I’m not surprised by the Court of Appeal Kim Dotcom decision.
There was no way this Court was going to make a call that was anything other than a rubber stamping of what had come up from below in a case as crucial to the very sovereignty of our legal jurisdiction as this one has become.
This colossal clusterfuck by the Executive in acquiescing to American power will have to be cleaned up by the other branch of Government, the Judiciary and in that most hallowed of star chambers, our Supreme Court will be asked one simple question.
Who has legal sovereignty in Aotearoa? NZ Law, or American law.
Add the illegal activity of the NZ Police, SIS and GCSB to gain the warrant and arrest and the weakness of this case has always been under reported.
When the NZ Secret Intelligence Service intervened with Immigration NZ to grant residency so that they could trap Dotcom in NZ for the Police to arrest him, none of the agencies involved would have thought for one second that Dotcom would have the money and power to reveal their illegal actions, reveal their lies and reveal their incompetence with such embarrassing laser like focus.
This case represents the biggest existential question of our country, does America rule us or are we sovereign?
If the Supreme Court rules in favour of America having power over us, burn the flag because it will mean nothing. America will have had a huge win in their cold war against China by clearly branding these Isles as owned by Donal J Trump. Expect a Chinese response.
If the Supreme Court rules in favour of Kim Dotcom, we are immediately on the hook for $6.8billion in damages. There would be an immediate shockwave as markets adjusted to the reality that the NZ Government would have to pay billions in damages. Political protest would erupt as NZers suddenly realised what Key and English had signed us up to and outrage from Māori as they compare the paltry $1.5billion in damages they were paid for the theft of NZ to the $6.8billion Dotcom would be demanding.
We have two enormous powers hurtling towards each other at great speed now at the Supreme Court. On one side, Dotcom’s fierce will, tenacity and wealth up against the mass surveillance state and American corporate geopolitical interests.
If this goes all the way, it will impact everyone and everything.
To avoid this, someone from the Government should start thinking of cutting a deal with Dotcom before the Supreme Court forces the issue.
With the greatest of respect to Kim Dotcom (and I do wish him well), it seems courtesy of John Key and Bill English, as well as the NZ Justice system so far kowtowing to the USA, NZ will be stuffed either way Kim’s case goes!
With his knowledge of digital technology, Kim Dotcom could have been a huge asset to NZ under different circumstances. It was just unfortunate that the country was under the corrupt governance of Key et al at the time, who set Dotcom up from the start and virtually sold him off to America!
It’s Key who is the criminal here, not Dotcom. And it’s Key who should be facing the courts for much worse than what Kim Dotcom is accused of!
+100 MARY…well said
We are clearly now all up against the mass surveillance state and American corporate geopolitical interests.
This is big dirty money from the mass surveillance state and American corporate geopolitical interests that are attempting to control everything in their own interests and serves to remind us all that they are the “repressive agents that under TPP and any other “so caslled free trade” agreement will do this to all of us at their will.
Fritjof Capra: “One of the most dangerous manifestations of institutional growth today is that of corporations. The largest of them have now transcended national boundaries and have become major actors on the global stage.The assets of these multi-national giants exceed the gross national products of most nations;their economic and political power surpasses that of many national govts threatening national sovereignty and world monetary stability. In most countries of the western world, but especially in the US, corporate power permeates virtually every facet of public life. Corporations largely control the legislative process, distort the information received by the public through the media, and determine, to a significant extent, the functioning of our educational system and the direction of academic research.”
This is just a snippet of what Capra wrote thirty odd years ago. Amen.
If I was a MEGA operator receiving millions through my business activity, and much not even being taxed, I would also fight ‘surveillance’ with all the power to my avail.
As for the rest, yes it is interesting to follow this case, the raids on his once rented mansion were appalling breaches of his rights and so, but the Moment of Truth was also lacking, hence the backlash.
I have only little sympathy for Mr Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, as I followed is career and aspirations from early on, when he was still in Germany:
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/22/business/worldbusiness/how-crime-led-to-a-wealthy-lifestyle-for-german.html
https://www.wired.com/2012/01/kim-dotcom/
Only in a dim witted populace like in NZ Inc can you get away with all this. OK people may change, and usually do, and I believe Mr Dotcom has, but look at his lifestyle, his secrecy about much and how he portrays himself as only a victim, and hero of sorts, is he really that?
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Kimvestor&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwikgsShtofcAhUZFogKHbV_CvwQsAQIVg&biw=1100&bih=631
If you expect ‘the left’ to identify and associate itself with this man, as some did, you are definitely going to lose the last bit of credibility, I am afraid.
I don’t see him as a hero, but I am pleased he is continuing to fight the good fight. He is a bloody victim however all that illegal helicoptering to his property etc. I certainly know people on the left who knew him and associated with him, this does not in my eyes make them have less credibility. I was privileged to be at the moment of truth and I understood he was instructed by lawyers not long before that evening not to reveal the email he had proving that Key lied. I never saw the evening as a fiasco because two of my heroes came up on the screen, Julian Assange and Edward Snowdon and the whole packed town hall rose to their feet. Thank goodness that there are still people like that in the world.
I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about the character of Dotcom.
It’s no longer about Dotcom, it ceased to be about him the moment state agencies broke the law to ensnare him.
For a long time now it is about the system we live in and the freedoms we currently enjoy, freedoms and rights for which many have laid down their lives to establish.
In addition.
If I were to weigh the relative putrescence of the two crimes: criminally undermining civil liberties and protections (undermining them effectively for all citizens) against the criminal enrichment of an individual and immediate pals through fraud, I have no doubt whatsoever which is more serious.
Particularly so when the criminal erosion of civil protections appears to be undertaken at the behest of mega corporations.
You do realize of course that the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry threatened to withhold funding for Obamas elections if Obama didn’t pass punitive conditions ( regards copyright laws ) against those deemed to have threatened that body’s financial interests , … and that Obama capitulated and followed through with their wishes to extradite Kim Dotcom, don’t you ?…
And that it was also the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry that was charged with the lions share of drawing up conditions for the TTPA , – to then be ratified by Congress ?
Now ,… ask yourself,… with that sort of high level involvement ,.. don’t you acknowledge that there are strong motives led by certain unelected foreign lobby groups behind the extradition and imprisonment of Kim Dotcom ( and if he does stand trial in the USA , – it will be before a kangaroo court ) , that have NOTHING to do with the law or natural justice but EVERYTHING to do with abject pecuniary gain.
It has been pointed out that Hollywood,… are now a monolithic and threatened industry whose fortunes are waning. Why ?… simply because they have failed to move with the times . We are now in the age of the internet , and they ,- using their traditional approach of the cinematic big screen , – realize they are losing out to the new era of online entertainment. And that they have no real effective way of combating the internet.
This is no longer the 1940’s , Hitlers war is long over and lucrative government contracts are no longer quite as forthcoming as they once were in Hollywood’s heyday.
But that is no fault of Kim Dotcom or the countless other millions around the globe . Indeed it was the US military themselves who actually put in motion the possibility of the internet in the first place !
It is also no secret that former Prime Minister John Key was on very close terms with Barak Obama, – albeit being a very one sided affair with Key taking the subservient role ,…and that because New Zealand is deemed the junior partner in the American led 5 eyes agreement .
We need no reminders of the unethical misuse of our spy agency’s with Tim Grosser’s bid for the top job in the World Trade Organisation ( Tim Grosser the English import who was preeminent among advocates for the TTPA for this country ) nor the spying on friendly Island nations of the Pacific and worse, – China with whom we have a Free Trade Agreement. And that the excuse was , – that we in NZ can spy on nations on the behest of the USA that they have been blocked from…
Nor do we need reminding that again , John Key on behalf of Hollywood circumvented , undermined and rewrote our own labour laws to advantage Warner Bros in their bid to gain cheap labour among New Zealand’s own film industry workers.
The two paragraphs above demonstrate amply who John Key was, where his interests lay and to whom his loyalties were given.
It was not New Zealand.
And it is more than just a coincidence that when Obama ceased to be President and Donald J Trump was elected , – who put the final nail in the coffin regards the TTPA , – Key inexplicably and suddenly left office mid term.
And so , because we had a sycophantic Prime Minister, whose loyalty’s lay outside of New Zealand and instead with certain among the USA corridors of financial and political power , we , – as a nation , – were compromised in our national sovereignty regarding our laws, our legal systems , and our very concepts of human rights . In short ,- we were sold out.
So much so , – that when an illegal raid was carried out on the residence of Kim Dotcom ( in ways never before seen in this country but more resembling some paramilitary Police state epic out of a Hollywood blockbuster ) and with the continued and further illegalities of asset and financial freezing ,… yet the charade was kept going.
Despite the whole thing being illegal from the start.
Any other case would have been thrown out of court long ago for the sheer mockery of justice and volume of illegalities, fabrications , corruptions and assaults on basic Human Rights in this country. Not to mention criminal processes of the perpetrators.
But we are not dealing with those who are interested in lofty ideals such as the respecting of national sovereignty , democracy and self determination. Nor Human Rights. We are dealing with a ruthless , self interested geo political elite who have the finances and the connections to effectively curtail and circumvent all of the above if and when desired.
Yet so far , – this whole saga has achieved a monumental nothing barring making a complete joke out of our Police , our courts and our political leaders. And their claims about being a sovereign nation with our own laws.
( Which are , incidentally , – totally different from the USA’s Copyright laws. So why are we bowing in deference to them in our country in the first place ??? )
The long , long list of discrepancies and illegalities found among the ‘authority’s’ claims and spurious assertion’s to date has not served to garner them with credibility , – but the exact opposite. Which is precisely the sort of results to be expected when attempts are being made to cover up fabrications in order to protect both political and financial vested self interests.
History is a great teacher and reminder.
Perhaps these two links , one of Campbell Live demonstrating the circumstantial evidence of collusion between Keys govt and the Obama Administration to extradicte K. Dotcom ,.. the other Key being interviewed by John Campbell and Keys knowledge of K.Dotcom will jog peoples memory’s.
Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal …
Video for Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal)▶ 16:11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxytPFfTozE
John Key discusses Dotcom saga – YouTube
Video for John Key discusses Dotcom saga▶ 17:29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1xwiyNl8w
+100…and it is the real culprit who should have the pants sued of him!…jonkey!
Sadly I think when he wins his case which I think he must having read much about the case over the years, and he goes for billions all the NZ sheep will think is he is a greedy man. None of this will fall on Key who has lied and lied and lied, actually Kiwis don’t give a shit. Key drank beer with the all blacks in their changing room and could have been the man next door, such a likeable chap.
Of course I know about some of the stuff he did back in Germany – but frankly none of it has anything to do with the Yanks trying to get hold of him. The Yanks hate competition we all know that.
Is his lifestyle really so different to that of the other wealthiest people in NZ – Graham Hart and the rest of them.
When are we going to spend money chasing the $30 billion done in tax evasion every single year – no no we can’t do that these are the mates of the shakers and movers in Aotearoa. We currently spend the same amount of money chasing this lot as we do chasing beneficiaries for fraud for the measly $30m a year they do us for!.
I agree with this assessment except for that fact that with 6.8 billion dollars Kim Dotcom could probably buy the New Zealand media and force them to publish the truth.
This probably won’t happen but it’s fun imagining it!
Dotcom could win the hearts as well as the heads of New Zealanders by only going after John Key…who is the real culprit
I think you severely underestimate The “Sir” John Key’s popularity. The backlash would be enormous, and would divide the country even worse than it already is.
Bomber is right. The smartest (and fairest) thing to do now is for the Government to drop the case, acknowledge a miscarriage of justice, and cut a compensation deal. The alternative is a highly unjust option to allow the Supreme Court to rule against Kim (which imo they almost certainly will). I suspect they’ll do the latter; Kim will get extradited as promised by The “Sir” John Key.
it is not a question of popularity…it is a question of culpability…and I think you over- estimate jonkey’s popularity
…he wasn’t popular enough to change the New Zealand flag ( even with the help of the Greens and his other acolytes)
…he wasn’t popular enough to stand for re-election because he knew he would lose
…he is becoming increasingly unpopular as the devastation and corruption of the last nine years becomes apparent to New Zealanders
Politicians should be held accountable for their actions …even if they have resigned from parliament
Dotcom should sue those individuals responsible for crimes against him ..not the new Labour coalition Government…and innocent New Zealand taxpayers
This case is about abuse of power in NZ, everything else is a smoke screen, if you are on a benefit in NZ you have NO RIGHTS whatsoever, winebox laws brought in to fight corporate fraud have been blanket applied to every kiwi appearing in court,read guilty till proven innocent.
We already live in a POLICE STATE wake up, we have prison factory’s, mass surveillance, a court system controlled bye political appointments and we have the most corrupt non elected government administrators its possible to have. Dont listen to what they say, look at what they do.
What we need here is a Royal commission of inquiry into this whole mess, those found culpable should have their property sized, their accounts frozen, their freedom removed permanently all according to the laws they have imposed on the rest of us. Remember who the last lot was that went up the Belsen chimneys, the fuckers that built them.
+100
The Court of Appeal is so pro-government it’s pretty safe to say that it’s out of control. Robert Lithgow’s comments were made a while ago now, but a browse of CA decisions since then involving the government pretty quickly shows that things have got worse.
http://idiotsinpower.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-lithgow-qc-described-nz-court-of.html
I agree with Richard Christie’s comment, this is not about what happens to Kim Schmitz, but what precedent it sets for the relationship between our country and foreign governments who claim jurisdiction here over relatively trivial offences. Copyright violation wasn’t even a crime until relatively recently, it was a civil matter between the copyright holder and the alleged violator, as it ought to be. Hopefully when Kim wins, he will ask for only enough compensation to get his life and his livelihood back on track. Give how totally they’ve both totally disrupted by this case, and the fact that fighting this case will have prevented a very dangerous legal precedent from being set, I think that’s only fair.
Is it this simple?
Is dotcom here legally?
If yes? Then fuck the U$A. They can fuck off, the bullies.
If not? Then give them dotcom. Who cares?
If dotcom’s here legally and broke OUR laws then off to our courts with him.
If not? Then fuck off ‘mericans.
It can’t be legally that simple, I know. But in my world, it is.
Those fucking yank wankers came here and fucked around like they owned the place, the provocative fuckers. What would you do if your neighbours just turned up and wandered around your back yard looking for this and that? You’d fuck them up, that’s what you’d do. This is a British Commonwealth Country so fuck off yanks! Go and save a world somewhere. Bat them with your Very Big Penises. Call tom cruise ? He’ll know what to do.
America is a big country – we can fit double the population of NZ in greater Boston. And there’s 3000 miles to the west of that not including Hawaii and Alaska. Almost 400 million of us and we’re all different. I think your characterization of the “yanks” is nebulous – Dotcom is beyond international law you say? It is not that important to me. I’m sure it will all work itself out. We love you Kiwis here in the states as close cousins, of course.
Of Course, Kim could have learned the Art of The Deal
He could gain Immunity by becoming a Witness & testify
his knowledge of His & Seth Rich’s Correspondence regarding the
US DNC email leaks, which lead to his Murder & is the Linch Pin in the
Muller probe
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