PODCAST: Buchanan and Manning on Microlateralism – Is This How New Zealand Becomes Relevant on the World Stage?

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A View from Afar (@ midday, Thursdays NZST): This week Selwyn Manning and Paul Buchanan debate:

Recently New Zealand Government confirmed its intention to be defined as an independent Pacific Island state, where its foreign policy should be considered against the collective values that its peoples share, and its diplomacy (if you consider human rights issues) will now be expressed multilaterally with likeminded countries.

But how does this work in practice?

Many see multilateral bodies like the United Nations being controlled by large global powers such as China and the United States of America. That this reality renders the UN’s security council as toothless, cumbersome, and slow to act in times of crisis.

Basically, this form of multilateralism seems designed to create a stalemate between great powers that assert their respective competing agendas. The affect; small countries lose their voice and influence.

  • So how do small powers like New Zealand express themselves on the world stage?
  • How do small countries shape reform of global bodies, so that they can work as forces of good in a world where geopolitics is divided between polarised blocs?
  • Is microlateralism (a global collective of likeminded states) the answer?
  • Is New Zealand about to stride out on the world-stage to assert this new form of multilateral collective bargaining?

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6 COMMENTS

    • Naw we tell them both to fuck off and do deals with the Russians instead and pit the ‘Muricans against the Sino’s.

      Little bit of Sukarno and Suharto diplomacy and think of ourselves first for a change. They want our favour?,… then let them both come crawling cap in hand if they want our produce and trade and strategically placed positions.

      WE don’t come cheap.

      And we aint no prostitutes either.

  1. “Recently New Zealand Government confirmed its intention to be defined as an independent Pacific Island state, where its foreign policy should be considered against the collective values that its peoples share’ – BUT what are those values?

    Increasingly NZ is turning a blind eye, and encouraging exploitation. Not just overseas exploitation of natural resources like water, sand and so forth for peanuts, but also ignoring international human rights abuses while turning a blind eye to more and more labour, drugs, counterfeit or blackmarket goods and money laundering fraudsters operating in NZ.

    Strange times. Some unions seem to be going after the ‘bums on seats’ approach to union membership rather than stopping labour frauds. Others seem to be making up new unions to destroy old ones (doctors union).

    NZ visas are out of NZ border control and contracted out to other countries, as we don’t like to pay NZ wages. weird to spend billions on NZ security organisations and then get the basics wrong. In addition what sort of society are we creating in NZ going forward for the kids?

    I’d say the destruction of our social services by demand is every bit a security concern as is NZ’s seemingly pro effort to encourage all the crims, exploiters and fruit loops into NZ. With Tarrant our largest non corporate mass murderer, OZ returnees in MIQ refusing to be tested for Covid in MIQ. Yesterday on social media, they are warning that some animal abuser has now moved to Northland from OZ… not to mention all the criminals and exploiters that seem to find NZ a great place to call their new home in the past 15 years. This is the society we are creating. Once you get into NZ, the idea seems to be, refuse to leave and if you are a criminal, have problems or mentally ill, then it helps you get NZ residency as you might be worse off going back home.

    Neoliberals have been successful in arguing the nuances of everything rather than the values. AKA is Uygurs and organ harvesting really genocide? Apparently nope not technically, so all is ok then, phew! A greenie is ex legal council for a genocide leader in the UN so all is well! Box ticked.

    Sadly brainwashing is alive and well, and surprisingly successful in NZ, combined with a dilution strategy, to encourage people to do nothing, say nothing and just avoid politics and our politicians to do random policy based on marketing and group think (health reforms) that somehow always seems to be disruption now, but the fruits come next election.

  2. “Is New Zealand about to stride out on the world-stage to assert this new form of multilateral collective bargaining?”
    Ha ! Only if AO/NZ being devoured in front of a live audience is to be a thing.
    The ONLY thing that stops AO/NZ from becoming an oligarchs plaything and us their slaves is the RAF and the Royal Navy.
    The planet’s on fire and soon there will be starving coast-line refugees heading for the hills and any fluffy widdle huggums will get eaten and very likely alive without salt and pepper. Ask any footballer who’s been lost in the Andes?
    This is what I think AO/NZ should do.
    We must stick to the Crown’s apron strings like Tom Cruise did to that aeroplane only stickier.
    We then pay our family farmers an annual and on-going Universal Basic Income of, say, $200,000 in cash and will be enduringly inflation adjusted. There’s only about 52 thousand people who earn their sole income from agrarian endeavours so it won’t cost that much. I’m sure the likes of graham hart could stump up the cash if he was taxed at wage earners rates. And besides, since farmers are our primary industry it’ll be their own money coming back at them anyway having avoided being pilfered by Big Business City People. A basic cash income farmers can spend on holidays, luxuries and proper drugs just like Big Business City People currently do. But not booze. That stuff’ll kill you. ( Booze in supermarkets? Wasn’t that a dirty old brierly of progressive enterprises / countdown thing? )
    Another reason why a farmers Universal Basic Income would be essential is because current farming practises foisted upon the farmer by foreign banksters manipulating farmers into a debt corner to be exploited is because current chemical farming, i.e the use of herbicides and pesticides is decimating our ecology and when the soil dies, we all die with it.
    Read this?
    The Guardian
    “Vital soil organisms being harmed by pesticides, study shows”
    “The tiny creatures are the ‘unsung heroes’ that keep soils healthy and underpin all life on land” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/04/vital-soil-organisms-being-harmed-by-pesticides-study-shows
    Maori? Lets create a Ministry who’s sole governance will be over Maori land rights. And by that I mean The Crown gives back all agricultural lands, parks, shorelines and waterways to Maori to tax, manage and administer. The various Iwi will have sole governance over all public lands and all farm lands. Instead of all lands being accessible by the Crown, they instead become accessible to and by Maori. Taxes are paid to Maori and Maori have rights to all that are currently available to The Crown.
    And on that note? Can I just say FUCK YOU hobsons pledge? Cheers.
    LINZ.
    Public Works Act acquisition process.
    https://www.linz.govt.nz/crown-property/acquisition-and-disposal-land/land-involved-public-works/landowners-rights-when-crown
    Namely, because as I write, our lands, including our farm lands belong to a cadre of criminal hangers-on who manipulate the governor general to their own greedy ends and all you private landowner farmers can currently do nothing about that. Was the current Governor General shoulder tapped by God Bless ‘merica God Bless jonky? I assume she never sported a pony tail?
    So. To summarise: We remain safe and secure under the Crown’s banner and if any uppity well monied foreign fucker starts sniffing around our skirts we can summon up the RAF and The Royal Navy to slap them around. And by ‘slapping around’ I mean vaporise.
    Meanwhile Maori have entire autonomy over their lands while our primary industry can sit back and relax as being an organic agricultural primary industry who now earn more money than they could have ever imagined while being paid a security against loss of income ( Unforeseen weather events, personal issues etc.) to remain on their shared family farms in perpetuum.
    Rich Remuera fucks? It’s not looking good for you I’m afraid you greedy, useless bastards.

  3. I don’t know about making the pacific Islands live by New Zealand’s Labours it will probably bankrupt them almost immediately. I don’t even want to think about what would happen if we made a third world economy pay a $20 per hour 40 hour week with there technology and society it’s just to great of a jump from a $3 M/W or what ever to $20. Itz just to great a jump with out the supporting industrial base.

    We’d either have to subsidies them probably something like the Israel’s do ti subsidies illegal settlements or we trade with them so that for every $NZ dollar a pacific island receives in export earnings they recieve $2 in there own currency, we could use that to give them development loans to double there economies and maybe they could catch up to NZs mjnium wage of $20 or what ever in about 20 years but not over night no way.

    That’s what basically undid the European Union as an example. They had everything that connected them, law, order, money, what ever. Everything but a fiscal union so that forced them to borrow from each other at above market rates. So the head of the European Bank says to Greece they’ll call in their loans if Greece (yanis varoufakis) tries to source cheaper loans.

    So NZ has to facilitate the cheapest possible loan rates and we have to be tough enough to tell China and America that there check book diplomacy sucks dick and fuck off.

    • Sam, we are worse off than China because people are not only working for nothing in NZ, they are paying to work for nothing. NZ has managed to have lower wages than China by lowering our wage rates lower than a wage, aka people are now paying to work!

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