Open mike 29/01/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 29th, 2025 - 101 comments
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101 comments on “Open mike 29/01/2025 ”

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  1. Dennis Frank 1
    29 January 2025 at 7:26 am

    Ideological spat breaks out: https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/01/28/hrc-calls-for-hotline-to-report-israeli-soldiers-holidaying-in-nz-to-end/

    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.

  2. Dennis Frank 2
    29 January 2025 at 7:58 am

    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.

    • Subliminal 2.1
      29 January 2025 at 1:14 pm

      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

      • Dennis Frank 2.1.1
        29 January 2025 at 2:14 pm

        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?

        • Subliminal 2.1.1.1
          29 January 2025 at 3:28 pm

          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.

  3. Incognito 3
    29 January 2025 at 9:13 am

    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/

  4. weka 4
    29 January 2025 at 10:19 am

    Can we please not have a major quake or other big emergency before we have a change of government?

  5. Muttonbird 5
    29 January 2025 at 10:23 am

    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).

    • weka 5.1
      29 January 2025 at 10:53 am

      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.

      • Muttonbird 5.1.1
        29 January 2025 at 10:59 am

        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.

        • weka 5.1.1.1
          29 January 2025 at 11:07 am

          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?

          • Muttonbird 5.1.1.1.1
            29 January 2025 at 11:22 am

            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.

            • weka 5.1.1.1.1.1
              29 January 2025 at 12:21 pm

              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?

              • Paul Huggett …
                29 January 2025 at 1:03 pm

                "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.

        • Populuxe 5.1.1.2
          29 January 2025 at 11:09 am

          Big talk when you don't have to make the choice yourself.

          • Muttonbird 5.1.1.2.1
            29 January 2025 at 11:26 am

            They can always just leave, right?

            • Populuxe 5.1.1.2.1.1
              29 January 2025 at 11:30 am

              Again, big talk when you don't have to make the choice yourself.

            • weka 5.1.1.2.1.2
              29 January 2025 at 12:22 pm

              so you don't really believe it's a choice

              • Muttonbird …
                29 January 2025 at 8:48 pm

                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.

                • weka …
                  30 January 2025 at 3:36 pm

                  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.

                  • Muttonbird …
                    30 January 2025 at 6:49 pm

                    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.

      • Morrissey 5.1.2
        29 January 2025 at 12:49 pm

        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. ….

        https://thegrayzone.com/2024/04/15/nicaragua-geran-gaza-genocide-carlos-arguello-gomez/

    • Gareth 5.2
      29 January 2025 at 4:34 pm

      Israeli Arabs too, or just the Jews?

      • Muttonbird 5.2.1
        29 January 2025 at 8:29 pm

        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.

  6. tWig 6
    29 January 2025 at 10:43 am

    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).

    • Ad 6.1
      29 January 2025 at 11:08 am

      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?

      • Populuxe 6.1.1
        29 January 2025 at 11:32 am

        I think that has far more to do with the lack of leadership in post-Key National than anything ACT is doing.

      • Tiger Mountain 6.1.2
        29 January 2025 at 11:36 am

        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.

      • bwaghorn 6.1.3
        29 January 2025 at 1:20 pm

        holding citizens to account for the voting

        With luck the amount of rope act is getting will lead to it hanging it's self

        In a political sense that is

  7. Muttonbird 7
    29 January 2025 at 10:49 am

    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!”

  8. Populuxe 8
    29 January 2025 at 10:55 am

    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 8.1
      29 January 2025 at 11:48 am

      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?

      • adam 8.1.1
        29 January 2025 at 1:08 pm

        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.

        • Ad 8.1.1.1
          29 January 2025 at 1:32 pm

          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.

          • adam 8.1.1.1.1
            29 January 2025 at 9:21 pm

            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.

      • Subliminal 8.1.2
        29 January 2025 at 1:26 pm

        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?

        • SPC 8.1.2.1
          29 January 2025 at 8:54 pm

          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.

      • Morrissey 8.1.3
        29 January 2025 at 3:19 pm

        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.

      • SPC 8.1.4
        29 January 2025 at 9:02 pm

        If they apply for visas INZ can decline a visa on character grounds

        • 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.

        https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/character-and-identity/good-character

    • Drowsy M. Kram 8.2
      29 January 2025 at 12:44 pm

      Cry slippery slope if you like, but stoking the tendency for any kind of paranoia is bad for society.

      yes although just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

      Tom Waits – "What's He Building?" [YouTube; "We have a right to know"]

      ACT will hold auditions for SOME PLACE CALLED MAYOR’S INCOME, TENNESSEE at 3 p.m. January 30th and 7 p.m. January 31st.
      https://aikencommunitytheatre.org/mayorsauditions

      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.

      Whether just obeying orders or not, even a decorated soldier can fall from grace.

  9. Sanctuary 9
    29 January 2025 at 10:56 am

    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.

    • Ad 9.1
      29 January 2025 at 11:10 am

      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.

      • Populuxe 9.1.1
        29 January 2025 at 11:15 am

        Based on what?

        • tWig 9.1.1.1
          29 January 2025 at 11:23 am

          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.

        • weka 9.1.1.2
          29 January 2025 at 12:18 pm

          how many policy gains they are making, and how much social change they are making.

          • Populuxe 9.1.1.2.1
            29 January 2025 at 12:59 pm

            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.

            • weka 9.1.1.2.1.1
              29 January 2025 at 1:45 pm

              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.

              • weka …
                29 January 2025 at 1:47 pm

                Seymour has all the appeal of a wet sock

                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.

          • Ad 9.1.1.2.2
            29 January 2025 at 1:01 pm
            • Future asset privatisations

            – 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

      • SPC 9.1.2
        29 January 2025 at 8:17 pm

        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.

      • Drowsy M. Kram 9.1.3
        29 January 2025 at 9:06 pm

        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.

        Nicky Hager: Beware the smooth talker with a forked tongue
        David Seymour and Act know exactly what they’re doing.
        …
        Act billboards say End Division by Race, but it is actually
        more like Defend Division by Wealth.

        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 sad 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!”

  10. tWig 10
    29 January 2025 at 10:57 am

    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.

    • Res Publica 10.1
      29 January 2025 at 1:06 pm

      I think you missed the most important sentence in this article:

      And what this really shows is that the world of AI is febrile, unpredictable and overly reactive. This a dangerous combination

      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.

  11. Mike the Lefty 11
    29 January 2025 at 10:57 am

    "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.

  12. Sanctuary 12
    29 January 2025 at 11:20 am

    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.

    • Patricia Bremner 12.1
      29 January 2025 at 11:28 am

      100%

    • Mike the Lefty 12.2
      29 January 2025 at 12:47 pm

      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.

      • SPC 12.2.1
        29 January 2025 at 8:44 pm

        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.

        • Muttonbird 12.2.1.1
          29 January 2025 at 8:54 pm

          So why not Israelis?

          • SPC 12.2.1.1.1
            29 January 2025 at 9:08 pm

            Have you missed TM's post?

            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/

            This is consistent with moves to identify those guilty of war crimes and resource nation state decision-making (see subliminal's posts).

            • Muttonbird 12.2.1.1.1.1
              29 January 2025 at 9:45 pm

              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.

              • SPC …
                29 January 2025 at 9:55 pm

                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.

    • SPC 12.3
      29 January 2025 at 8:42 pm

      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/

  13. Adrian 13
    29 January 2025 at 12:03 pm

    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.

    • Populuxe 13.1
      29 January 2025 at 12:29 pm

      Well that's all our main trade partners out then.

    • SPC 13.2
      29 January 2025 at 8:37 pm

      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.

  14. dpalenski 14
    29 January 2025 at 12:46 pm

    Quite like this non-finance/politics bro analysis of Deepseek

    If Mike Pound is right, more red line go down

    • Morrissey 14.1
      29 January 2025 at 3:08 pm

      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"….

      https://anotherangryvoice.substack.com/p/deepseek-has-made-a-fool-of-donald

  15. adam 15
    29 January 2025 at 12:57 pm

    Why are modern economists just a little shit

  16. Joe90 16
    29 January 2025 at 2:50 pm

    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

    • Jenny 16.1
      29 January 2025 at 3:39 pm

      Comparing the care of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas,

      With the care of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

    • Graeme 16.2
      29 January 2025 at 5:08 pm

      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.

    • SPC 16.3
      29 January 2025 at 7:53 pm

      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.

    • Bearded Git 16.4
      30 January 2025 at 2:47 am

      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.

  17. Dennis Frank 17
    29 January 2025 at 3:48 pm

    Subsidies R In! It's a left/right consensus!! All we lack in Aotearoa are politicians who notice what's going on.

    The Biden administration subsidised the American chip industry while restricting exports and deals with Chinese firms. https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/29/why-americas-tech-oligarchy-is-in-shambles/

    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.

    • Jenny 17.1
      29 January 2025 at 5:40 pm

      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.

  18. Jenny 18
    29 January 2025 at 5:29 pm

    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

    By Emanuel Fabian

    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,”

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-contractor-mistakenly-killed-by-idf-troops-in-gaza-army-says/

  19. Jenny 19
    29 January 2025 at 7:13 pm

    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

  20. Jenny 20
    29 January 2025 at 10:59 pm

    Descendants of Jewish Holocaust survivors and living Jewish Holocaust survivors condemn Western politicians that use Holocaust remembrance day to justify genocide in Gaza.