Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 5:06 am, September 17th, 2023 - 9 comments
Categories: AUKUS, China, FiveEyes, internet, interweb, Spying, surveillance, tech industry, telecommunications, us politics
Tags:
I like my Huawei phone. I'm looking forward to the new Mate 60Pro. It's launch means the US-led sanctions aiming to crush Huawei, with New Zealand as a fast follower, have completely failed to set back Chinese technology. The United States' approach to …
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 2:40 am, September 9th, 2023 - 5 comments
Categories: climate change, global warming, quality of life, sustainability, transport
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Back with family in London after Covid's four years, much has changed. Most notably, the air in Walthamstow is breathable. Thanks to Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan's emission zone tax, the change is remarkable. Boris Johnson initiated the Ultra-Low Emission Zone …
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 8:59 am, August 26th, 2023 - 4 comments
Categories: China, uncategorized, war
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New Zealand Parliamentarians are certainly facing foreign-funded political interference from China. It’s just not from the official Communist Party-led nation. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is a rag-tag collection of self-selected right-wing …
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:50 pm, July 9th, 2023 - 52 comments
Categories: chris hipkins, defence, Diplomacy, Disarmament, military, Russia, Ukraine, us politics, war
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The prime minister stated in his speech last week our objective in the war in Ukraine was to aid Ukraine "to defeat Russia." I couldn't believe what I was hearing – that's a declaration of nuclear World War III! Even the US neocons think its time to back …
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:22 pm, July 6th, 2023 - 12 comments
Categories: class, class war, culture, Ethics, inequality, racism, Satire, sport, the praiseworthy and the pitiful
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"It isn't cricket" supposedly set the ethical standard around the British Empire for over a century. Last week saw Lords, the 'home of cricket,' validate a damning report about racism, elitism, classism and sexism in British cricket just days after it was…
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 12:08 pm, July 5th, 2023 - 17 comments
Categories: China, chris hipkins, Diplomacy, Free Trade, history, jacinda ardern, socialism, Xi Jinping
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An excellent interview with a well-connected American who would like to see the US and China work together, and knows Xi Jinping well, provides some real insight as to why he is a serious leader. Interviewed today by Richard Harman, Tim Groser backs it up….
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 1:29 pm, June 23rd, 2023 - 9 comments
Categories: uncategorized
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It is good to see that there is a substantial business delegation accompanying Chris Hipkins to China, and that it is aimed at seeking to diversify into a wider range of issues. As China's ambassador Wang Xiaolong noted in the Herald yesterday, there are …
I agree Craig. You will probably be aware of the extensive writing on debt forgiveness of my favourite economist Michael Hudson the author of "...and forgive them their debts" which corrects the wording of the Lord's prayer, and The Destiny of Civilisation...
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 8:45 pm, June 5th, 2023 - 34 comments
Categories: China, defence, Diplomacy, Hong Kong, Iran, Peace, Peace, Propaganda, uncategorized, war, Xi Jinping
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Gerald Hensley was David Lange’s chief of staff when New Zealand's nuclear free policy was adopted. He opposed what happened then and opposes it still. He now argues we should prepare for war with China. Writing in the Post’s full-page opinion piece titled…
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:16 pm, April 24th, 2023 - 63 comments
Categories: Anzac Day, australian politics, China, defence, democratic participation, iraq, tech industry, uk politics, us politics, war
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Andrew Little says our government is willing to “explore” participating in AUKUS Pillar 2, but “foreign or local voices would not be a factor.” Our leaders will decide he says. I say “taihoa.” It is deeply ironic that we have a national holiday, ANZAC Day,…
Meng Foon's family donations also represent a Chinese tradition of donating to political parties across the spectrum as an act of citizen contribution rather than an attempt to gain influence, foreign or otherwise.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 11:07 am, April 17th, 2023 - 18 comments
Categories: afghanistan, Austerity, China, Economy, grant robertson
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Musing after the recent IMF/World Bank meetings, Former White house economist and US Treasury secretary Larry Summers said “it’s looking a bit lonely on the right side of history..as others are increasingly banding together in a whole range of structures.”…
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:02 pm, April 7th, 2023 - 16 comments
Categories: Austerity, debt / deficit, Economy, Financial markets, israel, loan sharks, privatisation, religion, socialism
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In his …and forgive them their debts, my favourite economist and Jubilee advocate Michael Hudson states that Jesus driving the money-changers from the Temple was "the act that inspired the city leaders to plot his death." Hudson is a polymath, a lifetime…
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:12 pm, March 20th, 2023 - 38 comments
Categories: australian politics, China, defence, FiveEyes, helen clark, military, Pacific, Peace, Peace, Propaganda, thinktank, trade, us politics, war
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On 20 March 2003 the US invaded Iraq, on the basis that it had and could use weapons of mass destruction. That was a lie. Australia joined President Bush's 'coalition of the willing', New Zealand did not. The drums of war beat strong then, and are doing so…
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:57 pm, March 13th, 2023 - 14 comments
Categories: Africa, China, Diplomacy, Iran, Joe Biden, Peace, Peace, Ukraine, Xi Jinping
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Veteran Indian diplomat MK Bhadrakumar describes the resumption of diplomatic relations between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia brokered by China as a "Suez moment" in the history of the Middle East. Peace in Yemen is only one of the possible benefits….
I should have said "in New Zealand." But I agree his is not a lone voice. In my opinion the best of those are found among former analysts from all sides, and former diplomats particularly Asian voices. I count Bernhard of Moonofalabama among the former. He...
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 6:28 pm, February 26th, 2023 - 76 comments
Categories: Andrew Little, history, Peace, Peace, Russia, Ukraine, war
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Historian Malcolm McKinnon in Thursday's DominionPost states that "caution is needed when crafting victory over Russia as the primary war aim in Ukraine." Truer words were never spoken, as western hysteria rejects calls for peace and escalates to wider war…
As one of the founders I can say that the fact that the Standard is still going and relevant is pretty well entirely due in various ways to Lynn and Mickey Savage, as well as the moderators and commenters. Huge thanks are due to all.
China's literacy programme which began in the 1950's under Mao has been described by one expert as "Perhaps the single greatest educational achievement in human history." https://www.languagemagazine.com/the-single-greatest-educational-effort-in-human-...
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:12 pm, December 21st, 2022 - 15 comments
Categories: China, Diplomacy, exports, Free Trade, john key, Peace, poverty
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"When Joe met Chou, we have opened the door and said hello" captions the photo of the Beijing meeting between New Zealand's Overseas Trade Minister Joe Walding with Chou EnLai in March 1973. It followed New Zealand's recognition of the People's Republic of…
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 7:28 am, December 20th, 2022 - 96 comments
Categories: act, david seymour, labour, national, polls
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I thought David Seymour was the most interesting speaker at the Victoria University post-election conference at Parliament last year. Two things stood out for me in his presentation following ACT's election gains. He opened by offering lengthy and …
Opposition parties are banned in Ukraine - it's not a democracy
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 3:27 pm, December 13th, 2022 - 311 comments
Categories: australian politics, boris johnson, China, defence, Diplomacy, Disarmament, Europe, Propaganda, Russia, uk politics, Ukraine, war, Zelensky
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Vladimir Zelensky’s message to the New Zealand Parliament will be delivered in the last week before Christmas, in the bury-it time-slot. That seems appropriate, for much has changed since the heady days when our Parliament went straight for sanctions on …
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 5:39 pm, November 21st, 2022 - 4 comments
Categories: benefits, China, culture, Diplomacy, economy, exports, Free Trade, human rights, jacinda ardern, overseas investment, Pacific, Peace, poverty
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Trudeau got a 10-minute stand-up with Xi followed by a public shirt-fronting, Albanese got a 32-minute sit-down, and Jacinda Ardern a 50-minute formal bilateral. In the carefully calibrated world of the diplomatic dance-card, that says something. New …
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 3:32 pm, November 3rd, 2022 - 39 comments
Categories: capitalism, China, debt / deficit, Diplomacy, Economy, Environment, Europe, Financial markets, Globalisation, history, jobs, monetary policy, Russia, socialism, Ukraine, us politics, war, welfare
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82-year old polymath Michael Hudson is my favourite economist. He currently lectures in China to million-strong audiences. His latest book is The Destiny of Civilisation: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism. His latest article is well …
At Kens funeral service at Te Rauparaha arena - Kens final message on programme "Don't mourn - organise"
@ Tiger Mountain 7.1.2 Naive am I? Possibly, but those strikes you mention in the 1970s and 1980s were only possible because the law allowed them. I was invited by Canadian Labour Council officials in the early 1990s to visit precisely to warn them of what...
It is a real pity that Ken Douglas' life and contribution is reduced by some to a one-day caricature. Workers' rights in New Zealand have always depended on the favour of the law, dating back to the 1894 arbitration and conciliation legislation. Ken ...
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 3:37 pm, September 15th, 2022 - 47 comments
Categories: Unions, workers' rights
Tags: obituary
Ken Douglas was a big man, in every sense of the word, and a great man, deeply involved in his community right through his life, from the Drivers' Union to the Porirua City Council. He was a thinker, a reader and a leader, fully engaged in some of the most…
Lynne I agree sending LAVs would be silly as did Henare who explained that the request initially came from the Ukrainians. My highlighting his comment about the lack of spare parts was linked to the problems of logistics in ground war. It is the western ...
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 7:40 pm, September 4th, 2022 - 99 comments
Categories: jacinda ardern, Media, Peace, Peeni Henare, Propaganda, Russia, Ukraine, war
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We're sending 120 troops to Britain to 'train' raw recruits for the Ukraine killing grounds. For the Defence Dept, it's an overseas trip to aid retention. For the Ukrainian conscripts, it's a prelude to early death. It is criminal as well as cynical: we …
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