In the pink corner we have a Rainbow, in the blue corner a Minto. They have adopted opposing moral stands. Venerable protestor Minto is running a media operation in support of Palestinians. Political chameleon Rainbow feels that's a naughty thing to do.
“This sort of action has the risk of a ripple effect which may cause harm in the community.
Minto promptly dismissed such paranoia:
Responding to Rainbow’s comments, PSNA chairman John Minto called it a “disingenuous message” from the Commission, and said the hotline did not target all Israeli and Jewish people in New Zealand. “This campaign is about Israeli soldiers coming here for rest and recreation after a campaign of industrial-scale killing of Palestinians in Gaza." “To imply it is about Jews is deeply disgusting and despicable.”
Oh, is that what he did? Lapsed into whataboutism? Yet surely public intellectuals ought to use such rhetorical flourishes to justify their existence! Being performative is de riguer for opinion leaders. He's got Winston on his side too, who on Morning Report just now said Minto had been a bludger for 5 decades.
He's [Rainbow's] got Winston on his side too, who on Morning Report just now said Minto had been a bludger for 5 decades.
Five decades! John Minto co-founded Halt All Racist Tours (HART), so his views on the 1981 Springbok tour of NZ are no mystery, but what was the now deputy PM's position on the 1981 tour? It's no use asking our former PM Sir John Key – he could barely recall his own position. [Edit: channeling “Schrodinger’s Cat“]
Harawira off to South Africa [10 Dec 2013]
Meanwhile, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters described the official party [to attend Nelson Mandela's funeral] as unbalanced and said it should have included anti-apartheid protest leaders from the 1980s.
Mr Peters told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme on Tuesday that the Prime Minister should attend, but there should be two or three members from the protest movement, such as Trevor Richards or John Minto.
True activists have the luxury of maintaining a principled stance, whereas politicians must be more pragmatic and 'flexible' to sustain a political career – Beehive to survive
Appealing to solidarity in a moral stance – Israeli soldiers aren't welcome here, due to the genocide they are doing in Palestine. I agree with Minto on that point.
Also in his assertion of a moral right to object in person. It is actually offensive for the govt to allow such people into the country. Lux will object that its a Schrodinger's Cat situation and nobody can prove that a particular tourist is an Israeli soldier. Bystanders will applaud his intellectual expertise. No, I got those two sentences wrong – that will never happen. Lux may offer the opinion that the rights & wrongs of the reciprocal genocides are due to both sides being Semites, thereby accidentally becoming the first person to ever tell the truth about the situation. Nah, he's not capable of it.
As I stated yesterday, there is the Hind Rajab Foundation, which was specifically created by a group of lawyers in Belgium with the express purpose of documenting and building cases against individual Israeli Defense Force personnel and politicians.
These cases mostly fall into two categories, individuals with dual passports and those holding only Israeli passports.
Duals will have their cases built over the medium to long term. The aim will be to eventually bring their cases to trial in the country of their second citizenship.
The singles are a different case. They can only be brought to trial in countries they travel in outside of Israel. So their cases need to be ready to go and applied as soon as they set foot or even when they plan a trip.
It will be this second group of sole Israeli passport holders that PSNA will be primarily interested in. Speed is of the essence and an early tipoff will be invaluable.
There has already been some close calls with Israel sending emergency military extraction flights to Cyprus and Brazil.
The cases are ready to go. This is exactly how SS were targeted post WWll.
Okay, the long arm of the law. Whether it secures a suitable outcome could depend on more than due process though. Costs of prosecution paid by who? If a govt is disinclined to fund the process, international law doesn't mean much…
Otoh if wealthy folks are sufficiently humanitarian it becomes feasible. Perhaps the viability is contingent on that, huh?
It is the State that must pick up the case as with anything to do with international law. It is a matter of continnually building pressure. As I'm sue you are aware, nthng comes easy for Palestine.
Perhaps it is time to ban Israeli citizens from NZ, or at least revoke the visa free status they now enjoy so INZ can work out who is who before they enter.
The point has been made several times by several people that all Israeli citizens are or have been military in some form. That's what happens when you create a pariah ethno-state where religious supremacy and expansionism have been allowed to flourish.
The UN and the ICJ state Israel's occupation of and actions in Palestine are illegal so why does NZ turn a blind eye to that?
While it might seem unfair because not all Israeli people agree with the actions of their supremacist government (and a lot of non-Israeli people in NZ do), they have to be held accountable for the actions of their supremacist government until the country votes otherwise (and we have to continue to put up with Israeli supremacists here).
They'll apply for visas but INZ can then make a determination and decline a visa on character grounds under one of these assessments:
you have been involved in terrorist activities, or belonged to or supported any organisation involved in terrorist activities
it is believed you are associated with an organisation or group that has criminal objectives or is engaged in criminal activities
Being associated with a gang or criminal organisation can raise red flags regarding character.
This could be for any serving soldier on a post-war O.E, or particularly to prevent Israelis citizens who may have been involved in war crimes or illegal settlement activities.
I must have missed the bit where the NZ government designated the IDF a terrorist organisation. Or did you mean that INZ should make its own moral judgements without regard for government foreign policy and positions?
"Or did you mean that INZ should make its own moral judgements…….."
Please NO. INZ is a big enough stuff up under the aegis of that bugger's muddle known as MoBIE ( a Stephen Choice/Coalman vanity project ) since the day it gave birth)
How it has survived past gummints I'll never know but it's been CEO''d by Masters of the Universe and wannabe Masters of the Universe since the day it began.
And when truly incompetent [micro]-managerialists stuff up so badly they become an embarrassment, they simply move on to anothert gig. I'd be watching ACC as the next example.
It's terrible, isn't it? That young people in Israel have to make the decision to support an illegal occupation, or go to jail, or leave the county.
Israeli is a disaster and the whole idea should be revisited. Their 'treaty' was signed 100 years after ours and several thousand people die there every year.
I think some people forget what activism is. Change doesn't happen without bold people fighting for the downtrodden and persecuted. Sometimes it’s ugly but the powerful don’t move unless they are made to with direct action. You should have some sympathy for this as a climate and GC activist.
NZ could really make a statement here by saying no to a country which has been classed as an illegal occupier by both the UN and the ICJ.
If you don't support those institutions then there's not much hope.
colonisation generally is a disaster too. I understand the motivation here MB, what I'm objecting to is the strategy and actions.
What is being done to Palestine is unconscionable and reprehensible. NZ should be taking a stronger stand. Likewise Afghanistan, but I notice this no longer the cause du jour for liberals. Funny that.
Also concerning is the number of progressives who think that undermining convention is a good thing to do. Activism isn't just about acting against oppression, it's about understanding dynamics and having effective tactics and strategy.
Banning Israelis from travel to NZ will have consequences, including aiding the dismantling of democracy (which is how our most pressing problem). Looking at those consequences is an inherent aspect of developing effective strategy.
Likewise, putting out social media to track down and report Israeli soldiers travelling in NZ. Not only is this against NZ values, it plays right into the hands of the protofascists who love a good meme about the left and commies rounding up wrong thinkers.
Worse, it doesn't take much imagination to see how the right would make use of such tactics if they were normalised.
Likewise Afghanistan, but I notice this no longer the cause du jour for liberals. Funny that.
Whataboutism is an effective strategy used to derail or shut down an argument. I heard Brian Ridge do exactly this when speaking to Green Party MP Ricardo MM on the 1ZB radio just after 5:00pm. Ridge used the incident where Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said to Karen Chhour at a select committee that ‘she'd forgotten what it is to be Maori’ in order to attack Ricardo MM for speaking out about the racist comments in parliament by Jones and Peters. The inference was that because Ricardo MM would not denounce a robust challenge from one Maori woman to another, then he could not speak out against naked racist rhetoric from NZF.
The tone of the rest of your comment suggests, and I'm sure you don't intentionally mean this, that activists should not rock the boat, let alone upturn it, in case the powerful retaliate even harder.
How does this work in domestic violence situations where I'm sure women are told by some around them to go easy on the abusive husband, he's just misunderstood and will come right. Don’t piss him off, wouldn't want to ruin everything.
The point is, soft and overly conciliatory direct action is not action at all. Boldness is important even if ugly. In this case, the PSNA have highlighted what they claim is a really concerning issue, that IDF soldiers pick NZ for their sabbaticals, and they have decided to get ugly about it, but that ugliness is a very small fraction of what those soldiers are part of.
If Israeli passport holders are banned from NZ, then why not Qatar or Afghanistan?
Or more to the point in this case, why not the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany? The Berlin regime is being prosecuted in Geneva by Nicaragua, which successfully prosecuted another serial human rights violator, the United States, in 1986….
Dr. Arguello: Well, frankly, in court… Let me make two comments on that. Even before the Germans spoke — when we presented our case on Monday, the Germans responded on Tuesday — we’d already made the distinction. We told them, because I think Germany has always been saying that it is their raison d’etre that they have: the defense of Israel.
So one of the things we told them on Monday is that we understand and that it is a praisable situation, a very laudable situation, that they feel responsible for the Holocaust, and the barbarities that were committed in the Second World War against the Jewish people. But a distinction should be made, Israel is not the Jewish people. What they’re helping is a state that is committing genocide.
That’s one point and a very important distinction. But in the long run, what they are doing is, they are going against the Jewish people, because Israel is causing enormous prejudice to the Jewish [court], the world around. It’s incredible. Frankly, I don’t know how we can understand that position of Germany. If they’re really worried about what they did, or what happened, of their ancestors or the Nazis, or whatever we want to call them. Well, I think the first thing should be, their heart should tell them that they should be helping the Palestinians in this situation. I mean, those are the guys that are suffering. I mean, Israel is not suffering. If they want to really have compassion, or they feel compassion to those that are suffering, Israel is not suffering. Israel is a superpower. ….
There will be 'a referendum on extending the parliamentary term at the next general election’. And ‘in the coming weeks…legislation [to] establish the mechanism to extend the term. The National-ACT coalition agreement sets out that such legislation should be passed within 15 months of the term.'
Goodness, Luxon is either a useful fool/tool, or agrees with 90% of ACT's "Project 2023 NZ", (or both).
Er, no…Act lucked in via a prize nonce PM with minimal political skills or instinct, who could not negotiate his way out of an Air NZ sick bag.
Act does have a significant cheerleader and funder team from Atlas to NZ Initiative and organisations such as Groundswell and Taxpayers Union and many more.
Remove the visa waiver for Israelis and let Customs and Immigration and the Police do their job, preferably without Ministerial interference, but Minto essentially encouraging NZ civilians to run around spying on people on the suspicion that they might be war criminals because of who they are and where they're from feels instinctively a bridge to far to me. And why just Israelis? Why not anyone with an Eastern European accent who might be a Russian spy? Why not Americans who might have voted for Trump? Cry slippery slope if you like, but stoking the tendency for any kind of paranoia is bad for society.
Ad why do you think many in the anti-war movement are supporters of one group over another? Rather than seeing one group being a fubar as the other – because of power?
I struggle to take moral advice from an anarchist like Hedges who can't see what has changed in the last year across Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran, and who in his own words refuses to see beyond who is or is not oppressed the most.
I would just love it if everyone would behave with empathy. Face to face and person to person. It's Islamic and Christian and Jewish in its finest forms.
But what we have is instead a series of outcomes that have altered the entire realm of what is possible on the above countries. In the Israel-Hamas situation that set of outcomes is actually a carefully calibrated and weighed measurement of a precise number of Palestinian captives in exchange for a precise number of Israeli captives dead or alive.
Hedges just isn't in the diplomatic statecraft game that is occurring now.
Hedges just isn't in the diplomatic statecraft game that is occurring now.
State the obvious – do you need reminding he's a journalist.
The reality is the warmongering crowd have the debate where they want it – More war, More violence, More killing.
And they will keep warmongering whilst people put up dumb arguments like – "who wants to house a Hamas fighter here"
Hence my, take a step back and think of the moral implications of how dumb the west has been to support war, violence, and killing in this 100 year war.
I can, while of the SAL (Victoria University 1981), whose hero was Steve Biko black African consciousness PAC, not the statist, now corporate friendly, ANC (their SUP – Bill and Ken here).
I found the obsession with their beloved country, rather than our own, a sad projection and transference given our own nations past.
A little real-politic lesson for you – sanctions did not break apartheid. It was the end of the Cold War, de Klerk rolled Pita Botha because they were no longer protected by the ANC's links to Moscow.
Any Minto supporter who wants to house a Hamas fighter here, put your hand up.
Who would not be proud of housing a resistance hero? Real resistance heroes, who break out of death camps like those guys did on 7 Oct. 2023, that is, or the Houthi fighters who continue to stymie the aggression of Israel and its supporters; not the sad Democratic Party "Resistance" of 2016-20 which did nothing other than dream up lame nicknames like "Cheeto Von Tweeto" and "Darth Cheddar" and marinate in the even lamer Russiagate conspiracy theory.
Disgraced Aus 'war hero' spotted in NZ after war crimes trial
[15 June 2023]
Australia's most decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been spotted leaving Queenstown — weeks after a judge found claims he committed war crimes were substantially true.
Given NZ First is implacably opposed to privatisation any privatisation program would require National and ACT to gain at least 51-52% of the popular vote next year. Since privatisation is not a vote winner (neither is extending the term of parliament, a project beloved of liberal and technocratic elites who wish for more unfettered power but rightly regarded with great cynicism by the voters) and they didn't manage that vote share in a "change" election in 2023 this is very improbable. Therefore Luxon has allowed – yet again – David Seymour to set his policy agenda and then cast the privatisation debate in the most far-right, toxic terms imaginable for a policy he can't possibly deliver. This seems to be a bit of a Luxon thing, since it is exactly how he has allowed himself to be played by Seymour over the treaties principles bill. Getting saddled with blame for unpopular policies pushed by minor coalition partners is really, really bad politics. Just look how Labour paid for the Green's Sue Bradford's hijacking of the agenda with her attempt at an elite coup over the child smacking legislation – it basically gave us nine years of John Key.
One can only conclude Luxon is a fool who will be rolled the minute the polls consistently put them behind Labour.
That's Luxon's weakness. ACT are not particularly effective unless they have a vacuum to move into. Seymour has all the appeal of a wet sock.
And they're not making social change, they're appealing to the ugliness that was always there.
they're appealing to the ugliness that was always there.
ACT are riding the international populist wave, it's utterly about social change and shifting not just the Overton Window but the deeper values in our society. It's the most dangerous thing I've seen in politics in NZ in my 40 years of voting. It's building on FJK years of course, the dirty politics government was the set up.
I doubt he'd ever be PM but he doesn't have to be. And if you strip away the repugnant politics, he's actually quite good at his job and his personality and way he communicates is attractive to increasing numbers of people.
ACT is the constant floating of right wing policy ideas – to try and normalise a drift in governance to the right, as if that were the world order future of humanity.
Seymour is the most powerful Deputy PM in decades.
Thankfully not for another four months. Wormtongue Seymour – the manipulator, race-baiting in service to Mammon – wants to complete the process of colonisation.
A few days ago I watched the last episode of a 3-part Miriam Margolyes doco series, Impossibly Australian. Quite heartwarming – asking whether Australia offers a fair go, and concluding that ‘the fair go’ is under threat.
Well, Fair Go is going going gone here in NZ The 2-episode doco about Margolyes’ visit to NZ should be worth watching – some video excerpts here.
Miriam Margolyes’ heart-stopping New Zealand moment [12 Jan 2025]
“I’d seen the haka on television, but when it actually happens in front of you, to you, and you are the focus of that, that was very moving,” Margolyes says. “I didn’t know anything about Maori people, but I do now, and I felt so honoured. I felt ashamed, also, when they did me that honour. It was really something.”
The famously outspoken, and by her own admission “potty-mouthed”, 83-year-old is furious about New Zealand MP David Seymour’s proposed changes to the Treaty bill: “What an arsehole!”
Open-source, freely downloadable Deep Seek is being used already to run off-net data analysis. From this comment thread in The Guardian, under
'I have run the DeepSeek model locally on my MacBook meaning no need to update to an expensive computer with a $30,000 Nvidia Chip. I also deal with medical data so being able to run locally, with no leakage to the cloud etc. is essential for us. It's why we were previously banned from using AI embedded in our code…The point is that people will realise that low capex and opex is possible with only a minor deterioration in performance. My work cluster is running the full version with no data exiting the cluster (closed system).'
Here seems to be the value of DeepSeek's first open-source offering. Creating and running narrow-focus in-house systems cheaply. The language model stuff is not needed for application in a closed system.
Well while you're peering through windows and going through people's wheelie bins, if you suspect someone of being a war criminal, take it up with the police rather than Minto.
Agree Mike the Lefty, letting IDF soldiers involved in the recent operation know that they are not welcome here is a small thing–the least we can do–to indicate they can run but not hide from their bloody work.
Our Govt. whimped out, or supports Israel, to the extent that ordinary people led by some of our most courageous activists like John Minto have to do it.
According to Times of Israel, NZ Immigration has begun asking for disclosure of military service and involvement in what activities as a visa condition. One person has been rejected so far and a couple in Australia who are doing similar according to the Times.
Which provides balance, the 3 month visa waiver policy adjusted to take into account the possibility of post Gaza tourism by those who might have been involved in war crimes.
That connects to the effort at applying "inter-national" law that subliminal has referred to.
South Africans need a visa to visit NZ right now. From 1996-2016 we had a visa waiver deal, but we ended that in 2016 (because we were being racist). If you ask any white South African who tried to travel during the apartheid era it was extremely difficult, as most countries required visas by the 1990s. Cultural isolation – in sport and travel – was one of the most effective tools in ending apartheid.
Requiring Israeli citizens to apply for a visa with service in the IDF in Gaza or the West Bank since October 2023 as grounds for refusal would be both a cheap (few Israelis make it this far) and powerful message of your pariah status in the global community. The pro-Israel lobby would go berserk, because they know the power of a boycott but IMHO it would send a big message to Israel that the beastly behaviour and war crimes of it's military is not acceptable to New Zealand.
Not allowing Russian soldiers to visit NZ is easy, Putin can't easily wage war on us or threaten trade because Russia and NZ trade isn't particularly important in our economic plans. (The Russians are unreliable payers anyway, as Fonterra found out some years ago).
But the big difference with Israeli soldiers is that the system implicitly backs them, their war hasn't been judged illegal like the Russian-Ukranian war. They have a support base here plus the Trumpismo can start threatening 100% tariffs if we do anything that pisses him or the Israelis off.
That's why the politicians (other than Peters of course who nutted off in his usual manner) have been somewhat coy in replying to questions on this matter.
According to Times of Israel, NZ Immigration has begun asking for disclosure of military service and involvement in what activities as a visa condition. One person has been rejected so far and a couple in Australia who are doing similar according to the Times.
Israel is a visa waiver country. If Israelis are being questioned it must be a directive from INZ an upon arrival in a room at Auckland International Airport having done the NZeTA which is all they are currently required to do.
If INZ authorities are stopping Israelis at the border for questioning this is a good thing.
The Times of Israel can get in the sea to be honest. Wouldn't trust a thing they say.
Israeli is a visa waiver country to NZ. That’s three months here with little oversight, but:
People from visa waiver countries may not be granted entry to New Zealand if they are not considered to be genuine visitors or have been sentenced to imprisonment, deported from any country or suspected of being involved in known criminal or terrorist groups.
So this has now become about longer stays in NZ than three months. How long do young IDF soldiers need in NZ to decompress from the war crimes they may or may not have committed?
The visa waiver policy is for 3 months stay or less.
The issue is whether the visa waiver policy for Israel should continue or be suspended (as per investigations – discovery of IDF soldiers identified as having committed war crimes).
In so far as Gaza and IDF service there since 0ct 2023, this is already the case.
Apparently applied here without making a public display of righteousness about it.
Given we applied no such test over the regime change in Iraq (after its invasion of Kuwait and its blocking of inspectors under the the terns of the cease-fire) and participated in Afghanistan, after a group based there orchestrated the 9/11 action (under right of defence).
Just on the strength of all the proven Israeli spying in NZ, from stolen names sourced from children’s gravestones when Helen Clark and Labour sprung them, political killings in the Gulf states using NZ passports, and the strange episodes around the Christchurch earthquakes which co-incided with a very high level international security meeting and the “ yes there was, no there wasn’t “ bullshit about the 14 different passports in a destroyed Israeli campervan. The only thing I ever credited Key with doing properly was telling the Israeli PM at the time to fuck off when they already had a plane in the air full of ‘ disaster relief ‘ specialists. Yeah right !
I don’t think they should be allowed in the grounds that if any other country had a similar record over decades they wouldn’t be here either.
We spy on other nations as part of Five Eyes, we are in no position to judge all Israelis because Mossad uses false passports. The CIA does as well etc.
It's very bad news for Trump and his psychotic tech billionaire backers.
The launch of DeepSeek-R1 instantly wiped a trillion dollars off the value of US stocks, especially tech companies and the makers of AI chips Nvidia, which lost $593 billion in stock value in a single day, making it the biggest one day loss for a single US company in history.
Analysts have been calling it China’s "Sputnik moment"….
Why the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme should go ahead.
By Earl Bardsley*
Coalition ministers refer to the Lake Onslow pumped storage scheme concept as having been scrapped. However, a New Zealand government cannot impose energy policy on the opposition.
As a quick reminder, the Onslow scheme’s potential for impact derives from scale. Its capacity is equivalent to a “battery” running at 1000 MW for more than six months. This would make it the world’s largest pumped storage scheme by energy storage measure.
More than $20 million was spent on Onslow investigations by the previous Labour Government. The motivation was to seek a low-emission alternative to fossil fuels for power generation in dry years.
The “pending decision” is whether Labour will include restarting Onslow scheme evaluations as part of its 2026 election energy policy. Clarification will probably come later this year.
Onslow's 'problem' is that it will completely upend the Gentailers' business model of profiting from dry years and generation constraints.
Whoever owns it will have insane market power through total control over peak electricity prices, which would be difficult in private ownership. So it would be State owned, and also require the nationalisation of Contact, or at least Clyde and Roxburgh hydros. Along with this would be quite a slump in the profitability, and share price of the remaining Gentailers. Not something National were prepared to allow.
Onslow, or other pumped hydro, is a good idea that's not going to die easily. It's been on the horizon since Clyde, there's two unused penstocks built into the dam for future pumped hydro utilising peak flows.
Mass use of solar power would allow us to have spare hydro capacity, without Onslow.
That and a bit of battery storage.
While we use hydro as a primary source, it is common elsewhere to use it as a stored back up.
We can do a mix of that, with an increase in other renewables.
The other option was Onslow and offshore wind – also killed off by National Chris Bishop and Shane Jones, with their decision in favour of seabed mining.
The estimated costs for Onslow that I saw a while ago were 17 billion NZ dollars. Probably 19billion now.
I did a back of envelope calculation based on the cost of solar with battery storage attached (both of which have got much cheaper and efficient in the last 5 years) and found this to be much cheaper than Onslow.
Also much of the solAr power would be generated on the NI where it is needed.
Onslow, @ equivalent to a “battery” running at 1000 MW for more than six months, = >4 million MWh capacity.
According to TrinaSolar that cost will total just $400 million. The company clarified to Renew Economy that this $400 million reflects only the first 330MW/1.32GWh stage of the project – but it still appears to set a new low for battery storage project costs in Australia.
It equates to around $300/kWh – substantially lower than the apparent price of the Eraring battery in NSW, and lower than the prices tracked by industry analysts Rystad Energy
Trump proclaimed tariffs loudly, Biden implemented them quietly. The stylistic difference is intended to mask political reality: there are still enough useful idiots around that its still a good idea for the Dems to pretend they're different.
Open AI CEO Sam Altman promised they would build the God of Artifical General Intelligence
That's a sensible move, inasmuch as the commies don't do gods. And a tech variation on the traditionally method of deity creation (collective hallucinating) will impress all materialists watching, regardless their nationality.
American AI companies have a US$600 billion revenue shortfall according to the radical leftists at Sequoia Capital…
An AI bubble is bursting… To borrow the lament of VC Peter Thiel ‘We were promised flying cars but all we got was a chatbot office mate’.
We were, true, but that was when I was a kid & Thiel was pre-corporeal. Putting roads & motorways in the sky turned out to be too difficult.
The ceasefire/pause, you have when you are not having a ceasefire.
The Times of Israel report that despite the ceasefire, the IDF has been "targetting" unarmed civilians in Gaza. We know this because one of the unarmed civilians they killed, was actually an Israeli civilian contractor who because he was dressed in civilian clothes, the IDF mistook him for a Palestinian civilian.
The arrogance of the occupier;
Israeli contractor mistakenly killed by IDF troops in Gaza, army says
Excavator operator Jacob Avitan, 39, misidentified as threat as he arrived at IDF post in civilian clothing; Military Police launches investigation
28 January 2025, 10:42 pm [Today, 29 January at 8:42 am New Zealand time]
According to an initial IDF probe, the contractor arrived in civilian clothing at an army post inside Gaza, in an area where troops were still deployed, and was mistakenly identified as a threat. [as a Palestinian]
……“The IDF once again calls on Palestinian civilians to obey IDF instructions and not approach the forces deployed in the area,”
Tom Petty sang, ‘Don't have to live like a refugee’.
Despite what Trump wants or says, Palestinians in their hundreds of thousands have decided to make their own destiny and have voted with their feet, literally to live or die on the rubble of their destroyed cities and towns rather than become refugees in Egypt or Jordan, or the wider world.
By returning to their capital city, the people of Gaza are a telling Trump and the Israelis, 'Do your worst, we shall not be moved.
We did something
We both know it
We don't talk too much about it
Ain't no real big secret all the same
Somehow we'll get around it
It don't really matter to me
You believe what you want to believe
Don't have to live like a refugee
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you want to lay there
Revel in your abandon
It don't make no difference to me
Everybody's had to fight to be free
Don't have to live like a refugee
We ain't the first
I'm sure a lot of others been burned
Right now this seems real to you
But it's one of those things
You gotta feel to be true
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Maybe you were kidnapped
Tied up, taken away and held for ransom
It don't really matter to me
Everybody's had to fight to be free
Descendants of Jewish Holocaust survivors and living Jewish Holocaust survivors condemn Western politicians that use Holocaust remembrance day to justify genocide in Gaza.
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It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the ...
The Government hasn’t stopped talking about growth since the Prime Minister made his “yes” speech at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week. But so far, the measures announced would seem hardly likely to suddenly pitch New Zealand into the fast-growth East Asian league. The digital nomad announcement hardly deserved ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Someone defames you anonymously online. Can you find out who it is? Maybe. There are legal avenues to seek a court order that an internet host reveal the identity of the person. One of them is called a Norwich Pharmacal order, but as Hugh Tomlinson KC points out, it only ...
The results of the 2025 Mood of the Workforce survey have been released, with working people revealing deep concerns regarding their work lives, housing, health care, and perceptions of the coalition government in Aotearoa New Zealand.Christopher Luxon has signalled that National may campaign on asset sales in the next election, ...
Hey, hey, heyJust think, while you've been gettin' down and out about the liarsAnd the dirty, dirty cheats of the worldYou could've been gettin' down to this sick beatSongwriters: Taylor Swift / Shellback / Martin Max. Read more ...
Luxon has once again let National’s junior coalition partner, ACT, set the political agenda, dragging him and National into another politically draining debate. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, January 29 are:PM Christopher ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Fresh from the maelstrom surrounding the Treaty Principles Bill, and before fury and dust from that toxic piece of rubbish has settled, Act Leader, David Seymour has launched a new narrative into the public ...
Note: This video featuring speakers such as Finlayson, Waring, Kelsey and Little is a long one - 35 minutes. In the first 9 of 80 hours that the Justice Select Committee will spend on Treaty Principles Bill public hearings1, from a smidgeon of the 343,000 record submissions2, in a months ...
When I created a Youtube channel, I labelled the playlist for National: “National Privatize NZ Party”.Now, why did I do that?It’s late and my brain isn’t working at full capacity, so my off the cuff answer is - 1. I follow far too much of this Government’s statements, actions, and ...
The week’s big story has been about China’s DeepSeek low-cost AI model. Because DeepSeek requires fewer advanced chips, its advent has had a huge impact on the fortunes of US chip-making giant, Nvidia – which immediately lost $600 billion of its value, making that the biggest one day loss in ...
1. Is this the one that brings everything crashing down? This is a question I have asked myself many times now: The '87 crash; the Asian Financial Crisis; the Dotcom bubble; the Global Financial Crisis; the COVID.Each time the answer has turned out be: no, there will be No Great ...
The NZCTU strongly opposes the Employment Relations (Pay Deductions for Partial Strikes) Amendment Bill (the Bill). It is a clumsily drafted and punitive piece of legislation aimed at taking industrial power away from working people, undermining the right to strike and entrenching the inherent imbalance of power between workers and ...
A ballot for two member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Crimes (Coward Punch Causing Injury or Death) Amendment Bill (Paulo Garcia) Juries (Age of Excusal) Amendment Bill (Carl Bates) So a harmless bill and some "tough on crime" bullshit. There were ...
I wanna be FREE! Don't wanna be judged; I wanna be meIt's easy to see stereotypes are cutting me deepI pray every day doesn't mean I'm gonna get my wayBut Look how we get displayed. We need to get this straightLyrics of Freedom by Tipene Harmer.Nothing says a right-wing populist ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The planet was besieged by 58 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2024, ranking second-highest behind only 2023, which had 73, said insurance broker Gallagher Re in its annual report issued 17. The total damage wrought by weather disasters in 2024 was $402 billion, ...
National campaigned on a digital nomad visa capped at 250 applicants a year but has pivoted to allow an uncapped number people to stay working remotely for up to nine months. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on ...
Hi,Just quickly, I wanted to say thanks for all the discussion going on under the Elon Musk piece. Your commentary has helped me feel more sane. The AMA was also super fun — I’ll be emailing the 10 Flightless Bird t-shirt winners later this week.Now, onto something else entirely. Have ...
How did public transport ridership perform in 2024, where has the post-covid recovery been the strongest and weakest and how do we compare to other cities. Those and more are questions that I’ll answer over few posts. In this first post I’m taking a look at the high-level numbers. In ...
Insecurity in work, housing, and health among working people has emerged as the key finding from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi’s 2025 annual Mood of the Workforce survey. NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff says the survey, which polled more than 1900 people, shows immense concern that ...
Since 2019, we have asked working people to talk about their experiences of work over the past 12 months, and what their thoughts are on issues likely to impact their work and lives in the future. We do this because we think the voice of working people should be heard ...
Oral submissions on National's racist, ahistorical Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are being heard today, and in addition to the expected iwi, academics, lawyers, and constitutional experts calling bullshit, there's been a succession of racist, swivel-eyed loons spewing hate. You might think that that's the luck of the ...
Here’s the six things I think mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to January 27 around housing, climate and poverty:PM Christopher Luxon bought himself another six months of National caucus peace and tried to reassure an increasingly restive business community by massively reshuffling his key personnel in the ...
Hi,It’s not even been week since the inauguration and I can already feel reality slipping. Let me try and explain where my head is at.Ever since 2016 — with Donald Trump’s cries of “fake news” — the line between what is real and what is not has become increasingly blurred. ...
Money changes everythingI said money, money changes everythingWe think we know what we're doin'That don't mean a thingIt's all in the past nowMoney changes everythingSong: Tom Gray.Late last year, the Fast-track Approvals Bill passed into law to the consternation of opponents concerned about removing environmental protections, a government that sees ...
Donald Trump made his fortune by speculating in real estate. These days, Christopher Luxon makes a lot of his money the very same way. True, Luxon did also run a neo-monopoly airline during those bygone days when domestic and international air travel was affordable, and consumer demand was at its ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 19, 2025 thru Sat, January 25, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Sooner or later, like a gym bro flexing in the mirror, like a teen rolling their eyes, like a mansplainer patronisingly clearing his throat, the ACT party will start talking about privatisation.In the eyes of David Seymour and his LinkedIn ACTolytes, there's not a thing in this world that cannot ...
Confession: I used to follow US politics and UK politics - never as closely as this - but enough to identify the broad themes.I stopped following US politics after I came to the somewhat painful realisation that my perception was simply that - a perception. Mountain Tui is a reader-supported ...
Life is cruel, life is toughLife is crazy, then it all turns to dustWe let 'em out, we let 'em inWe'll let 'em know when it's the tipping point. The tipping point.Songwriters: Roland Orzabal / Charlton PettusYesterday, we saw the annual pilgrimage to Rātana, traditionally the first event in our ...
The invitation to comment on the proposed Regulatory Standards Bill opens with Minister David Seymour stating ‘[m]ost of New Zealand's problems can be traced to poor productivity, and poor productivity can be traced to poor regulations’. I shall have little to say about the first proposition except I can think ...
My friend Selwyn Manning and I are wondering what to do with our podcast “A View from Afar.” Some readers will also have tuned into the podcast, which I regularly feature on KP as a media link. But we have some thinking to do about how to proceed, and it ...
Don't try to hide it; love wears no disguiseI see the fire burning in your eyesSong: Madonna and Stephen BrayThis week, the National Party held its annual retreat to devise new slogans, impressing the people who voted for them and making the rest of us cringe at the hollow words, ...
Support my work through a paid subscription, a coffee or reading and sharing. Thank you - I appreciate you all.Luxon’s penchant for “economic growth”Yesterday morning, I warned libertarianism had penetrated the marrow of the NZ Coalition agenda, and highlighted libertarian Peter Thiel’s comments that democracy and freedom are unable to ...
A couple of recent cases suggest that the courts are awarding significant sums for defamation even where the publication is very small. This is despite the new rule that says plaintiffs, if challenged, have to show that the publication they are complaining about has caused them “more then minor harm.” ...
Damages for breaches of the Privacy Act used to be laughable. The very top award was $40,000 to someone whose treatment in an addiction facility was revealed to the media. Not only was it taking an age for the Human Rights Review Tribunal to resolve cases, the awards made it ...
It’s Friday and we’ve got Auckland Anniversary weekend ahead of us so we’ve pulled together a bumper crop of things that caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers ...
Long stories short, the six things of interest in the political economy in Aotearoa around housing, climate and poverty on Friday January 24 are:PM Christopher Luxon’s State of the Nationspeech in Auckland yesterday, in which he pledged a renewed economic growth focus;Luxon’s focused on a push to bring in ...
Hi,It’s been ages since I’ve done an AMA on Webworm — and so, as per usual, ask me what you want in the comments section, and over the next few days I’ll dive in and answer things. This is a lil’ perk for paying Webworm members that keep this place ...
I’m trying a new way to do a more regular and timely daily Dawn Choruses for paying subscribers through a live video chat about the day’s key six things @ 6.30 am lasting about 10 minues. This email is the invite to that chat on the substack app on your ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on Donald Trump’s first executive orders to reverse Joe Biden’s emissions reductions policies and pull the United States out of ...
The Prime Minister’s State of the Nation speech yesterday was the kind of speech he should have given a year ago.Finally, we found out why he is involved in politics.Last year, all we heard from him was a catalogue of complaints about Labour.But now, he is redefining National with its ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
Aotearoa's science sector is broken. For 35 years it has been run on a commercial, competitive model, while being systematically underfunded. Which means we have seven different crown research institutes and eight different universities - all publicly owned and nominally working for the public good - fighting over the same ...
One of the best speakers I ever saw was Sir Paul Callaghan.One of the most enthusiastic receptions I have ever, ever seen for a speaker was for Sir Paul Callaghan.His favourite topic was: Aotearoa and what we were doing with it.He did not come to bury tourism and agriculture but ...
The Tertiary Education Union is predicting a “brutal year” for the tertiary sector as 240,000 students and teachers at Te Pūkenga face another year of uncertainty. The Labour Party are holding their caucus retreat, with Chris Hipkins still reflecting on their 2023 election loss and signalling to media that new ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Green Party has welcomed the provisional ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and reiterated its call for New Zealand to push for an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine. ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has delivered a refreshed team focused on unleashing economic growth to make people better off, create more opportunities for business and help us afford the world-class health and education Kiwis deserve. “Last year, we made solid progress on the economy. Inflation has fallen significantly and now ...
Veterans’ Affairs and a pan-iwi charitable trust have teamed up to extend the reach and range of support available to veterans in the Bay of Plenty, Veterans Minister Chris Penk says. “A major issue we face is identifying veterans who are eligible for support,” Mr Penk says. “Incredibly, we do ...
A host of new appointments will strengthen the Waitangi Tribunal and help ensure it remains fit for purpose, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says. “As the Tribunal nears its fiftieth anniversary, the appointments coming on board will give it the right balance of skills to continue its important mahi hearing ...
Almost 22,000 FamilyBoost claims have been paid in the first 15 days of the year, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The ability to claim for FamilyBoost’s second quarter opened on January 1, and since then 21,936 claims have been paid. “I’m delighted people have made claiming FamilyBoost a priority on ...
The Government has delivered a funding boost to upgrade critical communication networks for Maritime New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand, ensuring frontline search and rescue services can save lives and keep Kiwis safe on the water, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand has ...
Mahi has begun that will see dozens of affordable rental homes developed in Gisborne - a sign the Government’s partnership with Iwi is enabling more homes where they’re needed most, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. Mr Potaka attended a sod-turning ceremony to mark the start of earthworks for 48 ...
New Zealand welcomes the ceasefire deal to end hostilities in Gaza, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Over the past 15 months, this conflict has caused incomprehensible human suffering. We acknowledge the efforts of all those involved in the negotiations to bring an end to the misery, particularly the US, Qatar ...
The Associate Minster of Transport has this week told the community that work is progressing to ensure they have a secure and suitable shipping solution in place to give the Island certainty for its future. “I was pleased with the level of engagement the Request for Information process the Ministry ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he is proud of the Government’s commitment to increasing medicines access for New Zealanders, resulting in a big uptick in the number of medicines being funded. “The Government is putting patients first. In the first half of the current financial year there were more ...
New Zealand's first-class free trade deal and investment treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been signed. In Abu Dhabi, together with UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, witnessed the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and accompanying investment treaty ...
The latest NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, which shows the highest level of general business confidence since 2021, is a sign the economy is moving in the right direction, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “When businesses have the confidence to invest and grow, it means more jobs and higher ...
Events over the last few weeks have highlighted the importance of strong biosecurity to New Zealand. Our staff at the border are increasingly vigilant after German authorities confirmed the country's first outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in nearly 40 years on Friday in a herd of water buffalo ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee reminds the public that they now have an opportunity to have their say on the rewrite of the Arms Act 1983. “As flagged prior to Christmas, the consultation period for the Arms Act rewrite has opened today and will run through until 28 February 2025,” ...
More than 50 years after becoming the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, then creating the world’s first women’s road race, Kathrine Switzer continues to make history – and for the first time, in New Zealand.At 78, she’s just won her first New Zealand running title on one ...
I met her, for the first time, in spring. October swirled in on a warm breeze that smelled of manuka flowers, showering my world with buttery kowhai petals. I abandoned my beanie and gloves for a floppy sunhat and jandals, flinging myself towards summer.We’d gone away for Labour Weekend, driving ...
It is billed as ‘New Zealand’s last war’. It took place in 1979 and lasted just three minutes, but was considered a pivotal race relations moment for the country.A landmark court case and official inquiry by the Race Relations Conciliator and the Human Rights Commission followed. Then … it was ...
The minister of health visited Dunedin on Friday to announce an update to the hospital project. Tara Ward was there.A busy road full of big trucks and productive people is former transport minister Simeon Brown’s fever dream, so it was fitting that the announcement about the New Dunedin Hospital ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. “History repeats itself” has been repeated throughout history so often and to no avail that it’s become an ouroboros. It’s most often wheeled out as the reason to study history – to document it, analyse it and resurface it in order to ...
Alex Casey spends the afternoon on New Brighton beach with kite-flying YouTuber Jim Nicholls.Head to Christchurch’s New Brighton on any summer’s day and you are likely to check a few things off your beachside bingo card. There’ll be a couple of fishermen casting off the pier, kids splashing around ...
The comedian, broadcaster and host of Queer Aotearoa: We’ve Always Been Here takes us through his life in television. Eli Matthewson first appeared on our screens on the legendary but short-lived youth channel TVNZ U in 2013, and has since gone on to be a mainstay in the local comedy ...
Pugnacious and genial; monosyllabic yet capable of gloriously subversive narratives; battered by life but proud as a peacock. Everyone who catches the No 8 bus knows Murray, writes David Hill. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of ...
At the opening of Parliament this year, each of the party leaders made speeches that were surprisingly philosophical. Perhaps because the select committee on the Treaty Principles bill had just begun, with its musings about tino rangatiratanga and ‘sovereignty’, they talked about preferred styles of governance.For Christopher Luxon and National, it ...
The Gaza ceasefire deal proves that Israeli politics can only survive if it’s engaged in perpetual war. US President Donald Trump has unsettled Arab leaders with his obscene suggestion that Egypt and Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza. Both Egypt and Jordan have stated that this is a non-starter and ...
Analysis: When considering calamity, the rule of thumb is to favour mismanagement over conspiracy.Last September’s Dunedin Hospital announcement, a bombshell in which the Government raised the spectre of refurbishing the existing hospital’s decrepit ward block, or scaling back the new inpatient building, could be considered a major miscalculation. Creating a ...
Pacific Media Watch A West Papuan advocacy group is calling for an urgent international inquiry into allegations that Indonesian security forces have used the chemical weapon white phosphorus against West Papuans for a second time. The allegations were made in the new documentary, Frontier War,by Paradise Broadcasting. In the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Artist’s impression of an asteroid with Earth in the background.Buradaki / Shutterstock On 27 December last year, astronomers using the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile discovered a small asteroid moving away from Earth. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University One of United States President Donald Trump’s more startling claims since taking office for his second term – and there have been many – is his insistence that the US will take control ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Mitchell, Lecturer in Criminology, Deakin University MirasWonderland/Shutterstock Young people’s access to gender-affirming medical care has been making headlines this week. Today, federal Health Minister Mark Butler announced a review into health care for trans and gender-diverse children and adolescents. The ...
COMMENTARY:By Kalafi Moala Long live the king and long may he reign, so goes the traditional proclamation. In Tonga, King Tupou VI has shown he has every intention of doing that. After a tumultuous and tense year of the chess board of politics, the monarch appears to have won, ...
“If the Government wants more productivity, then it needs to listen to workers about ways the current law can be strengthened and not allow any weakening of the safety nets in place,” says E tū Director Savage. ...
We are at a critical point for the Pacific as global heating creeps closer to 1.5 degrees. Our Government should be standing with the communities most affected and leading global efforts to stop the climate crisis getting worse. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chrystal Zhang, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Aviation, RMIT University On Wednesday night US time, a passenger jet and US Army helicopter collided at a low altitude near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and crashed into the the Potomac River. A ...
Seymour’s speech overshadowed a “State of the Nation” speech by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon the day before, which announced funding cuts to science and innovation and the creation of a new agency to encourage foreign investment. ...
Under the Paris Agreement, countries are required to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). ...
A finalised government mining strategy announced by the Minister of Resources, Shane Jones, in the Coromandel today sees coal and gold added to the new Critical Minerals List. ...
The target, which locks unavoidable agricultural emissions into New Zealand’s international targets, are even more ‘ambitious’ than the 2030 targets made when Jacinda Ardern/James Shaw flew to Glasgow. They will cost future taxpayers literally tens of billions ...
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In the pink corner we have a Rainbow, in the blue corner a Minto. They have adopted opposing moral stands. Venerable protestor Minto is running a media operation in support of Palestinians. Political chameleon Rainbow feels that's a naughty thing to do.
Minto promptly dismissed such paranoia:
Oh, is that what he did? Lapsed into whataboutism? Yet surely public intellectuals ought to use such rhetorical flourishes to justify their existence! Being performative is de riguer for opinion leaders. He's got Winston on his side too, who on Morning Report just now said Minto had been a bludger for 5 decades.
Anyone associated with that outlaw regime should be arrested.
https://x.com/MannieMighty1/status/1884210017794154560
https://x.com/MannieMighty1/status/1851242359121436725
Five decades! John Minto co-founded Halt All Racist Tours (HART), so his views on the 1981 Springbok tour of NZ are no mystery, but what was the now deputy PM's position on the 1981 tour? It's no use asking our former PM Sir John Key – he could barely recall his own position. [Edit: channeling “Schrodinger’s Cat“]
Whatever Winston's 'principled' position as a first term National MP, he and Minto haven't always been at loggerheads:
True activists have the luxury of maintaining a principled stance, whereas politicians must be more pragmatic and 'flexible' to sustain a political career – Beehive to survive
https://natlib.govt.nz/visiting/wellington/a-country-divided-1981-springbok-tour/cartoons-springbok-tour
Actually I'm fairly sure Minto's latest brainfart falls abruptly foul of the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
What's the guts? Well, Minto's running an old-style campaign: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2025/01/28/genocide-hotline-action-that-will-save-palestinian-lives/
Appealing to solidarity in a moral stance – Israeli soldiers aren't welcome here, due to the genocide they are doing in Palestine. I agree with Minto on that point.
Also in his assertion of a moral right to object in person. It is actually offensive for the govt to allow such people into the country. Lux will object that its a Schrodinger's Cat situation and nobody can prove that a particular tourist is an Israeli soldier. Bystanders will applaud his intellectual expertise. No, I got those two sentences wrong – that will never happen. Lux may offer the opinion that the rights & wrongs of the reciprocal genocides are due to both sides being Semites, thereby accidentally becoming the first person to ever tell the truth about the situation. Nah, he's not capable of it.
As I stated yesterday, there is the Hind Rajab Foundation, which was specifically created by a group of lawyers in Belgium with the express purpose of documenting and building cases against individual Israeli Defense Force personnel and politicians.
These cases mostly fall into two categories, individuals with dual passports and those holding only Israeli passports.
Duals will have their cases built over the medium to long term. The aim will be to eventually bring their cases to trial in the country of their second citizenship.
The singles are a different case. They can only be brought to trial in countries they travel in outside of Israel. So their cases need to be ready to go and applied as soon as they set foot or even when they plan a trip.
It will be this second group of sole Israeli passport holders that PSNA will be primarily interested in. Speed is of the essence and an early tipoff will be invaluable.
There has already been some close calls with Israel sending emergency military extraction flights to Cyprus and Brazil.
The cases are ready to go. This is exactly how SS were targeted post WWll.
Ali Abunimah interviews one of the founders here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AwQFvkbPFXM
Okay, the long arm of the law. Whether it secures a suitable outcome could depend on more than due process though. Costs of prosecution paid by who? If a govt is disinclined to fund the process, international law doesn't mean much…
Otoh if wealthy folks are sufficiently humanitarian it becomes feasible. Perhaps the viability is contingent on that, huh?
It is the State that must pick up the case as with anything to do with international law. It is a matter of continnually building pressure. As I'm sue you are aware, nthng comes easy for Palestine.
Good law-making requires time and effort, not ramming through under urgency.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/28/govt-smashes-record-for-laws-passed-without-select-committee-scrutiny/
Democracy requires time, effort, and money.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/28/external-consultants-to-analyse-record-treaty-principles-submissions/
The man who loves efficiency and speed allows to drag it out over the best part of a year – won’t he get sick of it?
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/24/im-sick-of-it-luxon-wants-action-on-competition-rma/
Can we please not have a major quake or other big emergency before we have a change of government?
Perhaps it is time to ban Israeli citizens from NZ, or at least revoke the visa free status they now enjoy so INZ can work out who is who before they enter.
The point has been made several times by several people that all Israeli citizens are or have been military in some form. That's what happens when you create a pariah ethno-state where religious supremacy and expansionism have been allowed to flourish.
The UN and the ICJ state Israel's occupation of and actions in Palestine are illegal so why does NZ turn a blind eye to that?
While it might seem unfair because not all Israeli people agree with the actions of their supremacist government (and a lot of non-Israeli people in NZ do), they have to be held accountable for the actions of their supremacist government until the country votes otherwise (and we have to continue to put up with Israeli supremacists here).
do we outright ban any countries?
The problem with what you propose is the slippery slope. If Israeli passport holders are banned from NZ, then why not Qatar or Afghanistan?
And if it's about holding citizens to account for the voting patterns of the whole country, then why not the US?
Or should we have a system where people are let in based on moral assessments? How is that different that Qatar laws around women's right to travel?
Afaik, all Israeli youth have to serve 2 years in the military when they leave school. It's not a choice.
I did have a softer option, remove Israel from the visa waiver list.
Israeli youth do have a choice. Serve in the military, or prison.
sure, and all the people still driving cars could choose not to so we avert the climate catastrophe/
Re the softer option, most of my arguments still apply. Why Israel and not Qatar?
I'm ok if Israel is taken off the waiver list, but they will just apply for visas, right?
They'll apply for visas but INZ can then make a determination and decline a visa on character grounds under one of these assessments:
This could be for any serving soldier on a post-war O.E, or particularly to prevent Israelis citizens who may have been involved in war crimes or illegal settlement activities.
I must have missed the bit where the NZ government designated the IDF a terrorist organisation. Or did you mean that INZ should make its own moral judgements without regard for government foreign policy and positions?
"Or did you mean that INZ should make its own moral judgements…….."
Please NO. INZ is a big enough stuff up under the aegis of that bugger's muddle known as MoBIE ( a Stephen Choice/Coalman vanity project ) since the day it gave birth)
How it has survived past gummints I'll never know but it's been CEO''d by Masters of the Universe and wannabe Masters of the Universe since the day it began.
And when truly incompetent [micro]-managerialists stuff up so badly they become an embarrassment, they simply move on to anothert gig. I'd be watching ACC as the next example.
so many government departments are a disappointment now. Thanks decades of neoliberalism.
Big talk when you don't have to make the choice yourself.
They can always just leave, right?
Again, big talk when you don't have to make the choice yourself.
so you don't really believe it's a choice
It's terrible, isn't it? That young people in Israel have to make the decision to support an illegal occupation, or go to jail, or leave the county.
Israeli is a disaster and the whole idea should be revisited. Their 'treaty' was signed 100 years after ours and several thousand people die there every year.
I think some people forget what activism is. Change doesn't happen without bold people fighting for the downtrodden and persecuted. Sometimes it’s ugly but the powerful don’t move unless they are made to with direct action. You should have some sympathy for this as a climate and GC activist.
NZ could really make a statement here by saying no to a country which has been classed as an illegal occupier by both the UN and the ICJ.
If you don't support those institutions then there's not much hope.
colonisation generally is a disaster too. I understand the motivation here MB, what I'm objecting to is the strategy and actions.
What is being done to Palestine is unconscionable and reprehensible. NZ should be taking a stronger stand. Likewise Afghanistan, but I notice this no longer the cause du jour for liberals. Funny that.
Also concerning is the number of progressives who think that undermining convention is a good thing to do. Activism isn't just about acting against oppression, it's about understanding dynamics and having effective tactics and strategy.
Banning Israelis from travel to NZ will have consequences, including aiding the dismantling of democracy (which is how our most pressing problem). Looking at those consequences is an inherent aspect of developing effective strategy.
Likewise, putting out social media to track down and report Israeli soldiers travelling in NZ. Not only is this against NZ values, it plays right into the hands of the protofascists who love a good meme about the left and commies rounding up wrong thinkers.
Worse, it doesn't take much imagination to see how the right would make use of such tactics if they were normalised.
Whataboutism is an effective strategy used to derail or shut down an argument. I heard Brian Ridge do exactly this when speaking to Green Party MP Ricardo MM on the 1ZB radio just after 5:00pm. Ridge used the incident where Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said to Karen Chhour at a select committee that ‘she'd forgotten what it is to be Maori’ in order to attack Ricardo MM for speaking out about the racist comments in parliament by Jones and Peters. The inference was that because Ricardo MM would not denounce a robust challenge from one Maori woman to another, then he could not speak out against naked racist rhetoric from NZF.
The tone of the rest of your comment suggests, and I'm sure you don't intentionally mean this, that activists should not rock the boat, let alone upturn it, in case the powerful retaliate even harder.
How does this work in domestic violence situations where I'm sure women are told by some around them to go easy on the abusive husband, he's just misunderstood and will come right. Don’t piss him off, wouldn't want to ruin everything.
The point is, soft and overly conciliatory direct action is not action at all. Boldness is important even if ugly. In this case, the PSNA have highlighted what they claim is a really concerning issue, that IDF soldiers pick NZ for their sabbaticals, and they have decided to get ugly about it, but that ugliness is a very small fraction of what those soldiers are part of.
If Israeli passport holders are banned from NZ, then why not Qatar or Afghanistan?
Or more to the point in this case, why not the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany? The Berlin regime is being prosecuted in Geneva by Nicaragua, which successfully prosecuted another serial human rights violator, the United States, in 1986….
Israeli Arabs too, or just the Jews?
Absolutely. They are part of the Israeli democracy which illegally occupies Palestinian Territories. They can apply for visas too.
But I do see what you are doing, combining Israel and Judaism as one for the purposes supporting ethno-supremacism.
Has John Minto ever made any kind of protest against an Israeli Arab?
ACT is chasing a four-year Parliamentary term as part of its coalition agreement.
There will be 'a referendum on extending the parliamentary term at the next general election’. And ‘in the coming weeks…legislation [to] establish the mechanism to extend the term. The National-ACT coalition agreement sets out that such legislation should be passed within 15 months of the term.'
Goodness, Luxon is either a useful fool/tool, or agrees with 90% of ACT's "Project 2023 NZ", (or both).
Whoever is running the plays at ACT deserves a beer.
ACT are by a long way the most effective political party in New Zealand in 2024 and 2025.
Who can best them?
I think that has far more to do with the lack of leadership in post-Key National than anything ACT is doing.
Er, no…Act lucked in via a prize nonce PM with minimal political skills or instinct, who could not negotiate his way out of an Air NZ sick bag.
Act does have a significant cheerleader and funder team from Atlas to NZ Initiative and organisations such as Groundswell and Taxpayers Union and many more.
Funding+ideology+leadership+timing+luck = unbeatable political ACT success
With luck the amount of rope act is getting will lead to it hanging it's self
In a political sense that is
Breaking: Trump to rename Canada to ‘North United States of America’, and Mexico to ‘South United States of America’.
Google Maps to update immediately.
Canadians will be required to chant, “NUSA! NUSA!” at sporting and political events, and Mexicans will be require to chant, “SUSA! SUSA!”
Remove the visa waiver for Israelis and let Customs and Immigration and the Police do their job, preferably without Ministerial interference, but Minto essentially encouraging NZ civilians to run around spying on people on the suspicion that they might be war criminals because of who they are and where they're from feels instinctively a bridge to far to me. And why just Israelis? Why not anyone with an Eastern European accent who might be a Russian spy? Why not Americans who might have voted for Trump? Cry slippery slope if you like, but stoking the tendency for any kind of paranoia is bad for society.
Yup.
Any Minto supporter who wants to house a Hamas fighter here, put your hand up.
It would make the 501 social impact look tiny.
Also Trump has just cut all US aid into Gaza and all US funding for UN agencies into Gaza.
Jordan and Egypt simply state wouldn't helping them be a good idea?
Ad why do you think many in the anti-war movement are supporters of one group over another? Rather than seeing one group being a fubar as the other – because of power?
Maybe this will help it's only 5 minutes.
I struggle to take moral advice from an anarchist like Hedges who can't see what has changed in the last year across Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran, and who in his own words refuses to see beyond who is or is not oppressed the most.
I would just love it if everyone would behave with empathy. Face to face and person to person. It's Islamic and Christian and Jewish in its finest forms.
But what we have is instead a series of outcomes that have altered the entire realm of what is possible on the above countries. In the Israel-Hamas situation that set of outcomes is actually a carefully calibrated and weighed measurement of a precise number of Palestinian captives in exchange for a precise number of Israeli captives dead or alive.
Hedges just isn't in the diplomatic statecraft game that is occurring now.
State the obvious – do you need reminding he's a journalist.
The reality is the warmongering crowd have the debate where they want it – More war, More violence, More killing.
And they will keep warmongering whilst people put up dumb arguments like – "who wants to house a Hamas fighter here"
Hence my, take a step back and think of the moral implications of how dumb the west has been to support war, violence, and killing in this 100 year war.
Was that your war cry during the Sprinbok tour too?
Or is it just that you cant quite remember what you were doing at the time?
I can, while of the SAL (Victoria University 1981), whose hero was Steve Biko black African consciousness PAC, not the statist, now corporate friendly, ANC (their SUP – Bill and Ken here).
I found the obsession with their beloved country, rather than our own, a sad projection and transference given our own nations past.
A little real-politic lesson for you – sanctions did not break apartheid. It was the end of the Cold War, de Klerk rolled Pita Botha because they were no longer protected by the ANC's links to Moscow.
Any Minto supporter who wants to house a Hamas fighter here, put your hand up.
Who would not be proud of housing a resistance hero? Real resistance heroes, who break out of death camps like those guys did on 7 Oct. 2023, that is, or the Houthi fighters who continue to stymie the aggression of Israel and its supporters; not the sad Democratic Party "Resistance" of 2016-20 which did nothing other than dream up lame nicknames like "Cheeto Von Tweeto" and "Darth Cheddar" and marinate in the even lamer Russiagate conspiracy theory.
If they apply for visas INZ can decline a visa on character grounds
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/character-and-identity/good-character
although just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Whether just obeying orders or not, even a decorated soldier can fall from grace.
Given NZ First is implacably opposed to privatisation any privatisation program would require National and ACT to gain at least 51-52% of the popular vote next year. Since privatisation is not a vote winner (neither is extending the term of parliament, a project beloved of liberal and technocratic elites who wish for more unfettered power but rightly regarded with great cynicism by the voters) and they didn't manage that vote share in a "change" election in 2023 this is very improbable. Therefore Luxon has allowed – yet again – David Seymour to set his policy agenda and then cast the privatisation debate in the most far-right, toxic terms imaginable for a policy he can't possibly deliver. This seems to be a bit of a Luxon thing, since it is exactly how he has allowed himself to be played by Seymour over the treaties principles bill. Getting saddled with blame for unpopular policies pushed by minor coalition partners is really, really bad politics. Just look how Labour paid for the Green's Sue Bradford's hijacking of the agenda with her attempt at an elite coup over the child smacking legislation – it basically gave us nine years of John Key.
One can only conclude Luxon is a fool who will be rolled the minute the polls consistently put them behind Labour.
Seymour is the most powerful Deputy PM in decades.
ACT are NZs most effective political party.
They don't even need 20% of the vote to get a full policy and ideological takeover.
Based on what?
Because all the add-ons to the Nats' mirroring the UK Tories privatisation- austerity agenda come from ACT. And we see a new one every week.
That's not ACT effectiveness, though. That's National floundering.
how many policy gains they are making, and how much social change they are making.
That's Luxon's weakness. ACT are not particularly effective unless they have a vacuum to move into. Seymour has all the appeal of a wet sock.
And they're not making social change, they're appealing to the ugliness that was always there.
ACT are riding the international populist wave, it's utterly about social change and shifting not just the Overton Window but the deeper values in our society. It's the most dangerous thing I've seen in politics in NZ in my 40 years of voting. It's building on FJK years of course, the dirty politics government was the set up.
I doubt he'd ever be PM but he doesn't have to be. And if you strip away the repugnant politics, he's actually quite good at his job and his personality and way he communicates is attractive to increasing numbers of people.
– Complete national constitutional leadership
– Dismantling RMA
– Entirely new regulation legislation, and new department to accelerate it
– Total dismantling of Maori-state relationship
– Consistently outplaying the entire National Caucus and PM
– Totally altering what is allowable in media discourse
ACT is the constant floating of right wing policy ideas – to try and normalise a drift in governance to the right, as if that were the world order future of humanity.
Thankfully not for another four months. Wormtongue Seymour – the manipulator, race-baiting in service to Mammon – wants to complete the process of colonisation.
A few days ago I watched the last episode of a 3-part Miriam Margolyes doco series, Impossibly Australian. Quite heartwarming – asking whether Australia offers a fair go, and concluding that ‘the fair go’ is under threat.
Well, Fair Go is going going gone here in NZ The 2-episode doco about Margolyes’ visit to NZ should be worth watching – some video excerpts here.
Open-source, freely downloadable Deep Seek is being used already to run off-net data analysis. From this comment thread in The Guardian, under
'I have run the DeepSeek model locally on my MacBook meaning no need to update to an expensive computer with a $30,000 Nvidia Chip. I also deal with medical data so being able to run locally, with no leakage to the cloud etc. is essential for us. It's why we were previously banned from using AI embedded in our code…The point is that people will realise that low capex and opex is possible with only a minor deterioration in performance. My work cluster is running the full version with no data exiting the cluster (closed system).'
Here seems to be the value of DeepSeek's first open-source offering. Creating and running narrow-focus in-house systems cheaply. The language model stuff is not needed for application in a closed system.
I think you missed the most important sentence in this article:
Don't get me wrong. If DeepSeek's claims are valid, this represents an absolutely seismic change in the AI market.
But a lot of the heat and noise created by R1 has come from people that don't understand the industry, the technology, or the process.
"Unconscionable" was how the leader of the NZ Jewish Council described John Minto's campaign against Israeli soldiers getting their R and R in NZ.
Not half as unconscionable as the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of innocent civilians that these soldiers have helped to achieve.
And "just following orders " is no more an excuse for their conduct as it was for the Nazi soldiers who did the same to their people 80 years ago.
Well while you're peering through windows and going through people's wheelie bins, if you suspect someone of being a war criminal, take it up with the police rather than Minto.
Agree Mike the Lefty, letting IDF soldiers involved in the recent operation know that they are not welcome here is a small thing–the least we can do–to indicate they can run but not hide from their bloody work.
Our Govt. whimped out, or supports Israel, to the extent that ordinary people led by some of our most courageous activists like John Minto have to do it.
And that's called vigilantism. Would you like some torches and pitchforks to go with that?
And that's called vigilantism.
In this case it's more appropriately called Nazi-hunting.
What was HUAC then?
And what is this?
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2024/0093/latest/LMS1003049.html
The state uses the same measure to suppress the people.
It is hard to protest government suppression, while playing the vigilante.
And who empowered Minto and his mob to hunt said Nazis?
According to Times of Israel, NZ Immigration has begun asking for disclosure of military service and involvement in what activities as a visa condition. One person has been rejected so far and a couple in Australia who are doing similar according to the Times.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-zealand-requires-israelis-to-disclose-idf-service-details-as-condition-for-entry/
Which provides balance, the 3 month visa waiver policy adjusted to take into account the possibility of post Gaza tourism by those who might have been involved in war crimes.
That connects to the effort at applying "inter-national" law that subliminal has referred to.
There might be a disconnect, as to the 3 month visa waiver.
That could be managed by suspending it and requiring a visa check.
Apparently not. They just did not make a public issue about it.
South Africans need a visa to visit NZ right now. From 1996-2016 we had a visa waiver deal, but we ended that in 2016 (because we were being racist). If you ask any white South African who tried to travel during the apartheid era it was extremely difficult, as most countries required visas by the 1990s. Cultural isolation – in sport and travel – was one of the most effective tools in ending apartheid.
Requiring Israeli citizens to apply for a visa with service in the IDF in Gaza or the West Bank since October 2023 as grounds for refusal would be both a cheap (few Israelis make it this far) and powerful message of your pariah status in the global community. The pro-Israel lobby would go berserk, because they know the power of a boycott but IMHO it would send a big message to Israel that the beastly behaviour and war crimes of it's military is not acceptable to New Zealand.
100%
Not allowing Russian soldiers to visit NZ is easy, Putin can't easily wage war on us or threaten trade because Russia and NZ trade isn't particularly important in our economic plans. (The Russians are unreliable payers anyway, as Fonterra found out some years ago).
But the big difference with Israeli soldiers is that the system implicitly backs them, their war hasn't been judged illegal like the Russian-Ukranian war. They have a support base here plus the Trumpismo can start threatening 100% tariffs if we do anything that pisses him or the Israelis off.
That's why the politicians (other than Peters of course who nutted off in his usual manner) have been somewhat coy in replying to questions on this matter.
We have no current en masse block on Russian soldiers, just a few individuals are blocked. They have no 3 month visa waiver. Thus are visa checked.
So why not Israelis?
Have you missed TM's post?
This is consistent with moves to identify those guilty of war crimes and resource nation state decision-making (see subliminal's posts).
Israel is a visa waiver country. If Israelis are being questioned it must be a directive from INZ an upon arrival in a room at Auckland International Airport having done the NZeTA which is all they are currently required to do.
If INZ authorities are stopping Israelis at the border for questioning this is a good thing.
The Times of Israel can get in the sea to be honest. Wouldn't trust a thing they say.
They quote INZ ….
It is about the “visitor” visa.
There is no mention of the form being filled out at an airport in New Zealand.
The visa waiver is apart from that.
Israeli is a visa waiver country to NZ. That’s three months here with little oversight, but:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/your-journey-to-new-zealand/before-you-travel-to-new-zealand/visa-waiver-countries
So this has now become about longer stays in NZ than three months. How long do young IDF soldiers need in NZ to decompress from the war crimes they may or may not have committed?
The visa waiver policy is for 3 months stay or less.
The issue is whether the visa waiver policy for Israel should continue or be suspended (as per investigations – discovery of IDF soldiers identified as having committed war crimes).
In so far as Gaza and IDF service there since 0ct 2023, this is already the case.
Apparently applied here without making a public display of righteousness about it.
Given we applied no such test over the regime change in Iraq (after its invasion of Kuwait and its blocking of inspectors under the the terns of the cease-fire) and participated in Afghanistan, after a group based there orchestrated the 9/11 action (under right of defence).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-zealand-requires-israelis-to-disclose-idf-service-details-as-condition-for-entry/
Just on the strength of all the proven Israeli spying in NZ, from stolen names sourced from children’s gravestones when Helen Clark and Labour sprung them, political killings in the Gulf states using NZ passports, and the strange episodes around the Christchurch earthquakes which co-incided with a very high level international security meeting and the “ yes there was, no there wasn’t “ bullshit about the 14 different passports in a destroyed Israeli campervan. The only thing I ever credited Key with doing properly was telling the Israeli PM at the time to fuck off when they already had a plane in the air full of ‘ disaster relief ‘ specialists. Yeah right !
I don’t think they should be allowed in the grounds that if any other country had a similar record over decades they wouldn’t be here either.
Well that's all our main trade partners out then.
We spy on other nations as part of Five Eyes, we are in no position to judge all Israelis because Mossad uses false passports. The CIA does as well etc.
Quite like this non-finance/politics bro analysis of Deepseek
If Mike Pound is right, more red line go down
It's very bad news for Trump and his psychotic tech billionaire backers.
Why are modern economists just a little shit
Why the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme should go ahead.
By Earl Bardsley*
Coalition ministers refer to the Lake Onslow pumped storage scheme concept as having been scrapped. However, a New Zealand government cannot impose energy policy on the opposition.
As a quick reminder, the Onslow scheme’s potential for impact derives from scale. Its capacity is equivalent to a “battery” running at 1000 MW for more than six months. This would make it the world’s largest pumped storage scheme by energy storage measure.
More than $20 million was spent on Onslow investigations by the previous Labour Government. The motivation was to seek a low-emission alternative to fossil fuels for power generation in dry years.
The “pending decision” is whether Labour will include restarting Onslow scheme evaluations as part of its 2026 election energy policy. Clarification will probably come later this year.
https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/131671/earl-bardsley-lake-onslow-pumped-storage-scheme-decision-pending
Comparing the care of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas,
With the care of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Onslow's 'problem' is that it will completely upend the Gentailers' business model of profiting from dry years and generation constraints.
Whoever owns it will have insane market power through total control over peak electricity prices, which would be difficult in private ownership. So it would be State owned, and also require the nationalisation of Contact, or at least Clyde and Roxburgh hydros. Along with this would be quite a slump in the profitability, and share price of the remaining Gentailers. Not something National were prepared to allow.
Onslow, or other pumped hydro, is a good idea that's not going to die easily. It's been on the horizon since Clyde, there's two unused penstocks built into the dam for future pumped hydro utilising peak flows.
Mass use of solar power would allow us to have spare hydro capacity, without Onslow.
That and a bit of battery storage.
While we use hydro as a primary source, it is common elsewhere to use it as a stored back up.
We can do a mix of that, with an increase in other renewables.
The other option was Onslow and offshore wind – also killed off by National Chris Bishop and Shane Jones, with their decision in favour of seabed mining.
The estimated costs for Onslow that I saw a while ago were 17 billion NZ dollars. Probably 19billion now.
I did a back of envelope calculation based on the cost of solar with battery storage attached (both of which have got much cheaper and efficient in the last 5 years) and found this to be much cheaper than Onslow.
Also much of the solAr power would be generated on the NI where it is needed.
Onslow, @ equivalent to a “battery” running at 1000 MW for more than six months, = >4 million MWh capacity.
According to TrinaSolar that cost will total just $400 million. The company clarified to Renew Economy that this $400 million reflects only the first 330MW/1.32GWh stage of the project – but it still appears to set a new low for battery storage project costs in Australia.
It equates to around $300/kWh – substantially lower than the apparent price of the Eraring battery in NSW, and lower than the prices tracked by industry analysts Rystad Energy
https://reneweconomy.com.au/plunging-cost-of-big-batteries-latest-gigawatt-scale-project-may-set-new-price-benchmark/
Subsidies R In! It's a left/right consensus!! All we lack in Aotearoa are politicians who notice what's going on.
Trump proclaimed tariffs loudly, Biden implemented them quietly. The stylistic difference is intended to mask political reality: there are still enough useful idiots around that its still a good idea for the Dems to pretend they're different.
That's a sensible move, inasmuch as the commies don't do gods. And a tech variation on the traditionally method of deity creation (collective hallucinating) will impress all materialists watching, regardless their nationality.
We were, true, but that was when I was a kid & Thiel was pre-corporeal. Putting roads & motorways in the sky turned out to be too difficult.
An AI is just a tool like a can opener. An AI is just a way of getting the beans out of the can quicker.
The Chinese have found a better way to produce can openers, and the can opener market has collapsed.
And an iPad is like a chopping board but easier to clean.
The ceasefire/pause, you have when you are not having a ceasefire.
The Times of Israel report that despite the ceasefire, the IDF has been "targetting" unarmed civilians in Gaza. We know this because one of the unarmed civilians they killed, was actually an Israeli civilian contractor who because he was dressed in civilian clothes, the IDF mistook him for a Palestinian civilian.
The arrogance of the occupier;
Tom Petty sang, ‘Don't have to live like a refugee’.
Despite what Trump wants or says, Palestinians in their hundreds of thousands have decided to make their own destiny and have voted with their feet, literally to live or die on the rubble of their destroyed cities and towns rather than become refugees in Egypt or Jordan, or the wider world.
By returning to their capital city, the people of Gaza are a telling Trump and the Israelis, 'Do your worst, we shall not be moved.
We did something
We both know it
We don't talk too much about it
Ain't no real big secret all the same
Somehow we'll get around it
It don't really matter to me
You believe what you want to believe
Don't have to live like a refugee
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you want to lay there
Revel in your abandon
It don't make no difference to me
Everybody's had to fight to be free
Don't have to live like a refugee
We ain't the first
I'm sure a lot of others been burned
Right now this seems real to you
But it's one of those things
You gotta feel to be true
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Maybe you were kidnapped
Tied up, taken away and held for ransom
It don't really matter to me
Everybody's had to fight to be free
Don't have to live like a refugee
Descendants of Jewish Holocaust survivors and living Jewish Holocaust survivors condemn Western politicians that use Holocaust remembrance day to justify genocide in Gaza.