Why Key’s denials sound so off and why Dotcom’s fight is all our fight

By
Martyn Bradbury
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44
0

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The shrillness of Key is the issue. His denials just too forced and rehearsed. Key has gone from Hollow Man to Shallow Man with his lashing out at Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist Glenn Greenwald by calling him a ‘henchman’. This after describing a hate speech merchant like Cameron Slater as ‘colourful’. Key’s view of where the actual line gets drawn on serious issues like this is terrifyingly absent when he is belittling a credible source while promoting a toxic poison.

Key would have been briefed by the NSA on what they believed Snowden had in terms of NZ so he has had months and months to prepare what their defence would be. They of course planned and pre-scripted their tactics before Dirty Politics. This means the political capital National strategists had banked on when they were prepping Key to do a straight denial is now of course totally absent.

After Dirty Politics, Key has no such political capital. He has huge question marks over everything he now touches and has touched for the last 6 years. That’s why his denials seem a tad wide eyed, they were expecting this to be the Hager book, they weren’t expecting a vast dump of their own internal dirty politics plus now a massive dump of all their external dirty politics.

What is most worrying for National however is that Kim’s case is actually a righteous one. He has been treated appallingly by our Government. As the Pacific becomes the new cold war friction point between China and America, the expansion of US soft power via a TPPA that strips us of economic sovereignty has generated immense pressures on Kim Dotcom. His extradition and legal witch hunt has been inspired by Corporate Hollywood who have managed to advance their profit margins into a national security agenda via intellectual property rights.

America doesn’t care if we buy our flat screen TVs from China, they care that we are watching their media, their culture, their value system, their corporate hegemony. That’s soft power and it’s cheaper than hard power and has far fewer deaths than an occupying army causes.

Dotcom’s lawyer, Bob Amsterdam, sums all of this up in an incredibly articulate way.

What Key has allowed to happen under his watch is inexcusable, and that’s why he’s lied about it from day one. To widen the mass spying of all NZers because America has let us into their little club is as offensive as the ridiculous farce of a defence he is currently floundering with.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

These are issues involving abuse of power directly connected to the Prime Minister, the allegations are serious, deserve to be heard and the media must show courage and hold the Prime Minister to account.

This is not acceptable behaviour from the leader of our country.

The meeting will be live streamed on The Daily Blog from 7pm.

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44 COMMENTS

  1. Oh dear
    The emporer has no clothing.
    His denials are becoming shrill and lacking plausibility.
    He has only flourished in an environment where there are a different set of rules for him. I am sure this is all too hard for
    him now and he will be “gone by lunchtime”
    He is only doing his bit for the blue brigade now,
    what a thankless task.

  2. This afternoon as I watched the Bob Amsterdam interview, I asked myself why is it that one of the few times we have heard mention of the TPPA in this campaign it has come from the mouth of someone not even living here , yet who seems to care more about our sovereignty than some in the MSM do.

    3 leader debates – not one mention, SAYY WHAAAT

    • I don’t watch TV news either but that interviewer clearly couldn’t keep up with what Bob Amsterdam was talking about – it just wasn’t in his frame of reference.

      It’s a great example of what’s wrong with our media, he smoothly and very professionally moved on to the next question he had lined up so on the surface it looked OK but he clearly didn’t understand what was being discussed otherwise he would have changed tack and pursued some of the things his guest was discussing.

      I suppose it could look like he was conspiring to prevent debate (which I know is what a lot of people think of the media) but I think he was just so uninformed he couldn’t wrap his head around it. It’s either that or a distinct lack of intelligence that produced the confused look on his face.

      • Oh look…that interviewer had a blank ‘stunned mullet’ look on his face most of that interview…it was kinda embarrassing to watch.

        Kind off like a senior professor talking about advanced bio molecular chemistry theory to a beginner French cuisine class…..clearly out of the interviewers league.

        And to cover up the complete lack of comprehension…he brushed over every topic and didn’t pause long enough to ask any perceptive or in depth questions….

        I think he might have still been in a stupor two hours after Greenwald left the studio…

  3. Yes, seen this before. The louder Key gets the more there’s fuck all substance backing him up. Another day another please explain for our PM. Unprecedented for New Zealand sadly.

    The material he was going to release to counter whatever Greenwald has to say is now on hold because he wants to see what Greenwald has to say. So much for being “rock solid”!

    Was it because Key would be caught out knowing what Greenwald’s information was before he’s presented it as its has already been read by the spy networks prior to his trip here?

    Or did Key read something put there for him to read but not accurate to out him doing the same?

    Tough getting all your stories straight in these paranoid times, isn’t it John?

    • Look what happened when Cathy Odgers assumed what someone was in possession of when she pre-emptively sent the email that took Collins down. National have learned enough from that to know one thing – It’s safer to wait and react to a something definitive than take a gamble and show something sensitive that may not have even been suspected. So I think that yes, what you said in your 3rd paragraph, combined with the lesson from Odgers, is what’s going on here.

  4. So if it walks like mass surveillance and barks like mass surveillance then it is mass surveillance? Is that right?

  5. Your damn right its our fight !!! …this whole thing calls into question not only Key and Nationals corrupt activities – but also legislative frameworks for us and future generations.

    And lets not forget the fact that for the younger generation and future generations in the increasingly more digital era they will most certainly need a lot more openness in govt about just who is spying on who -and for what reasons.

    Bring it on , Mr Dotcom ,thank you , and may you always be welcome in this country, good Sir! 🙂

  6. It’s all over for Key now!
    He’s told one to many lies. As David Cunliffe observed so insightfully,”why,if you are so sure of your ground, would you start verbally abusing some one”.
    Surely you would quietly listen to what they had to say, then confidently present your own irrefutable evidence.
    But all I see is fear and panic and bullshit!
    We are now at the cross roads of New Zealands’ future. The direction we take is going to come down to a test of the professionalism and integrity of the journalist fraternity.
    If they go all weak on it and roll over, then sadly for New Zealand, it’s game over !

  7. Key used up so much of his political capital trying to destroy Nicky Hager; his credibility; and the revelations in his book.

    So much so that Key’s own credibility is sorely damaged and once again he is resorting to shrill screams of “left wing conspiracies”, “smears”, and such-like.

    After a while, enough New Zealanders stopped listening to Rob Muldoon in 1984 to effect regime change in this country (though not for the best, in many ways).

    We are watching history being made as Key’s reputation is further battered and National is slowly demolished in the media and public eye.

    Six days till regime change #2.

    • Prior to Dirty Politics Key’s negative, unfriendly side was outsourced to Slater et al – now he has to do it himself and that is tarnishing his brand.

  8. Anyone notice Key’s rapid about-face?

    TV3 reported on Saturday that he had promised to declassify and release top-secret documents either tomorrow (Sunday) or the next day (Monday), getting in AHEAD OF Dotcom and Mr Greenwald.

    Then today Key said he would only release any documents AFTER Greenwald had done his thing on Monday.

    Why would he change his strategy so suddenly?

    • maybe he doesn’t have anything in reality, and he’ll get forged / faked documents once he knows exactly what Dotcom releases?

      • Perhaps, or he only wants to release the minimum of respondent materials, so as to limit the number of cans of worms that get opened.

    • Couple of reasons. His original statement may have been misinterpreted, or more likely, he is simply being responsible in not de-classifying documents unnecessarily. Given that he can only speculate what is going to be revealed, it would be irresponsible for him to de-classify a whole lot of documents, only to find that their de-classification wasn’t actually required.

    • This has become a very high stakes poker game now don’t want to show the hand too early just in case the other side is bluffing.

  9. I wonder if Key will do a Muldoon and pretend he is still Pm, it must be a slow rolling nightmare for him. Maybe he’ll be glad to go.

  11. Just watched Greenwald on Q & A. Absolute LEGEND. Not at all surprised this man is friends with Noam Chomsky and Robert Fisk 🙂

  13. Thanks for that link in your article Martyn.

    And Wow, I can’t believe that interviewer didn’t ask more TPPA questions – he just went straight back to personal opinions on Kim.com!

    Someone who is sitting right there with you, with knowledge of the TPPA, and not using the opportunity to ask more questions! How dumb is that?!!
    Obviously asking only the pre-designed questions designed to malign Kim.com.
    Bob Amsterdam could have said something like “That elephant behind you is on fire” – and the interviewer still would have asked the next .com opinion question.

    Wow. The closed-mindedness of this interviewer is mind boggling!

    Opinion.

  14. Ill be glad to see the arse end of the mongrel- as a great man once said …”ARE YOU READY TO EXTRADITE JOHN KEY ??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

    🙂

    FJK !! FJK !! FJK !! FJK !!

  15. The future is terrifying. In the US and the UK metadata is now available to the police. Who knows what great crimes future governments might invent? After the TPPA Monsanto could dictate gardening practices perhaps? It might become illegal to disrespect a head of state, lawyer client privilege disappears, WINZ could monitor for laziness, it’s dystopian and John Key has too much control. Oversight committees wouldn’t fix this. Waihopai and GCSB need to go. Review foreign policy

  16. Yet again an insanely one-eyed explanation by Boag on TV, and the interviewers LET HER get away with it………..this JUST isn’t good enough from the supposed fourth estate.
    Williams was the voice of reason, but needed to hit back stronger. Boag was making some ludicrous statements and getting away with it.
    How can mass surveillance of Kiwis stop acts of terrorism is the question to ask her; when she offers that as an excuse……I (and most I guess) would get, surveillance of (reasonably argued) suspects.
    Plus we’re not asking for every idea by civil servants to be explained to the public, just the ONE’s that dramatically effect our democracy, and when the Government is saying we aren’t doing it.
    How difficult is that for the journalist to get and ask Q’s accordingly???
    I guess it’s hard to make someone understand an argument WHEN THEIR JOB depends on them NOT understanding it. infected
    So TRUE even today.
    Shame on the Lame Street Media, you’re not just absent, you’re ” and paid for.
    If there are any henchmen, you’re it …………for JK and the National party.
    Shame on you !!!!

  17. Whew ! That was an outstanding interview . I missed it entirely becuase I can’t bare/bear to watch TV One . Thanks Martyn .

  19. Hallelujah! The day of reckoning has arrived.

    It’s been a long time coming, but after tonight’s revelations, the wait would have been worthwhile.

    Glenn Greenwald is a professional in every respect, as his interviews in NZ have testified. No hidden agenda, just gets on with the job of telling it how it is and exposing the truth, something FJK finds difficult to do!

    Greenwald arrives and starts talking. Then FJK all of a sudden regains his memory! He recalls what was said re GCSB mass surveillance exercise, not informing NZers of the proposal! He keeps saying he will release declassified documents to support his claim to the contrary. So why hasn’t he done so by now, prior to the rally this evening? I can guarantee anything FJK releases after tonight will be doctored!

    And now Peter Dunne is saying he wasn’t aware (the GCSB legislation which he supported to pass into law), of the agency’s intention to carry out a mass surveillance programme! Really? Trying to save his stinking backside I think, now the mucky stuff is about to hit the fan!

    Yep, the day of reckoning is upon us folks and watch the rats scramble for cover! Dunne undoubtedly being the first of many!

  20. ”While Key drags his feet ,,The Governing representatives need to be ready to vote to impeach him for obstruction of justice ,abuse of power and a criminal cover-up and a the violation of the constitution ,,Its still looking like Keys abuse of power seems to be having a negative effect on New Zealand’s political life yet creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust among those who care , Jules

    • Yeah – its gonna take years- and us bloody taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill for all these treasonous buggers and all !

      Take it out of Keys pocket!..sell that Hawaiian mansion ! – and look out all the rest of each and every one involved !!

      There ya go Act , National et all- here’s a REAL DOSE of ‘personal responsibility and personal choices ‘ ya pricks!!!

      DEMOCRACY STYLE !!!

  21. the issue with privacy is not just that its a human right, the question goes far deeper, data collection gives a huge amount of power to organizations that have no oversight, there is huge potential for abuse, the argument is that they cant say what they are doing or they wouldnt be able to intercept threats, well there is far more pointing to the nsa using the data for power and money than stopping so called terror threats, the most hacked and monitored place by nsa from snowdens leaks is the european union, not a terror threat, why would they do that? its not hard to figure out why, the trail leads to huge corporate interest and abuse of the data, as far as power goes, if you had all the data on say a business opponent, think of what you could do with that, they may not be up to any illegal behaviours, but you could undermine deals because you know who they are dealing with, you could black mail them so they do what you want, to many options to abuse so little time to spell it out, now take that to a global level when you have a potential leader that has simply had an affair or you have compromising photos of them, you could ruin their career, so you could really control in a lot of ways the globe with that data, you would understand trends of citizens and minipulate their behaviours, think about it, there is also a lot of evidence in snowdens leaks that that is the type of behaviours that the data is being used for, its not protection orientated. think about the information you share in emails or phone and what some one that didnt have your interests at heart could do with that, think if f you wanted the run for parliament and some one had access to all your past emails and phone calls, not saying you have to be involved in shady behaviours at all to be in a position to be minipulated. the saying power corrupts is generally true it seems, the more power the more corrupt

  22. There is so much dirt on Key now he has to be ultra careful releasing any actual facts. But a pattern has emerged of a fast talking compulsive liar with no moral boundaries whatsoever. No single revelation can cover all the crap Key is involved in. I’m betting that KDC’s revelation will still be only the tip of the sleazeberg. Of course that’s still enough to send the blue boat down like the Titanic – but the full inquiry that follows is going to take years.

  23. maybe this will answer some questions?
    Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy
    http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
    the study show the american government is not working in the interests of its citizens (democracy) its working in the interests of economic elites, that may answer some of the issues with the data the nsa collects, this directly relates to dotcom (blatantly) the powers of the nsa were used to charge dotcom or attempt to at least, an organization solely there to protect citizens? so how come they are using it for Hollywood interests? the term pirate sounds a bit terror inducing i guess, though if you really have a handle on what they are trying to charge dotcom with, its just not realistic, air new zealand carries illegal items in packages people post, they dont know what is in the packages, but using the same theory dotcom is being charged for air new zealand are drug runners, to put it as simply as possible. this is the question key assumed was going to come up in hagars book, which explains the conspiracy theory comment key was trying to peddle, so i guess he cant use that this time. he can always say dotcom is a fat idiot that would work for the ones voting for him

  24. Key politicising security for own political gain

    John Key’s claims he will declassify secret security documents in order to ‘protect’ himself and his reputation is deeply concerning, the Green Party said today.

    “It’s reprehensible that John Key is politicising New Zealand’s security and intelligence agencies and using them for his own partisan interests,” said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

    “John Key is doing whatever suits him for purely party political reasons, using New Zealand’s security agencies for his own political gain.

    “Declassifying secret documents in order to protect your personal reputation must be outside of the scope of any rules or guidelines around declassification of secret documents.

    “John Key’s relaxed approach in this case to declassifying documents also raises serious questions about his claims that he had nothing to do with the declassification of documents prior to the 2011 election relating to former Labour Party leader Phil Goff and the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), as revealed in the ‘Dirty Politics’ book.

    “John Key has claimed that declassifying documents had nothing to do with him and that it was a decision for the Director of Security of the SIS. But he is now contradicting himself and undermining his arguments on what really happened with the release of SIS documents by pushing ahead with declassifying documents at his will.

    “John Key’s credibility as the Minister responsible for New Zealand’s security agencies is seriously in question.

    “The revelations that have come to light in the last few days courtesy of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald make it appear that the GCSB has been doing whatever it wants, even if against the law.

    “When you look at the timeline of events, it appears that it wasn’t until Rebecca Kitteridge was brought into the agency that the GCSB’s work on mass surveillance stopped.

    “It’s all very well for John Key to say that he stepped in to stop mass surveillance from continuing, but given his callous approach and neglect in this area, how can we be sure.

    “This weekend’s revelations make it all the more urgent to fix our spy agencies.

    “In Government, the Green Party will undertake a wide ranging, full and independent inquiry into New Zealand’s intelligence agencies,” Dr Norman said.

    Subjects: Security and Intelligence, Parliament and Politics

    Green Party Parliamentary Office, Parliament Buildings, Wellington,
    New Zealand
    Authorised by Metiria Turei and Russel Norman, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

  26. Martyn, Brilliant as always my hero,
    “The shrillness of Key is the issue.
    His denials just too forced and rehearsed. Key has gone from Hollow Man to Shallow Man with his lashing out at Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist Glenn Greenwald by calling him a ‘henchman’
    “These are issues involving abuse of power directly connected to the Prime Minister, the allegations are serious, deserve to be heard and the media must show courage and hold the Prime Minister to account.”

    Wow that sums it all up, let me explain my experience.

    What I remember of Key’s corrosive toxicity was at the final stages of the parliament in July when labour were attacking Key on credibility issues during debate,

    when Key was cornered, he glared at David Cunliffe and said

    “you want to talk about credibility,- well I have a draw full of stuff that would be very interesting for the media to review on Labour, how far do you want me to go back, to 2000 or 2005 or right up to now? ”

    The look was very threatening, and even sent a chill down my spine.

    Labour then was seen in shock that in broad view of NZ on TV here was Key resorting to “Blackmail”

    Then thanks to several brave souls, Kim, Nicky, and now Glen have finally shown us how Key had a draw full of dirt and was easy to use it when cornered.

    This man must go, vote him out N.Z.

  28. What do you expect from a currency speculator who made his millions with Merrill Lynch, who then later condemned them for amoral (read illegal) trading and business practices.

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