“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
International
Moving beyond wtaf?
The Musk takeover
What does Trump have against Canada?
And why isn’t New Zealand backing Canada against Trump’s self declared trade war?
Cancun Cruz’s crazy tweet
Ted Cruz has criticised New Zealand for requiring all Israelis to detail their military experience before coming to New Zealand. But there is a problem with this. He is wrong.
What will he do next?
I did not think it possible but it seems that every week Donald Trump does something that makes me think even worse of him.
Keep on Digging
The latest outbursts and brain farts from the great Kumara of the North…
Open to all today in Nick’s Kōrero – Shane Jones calls climate change ‘woke’ and says, ‘Send the Mexicans home’.
The future dystopia
He’s baack. The man least suited to running the world’s most powerful country is now President again.
The World has too many Oligarchs
In his final speech Joe Biden has warned the world about the dangers posed by Oligarchs supporting the right into democratic power. He is right.
President Biden’s Accomplishments
It’s common these days to see the rapid 2024 exit of multiple global social democrat leaders as just a post-COVID symptom of democratic impatience. But Biden achieved far more than his age-related decline obscures.
Winston’s Next Job
While he scoops up behind Minister Willis’s Cook Strait ferry disaster, he’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and our primary lead on the rise of President Trump and boy does he have a job ahead of him.
President Trump makes a new Middle East Possible
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump makes more things possible in the Middle East than the Biden administration.
Wage theft – now that is a real crime
In Australia, the Fair Work Act is enhanced to provide for jail time and large fines for individuals and companies who deliberately indulged in wage theft. It is a Federal act with investigative powers. Our members ‘Theft by Employers’ bill looks pathetic by comparison. But worth passing in its 3rd reading. It would be a “real tough on crime” act – not weak like Mark Mitchell’s tee-shirt snatch.
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.
Foreign interference Bill ‘repressive tool’ to intimidate public: former minister
New Zealand is set to update sedition and espionage laws, making these as harsh as those of other Western states that are now gearing up for war with Russia and China.
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.
Tax and the Splintering World
The resurgence of the tax debate reflects impacts of neo-liberal economic policy and developments in the global economy over the last half century. As Labour considers further its approach to tax policy, this wider context should be considered
END GAME
What is the game plan for the Coalition government? What characteristics can we observe and what is the “end game?”
The Left Trumped?
We woke up last week to the post-mortem on the US election. How and why Trump won, and their implications for political alignments everywhere, are front and centre. A fundamental issue, explicitly identified when Trump won in 2016, is the presence of large sections of the working class vote into the Trump camp. So why has that happened – again?
What happened?
Why did America vote for the least suitable candidate imaginable? And what are the implications for New Zealand politics?
The Axis of Genocide
The West, “will stand by the Israeli regime until they exterminate the last Palestinian”, says Mohammad Seyed Marandi, an American-Iranian academic. Despite being appalled at my government, I winced as a New Zealander to hear my country described as part of the Axis of Genocide.
US Election 2024
Discussion post.
The 2024 US Election: A No-Win Scenario
Tuesday (Wednesday in NZ) is election day in the United States of America. Where billionaires buy elections, the President is not elected by popular vote, and the nominee of the Republican Party attempted to overturn the results after he was voted out of office four years ago. Somehow, despite his crimes, Donald Trump is a coin-toss away from taking back the White House.
Seven days and counting
Please American voters do the right thing. Signed the rest of the world.
#VoteHarris
US is spending $28 billion to colonise your brain
Whoever owns the narrative owns the world – and things just got a lot tougher for those of us opposed to US influence campaigns. In a staggering increase in funding for propaganda and covert action the US House has passed the Countering the PRC (People’s Republic of China) Malign Influence Fund, kicking in an extra $1.6 billion.
Will This Be a One-Term Government?
Elliot Crossan at System Change Aotearoa reviews the past year. Despite the tepid public support for this government’s problematic actions, he warns that ‘The Right Is United By Power — Don’t Underestimate Them’
Gormless Government releases confidential legal advice on Charter School law
The Government has mistakenly released confidential legal advice confirming that the Charter School legislation breaches ILO conventions, free trade agreements and potentially the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
Willis’s Bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander Cancellation
Nicola Willis’s bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander project cancellation has so far cost Kiwis $1bn, but that’s not all. Today RNZ’s reporting reveals the government may have also undermined NZ’s relationship with South Korea.
Roger Douglas Has a Lesson for the Left
Roger Douglas, the most revolutionary minister in the postwar history of Aotearoa, knew how to exert change in three years. Rogernomics transformed the economy with dizzying speed, from protectionist welfare state to a neoliberal free market. Elliot Crossan argues that the left needs to take the same approach to end the era of neoliberalism.
And now for something completely different
Ok that is different. So appropriate. And I wonder how the Royal Navy will respond.
Luxon’s Support for AUKUS 2 is Against Our Interests
It is well time the Prime Minister set out how it is in our interests to move against China by buying into AUKUS.
NZ not attending Nagasaki event, insists decision unrelated to Israel invite snub
New Zealand’s decision to stay away from the event in Nagasaki paying tribute to victims of the city’s 1945 nuclear bombing called outrageous.
English rising anti-fascism
This is more hope than I have felt about humans in a long time
Israel is in Serious Trouble
Israel’s failure to solve its own problems, its weakening democratic institutions, fraying civil patience, massive wastage of global patience and U.S. aid, and inability to plan for civic success following military conflict, point to a country in very serious trouble with no apparent way out.
The Promises of Lange, Moore, Bolger, and the WTO
In 2024 we ought to ask if the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s has delivered on what was promised.
ALP knows how to redress wrongs. NZ dithers
God Bless the ALP, Bill Shorten and all the Labour MP’s across the ditch for tackling the real issues facing people with disabilities in Australia. It takes courage, fortitude, a good heart to seek redress to wrongs done to the weakest amongst us. They are taking those steps.
NZ government are just good at dithering.
Resisting US pressure for NZ to sacrifice itself to defend US hegemony against China
Don Brash is now publicly standing together with Helen Clark to protest against the subservience of recent New Zealand governments to America’s anti-China policy.