Is Kaiser Bill alive and well in the White House?
The Trump/Kaiser parallels are quite unnerving…
World War
Gordon Campbell on the SIS crying wolf, the Syrian end game and Max Edwards RIP
In the wake of the Cullen/Reddy review of the security services – and the suggested extension of their powers – it seems healthy to highlight […]
Gordon Campbell on our underfunded Syrian refugee intake, and dairy industry carnage
Once again, our little show pony Prime Minister is prancing around the world offering to take in refugees – from Syria, from Nauru – while […]
Gordon Campbell on the Defence Force’s spending bonanza
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 […]
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 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 our Feeble Response to Atrocities in SA
With an ally like Saudi Arabia, who needs enemies? In the past 15 years, the West can thank the House of Saud for • Providing […]
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 Turkey And Russia
So why did Turkey shoot down that Russian plane? According to the Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, it was all about Turkey (a) being hand in […]
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 our role in the deliberate non-defeat of Islamic State
Unlike the US and (allies like New Zealand) Russia and Iran have a very clear goal for their intervention in Syria. Russia and Iran want […]
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 Putin’s diplomatic coup over Syria
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on selecting refugees, Aussie generosity and a cat video
Now that we know how many Syrian refugees New Zealand will accept, the focus can shift onto how they’ll be selected, and the criteria in […]
Gordon Campbell on the economic bad news, and Turkey’s fears about the Kurds
Traditionally, voters regard National as a more competent manager of the economy. It is the sole upside of crony capitalism: surely these guys must know […]
Gordon Campbell on climate change protest, and Iraq training
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 […]
Gordon Campbell Key’s abuse of secrecy over Iraq & The TPP
Gordon Campbell on John Key’s abuse of secrecy over Iraq, and the TPP For the past week or so we’ve been hearing a lot about […]
Gordon Campbell on the hair-pulling finale and Gallipoli
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on dollar parity with Australia, and disarming Israel
As the New Zealand dollar edges towards parity with the Aussie dollar, it seems facile to treat this as some game of Transtasman arm-wrestling that […]
Gordon Campbell on the inadequate response to sexual violence prevention
On combatting sexual violence, the government has finally begun to undo some of the problems that were of its own making. Early in March, ACC […]
Gordon Campbell on the role of South African mercenaries in the war on terrorism
For anyone with memories of the apartheid era, there will be mixed feelings about the news this week that South African mercenaries are playing a […]
Gordon Campbell on the legal fudging of the GCSB revelations, Tikrit and Jake Xerxes Fussell
As many have noted, the Hager/Snowden revelations of the spying by our security agencies on our Pacific neighbours and allies is a virtual re-run of […]
Gordon Campbell on the drip-feeding of information about the Iraq deployment
There are two ways of framing the story of our troop deployment in Iraq. They go roughly like this: The Official Version : We are […]
Gordon Campbell on today’s announcement on sending our troops to Iraq
Click for big version. Later today, the Key government is expected to announce that New Zealand is planning to send about 100 troops on a […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s latest stance on Iraq
On RNZ this morning, Labour leader Andrew Little expressed his support for air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State – and by doing so, he […]
Gordon Campbell on how Iraq’s visiting Foreign Minister embodies an Iraq that’s not worth fighting for
When Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari makes a whistle-stop visit to Auckland on Friday, he will be issuing a formal invitation for New Zealand to […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s reluctance to treat the enemies of Islamic State as its friends
While the government attacks the left’s alleged reluctance to respond militarily to Islamic State, it continues to be strangely timid about another aspect of its […]
Gordon Campbell on the reluctance to support the Kurds against Islamic State
The boundary line between our troops having (a) an ‘advise and assist’ role in Iraq and (b) an actual combat role – which Prime Minister […]
Gordon Campbell on whether Saudi Arabia is a bigger threat than Islamic State
So the US has been holding talks in London this week with its 21 coalition allies, on how best to co-ordinate the military response against […]
Gordon Campbell on the Charlie Hebdo killings and response
Now that the Kouachi brothers have made their Butch-and-Sundance dash for martyrdom, and now that the millions have marched in Paris and elsewhere to defend […]