Jihadi Justice
Should we let the ‘Bumbling Jihadi’ Mark Taylor back into NZ? What message do we send the world if we don’t?
isis
Easter Monday Round Up
Three news items stand out from the long weekend. Actor Robert De Niro being inoculated against anti-vaxxers, ISIS being driven out of Palmyra and the free part of Ireland celebrating the centenary of the Easter Rising. All are milestones of sorts, markers of positive change.
Brussels attack
Isis has claimed responsibility for the horrific attacks in Brussels that left 34 dead.
Barbaric Death Cult or friend and ally?
Spot the difference.
Hilary Benn: we never should walk by on the other side of the road
UK MP Hilary Benn has given one of the finest speeches Westminster has heard in years in the debate over Syria. It will go down as a defining moment in the fight against Daesh and proves that bombing alone is not the answer. Watch it. It’s how politics can be, when done right.
Allahu Quackbar!
4chan bombs Isis. Now that’s the way to hurt them!
Corbyn – no convincing case for UK bombing of Syria
An alternative view to Te Reo Putake’s post concerning Jeremy Corbyn and the bombing of Syria.
Corbyn’s Isis Crisis
UK Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn faces his first big test. Can he command the majority in Labour over Syria? Or should he accept he is on the wrong side of history?
Paris 2
From Hollande’s reaction it seems likely that the terrorists will accomplish their goal.
The Taji report
An American report which came out shortly before Key’s visit to our troops at Taji camp in Iraq is strongly critical of conditions there, and of the efficacy of the training process. Key claims he didn’t know, yet another of his outbreaks of “convenient ignorance”.
Our Iraq war policy explained
The government is doing a poor job at explaining our Iraq war policy, but never fear, we have the answers.
Key the “statesman” strikes again
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.
The price of the club?
Back in 2003, John Key had an interesting take on whether it was appropriate to send troops to Iraq.
If only Key was as passionate about climate change
John Key gave a somewhat rousing speech about how New Zealand would not stand back when dealing with the ISIS tyranny. It made me wonder why he is not passionate about dealing with a problem that has the potential of wrecking much of the world’s environment and making much of it it uninhabitable.
A concise description of the problems in the Middle East
The complexity of the current Middle East situation explained in a single letter to the editor.
So now it’s a family not a club
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”.
The price of the club
Yesterday Key justified our likely military intervention in Iraq as “the price” of being in “the club” with other Five Eyes countries.
Key on ISIS
Key’s much heralded speech on terrorism / ISIS is a mixed bag. As expected it will be used to justify unnecessarily increased surveillance powers. But at least we aren’t sending combat troops.
Distractify
While shepherding through horrendous housing changes and removing workers’ rights – and hiding from Dirty Politics – John Key needs a big “look over there!”
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..
Off to war
Broken promise. Lies. War. The Herald willing to believe anything to defend Brand Key. Just another day in NZ politics.