In popular culture, Australia is often portrayed as Western civilisation’s last unspoiled frontier, or as its final refuge from planetary disaster. In Nevil Shute’s best-selling […]
One fascinating aspect of this withdrawal decision is that it is not a case of victory over ISIS having being declared and everyone else going home at the same time, too.
Centre-left governments will give Defence whatever it says it needs, for fear that a “No” will result in them being labelled a bunch of peaceniks.
The Trump/Kaiser parallels are quite unnerving…
Why is New Zealand taking part in military war games aimed at our main trading partner?
Budgies, so their Wikipedia page says, are popular pets around the world due to their small size, low cost, and ability to mimic human speech. […]
In his victory speech at the Cannes film festival this week, the British film director Ken Loach warned that the rise of far right parties […]
Is this any way to run a health system… whereby terminally ill patients are forced into public demonstrations before the government (and its funding agency […]
One of the interesting line items in this month’s Budget will be the one that sets out the increase – if any – in Pharmac’s […]
Don’t mention the South China Sea dispute. Oh, but he will! Earlier this week, the image of dauntless Prime Minister John Key not backing down […]
What is the more rational use of taxpayer money? In one instance, we have New Zealanders with orthopedic problems living in pain until they can […]
It has been a fairly typical week for this government… mental health services in Christchurch slashed, further massive cuts to DHB funding, and the abdication […]
The good thing about the Syrian peace deal announced on Friday is that it might create a small space for humanitarian relief, but… the ceasefire […]
Tomorrow, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee and Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating will be in Brussels for a ministerial meeting of the so-called […]
One of the great things about writing online is that if you have a bad morning, readers will pick up on it, and take you […]
According to polls, a third of Republican voters in Iowa want Islam to be criminalized. Unfortunately, the cornfields of middle America aren’t the only place […]
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has just returned from a quick visit to our troops in Iraq, where he reportedly discovered that (a) Iraq […]
There’s a simple historical precedent for what is occurring in Syria. During WWII, the Allies joined forces with a known butcher and tyrant – Joseph […]
Though it isn’t being mentioned, Islamic State was really the elephant in the room in the final phase of the decade-long negotiations on Iran’s nuclear […]
For sheer style, humour and content fit for purpose, it would be hard to beat yesterday’s Greenpeace protest at Parliament. The fact that the hanging […]
It is unusual for anyone to vote for an early execution, but that’s effectively what President Barack Obama’s friends in the US Senate have just […]
Don’t know about you, but when hi-jinks and horsing around are going on, my understanding is that everyone involved is supposed to be having a […]
For decades, the ringing statements on human rights by various European and US governments have been undermined by the diplomatic support they’ve given to the […]
There had been a fortnight of fevered buildup. Yet here we are in the aftermath of the February 28 showdown between the new Syriza government […]
Given that it has been politically packaged and sold as a training mission, the Iraq deployment announced yesterday by Prime Minister John Key seemed to […]
There are two ways of framing the story of our troop deployment in Iraq. They go roughly like this: The Official Version : We are […]
On RNZ this morning, Labour leader Andrew Little expressed his support for air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State – and by doing so, he […]
The boundary line between our troops having (a) an ‘advise and assist’ role in Iraq and (b) an actual combat role – which Prime Minister […]
One of the main achievements of the Clark government was that it kept New Zealand out of overt involvement in the 2003 Iraq invasion. It […]
When Parliament resumes on October 20, Prime Minister John Key will reportedly be making a major speech on security and intelligence issues. The speech is […]
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