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Setting the Stage for to Dis-information, Deception, and Distraction
Right about now, National is in very, very, VERY deep trouble.
Dairy-farmers, with associated down-stream support businesses, are facing severe economic hardship as Fonterra reduces the pay-out from $4.15 per kgMS to $3.90 per kgMS.
Dairy farmers’ debt has reached unsustainable levels;
About 10 per cent of the most indebted dairy properties owe a combined $11 to $12 billion, about 30 per cent of total dairy debt.
[…]
About 20 per cent of the most indebted farms hold 45 to 50 percent of the total debt – $15b-$38b.
The value of farms and sale numbers is falling (thereby placing many farmers into a negative gearing situation). As Rural Value’s national manager, David Paterson, said on Radio NZ;
“Unless there’s some bright light on the horizon I think there’ll be a continuation of slow sales and we’ll continue to see a reduction of farm values particularly on the dairy farm sector.”
On 18 March, Bill English admitted that real national disposable income-per-capita fell 0.4% for the year;
“You’ve got a big drop in national income, because dairy prices are down. At the same time you’ve had surprisingly high migration numbers. So it’s not surprising that when you work the figures you get a drop in national disposable income.”
Not for the first time in his political career, English boasted that low wages were keeping a lid on inflation;
“The labour market turned out to be quite a bit more flexible than we were expecting.”
The Reserve Bank – recognising that a major economic “correction*” is looming on the horizon – has lowered the OCR from 2.50% to 2.25%. The RBNZ’s 10 March media release paints a gloomy economic picture for the foreseeable future;
The outlook for global growth has deteriorated since the December Monetary Policy Statement, due to weaker growth in China and other emerging markets, and slower growth in Europe. This is despite extraordinary monetary accommodation, and further declines in interest rates in several countries. Financial market volatility has increased, reflected in higher credit spreads. Commodity prices remain low.
Domestically, the dairy sector faces difficult challenges, but domestic growth is expected to be supported by strong inward migration, tourism, a pipeline of construction activity and accommodative monetary policy.
[…]There are many risks to the outlook. Internationally, these are to the downside and relate to the prospects for global growth, particularly around China, and the outlook for global financial markets. The main domestic risks relate to weakness in the dairy sector, the decline in inflation expectations, the possibility of continued high net immigration, and pressures in the housing market.
Retail banks, however, seem reluctant to participate in any plan to stimulate economic activity. The 25-point fall in the OCR has yet to be passed on to bank customers.
If the economy enters recession, expect inward migration to reduce, adding to a slowdown in domestic growth and rise in unemployment.
Setting the Mood
In November last year, our esteemed Dear Leader announced – almost casually – that New Zealand could be targeted by terrorists;
“I think every country in the world is potentially vulnerable, we’re probably less vulnerable than others. We have in this instance the advantage of distance, we’re a long way away, [but] i just couldn’t say to you we’re completely immune.”
And;
“There’s no question about what their motivations are and that’s the tragedy of the Isis story is that you get some very dysfunctional people, for want of a better term, who want to associate themselves with Isis.”
In evidence to the committee, Kitteridge said the past 12 months had seen a significant increase in the global terrorism threat.
“When I started as director of security in May 2014 the so-called Islamic State was barely talked about in New Zealand. Now a day rarely goes by without news of some act of violent extremism associated with IS.”
The threat to New Zealand’s domestic security posed by foreign terrorist fighters and other extremists was real and continued to develop.
“The number of New Zealanders fighting alongside or supporting IS remains small but has increased.”
That included the rise in the number of New Zealand women travelling to Syria and Iraq.
In the same story, Watkins and Livingstone wrote;
Kitteridge said after the committee hearing the numbers leaving from New Zealand were small but significant – but declined to give further details.
As events were to transpire three months later, the suggestion that women were “leaving from New Zealand” was to be proved a false assertion.
Yet, during those three months, SIS director, Rebecca Kitteridge, maintained silence on the issue and she did nothing to correct the (mistaken) belief that New Zealand women were departing from New Zealand.
This prompted the usual feeding-frenzy and rantings from the ill-informed rabid-right who vent their ignorance on right-wing fora such as Kiwiblog;
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Kiwiblog editor and National Party apparatchik, David Farrar, did nothing to bring reason to the discussion. Indeed, a few voices of sanity on the blog had their moderate views dismissed and voted down;
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Protestations
Following Kitteridge’s comments, lone voices of calm and sanity were barely reported and given much less prominence;
Hazim Arafeh, a spokesperson for he Islamic community, said he was surprised to hear women from New Zealand may have left the country to join ISIS.
“We are not aware of New Zealand Muslim woman going over to Syria to get married. If it is happening, we still don’t know if it is a genuine case, or are they joining ISIS,” he said.
Islamic Women’s Council issued their own rejection of Kitteridge’s comments;
The national Islamic Women’s Council is not aware of any New Zealand jihadi brides heading to war torn regions to join the fight with Isis.
Council president Anjum Rahman told Paul Henry that although it was happening overseas there was no indication the same thing was happening here.
Ms Rahman said she listened carefully to Security Intelligence Service director Rebecca Kitteridge yesterday and she didn’t mention the women leaving were jihadi brides travelling to Syria to marry and support fighters.
“All she said was the number had been growing and because it was a war torn area that was a concern,” she said.
“We don’t know the ethnicity of these women, we don’t actually know the religious background of these woman, whether they just converted before they went, whether they converted at all, and we definitely don’t know what they’re doing while they’re over there.”
Asked if the council had information on women travelling overseas to marry and support Isis Ms Rahman said: “No. We don’t have any knowledge or indication of that happening.”
Three days later, The Wireless illustrated the predictably dire results of the demonisation of muslim women;
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Hela Rahman, a 25-year-old who has been a NZ citizen for more than 20 years, says these comments aren’t backed by evidence and are causing more harm than good.
A few weeks ago, she returned from a trip visiting her family in Iraq. When she arrived at Auckland Airport she says she was instantly made to feel like she’d done something wrong.
“I was going through with my E-passport and it was automatically declined. I had to go over to the counter.”
The Border Control officer asked Rahman why she’d been in Iraq.
“I told her I was there to see my family. She just looked at me with an awkward uncomfortable expression. She didn’t say anything and just drew a red line through my arrival card.”
Rahman continued to the customers area where the officer, after taking a look at her card, told her to go down the far side.
“Everyone else was being let through, even my parents. I was the only one in that lane.”
She was told to unlock her bags and was put into a holding room for a “long time” while the staff talked about her behind double-sided glass.
“The thing is, they make you feel so uncomfortable that you start questioning yourself. You start wondering if you have done something wrong,” she said.
She was asked a series of questions about why she’d gone to Iraq, what she had done there, and who had bought the flights for her.
Although Rahman had travelled to the Middle East with her mum and dad, she was the only one who was pulled aside for questioning.
“I thought my parents would be questioned too, but they weren’t. I wanted to ask ‘why me’ but I couldn’t. The opportunity never came up. I was just feeling so uncomfortable.”
Rahman spent the next few weeks confused about what had happened. Her Iraqi friends reassured her that it was just standard airport security Muslims have to face now.
That incident took place here, in good old relaxed, laid-back, give-people-a-fair-go, New Zealand.
All that was missing was requiring muslim’s to wear a red crescent stitched to their clothes to identify them in public – a practice very popular with a certain fascist regime and occupied nations, in the the 1930s and 1940s…
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The Truth Will Out
On 16 March, of this year, the truth of the matter was revealed when Radio NZ – bless them – lodged an Official Information Act request and discovered;
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“Something that has changed over the last year is the issue of New Zealand women travelling to Iraq and Syria, which is something we haven’t seen previously or been aware of,” she told MPs.
In response to an Official Information Act request, SIS, the domestic spy agency, said the women concerned “did not leave New Zealand.
“They were New Zealand citizens domiciled in Australia and they left from there.”
In response to charges of misleading the media and public, the Minister in Charge of the Security Intelligence Service, Chris Finlayson, denied that National and the SIS had wilfully deceived the country;
“If you go back to the statements that were made there were no implications or ‘winks and nods’ that they were not resident in New Zealand.”
Consider Kitteridge’s statement on 8 December 2015;
“Something that has changed over the last year is the issue of New Zealand women travelling to Iraq and Syria, which is something we haven’t seen previously or been aware of.”
Where else would “New Zealand women” travel from – except New Zealand – unless specifically stated otherwise?
Remember that Kitteridge owned the problem by stating, “which is something we haven’t seen previously or been aware of”. She made no reference to receiving the information from any Australian intelligence organisation.
A day after Radio NZ breaking the story, Minister in Charge of the Security Intelligence Service, Chris Finlayson still refused to issue an apology for National’s and the SIS’s deception;
Chris Finlayson, the Minister in charge of the SIS, told reporters today where the women left from was irrelevant.
“I would have thought the critical issue is were they New Zealand citizens, whether the left from Kingsford Smith airport or Auckland Airport is by-the-by.”
Mr Finlayson said he was due to meet with about 100 members of the Muslim community tomorrow night, and had regular discussions with that community during the process of the intelligence and security review.
“And I’m very happy to proffer an apology on behalf of Metiria Turei who started all this nonsense. I think her performance is lamentable… You just don’t go round handing out apologies willy-nilly.”
The Radio NZ report stated that “the SIS said it had no comment“.
The SIS’s mission was completed; the public was spooked. National’s planned deception had succeeded – nothing further need be said by the spy agency.
It is also worth noting a noticeable lack of follow-up coverage on Kiwiblog by David Farrar on this issue. Perhaps the discovery that Key and Kitteridge had mis-led the New Zealand public and smeared the Muslim community in the process was not as worthy of a comment as Kitteridge’s innacurate initial comments, three months earlier?
A Happy Confluence of Purpose?
On 8 December, Audrey Young wrote in the NZ Herald;
Meanwhile, Mr Key questioned whether that a proposal he has previously rejected – attaching the Cortex cyber security programme to the Southern Cross internet cable linking New Zealand to Australia and the United States – should be revisited to give wider cyber protection to New Zealand companies.
He made the suggestion while questioning the acting director of the Government Communications Security Bureau, Una Jagose, who gave a detailed speech recently about Cortex as part of a new policy of openness in the bureau.
Mr Key said he had canned the original proposal because of the potential anxiety of it being seen as mass surveillance but he asked if an argument could be made, with enough public debate for it happen to protect smaller companies.
At present, the GCSB uses Cortex to mount cyber defence on Government agencies and strategically important private companies – and only with their permission.
Ms Jagose said the “hard ground work” by the GCSB needed to be done to be more open about the GCSB’s cyber defence work.
She acknowledged the possible anxiety over “mass surveillance.”
It could safely be argued that stories of “jihadi brides” would scare the bejeezus out of the public, in the process softening opinion to welcome extending the powers of the SIS and GCSB.
If so, this would be a cynical ploy by National and our spy agencies to manipulate public opinion to accept the unpalatable; a massive increase in state surveillance and mass-gathering of data on all New Zealanders.
They just never counted on anyone actually asking a fairly simple question; where did those so-called “jihadi brides” migrate from?
Implausible Deniability
During last year’s Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee meeting on 8 December, where Rebecca Kitteridge uttered her now (in)famous references to “New Zealand women travelling to Iraq and Syria“, Key made reference to “Jihadi Brides“.
Yet, on TV3’s The Nation, Key tried to evade responsibility for using the term “Jihadi brides” on 8 December;
Lisa Owen: All right. One other issue this week has been the so-called ‘jihadi brides’. Muslim leaders that we spoke to said that they were victimised and confused as a result of your comments around jihadi brides. Do you owe them an apology?
John Key: I don’t think so, and the reason for that is, I think, if you just look at the sequence of events, the first thing is that- I’m not distancing myself, but I didn’t raise the issue. The SIS directed it, and I wasn’t-
Lisa Owen: No, you used the phrase ‘jihadi brides’, Prime Minister. I’ve looked at the transcript. It was you that used that phrase, not Rebecca Kitteridge.
John Key: I didn’t coin that phrase. That phrase is used all around the world.
Lisa Owen: But you were the first one to use it.
John Key: Not around the world, I’m not. It’s a common term.
Was our esteemed Dear Leader, John Key, aware that none of the so-called “Jihadi Brides” had actually departed from New Zealand, and were actually residing in Australia at the time?
Yes, according to Gerry Brownlee’s own admission in Parliament, on 17 March;
Metiria Turei (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime Minister: Was he advised, prior to 8 December 2015, that the so called “jihadi brides” he referred to during the Intelligence and Security Committee meeting were all resident in Australia and did not leave from New Zealand?
Hon Gerry Brownlee (Leader of the House) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes.
Metiria Turei: So the Prime Minister can confirm that he knew that none of those women had left for Syria or Iraq from New Zealand?
Hon Gerry Brownlee: Yes, and the member needs to be aware that as New Zealand citizens it does not matter where they left from. If they pose a security risk to New Zealand on their return, then that is something we are concerned about.
This time Key cannot feign memory loss; erroneous advice; misinterpretation, or a mistake. According to one of his own senior ministers – Key knew the facts.
For reasons of his own, he chose not to disclose that information.
Key’s Lie By His Own Words
On 17 March, Key refuted any willful attempt to mislead the public by inference that so-called “Jihadi brides” had left New Zealand. As reported on Radio NZ;
Today he denied any attempt to create a misleading impression that the 12 or so women referred to by Ms Kitteridge left from New Zealand, rather than from Australia.
“We didn’t say that, it was the Director [General] that made the statement, and what she said was there were jihadi brides.
“The fact that where they leave from is irrelevant, if they’re New Zealanders, they’re New Zealanders, they may return to New Zealand and so we have to deal with those issues.
And remember the Minister in Charge of the Security Intelligence Service, Chris Finlayson, who categorically denied that National and the SIS had deliberately created a deception;
“If you go back to the statements that were made there were no implications or ‘winks and nods’ that they were not resident in New Zealand.”
Yet, that is precisely what Key said on 10 December last year, as this video clearly shows;
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John Key: “And it’s just a reality that there are women that we know that left New Zealand, ah, and we suspect that they have gone and got married and we know that this concept of Jihadi Brides is not, it’s not my term, it’s an international term, and you pick up the World’s Section of the newspapers today, a couple of newspapers, and see them reporting on that, hundreds and hundreds of women from around the world, ah, going off and, and potentially marrying these guys before they undertake Jihadist activity.”
Reporter: “Do you think it’s strange that, that, um, that New Zealand muslims don’t… aren’t aware of any of their women going over and, and, marrying men in places like Syria?”
John Key: “Yeah, well, I mean they don’t know everybody in the community, um, and you know, they obviously have a, you know, be [unintelligible word] as anyone can on these things, but we can just tell you by what we see. Y’know, people travel out of our country, and people who turn up, through other reporting, and otherwise, in Syria or Iraq.”
Key was as crystal-clear as his garbled-style of speech permits him to be. He cannot claim he was mis-represented in the media: he stated categorically that “there are women that we know that left New Zealand… people travel out of our country“.
At the same time, according to Minister Brownlee, Key was perfectly aware that “jihadi brides” he referred to during the Intelligence and Security Committee meeting were all resident in Australia and did not leave from New Zealand”.
This was no “mistake” on the part of the media. Brownlee and Key stand convicted of their duplicity, by their own words.
Coming soon: A terror alert near you!
This is now the second (that we are aware of) mis-use of our spy agencies for National’s own political agenda.
Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, Cheryl Gwyn, found that in 2011, then-Labour leader, Phil Goff, had been mis-led by then-SIS director, Warren Tucker, at a briefing meeting. Inaccurate information had also been provided by the SIS to right-wing blogger, Cameron Slater that was used to damage Phil Goff’s reputation.
As the Herald reported in November 2014;
Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn said this morning the inquiry found the NZSIS released “incomplete, inaccurate and misleading information in response to Mr Slater’s request, and provided some of the same incorrect information to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister’s office”.
Ms Gwyn said she found no evidence of political partisanship by the NZSIS but did find that the NZSIS “failed to take adequate steps to maintain political neutrality”.
Ms Gwyn said the having released misleading information both to Prime Minister John Key’s office and then to Mr Slater, Dr Tucker “had a responsibility to take positive steps to correct the interpretation”.
“He failed to do so.”
On that basis, Ms Gwyn said Mr Goff was owed an apology.
Ms Gwyn said information about a briefing Mr Goff received from Dr Tucker about suspected Israeli agents in Christchurch following the quakes was “not an accurate description of what happened at that meeting”.
According to revelations in Nicky Hager’s exposé, “Dirty Politics“, the smearing of Phil Goff was orchestrated from the Beehive’s Ninth Floor, by Jason Ede – a National Party “black ops” apparatchik.
The SIS was party to this covert plan to smear Phil Goff and undermine his election chances in 2011.
Unsurprisingly, Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Turei, condemned both the SIS and our esteemed Dear Leader for willfully deceiving the public;
“They were using information for political purposes, and that political purpose was to encourage New Zealanders to accept greater surviellance by spy agencies.
The SIS has proven time and time again they can’t be trusted with the powers that they have. They don’t follow the law that they’re required to, and John Key is using spy agencies to pursue a political agenda.”
It is now a matter of time before another dramatic “terror alert” is issued by this government, to further frighten and manipulate the country into submitting to National’s agenda to increase powers for our spy agencies.
The “terror alerts” will most likely come to nothing; no arrests will be made; no details of any thwarted “terror plot” will ever be released to the public – but the ultimate goal of fomenting fear will be achieved.
A frightened populace is a compliant populace.
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Postscript1
“Correction” = polite euphemism for shit-about-to-hit-the-fan.
Postscript2
Did the SIS/GCSB ever keep track of New Zealand women travelling to Northern Ireland, during “The Troubles”, who may have met and married men from that province?
Were they ever referred to as “IRA Brides”?
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References
Fonterra: Fonterra revises 2015/16 forecast milk price
Fairfax media: Small farmer group holds nearly $12 billion of dairy debt
Radio NZ: Dairy farm values set to keep falling
Radio NZ: Incomes dropping despite GDP growth, English admits
Fairfax media: Low wages ‘advantage’ for NZ – English
Reserve Bank: Official Cash Rate reduced to 2.25 percent
NZ Herald: Banks keep their slice of OCR cut
Fairfax media: Distance, spy network means NZ less vulnerable to attack – John Key
Fairfax media: John Key ‘scaremongering’ with details of security threats: Andrew Little
Radio NZ: NZ women going to IS areas on rise – SIS
Fairfax media: Kiwi Jihadi brides on the rise
TVNZ: ‘The worse the attack the more excited they are’ – Kiwi women leave to be jihadi brides
NZ Herald: Q&A – Why do women want to be jihadi brides?
Otago Daily Times: ‘Jihadi bride’ fears over Kiwi women
NZ Herald: Rise in Kiwi women heading to Iraq, Syria
Kiwiblog: Kiwi jihadi brides
NZ Herald: Islamic Women’s Council – It’s news to us
The Wireless: ‘I’m not a jihadi bride’
Radio NZ: NZ’s ‘jihadi brides’ left from Australia
Radio NZ: No apology from govt over ‘jihadi brides’ claims
NZ Herald: Rise in Kiwi women heading to Iraq, Syria
TV3: The Nation – Interview with John Key
Radio NZ: No apology from govt over ‘jihadi brides’ claims
Parliament Today: Questions & Answers – March 17 – Intelligence and Security Committee – Advice
Yahoo News: Kiwi jihadi brides a reality – PM
NZ Herald: Dirty Politics – John Key won’t apologise to Goff
NewstalkZB: Kiwi women heading off to join ISIS, Key insists
Additional
“I’ve Got Nothing to Hide” and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy (hat-tip: Nitrium)
Other blogs
Kiwipolitico: Threat Distortion as Fear Manipulation
No Right Turn: Caught fearmongering
The Dim Post: The struggle
The Standard: The Jihadi Brides lie
The Standard: Nats refuse to apologise for targeting Muslim community
Previous related blogposts
Audrey Young, Two Bains, old cars, and… cocoa?!?!
National Party president complains of covert filming – oh the rich irony!
An Open Message to the GCSB, SIS, NSA, and Uncle Tom Cobbly
Dear Leader, GCSB, and Kiwis in Wonderland
One Dunedinite’s response to the passing of the GCSB Bill
The GCSB Act – Tracy Watkins gets it right
The GCSB – when plain english simply won’t do
The GCSB law – vague or crystal clear?
The Mendacities of Mr Key #1: The GCSB Bill
Campbell Live on the GCSB – latest revelations – TV3 – 20 May 2014
The real reason for the GCSB Bill
Letter to the Editor: John Campbell expose on Key and GCSB
A letter to the Dominion Post on the GCSB
Dear Michael Cullen: the GCSB is not International Rescue!
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= fs =
A very well written article Frank …….. It has the most information/evidence presented in a cohesive timeline that I have read in any media anywhere.
When compared to your well backed up facts and summery Nationals current defense lines and PR spin can clearly be seen as continuing the dishonesty and fear-mongering of john key and his “jihadi brides”………
Anyway Well done again frank ………. I rate you as one of the best ‘reporters’ in New Zealand ……….. its a shame that our main-steam media and news organizations are not up to your high standards in revealing the truth.
Thanks, Reason…
Much of what I’ve reported has been gleaned from other media stories. But there seems to be no inclination for journalists, columnists, and commentators to tie it all together. Everything is compartmentalised in ‘silos’, making it hard to Joe and Jane Public to make sense of these events.
The hollowing-out of the news media is achieving something that every authoritarian regime could only dream of; making the media largely irrelevant to many peoples’ lives.
You’re not thinking like a sexually frustrated nerd. Kitteridge is absolutely obsessed with collecting everything on woman traveling abroad despite the massive logistical problems this poses. For example, the GCSB retains all encrypted traffic they intercept indefinitely. Cracking one properly implemented AES-128 literally takes forever with the entire computing output of the planet. All of this material is completely worthless. They do it anyway. There are a whole pile of things like this that either can’t be analyzed at all or could only be useful in retrospect.
These spooks are so anal they think there organisational skills are worth more than the mission.
Everything Key says is either an outright lie or is a half-truth founded on lies. Well perhaps not everything: some of what he says is just completely inane.
Interestingly, the public seem to share that view, Afewknowthetruth;
ref: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/election-2011/5939226/John-Key-Safe-hands-forked-tongue?
ref: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9085347/John-Keys-believability-low
And then they go vote for him…
First post, long time lurker.
I am astonished that this hasn’t already been picked up by mainstream media! how can anyone refute this? it’s clearly laid out and as factual as you can get.
Great job Frank.
Thanks, Dan.
The video evidence (in the section titled “Key’s Lie By His Own Words”) was ‘buried’ and it was a chance occurrence that I found it (during hours of research).
However, note that a Radio NZ microphone can be seen in the corner in some parts of the video. So a Radio NZ reporter was present.
It’s surprising the reporter didn’t pick up on it – a clear statement by Key “that there are women that we know that left New Zealand” – and mention it to his/her producer back at the office.
Hopefully it will be picked up by others in the msm, who may want to continue to give the story “legs”.
Ignorance is bliss
In which case, Righties must be in absolute rapture, Dave?
Superb article Frank.
As the Greens are condemning Key and the SIS for wilfully deceiving the public, then is there a legal or Parliamentary avenue they can pursue to take this matter further?
Thank you, Pedro.
As for any avenues open to the Greens, because Key did not make that statement in Parliament, it could safely be argued that whilst he lied, he did not mislead the House (which is a near-hanging offence in Parliament) because he wasn’t in it at the time.
Hi Frank.
Glaringly obvious how ludicrous the Parliamentary rules are. Key was speaking in his official capacity as the Prime Minister of NZ, or does thiat status change whenever the need arises?
Ok to lie outside of the House but not within in it. The Prime Minister of NZ blatantly lying on any issue anywhere needs to be treated with the seriousness it deserves.
Keep up the brilliant work.
Thanks Frank. Neatly summed up with the headless chicken.
Until we take back our sovereignty and become a democracy, we will continue to be treated to these asinine displays by the CEO of NZ Inc.
Jonkey is unquestionably foolish but the question is: Is he dangerous for the well-being of New Zealanders? I think, yes.
On a lighter note, Benjamin Fulford has put forward a plan on behalf of the White Dragon Society to sort out this nonsense:
http://www.ascensionwithearth.com/2016/03/benjamin-fulford-video-update-march-19.html
Interesting observations by Fulford about what is happening in our part of this Big Brother Watching world:
http://benjaminfulford.net/
Meanwhile, in Brussels…
At least the GCSB has a pile of emails to sort through
Non-sequitur there, IR.
You’ve missed the entire point of my story with your facetious comment.
None of us can predict the future, I suppose, if anyone can, please let me know.
I say this with some sadness, but this post has not been fortunately timed, given what has just happened in Brussels in Belgium.
Once again some insavoury elements have spoiled it all.
While I am as furious about metadata gathering, about the SIS and apparently also GCSB being able to gather our personal data from agencies and businesses without many limitations (Mr Cullen conceded something I heard), we are struggling an uphill battle with more terror attacks of this magnitude happening.
As New Zealand and its people tend to follow the rest of the “western world”, we will see the expressions of sympathy, compassion and sadness to those affected and hear yet more calls by John Key and his government, to bring in ever more powers for our spy agencies.
Tonight I so sincerely feel glad, that we are sooo far away from Syria and also Europe, separated by much water and space, as this isolation does at times also have its benefits.
But we should also use that as a reason to not give in to excessive scare mongering by some here, as our terror risk is relatively low.
Frank – if Kitteridge is SIS and these were women outside NZ then don’t they come under the GCSB? I thought the SIS was specifically for domestic surveillance. The fact that she reported the women to the committee does not imply that these women left from NZ it guarantees it therefore she is telling lies. This is not a lie by omission as she has gone outside her brief.
In the last 30 days, there have been 23 islamic terrorist attacks in 22 countries, 1018 people killed, 2008 people injured.
In the last THIRTY days.
This map might interest you
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/Mapped-Terror-threat-around-the-world/
NZ is rated as “low” terror threat, similar to Iceland and the west coast of Norway.
Andy, you’ve missed the entire point of my story. Have you actually read it?
I did read parts of it, but I was distracted by the images of slaughter and mayhem in Brussels
I’m just going to refer you back to the original post because your bias is showing
Well, Andy, maybe you should learn to focus instead of being so easily distracted. The PM lies in conspicuously public circumstances and you’re looking elsewhere??
You are so easily manipulated, it seems.
Yes forgive me. I need to ignore the senseless slaughter of dozens of people in Brussels, the dismembered bodies, the children lying in pools of blood.
How selfish of me, I’m sorry
Not forgiven. You need to find the appropriate part of the internet where randoms go to show there outpouring of grief for the victims of terror. And score political points there.
Oh sorry. I will prattle on about your self indulgent piece about minor NZ politics whilst Europe burns
You guys really do need to get your heads out of your backsides.
The headline explicitly mentioned Jihad, as it happened
Apology not excepted. Your attitude and performance here is exactly why I call right wingers extremists.
We also had Mathew Hooton on Twitter calling all opposition to the flag referendum as lift wing minorities. To which I kindly pointed that Hooton was calling RSA members a left wing minority (Hooton actually said lift wing fuck JK minority) the right has gone absolute batshit crazy.
And over a fucken flag.
So apology not excepted. Please sick immediate medical advice and take three chill pills
Andy, you really are letting fear get ther better of you…..
Andy S, what part of Frank’s article relates to events in Brussels?? You seem to be suggesting that Key’s lies are mitigated by acts of bloodshed by ISIS? Is that what you’re saying, that lies are ok, as long as they validate your prejudices???
Key lied. That’s what you should be dealing with here.
The headline mentioned terrorism, as iit happened
This was on the eve of a major terrorist attack in Europe
Please forgive me, I was “triggered” and I need a “safe space”
Obviously if the Religion of Peace ™ decide it is time to inflict suffering on the Kuffir, whether it be via guns, suicide vests, dirty nuclear weapons, or bio-chemical warfare, we should all ignore it and prattle on about how dreadful Jon Key is
Please forgive me my indulgences
Look.
Quite simply. The GCSB or SIS or Foriegn equivalent can not help or even prevent the attacks in Brussels or the 3 previous attacks because the attackers are family/brothers what ever. They don’t need to email each other, they can just talk it over dinner.
Now I will go back to my over all point Iv been saying for awhile. The current crop of world leaders are useless, they have no clue how to act as war time leaders. Votes of no conference should be brought against them until we find some one capable.
Andy, I find your selective morality to be stomach-turning.
Your inability to also address the valid issues raised by Frank also reflects poorly on your intelligence.
Key and Kitteridge lied to us. Whatever happened in another part of the world has no bearing on how our politicians behave and their truthfulness (or lack of, in this case).
Rather poor timing Frank
It’s transparently clear that the free world, including NZ, faces a significant threat, and our best defence is a competent and well funding security apparatus.
The irony is that many things the Left has strives for, including womens rights and gay rights will all be undermined by the growth of radical Islam.
Ultimately history will make a fool of you.
Ditto, Andrew, you’ve missed the entire point of my story. Have you actually read it?
Not “poor timing” at all. All the spy bureaus in Europe couldn’t pick up the impending terror attack. By their (terrorist groups) very nature, only the imposition of a Soviet-style totalitarian state could possibly attempt to control the movement of people to such a degree as to make terrorism difficult (though still not impossible).
Tell us, Andrew, would you like to see the imposition of internal visas, as the former USSR used as a means to control their citizens?
Would you like to see a massive KGB/MVD style ministry/spy/militia set up to control the populace?
And would you like to see the setting up of Labour Camps where “un desirables”, dissidents, and others would be sent, for decades?
If that’s the price of security, Andrew, my bet is that 99.9% of people would say “No!”.
The better option is firstly and foremostly to prevent the birth of creatures like ISIS – the remnants of Saddam Hussein’s military and intelligence apparatus.
Check out these links. It’ll show you how/why ISIS rose to prominence so rapidly; why they’re so effective; and why the 2003 US invasion of Iraq has precipitated a global crisis:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3190314/The-secret-ISIS-s-success-100-former-Saddam-Hussein-era-officers-run-jihadi-group-s-military-intelligence-operations-Iraq-Syria.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-baghdadi-insight-idUSKBN0OW1VN20150616
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-hidden-hand-behind-the-islamic-state-militants-saddam-husseins/2015/04/04/aa97676c-cc32-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html
That’s the enemy; former Iraqi military officers bent on avenging the US invasion and dismantling of their regime.
As for the rest of your nonsense – it has nothing to do with the fact that Key and Kitteridge lied to the media and public. The evidence has been presented – which you’ve chosen to willfully ignore.
Lol. Could Andrew please inform the crowds of how to protect against Foriegn threats.
Can pay for bitchien power point display, I hear there’s another global security road show in Sydney this September. May be Andrew the sewer worker could set up a stall and pitch his ideas to the intelligence community.
Good luck sport and God speed 🙂
SAM: The problem in Europe and America is not the intelligence organisations, it’s the politicians and academics.
When people like Obama chant the lie that “Islam is the religion of peace”, ignore the evidence in front of them and open the doors to millions of them, the security agencies have no chance.
The thing most people don’t (yet) realise is that bombing and shooting is not the major threat. These are mere pinpricks which won’t make much difference either way. In fact they may help us – to act as an alarm for deaf ears as to what exactly we’re dealing with.
No, the major threat is demographics and the core beliefs of mainstream Muslims, not the crackpot jihadists. It may already be too late for Europe because the enemy is within the gates. The combination of Europeans failure to reproduce and the extreme fertility rate of immigrants makes it likely that in our lifetimes, their voting power will push back the progressive advances made since WW2. For example women may return to being second class citizens and homosexuality made illegal again.
All this will happen because the ‘politically correct’ Left silenced reasonable dissent and sloganized it with the term ‘racist’. They looked the other way when Somalis mutilated the genitalia of their daughters in London and when Pakistani gangs raped white girls in Bradford.
Because all cultures are equal, right? 😉
Andrew – so you’re still ignoring the points I raised in my story and are simply used this to parrot your racist claptrap?
Do you have any intention to address the very serious matter that Key and Kitteridge willfully misled the country?
Because if you’re just going to keep spouting your anti-islam beliefs, then you’re simply trolling and not adding much to the debate.
Every time I read Andrews dribble, I can not believe that he is a New Zealander. If Andrew and all his opinion are kiwi, what does that make me?
Should we protect me and my beliefs?
Or should we create a police state to ruthlessly suppress any one not named Andrew?
Yeah I read it but didn’t think it was worth commenting on, it being illogical almost to the point of being irrational.
Frank, only you could link the dairy auction price to jihadi brides…. 😉
Dud. You haven’t a clue what you are talking about. You don’t even know what is in the article you are commenting on
“Yeah I read it but didn’t think it was worth commenting on, it being illogical almost to the point of being irrational.”
Andrew, Frank proved that Key lied. He presented VIDEO EVIDENCE, and you don’t think “it was worrh commenting on”???
The more rubbish you write the more you confirm that right-wing idjits like you are fine with dishonest politicians as long as they reinforce your cherished prejudices.
The only one irrational here is you.
“Frank, only you could link the dairy auction price to jihadi brides…”
And only someone as dim as you, Andrew, could fail to understand the nuances of daily politics and the dark arts of spinning distracftions.
Your ignorance is duly noted.
As is your inability to address the issues Frank raised: Key lied to us.
Andrew, you couldn’t be bothered to read what Frank wrote, but you’re still posting yourparanoid garbage? So in effect, you don’t care about facts and reason, you just let emotion get the better of you?? You’re a sad case, mate.
I fail to see how Andrew’s comments are racist.
Oh, and he is right. It’s about time the world woke up to this
Lead the way then general. Muster your forces to defeat the hordes of jihadi brides. Quick, fetch me my hunting rifle!
Why should I? As a conservative white male, all I need to is grow a beard, get a few more wives, and join the religion of peace.
I can sympathise with the female rape victims incarcerated or stoned to death, and I can sympathise with the gays thrown out of seven storey buildings or hung from construction cranes. I can sympathise with the girls that have acid thrown in their faces for going to school, or sold into sex slavery or arranged marriages
I can sympathise, but I’ll keep my feelings to myself as I don’t want to be branded a “racist” or Islamophobe.
I wan to be a “cool kid” that virtue signals by changing the background of my Facebook picture, and spout mindless hashtags.
I can sit back and watch the twilight of Western Civilisation happy in my own mind that I never offended anyone.
I mean, that^ is just crazy talk. Get a life. You are way way way off topic
Yes I am way off topic, apparently
Just to summarise, the title of the post is “Coming soon: A terror alert near you!”
and the very nexy day, 31+ people are killed and 300 or so injured, by a terrorist attack in Brussels
Please forgive me for misinterpreting the intersectional social justice 3rd wave feminist context of the article
You’ve got problems
Come on, Andy, stick to the points raised.
Key and Kitteridge told porkies and thought they wouldn’t be found out.
Your weak attempt to cover for them is just plain tragic.
Excellent reporting, Frank. Oh, and I wouldn’t worry about Andy/Andrew, their heads are buried firmly in the sand. They just don’t want to see how their PM has lied to them.
+1
The people who support John Key and his mates don’t know how to think critically, and would feel uncomfortable if they did, so prefer not to think about all the things that would make them uncomfortable. Ignorance is bliss.
What level of co-operation is there between the Police and the SIS? Some are finding a direct link between criminal activity and the escalation into very anti-social acts. And that there is a strong sense of ‘family’ involved: brothers, brothers and sisters, and so forth.
I would expect the police to be more aware of these associations than the SIS, and that their training could be improved intelligently, along with better resourcing for a greater grasp of threats and players.
Although…given the pathetic resolution rate for a number of ‘low key’ crimes – they’re more likely to be as knee-jerk and in the dark as the SIS.
Key and the SIS – it’s the sort of behaviour that gives rise to ‘conspiracy theories’ and derision. Unfortunately. Because, at that level, there is no ‘innocent misunderstanding’. Just choreographed strategy.
All it is, is the accumulation of paper power. It’s annoying but not very useful.
Frank,
As comprehensive as your article was the timing turned out to be wrong. The fact that the so called “brides” left from Australia and may have been residents in Australia is of no conquence. As NZ citizens they would surely have been travelling on NZ documentation.
The fact that the Brussels incident happened at the same time as your blog (in my view) simply strengthens the need for monitoring. Splitting hairs, like you article portrays, is simply dancing on the head of a pin. ISIS and all who support them are a threat to us all.
travelling on NZ documentation
Grant,
Frank’s timing was spot on. There is never a better time to highlight government scare tactics than moments like these.
When else would he do it? When it’s not an issue?
I think you’ve totally missed the point of what Frank was highlighting; that we should expect the TRUTH from our governmednt, not lies, or half truths.
You might be satisfied with being mis-led, I suspec t the majority are not impressed.
Frank’s timing was “wrong”, Grant??
When do you think he should have raised it? Ten years time, perhaps?
Key, Kitteridge and Finlayson should all resign immediately, sooner rather than later?
Recently there was a bomb scare at Mission Bay, Auckland a box was found with wiring inside, police shut down the area over the weekend until it was destroyed?
Mission Bay got squatted.
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