To frigate or not to frigate
The NZ Initiative, who gave us neoliberalism, says we need to buy four to keep one at sea. Just Defence says there are a lot better uses for the money. I’m with them.
Mike Smith
The fatal friend
Henry Kissinger is reported to have said “it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” Australia should take note, enmeshed as it is with US bases. The fallout may affect us too.
Sack Him Christopher
After the 2005 election, the Chinese Embassy sent Zhang Wei to ask me if Winston Peters would follow Labour government policy. I said I didn’t know, but would ask.
Official talk of Independent Foreign Policy is farcical
If we are a “force multiplier” we are not independent. We are meant to multiply force for the US. Against China. Madness.
No tears for Starmer
An MI6 plant in my opinion. A hollow man, deeply duplicitous, a Zionist warmonger whose only job was to expunge the Labour left. He will not be missed or regretted.
They all do it…
FiveEyes issues warning re possible Chinese intelligence recruiting methods! Beware! China issues warning re already recruited anti-China MPs. Cue shock horror!
Walking backwards off the cliff
The coming oil shock is not just about oil. The future is baked in, and its not good. National’s backward-looking budget will make it much worse.
Smash Left populism, get Right populism
That’s Starmer’s achievement, as the local elections show. He always was a muppet puppet; his string-pullers are much more sinister.
“Interest rates, oil and gold”
That RNZ tricolon has always been infuriating fluff. In the real world, analysts warn we are heading for a cliff.
Who’s best on Foreign Affairs?
When Ambassador Chen Mingming sent Zhang Wei in 2005 to ask me whether Winston Peters would follow government policy, I said I didn’t know but would ask. I did, and he did.
Luxon is toast
Any time a political leader has to put their position to a vote, they become a dead pigeon. David Lange knew winning the vote didn’t end the matter.
I could be completely wrong, but…
My hunch is that Luxon stands down as Prime Minister, to be replaced by Mark Mitchell.
Don’t fight the last war
Hannah Spencer’s stunning win for the Greens in the the UK’s Gorton and Denton by-election has some lessons for political strategists here as well.
Privatisation and Plunder
Privatisation and Plunder is essential reading for those who want to work for a society where prosperity for all is the aim.
Judith gets her marching orders
Lauded at the CIA and lectured at the Department of War, Judith Collins last week got her marching orders – prepare New Zealanders to join the next US war against China.
The Department of War
The United States Department of Defense has been renamed as the Department of War. Nobody can be under any illusions anymore. More war is coming.
Corbyn still draws a crowd – what’s new?
Zarah Sultana for one – she’s a star. Gaza for another – anti-zionism/semitism won’t work this time. 500,000 signed up in a week for a new party is impressive.
Gerrymander alert – Government running scared
You know a government is in trouble when it has to resort to gerrymander to boost its prospects. The coalition government’s decision to restrict voter enrolment is disgraceful.
Corporate profit and Gaza
UN Special rapporteur on Gaza Francesca Albanese’s latest report highlights the corporate role in enabling genocide in Gaza. Utterly predictably, she has been sanctioned by the United States.
Weasel Winston’s FiveEyes fudge
Winston Peters’ Ministerial statement in Parliament yesterday was a disgrace. Echoing other FiveEyes leaders such as Keir Starmer, unable to distinguish evil from good, he accused those who can of “moral posturing.”
SNAP ACTION – Stop U.S. Aggression
Snap action outside Ministry of Defence tomorrow 24th 1230. All welcome
Was the Cook Islands leak a FiveEyes operation?
The leak appeared in the Cook Islands media, not New Zealand’s. On the day before Christopher Luxon was due to meet Xi Jinping. One has to ask “cui bono?”
Vale David Parker MP
David Parker’s Deputy Leader ‘s speech in 2014 at the Wellington Labour Party Conference was the best I ever heard from a Labour Leader. Vision matched values in intensity and scope. Parliament now loses one of its very best.
On Gallipoli and Gaza
Gallipoli was then. Gaza is now. Gallipoli was a disaster, driven by arrogance and incompetence. Gaza is an atrocity, driven by unconscionable evil.
Poking the dragon
Seven cross-party New Zealand politicians have just paid a “private” visit to Taiwan. They were received publicly by the Taiwanese government, who paid for the trip. In the current geopolitical environment, it was extraordinarily foolish.
Good as gold
A fascinating expose from Michael Hudson on the causes and implications of the recent rise in the price of gold. When Nixon took the US dollar off the standard in 1971 you could get an ounce for $35. Not now; Hudson explains why.
“As long as it takes”
Well it didn’t take that long: from one SecDef to another in a matter of a month. It’s time for a rethink on Ukraine and much else.
Update: Hegseth’s speech video
Is Luxon on a roll?
Or about to be rolled? Word has it that Chris Bishop is waiting in the wings, as Luxon’s favourability rating drops below Hipkins.
Police private trip to China – who to believe?
The Police say it was a private trip to learn about Chinese culture, presumably because it would help their work here. Andrew Little and Anne-Marie Brady without any evidence gave it a sinister cast.
Maire Leadbeater “The Enemy Within”
With extensive use of internal documents, Maire Leadbeater’s excellent exposition of the various iterations of the security intelligence services tells a story of constant make-work in search of an adversary defined only by ideology.
Anti-Muslim, anti-black, pro-Zionist: UK Labour goes for purge
I attended Faiza Shaheen’s impressive candidate launch in Chingford four years ago. She aimed to take on IDS and she dented his majority. Reselected two years ago by the local Labour Party, four days ago she was deselected by a 3-person kangaroo court from the party’s National Executive Committee.
Update: Faiza Shaheen to stand as an independent in Chingford.
Bonnie Jenkins: US ignores China proposal for no-first-use of nukes
Questioned by Senator Van Hollen re US response to China’s February 2024 offer of no-first-use, Assistant Secretary Bonnie Jenkins told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee they would have to think about it, but at this point had no intention of changing to a no-first use policy.
Uber Drivers in Court of Appeal
Uber Drivers are in the Court of Appeal today. Uber is appealing against Employment Court decision they they are employees with worker rights. Its a no-brainer, so they are and should have them.
“Deliberate nuclear use
in a war over Taiwan” is the title of an Atlantic Council paper produced last September. They mean nuclear weapons. These are serious people; Undersecretary Bonnie Jenkins addressed them last year about AUKUS.
USUKAs
US Undersecretary of State Bonnie Jenkins is in Wellington this week with a hard sell for us on AUKUS Pillar 2 wunderwaffen maybes. We should say tai hoa.
Where Oz goes, we go? To war with China?
Testifying to the Defence Select Committee last week, Air Marshal Short said Australia was “reshaping” its Defence Force for “a singular threat from a singular direction.” This was described as being an obvious reference to China.