[AI generated transcript lightly edited to aid comprehension]
@2:16 minutes:
……Ocha warns that Aid workers in Gaza continue to face daily threats to their safety and ongoing obstruction to their efforts to reach Palestinians in need of life-saving assistance.
Yesterday's uh incident involving a UN convoy stopped by Israeli forces, is the latest example of the unacceptable dangers and impediment that humanitarian personnel in Gaza are experiencing.
The Convoy was carrying 12 staff members on their way to support the polio vaccination campaign in Northern Gaza, its movements were fully coordinated with Israeli forces and all details provided ahead of time.
When the team was stopped at the AL Rashid checkpoint, they were informed that Israeli forces wanted to hold two UN staff members in the convoy for questioning.
The situation escalated very quickly with soldiers pointing their weapons directly towards our Personnel in the Convoy.
The UN Vehicles were encircled by Israeli forces and shots were fired.
The convoy was then approached by IDF tanks and a bulldozer, which proceeded to ram the UN vehicles from the front and from the back, uh, compacting the Convoy with the UN staff inside. One bulldozzer dropped debris on the first vehicle, while Israeli soldiers threatened staff making it impossible for them to safely exit the vehicles.
The Convoy remained at gunpoint as senior un officials engaged with Israeli authorities in an effort to deescalate the situation.
The two staff members were interrogated by Israeli forces and then released back to us, uh, after 7 and a half hours at the checkpoint.
The Convoy returned to base after being unable to complete its humanitarian Mission.
The sentence, "The Convoy returned to base after being unable to complete its humanitarian Mission" is the important one.
This is a common occurance for humanitarian aid missions seeking to bring relief and aid to civilians in Gaza.
The small amount of aid being let through the Israeli controlled crossings into the territory amounts to little more than a PR exercise if the UN is being prevented from distributing it.
It is significant that the warrants sought by the ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, for the arrest of Yoav Gallant, Israel's Defence Minister and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, cite using starvation as a weapon of war.
Despite Israeli forces continuing to block and sabotage humanitarian aid missions, the ICC decision on whether to grant Khan's arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu have been delayed
Israel backer, the US has threatened sanctions against the ICC if they proceed with arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu.
US House passes ICC sanctions bill over Netanyahu arrest warrant request
Vote is Congress’s first legislative rebuke of war-crimes court since ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek arrests of leaders of Israel and Hamas
Are there no depths to which the Israeli butchers will not go? Exploding pagers…3000 injured plus deaths in Lebanon. Where the tampering and explosive implants were done on a bulk Motorola shipment will be very interesting.
This situation reminds me of the Israeli spy Eli Cohen who inflitrated the Syrian military and rose to be influential in Syrian government circles.
I remember an account of him visiting the Syrian troops stationed on the Golan heights. Apparently he advised that the soldiers should not be having to suffer in the sun, so recommended that trees be planted to give them shelter.
Of course, in the seven day war, the Israelis knew to shell anywhere on the heights that had trees.
I do wonder if Hezbollah was infiltrated in a similar way, and the advice to start using pagers was all part of a cunning plot.
Looking at it as a the outcome of a calculated action, injuring them in ways that prevent them from future combat is probably more effective than killing them.
My dad, who had seen military service, once told me that it is actually better to injure enemy soldiers rather than kill them because this ties up more of the enemy resources in terms of medical support and recovery.
Without doubt, its a brutally effective attack that will tie up surgeons and hospital space for a very long time not to mention aftercare. It takes a lot of operatives out of circulation for a long time if not permanantly.
Also, there will be severe disruption in communications within Hezbollah. If they have switched on mass to pagers, then anyone who still has a pager will be ditching it.
My question would be about targeting and technique.
Pagers are usually standard item commodities. It is unlikely that Hezbollah were on their own network or that they were the only people in Lebanon with that model of pager.
So how many civilians had those pagers have their battery controller fiddled with and explode? Because each non Hezbollah attacked with this technique constitutes a war crime.
Of course I suspect that the Israeli response would probably be that anyone in Lebabon is Hezbollah. And therefore a legitimate target. This does appear to be the process that they following Gaza and the West Bank.
But of course they are hypocrites. Because if that was the rule of how conflicts operate, then the Israeli casualties and hostages on October 7th are therefore not victims under the same logic.
Israeli government are clearly political idiots. They appear to be on course to keep raising violence towards their citizens because they appear to be completely incapable of ever dealing with their neighbours with anything apart from stupid self-perpetuating violence.
Reminds me of reading up the history of the Judean kingdoms. Fractious internally, Fractious to their neighbours. Continually overrun by empires because they could never work together or with their neighbours.
As a culture, it looks like they have never learnt anything useful over the last 3000 years except how to be incapable of building a peaceful society that is also peaceful with their neighbours. Probability of Israel surviving keeps diminishing through their own efforts like this one.
I tend to agree with you. I think from a rat-cunning perspective, this was a brilliant operation. Undoubtably it has severely disrupted Hezbollah for the short term anyway.
But, from a longer term perspective this sort of action (from both sides) only perpetuates the conflict. Sadly, if humanity is still around in another 1000 years, I think this conflict will still be an issue of world concern.
The problem is that their neighbours (and those that fund them) don't want peace either. And they are just as happy to sacrifice civilians if it furthers their cause.
You mean their immediate neighbours like Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. None of whom have taken significiant military action against Israel for over half a century?
The last military actions with their neighbours were Israel invading Lebanon in 1978 and 1982 to deal with Palestinian refugee attacks on Israel. And periodic attacks by Israel against their other neighbouring states against mainly Palestinian targets.
You don't consider that the Palestinians have a right to be pissed off?
The immediate 'neighbours' in Gaza and the West Bank and for that matter most of Hezbollah and other groups in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are Palestinians whose families were forcibly expelled from their homes in an unlawful ethnic cleansing program by the Israeli government in 1948 onwards.
Since then there has been a campaign by Israel to seize their land and property under the most dubious legal pretences.
Gaza and the West Bank have been occupied territories of Israel since 1967 that have been subjected to either direct martial law or military blockades for over 50 years by Israel. They are subjected to punitive laws, random attacks and massive theft of land and property by Israel and Israeli citizens.
As far as I can tell Israel hasn't made a single good faith attempt to deal with the the local populations that they displaced, stole from, and actively murdered since 1948 and before.
Instead the Israel government appear to treat them as being the persecutors of Jews from the time of the Romans and before.
It probably helps that the Palestinians have been essentially defenceless since 1948 because as we're all aware it is easier to be a bully when the victims you injure and steal from are unable to hit back.
What seems to be infuriating Israelis at present is that while the other Arab nations have shifted over the last 50 years to accepting Israel. But the actual victims of Israel in Palestinian refugees and their families have not, mostly because of lack of any restitution by Israel and the way that Palestinians under occupation are treated. Also that overall they are getting stronger and better armed to resist.
That appears to be have caused problems for Israel because Israel as a state has failed to keep their land-thieving citizens in check. That appears to have been the primary impediment to peace. Israel have had numerous opportunities to negotiate a peaceful co-existence and appear to have deliberately prevented each one from succeeding.
I have zero sympathy for Israel. They are the problem perpetuating a conflict. They are definitely not the victims. They look more like they are the guards of a pending death camp because of racist bigotry.
What Israel needs to do is to kick all settlements out of the West Bank as a sign of good faith and expel all Israeli citizens apart from military from there as well as a sign of good faith. Then start to negotiate a viable state fro Palestinians. That would include territorial concessions in the Negev to allow Gaza and the West Bank a land corridor.
I don't think that a unitary state of Israel and Palestine is at all feasible because of the obvious biases in Israel law and governmental operations against ethnic Arabs.
1.Hezbollah is better armed than the Lebanese Army and many nation states and makes regular attacks on Israel.
2.Israel attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon this century. The "refugees" attacked in Lebanon were the PLO kicked out of Jordan for trying to take over the place.
4.Hezbellah are Lebanese Shia Moslems. Most of the West Bank (and many of Gaza) residents are not 1948 refugees, they are in the areas they were in awarded for a Palestinian state.
5.Not since 1948, but since 1977 when Likud first came to power in Israel.
7.The Labour Party enacted the Oslo Accord process (1993)allowing the PLO to base in the West Bank and Gaza as the Palestinian Authority (1996). After the failed negotiations of 2000 and the subsequent intifada the Kadima era government enacted disengagement (reducing tension until negotiations resumed) – withdrawal from Gaza and some areas of the West Bank.
9.Egypt and Jordan occupied the WB and Gaza 1948-1967 and made no effort to establish a Palestinian state – because the Arab League goal was defeat of the Israeli state.
10.The Arab states have chosen to recognise because Iran now leads the hostility to Israel and seeks to eliminate the state by arming the Sunni Palestinian Hamas and Shia Moslem Lebanese Hezbollah (soon Shia militias of Iraq will base in Syria to do the same) to war on Israel. The Sunni Arab states do not trust Iran – and see it as using Israel to become a regional hegemon.
11.The situation is a consequence of BN's period in office – he has always opposed a two state peace.
12.Sure the rail/road corridor WB to Gaza is a peace talks issue. The purpose of the WB settlements – to reduce Palestinians into cantons/bantustans in an IDF controlled WB is the real problem, not Jews living in the territory of a future Palestinian state (as two million Arabs do in Israel).
13.A unitary state is too difficult – but a peace that moves the wider area towards that is optimum.
One approach.
aThe UN awards all 1948 refugees a UN Palestinian passport – they can use to live in the WB and Gaza or elsewhere in the ME or Europe/ Americas.
bIsrael allows all UN Palestinian passport holders the right to work in Israel (if they have jobs). A certain number can apply each year for residence.
cThe numbers might well become a million (equal to Jewish settlers with Israeli passports in the land awarded for a Palestinian state.
dEach 1948 Palestinian refugee family qualifies for a compensation payment for lost property.The land used in the WB for Jewish settlements is valued and a transfer to the PA is made – for claims from those who lost land. and to assist those 1948 refugees into WB and Gaza housing.
The justice path is a necessary pre-curser to build trust in the negotiations over the two state outcome.
I won’t bother going through all of your bullshit. Suffice it to say that most of it looks like the usual crap from the self-serving Zionist propaganda.
5.Not since 1948, but since 1977 when Likud first came to power in Israel.
1948 was most of the majority of the expulsion. It was a deliberate act of ethnic cleansing. As far as I can tell from records released by various governments including some from the nascent IDF, this is an accurate statement.
During the 1948 Palestine war in which the State of Israel was established, around 700,000[fn 1] Palestinian Arabs, or 85% of the total population of the territory Israel captured, were expelled or fled from their homes.[1] The causes of this mass displacement have been a matter of dispute, though today most scholars consider that the majority of Palestinians were directly expelled or else fled due to fear.
Causes of the exodus include direct expulsions by Israeli forces, destruction of Arab villages, psychological warfare including terrorism, dozens of massacres which caused many to flee out of fear, such as the widely publicized Deir Yassin massacre,[2] crop burning,[3][4] typhoid epidemics in some areas caused by Israeli well-poisoning,[5] and the collapse of Palestinian leadership including the demoralizing impact of wealthier classes fleeing.[6] Many historians consider that the events of 1948 were an instance of ethnic cleansing.
What you are parroting is the explanation of the Israeli ‘Old Historians’ who were appear to have been state employed propagandists or from Zionists advocating for the transfer ideology.
New Historians
In the 1980s Israel and United Kingdom opened up part of their archives for investigation by historians. This favored a more critical and factual analysis of the 1948 events and led to the emergence of the Israeli New Historians who published more detailed and comprehensive descriptions of the Palestinian exodus. Perhaps most influential of the early works of the New Historians was Benny Morris’ The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, published in 1988.[41] In an essay in 1988 Morris wrote that “Jewish atrocities [were] far more widespread than the Old Historians have indicated (there were massacres of Arabs at Dawayima, Eilabun, Jish, Safsaf, Hule, Saliha, and Sasa besides Deir Yassin and Lydda)”.[42]
According to Shay Hazkani, 2013: “In the past two decades, following the powerful reverberations (concerning the cause of the Nakba) triggered by the publication of books written by those dubbed the “New Historians,” the Israeli archives revoked access to much of the explosive material. Archived Israeli documents that reported the expulsion of Palestinians, massacres or rapes perpetrated by Israeli soldiers, along with other events considered embarrassing by the establishment, were reclassified as “top secret.””[43]
Likud’s actions since 1977, are just a continuation using the IDF and settlers inside the West Bank and Gaza of the same barbaric Zionist ideology of terrorism.
4.Hezbellah are Lebanese Shia Moslems. Most of the West Bank (and many of Gaza) residents are not 1948 refugees, they are in the areas they were in awarded for a Palestinian state.
You mean that they are in small fraction of the land that was awarded for a Palestinian state in 1948. This is the partition map adopted in November 1947. I am sure that you are aware of the current borders.
What about not since 1948, did you not comprehend.
Strawmanism.
It was in response to your 5th paragraph
Since then there has been a campaign by Israel to seize their land and property under the most dubious legal pretences.
And thus your only point there was
Likud’s actions since 1977, are just a continuation using the IDF and settlers inside the West Bank and Gaza of the same barbaric Zionist ideology of terrorism.
Which I had noted.
4.Hezbellah are Lebanese Shia Moslems.
Most of the West Bank (and many of Gaza) residents are not 1948 refugees, they are in the areas they were in awarded for a Palestinian state.
You mean that they are in small fraction of the land that was awarded for a Palestinian state in 1948. This is the partition map adopted in November 1947
Still a majority of the WB residents are not 1948 refugees.
Note there are 2 million Arabs in Israel, many of those in the 1947 Palestinian award territory remained and became Israeli citizens.
It is pissing me off the people that are saying the pager attack is clever where in fact it is pure barbarism
Those concepts are not mutually exclusive.
It indeed was "clever" from the perspective that it appears the devices were rigged months ago and that Hezbollah were convinced to exchange their cellphones for pagers due to fears about the Israelis tracking their cell phones.
If Israelis planted someone for the purpose of convincing Hezbollah to move to pagers, then it was an elaborate and brilliant operation.
That doesn't mean it wasn't barbaric though. If it only was attacking combatants then the sort of injuries caused were probably less than what land mines or cluster munitions cause.
War by its very nature is nasty. The fact that civilians were also targeted deliberately or otherwise takes it to the level of a war crime IMO.
Certainly going to be a few pissed off people in amongst, Hamas, Hezbollah and the people's/citizens of Palestine. The Israeli's are certainly amping up the hatred.
Continually overrun by empires because they could never work together or with their neighbours.
Historically inaccurate in the sense that in the age of empires this happened to all nations. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece then Rome. All nations in their regions were over-run by them, not just one.
Rome killed a third of the Gauls, enslaved a third and collected tribute tax from the other third. Par for the course and it says nothing about Gaul but that it was an imperial target.
Reminds me of reading up the history of the Judean kingdoms. Fractious internally, Fractious to their neighbours. As a culture, it looks like they have never learnt anything useful over the last 3000 years except how to be incapable of building a peaceful society that is also peaceful with their neighbours.
Do you know much about European history over the past 2000 years?
Balkans 1990's, Ukraine 2020's.
Fraser, the CO of WW1, then WW2 PM went off to the UN founding in 1945 with hopes to end war via collective security. A work in progress obviously.
Of course I know a lot about European (and Byzantine) history. I’m weaker on americas, asian and steppe history. History and pre-history has been my hobby interest long before I got developed a interest in computers or actual politics.
Clearly you misread my point. I was talking about the some of the reasons why those small states in the Palestine proved to be so easy to be over run by successive empires.
The judean and proto-judean states were notable in history because of how much of a problem that they were for the empires and that they never seem to have made common cause with their neighbouring political entities, including other judean kingdoms to prevent being overrun. From what history there is, that was a major cause about why states and city states in that area were commonly successively overrun by empires. There is nothing too similar in Europe where the continual migrations weren’t anything like the middle eastern empires.
Ummm… reasonable summary on wikipedia starting around the 1550 BCE to the fall of Babylon by Cyrus in 620BCE. Cyrus encouraged migration of captive jews back to the Palestine. However many did not return and probably formed the bulk of the diaspora across the middle east.
You see the exactly same fractious political traits continuing through to the Roman controlled period (pre and post annexation) in particular with the divisions between factions causing revolts. The Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136CE was the defining moment to depopulate the much of Roman province of Judea.
But the later Roman/Byzantine period, conversions to Christianity and finally the the conversions to Islam after 638CE and the conquest of the Sham did the rest of the change of the remaining jewish families into what are now palestinians.
However all the way from the destruction of second temple in 70AD until the British formed got the Palestinian mandate after WW1, there has been a clear policy by the empires in control of tat region to not allow local autonomy that was characteristic in other areas of the various empires who had control of the Palestine.
Think the main aim will have been hands and faces, send the message to trigger with enough delay that the targets take out the pager to read it, if near sighted hold it close to the face as well.
Who was responsible for the Lebanon attacks today? An Andrew Marr analysis | LBC
Almost 3,000 people in Lebanon are thought to have been seriously injured after the pagers used for communication exploded. Eight people, including a ten year old girl, have been killed in the incident…..
The American and other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the operation.
Independent cybersecurity experts who have studied footage of the attacks said it was clear that the strength and speed of the explosions were caused by a type of explosive material.
“These pagers were likely modified in some way to cause these types of explosions — the size and strength of the explosion indicates it was not just the battery,” said Mikko Hypponen, a research specialist at the software company WithSecure and a cybercrime adviser to Europol.
What if Hezbollah had 'modified in some way' a shipment of pagers to Israel to kill the users?
Would this be referred to as a "Sensitive Operation?"
The whole Western mediasphere would be falling over themselves to print screaming banner headlines, in Bold type. "TERRORIST ATTACK"
Seas of ink, real and virtual, would be spilt, in long editorials speculating on the identity of the individuals responsible for this 'terrorist attack'. An international manhunt, would be followed every step of the way by a breathless media
Not this time 'cause y'know "sensitive operation".
The USA practices “American Exceptionalism” regarding international law and international judiciary bodies. This means they cherry pick which international obligations and organisations they will buy into and which they will violate and ignore.
That is what makes me look at the commentary on the American elections in disbelief.
We are all supposed to think Trump is a bad man and yet Biden/Harris are enabling the genocide and these barbaric attacks to continue. With no bad press, here or overseas.
Of course the US meddles big time overseas, and always has. However, Trump is an incoherent demagogue, whereas the Democrat option at least run an effective administrative ship. There is no benefit to dismantling/derailing US power internationally without reining in that of other world Big Boys. Trump is moved by the wind from day to day, and it won't get any better as he edges into his eighties.
" whereas the Democrat option at least run an effective administrative ship."
So long as they don't do anything Wall St doesn't approve of. So far enabling and actively contributing to genocide is in the banksters interests. Not that you would read that anywhere because Trump is doing his job well, that bad man.
Trump recognised the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem and has offered no criticism of American policy on Gaza. Trump and the GOP is more pro Israel on Gaza and West Bank settlement expansion than the Biden White House.
So not only unaware that it would only get worse under Trump, you do not like anyone pointing that out. And accuse people of being genocide enabling to deter any such “dissent”.
The bad man whose Presidency revoked Obama era requirements to report drone deaths outside war zones and tripled the number of Afghan civilians killed by the US military?
.
President Donald Trump has revoked a policy set by his predecessor requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones.
[…]
What was the rule?
It required the head of the CIA to release annual summaries of US drone strikes and assess how many died as a result.
Mr Trump's executive order does not overturn reporting requirements on civilian deaths set for the military by Congress.
There have been 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Mr Obama's eight years in office, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a UK-based think tank.
What was the point? What was the goal of this brazenly indiscriminate and lawless act from Israel? Does it lower the risk of war? Does it de-escalate tensions with Iran? Israel regards itself as above the law. This is an act of state terrorism. It is an act of war on a sovereign state (Lebanon) and a flagrant breach of the Geneva conventions, which forbid indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations. The only rationale for this action is one of unhinged violence from a militarised state ruled by maximalist genocidal racists whose self-excusing language is now frequently indistinguishable from that used by the Nazi genocidal project during WW2.
The mind bending, crazy aspect of all this is if Hezbollah and/or Iran strike back against these blatant acts of war from a rogue state they'll be painted as the aggressors, Israel will be depicted in the Western MSM as victims, and framed from an Israeli view and depicted through an Israeli propaganda lens.
"Hezbollah’s terrible blunder that ended with an audacious pager attack that killed nine, injured thousands"
How would "America's terrible blunder that ended with an audacious 9/11 attack that killed three thousand, injured tens of thousands" run, do you think?
Western political elites will unconditionally swing in behind Israel without apparently the faintest idea of the damage it does to their credibility, or that an increasing majority of their voters disagree with them. The fact is, support for Israel now only exists as a project in the political elites of key Western countries, a reality attested by the level of ruthless authoritarianism used to suppress dissent on unconditional support for Israel in their native populations.
The point is probably escalation. To transform the conflict from a localised genocide into a regional conflict where it can plausibly be argued that Israel's continued existence is threatened.
And perhaps also to shave a percentage point or two off the Democrats by making more liberal voters abandon them in disgust – so increasing Trump's chances.
Absolutely the point is escalation. It is the only way to keep the genocide project on track. The US and Israel have been all in on genocide for a while now. If the wheel stops spinning now they will be severely exposed for the barbarians that they are.
And thanks Sanctuary for the extremely lucid, explosive condemnation above
Al Qaeda based in Afghanistan and regime change for hosting a "terrorist" group.
The problem Hezbollah has, as an Iranian armed front, is that it is not (just) fighting for Shebaa Farms, but Iran's goal of eliminating the state of Israel.
Thus can be accused of being a terrorist group, even if it is armed and trained otherwise (to be a fighting force).
The reason the Lebanese government is not seen as accountable as per Afghanistan, is that its own army does not control the gun in the country.
Until Iran moderates its agenda to a two state solution, the West can pose Iran as the agency behind a campaign to end the state of Israel.
NZ Herald "US Marine has been training Comanchero Gangsters", I can see why the NZ Police are starting to take a look at the gangs in a more serious light, unfortunately the NZ Police and successive Governments have let the gangs in NZ get too strong IMHO.
I think you must be dreaming if you believe the NZ Police have been blind to organised crime in NZ until now. It's not just gangs who import drugs, which leads to downstream social harm and violent deaths. It's an enticing return for business people, white business people, too, e.g. this man in Auckland, and for transnational cartels.
And guess what: the Comancheros investigation began three years ago, under Labour.
I guess Luxon (with his laser-like focus on 'delivery') will be looking to extradite this US Marine guy from the US and get him to face charges here – if the police think they have something that will stick. Or maybe not.
He is admitting that no one should believe a thing the Trump campaign says – because they do not practice any self regulation, but exploit any story their supporters promote for them – reminds one of the Key Ede whale of a tale news creation team. That is GOP activists create lies (Trump was part of the birther movement during the Obama presidency) for dispersal into MSM via GOP politicians.
The apparently surprising story of a mayor who had to sell a car.
1. $195,000 paying off a home mortgage in Wellington is not that much
Given the higher tax paid than on two $95,000 salaries of a couple.
There is a reason most require two incomes and this salary is not much more than the average couple paying off a mortgage in the city.
If her home purchase and mortgage is recent, there would have been an unexpected large increase in mortgage payments (making a purchase that seemed affordable more difficult).
On RNZ's 5 p.m. news Christopher Luxon blamed Labour's supposed financial mismanagement for the closure of the Penrose pulp and paper mill. The reporter did not question his comments, nor provide a response from Labour. This is predictable reporting – the government repeatedly blames Labour for NZ's current socioeconomic problems, without a challenge.
Surely Government MPs should be challenged when making dishonest statements, rather than being given free rein to repeatedly spread disinformation. Throughout 2023 credit rating agencies supported Labour's economic management.
"Standard and Poor’s is the latest independent credit rating agency to endorse the Government’s economic management in the face of a deteriorating global economy.
S&P affirmed New Zealand’s long term local currency rating at AAA and foreign currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook. It follows Fitch affirming New Zealand’s AA+ rating with a stable outlook and Moody’s annual credit analysis affirming a stable outlook on New Zealand’s local currency and foreign currency ratings at Aaa".
From an earlier RNZ article today, the reasons given for the mill closure were high power prices and an inability to compete with the company's new mill in Malaysia.
"Oji Fibre Solutions Penrose mill is permanently closing, the E tū union says.
Union spokesperson Joe Gallagher said the mill's last day would be 18 December and at least 72 workers at the mill had been affected.
Shift electrician Maurice Upton, who has been at the mill for 20 years, said staff were hoping it could be saved.
He said the Penrose operation was one of the most efficient mills in the country but couldn't compete with a the new mill the company had built in Malaysia".
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Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The weekend byelection in the outer suburban seat of Werribee saw the widely-anticipated slap-in-the-face to Victorian Labor, which is absolutely on the nose. The question is: to what degree were electors venting against federal Labor ...
Mediawatch -Trump's alarmed the world with trade tariffs, turning off aid and proposing to take over Gaza. But New Zealand's had diplomatic drama in the news too - with the media in the middle of it. ...
By Rachel Helyer Donaldson, RNZ News journalist New Zealand should be robust in its response to the “unacceptable” situation in Gaza but it must also back its allies against threats by the US President, says an international relations academic. Otago University professor of international relations Robert Patman said the rest ...
A Christchurch man who lost 55 relatives in three Israeli airstrikes on Gaza says his remaining family will never leave, despite a US proposal to remove them. ...
Asia Pacific Report A national Palestine advocacy group has hit back at critics of its “genocide hotline” campaign against soldiers involved in Israel’s war against Gaza, saying New Zealand should be actively following international law. The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) dismissed a “predictable lineup of apologists for Israel” for ...
ACT Party leader David Seymour said he wrote to police about the treatment of Philip Polkinghorne because it's an electorate MP's job to pass on the concerns of their constituents. ...
MEDIAWATCH:By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter By the time US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China and Canada last Monday which could kickstart a trade war, New Zealand’s diplomats in Washington, DC, had already been deployed on another diplomatic drama. Republican Senator Ted Cruz had said on social ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says New Zealand is asking for too much oversight over its deal with China, which is expected to be penned in Beijing next week. Brown told RNZ Pacific the Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship was reciprocal. “They certainly did ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Byelections occurred on Saturday in the Victorian state seats of Prahran and Werribee. The Liberals gained Prahran from the Greens by a ...
A long time ago, Brian Turner wrote a poem in which, among the mountains, as he slept on a river flat … My speechless ancestors played like mice among my dreamsand he woke to the river running over my bed of stone. I have come to know that where a ...
Pacific Media Watch President Donald Trump has frozen billions of dollars around the world in aid projects, including more than $268 million allocated by Congress to support independent media and the free flow of information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has denounced this decision, which has plunged NGOs, media outlets, and ...
Otago University professor of international relations Robert Patman says New Zealand should provide a robust response to Donald Trump's Gaza plan, and also "should stop tip-toeing" around Trump. ...
The new minister of transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic. ...
Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
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UN Worries On 'Continuous Loss of Lives' in Gaza
Dawn News
[AI generated transcript lightly edited to aid comprehension]
@2:16 minutes:
The sentence, "The Convoy returned to base after being unable to complete its humanitarian Mission" is the important one.
This is a common occurance for humanitarian aid missions seeking to bring relief and aid to civilians in Gaza.
The small amount of aid being let through the Israeli controlled crossings into the territory amounts to little more than a PR exercise if the UN is being prevented from distributing it.
It is significant that the warrants sought by the ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, for the arrest of Yoav Gallant, Israel's Defence Minister and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, cite using starvation as a weapon of war.
Despite Israeli forces continuing to block and sabotage humanitarian aid missions, the ICC decision on whether to grant Khan's arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu have been delayed
Israel backer, the US has threatened sanctions against the ICC if they proceed with arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu.
US House passes ICC sanctions bill over Netanyahu arrest warrant request
Vote is Congress’s first legislative rebuke of war-crimes court since ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek arrests of leaders of Israel and Hamas
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/04/us-house-icc-sanctions-netanyahu-
Thanks for yr efforts Jenny. It's a bit overwhelming and I rarely comment on it but I do read and absorb what you post.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/528262/added-insulation-costs-small-fraction-of-figure-given-by-minister-research
So why arnt u seeing banner headlines with ,MINISTER CAUGHT LYING, and EMBARRASSING BACKDOWN FROM PENK???
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350419537/pm-struggles-explain-why-he-backs-police-gangs-not-guns
mitchell has more spine than luxon it would appear.
Are there no depths to which the Israeli butchers will not go? Exploding pagers…3000 injured plus deaths in Lebanon. Where the tampering and explosive implants were done on a bulk Motorola shipment will be very interesting.
https://www.aljazeera.com
Don't Israel want to wipe Hamas and the Palestinian's out all together, meanwhile Rome burns ???
Lovely people ???
You are right on that I guess. Because they view their situational threats as existential, history has shown they don't muck around.
However it is viewed, there is no doubt that this was an ingenious bit of sabotage, however they managed to do it.
Apparently Hezbollah switched to using pagers because group leader advised that cellphones could be tracked by the Israelis.
This situation reminds me of the Israeli spy Eli Cohen who inflitrated the Syrian military and rose to be influential in Syrian government circles.
I remember an account of him visiting the Syrian troops stationed on the Golan heights. Apparently he advised that the soldiers should not be having to suffer in the sun, so recommended that trees be planted to give them shelter.
Of course, in the seven day war, the Israelis knew to shell anywhere on the heights that had trees.
I do wonder if Hezbollah was infiltrated in a similar way, and the advice to start using pagers was all part of a cunning plot.
You mean a barbaric plot.
Very clever, but basically theyve set out to blow hands off people.
Looking at it as a the outcome of a calculated action, injuring them in ways that prevent them from future combat is probably more effective than killing them.
My dad, who had seen military service, once told me that it is actually better to injure enemy soldiers rather than kill them because this ties up more of the enemy resources in terms of medical support and recovery.
Without doubt, its a brutally effective attack that will tie up surgeons and hospital space for a very long time not to mention aftercare. It takes a lot of operatives out of circulation for a long time if not permanantly.
Also, there will be severe disruption in communications within Hezbollah. If they have switched on mass to pagers, then anyone who still has a pager will be ditching it.
Unless you're unfortunate enough to be a wounded Russian soldier.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-soldiers-killing-wounded-comrade-190154691.html
My question would be about targeting and technique.
Pagers are usually standard item commodities. It is unlikely that Hezbollah were on their own network or that they were the only people in Lebanon with that model of pager.
So how many civilians had those pagers have their battery controller fiddled with and explode? Because each non Hezbollah attacked with this technique constitutes a war crime.
Of course I suspect that the Israeli response would probably be that anyone in Lebabon is Hezbollah. And therefore a legitimate target. This does appear to be the process that they following Gaza and the West Bank.
But of course they are hypocrites. Because if that was the rule of how conflicts operate, then the Israeli casualties and hostages on October 7th are therefore not victims under the same logic.
Israeli government are clearly political idiots. They appear to be on course to keep raising violence towards their citizens because they appear to be completely incapable of ever dealing with their neighbours with anything apart from stupid self-perpetuating violence.
Reminds me of reading up the history of the Judean kingdoms. Fractious internally, Fractious to their neighbours. Continually overrun by empires because they could never work together or with their neighbours.
As a culture, it looks like they have never learnt anything useful over the last 3000 years except how to be incapable of building a peaceful society that is also peaceful with their neighbours. Probability of Israel surviving keeps diminishing through their own efforts like this one.
I tend to agree with you. I think from a rat-cunning perspective, this was a brilliant operation. Undoubtably it has severely disrupted Hezbollah for the short term anyway.
But, from a longer term perspective this sort of action (from both sides) only perpetuates the conflict. Sadly, if humanity is still around in another 1000 years, I think this conflict will still be an issue of world concern.
The problem is that their neighbours (and those that fund them) don't want peace either. And they are just as happy to sacrifice civilians if it furthers their cause.
You mean their immediate neighbours like Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. None of whom have taken significiant military action against Israel for over half a century?
The last military actions with their neighbours were Israel invading Lebanon in 1978 and 1982 to deal with Palestinian refugee attacks on Israel. And periodic attacks by Israel against their other neighbouring states against mainly Palestinian targets.
You don't consider that the Palestinians have a right to be pissed off?
The immediate 'neighbours' in Gaza and the West Bank and for that matter most of Hezbollah and other groups in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are Palestinians whose families were forcibly expelled from their homes in an unlawful ethnic cleansing program by the Israeli government in 1948 onwards.
Since then there has been a campaign by Israel to seize their land and property under the most dubious legal pretences.
Gaza and the West Bank have been occupied territories of Israel since 1967 that have been subjected to either direct martial law or military blockades for over 50 years by Israel. They are subjected to punitive laws, random attacks and massive theft of land and property by Israel and Israeli citizens.
As far as I can tell Israel hasn't made a single good faith attempt to deal with the the local populations that they displaced, stole from, and actively murdered since 1948 and before.
Instead the Israel government appear to treat them as being the persecutors of Jews from the time of the Romans and before.
It probably helps that the Palestinians have been essentially defenceless since 1948 because as we're all aware it is easier to be a bully when the victims you injure and steal from are unable to hit back.
What seems to be infuriating Israelis at present is that while the other Arab nations have shifted over the last 50 years to accepting Israel. But the actual victims of Israel in Palestinian refugees and their families have not, mostly because of lack of any restitution by Israel and the way that Palestinians under occupation are treated. Also that overall they are getting stronger and better armed to resist.
That appears to be have caused problems for Israel because Israel as a state has failed to keep their land-thieving citizens in check. That appears to have been the primary impediment to peace. Israel have had numerous opportunities to negotiate a peaceful co-existence and appear to have deliberately prevented each one from succeeding.
I have zero sympathy for Israel. They are the problem perpetuating a conflict. They are definitely not the victims. They look more like they are the guards of a pending death camp because of racist bigotry.
What Israel needs to do is to kick all settlements out of the West Bank as a sign of good faith and expel all Israeli citizens apart from military from there as well as a sign of good faith. Then start to negotiate a viable state fro Palestinians. That would include territorial concessions in the Negev to allow Gaza and the West Bank a land corridor.
I don't think that a unitary state of Israel and Palestine is at all feasible because of the obvious biases in Israel law and governmental operations against ethnic Arabs.
Paragraphs
1.Hezbollah is better armed than the Lebanese Army and many nation states and makes regular attacks on Israel.
2.Israel attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon this century. The "refugees" attacked in Lebanon were the PLO kicked out of Jordan for trying to take over the place.
4.Hezbellah are Lebanese Shia Moslems. Most of the West Bank (and many of Gaza) residents are not 1948 refugees, they are in the areas they were in awarded for a Palestinian state.
5.Not since 1948, but since 1977 when Likud first came to power in Israel.
7.The Labour Party enacted the Oslo Accord process (1993)allowing the PLO to base in the West Bank and Gaza as the Palestinian Authority (1996). After the failed negotiations of 2000 and the subsequent intifada the Kadima era government enacted disengagement (reducing tension until negotiations resumed) – withdrawal from Gaza and some areas of the West Bank.
9.Egypt and Jordan occupied the WB and Gaza 1948-1967 and made no effort to establish a Palestinian state – because the Arab League goal was defeat of the Israeli state.
10.The Arab states have chosen to recognise because Iran now leads the hostility to Israel and seeks to eliminate the state by arming the Sunni Palestinian Hamas and Shia Moslem Lebanese Hezbollah (soon Shia militias of Iraq will base in Syria to do the same) to war on Israel. The Sunni Arab states do not trust Iran – and see it as using Israel to become a regional hegemon.
11.The situation is a consequence of BN's period in office – he has always opposed a two state peace.
12.Sure the rail/road corridor WB to Gaza is a peace talks issue. The purpose of the WB settlements – to reduce Palestinians into cantons/bantustans in an IDF controlled WB is the real problem, not Jews living in the territory of a future Palestinian state (as two million Arabs do in Israel).
13.A unitary state is too difficult – but a peace that moves the wider area towards that is optimum.
One approach.
aThe UN awards all 1948 refugees a UN Palestinian passport – they can use to live in the WB and Gaza or elsewhere in the ME or Europe/ Americas.
bIsrael allows all UN Palestinian passport holders the right to work in Israel (if they have jobs). A certain number can apply each year for residence.
cThe numbers might well become a million (equal to Jewish settlers with Israeli passports in the land awarded for a Palestinian state.
dEach 1948 Palestinian refugee family qualifies for a compensation payment for lost property.The land used in the WB for Jewish settlements is valued and a transfer to the PA is made – for claims from those who lost land. and to assist those 1948 refugees into WB and Gaza housing.
The justice path is a necessary pre-curser to build trust in the negotiations over the two state outcome.
I won’t bother going through all of your bullshit. Suffice it to say that most of it looks like the usual crap from the self-serving Zionist propaganda.
1948 was most of the majority of the expulsion. It was a deliberate act of ethnic cleansing. As far as I can tell from records released by various governments including some from the nascent IDF, this is an accurate statement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_1948_Palestinian_expulsion_and_flight
What you are parroting is the explanation of the Israeli ‘Old Historians’ who were appear to have been state employed propagandists or from Zionists advocating for the transfer ideology.
Likud’s actions since 1977, are just a continuation using the IDF and settlers inside the West Bank and Gaza of the same barbaric Zionist ideology of terrorism.
You mean that they are in small fraction of the land that was awarded for a Palestinian state in 1948. This is the partition map adopted in November 1947. I am sure that you are aware of the current borders.

What about not since 1948, did you not comprehend.
Strawmanism.
It was in response to your 5th paragraph
And thus your only point there was
Which I had noted.
Still a majority of the WB residents are not 1948 refugees.
Note there are 2 million Arabs in Israel, many of those in the 1947 Palestinian award territory remained and became Israeli citizens.
Wot you said lprent….great post.
It is pissing me off the people that are saying the pager attack is clever where in fact it is pure barbarism (and probably illegal).
One wonders if Israel understands or cares about the hatred towards them that they are engendering all around the world.
Those concepts are not mutually exclusive.
It indeed was "clever" from the perspective that it appears the devices were rigged months ago and that Hezbollah were convinced to exchange their cellphones for pagers due to fears about the Israelis tracking their cell phones.
If Israelis planted someone for the purpose of convincing Hezbollah to move to pagers, then it was an elaborate and brilliant operation.
That doesn't mean it wasn't barbaric though. If it only was attacking combatants then the sort of injuries caused were probably less than what land mines or cluster munitions cause.
War by its very nature is nasty. The fact that civilians were also targeted deliberately or otherwise takes it to the level of a war crime IMO.
It's a war crime pure and simple.
Why our government has not condemned the killing and maiming of civilians, including those in the medical profession, is beyond me.
Terrorism is terrorism, state sponsored or otherwise.
More clever, elaborate and brilliant than flying paragliders into Israel, undetected?
TVNZ 6 o'clock news today called it "audacious". One can only assume they don't know the true meaning of the word.
Certainly going to be a few pissed off people in amongst, Hamas, Hezbollah and the people's/citizens of Palestine. The Israeli's are certainly amping up the hatred.
Historically inaccurate in the sense that in the age of empires this happened to all nations. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece then Rome. All nations in their regions were over-run by them, not just one.
Rome killed a third of the Gauls, enslaved a third and collected tribute tax from the other third. Par for the course and it says nothing about Gaul but that it was an imperial target.
Do you know much about European history over the past 2000 years?
Balkans 1990's, Ukraine 2020's.
Fraser, the CO of WW1, then WW2 PM went off to the UN founding in 1945 with hopes to end war via collective security. A work in progress obviously.
Of course I know a lot about European (and Byzantine) history. I’m weaker on americas, asian and steppe history. History and pre-history has been my hobby interest long before I got developed a interest in computers or actual politics.
Clearly you misread my point. I was talking about the some of the reasons why those small states in the Palestine proved to be so easy to be over run by successive empires.
The judean and proto-judean states were notable in history because of how much of a problem that they were for the empires and that they never seem to have made common cause with their neighbouring political entities, including other judean kingdoms to prevent being overrun. From what history there is, that was a major cause about why states and city states in that area were commonly successively overrun by empires. There is nothing too similar in Europe where the continual migrations weren’t anything like the middle eastern empires.
Ummm… reasonable summary on wikipedia starting around the 1550 BCE to the fall of Babylon by Cyrus in 620BCE. Cyrus encouraged migration of captive jews back to the Palestine. However many did not return and probably formed the bulk of the diaspora across the middle east.
You see the exactly same fractious political traits continuing through to the Roman controlled period (pre and post annexation) in particular with the divisions between factions causing revolts. The Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136CE was the defining moment to depopulate the much of Roman province of Judea.
But the later Roman/Byzantine period, conversions to Christianity and finally the the conversions to Islam after 638CE and the conquest of the Sham did the rest of the change of the remaining jewish families into what are now palestinians.
However all the way from the destruction of second temple in 70AD until the British formed got the Palestinian mandate after WW1, there has been a clear policy by the empires in control of tat region to not allow local autonomy that was characteristic in other areas of the various empires who had control of the Palestine.
This Land Is Mine.
It tells the story of the wars in the land called Israel/Palestine/Canaan/the Levant, since the cavemen until today, all so musical and poetic
https://youtu.be/8tIdCsMufIY?si=4rnKG8cdScUGaLPu
Testicles. They set out to blow testicles off.
https://www.latintimes.com/gruesome-footage-inside-lebanese-hospital-shows-hands-missing-fingers-holes-waistlines-559589
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/19/genital-injuries-taliban-ieds
Think the main aim will have been hands and faces, send the message to trigger with enough delay that the targets take out the pager to read it, if near sighted hold it close to the face as well.
'
How is this not 'Terrorism'?
[AI generated transcript, lightly edited to aid comprehension]
Not Terrorism?
It's a sensitive operation.
"…the sensitive nature of the operation"?
Sensitive?
Sensitive operation or terrorism?
What if Hezbollah had 'modified in some way' a shipment of pagers to Israel to kill the users?
Would this be referred to as a "Sensitive Operation?"
The whole Western mediasphere would be falling over themselves to print screaming banner headlines, in Bold type. "TERRORIST ATTACK"
Seas of ink, real and virtual, would be spilt, in long editorials speculating on the identity of the individuals responsible for this 'terrorist attack'. An international manhunt, would be followed every step of the way by a breathless media
Not this time 'cause y'know "sensitive operation".
Surely this contravene's some International Law's however Israel and the USA apparently do not have to abide by those Laws.
The USA practices “American Exceptionalism” regarding international law and international judiciary bodies. This means they cherry pick which international obligations and organisations they will buy into and which they will violate and ignore.
Dirty, filthy, Uncle Sam as per usual.
That is what makes me look at the commentary on the American elections in disbelief.
We are all supposed to think Trump is a bad man and yet Biden/Harris are enabling the genocide and these barbaric attacks to continue. With no bad press, here or overseas.
Of course the US meddles big time overseas, and always has. However, Trump is an incoherent demagogue, whereas the Democrat option at least run an effective administrative ship. There is no benefit to dismantling/derailing US power internationally without reining in that of other world Big Boys. Trump is moved by the wind from day to day, and it won't get any better as he edges into his eighties.
" whereas the Democrat option at least run an effective administrative ship."
So long as they don't do anything Wall St doesn't approve of. So far enabling and actively contributing to genocide is in the banksters interests. Not that you would read that anywhere because Trump is doing his job well, that bad man.
IN fact …
Trump recognised the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem and has offered no criticism of American policy on Gaza. Trump and the GOP is more pro Israel on Gaza and West Bank settlement expansion than the Biden White House.
Cool, whataboutism to defend genocide enabling.
Whatever helps you sleep at night…
So not only unaware that it would only get worse under Trump, you do not like anyone pointing that out. And accuse people of being genocide enabling to deter any such “dissent”.
Well said gsays
Pack animal.
Says everything about Trump.
The bad man whose Presidency revoked Obama era requirements to report drone deaths outside war zones and tripled the number of Afghan civilians killed by the US military?
.
President Donald Trump has revoked a policy set by his predecessor requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones.
[…]
What was the rule?
It required the head of the CIA to release annual summaries of US drone strikes and assess how many died as a result.
Mr Trump's executive order does not overturn reporting requirements on civilian deaths set for the military by Congress.
There have been 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Mr Obama's eight years in office, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a UK-based think tank.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47480207
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-afghanistan-airstrikes-increased-civilian-deaths-by-330-since-2016-2020-12
Be that as it may, doesn't alter the point I'm making, lovely Joe Biden and his offsider Harris are still enabling genocide.
But the various think tanks, liberal media and too much commentary here on TS are rather mute on that.
What was the point? What was the goal of this brazenly indiscriminate and lawless act from Israel? Does it lower the risk of war? Does it de-escalate tensions with Iran? Israel regards itself as above the law. This is an act of state terrorism. It is an act of war on a sovereign state (Lebanon) and a flagrant breach of the Geneva conventions, which forbid indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations. The only rationale for this action is one of unhinged violence from a militarised state ruled by maximalist genocidal racists whose self-excusing language is now frequently indistinguishable from that used by the Nazi genocidal project during WW2.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/13/israel-gaza-historian-omer-bartov
The mind bending, crazy aspect of all this is if Hezbollah and/or Iran strike back against these blatant acts of war from a rogue state they'll be painted as the aggressors, Israel will be depicted in the Western MSM as victims, and framed from an Israeli view and depicted through an Israeli propaganda lens.
QED – Stuff just now: https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350419904/hezbollahs-terrible-blunder-ended-audacious-pager-attack-killed-nine-injured
"Hezbollah’s terrible blunder that ended with an audacious pager attack that killed nine, injured thousands"
How would "America's terrible blunder that ended with an audacious 9/11 attack that killed three thousand, injured tens of thousands" run, do you think?
Western political elites will unconditionally swing in behind Israel without apparently the faintest idea of the damage it does to their credibility, or that an increasing majority of their voters disagree with them. The fact is, support for Israel now only exists as a project in the political elites of key Western countries, a reality attested by the level of ruthless authoritarianism used to suppress dissent on unconditional support for Israel in their native populations.
The point is probably escalation. To transform the conflict from a localised genocide into a regional conflict where it can plausibly be argued that Israel's continued existence is threatened.
And perhaps also to shave a percentage point or two off the Democrats by making more liberal voters abandon them in disgust – so increasing Trump's chances.
Absolutely the point is escalation. It is the only way to keep the genocide project on track. The US and Israel have been all in on genocide for a while now. If the wheel stops spinning now they will be severely exposed for the barbarians that they are.
And thanks Sanctuary for the extremely lucid, explosive condemnation above
Sure a transfer from using Hamas as rationale for WB policy – post Hamas, to using the Hezbollah-Iran axis.
And BN knows that would work if Trump was POTUS and only might work under a Democrat.
It's WAT policy practice.
Al Qaeda based in Afghanistan and regime change for hosting a "terrorist" group.
The problem Hezbollah has, as an Iranian armed front, is that it is not (just) fighting for Shebaa Farms, but Iran's goal of eliminating the state of Israel.
Thus can be accused of being a terrorist group, even if it is armed and trained otherwise (to be a fighting force).
The reason the Lebanese government is not seen as accountable as per Afghanistan, is that its own army does not control the gun in the country.
Until Iran moderates its agenda to a two state solution, the West can pose Iran as the agency behind a campaign to end the state of Israel.
NZ Herald "US Marine has been training Comanchero Gangsters", I can see why the NZ Police are starting to take a look at the gangs in a more serious light, unfortunately the NZ Police and successive Governments have let the gangs in NZ get too strong IMHO.
I think you must be dreaming if you believe the NZ Police have been blind to organised crime in NZ until now. It's not just gangs who import drugs, which leads to downstream social harm and violent deaths. It's an enticing return for business people, white business people, too, e.g. this man in Auckland, and for transnational cartels.
And guess what: the Comancheros investigation began three years ago, under Labour.
I guess Luxon (with his laser-like focus on 'delivery') will be looking to extradite this US Marine guy from the US and get him to face charges here – if the police think they have something that will stick. Or maybe not.
Mention of the police 'uncovering' military style training camps took me straight back to 2007 and the invasion of Tuhoe.
That went well/sarc.
JD Vance claims that it's media who are responsible for fact-checking politicians' stories, in defending his spread of cat-eating migrant stories in rallies.
He is admitting that no one should believe a thing the Trump campaign says – because they do not practice any self regulation, but exploit any story their supporters promote for them – reminds one of the Key Ede whale of a tale news creation team. That is GOP activists create lies (Trump was part of the birther movement during the Obama presidency) for dispersal into MSM via GOP politicians.
The apparently surprising story of a mayor who had to sell a car.
1. $195,000 paying off a home mortgage in Wellington is not that much
Given the higher tax paid than on two $95,000 salaries of a couple.
There is a reason most require two incomes and this salary is not much more than the average couple paying off a mortgage in the city.
If her home purchase and mortgage is recent, there would have been an unexpected large increase in mortgage payments (making a purchase that seemed affordable more difficult).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/money/350419786/wellington-mayor-struggling-189000-year-how-salary-not-enough-live
I know people are getting outraged by that story but I wish people were outraged about far more important things.
It should be obvious that owning a home on one income is difficult.
Of course, Tory Whanau has a huge target on her back.
On RNZ's 5 p.m. news Christopher Luxon blamed Labour's supposed financial mismanagement for the closure of the Penrose pulp and paper mill. The reporter did not question his comments, nor provide a response from Labour. This is predictable reporting – the government repeatedly blames Labour for NZ's current socioeconomic problems, without a challenge.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/news-bulletin
Surely Government MPs should be challenged when making dishonest statements, rather than being given free rein to repeatedly spread disinformation. Throughout 2023 credit rating agencies supported Labour's economic management.
"Standard and Poor’s is the latest independent credit rating agency to endorse the Government’s economic management in the face of a deteriorating global economy.
S&P affirmed New Zealand’s long term local currency rating at AAA and foreign currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook. It follows Fitch affirming New Zealand’s AA+ rating with a stable outlook and Moody’s annual credit analysis affirming a stable outlook on New Zealand’s local currency and foreign currency ratings at Aaa".
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-gets-aaa-credit-rating-sp
From an earlier RNZ article today, the reasons given for the mill closure were high power prices and an inability to compete with the company's new mill in Malaysia.
"Oji Fibre Solutions Penrose mill is permanently closing, the E tū union says.
Union spokesperson Joe Gallagher said the mill's last day would be 18 December and at least 72 workers at the mill had been affected.
Oji Fibre Solutions said it was considering closing its Penrose mill, partly due to high power prices. Up to 75 workers would be affected……..
Shift electrician Maurice Upton, who has been at the mill for 20 years, said staff were hoping it could be saved.
He said the Penrose operation was one of the most efficient mills in the country but couldn't compete with a the new mill the company had built in Malaysia".
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/528291/auckland-pulp-and-paper-mill-closing-permanently-union-say
Baldrick has the NZ Media under his thumb, like Sir John Key.