The last 10 days has seen the entire media focus (aside from the ubiquitous concern for the All Black prospects in a rugby test and then the fate of coach Ian Foster) has been on allegations of bullying by new National MP Sam Uffindell and bullying of first term Labour MP Gaurav Sharma.
Sam Uffindell’s future is still up in the air while Gaurav Sharma’s political career has resembled a meteorite – a brief, bright burn.
Meanwhile over this time we were visited by the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, who was on a whirlwind visit through the Pacific which the US has just rediscovered after finding China has been courting our Pacific neighbours.
Sherman was here to remind us the US fought in the Pacific 75 years ago, that it is ready to fight here again (on the side of democracy and freedom of course!) and probably assessing when best for the US to launch a destabilising campaign against Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare who has had the audacity, from the US point of view, to sign a development agreement with China.
There is a host of good, hard questions that should have been put to Sherman by our journalists but alas there is nothing of substance anywhere.
Here for example is Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report interview with Sherman.
Calling it a “soft” interview doesn’t describe it well – “cringing embarrassment” would be better.
Sherman was full of US talking points such as the importance of the “(US) rules-based international order developed after World War II” and “no country should decide the political future of another country or bend that country to their political will”.
Just read that last Sherman quote again. She is aiming at China but probably three quarters of humanity have experienced precisely that interference at the hands, guns, banks and bombs of the US since WWII – democracies included.
RNZ let it all go unchallenged. The US is already on the record as saying they will “not sit by” and allow China to get a foothold in the Solomon Islands or the Pacific. Why wasn’t Sherman interrogated on this? Why weren’t hard questions asked? The danger signs for our corner of the world are everywhere – but invisible to RNZ.
Instead the hard questions were saved for the hapless thug Uffindell and those responsible for Sharma’s meteoric career.
Aotearoa New Zealand got closest to an independent foreign policy in the mid-1980s but there seems no journalistic memory. Instead of asking about US intentions in the Pacific and suggesting that New Zealanders don’t want to see superpower rivalry on our doorstep, RNZ simply asks what are the prospects of New Zealand joining the AUKUS alliance (Australia, the UK and the US who are joining forces to arm Australia with nuclear submarines to counter China)
Meanwhile Aotearoa New Zealand moves insidiously closer to the US military.
Here in Christchurch protests will accompany the Rocket Lab presence at the 2022 Aerospace Summit. In case anyone hasn’t caught up with developments, Rocket Lab is now majority owned by the US military and has launched numerous rockets for direct military purposes.
The protest will have some hard questions for Peter Beck – don’t expect them from the media.
*Nato-stan – the place of white warmongers,,, has a recently wed newish “partner” in New Zealand.
Like a Mormon polygamist family Nato-stan has one head of the house ,,,, the U.s.a.
And although small and scrawny we offer big daddy usa unique satellite launch opportunities,,, to help our Natostan family .
If Nato targeting given to Ukraine was delivered with help from us ,,, then we should all say ‘slava rocket lab’.
…..and in Nato we should be known as the LSBE partner
Little Stan Big Eye ,,,, that’s us.
*The suffix –stan is Persian and Urdu for “place of,”
LOL
One of the nice things about New Zealand is our total irrelevance in geopolitics. Ditto Rocket Lab.
Meanwhile the USA and NATO hold all the cards. Russia and China are both fucked and our biggest threat is the impact of China’s forthcoming financial collapse on our exports to that country.
I think most independent thinkers would disagree with your remark that, USA/NATO hold all the cards.
At best they are 50/50, but most likely they’re 25/75, BUT with the suicide option and probable mindset to use nuclear weapons when they start to lose in an ‘all out war’; which historically is what the ‘failing empire’ country does.
Let’s hope the USA/NATO have more commonsense than they’ve been showing for the last 20-50 years.
just like the UK held all the brexshit cards?
Well put John.
It is shameful for our country which has Nuclear Free Legislation to be cuddling up to US Imperialism and their “charm offensive” in the Pacific, which is rather obviously a bullying mission to get small Pacific states in line. How long before NZ actually joins nuclear pact AUKUS with the other 5 Eyes buddies?
Exactly, John. When Americans bomb houses full of civilians in brown countries for laughs, they base their claims that the four year old girls are wicked terrorists on the same ‘intelligence’ that American terrorist satellites being launched by Rocket Lab provide.
If you support the continued existence of Rocket Lab, you support Americans raping and murdering little kids.
@ M.K. Whoa back there fella. Propping up your argument by using a rape and murder narrative is counter productive in anyone’s language.
Not all Americans are murdering, child-abusers are they. Just like not all Muslims, for example, are women-bashing, goat-rapers.
It’s safer, in support of an argument as delicate as this, to chose one’s words carefully.
Example: Some people, not just Americans or Muslims, may support one, or two, or many others who may or may not rape and/or murder children brown or otherwise.
There are human beings and there are sub-human, human beings. From the deepest deserts and darkest jungles to the highest apartments in NYC and beyond.
I like the idea of chipping the psychopaths, sociopaths and the general mad bastards so we can be alerted to their presence by an app on one’s cell phone. Then, we can simply cross the road to avoid them. Jut think? We could got to war with The Psycho Hoards in time to come!
RNZ. ‘Our Publicly Funded Pro Natzo Pap Peddler’.
Dr Sam Vaknin – the global narcissist database
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018851537/dr-sam-vaknin-the-global-narcissist-database
I agree with you Cb – you seem to be getting a better line with each comment. Where will it end I wonder. Will the truth and deep thought be able to cut through layers of bubble gum from Wellington?
Do we need to do greater study on the Treasury I also wonder? Them and the right wing think tanks like NZ Initiative. Their personnel seem to have access to every entity of power while largely unknown to the average man and woman.
Drama queen khan
You are a breath of fresh air, John.
What can we do?
If questions go unasked there can be no semblance of democracy.
To a corrupt political class, the extreme media hegemony might seem like a solution as it actually tears peoples apart. And of course it is the same non-journalism that misrepresents the resulting dissent. Increasingly aggressive social control is required to coerce more and more people into mental as well as behavioural conformity.
I know this is not a new problem, but the degree to which it is being ramped-up, before our very eyes, is horrifying. Journalism – the gathering and reporting of information – was always called the fourth estate of democracy for good reason. We are so powerless without it.
I like Rocket -Labs first satellite was a glowing ball that crossed the sky, causing more light pollution…Rocket Lab was challenged on this — no reply was their reply…Rocket Lab is not a Kiwi business, its’ American.
Yes and it’s presence in NZ makes us an American target -and helps America avoid attack in their own country.
Correct on+watch
Liberal Democracy spreading is euphemism for ‘taking control’ and reaping the rewards that are beneath the feet of the intended targets mostly the people from that country. Then they’ll make spurious claims of promoting human rights, social progress and a better standards of life, which is written in the UNCHR charters and is nothing but lip-service.
Then after the fog of war has dissipated and people start to figure the true intentions of democracy spreading. The ‘usurpers’ act in uniformity with their media, military, humanitarian orgs ..etc to ratchet up the propaganda and use force as a first options if there is resistance.
The MSM are an important tool and have in more than one occasion promoted ‘liberal democracy’ inadvertently or not justify the horrendous and down-right illegal inhuman shit happening in someone else country. The ‘usurpers’ however have underestimated ‘NATIONALISM’ which has two key consequences. First, the nation and the state are tightly fused together in ways that cause most citizens to be deeply loyal to their nation-state, even willing to fight and die for it. Second, the world is now populated almost exclusively by nation-states, which reflects the remarkable influence of nationalism.
Their are four features of nationalism which are especially important for understanding its relationship to liberalism. Nations have a sense of oneness, almost all its members feel like
they are part of a common enterprise. They form “imagined community,” even though no person knows more than a tiny fraction of the members. This is not to deny that there may be sharp economic and social inequalities within any nation, as well as a wide gap between the ruling elites and the broader public.
The key point, however, is that the citizenry is tied together by a shared bond. There is a
sense of “deep horizontal comradeship,” which helps foster a powerful sense of national
identity.
What does ‘NATIONALISM’ look like in AO-NZ??
Comment here and please keep your comments respectful!!
Good ol’ Nu Zillind aye. Praise the Lord and pass the Pavlova.
This too.
Wikipedia.
‘Awarua Tracking Station’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awarua_Tracking_Station
A guy from Bluff was telling me once that of a calm and stormy night ( Wait long enough of an evening there and you’ll get both sooner or later. ) you can watch musk’s satellites rising above the sou west horizon like a string of beads. But it’s the little stationary-orbit fuckers we need to be worried about.
Space begins proper at about 100 km out. The international space station is about 400k out.
Terrestrial wars will soon be a thing of the past.
You watched Russell Brand’s YouTube channel @ J.M. ?
I think you guys would hit it off and he has close to 6 million subscribers. Ok. He wears beads and bangles and occasionally you can see a nipple but his beliefs and opinions are well worthy of consideration in this old Bogan’s humble opinion.
His latest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wVEQfRd4ds
And for all you Grunters and Squeakers out there gagging to clout John Minto? Here’s were you belong. Yes, that’s right. I’ve found your home-place. In the mosh pit.
Go here. Knock yourselves out. No, please. I insist.
Netflix.
https://www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=81280924
Wikipedia.
‘Woodstock ’99.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_%2799
another sad attempt at getting a seat at the big kids table.
Oh yes John – we should just stop creating technology in New Zealand and go back to living in grass huts. Also we should just leave space to the Chinese, that will end well – just look at Hong Kong, look at the threats over a simple visit to Taiwan. What could possibly go wrong if China is the dominant party in space?
Those who want peace must prepare for war. Time for you to step out of the smoke from your joint and look hard at the real world.
Being a launchpad for yankee terror rockets isn’t ‘creating technology’, Sean.
Sean
Eat your own words! And digest them. That should take you a good long month of facing hard reality.
Good to see one blog that is common sense and gives a real story of China influence.. It is funny how China is accepted as a friend by some Paific nations while they make a fuss about global warming which is created by China with their dirty coal .
USA is dragging the chain on global warming but at least their citizens can do something about it once they wakeup .
The fact is China wants to weaponize everything, most importantly space. It is the new high ground. If you control it with high technology and military weaponry, then the CCP Chinese Criminal Party will achieve it’s China Dream – World Domination.
This from the post:
Instead the hard questions were saved for the hapless thug Uffindell and those responsible for Sharma’s meteoric career.
Does anyone else cringe when Lisa Owen’s grating high pitched voice demands again and again that someone she is interviewing say exactly what she wants to know – Yes or No etc.
She sounds like a tell-tale sneak who is extracting the latest goss. They got her off tv didn’t they, so as they seem to worship tv1 etc on Radionz I guess that was a real plum in their pie.
It might be wise to keep a record of where all these USA nabobs and fellow travellers are buying property, and try to get near them. With perfected precision target bombing the rest of the country may be razed in retaliation for having say, made a woke statement about a transgender president of the good ‘ole uknows, and though we NZ is dealt with severely certain areas will emerge nearly pristine. Possibly. Perhaps.
at the moment NZ isn’t worth a nuke, being home to a US missile base puts on the target map….
best avoided methinks