Open Mike 24/09/2016
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6:00 am, September 24th, 2016 - 318 comments
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- Bad advice on public sector discount rates
A couple of months ago now I wrote a post about the new set of discount rates government agencies are supposed to use in undertaking cost-benefit analysis, whether for new spending projects or for regulatory initiatives. The new, radically altered, framework had come into effect from 1 October last year, ...2 hours ago - Indonesia is hooked on Huawei
Huawei dominates Indonesia’s telecommunication network infrastructure. It won over Indonesia mainly through cost competitiveness and by generating favour through capacity-building programs and strategic relationships with the government, and telecommunication operators. But Huawei’s dominance poses risks. ...3 hours ago - Bookshelf: The myth of American liberalism
Democracy and the liberal tradition have long been seen as among the most basic tenets of the American way of life. They are also the main reason the West has for the past 80 years ...4 hours ago
- Cutting even deeper against the grain
Nicola Willis continues to compare the economy to a household needing to tighten its belt to survive. Photo: Getty Images The key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, April 29 are: Nicola Willis today announced a cut in the Government’s new spending ...4 hours ago - Gas is dead
The Herald had another announcement today about a new solar farm being officially opened - this time the 63MW Lauriston solar farm in Canterbury. It is of course briefly "NZ’s biggest solar farm", but it will soon be overtaken by Kōwhai park at Christchurch airport (168MW) and Tauhei (202MW), both ...4 hours ago - Shoving the future aside
I woke this morning to the shock news that Tory Whanau was no longer contesting the Wellington mayoralty, having stepped aside to leave the field clear for Andrew Little. Its like a perverse reversal of Little's 2017 decision to step aside for Jacinda - the stale, pale past rudely shoving ...5 hours ago
- A pre-Budget speech
In a pre-Budget speech this morning the Minister of Finance announced that this year’s operating allowance – the net amount available for new initiatives – was being reduced from $2.4 billion to $1.3 billion (speech here, RNZ story here). Operating allowance numbers in isolation don’t mean a great deal (what ...9 hours ago
- Weak tax revenue is a national security issue
Of the two things in life that are certain, defence and national security concern themselves with death but need to pay more attention to taxes. Australia’s national security, defence and domestic policy obligations all need ...9 hours ago
- Chris Penk’s Leaky Homes 2.0
The Coalition of Chaos is at it again with another half-baked underwhelming scheme that smells suspiciously like a rerun of New Zealand’s infamous leaky homes disaster. Their latest brainwave? Letting tradies self-certify their own work on so-called low-risk residential builds. Sounds like a great way to cut red tape to ...10 hours ago - Assumed Competence
Perfect by natureIcons of self indulgenceJust what we all needMore lies about a world thatNever was and never will beHave you no shame don't you see meYou know you've got everybody fooledSongwriters: Amy Lee / Ben Moody / David Hodges.“Vote National”, they said. The economic managers par excellence who will ...11 hours ago - The ADF isn’t nearly fast enough. It must rush into the cheap-drone revolution
The Australian Defence Force isn’t doing enough to adopt cheap drones. It needs to be training with these tools today, at every echelon, which it cannot do if it continues to drag its feet. Cheap drones ...12 hours ago
- “You and me need to hang out. As in, just us 2!”
Hi,Just over a year ago — in March of 2024 — I got an email from Jake. He had a story he wanted to tell, and he wanted to find a way to tell it that could help others. A warning, of sorts. And so over the last year, as ...13 hours ago - National Has Mismanaged The Economy
Back in the dark days of the pandemic, when the world was locked down and businesses were gasping for air, Labour’s quick thinking and economic management kept New Zealand afloat. Under Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, the Wage Subsidy Scheme saved 1.7 million jobs, pumping billions into businesses to stop ...14 hours ago
- Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes at 6am on Tuesday, April 29
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When I was fifteen I discovered the joy of a free bar. All you had to do was say Bacardi and Coke, thanks to the guy in the white shirt and bow tie. I watched my cousin, all private school confidence, get the drinks in, and followed his lead. Another, ...14 hours ago - Beijing finally slices off Sandy Cay
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- National’s Stalling New Zealand’s Electric Future
You might not know this, but New Zealand’s at the bottom of the global league table for electric vehicle (EV) chargers, and the National government’s policies are ensuring we stay there, choking the life out of our clean energy transition.According to the International Energy Agency’s 2024 Global EV Outlook, we’ve ...1 day ago
- EGU2025 – Presentation about our collaborations
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We need more than two Australians who are well-known in Washington. We do have two who are remarkably well-known, but they alone aren’t enough in a political scene that’s increasingly influenced by personal connections and ...1 day ago
- “Protecting frontline services”
When National embarked on slash and burn cuts to the public service, Prime Minister Chris Luxon was clear that he expected frontline services to be protected. He lied: The government has scrapped part of a work programme designed to prevent people ending up in emergency housing because the social ...1 day ago
- Climate Change: National supports pollution subsidies
When the Emissions Trading Scheme was originally introduced, way back in 2008, it included a generous transitional subsidy scheme, which saw "trade exposed" polluters given free carbon credits while they supposedly stopped polluting. That scheme was made more generous and effectively permanent under the Key National government, and while Labour ...1 day ago
- Atlas Network Makes Australian Mainstream
Australia Shows The WayAustralian media and their investigative journalists have published two articles on the Atlas Network’s modus operandi in recent weeks:‘Copied the MAGA model’: The ‘grassroots’ lobby group funded by some of Australia’s richestHow Atlas Network amassed a global network of free market think tanks and reached into Australia ...1 day ago - Australia’s defence readiness—a critical assessment
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...1 day ago
- The Suspicious Death of Virginia Giuffre
The news of Virginia Giuffre’s untimely death has been a shock, especially for those still seeking justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Giuffre, a key figure in exposing Epstein’s depraved network and its ties to powerful figures like Prince Andrew, was reportedly struck by a bus in Australia. She then apparently ...1 day ago
- Bernard’s Dawn Chorus & Pick ‘n’ Mix for Monday, April 28
An official briefing to the Health Minister warns “demand for acute services has outstripped hospital capacity”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāThe key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, April 28 are: There’s a nationwide shortage of 500 hospital beds and 200,000 ...1 day ago - Deep sea mining is the new front in Pacific competition
We should have been thinking about the seabed, not so much the cables. When a Chinese research vessel was spotted near Australia’s southern coast in late March, opposition leader Peter Dutton warned the ship was ...2 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On A Neglected, Enduring Aspect Of The Francis Era
Now that the formalities of saying goodbye to Pope Francis are over, the process of selecting his successor can begin in earnest. Framing the choice in terms of “liberal v conservative” is somewhat misleading, given that all members of the College of Cardinals uphold the core Catholic doctrines – which ...2 days ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #17
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- Governments Are Letting Big Tech Trash Our Planet
Let’s rip the shiny plastic wrapping off a festering truth: planned obsolescence is a deliberate scam, and governments worldwide, including New Zealand’s, are complicit in letting tech giants churn out disposable junk. From flimsy smartphones that croak after two years to laptops with glued-in batteries, the tech industry’s business model ...2 days ago
- In Loving Memory Of Kyle Whorrall
When I first saw press photos of Mr Whorrall, an America PhD entomology student & researcher who had been living out a dream to finish out his studies in Auckland, my first impression, besides sadness, was how gentle he appeared.Press released the middle photo from Mr Whorrall’s Facebook pageBy all ...2 days ago - National’s Betrayal of Renters and First-Time Buyers
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- Would I Lie to You?
Would I lie to you? (oh yeah)Would I lie to you honey? (oh, no, no no)Now would I say something that wasn't true?I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?Writer(s): David Allan Stewart, Annie Lennox.Opinions issue forth from car radios or the daily news…They demand a bluer National, with ...2 days ago - Fact brief – Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific c...
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- A culture of cruelty.
In the 1980s and early 1990s when I wrote about Argentine and South American authoritarianism, I borrowed the phrase “cultura del miedo” (culture of fear) from Juan Corradi, Guillermo O’Donnell, Norberto Lechner and others to characterise the social anomaly that exists in a country ruled by a state terror regime ...3 days ago - Northern Australia: fortress, gateway and resource powerhouse
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- Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to April 26
Chris Bishop has unveiled plans for new roads in Tauranga, Auckland and Northland that will cost up to a combined $10 billion. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from Aotearoa political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Saturday, April 26:Chris Bishop ploughed ahead this week with spending ...3 days ago - Debt Is A Form Of Government Control
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- The 2025 Budget in a World of Trade Warfare
The budget runup is far from easy.Budget 2025 day is Thursday 22 May. About a month earlier in a normal year, the macroeconomic forecasts would be completed (the fiscal ones would still be tidying up) and the main policy decisions would have been made (but there would still be a ...4 days ago - EGU2025 – Presentation about our translation activities
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- The drums of war revisited
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- Cameron Slater’s New Website: Same Old Defamation
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- Nicola Willis To Blame For Family Boost Debacle
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...4 days ago
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- Rest easy, my friend.
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...5 days ago - The Hoon around the week to April 25
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- The Men Commenting on Lorde
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...5 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #17 2025
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- Military denial: the basis of deterrence, and of response if deterrence fails
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...5 days ago
- Fiscal failure
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...5 days ago
- Climate Change: Fucking the ETS again
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...5 days ago
- What’s secret? When is it secret? Well, that’s complicated
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...5 days ago
- Today’s Headlines: David Seymour’s ECE Risks & Coalition Government Lies
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...5 days ago - Is The NZ Media Awards Sponsored By a Conspiracy Theorist?
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In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...5 days ago
- When in Rome
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...5 days ago - Thursday 24 April
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...5 days ago - John Campbell Investigates Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church
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It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...6 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Trump Upside, And Peters Persecution Of Trans People
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- The rotten, unaccountable crown
Between 1950 and 1993 the New Zealand government tortured and abused up to 250,000 children in residential care facilities. They then proceeded to cover it up in order to minimise their liability, dragging out cases, slandering their victims and ultimately denying redress. In its final report, the Inquiry into Abuse ...6 days ago
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- What’s on the Label -vs- What’s in the Tin.
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...6 days ago - Simeon Brown Doesn’t Consider Abortion To Be Healthcare As Services Scaled Back
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...6 days ago - Another Munich crisis? Understanding the limits of policymaking by analogy
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- Wednesday 23 April
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...6 days ago
- Auckland character rules stop building on 20,000 sections
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...6 days ago - AI is changing Indo-Pacific naval operations
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- What is a Man?
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...7 days 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. ...6 hours ago - Release: Govt cuts will cost jobs, health, and homes
Nicola Willis announced that funding for almost every Government department will be frozen in this year’s budget, costing jobs, making access to public services harder, and fuelling an exodus of nurses, teachers, and other public servants. ...6 hours ago
- Govt’s austerity Budget to cause real harm in communities
The Government’s Budget looks set to usher in a new age of austerity. This morning, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis said new spending would be limited to $1.4 billion, cut back from the original intended $2.4 billion, which itself was already $100 million below what Treasury said was needed to ...11 hours ago - Ban on engineered stone essential to protect workers
The Green Party has renewed its call for the Government to ban the use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone products, as the CTU launches a petition for the implementation of a full ban. ...1 day ago
- Release: Anzac Day a time to recommit to veterans
This Anzac Day, Labour recognises veterans and the service they have given to our country. ...4 days ago
- Education Should be Led by Experts-Not Economists
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt’s flagship cost of living policy a failure
After promising $250 a fortnight to many families, the Government has been forced to admit just a couple hundred families are receiving it. ...5 days ago
- Release: Transparency needed on changes to early childhood education
The Government is putting children at risk in early childhood education (ECE) by proposing to loosen the requirement for qualified teachers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt funding needed to combat invasive seaweed
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...1 week ago
- New Zealand First Introduces Bill Defining ‘Woman’ and ‘Man’ in Law
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...1 week ago - Release: Labour marks the passing of Pope Francis
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins joins those mourning the passing of Pope Francis. ...1 week ago
- Release: Boot camps blog post fails to provide clarity
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Inflation rises and families feel the squeeze
Inflation is rising again and it’s landing hardest on families already stretched thin. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt doesn’t know how to fund new hospitals
The Government’s health infrastructure plan is big on promises but coy on where the money is coming from. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: $10 million for only 215 students in charter schools
David Seymour is pouring $10 million into charter schools that only have 215 students enrolled. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Food prices further stretching the family budget
Families already stretched by rising costs will struggle with the news food prices are going up again. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Mental health staff and patients at risk without plan
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Driver licensing proposal doesn’t put safety first
The Government’s proposal to change driver licensing rules is a mixed bag of sensible and careless. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Students struggling as Govt sits on hands
The Government is continuing to sit on its hands as students struggle to pay rent due to delays with StudyLink. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: More must be done to stop children going hungry
More children are going hungry and statistics showing children in material hardship continue to get worse. ...3 weeks ago
- Greens continue to call for Pacific Visa Waiver
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...3 weeks ago
- More children going hungry under Coalition govt
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Longer wait for treatment under National
New Zealanders have waited longer to get an appointment with a specialist and to get elective surgery under the National Government. ...3 weeks ago
- Ka mate te Pire- Ka ora te mana o Te Tiriti o Waitangi me te iwi Māori
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...3 weeks ago
- Chris Hipkins speech: Treaty Principles Bill second reading
Normally, when I rise in this House to speak on a bill, I say it's a great privilege to speak on the bill. That is not the case today. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: End to the Treaty Principles Bill, but challenges remain ahead for Aotearoa
Ka mate te pire I te rā neiThe bill dies today ...3 weeks ago
- Ka mate te Pire, ka ora Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty Principles Bill dead, Te Tiriti o Waitangi m...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...3 weeks ago
- Member’s Bill an opportunity for climate action
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Bill to make trading laws fairer passes first hurdle
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...3 weeks ago
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- Tarakinikini appointed as Fiji’s ambassador-designate to Israel
By Anish Chand in Suva Filipo Tarakinikini has been appointed as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel. This has been stated on two official X, formerly Twitter, handle posts overnight. “#Fiji is determined to deepen its relations with #Israel as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel, HE Ambassador @AFTarakinikini prepares to present his credentials ...2 hours ago - India and Pakistan are on war footing. Can they be brought back from the brink?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Victoria University India and Pakistan are once again at a standoff over Kashmir. A terror attack last week in the disputed region that ...2 hours ago
- Unions To Hold Nationwide Day Of Action On May Day
We are sending send a strong message to those in power that we demand a better deal for working people, and an end to the attack on unions. We will also be calling on the Government to deliver pay equity and honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...3 hours ago - Tempted to turn on the aircon? Science says use fans until it’s 27°C
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Why is the US policy in Syria so confused, and why is the US media backing it with hardly any questions?
RT’s Peter Lavelle talks to commentators and experts in London, New York and San Francisco on the contradictions in US foreign policy and actions in Syria and the surrounding region.
How did a Nobel Prize winning president end up running bombing and droning campaigns in 7 countries in just the last few years (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan).
And does the fatigue of the American people with endless foreign war explain part of the popularity of Donald Trump despite ongoing MSM and left wing portrayals of him as a racist cheating ignorant inexperienced clown con artist who is completely unfit to be President?
In 25 minutes this is a better and more in depth and critical discussion of current events than 90% of the western MSM is willing to provide.
I’m staggered that you continually go to, post, and seemingly shape your world view from a propaganda channel akin to Fox News
And Trump IS a racist, cheating ignorant clown
I post it so people can watch it and decide for themselves instead of listening to your jingoism.
Jingoism? What part of calling a state sponsored propaganda channel a state sponsored propaganda channel is jingoism?
Also, why do you continually blame the media for making Trump out to be a racist ignorant clown when he actually IS a racist ignorant clown?
Just as the BBC is a state sponsored propaganda channel.
We look at both and come to our opinions.
Ken Loach just proved beyond doubt that the BBC is brainwashing the British public
BBC notwithstanding, RT is as reliable as Fox News.
CV can show different perspectives, can’t he?
Apparently certain stupid left wingers think that the MSM is completely biased pro neoliberal pro TPP John Key to the exclusion of proper left wing views and actual investigative journalism.
BUT on issues of Russia and Syria that very same MSM is reporting the pro-US imperial position in a completely fair and balanced journalistic way.
Sure he can, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be criticized from citing one of the most misleading and biased news sources currently airing. Any ‘news’ station that promotes Alex Jones is not worthy of consideration.
Excuse me? Please cite where RT has been “promoting” Alex Jones.
And yes, Alex Jones is a bit of a conspiracy analyst, but so what? Sometimes the complacent stenographer MSM has to be poked and prodded just that little bit.
Having Alex Jones to report on your news station is direct promotion of his views and gives validity to his craziness.
What?
Do you mean that Alex Jones is now a reporter for RT?
What?
I find RT reasonable. Sure, they’re biased but the bias is obvious when it’s there and it’s not there as often as Western MSM.
You should listen to Ken Loach.
It also features journalists like John Pilger, who struggle to hear on western propaganda outlets.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/356846-provoking-nuclear-war-media/
And Patrick Cockburn features on RT.
And a platform for our very own Bunny McDiarmid, Greenpeace Exec. She would struggle or probably never get the equivalent on NZ tv.
https://youtu.be/No1JhsMzN-8
I really enjoyed that speech Paul, you posted it the other day. How the questions which the media asks shapes the political landscape no matter what the reply is from the person being interviewed. Highly recommended viewing.
Any wise person finds info across all sources before coming to their own conclusion.
All parts of it. Watch the show, listen to the arguments, weigh the different points of view.
Instead of repeating your jingoism and your simple minded labelling.
It’s not simple minded labeling – that’s what RT is. A highly misleading propaganda channel.
Going on then convince me give me your examples of RT reporting in a “highly misleading” way on what is going on in the Middle East wars.
Or you’re just full of western imperial jingoism.
Precisely
Yeah, calling RT for being a propaganda channel makes one a western imperial jingoist. You actually think in such black and white terms? Life isn’t binary.
You’re a fucking idiot.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/21/rt-sanctioned-over-series-of-misleading-articles-by-media-watchdog
And critically, from your link:
The big issue they raise is on the claimed chemical attack by Assad a couple of years back.
You should know that despite the MSM hysteria about how a “red line” had been crossed, it was finally concluded that anti-Assad rebels were the ones who had used the chemical weapons. Apparently in an effort to discredit the Assad government.
And the MSM fell for it because it neatly supported the neocon regime change line.
Here’s your problem CV – and this has been pointed out to you several times. You couch every attack on Russia, RT, Putin, Trump et al. as the respondent somehow being pro-West/USA.
That is incorrect and a logical fallacy. A typical pattern is as follows:
Person A: “Russia is bad because x y and z”
CV: “Yeah but as a supporter of the liberal West military complex you don’t bat an eyelid when they go ahead and a b and c
Person A: “WTF?”
I support neither the US or Russia but your blind rage at the US has completely clouded your judgement. Russia is just as bad as the US and your attempt at character assassination of anyone who questions Russian actions speaks volumes. You *know* this but can’t seem to back down.
Fact: Russia is an oligarchy which suppresses freedom of speech
Fact: Russia engages in international espionage and cyber warfare
Fact: Russia invaded a nearby neighbour and waged a massive propaganda war to justify it
Fact: Russia regularly jails political opponents
Fact: Russia has been implicated in assassinations of political opponents
Fact: Russia persecutes the LGBT community
None of this in any way implicates me as pro-West. So stop making that stupid argument and open your fucking eyes
“Fact: Russia invaded a nearby neighbour and waged a massive propaganda war to justify it.”
Which country?
Crimea??
As to the US, here’s an impressive list.
1. Grenada (1983-1984)
2. Bolivia (1986)
3. Virgin Islands (1989)
4. Liberia (1990; 1997; 2003)
5. Saudi Arabia (1990-1991)
6. Kuwait (1991)
7. Somalia (1992-1994; 2006)
8. Bosnia (1993-)
9. Zaire/Congo (1996-1997)
10. Albania (1997)
11. Sudan (1998)
12. Afghanistan (1998; 2001-)
13. Yemen (2000; 2002-)
14. Macedonia (2001)
15. Colombia (2002-)
16 Pakistan (2005-)
17. Syria (2008; 2011-)
18. Uganda (2011)
19. Mali (2013)
20. Niger (2013)
21. Yugoslavia (1919; 1946; 1992-1994; 1999)
22. Iraq (1958; 1963; 1990-1991; 1990-2003; 1998; 2003-2011)
23. Angola (1976-1
Mali? The U.S. and France are helping protect Malians from Islamic fundamentalist terrorists there.
Fact: Russia engages in international espionage and cyber warfare
The U.S.’s surveillance record is impressive.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowed information to be intercepted in all but 4 of the world’s countries, according to a new report
The National Security Agency exempted four countries from its list of places where it could rightfully intercept information, leaving the world’s 193 other countries open to surveillance, according to a new set of top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
http://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/
WHOOSH! And somehow, without a single sense of irony, you prove the point I am making.
I’ll repeat the key point which seems to have flown straight over your head:
Person A: “Russia is bad because x y and z”
Paul: “Yeah but as a supporter of the liberal West military complex you don’t bat an eyelid when they go ahead and a b and c
Person A: “WTF?”
No one is supporting, forgiving, excusing or remarking on the US. You cannot justify Russia’s actions by comparing it to the USA – neither country has any justification for their actions.
Do you ever comment on the US?
Through the filter of the western propaganda machine we only hear one side of the story.
We don’t hear the other side.
I’m not defending everything RT does. However it includes some valuable content that we wouldn’t hear if we just listened to the BBC, the Guardian and the rest.
If someone here, if you or CV, were posting pro USA comments in the same vein as you do Russia – then I would have a lot to say about it.
But again, your making the same false equivalence, reworded and reposted.
Crimea.
It’s called a referendum, not an invasion.
http://nsnbc.me/2014/03/19/what-the-western-media-wont-tell-you-about-the-referendum-in-crimea/
If you want to understand what an illegal invasion looks like, then here’s a link or two.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_the_Iraq_War
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/john-prescott-reveals-guilt-illegal-8387319
And again, pivot to the USA.
Three times you have done that now.
OK, let’s stick with Russia and your list of ‘facts’.
‘Fact: Russia invaded a nearby neighbour and waged a massive propaganda war to justify it.’
Crimea had a referendum.
It voted to join Russia.
Please provide your sources that show Russia invaded the country.
An independent source, not the western propaganda machine.
The UN seems pretty clear
http://www.un.org/press/en/2014/ga11493.doc.htm
Also this “referendum” you mention…pretty easy to get the response you want if you start disappearing agitators:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/14/crimea-attacks-disappearances-illegal-forces
And you scored an impressive own goal by comparing US action in Iraq to Crimea.
Not as clear you say say.
100 Votes in Favour, 11 against, 58 Abstentions for Text on Ukraine
So 69 countries didn’t go along with the US.
95% is a huge vote.
And back to the US again….
that’s four times now. Jesus.
@Tim.
Do you condone the rest of the US invasions?
The US ran a regime change op in Kiev to destabilise Russia’s economic and military security and was planning to turn Sevastapol into a NATO base removing Russia’s only warm water naval port.
In effect, the US spent billions in order to get rid of a democratically elected (if corrupt/incompetent) Kiev government, to replace it with a completely unconstitutional corrupt/incompetent/fascist Kiev government.
The Russians said, “NYET”, took over the Crimea, and legitamized the move via referendum. The result of which was that a massive majority of Crimeans democratically decided to secede to Russia, which is a valid outcome under international law.
And why not, since the failing US/UK backed regime in Kiev is backed by a fascist right wing who operate neo-nazi paramilitaries like the Azov Battalian.
While running the remnants of the Ukranian economy into the dirt.
Summed up superbly.
The US has undermined the democratic process in the Ukraine – by a coup. It’s just another example of the country’s disrespect for democracy in other countries.
The US is frankly a rogue nation.
Chur Paul. As for the US, it is a hyperpower. Rules and laws are for everyone else.
Beats me why so many of the left wing so slavishly accept the neocon narrative – on Iraq, Syria, Libya, 9/11, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia….
Do I need to go on?
Beats me why you continually divert from Russia’s atrocious human rights record and persecution of the LGBT.
Beats me why so called ‘lefties’ could have anything other than scorn for both the US and Russsia.
“Which country?
Crimea??”
Pedant corner, but it’s important.
Crimea is not a country. To march into Crimea, Russia had to march into The Ukraine.
Not going to enter this debate on RT, but I don’t think using a Guardian article as a point of reference for unbiased reporting is a good starting point, The Guardian have proved themselves to be one of the most dangerous MSM outlets for the Left over the past year.
Cloaking themselves as a liberal progressive news source, they have unashamedly gone on to undermine, belittle and display straight out contempt to both the Sander and the Corbyn movements.
As I have said before The Guardian editorial staff would rather eat their own babies than let their readers believe that another political/economic alternative is possible, outside of their centrist, free market ideology.
The media bias report..
http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/pdf/JeremyCorbyn/Cobyn-Report-FINAL.pdf
The Guardian response…
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jul/19/yes-jeremy-corbyn-has-suffered-a-bad-press-but-wheres-the-harm
CV
Your comments (3:28) on Ukraine are basically crap. You might just as well be part of Putin’s propaganda arm.
On Syria not so bad. At least you don’t actually blame the US for Assad’s ruthless actions against his own people. However, the West is going to have to accept Assad, backed as he is by Russia.
But ultimately there will be a reckoning just as there was for Milosevic, though he never seemed as bad as Assad. You may recall it was the Serbian govt who gave up Milosevic.
give me your address mr extreme i want to send you a wall to bang your head on , as it will save you time.
Thanks, I have destroyed all mine today
Been largely offline lately. I find it funny when cv uses words that he almost, but not quite, understands. Jingoism this time. And last time he wanked about Clintons health, it turned out she’d been fundraising so he seamlessly went to his “1%” playbook.
Tired lines and lies that he wouldn’t need if he had facts.
They’re not so bad outside Russia’s direct interests.
Maybe this explains it. (h/t ManukaAOR)
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/the-kremlins-troll-army/375932/
Or this:
Former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeigne Zetiung – the CIA owns everyone of significance in the western media
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/10/16/cia-owns-everyone-significance-major-media/
+1
The simple fact of the matter is that the media is being used by governments to shape the thoughts and actions of their people.
The real question is what the hell we do about it.
We keep that in mind at all times.
Being aware that all state media sources are forms of propaganda makes us less likely to believe their angles and agenda.
Ken Loach makes great suggestions in the talk above.
So what do you shape your opinion from?
The NZ Herald?
TVNZ?
Stuff?
Or the BBC?
The Guardian?
All are just echo chambers; repeaters for the Western establishment.
After 2003 and ‘weapons of mass destruction ‘, any thinking person would know not to trust the western media any more.
Where are your sources?
Are they more credible on Syria than RT?
All of the above plus:
The Atlantic
The Economist
The New Yorker
RT
Al Jazzera
Der Speiegal (sp?)
New Scientist
Scientific American
Fox News
CNN
Multiple blogs from the right and left
The Independent
Human Rights Watch
and on
and on
and on
Fucking everything from every angle
Which do you find the most credible?
And which source provided you with the ‘fact’ that ‘ Russia invaded a nearby neighbour and waged a massive propaganda war to justify it.’
Um, all of them.
The real question is – why are you supporting a government that persecutes the LGBT community, locks up dissidents, assassinates political rivals and effectively runs an oligarchy?
I am not supporting that government.
I just don’t parrot western propaganda.
I note the Crimean ‘fact’ is no longer mentioned.
No, you parrot Russian propaganda instead.
The US is also an oligarchy (a plutocracy to be exact), and I think that the way they have treated whistleblower of conscience Chelsea Manning – including considering criminally charging her for her suicide attempt – is indicative of where that nation is heading.
Pick your poison, dumbass.
The main difference being that the Russian President is (far) more democratically popular than the US President.
The extremist is an extreme adherent to the official narrative.
It isn’t a binary one or the other CV. Again – you make that same tired argument.
I support neither the US or Russia – they are both awful.
If someone posts a clip from RT it doesn’t necessarily mean they support Russia, it also doesn’t mean that they buy into any propaganda slants it may be given.
It’s not a pissing competition it’s war it’s life and death every moment of every day for those whom live there.
What I’d like to see is Putin, Assad, Russia, the Rebels and US etc work to bring down ISIS. The ‘in fighting’ between the ‘Rebels’ and Russian backed Assad is helpful to NONE in the grand scheme of things. After ISIS has been depleted then there should be an election, if Assad is really that great he will be voted back into power.
This bullshit goes on and on and on, all about the $ and control, pick a religion.. they are all about control.
“This is the world we live in. People relying on each others mistakes, in order to manipulate one another and use one another, even relate to one another. A warm messy circle of humanity”
I am not impressed by Extremist. He claims to favour neither side because he is excellently informed from all possible sources. A true paragon – yet he criticises those who, living in a country where the media are owned by the Right, dare to support some of what RT tells us. It sounds to me as if he is criticising any dissent from the Right Wing view, asking us to believe that he reviles the USA, but criticising anybody for supporting evil Russia. False posturing.
Crimea – after evil Stalin deported Tartars and replaced them with Russians, Crimea became a state with a Russian majority. Ukrainian Khrushchev later gifted Crimea to the Ukraine, but never envisaged the possibility of the USSR breaking up – he believed that the USSR would bury Capitalism. Small wonder that when the USA prompted a Right-Wing coup in the Ukraine, the majority of Crimeans voted to go with Russia.
Despite all this , Extremist calls it an invasion… I think this tells us what kind of extremist Extremist is – a biased Right-Wing one.
Not quite – it’s like the difference between parliamentary debate and the infantile bullshit the Key Kleptocracy get up to.
Good parliamentary debate makes selective use of the truth to further its ends – the public are not served by outright lies, which ultimately discredit the utterer – which is why no-one on this site can take Wayne seriously.
The BBC was a bastion of sound reporting for decades – but they didn’t always report everything. They’ve also retreated somewhat from that standard of late.
RT is useful to the extent it confines itself to the truth. This varies considerably from story to story. Al Jazeera is more reliable – they are at present less aggressive in pursuing geopolitical ends.
Our own news has become shamefully vacuous and biased – it is pitched at a mental age of 8 – core Gnat supporter level.
Ken Loach explains the inbuilt bias of the BBC
Yes I’ve seen it. and I’ve some connections who work there – it has declined. Nevertheless it was a very reputable organisation for a long time – which is why it served as the model for Al Jazeera. Unfortunately all our public institutions are being raped by neo-liberalism, they were often conservative but now many of them are just rubbish. Parliament chief amongst them unfortunately – neither representative nor public interested – it has become merely a brawling pack of troughers who should be in prison.
Agreed.
Keep your tinfoil hat on Paul and you will be fine
Instead of discussing the issue, name call.
Oh well….
Yes our msm is like….
Fox News Makes You Less Informed
“It’s not like we really needed a study to tell us this, but the survey “What You Know Depends on What You Watch,” undertaken by Fairleigh Dickinson University, found that watching Fox News results in knowing less about the world. Researchers asked 1,185 respondents which news shows they consumed and then asked general questions about newsworthy events.”
“Five questions were asked, and those who watch Fox News exclusively got 1.04 correct, on average. Individuals watching MSNBC, on the other hand, got 1.26. NPR listeners? They got an impressive 1.51. The Daily Show? Surely a “fake news” program couldn’t make you more informed than “the most watched cable news channel in America.”
“Yep, as it turns out, The Daily Show viewers scored 1.42 on average. The best thing about this study, though? It asked questions to people who watch no news at all, and those individuals scored 1.22 on average. That’s right: Fox News makes you less informed than watching no news at all.”
5 Scientific Studies That Prove Republicans Are Plain Stupid
<a href="http://reverbpress.com/politics/proof-republicans-are-stupid/
How did a Nobel Prize winning president end up running bombing and droning campaigns in 7 countries in just the last few years (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan).
Well, even without the dubious benefit of sitting through 25 minutes of Russian government propaganda, I can answer that. Those are the countries with lots of Islamic extremists who need big holes put in them and governments that are too fucked to stop the US from doing it. Given that there’s over a billion Muslims in the world and it’s an ideology that’s inherently opposed to liberal western values, no doubt future US presidents will also be putting holes in religious fascists for quite some time to come. I won’t be shedding any tears over it.
“Western values” OK do you remember how the USA was founded on the genocide of tens of millions of native American Indians?
Or how Madeline Albright was confronted with the fact that US sanctions had led to the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children, and she said that it was worth it?
How many wedding parties and village gatherings have been randomly droned in the last ten years? And the surviving brown natives then offered US$100 in compensation for their dead family members.
My friend, the world outside the privileged white OECD is very familiar with what “Western values” actually are in practice.
Blah blah blah. In the meantime, there’s a reason why all the refugees and economic migrants are trying to get into western countries rather than Russia, China or any of your other preferred places.
If the west keeps blowing up countries like Iraq, Libya and Syria, yes they can have all the refugees.
Whistleblowers like Snowden can’t find sanctuary in your liberal western democracies however. He’s only safe in Moscow.
Funny though, isn’t it, that after all Mr Putin’s generous help in stopping the West “blowing up” Syria, the flood of Syrian refugees is desperate to settle in the West and hardly any of them are heading Russia’s way. Weird – it’s almost as though there were some qualitative difference between Russia and the West that’s influencing the refugees’ choice of destination. I know – it’s false consciousness!
You appear to condone the drone warfare propagated by Obama,
Nice.
You appear to condone the air warfare propagated by Putin. Nice.
Kind of pointless, huh?
Putin gets a lot done with a small number of planes in a limited amount of time using a relatively tiny budget. It’s competent war fighting.
Obama gets a lot down with a small number of drones in a limited amount of time using a relatively tight budget. It’s competent war fighting.
Kind of pointless, huh?
Experienced journalists disagree with pm
Why is pm so aggressive on this subject?
https://pulsemedia.org/2015/10/04/a-masterclass-in-sophistry-patrick-cockburn-on-the-russian-intervention-in-syria
http://russia-insider.com/en/node/13083
Why is pm so aggressive on this subject?
Because Putin and Assad sycophants keep posting risible propaganda that shouldn’t go unchallenged. That’s pretty much it.
Says the shit head who wants to put big holes in Muslim terrorists funded, fed and armed by western allies.
I think 80 Syrians soldiers died because of US air strikes.
And ISIS troops benefited.
Sounds terrible. Good job the Russians are only dropping humanitarian aid packages out of their aircraft, isn’t it?
Ridding the world of ISIS is not pointless.
And you’d have to say Putin has made a lot more progress on that front than the US.
It doesn’t help that the US is entwined with the major sponsors of ISIS.
He’s ace at wiping out suburban neighbourhoods, hospitals and aid convoys, but what effect he’s had on Da’esh is open to question.
WOW.
Hey PM, never read so much fucked up wrong and completely off the track shit in all my life. Say that to my face and you’ll have found trouble all right.
every Christian is a crusading mass murder who kills babies and places them on spikes, Every black mans a drug dealer.. your fucked..,stereotyping, generalizing blaming wanker.
Every time I read a comment of yours now i’m going to laugh at you.. please fuck off.
and this gem “ideology that’s inherently opposed to liberal western values”
shows just what a complete fuckwit and dumb dickhead you really are.
Whaleoil for you, off you go, it’s about your intelligence level. Munted Nut.
He’s right though isn’t he? There’s a certain amount of nut jobs out there (Isis or al Qaeda types) that do need to be addressed by someone out there, through non violent or violent means.. I’m also not going to lose sleep if those people are targeted
The best, in fact only, people who should address ISIS and other local despots are the locals.
You may not want to be at war with them, but they certainly do want to be at war with you. No easy ways out of that one.
Then it becomes local and we deal with it. What we don’t do is go round invading other countries because some people are doing things that we don’t like.
Just leave it to the locals eh? That sort of idea doesn’t really help people who are currently being victimised does it? Would that have helped those being killed by Hitler during WW2? I don’t like the focus on the term western values. What we’re talking about are basic human values which ISIS lack.
So, if you actually believe the propaganda you are echoing, explain why the war in the DR Congo has not been stopped by the West?
Well, if one side decides to declare war on the West and send people to carry out attacks on western democracies, my money would be on various of its leaders finding themselves getting blasted by drones within a fairly short timeframe. But that’s not likely to happen, is it?
Libya did not declare war.
It simply challenged the petrodollar.
Yes and yes it does.
It was up to the locals to stop Hitler before it went too far. They didn’t and we ended up with a war.
Every time we go in to ‘protect the locals’ we dis-empower the locals. Of course, often after we’ve gone into ‘protect the locals’ they’ve become a client state after paying tribute in one form or another or simply a failed state that’s far worse off than they were.
Say that to my face and you’ll have found trouble all right.
Your anger management issues aren’t my problem.
It’s apparent that it is you who have anger management issues.
“Your anger management issues aren’t my problem”
If he finds out who you really are and where you live they might be.
Stalking’s an aggravating factor at sentencing, so he can feel free.
You and PM need to get a room
Two comments.
Two insults.
You are here to discuss the issues?
Richard at 1.2.2
Calm down sweetheart – you will have a heart attack going off like that.
So, which Western Values are those?
Bigotry?
Lying?
Imposing themselves on other nations so as to get that nations resources for their own people?
Impoverishing the many so as to enrich the few?
Exploitation?
Fucking up the environment?
Blaming victims for the crimes carried out against them?
Our Western ‘liberal values’ seems to liberally ignore the atrocities that are carried out in our name.
When you find that utopia you’re looking for, let us know.
So, what you’re saying is that you don’t actually know what those “liberal western values” that you mentioned are?
No, I’m pointing out that if you want to live in a human society that’s completely devoid of the less-pleasant features of human societies, you’re wanting a utopia. Unless you were intending to claim that bigotry etc are somehow exclusive to western societies, in which case I can only suggest you try living in a non-western one for a while so you can lose that naivety,
No you’re not. You declaiming the concept of Western Values but not actually giving any indication of what those values are.
Not exclusive to it but they have certainly been a large part of our ‘liberal western democracy’ for the last couple of centuries which you were holding up as some Divine Light.
They have certainly been a large part of every human society, ever. Unlike you, I’m not looking for perfection, just “better-than.” And I don’t think pointing out that Islam is incompatible with liberal western values constitutes “holding [liberal western democracy] up as some Divine Light.”
“I’m not looking for perfection, just better than…”
Narcacissm and vanity are ugly traits usually the reserve of cowards
I’m not looking for perfection – just asked you what these fictitious Western Values are that you seem so fond of.
Western values….genocide, slavery, ecocide, exploitation.
Choice.
Like I said, if you don’t know what they are, go live in a non-western country for a while. When you come back, you’ll have figured out for yourself what they are and won’t need me to tell you basic stuff about your own country.
Western values….genocide, slavery, ecocide, exploitation.
Choice.
It’s like watching spoilt children of wealthy parents berating said parents for being bourgeois pigs, while at the same time not leaving home.
I didn’t bother looking/listening at the article, but it seems to me that despite their differences both the US and Russia know that any Syrian deal has to go through them and has to have their joint endorsement.
And the shape of that deal is increasingly clear. Assad gets his bit, the US backed insurgents get their bit and Kurds, at least in the east get their bit. Most of the ISIS territory goes the US backed insurgents.
Admittedly not a very satisfactory outcome. A bit like Bosnia of twenty years ago which is still governed on sectarian lines. And Bosnia is all the poorer for that.
The US is clearly got the staying power in Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIS. There is no real difference between Clinton and Trump on this. They will both do pretty much as Obama is doing.
Possibly Trump is in a better position to cut a deal with Putin. I suspect there have been background discussion as to how a Trump administration and the Putin govt will act, not just on Syria but on a wide variety of issues.
It may come down to the scenario you suggest, Wayne.
However, if the US insurgent territory ends up as a training ground of Islamic extremism as opposed to a secular governed province, I can see the Russians back sooner rather than later bombing the hell out of it.
Do you see Turkey abiding by the creation of an internationally recognised Kurdish nation?
I can see the Russians back sooner rather than later bombing the hell out of it.
Oh no! What if they hit a “brown natives'” wedding party or village gathering?
Speaking of western values supporting Islamic head choppers, did you notice how President Obama has just vetoed legislation which would have allowed 9/11 terrorism victims families to take Saudi Arabia to court?
Big powers get up to a lot of dodgy stuff. Anyone imagining the US might be immune to that is an idiot. You seem to have mistaken me for an idiot.
You do keep acting like an idiot.
CV
On the Kurds, no Turkey won’t accept them as an independent nation, but that is not what I am proposing. In my proposal essentially Syria would have 3, maybe 4 autonomous self governing regions.
Maybe in 20 to 30 years they would interact freely, but maybe not – look at Cyprus 40 years on from the Turkish invasion.
Kurdistan in northern Iraq is an obvious local example. The Turks accept it. It is essentially self governing but still sits within Iraq as its nation state.
Yes, the US and the West should get the fuck out of the Middle East.
No, Assad gets his entire country back and the US gets out of there altogether.
Nope because that’s actually invasion and is illegal according to international law.
Just like they beat the Vietcong eh?
I suspect that you’re talking out your arse.
“No, Assad gets his entire country back …”
Is this a good idea though? given that Syria, in the first place, is lines drawn on a map by imperial powers. These lines don’t reflect the realities on the ground, nor has Assad’s government.
The US would secretly heave a huge sigh of relief if Assad took control again, I suspect… anything to close the whole unmitigated disaster down. This was a (clearly not the only) potential outcome if the ceasefire the other week was actually a ceasefire.
Draco,
But not Russia. Frankly you are operating in an alternate universe with your narrative.
ISIS is going to be defeated. They are not like the Vietcong which was backed by North Vietnam and the Soviets. ISIS doesn’t have the support of any nation state. US and coalition air power and special forces are having their effect, as is already evident In Iraq they are nearly defeated. Within two years ISIS will not occupy any territory in Iraq, and probably Syria.
Do I have actual evidence that there has not been some contact between the Trump camp and Putins allies. No, but why wouldn’t there be such contact. Trump has quite a few close supporters who have close relations with Putin’s business supporters.
If you think you are going to win, you start with preliminary quiet discussions with people you may be dealing with on some key issues. Why would this surprise you.
When a bullshitter calls something crap …………..
Wayne Mapp has history as a dishonest warmonger who helped spread false information and needless fear when he was demanding New Zealand participate in Bush & Blairs illegal war ………. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2008/11/war-party.html
Other statements of his in support of war display either stupidity or dishonesty ….. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2009/08/debating-afghanistan.html
Wars and all its associated death and maiming of civilians and children should be used to try and get trade deals for New Zealand according to people like wayne map ……. If that sounds dodgy or illegal that does not matter to a ‘man like him ………….. when in Parliament he helped block legislation that would have required Nz to obey international law. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2009/09/our-government-wants-us-to-be-rogue.html
A bad mapp is worse than no mapp ……… following it leads to corruption and war crimes.
What do you expect, or want, the US to do CV?
Syria is a moral quagmire, there aren’t exactly a lot of good guys to support there. The US isn’t blameless but of of all the meddling interlopers I’d think the US is one of the least blameworthy. For them it seems they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Firstly, give up on the concept of illegal regime change by Islamist proxies.
Secondly, partner with Russia to utterly destroy any rebel groups who refuse to ceasefire.
Thirdly, co-operate with the UN to ensure the running of full and fair democratic elections within 12 to 18 months.
What makes you think it would be possible to have these full & fair democratic elections? That would be handing power over to the rebels, do you really think Assad and his allies would let that happen?
You asked me what should be done and I told you.
BTW you’ve made an assumption that the Turkish/Qatar/Saudi backed Islamist Rebels have popular Syrian support. They don’t.
I’m just looking at history & applying some common sense CV. Iraq is majority Shia and it’s Govt is now dominated by Shia through democratic elections. That was pretty predictable, it’s how democracy works.
Syria is majority Sunni and there’s no chance of Assad continuing to rule in any ‘fair’ election. He’d be turfed out by any Sunni dominated Govt and following that so would Russia and Iran.
There’s no way Russia or Iran would go along with that so why would the US want to join with them in any kind of alliance?
Most of the Syrian Sunnis have been targeted for killings by the Salafist Takfiri ideology of ISIS and related “Sunni” rebel groups.
Funny – most of them seem more concerned about Shi’ite militia from Iraq and Iran. Not that any non-western countries would ever consider interfering in the Syrian conflict, of course.
I don’t think so CV. At heart Syria is still a sectarian war. The Assad regime may presently have some numbers of Sunni supporters but that support would evaporate in any climate of genuinely free & fair elections. The various Sunni groups would form their own political movements.
If a ceasefire & elections were possible moderate Sunni aren’t going to vote for a Shia Iran backed Assad Govt and Iran sure as hell aren’t going to just walk away from Syria.
I still can’t see how it would be in US interests to support Russia in eliminating the rebels. They’d be ending one war only to see the start of an even bigger war.
It seems to me that you don’t understand the religious and sectarian dynamics of the ME. I barely do myself, but at least I understand that Takfiri Salafist terrorists aren’t really “Sunni” and do not regard “moderate Sunni” Muslims of worthy of respect.
Why not? Assad’s clan is Alawite, which has some relationship to Shia Islam but is also its own thing.
And Assad’s government has always been secular in nature – with Sunni, Shia, Alawite and Christian cabinet ministers.
That’s why folk like Patrick Cockburn are so interesting.
And you seem to be forgetting that it wasn’t Takfiri who started the uprising in the first place CV. It was a popular revolt against the depredations of the Assad regime.
Do you really believe it can go back to the way it was and people will forgive & forget all the bloodshed?
People there might, for survival sake, accept for a while the choice of the lesser of two evils but that kind of peace would be a fragile & transient one. It’s no solution.
That’s bullshit. The unrest in the major cities was driven by a multi-year climate change drought which had forced hundreds of thousands of poverty stricken Syrians off the land and into urban areas.
Foreign powers then decided to weaponise what had been largely peaceful protests against these dire economic circumstances via agent provocateurs, causing many fatalities in both the security forces and other protestors.
Assad then moved to a violent martial law crackdown which resulted in more deaths of protestors.
The west’s allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan then used this as a pretext to continue to train, fund and arm more rebels, facilitating the infiltration of many thousands of foreign Islamist fighters into Syria (including from Iraq).
Remember, the primary goal of the western powers in Syria has never been to ensure the stability and security of Syria; it has been to regime change Assad at any cost, via any proxies required.
Of course not.
However, Syrians are more than smart enough to understand that NATO member Turkey, with the tacit approval of the United States, and the co-operation of western allies Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are primarily responsible for the violent disintegration of their country via fundamentalist Islamist proxies.
You’re just trying to rewrite history to suit your own narrative now CV. The start of the conflict is a matter of public record. Ordinary people began protesting and Assad’s security forces started shooting them. It got progressively worse from there as the tit for tat escalated.
To suggest the rebels are all islamists, and only islamists, is to deny recorded history and common sense.
Many of Assad’s security forces were killed by gun fire from “protestors” (probably foreign agent provocateurs) in the early days of the protests.
Yes Assad’s response did eventually become heavy handed and a number of civilians were killed.
The guts of it though, is that the west’s allies created this pretext for a longstanding regime change operation and the US was OK with it as the Pentagon neocons had wanted this since about 2000.
Also, Syria is in the middle of its worst drought for several hundred years, and it is likely associated with climate change. This drought was a key driver for social unrest in the country.
DH the u.s.a has a long history of opposing elections and supporting civil wars ….
They have a long history of direct involvement in the overthrow of elected governments with support and training being given to death squads time and time again ……………..
Last Century the only thing which killed more people than the u.s.a was world war 2 ……….
They have literally slaughtered millions ……………… either directly or by proxy .
Harsher penalties for fleeing drivers, freakin’ genius, whats the bet if the law is passed there is an escalation of fleeing drivers & more teenage death. Suits the simpler thinkers out there, more ‘tough on crime, lenient on banksters’ bullshit, “want to do rich mans time? do rich mans crime”.
I think you’ll find that when rich people commit crimes that kill others, it’s treated as seriously as when fuckwit teenagers and car thieves do it.
You missed the news the other day about the sentence handed down to the rich fuckwit kid beating a cop senseless obviously.
A number of lawyers, including Graeme Edgeler at
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/
have said that the charge and sentence were what they would expect for any 18 year old first offender. It was not a case of a rich person “getting away” with something.
It surprised me a little but a first offender apparently has to commit a very, very serious offence to get jail time.
Absolute bullshit.
Seen a great many young Maori, or poor, get much worse sentences for much less serious crimes.
Dope possession, for one.
And young people in Whangarei get serious sentences and fines where Dunedin University students get discharged without conviction.
Of course it depends on how expensive a lawyer you can pay.
Bribery paid to the system if you like.
” get much worse sentences ”
There are two major things.
Were they young, ie about 18?
And, apparently quite critically, was it a FIRST offense?
“discharged without conviction”.
In the case we are talking about he pleaded guilty to a serious charge and WAS convicted.
Sure, except if they are (as you put it)
And that ladies and gentlemen, is Psycho Milt’s version of “liberal western values.”
If you think about it really hard, you might be able to discern the way in which the actions of political leaders carrying out acts of war are different from criminal offences against NZ law. The fact that Winston Churchill wasn’t arrested and given multiple life sentences for ordering the killing of German fascists (and German civilians, for that matter) doesn’t mean that someone in NZ has a moral right not to be prosecuted for murdering his neighbour. I should be surprised that I have to tell you this, but I’m not.
And I’m not surprised that Tony Blair wasn’t arrested for his illegal war on Iraq undertaken on completely false pretences.
Liberal western (imperial) values at work again.
Yes well this is all hardly surprising this ‘Psycho Milt’ is also the same person who passionately defended the right of moderators on this site to abuse commenting guests in a debate with me about a week ago ( “Open Mike 15/09/2016” ) until I got kicked off that is…. and all the while using the Crass emblem as his avatar, go figure.
Way to hold a grudge mate. I don’t have any prizes to offer, sorry.
No grudge here, just an observation.
I read your ..many, many, outrageous, inflammatory, rude in some cases, and generally provocative comments since reading your first on this thread, all through this post you have basically turned up stirred shit and tried to wind anyone up you can.
I don’t mind reasonable, and reasoned arguments, but you inflammatory remarks on Muslims and the ME in general are quite racist in their undertones. Due to your mannerism here on the Standard, i’d like to comment on it, say it’s not the first time you have done this sort of thing, and often the person who retaliates against your lunatic, racism and wild accusations is banned.
I’m just chucking that out their for a comment from you is that what you came here for?, or do you have a reasoned knowledge of muslims and the Middle East and would like to make a proper point?
Your all Arabs or/and muslims are terrorists and should be bombed into oblivion, is quite frankly real low brow teenager arguments.
I suspect that Psycho Milt will not get around to reading your message, RR…
Well, you’re entitled to your opinion about my comments. My opinion of your comments is that they suggest very poor reading comprehension, a willful determination to misinterpret opinions you disagree with and a predisposition to violence. So what? The world isn’t ever going to be filled only with people whose opinions we like.
To answer your specific questions:
What I came to this thread for is to dispute the views of the blog’s resident Putin supporters. It disgusts me that there are people on the left who are apologists for totalitarian dictatorships (eg, former USSR) or right-wing authoritarian nationalist regimes (eg, current Russian Federation). I’m happy to write comments disagreeing with them.
Yes I do have some knowledge of Muslims and the Middle East, having lived in a Muslim country there for three years. That doesn’t make me an expert, but it gives me more knowledge and direct experience than most of the people who decry my “ignorance” and “racism” in this blog’s comments threads. It certainly made me a much more outspoken opponent of Islam than I was before I went there, but if you imagine that has something to do with ethnicity (ie, racism) you really need to educate yourself better.
As to making proper points, I’ve made a number of them on this thread – why not have a go yourself?
Glad you replied Psycho (not to me).. I would just say that my perception is that you come across as a hard-nosed defender of hard-line policy. When you lived in that Muslim country for 3 years, did you live with and mix with the people of that country, or did you live in a protected enclave with other Westerners? Am I wrong to doubt the former and suspect the latter?
I wouldn’t say I’m a defender of the US government’s drone attacks on Muslim extremists, I’m just not surprised that they’re taking the opportunities available to kill these guys and don’t really have a problem with it.
No enclaves – Whitey gets to rent an apartment same as everyone else. The employer finds one for you and provides a minder to get you through the initial dealings with the bureaucracy (national ID card etc), but that’s the extent of the protection. However, even if I’d been in Saudi Arabia having to live in a compound so that locals could be protected from my pernicious influence, I’d still have more knowledge and experience than most of the authors and commenters on this blog, so your question is a bit disingenuous.
The top two stories in the Herald today.
Unintended irony?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11713981
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11714971
That’s wealth that makes the1%’ers on $250K pa look poor.
You reckon the Herald intended the link?
I doubt it; I think its because reality is growing increasingly contradictory with the preferred narratives of the MSM
If not, it highlights the chasm in NZ so well
Oh sure sure. They agreed it out 1/4ly 1%ers meeting.
Seriously Paul. Not everything is a conspiracy.
I agree.
That’s why I called it unintended irony.
When you think about this it is entirely expected, and will have been true for renters and young people for decades.
For instance most Housing NZ tenants will have close to zero net worth. Typically they own furniture, clothes, a car (not new) and maybe $1000 or so in the bank. This will cover 70,000 Housing New Zealand households.
Most young people have very low net worth. Certainly up until my early 20’s my net worth would have been in the order of a couple of thousand dollars, or less. Home ownership changed that situation.
The issue is not that renters have low net worth, that has always been true and will always be true.
The challenge is setting the conditions so that the average younger family can buy a house in Auckland. That means at least $50,000 in the bank or in Kiwisaver. Many moderate income young people will be able to do that. But a $450,000 mortgage is quite a problem if there is an interest rate increase.
They need to be able to lock in the current low rates for at least 5 years. Either the banks have to provide such products, or the government has to be able to provide such guarantee. If rates stay low the guarantee for the govt would cost virtually nothing. It only will cost if rates rise, say above 5%.
“When you think about this it is entirely expected, and will have been true for renters and young people for decades.”
That just isn’t true Wayne. Yes we’ve always had housing inflation but it used to be all general inflation. Now we just have housing inflation. In the old days wages kept pace with housing inflation, now they don’t.
On top of that we had high interest rates for savers. The compounding interest, at rates pushing 8-10% and higher, let people save the deposit faster than inflation increased it. With today’s low interest rates the deposit is increasing faster than the savings.
$50,000 won’t meet the deposit requirement on any house Wayne!
Please do catch up.
There aren’t too many houses for $250,000 in Auckland that I’m aware of….
$250k won’t even get you a bare section any closer than Pukekohe.
If you qualify for the Kiwisaver grant first home buyer situation, the deposit is 10%, as i understand it.
Still not enough.
Take the situation of this hard working family in Hamilton (I have referred to it below).
Essentially the situation was this:
They saved enough to buy the State house they are living in when it was offered to them as “surplus to requirements” at $315,000 in November last year. Both parents are working on minimal wages. But in the meantime, the price has risen to $450,000! Way beyond their capacity to finance.
So now they are threatened with eviction, because they can no longer afford to buy, but our heartless govt still insists that it is “surplus” housing stock!
Wayne, someone who defends a government that allows this.
Yes I see that if you have never owned a home before and have a combined income of less that $120,000 pa you may be eligible for a Welcome Home Home loan – with a total price of less than $600,000 in Auckland.
There happens to be such a home listed in Auckland (Manakau city to be precise) with an asking price in the region of $569,000. That’s the cheapest I could find which wasn’t a box or a small apartment 15 floors up.
So you would need to gather together a deposit of $57,000 for this house to start with and then fund a mortgage at around $1400 per week.
Assuming a combined income of $100,000, with kiwisaver and student loan each partners take home pay is around $693.75 per week – ooopps not enough!
Macro,
If you are saving for a house, you will actually have to do some saving beyond Kiwisaver. That is why I mention $50,000 in total of which $30,000 is actual saving.
People don’t typically buy their first home on the basis of zero savings. So for five years or so they will have to save $30,000 to get the total of $50,000.
It can be done, and is being done by many young families on relatively modest incomes. Generations of kiwis have done so.
But I appreciate some never will. And that has always been the case. Housing NZ houses have always been for those who cannot save, and for whom owning a house is not likely to be possible.
On your comment (1:41) where do you get the idea that a $500,000 mortgage costs $1,400 per week, which is $72,800 per year. In fact a 30 year mortgage at 4.75% with the ANZ is $2,608 per month. There are better deals around that that.
To save $30,000 over a 5 year period would require saving $6,000 per year.
For the couple who earn $100,000 per annum and pay student loans their take home pay is around $1400. Their cost of rental is in the region of $500, leaving $900 for food clothing transport electricity medical education etc. To save that $6000 will require saving $120 per week i.e. their “discretionary” spending for essential items reduces to around $780 per week. The cost of food for a family is around $200 especially if both partners are working because the cheaper cuts etc take more time to cook (that’s why they are cheap!) So that leaves $580 per week. Then there is the cost of transport. Having to live away from their work in the city for the cheaper rent the couple have to travel around 5 to 6 zones to their employment. Using the discount rate of around $6 per trip that adds up to around $100 per week. For their 1 child under 3 the cost would be
“Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood NZ says Auckland fees for fulltime care of children under 3 range from $220 to $408 a week. Child Forum director Dr Sarah Farquhar estimates an average of $320, and Sara Jones faces paying $80 a day.” That leaves around $100 per week – if they are lucky – (and we haven’t included costing for a car) for electricity, insurance, and clothing. This is from a young family with one child who are well educated and have secure employment earning well above what many young people earn
around $50,000 each pa. Perhaps they are both young teachers.
The current starting salary for a primary school teacher with a Bachelor’s teaching degree is $47,039. The starting salary for a primary school teacher with a Bachelor’s degree (not a teaching degree) and a recognised teaching qualification is $48,165.
In the meantime – as they are strenuously saving the minimum of $6000 per year for their $30,000 proportion of the deposit and paying off their student loan and paying child care and rent etc … the cost of buying a house is escalating at a rate more than they earn in a year.
I obtained the calculation of $1400 per fortnight from the kiwisaver web sight mortgage calculator and that admittedly was over a 25 year period.
A $700 per week mortgage is still barely do-able on $100,000 per annum income
It was expected in the 1980s by quite a few people but it wasn’t and hasn’t been true for decades. And even if it had that’s not a valid excuse for it to be true now.
No, that won’t be typical. That’s about 1000 times richer than what would be typical.
And there you just managed to contradict your first sentence.
Only if they’ve got rich parents.
Actually, the government can, and should, provide loans at 0% interest.
+ 1 Wayne is living in a delusional world – sadly lacking empathy, understanding or reality.
Tell the truth – you never wanted these people to have houses. They will have slums. The brighter future, brought to you by Wayne and his accomplices.
Just not true.
Sorry Wayne,you need to address the elephant in the room as the RBNZ LVR is constrained ,
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iQH70zWC4JXM/v4/-1x-1.png
,
Sycophant.
A sycophant is a person who tries to win favor from wealthy or influential people by flattering them. Also known as brown-nosers, teacher’s pets or suck-ups. Sycophant is from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantēs, from sykon “fig” and phainein “to show, make known.”
Audrey Young.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11715831
Anyone know who pays for these embedded journalists to travel with the prime minister?
Shareholders
Name %
Allan Gray Australia Pty Ltd. 15.5%
21st Century Fox, Inc. 15.0%
Perpetual Investment Management Ltd. 7.18%
BT Funds Management (NZ) Ltd. 4.94%
The Vanguard Group, Inc. 1.45%
Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd. 0.51%
Perennial Investment Partners Ltd. 0.47%
Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. 0.10%
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP 0.080%
TIAA-CREF Investment Management LLC 0.072%
http://www.4-traders.com/NZME-LTD-31257664/company/
How about this for a bunch of fluffy nonsense? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11715766
Lckspittle
noun
a person who behaves obsequiously to those in power.
“she is a lickspittle for the Establishment”
Claire Trevett.
“I know this is a sore, and contested, point among those who chose Nader, who to this day blame Gore for not doing enough to appeal to the left (forgetting perhaps that he also had to appeal to centrist voters in order to win the election). But the basic case is surely clear. In a two-party system like America’s, if you want to stop Trump, then a vote for Johnson or Stein will not do it. Only a vote for Clinton can prevent a white nationalist bigot becoming the next US president.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/23/president-trump-only-one-way-stop-it-happening-hillary-clinton
Actually nobody will be voting for Clinton. She is about to withdraw from the race. Or maybe die as the hosts of a news show last week were discussing her “death” that was yet to happen.
She must withdraw because she isn’t healthy enough to go for 90 mins straight.
Bye bye Killary!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-23/trump-clinton-debate-rules-leaked-90-minutes-straight-no-step-stool-no-coughing-brea
Clinton is so healthy she is popping up at public campaign rallies everywhere. Not.
Seems like she has almost no public appearances scheduled before the first debate, just like the previous month of her campaign.
of course Trump could have a stroke or be hit by a bus tomorrow as well….or is he immortal?
Yes but like all good US presidential families in waiting, the kids are standing by, straight out of good old Stepford, programmed and ready to war.
Have you seen The Don’s kids…wow. normal is not a word used much in that home.
don’t think the US has a system of royal succession as yet.
He will rise again on the third day.
Show me any public campaign rally Clinton’s done in the last few days. Go on. It’s six weeks to the election. This is coming down to the home straight. She must have done some right?
Show me.
Meanwhile in the last FIVE DAYS Trump has done massive public rallies in:
Chester PA.
Toledo OH
Kenansville NC
Cleveland Heights Church
Highpoint NC
Fort Myers FL
Colorado Springs CO
Five states in five days.
How many campaign rallies has Clinton done in this time?
Has he done Nuremberg yet?
Lol
It is not her mission to incite hatred in the way your mate does.
I think the reason why Hilary is not staging rallies is to do with her health.
Invading and/or bombing Iraq, Libya, Serbia, Syria etc seems a sure fire way of inciting hatred.
Drones and cluster bombs create a lot of hatred.
It seems obvious to me that is the most likely answer. A few weeks before the Presidential election and sweet FA public rallies. It’s a wtf.
In the videos I’ve seen, there seems to be a level of racist and misogynistic hatred throughout Trump’s rallies, which his words often fan up into greater hatred.
But oh yes, “Bombs!” “Wars” – Heck, the entire Military Industrial Complex. Yes, they exist.
So, that means, “Hillary baaaad…”
It is Trump who has asked more than once, “As we have nuclear weapons, why aren’t we using them?”
Trump’s rallies frequently attract 5,000 to 10,000 people.
Hillary can barely get 1,000 to one of her rallies.
Shit man, does that mean according to you that racist misognynists out number ordinary Americans 10 to 1?
I’m saying that Trump uses his rallies to whip up hatred, in a way not seen in other presidential rallies that I can recall. They seem more like some sort of religious revivalist meeting in some ways.
The “Nuremberg” comment earlier was not too far off the mark, imho
So how come Trump gets so many more people to so many more rallies than Hillary Clinton does?
I look at the crowds at his rallies and there are plenty of women in those crowds. In your view then, are these self hating women going to a misogynist-fest?
I mean, why else would these women go to a woman-hating Trump event?
Sanders had even more to his rallies.
Yep, but the Democratic hierarchy conspired against him at every turn in favour of their favourite pro status quo candidate.
That explains the lack of interest in Clinton.
Only big business and big finance supports her.
Plus the deluded left here, who still support fake left wing candidates even after Douglas, Prebble, Clinton, Blair.
Goff, Shearer.
It’s a well-known rule of human nature that if a demagogue points a finger in your direction and says “You are the enemy”, you think that he’s pointing at the person standing beside you and you cheer for him.
and your point?
It’s pretty self explanatory, Pat, it’s not a trick question. Trump has worked hard and travelled hard, holding public rallies in all those states.
Where has Clinton been in that same time?
and how does that address the fact he could be hit by a bus tomorrow?…your (and others) obsession with Clintons health is a pointless exercise.
What is impressive however is your ability to hold diametrically opposed positions re Trump and climate change while simultaneously expecting to be taken seriously.
Clinton’s not up to campaigning. She’s not physically fit to be President. I think that is pretty relevant even if you do not think it is.
Further there ain’t even 5ppm CO2 difference between Trump and Clinton.
Whether Clinton is up to campaigning is irrelevant, she obviously is….and would be curious to see the formula you use to determine 5ppm CO2 difference between a climate change denier who will withdraw from COP21 and someone who will ratify.
COP21 is irrelevant. Nothing binding, no reviews of performance in a time frame which matters, exclusion from considering all flights and shipping.
Where were her campaign rallies held this week then?
so Clinton isn’t holding campaign rallies this week (or last) and yet she’s in the running…go figure..as for climate change , i guess you’ll be suitably reticent should Trump be elected and fire up coal sourced generation…..but then on past form you are unlikely to be.
FDR had polio….was a fine president.
And all this “Clinton health” BS is just speculation based on little to no evidence apart from a swoon on a hot day
Pat: do you expect to see Clinton out on the campaign trail this coming week then?
TheExtremist: a “swoon” on a hot day? She lost control of her hips, knees and ankles. Then her doctor said that she had pneumonia. When those aren’t pneumonia symptoms.
Re: FDR, who was was quite sick and died in office.
Knowing this, why did you choose FDR as an example?
Further, the Secret Service also actively helped FDR to hide the true extent of his illness from the press and from the public.
It seems that they may be doing similar again.
Yep that 5ppm is absolute rubbish with zero basis in reality. It does seem to be handy to help pretenders though.
do I expect to see Clinton on the campaign trail this week?….I expect nothing and it means nothing.
FDR is a fine example…particularly in light of the fact he won a record 4 elections and was President for 12 years ,polio an all, not to mention his policies.
Hey Marty Mars, as a Democratic President, Obama has always taken Climate Change seriously, right.
Yet CO2 levels have gone up around 20ppm under his watch, and a massive shale oil industry sprung up all over the USA along with new permits for deep sea drill rigs, even after Deep Water Horizon.
Get real mate, there ain’t fuck all material difference between Trump and Clinton on climate change, although the “hot air” differs.
You say that but it is not based on anything other than what you think you need to say to push your guilt down, that’s assuming you feel that for promoting a climate change denier. Later on you’ll be all teary about the effects of climate change – hypocrisy writ large. A joke if it wasn’t so serious.
You’re making weird comments now, marty mars. What has my “guilt” have to do with it?
Obama, a Democratic President, oversaw the growth of a massive shale oil industry, and bragged about America being “energy independent” because of it. He approved more off shore drilling even after Deep Water Horizon. And world CO2 levels have risen 20ppm on his watch.
Both Clinton and Trump will perform similarly to this Democratic President IMO.
You are a hypocrite – quick out a climahe change post – you know describing everything we have to do – lol a denier endorser is a denier imo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clinton-trump-energy-environment_us_57d1dc06e4b06a74c9f3d6c0
http://www.dw.com/en/what-a-trump-win-would-mean-for-the-environment/a-19122827
But you agree with my description of what has happened under Obama, a Democratic President who acknowledges that climate change is a severe problem, right?
She fucking fainted. I had a terrible flu last week and nearly collapsed myself. Jesus Christ man, you swallowed the conspiracy health scare hook line and fucking sinker.
Yep we need action NOW. And we have been let down by our politicians. Not many summer’s left to change and having deniers and their enablers around spinning their lies does not help.
Clinton is in better health than Winston Peters who will be lucky to be alive in 12 months time.
Surprised no one else has said this.
She hasn’t had rallies because she’s prepping for the debate. She actually tries very hard not to lie and make crap up on the spot like Trump does. She knows that she’s an unpopular candidate, and the debates offers her best chance to cement her lead over Trump.
Going to public rallies is not her best strategy at the moment, hence why she isn’t.
Along the same lines…
http://www.vox.com/2016/9/21/12987108/sanders-clinton-nixon-humphrey
From that link:
Despite our growing dread, we do not imagine that protesting students will be gunned down at Kent State and Jackson State. That Hoover’s FBI will get the green light to go after Nixon’s enemies.
We have a failure of political imagination. We have a failure of moral imagination.
………………
Where Obama in 2012 received 60 percent of voters under 30, when Johnson and Stein are included in the polls, Clinton is receiving only 31 percent of those voters. A significant group of Sanders supporters cannot bring themselves to support Clinton, the candidate of the establishment, no matter what the threat from Trump and no matter how hard Bernie campaigns for her.
…………….
The only way Donald Trump does not become president of the United States is if Hillary Clinton does. In any closely contested state, staying home or voting for a third-party candidate is, in its impact, a vote for Trump. It does not take a great leap of moral or political imagination to envision the damage a Trump presidency will bring to our nation and to the world.
I’d say on this post that we , frankly led the way. Press control was tested here, then implemented in the States and UK and Australia.
Slowly they have been monopolizing the media outlets Murdock etc, into a few small wealthy right wing hands. Well that the only place it could go as they are the only ones in the media businesses.
It’s a pity the like of Gates or Branson didn’t go into the media business to level the field, but they are to normal to do that I think. I would expect balance from more liberal rich media men, sadly I fail to find a one.
As technology has exploded expotentially in the last two hundred years so have governments had to change as much to keep up. News, speed of information etc.
In the future i see the media being licensed and ownership of a media outlet will be controlled like a gun license. In the information age the authenticity of the data going out to the public will have to be, A, either controlled by the state, the Orwellian life, or B, we end up going the other way and ensure it’s always from reliable people without vested interests. Laws around information/data and what you can and cannot put out will have to really catch up as at the moment no one knows what the real truth is.
and if someone were to get to the top and have control of a information system via their party and contacts, and a nuclear arsenal, and was not well upstairs, imagine the harm they could do if they wanted too. Scary.
Good post for the Sat AM, Thank you.
Are you serious that you think Gates or Branson would be any different to what already exists in media moguls today? They just like every other billionair will defend at least the status quo of this free market ideology to their dying breath, and why wouldn’t they, it has worked very well for them.
All you would end up with is the same bullshit so called liberal media sources we have now, and look at how they all reacted when alternatives in the form of Sanders and Corbyn showed up. Direct unashamed hostility to how they treated and are treating both those promoters of real progressive change.
Public debate about the future of Kermadecs has been hampered by a lack of knowledge of the islands’ long & tragic past. Maori got to the Kermadecs many centuries ago, & in 1863 tragedy arrived, in the form of a Spanish ship filled with slaves from half a dozen Polynesian societies: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2016/09/the-kermadecs-undiscovered-history.html
Sounds more like an attempt to rewrite history to show more Māori connection to the Kermadecs than there really was.
FYI – seen this?
A Bright $0B Plan to Fix Auckland’s Gridlock | Scoop News
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1609/S00701/a-bright-0b-plan-to-fix-aucklands-gridlock.htm
• Penny Bright wants folks to look on the bright side.
Saying: “activists get things done”, she suggests that “right now, if we get more people carpooling, to get more people in a fewer number of cars, that would help stop the congestion.”
Having a PhD in ‘fuss-making’, she says as mayor she would say “listen, if you are sick of congestion here is what you can do: here’s an app, on your phone, you are going from A to B, I want you to see if you can get another couple of people in your car.
I mean, where is the campaign?
Where are the TV ads, the PUSH to try and stop congestion, making do with what we’ve got and encouraging people to do carpooling, etcetera?
There will be less congestion because I will make sure that happens.”
(5 minute You Tube clip 🙂
Auckland Mayoral Election 2016 Penny Bright Transport Pitch – YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=FKQBrlMR7ZE
Kind regards
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
I prefer Screaming Lord Sutch and the MRL party platform.
https://www.loonyparty.com/about/policy-proposals/
You’re a fan of Uber then are you Ms Bright?
Oh, so you actually think Uber is for ride sharing?
Uber is a taxi in all but name. There’s no actual sharing of rides with other people.
Lyft, one of their competitors, actually has a genuine carpooling option. I’m not sure how popular it is.
OK a bit of a thread grab – but really, anyone concerned at the shabby dealings of this current “Govt” needs to read this:
Teaser:
Dang, that blows. Not just for the family who’ve obviously had a hard enough life as it is, but how dodgy are the dealings re offering the house to whom for what, I was under the assumption that it was only to be offered to certain ‘parties’. Well written by Sue Moroney
The trouble with nationalised industries.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/world/americas/venezuela-oil-economy.html?_r=0&referer=https://www.google.co.nz/
You have to wonder how many other petro-states will go to the wall with barrel $$ so low for so long.
Statoil seems to do quite fine, Gossie, as does Aramco.
I guess the big difference is support by the US financial establishment.
+1
NZ Electricity was cheaper and more reliable under state control – vastly cheaper. Now we have some of the most expensive in the world. One month’s bill in NZ would cover my power in Korea for the whole year. Private enterprise has been allowed to fail without being disciplined. There’s a huge ass-kicking coming for non-performing former state businesses.
Yeah, but the economies of scale between NZ and Korea are vastly different.
JMG has another interesting post up
“The word I’ve coined for the strategy under discussion, retrovation, is obviously backformed from “retro” + “innovation,” but it’s also “re-trove-ation,” re-finding, rediscovery: an active process of searching through the many options the past provides, not a passive acceptance of some bygone time as a package deal. That’s the strategy the Lakeland Republic puts to use in my narrative, and those of my readers who know their way around the backwaters and odd corners of history may find it entertaining to figure out the sources from which I lifted this or that detail of Retrotopian daily life. The rhetoric of progress, by contrast, rejects that possibility, relies on a very dubious logic that lumps “the past” together as a single thing, and insists that wanting any of it amounts to wanting all of it, with the worst features inevitably highlighted.”
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2016/09/a-time-for-retrovation.html?m=1
Ken Loach is one of the greatest directors of our time.
Jeez Paul even his ex wife does not rate him as a husband or a leader,
Others do
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/vast-majority-of-128000-new-labour-members-backing-jeremy-corbyn_uk_577e8946e4b0935d4b4a7b38
#Red, So let me get this right, you are critiquing Corbyn using statements made by his ex wife from 1979? maybe you should be writing for the Guardian, as that is the type of low level, bottom barrel scraping, dumb ass political analysis they seem to indulge in these days.
Oh and also labour under Corbyn are unelectable, ie below 30pc, his own party politicians detest him but 128k hard left nutters back him in a country of 50 plus mil, yep wining formula there
and you as a RWNJ are complaining??….sniff, sniff, …I smell a rat
Ok so let me get this straight, you are using polling taken in the middle of a vicious and divisive leadership battle, and also as it happens, at a time when something like 80% of the media coverage has been negative against Corbyn, to frame your position? that could hardly be considered a representative poll number, taken under these circumstances, don’t you think?
I find it strange how you centrists bang on about how unelectable Corbyn is, yet you have lost elections time and again in the UK and here in NZ on your own defunct and debunked centrist ideological platforms.
Funny how it is that Corbyn and Sanders have mobilized and inspired tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of citizens into action on the Left. Sanders winning more votes than Trump in the primaries, and in Corbyn’s case growing the UK Labour party to be the biggest socialist party in Europe, yet, nope not good enough for you… that says volumes about your position I would say.
Don’t you find it uncomfortable that pretty much all MSM from The Daily Mail to The Guardian would support Owen Smith and relentlessly attack Corbyn, doesn’t that tell you something, doesn’t that ring some alarm bells for you? I mean come on it’s not rocket science.
https://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/pdf/JeremyCorbyn/Cobyn-Report-FINAL.pdf
Maybe it’s time you realize that the progressive socialist Left is here to take back our labour Party’s, and it is you centrist’s that will lose, because your ideology doesn’t work, hasn’t worked and will never work for an equal and fair society for all citizens.
Turn Left.
I like that!
Voters tend to be very, very harsh on parties that are visibly divided. They rightfully think that such a party is not fit to govern.
The sabotage of Labour by the Blairites in the UK and the ABCs in NZ has certainly been the cause for the crash in the polls. People like party policies – they just see that the careerist MPs don’t give a damn for them and the party itself has gone bugfuck.
Springsteen on Trump:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/24/bruce-springsteen-calls-donald-trump-a-moron
The power of the liquor industry and the power of supermarkets subverts democracy in Dunedin.
The profits of these businesses are more important than the health of New Zealanders.
And with a government captured by the market, watch the continuing health and social effects of alcohol to damage the fabric of society.
No doubt Katherine Rich, ex Nat MP and now head of the quaintly named ‘New Zealand Food & Grocery Council ‘ ( in real language a lobbyist for big sugar and the liquor industry) will be at the centre of propping up big big business interests above her fellow NZers.
These people should have their time in court.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11716156
#ToriesForCorbyn
Reminds me of Labour NZ in so so many ways.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-leadership-results-live-jeremy-corbyn-owen-smith-poll-incompetent-working-class-voters-a7326486.html
Thank you for that searing insight, James. Ever thought of taking up a career in waste disposal? In so so many ways?
yeah, thats a weak reply. But kinda makes my point.
Dream on.
Key looking to stay for the entire fourth term….Excellent news.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/key-plans-to-stay-entire-fourth-term-2016092413
James, you need to find somebody who shares your interests.
Yes Dear
Stock reply, very weak. Your trolling is boring.
gee i wonder how many more places on the world corruption scale he can lower us in another 3 years.
Why excellent?
I assume you are wealthy.
Depends on what you call wealthy.
Anyone not wealthy would not support this government.
Now that is provably incorrect.
Edit – Deleted poor taste joke. With applogies
Key’s reelection is excellent news for the wealthy elite who are in the process of selling this country off to foreign interests.
It is excellent news for multinational corporations, the roading industry, the liquor industry, Sky City, ….
+1
Well, you must be getting tired after all your fruitless trolling duty. A joke needing withdrawal, and a classic failure to spell ‘apologies’. Why don’t you take an early night?
Joke was withdrawn as soon as I posted it. I deleted it because it could have been taken in poor taste and I try to not be insulting to people on here.
You should try the same.
I do, but not for obvious trolls, who constantly offer insult thinly disguised as debate.
Most of the country must be wealthy then, if we follow your logic and we know that many wealthy people support greens and labour, yet Nats still govern
Nats govern because they have the most funding and as many people don’t vote as vote for them. They are also a part of making this undemocratic environment.
The fabled missing million labour voters, why can’t labour sell thier ideas to raise funds or voters. Is it because they have nothing to sell, para phrasing CV, they have nothing to sell that national is not already selling
He has to win it first, and he knows that his chances are slim, telling body language in Gowers interview.
The panel discussion at the end of The Nation was insightful, yes Nick Smith needs to go far far away all the way out of the beehive, and I’m more than happy to help with that process.
Why don’t you just marry him James? Then you can work through your man on man issues without frightening the horses.
Bigamy isn’t legal, despite many of the objectors to gay marriage claiming it would be the next cab off the ranks onto the slippery slope.
Now this is interesting … and sad.
Where does the NZHerald get its news
http://mindingdata.com/2016/09/24/analyzing-nz-heralds-sources/
Why sad?
Because I think NZ needs more and better journalism – just taking AP feeds is less than we need.
Stuff Nation is even worse.
We agree on something.
Problem boils to to ad blockers, the media isn’t making much money off the web so they save their decent articles for print and just put regurgitated shit on the website.
People want better news, you’re going to have to turn off your ad-blocker.
Actually there’s not much connection between media profitability and journalistic quality. Since Murdoch plenty of money has been made but standards have eroded dramatically as he shores up support for ugly rightwing regimes. Now customers are deserting en mass – news only has value to the extent it reflects reality.
Another excellent interview on RT: the great American journalist Chris Hedges interviews the Italian economics analyst Loretta Napoleoni , who specialises on investigating and following the financing of terrorism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Napoleoni
‘Refugee trafficking with Loretta Napoleoni’
https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/360308-kidnapping-industry-middle-east/
“Chris Hedges tracks the evolution of the kidnapping industry in the Middle East post-9/11 with Loretta Napoleoni, author of “Merchants of Men: How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking into a Multibillion-dollar Business.”
RT Correspondent Anya Parampil looks at the Islamic State’s involvement in the lucrative business of trafficking migrants fleeing from war-torn lands.”
Oh my God Shock Horror!!
You are praising something on RT again? If Extremist were dead, he would perform somersaults inside his coffin.
Idea for the eventual next Labour led government….compulsory voting as in Australia…..hell…throw in a $50 tax credit….
Lol not such a bad idea, and at least it would be for everyone, unlike the Nats, who will only do “favours” for their big donor voters.
+100 Barfly…to “compulsory voting as in Australia”
…enrolling to vote and how to vote should be taught in schools as well as civic education….information about political parties and politicians
…everyone who doesn’t vote should be fined $100 as punishment
…even if they are on their deathbeds the rellies can pay!…
VOTE or ELSE!
One of many looking at the white supremacist and anti-semitic elements being courted by Trump. In this case, Trump Jr.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/9/23/13001830/donald-trump-jr-tweets-controversy-alt-right-white-nationalism
One detail is the odd frog figure that pops up frequently in Trump-supporting memes
Given that millions of people who aren’t being attacked regularly by anti-Semites on Twitter have never heard of Pepe the Frog, thinking it was “a frog in a wig” might seem like a perfectly plausible explanation. On the other hand, it’s exactly this level of plausible deniability that makes a good dog whistle.
It’s origin here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/26/how-pepe-the-frog-became-a-nazi-trump-supporter-and-alt-right-symbol.html
And general alt-right, which is basically F*scism for hipsters:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/08/25/what-alt-right-guide-white-nationalist-movement-now-leading-conservative-media/212643
Trumps long connection with and use of White Supremacists:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/08/18/complete-history-donald-trumps-relationship-white-nationalist-movement/212502#campaign
Aided by his choice of Stephen Bannon, whose Breitbart media links directly to Neo-N*zi sites such as Red Ice:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-donald-trump-alt-right-breitbart-news
More:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/alt-right-makes-its-main-stream-debut
You’ll see names like Milo Yiannopoulos, racist misogynist cyberstalker and essentially an Ernst Rohm wannabe and words like “cuck”, which is short for “cuckold”, used as a misogynist term of abuse for liberal men who have been “emasculated” by women.
It takes a pretty strong effort of will to ignore Trump’s N*zi inclinations, or a great deal of dishonesty.
Failing and flailing, easily bought.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-s-intel-officials-probe-ties-between-trump-adviser-and-kremlin-175046002.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-j-trump-foundation-accused-of-raising-charitable-money-to-pay-legal-fees/
This blog appears to have reached a new level of god awfulness…congrats to all contributors to this thread.
Here are some kittens:
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Kittens&espv=2&biw=1988&bih=1175&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih0cK55KfPAhWCJJQKHScJB80QsAQIGQ
love the kitties!!!!!….XXXXX….(dont show Gareth)
Me too. I am a dedicated follower of Cat Fu.
Agree Chooky
rofl …..couldn’t click the link fast enough….. gorgeous!!!
Jeremy Corbyn has won the UK Labour Party leadership vote with 61.8% of the vote – up a bit on his 59% last time: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2016/sep/24/labour-leadership-election-result-jeremy-corbyn-owen-smith-appeals-for-unity-politics-live
Excellent news.
#ToriesForCorbyn
if Corbyn wants to be taken seriously he needs to purge Labour top to bottom.
Even then he does not have chaiisma, ability or X factor to bring general population with him or his party
@ Red, What the hell are you talking about, he just won the election by 62% with 80% of all media stories from the Guardian to The Daily mail on him being negative…and there you are saying he doesn’t have “chaiisma, ability or X factor” it sure doesn’t look that way from here, or am I missing something?
Or are you really that frightened of any change to the status quo, that you can’t even acknowledge an incredible victory against all the power and sway of establishment MSM and establishment politics when you plainly see one?
+1 Adrian.
Sadly for him. I don’t think even that will be enough.
Don’t pretend with words like ‘Sadly” – you are drooling for his failure. Be an honest troll.
I will help you. Read the entire sentence. I said sadly for him. I think it’s great for the UK because it will keep Labour out of power for a long long time.
+1
That fact that Corbyn had an outstanding victory, I would say he is being taken seriously, very seriously indeed. Agree that he needs to purge the disloyal trouble makers.
Excellent, I knew Corbyn would win it again.
Congratulations to the Socialist winner of the UK Labour Party contest, Jeremy Corbyn.
Transformed the failing UK Labour Party into the biggest Left Wing party in Europe.
An inspiration to all Labour and left wing parties around the World.
One of the select few political leaders whose political principles and political integrity are never questioned.
Turn Left.
Hear here!!!
Well done JC….. That other guy was a shocking little shit