ANZAC Day.
ANZAC Day.
Never Again.
war
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
The War on Carbon
Or a conscientious objection to any War on Climate Change, or War on Global Warming.
What’s the Game?
What the hell are Macron, May and Trump playing at?
Crazees and clowns
Can we have some sanity please?
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.
World War?
Well…don’t know about you, but I’m feeling like I want to throw up.
Australia’s war
Surprising no one: “A newly declassified report obtained by Fairfax Media reveals Australia’s role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq was undertaken solely to enhance our alliance with the US.”
Kansas ANZUS.
What to do when your erstwhile ally loses the plot?
Special Relationship 2
The Bush Blair “special relationship” was a geopolitical disaster of epic proportions. Get ready for Round 2, Trump May.
Chilcot report – Blair’s bad week
Even before its release the Chilcot report is drawing attention to the hubristic warmongering that will forever stain Blair’s time in office.
Afghanistan – a forgotten war
More than a decade after the Taliban Government was ‘regime changed’ by the west, the Taliban are resurgent and Afghan civilian deaths are as high as ever.
UK votes to bomb Syria
Turkey shoots down Russian jet
Late yesterday Turkey (a NATO member) shot down a Russian jet, either inside its airspace (Turkey claims) or over Syria (Russia claims).
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?
Finally Fighting for Democracy?
Boots on ground.
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”.
Key the “statesman” strikes again
A Bright Spark Burning…
A further piece on the peoples’ revolution within Northern Syria.
Public support for the Iraq deployment (In which the insightful and knowledgable Mike Hosking springs to the defence of the embattled PM!)
Despite the best efforts of Mike Hosking, the poll numbers tell us that Kiwis have lost their historical appetite for this kind of misadventure.
Three speeches on going to war
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.
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.
NZ sending troops to Iraq
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?
Mission Accomplished
“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.”
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.
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”.
War Begets War
We’re not good at learning from history.
Off to war
Broken promise. Lies. War. The Herald willing to believe anything to defend Brand Key. Just another day in NZ politics.
NZ troops to Iraq?
Key’s public position on sending troops to Iraq has (surprise!) changed since the election. His private position on the topic probably hasn’t changed since 2003.
Sarin
On the one hand, there is the building propaganda blitz to justify military action in Syria, and on the other…
Obama and the UK
So Barack Obama is going to adhere to the US constitution this time around ( unlike as was the case with Libya) and await the potential green light of Congress before commencing with any military action in Syria.
Syria et al.
Sometimes the most complicated and complex situation becomes clear when viewed from a simple and obvious perspective.
War talk
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…
Iraq war profiteers
I regard the invasion of Iraq as one of the most shameful events in America’s history. The made up cover story about “weapons of mass destruction” was quickly shown to be a lie. It was always about the oil. And for too many of those on the ground it was always about lining their pockets with billions of dollars worth of slush money.
Deniers are traitors
Strongly worded piece by Chris Trotter this morning: In the war for nature, the deniers are traitors … The question of why war, […]
Obama – war president
Well, any lingering hopes that Obama was something different can now be out of their misery. He’s just another American establishment politician after […]