SpaceMonkey: "... how would’ve Bill English or even John Key have handled it?" I was thinking about that a day or so ago. I'm an old lefty, never voted National, never will. But in fairness to the former Dear Leader, as I recall, when he responded to the ...
RedLogix: "Having been confronted with the worst news a leader can receive — an unthinkable and politically motivated mass-fatality terrorist attack in a place of worship — Ms Ardern has yet to put a foot wrong." Indeed. Yesterday afternoon, I heard Peter ...
McFlock: "probably because he has a small dick or some other self-perceived inadequacy." He's reported as being very short. That might do it. I've read bits of his manifesto: it has eerie similarities to Islamist extremist stuff that I've read in the past....
Mark: "...look at the fairy stories and folk tales from Europe. A lot about marrying a prince, and gold and wealth." Indeed. Many of our ancestors came here to NZ with the sole intention of bettering themselves. They had no opportunity to do that in the ...
Mark: "The Chinese have just come to trade, and will move out as soon as they are told to. Yet we are supposed to fear the Chinese more than Western powers in the South Pacific." I don't know that they necessarily move out, but certainly they come to trade...
Wild Katipo: "You don’t spell ‘ benefited ‘ as … ‘ benefitted ‘…" Yeah. You do. Either is correct. And while we're on the subject of spelling and grammar: the plural of English-language nouns which end in "-y " is "-ies". Thus the plural of "family" is "...
Pat: "...that is not necessarily any indicator of the future however" In fact, past behaviour is the best indicator we have of future behaviour. That's what history shows.
Peterlepaysan: "China has been expansionist and imperialistic for many many centuries," No. It hasn't. I think you're the one needing to read a bit of history. I certainly have.
RedLogix: "But now clearly plans to be one." Well now. I think a citation's needed here. Your evidence for this would be.....? The best guide to a polity's future behaviour is its past actions. China's history goes back a very very long way. It could have ...
Wayne: "But it is not necessary to say she is not of academic quality and would be regarded as a CIA asset." Has anybody actually said that? I've criticised the quality of her writing, to be sure. And I failed to find any actual arguments in her paper ...
Cinny: you need to treat with great care reportage from al Jazeera. Remember who funds it. I know that many NZ citizens, aware that they aren't getting the full story - heck, ANY story at all, about some events going on in the world - are turning to al ...
Wild Katipo: "Yes , as a matter of fact I do believe this." Scepticism about this narrative is in order. China is a polity which - according to many commentators - doesn't have a free press, doesn't allow freedom of movement, and, as you yourself point out...
Formerly Ross: ".... there’s little substance in Brady’s paper and it’s all generalitiies (I must confess, I haven’t read it)." I recommend it to you. Not, unfortunately, because it's great literature. Note its provenance. "....if it’s as anodyne as you ...
Rosemary McDonald: "(Also, Tze Ming Mok puts a good piece together. Very readable, very insightful and very Kiwi.)" It is, isn't it. Many thanks for posting the link. Though I'm NZ-born, I'm familiar with migrants and the ways in which they adapt to life ...
Exkiwiforces: "But I’m still a little concerned at China’s activities in the Sth Pacific, SEA, Africa..." For the life of me, I can't see why you'd be concerned about China's activities in the above areas, without expressing even more concern about US ...
Wild Katipo: "How China’s trillion-dollar trade initiative helped forge a humanitarian …" Good grief. Surely you don't actually believe any of this? Look at the language. Heck... look at the provenance of it. A piece of propaganda at best, fiction at worst...
Mike Smith: "It reads like a long list of the blindingly obvious, mixed with a large dose of conspiracy theory. It certainly doesn’t show much sign of the sort of critical thinking one might expect from an academic." My view as well. For my sins, I've ...
"It’s not just force of arms that defeats fascist ideologies. Showing ourselves to be part of a morally and ethically superior way of living is equally important." I doubt that this would change the mindset of jihadists in general, or that of our homegrown...
Gosman: "....when he admitted that his actions were wrong..." Well, in fairness to him, he didn't actually do anything exceptionable in the end. Man carries weapon, goes looking for trouble: well, hold the bus.... He wouldn't be the first, won't be the ...
Francesca: "I have to say I think violence is a human problem" I agree; and evolutionary biology backs up that view. Selection pressures apply equally to males and females; we are much more alike than different. Sexual dimorphism means that women are in ...
Rae: "We are all one people”, = “we are all like me”, the expectation from him (whether he even realises it or not) is that everyone will behave in the same way..." I think that you may be putting words (so to speak) into Brash's mouth. That isn't the take...
Millsy: "Treaty Settlements do not bring Maori prosperity. All they have done concentrated wealth into the hands of tribal elites." That certainly seems to be what's happened. From the beginning, I viewed the Treaty settlement process as being a matter of ...
Wayne: "Such as Germany replacing nuclear power with coal burning stations." We have family in that part of the world. When we first visited them, around about the year 2000, a relative remarked that the Greens, having acquired enough electoral influence ...
Trump's "smocking" gun: what? He's taken up needlework to embellish his weapons now?
RedLogix: "The American empire has been around since the around the end of WW2..." That'll come as a surprise to the Cubans and the Pinoys, not to mention the unfortunate indigenes of the Americas north and south, and various parts of the Pacific. " By ...
Fang Zhou: I wish to congratulate you on your command of written English. In this household, given that we have family members who aren't native English speakers, we're familiar with how second-language speakers use English. Moreover, many years ago, I ...
Bill: "....not saying a damned thing. China isn’t doing anything that any other government might do and does do to enhance its presence and influence abroad." My impression as well. I've read Brady's paper "Magic Weapons". I recommend it to others. "China ...
Lucy: "So this academic has been publishing since 2003..." Longer than that, I believe. I remember her name from my days studying Mandarin in the mid- to late 90s. Interesting that this problem has surfaced only now, all these years later.
Ad: "I expect the same kind of independence of thought from our Prime Minister." I do hope so.
Ed: "Those that signed." Any historians among them?
In Vino: "that is what the Marshall plan was for. Build up West Germany and Japan" Actually, the Marshall Plan was only for Europe. There were aid programmes in Asia, but they were not part of the Marshall Plan. Japan and Germany remain occupied, of course...
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