, vaccines, and government mitigation programmes."
The report notes it is likely many of the people who have engaged with such content didn't seek it out, but were exposed to it on social media.
Social media algorithms likely helped spread this content, it says.
“It’s exhausting to watch,” says doctor Morgan Edwards, as she drives across Auckland to work at a city hospital. “You follow these kinds of pages and you think it’s about kids or nutrition and the next minute they’re saying don’t get vaccinated, because they’ll sell you supplements to fight off the toxins instead.”
At an event originally presented as anti-mandate, it has become increasingly apparent that Voices for Freedom and most everyone protesting alongside them is anti-vaccine, as well as dabbling (at the very least) in conspiracy theories. There has been an abundance of accusations of conspiracy, cover-ups, government control and more towards the media from protesters.
The antvax trolls tried really hard to spin there bs here and we're allowed to express their unsubstantiated views but we're shot down by many fact checkers but didn't accept the truth so got banned.
Ad your negative spin trying to divide us is in a similar vein.not unexpected from a blue blooded sycophant.Ironically.
[Don’t you believe it:
… but didn’t accept the truth so got banned.
Nobody gets banned here for being a fool believing in fairies. People get banned for behaviour, mostly, e.g. when they make assertions and statements of facts that they don’t back up, especially after a repeated request by a Mod. Of course, if one asserts BS then one cannot back it up, but then they have a choice to correct/retract and apologise or get banned. Fools seldom takes the first option, which shows they’re fools.
Don’t be a fool spreading lies about banning here.
You’re also attacking an Author of TS accusing him of trying to divide us “in a similar vein”, whatever that means, and accusing him of being a “blue blooded sycophant”. Well, jolly good then, here’s your opportunity to back it up or retract & apologise. You’re in Pre-Moderation until then and I hope you do finally read the replies to your comments because if you still don’t I’ll move you to the Ban list for a few weeks – Incognito]
I'll take the ban because I am fed up to the frikken teeth to see the bs antvaxxers spewed onto this site.
While peoples lives are at stake at least lprent stuck it to them with out holding back.
If I made comments like lprent made against the antivax brigade I would have been banned.
Yet you let anti vaxxers link to conspiracy sites with out any sanctions.
I am happy to take a ban for sticking up for truth.
[Ok, thanks for responding.
Just so that we’re clear, you receive a ban for spreading lies about banning and accusing an Author without basis. You want to take the ban “for sticking up for truth”, with is absurd nonsense; you sound like you want to play the role of victim and martyr. As I said before, nobody gets banned for sticking up for the truth even when it is only their truth as long as they can debate it and argue their views and state them as their opinion rather than as statements of facts. The latter require backup support.
You did not retract any of these nor did you apologise.
You chose the ban because of some misguided stuff about anti-vax comments here on TS by some. Your ban has nothing to do with anti-vaxxers here on TS! You can argue for or against anything or anybody as much as you like as long as you can support your statements and preferably without personal insults.
I heard that Simon is moving to Auckland. Is he going to have a go at the mayoralty? If he succeeded and brought a team with him, then one of the reasons for the establishment of the super city could be fulfilled. All those juicy assets could finally be up for grabs by their mates. The reason would of course be TINA due to the mismanagement of the left wing council.
"due to the mismanagement of the left wing council"….what Left council are you referring too?….as far as I know there isn't any serious large Left Wing organization operating within the boarders on New Zealand today….please post link to one if you know where one is, I would be more than interested….thanks.
Luxon has to make this Top 10 shuffle look like the Government-In-Waiting.
No way is he ever gonna achieve that! After the top 4 it goes into non-event repetition. Brownlee @ #8 makes Maureen Pugh look like a viable contender. Bayly may yet evidence substance though.
Andrew Bayly looks like a good contender given his background.
I wish someone would have a word with Gerry. Either that, or Luxon can give him an ambassadorial role given National have a good chance of taking out the next election.
I just think she would have been better used in a free lancing role until National was entrenched in power. Having her bogged down with finance would tie her up.
Given Nationals paucity of talent, Andrew Bayly could have been brought forward and blooded ( if he has the talent?)
Imagine those two at a function where there was free food. I think someone once said "You don't want to get yourself caught between Gerry Brownlee and a sausage roll!".
Perhaps you haven't noticed that Nanaia Mahuta has lost a lot of weight. I suspect her weight problem had more to do with a metabolic condition. I also suspect she may have had a stomach operation to counter that condition. Good on her.
Fat shaming especially when it is caused by other factors than over-eating is bottom of the barrel stuff imo.
In Gerry's case, nope. His leader, JC, proudly declared that obesity was the individual's fault and responsibility, and Gerry heartily agreed. He's admitted that he's weak-willed and/or gluttonous and proud.
If she’s a lightweight then Robbo is a featherweight. Both seem pretty mediocre to me, their skills lie in PR and political manoeuvring, no real competence or expertise in their portfolios. One hopes they have decent staff and enough moral fibre to adopt policies for the greater good (beyond themselves and their mates)
Yep, us Western baby boomers have never tasted war – a near historical anomaly.
That has allowed us breathing space to navel gaze… and move away from reality into madness that currently afflicts the West. Worthy ideals like diversity and women's rights have been highjacked by self interest groups who have subverted such good intentions.
But underneath it all, nothing has really changed as the above clip shows. We just hide our bigotry better, while pandering to madness in a vain attempt to hide our true natures from ourselves.
Yes, Black voices like Dave Chappelle have pointed this out for years. Academic woke cosplay doesn’t help with far deeper systemic evils like racism and poverty in America
What ‘analysis’? There was no analysis and nothing to speak of, as usual.
Biased commenters have a disposition towards lazy comments, often nothing more than an ‘important vid’ aka YT clip, or towards overly long comments with way too many quotes and links (and YT clips).
People are too lazy to construct and write a decent argument and collectively we’re losing our debating skills. This is my point, so what’s yours again?
I am tied of the in fighting,you yourself got sucked in with a long diatribe with {chairman}and he was pulling you down,it's happening time and time again.I myself say fuck all bar a few hopeful quiet barb's,but I like the links and as weka would ask a brief description,Im saying that some here would see that within this post,thanks for your reply,keep up the otherwise good work here.
Yes, I know that others like the links and that’s perfectly fine – they’re not deleted, but sometimes converted to the URL rather than embedded clip.
Indeed, a brief description with some explanation/reason as to why we should click on it is the basic request/requirement here on TS. Preferably, a political point that can be debated. Otherwise, it’s just lazy Spam that fills precious space and distracts from robust debate.
As to being tired of fighting, I know what you mean. I’m tired of futile exchanges too. With regards to TC, I gave him enough rope and a wee spade and he used these the way he did, which is why he’s in Pre-Moderation now and soon heading to the Ban list for a while if he doesn’t respond. Better that I waste my time on vexatious trolls than spates of others wasting their time on them at the expense of useful convos – essentially the definition of trolling. It’s a crap job, but somebody has to do it.
Reflections on Simon’s departure.
The tears in Simon's eyes, the lack of anyone standing with him looked more like gimlet eyes has believed Judith? /he was better off without him?
Or perhaps the coming court case means Simon has to appear on the stand?
It would not suit the aspirations of Luxon. He has perhaps sent a huge warning to any other in his "team".
Or perhaps he was told Nicola would be Finance, and he was offered a lesser role?
All speculation, but the machinations in National are not over.
… perhaps he was told Nicola would be Finance, and he was offered a lesser role?
All speculation, but the machinations in National are not over.
Sounds to me that is what happened. So Bridges decided not to hang around any longer.
Nicola Willis is Nationals' answer to Jacinda Ardern. Mark my words, its not Robertson who is her No 1 target but Ardern. She's been raised to the highest position possible and will be expected to match Jacinda word for word and going one better. The 'one up on you' syndrome.
She has four kids and Jacinda only has one. I've noticed recently she's even dressing like Jacinda. Brightly coloured pretty blouses with a plain coat of some sort draped around her shoulders. Anyone think that doesn't matter? To the Nats it does. Image has been their second name for as long as I've been around and that’s a long time. They are obsessed with image.
Adrian Thornton $300 billion is nothing these days it may keep an economy like NZ going for a couple of years at best but Russia waging a War maybe a few weeks or Months.
As poverty bites Russia will struggle to keep it army supplied its troops Morale up.The peoples protest in check .
Putin has made a huge tactical error.
All his oligarchs are spewing .
This is the end of Zsar Putins corrupt regime.
Where are they going to lock up all the dissenters.
I am betting on a military coup not unlike how Putin came to power.
You get the oligarchs are protected right, they have all their money hidden behind shell companies – nice and safe. Probably in South Dakota or the Cayman islands, how that for irony. If we had been able to shut these bastards down this war would probably have been stopped.
As it stands, I'm not sure with the lock down of any information in Russia if Putin is in trouble. I know he was not like before this. But people are funny, we know when collective punishment like sanctions are used, they rally behind leaders they don't like. Iran, North Korea, Cuba, the list goes on.
Yes I agree and look forward to a new Russian election where the second most popular Party by far could form the new Government, of course that will still be unacceptable to the West.
My fuck…watching the oil tourists and their commentary/politically charged talking points the past week tells me EXACTLY how the medical field must have felt for over a year. I hope this ends soon before I rip the eyes from my head. #OOTT
The Night Wolves are a right wing pro Russia (pro Putin – it's mutual) biker group led by Alexander Sergeyevich Zaldostanov who calls himself the surgeon – maybe because he thinks he is a wolverine.
The Night Wolves are backed by the Kremlin and hellbent on restoring the empire
“wherever the Night Wolves are, that should be considered Russia.”
After fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, a Night Wolves chapter joined pro-Russia militias battling the country’s army. The Night Wolves have been running “humanitarian convoys” into the region and …serving as a police force in Luhansk, one of two self-declared separatist republics
They also affect a religious extremism – where same sex marriages are allowed, “tomorrow pedophilia will be fine, then sex with dead people, then eating the shit, and if we don’t stop, we will see the abyss of hell”
In 2018, the Night Wolves organized a tourof Bosnia and Serbia under the slogan “Russian Balkans”.
They have branches in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. There they are supporters of the Orthodox Church (Croats are Catholic, Albanians, most Kosovans and a significant group of Bosnians are Moslems).
The Montenegrin branch of the Russian 'Night Wolves' bikers club on Thursday called on the authorities to prohibit a planned pro-Ukrainian gathering in Podgorica, warning that it could provoke incidents.
PS The Wolfsangel (wolfshook – based on the historic wolfstrap design) is an ancient runic symbol that was believed to be able to ward off wolves. The Azov regiment is based in Mariupol, which Russia is intent on reducing to rubble.
The warrior monk Alexander Peresvet is an iconic figure to the Night Wolves – the Russians laser weapon (for taking out satellites) is named after him.
She said the party would not change New Zealand's straightforward, blanket approach to GST, but changing tax brackets in line with National's proposals would offer people some relief.
"Our package would give the average wage earner $870 per year, the average superannuitant couple $540 per year.
"We think it's a question of priorities. Is this the time for the government to be spending exorbitant sums on things like health restructures, or is this actually a time when New Zealanders need some relief so that they can afford to keep up with the cost of living."
I seem to remember that minimum wage ..what was it? 45K would get $112 a year
"National's proposals would offer people some relief. "
Those on $55k get $800 per year.
Luxon (as PM) would get $18,500 per year
Plus as a man owning many houses he also plans to rid himself of that pesky 10 year brightline test and restore tax deductions related to interest charges relating to financing property.
How the hell is this arse not being ridiculed and abused all over the MSM?
How the hell is this arse not being ridiculed and abused all over New Zealand
No sanctions on anyone in the Republican Party. Says it all.
Russia has sanctioned Joe Biden and a range of other top US officials.
The main impact of this is they can now make corny jokes on cable news about how they won't be able to access their Russian bank accounts or go on vacation in Siberia, I guess pic.twitter.com/ZQWA0Mhg4R
I suppose she has demonstrated the truth of that wonderful comment from Thomas R Marshall (Remember him? He was Vice-President to Woodrow Wilson).
Anyway it went "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and nothing was ever heard of either of them again."
Whatever happened to Kamala? Why has she been ignored?
Apparently kiwis with massive brains are about to enter drainage mode…
Asked what the new role meant to her, Willis replied: "Women are half of the economy and often it's women who are making the big spending decisions for their household. "I see absolutely every reason why it's good to have a woman in this role, which should be very focused on how can we make sure New Zealand households are getting ahead and feel that they have good prospects for the future.
Asked what the biggest issue in finance is right now, Willis replied: "The cost of living crisis is a massive challenge for every New Zealand household and the best thing the Government could do right now is let New Zealanders keep a little bit more of their money by providing them tax reductions in the upcoming budget. We believe that at a time when it's not just fuel prices going up, it's the groceries, it's rent, it's the interest bill, New Zealanders need some relief and we will continue to push for sensible, tax reduction."
In the medium term, she said: "I'm deeply concerned that we are going to see a massive brain drain from New Zealand. And that's because when our borders open, I think we're going to have a lot of young New Zealanders who have given up hope. They're seeing costs run laps around their wage growth, they're seeing that the opportunity to buy a home is vastly diminished, and they're seeing that their skills are often well remunerated offshore."
National slogan "Stop waving goodbye to your loved ones"
I remember it intensely. National came to govern. 2009 they changed employment conditions for people like my son-in-law specializing in after care for people suffering brain injury (because much cheaper to employ non-specialists). Overnight 100 specialists out of a job with no prospect of employment in NZ. Fortunately for them Aussie was seeing the need for such people. We waved good bye to the family in 2010.
Excess mortality in NZ has decreased below the baseline in the last 2 years,due to lockdowns (decreased mobility) zero influenza and limited respiratory diseases,this made us the bottom of the excess deaths table.
The problem now however is the rate of the problem,the rate of covid cases (per 100K) is nearing double the rate of the us at its omicron peak and precautions are relaxed.
i) Will the ratings agency downgrade us (adding to the cost of borrowing)?
ii) Will the RBNZ double down on its next interest review (.25-.5)?
iii) Will the budget constrain wasteful spending in its fiscal statement,bearing in mind that it will be working against monetary policy from the RBNZ?
Tourism is a zero sum game,such as the decrease in savings from NZ going overseas,limited spending opportunity on productive assets etc.
The interest bill on our debt however will be increasing as is our debt.
Net external debt (international financial assets and liabilities excluding equity and financial derivatives) increased $9.0 billion during the December 2021 quarter, to reach $172.6 billion at 31 December 2021. This was a result of external debt rising by $10.2 billion and external lending rising by $1.2 billion. The largest contribution to the rise in external debt was mainly due to a rise in New Zealand government bonds held by overseas investors.
i) Will the ratings agency downgrade us (adding to the cost of borrowing)?
Maybe ..but also maybe not – if New Zealand's rating slips we would have to expect most other countries rating would fall further because the cost of the pandemic has utterly hammered most other economies – Even if there is a ratings slip our position in country versus country comparisons will actually improve.
ii) Will the RBNZ double down on its next interest review (.25-.5)?
My crystal ball is on the fritz sorry.
iii) Will the budget constrain wasteful spending in its fiscal statement,bearing in mind that it will be working against monetary policy from the RBNZ?
"constrain wasteful spending" – wasteful spending is in the eye of the beholder Labour will argue there is none – National will "woof, woof, woof
I'm a bit disappointed in Chris Luxon. He promoted Chris Bishop to No.3 in their caucus but he didn't make it clear to Bishop what the 'three' meant before going into the House today.
Bishop must've thought Luxon said he was being promoted to "act like a three year old."
Granted Bishop perfectly carried out what he thought Luxon's meant but he had taken the wrong message.
Things got a little testy during QT in parliament today.
But one thing stood out for me: Seymour is a more formidable opponent for the PM than Luxon – though, having said that, neither gave her much concern.
Luxon still unable to think on his feet – all his questions were scripted.
Willis taking the same line she took in previous shadow posts: reading out from a letter she received (real or made up) and asking what the finance minister would say to them. Easy meat for Grant.
The problem for Jacinda is things will become incrementally harder in the debating chamber as our economy continues drifting South, regardless of Luxon's or Dave's debating skills.
She and Robbo will become political punching bags. You can only defend failure for so long before the whole country calls bullshit.
Add to that a decisive win in Tauranga ( taking back any votes lost last time) and National will be on a roll.
It will be interesting to see which Labour members decide to retire before, or after the election, should National win. The thought of 12 years in opposition will be too much for some Labour MPs to bear.
I haven't smoked in 10 years. I think four terms out of power would be realistic given Labours wrecking of the economy.( Kiwis are slow learners). Jacinda chucking in the towel would be the icing on the cake for me. The spin around that event would be top shelf.
But l'm not clipping the cigars just yet. I'm sure Labour has a few tricks left.
I need more reality and TS provides this with abundance – it’s fact & fantasy interwoven into a tapestry of life as we know it. It is beautiful and repulsive at the same time, just like losing your virginity for the first time. There’s a sinister sense of taboo when reading some of the comments here because I know they are so wrong but I can’t help myself – it’s my guilty pleasure, my vice.
The thought of 12 years in opposition will be too much for some Labour MPs to bear.
I can see Trevor moved to tears of sympathy for the Opposition in 2027 already. In 2030 he'll probably have to install safety nets outside their windows.
You only think the economy is bad because rich pricks arent getting tax cuts, and you cannot import in slave labour to work your plantation. You need to pay New Zealander a fair wage to do it.
Forge election documents and vote to let yourself off the hook. Rotten to the core.
A group of Wisconsin Republicans who took it upon themselves to certify to the U.S. Senate that Donald Trump won the battleground state in the 2020 presidential election didn’t break any laws, state elections officials said Tuesday.
[…]
According to the Wisconsin Justice Department analysis, Hitt and nine other Republicans, including elections Commissioner Bob Spindell, gathered in the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, the last day for Wisconsin to send its electoral votes to the Senate.
[…]
Law Forward attorney Jeffrey Mandell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was disappointed with the decision and that Spindell shouldn’t have been allowed to vote since he was one of the targets of the complaint.
Julius Caesar's last words were possibly Greek, rather than Latin: "Kai su, teknon". In English it's "you too, child", and got flipped to the latin as "Et tu Brute".
Everyone bored as fuck? Noice. Here's the punchline [my bold]:
It literally means ‘You too, child,’ but what Caesar may have intended by the words isn’t clear. Tempest cites ‘an important article’ by James Russell (1980) ‘that has often been overlooked’. Russell points out that the words kai su often appear on curse tablets, and suggests that Caesar’s putative last words were not ‘the emotional parting declaration of a betrayed man to one he had treated like a son’ but more along the lines of ‘See you in hell, punk.’
That seems more in character of someone who told his kidnappers he was going to kill them all if a ransom is paid… and did.
I had always thought that some of the unevenness in the character of Julius Caesar, as shown by the dialogue and responses that make you say 'well that was not something I was expecting or would have done' was a playwright's device to show the unevenness of JC's character. The 'et tu brute' always felt a bit too suddenly realising…..but it did seem real that at the very end the person you always felt would have your back has it, but not in the way you might have expected. I had always thought that it had regret about why he had not talked to Brutus in depth about what as going on and now could not. While not in the class of Thomas Jones this extract from
Plutarch has Caesar just pulling his toga over his head and dying in silence. Shakespeare prefers the more dramatic account of Suetonius who has him saying “Kai su teknon?” (‘You too, my son?’) '
Thomas Jones and the point about some of the words being found on curse tablets is attractive to me too. In fact as I read it I had a vison of a cross between Marlon Brando (who played Mark Antony) and Richard Burton with Marlon Brando reprising The Godfather with cotton stuffed cheeks so he barely moved his mouth and saying ‘See you in hell, punk with a steely stare……not a dying scene.
With spare time, it was decided to check out question time to see how Luxon and his shiny new finance spokeswoman shaped up to The PM and Finance minister. Verdict – surprisingly unimpressed. Luxon clearly was no match and seemed to think it was smart to go round in circles like a demented fish in a bowl repeating the tired old 'what about tax reductions for the wealthy' lines.
The real revelation was his Deputy. If that is the best she can do, National will be in an enduring crisis and should be begging Simon to stay on. Could not credit the level of incompetence from a supposedly experienced politician. Otherwise, she seemed to dredge up the moans of three self-entitled pricks who obviously have upper average paid jobs and probably don't have families to support. "What about me and my tax cuts!!" seemed to be the cry. With the top table being such a waste of space, the quandary of who to vote for has one less party in contention, unless there are serious leadership changes.
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The government announced its budget today, with Finance Minister Grant Robertson giving the usual long speech about how much money they're spending. The big stuff was climate change and health, with the former being pre-announced, and most of the latter being writing off DHB's entirely fictional "debt" to the the ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has delivered a Budget that will many asking “Is that all there is?” There is a myriad of initiatives and there is increased spending, but strangely it doesn’t really add up to much at all for those hoping for a more traditional Labour-style Budget. The headline ...
Last year, Cook Islands Deputy Prime Minister Robert Tapaitau stood down as a minister after being charged with conspiracy to defraud after an investigation into corruption in Infrastructure Cook Islands and the National Environment Service. He hasn't been tried yet, but this week he has been reinstated: The seven-month ...
A ballot for three member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Repeal of Good Friday and Easter Sunday as Restricted Trading Days (Shop Trading and Sale of Alcohol) Amendment Bill (Chris Baillie) Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill (Golriz Ghahraman) Increased Penalties for ...
No Jesus Here.She rises, unrested, and stepsOnto the narrow balconyTo find the day. To greetThe Sunday God she sings to.But this morning His face is clouded.Grey and wet as a corpseWashed by tears.Behind her, in the tangled bedding,the children bicker and whine.Worrying the cheap furnitureLike hungry puppies.They clutch at her ...
After two years of Corona-induced online meetings in 2020 and 2021, this year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from May 23 to 27. To take hybrid and necessary hygiene restrictions into account, there (unfortunately) will be no ...
“Māori star lore was, and still remains, a blending together of both astronomy and astrology, and while there is undoubtedly robust science within the Māori study of the night sky, the spiritual component has always been of equal importance” writes Professor Rangi Matamua in his book Matariki – Te whetū tapu ...
The foibles of the Aussie electoral system are pretty well-known. The Lucky Country doesn’t have proportional representation. Voting for everyone over 18 is compulsory, but within a preferential system. This means that in the relatively few key seats that decide the final result, it can be the voters’ second, third ...
Julia Steinberger is an ecological economist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She first posted this piece at Medium.com, and it was reposted on Yale Climate Connections with her permission. Today I went to give a climate talk at my old high school in Geneva – and was given a ...
A/Prof Ben Gray* Gray B. Government funding of interpreters in Primary Care is needed to ensure quality care. Public Health Expert Blog.17 May 2022. The pandemic has highlighted many problems in the NZ health system. This blog will address the question of availability of interpreters for people with limited English ...
I have suggested previously that sometimes Tolkien’s writer-instincts get the better of him. Sometimes he departs from his own cherished metaphysics, in favour of the demands of story – and I dare say, that is a good thing. Laws and Customs of the Eldar might be an interesting insight ...
One of the key planks of yesterday's Emissions Reduction Plan is a $650 million fund to help decarbonise industry by subsidising replacement of dirty technologies with clean ones. But National leader Chris Luxon derides this as "corporate welfare". Which probably sounds great to the business ideologues in the Koru club. ...
Poisonous! From a very early age New Zealanders are warned to give small black spiders with a red blotch on their abdomens a wide berth. The Katipo, we are told, is venomous: and while its bite may not kill you, it can make you very unwell. That said, isn’t the ...
“The truth prevails, but it’s a chore.” – Jan Masaryk: The intensification of ideological pressures is bearable for only so-long before ordinary men and women reassert the virtues of tolerance and common sense.ON 10 MARCH 1948, Jan Masaryk, the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, was found dead below his bathroom window. ...
Clearly, the attempt to take the politics out of climate change has itself been a political decision, and one meant to remove much of the heat from the global warming issue before next year’s election. What we got from yesterday’s $2.9 billion Emissions Reduction Plan was a largely aspirational multi-party ...
Michelle Uriarau (Mana Wāhine Kōrero) talks to Dane Giraud of the Free Speech Union LISTEN HERE Michelle Uriarau is a founding member of Mana Wāhine Kōrero – an advocacy group of and for Māori women who took strong positions against the ‘Self ID’ and ‘Conversion Practises Bills’. One of the ...
If we needed any confirmation, we have it in spades in today’s edition of the Herald; our supposedly leading daily newspaper is determined to do what it can to decide the outcome of the next election – to act, that is, not as a newspaper but as the mouthpiece for ...
Sean Plunkett, founding editor of the new media outlet, The Platform, was interviewed on RNZ's highly regarded flagship programme "Mediawatch".Mr Plunkett has made much about "cancel culture" and "de-platforming". On his website promoting The Platform, he outlines his mission statement thusly:The Platform is for everyone; we’re not into cancelling or ...
“That’s a C- for History, Kelvin!”While it is certainly understandable that Māori-Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis was not anxious to castigate every Pakeha member of the House of Representatives for the crimes committed against his people by their ancestors; crimes from which his Labour colleagues continue to draw enormous benefits; the ...
The Government promised a major reform of New Zealand’s immigration system, but when it was announced this week, many asked “is that it?” Over the last two years Covid has turned the immigration tap off, and the Government argued this produced the perfect opportunity to reassess decades of “unbalanced immigration”. ...
While the new fiscal rules may not be contentious, what they mean for macroeconomic management is not explained.In a pre-budget speech on 3 May 2022, the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, made some policy announcements which will frame both this budget and future ones. (The Treasury advice underpinning them is ...
Under MMP, Parliament was meant to look like New Zealand. And, in a lot of ways, it does now, with better representation for Māori, tangata moana, women, and the rainbow community replacing the old dictatorship of dead white males. But there's one area where "our" parliament remains completely unrepresentative: housing: ...
Justice Denied: At the heart of the “Pro-Life” cause was something much darker than conservative religious dogma, or even the oppressive designs of “The Patriarchy”. The enduring motivation – which dares not declare itself openly – is the paranoid conviction of male white supremacists that if “their” women are given ...
In case of emergency break glass— but glass can cut Fire extinguishers, safety belts, first aid kits, insurance policies, geoengineering: we never enjoy using them. But given our demonstrated, deep empirical record of proclivity for creating hazards and risk we'd obviously be foolish not to include emergency responses in our inventory. ...
After a brief hiatus, the “A View from Afar” podcast is back on air with Selwyn Manning leading the Q&A with me. This week is a grab bag of topics: Russian V-Day celebrations, Asian and European elections, and the impact of the PRC-Solomon Islands on the regional strategic balance. Plus ...
Last year, Vanuatu passed a "cyber-libel" law. And predictably, its first targets are those trying to hold the government to account: A police crackdown in Vanuatu that has seen people arrested for allegedly posting comments on social media speculating politicians were responsible for the country’s current Covid outbreak has ...
Could it be a case of not appreciating what you’ve got until it’s gone? The National Party lost Simon Bridges last week, which has reinforced the notion that the party still has some serious deficits of talent and diversity. The major factor in Bridges’ decision to leave was his failed ...
Who’s Missing From This Picture? The re-birth of the co-governance concept cannot be attributed to the institutions of Pakeha rule, at least, not in the sense that the massive constitutional revisions it entails have been presented to and endorsed by the House of Representatives, and then ratified by the citizens of New ...
Fiji signed onto China’s Belt and Road initiative in 2018, along with a separate agreement on economic co-operation and aid. Yet it took the recent security deal between China and the Solomon Islands to get the belated attention of the US and its helpmates in Canberra and Wellington, and the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Lexi Smith and Bud Ward “CRA” It’s one of those acronyms even many-a-veteran environmental policy geek may not recognize. Amidst the scores and scores of acronyms in the field – CERCLA, IPCC, SARA, LUST, NPDES, NDCs, FIFRA, NEPA and scores more – ...
In a nice bit of news in a World Gone Mad, I can report that Of Tin and Tintagel, my 5,800-word story about tin (and political scheming), is now out as part of the Spring 2022 edition of New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). As noted previously, this one owes a ...
Dr Jennifer Summers, Professor Michael Baker, Professor Nick Wilson* Summers J, Baker M, Wilson N. Covid-19 Case-Fatality Risk & Infection-Fatality Risk: important measures to help guide the pandemic response. Public Health Expert Blog. 11 May 2022. In this blog we explore two useful mortality indicators: Case-Fatality Risk (CFR) and Infection-Fatality ...
In the depths of winter, most people from southern New Zealand head to warmer climes for a much-needed dose of Vitamin D. Yet during the height of the last Ice Age, one species of moa did just the opposite. I’m reminded of Bill Bailey’s En Route to Normal tour that visited ...
In the lead-up to the Budget, the Government has been on an offensive to promote the efficiency and quality of its $74 billion Covid Response and Recovery Fund -especially the Wage Subsidy Scheme component. This comes after criticisms and concerns from across the political spectrum over poor-quality spending, and suggestions ...
Elizabeth Elliot Noe, Lincoln University, New Zealand; Andrew D. Barnes, University of Waikato; Bruce Clarkson, University of Waikato, and John Innes, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare ResearchUrbanisation, and the destruction of habitat it entails, is a major threat to native bird populations. But as our new research shows, restored ...
Unfinished: Always, gnawing away at this government’s confidence and empathy, is the dictum that seriously challenging the economic and social status-quo is the surest route to electoral death. Labour’s colouring-in book, and National’s, have to look the same. All that matters is which party is better at staying inside the lines.DOES ...
Radical As: Māori healers recall a time when “words had power”. The words that give substance to ideas, no matter how radical, still do. If our representatives rediscover the courage to speak them out loud.THERE ARE RULES for radicalism. Or, at least, there are rules for the presentation of radical ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A brutal, record-intensity heat wave that has engulfed much of India and Pakistan since March eased somewhat this week, but is poised to roar back in the coming week with inferno-like temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122°F). The ...
The good people at the Reading Tolkien podcast have put out a new piece, which spends some time comparing the underlying moral positions of George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien: (The relevant discussion starts about twenty-seven minutes in. It’s a long podcast). In the interests of fairness, ...
Crime is becoming a key debate between Labour and National. This week they are both keen to show that they are tough on law and order. It’s an issue that National has a traditional advantage on, and is one that they’re currently getting good traction from. In response, Labour is ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is welcoming the Government’s latest step toward electoral reform, which begins to fulfil an important part of the Co-operation Agreement between the two parties. ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Mr Speaker, It has taken four-and-a-half years to even start to turn the legacy of inaction and neglect from the last time they were in Government together. And we have a long journey in front of us! ...
Today Greens Te Mātāwaka Chair and Health Spokesperson, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, said “The Greens have long campaigned for an independent Māori Health Authority and pathways for Takatāpui and Rainbow healthcare. “We welcome the substantial funding going into the new health system, Pae Ora, particularly for the Māori Health Authority, Iwi-Partnership ...
Budget 2022 shows progress on conservation commitments in the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Green Party achievements in the last Government continue to drive investment in nature protection Urgent action needed on nature-based solutions to climate change Future budget decisions must reflect the role nature plays in helping reduce emissions ...
Landmark week for climate action concludes with climate budget Largest ever investment in climate action one of many Green Party wins throughout Budget 2022 Budget 2022 delivers progress on every part of the cooperation agreement with Labour Budget 2022 is a climate budget that caps a landmark week ...
Green Party welcomes extension to half price fares Permanent half price fares for Community Services Card holders includes many students, which helps implement a Green Party policy Work to reduce public transport fares for Community Services Card holders started by Greens in the last Government Budget 2022 should be ...
New cost of living payment closely aligned to Green Party policy to expand the Winter Energy Payment Extension and improvement of Warmer Kiwi Homes builds on Green Party progress in Government Community energy fund welcomed The Green Party welcomes the investment in Budget 2022 to expand Warmer Kiwi ...
Budget 2022 support to reduce homelessness delivers on the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Bespoke support for rangatahi with higher, more complex needs The Green Party welcomes the additional investment in Budget 2022 for kaupapa Māori support services, homelessness outreach services, the expansion of transitional housing, and a new ...
Green Party reaffirms call for liveable incomes and wealth tax Calls on Government to cancel debt owed to MSD for hardship assistance such as benefit advances, and for over-payments The Green Party welcomes the support for people on low incomes Budget 2022 but says more must be done ...
Our Government has just released this year’s Budget, which sets out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. It’s full of initiatives that speed up our economic recovery and ease cost pressures for ...
A stronger democracy is on the horizon, as Golriz Ghahraman’s Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill was pulled from the biscuit tin today. ...
Tomorrow, the Government will release this year’s Budget, setting out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. While the full details will be kept under wraps until Thursday afternoon, we’ve announced a few ...
As a Government, we made it clear to New Zealanders that we’d take meaningful action on climate change, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Earlier today, we released our next steps with our Emissions Reduction Plan – which will meet the Climate Commission’s independent science-based emissions reduction targets, and new ...
Emissions Reduction Plan prepares New Zealand for the future, ensuring country is on track to meet first emissions budget, securing jobs, and unlocking new investment ...
The Greens are calling for the Government to reconsider the immigration reset so that it better reflects our relationship with our Pacific neighbours. ...
Hamilton City Council and Whanganui District Council have both joined a growing list of Local Authorities to pass a motion in support of Green Party Drug Reform Spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick’s Members’ bill to minimise alcohol harm. ...
Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a major package of reforms to address the immediate skill shortages in New Zealand and speed up our economic growth. These include an early reopening to the world, a major milestone for international education, and a simplification of immigration settings to ensure New Zealand ...
Proposed immigration changes by the Government fail to guarantee pathways to residency to workers in the types of jobs deemed essential throughout the pandemic, by prioritising high income earners - instead of focusing on the wellbeing of workers and enabling migrants to put down roots. ...
Ehara taku toa i te toa takatahi, engari taku toa he toa takimano – my strength is not mine alone but the strength of many (working together to ensure safe, caring respectful responses). We are striving for change. We want all people in Aotearoa New Zealand thriving; their wellbeing enhanced ...
The Green Party is throwing its support behind the 10,000 allied health workers taking work-to-rule industrial action today because of unfair pay and working conditions. ...
The Government is providing additional support to the Buller District Council to assist the recovery from the February 2022 floods, Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan announced today. “The Buller District has experienced two significant floods in short succession, resulting in significant impacts for the community and for Council to ...
New Zealand is a step closer to a more resilient, competitive, and sustainable coastal shipping sector following the selection of preferred suppliers for new and enhanced coastal shipping services, Transport Minister Michael Wood has announced today. “Coastal shipping is a small but important part of the New Zealand freight system, ...
Tēnā koutou katoa It’s a pleasure to speak to you today on how we are tracking with the resource management reforms. It is timely, given that in last week’s Budget the Government announced significant funding to ensure an efficient transition to the future resource management system. There is broad consensus ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis have welcomed the release of a paper from independent advisory group, Taumata Aronui, outlining the group’s vision for Māori success in the tertiary education system. “Manu Kōkiri – Māori Success and Tertiary Education: Towards a Comprehensive Vision – is the ...
The best way to have economic security in New Zealand is by investing in wāhine and our rangatahi says Minister for Māori Development. Budget 2022, is allocating $28.5 million over the next two years to strengthen whānau resilience through developing leadership within key cohorts of whānau leaders, wāhine and rangatahi ...
Whānau Ora Commissioning Agencies will receive $166.5 million over four years to help whānau maintain and build their resilience as Aotearoa moves forward from COVID-19, Minister for Whānau Ora Peeni Henare announced today. “Whānau Ora Commissioning Agencies and partners will remain a key feature of the Government’s support for whānau ...
The development of sustainable, plant-based foods and meat alternatives is getting new government backing, with investment from a dedicated regional economic development fund. “The investment in Sustainable Foods Ltd is part of a wider government strategy to develop a low-emissions, highly-skilled economy that responds to global demands,” said Stuart Nash. ...
With New Zealand expecting to see Omicron cases rise during the winter, the Orange setting remains appropriate for managing this stage of the outbreak, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “While daily cases numbers have flattened nationally, they are again beginning to increase in the Northern region and hospitalisation ...
Justice Minister Kris Faafoi today announced appointments to the independent panel that will lead a review of New Zealand’s electoral law. “This panel, appointed by an independent panel of experts, aim to make election rules clearer and fairer, to build more trust in the system and better support people to ...
Honourable Dame Fran Wilde will lead the board overseeing the design and construction of Auckland’s largest, most transformational project of a generation – Auckland Light Rail, which will connect hundreds of thousands of people across the city, Minister of Transport Michael Wood announced today. “Auckland Light Rail is New Zealand’s ...
Boost to Māori Medium property that will improve and redevelop kura, purchase land and build new facilities Scholarships and mentoring to grow and expand the Māori teaching workforce Funding to continue to grow the Māori language The Government’s commitment to the growth and development of te reo Māori has ...
On the eve of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s trade mission to the United States, New Zealand has joined with partner governments from across the Indo-Pacific region to begin the next phase of discussions towards an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). The Framework, initially proposed by US President Biden in ...
As part of New Zealand’s ongoing response to the war in Ukraine, New Zealand is providing further support and personnel to assist Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “We have been clear throughout Russia’s assault on Ukraine, that such a ...
Budget 2022 is providing investment to crackdown on tobacco smuggling into New Zealand. “Customs has seen a significant increase in the smuggling of tobacco products into New Zealand over recent years,” Minister of Customs Meka Whaitiri says. This trend is also showing that tobacco smuggling operations are now often very ...
Prime Minister to lead trade mission to the United States this week to support export growth and the return of tourists post COVID-19. Business delegation to promote trade and tourism opportunities in New Zealand’s third largest export and visitor market Deliver Harvard University commencement address Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party on winning the Australian Federal election, and has acknowledged outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison. "I spoke to Anthony Albanese early this morning as he was preparing to address his supporters. It was a warm conversation and I’m ...
Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Matariki Tapuapua, He roimata ua, he roimata tangata. He roimata e wairurutu nei, e wairurutu nei. Te Māreikura mārohirohi o Ihoa o ngā Mano, takoto Te ringa mākohakoha o Rongo, takoto. Te mātauranga o Tūāhuriri o Ngai Tahu ...
Three core networks within the tourism sector are receiving new investment to gear up for the return of international tourists and business travellers, as the country fully reconnects to the world. “Our wider tourism sector is on the way to recovery. As visitor numbers scale up, our established tourism networks ...
The Minister of Customs has welcomed legislation being passed which will prevent millions of dollars in potential tax evasion on water-pipe tobacco products. The Customs and Excise (Tobacco Products) Amendment Act 2022 changes the way excise and excise-equivalent duty is calculated on these tobacco products. Water-pipe tobacco is also known ...
The Government is contributing $100,000 to a Mayoral Relief Fund to help the Levin community following this morning’s tornado, Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan says. “My thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by severe weather events in Levin and across the country. “I know the tornado has ...
The Quintet of Attorneys General have issued the following statement of support for the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and investigations and prosecutions for crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “The Attorneys General of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand join in ...
Morena tatou katoa. Kua tae mai i runga i te kaupapa o te rā. Thank you all for being here today. Yesterday my colleague, the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson, delivered the Wellbeing Budget 2022 – for a secure future for New Zealand. I’m the Minister of Health, and this was ...
Urgent Budget night legislation to stop major supermarkets blocking competitors from accessing land for new stores has been introduced today, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill amends the Commerce Act 1986, banning restrictive covenants on land, and exclusive covenants ...
It is a pleasure to speak to this Budget. The 5th we have had the privilege of delivering, and in no less extraordinary circumstances. Mr Speaker, the business and cycle of Government is, in some ways, no different to life itself. Navigating difficult times, while also making necessary progress. Dealing ...
Budget 2022 provides funding to implement the new resource management system, building on progress made since the reform was announced just over a year ago. The inadequate funding for the implementation of the Resource Management Act in 1992 almost guaranteed its failure. There was a lack of national direction about ...
The Government is substantially increasing the amount of funding for public media to ensure New Zealanders can continue to access quality local content and trusted news. “Our decision to create a new independent and future-focused public media entity is about achieving this objective, and we will support it with a ...
$662.5 million to maintain existing defence capabilities NZDF lower-paid staff will receive a salary increase to help meet cost-of living pressures. Budget 2022 sees significant resources made available for the Defence Force to maintain existing defence capabilities as it looks to the future delivery of these new investments. “Since ...
More than $185 million to help build a resilient cultural sector as it continues to adapt to the challenges coming out of COVID-19. Support cultural sector agencies to continue to offer their important services to New Zealanders. Strengthen support for Māori arts, culture and heritage. The Government is investing in a ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
Four new permanent Coroners to be appointed Seven Coronial Registrar roles and four Clinical Advisor roles are planned to ease workload pressures Budget 2022 delivers a package of investment to improve the coronial system and reduce delays for grieving families and whānau. “Operating funding of $28.5 million over four ...
Establishment of Ministry for Disabled People Progressing the rollout of the Enabling Good Lives approach to Disability Support Services to provide self-determination for disabled people Extra funding for disability support services “Budget 2022 demonstrates the Government’s commitment to deliver change for the disability community with the establishment of a ...
Fairer Equity Funding system to replace school deciles The largest step yet towards Pay Parity in early learning Local support for schools to improve teaching and learning A unified funding system to underpin the Reform of Vocational Education Boost for schools and early learning centres to help with cost ...
$118.4 million for advisory services to support farmers, foresters, growers and whenua Māori owners to accelerate sustainable land use changes and lift productivity $40 million to help transformation in the forestry, wood processing, food and beverage and fisheries sectors $31.6 million to help maintain and lift animal welfare practices across Aotearoa New Zealand A total food and ...
House price caps for First Home Grants increased in many parts of the country House price caps for First Home Loans removed entirely Kāinga Whenua Loan cap will also be increased from $200,000 to $500,000 The Affordable Housing Fund to initially provide support for not-for-profit rental providers Significant additional ...
Child Support rules to be reformed lifting an estimated 6,000 to 14,000 children out of poverty Support for immediate and essential dental care lifted from $300 to $1,000 per year Increased income levels for hardship assistance to extend eligibility Budget 2022 takes further action to reduce child poverty and ...
More support for RNA research through to pilot manufacturing RNA technology platform to be created to facilitate engagement between research and industry partners Researchers and businesses working in the rapidly developing field of RNA technology will benefit from a new research and development platform, funded in Budget 2022. “RNA ...
A new Business Growth Fund to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow Fully funding the Regional Strategic Partnership Fund to unleash regional economic development opportunities Tourism Innovation Programme to promote sustainable recovery Eight Industry Transformation Plans progressed to work with industries, workers and iwi to transition ...
Budget 2022 further strengthens the economic foundations and wellbeing outcomes for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa, as the recovery from COVID-19 continues. “The priorities we set for Budget 2022 will support the continued delivery of our commitments for Pacific peoples through the Pacific Wellbeing Strategy, a 2020 manifesto commitment for Pacific ...
Boost for Māori economic and employment initiatives. More funding for Māori health and wellbeing initiatives Further support towards growing language, culture and identity initiatives to deliver on our commitment to Te Reo Māori in Education Funding for natural environment and climate change initiatives to help farmers, growers and whenua ...
The Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand and the World Socialist Web Site will hold an online public meeting on Saturday, June 4, at 5:00 p.m. to launch the new book Pike River: The Crime and Cover-up , published by Mehring Books. ...
The Minister of Justice, Hon Kris Faafoi, announced on Tuesday morning the panel and terms of reference for the Independent Electoral Law Review. The voting age is at the top of the list of electoral laws the review will be considering. Make It ...
Ted Johnston, Coleader of New Conservative states “There are important changes needed to the Electoral laws, but we must beware Labour and National passing self-serving laws to further perpetuate their duopoly.” Our elections are just passing of the ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Grant Robertson’s “sweet moderation” Grant Robertson is a big fan of British socialist folk-punk singer Billy Bragg. The finance minister even wrote an opinion column last year that started and ended with lyrics from Bragg’s iconic song “Between the Wars”, with its key line ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron J. Snoswell, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Computational Law & AI Accountability, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock The first serious accident involving a self-driving car in Australia occurred in March this year. A pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries when hit by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND The nightly television news coverage of the 2022 federal election was among the most juvenile and uninformative in 50 years. Given that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Holden, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Sydney Shutterstock It’s a common scenario: you decide to go out for dinner and fancy something different. So, you look to online reviews to help you make your dining choice. If you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Hornsey, Professor, University of Queensland Business School, The University of Queensland Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s shock loss to an independent running on a climate action platform wasn’t a fluke event. “Teal” independents have ousted five of Frydenberg’s colleagues, all harvesting votes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Holloway, Senior Research DECRA Fellow, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University During the 2022 federal election campaign, schools barely rated a mention. While the Labor government’s cabinet will not be finalised until next week, we expect ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elaine Nash, PhD Candidate, University of South Australia Shutterstock There are many reasons to employ people living with intellectual disability. Most obvious is that it’s the right thing to do – it helps promote social justice, diversity, corporate social responsibility, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Dudek, Associate professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University Madman Australian writer and director Renée Webster’s new film How to Please a Woman turns much of what we think we know about sexual desire – especially for ...
Ardern's first event was a sit down with major American tourism media, as part of the drive to show the US market NZ is "open for business", and she will later meet meet with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Professor of Law, University of Auckland The uncertainty over whether Jacinda Ardern might land a White House meeting and photo opportunity with US President Joe Biden was perhaps fitting, given the lack of clarity about one of their main topics ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The QUAD summit in Tokyo has praised Australia raising its ambition on climate change, after Anthony Albanese told fellow leaders his government would do more to assist Pacific countries address it. Albanese stressed Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team. In this podcast Michelle and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Clark, Deputy Engagement Editor, The Conversation Politics can be slow-moving, until all of a sudden it isn’t. As political scientist Simon Jackman says in today’s episode of Below the Line, “politics is very non-linear. You get these steady, secular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology On Sunday, popular American singer songwriter Halsey shared a video on TikTok with tinny music in the background, the on-screen text reading: Basically I have a song that I love that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Crowley, Adjunct Associate Professor, Public and Environmental Policy, University of Tasmania During Saturday’s election, 31.5% of the voters deserted the major parties, with a swag of female teal independents tipping Liberal MPs out of their heartland urban seats. By contrast, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rita Matulionyte, Senior Lecturer in Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock Mastercard’s “smile to pay” system, announced last week, is supposed to save time for customers at checkouts. It is being trialled in Brazil, with future pilots planned for the Middle East ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Stand by for something “reckless and dangerous”. That’s what former prime minister Scott Morrison said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would be if he asked the Fair Work Commission ...
Just in case the affected voters and constituencies haven’t bothered to check how much funding they are being given in Budget 2022 (or how much they have lost in some cases), ministers have been letting them know in post-Budget press statements. At least, they have been letting them know when ...
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Sounds like NZ is opening up sooner than expected. This is great, although several on here seemed to like being closed to the world.
A few bad polls really gets things happening.
Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Tourists from Australia allowed back in New Zealand next month, others to follow soon after – NZ Herald
Some people have short memories. Remember what happened last time we let people from Australia in?
Covid happened.
covid is already happening here big time, have you not noticed?
Yeah, and it came from Australia. Why invite even more in at this time?
The rest of the world is opening up and moving on, we need to as well. Time to start living with it.
Caution has served us well keeping covid Alpha,Delta and Omricon at bay using the ditch has meant our economy,health system and death rate has the best results of any country in the world.Bar none Jimmy .
statistics – we are all orders of magnitude more likely to catch Covid from someone currently in NZ than from an overseas arrival.
economics – the extra income and additional workers entering will be welcomed by many.
You seem to. conveniently forget that we are weeks/months behind the rest of the world in our outbreaks. Surely it is foolish to follow a timetable set by others that may not be relevant to us here in NZ at this time. Or are you an 'open up and too hell with it' supporter?
Measured approaches have suited us well and will continue to do so. There is no rush while we are still surging with Omicron surely?
If the rest of the world jumped off a cliff, should we follow?
Jimmy seems to think so…..we just learn to live with it and if that means jumping off a cliff because other places have then so be it.
NB before we have actually had it go through and peak.
Methinks more looking at what is happening here in NZ and less looking at what is happening other places in the world could make a difference.
What do you know that the rest of us don’t? Few of the outbreaks into Auckland were never confirmed as to how. There were cases of tourist having COVID confirmed eg Wellington but no community outbreak.
https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/first-community-exposures-border-related-omicron-case
With numbers we are getting , it appears covid is already in.
(Yesterday USA 17k, nz 15k infections)
nek minit…..here we go do$i dough…
Pfizer CEO says fourth dose of COVID vaccine is "necessary," submits data to FDA – CBS News
This has been known for at least 6-9 months. The effectiveness of these vaccines wears off.
It will take moat of decade at a minimum to figure out the cocktail of properties to get vaccines that are close to sterilising and that last for a long time. It will then take a even longer time to be sure of that.
It alwasy seems to puzzle uncreatives that everything in engineering from building bridges to making vaccines or medicines is an incremental process towards perfection.
I guess it is because they never create or do much themselves.
/sarc
If you get Covid the antibodies that are built up are transitory. The transitory nature of the antibodies was found out very early on after people thought that herd immunity could work for populations and it was found it did not.
18/10/21
They found that reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 in people who had not received a vaccine could occur as soon as 3 months after initial infection, with a median risk of reinfection within 16 months, under endemic conditions.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coronavirus-reinfection-how-long-might-natural-immunity-last#Analyzing-the-data
30/6/21
'Various studies have shown that an immune response involving memory T and B cells emerges after covid-19 infection. But people’s immune systems tend to respond in very different ways to natural infection, notes Eleanor Riley, professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh. “The immune response after vaccination is much more homogenous,” she says, adding that most people generally have a really good response after vaccination. Data from the clinical trials of the leading vaccine candidates have found T and B cell reactivity.'
https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1605
I have said/thought all along that it is the relationship of the corona virus to the common cold virus that is its biggest strength as a virus, to give it human characteristics it can 'duck and dive' and be 'nimble on its feet' and is a bit of a shape shifter.
It makes sense to me that the annual influenza vaccine could come with or without a covid booster. I know I would be a starter ……
Lprent I take your point about being creative is taken…..all creativity is incremental in my view. Eureka moments are few and far between and I much prefer Pasteur’s view that ‘Chance favours the prepared mind’. It applies everywhere from science to actual art. Another way is ‘practice makes perfect’ or rather than ‘perfect’ opens your eyes to other possibilities.
I would love to see your evidence that it has been 'known' for 6-9 months.
I guess there are some who think nothing happens unless there is a poll coming or been to indicate action is needed.
It's like vaccine mandates and other steps in the covid battle. Did people really expect mandates would be on forever, borders would never reopen, MIQ would be permanent? That big groups would never be able to gather?
Yes agree…obviously all those protestors at Parliament failed to react in a common sense way
and probably answered 'yes' to your question. Some maliciously of course and some just went 'oh right if XXXXX (insert favourite antivax/mandate mis- & dis-information spouting group) says so it must be right.'
Jester is just a fool.
This was all announced by November last year. Got delayed by a month due to the Omicron outbreak.
Yawn… I bet the fool doesn't know the rest of the seqence because that would involve paying attention. Something that that fools have a deficit of.
Yes agree but but you can't expect anyone to pay attention, or think or even remember back to November 2021 can you? Heavens that is at least 4 months ago.
Caution has served us well, a staged reopening has served us well, being flexible in bringing actions forward or back depending on circumstances at the time has served us well. I am actually hearing some around saying perhaps we are being too hasty…..
Top US general (retired) provides a military appraisal of the invasion.
All this suggests what he calls an ongoing quagmire, and it makes the prospect of a negotiated resolution the only way out…
Interesting critique coming from a General in an army that had every resource and couldn't defeat the Taleban in….20 years!
Ukraine is being wrecked and a negotiated peace is urgent.
Ukraine feels betrayed by the U.S guarantees it was given Q1 2021.
Too much face to lose for Russia to withdraw.
Conventional wisdom had it that Afghanistan is unique due to terrain, tribalism, guerilla warfare type conditions. They fought the British Empire to a standstill. The Russians spent years there back in the '80s & couldn't win. The US ignored tradition out of hubris, I reckon, and learnt the lesson for themselves, afresh.
QFT
Blazer the pentagon said it would take a much larger force to maintain control in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Politicians made the decisions.
Empires like testing their military so they can learn and test how good their tactics and equipment is.plus if you win a war outright there is no ongoing military spending
The military industrial complex.
Wants to keep it's budget an in peace time those budgets get cut.
Look at NZ no Airforce just a scare force.
The US has learned that much of its equipment didn't work dust and a determined guerilla army with little resources showed the US military up.
Russia is finding out the same lesson but with out the deep pockets of the western alliances.
What guarantee did the US make in Q1 2021? It certainly wasn't that the US would militarily attack Russia if they invaded. That would have required Ukraine to be part of NATO or to have a formal defence pact with the US. The most that the Ukrainians should have expected is EXACTLY what the US is doing now which is imposing extremely tough sanctions on Russia plus both financial and military aid.
The US did make a security guarantee in 1994. Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Obviously the Russians have spectacularly failed to live up to its provisions in the first 3 parts since 2014 when they annexed Ukrainian territory, directly encouraged and supported separatist successions, and started a sequence of a number of economic attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine. Memorandum on Security Assurances
There is a summary of analysis on wikipedia about the agreement.
It certainly gives the direct justification of military and financial support by the US and UK since Russia has invaded Ukraine.
My big issue with this is that Russia has effectively destroyed nonproliferation agreements. At the time that this was signed, Ukraine had the 3rd largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. While they didn't have the launch codes, what they did have was a lot of enriched uranium and plutonium, plus the local knowledge about how to create tactical nuclear weapons.
I doubt that Russia would have invaded if Ukraine had tactical nukes. Those large formations of Russian armour would have been sitting ducks. The damage to Ukraine would have been less than the indiscriminate bombardment of cities and the civilians in them that Russian dumb weapons has been doing in their current list of atrocities.
What the US, UK, EU and everyone else is doing is the absolute minimum response required to stop a tactical anti invasion nuclear arms race from aggressive fascist style states like Russia.
Because all security guarantees of ‘neutral’ states outside of military alliances "the Ukrainian nuclear disarmament was an exemplary case of nuclear non-proliferation." are now demonstrated to be a pitiful shield. If you have one set of idiotic arseholes like Putin and his flunkies – then there will be more.
As well as re-starting nuclear proliferation, Russia has effectively destroyed the possibility of a buffer zone of neutral states, and it has alienated potentially friendly neighbours. Even Switzerland has called it “a gross violation of international law” and imposed sanctions.
I appreciated this narrative background to the war, with perhaps a slight nod to Shakespeare…
The King Must Die
Your conclusion makes sense to me. I wonder how many of the movers & shakers abroad have figured it out yet. Folks like Kissinger & Brezinski probably got it immediately. I hope they spread advice around & into the NSC & CFR particularly.
There's a lesson along the lines of Chamberlain/Munich to be learnt at the top level of western geopolitical decision-making. Time to start brainstorming a redesign of the incentive-structure of the UN Security Council, to ensure compliance with membership conditions & deter military adventures…
Is this the same Gen. David Petraeus, that was exposed as a media manipulator, lied to the FBI, and warmonger that contributed to even more harm in Iraq and Afghanistan?
IIRC, it was Rolling Stones articles I read back then, but unfortunately they are behind a paywall.. So, here's John Pilger, writing for the News International confirming the first which is relevant now:
https://newint.org/features/2010/12/01/john-pilger-interview
Another Pilger piece in the Guardian, is a reminder of the role of media in times of war and has a timely closing paragraph, given yesterday's court decision:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/10/war-media-propaganda-iraq-lies
Yes, I noticed that stuff at the time. When top military guys do pr, they usually spin on behalf of their govt – which became evident to me in the late 1960s (Vietnam War) – but observers must develop the habit of relating their comments to context to interpret them accurately.
Since he's now retired, we can be reasonably confident he has no current political agenda. His reputation is sufficiently flawed (by incident such as those you cited) that he would be unlikely to be offered an ambassador's position, for instance. He mentioned that he has been a Biden critic. Therefore it's very likely that he's a straightshooter in the above appraisal…
The problem for the Russian negoitiators is that they are effectively losing as Ukraine are holding them to a standstill and the sanctions bite into the a Russian army resupply.
There is no point in Ukraine conceding anything apart from ceasefire while the Russians withdraw and pay reparations. And Ukraine enters NATO.
That last is because Russia has no credibility. Having broken their security guarantees already. They have nothing else to offer.
The Ukrainians said last night they've mobilised almost 100% of their available reserves. That is almost 900,000 men. That is a game changer. The war is now a stalemate. The Ukrainians have fought the Russians to a standstill but lack the means to counter attack. A negotiated way out for Putin is urgently needed.
Wars of attrition favour those on the defensive and the current deployment of Russian troops in Ukraine make it highly probable they will continue to lose much more troops and equipment than the Ukrainians UNLESS they spend considerable efforts to eliminate pockest of resistence in their rear areas such as around Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. To do that will takes weeks of brutal fighting and they will have to give up any chance of taking Kiev.
It's probably going to come down to rail.
Russia is doing better in the south for the moment, and, should they take Mariupol they will be able to run rail north with desperately needed fuel and other supplies. Of course, rail makes a lovely target too, and protecting long lines from drone and Ukrainian partisan attacks may tax an already rather busy invasion force. (No doubt Ukrainian forces are even now reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom in anticipation.) Many of the north south rail lines are already in place, including branches to locations of interest like the Zaporizhzhia power plant.
The Russians have 300 Billion in cash reserves left (after sanctions), has low national debt and most importantly it has the largest gas and oil reserves in Europe…those reserves alone with their ever increasing rising prices brought on by the sanctions/war will in effect fund Russia's war…China needs gas/oil, so no problem in selling it….not to mention the other commodities which Russia has that the US hasn’t sanctioned like Titanium, which without would effectively put a stop the production of aircraft in the US.
It seems clear that Putin has long planned for the potentiality of his red lines not being meet in the Ukraine, and has prepared for a long and brutal war if his demands for Ukraine are not fulfilled.
It is also pretty obvious that at some point soon, Putin will weaponize his big stick of gas/oil supply to Europe as winter bites….this conflict has a long way to play out yet if Putin doesn’t get what he perceives is in the best interests for Russian security in the long term.
Ukraine will never be in NATO, not unless Russia is defeated in a full scale war….and no one has the stomach for that insanity…..we hope.
For Wall Street, Russia Has Become ‘Bulletproof’
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/11/18/for-wall-street-russia-has-become-bullet-proof/?sh=3de108406ffd
Dunno if that Forbes opinion from two years ago has relevance to Russia's current situation though.
It was just there as a guide to the underlying financial stability Russia had sought to (and did) establish going into this conflict….I know historical context is not your thing Mr Frank, but if you did spend a little more time researching in that field in future, you might well find it useful in understanding what is happening in the present…then hopefully your comments would reflect your new more nuanced understanding going forward…and what a relief that would be.
I ain't no mister. Recycling antique colonial titles is an unusual habit for a leftist to retain. Why do you feel the need to do it?
Nice piece of sidestepping.
You get folks who seem to automatically expect others to engage with their internal melodrama. They use a bit of delusional framing here & there in their commentary as a lure. Tedious, I know, but they seem to believe doing so is an integral part of leftist political praxis.
Your last paragraph is spot on Adrian. Failure by the West to acknowledge this means that either Russia succeeds or world security spirals down. The US is as usual ok with Europe going down in flames while watching from the sidelines except that Russia would not have initiated this existential struggle unless they at least believed they had enough reach to include the US.
On the economic front there is a good article in naked capitilism about the effect of the memories of the 90s on the Russian psyche. This is the decade by which all hardship will be measured in the knowledge that this was the attempt by the west to break open Russia. That they survived, seems nothing short of a miracle to many and it was Putin who took them out of this dark place. The fact that the well off and those who profited from the pillage of the Russian state are now feeling finacial pain is just an added feature of the current refusal to allow Nato any further inches to the east
Adrian a red warning bar saying the article is more than 2 years old.
The Russian foreign reserves were US433 billion now US$ 300 billion with much of that frozen.
Forces said the rubble is stable .
Now worthless.
Just about all of the claims in Forbes are no longer relevant.
The Russian economy is in free fall and will be like Germany 1919 or Zimbabwe.
In the next few month's.
Hopefully putting and end to Putin the last megalomaniac to lead Russia.hope fully.
Look I put much into economic sanctions stopping Russia, but so far they have not constricted their economy by double digits. So I would not say
You need to understand Russia has a lot of natural resources, and by a lot ,I mean a hell of a lot. Other countries will stand up and take them, just not the west. So I can't see the Russian economy going into free fall at all.
Now if people like our last PM John Key had not set the financial system up, so the oligarchs and people like Putin could hide their money behind shell companies. Then I think the economic sanctions could have been targeted towards those oligarchs and Putin and been way more effective.
But once again we (the people) are screwed over by the Tory idiots in their never ending greed fetish.
@Tricledown, "Adrian a red warning bar saying the article is more than 2 years old"…my answer to Mr Frank above, obviously applies to you as well…. maybe dig a little deeper….
"The Russian government’s extensive involvement in the economy and the money it is still making from oil and gas exports — even with bans from the U.S. and Britain — will help soften the blow for many workers, pensioners and government employees in a country that has endured three serious financial crises in the past three decades. And as economists point out, Iran, a much smaller and less diversified economy, has endured sanctions misery for years over its nuclear program without a complete breakdown."
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/russia-built-economy-fortress-pain-real-83361604
"On Sunday, the diplomat stated that out of the total amount of Russia's reserves, which amounts to a figure of $640 billion, about $300 billion had been seized."
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Russia-About-300-Billion-of-Foreign-Exchange-Reserves-Frozen-20220313-0013.html
"Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that nearly half of the country's roughly $640 billion dollars of gold and foreign currency reserves have been frozen in the wake of Moscow's ongoing war on Ukraine."
https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/nearly-half-of-russia-s-reserves-frozen-in-wake-of-moscow-s-war-in-ukraine-122031400351_1.html
Maybe you and some others around these parts would do well to keep in mind that in the minds of most our demented press/politicians we are in a state of War with Russia ourselves…so by extension most of what you will be hearing/reading on this subject with be permeated to some degree with state propaganda…which is of course always exercised in times of war.
So they can afford to pay for their own civil aircraft.
They'll be grounded, or fall out of the sky, whichever comes first, within six months because of Russia's inability to maintain their airworthiness without manufacturer support.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/03/14/putin-allows-russian-airlines-to-fly-10-billion-worth-of-foreign-owned-planes.html
This is Putin being a 2 year old, and stealing someone else toys because they stole his.
Not sure if there is an economic benefit for Russia here, as you say they can't maintain them.
If Russia's end goal was to make Europe bend to his will through the use of his oil then he should have started the War BEFORE winter rather than at the end. He has given Europe plenty of motivation AND time to source additional energy supplies.
"If Russia's end goal was to make Europe bend to his will "..not all of Europe..just the Ukraine as far as I can tell.
Well except he wanted Europe to tacitly accept his hegemonic position over the areas of most of the former Soviet Union and not to try and encourage these nations to join the EU.
Your good at calling other people ‘fools’ l.prent,but if you only take a one sided point of view and dismiss out of hand the other sides points, then your analysis is flawed. If one only relies on western media for information on conflicts, then you are sorely misled judging by passed conflicts where Western media lies have been exposed, ie Saddam’s WMD etc etc.
Russia’s war in Ukraine have become a perfect demonstration of the 'horseshoe theory' according to which the extremes of Left and Right must converge.
And proof that both fascism and marxism are sibling ideologies – both vile and contemptible.
Redlogix couldn't agree more the Spanish civil war. The Soviet Union,China.
Just another brand of fascist dictatorship.
Don’t see where this fits in regards my comment. Besides you have a poor political nounce if you think Putin is a Marxist lol how dumb
BydOnz National Socialism = communist dictatorship.
Putin is a Dictator who treats his country and people in the same way as a National Socialist dictator in all but name.
Same in China etc.Communist dictatorships turn into National Socialism.
[Strike #2. Read the Moderation note for you – Incognito]
[Strike #2. Read the Moderation note for you – Incognito]
Off topic Redlogix – are you dry mate?
Also any chance I could get your view on what happening in the national election over their.
I watch the ABC, which is making it hard to get a feel for anything, as they seem to be very weary of upsetting the Coalition in any way.
If you change "Marxism" to "Bolshevism" you might be on to something. One is a vanguardist, authoritarian political movement and therefore comparable to fascism, the other isn't. You'd still have to show that Putin is a species of Bolshevik though, which could be a fun exercise.
a species of Bolshevik
He ain't that. It would make him a social democrat (the Bolsheviks were part of the Russian SDLP before the 1903 schism).
He's just a conservative.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Social_Democratic_Labour_Party
It is said that Putin is particularly fond of the works of Ivan Ilyin (quotes him in essays), whose anti-communist prescription was apparently something called Christian Fascism.
Another major influence though, is said to be Aleksandr Dugin. He has more than a few political skeletons (declared admiration for Hitler for one), but a conservative mistrust of liberalism and a dislike of the West, chiefly America, seem to be shared with Putin.
As a political philosopher, Dugin's critiques of Western culture are an interesting outsider perspective. Sadly his velvet words serve to conceal the iron fist of Putin's tyranny.
As is any ideology when taken to authoritarian extremes.
At the moment we live under the crushing weight of capitalist exploitation that drove colonialism and slavery, and is now destroying the planet itself.
It is Fox News style fearmongering to characterise Marxism and left wing thought as the road the Stalinism and gulags.
Economic and political equality are good things to aim for.
Do you think that Helen Clark was excessively pessimistic then? She said this about a week ago.
"The best-case scenario is there are talks that establish a basis on which Ukraine and Russia will live in peace, side-by-side.
“That will probably mean Ukraine will need to accept it is a neutral country. It doesn’t want to be in a recreated Warsaw Pact with Russia, but it probably can’t ever be in NATO either. It is a classic buffer state, where great power interests are either side of it: it is the meat in the sandwich, and when Russia has felt the buffer’s gone, that’s when it’s gotten very, very angry.
“I can’t as I sit here see a best-case where Ukraine is able to say, ‘we’ll join what we want and do what we want’. That’s probably unrealistic.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018832624/what-we-don-t-want-is-world-war-iii-clark-on-ukraine
I'm afraid that she is almost certainly right. Whether we like it or not Russia is a nuclear state with a crazy leader. If he decides that he is going to be overthrown he just might to something really mad and try using a tactical nuclear weapon. Just a little one of course but he just might try it rather than have what he sees as his, and therefore Russia's enemy on his border.
I think the only way Putin will go is is if he has guarantees of his own impunity from penalties and keeps all his wealth, and that Ukraine and the other boundary states are neutral.
The trouble is that would mean he would have to accept that other states keep their promises. Would he do that given his own record in such things?
The idea that Russia has no credibility and therefor no ability to stop Ukraine joining NATO is, unfortunately, delusional.
"…Beyond that, the Russians just have relatively unimpressive equipment, given the investment supposedly made over the past decade or so…"
Russia's defense budget is sixty billion US per year. Most of the investment was in small numbers of advanced weapons with the hope of foreign sales that could get production lines open and fund deployment of this equipment to Russian units. The T-14 Armata "wonder tank" is instructive here. After a protracted development from the cancelled T-95 (started in 1988, cancelled in 2010) this 4th generation MBT was first seen in public in 2015, where it broke down. The Russians announced they were buying 2300 of them with deliveries complete by 2020. This was subsequently scaled back to 100 as a test batch to be delivered by 2020, now pushed out to 2025 with some reports saying less than fifty will ever be made. The reason they are not in mass production is rampant corruption, financial mismanagement and very high loss of skilled personnel, and lack of foreign sales to actually fund the production lines.
Putin has just trashed the reputation of Russian weapons, his aged arsenal is proving to be death traps for Russian troops.
" his aged arsenal is proving to be death traps for Russian troops." …..name me one tank in the world today that could defeat the Javelin (or Kornet) AT weapon?..possibly the new generation Israeli reactive armour might?
What you and others don't acknowledge is the fact that this conflict is the first time that leading edge first line military hardware has been committed against each other on a large scale by two professional armies, in open combat since probably the Korean War (some would argue Iraq/Iran)…keep in mind the Ukraine has been flooded with western weapons, namely shoulder fired AT and AA weapons….
If the Russians has exported thousands of Kornet AT weapons into Afghanistan or Iraq you can be sure that we would have seen the US abandon both those conflicts years earlier.
What we are really witnessing is the demise of the modern Main Battle Tank as an effective battlefield weapon…the writing was really on the wall when the Germans produced the first really effective disposable shoulder fired AT weapon , the Panzerfaust in WW2.
Hezbollah really sealed the fate of Main Battle Tanks in the 2006 Lebanon War when they defeated the most sophisticated Tank in the Middle East, the Israeli Merkava using only well trained and highly motivated infantry with shoulder fired weapons.
Much in line with the demise of the worlds Battleships, the Main Battle Tank will be relegated to a role as a heavy artillery support weapon in future ( is usually used like that most of the time now as far as I can tell)..I am pretty sure the US stopped using Tanks in urban battle a while back..guess the Russians are leaning why they choose that course for themselves as we speak.
Stupid Humans.
Do you really think the MBT lasted right up until 2006?
I would have said it was proved to be totally defunct in 1991 when the Iraq military was destroyed in a 4 day period from 24 Feb to 28 Feb.
In open country, and good weather, it could of course be argued that the demise of the MBT happened after the Normandy landings in 1944 when the German forces could not move their armour up to the front during daylight because of the overwhelming dominance of the Allied air power.
While it is true that the Germans couldn't move their tanks around France in 1944, when they could bring them to bear, the results in terms of moral for their own troops and demoralizing the Allied troops is undeniable… at the same time German troops without air, tank or conventional AT support, once trained and armed with Panzerfaust were quite capable of defeating all Allied armour…within range of course!!
"Do you really think the MBT lasted right up until 2006?"…..I have always been surprised at the willingness of armies to bring MBT into urban battle scenario's in the modern era…but they still do.
I'm inclined to agree – tanks went the way of the battleship, and for the same reason – air power, at least as far as battlefield use is concerned.
But there is a contemporary use for tanks, in cowing subject populations, who generally lack the wherewithal to deal with them. A sudden abundance of AT weapons changes that calculation significantly however. Now the tankers fear the population they are supposed to be oppressing.
Oh Lord, alwyn. It was painfully obvious in Germany's invasion of France in 1941 that their weak tanks were reliant upon the Stukas and overwhelming airpower.
Hand-held weapons outmoding tanks is a new phenomenon to most.
Perhaps you are right, and the German tanks were terrible. I am quite unable to comment as I know absolutely nothing about a 1941 German invasion of France.
I have heard just a little about an invasion in 1940 though but that is obviously not what you are pontificating so superciliously about.
No one has really deployed in extensive combat an Active Protection System (APS) like the Israeli Trophy system. Trophy has had use in Gaza on Merkava tanks and if you believe the IDF PR it has been very successful.
But here is the weird thing – the Russians have been tinkering with doppler APS systems since the late 1970s – the Drozd system, it was even deployed on 250 tanks in the early 1980s. They retired that and developed a soft kill system called Shorta-1 in the late 1980s, and built an active system called Arena after the heavy armoured losses in the Chechen war. This was demonstrated as far back as 1995.
However, lack of funds (because none have been exported) means none have been purchased or deployed by the Russian Federation. So they've had a potential defense against top attack tandem HEAT warheads for a quarter century, but haven't deployed it due to corruption and lack of money.
This chap, a somewhat gung-ho ex-US Navy F-14 aviator, has some interesting operational insights.
Will check that out when I get home, thanks., also good insight into the Russian tank defense systems…now I know will probably be down that rabbit hole for the next night or two. ..I know this is all wrong, but at the end of all this, it will be very interesting to see what really happened militarily, as I am sure you know, very little information coming out now from anywhere can really be trusted.
I wouldn't trust IDF PR either, they are still traumatized by their loss to Hezbollah IMO, in no small part through a lack of fighting will and low moral at the time, which I believe is still a big problem for them now.
Former Australian army officer on Poot's plans A and B going to shit and plan C heading the same way.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1503499716209754115.html
Running out of options, a negotiated solution may be the only way out for Russia. However, Putin's personal hubris may torpedo any serious peace negotiations.
On the Ukrainian side, after all the terrible hardship and losses they have suffered at Russia's hands Ukraine's leaders will not be in any mood to offer much in the way of concessions to the Russian invader..
When you're on the winning side it pays to push your advantage.
If serious peace negotiations are entered into, I imagine that Ukraine's demands will be pretty onerous for Putin to accept. Including total Russian withdrawal and ending of all hostilities, especially in the Donbass region, where Russian has been funding and supporting far right ultra nationalist Russian separatists since 2014.
If the Russian political leadership enters into negotiations to end this war, they will be lucky to not have to agree to pay reparations for war damage.
The Russian leadership would be best to concede to Ukraine's demands, in exchange they may be offered their continued control of the Crimea, in some sort of joint arrangement.
If the war continues to Russia's ultimate defeat, Russia will probably eventually be driven out of all of the Ukraine including Crimea.
Deepening the Russian leadership's problems; despite newly imposed extremely repressive laws aimed at anti-war messages and protests, .anti-war protests in Russia continue to break out.
The Russians bet on winter.
I thought to myself Putin hasn't factored in Global warming.
Today 2 fox news journalists killed by Russians.
This could be the end of Fox spews love affair with Putin and his biggest fanboy Trump.
Even Gopers are doubling down on putin supporters.
The US is finally waking up to the dangers of Trump/Putin.
Where is the NZ equivalent?
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/final-reminder-dfa-live-2000-sydney-tonight-talking-economics-and-politics-with-tnls-victor-kline-steve-keen/
Some very interesting and pertinent tracking of housing and credit that will apply to NZ as well.
Bernard Hickey has podcasts sometimes apparantly.
Aussies are big buyers of NZ property.
They like the incentives here,no stamp duties or CG tax like most developed nations have.
If Australians buy in NZ and they live in Australia, they still pay all tax on any property, with a deduction for other taxes paid. NZ equals no deduction.
If a NZer buys Aussie property, all the Aussie taxes apply selling or buying.
So do aussies pay CG tax on NZ property?
Yes Blazer, friends were shocked on going to Aus, and selling their Papamoa home after they decided to stay, to have to pay taxes on their NZ sale.
It was the political party I was referring to rather than the podcast.
If a Party espousing the policies Keen and Kline were outlining was active in NZ they would have my vote and I suspect a good number of others.
I like Keen and Michael Hudson even more…in Oz Keen 's rep has been sullied by a number of wrong calls..e.g
Keen to climb Kosciuszko after losing bet (smh.com.au)
Ah the famous bet….yes he has been wrong before, in timing….hes been right in his description however , just not how determined the vested interests were in maintaining their position.
And zero interest rates did occur.
Keen is unconcerned about who he upsets.
And yes Hudson is another who describes it well…..unsurprising given his background.
Influencers ?! And apart from their bizarre CT belief systems….peddling pseudoscience snake oil. As always..
They could always come to The Standard and get the pure truth.
The antvax trolls tried really hard to spin there bs here and we're allowed to express their unsubstantiated views but we're shot down by many fact checkers but didn't accept the truth so got banned.
Ad your negative spin trying to divide us is in a similar vein.not unexpected from a blue blooded sycophant.Ironically.
[Don’t you believe it:
Nobody gets banned here for being a fool believing in fairies. People get banned for behaviour, mostly, e.g. when they make assertions and statements of facts that they don’t back up, especially after a repeated request by a Mod. Of course, if one asserts BS then one cannot back it up, but then they have a choice to correct/retract and apologise or get banned. Fools seldom takes the first option, which shows they’re fools.
Don’t be a fool spreading lies about banning here.
You’re also attacking an Author of TS accusing him of trying to divide us “in a similar vein”, whatever that means, and accusing him of being a “blue blooded sycophant”. Well, jolly good then, here’s your opportunity to back it up or retract & apologise. You’re in Pre-Moderation until then and I hope you do finally read the replies to your comments because if you still don’t I’ll move you to the Ban list for a few weeks – Incognito]
Mod note for you.
Gallant!
Crikey I was praising The Standard and denying the idea of stable political truth as succinctly as I could. Maybe I'm a bit gnomic for these guys.
Shave off your beard and ditch the silly hat and you’ll be fine for these guys, as they don’t go any deeper than superficial appearances.
I withdraw and apologise I did make incorrect assumptions.
I was frustrated and falsely accused you and others .
Please accept my sincere apology.
I'll take the ban because I am fed up to the frikken teeth to see the bs antvaxxers spewed onto this site.
While peoples lives are at stake at least lprent stuck it to them with out holding back.
If I made comments like lprent made against the antivax brigade I would have been banned.
Yet you let anti vaxxers link to conspiracy sites with out any sanctions.
I am happy to take a ban for sticking up for truth.
[Ok, thanks for responding.
Just so that we’re clear, you receive a ban for spreading lies about banning and accusing an Author without basis. You want to take the ban “for sticking up for truth”, with is absurd nonsense; you sound like you want to play the role of victim and martyr. As I said before, nobody gets banned for sticking up for the truth even when it is only their truth as long as they can debate it and argue their views and state them as their opinion rather than as statements of facts. The latter require backup support.
You did not retract any of these nor did you apologise.
You chose the ban because of some misguided stuff about anti-vax comments here on TS by some. Your ban has nothing to do with anti-vaxxers here on TS! You can argue for or against anything or anybody as much as you like as long as you can support your statements and preferably without personal insults.
Bye for now until April Fool’s Day – Incognito]
Mod note for you.
Huh?
I heard that Simon is moving to Auckland. Is he going to have a go at the mayoralty? If he succeeded and brought a team with him, then one of the reasons for the establishment of the super city could be fulfilled. All those juicy assets could finally be up for grabs by their mates. The reason would of course be TINA due to the mismanagement of the left wing council.
"due to the mismanagement of the left wing council"….what Left council are you referring too?….as far as I know there isn't any serious large Left Wing organization operating within the boarders on New Zealand today….please post link to one if you know where one is, I would be more than interested….thanks.
Auckland city council. I think Adrian.
boardersborders – apologies for the pickinessMy best options for National's reshuffle are:
1. Luxon: Leader, Intelligence and Security. Also Commerce.
2. Nicola Willis gets Finance, keeps Deputy Leader. Good experience at Finance and Expenditure Committee already.
3. Shane Reti, jumps up 1, keeps Health, gets COVID response. Target is Little.
4. Chris Bishop, gets Housing, keeps Shadow Leader. His target is Hipkins
5. Simeon Brown, jumps 4. Transport, takes Energy. His targets are Wood and Woods
6. Louise Upston, drops 1 place, keeps Social Development.
7. Barbara Kuriger. Agriculture, biosecurity, food safety
8. Gerry Brownlee. Jumps 8 places. 3 Waters, Foreign Affairs. Target Mahuta
9. Erica Stanford. Drops 3. Keep education, and keeps the North Shore happy.
10. Andrew Bayly. Jumps 4. Assoc Finance. Assoc 3 Waters. Climate. Ec Dev.
Underneath that who cares?
Luxon has to make this Top 10 shuffle look like the Government-In-Waiting.
Luxon has to make this Top 10 shuffle look like the Government-In-Waiting.
No way is he ever gonna achieve that! After the top 4 it goes into non-event repetition. Brownlee @ #8 makes Maureen Pugh look like a viable contender. Bayly may yet evidence substance though.
Andrew Bayly looks like a good contender given his background.
I wish someone would have a word with Gerry. Either that, or Luxon can give him an ambassadorial role given National have a good chance of taking out the next election.
Ad called it – Nicola Willis.
I called it years ago 🙂
Willis for Finance was never in doubt. She worked for John Key once, and was on a committee of course, so has all the relevant experience.
I just think she would have been better used in a free lancing role until National was entrenched in power. Having her bogged down with finance would tie her up.
Given Nationals paucity of talent, Andrew Bayly could have been brought forward and blooded ( if he has the talent?)
"8. Gerry Brownlee. Jumps 8 places. 3 Waters, Foreign Affairs. Target Mahuta"
Imagine those two at a function where there was free food. I think someone once said "You don't want to get yourself caught between Gerry Brownlee and a sausage roll!".
Perhaps you haven't noticed that Nanaia Mahuta has lost a lot of weight. I suspect her weight problem had more to do with a metabolic condition. I also suspect she may have had a stomach operation to counter that condition. Good on her.
Fat shaming especially when it is caused by other factors than over-eating is bottom of the barrel stuff imo.
In Gerry's case, nope. His leader, JC, proudly declared that obesity was the individual's fault and responsibility, and Gerry heartily agreed. He's admitted that he's weak-willed and/or gluttonous and proud.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/gerry-brownlee-on-wealth-tax-and-judith-collins-obesity-comments/
How about Brownlee? Does he have a metabolic condition too?
Imagine an eating competition between Gerry and Grant? Gawd.
Damon Runyon would have had a wonderful time with them.
Which one would be Joel Duffle and which would be Violette Shumberger?
https://damonrunyon.neocities.org/Broadway_Stories/A_Piece_of_Pie.html
Robbo will wipe the floor with Willis. She is an intellectual lightweight.
Smug comment and stupid too; when facing an opponent it is not smart to underestimate them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Willis_(politician)#Early_life
If she’s a lightweight then Robbo is a featherweight. Both seem pretty mediocre to me, their skills lie in PR and political manoeuvring, no real competence or expertise in their portfolios. One hopes they have decent staff and enough moral fibre to adopt policies for the greater good (beyond themselves and their mates)
I wouldn't mess with any politician who can bring Fonterra with them.
From experience her relationships in MFAT, MBIE, and MPI are strong at a senior level.
Her lineage from Fonterra, to English and Key's office, then quickly to National Deputy Leader, doesn't come about by chance.
Willis has a deeper and more senior background than either Ardern or Robertson.
Nor should you underestimate the Wellington networks of her consultant husband.
Willis is the one to watch.
Yes Ad, always was "in the front row" of any National Party Leader's picture" whoever they were/are. Great chess player.
No Nicola Willis listed on the NZ Chess Federation players list. So I would wager that I would defeat her in chess blindfolded and drunk
"I wouldn't mess with any politician who can bring Fonterra with them."
Todd Muller, for example?
*smiles sweetly
She is more moderate than Luxon in words but with Nationals wealth redistribution to the better off wralthy NZers.
She hasn't got much sway.
[Strike #1. Read the Moderation note for you – Incognito]
[Strike #1. Read the Moderation note for you – Incognito]
So what it was actually was less revolutionary:
1. Luxon. Leader, Intelligence and Security
2. Willis. Dep Leader, Finance.
3. Bishop. Housing, infrastructure, COVID
4. Reti. Health. Maori-Crown relations.
5. Goldsmith. Justice. etc. This jump was a surprise for me.
6. Upston. Social Development, child poverty.
7. Stanford. Education.
8. Doocey.
9. S. Brown. Transport.
10. Kuriger. Agriculture etc.
Having Brownlee on your team is a bit like having Greatbatch – ok against Sri Lanka, but otherwise a liability.
"Gerry Brownlee. Jumps 8 places"
Gerry?
Jumps?
You jest.
How the Ukraine War Exposes Western Racism…..I would say especially Liberal racism…
Yep, us Western baby boomers have never tasted war – a near historical anomaly.
That has allowed us breathing space to navel gaze… and move away from reality into madness that currently afflicts the West. Worthy ideals like diversity and women's rights have been highjacked by self interest groups who have subverted such good intentions.
But underneath it all, nothing has really changed as the above clip shows. We just hide our bigotry better, while pandering to madness in a vain attempt to hide our true natures from ourselves.
Yes, Black voices like Dave Chappelle have pointed this out for years. Academic woke cosplay doesn’t help with far deeper systemic evils like racism and poverty in America
Agree with your analysis of this important vid. Hope it’s watched by people here, though may not get through their entrenched bias.
What ‘analysis’? There was no analysis and nothing to speak of, as usual.
Biased commenters have a disposition towards lazy comments, often nothing more than an ‘important vid’ aka YT clip, or towards overly long comments with way too many quotes and links (and YT clips).
And those without any bias, have a comment that is just the right length – neither too short, or too long. All heil moderation.
I and J (KLMNOPQR) the centrists of the alphabet.
Unfortunate typo there
Adrian said, ‘I would say especially Liberal racism…’
that’s Adrian’s analysis, and I said, I agree. So no need for your poor response
A poor ‘analysis’ deserves a poor response. If you cannot handle this then do better.
incognito ,,,, have you even looked at the link and have you put up a contra link to support your inane ramblings.
That’s the point, there’s nothing of substance except a YT clip. You may want to read the Mod note I left for somebody else 2 days ago: https://thestandard.org.nz/see-you-later-simon/#comment-1875252.
People are too lazy to construct and write a decent argument and collectively we’re losing our debating skills. This is my point, so what’s yours again?
I am tied of the in fighting,you yourself got sucked in with a long diatribe with {chairman}and he was pulling you down,it's happening time and time again.I myself say fuck all bar a few hopeful quiet barb's,but I like the links and as weka would ask a brief description,Im saying that some here would see that within this post,thanks for your reply,keep up the otherwise good work here.
Yes, I know that others like the links and that’s perfectly fine – they’re not deleted, but sometimes converted to the URL rather than embedded clip.
Indeed, a brief description with some explanation/reason as to why we should click on it is the basic request/requirement here on TS. Preferably, a political point that can be debated. Otherwise, it’s just lazy Spam that fills precious space and distracts from robust debate.
As to being tired of fighting, I know what you mean. I’m tired of futile exchanges too. With regards to TC, I gave him enough rope and a wee spade and he used these the way he did, which is why he’s in Pre-Moderation now and soon heading to the Ban list for a while if he doesn’t respond. Better that I waste my time on vexatious trolls than spates of others wasting their time on them at the expense of useful convos – essentially the definition of trolling. It’s a crap job, but somebody has to do it.
Happy commenting.
Reflections on Simon’s departure.
The tears in Simon's eyes, the lack of anyone standing with him looked more like gimlet eyes has believed Judith? /he was better off without him?
Or perhaps the coming court case means Simon has to appear on the stand?
It would not suit the aspirations of Luxon. He has perhaps sent a huge warning to any other in his "team".
Or perhaps he was told Nicola would be Finance, and he was offered a lesser role?
All speculation, but the machinations in National are not over.
Sounds to me that is what happened. So Bridges decided not to hang around any longer.
Nicola Willis is Nationals' answer to Jacinda Ardern. Mark my words, its not Robertson who is her No 1 target but Ardern. She's been raised to the highest position possible and will be expected to match Jacinda word for word and going one better. The 'one up on you' syndrome.
She has four kids and Jacinda only has one. I've noticed recently she's even dressing like Jacinda. Brightly coloured pretty blouses with a plain coat of some sort draped around her shoulders. Anyone think that doesn't matter? To the Nats it does. Image has been their second name for as long as I've been around and that’s a long time. They are obsessed with image.
Adrian Thornton $300 billion is nothing these days it may keep an economy like NZ going for a couple of years at best but Russia waging a War maybe a few weeks or Months.
As poverty bites Russia will struggle to keep it army supplied its troops Morale up.The peoples protest in check .
Putin has made a huge tactical error.
All his oligarchs are spewing .
This is the end of Zsar Putins corrupt regime.
Where are they going to lock up all the dissenters.
I am betting on a military coup not unlike how Putin came to power.
You get the oligarchs are protected right, they have all their money hidden behind shell companies – nice and safe. Probably in South Dakota or the Cayman islands, how that for irony. If we had been able to shut these bastards down this war would probably have been stopped.
As it stands, I'm not sure with the lock down of any information in Russia if Putin is in trouble. I know he was not like before this. But people are funny, we know when collective punishment like sanctions are used, they rally behind leaders they don't like. Iran, North Korea, Cuba, the list goes on.
'This is the end of Zsar Putins corrupt regime'
Yes I agree and look forward to a new Russian election where the second most popular Party by far could form the new Government, of course that will still be unacceptable to the West.
Exactly.
Brent futures down under a $100 and moving $40 in a week.
tesla putting up prices for the second time this week.
What hell!
81 people beheading's in one day in Saudi Arabia.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saudi-arabia-executes-81-people-largest-mass-execution/
Sanctions against Saudi Arabia now please labour.
The Night Wolves are a right wing pro Russia (pro Putin – it's mutual) biker group led by Alexander Sergeyevich Zaldostanov who calls himself the surgeon – maybe because he thinks he is a wolverine.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/putins-angels-inside-russias-most-infamous-motorcycle-club-56360/
https://balkaninsight.com/2020/01/17/russian-night-wolves-bikers-support-montenegro-church-protests/
https://balkaninsight.com/2022/02/18/pro-russian-bikers-in-montenegro-want-pro-ukrainian-rally-stopped/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Wolves
PS The Wolfsangel (wolfshook – based on the historic wolfstrap design) is an ancient runic symbol that was believed to be able to ward off wolves. The Azov regiment is based in Mariupol, which Russia is intent on reducing to rubble.
The warrior monk Alexander Peresvet is an iconic figure to the Night Wolves – the Russians laser weapon (for taking out satellites) is named after him.
Yeah yeah and the swastika is an ancient religious symbol
There are as many right wing nationalists in Russia as Ukraine, so why does only one of the two states deserve to be invaded?
Not too sure why a lot of people on the left are supporting this garbage.
What garbage?
I hope the Treasury boffins secure their web site before the budget this year.
A bit of a selective quote there, Patricia.
While you may not agree with the tax policy she's promoting – she's pretty articulate on the potential benefits for kiwis.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/463399/national-mp-nicola-willis-named-finance-spokesperson-after-simon-bridges-announced-retirement
I seem to remember that minimum wage ..what was it? 45K would get $112 a year
"National's proposals would offer people some relief. "
Those on $55k get $800 per year.
Luxon (as PM) would get $18,500 per year
Plus as a man owning many houses he also plans to rid himself of that pesky 10 year brightline test and restore tax deductions related to interest charges relating to financing property.
How the hell is this arse not being ridiculed and abused all over the MSM?
How the hell is this arse not being ridiculed and abused all over New Zealand
No sanctions on anyone in the Republican Party. Says it all.
Where's Kamala Harris?
I suppose she has demonstrated the truth of that wonderful comment from Thomas R Marshall (Remember him? He was Vice-President to Woodrow Wilson).
Anyway it went "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and nothing was ever heard of either of them again."
Whatever happened to Kamala? Why has she been ignored?
Apparently kiwis with massive brains are about to enter drainage mode…
One can see reasons for her rise in the National – the ability to effortlessly lie out of both sides of her mouth at the same time for a starter
2008
National slogan "Stop waving goodbye to your loved ones"
I remember it intensely. National came to govern. 2009 they changed employment conditions for people like my son-in-law specializing in after care for people suffering brain injury (because much cheaper to employ non-specialists). Overnight 100 specialists out of a job with no prospect of employment in NZ. Fortunately for them Aussie was seeing the need for such people. We waved good bye to the family in 2010.
NZ covid related deaths this year now exceed the road toll by 20%,on on curve to see 450 ttl deaths by Kings Birthday weekend.
While any death is a tragedy to the individual families – this is not, in itself, an outrageous death toll. Compare to cancer, for example….
https://minhealthnz.shinyapps.io/mortality-web-tool/
2019 seems to be the last year for which there are figures… not sure why.
Excess mortality in NZ has decreased below the baseline in the last 2 years,due to lockdowns (decreased mobility) zero influenza and limited respiratory diseases,this made us the bottom of the excess deaths table.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(2102796-3/fulltext
The problem now however is the rate of the problem,the rate of covid cases (per 100K) is nearing double the rate of the us at its omicron peak and precautions are relaxed.
https://twitter.com/VincentRK/status/1502832519720280067/photo/1
Current account blows up sets new record in absolute terms (in real terms we are living beyond our means)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128072264/nz-posts-a-record-20-billion-annual-current-account-deficit
As a ratio against GDP it has not been this bad since Helen Clark was in charge (and then it was really bad)
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/key-graphs/key-graph-current-account
Open questions.
i) Will the ratings agency downgrade us (adding to the cost of borrowing)?
ii) Will the RBNZ double down on its next interest review (.25-.5)?
iii) Will the budget constrain wasteful spending in its fiscal statement,bearing in mind that it will be working against monetary policy from the RBNZ?
That and the return to tourism revenues would give rating agencies reason to pause on any downgrade.
Tourism is a zero sum game,such as the decrease in savings from NZ going overseas,limited spending opportunity on productive assets etc.
The interest bill on our debt however will be increasing as is our debt.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/balance-of-payments-and-international-investment-position-december-2021-quarter
i) Will the ratings agency downgrade us (adding to the cost of borrowing)?
Maybe ..but also maybe not – if New Zealand's rating slips we would have to expect most other countries rating would fall further because the cost of the pandemic has utterly hammered most other economies – Even if there is a ratings slip our position in country versus country comparisons will actually improve.
ii) Will the RBNZ double down on its next interest review (.25-.5)?
My crystal ball is on the fritz sorry.
iii) Will the budget constrain wasteful spending in its fiscal statement,bearing in mind that it will be working against monetary policy from the RBNZ?
"constrain wasteful spending" – wasteful spending is in the eye of the beholder Labour will argue there is none – National will "woof, woof, woof
'
I'm a bit disappointed in Chris Luxon. He promoted Chris Bishop to No.3 in their caucus but he didn't make it clear to Bishop what the 'three' meant before going into the House today.
Bishop must've thought Luxon said he was being promoted to "act like a three year old."
Granted Bishop perfectly carried out what he thought Luxon's meant but he had taken the wrong message.
Things got a little testy during QT in parliament today.
But one thing stood out for me: Seymour is a more formidable opponent for the PM than Luxon – though, having said that, neither gave her much concern.
Luxon still unable to think on his feet – all his questions were scripted.
Willis taking the same line she took in previous shadow posts: reading out from a letter she received (real or made up) and asking what the finance minister would say to them. Easy meat for Grant.
Bishop just being a pain in the arse!
The problem for Jacinda is things will become incrementally harder in the debating chamber as our economy continues drifting South, regardless of Luxon's or Dave's debating skills.
She and Robbo will become political punching bags. You can only defend failure for so long before the whole country calls bullshit.
Add to that a decisive win in Tauranga ( taking back any votes lost last time) and National will be on a roll.
It will be interesting to see which Labour members decide to retire before, or after the election, should National win. The thought of 12 years in opposition will be too much for some Labour MPs to bear.
I don’t what’s funnier, you smoking or reading the leaves.
I haven't smoked in 10 years. I think four terms out of power would be realistic given Labours wrecking of the economy.( Kiwis are slow learners). Jacinda chucking in the towel would be the icing on the cake for me. The spin around that event would be top shelf.
But l'm not clipping the cigars just yet. I'm sure Labour has a few tricks left.
I’ve not watched TV in years and don’t miss it all now I read TS.
You don't know what you're missing…MAFS…the real housewives of…??
I need more reality and TS provides this with abundance – it’s fact & fantasy interwoven into a tapestry of life as we know it. It is beautiful and repulsive at the same time, just like losing your virginity for the first time. There’s a sinister sense of taboo when reading some of the comments here because I know they are so wrong but I can’t help myself – it’s my guilty pleasure, my vice.
HTH
The 1990-1999, 1999-2008, 2008-2017 precedents suggest three terms per government is the standard in the MMP era.
Expecting 2 terms for this government and 4 for the next suggests aberrant rather than inerrant thinking.
The thought of 12 years in opposition will be too much for some Labour MPs to bear.
I can see Trevor moved to tears of sympathy for the Opposition in 2027 already. In 2030 he'll probably have to install safety nets outside their windows.
You only think the economy is bad because rich pricks arent getting tax cuts, and you cannot import in slave labour to work your plantation. You need to pay New Zealander a fair wage to do it.
Forge election documents and vote to let yourself off the hook. Rotten to the core.
A group of Wisconsin Republicans who took it upon themselves to certify to the U.S. Senate that Donald Trump won the battleground state in the 2020 presidential election didn’t break any laws, state elections officials said Tuesday.
[…]
According to the Wisconsin Justice Department analysis, Hitt and nine other Republicans, including elections Commissioner Bob Spindell, gathered in the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, the last day for Wisconsin to send its electoral votes to the Senate.
[…]
Law Forward attorney Jeffrey Mandell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was disappointed with the decision and that Spindell shouldn’t have been allowed to vote since he was one of the targets of the complaint.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-elections-media-wisconsin-election-2020-5ec47b445cf86d7fb03906fe3dc41bd1
Luxon explains Golsmith's promotion and says "We all make mistakes"
IMO promoting Goldsmith is Luxon's mistake.
'We all make mistakes': Luxon explains why Goldsmith has returned to National's top team, addresses diversity 'challenge' (msn.com)
So, this is funny.
Julius Caesar's last words were possibly Greek, rather than Latin: "Kai su, teknon". In English it's "you too, child", and got flipped to the latin as "Et tu Brute".
Everyone bored as fuck? Noice. Here's the punchline [my bold]:
That seems more in character of someone who told his kidnappers he was going to kill them all if a ransom is paid… and did.
That is such an interesting article from LRB.
I had always thought that some of the unevenness in the character of Julius Caesar, as shown by the dialogue and responses that make you say 'well that was not something I was expecting or would have done' was a playwright's device to show the unevenness of JC's character. The 'et tu brute' always felt a bit too suddenly realising…..but it did seem real that at the very end the person you always felt would have your back has it, but not in the way you might have expected. I had always thought that it had regret about why he had not talked to Brutus in depth about what as going on and now could not. While not in the class of Thomas Jones this extract from
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/et-tu-brute/
has the more standard version.
Plutarch has Caesar just pulling his toga over his head and dying in silence. Shakespeare prefers the more dramatic account of Suetonius who has him saying “Kai su teknon?” (‘You too, my son?’) '
Thomas Jones and the point about some of the words being found on curse tablets is attractive to me too. In fact as I read it I had a vison of a cross between Marlon Brando (who played Mark Antony) and Richard Burton with Marlon Brando reprising The Godfather with cotton stuffed cheeks so he barely moved his mouth and saying ‘See you in hell, punk with a steely stare……not a dying scene.
With spare time, it was decided to check out question time to see how Luxon and his shiny new finance spokeswoman shaped up to The PM and Finance minister. Verdict – surprisingly unimpressed. Luxon clearly was no match and seemed to think it was smart to go round in circles like a demented fish in a bowl repeating the tired old 'what about tax reductions for the wealthy' lines.
The real revelation was his Deputy. If that is the best she can do, National will be in an enduring crisis and should be begging Simon to stay on. Could not credit the level of incompetence from a supposedly experienced politician. Otherwise, she seemed to dredge up the moans of three self-entitled pricks who obviously have upper average paid jobs and probably don't have families to support. "What about me and my tax cuts!!" seemed to be the cry. With the top table being such a waste of space, the quandary of who to vote for has one less party in contention, unless there are serious leadership changes.