It's hard to feel sorry for this kind and caring bloke when he falls for virtually the same scam so many times. As they say, "A fool and his money are easily parted".
The Korean war should have been our the last US war of choice that we supported.
But no.
You would think, that our experience in Vietnam would have taught us a lesson?
But again no.
We just had to send troops to the US bloodfest in Afghanistan.
And we are still doing it.
Why?
America’s Coming War With China
Conflict is both undesirable and imprudent, but appears inevitable given our current leadership.
Douglas MacGregor – The New Conservative, June 8, 2021
…..If the political purpose of a new Pacific war is to change Chinese behavior externally or internally—to render China incapable of resisting American political demands—it is worth noting that China is not Imperial Japan in 1941. Japan’s economy was roughly one-tenth the size of the U.S. economy, and it still required three years of hard fighting by U.S. forces to redeem America’s ignominious defeat at Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines….
…..China’s economy is also nearly the size of the American economy and, in contrast to Imperial Japan, Beijing has generally avoided armed conflict with its neighbors despite a number of disputes. In fact, the dramatic success of the regional comprehensive economic partnership—which creates a free trade agreement between China and the Asia-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam—has made Washington’s notion of building an anti-Chinese alliance very difficult, if not impossible.
As American diplomats are rapidly discovering, none of these states really wants to be caught in the middle of a conflict between China and the United States.
Are regional states, like New Zealand, reluctant to be caught up in this conflict as this writer claims?
If so;
Then how much back room arm twisting and secret threats did it take the US, to get New Zealand to send warships to take part in thier war games in the South China Sea?
"The Korean war should have been our the last US war of choice that we supported.
But no.You would think, that our experience in Vietnam would have taught us a lesson?
But again no.
We just had to send troops to the US bloodfest in Afghanistan.
And we are still doing it.
When will we ever learn?"
Great question, my take is that we (as country) won’t, or more accurately can’t and will never learn any military lessons from history while we are still governed by people (and enabled by all MSM).who won’t even acknowledge that the endless growth economic system that they all adhere to like members of some insane death cult is literally burning the planet before their eyes.
These people are not the free thinkers that we need to extract us from climate change and endless pointless wars, they are just the same old stodgy minded thinkers from yesterday that have proven that they have no capacity to take on board new bold transformative , progressive ideas..let alone come up any themselves.
Watching these slow minded, slack jawed idiots jump on the this new US lead anti-China campaign like lemmings off a fucking cliff has been depressing for me to be honest …”when will we learn”..not any time soon by the looks of it.
The only hope we have is that there is a whole generation coming through right now, who have huge student loans, no hope of ever owning their own home (so no mortgages , which as we all know kills off the revolutionary spirit faster than any other single thing)..are being gouged relentlessly by boomers for rent every single week of their lives and to top it all off,are being left with a planet on fire!
They literally have no skin in the game of freemarket liberalism, they have nothing to lose, which is exactly the right place to be and to start from when it comes to throwing out the old and starting something new, let’s all hope that their brave new world also sees through the mountains of bullshit that keeps moronically pushing that old troupe, endless war is just a human condition.
Surely China's neighbours will have haad a good think about yankistan's reliability as an ally, in view of recent events. The UK will come to heel of course.
I suspect it has more to do with the fact that we have a vested interest given that our main shipping route to Japan and Taiwan is straight through the South China Sea, and we have a longstanding policy of supporting international maritime law and UN resolutions vis a vis The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of Philippines v. The People's Republic of China) 2013 etc.
Short answer as to why that perspective has always been bullshit, from corner stores to geopolitics: folks you trade with would often prefer to take what you have for free.
Short answer as to why that perspective has always been bullshit, from corner stores to geopolitics: folks you trade with would often prefer to take what you have for free.
Let me get this straight. According to you; We are protecting our trade routes to China, to stop China from taking our stuff for free, en-route, before it gets to China?
You've got to be kidding, that's just so many colours of crazy.
But OK. I'll play.
For a start it would be piracy.
Military ships, Chinese crews, trained for armed takeover of freighters on the high seas.
What's the ROI on that?
If China really wanted to take our stuff for free, wouldn't it be cheaper for them, to just not pay us for it, after we had delivered it?
The worry is not that China want our stuff for free, the real worry is that they might not want it at all.
New Zealand's number one export to China is milk powder
Australia's number one export to China is iron ore.
China’s five-year plan to slash Australian iron ore imports
Michael Smith – Financial Review, May 22, 2021
The Chinese government has drafted a five-year plan to slash its reliance on iron ore from Australia and other countries by almost half by investing in new mines offshore and seeking alternative supplies from Russia, Myanmar, Kazakhstan and Mongolia…..
Figures on a Chinese consumer website show New Zealand has topped a list of countries that had their milk products rejected by China last year.
The website says, according to customs data, nearly 14 percent of the total number of dairy products rejected between October 2013 and November 2014 were from this country.
The Shipin Anquan Kuaisu Jiance site did not specify why 60 batches from New Zealand were rejected, but said generally products from around the world had been sent back or destroyed because of illegal use of chemicals, expired due-by-date or excessive e-coli bacteria counts…..
Vietnam, the Phillipines, and Indonesia all trade with China. That doesn't mean they don't need to actively defend what they see as their territory from China, particularly in relation to the South China Sea. Including international sea lanes.
No major power is benevolent. The trick for smaller nations is to utilise their own defence capabilities and international alliances to make trade more attractive than occupation.
Beijing has generally avoided armed conflict with its neighbors despite a number of disputes.
Because they can't. You're mistaking an 'inability to act' for 'peaceful intentions'. The premise of this article you quote is around the question of a US -China war. Neither nation is interested in such a thing – the Chinese cannot project power beyond their immediate borders, and the US is absolutely not going to put boots on the ground in China.
China faces a number of hard geopolitical constraints and while the US media likes to overestimate it's opponents, this doesn't change the realities on the ground or at sea so much. There are at least four critical problems they face:
Their geography means they cannot project power easily. On land they face the Himalayas or the vast open grasslands that both present impossible logistic challenges. To their south mountainous jungles and their access to the global oceans is constrained by hostile archipelago neighbours.
It may be the 2nd largest economy, but per capita remains about 77th in the world. And most of the new wealth is concentrated in the large coastal cities. As a result it's one of the most unequal societies on earth and faces considerable internal dissent. It's no coincidence that the greatest repressions are happening in the impoverished interior provinces.
It's rapidly ageing society that is rapidly running out of the young people necessary to sustain internal consumption led growth. Worse still it's rapidly losing it's labour price advantage over the rest of the world. China will not remain the 'workshop of the world' forever – that title is rapidly moving to places like Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam and India. Supply chains move about all the time. As a result China may well become the first great nation to become old before it gets rich – and no-one knows what might happen then.
The entire growth of modern China has been based on it's ability to trade with the rest of the world – for both raw input materials and access to markets. And it controls none of the pre-conditions necessary for this to happen. It doesn't control access to the oceans, to it's markets nor to the rules based order that enables these things to happen. The CCP leadership well understands this, hence the entire BRI initiative that can only be read as an attempt to create it's own alternative system that it does control. How well this works out remains to be seen – personally I think the CCP will expend a lot of resources for not much return on the project.
For all these reasons I think there will be no great power war between the US and China – with the caveat of an attempted invasion of Taiwan. (That would almost certainly fail – amphibious invasions are incredibly hard to pull off and Taiwan is very well prepared for this possibility.) The PRC media and diplomats perform much posturing, but their actions are exceedingly cautious just were the Soviets before them – their Admirals are not fools and can count ships. As with the Cold War – all the US has to do is create an alliance to contain the CCP and – wait.
The article requires subscribing before reading, so I didn't, but the headline was enough to make me think about "the way forward" being an amalgam of naturalism and science, the old and the new, or whatever 🙂
White clover makes for a good test species because it has already displayed the stamina to survive in climates from Norway to southern India, Dr. Johnson said. The plant also helps nourish soil with nitrogen and serves as an important source of nectar for bees and other pollinators.
The clover adapts to colder climates by losing its ability to make hydrogen cyanide or HCN, a toxin the plant produces to protect itself from predators, like snails, insects and voles, and in the country, cows, sheep and goats. The number of plants that produce hydrogen cyanide increases with every mile away from the city center, the study found, with small cities showing the same effect as big ones.
White clover that grew in an urban environment was less likely to make hydrogen cyanide, Dr. Johnson said. Although cities can be warmer than the countryside, the heat and human activity result in less snow than in rural areas. Without snow to insulate the plants from the cold, the clover would poison itself if it could not give up its ability to make hydrogen cyanide, Dr. Johnson said.
I was confused right through the second and third paragraphs till we got to: snow to insulate the plants.
I'd be more interested in some thinking around/examination of variance in their microbial symbionts, and their contribution to the hologenome leading to a highly adaptive supraorganism.
Honestly, I wonder who gives half these people their doctorates. But then, multi-disciplinary thinking is still more a catchphrase than a thing.
Thanks for that detail, ianmac; very interesting indeed. At first, counter-intuitive: why would a plant let go of a protective process (making hydrogen cyanide)? Realising that the herbivores that like clover don't like cities was the moment…
Of course, I may have got that wrong 🙂
Yes it's a shame the entire article is behind a paywall – it would make for an interesting read.
While my expertise and natural bias lies on the industrial side of the equation that constitutes human welfare – I've always tried to give full credit to the 'agricultural' side as well. There is much to learn about both and much I think both can contribute to each other if each was willing to set aside their suspicions of the other.
Perhaps the one lesson that nature has to offer above all is just how subtle and powerful the process of evolution is. In just about every field of human endeavour I can think of – the principles of organic processes can be applied.
More than anything else, evolution is a balanced process. It both conserves and innovates at the same time. It both creates and destroys, and perhaps most fascinating of all – how the old must give way to the new in order to reveal the potential hidden within it.
I think you've misread me – biology is the layer at which evolution appears, but as DB alludes to, it's principles are by no means limited to biology – they build upward from there.
Energy, both ambient and biologically available, drives evolution. Higher temperature allows for higher metabolic rates using less energy, while total biologically available energy leads to larger population sizes. Larger population sizes use larger range sizes which contribute more geographic variation leading to further environmental selection pressures. More food = more young. More young = more variance. Higher populations and temperatures both lead to more mutation events, some of those become adaptations to selection pressures.
Continuing in this vein new species may arise on the fringe of large populations where sub-populations adaptations to variance in environment may eventually separate them (geographically, spatially or temporally) from interbreeding.
As redlogix alludes to, there is much for man to learn from evolution. It's a numbers game and breakthroughs come when large numbers are challenged by variance in the environment. While random mutations underpin much of this, selection is not random, it is driven by the environment.
Iterative adjustment to environmental pressure is the norm. Failure to adapt may be a death sentence. Iteration for the sake of business (e.g. new phone or car model) mimics evolution but is simply wasted resources. A population wasting resources to hoard for specific individuals decreases their chances of survival. All species are limited to the energy available within their range. As we consider ourselves thinkers, resources should go to adaptation to environment first, propagation of new generations second, and getting fat last.
Evolution is often described as an arms race (it often is) or survival of the fittest (it can be that too), but the real deal for survival is symbiosis. We're all packed with bacteria that entrain our immune systems, and issues with our microbiomes development can have profound results on human health and development. Humans too, could become symbionts – to the planet. That is our means of survival.
Clover not only uses chemistry to protect itself, but biology (via chemical signals). Plants trade with microbes to get (some of) the ingredients for the cyanide. Clover is clearly well adapted with massive range ( = massive populations) and both fungal and microbial symbionts involved. It is highly adaptive at least partially because it is well connected.
The hologenome of clover (combined genome of the plant and its symbionts) is greater than merely its own genome. The supraorganism (combo of plant and symbionts that act in concert as one organism) is far greater than the plant alone.
The old iteration of leaders (warmongers, capitalists) are killing us. Humanity must evolve as symbionts or be significantly diminished.
While random mutations underpin much of this, selection is not random, it is driven by the environment.
Indeed as the other post on globalisation attempts to outline – the ground is shifting under us both politically and economically in ways most people are not thinking about.
White clover is at the top of my weed list. Every bee sting i have ever had has been the fault of white clover. No matter how short you cut or not it it will always set flowers low to the ground. Bees will feed not only on these flowers but also underneath making a landmine.
Red clover on the other hand is my no1 friendly. Flowers set on the end of long stems and bees are not threatened by being brushed against. There are so many benefits to red clover i would have to write a post to cover.
(note that red clover will die off if mowed low and often as this cuts the crown off the plant)
If I ever join the landed gentry I'd love to experiment with moss instead of grass/clover. Probably as labour-intensive in different ways, but I've always liked the look and feel of it.
Moss likes a damp environment so you might not want a property to suit. Lawn camomile would give you a similar effect. Would be a lot of work keeping the weeds out, but would smell great when you mow it.
Chamomile lawn is fantastic. Not sure of the maintenance issues, you'd want to get it relatively weedless – but it looks good, feels good, and releases nice smells. A man who built Flax Lodge on Great Barrier had a chamomile lawn in his moon well. What a great place to hang out of an evening.
From family and friends who are deemed essential workers. We are only in our 5th day of lockdown, and I already see and hear of burnout. Sure those testing and admin jabs are doing a great job, but how long can they continue at this pace? And there are few in reserve that can be brought up to give these valuable people a respite. The same for supermarket workers, petrol station attendants, hospital workers etc There will be a need soon for them to have a break for their well being but financial stress, doing their bit for society etc may preclude this. I hope that those in senior positions are thinking of these and others and do not have expectations that current work outputs will continue. And we all can do our bit by showing our gratitude: a thank you, especially if they are part of our bubble.
Alot of the essential services are running low on staff with standdowns etc, given lockdown looks to be extending im going to apply for one of the many temp positions at the local supermarket gets me out of the house, helps keep shelves stocked and hopefully offers the chance for someone to have a shift off.
Another odd consequence of lockdowns is the courier drivers find themselves working even longer days delivering alcohol and flour (of all damn things) to domestic addresses in locations they rarely have to service and often not easy to find.
They typically get up at 4am and find themselves delivering stuff at 8pm in the dark to people who then whine about them being late. High burden, low margin work.
Thanks RL, it's the kind of work I'm involved in & we're flat tack! The best thing is people are happy to see us & being really positive, but I get annoyed at seeing people gathering but then I guess I'm lucky because I get to do something, keep active.
Courier and delivery people generally put up with the negatives because the work itself allows them some degree of personal autonomy that most other jobs don't offer. And they get to go places and interact with lots of different people – it can be kind of cool in this respect.
But the burn-out rate is pretty damned high, not all that many last more than 3 -4 years at it. As ‘contractors’ they’ve fall into an industrial relations grey zone that no govt has shown much interest in looking at.
At our local country supermarket this afternoon, as we were about to scan in, a middle aged couple rushed through. The young doorman politely requested, "Excuse me, please sign in." The response was, "HAVEN'T GOT TIME, we're in a hurry!" And they rushed into the store. I believe scanning/loggingin is to be made mandatory within a week, I guess this sort of behaviour is going to cause some real issues (in fact is already happening) for the poor individuals on the doors everywhere.
When health resources are available the unvaccinated would not be turned away. When resources become limiting their vaccination status might contribute to triage, which is unfortunate but logical.
A lot of pressure was put on the government last year and earlier this year by the opposition, business leaders, Hosking/Hawkesby & mates, Plan B attention seekers, universities wanting overseas students here, people wanting to holiday overseas (understandable for those wanting to see family) and farming/horticulture wanting workers.
Those same people are all rather quiet now that we are in lockdown again. Have those same people been doing their scanning every time they have gone into any premises? The contact tracing now having to be done could have been quicker if they had been doing that.
Stalking is still an issue in NZ, when it should be a priority for lawmakers. Who is more vulnerable than a stalking victim? Don't tell me murder victims. They are already dead.
English police have the power to take out stalking protection orders without forcing the victim through a lengthy court process. It puts the responsibility for monitoring behaviour onto police, rather than victims, Towns says.
That’s something that’s lacking in New Zealand, she adds.
The onus is always on victims. To gather evidence – even when the law isn’t there to prosecute. To make police reports – so if the worst happens at least there’s a paper trail. To get a protection order.
Protection orders are often the only avenue open to people being stalked by their partner or ex-partner.
They are usually granted through the Family Court. Their purpose is to protect the victim from contact or violence from the person named on the order.
But to get one there has to be evidence of a risk of serious harm, Women’s Refuge policy adviser Natalie Thorburn explains.
“Given that there’s often very little evidence of the stalking, and that individual episodes of stalking are only harmful because of the backdrop of abusive behaviour, it’s a hard threshold to meet.”
Thus creating the philosophical and editorial question if a fool makes a noise in the middle of nowhere and nobody is around to hear, do they really need a photo-op?
I find so much that is just plain wrong in your post, starting with "It did not seek to expand it's territory" for one, that I would need a whole series of posts to debunk it.
Whether or not I'm happy with the end of the "American century" is irrelevant. They USA is ending it anyway. It is their own fault, but not because they are "retreating from the world". Their dependence on manufacturing and economic support from China will preclude that.
Unless they indulge in another one of the huge social enterprises that have repeatedly saved their otherwise dysfunctional economy. War!
We just had a graphic illustration of how the USA,s misconceptions and view of themselves is a false narrative, in Afghanistan.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
"It is also a story of miscalculation and hubris, one that resonates rather profoundly this week as American soldiers, diplomats, intelligence officials and many thousands of Afghans flee the Taliban’s assault on Kabul."
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Hayley Palmer, BAN’s chief operating officer, was on the team that followed where they went afterwards. As the signals left the country, Palmer, her nine-month-old and a colleague tracked the monitors to a warehouse in Hong Kong and then on to an illegal dump-yard in a rural part of Thailand where they talked their way inside."
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Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
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It's hard to feel sorry for this kind and caring bloke when he falls for virtually the same scam so many times. As they say, "A fool and his money are easily parted".
The scammers have no moral compass.
West Coast beekeeper turns Brazilian drug mule in sophisticated scam – NZ Herald
‘
Why are New Zealand warships taking part in American war games in the South China Sea?
Why is US Vice President Harris going to Vietnam?
Is it this all part of US plans to shore up regional support for their next war?
It seems that it is.
Should we really be taking part in it?
When will we ever learn?
The Korean war should have been our the last US war of choice that we supported.
But no.
You would think, that our experience in Vietnam would have taught us a lesson?
But again no.
We just had to send troops to the US bloodfest in Afghanistan.
And we are still doing it.
Why?
Are regional states, like New Zealand, reluctant to be caught up in this conflict as this writer claims?
If so;
Then how much back room arm twisting and secret threats did it take the US, to get New Zealand to send warships to take part in thier war games in the South China Sea?
Or did we go willingly once more into the breach?
When will we ever learn?
"The Korean war should have been our the last US war of choice that we supported.
But no.You would think, that our experience in Vietnam would have taught us a lesson?
But again no.
We just had to send troops to the US bloodfest in Afghanistan.
And we are still doing it.
When will we ever learn?"
Great question, my take is that we (as country) won’t, or more accurately can’t and will never learn any military lessons from history while we are still governed by people (and enabled by all MSM).who won’t even acknowledge that the endless growth economic system that they all adhere to like members of some insane death cult is literally burning the planet before their eyes.
These people are not the free thinkers that we need to extract us from climate change and endless pointless wars, they are just the same old stodgy minded thinkers from yesterday that have proven that they have no capacity to take on board new bold transformative , progressive ideas..let alone come up any themselves.
Watching these slow minded, slack jawed idiots jump on the this new US lead anti-China campaign like lemmings off a fucking cliff has been depressing for me to be honest …”when will we learn”..not any time soon by the looks of it.
The only hope we have is that there is a whole generation coming through right now, who have huge student loans, no hope of ever owning their own home (so no mortgages , which as we all know kills off the revolutionary spirit faster than any other single thing)..are being gouged relentlessly by boomers for rent every single week of their lives and to top it all off,are being left with a planet on fire!
They literally have no skin in the game of freemarket liberalism, they have nothing to lose, which is exactly the right place to be and to start from when it comes to throwing out the old and starting something new, let’s all hope that their brave new world also sees through the mountains of bullshit that keeps moronically pushing that old troupe, endless war is just a human condition.
Surely China's neighbours will have haad a good think about yankistan's reliability as an ally, in view of recent events. The UK will come to heel of course.
Which of China's neighbours do you reckon want the United States to "help" in the neighbourhood? The Philippines? Vietnam? Laos? Cambodia? Korea?
https://www.salon.com/2012/06/17/when_chomsky_wept/
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=historical-perspectives
I suspect it has more to do with the fact that we have a vested interest given that our main shipping route to Japan and Taiwan is straight through the South China Sea, and we have a longstanding policy of supporting international maritime law and UN resolutions vis a vis The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of Philippines v. The People's Republic of China) 2013 etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTCqXlDjx18&feature=emb_logo
Short answer as to why that perspective has always been bullshit, from corner stores to geopolitics: folks you trade with would often prefer to take what you have for free.
Let me get this straight. According to you; We are protecting our trade routes to China, to stop China from taking our stuff for free, en-route, before it gets to China?
You've got to be kidding, that's just so many colours of crazy.
But OK. I'll play.
For a start it would be piracy.
Military ships, Chinese crews, trained for armed takeover of freighters on the high seas.
What's the ROI on that?
If China really wanted to take our stuff for free, wouldn't it be cheaper for them, to just not pay us for it, after we had delivered it?
The worry is not that China want our stuff for free, the real worry is that they might not want it at all.
New Zealand's number one export to China is milk powder
Australia's number one export to China is iron ore.
Vietnam, the Phillipines, and Indonesia all trade with China. That doesn't mean they don't need to actively defend what they see as their territory from China, particularly in relation to the South China Sea. Including international sea lanes.
No major power is benevolent. The trick for smaller nations is to utilise their own defence capabilities and international alliances to make trade more attractive than occupation.
Remind me how that's working out for Australia again?
Are you capable of attempting answers your own rhetorical questions?
Is there any other block quote available other than the most militant commentary one could find outside of the Hoover Institute?
What are the views of the Prime Minister on this that you could find on Scoop over the past two Parliamentary terms?
Does New Zealand have a Defence White Paper you could actually quote some local reality from?
What is the stated New Zealand position on intervention in this geographical area that you can find on the MFAT website?
Would one prefer lobbing really softball questions to oneself because actually acting in the world is hard?
What is reading anyway?
Why think?
Beijing has generally avoided armed conflict with its neighbors despite a number of disputes.
Because they can't. You're mistaking an 'inability to act' for 'peaceful intentions'. The premise of this article you quote is around the question of a US -China war. Neither nation is interested in such a thing – the Chinese cannot project power beyond their immediate borders, and the US is absolutely not going to put boots on the ground in China.
China faces a number of hard geopolitical constraints and while the US media likes to overestimate it's opponents, this doesn't change the realities on the ground or at sea so much. There are at least four critical problems they face:
For all these reasons I think there will be no great power war between the US and China – with the caveat of an attempted invasion of Taiwan. (That would almost certainly fail – amphibious invasions are incredibly hard to pull off and Taiwan is very well prepared for this possibility.) The PRC media and diplomats perform much posturing, but their actions are exceedingly cautious just were the Soviets before them – their Admirals are not fools and can count ships. As with the Cold War – all the US has to do is create an alliance to contain the CCP and – wait.
Something both DB Brown and RedLogix might enjoy 🙂
"Scientists are studying clover in urban settings all over the world because it is rapidly evolving to cope with the stresses of urban life."
White Clover Can Be an Annoying Weed. It May Also Hold Secrets to Urban Evolution.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/science/white-clover-evolution.html
The article requires subscribing before reading, so I didn't, but the headline was enough to make me think about "the way forward" being an amalgam of naturalism and science, the old and the new, or whatever 🙂
Might help Robert.
I was confused right through the second and third paragraphs till we got to: snow to insulate the plants.
I'd be more interested in some thinking around/examination of variance in their microbial symbionts, and their contribution to the hologenome leading to a highly adaptive supraorganism.
Honestly, I wonder who gives half these people their doctorates. But then, multi-disciplinary thinking is still more a catchphrase than a thing.
Thanks for that detail, ianmac; very interesting indeed. At first, counter-intuitive: why would a plant let go of a protective process (making hydrogen cyanide)? Realising that the herbivores that like clover don't like cities was the moment…
Of course, I may have got that wrong 🙂
Yes it's a shame the entire article is behind a paywall – it would make for an interesting read.
While my expertise and natural bias lies on the industrial side of the equation that constitutes human welfare – I've always tried to give full credit to the 'agricultural' side as well. There is much to learn about both and much I think both can contribute to each other if each was willing to set aside their suspicions of the other.
2 sides of a coin but there's only one coin 🙂
Perhaps the one lesson that nature has to offer above all is just how subtle and powerful the process of evolution is. In just about every field of human endeavour I can think of – the principles of organic processes can be applied.
More than anything else, evolution is a balanced process. It both conserves and innovates at the same time. It both creates and destroys, and perhaps most fascinating of all – how the old must give way to the new in order to reveal the potential hidden within it.
"In just about every field of human endeavour I can think of – the principles of organic processes can be applied."
Physics?
🙂
Less so – in the hierarchy of the sciences math, physics and chem lie underneath biology – which is the layer at which evolution appears.
That's a point on which we have differing views. Why should evolution only apply to biology?
@ Robert
I think you've misread me – biology is the layer at which evolution appears, but as DB alludes to, it's principles are by no means limited to biology – they build upward from there.
Energy, both ambient and biologically available, drives evolution. Higher temperature allows for higher metabolic rates using less energy, while total biologically available energy leads to larger population sizes. Larger population sizes use larger range sizes which contribute more geographic variation leading to further environmental selection pressures. More food = more young. More young = more variance. Higher populations and temperatures both lead to more mutation events, some of those become adaptations to selection pressures.
Continuing in this vein new species may arise on the fringe of large populations where sub-populations adaptations to variance in environment may eventually separate them (geographically, spatially or temporally) from interbreeding.
As redlogix alludes to, there is much for man to learn from evolution. It's a numbers game and breakthroughs come when large numbers are challenged by variance in the environment. While random mutations underpin much of this, selection is not random, it is driven by the environment.
Iterative adjustment to environmental pressure is the norm. Failure to adapt may be a death sentence. Iteration for the sake of business (e.g. new phone or car model) mimics evolution but is simply wasted resources. A population wasting resources to hoard for specific individuals decreases their chances of survival. All species are limited to the energy available within their range. As we consider ourselves thinkers, resources should go to adaptation to environment first, propagation of new generations second, and getting fat last.
Evolution is often described as an arms race (it often is) or survival of the fittest (it can be that too), but the real deal for survival is symbiosis. We're all packed with bacteria that entrain our immune systems, and issues with our microbiomes development can have profound results on human health and development. Humans too, could become symbionts – to the planet. That is our means of survival.
Clover not only uses chemistry to protect itself, but biology (via chemical signals). Plants trade with microbes to get (some of) the ingredients for the cyanide. Clover is clearly well adapted with massive range ( = massive populations) and both fungal and microbial symbionts involved. It is highly adaptive at least partially because it is well connected.
The hologenome of clover (combined genome of the plant and its symbionts) is greater than merely its own genome. The supraorganism (combo of plant and symbionts that act in concert as one organism) is far greater than the plant alone.
The old iteration of leaders (warmongers, capitalists) are killing us. Humanity must evolve as symbionts or be significantly diminished.
While random mutations underpin much of this, selection is not random, it is driven by the environment.
Indeed as the other post on globalisation attempts to outline – the ground is shifting under us both politically and economically in ways most people are not thinking about.
Very interesting comment, thanks.
Two words come to mind: proliferation and differentiation.
[deleted]
[If you want to cut and paste you have to 1) make it clear it’s a quote and 2) link – weka]
White clover is at the top of my weed list. Every bee sting i have ever had has been the fault of white clover. No matter how short you cut or not it it will always set flowers low to the ground. Bees will feed not only on these flowers but also underneath making a landmine.
Red clover on the other hand is my no1 friendly. Flowers set on the end of long stems and bees are not threatened by being brushed against. There are so many benefits to red clover i would have to write a post to cover.
(note that red clover will die off if mowed low and often as this cuts the crown off the plant)
When you combine white clover with shoes, the incidence of bee-stings drops significantly 🙂
Have you seen crimson clover?
Beautiful flower.
Damn those bees eh?
They should be banned
If I ever join the landed gentry I'd love to experiment with moss instead of grass/clover. Probably as labour-intensive in different ways, but I've always liked the look and feel of it.
Moss likes a damp environment so you might not want a property to suit. Lawn camomile would give you a similar effect. Would be a lot of work keeping the weeds out, but would smell great when you mow it.
that also looks pretty good.
As for moss, yeah it has its downsides. For some reason I just really like it.
Chamomile lawn is fantastic. Not sure of the maintenance issues, you'd want to get it relatively weedless – but it looks good, feels good, and releases nice smells. A man who built Flax Lodge on Great Barrier had a chamomile lawn in his moon well. What a great place to hang out of an evening.
Full article here https://archive.is/qQg2I
Hoo boy…
https://twitter.com/alexkramers/status/1428784100463333380
Geez, Vaccines are dangerous rant. Really bizarre.
She was clapped!!
Meanwhile The US has 38,512,463 cases and 644,820 deaths
115,582 case per million 1,935 deaths per million.
If nz had the same rates as the US
we would have ca 275,000 cases and 9000 deaths!!!!
We have had 2900 cases and 24 deaths!!!!
(And had no problems with spots after vaccination.)
Is "clapped" urban-slang for insane?
Sounds like it should be.
Got vaccinated yesterday… my spoons at home must be made of aluminium, they are not sticking to my vaccination spot
I've been taping a small magnet to my arm under my teeshirt sleeve…good fun discussing vaccination with a teaspoon then.
I loved the "God help us" at the end of the rant.
Hilarious AF…..right up until you see someone's reality.
https://twitter.com/taraskaduk/status/1428157982093807623
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/signs-placed-after-photo-goes-viral-of-severely-ill-covid-patients-on-ground-at-jacksonville-library/77-74918ce4-48b5-49df-a247-ba0acfb5a98c
She could give Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt's character in 12 Monkeys) a run for his money.
I noted yesterday in the Sydney mob some decidedly 'white is right' types attacking the police. Absolute mad as fuck in bed with evil, not good.
Absolute mad as fuck in bed with evil is going ahead with his superspreader event in a state that's declared a Covid state of emergency.
https://twitter.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1428795277360570368
https://www.al.com/news/2021/08/trump-rally-in-alabama-mo-brooks-mingles-as-thousands-flock-to-cullman.html
From family and friends who are deemed essential workers. We are only in our 5th day of lockdown, and I already see and hear of burnout. Sure those testing and admin jabs are doing a great job, but how long can they continue at this pace? And there are few in reserve that can be brought up to give these valuable people a respite. The same for supermarket workers, petrol station attendants, hospital workers etc There will be a need soon for them to have a break for their well being but financial stress, doing their bit for society etc may preclude this. I hope that those in senior positions are thinking of these and others and do not have expectations that current work outputs will continue. And we all can do our bit by showing our gratitude: a thank you, especially if they are part of our bubble.
Alot of the essential services are running low on staff with standdowns etc, given lockdown looks to be extending im going to apply for one of the many temp positions at the local supermarket gets me out of the house, helps keep shelves stocked and hopefully offers the chance for someone to have a shift off.
I feel for those testing & medical guys who come home after working their arses off to reports of shambles & incompetence.
Another odd consequence of lockdowns is the courier drivers find themselves working even longer days delivering alcohol and flour (of all damn things) to domestic addresses in locations they rarely have to service and often not easy to find.
They typically get up at 4am and find themselves delivering stuff at 8pm in the dark to people who then whine about them being late. High burden, low margin work.
Thanks RL, it's the kind of work I'm involved in & we're flat tack! The best thing is people are happy to see us & being really positive, but I get annoyed at seeing people gathering but then I guess I'm lucky because I get to do something, keep active.
Good on you Cricklewood!
Courier and delivery people generally put up with the negatives because the work itself allows them some degree of personal autonomy that most other jobs don't offer. And they get to go places and interact with lots of different people – it can be kind of cool in this respect.
But the burn-out rate is pretty damned high, not all that many last more than 3 -4 years at it. As ‘contractors’ they’ve fall into an industrial relations grey zone that no govt has shown much interest in looking at.
We have two friends who are couriers, they prefer working during lock downs, no traffic
What can we do …?
At our local country supermarket this afternoon, as we were about to scan in, a middle aged couple rushed through. The young doorman politely requested, "Excuse me, please sign in." The response was, "HAVEN'T GOT TIME, we're in a hurry!" And they rushed into the store. I believe scanning/loggingin is to be made mandatory within a week, I guess this sort of behaviour is going to cause some real issues (in fact is already happening) for the poor individuals on the doors everywhere.
Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Delta raises 'big questions' about NZ's future approach – Chris Hipkins
I Wonder if sometime in the future the non vaccinated could be refused hospital treatment to help relieve the strain,
When health resources are available the unvaccinated would not be turned away. When resources become limiting their vaccination status might contribute to triage, which is unfortunate but logical.
Yes Uncooked, that's better expressed.
A lot of pressure was put on the government last year and earlier this year by the opposition, business leaders, Hosking/Hawkesby & mates, Plan B attention seekers, universities wanting overseas students here, people wanting to holiday overseas (understandable for those wanting to see family) and farming/horticulture wanting workers.
Those same people are all rather quiet now that we are in lockdown again. Have those same people been doing their scanning every time they have gone into any premises? The contact tracing now having to be done could have been quicker if they had been doing that.
What's a more absurd oxymoron than "military intelligence" or "NewstalkZB: Tune Your Mind"?
Answer: "Washington Post fact-checker."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhRRp5Guw7Q&t=197s
Stalking is still an issue in NZ, when it should be a priority for lawmakers. Who is more vulnerable than a stalking victim? Don't tell me murder victims. They are already dead.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125879686/the-stalking-was-so-bad-she-thought-he-would-kill-her-the-law-couldnt-help
Please attend to the Moderation note before you post anymore comments here, thanks.
FYI:
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-covid-vaccine-may-not-be-the-nirvana/#comment-1810589
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-covid-vaccine-may-not-be-the-nirvana/#comment-1810431
In an unusual move the PM has said she will not attend the press conference today as to protect the eyes of some reporters.
She's just needling them.
HaHa
There are testing kits that give a result in 15 minutes. They can be used in homes, schools and workplaces.
They are not as accurate as PCR but useful enough and would take pressure off such testing resources.
They were in big demand last year and again now that vaccinated people are being infected.
Why are we not importing these?
Even an Oz company is making them.
You might find the answer here: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/medicines/policy-statements/COVID19/COVID19PointOfCareTestKits.asp
Somebody is spitting the dummy: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126020883/the-saliva-testing-stoush-between-rako-science-and-the-ministry-of-health
I can sense the delight of some here; what a Leader!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/449711/dr-ashley-bloomfield-receives-first-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine
The main reason may well be that any video or still of saliva testing has hoik running all over the outside of the receptacle. Superspreader anyone?
Apparently, farmers protested by sounding their horns on their farms.
Thus creating the philosophical and editorial question if a fool makes a noise in the middle of nowhere and nobody is around to hear, do they really need a photo-op?
I used to toot-up all the time when i worked on a farm in my youth.
I did read the post. "Preconceptions"?
I find so much that is just plain wrong in your post, starting with "It did not seek to expand it's territory" for one, that I would need a whole series of posts to debunk it.
Whether or not I'm happy with the end of the "American century" is irrelevant. They USA is ending it anyway. It is their own fault, but not because they are "retreating from the world". Their dependence on manufacturing and economic support from China will preclude that.
Unless they indulge in another one of the huge social enterprises that have repeatedly saved their otherwise dysfunctional economy. War!
We just had a graphic illustration of how the USA,s misconceptions and view of themselves is a false narrative, in Afghanistan.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Legacy of failure in Afghanistan started in 1979, not 2001 – Asia Times
"It is also a story of miscalculation and hubris, one that resonates rather profoundly this week as American soldiers, diplomats, intelligence officials and many thousands of Afghans flee the Taliban’s assault on Kabul."
"The group fitted 35 old CRT televisions, LED monitors and printers with GPS devices of a special make. Out of this sample the team quickly focused on the fate of three LCD screens dropped at Officeworks storefronts around the Brisbane metro area.
Hayley Palmer, BAN’s chief operating officer, was on the team that followed where they went afterwards. As the signals left the country, Palmer, her nine-month-old and a colleague tracked the monitors to a warehouse in Hong Kong and then on to an illegal dump-yard in a rural part of Thailand where they talked their way inside."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/22/going-to-e-waste-australias-recycling-failures-and-the-challenge-of-solar
I expect NZ faces the same challenge, and has the same lack of solution.
Seymour being a loose unit, ffs.
https://twitter.com/liamvincent26/status/1429376972556169221
Human psychology being what it is – Seymour could be onto something.
Yep. I'd give it a day before someone writes an app to "scan in" to random places ten times a second.