On the Brash coup attempt, and Sean Penn
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com For now, the attempt at a hostile takeover of the Act Party by former National Party leader Don Brash […]
Humanitarianism
On the intervention in Libya
Click for big version Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Was the intervention in Libya justified – and if so, does that mean the invasion […]
On the ongoing saga of prisoners' right to vote
Last year, and despite the objections of its own Attorney-General, the Key government removed the right of all prisoners to vote. That puts us outside […]
Gordon Campbell on the Winston Peters veto (plus Egypt, Haiti)
So if voters return Winston Peters in government, the National Party will not work with him in any governing coalition. Fair enough. It is up […]
On the Key government’s lame response to Jafar Panahi
Click for big version The audience goes in to a support screening of Jafar Panahi’s film ‘Offside’ in Wellington on Sunday. Down at the Ministry […]
On Hone Harawira, and Jafar Panahi at the Oscars
None of the recommendations from yesterday’s hui in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate are likely to delight the Maori Party leadership, but the one that […]
On the campaign to free Jafar Panahi, and Julian Assange
Credit: Cine del Sur Just before Christmas, Scoop reported on the silencing of Iran’s leading film-maker, Jafar Panahi. Panahi has been imprisoned by the authorities […]
On disenfranchising prisoners, and 'Desperate Housewives' as a Saudi tool of oppression
The pre-Christmas period is traditionally a time for dumping politically noxious material on the public, in the hope they’ll be too distracted to notice. Certainly, […]
On the government’s hostility towards women
Image: Pay equity campaigners want “no stone unturned” Once again, the Key government has shown it doesn’t give a stuff about issues that primarily affect […]
On our first combat death in Afghanistan
The first fatality in the New Zealand deployment in Afghanistan has occurred on the same day the Dutch ended their deployment in Uruzgan province, as […]
On the Gaza inquiry, and new twists in the Carter affair
It may seem ‘too late’ to announce the appointment of a UN inquiry panel into the Gaza flotilla raid. Whether it is also ‘too little’ […]
On Haiti, as the hurricanes arrive
Six months after the Haiti earthquake, only a trickle of the $10 billion in aid that had been pledged by dozens of countries and multilateral […]
On John Key getting us mixed up in Australia’s problems with asylum seekers
Click for big version Asylum seekers? We’ve been here before under a National-led government. In 1999, the then-Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere used the spectre of […]
On Julia Gillard, and Simon Power
Julia Gillard’s ascent to the top job in Australia will face its first major policy test in the next fortnight, as she will have to […]
On the rugby apology to Maori, the Gaza blockade and lying about Kiwibank
Isn’t there something truly weird about any Maori Party request to government for an apology over the exclusion of Maori players from tours to apartheid-era […]
On the need for New Zealand to condemn the Gaza blockade
The Israeli attack on the Turkish aid convoy to Gaza, and its subsequent slaughter of the civilians on board is being condemned around the world. […]
On the international aid flotilla now approaching Gaza
Some days ago, a flotilla of nine ships left a port in Turkey bound for the Gaza enclave, laden with medical and building supplies and […]
Gordon Campbell: Deliberate defeat in Afghanistan
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp’s main contribution to the House debate yesterday on Afghanistan was that New Zealand would want to see an improvement in the […]
Gordon Campbell On The Afghan Marital Rape Law
New Zealand has a special interest in the rape law that Hamid Karzai has reportedly sneaked into effect only days before the Afghan election on […]
Our cozying up to the military regime in Burma
If the military regime in Fiji deserves smart sanctions against its officials, relatives, supporters and sports teams – and it does – then you’d think […]
Putting the SAS back into Afghanistan
Who has stolen John Key’s brain? The Prime Minister who only a couple of months ago was demanding to see a viable exit strategy before […]
McCully’s oversell of changes to our foreign aid programme
The belated release yesterday of the April 23 Cabinet papers on the changes to New Zealand’s aid programme suggest that Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully […]
Events in Fiji
Chris Trotter is well able to look after himself, but the recent criticism on him by No Right Turn over the Fiji situation is worth […]
WINZ and food banks, and Fiji
[For Fiji click here] A few months ago, Scoop asked Paula Bennett at John Key’s post-Cabinet press conference whether she saw a pressing need – […]
The Helen Clark appointment
While Helen Clark’s appointment to a four year term as administrator of the United Nations Development Plan is a major personal achievement, let’s not lose […]
The Forces Foreclosing Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Options
Image: The White House. See… President Bush Welcomes President-Elect Obama While Barack Obama’s attention has been focused almost entirely on the plight of the US […]