Open mike 22/09/2022
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6:00 am, September 22nd, 2022 - 35 comments
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- Beyond the percentage: Australia’s defence debate needs a smarter metric
The global strategic landscape is undeniably shifting. Great power competition is reasserting itself, technological disruption is accelerating, and the familiar certainties of decades past are eroding. For a trading nation such as Australia, deeply connected ...10 hours ago - Far from responsible and anything but gutsy
Back home to the seaside village, back home to a waterlogged and gobsmacked New Zealand.Waterlogged by the most April rain in April for half a century.Gobsmacked by this dismal government managing to set a new low in its disregard for anyone who isn’t white, wealthy or a man.Fair-minded and right-thinking ...11 hours ago - Albanese’s visit shows Indonesia is still a foreign policy priority
As Anthony Albanese prepares to travel to Jakarta for his first state visit in his second term, the symbolism is clear: Indonesia remains a cornerstone of Australia’s foreign policy. Since taking office, the Albanese government ...12 hours ago
- Monday 12 May
Opposition to the Government’s attacks on pay equity are gathering steam, with protests around the country and more than 65,000 people already signed on to a petition calling on the Government to reverse the changes. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Cabinet will consider a social media ban on under-16s, despite ...12 hours ago - Naked corruption
When National passed its corrupt, Muldoonist fast-track law, they were criticised for accepting donations from fast-track applicants. You'd think that after such criticism, and the consequent effect on the reputation of our state, they might have ceased the practice - but of course not. Instead, they're still taking money from ...13 hours ago - Nicola Willis Calls Pay Equity “A Grievance Industry”
Nicola Willis pulled the sympathy and sexism card this morning in an opinion piece for Stuff/The Post.In it, claimed she had been much maligned by, well, everyone, on pay equity, and “mainstream” journalists were guilty of “sexist slurs” and misinformation against her.The offending piece was Andrea Vance’s “The girl-math budget ...14 hours ago - Rhys Williams – Arsehole of the Week
It’s time to shine the spotlight on a particularly vile specimen slithering through New Zealand’s political underbelly: Rhys Williams, this week’s Arsehole Award winner. Williams is a NZ First party activist (who didn’t renew his membership), and has carved out a niche as a homophobic, defamatory troll, hiding behind the ...16 hours ago - Bookshelf: Australia in a fragmenting and deglobalising world
Elisabeth Braw’s insightful 2024 book, Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World, has proven remarkably prescient in understanding the turbulent global landscape of 2025. While the era of globalisation promised unprecedented interconnectedness and prosperity, ...17 hours ago
- Announcing Law & Order
Poets, priests and politiciansHave words to thank for their positionsWords that scream for your submissionAnd no one's jamming their transmissionAnd when their eloquence escapes youTheir logic ties you up and rapes you!Songwriter: Sting. Read more ...18 hours ago - A counter to drone swarms: high-power microwave weapons
Military forces must prioritise a counter to drone swarming tactics with which inexpensive, mass-produced drones can overwhelm defences. What is needed is a layered defensive system that includes systems that can neutralise many threats within ...20 hours ago
- Pay equity shock to have unintended consequences
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, May 12:The gutting of pay equity laws may force hospices to close, pushing extra patients and extra cost into hospitals, the sector says at the start of Hospice Awareness Week. Barnados’ CEO says the law change will hit ...20 hours ago - The Death of a Deer
Edit: This stuff is fascinating - and for the record you are definitely OK to disagree with me on any of this in the comments. This community rules, and you’re respectful and great even when disagreeing.With that said — this email just landed in my inbox from a Webworm subscriber ...21 hours ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #19
A listing of 27 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 4, 2025 thru Sat, May 10, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...1 day ago - India-Pakistan crisis: military operations intensify before ceasefire
The past 36 hours on the India-Pakistan front have been tumultuous. Where the confrontation is headed is unclear. Although things seemed to be calming down early on Friday, May 9, intense developments followed. A series ...2 days ago
- NZ First Resorts To Dirty Politics 2.0
2 days ago
- Mother’s Day
My mama saidThat it's good to be fruitfulBut my mama saidDon't take more than a mouthfulAnd my mama saidThat it's good to be naturalAnd my mama saidThat it's good to be factualAlways on the Run, by Lenny Kravitz & Slash.Morena folks, let me begin by acknowledging that Mother’s Day can ...2 days ago - Dunedin Mayor Calls On Government To Help Homeless
Last week, a fire tore through a homeless camp at Dunedin’s Oval, destroying tents and makeshift shelters in a stark reminder of New Zealand’s soul-destroying housing crisis. This isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a predictable outcome of the Coalition of Chaos’s reckless policies, which have gutted funding for emergency accommodation ...2 days ago
- Bernard’s Soliloquy for the week to May 11
Brooke van Velden says she had proposed the repeal of the Pay Equity Act in a letter to PM Christopher Luxon as soon as she became Workplace Relations and Safety Minister in late 2023. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesBriefly in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to Sunday, May 11:PM Christopher ...2 days ago - Mothers’ Day
In honour of those who have come, those who are, and those who will come to be.Kate SheppardKate Sheppard is famous for leading the successful campaign that made New Zealand the first self-governing nation to grant women the right to vote in 1893. CorrespondenceMarilyn WaringDame Marilyn Joy Waring DNZM is ...2 days ago - Fact brief – Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather? Climate predictions are more reliable than weather forecasts because they model long-term trends driven by ...2 days ago
- Fact brief – Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather? Climate predictions are more reliable than weather forecasts because they model long-term trends driven by ...2 days ago
- Watch Ozzy Man Destroy Some White Supremacist
Gather round, you bloody legends, and let’s talk about a true Aussie icon who’s taken a wild detour from his usual topics. Ethan Marrell, better known as Ozzy Man, has been a YouTube juggernaut since 2014, dishing out side-splitting commentary with that larrikin charm and a voice that could make ...2 days ago
- Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, May 10
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy on Saturday, May 10: Protests have erupted over the Government’s pay equity betrayal this week. Abuse in care survivors are shocked the Government ignored the Royal Commission’s main recommendation.The Government has launched a review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s ‘activism,’ late on a Friday afternoon.Food poverty ...3 days ago - Cold as Ice
I've seen it before; it happens all the timeYou're closing the door, you leave the world behindYou're digging for gold, you're throwing awayA fortune in feelings, but someday you'll payYou know that you are(Cold as ice) As cold as ice to me(Cold as ice)Songwriters: Mick Jones / Lou Gramm.“My suffragette ...3 days ago - Seeking Fiscal Balance
Should we pursue a ‘Golden Rule’ where any public borrowing for consumption is temporary?This columnist is a fiscal conservative who is cautious about government borrowing for public consumption. I was not originally. The Keynesian model I first studied said borrow as much as is necessary to sustain demand. But the ...3 days ago - Taiwan’s polarised politics risks undermining its resilience and security
Taiwan’s opposition parties—including the once-dominant Kuomintang (KMT)—now wield real power in the legislature for the first time since 2012. But their recent actions have cast serious doubt on their commitment to Taiwan’s long-term security and ...3 days ago
- US Defense Secretary cancels Women, Peace and Security programs
Last week, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the cancellation of his department’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program. In doing so, he ignored the well-established overlap of insecurity and gender inequality. When announcing ...3 days ago
- PHOTOS: NZ Protests – Again
Kiwis around the country protest: RNZ reports more than 1000 descended on Brooke Van Velden’s officeNote:The government started this pay equity process in April 2024.That’s over a year ago.Cabinet signed it off two months ago.There was no reason for urgency - and never was.The Minister for Woman was left with ...3 days ago - More constitutional vandalism
Since the national government embarked on its racist campaign against Māori, the Waitangi Tribunal has emerged as one of its chief adversaries, putting the impacts of its racist policies formally on the record so they can not be denied. National has responded by sabotaging it, replacing almost the entire membership ...3 days ago
- Nicola Grigg’s Video A Tale Of Two Women
Nicola Grigg1 was given one of the safest blue seats in the country - Selwyn, Christchurch.She holds multiple ministerial portfolios including Trade & Investment, Women, Agriculture, and ACC. Not a bad role.Last year, Grigg said she entered Parliament with Luxon and developed a strong friendship with him.This week she affirmed ...4 days ago
- Are New Zealanders Really Living Beyond Our Means?
The National-led government has been banging the drum of fiscal restraint again, claiming New Zealanders have been “living beyond our means” in another Luxon hates "wet and whiny New Zealanders" standup that is likely to tank his approval rating even further. Yet, the Coalition of Chaos' actions tell a different ...4 days ago
- Drawing Parallels.
The April 22 attacks by Kashmir Resistance (KR), a (at least tacitly) Pakistani-backed irredentist group in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in which 26 people were murdered, has some unfortunate parallels with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Although many more Israelis died in the latter (nearly 2000) and the costs ...4 days ago - It’s a wrap: NT Defence Week 2025
Australia’s future security will be decided as much in Darwin as in Canberra. NT Defence Week 2025 made that reality unmistakably clear, showcasing the Northern Territory not as a remote outpost, but as the operational ...4 days ago
- Huge Increase In Part Time Workers Earning Nothing
New Zealand’s part-time workers are caught in a vicious cycle, ground down by a system that punishes ambition and rewards poverty. Work and Income’s draconian deductions regime ensure that every extra dollar earned by part time workers is clawed back, leaving many with nothing to show for their efforts. Add ...4 days ago
- Media Bias Over Erica Stanford’s Security Breaches
The Coalition Of Chaos’ Pay Equity Amendment Bill, rammed through under urgency, has predictably hogged the headlines. But while the mainstream media fixates on this gut-punch to women’s economic justice, Education Minister Erica Stanford’s reckless use of her personal Gmail account for sensitive government business is being swept under the ...4 days ago
- Indonesia is more important than ever: Australia must nurture the relationship
For more than decade, there have been signs that Australia is losing diplomatic access and influence in Indonesia. This is cause for concern, given Indonesia’s size and influence in the Indo-Pacific, and because of the ...4 days ago
- The Hoon around the week to May 9
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news about climate change’s role in spreading birdflu in the United States and elsewhere, research showing marine heatwaves gathering ...4 days ago
- Government hid pay equity plans for months
If the decision to disenfranchise tens of thousands of women and men in many of New Zealand’s most important professions seemed hasty or rushed to you at all, don’t worry — it wasn’t! The government just didn’t think it was important for you to know about it.As far back as ...4 days ago - On The New Pope, And The Israeli Attack On Peter Davis
The election of any Pope tends to be retro-fitted in ways that make the choice seem inevitable. God’s will, no less. If the new Pope had been Italian (“Time for the papacy to return home!”) or a staunch conservative (“Time for a balance to the liberalism of Francis!”) then much ...4 days ago - A calculated policy of deceit
This week the government rammed through legislation under urgency to cancel all outstanding pay equity deals and make them impossible to get in future, balancing their books by stealing $17 billion from New Zealand women. It was an outrageous abuse of the democratic process, and since it passed, we've learned ...4 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #19 2025
Open access notables The post-truth era and how science education keeps ignoring it, Erduran, Science: Conventional educational strategies in combatting post-truth seem to emphasize merits of truth, evidence, and reason. Such focus misses key elements of the post-truth era. It ignores the political dynamics that engulf science as well as ...4 days ago
- Huawei drives and dominates Thailand’s digital ascent
Thailand’s rapid ascent as a 5G leader in Southeast Asia has, in part, been powered by Huawei. While many Western nations excluded Huawei from their 5G rollout over security concerns, Thailand—like several regional neighbours—embraced the ...4 days ago
- The threat spectrum
Planet A China has secured a five-year agreement with Cook Islands to explore seabed minerals. The deal, signed alongside broader economic cooperation agreements, consolidates China’s growing presence in Pacific island countries. It follows recent Chinese ...4 days ago
- Pay Equity Events
The Government using Pay Equity settlements as a way to fund their Budget is a new low. Join in rallies across the motu to speak truth to power. Below is a list of all the event’s we are aware of. If you have any other events you’d like to ...5 days ago
- The Right-Wing’s Unemployment Victory Lap
Will you look at that. The National-led coalition and their media cheerleaders, popping champagne because New Zealand’s unemployment rate (currently languishing at a grim 5.1%) hasn’t quite fully spiralled into the abyss they’ve been digging. Bravo, you absolute legends of mediocrity! The mainstream media, ever the loyal lapdogs, are fawning over ...5 days ago
- How Safe Is Student Job Search?
Note: the name of the student in this story has been changed, indicated by an asterisk.Webworm is a reader-supported publication. If you appreciate the journalism I do here, consider becoming subscriber.Hi,Logging into Student Job Search (SJS) is a right of passage for any conscientious university student in New Zealand who’s ...5 days ago - Fat Bottom Girls
Are you gonna take me home tonight?Oh, down beside that red firelightAre you gonna let it all hang out?Fat bottomed girlsYou make the rockin' world go 'roundSongwriter: Brian May.Bottom. What does that word make you think of? For the last few years, it’s been part of a familiar phrase our ...5 days ago - Sri Lanka holds its own amid economic uncertainty
In recent months, Colombo has faced two sharp blows from its Western partners. First was the surprise cut to USAID funding, amounting to approximately US$53 million. Then came a 44 percent tariff on apparel exports ...5 days ago
- Carers, teachers & nurses lose up to $17b, to fund $14b of tax cuts
The planned $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to landlords and high earners will effectively be paid for by wage cuts for the poorest workers, almost all of whom are women. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāBriefly, in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Thursday, May ...5 days ago - A British carrier group is coming to the Pacific—with doubts looming over it
Operation Highmast got underway in late April, as the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales and supporting warships embarked on an eight-month deployment, also known as Carrier Strike Group 25, to the Pacific and ...5 days ago
- World’s cargo ships to pay more for dirty fuel under new rules
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson Alandmark policy crafted in April by members of the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization, or IMO, will tax international shippers based on the carbon content of their fuels. The draft policy is due to be finalized in late 2025. The agreement ...5 days ago
- Pay equity passing is an attack on the working class
5 days ago - It’s Time — To Fight
5 days ago - India and Pakistan must manage escalation after Pahalgam attack
India has launched a retaliatory strike against the Pakistan-based groups responsible for a terrorist attack in Indian Kashmir two weeks ago. The Indian government released a press statement announcing that the armed forces had launched ...5 days ago
- Mapping a decade’s worth of hybrid threats targeting Australia
Hybrid threats, enabled by digital technologies and fuelled by geostrategic competition, are reshaping international security and global norms. Most often, states (commonly working through non-state proxies) are exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities and engaging in economic coercion, ...5 days ago
- Government of the 0.3%
A couple of months ago, the government held a public "consultation" on their proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. People responded en masse, and made it crystal clear what they thought of it: The Ministry received approximately 23,000 submissions and worked with a specialist consultancy to quantitatively assess support and opposition ...6 days ago
- Trump’s Tariff Tantrum Has Backfired
Donald Trump's tariff tirade, sold as a patriotic push to “Make America Great Again,” is backfiring spectacularly, driving iconic US manufacturers like Boeing and John Deere to pack their bags and head for the exits. Far from reviving the heartland, Trump’s trade war is gutting it, and the numbers paint ...6 days ago
- Unions launch petition to protect pay equity
Major Aotearoa unions have launched a new petition calling on the Government to reverse their proposed amendments to the Equal Pay Act and restore existing pay equity claims. Unions behind the petition are home to tens of thousands of working people who’ve experienced the life-changing impact of pay equity – ...6 days ago
- Still 34,000 unemployed under National
The March labour market statistics are out, showing unemployment unchanged at 5.1%. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. While better than expected, there's been a shift from full-time to part-time work, and total weekly paid hours has dropped - meaning people are working ...6 days ago
- Without logistics, northern defence is going nowhere
Australia must develop a national logistics plan to support combat operations in its primary theatre. Defence’s primary strategic guidance, the National Defence Strategy, has chapters on people, innovation, acquisition and partnerships. It does not talk ...6 days ago
- Luxon Isn’t Focused On The Cost Of Living Crisis
When the National Party came to power in 2023, they promised to have a laser-like focus on New Zealand’s cost of living crisis. Their pledge was seductive: tax cuts, streamlined spending, and relief for the “squeezed middle.” Yet, two years into their coalition with ACT and NZ First (the coalition ...6 days ago
- Disagree where we must: little room for military diplomacy with China
Australia’s military relationship with China is now defined by strategic competition and opposing objectives. The days of friendly port visits, personnel exchanges and survival exercises are over. As tensions grow, even dialogue with China’s military ...6 days ago
- Moment to Arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of nightTake these broken wings and learn to flyAll your lifeYou were only waiting for this moment to ariseSong by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.Brooke cancels fair pay.It’s deja vu on top of deja vu with these guys. Just when you think they might take ...6 days ago - Gordon Campbell On Surviving Trump’s Trip To La La Land
The film industry was probably naive to think it would be spared from Donald Trump’s war on globalisation. If you believe Trump, every dollar being spent on foreign film crews, FX houses and film locations, every dime being spent by “runaway” film productions on foreign accomodation and food, is money ...6 days ago
- Where’s your evidence, Brooke? Where’s your evidence?
Asked to comment on the passing of Bob Jones last week, our Prime Minister said he’s a living legend. Such is the B-bursary brain power of our leader. A dead guy is a living legend.No surprise then that all he grasped from Brooke van Velden's robot talk about vandalising pay ...6 days ago - The Coalition’s Pay Equity Betrayal
The Coalition of Chaos' latest incredibly short-sighted move sees them funnelling around a billion dollars from throwing pay equity claims into the bin into some new helicopters, supposedly for defence or emergency services. Fine, modern equipment is necessary, but at what cost?Pay equity claims, painstakingly initiated to address systemic wage ...6 days ago
- The Government Aren’t Paying For Our Defence Spend. Workers Are.
Saving money? The best budgeters recommend cutting the biggest expenses first. I have several facts to present. The earnings gap between management and workers, and particularly between CEOs and workers, has been diverging dramatically since the 80s.The public sector (nearly) matches the pay rate of the private sector for managerial ...6 days ago - The Government Aren’t Paying For Our Defence Spend. Workers Are.
Saving money? The best budgeters recommend cutting the biggest expenses first. I have several facts to present. The earnings gap between management and workers, and particularly between CEOs and workers, has been diverging dramatically since the 80s.The public sector (nearly) matches the pay rate of the private sector for managerial ...6 days ago
- China needs Taiwanese ports to take the island. Mines are the key to protecting them
If China ever makes good on decades of implicit threats to invade Taiwan, most of its ground force will have to land at ports. Relatively little of it can come over beaches, because they ‘lack ...6 days ago
- China needs Taiwanese ports to take the island. Mines are the key to protecting them
If China ever makes good on decades of implicit threats to invade Taiwan, most of its ground force will have to land at ports. Relatively little of it can come over beaches, because they ‘lack ...6 days ago
- Dropped
All charges against the Restore Passenger Rail protestors have finally been dropped. Good. But they should never have been laid in the first place, and it shouldn't have taken a jury telling the police to go fuck themselves (or the threat of them doing so again) for the state to ...7 days ago
- Cameron Slater’s Selective Outrage Over Benjamin Doyle
Cameron Slater, the once-feared Whale Oil blogger now pathetic bedroom hack, is back at it again, flogging a dead horse while the rest of the right-wing propaganda circus has packed up and left town. His latest fixation? Green MP Benjamin Doyle, whose private social media account sparked a brief, baseless ...7 days ago
- National supports sexism
That's the only possible conclusion we can draw from their decision to legislatively terminate all pay equity claims, and make future claims much harder to win: Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden announced the moves to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim, ...7 days ago
- Vocational training can play a greater role in national security
Australia’s national security strategy has evolved significantly in recent years, expanding beyond military and intelligence domains to address cyber threats, critical infrastructure protection and emergency response. But despite its contribution to these areas, the vocational ...7 days ago
- Tuesday 6 May
New analysis found the clean slate law has no relevant impact on the likelihood of eligible individuals finding work. The New Zealand film sector is keeping calm and carrying on in the wake of new tariff threats on film and TV production made in non-US countries. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister “has ...7 days ago
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- Release: Peeni Henare takes over foreign affairs
Labour’s Peeni Henare will pick up the foreign affairs portfolio, following David Parker’s departure from Parliament. ...14 hours ago - Release: Govt better at crushing women’s rights than cars
Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women’s pay. ...18 hours ago
- No Justice for State Abuse Survivors- Kapa-Kingi
Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau calls out the government’s decision to keep funding state abuse, turning their backs on justice and real change for abuse in care survivors. “The government has committed to throwing $744 million down the drain, reinforcing a violent regime of disrespect against the ...2 days ago
- Govt’s War on Te Tiriti Continues as Review of Treaty Act Announced
Te Pāti Māori is absolutely disgusted by the Government’s announcement to review the Waitangi Tribunal- a deliberate and dangerous escalation in its ongoing campaign to undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi and silence tangata whenua. “The Government’s onslaught against Te Tiriti continues with this latest move to review the Treaty of ...3 days ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...4 days ago - Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour asks why Govt is silent on Gaza
Labour is asking the Government why it is silent on Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, saying New Zealand should be speaking out. ...4 days ago
- Release: Govt ignores the voices of survivors
Survivors of abuse in state care have a right to feel disappointed and sidelined by the Government. ...4 days ago
- Redress announcement leaves little justice for survivors
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s decision to severely underfund financial compensation for survivors of abuse in state care. ...4 days ago
- Release: Bill launched to stop tobacco industry lobbying
Labour is launching a members’ bill to stop the Government from putting tobacco industry interests ahead of public health. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour fights for firefighters
The Labour Party backs volunteer firefighters who are currently not covered by ACC for workplace disease and mental injury and is drafting policy to put this right when the party wins the election in 2026. ...5 days ago
- Wildlife law change a deep betrayal of public trust
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s use of urgency to rewrite the Wildlife Act–without consultation, without an impact statement, and in direct response to a court ruling in favour of protecting wildlife. ...5 days ago
- Release: National cuts women’s pay
National has forced through a law change that will take money out of women’s pockets. ...5 days ago
- ‘Govt’s Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women’ – Kemp
Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government’s so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa. “This bill doesn’t just undermine equal pay — it completely ...5 days ago
- Release: Fewer jobs and opportunities for Māori, again
In the last 12 months life has only got worse for Māori under Christopher Luxon’s Government. ...6 days ago
- Release: More than one in 10 Pacific people unemployed under National
There are more Pacific people unemployed as the rate increases to a staggering 10.8% under National. ...6 days ago
- Release: Unemployment remains high under National
Job losses remain stubbornly high under National, as their attack on jobs, wages, and women rages on. ...6 days ago
- Govt for the rich is failing the unemployed
The latest job market statistics show that unemployed people are being failed by a Government more focused on punishing the poor than creating jobs. ...6 days ago
- RSE Draft Erases Rainbow and Takatāpui Youth
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi. “This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti ...6 days ago
- RSE Draft Erases Rainbow and Takatāpui Youth
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi. “This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti ...6 days ago
- Release: Labour welcomes inquiry into school lunches
Labour welcomes the Auditor-General’s inquiry into the Government’s school lunches programme. ...7 days ago
- Release: Women will keep being paid less under National
This Government is taking the women’s movement backwards, ensuring women will continue to be paid less into the future. ...7 days ago
- Govt takes workplace equity efforts backwards
The Green Party has called out the Government’s latest attack on workers with the announcement that it is halting all pay equity claims. ...7 days ago
- Release: Questions over Erica Stanford’s personal email use
Erica Stanford has been misusing her personal email address to manage sensitive information relating to Budget and visa changes prior to their public release. ...7 days ago
- Greens launch Member’s Bill to close loophole allowing animal cruelty in imports
Today, Green Party MP Steve Abel has added a new Member’s Bill to the biscuit tin to ensure any product sold in New Zealand meets New Zealand’s animal welfare standards, even if it’s produced overseas. ...7 days ago
- Iwi Rights Under Attack in Government Treaty Clause Purge
Te Pāti Māori warns that the Government’s Treaty Clause Review represents the most severe erosion of iwi rights in modern legal history. “Luxon's Government is doing what the Treaty Principles Bill failed to do. They are removing every legal reference to Te Tiriti across health, housing, conservation, and child wellbeing ...1 week ago
- Release: Cuts to beds for seniors at Dunedin Hospital
After failing to be upfront about cuts to intensive care beds, it’s now becoming clear that other downgrades to Dunedin Hospital are being concealed by the Minister of Health. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour backs workers while Govt cuts jobs and protections
This May Day Labour is standing with workers to defend decent jobs and fair pay. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Still no ferries as first of old fleet retire
Two old and ageing ferries are going to have to work double time because of this Government’s failure to get a ferry deal. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens mark May Day with Green Jobs Guarantee
The Green Party has marked May Day with a pre-budget announcement in Tokoroa, detailing the party’s plan for a Green Jobs Guarantee. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori: Keep the Window Open- UCOL Must Stay
Te Pāti Māori stands firmly against any moves to downsize or close UCOL Whanganui. With over 30% of students identifying as Māori, the campus is a vital lifeline for education, upskilling, and community transformation in Te Tai Hauāuru. “Matapihi ki te Ao is more than a name, it’s a promise. ...2 weeks ago
- Twice the Impact, Half the Budget: Budget 25 Must Invest in Whakaata Māori
Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Broadcasting, Tākuta Ferris, and MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, are demanding the Government significantly increase its investment in Whakaata Māori in Budget 2025. The call comes following the release of the network’s 2025 Social Value Report at an event today, attended by MP ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori: Denying the Right to Vote is a Breach of Te Tiriti and Human Rights
The National Party’s announcement to reinstate a total ban on prisoner voting is a shameful step backwards. Denying the right to vote does not strengthen society — it weakens our democracy and breaches Te Tiriti o Waitangi. “Voting is not a privilege to be taken away — it is a ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Closure of North Shore Women’s Centre a huge loss
Today’s confirmed closure of the North Shore Women’s Centre after losing government funding is a huge loss for women in Auckland. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Simeon Brown hid Dunedin Hospital downgrade
Simeon Brown needs to come clean to the people of Dunedin about why he hid plans to downgrade their new hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt cuts will cost jobs, health, and homes
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"Before its invasion of Ukraine, Russia could sustain the fiction of long-term dominance of Central Asia. No longer. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s priority for the military and for kleptocracy, rather than for building a diversified, competitive economy, condemned Russia to a future as a quarry for China and Germany. Now China can manage its convenient neighborhood quarry with minimal competition."
Putin’s losses in Asia are bigger than in Ukraine | The Hill
With Germany fully shutting off Russian gas imports, does China gain in Eurasian power?
As an economic powerhouse China has gained more power not only in Eurasia but all around the world.
It's tacit acceptance of Russia's SMO…which has clearly morphed into 'War' ,is probably the one single reason ….Russia took the action it..has.
America is rattled by China's military/industrial complex as a dangerous rival to their own…military/financial complex hegemony.
Despite massive repression and threats of 15 year prison sentences protests against 'the partial' mobilization for the war in Ukraine have erupted across Russia.
Popular Russian protest chants:
‘Send Putin to the trenches’
‘Putin is the enemy of Russia’
Everything is going according to plan……
https://twitter.com/sotiridi/status/1572568782748680194
The announcement caused prices for some plane tickets out of Moscow to sell out, according to Reuters and Russian media company RBC.
Flights to countries that still allow Russians to enter without a visa, including Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and Serbia, appear to be in high demand.
Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot has no more flights to Istanbul, Turkey from Moscow for the next three days, according to its website.
Aeroflot flights to Yerevan, Armenia, from Russia's capital are also sold out until the weekend, its website said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/plane-tickets-out-russia-sell-out-after-putin-declares-mobilization-2022-9?
European countries should be encouraging this type of flight by opening their borders to fleeing Russians. They would be of more use to Europe outside of Russia than inside.
The Chinese must in turn have been supportive, perturbed, and now aghast by events in the Ukraine. I suspect they believed Putin's confidence that the Ukraine would collapse in a few days, then perturbed at Russia's military failure and now they are probably aghast at the prospect of Putin's nuclear sabre rattling. As long as Putin doesn't go nuclear I guess China's current position is to, to paraphrase Napoleon,
"…Never interrupt your frenemy when he is making a mistake…"
Putin is currently reducing Russia to the status of Chinese vassal with the prospect of Chinese hegemony being extended into the Stanislands to China's west to replace Russia. Erdogan clearly sees Putin's grand plan to revive the empire of the Tsars coming bloodily undone in the Ukraine not so much as a warning about the consequences of imperial nostalgia over-reach as an opportunity, and he is busy with his own grand plans to re-invent the Ottoman empire.
Putin is the real worry though. His descent into late dictator syndrome is terrifying because for the first time since Nazi Germany a major power with a substantial military-industrial complex has embraced fascism under the leadership of someone who is clearly in the thrall of an ideology infused with semi-mystical messianic nihilism.
Putin is mainly interested in trying to blackmail us all with his nuclear arsenal into abandoning the Ukraine, but all he risks is widening the war and, potentially, bringing about a major power intervention in the Ukraine. Perhaps that is what he secretly wants – a fantasy wish-fufillment of an important, imperial Russia being in a existential conflict with it's peers – rather than the current reality of having a backward, brutal and clumsy army being beaten by the poorest country in Europe.
The good thing about President Putin's defeat in Ukraine, is that it will give President Xi pause for thought about ever trying something like that against Taiwan.
I'm surprised the role of the U.S is missing from your dissertation…given you described the present conflict as a proxy war between the U.S.A ….and…Russia.
I think the term "proxy war" isn't accurate with respect to Ukraine.
An example of a proxy war is the war Russia has been waging between Donbass militants and Ukraine. In this case, Russia had set up its own proxy governance structure, and was effectively waging a war against Ukraine via that structure.
In the case of Ukraine, Ukraine is receiving aid from a multitude of countries. It is waging a war it would wage anyway. Except, the aid is enabling them to be a lot more effective in that.
Take the U.S.A out of the equation and I suggest the conflict…would be over by…lunchtime.
So, you do you think smaller countries should just roll over and let larger powers come in and take what they want?
I think if the USA and other Western countries had not been involved, we would probably end up with an insurgency type scenario.
The Ukrainians would have lost the formal war, but would have continued fighting underground and causing huge problems for the Russians. It would end up as their modern Afghanistan with similar results for them.
'So, you do you think smaller countries should just roll over and let larger powers come in and take what they want?'
Historically that's the way imperialism…works.
Cool. I expect you to be first out front with open arms welcoming the Chinese if they were ever to invade us…
No one needs to invade NZ.
They can just keep quietly …buying…it!~
You can suggest it, but it wouldn't be true. As Vietnam and Afghanistan proved. An insurgent population will keep on fighting for years and even decades until the foreign invader is driven out of their country.
Blazer I say the opposite to what you suggest; 'US and Western military aid is shortening the war.'
"The arc of history is long, but it tends towards justice."
Martin Luther King
The weapons and technology supplied to the Ukrainians by the West have shortened the long arc of history by years.
I think Poland, having also been a victim of Russian butchery, would have stood with Ukraine even were they alone in doing so.
Possibly,but Poland has no lost love for Russia and is not a military power in Europe.
Has had a strained relationship with the West too.
You may be intersted in this…
Polish Politics in the Midst of the War in Ukraine | Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation (gmfus.org)
A Western equipped NATO member planing to more than double the size of it's armed forces embarking on a huge arms buy up with cross-party support to increase defence spending from 2.2% of GDP to at least 3% from 2023 and a commitment from the ruling party to raise spending to 5% of GDP is most certainly a military power in Europe.
'planing to',' a commitment from the ruling party to raise spending'
Has no nukes.
Poland has no great love for Germany…either.
Poland has been a significant voice supporting Ukraine, putting the perspective of peoples subjugated by the soviet regime to the more complacent western part of NATO. Their position resonates with the Baltic States, and with the democrats exiled by the Belarussian dictator.
More traditional leading European powers were slow to recognize what was going on, but, with the benefit of hindsight, now understand that they needed to act against the Putin threat sooner.
Poland … is not a military power
I'll let you tell them that. Ukraine wasn't one until the bear tried to poke them – they’ve proven to be remarkably resolute.
Context is important Blazer. So would it hurt you, just for once to provide a link or quote, to show where I described the present conflict as a proxy war.
"Proxy War" can be overstated.
If one Superpower sees some advantage for itself, in backing an insurgency against its rival, it will do so. The Vietnam War was termed a proxy war between the US and the USSR because the USSR and East Germany supplied the Vietnamese with armaments to fight the US. Though it may have been an element, Superpower rivalry between the US and the USSR was not the main driving factor driving the Vietnamese to resist American imperialism.
Just as Superpower rivalry is not what is driving the Ukrainian people to resist Russian imperialism.
Exactly.
More like b/s….=' The Vietnam War was termed a proxy war between the US and the USSR because the USSR and East Germany supplied the Vietnamese with armaments to fight the US. '
Never heard that one.
The war was supposedly ignited by the U.S to contain the expansion of the evil Communists…they were going to come down and take out Australia and…NZ…believe it…or not!
That reply was to Sanctuary…if you care to look.
As for…'As Vietnam and Afghanistan proved. An insurgent population will keep on fighting for years and even decades until the foreign invader is driven out of their country.'
Oh the irony!There's money in Wars..the U.S armaments industry insist on them!Who were Vietnam and Afghanistan…fighting?=hopeless.
I'm too cynical to suggest the conflicts you mention have anything to do with democracy or humanitarian …ideals.
I think the positive thing about the relationship between Russia and China is that the last thing that China will want is nuclear war. It is disastrous for the whole planet, including China, and not good for business either.
So, I think Putin will be very mindful of his relationship with China in his considerations, even if he is getting increasingly erratic. So, still think the risk of nukes being used is very low.
Here is Putin's problem: Like the Chinese middle class, the Russian middle class are "out of politics". In exchange for eceonomic growth and a western lifestyle they left Putin to do as he wants politically.
Now, 300,000 young men who all have families are going to be forced into politics. And that is bad news for Putin, because they do not want tp be dying in the Ukraine.
"….300,000 young men who all have families are going to be forced into politics."
Sanctuary
In the immortal words of George Orwell.
"You may not be interested in politics. But politics is interested in you."
World renown economist Michael Hudson explains the m.o of U.S 'super imperialism' and its consequences in around 5mins.
https://youtu.be/L4MgWg-XQec
Banking reform is urgently needed.
As for cause and effect…Hudson again explains in simple terms….
https://youtu.be/NVGrSp1xRCQ
Post up about Tāme Iti's superb activism this week.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/tame/
lol
https://twitter.com/GregProops/status/1572308377610452993
US fed raised rates 0.75 overnight,3.13 is now higher then all developed economies except Canada.
https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1572662968437055489?cxt=HHwWgoDRkeaonNMrAAAA
Lot of downside on stocks as investors move to safe value stocks,as Zombie extinction will be underway with growth stocks falling to fundamentals.
Balance of trade here with deficit for August of 2.4b$
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/overseas-merchandise-trade-august-2022/
I guess the shooting will start if and when the regime thinks it has a nascent revolution on it's hands.
https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1572405107421253633
Putin saying he feels threatened because of NATO is equivalent to ram-raiders saying they feel threatened because jewellery shops decide to employ security guards.