‘The world is bloody messy’: Jacinda Ardern urges end to ‘black-and-white’ view of global conflict
The world is “bloody messy” but must take a step back from polarisation and black-and-white approaches to conflict, Jacinda Ardern has said in a wide-ranging speech in which she addressed the war in Ukraine and rising tensions with China.
In a speech to foreign policy thinktank the Lowy Institute in Sydney, the New Zealand prime minister decried Russia’s “morally bankrupt” war in Ukraine – but also argued against the hardening of alliances, saying that the war should not be presented as a conflict of “democracy v autocracy” or be seen as an inevitable direction for other tensions between competing nations.
“In taking every possible action to respond to Russia’s aggression and to hold it to account, we must remember that fundamentally this is Russia’s war,” she said.
“And while there are those who have shown overt and direct support … who must also see consequences for their role, let us not otherwise characterise this as a war of the west vs Russia. Or democracy v autocracy. It is not.
“Nor should we naturally assume it is a demonstration of the inevitable trajectory in other areas of geostrategic contest.”
We must always be prepared to dialogue, and that is our strength, but we can’t deny the reality that our benign strategic environment hasn’t suddenly become a lot less benign.
If we are serious about an Independent Foreign Policy, we have to accept it is going to cost us a lot more.
Labour understand that…
TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com
Government to review defence policy amid Covid-19, geopolitical competition, climate change
Defence Minister Peeni Henare has launched a review of defence policy that could reshape New Zealand’s military.
In an announcement on Thursday, Henare said the Government wanted to ensure the Defence Force was “fit for purpose” in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, intensifying great power competition, and escalating climate change.
Cabinet asked the defence agencies to write a new defence policy and strategy statement, due in October 2022. A statement looking at “future force design principles” is due April 2023. The prior Strategic Defence Policy Statement was produced by the Labour-coalition Government in 2018.
“The importance of this review is paramount so that we can make sure future investments are fit for purpose in a post Covid-19 environment, a Pacific region grappling with climate change and the intensification of strategic competition, and a world which is seeing a brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” Henare said.
…I believe that the climate crisis means we need a vastly larger military to cope with civil disasters and if we are attempting to distance ourselves from China and America, we need to make a decision to dramatically lift what we spend on the military for purely defensive capacity.
How would we go about defending the realm of NZ and all our economic exclusive zone?
Currently we spend 1.5% of GDP on our entire military, to defend the full realm of NZ and pursue an independent foreign policy, I argue we need to push that up to 3%.
Note – NZ should only build up its military to defend our full territory (NZ islands, EEZ, Ross Dependency, Tokelau, Cook Islands and Niue). Any upgrade of our military is for purely defensive purposes, not for military adventure or invasions.
We can’t pull away from America and China and pretend there is no cost to being Independent.
With the climate crisis looming, we need that debate now.
We also have the geopolitics of it.
With China building a forward military base that could cut America off…
China-Solomon Islands deal: China could cut New Zealand, Australia off from US military support – Professor Anne-Marie Brady
A Chinese politics specialist has called the deal between the Solomon Islands and China a “game-changer” saying New Zealand could be cut-off US military support.
…the real danger here is the Chinese Fishing Militia that will use it as a base to raid deep into fisheries.
We need to protect our fisheries.
I maintain we must have an independent foreign policy and that our stance must be friend to all, enemy to none, but we will urgently need to protect what is ours and acknowledge how the climate crisis will demand more civil emergency infrastructure and assets.
We need a complete review of our defence force and massive increase in spending while maintaining our soft power influence.
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Alternatively defund the military, arm every abled bodied responsible adult with javelins and 3D printed fully automatic flame throwers and tanks etc. let trained individuals and militias defend godzone against enemies foreign and domestic. Bonus points for preventing foreign occupiers the chance to hijack exisiting institutions.
Half of NZs population bottle necks the North Island while stuck in Auckland Traffic Jams on the way to glory on day one. We need to get organised. Arming civilians won’t do thatfor the reason already given. Most people can’t even keep up with a car rego you want them to maintain high end missiles??? Better to leave them in factories where they can be useful.
War is not your Fortè.
Whilst I agree with you in principle Martyn, I must note that the money has to come from somewhere. So what is your plan?
My preference would be to slash the bureaucratic overhead in government both central and local, thereby unfettering the economy and gaining the ability to afford such nice toys.
There will be no purge of the bureaucracy. The economy is still growing. Our quality of live depends on growth and innovation. Financialized mumbo jumbo doesn’t pay for anything. Growth will.
Succinctly put Andrew. ACT’s policy in a nut – shell of neoliberalism.
sounds like the same old libertarian failed policies to me andrew..if they worked you’d have an argument but as they fail everywhere, not so much…unless you aspire to living in alabama that is.
Jacinda needs to go overseas permanently
Your shout cobber.
You first XstraightXedgeX.
To quote Muldoon, ‘you’d be raising the IQ of both New Zealand and Australia’. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/opinion/editorial/21090/Australias-gain
Yes!
She looked quite radiant after her princess tour of Europe and elsewhere! 🙂 Perhaps a cosy position at the U.N.?
isn’t fester awol as well?
You need to think more realistically about New Zealand’s relationship with Australia. If you abandon all sense of being an ally, you can also kiss goodbye to any meaningful improvement of relations with Australia.
New Zealand can’t just be autarkic, there has to be some meaningful sense of having joint interests with our closest neighbour. These extend beyond the South Pacific, and include our mutual relations with Singapore, Malaysia and the UK (FPDA). Also RIMPAC with the US. In short our critical relationships extend to the wider Asia Pacific, and not just the South Pacific.
They also include Five Eyes. If New Zealand pulled out of Five Eyes, Australia would view that extremely unfavourably. It would be literally dumping on our only formal ally.
Yes of course Wayne filed under in the bloody obvious file.
Ardern went to UK in her youth for her OE.She has a Northern Hemisphere bias. No effing use use at all as a vision. She has fuck all understanding of OZ. Our biggest most important neighbour.
We need to upgrade our Navy developing a fleet of smaller coast line patrol boats that would be extremely useful to OZ as well. We have to have something to offer. We cannot do an airforce that needs to be collaborative. The answer is the Navy . Always fucking has been!.
It’s not a finger to our allies it’s an independent foreign policy. No where are we saying cut all military and trade ties. That just in your head, Mr Doctor.
Being allies with Australia is like being family friends with a child molester. You’d have to be mad to do it.
Wake up to the reality of not having an effing choice. Grow up and develop the hardware and personnel grow the Navy and build an alliance. It’s called being an adult.And opening your eyes to the wider world. We are small no one gives a fuck about us we have to work with the big ugly pedo who has the money if not the brains.
We don’t need a navy to keep yanks and australians out of our waters. Antiship missiles will do fine.
Who would have us ally with?
NZ needs to increase its spending on Building some Houses first!!
The NZDF just needs to fund the eco-terrorists with a few speed boats and loud trailers to take off out into coastal waters to scare off invaders on the 12-mile limit.
Seeing them will definitely work!
no wayne NZ can’t be self sufficient in all areas, course not but where we can we should…more hydro for instance, more diverse agriculture…but the market will never deliver this.
George Monbiot of The Guardian describes the think tank recently visited by Luxon as an altra right wing think tank(Fascist?)
How do we cope with that inluence?
It seems the enemy is within.
” but must take a step back from polarisation and black-and-white approaches to conflict ” Then she follows by just doing that!
“morally bankrupt” war in Ukraine ? Russia intervened to stop the shelling and killing of Russian speaking minority in the DPR and LPR. Who were about to be invaded by a 100,000 UKR troops. This daily assault has been continuing since 2014 and had killed 14000 men women and children including using prohibited cluster bombs.
The Ukraine has ben primed for war since 2014 by Nato with arms, finance and training to the point of an existential threat to Russia itself.
Russia and the free republics had tried to make peace with the Minsk agreements reneged on by UKR and its Nazi backers. Shortly before the Russian special military operation Russia had pleaded for a meeting to construct a new security architecture for all but this olive branch was dismissed with contempt.
The conflict is between those who wish to free from U$$$ hegemony and exploitation assisted by its E.U. vassal states and the U$K and said western actors.
” “In taking every possible action to respond to Russia’s aggression and to hold it to account, we must remember that fundamentally this is Russia’s war,” she said.” No! this is Nato’s War who promised on the dissolution of the Soviet Union it would not expand further East! The threat is the Neocon Zionist criminal madmen in Washington will station nuclear capable missiles on Russia’s front porch!
Their ultimate aim is to break up Russia into statelets and plunder its rich resources.
UK Kicks Off ‘World Class’ Basic Training of 10,000 Ukrainians Every Four Months to Throw at Russia
The UK already trained some 22,000 Ukrainian personnel between 2015 and 2022, and has committed over £2.3 billion ($2.76 billion US) in military assistance to the country, including over 5,000 NLAW and 1,500 Javelin anti-tank weapons, M270 heavy multiple launch rocket systems, intelligence support, jamming and electronic warfare equipment, and Starstreak man-portable air defense systems.
https://sputniknews.com/20220709/uk-kicks-off-world-class-basic-training-of-10000-ukrainians-every-quadrimester-to-throw-at-russia-1097129658.html
MOST RECENT UPDATE FROM UKRAINE WITH RUSSELL “TEXAS” BENTLEY prevod sr
https://rumble.com/v1bcozh-most-recent-update-from-ukraine-with-russell-texas-bentley-prevod-sr.html
Have you even read the Lisbon Protocol and Budapest Memorandum? When Ukraine gave up its Strategic WPN Systems in exchange for Russia’s guarantees, that it won’t interfere with Ukraine’s Democratic institutions, political parties, it’s right as a sovereign country to make its own decisions IRT its economic growth, development & who it chooses to aligned it Military/ Security Forces with.
Both the US & UK Guaranteed Ukraine’s territorial integrity if Russia s so chooses to violate any part of the Lisbon protocol and Budapest memorandum.
Since 2014 both the US & UK have uphold their respective Security guarantees in regards Russia’s Violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and its democratic institutions that the Tsar Poots Mates had infiltrate prior to 2014 uprising.
“Their ultimate aim is to break up Russia into statelets and plunder its rich resources.”
Bingo.
NATO expansion & US antagonism, not Russian aggression, is to blame!
But what might make us believe that AU is, or ever will be, an ally to us? What would they get/expect out of such an alliance? Our desperate and struggling labour force? Our street criminals? Our equally criminal hyper riche like that hideous old pervert ron brierly?
Thinking about political alliances politically, is a political conundrum, but surely, the second thought must be what might they want to get out of any such an alliance with us, and almost certainly commercially.
So, what would Australia expect out of an alliance with AO/NZ? Some kind of blokey camaraderie over beersies around the barbi while swapping jandle stories? Or will it be something else?
How about our entire fucking country! We’d be vacuumed up into Australia, already a quasi-51st state of the U$A faster than you could say tie me kangaroo down sport.
We don’t need Australia because Australia will come with a bag of very fishy fish hooks. We DO need the Crown and it’s war ships, bombs and money though. We used to export our agricultural primary industry goods to them and their neighbours so unlike between Australia and us hapless bastards they’ll need us as much as we’re going to need them. ( Aye Boys? You’d know all about that now wouldn’t you? Being outed for stealing money off farmers for at least the last 140 years is surely something that must keep you awake at night. ( Producer boards/SMP scam.) You’re lucky Adern’s on your side. She’ll hate your guts but she also understands what will be at stake if she spills the beans. A brief period of chaos followed by enduring peace and prosperity. No free coin in that for you though Aye Boys? )
Can I put a comment within parenthesis, within parenthesis?
Australia is already an ally. In fact Australia is New Zealand’s only formal ally. By virtue of the Canberra Pact, 1944 which formalised the ANZAC partnership.
They’ve never acted that way.
Lange was a bit of a cretin. He did object like William Colenso at the right moments. How effective was Colenso? I appreciate Lange for his objection to Roger Douglas. He helped the demo-cratic cause. Nothing else.
Bomber, I’d completely skipped over your reference to Anne-Marie Brady, but this is a bit embarrassing. Brady is a paid employee of the so-called ‘National Endowment for Democracy’- a group that was split off from the CIA under Ronald Reagan to take over funding of subversive pro-American traitor groups in nations the US wanted to destroy. She is completely without any credibility. I don’t know if she’s even a New Zealand citizen- certainly she should renounce her citizenship if she is, given her disloyalty.
” but Ardern argued against the hardening of alliances, saying that the war should not be presented as a conflict of “democracy v autocracy” ”
‘ That neoliberal pro-creditor ethic is the root of today’s New Cold War. When President Biden describes this great world conflict aimed at isolating China, Russia, India, Iran and their Eurasian trading partners, he characterizes this as an existential struggle between “democracy” and “autocracy.”
By “democracy” he means oligarchy. And by “autocracy” he means any government strong enough to prevent a financial oligarchy from taking over government and society and imposing neoliberal rules – by force. The ideal is to make the rest of the world look like Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, where American neoliberals had a free hand in stripping away all public ownership of land, mineral rights and basic public utilities.’
https://michael-hudson.com/2022/07/from-junk-economics-to-a-false-view-of-history-where-western-civilization-took-a-wrong-turn/