The Solomons Islands security agreement with China led to paroxysms of ‘serious concern’ about militarisation of the Pacific. 3 days before the Pacific Island Forum convened, 4 US B-2 nuclear-capable stealth bombers deployed on rotation into Australia. I know what worries me most.
Not content to stay in the North Atlantic, NATO is shortly about to reveal in Madrid its next ten-year plan to contain China. Jacinda Ardern will be there, who knows why. Are we nailing our colours to a flag at half-mast?
The commercial parts of Russia’s state will do very well with plenty of customers remaining for its oil and gas. It’s $3-$4 a litre 91 everyone. Everything else in Russia is ruined.
A more sombre and quieter Anzac Day today with planned ceremonies being pared back in this post Covid world.
New Zealand does not have to settle for being small, quiet, and weak.
Morning Report today interviewed ex MI6 chemical weapons false flag specialist Hamish de Bretton-Gordon saying because Russia has lost in Ukraine it will likely resort using to chemical weapons. FiveEyes hawks want NATO to intervene, so we get World War 3, Hurrah!
Pressure for a Ukraine war settlement starting with a ceasefire will continue to mount. If this does drag out, there’s more chance of […]
New Zealand’s sanctions on Russia have not stopped the war in Ukraine. They may have made our parliamentarians feel better, and Tony Blinken was quick to congratulate us on falling into line with the US “high-impact sanctions.” The language is combative, but the evidence shows sanctions do not work. They can have significant blow-back effects, particularly if not combined with effective diplomacy.
Russia hasn’t lost an intervention in quite some time.
Russian peacekeepers are already leaving Kazakhstan having nipped the ‘colour revolution’ in the bud. Blinken clearly didn’t have a clue when he said Russians never leave the house. Russian intelligence was superb. Now we wait for Russia’s response to US likely refusal to pull back from its borders. One thing I’d bet on – no invasion of Ukraine.
When I heard US Secretary of State Blinken’s take-away line from his D.C. press conference on RNZ’s news bulletin today on events in Kazakhstan ‘I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave’ I wondered what the Iraqis would think.
As a principle the right to protest is important. But the freedumb protesters making outlandish claims and at the same time plagarizing the language of progressive protest movements deserves to be called out.
I never thought I would see the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of the United States military essentially being a witness against the previous President of the United States. Yet here we are.
With the last flights coming out of Kabul, it’s time to review whether this US attitude to the world is a good idea.
There’s so many of them here – Guyon Espiner, Anna Fifield, Lucy Craymer, Sam Sachdeva, Laura Walters, John Daniell, Emile Donovan, Paula Penfold, reef fish with the same few sources. Australian Paul Strutynski provides the textbook in his “Guide for budding foreign policy journalists wanting to work for the Nine Network or Newscorp.”
