The latest news that Trump is ramping up America’s pointless war in Afghanistan with another 4000 troops should be a final line in the blood drenched sand in terms of our involvement.
Australia hasn’t ruled out sending more troops and we’ve just increased our personal by 3.
It’s the usual bullshit strategy of fighting the Taliban with an extra surge in troops to negotiate a good deal.
That same failed strategy has seen us in Afghanistan for 16 years.
Another argument could be made, and that argument is that it is our presence in a country that is not ours that is actually generating the violence and damage and that at no time has anyone successfully occupied Afghanistan since the Durrani Empire of 1738.
The UN should hold an immediate crisis meeting to offer terms of surrender and reparation and aid with the Taliban in a power sharing arrangement with respect for human rights considered paramount.
It is wrong to continue to prop up this occupation especially when the Government is so corrupt, and not enough of an effort is being made to negotiate peace. This ‘we’ll have a surge and negotiate from a position of power’ has failed for 16 years and it’s almost been 300 years since an occupation succeeded in Afghanistan.
NZ, as a country of peace and disarmament, should make a moral decision to pull out of Afghanistan and call for an immediate truce with the Taliban and enter negotiations for a peace settlement.
It could be a foreign affairs coup for a new Government coming into power in September.
In the same move, the new Labour led Government should call on the SAS to come home from Iraq.
In light of the compelling evidence that there are serious question marks over our involvement in war crimes, we should immediately call home our SAS from Iraq and launch an independent inquiry.
It is unacceptable that the SAS are currently involved in secretive missions in Iraq with so little oversight when there are outstanding questions over what they are being asked to do.
There has been a cloud that has settled over our armed forces. We have asked brave people to do disgraceful things. If we are critical of them, we must be critical of the lack of our own voice in demanding accountability.
A new Government in NZ should adopt a very different leadership on the foreign affairs stage and symbolic gestures like bringing our SAS home and pulling out off Afghanistan to demand action for peace would be a good start.
Trump wants to get at the minerals and we want to keep onside with our pimp, because we have a “special” relationship, not so special really, shared with the other 5 eyes plus Israel
Somebody’s sold Trump a bridge because many an empire has tried and many an empire has failed to loot Afghanistan’s treasures, its just too hard.
But I don’t know about Labour.
We don’t have a peacenik like Corbyn .
The only party that brushes on foreign policy is the Green Party, they also have a policy of ditching 5 eyes.That’d set the fox among the pigeons, we’d have a colour revolution if that ever came to pass
Chinese hacking IP and outright corporate espionage in an effort to go big and regain Super Power status has pushed the U.S out of the straights between China and Taiwan. Once Chinese industry reverse engineers western technology based on hacked IP ect, and scale up its own industries for domestic consumption, domestic movies for example will be open for any one to view on the Internet via live streams and other foreign espionage. Bit of a problem when they’re trying there hardest to be like America.
The cultural history of China’s one rule for all governance has a flaw. The only way to change governance is by bloody revolution.
So if the consequences are great if we do not manage communications and trade from our end professionally. Then what should New Zealand’s response be?
Personally is like to see more independent foreign policy. Believe I’ve spoken enough about it. But what do you think we should be building towards? And how should we transition from the mess we’ve got now to something better?
Your thoughts
NZ’s independent foreign policy is written in Wall Street.
The bloody revolution you mentioned I take it is the throwing out of US , Britain and other colonial powers who had dominated China for many decades before Japanese occupation and sought to reestablish themselves in opposition to a popular uprising against them as the Japanese were driven out.
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Taiwan was a part of China but the US backed corrupt “Nationalists” fled there when they were pushed out of China with the US attempted take over of the Chinese mainland using the “Nationalists” and accompanying warlord remnants.
Taiwan is still a part of China and should the US withdraw it will unit with China. If the US withdrew from “South” Korea then Korea would unit again.
The history of the Asian area is a study of attempted colonisation and power grabs.
It was a popular uprising against that corruption along with freeing up of land for farmers and village cooperatives which brought a promise of some power accountability.
There are daily protests and frequent strikes in South Korea demonstrating against the US occupation.
We just don’t get that news.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/08/1-in-200-men-direct-descendants-of-genghis-khan/
Fuedal warlords once reigned over what is modern China. So bloody revolution is a huge cultural tradition in China.
I recall the first Emperor of China who overcame the Mongol empire by inventing the gun, and he was just some guy that didn’t want his wife raped.
Chinese understand this because Gangis raped so many woman 1 in 200 or about 50 million Chinese are direct descendants of Gangis (see link above) also the culture revolution after WW2 that created a famin wiping out even more Chinese that disappeared during WW2. And Chinese folk are desperate not to go back to the warlord days.
General Macarther understood this as well when he gave a reply to congress about what should be done about the spread of communism and said “only a fool wages a ground war in Asia.” The reasoning was simple. There are 5 billion people on the Asian continent and 2 billion everywhere else. Any invading force will be overwhelmed by a force with a cultural tradition of overcoming greater odds. So the west will look for any excuse for an air campaign, Militarily and Newscorp and the rest.
The more America and Newscorp try and turn China into there own image. The more that one guy says you ain’t raping Chinese industry.
Here, Here, Martyn.
The “exceptional” government in Washington, regardless of which party is in power there will drag us into any one of a number of illegal wars if there is not an independent foreign policy operating in NZ.
Trump was elected on a platform of pulling back from overseas military entanglements but now appears to have suffered a military coup with much of his cabinet made up of Generals and the manoeuvring of the intelligence agencies has made it impossible to reach a rapprochement with the Russians
The American people do not even support their governments actions.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/08/25/conspiracy-theory/
http://www.moonofalabama.org/
Through weapon supply, American Governments profit by over 40 billion dollars a year. Why on earth would they want to pull out of any war? The reality is that America makes money out of war and deaths. It is very sad that N.Z. is part of this.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/tomdispatch-dc-congress-defense-international-arms-business/
Agreed Martyn
Trump seemed to be on the right track before the election, and on the positive his withdrawal of finance for Syrian rebels though not getting much coverage is a move in the right direction. Together with the added troops in Afghanistan they are talking about negotiations ay least.
But I agree we should make totally independent decisions about military engagements . America’s foreign policy is grotesque.
D J S
Afghanistan holds enormous mineral wealth, which, coupled with the revenue from drugs, supports the activities of the Military Industrial Complex. NZ as a country has no business being in Afghanistan but then NZ as a country has no business being part of the 5 Eyes either. To know the real truth of our involvement I suspect one needs to hold the code for locked doors into the access restricted bowels of the Beehive.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/congressman-opium-afghanistan-war/
I think that if Labour wins, the “speak” will be the same as the Nats. Different tune but same lyrics. Our overlords sit offshore.
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