AT, the "wolf" link takes you to a Time piece that clearly indicates that the wolves in the metaphor are; unofficial Russian invasion forces. I personally thought that was a nice rhetorical flourish of SM's, though only skimmed the first paragraphs of the article without scrolling down.
If you read the link, or knew a little more about Russian culture, you would understand the reference. While Russia has often been symbolized in the West by a bear, the people themselves prefer to identify with wolves.
I choose my reading material carefully..it does not and rarely has included Time magazine…though I found that copy of Time with Thelonious Monk on the cover in an opp shop many years ago..that was pretty cool.
I certainly don't read it regularly – the pro US bias used to be thick enough to cut with a knife. But it has the occasional thing worth reading. This piece seems to be the result of interviewing, which is refreshing.
Insurgencies are no pretty thing, no matter who arms them.
Yes. All the anti-US cohort here loves ranting about the evils of the US. Yet for better or worse it's inevitable that in any community the 'policeman' will have a monopoly on the use of force – in essence everyone else gives up their right to violence in favour of one party who is trusted to use it within a rules-based framework.
In the immediate aftermath of WW2 the US undertook this role in parallel with institutions such as the UN. During the Cold War (that in reality was also a series of nasty little hot wars) the logic of this role was largely accepted by default. And while it's easy and obvious to point to the list of conflicts the US has been involved in during this period, it's also important to keep in mind the huge absence of conflicts between almost all of the other nations. This came about mostly because the US-led global trade order and security guarantee took the need for conflict off the table for everyone else. The idea that you can have a peace without some entity willing and able to enforce it is of course as idiotic as the idea that you can defund the police and crime will stop.
But after the Cold War ended we never had the global conversation around "what next?" The next logical evolution would have been the winding back of the US as the centre of the system and a ceding of the right to conduct war by all the nations in favour of the UN. Well that never happened, although GH Bush did attempt something like it. In this all the major powers must accept responsibility for a terrible failure of leadership.
Now as you say Ad, the US (much absorbed with it's own internal navel gazing) is certainly not going to put fresh boots on the ground anywhere. In the wake of Trump and COVID the US is no longer all that interested in, nor especially needs to. play the role of 'world policeman' anymore, although much of the old rhetoric will continue to be recited. As a result we're seeing a devolution back to the conditions that applied pre-WW1/2 – where the major powers each vied openly with each other to establish and defend their individual spheres of influence and competing trade systems.
All the anti-US cohort here loves ranting about the evils of the US.
"Ranting"? On this excellent site I have seen many well-informed, well-written, even scholarly analyses of the crimes carried out by the United States and its vassals like the U.K., Australia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. These analyses have been written by various members of the "authoring crew" and by casual commenters. Your contemptuous dismissal of those serious and thoughtful critics says nothing about the critics of these violent and lawless regimes, but it says a great deal about yourself.
…. the 'policeman'… one party who is trusted [sic] … the police… role of 'world policeman'…
Surely a policeman has at least a notional commitment to the law? What sort of “world policeman” routinely trashes the rule of law and carries out or supports unspeakable crimes?
…. the 'policeman'… one party who is trusted [sic] … the police… role of 'world policeman'…
The self-appointed world police are an unelected self-serving and bullying dictatorship led by the senile or insane that know no bounds! In that role, the US is every bit as corrupt and self-serving as their own enforcement agencies. The only reason the US is not putting fresh boots on the ground is that the poor non-white cannon fodder are increasingly unwilling. Thus the new policing strategy of threats and sanctions. It is concerning that and the rest of the world's 'power-brokers' don't aggressively acknowledge that sanctions are 'the new war crimes' that it should be strenuously opposing. It seems the current orthodoxy is that it is better to kill off millions of the undeserving poor then pick over their resources to further enrich the 2% This is done all in the name of Democracy.
" You are both so predictable." …coming from the guy who is always beating the same drum…but then so do we…you beat the the drum for some sort of contemporary liberal ‘soft’ imperialism while we beat the drum for international liberty, equality to brotherhood….in other words you seem set on an ideology that is at best evolutionary stagnant, while the ideology we advocate for is at least trying to help in the actual evolutionionary process (thought of course very slowly) of the human race.
My observational response is predictable – reliable even. We're all sooo predictable, each in our own way. Just different tones of predictable/reliable.
Not as predictable as yourself Red. Your opinions on international alignments never drift far from singing the praises of the most devastating empire since Rome. It is also noteworthy that you seldom put up credible arguments to support your views, apart from 'scaredy-cat' paranoid justifications for hiding behind colonialist mentality countries that don't give a stuff about the sovereignty of independent states.
Question for you: what is the topic that you are debating here?
If the answer is “RedLogix”, you can stop that crap right here and now.
My suggestion to you: pick a topic and kick off a discussion thread here. Hint: some topics are more suitable and lead to more ‘fruitful’ discussions than others do.
Your opinions on international alignments never drift far from singing the praises of the most devastating empire since Rome.
Oddly though a 'devastating' enough an empire that saw human development gain dramatically everywhere. I'm sorry that you're blind to it, but the truth is most people in the world are living far better lives in 2021 than ever before in all of our history. Ever. Period.
Your rabid anti-US bigotry blinds you to the obvious. Yet at the same time I'm not 'singing praises' to the US either, merely pointing out that they've played a rather unique role in global affairs since the end of WW2 that if we consider it carefully shows us the extraordinary potential in the idea of a global order.
There is no question that the US mishandled 'world policeman' badly, their motives were often muddled and their methods ill-informed and damaging. No question, no quibble. In many ways they were the least qualified nation to undertake the role. But even so the global trade and security order they almost accidentally created has delivered far, far more benefits to most of humanity than 'devastation'.
And personally I'm unapologetically grateful that the US won the Cold War. All the plausible alternatives that might have led to Stalin or Mao's ghastly regimes spreading across the globe were unthinkable. The fact of the US taking a leading role in standing against the truly devastating marxist catastrophes of the 20th century must be set to their credit – balanced against their many flaws and failings.
Now of course I realise you're going to read all the wrong messages into what I've just written above – so in one last effort here I'll repeat my crucial paragraph:
But after the Cold War ended we never had the global conversation around "what next?" The next logical evolution would have been the winding back of the US as the centre of the system and a ceding of the right to conduct war by all the nations in favour of the UN. Well that never happened, although GH Bush did attempt something like it. In this all the major powers must accept responsibility for a terrible failure of leadership.
All the plausible alternatives that might have led to Stalin or Mao's ghastly regimes spreading across the globe were unthinkable.
Except the United States didn't stop Stalin's or Mao's ghastly regimes. What the United States and its vassals have (with varying degrees of success) attacked, crushed and rubbed out permanently were non-aligned and democratic regimes in Indonesia, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Bolivia, Panama, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Indochina, Iran… (the gruesome list goes on and on and on.)
You misunderstand – the logic of the Cold War was simple and very blunt. You were either on the US side against the communists or you were not. 'Non-aligned' was not an option. (And pretending that the Soviet and Maoist regimes were not busy expanding their own influence and communist agenda wherever possible doesn't do much for your credibility either.)
In the aftermath of WW2 there was always going to be one superpower left standing, It was either going to be the US or Stalin's brutal regime. The vast majority of the world picked the US as the better of the two options – much to the enduring chargrin of closet marxists everywhere.
The 'gruesome list' doesn't go on and on – the large majority of the 200 odd nations understood what was necessary to win the Cold War and got with the program. It wasn't meant to be 'play nice' – it was an intense and dangerous struggle that lasted many decades. And had many casualties – both direct and indirect.
Yet having created this global system in order to win the Cold War, the US had no fucking clue what to do once they did win. We've now had four Presidents, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump who pretty much did nothing to evolve their leadership to it's next logical stage of development. Instead they pursued short-term, expedient agendas with no coherent vision for a better world. In this they've egregiously betrayed their avowed principles and wasted one priceless opportunity after another.
At a more pragmatic level, what I think we're seeing now is the US quite rapidly retreating from global engagement – something I would imagined you'd be cheering on – and a return to the bad old days of multiple empires competing openly with each other.
Again you misread the era – it was a war – one that nearly ended in utter disaster several times. Both sides exerted themselves to the utmost and I'm not shrinking from or minimising the terrible impacts this had in many places. If anything I'd argue that while our attention is readily drawn to hot kinetic events like Korea and Vietnam, we tend to forget that all of these were being played out in the context of a much larger and more dangerous conflict.
Yet oddly enough despite this grim reality – at the same time large parts of the world suddenly found themselves in a whole new environment in which for the first time there was the security and mechanisms necessary to allow trade and development on an unprecedented global scale.
And this largely because the US bribed, and in some cases compelled, most of the nations of the world to be 'on the same side'. In this they took conflict off the table, and replaced it with an opportunity to become wealthy without invading and occupying your neigbours.
Well my point is this – with the US no longer all that interested or even capable of playing this role – what do we imagine might take it's place?
Just as an aside I've personally been shown a Visitor's Book at the Uralmash Museum, in Ekaterinburg, that was signed by Nehru on the occasion of his state visit to Russia. (It's quite an extraordinary item, it has the autograph's of a whole range of well known figures of the Russian and Soviet era, including Lenin, Stalin and Castro to name just a few.)
There is no question that Nehru's overtures and alignment with the Soviets would have been regarded very dimly by the Americans.
much to the enduring chargrin of closet marxists everywhere
Plenty of Marxists were quite capable, like Popper, of seeing Stalinism for what it was, and rejecting it – and one would have to be blind not to notice that Soviet Eastern Europe was no garden of sweets – which is why the West still has Left parties.
You're dead right however, that America's aegis was more desirable, except when corporate interests bent it too far out of shape. Even then, it only ended up worst equal with its opponents – there was little to choose between Pinochet's Chile, and Sendero Luminoso – no enlightened governance to be had from either.
A few month’s under the care of ‘little father’ Putin and Morrisey would be a sadder and a wiser fellow.
You're dead right however, that America's aegis was more desirable, except when corporate interests bent it too far out of shape.
Thanks for this. The US, and by extension the broader West, lends us plenty of raw materiel to to criticize – yet our freedom to do so is not one of these things.
???? The West—the USA, Britain, France, Germany and all the rest—had "left" (socialist, democratic, syndicalist) parties and democratically organized unions long before the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia.
A few month’s [sic] under the care of ‘little father’ Putin and Morrisey would be a sadder and a wiser fellow.
I have no time for "little father" Putin, just as I have no time for Trump or anyone else in the Republican Party. But the fact that I don't like him does not mean I have to fall in line with the absurd Russian meddling fantasies concocted by the angry and befuddled Clintonistas, aided and abetted by spooks like James Clapper, John Brennan and Michael Hayden, and amplified by such ridiculous and discredited media agents as Luke Harding, Rachel Maddow, and our own Richard Harman. "Little Father" Putin, for all his crimes as Russian leader, did not (as the talking heads on CNN claimed incessantly for four years) run Trump as a puppet, or make America into a racist country, or suppress the votes of millions of black people.
And it was not "Little Father" Putin who instructed those DNC strategists to make a point of keeping Hillary Clinton away from working class areas, and instead put all their energies into making godawful, toe-curlingly embarrassing, trash like this:
The US, and by extension the broader West, lends us plenty of raw materiel to to criticize – yet our freedom to do so is not one of these things.
How do you square this encomium for freedom with the denunciation, persecution, and exiling or locking up of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange? (To name only the most famous victims of the U.S./U.K. political class).
Freedom is not absolute, never has been, never will. Whistleblowing (that’s what some call it) is one very special category of ‘criticism’, isn’t it? Please engage your brain before you comment here, thanks. BTW, I note that you’re free to criticise away here and even spout your ill-considered nonsense.
I imagine in the same way that you ignore the murder of Politkovskaya, and Nemtsov, the poisoning of Navalny and the Skripals and so forth.
You might want to think about how your preferred global hegemon would have handled Manning for example. A traitor in Russia, with gender issues as well, is not long for this world.
I don't square it at all – all of these cases have been a terrible betrayal of principle that have been widely protested.
But then again the recent rise of cancel culture is evidence enough that it's not just the political class who're rather over-fond of silencing their critics these days.
I imagine in the same way that you ignore the murder of Politkovskaya,
I've always been a great admirer of Anna Politkovskaya. I treasure my book of her investigative articles. I don't "ignore" her murder either, or deny it happened, or try to excuse it.
and Nemtsov,
ditto
the poisoning of Navalny and the Skripals and so forth.
Careful! Now you're entering into Bellingcat and Luke Harding territory. Just because Richard Harman, that outstanding New Zealand journalist*, cited "the work of Luke Harding" at that Orwellian "World Press Freedom Day" in Wellington in 2019, doesn't mean you are obliged to pretend to believe these British disinformation agents as well.
You might want to think about how your preferred global hegemon
My "preferred global hegemon"? You're making it up as you go. Unlike you, I don't want to be anyone's slave.
would have handled Manning for example. A traitor in Russia, with gender issues as well, is not long for this world.
So you reckon the United States treated her decently and humanely and justly, do you?
Freedom is not absolute, never has been, never will. Whistleblowing (that’s what some call it) is one very special category of ‘criticism’, isn’t it?
Indeed it is. I support the people who uncover secrets that criminals and politicians (often one and the same thing) want to keep hidden from us. Do you?
The rest of your comment is simply abuse.
[Well, you allege I abused you, presumably because I told you to engage your brain. That would be the most pathetic accusation given that I need and have corrected you on a regular basis and given that you actually agreed with me on the whistleblowing although you forgot to comment on and confirm your freedom to criticise. No thank you expected or was that “abuse” too given that it was the rest of my comment but repeated your obvious lack of full brain-engagement?
You can pull your head in and up your game instead of wasting our time here with your Swiss cheese reckons – Incognito]
Whistleblowing (that’s what some call it) is one very special category of ‘criticism’
That's a very good point, and one I admit I completely overlooked. As much as I very much believe Manning, Assange and Snowden have been treated shamefully, I do accept that the line between 'whistleblower' and 'traitor' can be a pretty thin one at times.
It's not surprising I guess that it's a wobbly line that different people will draw in different places. Wikileaks was always going to be a controversy magnet, yet in reality it was doing nothing more than what our press was supposed to be doing.
If the notion of liberal democracy is going to thrive we're going to have to get better at more consistently drawing and defending this distinction.
@Morrissey – well I'm glad that you have taken the trouble to know some of these folk.
Assange is a complicated issue. Although the line the US has chosen, that he endangered military personnel, seems to be entirely false, not all his releases seem to be well motivated – the diplomatic correspondence for instance, was titillating rather than incriminating – there was no public interest argument for its release the way there was with Manning's drone killing material. I could go on – but it's a lengthy conversation – for my part some minor sanctions were not out of order, but his punishment has already been excessive.
absurd Russian meddling fantasies
Those fantasies have vivid life in Chechnya, Ingushetia, the Crimea and eastern Ukraine – do not deceive yourself – Putin would have his army across that border in a flash if he thought he could get away with it – and his paramilitaries are doing it now, just like the US Contras in South America.
Your rabid anti-US bigotry blinds you to the obvious.
A disappointing comment, imho. In the words of Tony Hancock:
Can you put is another way? Put it another way. Say it differently.
To a Louse– Robert Burns
“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!”
You can be disappointed all you like – but it's still the truth. And why have you no objection to idiotic claims like 'the most devastating empire since Rome'? Or the similar one-eyed rantings some contributors constantly repeat?
By contrast I'm quite clear that like all things human, the US has a mixed record of both good and bad, but that on the whole having a liberal democracy (albeit a flawed one) as the global superpower in the aftermath of WW2 was better than anything Stalin or Mao might have spawned. I don't see anyone admitting to this, instead all I get is lurid rants on the evils of the US as if these commenters haven't learned anything since sometime in the 80's.
Most of the wars and interventions the US has undertaken in the post-WW2 period were motivated either by the very real and urgent considerations of the Cold War, or in response to 911 and events in the Islamic world. Omitting this context is both selectively dishonest and strips away any useful understanding or meaning to US actions in the past seven decades. Put bluntly, the US was fighting a tough and dangerous enemy across a global front, and as in all wars bad things were going to happen. But in doing so they contained and eventually overcame the monstrous marxist regimes of both Stalin and Mao at considerable cost.
And the hegemony the US created to win this war looked nothing like any of the conventional 'empires' prior to WW2. Crucially it contained within it nascent institutions such as the UN, WTO, World Bank etc – that are the foundation of an authentically global order that humanity must evolve into this century – or perish.
But instead of addressing my substantive point – the big question of what comes next after the US order – all I'm getting from you is tone policing. Disappointing alright.
The Non Aligned Movement (NAM) is still operating, with around 120 members. The numbers equate to just over half of UN members.
Post Cold War, US Imperialism did exactly what it’s national section of Capital and Finance Capital proscribed-put the pedal to the metal on neo liberalism and globalisation.
It is close to psychopathic to claim the Cold War was an unavoidable and positive strategy!
The NAM originated as a fig-leaf for the pro-marxist ambitions of Castro, Tito and Nehru. And while there was considerable merit in much of it's stated goals and rhetoric, in reality it tilted toward the Soviets far too much to ever be regarded a credible 'independent' movement.
And born of the Cold War, it's struggled to find much relevance since the end of it. It might yet play a constructive role, but not in it’s current form.
It is close to psychopathic to claim the Cold War was an unavoidable and positive strategy!
One last try (promise), and then you carry on lacing your comments with the pejoratives you clearly findessential to advocating your PoV.
Do you truly believe that multiple offerings along the lines of:
That's just the sort of reflexive, unhinged comment I'd expect from a rabid ideological anti-Marxist bigot.
are conducive to rational discussion/debate?
The least such a commenter could do, imho, would be to add an 'imho' to their inflammatory invective, unless they were deliberately trying to initiate or propagate a flame war. Others may have a greater tolerance, or possibly even an appetite, for such posturing – tbh I've had my fill.
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address To that world assembly of sovereign states: the United Nations. . . our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support. . .to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective. . .to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak. . . and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
Maybe the experience of actually visiting the site of two gulags has caused me to be a little biased.
Consider this; I suggest we would all expect legitimate right wing political people to understand that the right can go too far and step into fascism. Specifically I would expect them to fully renounce and condemn in highly prerogative terms anything to do with the nazi movement and it's derivatives.
Well from a left wing perspective I'm doing the same with respect to marxism. I reserve the right to condemn it and any of it's apologists in any terms I consider fit. The fact that drawing this line in the sand is still so difficult and controversial speaks directly to why the left still struggles to obtain a clear moral legitimacy.
I have a sneaking suspicion that with global crises occurring faster and faster and with global tsunami-like reverberations, the opportunities for multilateral cooperation will get stronger and stronger.
Covid18 will certainly assist climate change cooperation better than CPTPP ever will.
Won't always be military, but occasionally will be.
The United States has "helped" the Ukraine like it has "helped" Iraq and like it has "helped" Syria, Venezuela, Libya, and Bolivia. The Obama/Biden regime "helped" the bloody insurrection in Ukraine by funding and verbally championing neo-Nazi groups such as the Azov battalion.
Azov began in 2014 as a volunteer military battalion that helped Ukraine defend itself against an invasion by Russia and its separatist proxy forces. The battalion’s symbol is similar to that of the Wolfsangel, the insignia widely used by the German military during World War II. Although human rights groups accused the battalion of torture and war crimes during the early months of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, in late 2014, Ukraine’s National Guard incorporated the Azov battalion into its official fold, where it was renamed the Azov regiment.
The military unit has been a favorite bogeyman of the Kremlin, with Russian President Vladimir Putin using the group to justify his attacks against Ukraine as fighting against fascism. Although the group is not broadly popular in Ukraine, its neo-Nazi links are clear. In 2010, the battalion’s founder, Andriy Biletsky, said that Ukraine ought to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen.”
????? France helps in the Congo? That certainly was not the case in 1960, when the U.S. and its European satellites swiftly moved to snuff out democracy in that country. Tens of millions of Congolese have paid for this "help" in the ensuing sixty years.
You can check the non-interventionist route in Rwanda and western Congo right through the 1990s. The interventionist moral quagmire is often better than the virtuous coward.
Sometimes the difference between the two comes down to good media coverage and other assorted luck.
And you're neglecting Burundi and DRC from yours. Whatevs. You're the one arguing some sort of hierarchy of national suffering while evading opportunities to explain whatever reasoning you might have.
No I didn't forget them, I referred just to the example you gave. And I posted, at 8:40 this morning, a reminder of what the United States and its vassals did to the Congo sixty years ago, firmly and finally snuffing out democracy there, as well as the life of Patrice Lumumba. Shortly after that "intervention", the U.S. "intervened" to hand the South African version of Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, over to the authorities of the apartheid state.
You mentioned Burundi as related to the Rwandan genocide? Cool, I missed that.
I'd still like to see the working behind your hierarchy of suffering, though. But I fear such consideration doesn't actually exist.
The thing is, the question about whether or not to intervene is a key question on how we get from where we are now to go somewhere better.
Murca is bad, m'kay. European colonialism is bad, m'kay. Global warming is bad, m'kay. Large power intrigues are bad, m'kay. Regional power sabre-ratlling is bad, m'kay
But all of those stressors mean there will be more riots, despots, wars, and genocides. Even if the stressors all stopped as of ten minutes ago, the byproducts being local wars and genocides will continue. Your whataboutism won't stop them, but intervention by the international community might.
You mentioned Burundi as related to the Rwandan genocide?
No, as I made clear to you, I referred just to the example—Rwanda—that you gave.
Cool, I missed that.
No, you attempted to make an issue out of nothing.
I'd still like to seethe working behind your hierarchy of suffering, though.
I have never tried to construct any "hierarchy of suffering." You're making it up as you go.
But I fear such consideration doesn't actually exist.
That's correct. You got one thing right. That’s encouraging.
The thing is, the question about whether or not to intervene is a key question on how we get from where we are now to go somewhere better.
So which kind of "intervention" do you think "we" should decide to inflict on the people of Myanmar? The Ukrainian Neo-Nazi kind of intervention? The "moderate rebels" that "we" have supported and armed in Syria, Libya, and Iraq? Or perhaps you think the "intervention" should be bombing them back into the stone age, like "we" did to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Murca is bad, m'kay. European colonialism is bad, m'kay. … <snip remainder of a truly lame attempt at humour>
Your whataboutism…
???? Did you get permission from the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party before you employed that weakest form of abuse?
…. won't stop them, butintervention by the international community might.
There's been precisely one decent military intervention in the last fifty years: that was the newly independent Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia and its toppling of the Khmer Rouge in 1978. The U.S. and the U.K. backed the Khmer Rouge government in exile for more than a decade after that. And so, to our eternal shame, did New Zealand.
The United States "intervention" in Indochina was more devastating, and had a far higher body count, than the Rwanda genocide.
If you did not wish to suggest one was worse than the other (i.e. a hierarchy), then your use of the comparators "was more" and "had a far higher" were poorly chosen.
"Precisely" one? What was the problem with INTERFET, as a recent example?
The suffering was, of course, dreadful and horrible in both cases. But Rwanda's infrastructure was not razed into nothingness by decades of bombing and strafing and napalming.
There's been precisely one decent military intervention in the last fifty years: …
Exhibit #2: UNPROFOR; it also included NZ troops.
Your assertions have more holes than a Swiss cheese, as usual.
For example, since when did the US “hand over” Nelson Mandela to SA? Did they ‘arrest’ him at LAX and deported him back to SA? Did they ‘extradite’ him from US soil?
Your #whatabout is the action of a dimwit, especially when you deny doing it 🙁
Thanks. I did indeed exaggerate. Your rigorous correctives are always appreciated.
… since when did the US “hand over” Nelson Mandela to SA?
Since 1962.
A tip from a CIA spy to authorities in apartheid-era South Africa led to Nelson Mandela’s arrest, beginning the leader’s 27 years behind bars, a report said on Sunday.
Donald Rickard, a former US vice-consul in Durban and CIA operative, told British film director John Irvin that he had been involved in Mandela’s arrest in 1962….
Good, the USA/CIA did not “hand over” Nelson Mandela, as you asserted, but “tipped off” the SA authorities. What a difference it makes when you use the appropriate words and description!
I’ll leave McFlock and you to debate the possibility of France helping in the Congo; I feel you’ve almost reached common ground there and it has been a joy to read and follow your discussion so far 😉
The suffering was, of course, dreadful and horrible in both cases.
yup
But Rwanda's infrastructure was not razed into nothingness by decades of bombing and strafing and napalming.
Mate, when something affects a nation's population growth chart like this and hundreds of thousands are killed in neighbouring countries, your "but" is simply abstract point-scoring between events well beyond any conceivable level of human suffering.
Except normally when e.g. astronomers compare the relative mass of black holes in far distant galaxies, they have more reasoning behind it than a visceral conviction that the USA is always bad.
… a visceral conviction that the USA is always bad.
There is a great deal about the USA that I love and admire. The violent, destructive and militantly anti-democratic foreign policy of the U.S. political class is not something I, or many other people, love or admire.
My conclusion that the United States' international record is nearly—not always—bad is based on empirical evidence, not on a "visceral conviction."
“the USA/CIA did not “hand over” Nelson Mandela, as you asserted, but “tipped off” the SA authorities. What a difference it makes when you use the appropriate words and description!”…
…what an absolutely and completely bizarre statement, it is hard to imagine what would drive anyone to get into semantics over this one…but then again incognito never fails to amaze me as to what depths they will sink to when it comes to harassing you..though I have to say this one made even my jaw drop a bit!!
Retired CIA Agent Confirms U.S. Role In Nelson Mandela's 1962 Arrest
“retired CIA agent Donald Rickard, acknowledging that he helped the South African apartheid-era government arrest Nelson Mandela”
Indeed, who cares about semantics or slippery use of language when the aim is to spin a narrative of populist propaganda about the good guys on one side versus the bad guys on the other?
That you don’t give a shit about this typifies your kneejerk aggressive ‘activist’ attitude towards some here who dare to use a sharper better-defined and better-articulated language that contains nuance and context that challenges the narrative of the dove-vs-hawk myth. Of course, such people cannot be tolerated and have to be attacked and bullied into submission, or marginalised, mocked, and ridiculed, at least. Don’t address the message, just attack the messenger.
The sad thing is that you are proud of your polarised partisanship and fighting the ‘good fight’. People such as you never build bridges, never look for common ground, never compromise, but keep on fighting until there is no one left to fight, like Agent Smith in The Matrix. It shows in almost every comment you make here.
JC [Jeremy Corbyn] biggest fault was he was naturally so inclusive and for some reason didn’t seem to understand that the Blairite Liberals in Labour were his sworn enemy, and he should have dealt with them accordingly.
… while we beat the drum for international liberty, equality to brotherhood….in other words you seem set on an ideology that is at best evolutionary stagnant, while the ideology we advocate for is at least trying to help in the actual evolutionionary process (thought of course very slowly) of the human race.
… just as much as every other ideologue defends theirs..myself included, the only difference is that I happen to be fighting for the right one and they are not.
I almost get the feeling you see your ‘adversaries’ here on TS as objects, not as fellow humans with whom you share a community platform for robust debate – all you need to add is that “it’s nothing personal” AKA homo homini lupus. You show your disgust and disdain, no respect or trust and the inverse of that to those who are ‘on your side’; dichotomous thinking and acting.
Instead of dropping your jaw or feeling offended or annoyed, lift your game, change your attitude and demeanour, look at your comrades here and embrace them as such. Impossible?
Morrissey: I find it interesting that even you are willing to perpetuate the myth that Russia wants to invade the Ukraine. Since the 2014 western backed coup of the democratically elected Yanukovich govt, the Ukraine economy has been in freefall with a large exodus of the population of an age able to, leaving. Russia sees itself as having a duty to offer protection to the large number of citizens and Russian associating people in the east but has no desire to take control of an economic basket case.
So what is happening in the Ukraine? As stated, the Ukraine is an economic basket case which even the west has little use for other than its potential to provoke some kind of reponse from Russia. At present, 18% of the Ukraine gdp comes from the transit of Russian gas to Europe. This is close to ending soon as the Nordstream 2 pipeline nears completion. So its now or never for the Ukraine. This is the last fighting season in which they will be able to have any effect on Nordstream. If Russia can be portrayed as an aggressor then maybe Germany and the EU can be persuaded to disconnect from Nordstream. The Ukraine moved their military hardware first. Russia followed
"I think it would be difficult for the Kremlin not to come to their rescue if these 'republics' faced a threat of major defeat," Mr Kortunov says, noting that Ukraine's military was significantly better equipped and trained now thanks to US and European support.
But he still doubts that Vladimir Putin is planning an intervention.
"I don't see anything the Kremlin could gain by direct military engagement in the Ukraine crisis. I think Russian policy is more focused on maintaining the status quo and assuming that Ukraine will implode from mounting problems and Ukraine fatigue in the West," Mr Kortunov says.
Russia demonstrated what it is capable of and the speed in which it can amass overwhelming superiority as a warning. From the same siurce:
Despite renewed talk on state TV of "fascist" Ukrainians, there's little sense that all-out war would be popular among Russians already coping with Covid, sanctions and the impact of a low oil price.
Andrei Kortunov believes the "mobilising potential" of foreign policy adventures is now "almost depleted" with people more concerned with their own problems than in the more comfortable context of 2014.
I've used the bbc because many here are averse to more Russia friendly sources but an extremely good outline of all that has happened in the Ukraine along with the political maneuvering can be found here. I have watched the you tube video of the interview but it has strangely become unavailable so that all that seems to be left is the sound cloud audio.
Sure, it's a poor compensation for centuries of systematic theft and genocide, plus unreciprocated on the US side of border, but it is something. International borders are often arbitrarily imposed (once you are past the great lakes it is just a line of latitude, as near as 19th century surveyors could reckon, until Vancouver. But people live in landscapes, not geometric shapes.
because the elk in the nature is their supermarket meat in the chiller?
I dont understand why that is so hard to understand? Many of the indegenious people in Northern America would have serious food issues were it not for sustainable hunting and fishing. So yes, this is their right to hunt elk, as they did forever, as much as it is the right of Maori here to go fish/gather on the shore.
Not everything is tiresome gun lust. As far as the quality of the meat goes, that too would be vastly superior to what one can find in the supermarket in Northern America.
i think its about as noble as it gets. people have hunted for food since ages ago. Supermarkets are a thing of the last 80 odd years, and so are fridges.
Even NZ has stories full of hunters and bushman. Nothing about noble savage there?
I actually find your comment offensive, and i am not easily offended. And yes for some in the far north (northern hemisphere) – alaska, siberia, finland – etc hunting for elk, seal and the likes is going to the supermarket no matter if it contrary to what us 'civilised' people believe or are accustomed to.
Ad, have you ever mixed with people who live along the East coast of the upper North Island of New Zealand?..plenty of them live to a large extent by hunting and gathering…from the sea and the land, growing and hunting…and I don't mean all the boomers and rich foreigners who have invaded the placed over the past decade.
What exactly is wrong with hunting your own food with a gun?…every meat eater should have to kill, gut, skin and butcher a large animal at least once in their life IMO.
More than 25 British-Palestinian Labour members condemn 'hostile environment' within the party
Starmer, the King of Nothing, is a disaster. How long can he hold on to the poisoned chalice of the "leader" of the Blairite rump?
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has failed to respond to a letter sent to him by more than 25 British-Palestinian Labour members in which they raised concerns about internal treatment.
The letter, obtained from Labour sources and seen exclusively by Middle East Eye, accuses the party of creating a "hostile environment" for Palestinians under Starmer.
"Some of us have been members of the party for decades under different leaders and never have we experienced a party environment so hostile and unwelcoming to us as it has been since you took over its leadership," the statement reads. "Not even during the dark days of the illegal war on Iraq.
"Our community of traditional Labour voters is therefore deeply concerned and alarmed, and we fear that without your immediate action, their growing alienation from the Party will become a permanent rift."
The letter, which was signed by over 25 Palestinian Labour members, including writer Nadia Hijab and academic Ghada Karmi, was sent in mid-March. It has yet to receive a response.
So spineless obeisance when faced with bogus/wildly exaggerated accusations of anti-semitism doesn't work. It sunders the coalitions on which your political party is based. How surprising.
Indeed, AB. The Labour Party will never be the government again in the United Kingdom. That's entirely down to the incendiary campaign run by the right wing of the party, and its willing media amplification.
National was not ruined by a fantasy witch-hunt instigated by a right wing faction determined to exterminate any democratic or humanitarian elements in the party. Not one of the dissident factions in National—not Marilyn Waring, not Mike Minogue, not Bob Jones, not Winston Peters, not Jami-Lee Ross—exhibited anything remotely like the malice and bloodymindedness of the likes of Tom Watson, Lord John Mann, Yenta Hodge, or Keir Starmer.
And I don’t think any National leader would appease such brutal and disloyal people the way that, sadly, Jeremy Corbyn did continually.
I wondered about Jeremy Corbyn. He seemed to keep waiting for a clear direction from the mass of UK Labour but I think they were confused, saw him as a buoy in a sea threatening to drown them. and looked to him to get them ashore. They might have even thought that he could virtually part the sea and lead them to dry ground. Instead he got bogged down in ineffectual delay, and the moment was lost. That's how I see it. Anyone else's thoughts about it?
I liked him. He should have treated the antisemitism allegations with the contempt they deserved, and thrown the wretched scoundrels who used them out.
Labour may well come back however – the inequality that drives its natural supporters is stronger than ever, Boris is showing those conservative features which make a government ripe for replacement, and the current UK Labour leadership are so pathetic that they too seem not long for this world.
Nicola Sturgeon need only lead a movement south and the effete English will roll over like round bottom toys.
Jeremy just needed to do 2 things and he could easily have been PM.
1. Play hardball with the party machine and committed right wingers–sufficient sackings of head office personnel, and electorate deselections of recalcitrant MPs in favour of left candidates, would have got the Blairites attention.
2. Pledge to fully respect the Brexit result AND implement “For the many not the few” platform of strategic renationalisations etc.
Jeremy seemed to be exactly who he seemed–unfortunately for the UK working class–an allotment gardening mild mannered guy. He certainly rattled the ruling class cage though, with senior Military brass stating publicly that there would be a coup if Jeremy Corbyn ever became PM. So the stakes are incredibly high, which is why the Brit Labour Party is loaded to the gunwales with opportunist class traitors!
He certainly rattled the ruling class cage though, with senior Military brass stating publicly that there would be a coup if Jeremy Corbyn ever became PM.
That very scenario was foreseen by Channel 4 back in 1988…..
@Tiger Mountain, I agree completely
JC biggest fault was he was naturally so inclusive and for some reason didn't seem to understand that the Blairite Liberals in Labour were his sworn enemy, and he should have dealt with them accordingly.
He was the best PM the UK never had…though that being said, after the savage and outrageously biased display by all the UK press (including of course the Guardian) in their 'reporting' on JC, I also think he probably dodged a bullet by not being PM when Covid hit…it doesn't take much imagination to know that the UK press would have tried pinning every single death from Covid squarely on him, it would have been ugly.
It seems that Yannis Varoufakis' aimed verbal thrust at the EU with mention of Brexit and being tailored to fit the lean and hungry oligarchs dotted around Europe, which UK might have felt it wise to resile from, should have a place somewhere in this thread. I said the other day that I thought I was naive about the EU and now I feel sure I was right.
There needs to be a group of wise people separate from the government but mounting lobbyist/s that advocate for a practical, capable, self-sufficient NZ – that also exports. The skilled NZs at both practical, physical and keeping our basic tech, transport, etc. going need to be appreciated and conserved.
This blacksmith would be one of the skilled people we support.
Rob, who has a forge in rural Waikato about half an hour from Te Awamutu, believes his is probably the last traditional blacksmith's forge in New Zealand.
In this case, not only would he continue to provide a useful service, he would also demonstrate to the young what physical work and skills actually are. And the satisfaction of being able to do something well yourself, not just watch things on a screen, spend your days sending concepts and electronic messages to counterparts elsewhere, removed from the physical world.
Also it has a tourism potential. If we could keep 20th century features alive and kicking, we will have people beating a path to our door from areas where people live in huge cities with civic restraints from doing many things, and without space to do them. Being 'quaint' will be trendy as well as fascinating – the hoary story about finding milk comes from cows when all that had been known of it was bottles in the supermarket.
Comfortably-off people are often in cities and because of tech hegemony, withdrawing themselves from real life, living like avatars in minimalist designed rooms in houses tidy, controlled, sterile. If they shift to the country they can become a nuisance to the local community who live by and from their farms, with the city-born and bred being unhappy with noisy, smelly life and exerting their 'rights' to blissful unreality.
And I also have the idea that town and country could form useful alliances. People who wanted to keep in touch with the physical, see the backblocks, the country and those in farms who want a change, visit town and see the sights, use amenities, could join a group that brings such people together. Perhaps it would have a stall at A&P shows, and both enrol new members and hold social times while all were in the same place, plus others throughout the year.
People would be required to circulate and get to know all to make sure that the friendship, widened social contacts and the bonding would come about. Once people found others they enjoyed knowing and learned about their background, pairs or groups could form within the 'club' who would then start their two-way movement between town and farm. Also the group might want to set up seasonal help for farmers, and take caravans to their properties and have working holidays staying at the farms of their club members. The children of the members would have a fuller life, rich in experiences and understandings of the other people in the nation.
Probably this is happening informally, but we need to do it with a nation-wide reach. It would be good for building cohesion in the nation, and give good farmers more support and help to keep them on the land owning their own farms instead of those mainly interested in 'capital accretion.'
So that we may endure to the last. Oh my country so bare and so wretched. Two lines from Speed Your Journey (The Hebrew Slaves Song from Nabucco, Verdi). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kKHT3smyRo
I feel that those lines are ones to spur us on in NZ to salvage what we can from the present and future that threaten to ruin us culturally, mentally and physically.
This is well sung by the combined constabulary choir of Avon and Somerset, England. Who better to sing it in New Zealand where they will be at the font line of the confusion and anger of people who have no place to stand, or meaning for existence, now and worsening in the future, without a big change in direction and attitude by a majority in this country.
I think it would be good for our police to form into choirs singing around the country for good esprit du corps and to help retain the good man or woman inside they were before meeting those who have slipped into viciousness. Perhaps the police themselves could work out ways to prevent this happening by involving children in activities that help to build personal strength and self-respect.
Let’s hope that me wading in here will have the intentional chilling effect on the usual suspect(s).
Firstly, let me remind you of what OM is and is not about. From the excerpt of OM:
Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Some here interpret this as a carte blanche to spout whatever BS they can ‘think’ of and/or to attack others whom they don’t agree with or simply dislike. They treat this site as their personal sandpit and soapbox.
Let me remind them of the first two paragraphs of this site’s Policy:
Rules
We encourage robust debate and we’re tolerant of dissenting views. But this site run for reasonably rational debate between dissenting viewpoints and we intend to keep it operating that way.
What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others. We are intolerant of people starting or continuing flamewars where there is little discussion or debate. This includes making assertions that you are unable to substantiate with some proof (and that doesn’t mean endless links to unsubstantial authorities) or even argue when requested to do so. Such comments may be deleted without warning or one of the alternatives below may be employed. The action taken is completely up to the moderator who takes it.
Unfortunately, some die-hards here think it is their right to attack others whom they deem to be on the wrong side. These die-hards justify this by claiming they are fighting for the right cause. They are wrong!
Everybody who comments here – which is free for everyone unless temporarily or permanently banned from this site and thus losing their commenting privileges here – should read the Policy and let it sink in.
As you can tell, we do not tolerate personal attacks and flame wars, for example. They are not conducive to robust debate. Commenters who keep breaking the Rules run a high risk of losing their commenting privileges here. In fact, they can count on it
Kabua is the lone Pacific leader invited by US President Joe Biden to the two-day talks. Kabua shared the stage with the world's biggest economies and pressured those he said held the Pacific's future in their hands…
President Kabua said [they] were a series of island nations already feeling the effects of rising oceans. He said the Pacific now faced an even greater threat.
"We are low-lying atoll nations, barely a metre above sea level," he said.
"For millennia, our people have navigated between our islands to build thriving communities and cultures. "Today, we are navigating through the storm of climate change, determined to do our part to steer the world to safety."
Education from the west has been a great help to small, primitive communities. It has taught them the language of the big powers so they can, if they are lucky, attend their pow-wows and address the PTB in their own language about their lands being destroyed by them, and beg for help which can't be misunderstood on the basis that it was made in a foreign language! /sarc
Unions would be a big help in sorting out this sort of behaviour. Delays among other things let employers transfer assets and shut down companies. Employers need to be pushed hard to negotiate and pay because a large chunk of the time it is basically theft from employees.It also theft from the community at large. Other employers who follow the rules lose business to unfair competition.
Employers should face being barred from running company's especially if they don't pay.
Employers should face withdrawal of visa's and cancellation of citizenship and deportation. That is what happens to employees if they err
All work visa employees should have a union (CTU) membership paid for by the employer as part of the deal and a number of paid hours to see the union.
There must be other sanctions that the court could use. The huge backlog tells us that there is little attempt by employers to negotiate because they have little to lose.
Plus I would have expected the IRD to have written to all employee IRD's used to claim the subsidy, advising them that they should have received wages for the period claim. False claims need to be criminally prosecuted. And how about making all the claims list public like they said they would !! Who's money is it?
The nasty, ignorant right wing element inside the British media are insane with jealousy because NZ and Australia have done a superb job controlling the virus, while the Brits made a total balls-up of their own response.
Meanwhile, dialysis care across New Zealand continues to be a "postcode lottery".
For example, Whanganui dialysis patients have to travel 75km to Palmerston North at least three times a week to be hooked up to a machine for hours on end.
"We are replacing the Greenlane Clinical Centre dialysis unit as it is no longer fit for purpose and we have been told by our patients that they wanted their care closer to home."
The Herald was told by a source the decision to open Kereru Kidney Centre was based on a 2011 survey which showed 25 out of 38 patients lived closer to Glen Innes but that was no longer the case. Now, 10 years later, the majority of patients live closer to Greenlane.
We seem to add postcode locations according to data that people in government think is carved in stones. Rather then basing the decision of such a building on current use they should do a future assessment, like where will people live….oops they still live in Greenlane rather then Point Chev.
Why not keep the old location and build a new one considering that diabetes is one of our bigger killers and chances are we will need more dialysis facilities.
And how long are we gonna have to wait until an 'expose' will show us that people will have longer waiting times, will spend a lot of time in Auckland traffic, and please keep in mind that these people will simply die if not afforded this service. Just keep that in mind before you complain about lousy kidney patients daring to 'beat' up whom? The last government? Or this government? Or that some newspeople dare write anything else but ‘the government will safe me’ sobstories.
Or that even matter?
Patients who need dialysis treatment have entered the end stage of kidney disease and nearly all their kidney function is lost.
A letter to the DHB, signed by 35 patients and seen by the Herald, said: "We have no issues with building more dialysis capacity but this is NOT achieving that, at HUGE cost.
"Greenlane unit needs to be kept operating as it also offers good dialysis plus proximity for the people who rely on its services."
last but least, it seems to me that we should add another postcode location to that, the one that is South Auckland. But then that is not the nice postcode that Point Chev is becoming, you know all nice, very expensive and almost Ponsonby.
• For every one New Zealand European or Asian patient starting dialysis, there are about six Pasifika patients and four Māori patients who start dialysis on average.
again, no matter who runs the show, when it comes to healthcare no brain, no guts, no foresight, and above all no changes.
Its what i ahve been saying for a while now, there is virtually no difference between the large parties and their ideologies. Non serve us well. That is the only time these suits are bipartisan, when they can cut services people need under the guise of 'better' or 'austerity' which somehow are the same.
All cars are the same, some are red, some are blue; there are good reasons for that. This is the simplistic meme stuck in your head like a crap song on a broken record; National and Labour are as bad as each other, peas in a pot, and the many variations on that theme. So simplistic, so futile, so sad.
If you think the opening of a new dialysis unit that is fit for purpose and cost $7 million is serving us/the people badly then what would you think of not planning, not investing, and not building that and keep using a unit that is no longer fit for purpose? With moaners like you, one can indeed never win.
Should we now bulldoze this new unit to the ground or repurpose it for the homeless? Can you see the headlines?
A media beatup. And yes, the far greater priority is in the south as I said. Carrington Rd is a long-established hub of regional health services including Rehab Plus and CADS.
Health services not being able to use reliable population statistics is because they do not have the data systems for that. The public whinges when money in invested in that sort of thing, then local and national politicians favour the here-and-now rather than the future.
While the pollies at the top seem bent on Roman-like drama, that Shakespeare might dream up, the peeps around the world are trying to tame the brutes and find a way to cope with a world that is changing under their feet.
Its been exploding since at least 2014m and no why would the world care, surely someone soon will find a way for all that methane and besides, when the permafrost is gone someone will go drill baby drill, either for oil, or some mineral that the same people need for batteries, so that rich people still can drive around in single serve cars so as to better pretend that they are still on top of it all, and sooooooo green.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
I think we can see what a retreating role for UN Peacekeeping or straight US global intervention looks like. No one helps the Ukraine,
no one raises a finger for Myanmar, no one except maybe France helps in the Congo, but they'll keep the Taiwan shipping labe open.
Plenty of interventions haven't led to democracy or functioning states.
But the alternative is to just watch television news.
Speaking of television news: things are looking dire for one partisan channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4KdZ7qb3_M
It may be that the current combination of sanctions and sabre rattling were enough.
Or, small former soviet states may make their own defensive alliance, to keep the wolf from the door.
There are bound to be some quid pro quos going.
By the wolf I assume you mean those small former soviet states stopping western corporate hegemony from taking over their countries?
AT, the "wolf" link takes you to a Time piece that clearly indicates that the wolves in the metaphor are; unofficial Russian invasion forces. I personally thought that was a nice rhetorical flourish of SM's, though only skimmed the first paragraphs of the article without scrolling down.
Time magazine has never seen a US lead intervention or war it did not like, so I wouldn’t take the piece of shit rag too seriously if I where you.
There's a reason that I didn't scroll down when I saw it was a Time article, AT. But, at that, I do take their words more seriously than I do yours.
[fixed typo in e-mail address]
If you read the link, or knew a little more about Russian culture, you would understand the reference. While Russia has often been symbolized in the West by a bear, the people themselves prefer to identify with wolves.
I choose my reading material carefully..it does not and rarely has included Time magazine…though I found that copy of Time with Thelonious Monk on the cover in an opp shop many years ago..that was pretty cool.
I certainly don't read it regularly – the pro US bias used to be thick enough to cut with a knife. But it has the occasional thing worth reading. This piece seems to be the result of interviewing, which is refreshing.
Insurgencies are no pretty thing, no matter who arms them.
Yes. All the anti-US cohort here loves ranting about the evils of the US. Yet for better or worse it's inevitable that in any community the 'policeman' will have a monopoly on the use of force – in essence everyone else gives up their right to violence in favour of one party who is trusted to use it within a rules-based framework.
In the immediate aftermath of WW2 the US undertook this role in parallel with institutions such as the UN. During the Cold War (that in reality was also a series of nasty little hot wars) the logic of this role was largely accepted by default. And while it's easy and obvious to point to the list of conflicts the US has been involved in during this period, it's also important to keep in mind the huge absence of conflicts between almost all of the other nations. This came about mostly because the US-led global trade order and security guarantee took the need for conflict off the table for everyone else. The idea that you can have a peace without some entity willing and able to enforce it is of course as idiotic as the idea that you can defund the police and crime will stop.
But after the Cold War ended we never had the global conversation around "what next?" The next logical evolution would have been the winding back of the US as the centre of the system and a ceding of the right to conduct war by all the nations in favour of the UN. Well that never happened, although GH Bush did attempt something like it. In this all the major powers must accept responsibility for a terrible failure of leadership.
Now as you say Ad, the US (much absorbed with it's own internal navel gazing) is certainly not going to put fresh boots on the ground anywhere. In the wake of Trump and COVID the US is no longer all that interested in, nor especially needs to. play the role of 'world policeman' anymore, although much of the old rhetoric will continue to be recited. As a result we're seeing a devolution back to the conditions that applied pre-WW1/2 – where the major powers each vied openly with each other to establish and defend their individual spheres of influence and competing trade systems.
All the anti-US cohort here loves ranting about the evils of the US.
"Ranting"? On this excellent site I have seen many well-informed, well-written, even scholarly analyses of the crimes carried out by the United States and its vassals like the U.K., Australia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. These analyses have been written by various members of the "authoring crew" and by casual commenters. Your contemptuous dismissal of those serious and thoughtful critics says nothing about the critics of these violent and lawless regimes, but it says a great deal about yourself.
…. the 'policeman'… one party who is trusted [sic] … the police… role of 'world policeman'…
Surely a policeman has at least a notional commitment to the law? What sort of “world policeman” routinely trashes the rule of law and carries out or supports unspeakable crimes?
That would appear to be the favoured style of American policing.
…. the 'policeman'… one party who is trusted [sic] … the police… role of 'world policeman'…
The self-appointed world police are an unelected self-serving and bullying dictatorship led by the senile or insane that know no bounds! In that role, the US is every bit as corrupt and self-serving as their own enforcement agencies. The only reason the US is not putting fresh boots on the ground is that the poor non-white cannon fodder are increasingly unwilling. Thus the new policing strategy of threats and sanctions. It is concerning that and the rest of the world's 'power-brokers' don't aggressively acknowledge that sanctions are 'the new war crimes' that it should be strenuously opposing. It seems the current orthodoxy is that it is better to kill off millions of the undeserving poor then pick over their resources to further enrich the 2% This is done all in the name of Democracy.
You are both so predictable.
What a witty putdown. There's just no answer to such a masterly debater, aom.
" You are both so predictable." …coming from the guy who is always beating the same drum…but then so do we…you beat the the drum for some sort of contemporary liberal ‘soft’ imperialism while we beat the drum for international liberty, equality to brotherhood….in other words you seem set on an ideology that is at best evolutionary stagnant, while the ideology we advocate for is at least trying to help in the actual evolutionionary process (thought of course very slowly) of the human race.
My observational response is predictable – reliable even. We're all sooo predictable, each in our own way. Just different tones of predictable/reliable.
“boring“!
yip, Groundhog Day every day.
Not as predictable as yourself Red. Your opinions on international alignments never drift far from singing the praises of the most devastating empire since Rome. It is also noteworthy that you seldom put up credible arguments to support your views, apart from 'scaredy-cat' paranoid justifications for hiding behind colonialist mentality countries that don't give a stuff about the sovereignty of independent states.
Question for you: what is the topic that you are debating here?
If the answer is “RedLogix”, you can stop that crap right here and now.
My suggestion to you: pick a topic and kick off a discussion thread here. Hint: some topics are more suitable and lead to more ‘fruitful’ discussions than others do.
Your opinions on international alignments never drift far from singing the praises of the most devastating empire since Rome.
Oddly though a 'devastating' enough an empire that saw human development gain dramatically everywhere. I'm sorry that you're blind to it, but the truth is most people in the world are living far better lives in 2021 than ever before in all of our history. Ever. Period.
Your rabid anti-US bigotry blinds you to the obvious. Yet at the same time I'm not 'singing praises' to the US either, merely pointing out that they've played a rather unique role in global affairs since the end of WW2 that if we consider it carefully shows us the extraordinary potential in the idea of a global order.
There is no question that the US mishandled 'world policeman' badly, their motives were often muddled and their methods ill-informed and damaging. No question, no quibble. In many ways they were the least qualified nation to undertake the role. But even so the global trade and security order they almost accidentally created has delivered far, far more benefits to most of humanity than 'devastation'.
And personally I'm unapologetically grateful that the US won the Cold War. All the plausible alternatives that might have led to Stalin or Mao's ghastly regimes spreading across the globe were unthinkable. The fact of the US taking a leading role in standing against the truly devastating marxist catastrophes of the 20th century must be set to their credit – balanced against their many flaws and failings.
Now of course I realise you're going to read all the wrong messages into what I've just written above – so in one last effort here I'll repeat my crucial paragraph:
But after the Cold War ended we never had the global conversation around "what next?" The next logical evolution would have been the winding back of the US as the centre of the system and a ceding of the right to conduct war by all the nations in favour of the UN. Well that never happened, although GH Bush did attempt something like it. In this all the major powers must accept responsibility for a terrible failure of leadership.
All the plausible alternatives that might have led to Stalin or Mao's ghastly regimes spreading across the globe were unthinkable.
Except the United States didn't stop Stalin's or Mao's ghastly regimes. What the United States and its vassals have (with varying degrees of success) attacked, crushed and rubbed out permanently were non-aligned and democratic regimes in Indonesia, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Bolivia, Panama, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Indochina, Iran… (the gruesome list goes on and on and on.)
non-aligned and democratic regimes
You misunderstand – the logic of the Cold War was simple and very blunt. You were either on the US side against the communists or you were not. 'Non-aligned' was not an option. (And pretending that the Soviet and Maoist regimes were not busy expanding their own influence and communist agenda wherever possible doesn't do much for your credibility either.)
In the aftermath of WW2 there was always going to be one superpower left standing, It was either going to be the US or Stalin's brutal regime. The vast majority of the world picked the US as the better of the two options – much to the enduring chargrin of closet marxists everywhere.
The 'gruesome list' doesn't go on and on – the large majority of the 200 odd nations understood what was necessary to win the Cold War and got with the program. It wasn't meant to be 'play nice' – it was an intense and dangerous struggle that lasted many decades. And had many casualties – both direct and indirect.
Yet having created this global system in order to win the Cold War, the US had no fucking clue what to do once they did win. We've now had four Presidents, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump who pretty much did nothing to evolve their leadership to it's next logical stage of development. Instead they pursued short-term, expedient agendas with no coherent vision for a better world. In this they've egregiously betrayed their avowed principles and wasted one priceless opportunity after another.
At a more pragmatic level, what I think we're seeing now is the US quite rapidly retreating from global engagement – something I would imagined you'd be cheering on – and a return to the bad old days of multiple empires competing openly with each other.
You were either on their side against the communists or you were not.
The governments targeted for destruction by the United States and its crony regimes were independent, and mostly democratic. They were not communist.
'Non-aligned' was not an option.
Yes it was. That's why Nehru's government, and Indonesia, and Moussadeq’s Iran, and Guatemala, and Cuba, and Chile were such a threat to the U.S.
Why and how was India under Nehru “such a threat to the U.S.”?
Again you misread the era – it was a war – one that nearly ended in utter disaster several times. Both sides exerted themselves to the utmost and I'm not shrinking from or minimising the terrible impacts this had in many places. If anything I'd argue that while our attention is readily drawn to hot kinetic events like Korea and Vietnam, we tend to forget that all of these were being played out in the context of a much larger and more dangerous conflict.
Yet oddly enough despite this grim reality – at the same time large parts of the world suddenly found themselves in a whole new environment in which for the first time there was the security and mechanisms necessary to allow trade and development on an unprecedented global scale.
And this largely because the US bribed, and in some cases compelled, most of the nations of the world to be 'on the same side'. In this they took conflict off the table, and replaced it with an opportunity to become wealthy without invading and occupying your neigbours.
Well my point is this – with the US no longer all that interested or even capable of playing this role – what do we imagine might take it's place?
@Incognito
Just as an aside I've personally been shown a Visitor's Book at the Uralmash Museum, in Ekaterinburg, that was signed by Nehru on the occasion of his state visit to Russia. (It's quite an extraordinary item, it has the autograph's of a whole range of well known figures of the Russian and Soviet era, including Lenin, Stalin and Castro to name just a few.)
There is no question that Nehru's overtures and alignment with the Soviets would have been regarded very dimly by the Americans.
much to the enduring chargrin of closet marxists everywhere
Plenty of Marxists were quite capable, like Popper, of seeing Stalinism for what it was, and rejecting it – and one would have to be blind not to notice that Soviet Eastern Europe was no garden of sweets – which is why the West still has Left parties.
You're dead right however, that America's aegis was more desirable, except when corporate interests bent it too far out of shape. Even then, it only ended up worst equal with its opponents – there was little to choose between Pinochet's Chile, and Sendero Luminoso – no enlightened governance to be had from either.
A few month’s under the care of ‘little father’ Putin and Morrisey would be a sadder and a wiser fellow.
You're dead right however, that America's aegis was more desirable, except when corporate interests bent it too far out of shape.
Thanks for this. The US, and by extension the broader West, lends us plenty of raw materiel to to criticize – yet our freedom to do so is not one of these things.
…. which is why the West still has Left parties.
???? The West—the USA, Britain, France, Germany and all the rest—had "left" (socialist, democratic, syndicalist) parties and democratically organized unions long before the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia.
A few month’s [sic] under the care of ‘little father’ Putin and Morrisey would be a sadder and a wiser fellow.
I have no time for "little father" Putin, just as I have no time for Trump or anyone else in the Republican Party. But the fact that I don't like him does not mean I have to fall in line with the absurd Russian meddling fantasies concocted by the angry and befuddled Clintonistas, aided and abetted by spooks like James Clapper, John Brennan and Michael Hayden, and amplified by such ridiculous and discredited media agents as Luke Harding, Rachel Maddow, and our own Richard Harman. "Little Father" Putin, for all his crimes as Russian leader, did not (as the talking heads on CNN claimed incessantly for four years) run Trump as a puppet, or make America into a racist country, or suppress the votes of millions of black people.
And it was not "Little Father" Putin who instructed those DNC strategists to make a point of keeping Hillary Clinton away from working class areas, and instead put all their energies into making godawful, toe-curlingly embarrassing, trash like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YttscNOoAjA
The US, and by extension the broader West, lends us plenty of raw materiel to to criticize – yet our freedom to do so is not one of these things.
How do you square this encomium for freedom with the denunciation, persecution, and exiling or locking up of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange? (To name only the most famous victims of the U.S./U.K. political class).
Freedom is not absolute, never has been, never will. Whistleblowing (that’s what some call it) is one very special category of ‘criticism’, isn’t it? Please engage your brain before you comment here, thanks. BTW, I note that you’re free to criticise away here and even spout your ill-considered nonsense.
I imagine in the same way that you ignore the murder of Politkovskaya, and Nemtsov, the poisoning of Navalny and the Skripals and so forth.
You might want to think about how your preferred global hegemon would have handled Manning for example. A traitor in Russia, with gender issues as well, is not long for this world.
I don't square it at all – all of these cases have been a terrible betrayal of principle that have been widely protested.
But then again the recent rise of cancel culture is evidence enough that it's not just the political class who're rather over-fond of silencing their critics these days.
I imagine in the same way that you ignore the murder of Politkovskaya,
I've always been a great admirer of Anna Politkovskaya. I treasure my book of her investigative articles. I don't "ignore" her murder either, or deny it happened, or try to excuse it.
and Nemtsov,
ditto
the poisoning of Navalny and the Skripals and so forth.
Careful! Now you're entering into Bellingcat and Luke Harding territory. Just because Richard Harman, that outstanding New Zealand journalist*, cited "the work of Luke Harding" at that Orwellian "World Press Freedom Day" in Wellington in 2019, doesn't mean you are obliged to pretend to believe these British disinformation agents as well.
You might want to think about how your preferred global hegemon
My "preferred global hegemon"? You're making it up as you go. Unlike you, I don't want to be anyone's slave.
would have handled Manning for example. A traitor in Russia, with gender issues as well, is not long for this world.
So you reckon the United States treated her decently and humanely and justly, do you?
Freedom is not absolute, never has been, never will. Whistleblowing (that’s what some call it) is one very special category of ‘criticism’, isn’t it?
Indeed it is. I support the people who uncover secrets that criminals and politicians (often one and the same thing) want to keep hidden from us. Do you?
The rest of your comment is simply abuse.
[Well, you allege I abused you, presumably because I told you to engage your brain. That would be the most pathetic accusation given that I need and have corrected you on a regular basis and given that you actually agreed with me on the whistleblowing although you forgot to comment on and confirm your freedom to criticise. No thank you expected or was that “abuse” too given that it was the rest of my comment but repeated your obvious lack of full brain-engagement?
You can pull your head in and up your game instead of wasting our time here with your Swiss cheese reckons – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 9:06 am.
@Incognito
Whistleblowing (that’s what some call it) is one very special category of ‘criticism’
That's a very good point, and one I admit I completely overlooked. As much as I very much believe Manning, Assange and Snowden have been treated shamefully, I do accept that the line between 'whistleblower' and 'traitor' can be a pretty thin one at times.
It's not surprising I guess that it's a wobbly line that different people will draw in different places. Wikileaks was always going to be a controversy magnet, yet in reality it was doing nothing more than what our press was supposed to be doing.
If the notion of liberal democracy is going to thrive we're going to have to get better at more consistently drawing and defending this distinction.
@Morrissey – well I'm glad that you have taken the trouble to know some of these folk.
Assange is a complicated issue. Although the line the US has chosen, that he endangered military personnel, seems to be entirely false, not all his releases seem to be well motivated – the diplomatic correspondence for instance, was titillating rather than incriminating – there was no public interest argument for its release the way there was with Manning's drone killing material. I could go on – but it's a lengthy conversation – for my part some minor sanctions were not out of order, but his punishment has already been excessive.
absurd Russian meddling fantasies
Those fantasies have vivid life in Chechnya, Ingushetia, the Crimea and eastern Ukraine – do not deceive yourself – Putin would have his army across that border in a flash if he thought he could get away with it – and his paramilitaries are doing it now, just like the US Contras in South America.
A disappointing comment, imho. In the words of Tony Hancock:
To a Louse – Robert Burns
“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!”
You can be disappointed all you like – but it's still the truth. And why have you no objection to idiotic claims like 'the most devastating empire since Rome'? Or the similar one-eyed rantings some contributors constantly repeat?
By contrast I'm quite clear that like all things human, the US has a mixed record of both good and bad, but that on the whole having a liberal democracy (albeit a flawed one) as the global superpower in the aftermath of WW2 was better than anything Stalin or Mao might have spawned. I don't see anyone admitting to this, instead all I get is lurid rants on the evils of the US as if these commenters haven't learned anything since sometime in the 80's.
Most of the wars and interventions the US has undertaken in the post-WW2 period were motivated either by the very real and urgent considerations of the Cold War, or in response to 911 and events in the Islamic world. Omitting this context is both selectively dishonest and strips away any useful understanding or meaning to US actions in the past seven decades. Put bluntly, the US was fighting a tough and dangerous enemy across a global front, and as in all wars bad things were going to happen. But in doing so they contained and eventually overcame the monstrous marxist regimes of both Stalin and Mao at considerable cost.
And the hegemony the US created to win this war looked nothing like any of the conventional 'empires' prior to WW2. Crucially it contained within it nascent institutions such as the UN, WTO, World Bank etc – that are the foundation of an authentically global order that humanity must evolve into this century – or perish.
But instead of addressing my substantive point – the big question of what comes next after the US order – all I'm getting from you is tone policing. Disappointing alright.
The Non Aligned Movement (NAM) is still operating, with around 120 members. The numbers equate to just over half of UN members.
Post Cold War, US Imperialism did exactly what it’s national section of Capital and Finance Capital proscribed-put the pedal to the metal on neo liberalism and globalisation.
It is close to psychopathic to claim the Cold War was an unavoidable and positive strategy!
The NAM originated as a fig-leaf for the pro-marxist ambitions of Castro, Tito and Nehru. And while there was considerable merit in much of it's stated goals and rhetoric, in reality it tilted toward the Soviets far too much to ever be regarded a credible 'independent' movement.
And born of the Cold War, it's struggled to find much relevance since the end of it. It might yet play a constructive role, but not in it’s current form.
It is close to psychopathic to claim the Cold War was an unavoidable and positive strategy!
And what alternative do you propose?
One last try (promise), and then you carry on lacing your comments with the pejoratives you clearly find essential to advocating your PoV.
Do you truly believe that multiple offerings along the lines of:
That's just the sort of reflexive, unhinged comment I'd expect from a rabid ideological anti-Marxist bigot.
are conducive to rational discussion/debate?
The least such a commenter could do, imho, would be to add an 'imho' to their inflammatory invective, unless they were deliberately trying to initiate or propagate a flame war. Others may have a greater tolerance, or possibly even an appetite, for such posturing – tbh I've had my fill.
Maybe the experience of actually visiting the site of two gulags has caused me to be a little biased.
Consider this; I suggest we would all expect legitimate right wing political people to understand that the right can go too far and step into fascism. Specifically I would expect them to fully renounce and condemn in highly prerogative terms anything to do with the nazi movement and it's derivatives.
Well from a left wing perspective I'm doing the same with respect to marxism. I reserve the right to condemn it and any of it's apologists in any terms I consider fit. The fact that drawing this line in the sand is still so difficult and controversial speaks directly to why the left still struggles to obtain a clear moral legitimacy.
I have a sneaking suspicion that with global crises occurring faster and faster and with global tsunami-like reverberations, the opportunities for multilateral cooperation will get stronger and stronger.
Covid18 will certainly assist climate change cooperation better than CPTPP ever will.
Won't always be military, but occasionally will be.
No one helps the Ukraine…
….maybe France helps in the Congo
????? France helps in the Congo? That certainly was not the case in 1960, when the U.S. and its European satellites swiftly moved to snuff out democracy in that country. Tens of millions of Congolese have paid for this "help" in the ensuing sixty years.
https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20170701-france-lumumba-murder
You can check the non-interventionist route in Rwanda and western Congo right through the 1990s. The interventionist moral quagmire is often better than the virtuous coward.
Sometimes the difference between the two comes down to good media coverage and other assorted luck.
The United States "intervention" in Indochina was more devastating, and had a far higher body count, than the Rwanda genocide.
Vietnam has a far higher population than Rwanda, so I'd like to see your workings for "more devastating".
Cambodia and Laos were also victims of the American "intervention." You forgot to put them into your moral calculus.
And you're neglecting Burundi and DRC from yours. Whatevs. You're the one arguing some sort of hierarchy of national suffering while evading opportunities to explain whatever reasoning you might have.
No I didn't forget them, I referred just to the example you gave. And I posted, at 8:40 this morning, a reminder of what the United States and its vassals did to the Congo sixty years ago, firmly and finally snuffing out democracy there, as well as the life of Patrice Lumumba. Shortly after that "intervention", the U.S. "intervened" to hand the South African version of Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, over to the authorities of the apartheid state.
You mentioned Burundi as related to the Rwandan genocide? Cool, I missed that.
I'd still like to see the working behind your hierarchy of suffering, though. But I fear such consideration doesn't actually exist.
The thing is, the question about whether or not to intervene is a key question on how we get from where we are now to go somewhere better.
Murca is bad, m'kay. European colonialism is bad, m'kay. Global warming is bad, m'kay. Large power intrigues are bad, m'kay. Regional power sabre-ratlling is bad, m'kay
But all of those stressors mean there will be more riots, despots, wars, and genocides. Even if the stressors all stopped as of ten minutes ago, the byproducts being local wars and genocides will continue. Your whataboutism won't stop them, but intervention by the international community might.
You mentioned Burundi as related to the Rwandan genocide?
No, as I made clear to you, I referred just to the example—Rwanda—that you gave.
Cool, I missed that.
No, you attempted to make an issue out of nothing.
I'd still like to see the working behind your hierarchy of suffering, though.
I have never tried to construct any "hierarchy of suffering." You're making it up as you go.
But I fear such consideration doesn't actually exist.
That's correct. You got one thing right. That’s encouraging.
The thing is, the question about whether or not to intervene is a key question on how we get from where we are now to go somewhere better.
So which kind of "intervention" do you think "we" should decide to inflict on the people of Myanmar? The Ukrainian Neo-Nazi kind of intervention? The "moderate rebels" that "we" have supported and armed in Syria, Libya, and Iraq? Or perhaps you think the "intervention" should be bombing them back into the stone age, like "we" did to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Murca is bad, m'kay. European colonialism is bad, m'kay. … <snip remainder of a truly lame attempt at humour>
Your whataboutism…
???? Did you get permission from the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party before you employed that weakest form of abuse?
…. won't stop them, but intervention by the international community might.
There's been precisely one decent military intervention in the last fifty years: that was the newly independent Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia and its toppling of the Khmer Rouge in 1978. The U.S. and the U.K. backed the Khmer Rouge government in exile for more than a decade after that. And so, to our eternal shame, did New Zealand.
http://www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1999/NZJH_33_2_05.pdf
cf:
If you did not wish to suggest one was worse than the other (i.e. a hierarchy), then your use of the comparators "was more" and "had a far higher" were poorly chosen.
"Precisely" one? What was the problem with INTERFET, as a recent example?
The suffering was, of course, dreadful and horrible in both cases. But Rwanda's infrastructure was not razed into nothingness by decades of bombing and strafing and napalming.
Exhibit #2: UNPROFOR; it also included NZ troops.
Your assertions have more holes than a Swiss cheese, as usual.
For example, since when did the US “hand over” Nelson Mandela to SA? Did they ‘arrest’ him at LAX and deported him back to SA? Did they ‘extradite’ him from US soil?
Your #whatabout is the action of a dimwit, especially when you deny doing it 🙁
Exhibit #2: UNPROFOR; it also included NZ troops.
Thanks. I did indeed exaggerate. Your rigorous correctives are always appreciated.
… since when did the US “hand over” Nelson Mandela to SA?
Since 1962.
Good, the USA/CIA did not “hand over” Nelson Mandela, as you asserted, but “tipped off” the SA authorities. What a difference it makes when you use the appropriate words and description!
I’ll leave McFlock and you to debate the possibility of France helping in the Congo; I feel you’ve almost reached common ground there and it has been a joy to read and follow your discussion so far 😉
Thanks Incognito. You have a good night now.
Thanks, but it is not my bedtime yet; five more minutes.
yup
Mate, when something affects a nation's population growth chart like this and hundreds of thousands are killed in neighbouring countries, your "but" is simply abstract point-scoring between events well beyond any conceivable level of human suffering.
Except normally when e.g. astronomers compare the relative mass of black holes in far distant galaxies, they have more reasoning behind it than a visceral conviction that the USA is always bad.
… a visceral conviction that the USA is always bad.
There is a great deal about the USA that I love and admire. The violent, destructive and militantly anti-democratic foreign policy of the U.S. political class is not something I, or many other people, love or admire.
My conclusion that the United States' international record is nearly—not always—bad is based on empirical evidence, not on a "visceral conviction."
your hierarchy of suffering, however, seems to be devoid of reasoning beyond your visceral conviction that anything related to the US must be worse.
“the USA/CIA did not “hand over” Nelson Mandela, as you asserted, but “tipped off” the SA authorities. What a difference it makes when you use the appropriate words and description!”…
…what an absolutely and completely bizarre statement, it is hard to imagine what would drive anyone to get into semantics over this one…but then again incognito never fails to amaze me as to what depths they will sink to when it comes to harassing you..though I have to say this one made even my jaw drop a bit!!
Retired CIA Agent Confirms U.S. Role In Nelson Mandela's 1962 Arrest
“retired CIA agent Donald Rickard, acknowledging that he helped the South African apartheid-era government arrest Nelson Mandela”
https://www.npr.org/2016/05/16/478272695/retired-cia-agent-confirms-u-s-role-in-nelson-mandelas-1962-arrest
Indeed, who cares about semantics or slippery use of language when the aim is to spin a narrative of populist propaganda about the good guys on one side versus the bad guys on the other?
That you don’t give a shit about this typifies your kneejerk aggressive ‘activist’ attitude towards some here who dare to use a sharper better-defined and better-articulated language that contains nuance and context that challenges the narrative of the dove-vs-hawk myth. Of course, such people cannot be tolerated and have to be attacked and bullied into submission, or marginalised, mocked, and ridiculed, at least. Don’t address the message, just attack the messenger.
The sad thing is that you are proud of your polarised partisanship and fighting the ‘good fight’. People such as you never build bridges, never look for common ground, never compromise, but keep on fighting until there is no one left to fight, like Agent Smith in The Matrix. It shows in almost every comment you make here.
Here’s an idiosyncratic example (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-04-2021/#comment-1789763) of only a few hours ago; read and weep:
Here’s another credo of yours (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-04-2021/#comment-1789716):
Another one, showing your dogmatic belief (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-04-2021/#comment-1789474):
I almost get the feeling you see your ‘adversaries’ here on TS as objects, not as fellow humans with whom you share a community platform for robust debate – all you need to add is that “it’s nothing personal” AKA homo homini lupus. You show your disgust and disdain, no respect or trust and the inverse of that to those who are ‘on your side’; dichotomous thinking and acting.
Instead of dropping your jaw or feeling offended or annoyed, lift your game, change your attitude and demeanour, look at your comrades here and embrace them as such. Impossible?
Morrissey: I find it interesting that even you are willing to perpetuate the myth that Russia wants to invade the Ukraine. Since the 2014 western backed coup of the democratically elected Yanukovich govt, the Ukraine economy has been in freefall with a large exodus of the population of an age able to, leaving. Russia sees itself as having a duty to offer protection to the large number of citizens and Russian associating people in the east but has no desire to take control of an economic basket case.
So what is happening in the Ukraine? As stated, the Ukraine is an economic basket case which even the west has little use for other than its potential to provoke some kind of reponse from Russia. At present, 18% of the Ukraine gdp comes from the transit of Russian gas to Europe. This is close to ending soon as the Nordstream 2 pipeline nears completion. So its now or never for the Ukraine. This is the last fighting season in which they will be able to have any effect on Nordstream. If Russia can be portrayed as an aggressor then maybe Germany and the EU can be persuaded to disconnect from Nordstream. The Ukraine moved their military hardware first. Russia followed
Russia demonstrated what it is capable of and the speed in which it can amass overwhelming superiority as a warning. From the same siurce:
I've used the bbc because many here are averse to more Russia friendly sources but an extremely good outline of all that has happened in the Ukraine along with the political maneuvering can be found here. I have watched the you tube video of the interview but it has strangely become unavailable so that all that seems to be left is the sound cloud audio.
I find it interesting that even you are willing to perpetuate the myth that Russia wants to invade the Ukraine.
No, that's not what I was intending to convey, and it's certainly not what Aaron Maté, Ben Norton or Max Blumenthal were saying.
Yes, sorry. I see that now
I found this heartening to read earlier:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/25/indigenous-people-canada-sinixt-us-border-hunting-rights
Sure, it's a poor compensation for centuries of systematic theft and genocide, plus unreciprocated on the US side of border, but it is something. International borders are often arbitrarily imposed (once you are past the great lakes it is just a line of latitude, as near as 19th century surveyors could reckon, until Vancouver. But people live in landscapes, not geometric shapes.
The right to hunt Elk. Seriously.
Why don't they just forget their tiresome gun lust and pop down to their supermarket meat chiller like anyone else.
because the elk in the nature is their supermarket meat in the chiller?
I dont understand why that is so hard to understand? Many of the indegenious people in Northern America would have serious food issues were it not for sustainable hunting and fishing. So yes, this is their right to hunt elk, as they did forever, as much as it is the right of Maori here to go fish/gather on the shore.
Not everything is tiresome gun lust. As far as the quality of the meat goes, that too would be vastly superior to what one can find in the supermarket in Northern America.
And you can stop that noble savage crap right there.
dude.
http://traditionalanimalfoods.org/mammals/hoofed/page.aspx?id=6134
i think its about as noble as it gets. people have hunted for food since ages ago. Supermarkets are a thing of the last 80 odd years, and so are fridges.
Even NZ has stories full of hunters and bushman. Nothing about noble savage there?
I actually find your comment offensive, and i am not easily offended. And yes for some in the far north (northern hemisphere) – alaska, siberia, finland – etc hunting for elk, seal and the likes is going to the supermarket no matter if it contrary to what us 'civilised' people believe or are accustomed to.
Saw this Sabine. You might add on a request for micro existing businesses, not just new ones.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/441240/new-businesses-need-pandemic-support-coffee-company
Ad, have you ever mixed with people who live along the East coast of the upper North Island of New Zealand?..plenty of them live to a large extent by hunting and gathering…from the sea and the land, growing and hunting…and I don't mean all the boomers and rich foreigners who have invaded the placed over the past decade.
What exactly is wrong with hunting your own food with a gun?…every meat eater should have to kill, gut, skin and butcher a large animal at least once in their life IMO.
More than 25 British-Palestinian Labour members condemn 'hostile environment' within the party
Starmer, the King of Nothing, is a disaster. How long can he hold on to the poisoned chalice of the "leader" of the Blairite rump?
Interesting Morissey. Watch this arena eh!
So spineless obeisance when faced with bogus/wildly exaggerated accusations of anti-semitism doesn't work. It sunders the coalitions on which your political party is based. How surprising.
Indeed, AB. The Labour Party will never be the government again in the United Kingdom. That's entirely down to the incendiary campaign run by the right wing of the party, and its willing media amplification.
Never say never Morrissey. There's more roads to hell than we can dream of.
Just remember that here in NZ National in 2005 just cleared the 20% mark and the same now, yet ruled for 9 years of the sixteen since then.
A lesson for the Left in both GB and here.
National was not ruined by a fantasy witch-hunt instigated by a right wing faction determined to exterminate any democratic or humanitarian elements in the party. Not one of the dissident factions in National—not Marilyn Waring, not Mike Minogue, not Bob Jones, not Winston Peters, not Jami-Lee Ross—exhibited anything remotely like the malice and bloodymindedness of the likes of Tom Watson, Lord John Mann, Yenta Hodge, or Keir Starmer.
And I don’t think any National leader would appease such brutal and disloyal people the way that, sadly, Jeremy Corbyn did continually.
I wondered about Jeremy Corbyn. He seemed to keep waiting for a clear direction from the mass of UK Labour but I think they were confused, saw him as a buoy in a sea threatening to drown them. and looked to him to get them ashore. They might have even thought that he could virtually part the sea and lead them to dry ground. Instead he got bogged down in ineffectual delay, and the moment was lost. That's how I see it. Anyone else's thoughts about it?
I liked him. He should have treated the antisemitism allegations with the contempt they deserved, and thrown the wretched scoundrels who used them out.
Labour may well come back however – the inequality that drives its natural supporters is stronger than ever, Boris is showing those conservative features which make a government ripe for replacement, and the current UK Labour leadership are so pathetic that they too seem not long for this world.
Nicola Sturgeon need only lead a movement south and the effete English will roll over like round bottom toys.
But they have amazing bounce-backability. I think they need a dose of something that will get them moving.
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug,
Would scour these English hence? Hear’st thou of them?
~ The Scottish Play Act V Scene III line 57
Jeremy just needed to do 2 things and he could easily have been PM.
1. Play hardball with the party machine and committed right wingers–sufficient sackings of head office personnel, and electorate deselections of recalcitrant MPs in favour of left candidates, would have got the Blairites attention.
2. Pledge to fully respect the Brexit result AND implement “For the many not the few” platform of strategic renationalisations etc.
Jeremy seemed to be exactly who he seemed–unfortunately for the UK working class–an allotment gardening mild mannered guy. He certainly rattled the ruling class cage though, with senior Military brass stating publicly that there would be a coup if Jeremy Corbyn ever became PM. So the stakes are incredibly high, which is why the Brit Labour Party is loaded to the gunwales with opportunist class traitors!
He certainly rattled the ruling class cage though, with senior Military brass stating publicly that there would be a coup if Jeremy Corbyn ever became PM.
That very scenario was foreseen by Channel 4 back in 1988…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACg6IuFfMJE
@Tiger Mountain, I agree completely
JC biggest fault was he was naturally so inclusive and for some reason didn't seem to understand that the Blairite Liberals in Labour were his sworn enemy, and he should have dealt with them accordingly.
He was the best PM the UK never had…though that being said, after the savage and outrageously biased display by all the UK press (including of course the Guardian) in their 'reporting' on JC, I also think he probably dodged a bullet by not being PM when Covid hit…it doesn't take much imagination to know that the UK press would have tried pinning every single death from Covid squarely on him, it would have been ugly.
savage and outrageously biased display by all the UK press (including of course the Guardian)….
CORRECTION:
including especially the Grauniad….
It seems that Yannis Varoufakis' aimed verbal thrust at the EU with mention of Brexit and being tailored to fit the lean and hungry oligarchs dotted around Europe, which UK might have felt it wise to resile from, should have a place somewhere in this thread. I said the other day that I thought I was naive about the EU and now I feel sure I was right.
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2021/02/14/the-eus-multiple-failures-are-due-to-its-immunity-to-democracy-the-new-statesman/
I'd put a bit of the onus on Murdoch, myself.
That's the "willing media amplification" I mentioned! Murdoch and the BBC, and the dismal crowd at the Grauniad.
There needs to be a group of wise people separate from the government but mounting lobbyist/s that advocate for a practical, capable, self-sufficient NZ – that also exports. The skilled NZs at both practical, physical and keeping our basic tech, transport, etc. going need to be appreciated and conserved.
This blacksmith would be one of the skilled people we support.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018792818/the-blacksmith-who-wants-to-save-his-trade
Rob, who has a forge in rural Waikato about half an hour from Te Awamutu, believes his is probably the last traditional blacksmith's forge in New Zealand.
In this case, not only would he continue to provide a useful service, he would also demonstrate to the young what physical work and skills actually are. And the satisfaction of being able to do something well yourself, not just watch things on a screen, spend your days sending concepts and electronic messages to counterparts elsewhere, removed from the physical world.
Also it has a tourism potential. If we could keep 20th century features alive and kicking, we will have people beating a path to our door from areas where people live in huge cities with civic restraints from doing many things, and without space to do them. Being 'quaint' will be trendy as well as fascinating – the hoary story about finding milk comes from cows when all that had been known of it was bottles in the supermarket.
Comfortably-off people are often in cities and because of tech hegemony, withdrawing themselves from real life, living like avatars in minimalist designed rooms in houses tidy, controlled, sterile. If they shift to the country they can become a nuisance to the local community who live by and from their farms, with the city-born and bred being unhappy with noisy, smelly life and exerting their 'rights' to blissful unreality.
And I also have the idea that town and country could form useful alliances. People who wanted to keep in touch with the physical, see the backblocks, the country and those in farms who want a change, visit town and see the sights, use amenities, could join a group that brings such people together. Perhaps it would have a stall at A&P shows, and both enrol new members and hold social times while all were in the same place, plus others throughout the year.
People would be required to circulate and get to know all to make sure that the friendship, widened social contacts and the bonding would come about. Once people found others they enjoyed knowing and learned about their background, pairs or groups could form within the 'club' who would then start their two-way movement between town and farm. Also the group might want to set up seasonal help for farmers, and take caravans to their properties and have working holidays staying at the farms of their club members. The children of the members would have a fuller life, rich in experiences and understandings of the other people in the nation.
Probably this is happening informally, but we need to do it with a nation-wide reach. It would be good for building cohesion in the nation, and give good farmers more support and help to keep them on the land owning their own farms instead of those mainly interested in 'capital accretion.'
I wonder what bwaghorn thinks about this?
So that we may endure to the last. Oh my country so bare and so wretched. Two lines from Speed Your Journey (The Hebrew Slaves Song from Nabucco, Verdi). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kKHT3smyRo
I feel that those lines are ones to spur us on in NZ to salvage what we can from the present and future that threaten to ruin us culturally, mentally and physically.
This is well sung by the combined constabulary choir of Avon and Somerset, England. Who better to sing it in New Zealand where they will be at the font line of the confusion and anger of people who have no place to stand, or meaning for existence, now and worsening in the future, without a big change in direction and attitude by a majority in this country.
I think it would be good for our police to form into choirs singing around the country for good esprit du corps and to help retain the good man or woman inside they were before meeting those who have slipped into viciousness. Perhaps the police themselves could work out ways to prevent this happening by involving children in activities that help to build personal strength and self-respect.
<sigh>
Let’s hope that me wading in here will have the intentional chilling effect on the usual suspect(s).
Firstly, let me remind you of what OM is and is not about. From the excerpt of OM:
Some here interpret this as a carte blanche to spout whatever BS they can ‘think’ of and/or to attack others whom they don’t agree with or simply dislike. They treat this site as their personal sandpit and soapbox.
Let me remind them of the first two paragraphs of this site’s Policy:
Unfortunately, some die-hards here think it is their right to attack others whom they deem to be on the wrong side. These die-hards justify this by claiming they are fighting for the right cause. They are wrong!
Everybody who comments here – which is free for everyone unless temporarily or permanently banned from this site and thus losing their commenting privileges here – should read the Policy and let it sink in.
As you can tell, we do not tolerate personal attacks and flame wars, for example. They are not conducive to robust debate. Commenters who keep breaking the Rules run a high risk of losing their commenting privileges here. In fact, they can count on it
The Marshall Islands much used, abused by… all western nations actually bear some weight of fault.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/441151/marshalls-gets-pacific-voice-heard-at-climate-summit
The Marshall Islands has issued a plea for help and a call to action at the US Leaders Summit on Climate Change.
Addressing the virtual meeting on Friday, President David Kabua laid out the existential threat facing his country and the Pacific.
Kabua is the lone Pacific leader invited by US President Joe Biden to the two-day talks.
Kabua shared the stage with the world's biggest economies and pressured those he said held the Pacific's future in their hands…
President Kabua said [they] were a series of island nations already feeling the effects of rising oceans.
He said the Pacific now faced an even greater threat.
"We are low-lying atoll nations, barely a metre above sea level," he said.
"For millennia, our people have navigated between our islands to build thriving communities and cultures.
"Today, we are navigating through the storm of climate change, determined to do our part to steer the world to safety."
Education from the west has been a great help to small, primitive communities. It has taught them the language of the big powers so they can, if they are lucky, attend their pow-wows and address the PTB in their own language about their lands being destroyed by them, and beg for help which can't be misunderstood on the basis that it was made in a foreign language! /sarc
Delays at our hugely under-resourced national employment authority reward dodgy employers who can outwait the staff they have ripped off. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124908201/the-body-meant-to-resolve-employeremployee-disputes-has-huge-backlog-of-cases-with-long-delays-common
And look, one previous thief has enough money to fund a research organisation now. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/8things/disgraced-restaurant-boss-bankrolls-covid-drug-research
Unions would be a big help in sorting out this sort of behaviour. Delays among other things let employers transfer assets and shut down companies. Employers need to be pushed hard to negotiate and pay because a large chunk of the time it is basically theft from employees.It also theft from the community at large. Other employers who follow the rules lose business to unfair competition.
Employers should face being barred from running company's especially if they don't pay.
Employers should face withdrawal of visa's and cancellation of citizenship and deportation. That is what happens to employees if they err
All work visa employees should have a union (CTU) membership paid for by the employer as part of the deal and a number of paid hours to see the union.
There must be other sanctions that the court could use. The huge backlog tells us that there is little attempt by employers to negotiate because they have little to lose.
Plus I would have expected the IRD to have written to all employee IRD's used to claim the subsidy, advising them that they should have received wages for the period claim. False claims need to be criminally prosecuted. And how about making all the claims list public like they said they would !! Who's money is it?
RedBaronCV
Our Trev's finally made it aboard the wingnut welfare train.
https://twitter.com/TrevorLoudon1/status/1386078301480001536
https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/government-and-politics/6998962-Minnesota-countys-GOP-event-featured-far-right-conspiracy-theorist
The truth of the matter is:
The nasty, ignorant right wing element inside the British media are insane with jealousy because NZ and Australia have done a superb job controlling the virus, while the Brits made a total balls-up of their own response.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/04/british-writer-under-fire-for-scathing-review-of-new-zealand-s-covid-19-border-measures.html
How dare a bunch of hicks down under try to outshine the mighty British Empire.
You just cannot ‘win’ in healthcare in NZ.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/greenlane-hospitals-renal-unit-closes-dozens-of-patients-devastated/BXJLNQAGGWC437SRCDWWLCZYLA/
Beat up. Two dozen people need to go to either Pt Chev or Glen Innes instead. Wah. Most of the demand is in the region’s south, as you’d expect.
from the above link
We seem to add postcode locations according to data that people in government think is carved in stones. Rather then basing the decision of such a building on current use they should do a future assessment, like where will people live….oops they still live in Greenlane rather then Point Chev.
Why not keep the old location and build a new one considering that diabetes is one of our bigger killers and chances are we will need more dialysis facilities.
And how long are we gonna have to wait until an 'expose' will show us that people will have longer waiting times, will spend a lot of time in Auckland traffic, and please keep in mind that these people will simply die if not afforded this service. Just keep that in mind before you complain about lousy kidney patients daring to 'beat' up whom? The last government? Or this government? Or that some newspeople dare write anything else but ‘the government will safe me’ sobstories.
Or that even matter?
last but least, it seems to me that we should add another postcode location to that, the one that is South Auckland. But then that is not the nice postcode that Point Chev is becoming, you know all nice, very expensive and almost Ponsonby.
again, no matter who runs the show, when it comes to healthcare no brain, no guts, no foresight, and above all no changes.
As I said at the beginning: you cannot win 🙁
Its what i ahve been saying for a while now, there is virtually no difference between the large parties and their ideologies. Non serve us well. That is the only time these suits are bipartisan, when they can cut services people need under the guise of 'better' or 'austerity' which somehow are the same.
All cars are the same, some are red, some are blue; there are good reasons for that. This is the simplistic meme stuck in your head like a crap song on a broken record; National and Labour are as bad as each other, peas in a pot, and the many variations on that theme. So simplistic, so futile, so sad.
If you think the opening of a new dialysis unit that is fit for purpose and cost $7 million is serving us/the people badly then what would you think of not planning, not investing, and not building that and keep using a unit that is no longer fit for purpose? With moaners like you, one can indeed never win.
Should we now bulldoze this new unit to the ground or repurpose it for the homeless? Can you see the headlines?
Please do not encourage more uninformed speculation. Surely you have seen enough for one day..
(yes that means I have read the whole post now)
Sorry, tomorrow is another day.
A media beatup. And yes, the far greater priority is in the south as I said. Carrington Rd is a long-established hub of regional health services including Rehab Plus and CADS.
Health services not being able to use reliable population statistics is because they do not have the data systems for that. The public whinges when money in invested in that sort of thing, then local and national politicians favour the here-and-now rather than the future.
Meanwhile bits of Siberia are exploding into big holes. The northern reindeer herders must be a bit alarmed, they report seeing fire and smoke.
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p097w5p3/the-mystery-of-siberia-s-exploding-craters
While the pollies at the top seem bent on Roman-like drama, that Shakespeare might dream up, the peeps around the world are trying to tame the brutes and find a way to cope with a world that is changing under their feet.
One cannot help but feel the Deccan Traps are coming for our species again.
Time to make like Lystrosaurus.
Its been exploding since at least 2014m and no why would the world care, surely someone soon will find a way for all that methane and besides, when the permafrost is gone someone will go drill baby drill, either for oil, or some mineral that the same people need for batteries, so that rich people still can drive around in single serve cars so as to better pretend that they are still on top of it all, and sooooooo green.
Indeed, why not India?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300284550/why-new-zealand-businesses-should-look-to-india-for-new-opportunities