Gordon Campbell on the foreshore and seabed deal, and Gaza blockade
By Gordon Campbell The Maori Party seems to have won few immediate and tangible benefits from its long awaited deal on the foreshore and seabed […]
Foreign Affairs
On the need for New Zealand to condemn the Gaza blockade
The Israeli attack on the Turkish aid convoy to Gaza, and its subsequent slaughter of the civilians on board is being condemned around the world. […]
On the international aid flotilla now approaching Gaza
Some days ago, a flotilla of nine ships left a port in Turkey bound for the Gaza enclave, laden with medical and building supplies and […]
On Gordon Brown’s exit, and the SAS role in defending women’s oppression in Afghanistan
Now that Gordon Brown has resigned, the way is a little bit clearer for Nick Clegg to make a deal with Labour – but only […]
On privatizing water, and the SAS in Afghanistan
Local Government Minister Rodney Hide continues to pursue his vocation in life, of turning public assets into profit centres for the private sector. The amendment […]
On our unhealthy fixation with Gallipoli
Image: Selwyn Manning: ANZAC Day 2008 Dawns in NZ At the post-Cabinet press conference last Monday, Prime Minister John Key had to field a range […]
On New Zealand's Anti-Nuclear Posturing
Click for big version New Zealand’s national identity is very much based on our sense of virtuous purity – and the feeling that we can […]
On why free trade with the US is more Monty Python than Holy Grail
Perhaps we can all quietly sign a pact to forego comparing a free trade deal with the US to the quest for the Holy Grail. […]
On the government’s clueless response to unemployment and why Mike Moore shouldn’t go to Washington
Well, we’re now seeing some of the fruits of small government, and having government butt out of our lives. Unemployment rose to 7.3 % during […]
Gordon Campbell on the government's tolerance of white collar crime
This government takes a crush ’em and crate ’em approach to crime – unless that is, the offender happens to be wearing a tie. In […]
Gordon Campbell on the SAS in Kabul, and the media’s duty to report on their actions
The saga of media coverage of the SAS in Afghanistan took another turn on the weekend with National MP Eric Roy bizarrely blaming Helen Clark […]
On the ‘Three Strikes’ Policy and the SAS in Kabul
Click to enlarge In the Book of Leviticus, God takes a no nonsense, zero tolerance approach to offending. Curse your parents, or let your child […]
On the monarchy, and Keith Locke’s mechanism for replacing it
Click for big version Prince William And The Governor General Anand Satyanand. Photography by Woolf – www.woolf.co.nz Flexibility is an essential feature of the modern […]
On how The Lovely Bones affects the credibility of Peter Jackson’s Film Commission review, and on other bombs
Click for big version More Images from The Lovely Bones premiere in Wellington. Co-incidentally, just as Arts Minister Chris Finlayson readies himself to release Peter […]
Peter Jackson, and the alleged need to keep up with the Australian film industry
Peter Jackson is expected to deliver his ministerial review on the New Zealand Film Commission to Arts Minister Chris Finlayson just before Christmas, and its […]
Gordon Campbell: Obama's Peace Prize (+ Al Quaeda)
Click for big version Cartoon by Malcolm Evans. For more, see Copenhagen: Cartoon Comment from Malcolm Evans So, Barack Obama was in Oslo yesterday to […]
China’s role in our problems with P
Media coverage of the battle against P has tended to focus on the role of Maori gangs in the P trade. Yet most of the […]
Obama’s latest surrender to Israel, and drone warfare
President Barack Obama’s single most important foreign policy decision during 2009 has been his recent backdown over requiring Israel to abandon the building of settlements […]
Tim Groser’s battle with the Wall Street Journal, and the Obama Peace Prize
Ouch. The main media byproduct of the recent Tim Groser march on Washington seems to have been this nasty editorial in the Wall Street Journal […]
Rodney Hide’s Supercity ultimatum to the Government
Click to enlarge Image from: Scoop Satire: Super-City Map As Rodney Hide crawls out onto the ledge and threatens to resign all of his ministerial […]
Gordon Campbell: Deliberate defeat in Afghanistan
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp’s main contribution to the House debate yesterday on Afghanistan was that New Zealand would want to see an improvement in the […]
Gordon Campbell On The Afghan Marital Rape Law
New Zealand has a special interest in the rape law that Hamid Karzai has reportedly sneaked into effect only days before the Afghan election on […]
Our cozying up to the military regime in Burma
If the military regime in Fiji deserves smart sanctions against its officials, relatives, supporters and sports teams – and it does – then you’d think […]
The SAS going Dutch – or Canadian – in Afghanistan
Now that our SAS troops are heading back into combat in Afghanistan the key question becomes – who are they going to replace? The answer […]
Putting the SAS back into Afghanistan
Who has stolen John Key’s brain? The Prime Minister who only a couple of months ago was demanding to see a viable exit strategy before […]
The Greens’ new peace initiative
Click to enlarge Non aggression pacts tend to get a bad press, both in real life and in fiction. Hitler and Stalin, two of the […]
Iraq, And Its Foreign Oil Deals
Remember how, when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, critics said it was all about oil? Next week, political events in Iraq – and the […]
John Key’s Zen press conference, and Iran’s stolen election
Faced with the dying embers of the Richard Worth scandal at his press conference yesterday (audio & report, video), John Key reached for gasoline, not […]
The Tiananmen Massacre, and Richard Worth
Today is the 20th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square. In the early morning hours of June 4th 1989, thousands of unarmed students and […]
McCully’s oversell of changes to our foreign aid programme
The belated release yesterday of the April 23 Cabinet papers on the changes to New Zealand’s aid programme suggest that Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully […]