Nicky Hager’s investigative journalism explains why the government uses state surveillance against investigative journalists, academics and political activists. Jane Kelsey explains why spying is used to prevent legal activities, democratic processes and NZers speaking truth to power.
The New Zealand veterans of the Korean War got a sharp lesson from John Key yesterday as to what they and their comrades […]
Malala Yousafzei must be one of the bravest young women in the world. She was shot by the Taliban for advocating for education of young women but refuses to be silenced. She recently had the opportunity to speak to the United Nations.
Phil Twyford on Nicky Hager’s Capt Jack Lyon Memorial Lecture Uncomfortable truths, NZ foreign policy in the ‘war on terror’. As Phil notes: “I think it is a cautionary tale for any future Labour-led government with a progressive, independent foreign policy”.
Last night Maori TV screened an excellent documentary of, by and about excellent Kiwi journalism: He Toki Huna New Zealand in Afghanistan (by Kay Ellmers and Annie Goldson). Now available for viewing on Maori TV’s website. Must see viewing.
An Otago University academic and expert on computer security speaks out about the proposed new spy laws: “Surveilling the innocent – is that what we do to protect anyone or is that what we do in totalitarian society?”…
Sincere condolences to the injured, and to the families and friends of the victims killed in the Boston Marathon bombing, and the many other bombings worldwide in the last month alone.
North Korea is playing nuclear brinksmanship at the moment. Its leadership probably doesn’t want war but the constant threat of war is how it get concessions from the West, gains mana, and keeps its people in line. The West is trying to defuse this situation by talking down the prospects of war, while showing its readiness. Into this delicate, high stakes game stumbled John Key.
Key has put his foot in it again with talk of war against North Korea. Life was so much simpler when he was in opposition…
Key & Rennie say Ian Fletcher was the most suitable candidate to head the GCSB? His CV includes working on intellectual property, globalisation and free trade, & was private secretary to the Blair minister who fudged the legal advice on attacking Iraq.
News today that American military drones have passed through our airspace. Along with our own military and police drone projects, looks like our skies are going to be getting crowded.
We tend to rework reality, included political knowledge and understanding, into a basic (fictionalised) story structure, with villains, heroes, and values absorbed from pleasurable forms of fiction, including TV. This is a look at the political values embedded in some popular TV dramas.
Many want Shearer to break with neoliberalism, clearly state his politics and a new political direction. He became leader with a compelling, but worryingly selective, back-story. Party members want democratic participation. What of consensus-building, coercion, public services, social security, TPP, PPPs, state assets, sustainability?
While most of us have been strongly focused on the Labour Party Conference, an appalling act of slaughter has been going on.
Yet another thing the PM is “not responsible” for – add it to the long list. This time it is his “oversight” of the SAS. Or is Key seeking his Obama “gotcha” moment, and a political bounce from it?
Author Greg Muttitt writes on Iraq and Big Oil. A very useful contribution to our understanding of the forces shaping the geopolitical landscape and the likely shape of the coming energy conflicts.
Key owes it to the families to provide them with an explanation as to what purpose remaining in Afghanistan serves.
So, a pre-planned trip to watch a son’s baseball and a week’s holiday in the States is more important than attending 2 soldiers’ funerals. But attending 3 soldiers’ funerals outranks attending the Pacific Island Forum attended by the region’s leaders. A question for the reader: how many Little League games beats a pull aside with Julia Gillard on boat people?
3 New Zealand soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. 5 dead in a fortnight. That’s a big cost. All in the same area of Bamiyan Province. John Key has used American chickenhawk language saying “we won’t cut and run”. Actually, we’re leaving in 2013 anyway. The question is whether its worth the cost of hanging around another year.
The media is reporting that three more Kiwi soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan.
Our hearts go out to their family and friends.
I/S at No Right Turn on the latest Kiwi deaths in Afghanistan.
In the dictatorship game, you know that you’re in trouble when you’re shelling your own capital. That’s what Syria’s Assad has been reduced to as the rebellion rolls on. Initially, it appeared the fighting in Damascus could have been a repeat of Homs – drawing the rebels into a head to head fight and giving them a pasting. But, now, it looks different.
My uncle Jack Fleming joined the RNZAF two weeks after his brother Andy was killed flying a biplane against Zeros in Malaya. Jack’s first and last operational flight was in a Stirling bomber shot down over Germany; only one of the crew baled out and survived. Jackwas one of the 1861 New Zealanders who did not return home. Today a memorial will be unveiled in London’s Green Park to all those brave men.
There’s a lot of analogy between how a guerrilla movement succeeds against a superpower or a state in the era of mass communication and how protest movements can do the same. Unable to win head-on, losing becomes winning as long as the cameras are rolling. It’s about being seen as having a legitimate cause and just as importantly being seen as the victims of disproportionate force and abuse of power.
Today marks the lives and loss of lives of many New Zealanders in battle fields around the world.
One can only wonder of what they would make of the world they have fought for.
In my previous post I laid out the reasons why a NATO/US intervention in Syria is unlikely, even though the alternative will almost certainly be defeat of the freedom fighters and even more mass murder by the regime. There’s no strategic gain from the Right’s perspective and many on the Left would rather see a massacre than US military action. Homs has fallen. So, what next for the rebels?
Israel and the US have both been ratcheting up their rhetoric against Iran in the past few months and an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities looks highly likely. Just the other day, Obama told Iran to stop its nuclear programme or else adding, “I don’t bluff”. I really, really hope he’s bluffing. Because Iran’s ready to make an attack on it cost the world big time.
In a perfect world, we would all live free, in some kind of ideal democracy. We’re not there. But what we and the rest of the developed world have is a hell of a lot better than what the people of Syria have: despotic rule by the murderous son of their former murderous despot. The Syrians are trying to overthrow their tyrant, should the world help?
So the war in Iraq is “officially” over. The end of a shameful chapter.
I/S looks at two dividing lines between left and right that may help your choice in a month’s time. The first is Afghanistan. Labour has promised to bring the SAS home within 90 days. National won’t commit to withdrawing. The second is water: National wants more subsidies to polluters; Labour and the Greens want businesses to pay for their use of public resources.
David Cameron has cancelled his planned trip to Japan and New Zealand. He is facing a backbench revolt over European Union membership at the same time as he is trying to intervene in the crucial financial summit trying to sort out problems in the Euro zone on Wednesday. Oh well, one less photo op for John Key – perhaps its just as well as Britain’s future isn’t getting brighter.
Perhaps Mr Key’s staff might like to explain to him what the implications of this development, in conjunction with the recent UN Report […]
When an armed force takes prisoners in a war, they have a responsibility to ensure that the prisoners are treated according to international law – eg they aren’t tortured. Are the prisoners our SAS takes being tortured? The Defence Minister says ‘dunno’. Not good enough. If our soldiers are delivering prisoners to torturers, that’s a war-crime.
John Key says we must stay in Afghanistan to honour the dead, leaving us to wonder who’ll be the last to die for […]
Key says we have to leave men in Afghanistan, killing and dying, to “honour” the ones we’ve lost. Typical chickenhawk bullshit. This isn’t about ‘tearism’ or ‘Afghanistanians’ or ‘honour’. It’s all about PR. All about politics. Before Smith’s even in the ground, this arsehole Key is spinning his death for PR. Just like Pike River. Just like the earthquake dead.
We have been lied to by our Prime Minister. He told us the SAS was going to Afghanistan to train government soldiers. 10% casualties (2 deaths, 2 injuries) in 3 months makes it clear we’re fighting on the frontline for one side in a civil war. Trying to justify our losses and that the SAS wants to be there are not reasons to stay. The Jackel takes up the story.
