Gordon Campbell on Luxon’s second-hand clothes
According to National’s leader Christopher Luxon and the fawning media coverage of the caucus gathering in Queenstown, its “game on!” Not a great metaphor, folks. […]
Afghanistan
Gordon Campbell on Taliban hardliners, and a lockdown playlist of drug songs
Well, so much for early hopes that the new Taliban “caretaker” government would be more inclusive, and moderate. Instead, we’ve got a Cabinet that is […]
Gordon Campbell on how New Zealand can get itself a safe, purpose-built Covid isolation facility
Over the past few months, one of the few things that the “Covid elimination” strategists and the “we have to live with Covid” advocates have […]
Gordon Campbell on how Delta has changed the endgame for the pandemic
Lockdown vs Delta. Day by day, New Zealand is learning whether a Level Four lockdown can confine and eventually defeat the Delta variant. Yes, the […]
Gordon Campbell on the media’s handling of (a) the Afghan crisis, and (b) the hacked DHB material
Reportedly, there has been “chaos “in downtown Kabul and “chaos“ out at the Kabul airport. “Chaos” has become one of the go-to terms of modern […]
Gordon Campbell on the fall of Kabul
Like a giant Ponzi scheme, the 20 year experiment in nation-building in Afghanistan has come crashing down, in pieces. Since the US and its allies […]
Gordon Campbell on how New Zealand is punching below its weight in Afghanistan
First Vietnam, now Afghanistan. For the second time in living memory, the West has been defeated by the guerrilla forces of a small Third World […]
Gordon Campbell on why we should abolish the military
Last Friday, Defence Minister Peeni Henare announced his intention to seek savings within the circa $20 billion allocated to Defence over the next decade or […]
Gordon Campbell on welcoming Pfizer’s vaccine, and saying goodbye to Afghanistan
Good news, meet bad news. Co-incidentally, on the same day that New Zealand delivers its first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to our frontline border […]
Gordon Campbell on the virtues (and fluffed opportunities) of the Operation Burnham report
One unspoken rule of thumb in any official public inquiry is : whatever you do, don’t conclude you were made to listen to “a litany […]
Gordon Campbell on the US (and NATO) surrender in Afghanistan
The deal that has just been has struck to end the involvement of the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan bears the usual hallmarks […]
Gordon Campbell on stoking fears about cannabis law reform
It was always going to be hard to have a rational debate on cannabis reform. Far easier for politicians to win votes by stoking alarm.
Gordon Campbell on why New Zealand should be compensating the Afghan civilian casualties on its old firing range
Reportedly, there have been 17 civilian deaths and injuries (seven of the dead were children) caused by ordnance left behind on the firing range of our Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamiyan province.
Gordon Campbell on this week’s damning report into the SIS/GCSB’s tacit compliance with torture
The IGIS report investigates NZ’s role in the CIA’s illegal system of rendition and torture of captives in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.
Gordon Campbell on how the Americans are helping us realise the scale of the Operation Burnham fiasco
New Zealand lawyers have been forced to rely on the relatively open US military and FOIA processes in order to be able to participate adequately in a New Zealand inquiry
Gordon Campbell on why we should care about the US exit from Afghanistan
The history of harm done by the US military is now tending to obscure the harm that’s being done by the polar opposite impulse: American isolationism.
Gordon Campbell on our military roles in Iraq and Afghanistan
Yesterday, PM Jacinda Ardern committed this country to an extension of our military deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, pending a review early next year…
Gordon Campbell on regime change, bombs and Syria
Now that America has found its greatness again the traditional way – by bombing someone – the misgivings have set in.
Gordon Campbell on war crimes and the Afghan insurgency
Truly, with friends like former defence Minster Wayne Mapp, the SAS does not need enemies.
Gordon Campbell on the Hit and Run book
Without an independent inquiry into this incident it will remain a blot on our military record, and on any subsequent Anzac Day celebrations of the exploits of our troops abroad.
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