In the remaining weeks of January, every employee and manager need to be talking about how to work from home in 2021, so we can prepare better for when the next wave hits us here.
Despite a bored media and twitterati talking up a storm, nothing substantive has changed since before Xmas.
The only thing left is a complete border closure, but Ardern's leadership style since this virus began indicates she is not going to initiate that without a good reason & absolute certainty the public is behind it.
A complete border closure & big MIQ changes will only be accepted by the wider public if there another community outbreak that requires a lockdown. Ardern has been careful to not to try and lead public opinion on more restrictions on personal freedoms and human rights, but rather she likes to wait for the clamouring crowd marching in the direction of a full border closure to reach an irresistible size and then place herself at it's head.
Yes the " closing the gate after the horse has bolted policy " as it was as Covid started to bear down towards NZ in the beginning. They dillied and dallied. Too late and the consequential unnecessary extra financial cost to NZ Lock Down 4.
Out of the scenarios we considered, an earlier start to AL4 by 5 days resulted in the greatest reduction in numbers of cases and deaths, with approximately 500 fewer cases in total and 10 fewer deaths. However, in reality, the rapid escalation of the COVID-19 situation in mid-March may have made an earlier start to AL4 impractical and would have allowed less time to prepare for ongoing provision of essential services under AL4.
To Janet, New Zealand has one of the best responses in the world. In comparison to many countries where Covid19 is surging and the death toll is mounting, New Zealand has had 25 deaths and there is currently no community transmission. In regards to the economy…
"New Zealand roared out of a Covid-19 driven recession with a 14 per cent gain in gross domestic product (GDP) over the September quarter"
Isn't it against the law to render New Zealanders stateless to stop them from coming home? hence a border closure with the exception of returning New Zealanders/residents and some exemptions.
Certainly problems in restricting citizens rights to return back to their country of citizenship.
NZ could stop entry to NZ by permanent resident visa holders – particularly those that were not in NZ for say the 6 months prior to February 2020. PRVs have citizenship of another country so will not be stateless. I understand that around 30,000 people who have come through MiQ are just PRVs – not citizens.
Then again, Samoa shut it's borders to it's citizens for a lengthy period. One could argue that there is a justifiable limitation (protecting the health of the remaining population) on restricting the ability of citizens to come back.
One way of doing it would be to shut the borders to all unless they have a real and genuine desire to permanently relocate to NZ. That would get rid of the rich who just want to fly in for a few months before leaving again.
I'm very annoyed at the likes of the pizza owner published in stuff who's come back to NZ "for a break from USA" and criticising our Covid response without actually recognising he's putting our Covid response to the test.
Pretty sure its against international law to render a citizen stateless. Permanent resident holders live permanently in New Zealand and are basically afforded the same rights as New Zealanders, so on what grounds would you strip them of that? Dont tar everyone with a dirty brush due to 1 idiot who obviously has a legal right to return home to New Zealand.
A major donor to the National Rifle Association is poised to challenge key aspects of the gun group’s bankruptcy filing, in an attempt to hold executives accountable for allegedly having defrauded their members of millions of dollars to support their own lavish lifestyles.
Dave Dell’Aquila, a former tech company boss who has donated more than $100,000 to the NRA, told the Guardian on Saturday he was preparing to lodge a complaint in US bankruptcy court in Dallas, Texas. If successful, it could stop top NRA executives discharging a substantial portion of the organisation’s debts.
It could also stop Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s controversial longtime chief executive, avoiding ongoing lawsuits that allege he defrauded the pro-gun group’s members to pay for luxury travel to the Bahamas and Europe and high-end Zegna suits.
I have just brought a bottle of tomato sauce and I could not unscrew the cap to peel back the foil so the sauce could pour. I then thought to poke the hole and realised the new design had a soft plastic over the hole.
So now another brand which is made out of tin or card cannot be used to refill the bottle.
This is probably occurring with a lot of products. It is not about being cheap it is about excess use of plastic.
I had friends over christmas and they came with two meals from a box company called 'hello fresh'. OMG the plastic, seriously, everything is wrapped individually in some plastic bag or pouch. 4 sauces in pouches, coriander, basil, etc in bags, noodle portions in little bags, condiments in little bags, it is sheer madness, of course all branded.
That sucks. Seems like 'time poor' is just an excuse to do next to nothing these days. But some of this companies clientele will indeed own a bamboo yoga mat – 'sustainable' (shipped from Asia).
those companies need to be shamed on social media majorly. Plenty of other companies doing the right thing or heading in the right direction, zero excuse for starting new companies now with lots of plastic packaging.
Hello Fresh and their likes aren't food companies, they are packaging companies that package individual ingredients to make a complete packaged product / meal.
That packaged convenience is than sold to a seemingly very receptive market.
It's the convenience culture, and the need for that to exist that needs the attention as much as the type of packaging.
I agree that the consumer end needs addressing too. But there's still no excuse for new businesses starting up to be doing this. It's not like their need to run a business is akin to someone's need to eat in an easier manner. But seeing as how we're apportioning blame, may as well take a poke at central and local government too. Who could be both legislating at the production end and fining/charging at the waste stream end. I'd do both.
The headline caught my eye so read the story. It is about a young woman doing her two week isolation in a hotel. She claims she was too fearful to leave her room for exercise because of a young soldier's behaviour towards her. The soldier's viewpoints are in need of an overhaul and he probably put his views in an unfortunate way, but it was obvious he was not personally threatening her. Her boyfriend (a lawyer, who was on the other side of the fence) and who was party to the conversation must have recognised it was not a personal threat.
The upshot is, there is now a formal investigation into her claims and a young soldier – plus some other staff it would seem – are being put through the mill as a result of over-blown and questionable sets of grievances.
Having been through that kind of circumstance where a person (also a woman) was making false claims which prompted two investigations into me, I feel sympathy for the young soldier and the other personnel involved.
It makes me angry whenever I read about this kind of thing because it casts aspersions on other women whose claims are genuine and should be recognised as such.
Stuff have basically declared themselves the newspaper of record for identity politics, so this story is right up their street. It will be interesting to see how it is before they merge with thespinoff and publish a story from twit complaining about how Indian restaurants all have racist names full of colonial tropes and it has to stop.
The media have been pushing panic and fear mongering about COVID the entire Xmas break, there was some usual suspect – self important and opinionated expat from LA – opining in the paper the other day "…“I guarantee, if the virus has not already spread to the community, it will any day now…”
Well golly, thanks for the insight.
COVID is now the go-to story to whip up those clicks when most of the newsroom is on holiday.
“We are not a communist country because of, you know, the Anzacs, the world wars, there are so many people that died for us to be here right now”
“Argentina … they literally, they’re armed dudes, they rock around with like weapons and stuff and I’d love them to do that here”
I certainly wouldn't be giving a loaded weapon to someone stupid enough to believe world wars were fought to prevent communism in NZ, especially when he really, really wants one to ride around with.
I don't cut him slack for being young, any more than I do for appearing ignorant.
It's a worry if idiots like this are commonplace throughout the military.
No, I also don't believe there was a threat in his comments, but looking at the 'have you been raped or murdered' logic and believing truck loads of armed imbeciles have ever stopped either from happening, just adds to his general projection of being really stupid.
Ex-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: A New War Is About To Be Imposed on The Middle East!
"On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the former President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He discusses the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the possibility of a military attack by the United States in the last days of the Trump Presidency, his hopes for reconciliation and friendship with Middle Eastern rival Saudi Arabia, the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Yeme."
@ RedLogix, I replied but it ended up as comment #7, not sure what happened there?..anyway this was the follow up to that comment.
BTW, incredibly this is the guy we are meant to believe when he tells us Iran is now protecting al Qaeda behind their boarders…and credible news sources disseminate that garbage as fact…and Weka wonders why so many people have turned to conspiracy theories when it is MSM that are one of the biggest sources of either fake or through withholding news, disinformation in the world today.
<strong>Pompeo reveals Iran-al Qaeda secret terror alliance</strong>
Of course, it is all complete and utter baloney, but how can we tell? How can we separate the wheat from the chaff? How can we go past the one person’s reckons vs. another person’s reckons? What is your truth-distinguishing algorithm? A YT clip doesn’t cut it for me; do you know how many clips there are on YT?
"A YT clip doesn’t cut it for me"…not sure why you would say that?. some YT clips (and YT news channels) are useful others are not, just as some news stories on or from established media are useful while other are not.
It's pretty easy to find trust worthy news sources in today's world really, just google up whom ever it is you are getting a story from currently and compare their coverage of past controversial or disputed events/stories that you know the facts around today and see how they covered that story back then…a pattern will soon emerge.
Where they stood on Iraq Afghanistan and Venezuela is a pretty good starting point IMO.
Thank you, I think this is a critical issue and not just now.
Yes, there’s useful YT content, of course, but the question is how to find and discern the ‘good’ stuff. Personally, I prefer the written word over audio or audio/visual for most factual information. It is generally easier to track and verify and less distractive. When possible, I read transcripts of YT clips.
Google and other search engines are a double-edged sword because of their algorithms. Again, they can be useful for finding good factual information, but only if you really know what you’re doing. I believe that the vast majority of people don’t use Google in any critical/sceptical or research-like manner and few go beyond the first page of results. In many cases, even a subtle change of keyword(s) can produce dramatically different results, certainly of the top-ranked ‘hits’.
When it comes to searching for quality opinions, it becomes even more difficult to not slide down into one rabbit hole or another, following the helpful ‘hits’ of a search engine. One analogy is the use of GPS in cars and how many people have gone wrong or been led astray and ended literally in a paddock, for example?
Yes, (historical) patterns are a good way of finding and filtering content online. However, how many people look for these beyond merely their YT ‘heroes’ let alone opposing viewpoints? If your pattern only contains two points/sources, it is a straight line. You tend to see a lot of this one-dimensional ‘fact-finding’, commenting, and ‘thinking’ online.
The point is that it takes time, effort, critical judgement (vigilance), and experience to separate the wheat from the chaff. There’s no easy & quick way. Heuristics such as ‘common sense’ or ‘common knowledge’ are intellectual/conceptual cul-de-sacs.
One option is to throw something into an online group, e.g. a blogsite that allows comments, and get a good discussion going on the merits of it, et cetera. Hypothetically, this could build a community of people whom you’d trust and whose opinions and insights you’d value and respect even though you may not always agree with them, i.e. not an echo chamber 😉
Well for a start that comparison leaves out the Iran/Iraq war, which more or less deals to the credible intentions of whoever did it.
And it leaves out Iran's deep sponsorship of Hezbollah and a number of similar troublesome actors in the ME.
And it assumes the two nations can be valued in such a unidimensional manner.
It also betrays a profound lack of understanding about the critical role the US played by fighting the Cold War, largely accidentally and with no real master plan, in creating virtually everything about the modern global economy you take utterly for granted.
And what that list also hides, is that in terms of loss of life in major power warfare, the world has just lived through the most peaceful time ever. This didn't mean there were not a lot of secondary, smaller scale conflicts the US was involved in, but the it also ensured that no-one else was allowed to engage in war. The remarkable thing about that list is not the number of engagements the US became entangled in (for better or worse); it's that it's virtually the entire list of significant conflicts. No-one else other than the US (and it's client allies) were allowed to conduct warfare.
The news that's about to kick the world in the nuts, big time, is that the US has finally reached the point where it no longer neither needs to undertake this role. It no longer needs to protect it's trade with the rest of the world, because outside of NAFTA, they have only a tiny handful of free trade agreements and the rest of world just doesn’t count. They will still run the world's most substantial military by an order of magnitude, but outside a much more narrowly defined self-interest, they've got no interest in imposing global stability anymore.
And lots of regional wannabe powers are waking up to this.
… the Iran/Iraq war, which more or less deals to the credible intentions of whoever did it.
That war was started by Saddam Hussein, at the behest of his sponsor, the United States.
Iran's deep sponsorship of Hezbollah…
Hezbollah is a strictly local, Lebanese resistance movement.
And it assumes the two nations can be valued in such a unidimensional manner.
They can. As that graphic irrefutably demonstrates, one of them is the world's leading terrorist state, sponsoring brutal regimes from Tel Aviv to Manila.
… and a number of similar troublesome actors in the ME.
As that graphic irrefutably demonstrates, one of them is the world's leading terrorist state, sponsoring brutal regimes from Tel Aviv to Manila.
What it proves is that the USA is largely (but not exclusively) responsible for 70 years of no major power war, which in turn enabled an era of massive growth in trade and human development virtually everywhere.
It didn't really have any master plan for this; it was mostly accidental, so yes there are many things they got wrong and have been rightly criticised for. But everything you take totally for granted about the world you live in, has been in many ways shaped by the role the USA has played since the end of WW2.
That you've turned all this into a unidimensional, anti-US bigotry is fairly typical of the unhinged left.
But everything you take totally for granted about the world you live in, has been in many ways shaped by the role the USA has played since the end of WW2.
You're correct there. The USA is in large part responsible for the destruction of democracy in much of Central and South America; Africa (the CIA, as well as being involved in the killing of Patrice Lumumba, a couple of years later ratted out Mandela to the apartheid regime); Indonesia, the Philippines, …. (hell, you know the rest.)
That you've turned all this into a unidimensional, anti-US bigotry is fairly typical of the unhinged left.
? That graphic that upsets you so much is neither right nor left. That its strictly empirical evidence makes you angry is your problem.
You're not angry, you reckon. In your last two posts you have accused me of "unidimensional, anti-US bigotry", of being part of the "unhinged left", you've called me a "bigot" and even (bizarrely) claimed that I have been yelling "Yankees go home" for decades.
You're angry, all right. I suggest you take a few minutes before you rush into print next time.
The fact that you can sweep away the ultra-aggressive and destructive history of the USA and her allies resulting in the deaths and displacement of who knows how many civilians and the downfall of countless elected governments around the world in one brush of your hand because your life and I assume those of your friends are unaffected and probably even benefited from that carnage is one of the most despicable comments I have read on the Standard..you should be ashamed of yourself, but I am sure that you are not, which is quite sad really.
in one brush of your hand because your life and I assume those of your friends are unaffected and probably even benefited from that carnage
I'm not sure where you got the idea that I think the USA is above criticism; maybe it was where I wrote:
"It didn't really have any master plan for this; it was mostly accidental, so yes there are many things they got wrong and have been rightly criticised for."
Essentially we've had one power capable of imposing it's reality on most of the world for 70 plus years, and while I'm not painting the USA as an entirely benign, or even especially competent hegemon, objectively it's been better than anything that came before. Less deaths in wars, less total violence, and a massive increase in human development everywhere.
The only reason there has been less deaths over the past seventy years is solely because of the nuclear bomb and all that implies, I certainly wouldn’t give the USA any credit for those numbers…
" I'm not sure where you got the idea that I think the USA is above criticism"…
"which in turn enabled an era of massive growth in trade and human development virtually everywhere."…that part right there is where I got that idea.
I forgot to mention the United States' destruction of democracy in Vietnam in 1956, followed by its destruction of most of the country in the 1960s and 70s, as well as ravaging Cambodia and Laos.
Oh, and there's what they did to North Korea too…
Now, maybe Americans don’t remember very well, but North Koreans have a memory of not too long ago, when North Korea was absolutely flattened, literally, by American bombing. There was—there was literally no targets left. And I really urge people who haven’t done it to read the official American military histories, the Air Quarterly Review, the military histories describing this. They describe it very vividly and accurately. They say, “There just weren’t any targets left. So what could we do?” Well, we decided to attack the dams, the huge dams. That’s a major war crime. People were hanged for it at Nuremberg. But put that aside. And then comes an ecstatic, gleeful description of the bombing of the dams and the huge flow of water, which was wiping out valleys and destroying the rice crop, on which Asians depend for survival—lots of racist comment, but all with exaltation and glee. You really have to read it to appreciate it. The North Koreans don’t have to bother reading it. They lived it. So when nuclear-capable B-52s are flying on their border, along with other threatening military maneuvers, they’re kind of upset about it. Strange people. And they continue to develop what they see as a potential deterrent that might protect the regime from—and the country, in fact—from destruction. This has nothing at all to do with what you think about the government. So maybe it’s the worst government in human history. OK. But these are still the facts that exist.
The context Chomsky is omitting here is of course the Cold War which is the critical backdrop to understanding the Korean War. Their goal was not so much as to defeat Nth Korea (who incidentally had been a bitter foe on the ground), but to also establish their willingness to hit hard against communism.
Missing from this article is of course the critical role both Stalin and Mao Zedong played in supporting Kim's invasion of South Korea. Both were convinced that the strategic balance had tilted in their favour and that the US would not value Korea highly enough to use nuclear weapons in such a conflict. (Which in fact they did not; while they remained an active option, the US generals were vividly aware of the costs of using them.)
All wars are brutal and bloody, both sides racked up atrocities and war crimes. But the root cause of the conflict did not lie with a US bloody-thirsty desire to bomb Korea into oblivion, but it lies absolutely with both Mao and Stalin's desire to confront the USA, who both gave permission and promises of support to Kim Il-sung's invasion of Sth Korea. Three of the world's most notorious leaders in modern times, conspired to invade a nation the US had committed to protecting – whitewashing that out from the narrative amounts to a selective, ideological version of the consequent catastrophe.
Arguably the bombing of North Korea went beyond the principle of 'the least force necessary' to achieve their purpose; yet history shows us that whenever one side gains a dominant strategic position late in a war, they're very prone to exactly this kind of over-kill. More than anything they want the damned thing to be over. And with the prospect of a protracted stalemate on the ground, still costing many lives, the US command reached for the one tool they could safely use to pressure North Korea into an armistice. Which eventually it did.
Took another quick scan of your linked article – no mention of the Cold War that I can see. Maybe I missed it.
If you want to understand an event properly, it's essential to have a clear grasp of the context. The left is supposed to be good at this sort of thing.
But stepping back from this diversion, my real point is this. Yes the USA (and it's allies) have been involved in a long list of conflicts since the end of WW2. But crucially all of them are over, and in virtually all of them the USA never replicated the pre-WW2 imperial model of permanently occupying and colonising.
For a start the US is at it's origins an anti-colonial enterprise; it's rebellion from being a British colony is still a strong thread in it's history.
Perhaps more pragmatically, the US never really needed to do colonies in the same way prior empires needed to. The advent of coal and oil meant that the land area needed for photosynthesis powered economies was no longer necessary. Occupying is always comes at an escalating cost, and eventually it exceeds the benefits; and the Americans, secure and largely self-sufficient in their homeland, never really needed to expand territory for it's own sake.
As a result, we now live in a world of almost 200 largely independent nations. Since WW2 we've seen both the collapse of conventional empire, and an unprecedented surge in nation building. And mostly this was possible because if you played to be on their side, the US provided the security and trade infrastructure to allow otherwise unviable nations to develop well beyond their capacity to do so in isolation.
There is no need to overplay any altruistic card here; the primary American motive was essentially bribe up a global coalition of nations, strong enough to present a united front against the Soviets, and win what would become called the Cold War. Yes it was sometimes a messy and ugly process, we all understand this.
Yet it has had another immensely important consequence, that of creating a nascent version of global order and cohesion never before seen in human history – and unleashing an astonishing leap in human development also never seen before.
Now the Americans were probably the least qualified people to lead this, they tend to act without thinking too much, don't understand geography very well and don't speak many languages. They never had a sophisticated idea of how they might best use this global power they'd accidentally landed up with. They fucked up many times, yet despite this the end result has been remarkably beneficial for most of humanity.
Now consider this – what might be the outcome if a new globalisation effort was driven by real principle and committed competency? What might we achieve then?
Took another quick scan of your linked article – no mention of the Cold War that I can see.
He also neglected to mention that Korea is an Asian country. I think we can take it as understood that Chomsky, of all people, was aware that the Cold War was under way. What the U.S. did in Korea, by the way, was the antithesis of a "cold" war.
No but it as catastrophic as the Korean Was was locally, it was not a major power war. So yes the Cold War had it's hot spots, but no-one wanted it to engulf the whole world again.
But this is not my main point. In many ways we've been coasting on a legacy bequeathed to the world by the humbling, chastening experience of WW2. That generation understood viscerally the consequences of major power empire and conflict, and acted to try and end it. They fumbled and stumbled and often didn't do very well, but for 70 years they more or less succeeded.
Well in my view that legacy is just about used up. We can see this in the dramatic reduction in US engagement and troop posted overseas. These are now at a lower level than any time since the 1920's. We can see this in a resurgent isolationism in Washington, even the chaotic and highly impulsive Trump didn't manage to start any new wars, and I very much doubt Biden's administration will either.
Your viewpoint had some merit back in the 80's, but the ground has shifted. Yes the US will retain the world's largest military and anyone stupid enough to confront what the American's still define as their 'interests' will pretty much get what they deserve. But this also means Europe, Asia, the ME and Africa are on their own now, and this will have consequences.
???? In your message at 10:45 am you wrote of "the critical role both Stalin and Mao Zedong played in supporting Kim's invasion of South Korea."
That generation understood viscerally the consequences of major power empire and conflict, and acted to try and end it.
They "acted to try and end it"? The only thing they tried to end—and succeeded in ending—was democracy in Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, the Congo, Indonesia, Chile— the list goes on and on and on. How do you explain the destruction of lives and democratic government throughout S.E. Asia, Central and South America, and Africa? Do they just not matter?
… anyone stupid enough to confront what the American's still define as their 'interests' will pretty much get what they deserve.
The West presents North Korea as a paranoid state whose fear and distrust of the US emerged ex nihilo. But North Korea’s seemingly irrational need for deterrence has a history.
US bombing of North Korea was not confined to military targets during the Korean War. The US carpet bombed North Korea, dropping around 635,000 tons of explosives and chemicals, including napalm. Cities were obliterated; Pyongyang was destroyed. Every installation, factory, city and village over thousands of square miles of North Korea was bombed into oblivion. B-29s bombed hydroelectric and irrigation dams, flooding farms and drowning crops. The US even gave serious consideration to dropping atomic bombs on North Korea. General Curtis LeMay, the head of the Strategic Air Command during the Korean War, said US bombs killed 20 percent of the entire population of North Korea. With 8-9 million Koreans killed, Polk says that “practically no families alive in Korea today are without a close relative who perished” in the US atrocity. This small adjustment to history puts North Korea’s desire for a deterrent in a slightly more nuanced focus.
While as I said it was clearly a catastrophe locally; it was not on the scale of WW2 or anything like a direct confrontation between the US and the Soviets.
After the better part of two decades of steady decline, what exactly has been changed to turn around the fortunes of these publications?
They've come back with exactly the same formula as before – past their use by date boomers and tired gen-x writers ideologically wedded to neoliberal centrism and obsessed with being the jesters to court politics talking in tired cliches about the issues the affect an aging, white and well off demographic.
They are probably a bit more debt free but the vision is stale and bereft of any real new ideas to stop the slow march to their inevitable demise.
These magazines are necessary components of essential NZ infrastructure such as waiting rooms of GPs and dentists, the shabby corners of garages and tyre shops, and lunch cafés & cafeteria, et cetera. They are not just for snobs and semi-cultured unthinking people who value and recognise cheap infotainment when they browse it.
I have to agree with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he pretty much says it makes no difference who the elected leader of the USA is (for Iran), as the decisions on foreign policy is a straight line through them all…with the occasional exception of course, like Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, which was probably his greatest single action as POTUS.
So many holes for tiny marbles to fall through. That stuff is for boys children, not for toddlers, as they tend to stick these up their noses or down their throats.
Play-Doh mushed into woolly carpet is one of my personal favourites. The kids have to be ready for it …
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Back in December, the government purchased Ihumatāo. Officially the purchase was for a housing project, but whether any houses actually get built (and who will own them) is subject to negotiation. And now, the Auditor-General has ruled the purchase unlawful: The deal struck by the government and Fletcher Building ...
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Every year in April, the trees start changing colour, the clocks go back an hour, and the national greenhouse gas figures are released and promptly forgotten. They take fifteen months to prepare, so by the time they come out it’s very easy for commentators to point out that they are ...
While checking my spam folder (before yeeting the contents permanently) I noticed that I’d been sent a bunch of email ‘newsletters’ from the group “Voices for Freedom.” Out of interest I opened one, just in case the contents were worth a post or two – & indeed they were. The ...
Humans are hard-wired to classify, categorise and compare, or in other words, to taxonomize. We may be born tabula rasa but quickly are taught that the world is divided into types of things, subtypes of those and assorted other categories. The operative term is “taught” rather than “realise.” Taxonomies are ...
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Now is about the time that the Government is getting its Budget Strategy togetherIn the week before the budget – the 2021 one is to be delivered on Thursday 20 May – there is a strange ritual in which all the commentariat and lobbyists (who are not necessarily distinct from ...
Climate Change Minister James Shaw has admitted that the government is not doing enough on climate change: Appearing on Breakfast alongside Greenpeace director and former Green Party leader Russel Norman, the current Greens co-leader was asked: “Are you as Government living up to promise of delivery implicit in those ...
We can all agree that a free press (and free media more generally) are important factors in a well-functioning democracy. But I am beginning to wonder if they provide us with an unalloyed benefit. I am an avid consumer of daily news – whether delivered by the press or by ...
Yes They Can - So Why Don't They? In matters relating to child poverty, homelessness, mental health, climate change and, of course, Covid-19, the answers are right in front of the Government's collective nose - often in the form of reports it has specifically commissioned. Why can’t Jacinda and her ...
Richard Edwards, Janet Hoek, Anaru Waa, George Thomson, Nick Wilson (author details*) We congratulate the NZ Government on its proposed Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal. Here we examine the evidence for three key ideas outlined in the plan: permitting tobacco products to be sold in only ...
Punished, But Not Prevented: Though bitterly contested by those firmly convinced that the Christchurch Mosque Shootings represent something more than the crime of a Lone Wolf terrorist, the Royal Commission’s finding that no state agency could have prevented Brenton Tarrant from carrying out his deadly intent – except by chance ...
The Government has announced it intends making sex self-identification possible this year, as a priority. That would mean anyone could change the sex documented on their birth certificate by a simple declaration that they “identify” as the opposite sex. Speak Up For Women have launched a campaign encouraging New Zealanders ...
The travel bubble with Australia has not brought room for others to come into the MIQ system from overseas. Instead, spaces are being decommissioned. Why? The system is leaky. The government cannot afford to let riskier people into those spaces, because the system can’t handle them. My column in Insights ...
A Second Term Labour-led Government in New Zealand,a new Biden-led Administration in the US, a continuance of the Johnson Government in the UK: different approaches to major issues, same global problems – and discontent rising. Some warranted, some unwarranted, but as each emerges from the Covid pandemic, what ...
I will update this post as new information comes to handWhat has happened? Recently the vaccine safety watch dogs in Europe noted reports of unusual types of blood clots in people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine. This prompted investigations across many countries to ascertain what, why, and ...
Alex Ford, University of Portsmouth and Gary Hutchison, Edinburgh Napier UniversityWithin just a few generations, human sperm counts may decline to levels below those considered adequate for fertility. That’s the alarming claim made in epidemiologist Shanna Swan’s new book, “Countdown”, which assembles a raft of evidence to show that ...
Just like last year, this year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will happen virtually instead of in person in Vienna. Contrary to last year, the organizers decided early on to hold their conference online and planned for it accordingly (quite a difference to last year's scramble where they switched ...
Time for a strange rant. A very strange rant. But bear with me, because this is serious business. A True Story, by Lucian of Samosata is not Science-Fiction. What on earth am I talking about? Well, it was one of those Wikipedia rabbit holes. I was reading ...
By Kate Evans for UndarkOne of New Zealand’s most spectacular fossil sites originated 23.2 million years ago. It was formed in a valley dotted with small volcanoes, when rising magma deep below the Earth’s surface came into contact with groundwater. Lava and water don’t mix — they explode. The ...
A Thorn In Their Side: As Chair of the Auckland Regional Council, Mike Lee made sure Auckland’s municipal resources remained in Aucklanders’ hands. Not surprisingly the neoliberal powers-that-be (in both their centre-left and centre-right incarnations) hated this last truly effective standard-bearer for democratic-socialist values and policies.MIKE LEE is the closest ...
It’s always something of a shock to come across a page run by a health-focused business that contains substantial misinformation. This one left me gobsmacked, given the sheer number of statements that are demonstrably untrue. And while a fair bit of the content is prefaced by the statement that it’s ...
Previously (9 February) I wrote about how business consultants Ernst & Young were used to do a hatchet job on the former senior management team at Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB). While this hatchet job was planned in 2019 its gestation was much longer. Its underlying causes involved differences in ...
Flying beneath the radar of guilt Fight or Flight: How Advertising for Air Travel Triggers Moral Disengagement(open access) by Stubenvoll & Neureiter not only takes an interesting approach to decomposing the effects of airline travel advertisements but also helps us to understand the general psychological landscape of our often conflicted ...
Yesterday I got told to “do some research” &, by extension, to think critically. The biologist in me cringed a little when I read it (and not because of the advice about doing research). Biology teachers I know suggested that perhaps everyone should take the NCEA standard that ...
Lis Ku, De Montfort University Since the onset of the pandemic, everyone from newspaper columnists to Twitter users has advanced the now idea that extroverts and introverts are handling the crisis differently. Many claim that introverts adapt to social distancing and isolation better than extroverts, with some even suggesting that ...
A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this blog post by New Zealand’s “Plan B” group. While initially this group opposed the government’s use of lockdowns to manage covid19 outbreaks in this country, they seem to have since moved on to opposing the rollout of vaccines against ...
Twenty years after it invaded, the US is finally leaving Afghanistan. What's surprising is that it took them so long - its been clear for over a decade that their presence there was pointless and just pissing people off. But imperial pride leads to exactly this sort of stupidity. Their ...
The government has announced that it will ban the export of livestock by sea. Huzzah! A vile, cruel and unconscionable trade will be ended! But there's a catch: the ban won't kick in until 2023, giving farmers two ful years to continue to profit from extreme animal cruelty. But why ...
Today is unexpectedly a Member's Day - the Business Committee granted it early in the year, to make up for time list to government business. First up is a two-hour debate on the budget policy statement, with questions to Ministers, replacing the general debate. Then its the second reading of ...
. . Two stories which appeared almost side-by-side on RNZ’s website. Parent, Miranda Cross, was quoted as saying; “I think the expectations are that we can at least send our kids to school where they will receive an education.” An American parent would probably demand; “I think the expectations are ...
Time for reviewing something a bit different. Move over Tolkien adaptations, hello Japanese splatter movie. Specifically, a certain 2009 movie called Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. I watched this one a few days ago with some acquaintances, never having seen it before, and not being familiar with the manga ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD An above-average Atlantic hurricane season is likely in 2021, the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane forecasting team says in its latest seasonal forecast issued April 8. Led by Dr. Phil Klotzbach, with coauthors Dr. Michael Bell and Jhordanne Jones, the CSU ...
How seriously does the Māori Party take issues of corruption and the untoward influence of big money in politics? Not very, based on how it’s handling a political finance scandal in which three large donations were kept hidden from the public. The party is currently making excuses, and largely failing ...
The annual inventory report [PDF] of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing a significant increase in emissions: (Note that this is UNFCCC accounting, not the weird fudged figures the Climate Change Commission is using). Emissions increased by almost 2 million tons in 2019, from 80.6 MT ...
The melody from the classic movie Wizard of Oz echoes as Jacinta Ruru explains what inspired her to attend university, and her ambition to help create a more just society in Aotearoa. Jacinta, who affiliates to Raukawa and Ngāti Ranginui, specialises in the research areas of indigenous peoples and the law. ...
Stuff reports that National is refusing to back the Climate Change Commission's recommendations, which is apparently a Bad Thing: The National Party says it can’t support the Climate Change Commission’s draft plan to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions unless changes are made. If National maintains this position when ...
Driven, accountable, unafraid to test limits and connected to the communities she serves are traits that come to mind when thinking about Dr Anne-Marie Jackson. (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai) She specialises in Māori physical education and health research disciplines while incorporating tikanga Māori and Te ...
This is my first post for a while. I have been a bit overwhelmed by other work in the last several weeks, with teaching and other commitments, and the blog has sadly suffered. But I’m still here. This morning, while sitting in a car in the permanent traffic jam through ...
Predatory Morality: Is geopolitical consultant, Paul Buchanan, right? Does the rest of the world truly monitor New Zealand’s miniscule contribution to the international arms trade so closely? Are foreign chancelleries truly so insensitive to their own governments’ complicity in the world’s horrors that they expect all other sovereign states to ...
Anna Källén, Stockholm University and Daniel Strand, Uppsala University A middle-aged white man raises his sword to the skies and roars to the gods. The results of his genetic ancestry test have just arrived in his suburban mailbox. His eyes fill with tears as he learns that he is “0.012% ...
March 2021 The housing crisis right now in New Zealand is one of our biggest contributors to income and wealth inequality. “With the explosive increase in sales and prices, those with houses have their income and/or wealth rapidly increasing, and those who are not on the property ladder are falling ...
Samoans went to the polls on Friday, and delivered a stinging blow to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi one-party state. Pre-election Malielegaoi's Human Rights Protection Party had controlled 44 of 49 seats in Parliament, while using restrictive standing orders to prevent there from even being a recognised opposition in ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly consider a new Report from a European think tank that aims to identify an optimal COVID-19 response strategy. It considers mortality data, GDP impacts, and mobility data and suggests that COVID-19 elimination appears to be superior ...
Something I missed on Friday: the Māori Party has been referred to police over failure to disclose donations over $30,000. Looking at the updated return of large donations, this is about $320,000 donated to them by three donors - John Tamihere, the National Urban Māori Authority, and Aotearoa Te Kahu ...
Stormy Seas: Will Jacinda Ardern's Labour Government stand behind the revolutionary proposals contained in He Puapua – the 20-year plan devised by a government appointed working group to realise the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand?“GETTING AHEAD of the story” is one of the most ...
We have not been fans of the Climate Change Commission’s draft report. New Zealand has an Emissions Trading Scheme with a binding cap, and a declining path for net emissions in the covered sector. Measures taken within the covered sector cannot reduce net emissions. NZU not purchased by one sector get ...
For several decades under Labour and National-led governments New Zealand has claimed to have an independent (and sometimes autonomous) foreign policy. This foreign policy independence is said to be gained by having a “principled but pragmatic” approach to international relations: principled when possible, pragmatic when necessary. More recently NZ foreign ...
This video produced in Seattle looks at the gender identity curriculum used in schools in the US. A thin veneer of pseudoscience is being used to indoctrinate children with an ideology based on scientific and medical inaccuracies. ...
For once, I have written my submission on a bill with enough time to spare to both enocurage any of you who wants to make a submission to do so as well, and to give you time to spot the typos in mine.Louisa Wall's Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate ...
A friend found a concerning FB post (see below – this is a public post & so I have not redacted the name) & – as you do – immediately queried it with Southern Cross Life & Health Insurance as well as sending the screenshot to me¹. We both read ...
Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While others ponder whether Luxon really has what it takes ...
I tēnei tau i Waitangi, I whakahua ake te Tira o Te Mātāwaka o te Pātī Kākāriki i tā rātau aronga matua, ki te waihanga I tētahi Manatū Hauora Māori, mā Māori te kawe, mā Māori ngā whakahaere. Ko tā te tira; Kua rongohia ngā karanga a ngā Tangata Whenua, ...
During Waitangi this year the Green Party’s Te Mātāwaka caucus announced their priority for an independent Māori Health Authority. We have heard the call from Tangata Whenua wanting any authority to be independent, and properly resourced. ...
The Greens welcome $6.6 million from the Government’s $455 million programme to increase access to mental health and addiction services for our Pasifika communities in Auckland and Wellington. ...
The Green Party is putting a Member’s Bill into the ballot today which will be a significant step towards overhauling the Social Security Act by embedding a tikanga Māori framework into the welfare system. ...
The Green Party have reaffirmed their strong commitment to the union movement in Aotearoa New Zealand by renewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with E Tū. ...
Soon, more kids in Aotearoa will have access to the in-school mental health support that has boosted the resilience of tamariki and whānau in Canterbury. ...
The Green Party supports the open letter released today by a cross-sector coalition calling for the Government to treat all drug use as a health issue, to repeal and replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. ...
Small businesses are not only the heart of our economy – they’re also the heart of our communities. They provide important goods and services, as well as great employment opportunities. They know and love their locals. And after a tough year, they need our support! ...
Green Party spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Teanau Tuiono MP, supports the demand from Pasifika communities fighting for climate action as their homelands are more at risk in the Pacific region. ...
The Green Party supports the six demands for climate action put forward by School Strike for Climate NZ, who are striking across the country today. ...
The Ministry of Justice Māori victimisation report, released today, reinforces what we already know about the impact of systemic racism in Aotearoa and that urgent action is needed. ...
Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog was today pulled from the biscuit tin to be debated in Parliament. ...
More than one million people will be better off from today, thanks to our Government’s changes to the minimum wage, main benefits and superannuation. ...
On Wednesday morning, Minister of Health Andrew Little and Associate Minister of Health (Māori) Peeni Henare are announcing major health reforms. You can watch the announcement live here from 8am Wednesday. ...
New research into the probability of an Alpine Fault rupture reinforces the importance of taking action to plan and prepare for earthquakes, Acting Minister for Emergency Management Kris Faafoi says. Research published by Dr Jamie Howarth of Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington today, shows there is a ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Defence Minister Peeni Henare today announced that New Zealand is deploying a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft in support of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on North Korea. The Resolutions, adopted unanimously by the UNSC between 2006 and 2017, ...
The Transmission Gully Interim Review has found serious flaws at the planning stage of the project, undermining the successful completion of the four-lane motor north of Wellington Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Transport Minister Michael Wood said. Grant Robertson said the review found the public-private partnership (PPP) established under the ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today that Australian Foreign Minister Hon Marise Payne will visit Aotearoa New Zealand for the first face-to-face Foreign Ministers’ Consulations since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Australia is New Zealand’s closest and most important international partner. I’m very pleased to be able to welcome Hon Marise ...
Hundreds more families who were separated by the border closure will be reunited under new border exceptions announced today, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said. “The Government closed the border to everyone but New Zealand citizens and residents, in order to keep COVID-19 out, keep our economy open and keep New ...
Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Foreign Minister 8.30am, 19 April 2021 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Speech to the NZCC Korihi Pō, Korihi Ao E rongo e turia no Matahau Nō Tū te winiwini, Nō Tū te wanawana Tū Hikitia rā, Tū Hapainga mai Ki te Whai Ao, Ki te Ao Mārama Tihei Mauri ...
The Government is supporting a new project with all-wool New Zealand carpet company, Bremworth, which has its sights on developing more sustainable all-wool carpets and rugs, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced. The Ministry for Primary Industries is contributing $1.9 million towards Bremworth’s $4.9 million sustainability project through its Sustainable Food ...
New Zealand is providing further support to Timor-Leste following severe flooding and the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Our thoughts are with the people of Timor-Leste who have been impacted by the severe flooding and landslides at a time when the country is ...
A ceremony has been held today in Gisborne where the unclaimed medals of 28 (Māori) Battalion C Company soldiers were presented to their families. After the Second World War, returning service personnel needed to apply for their medals and then they would be posted out to them. While most medals ...
New Zealand has today added its voice to the international condemnation of the malicious compromise and exploitation of the SolarWinds Orion platform. The Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau, Andrew Little, says that New Zealand's international partners have analysed the compromise of the SolarWinds Orion platform and attributed ...
An expert consenting panel has approved the Queenstown Arterials Project, which will significantly improve transport links and reduce congestion for locals and visitors in the tourism hotspot. Environment Minister David Parker welcomed the approval for the project that will construct, operate and maintain a new urban road around Queenstown’s town ...
Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash says a landmark deal has been agreed with Amazon for The Lord of the Rings TV series, currently being filmed in New Zealand. Mr Nash says the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) secures multi-year economic and tourism benefits to New Zealand, outside the screen ...
The Government welcomes the findings from a rapid review into the health system response to lead contamination in Waikouaiti’s drinking water supply. Sample results from the town’s drinking-water supply showed intermittent spikes in lead levels above the maximum acceptable value. The source of the contamination is still under investigation by ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the start of construction on the New Zealand Upgrade Programme’s Papakura to Drury South project on Auckland’s Southern Motorway, which will create hundreds of jobs and support Auckland’s economic recovery. The SH1 Papakura to Drury South project will give more transport choices by providing ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karanga maha o te wa, tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tātou katoa. Ki ngā mana whenua, ko Ngāi Tahu, ko Waitaha, ko Kāti Māmoe anō nei aku mihi ki a koutou. Nōku te hōnore kia haere mai ki te ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the completion of upgrades to State Highway 20B which will give Aucklanders quick electric bus trips to and from the airport. The State Highway 20B Early Improvements project has added new lanes in each direction between Pukaki Creek Bridge and SH20 for buses and ...
The Government is putting in place a review of the work being done on animal welfare and safety in the greyhound racing industry, Grant Robertson announced today. “While Greyhound Racing NZ has reported some progress in implementing the recommendations of the Hansen Report, recent incidents show the industry still has ...
The infringement fee for using a mobile phone while driving will increase from $80 to $150 from 30 April 2021 to encourage safer driving, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said too many people are still picking up the phone while driving. “Police issued over 40,000 infringement notices ...
Pacific people in New Zealand will be better supported with new mental health and addiction services rolling out across the Auckland and Wellington regions, says Aupito William Sio. “One size does not fit all when it comes to supporting the mental wellbeing of our Pacific peoples. We need a by ...
New measures are being proposed to accelerate progress towards becoming a smokefree nation by 2025, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced. “Smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke kills around 12 people a day in New Zealand. Recent data tells us New Zealand’s smoking rates continue to decrease, but ...
More children will be able to access mental wellbeing support with the Government expansion of Mana Ake services to five new District Health Board areas, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Health Minister made the announcement while visiting Homai School in Counties Manukau alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate ...
The Government’s COVID-19 response has meant a record number of people moved off a Benefit and into employment in the March Quarter, with 32,880 moving into work in the first three months of 2021. “More people moved into work last quarter than any time since the Ministry of Social Development ...
A stocktake undertaken by France and New Zealand shows significant global progress under the Christchurch Call towards its goal to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. The findings of the report released today reinforce the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, with countries, companies and civil society working together to ...
Racing Minister Grant Robertson has announced he is appointing Elizabeth Dawson (Liz) as the Chair of the interim TAB NZ Board. Liz Dawson is an existing Board Director of the interim TAB NZ Board and Chair of the TAB NZ Board Selection Panel and will continue in her role as ...
The Government has announced that the export of livestock by sea will cease following a transition period of up to two years, said Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “At the heart of our decision is upholding New Zealand’s reputation for high standards of animal welfare. We must stay ahead of the ...
WORKSHOP ON LETHAL AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS SYSTEMS Wednesday 14 April 2021 MINISTER FOR DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL OPENING REMARKS Good morning, I am so pleased to be able to join you for part of this workshop, which I’m confident will help us along the path to developing New Zealand’s national policy on ...
For the first time, all 18 prisons in New Zealand will be invited to participate in an inter-prison kapa haka competition, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The 2021 Hōkai Rangi Whakataetae Kapa Haka will see groups prepare and perform kapa haka for experienced judges who visit each prison and ...
The Government has introduced the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill, designed to boost New Zealand's ability to respond to a wider range of terrorist activities. The Bill strengthens New Zealand’s counter-terrorism legislation and ensures that the right legislative tools are available to intervene early and prevent harm. “This is the Government’s first ...
Coal boiler replacements at a further ten schools, saving an estimated 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Fossil fuel boiler replacements at Southern Institute of Technology and Taranaki DHB, saving nearly 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Projects to achieve a total ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of Cassie Nicholson as Chief Parliamentary Counsel for a term of five years. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel is the principal advisor and Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). She is responsible for ensuring PCO, which drafts most of New Zealand’s legislation, provides ...
Every part of Government will need to take urgent action to bring down emissions, the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw said today in response to the recent rise in New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions. The latest annual inventory of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions shows that both gross and net ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says Aotearoa New Zealand has become the first country in the world to introduce a law that requires the financial sector to disclose the impacts of climate change on their business and explain how they will manage climate-related risks and opportunities. The Financial ...
Exceptional employment practices in the primary industries have been celebrated at the Good Employer Awards, held this evening at Parliament. “Tonight’s awards provided the opportunity to celebrate and thank those employers in the food and fibres sector who have gone beyond business-as-usual in creating productive, safe, supportive, and healthy work ...
Applications are now invited from all councils for a slice of government funding aimed at improving tourism infrastructure, especially in areas under pressure given the size of their rating bases. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has already signalled that five South Island regions will be given priority to reflect that jobs ...
Tēnā koutou e ngā maata waka Tenā koutou te hau kāinga ngā iwi o Te Whanganui ā TaraTēnā koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te Rā. No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa. It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Graeme (Peters, ENA Chief ...
The Construction Skills Action Plan has delivered early on its overall target of supporting an additional 4,000 people into construction-related education and employment, says Minister for Building and Construction Poto Williams. Since the Plan was launched in 2018, more than 9,300 people have taken up education or employment opportunities in ...
An innovative new Youth Justice residence designed in partnership with Māori will provide prevention, healing, and rehabilitation services for both young people and their whānau, Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Whakatakapokai is located in South Auckland and will provide care and support for up to 15 rangatahi remanded or ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today expressed New Zealand’s sorrow at the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen at this profoundly sad time. On behalf of the New Zealand people and the Government, I would like to express ...
We, the Home Affairs, Interior, Security and Immigration Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (the ‘Five Countries’) met via video conference on 7/8 April 2021, just over a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by our shared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Porter, Senior Fellow (Indigenous Programs), The University of Melbourne Cultural warning: This article contains names and images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This article also contains links to graphic footage of police violence. This month marks 30 years ...
It was a day in court that shot former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters back into the Wellington spotlight on Tuesday. It’s one of few public appearances since his New Zealand First party failed to return to Parliament six months ago, writes political editor Jo Moir. Immaculately dressed in suit, ...
Opinion - Speculation about National's leadership has died down, writes Bryce Edwards: Judith Collins lives on as leader, but the party desperately needs to rebuild. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Terri Seddon, Professor of Education, La Trobe University Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has launched a six-month review into teacher education. The aim is to return Australian students to the top of international rankings in reading, maths and science by 2030. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Staff, PhD Candidate, Australian National University “Suffragette white” is proving to be a popular fashion choice for women who want to make a statement. Most recently, former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate donned a white jacket in her appearance before a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Yates, Assistant Professor, General Practice, Bond University Although the country’s vaccine rollout is not progressing entirely as planned, thousands of Australians continue to receive their COVID vaccines every week. As a general practitioner administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, I find it strange ...
In meeting virtually with President Joe Biden and 39 other world leaders, PM Jacinda Ardern should press home the need to confront the current global economic model based on limitless growth. ‘It has failed us,’ says Wise Response chair, Prof. Liz ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gail Iles, Senior Lecturer in Physics, RMIT University Yesterday at 9pm Australian Eastern standard time, the Ingenuity helicopter — which landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February — took off from the Martian surface. More importantly, it hovered for about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ann Kayis-Kumar, Associate Professor, UNSW When Debbie (not her real name) lost her main client and was left without a reliable income, the sole trader sold her home and adjoining investment unit to pay off her debts and ensure she had the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gail Iles, Senior Lecturer in Physics, RMIT University Yesterday at 9pm Australian Eastern standard time, the Ingenuity helicopter — which landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February — took off from the Martian surface. More importantly, it hovered for about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Of all the weak targets ever adopted by Australian governments, one of the weakest has to have been an unemployment rate “comfortably below six per cent” in last year’s budget. ...
The Transmission Gully interim review has found serious flaws at the planning stage of the 27km highway, “undermining” the successful completion of the four-lane motorway north of Wellington, according to Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Transport Minister Michael Wood. Grant Robertson said the review found the public-private partnership (PPP) established ...
With less than 1% of Auckland Transport’s senior leaders of Pacific descent, Justin Latif asks what the council-controlled organisation is doing to turn that around.“It’s just a battle to be heard.”Kim* is of Pacific descent, has held a variety of roles across local government, and is very familiar with the ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today formally written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nanaia Mahuta and the Minister for Trade, Hon. Damien O’Connor calling on them to take action to halt ratifying the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ...
Two important omissions in the ministry's process for the sale and purchase of the land at Ihumātao means the deal is "unlawful" until it is validated by Parliament. ...
Last month, David Seymour MP and Nicola Willis MP wrote separately to our Office about the Government’s purchase of land at Te Puke Tāpapatanga a Hape (commonly referred to as Ihumātao). They had concerns about: $29.9 million of the appropriation ...
Kate Winslet descends on television once again to deliver a career-best performance in a cop drama that doesn’t quite deserve it, writes Sam Brooks.Let’s be up front about this: Kate Winslet is one of the greatest actors of her generation, and the reason you’re interested in Mare of Easttown at ...
Analysis by Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Speculation about the National Party’s leadership has died down, after a fortnight of rumours and overt positioning by supposed challengers to Judith Collins. She lives on as leader for a bit longer, and Christopher Luxon and Simon Bridges have been put ...
Responding To The Auditor-General’s Finding That The Government's $30 Million Ihumātao Deal Was Unlawful, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman Louis Houlbrooke Says:“Today we learn that the Government didn’t just capitulate to illegal occupiers ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has had a busy two days. Hard on the heels of echoing the title of a book edited by academic writer Manying Ip to headline an important policy speech, she was announcing the visit here this week of Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne for ministerial ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Porter, Senior Fellow (Indigenous Programs), The University of Melbourne Cultural warning: This article contains names and images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This article also contains links to graphic footage of police violence. This month marks 30 years ...
"Hamilton City Council cannot justify contributing $10 million to an inland lagoon resort while it’s increasing rates by 8.9 percent," says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “If the proposal makes good business ...
It’s embroidery, but not as you know it. Lema Shamamba’s intricate stitchwork features machine guns, severed limbs, people crying – and the logos of the global tech giants she holds responsible.CW: Violence, sexual assaultLema Shamamba fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo when armed militia started killing people in her ...
Covid-19 exacerbated existing levels of material and emotional hardship for people on low core benefit rates, a new study has found. Dr Louise Humpage, a sociologist at the University of Auckland who conducted the study in collaboration with Child ...
With consummate timing, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has stirred up another controversy days ahead of the first visit of her Australian counterpart, Marise Payne. New Zealand, she says, doesn’t want to use Five Eyes as the first point of contact on a range of issues that existed outside of its ...
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Really well-explained. Click mine then radhika’s tweet to read the thread of them:
They need to expand the phone bluetooth app so all visits to shops are recorded automatically.
Already considered. They certainly need to do something different.
Agreed Sacha….I know I should be scanning but while there are no community cases I am as lazy as most people and don't bother.
I think scanning should be compulsory in law….impossible to police but it might make more people do it.
[Removed the same “S” from user name again. Please pay more attention next time.]
[Removed the same “S” from user name again. Please pay more attention next time.]
In the remaining weeks of January, every employee and manager need to be talking about how to work from home in 2021, so we can prepare better for when the next wave hits us here.
Despite a bored media and twitterati talking up a storm, nothing substantive has changed since before Xmas.
The only thing left is a complete border closure, but Ardern's leadership style since this virus began indicates she is not going to initiate that without a good reason & absolute certainty the public is behind it.
A complete border closure & big MIQ changes will only be accepted by the wider public if there another community outbreak that requires a lockdown. Ardern has been careful to not to try and lead public opinion on more restrictions on personal freedoms and human rights, but rather she likes to wait for the clamouring crowd marching in the direction of a full border closure to reach an irresistible size and then place herself at it's head.
Yes the " closing the gate after the horse has bolted policy " as it was as Covid started to bear down towards NZ in the beginning. They dillied and dallied. Too late and the consequential unnecessary extra financial cost to NZ Lock Down 4.
Taken from the article linked in this comment: https://thestandard.org.nz/plan-b-activists-still-think-nz-should-be-like-sweden/#comment-1772647.
The other reckons in your comment are unsubstantiated and/or not supported at all, and mostly incorrect IMO.
To Janet, New Zealand has one of the best responses in the world. In comparison to many countries where Covid19 is surging and the death toll is mounting, New Zealand has had 25 deaths and there is currently no community transmission. In regards to the economy…
"New Zealand roared out of a Covid-19 driven recession with a 14 per cent gain in gross domestic product (GDP) over the September quarter"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/nz-economy-bounces-out-of-recession-with-14-gain-in-gdp/YQCAXB65VFYBPEIJL2UKFQWJPE/
Isn't it against the law to render New Zealanders stateless to stop them from coming home? hence a border closure with the exception of returning New Zealanders/residents and some exemptions.
Certainly problems in restricting citizens rights to return back to their country of citizenship.
NZ could stop entry to NZ by permanent resident visa holders – particularly those that were not in NZ for say the 6 months prior to February 2020. PRVs have citizenship of another country so will not be stateless. I understand that around 30,000 people who have come through MiQ are just PRVs – not citizens.
Then again, Samoa shut it's borders to it's citizens for a lengthy period. One could argue that there is a justifiable limitation (protecting the health of the remaining population) on restricting the ability of citizens to come back.
One way of doing it would be to shut the borders to all unless they have a real and genuine desire to permanently relocate to NZ. That would get rid of the rich who just want to fly in for a few months before leaving again.
I'm very annoyed at the likes of the pizza owner published in stuff who's come back to NZ "for a break from USA" and criticising our Covid response without actually recognising he's putting our Covid response to the test.
Pretty sure its against international law to render a citizen stateless. Permanent resident holders live permanently in New Zealand and are basically afforded the same rights as New Zealanders, so on what grounds would you strip them of that? Dont tar everyone with a dirty brush due to 1 idiot who obviously has a legal right to return home to New Zealand.
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/about-visa/permanent-resident-visa
Anyone going weepy over the NRA filing for bankruptcy? Generations of good Democrat politicians and Democrat candidates just demolished by them.
Aren't they only filing in NY state so they can move their HQ to Texas? #NotReallyBankrupt
Looking forward to seeing how that plays out.
It's going to be fun.
A major donor to the National Rifle Association is poised to challenge key aspects of the gun group’s bankruptcy filing, in an attempt to hold executives accountable for allegedly having defrauded their members of millions of dollars to support their own lavish lifestyles.
Dave Dell’Aquila, a former tech company boss who has donated more than $100,000 to the NRA, told the Guardian on Saturday he was preparing to lodge a complaint in US bankruptcy court in Dallas, Texas. If successful, it could stop top NRA executives discharging a substantial portion of the organisation’s debts.
It could also stop Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s controversial longtime chief executive, avoiding ongoing lawsuits that allege he defrauded the pro-gun group’s members to pay for luxury travel to the Bahamas and Europe and high-end Zegna suits.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/16/nra-donor-bankruptcy-dave-dellaquila-wayne-lapierre
I have just brought a bottle of tomato sauce and I could not unscrew the cap to peel back the foil so the sauce could pour. I then thought to poke the hole and realised the new design had a soft plastic over the hole.
So now another brand which is made out of tin or card cannot be used to refill the bottle.
This is probably occurring with a lot of products. It is not about being cheap it is about excess use of plastic.
I had friends over christmas and they came with two meals from a box company called 'hello fresh'. OMG the plastic, seriously, everything is wrapped individually in some plastic bag or pouch. 4 sauces in pouches, coriander, basil, etc in bags, noodle portions in little bags, condiments in little bags, it is sheer madness, of course all branded.
That sucks. Seems like 'time poor' is just an excuse to do next to nothing these days. But some of this companies clientele will indeed own a bamboo yoga mat – 'sustainable' (shipped from Asia).
those companies need to be shamed on social media majorly. Plenty of other companies doing the right thing or heading in the right direction, zero excuse for starting new companies now with lots of plastic packaging.
+1 for being shamed majorly on media.
Hello Fresh and their likes aren't food companies, they are packaging companies that package individual ingredients to make a complete packaged product / meal.
That packaged convenience is than sold to a seemingly very receptive market.
It's the convenience culture, and the need for that to exist that needs the attention as much as the type of packaging.
I agree that the consumer end needs addressing too. But there's still no excuse for new businesses starting up to be doing this. It's not like their need to run a business is akin to someone's need to eat in an easier manner. But seeing as how we're apportioning blame, may as well take a poke at central and local government too. Who could be both legislating at the production end and fining/charging at the waste stream end. I'd do both.
Wrap Rage…its an actual thing…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrap_rage
(Those little plastic/foil caps under the lid are called in our household IUDs
)
The little plastic thing in the pouring hole was a little cap thing with a x in the centre. Some sort of diaphragm thing as it could be removed.
I would be interested in other people's opinion of this story on the STUFF website:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300202050/covid19-managed-isolation-soldier-spoke-of-rape-military-rule-to-scared-returnee
The headline caught my eye so read the story. It is about a young woman doing her two week isolation in a hotel. She claims she was too fearful to leave her room for exercise because of a young soldier's behaviour towards her. The soldier's viewpoints are in need of an overhaul and he probably put his views in an unfortunate way, but it was obvious he was not personally threatening her. Her boyfriend (a lawyer, who was on the other side of the fence) and who was party to the conversation must have recognised it was not a personal threat.
The upshot is, there is now a formal investigation into her claims and a young soldier – plus some other staff it would seem – are being put through the mill as a result of over-blown and questionable sets of grievances.
Having been through that kind of circumstance where a person (also a woman) was making false claims which prompted two investigations into me, I feel sympathy for the young soldier and the other personnel involved.
It makes me angry whenever I read about this kind of thing because it casts aspersions on other women whose claims are genuine and should be recognised as such.
Clumsy communication by what was probably a young defence force member nothing more – over sensationalised by the MSM on a slow news day.
Wonder why those involved felt the need to go to the media ?
My reaction too. As for why they went to the media. Part of the me, me, me brigade and a chance for 15 minutes of fame?
Stuff have basically declared themselves the newspaper of record for identity politics, so this story is right up their street. It will be interesting to see how it is before they merge with thespinoff and publish a story from twit complaining about how Indian restaurants all have racist names full of colonial tropes and it has to stop.
The media have been pushing panic and fear mongering about COVID the entire Xmas break, there was some usual suspect – self important and opinionated expat from LA – opining in the paper the other day "…“I guarantee, if the virus has not already spread to the community, it will any day now…”
Well golly, thanks for the insight.
COVID is now the go-to story to whip up those clicks when most of the newsroom is on holiday.
Pain in the arse high maintenance clown with wanker boyfriend.
Good one, Cleetus. lol
This soldier sounds like a right dopey knob head.
“We are not a communist country because of, you know, the Anzacs, the world wars, there are so many people that died for us to be here right now”
“Argentina … they literally, they’re armed dudes, they rock around with like weapons and stuff and I’d love them to do that here”
I certainly wouldn't be giving a loaded weapon to someone stupid enough to believe world wars were fought to prevent communism in NZ, especially when he really, really wants one to ride around with.
I don't cut him slack for being young, any more than I do for appearing ignorant.
It's a worry if idiots like this are commonplace throughout the military.
No doubt he ain't the sharpest tool in the shed ,but when you read his comments in context it was in no way a threat.
Yes, that was the context I made my initial remarks. But Al1en is right… that soldier's got a lotta learnin to do.
No, I also don't believe there was a threat in his comments, but looking at the 'have you been raped or murdered' logic and believing truck loads of armed imbeciles have ever stopped either from happening, just adds to his general projection of being really stupid.
Ex-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: A New War Is About To Be Imposed on The Middle East!
"On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the former President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He discusses the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the possibility of a military attack by the United States in the last days of the Trump Presidency, his hopes for reconciliation and friendship with Middle Eastern rival Saudi Arabia, the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Yeme."
The US military no longer recognises Trump as it's CinC in any practical sense. There will be no US led war in the next 3 days.
@ RedLogix, I replied but it ended up as comment #7, not sure what happened there?..anyway this was the follow up to that comment.
BTW, incredibly this is the guy we are meant to believe when he tells us Iran is now protecting al Qaeda behind their boarders…and credible news sources disseminate that garbage as fact…and Weka wonders why so many people have turned to conspiracy theories when it is MSM that are one of the biggest sources of either fake or through withholding news, disinformation in the world today.
<strong>Pompeo reveals Iran-al Qaeda secret terror alliance</strong>
https://nypost.com/2021/01/12/mike-pompeo-reveals-iran-al-qaeda-secret-terror-alliance/
<strong>Mike Pompeo About CIA : We lied, We cheated, We stole</strong>
Of course, it is all complete and utter baloney, but how can we tell? How can we separate the wheat from the chaff? How can we go past the one person’s reckons vs. another person’s reckons? What is your truth-distinguishing algorithm? A YT clip doesn’t cut it for me; do you know how many clips there are on YT?
"A YT clip doesn’t cut it for me"…not sure why you would say that?. some YT clips (and YT news channels) are useful others are not, just as some news stories on or from established media are useful while other are not.
It's pretty easy to find trust worthy news sources in today's world really, just google up whom ever it is you are getting a story from currently and compare their coverage of past controversial or disputed events/stories that you know the facts around today and see how they covered that story back then…a pattern will soon emerge.
Where they stood on Iraq Afghanistan and Venezuela is a pretty good starting point IMO.
Thank you, I think this is a critical issue and not just now.
Yes, there’s useful YT content, of course, but the question is how to find and discern the ‘good’ stuff. Personally, I prefer the written word over audio or audio/visual for most factual information. It is generally easier to track and verify and less distractive. When possible, I read transcripts of YT clips.
Google and other search engines are a double-edged sword because of their algorithms. Again, they can be useful for finding good factual information, but only if you really know what you’re doing. I believe that the vast majority of people don’t use Google in any critical/sceptical or research-like manner and few go beyond the first page of results. In many cases, even a subtle change of keyword(s) can produce dramatically different results, certainly of the top-ranked ‘hits’.
When it comes to searching for quality opinions, it becomes even more difficult to not slide down into one rabbit hole or another, following the helpful ‘hits’ of a search engine. One analogy is the use of GPS in cars and how many people have gone wrong or been led astray and ended literally in a paddock, for example?
Yes, (historical) patterns are a good way of finding and filtering content online. However, how many people look for these beyond merely their YT ‘heroes’ let alone opposing viewpoints? If your pattern only contains two points/sources, it is a straight line. You tend to see a lot of this one-dimensional ‘fact-finding’, commenting, and ‘thinking’ online.
The point is that it takes time, effort, critical judgement (vigilance), and experience to separate the wheat from the chaff. There’s no easy & quick way. Heuristics such as ‘common sense’ or ‘common knowledge’ are intellectual/conceptual cul-de-sacs.
One option is to throw something into an online group, e.g. a blogsite that allows comments, and get a good discussion going on the merits of it, et cetera. Hypothetically, this could build a community of people whom you’d trust and whose opinions and insights you’d value and respect even though you may not always agree with them, i.e. not an echo chamber 😉
As long as the the 20,000 national guardsmen that a flooding the capital are loyal to the flag and not his tannedness
That is reassuring.
Are you talking about Pelosi's attempt to get military leaders to defy Trump?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/trump-pelosi-nuclear-military.html
The urgency to get rid of Trump by whatever means possible may end up with the constitution being more broken than ever.
A comparison of the United States and Iran….
Well for a start that comparison leaves out the Iran/Iraq war, which more or less deals to the credible intentions of whoever did it.
And it leaves out Iran's deep sponsorship of Hezbollah and a number of similar troublesome actors in the ME.
And it assumes the two nations can be valued in such a unidimensional manner.
It also betrays a profound lack of understanding about the critical role the US played by fighting the Cold War, largely accidentally and with no real master plan, in creating virtually everything about the modern global economy you take utterly for granted.
And what that list also hides, is that in terms of loss of life in major power warfare, the world has just lived through the most peaceful time ever. This didn't mean there were not a lot of secondary, smaller scale conflicts the US was involved in, but the it also ensured that no-one else was allowed to engage in war. The remarkable thing about that list is not the number of engagements the US became entangled in (for better or worse); it's that it's virtually the entire list of significant conflicts. No-one else other than the US (and it's client allies) were allowed to conduct warfare.
The news that's about to kick the world in the nuts, big time, is that the US has finally reached the point where it no longer neither needs to undertake this role. It no longer needs to protect it's trade with the rest of the world, because outside of NAFTA, they have only a tiny handful of free trade agreements and the rest of world just doesn’t count. They will still run the world's most substantial military by an order of magnitude, but outside a much more narrowly defined self-interest, they've got no interest in imposing global stability anymore.
And lots of regional wannabe powers are waking up to this.
"Iran/Iraq war" where Iraq invaded Iran
"Iran's deep sponsorship of Hezbollah and a number of similar troublesome actors in the ME"
similar troublesome actors eh.
"outside a much more narrowly defined self-interest, they've got no interest in imposing global stability anymore."
Right.
So we're all good.
If you imagine global 'instability' is going to be a good thing; refer to your pre-WW2 world history.
… the Iran/Iraq war, which more or less deals to the credible intentions of whoever did it.
That war was started by Saddam Hussein, at the behest of his sponsor, the United States.
Iran's deep sponsorship of Hezbollah…
Hezbollah is a strictly local, Lebanese resistance movement.
And it assumes the two nations can be valued in such a unidimensional manner.
They can. As that graphic irrefutably demonstrates, one of them is the world's leading terrorist state, sponsoring brutal regimes from Tel Aviv to Manila.
… and a number of similar troublesome actors in the ME.
There’s one actor that is responsible for nearly all of the mayhem in the ME.
https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/386535580500992050/
As that graphic irrefutably demonstrates, one of them is the world's leading terrorist state, sponsoring brutal regimes from Tel Aviv to Manila.
What it proves is that the USA is largely (but not exclusively) responsible for 70 years of no major power war, which in turn enabled an era of massive growth in trade and human development virtually everywhere.
It didn't really have any master plan for this; it was mostly accidental, so yes there are many things they got wrong and have been rightly criticised for. But everything you take totally for granted about the world you live in, has been in many ways shaped by the role the USA has played since the end of WW2.
That you've turned all this into a unidimensional, anti-US bigotry is fairly typical of the unhinged left.
But everything you take totally for granted about the world you live in, has been in many ways shaped by the role the USA has played since the end of WW2.
You're correct there. The USA is in large part responsible for the destruction of democracy in much of Central and South America; Africa (the CIA, as well as being involved in the killing of Patrice Lumumba, a couple of years later ratted out Mandela to the apartheid regime); Indonesia, the Philippines, …. (hell, you know the rest.)
That you've turned all this into a unidimensional, anti-US bigotry is fairly typical of the unhinged left.
? That graphic that upsets you so much is neither right nor left. That its strictly empirical evidence makes you angry is your problem.
No it doesn't make me angry; that's just you projecting probably.
What I'm trying to convey is that bigots like you have been yelling 'Yankees go home' for decades, and now your wishes are going to come true.
You may not like what you've asking for however.
You're not angry, you reckon. In your last two posts you have accused me of "unidimensional, anti-US bigotry", of being part of the "unhinged left", you've called me a "bigot" and even (bizarrely) claimed that I have been yelling "Yankees go home" for decades.
You're angry, all right. I suggest you take a few minutes before you rush into print next time.
Redlogix called you a bigot?! Extraordinary.
Not helpful, not even remotely
Please drop these personal snide remarks, thanks.
@ RedLogix
The fact that you can sweep away the ultra-aggressive and destructive history of the USA and her allies resulting in the deaths and displacement of who knows how many civilians and the downfall of countless elected governments around the world in one brush of your hand because your life and I assume those of your friends are unaffected and probably even benefited from that carnage is one of the most despicable comments I have read on the Standard..you should be ashamed of yourself, but I am sure that you are not, which is quite sad really.
in one brush of your hand because your life and I assume those of your friends are unaffected and probably even benefited from that carnage
I'm not sure where you got the idea that I think the USA is above criticism; maybe it was where I wrote:
"It didn't really have any master plan for this; it was mostly accidental, so yes there are many things they got wrong and have been rightly criticised for."
Essentially we've had one power capable of imposing it's reality on most of the world for 70 plus years, and while I'm not painting the USA as an entirely benign, or even especially competent hegemon, objectively it's been better than anything that came before. Less deaths in wars, less total violence, and a massive increase in human development everywhere.
Yet you brush this off as somehow unimportant.
The only reason there has been less deaths over the past seventy years is solely because of the nuclear bomb and all that implies, I certainly wouldn’t give the USA any credit for those numbers…
" I'm not sure where you got the idea that I think the USA is above criticism"…
"which in turn enabled an era of massive growth in trade and human development virtually everywhere."…that part right there is where I got that idea.
There are way too many assumptions in your comment about the commenter and their personal life and that of his friends even.
Please stick to the comment and leave the personal stuff out of it, thanks.
Please stick to the comments and avoid labelling/stereotyping the commenter(s).
I forgot to mention the United States' destruction of democracy in Vietnam in 1956, followed by its destruction of most of the country in the 1960s and 70s, as well as ravaging Cambodia and Laos.
Oh, and there's what they did to North Korea too…
The context Chomsky is omitting here is of course the Cold War which is the critical backdrop to understanding the Korean War. Their goal was not so much as to defeat Nth Korea (who incidentally had been a bitter foe on the ground), but to also establish their willingness to hit hard against communism.
Missing from this article is of course the critical role both Stalin and Mao Zedong played in supporting Kim's invasion of South Korea. Both were convinced that the strategic balance had tilted in their favour and that the US would not value Korea highly enough to use nuclear weapons in such a conflict. (Which in fact they did not; while they remained an active option, the US generals were vividly aware of the costs of using them.)
All wars are brutal and bloody, both sides racked up atrocities and war crimes. But the root cause of the conflict did not lie with a US bloody-thirsty desire to bomb Korea into oblivion, but it lies absolutely with both Mao and Stalin's desire to confront the USA, who both gave permission and promises of support to Kim Il-sung's invasion of Sth Korea. Three of the world's most notorious leaders in modern times, conspired to invade a nation the US had committed to protecting – whitewashing that out from the narrative amounts to a selective, ideological version of the consequent catastrophe.
Arguably the bombing of North Korea went beyond the principle of 'the least force necessary' to achieve their purpose; yet history shows us that whenever one side gains a dominant strategic position late in a war, they're very prone to exactly this kind of over-kill. More than anything they want the damned thing to be over. And with the prospect of a protracted stalemate on the ground, still costing many lives, the US command reached for the one tool they could safely use to pressure North Korea into an armistice. Which eventually it did.
The context Chomsky is omitting here is of course the Cold War…
???? Chomsky does no such thing.
Arguably the bombing of North Korea went beyond the principle of 'the least force necessary'…
Good, you got one thing right. That's encouraging.
Took another quick scan of your linked article – no mention of the Cold War that I can see. Maybe I missed it.
If you want to understand an event properly, it's essential to have a clear grasp of the context. The left is supposed to be good at this sort of thing.
But stepping back from this diversion, my real point is this. Yes the USA (and it's allies) have been involved in a long list of conflicts since the end of WW2. But crucially all of them are over, and in virtually all of them the USA never replicated the pre-WW2 imperial model of permanently occupying and colonising.
For a start the US is at it's origins an anti-colonial enterprise; it's rebellion from being a British colony is still a strong thread in it's history.
Perhaps more pragmatically, the US never really needed to do colonies in the same way prior empires needed to. The advent of coal and oil meant that the land area needed for photosynthesis powered economies was no longer necessary. Occupying is always comes at an escalating cost, and eventually it exceeds the benefits; and the Americans, secure and largely self-sufficient in their homeland, never really needed to expand territory for it's own sake.
As a result, we now live in a world of almost 200 largely independent nations. Since WW2 we've seen both the collapse of conventional empire, and an unprecedented surge in nation building. And mostly this was possible because if you played to be on their side, the US provided the security and trade infrastructure to allow otherwise unviable nations to develop well beyond their capacity to do so in isolation.
There is no need to overplay any altruistic card here; the primary American motive was essentially bribe up a global coalition of nations, strong enough to present a united front against the Soviets, and win what would become called the Cold War. Yes it was sometimes a messy and ugly process, we all understand this.
Yet it has had another immensely important consequence, that of creating a nascent version of global order and cohesion never before seen in human history – and unleashing an astonishing leap in human development also never seen before.
Now the Americans were probably the least qualified people to lead this, they tend to act without thinking too much, don't understand geography very well and don't speak many languages. They never had a sophisticated idea of how they might best use this global power they'd accidentally landed up with. They fucked up many times, yet despite this the end result has been remarkably beneficial for most of humanity.
Now consider this – what might be the outcome if a new globalisation effort was driven by real principle and committed competency? What might we achieve then?
Took another quick scan of your linked article – no mention of the Cold War that I can see.
He also neglected to mention that Korea is an Asian country. I think we can take it as understood that Chomsky, of all people, was aware that the Cold War was under way. What the U.S. did in Korea, by the way, was the antithesis of a "cold" war.
No but it as catastrophic as the Korean Was was locally, it was not a major power war. So yes the Cold War had it's hot spots, but no-one wanted it to engulf the whole world again.
But this is not my main point. In many ways we've been coasting on a legacy bequeathed to the world by the humbling, chastening experience of WW2. That generation understood viscerally the consequences of major power empire and conflict, and acted to try and end it. They fumbled and stumbled and often didn't do very well, but for 70 years they more or less succeeded.
Well in my view that legacy is just about used up. We can see this in the dramatic reduction in US engagement and troop posted overseas. These are now at a lower level than any time since the 1920's. We can see this in a resurgent isolationism in Washington, even the chaotic and highly impulsive Trump didn't manage to start any new wars, and I very much doubt Biden's administration will either.
Your viewpoint had some merit back in the 80's, but the ground has shifted. Yes the US will retain the world's largest military and anyone stupid enough to confront what the American's still define as their 'interests' will pretty much get what they deserve. But this also means Europe, Asia, the ME and Africa are on their own now, and this will have consequences.
… the Korean War…was not a major power war.
???? In your message at 10:45 am you wrote of "the critical role both Stalin and Mao Zedong played in supporting Kim's invasion of South Korea."
That generation understood viscerally the consequences of major power empire and conflict, and acted to try and end it.
They "acted to try and end it"? The only thing they tried to end—and succeeded in ending—was democracy in Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, the Congo, Indonesia, Chile— the list goes on and on and on. How do you explain the destruction of lives and democratic government throughout S.E. Asia, Central and South America, and Africa? Do they just not matter?
… anyone stupid enough to confront what the American's still define as their 'interests' will pretty much get what they deserve.
Such as being stupid enough to elect an independent, democratic government, as Venezuela foolishly has done, in spite of the most ominous threats and spectacularly incompetent coup attempts by Washington’s idiotic proxies.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/dumbest-aspects-of-the-mercenary-coup-plot-in-venezuela.html
Europe, Asia, the ME and Africa are pretty much on their own now, and this will have consequences.
They're better off on their own than being "helped" by the likes of these people….
https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/09/22/leadership-failure/firsthand-accounts-torture-iraqi-detainees-us-armys-82nd
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/28/villagers-say-yemeni-child-was-shot-as-he-tried-to-flee-navy-seal-raid/
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2012-apr-18-la-na-afghan-photos-20120418-story.html
In your message at 10:45 am you wrote of "the critical role both Stalin and Mao Zedong played in supporting Kim's invasion of South Korea."
If you don't understand the term 'proxy war', then I don't think you should be participating in this conversation.
They're better off on their own than being "helped" by the likes of these people.
You need to go check on the history of Europe, the ME and Asia before you imagine that.
If you don't understand the term 'proxy war'…
So if it was just a little "proxy war", was it?
While as I said it was clearly a catastrophe locally; it was not on the scale of WW2 or anything like a direct confrontation between the US and the Soviets.
After the better part of two decades of steady decline, what exactly has been changed to turn around the fortunes of these publications?
They've come back with exactly the same formula as before – past their use by date boomers and tired gen-x writers ideologically wedded to neoliberal centrism and obsessed with being the jesters to court politics talking in tired cliches about the issues the affect an aging, white and well off demographic.
They are probably a bit more debt free but the vision is stale and bereft of any real new ideas to stop the slow march to their inevitable demise.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/16/the-remarkable-bounce-back-of-new-zealands-magazines
You twenty-plus hipsters with your … hmmm … phones and things … and all that interwebby stuff. You just don't understand.
These magazines are necessary components of essential NZ infrastructure such as waiting rooms of GPs and dentists, the shabby corners of garages and tyre shops, and lunch cafés & cafeteria, et cetera. They are not just for snobs and semi-cultured unthinking people who value and recognise cheap infotainment when they browse it.
These magazines are necessary components of essential NZ infrastructure such as waiting rooms of GPs and dentists…
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/A_man_in_a_doctor%27s_waiting_room_tells_a_woman_that_he_has_c_Wellcome_V0011500.jpg
very apt
Catering to the ppl who actually buy them rather than who whinge about them, seems sensible.
I have to agree with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he pretty much says it makes no difference who the elected leader of the USA is (for Iran), as the decisions on foreign policy is a straight line through them all…with the occasional exception of course, like Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, which was probably his greatest single action as POTUS.
I agree it makes little difference, because what matters to Iran now really lies in the hands of Israel and Saudi.
Engineering apprenticeships. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prosper/123946767/engineering-firm-says-not-enough-companies-take-on-apprentices
Will no one think of the incels…
They’re easy to spot by the horns and fake fur in their profile pictures.
I can feel his pain and it makes me nauseous. At least he found his missing piece. Next: where are his marbles?
I can vividly recall the old man hopping around and howling with a piece of this embedded in his hoof.
So many holes for tiny marbles to fall through. That stuff is for
boyschildren, not for toddlers, as they tend to stick these up their noses or down their throats.Play-Doh mushed into woolly carpet is one of my personal favourites. The kids have to be ready for it …
https://www.insider.com/capitol-riot-detainee-q-shaman-mocked-for-demanding-organic-food-2021-1
50 years ago ZZ Top released their first album – ZZ Top’s First Album.
During the period of John Key's holding office, a Standard reader kept a log of the "leaders" lies. It ran into pages.
It would be an interesting exercise to chronicle the changes of National's stance on Covid.
"We should open our borders to Australia immediately (circa March/April '20).
"We should stop everyone coming through our borders …"
"Let's have a bubble with Australia now…"
Just what is their policy now?