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 […]
Foreign Affairs
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 […]
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 […]
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 the fiasco in overseas aid funding and the latest evidence that watching Fox News really does make you more stupid
The personal vendetta being waged by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully against aid sector NGOs has now reached its inevitable, illogical conclusion – half of […]
On faster (pricier) broadband, and our ongoing Afghan delusions
As the government gradually releases the detail of its ultrafast broadband package, it is becoming clear that this initiative will not be the boon for […]
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 John Key’s hopes for trade progress at APEC (and the war on P)
Later this week, Prime Minister John Key heads off to the APEC conference in Yokohama, where his hosts seem to be living through some very […]
On the Hillary Clinton visit
Click for big version Prime Minister John Key and Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Beehive Theatrette – More images, audio and video […]
On Obama’s wake-up call
Judging by yesterday’s results, the only thing Americans hate more than Big Government is Big Government that doesn’t protect them in times of economic adversity. […]
On a White Paper that puts us back into the ANZUS club
The purpose of a Defence White Paper is to inform the public about how the government plans to arm and use the armed forces to […]
On The Hobbit finale
Great. The Hobbit stays here. Everyone’s happy about that – you, me, John Key, Robyn Malcolm…we’re all so very happy, at least until we look […]
Gordon Campbell: Key's backbone problem with China
On the evidence of the past week, New Zealand has a Prime Minister who seems chronically unable to stand up for himself – or this […]
On the Paul Henry saga
So far, the penalties levied on Paul Henry’s have gone no further than a two week suspension for his on air querying of whether Kiwis […]
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 […]
On John Key’s false rationale for being in Afghanistan, and Vincent Gallo’s sweet revenge
Late last week, a major bi-partisan American organization released its report on the policy options facing the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. This was […]
Gordon Campbell offers a solution to the US hostility to Islam
Bigotry has been having a bumper week, worldwide. Thankfully, the plans by the pastor of a tiny evangelical church in Florida to burn the Koran […]
On the mainstream media, and the expanding war in Yemen
Safe to say the mainstream media and the blogosphere do not hold particularly positive views of each other. Its like a family affair. In general, […]
On the Aussie election stalemate
As the Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter Hartcher says, there’s a rough justice to the Australian election outcome, given that both major parties ran essentially […]
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 welfare bashing, and driving up a dead end in Afghanistan
The government’s welfare working group has dutifully delivered the findings the government wants to hear. To Paula Rebstock and her colleagues, being on welfare is […]
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 the Chris Carter fiasco
Click for big version If Chris Carter’s recent trip to Tibet was in search of spiritual enlightenment, he will have come back with a ready […]
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 the Waihopai ‘Claim of Right’ Defence, and Arming the Police
Jump to ‘Reduce Violence : Arm the Police. Yeah, right.’ Usually when the public feels outraged by an acquittal in a high profile trial, the […]