Divide and Prosper – the evil genius of the UAE
Israel is the UAE’s close ally. They collaborate on the War on Iran and in heartless state-destruction campaigns for greater geopolitical weight in the region
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war
Syria
Why Asia-Pacific should back Iran
Ceasefire will only be a pause in the long-running US-Israeli campaign for regime change in Iran. The good news for our region is that Iran’s resilience pushes back the looming risk of a US-led war on China.
ANZAC Day.
ANZAC Day.
Never Again.
Global Britain fell with Singapore
Today February 15th is the 80th anniversary of the fall of Singapore in 1942, described by many as Britain’s worst military disaster. It was a massive strategic fail, and its effect is still powerful today, most notably with Australia’s lockstep with the US. Current British strategists don’t seem to have learnt a thing.
Blinken and Blind-Sided?
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.
Unwanted guests?
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.
The Top 20 Biggest U.S. Military Interventions, Best to Worst
With the last flights coming out of Kabul, it’s time to review whether this US attitude to the world is a good idea.
Uyghur separatists behind call for Parliamentary motion on genocide
On Morning Report today ‘High Court lawyer’ Sam Vincent called for Parliament to resolve to condemn alleged Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang. He said he spoke on behalf of Uyghur Solidarity Aotearoa committed to taking action on Xinjiang “or as they call it East Turkestan.” If they call it East Turkestan they are likely separatists, with possible links to terrorists. That explains a lot.
Oh Look! (What. a. surprise.)
Mainstream media yet again aiding and abetting the character assassination of whistle blowers.
LBJ Redux
What if the American assassination of General Soleimani results in the complete withdrawal of US troops from the Middle East?
That 1914 Feeling
President Trump personally ordered the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite military Quds force. He was killed by rockets fired from US drones over Baghdad Airport. This is unlawful by any standards, as well as an act of war. Iran has promised retaliation.The doomsday clock just moved closer to midnight.
OPCW Scandal.
There was no chemical attack in Douma.
Trump sacks Bolton – oil price nosedives!
This has been rumoured for some time now. It’s good news – peace now has a chance, as Trump has woken up to the fact that a shooting war would not be good for his re-election. Also Bolton’s hard-line strategy was failing everywhere.
Jihadi Justice
Should we let the ‘Bumbling Jihadi’ Mark Taylor back into NZ? What message do we send the world if we don’t?
Saudi Arabia and the United States
Saudi Arabia is preparing to admit that the U.S. resident and investigative reporter did indeed die in their embassy in Turkey.
Second Kremlin Killer Unmasked, Putin Untroubled
We know the real names of the Russian spies who bungled the Salisbury novichok poisoning. Will it make a difference to the Kremlin’s plans?
Quite a day or two then!
A quick smorgasbord of reported news from Syria, to China and Sweden, to antisemitism and (hidden behind the links) an interview with (hopefully) the first woman who will serve as President of the USA.
Updated
Trump meets Putin
Some things that President Trump won’t do as when meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
And then there was….
The aftermath of Douma chemical attacks and Skripal poisonings…
No Iran Israeli War.
In spite of all the sharp intakes of breathe going on across media outlets, there will be no war between Iran and Israel. Here’s why.
Grotesque.
People from Douma have been to The Hague and spoken of their experiences on the night of a supposed chemical attack by Syrian forces.
Photoshop Wars?
The Independent’s Robert Fisk reports from Douma, where he interviewed one of the clinic doctors who said that the images that outraged Trump, May and Macron were real, but the cause was oxygen starvation from dust, not poisonous gas. Could it be that misleading images started a bombing war? What might this say about Western values?
Compassion?
May claimed she couldn’t wait until Monday before unleashing compassion on Syria on Friday night. Which brought a line from this to mind….
The Government’s response to the Syrian crisis
Jacinda Ardern has accepted the US, UK and French response to the Syrian crisis. Should she have instead condemned it?
The Humanity.
Apparently “this lot” really do care about people.
What’s the Game?
What the hell are Macron, May and Trump playing at?
Crazees and clowns
Can we have some sanity please?
Evidence-based foreign policy
In the second stage of a false flag attack, facts go out the window and the sole issue becomes “are you for us or against us.” Our media and National Party politicians are well into this stage in the Skripal affair. But as questions mount and skeptics proliferate from all sides, Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters may well be wiser than media advisers by not following blindly the western herd. 26 countries is not the whole world. Update: Porton Down unable to establish Novichok of Russian origin.
Democracy, Faux Democracy and Terror.
Facebook, Putin, poisoning and Ghouta have all given fairly extensive media coverage of late. Nothing much on Afrin. Afrin has just fallen to terrorists backed by Turkey.
Update: the photo used for this post is of the The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA), who are part of the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces fighting in Syria.
Russian to Judgment
The possible poisoning of Sergei Skripal and the consequent hysteria have all the signs of another false flag operation, as we saw before the second American invasion of Iraq. The chain of circumstantial evidence has more holes in it than a swiss cheese, and while attempted murder (if that is what it is) is a criminal act Winston Peters and Jeremy Corbyn are sane voices calling for evidence before any attribution still less action.
States United.
On how states in conflict, have seemingly and nevertheless, managed to share in the likely or possible creation of one common goal.
Middle East Changes
If there is a change of Government what should Labour do about requests for military assistance in the Middle East?
Black is White. Up is Down.
Media have a role to play, apparently…
Framing Syria
If you’re determined to believe that western liberal democracy is essentially benign and only ever makes mistakes and honest mis-judgements, or is something that’s sometimes marred by an odd ‘bad apple’ or two, then this post on Syria probably isn’t the post for you.
Syria sarin capitalism and war
The dirty truth behind many of the wars that our political / media world gets itself so excited about is that they wouldn’t be happening without the arms that we (the “western” world) sell so copiously.
National’s response to the Syria attack
Unlike the Australian and United Kingdom Governments’ response to the American attack has been muted and confused. Is this just the nature of anything that Bill English says or is it an attempt to assess public opinion before responding?