Open mike 22/11/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 22nd, 2024 - 16 comments
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16 comments on “Open mike 22/11/2024 ”

  1. Bearded Git 1

    Netanyahu is now a wanted war criminal in 124 countries who have signed up to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This from the Guardian today:

    "The ICC arrest warrant represents a “historic breakthrough for justice”, Amnesty International's secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said in a statement.

    She urged “the beginning of the end of the persistent and pervasive impunity at the heart of the human rights crisis” in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Callamard’s statement reads:

    "The wheels of international justice have finally caught up with those who are alleged to be responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Palestine and Israel."

    “Prime Minister Netanyahu is now officially a wanted man,” she continued, as she called on ICC member states and the international community to “stop at nothing until these individuals are brought to trial”.

    “There can be no ‘safe haven’ for those alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she said."

    About time too.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/21/international-criminal-court-icc-arrest-warrant-benjamin-netanyahu-yoav-gallant-mohamed-deif-israel-gaza-war-crimes#top-of-blog

  2. Bearded Git 2

    Hooton lays into Luxon today saying that he is out of his depth and should resign. From the Herald:

    "Luxon has proven too personally and politically weak to exercise his authority as Prime Minister to decide that killing the [te Tiriti] bill before introduction was in the best interests of country and party. As in the country at large, he is now rightly regarded as impotent by both National’s liberals and conservatives, and as an easy-beat in negotiations by his coalition partners.

    Luxon’s leadership of country and party will stumble on while achieving little and meaning less. He will remain Prime Minister only because he lacks the self-awareness to know it would be better for New Zealand and his own reputation to accept he is completely out of his depth."

    Paywalled:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/luxon-completely-out-of-his-depth-matthew-hooton/PFV32UVMLZC6TAFOBPDAX7KLRE/

    • thinker 2.1

      Hmmm.

      I wonder whose tent Hootons camped outside.

      He must have a preferred alternative.

      Addendum. I just worked it out. National knows the bill was a disaster and may be tossing Luxon under the bus?

      • KJT 2.1.1

        Do we smell a BBQ?

        • thinker 2.1.1.1

          I reckon.

          What does it for me is the line about Luxon being too weak to kill the bill rather than introduce it.

          As if Luxon represented National's leadership unilaterally during the coalition negotiations.

          Seems to me it's washing day and someone may be hung out to dry, along with that person's groupies, some of whom are also all mouth and no trousers.

          I could be quite wrong though. Wishful thinking can do that.

          • Mike the Lefty 2.1.1.1.1

            There is a kind of irony in all this.

            Jacinda got reviled because she showed strong leadership, and here we have Luxon still loved by a fair proportion of the electorate even though he shows weak leadership.

            The conspiracy theorists and anarchists (who late strong government leadership) must be stronger than I thought.

            • Incognito 2.1.1.1.1.1

              Cracks in the CoC are greatly overblown, IMO, and so is Luxon’s alleged ‘weak leadership’. All three CoC partners are happily extracting their pound of flesh with their personal fiefdoms & funds to play with. They’re putting on a great Truman Show for us believing that we’re watching them when in actual fact it’s the other way round. Inflation is going down, house prices will go up again, business confidence is going up, and in 2 years’ time the economy is likely to look different (better) than it does feel know. Meanwhile trust will erode in many vital areas and state-support will be slowly dismantled, stone by stone, cut by cut.

    • Tony Veitch 2.2

      A text-book example of the Dunning-Kruger Affect!

    • Incognito 2.3

      So, the PM should override the process that he helped set in motion and tell the SC to cut the ‘debate’ short?

      • Mac1 2.3.1

        An interesting alternative history scenario would be to consider what would have happened if Luxon during negotiations had totally rejected ACT's treaty bill then.

        Would ACT have accepted that or forced Luxon to call a snap election? How would both parties have fared especially considering ACT's propaganda/media funding reach?

        How would Winston have reacted to this, or further, to having his pet projects canned?

        I believe that this is the next learning in our journey towards full MMP statehood, when minor parties are tested and bested by either grand coalitions or issues being referred back to the people in a snap election.

    • Ad 2.4

      Look I agree with him but National's polls are fine. There's no threat.

      I'm just really surprised the PM hasn't had the sense to offoad the uproar properly onto ACT. A decent Chief of Staff should have had this covered.

  3. Ad 3

    It takes a special kind of mental magic for a Reserve Bank-caused recession to be deliberately extended by the National government, who then wonder why getting back to surplus will take years longer.

    Treasury appear to have an even more tenuous grip on our reality every quarter, which is a plague to a Minister preparing the 2025 budget bids.

  4. Patricia Bremner 4

    Luxon told us he was aligned with Act, but "He did not know Winston"

    Now he has a racist either side of him and he is happy with their policies.

    His Government meant every mean move, but they were surprised by the size and mix of the Hikoi, however, as Luxon told us during another poorer Poll result, "I don't care!"

    He is a short term PM there to meet Atlas objectives, and he will move elsewhere for some position or other, and will not lie in the hotbed he has made here imo.

  5. Sanctuary 5

    Well this is depressing – the German army has formally asked German industry to start preparing for a war with Russia:

    "… A secret strategy paper clearly outlines the role of the economy should Putin attack in the east. The German army has concrete suggestions on how companies should prepare themselves…."

    https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/operationsplan-deutschland-wie-die-bundeswehr-unternehmen-auf-krieg-in-deutschland-vorbereitet-110118573.html

  6. Sanctuary 6

    Interesting stuff from Hooton. For the alert connoisseur of gallery Kremlinology Benedict Collins was rather cryptic on the news last night when discussing Erica Stanford's swearing at Jan Tinetti, pivoting to a general discussion of how it is reported she swears all the time under her breath and if she keeps it up she could be "stood down". Sound an awful lot like someone has been whispering off the record against a potential challenger to Luxon….

  7. koina 7

    Same as the '75 Hikoi I was on.

    How many on this site were on the '75 Hikoi?

    I saw this exact same scenario unfold 50 years ago so I knew nothing would change.

    Everyone has claimed victory as I predicted.

    TPM will gain the Maori vote but the Right wing strengthen their anti Maori vote.

    Act has got the angry White male vote tied up and is certain to be returned in 2026.

    National is happy ACT has done their dirty work for them and is safe again in 2026

    NZF the immigration hate party is safe again in 2026 (If Peters is still around)

    Labour and the Greens are in heavy defeat mode and wont be seen again till 2027

    when the swinging voters begin blaming the sitting Govt for their problems.

    Something about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

    The one positive for me to celebrate is that David Seymour ironically has confirmed once and for all we are not one people, have never been one people and will never ever be one people.

    Next stop the 2074 Hikoi.

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