Amnesty International has release chilling video footage and analysis suggesting the Israeli armed forces committed war crimes against civilians during last year’s assault on Gaza.
Native Affairs reporter Ruwani Perera and cameraman Jacob Bryant have been arrested by Israeli forces for being part of a peace flotilla wanting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. If Murray McCully wants to achieve peace in the Middle East he could start by demanding that they be released and that the delivery of aid to Gaza be allowed.
A respectful open letter to Andrew Little with suggestions for how to win the next election!
Supporters of Tony Blair’s third way and the need for Labour to be aspirational should reflect on recent reports of his huge wealth earned with taxpayer support while he has been engaged on official business.
If Saudi Arabia’s justice system and human rights record is as bad as Amnesty says it is, then this is not a country that we should be seeking closer economic ties with. Why the double standard?
100 years ago today ANZAC forces landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. They are remembered.
Image from NZ History.
It was touch and go at Wellington Airport as the great-niece of a Gallipoli soldier raced to meet Labour leader Andrew Little to get him to deliver a medal to Turkey on her behalf.
Everyone else is giving their reckons on the treatment of ANZAC Day this year, as we commemorate the centenary of the first year of World War I. So here are mine.
Has the spirit of ANZAC Day become subsumed by the commercial imperative?
Terrorism in NZ? The Herald was in a frenzy yesterday, because apparently we are a “sitting duck”. But, hang on…
The government is doing a poor job at explaining our Iraq war policy, but never fear, we have the answers.
Yesterday the mask slipped and John Key admitted the real reason our deployment to Iraq is only for two years: so he can win an election.
Thinking authorities in the west have yet discover the difference between their arse and their elbow…
A further piece on the peoples’ revolution within Northern Syria.
I’d love to share these two posts with you and pick your brains on what you think!
National’s justification for going to war against ISIS suffers from two fundamental problems, it is supporting an Iraqi regime that is corrupt and working against the best interests of all of its people, and there is no plan to convert Iraq into a sustainable state.
Despite the best efforts of Mike Hosking, the poll numbers tell us that Kiwis have lost their historical appetite for this kind of misadventure.
After the formal speeches on the Iraq deployment John Key set off on an extraordinary spittle-flecked rant against Labour. His “get some guts line” is going to haunt him for the next 3 years.
A petition to oppose sending troops to Iraq has gained over 9,000 signatures in its first 24 hours. You can sign the petition here.
The first three speeches from yesterdays session in Parliament on sending troops to Iraq – John Key, Andrew Little, Russel Norman. Little’s speech is cogent, Norman’s is brilliant.
John Key’s frothing exhortation to Andrew Little in Parliament to “get some guts” reminds one of opera’s famous Duke of Plazatoro “who led his regiment from behind, he found it less exciting.” Key’s not going to Iraq – our soldiers are the ones in danger.
Back in 2003, John Key had an interesting take on whether it was appropriate to send troops to Iraq.
So, we’re off to Iraq. If the answer to ISIS isn’t sending Kiwi troops, what do Standardistas think practical alternatives might be?
EDIT: Key announces 143 troops to go to Iraq and support staff.
New Zealand will be sending troops to Iraq, and you read it first on The Standard. Or in other words, why are we still pretending that the decision hasn’t been made?
“You gotta hand it to John Key: the timing is perfect. On a slow-news Friday at a time when the media is falling over itself to hype the cricket world cup, the last veil drops to reveal al Jaafari and his request for assistance.”
NZ is again being asked to go to war in Iraq. The Clark Labour Government said no a decade ago, but in 2015 there may be a compelling reason to join the fight; this time it’s the right thing to do. New Standard author te reo putake puts the case for NZ entering the battle against ISIS.
It seems that just as the 30’s offered the chance to turn dreams into reality, Syria is offering that chance up to ‘the left’ today. Suddenly, for me, the recent travel bans and the passport confiscation laws etc make sense since we are potentially looking at an international influx of non-nutters and non- psychopaths as happened during the Spanish Revolution of the 30s.
There’s a fascinating article in the latest New Statesman titled “An Empire that speaks English: the right’s dream of a new world order.” Suddenly UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond’s recent visit here makes sense. So does John Key’s references to sending troops to Iraq on behalf of the “club” or the “family” – he’s at the heart of the Empire.
The complexity of the current Middle East situation explained in a single letter to the editor.
Perhaps John Key should consider a Churchillian thought before he rushes to send our young to die in Iraq.
John Key wanted to be in the Five Eyes “club”, but I guess that didn’t focus group well, so now we’re being fed a new line – “family”.
I think when justifying sending troops to Iraq the club John Key is really talking about is the group of right-wing political parties known as the International Democratic Union. Today Key chairs its Executive in Sarajevo, his first meeting as President. This move by Key to the IDU is calculated; he sees himself as leader of the world right-wing club and this is the first step to his international political career post New Zealand politics.
Yesterday Key justified our likely military intervention in Iraq as “the price” of being in “the club” with other Five Eyes countries.
