Just as you are trying to forgive Winston for all the mindlessly populist and stupid things he’s said in the past, out pops a brain fart that reminds you just how old dear Winston really is…
Winston Peters: Tell male refugees to go back and fight
New Zealand should take only women and children refugees from Syria and tell the men to return home and fight, NZ First leader Winston Peters says.
…shush now Winston, someone go get the man a drink. The stupidity of demanding men return to fight in a war as fractured as Syria is almost as mindless as appointing someone with all the socialisation skills of a tumour as a Comms Person for a Political Party.
Who are these men supposed to fight for? The regime that has tortured to death tens of thousands of their own citizens or ISIS who are just as violently crazy? Is Winston suggesting they create a whole new faction and who will arm them?
There are times when Winston has something to add to the date, this is most certainly not one of those times.
Rather than rubbish Winston realise that a heck of a lot of kiwis agree.
War is a manufactured event,but in the last war ww1, if all able bodied men of uk and usa picked up their pack and ran to another country,we would all be speaking German or Japanese now.
Personaly I don’t think any man should fight for the people in charge ,its not defence of country but a fight to gain someone elses territory by the greedy rich who want more and is not bothered by how much misery and mayhem they cause in persuit of profit.
In Syria its chaos because Assad wont give in and America is determined he will one way or another,the people who pay the price are the ones in the middle.
Any father or husband will protect their families,so go with them to keep them safe.
Winston is of the old school fight for country brigade, but in this day and age they don’t know who the hell they are fighting for in Syria.
So we take the women and children, put them on the DPB and then ship them back to Syria when their men emerge victorious? Would we meantime be entering into some sort of reciprocal arrangement with the Syrian government through the IRD to manage child support payments?
I suspect Peters was trying to differentiate NZF from Lab/Greens on the issue but didn’t quite think it through.
It’s like the opinion columns Winston occassionally writes. They start off really well, but about half way through they go pear shaped.
Due to the lack of a true left party in nu zild, i had been casting around for a home for my vote. Having in the past looked on Winston as a populist charlatan i was starting to mellow and maybe take another look at NZF policies, and then yesterdays moronic statement.
While keeping women and children safe is a great idea because they are the most vulnerable in war and are rarely the warmongers…it would be a mistake to send the men and young men back to fight
….The only solution to this crisis can be a negotiated solution
….and for the West namely USA and Israel and Saudia Arabia (all mates)to stop trying to depose Assad( Assad who supports the Palestinians and Iran)
….Assad’s enemies are ISIS and always have been …this is a war of subterfuge…and a humanitarian crisis made by the above countries using ISIS as their shock troops
What the fuck is it with winston peters ??? For the life of me, I have no real idea why he’s so defended and respected?
I think he’s a career politician at best, at worst, a Machiavellian liar and confederate who defends his friends by abusing them and accusing them while he has his fingers crossed behind his back then surprise, surprise… nothing comes of anything he’s coughed up other than the pin stripped red herring has yet again lured us away from our relentless and instinctual search for the truth.
I think he doesn’t want refugee men here because his Masters will be concerned that they’ll twig on and realise that those Masters are the very same Masters who’re causing such turmoil in their countries which made them flee for their lives in the first place .
In my view, Winston Peters is nothing more than a million logical fallacies flying in close formation and a sexist one at that .
Good that he’s said it really… I was starting to forget why I despised him. There was talk of a petition to get him to sign up and go instead.
Perhaps he could go as some sort of mediator and subject them to a continual tirade of specious “points of order”. Even the most hardened fanatics could put up with that for only so long before recoiling in defeat.
Less from Curwen Rolinson on this blog please. Winston is not on the left, has little or nothing to offer progressives, and is a bigot to boot.
Exactly.
A so called ‘left government’ with Winnie offers us nothing.
NZ First are no different to the Conservatives – Winnie was proud that Colin Craig stole his policies!
Labour should look to the Greens and Mana.
Winston was also proud Labour borrowed a suite of our policies, and I’ve pointed out with some pride the Green Party borrowing same.
The fact remains that NZF’s economic policy is demonstrably to the left of Labour’s – and, arguably, the Greens – and would therefore have a positive potential role in any hypothetical left-wing government.
Just look at how we managed to renationalize the railways and raise the minimum wage by an unprecedented amount, as two examples, from our last tenure near government…
Full marks for creative thinking.
“The fact remains that NZF’s economic policy is demonstrably to the left of Labour’s”.
A ‘fact’? Perhaps it’s a fact if you’re taking a simplistic view of left and right. You can’t assume everyone will agree with you that Muldoon is ‘left’ – which it seems you are suggesting.
Right-wing views spew out of WInnie’s mouth all the time. None of my left-wing friends have any respect for him. Winnie is right-wing on so many issues, and that last Labour + NZ First govt was nothing to be proud of. Why do you think we’re in this mess now?
Tell us, is NZ First still wanting to build detention centres for refugees, or have the winds changed?
Disagree, I (mostly) like Curwen’s stuff, he’s given us some great insights into NZF and it’s not mandatory to read his posts.
What would be wrong about having a respected voice from the right on this blog, like um, er, um, er, aah…?
….please don’t tell me I’ve somehow been transmuted into a “respected voice from the right” 🙁
Nothing good comes from an echo-chamber
I’m sorry, what?
Did something in my anti-censorship piece offend you?
Or any of the *other* non-NZF-related material I frequently put out….?
I’m sorry, what?
Did something in my anti-censorship piece from earlier in the week … or, for that matter, any of the other non-NZF related material I’ve put out over the last few months (like my mental health advocacy work) offend you?
The Syrian men are needed here to support their families and raise their children. Sending them back to Syria to fight a pointless war is not only futile, but ends up with fatherless families.
This was not one of Peters’ better ideas.
Winston is not interested in the audience of this blog. He has his eye on a much wider audience and distasteful though it may be to readers of this blog his pronouncement will probably have the intended effect of lifting NZF a couple of points in the polls. This lift will come from all sides of the political spectrum. It will be interesting to see the next opinion polls.
John Key needs to send more NZ troops to sort out ISIS along with his US buddies, the US have started alot of these wars in the Middle East and now we are part of the 5 Eyes Syndicate we should be in there boots and all sorting out this US inspired F*** Up!
John Key & Mike Hoskings should be out front leading the NZ Troops into battle against ISIS!
However we sit on the sidelines with the UN and wring our hands.
Winston is right train the Syrian refugees here in NZ and ship them back to Syria to fight, our ancestors Maori included went to Europe to help the Motherland England and got no thanks whats so ever?
ISIS – estimates between 50,000 and 200,000 personnel.
Daily running costs per man – (conservatively) $US10 – for food, clothing, ammunition, arms, medicines, shelter and fuel.
Where are they getting between $US500k and $US2m per day to fund these adventures?
Supposedly, they are earning money from oil wells they’ve captured. Who is buying it then? Where is the boycott?
Who is funding ISIS? That’s the question.
The problem is in these countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria you don’t actually know who the enemy is? They do not have uniforms like the Headhunters and the Hells Angels do here in NZ.
Their uniforms are suits and ties and they keep well away from the action.
“The problem is in these countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria you don’t actually know who the enemy is? They do not have uniforms like the Headhunters and the Hells Angels do here in NZ.”
3 mins before this comment you suggested “John Key needs to send more NZ troops to sort out ISIS”.
You’re either drunk or incredibly stupid. Your suggested solution is the reason why ISIS was able to take power – mindless invasions for the sake of it. People like you are the problem. People die because of such ignorance.
My god. Give humanity a break and stop thinking.
I’m with Elle (and Winston) on this one (sorry CountryBoy). As a citizen of your country, you imo must be prepared to fight for it. Did the American’s flee the USA during their civil war? Did the Spanish? NO ONE has more interest in the future of a given country than those who live in it.
That said, The West is clearly partially responsible for the utter chaos unfolding in Syria when we (i.e. US and UK etc) thought it was a pretty solid idea to financially and militarily support various “rebel factions” and “freedom fighters”, including ISIS, because they were going to forcibly remove Assad, a so-called “enemy of the West”… that clearly now turns out wasn’t quite as big a tyrant as we were led to believe given that Syrians didn’t undergo a mass exodus while he was in control of things.
Bomber is your position that we should just let the entirety of Syria if need be move to somewhere else permanently, because their country sucks now and they shouldn’t be “made” to fight for it because that would be inhumane? I say permanently, because without military intervention (which you say shouldn’t be undertaken by them, so must therefore be undertaken by…. erm… us maybe?) they are never going to get their country back to a liveable situation given they have near zero vested interest in it when they are now here and not there.
With the tragic refugee crises raging across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe now is time to ask some serious questions. When did all this start? Soon after 9/11 former US President George W. Bush articulated the goals of the War-on-Terror in a speech in which he said that it “will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.” He called the war “a task that does not end”.
Remarkably there has never been a criminal investigation into 9/11 nor has there been any technical investigation because most of the evidence was destroyed immediately after the events.
No evidence has been presented linking Afghanistan or Iraq in these attacks and yet the U.S. and it’s willing coalition partners have been at war with these countries for many years now.
In 2002 General Wesley Clark, retired 4-star U.S. army general was shown a classified memo which stated “We’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran”.
When will people rise up en masse and seek an end to these wars and demand justice for the millions of innocents killed, injured and displaced in vain since 9/11?
The various factions fighting in Syria have fractured into splinters too many to count, each fighting for their own tiny interests.
This has gone way beyond USA vs Russia vs Israel vs Iran vs Saudi.
The solution is going to have to be a Geneva 3 conference and the imposition of a federal solution agreed by external parties without much initial input from within Syria. All previous positions that were drawn up six months or a year ago will no longer work. It’s time for a fresh start.
To get to this point, several Great Powers are going to have to get over themselves and attempt to cooperate with the others.
One would hope New Zealand could play a constructive role in this. But first, of course, we are going to have to get some guts and get on the right side. (The side of the civilians of the area).
I don’t think Winston actually has any morals himself, if you look at his stances on immigration, asians, Maori etc, his opinions are simply based on what he perceives will galvanize populist opinion and sustain his little niche amongst the bigots, elderly and ‘main stream’ nu zeeland.
He will oppose John Key, simply for the sake of opposing him, while at the same time, as history has shown us, he will jump into bed with National at the merest sniff of gaining a little power.
A significant segment of the left, including many of this blog, were taken in by the old adage that an enemy of my enemy is my friend. Winston should never be the friend of anyone who believes in a principled democracy.
Hear hear
Do some here sincerely believe in working out a peace deal with ISIS? I think Winnie has been misinterpreted, he talked about “some” men, and while we cannot put an expectation on refugees to sign up to fight a war, it may deserve the thought to support volunteers who may be prepared to go back and fight for the freedom of their country.
I am starting to despair about the naivity of some, believing you can negotiate with war criminals and basic terrorists?!
So read and think about what Winston actually said. Some, not all, men.
Winston > Martin
You’ve got a lot to learn buddy.
Comments are closed.