Gordon Campbell on Oprah as a presidential hopeful
Oprah for President…That was one of those summer silly season stories, right ? Maybe not. On the morning after the Golden Globes Awards ceremony where […]
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Gordon Campbell on tobacco politicking, and the TPP death watch
Has Act leader David Seymour got the easiest job in the world, or what?
Gordon Campbell on the rise of the far right, and battle bots
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on the future of conservatism
For years, observers have noted the contrast between Prime Minister John Key’s ordinary Kiwi bloke persona, and the patrician prat more commonly seen in Parliament. […]
Gordon Campbell on Trump and the Madman Theory
Years ago, Richard Nixon explained to his chief adviser Bob Haldeman what has since become known as the “Madman Theory” of foreign policy. Basically, if […]
Gordon Campbell on the (missing) US links to the Panama Papers, and Merle Haggard
Belatedly, US complicity in the global tax avoidance systems is now trickling out into daylight. To some, one of the suspicious aspects of the scandal […]
Gordon Campbell on whether Donald Trump has peaked
For the past ten days, the world has been daring to hope that the wheels may finally be coming off the Trump bandwagon – sufficiently […]
Gordon Campbell on where Hillary Clinton may be worse than Trump
Anyone with misgivings about Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions had them confirmed in spades by Clinton’s appalling speech this week on the Israel/Palestine conflict. In one […]
Gordon Campbell on how Obama’s Supreme Court choice says everything (bad) about his presidency
Nothing has epitomised the presidency of Barack Obama quite like his Supreme Court nominees. Time and again, Republican presidents will blithely nominate right wing ideological […]
Gordon Campbell on the security services review, and Bernie Sanders’ victory against the TPP
To no-one’s real surprise, the Cullen/Reddy review of the security services has recommended an extension of the powers of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), […]
Gordon Campbell on Rubio’s last stand, and tonight’s Sleater-Kinney show
Well, it certainly was entertaining to watch Rubio succeed in getting under Donald Trump’s skin the other day, in the last debate before tomorrow’s Super […]
Gordon Campbell on the support for the Clintons among black voters
Nevada has been conducting its politics via caucuses only since 2004, and the state’s tepid interest in this method of democratic expression still shows. Historically, […]
Gordon Campbell on the middle class anger behind the rise of Donald Trump
One of the best examples of the Alice Through The Looking Glass nature of US politics occurred on the weekend, when Donald Trump – in […]
Gordon Campbell on the bogus Syrian peace deal, and Judge Antonin Scalia
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on the Bernie Sanders aftermath
Even as Bernie Sanders was celebrating his win yesterday in New Hampshire, the road ahead for the Sanderistas seemed as dark as ever. The notion […]
Gordon Campbell on the US pressure to expand our role in Iraq
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on the Treaty/TPP overlap, and the Iowa backwash
Click for big version. The people who point out that we already have investor-state dispute settlement provisions in other trade deals and ‘so far so […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s free education plan, Iowa and Jefferson Airplane
The “free” education policy that Labour has just unveiled has some obvious shortcomings. The universities are right to stress that the cuts to their net […]
Gordon Campbell on Clinton, Sanders, Trump and Cruz
Come November, the world will have a new US president-elect and the least unlikely winner still looks to be Hillary Clinton. Right now though, the […]
Gordon Campbell on the Dotcom extradition decision
Inevitably – and with justification – Kim Dotcom has already lodged an appeal against yesterday’s District Court decision that he is eligible for extradition to […]
Gordon Campbell on the rejection of a Pakistani polio worker
Too bad that the New Zealand Immigration and Protection (hah!) Tribunal don’t know how to use Google. If they did, their bizarre decision to send […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s endorsement of a combat role
Normally, it is governments that drop their unpalatable measures in the shadow of Christmas, but this time the Labour Opposition is doing so. Apparently, if […]
Gordon Campbell on how the Republicans just buried the TPP
In case you were still holding your breath about the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, you can relax. For months, it has seemed increasingly unlikely […]
Gordon Campbell on why Islamic State’s growing weakness makes it more dangerous
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on Islam and the Paris attacks
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on copyright, the Authors Guild case and the TPP
A few days ago, Google finally and comprehensively won a very long-running case brought against it by the Authors Guild which had claimed that Google’s […]
Gordon Campbell on John Key’s trip to Iraq
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on Serco’s emerging role as the government’s favourite corporate crony, and the TPP fallout
There’s no success like failure, as Bob Dylan once said, and Serco’s failures mean nothing but trouble on the horizon for ordinary New Zealanders. Unfortunately, […]
Gordon Campbell on the TPP deal reached in Atlanta
If the TPP was the Rugby World Cup, the New Zealand team probably wouldn’t be making it out of pool play. While the final details […]
Gordon Campbell on New Zealand’s TPP done deal on dairy, and on investor-state disputes
For five years, the public has been denied any meaningful information about the content and progress of the TPP – on the bogus excuse that […]