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6:00 am, December 20th, 2022 - 124 comments
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Imagine that you are the political editor for a major news organisation. You sit down for an extended interview with the man who wants to be PM.
And then you produce a report which does not have a single specific policy. Or even a hint of one. A parade of platitudes
The headline is a joke: "Upfront". No. There is nothing there. Zilch.
A festive chocolate fish for anyone who can point to any content at all in what Luxon says here. Take the challenge …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130803325/christopher-luxons-endofyear-interview-why-politicians-need-to-be-upfront-about-new-zealands-problems
Policy? Luxon instead used the interview to double down on racist comments.
At least fellow traveller, Jeremy Clarkson, did accept responsibility and attempted an apology:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2022/12/uk-tv-presenter-jeremy-clarkson-horrified-meghan-column-caused-hurt.html
Luke, I am your father.
All of that is so pertinent but there has to be context.
It doesn't matter that what you say is true. The mass who are against Ardern and Labour, the mass who have it that everything wrong with NZ is down to them and every grievance in their lives personally gets back to them, means Luxon doesn't have to say anything of substance.
The belief is that magically with 'not Labour' we'll be on the way to enough doctors and nurses and truckies and builders and teachers and farm workers and hospitality workers. And the housing crisis that started in 2017 will be gone and there'll be no poverty. Crime wave and youth crime? In short order they'll become things of the past.
We have a dumb country and it's destined to determinedly stay that way. The masses don't want to hear reasoned intelligent discussion and solutions.
Solid summary of Fijian election from Canterbury professor https://theconversation.com/a-knife-edge-election-in-fiji-sees-power-shift-and-a-chance-to-bring-back-real-democracy-196465
Negotiating demands revealed by kingmaker party
https://twitter.com/MichaelFieldNZ/status/1604890354548822016
Thanks for the link Sacha, though recent developments have gotten weird:
https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/fijian-elections/gavoka-no-longer-sodelpa-leader/
As The Conversation piece by Ratuva notes, it is only through Gavoka's son in law that there is any connection between the two parties. So it now seems likely that a 3party coalition led by Rabuka is on the cards. Unless Bainimara declares a state of emergency and calls in the military first. I hope the next Sodelpa leader is chosen before 2024!
[deleted]
Given David Seymour is dropping hints all over the place that ACT will demand a true conservative government from Luxon, and not a political vehicle that has had a blue paint job over the previous red, the Left may get something out of the upcoming election after all. Coalition talks may get quite nasty between ACT and National. Keep the popcorn handy.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/12/act-leader-david-seymour-questions-christopher-luxon-s-loyalty-to-conservatism-ahead-of-election-year.html
Act is a radical right-wing party. Never been conservative.
They are pseudo Libertarians. The coalition at best will be weak conservative. I can't see how coalition talks can get past this hurdle:
''In October, Seymour said redefining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and putting them to a public and binding referendum would be a bottom line in any governing negotiations.''
And people think Ardern is divisive?
Ardern is yesterdays news,….don't you think?
Seymour and Luxon are yesterday's comic-strip.
Coming to a town near you, tomorrow.
What will they be conserving?
White privilege, I expect.
Instead of being glib, I don't think you quite understand the ramifications of this quote, should ACT get their way. Have a think.
''In October, Seymour said redefining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and putting them to a public and binding referendum would be a bottom line in any governing negotiations.''
So what would that be conserving?
status quo aka BAU
It's all about choice, squeaks Seymour.
Hobson's Choice.
FFS, do we have to repeat this every day between now and the election? Are people not getting it or (tediously) pretending not to get it? Every 3 years, same posturing before the election, same reality after it.
Seymour's "bottom line" means nothing. Here's how it goes:
Luxon: "Hi Dave, which Cabinet job would you like?"
Seymour: "None, unless you hold a referendum that will destroy your very brief term as PM".
Luxon: "None it is then".
Seymour: "Er, hang on a sec, let's not be too hasty, this referendum idea is … negotiable. Finance portfolio would make it disappear".
Luxon: "Done".
The bottom line … isn't. And you know it.
Not convinced you were paying attention. Christopher said repeal 3-waters and the Maori health authority and then Seymour said, make sure he repeals 3-waters and the Maori health authority.
Why don't you trust Christopher?
first paragraph deleted.
if you want to reference a politician in the MSM you have to give the reference. eg Luxon was on x radio station talkback date/time. Preferably with a link (yes, this means when you are on the internet about to make a comment on TS, you first google the thing you have listened to).
This is because we are here for the robust debate, and people reading and commenting having access to the thing you listened improves debate. It's not FB or twitter or a personal blog where one can just say what one thinks, we're not a reckons forum. There is a debate standard.
You're lucking I didn't just dump the whole comment for wasting moderator time.
as you can now see, someone is commenting on your response to the unknown talkback and disagreeing with you, but we can't fact check because you didn't provide a reference.
You mean this?
''Not convinced you were paying attention. Christopher said repeal 3-waters and the Maori health authority and then Seymour said, make sure he repeals 3-waters and the Maori health authority.''
Yes. Here you are again wanting to have a conversation about something without providing the reference you were just modded on.
take the day off. If you're not going to take moderation seriously, I'm not wasting any more of my time.
Great opportunity to catch up on old recordings of The Farming Show.
In a fucking nutshell.
https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1604555947187523585
https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1604570940029169664
Nah – I judge a political analysis primarily on one thing. Does it have a framework of unity – or division?
Unity is only possible when you have an evolving set of common principles and purposes in order to have coherence.
All functioning societies are a tripolar blend of three broad political instincts; conservative, liberal and social. All three fundamentally share a common interest and purpose in a healthy, functioning society; sharing six core human values . Where we differ is in how we place differing weights on these values.
That in turns means being able to point to what is in and what is out; which introduces the notion of boundaries, and discipline. Each of the three broad political poles can go too far; this is obvious from history. In very broad and simplistic terms:
When liberalism places too much weight on personal liberty it becomes libertarianism.
When conservatism places too much weight on sanctity it becomes some form of fascism.
And when socialism places too much weight on fairness and equity of outcome it becomes marxism.
Note how the extremists of each group, the libertarians, the fascists and marxists bitterly condemn everyone else as standing in the way of the revolutionary, radical change they dearly wish for. And hate most of all moderates of all shades who get on with negotiating political interests, building consensus and delivering a functioning world.
Is there such a thing?
It explains a lot that in your tripolar fantasy world, fairness should moderated.
That is a decent question. I would guess from your commenting record here that it is something you personally place a high value on.
But everything hinges on how you decide to implement fairness. Equal opportunity is something most people agree on; enforcing equal outcomes is another thing altogether.
There is a lot of nuance in this; humans seem to thrive with some degree of competition, but our societies also require a high degree of cooperation at at the same time. Yet when the inequality gradient becomes too extreme, when the rungs at the bottom of the ladder are too far apart or missing altogether, this cooperation breaks down and is the trigger for all manner of social dysfunction.
Clearly both extremes of inequality fail, but measuring and sensing where the optimum balance between them might lie – remains in my view and unsolved problem. Mostly because we are not willing yet to have an honest conversation about what the causes of inequality really are.
The pipeline from phoney left to populist right is represented par excellence by Bradsbury, Trotter, and all the weirdo Putin tankies on the "left" who seem to pine for the certainty of being on the wrong side of the cold war. Maybe all that pro-Putin bullshit they’ve watched on RT has addled their brains, who knows. And since I am old enough to have visited Eastern Europe during the cold war, anyone who took Moscow's shilling was definitely on the wrong side.
Interesting comment on the idea of the Cathedral/Bazaar model. Most of us who consider ourselves to be on the progressive left understand that we are in an ideological battle with two powerful forces. The first is the donor driven politics of the center right that has ruled our lives for most of the last five decades. The second is an even bigger threat from reactionary nationalists in alliance with religious fundamentalists who want to turn back the clock to some glorious era that never existed except as a nightmare for women and minorities. Trotter and Bradbury only want to fight the first group, and and ignore or even play footsie with a reactionary fascist adjacent right. Trotter spends his whole life in a lengthening shadow of obsessive and increasingly absurd conspiracy theories over race issues, endlessly invoking comparisons between co-governance and the racial policies of the Nazis and harking back in a proto-fascist idealised past. Bradbury's is an amusing blowhard and buffoon, who confesses to utter frustration at the "woke lefts" obsession with identity politics whilst seemingly devoting his entire existence to endlessly making common cause with the libertarian far right to wage an incessant war on the topic. His journey from left to a soft cock Boogaloo Boi is something else.
A restatement of the tripolar model I outlined above. Essentially you have described three political poles – progressive socialism, liberalism and conservatism.
Liberalism promotes innovation, liberty and development. Conservatism balances this with a respect for institutions, systems and reliability. Socialism looks to fairness, respect and redistribution. Each of them plays a legitimate role in a healthy society; politics is the eternal contention between all three as time and circumstance change.
Extremism is when any of these three steps over a boundary. You can tell when you are an extremist because you conceive of yourself as a sole arbiter of of a singular truth, isolated in a battle against everyone else.
I'd like to see the argument made that Trotter and/or Redline have abandoned class struggle. I disagree with Trotter a fair amount, and I don't read him that often, but it's quite the claim that he has no class analysis.
Likewise claiming Redline have no class analysis. Whatever criticisms there are to be made about the politics of both, this just seems like an anti-anti reaction.
Scratching my head at this too,
Is she a supporter of open borders? Because neoliberalism does whatever the fuck it wants with borders eg the Key government used fast, excessive immigration as a tool in running the neoliberal economy. Unless one is in favour of open borders, I can't see how neoliberalism can be characterised as closed borders.
We live in a strong, open border state where we can come and go as we please.
yeah, well I've yet to see a left wing explanation of how that will protect communities and the environment. The people I see running that position basically live in cities and visit nature and have zero plan for ecology and increasing population. Nor how to resolve the problems of resource depletion and how that impacts on low income/poor people.
Where Trotter and co react against that, they're holding a conservative position as a service to the community because of the liberals who think open borders are all good. I don't agree with Trotter much, but I think liberals believe they can force everyone to agree with them so what can they expect.
and of course there are clear parallels with women's rights and gender ideologists. People without healthy boundaries are just as dangerous as the people with authoritarian control boundaries.
Well yes. An idea I have been articulating here for some time. We might well debate the details of exactly where these boundaries are located – but it is worth noting the points we do align on.
The neo-liberal approach to border control is that executives/managerial class are free to ply their trade anywhere in the world (necessary as they continually move their production to where the lowest labour costs / best tax incentives are) whereas workers are not free to move willy nilly around the world to work.
This is embedded in international trade agreements in many cases and results in things like RSE at one end and the procession of overseas CEO's running and wrecking our public institutions at the other.
Border control remains a class issue.
.
LOL … spare me the ID pols bullshit from pampered well-to-do virtue-signalers like dear old Daphne … Oligarchic Capitalism absolutely loves the affluent Woke cadre within the Professional Middle Class … its inherent divisiveness, its rejection of traditional Social Democratic class politics in favour of systematically scapegoating the non-indigenous majority of the working & lower-middle classes into a degraded, powerless second-class citizenship.
The new Woke Corporate Oligarchy, with its radically redefined Woke-Identitarian ideology, mirrors sanctimonious bourgeois ID politics activists of the pretend-"Left" in being no friend of democracy and no friend of class politics.
The ruthlessly self-interested masquerading as moral exemplars.
Bryce Edwards, Chris Trotter, DaphnaRedliner & a few others are a breath of fresh air against the perversion of the Left into a self-serving Vanity Project for an affluent, increasingly authoritarian segment of society.
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-ruling-class-promotes-identity?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Bradbury does not hesitate to condemn the woke left but extends the hand of friendship to antivaxxer MAGA idiots trying to overthrow Parliament.
I suggest we should try and find solidarity on the left and leave the loony fringes of the right for ACT or NZ1
100% Swordfish.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/jacinda-ardern-appears-in-trailer-for-prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-new-netflix-documentary/3MKRAERMW5H2PDQRNEFOZKTACE/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/jacinda-ardern-appears-in-trailer-for-prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-new-netflix-documentary/3MKRAERMW5H2PDQRNEFOZKTACE/
opps. Surely it is a pr mistake for Jacinda to appear in the trailer to Harry and Megan’s Netflix doco. Perhaps she wasn’t asked, although in the article it is claimed she has a strong bond with the couple
Surely she wouldn't openly side with a couple that have decided to operate open warfare by useing a completely one sided attack on netflix (haven't nor will ever watch it)
Bwagon, I suspect Jacinda wouldn't have openly sided with H and M. The "close bond"may be tested a bit if they have used her without her permission
Clare Daly speaks truth to power.
The trouble with this sort of nonsense is the ordinary people of the Ukraine have their own agency, and they beg to differ. Ukrainians know peace at any price is just another word for suicide.
It's good to see someone in politics making a sensible speech concerning the Ukrainian war. The point about having to pay four times the previous price for energy and forcing people to choose between eating and keeping warm is a point worth hammering home.
And the Ukranianians don't know that peace talks mean "suicide" We cannot "know" something that isn't true.
the
Spot on mikesh
The Ukrainians tried to make peace In April, but Boris Johnson was sent over to make sure the war was continued.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-must-not-be-pressured-into-bad-peace-deal-says-uk-pm-johnson-2022-06-07/
Yes. I forgot to mention the point Miss Daly made about the Americans laughing at Europe. The Americans don't want the war to end because they see it as weakening Russia, and if it weakens Europe also, that's a bonus.
It all contributes to the cause of American hegemony.
And that is what this proxy war is all about.
What a shame that pooty can't see that he's being played.
The lesson; If you don't want a proxy war on your borders. Don't invade your neighbours.
Russia is fighting the US and Nato in Ukraine?
Was the US fighting Russia and the Warsaw Pact in Vietnam?
While Vietnamese morale, patriotism, superior training and the belief that theirs was a just cause were clearly critical factors, the victory was also due to the virtually ceaseless flow of weapons from Russia.
Yes of course there was some element of 'proxy war' but principally the Vietnam war, was a war against US domination and take over.
The superpowers like to see their imperial rivals get a black eye.
But without the Vietnamese willingness to fight and resist the US invasion the Soviet Union would have had no where to send their weapons.
The same in Ukraine, again there is an element of 'proxy war' but principally the Ukraine war is a war against Russian domination and take over.
https://www.rbth.com/…/vietnam_war_the_critical_role_of…
The proxy war started before 2014.
A simple reading of history shows the Americans were involved in the 2014 coup and have been arming and training the Ukrainian army ever since.
And if you remember the history of the Vietnam war, the Americans started by sending ‘trainers’to assist the South Vietnamese…
That is why we urgently need a ceasefire.
Evidence? Or another soft-headed reckon?
Joe, are really trying to say the Americans weren’t involved in the 2014 coup?
Wow.
I'll ask again, do you have any evidence Americans were involve?
Really? Do you have any evidence?
Cite?
The Russian aggressor will not even agree to a Christmas truce.
Russia launches one of its most damaging missile attacks yet against civilian infrastructure
UKRAINE INVASION
A unilateral withdrawal back to the their own borders is the only guarantee of a proper lasting peace with the Russian Federation invaders.
I think the Orthodox Churches – Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, etc. – do not attach much importance to Christmas, For them the main event in the Christian calendar is Easter. For someone to suggest a ceasefire for Christmas seems a little pernicious.
Christmas Day by the Gregorian calendar is an official government holiday in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church celebrates pretty much like every other Catholic church does.
Orthodox Church of Ukraine celebrations begin today our time, St Nicholas day, when Ukrainian kids clean and leave their footwear along with their Christmas letters on the window sill and St Nicholas visits overnight and leaves presents, and the festival runs through to late January.
So no, there's nothing at all pernicious about Christmas ceasefire proposals.
Is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church a Uniate Church? I'm asking simply as a matter of interest.
They're a non-orthodox eastern mob so I guess they are.
70% of western weapons sent to the Ukraine are not reaching troops?
https://legalresearchandanalysis.com/current-affairs/70-of-western-weapons-sent-to-ukraine-dont-reach-troops-cbs
China appears to adopted ACT's COVID response policy, and “Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production.” is going about as well as you'd expect.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1604748747640119296
Ukraine is a corrupt country.
Weapons have made their way into the ‘terror hotspot of the Lake Chad region.’
https://www.voanews.com/a/nigerian-president-ukraine-war-funneling-arms-fighters-into-lake-chad-basin/6856806.html
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2022/12/03/ukraine-war-weapons-in-nigeria-why-india-should-be-concerned.html
As a vassal state of the Russian empire for centuries, and until very recently a captive of the same corrupt, kleptocratic mode of governance – this does seem entirely possible.
And when the Ukrainian people chose to go in a different direction, sacrifice their lives for this – you do nothing but shit on them.
Yeah what was Ed thinking being critical of the proliferation of arms towards other conflicts.
/sarc
Indeed no-one supports that kind of proliferation. I did not imagine that needed spelling out.
But the claim made by Ed was 'Ukraine is a corrupt country'. Fair enough that I might question why.
Did you see the response below – it does need to be spelt out. Because we have those who are supplying the weapons being incapable of keeping a track of the money it is spending.
And as you said below, those selling the weapons are playing 'a hell of a dangerous game". I've read reports in the past, that some factions are they selling them to the Russians, which is total FUBAR and should be stopped. I don't think it's 70%, but even 1% is to much in my opinion.
Any amount would be too much, but if it is as low as 1% I would be delighted. Ukraine will be no more immune from having traitorous fuckers than anywhere else.
Point is, the leakage is probably some low number, no-one as a reliable handle on it – and Ed is still repeating weak propaganda sources without thinking much.
You are aware that the US is also involved in propaganda?
Well of course; but have you just implicitly acknowledged that Russia does propaganda too?
The simple difference is this – there are Russian troops in Ukraine and not the other way around. No amount of agitprop, or obfuscation over the meaning of words from either side, can gloss over that reality.
It was Putin who turned a diplomatic confrontation into a kinetic one; he started this war and he still has the power to end it at any moment.
The war started in 2014.
It suits NATO and the US to pretend the events of February 2022 came out of the blue. It didn’t.
Not sure if it is a low number and here why. Reports have surfaced that the weapons are in Russia, Syria, and as of last week or so, Africa. With a spread like that, not a small number. I'd guess maybe 3-6% of all materials, including weapons. And in the shear scale of whats being sent that is a large amount.
I'm guessing (wild guess) it's Russian Ukraine's or Gangs who are doing the selling. With the flood of arms and other materials its just too easy in a war zone which is having it's infrastructure systematically destroyed, for stuff to go missing.
I'm not sure that the US minds very much if terrorists are armed.
The procurement and destination of weapons and materiels is at the heart of any military's operations security.
But the AFU will be delighted to hear that their enemy thinks they're losing 70% of US supplied arms.
/
On one hand the Putin fanboys tell us that Ukraine is only beating Russia solely because of Western military aid. Now they are saying only a fraction of this military aid 30% is reaching them?
All I can say to that, is the Ukrainian people are mounting a remarkable defence of their homeland against the Russian invading forces without it.
It's the spilling of the arms out to other conflicts which is the problem Jenny are we there yet. How many of these weapons and materials are ending up in Russian hands? Or the head choppers in Syria?
Umberto Eco;
Presumably the Ukrainians are finding 70% of the weapons to be surplus to requirements and are therefor flogging them off for cash the they need to buy other consumer goods of which they have a greater need.
FFS that old and erroneous article – published over 6 months ago has been roundly debunked and shown by actual events to be a load of hogwash.
Here is just one article where CBS has had to pull a report based in the bullshit being peddled here.
There are many others if anyone wants to waste some time .
In which case why have arms turned up in the Mail Basin? This story is dated December 3rd.
CBS, as a United States news source in a proxy war involving the US, cannot be regarded as an impartial source.
This would seem to imply that the Russians have captured 70% of the weapons supplied. Are the Russians more successful in this war than the propagandists are letting on?
Actually, where does the 70% figure come from?
Out of someones arse.
Exactly.
If the CBS had really turned up solid information that 70% of weapons were not making it to the Ukrainian front – then it is reasonable to think people in Ukraine would know this fact as well.
And what do you imagine would happen to someone caught in such treachery? Because that is exactly what it is – and traitors everywhere are marked out for a very short life.
It would be silly to suggest there is no leakage of this sort, but it is a hell of a dangerous game to be playing.
Oh please the state department is in full propaganda mode over this war.
They are a source I take with a grain of salt, like RT.
It is RT who are currently peddling the 70% claim adam.
Have a good read of the CBS article on which the original estimate was based. This was in April just over a month after the invasion by Russia. Understandably things would be a little chaotic then and supply lines would be patchy at best – remember the chaos as millions of people were fleeing the country at that time. Logistical supplies would take time to progress through to the front lines even with the best will in the world.
and in particular the editors note:
Fark! It was dumped here on TS by that notorious time-wasting (x) Sophist who’s copped a 1-day ban since.
Yes, and several others who shall remain nameless, but are too far down the RT rabbit hole to know the difference between truth, regurgitated opinion, and propaganda.
Thanks for setting the record straight.
There is the report of arms turning up in the Lake Mali area, according to Nigerian and Indian sources.
I posted link above and here it is again.
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2022/12/03/ukraine-war-weapons-in-nigeria-why-india-should-be-concerned.html
Third time's a charm
Well duhh, I knew the original figure was from RT, why I said it.
Never thought the 70% figure was anywhere near real. But, there are arms spilling out. To many are ending up in the hands of bad actors. From Russia, to Syria, to Africa.
I don't know who Daphne Lawless is Joe 90.
And what is the “Cathedral/ Bazaar model”? When I googled it I got stuff about it being about software
But she is utterly incorrect about Redline. They have not rejected class analysist and the link below about the Workers Now political party indicates this. Strong rights given to unions, low tax threseholds for workers, womens spaces for women only (non woke), free speech for all as workers need to be free to debate ideas.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/workers-now/
I read most of Chris Trotters articles and he certainly brings class analysis into what he is writing (although I suspect he would call himself a social democratic (sorry Chris if I am misrepresenting you).
https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1604572652819320832
Thanks Weka.
And what is the “Cathedral/ Bazaar model”? When I googled it I got stuff about it being about software
I also looked it up on google. The way it seems to be being used here is as a metaphor for the distinction between oligarchic democracy and participatory democracy,
Thanks Mikesh!
We are being treated on this site to disinformation about Ukraine, courtesy of a few who have fallen into Kremlin propaganda. One of the egregious lies that Russia invented to justify their murderous and unprovoked invasion is that Ukraine "is Nazi".
Ukrainian Jews give some of the strongest rebukes to this nonsense.
Ukraine’s Jews denounce myth of rampant Nazism
Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer amongst other informed and independent experts and thinkers present a different narrative to the one we are being fed by the corporate mainstream media, yes.
It is not misinformation, though.
I have agreed with various things from Chomsky and Pilger in the past – but not on this.
Seems they have intellectualised themselves into knots, and have emerged defending imperialism, dictatorship, war crimes and censorship.
They remind me of the conversation at the start of this clip…"It would be wise".
They remain voices I respect.
They have abandoned reason for madness.
Chomsky and Pilger would do well to get out from behind their keyboards, visit the country they profess to care so much about – and listen to ordinary Ukrainian people.
Good clip.
The Ukrainian Jews seem to be attacking a "straw man". I doubt whether, these days, Ukrainian fascism has anything to do with antisemitism.
There's no controversy around the fact that Ihor Kolomoisky, a jewish Ukrainian oligarch with an Israeli passport funded the Azov militia when it began in 2014.He had no problem with its neo nazi symbols and ideology, as long as it was effective in brutalising his competitors and attacking the Russians of the Donbas.It was effectively his own private militia.
Azov was also backed by the interior ministry of the Ukrainian govt, many of whom are Jewish , so this nonsense that no Jew would countenance far right neo nazis is quite false
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/who-are-the-azov-regiment
The people who gave the world the anti-cosmopolitan campaign the doctors plot, and the night of the murdered poets are smearing Jews, again.
Surely not?
Russia is returning to the days of the former Soviet Union when it comes to antisemitism, fired by the need for a “scapegoat,” the former Chief Rabbi of Moscow asserted in an interview published on Thursday.
“Russia is returning to the Soviet Union, not in terms of communism, but in terms of its isolation from the rest of the world, antisemitism, general mobilization, repression of dissidents, and economic hardship,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt said in an interview with the Spanish Catholic news outlet Alfa & Omega. “It has become a very unpleasant place to live.”
Goldchmidt said that 50,000 Jews had left Russia for Israel since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, a process he emphasized he had “encouraged.”
“Russia has a very difficult history of government antisemitism,” Goldschmidt observed. “When things go wrong, they look for a scapegoat.”
[…]
Crude antisemitic rhetoric had surfaced again in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, Goldschmidt noted, for example in the claim of Russian propagandists that the war is an operation to “denazify” Ukraine — a stance the rabbi dismissed as “utter nonsense.”
In that regard, Goldschmidt also mentioned the false claim made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”, the allegation made by Russian Security Council Aleksei Pavlov that the Orthodox Chabad movement is a “sect,” and the authorities ongoing attempts to shutter the local operations of the Jewish Agency, which assists those making aliyah to Israel.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/12/15/putins-russia-returning-to-soviet-era-antisemitism-former-chief-rabbi-of-moscow-asserts/
For what it is worth; in the two short periods I lived and worked in Russia I encountered a casual anti-Semitic (and a frank racism directed specifically toward black people ) often enough to surprise me.
That is to say not a daily occurrence or openly blatant, but often enough to suggest it was not rare either.
n=1 and all that.
If anyone wants a nice long read on this quiet Tuesday afternoon!
https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2022/12/Introductory-Material-to-the-Final-Report-of-the-Select-Committee.pdf
link does not work
fixed now
A Labour reboot for 2023
TAX
1. Adopt the Greens 1% wealth tax on those with asset equity over $1M
2. The American concept of progressive income tax for companies as we do for individuals (so high profit companies pay more tax – the Oz banks etc)
3. A FTT (if seen as more efficient than incorporation of the financial services sector into GST)
4. 1-3 enabling reduced income tax and or WFF/AS changes.
5. A land tax for contributions to an infrastructure fund (for housing/PT/water etc)
6. The first year after any increase in AS involves a rent freeze
Housing
1. buy up homes (those with space for granny flat small builds extra) and or lease to increase the number of state houses charging income related rent to 100,000 and get people out of motels.
2. the current upgrade/renovate or replace phase to get Kainga Ora stock up to modern standard include a focus on disability and aged friendly accommodation renovation.
3. take advantage of the building downturn to reboot Kiwibuild – and allow existing flat/apartment owners to buy in when starting a family, aging singles seeking co-ownership companionship/mutual support, and boomers downsizing (see 7) (this allows sales while mortgage rates are high).
Welfare
1. Disability singles at super rates, and the base income support rate when in partnership
2. move repayment of debt to the TD model (begins once people have employment)
3. support those with terminal sickness or undergoing cancer treatment at ACC levels
4. refinance the debt of women going onto the DPB after divorce (and become partners in making mortgage payments, leading in some long term cases to the home becoming a state house).
PT
1. Free offpeak to CSC holders and students. Half fare otherwise.
Health
1. no tertiary debt repayments required for anyone working in our health system
2. investment in drugs that keep people in employment and out of health care (GP/hospital/carer) dependency to reduce system costs and stress on capability
Dental.
1. Expand CS card service from hospital treatment (emergency check and tooth removal) to annual dental visits.
2. Expand hospital treatment to low income workers.
Predictably Donald Trump has called the SC, a "kangaroo court"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64034559
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_court
https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-is-a-kangaroo-court.htm
Between the NFTS and this, I think we can finally call trump, done.
Oh that's a surprise, Trump calls it a kangaroo court and wants the talk to be about that.
I thought it was an investigation, an inquiry into what happened on Jan 6 and around that. I realise the committee heard from many, many people. I heard that others who had information refused to share what they knew. People who apparently had dealings with Trump on that day as events unfolded.
The definition including "that would be in favour of the defendant"? There was no defendant. There was no trial. It was not a court.
.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/19/terry-hall-lead-singer-of-the-specials-dies-aged-63
Was thinking of this one after I heard the news today.
You see! (Why are we wasting our energy talking about Seymour??)
"The Green Party welcomes an historic new global agreement to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade and calls on the Government to follow it with immediate action to protect native wildlife."
https://www.greens.org.nz/urgent_action_needed_at_home_following_global_deal_for_nature
Astonishing incompetence and corruption.
https://wartranslated.com/russian-volunteer-murz-on-why-russia-is-not-ready-to-defend-ukrainian-winter-offensive/
Hopefully some goodwill gestures await. Goodwill all the way back to Ukraine's borders would be nice.
RT Russia Today, speculates on Russia's defeat in their war with Ukraine.
RT accuses Ukraine and Nato of planning a genocide of Russian speakers in Ukraine on Russia's defeat.
The weird thing is the President of Ukraine is a native Russian speaker, who learnt to speak Russian at school.
The weird thing about this story is that the Russian Federation have been mercilessly bombing the Russian speaking Ukrainian city of Odessa
The other weird thing, the President of Ukraine is a native Russian speaker, who learnt to speak Russian at school. Will he too be rounded up in this supposed post war pogrom of Russian speakers?
Bu truly the most weirdest thing about this claim, in a paragraph that would not be out of place in an episode of Black Adder Goes To War, RT's evidence for this supposedly planned genocide of Russian speakers in the Donbas following a Ukraine victory is the lack of any evidence for it.
The morning after Russia's retreat from Ukraine, Ukrainian army officers will rip off their Ukrainian uniforms to reveal their black Waffen SS uniforms complete with glittering silver deaths head insignia and will order the round up of millions of Ukrainian Russian speakers. President Zelensky having served his purpose, will be detained and stripped of his titles and with the other Russian speakers loaded into cattle cars to be transported to one of many newly built extermination camps alongside all the Jews and Gypsies (OMG Zelensky a Russian speaking Jew, will be doubly damned)