Graph of the day
war
Syria
Ground troops to Iraq – PM please explain
PM please explain, what the hell good would sending a few Kiwi ground troops to the ongoing disaster of the Middle East achieve? Is it the whole cost of being in the club thing again?
Imperator Fish: the Terrorist Test
Following from a tweet from Josie Pagani Imperator Fish has designed this handy quiz so that protesters can work out if they prefer ISIS to the TPP.
Paris 3 – common sense from Democrats
The fallout from the Paris attacks continues. The American political reaction is as important as it is predicable.
Paris 2
From Hollande’s reaction it seems likely that the terrorists will accomplish their goal.
Finally Fighting for Democracy?
Boots on ground.
The Ankara massacre
Terrible news from Turkey where over a hundred protesters have been killed by explosions at a peaceful protest organised to seek an end to the violence between the Kurdish separatist PKK militants and the Turkish government.
Bashar al-Assad and other Bastards.
What proper journalistic coverage of Syria looks like.
Speech to UN height of hypocrisy
Key’s little lecture to the UN would have been delivered with a lot more moral authority if it wasn’t built on the heights of hypocrisy.
Three minutes to midnight. John Key incoherent.
Same ole, same ole. Except, this time, US neoconservative imperalism might have a problem. Russia.
Wellington rallies for refugees
A great turnout at last night’s rally at Parliament to call for the government to double the quota for refugees.
Tony Abbott and the Syrian refugee crisis
In the UK, in Australia and in New Zealand conservative governments have initially refused to accept more refugees then in a matter of days they have changed their view. At the same time they have announced increased support for refugees they have announced military action against ISIS. Makes you wonder if this is based on Crosby Textor advice.
In Our Back Yard – Manus Island and Nauru
As the photo claims, refugees are human beings. We can tell this from general expressions of resignation, desperation and misery.
But what about our own expressions of humanity?
Lost the Plot
Winston’s solution to war and refugees.
Syrian refugees – National backs down
The backtrack is under way. Last week National was not budging on refugee numbers. Today they will announced an urgent passage allowing for the intake of more Syrian refugees. The focus groups have spoken. Update: and the announcement is for 600 new refugees over 3 years and $4,9 million in increased aid.
Geddis on Key’s guts
Andrew Geddis on Key’s bravado when it comes to sending other people to fight in a war, and his prevarication when it comes to helping war’s victims.
Syria and Internationalism
I wonder if the current public outpouring of sympathy for Syrian refugees is nought but a ‘fashion’, or whether it’s the beginnings of a renaissance for internationalism.
Happy Father’s day
For father’s day how about a gift of a donation to charities helping the refugees pouring into Europe?
National’s refugee backdown
In both England and New Zealand conservative Prime Ministers are looking to urgently backtrack from recent refusals to do anything further for refugees.
A flag that suits Key’s NZ
Lyndon Hood in a work of bleak genius has come up with a flag that really suits Key’s NZ.
Market forces
Rosemary Macleod on the flag and market forces. Danyl Mclauchlan on the refugee disaster, market forces, and Key. Is this our New Zealand?
How much does New Zealand spend on refugees?
The Government is under increasing pressure to increase the number of refugees that it takes. Amnesty International’s proposal to double the number could be met by less than the cost of a flag referendum.
Is Syria the first failed state because of climate change?
A climate change induced drought from 2006 to 2009 appears to have sparked the instability that has caused the Syrian Civil war. The mass exodus of citizens that we are witnessing may be the first of many climate change induced events.
Key is relaxed about widespread refugee crisis
John Key has ruled out an emergency intake of refugees and claims that New Zealand is doing its bit and that bit is enough.
Heroes and Villains
Thinking authorities in the west have yet discover the difference between their arse and their elbow…
A Bright Spark Burning…
A further piece on the peoples’ revolution within Northern Syria.
Why are we going to war?
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.
Key’s Plazatoro guts
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.
ISIS. Crowdsourcing a solution.
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.
War HUH!
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.
Revolutionary Spain, Revolutionary Syria, and the Bastards We Vote For.
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.
The Sydney siege finishes
The Sydney siege has now finished. Three people including the gunman are dead. And it is clear that the siege was caused by a lone person rather than a terrorist group.
Siege in Sydney
Up to 20 civilian hostages are being held in a Sydney chocolate shop in a developing hostage situation.
Update: The siege is over, reports suggest two dead and three injured.
Let them go to war
Back when I was a teenager, a mate of mine decided that he was going to give up on school and would get in some combat. So he worked his way into the Rhodesian Light Infantry. A few years later I heard that he’d been killed in action. Other young men going overseas with similar excitement issues have came back a lot less interested in excitement. Sounds safer to me than letting them have a car.
To arms!
We are about go to war partnered with multiple armies, none of whom is a champion of any of our democratic values of fairness, equality, human rights, or impartial justice. Meanwhile one in ten of us is about to be evicted from our state house home and put into the streets. Labour’s leadership candidates are silent in the media..
Iraq and Syria
The situation in Syria and Iraq is becoming dire as two separate civil wars rage on. This raises as an issue National’s and John Key’s attitude to the war in Iraq which has clearly destabilised any hope of civilised rule. He is now claiming to be an internationalist and to only be interested in multilateral action. But has this always been the case?