On Syria, and the lessons of the British riots
The call this morning by the Obama administration for Bashir al-Assad to leave office in Syria, and the US imposition of sanctions has been echoed […]
World – Middle East
On the Lieutenant O’Donnell inquiry
The New Zealand Defence Force never ceases to amaze. Yesterday’s report into the death last year in Afghanistan of Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell has found shortcomings […]
On the SAS defence of Afghanistan’s drug barons
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com A typical day at the office for the New Zealand forces in Afghanistan. On one hand, we passed the […]
On the crisis in Syria
In recent weeks the military crackdown by the Assad regime in Syria has become a refugee problem for neighbouring Turkey, and a media nightmare for […]
On Iran’s increasing paranoia, and its attempts to unplug from the Web
YouTube – This Is Not A Film – Teaser 1 A few months ago, Scoop ran several articles about the Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, […]
On declaring victory in Afghanistan, and getting out
No doubt, Prime Minister John Key will be waiting on his instructions from Washington and Canberra about the final timetable for the withdrawal of NZ […]
On Bin Laden, Petrobras and Jon Stephenson
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com So now that he’s dead, we can bring the troops home now, can’t we? Because the only reason our […]
Gordon Campbell on Earthquake Welfare and Libya
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com The decision to phase out the government’s support package for Christchurch business seems to have been plucked from the […]
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 Pike River, shifting RWC games, Libya
Nearly four months after the Pike River disaster, the mine’s unpaid contractors are still waiting for the promised government support package to be unveiled. The […]
On New Zealand’s links with Muammar Ghaddafi
As Libya’s dictator Muammar Ghadaffi continues to murder and terrorise his people in an attempt to cling onto power, surely Education Minister Anne Tolley will […]
On taxing purchases from Amazon, and Egypt
The current problems facing the retail book trade – and music stores – in New Zealand will increase the pressure on Revenue Minister Peter Dunne […]
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 Mubarak’s divide and rule tactics, and David Farrar
Click for big version If regime change does eventually occur in Egypt, a truly representative government in Cairo would be less pro-American, and less likely […]
On John Key’s feeble response to events in Egypt
All very well that John Key is New Zealand’s third Jewish prime minister, as the Jerusalem Post described him at the time of his election. […]
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 […]
Gordon Campbell Reviews The General Response To Wikileaks
Article – Gordon Campbell Surprisingly, there still seem to be a few liberals out there who regard Wikileaks as operating in a morally fraught, grey […]
Gordon Campbell on Helen Clark’s sob story, and the persecution of Jafar Panahi
So former Prime Minister Helen Clark is ‘incensed’ at US diplomatic cables that suggests her real reason for sending New Zealand engineers into Iraq, was […]
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 Treasury’s ideological hostility to film tax breaks
Treasury’s religious objection to tax breaks and the left wing’s objection to paying subsidies to US multinationals like Warners have converged in their joint hostility […]
On the Wikileaks window on US diplomacy
The Wikileaks release of diplomatic cables has unearthed some great moments in US diplomacy. High affairs of state? Not always. Hillary Clinton’s belief that Argentine […]
On the Games, and progress in exporting democracy
Reportedly, Scotland and Wales are sending their teams to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, while Canada and New Zealand are still delaying team departures, until […]