As we enter 1 year of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the reality of Chinese Grey Zone machinations influencing the Pacific to confront the Washington Consensus (that none of us consented to), geopolitics in an interconnected world is going to impact a trading Island nation like ours at the bottom of the world.
There are fuses lit in countries right now that are going to have a further destabilising impact on a warming planet already reeling from conflict, misery and ecological omnicide.
Good morning.
ISRAEL: The sheer scale of how far right the new Zionist Religious Fanatic Government of Israel is and the manner in which they are about to forever mutilate their judiciary into what is effectively an Apartheid state isn’t truly appreciated in NZ, because the Israel/Palestine conflict is never allowed to be debated in NZ.
Think my description is hyperbole?
Here’s The Economist, not exactly a card carrying member for the Free Palestine Movement…
Israel’s proposed legal reforms are a dreadful answer to a real problem
There comes a point when culture wars and populism impair a country’s institutions, society and economy. That moment has arrived in Israel, where on February 20th the Knesset, or parliament, is due to hold the first reading of a legal reform bill. The bill is the project of a coalition government led by Binyamin Netanyahu that was formed after elections in November and which includes parties from Israel’s far right. In all but the rarest cases, it will prevent the Supreme Court from striking down laws that have passed through the Knesset. And it gives politicians more sway over judicial appointments. Israel’s unwritten constitution is flawed, but the changes would make things worse by allowing nearly unchecked majority rule. That could make the country less prosperous, more polarised at home and more vulnerable abroad.
…this far right religious alliance is deeply self interested and fanatical…
In the Israeli political system, coalition building is necessary to govern. Out of options after betraying past partners, the conservative Likud party leader encouraged a motley crew of far-right extremists to merge into one slate called the Religious Zionists so they could pass the electoral threshold, and give him another shot at the premiership.
The alliance worked, winning Netanyahu’s bloc a majority of 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. But looked at another way, the election was won by just 30,000 votes – a slim mandate for a government with such a radical agenda.
The Religious Zionists, now the third-largest party in the Knesset, want to give politicians greater control over the appointment of supreme court justices, and allow a simple parliamentary majority to override almost all supreme court rulings. They say these moves will better balance the different branches of government and stop a perceived leftwing bias in the court’s decisions.
Israel’s highest court currently plays an outsized role in a country with no formal constitution or second legislative chamber: Canada is the only other country in the world with a parliamentary override clause for supreme court decisions – and it has a constitution.
While Netanyahu appears to loathe his new colleagues, and the judicial reforms have little public support, the overhaul would probably help him avoid charges in his corruption trial.
Other items on the Religious Zionists’ shopping list include annexing the occupied West Bank, strengthening traditional religious law, limiting freedom of speech, and rolling back women’s rights and those of the gay and Arab communities.
…charming.
The likelihood of violence from what is considered a far right coup d’etat seems high and would be devastatingly destabilising.
IRAN: The 40 days of mourning for two men executed on trumped up protest related charges was observed by mass protests throughout Iran over the last day…
So far, at least 529 protesters have been killed and almost 20,000 detained, according to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA). Four protesters have been hanged since December, while 107 others have reportedly been sentenced to death or charged with capital offences.
…the rebellion against rigid Iranian Theocracy is a human rights movement that can’t be contained now and reform is going to become a more deeply entrenched reality.
The question is how brutal is the Iranian Theocracy regime prepared to be?
Our response to date has been ridiculously tame.
We should be offering 500 Iranian women full scholarships and refugee status, instead we have a very flat footed response from the Minister…
Government moving at ‘glacial speed’ to combat Iran, advocate says
The New Zealand Government has been too slow to take meaningful action against Iran for its human rights violations, an advocate says.
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced new sanctions on Iranian officials for supplying drones to Russia and expanded travel bans on those behind the violent response to protests on Wednesday.
Protests erupted across the Islamic Republic in September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was beaten by Guidance Patrol officers for violating Iran’s mandatory hijab law.
Iranian New Zealander Samira Taghavi is a lawyer and the spokeswoman of Woman Life Freedom New Zealand who is calling on the Government to impose stronger sanctions.
…the claim is that it’s too difficult to target the Iranian regime effectively and that adding the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to the ‘terrorist list’ is difficult, but as human rights lawyer and activist Samira Taghavi put it in a speech on December 3rd in downtown Auckland, last year ….
Actually adding the Revolutionary Guard to the list does not require endless analysis or any new legislation and can be done with the stroke of a pen. Seriously – that’s it – sitting down at a desk and signing a document – nothing more.
No budget needs to be raised to fund investigations, no complicated reports need be written and pages and pages of legislation need not be drafted.
…it is urgent that we take more of a symbolic stand against what Iran continues to do to its citizens. Those citizens are brave enough to strand against the Theocracy, we are obliged to support their courage.
PAKISTAN: A sudden spike in Pakistan Taliban attacks on Police has seen suicide bombs and direct attacks on HQs since a truce ended in November…
At least four killed as Pakistani Taliban militants storm police HQ in Karachi
Militants launched a deadly suicide attack on the police headquarters of Pakistan’s largest city on Friday, with the sound of gunfire and explosions rocking the heart of Karachi for several hours.
…the floods that devastated Pakistan are not being coped with 6 months later and the domestic terrorism hits at a time when they can barely cope with the magnitude of having such a huge swathe of your country underwater at one time.
Each country is facing immense internal civil disobedience because issues that have been long denied or ignored or exacerbated are finally rupturing.
TURKEY: As tough as we are doing it in Aotearoa New Zealand right now, and we are and our hearts go out to our whanau who have been impacted by everything, the painful reality is that Turkey right now have just passed 46 000 deaths for their devastating earthquake with 345 000 apartments destroyed.
Once we have rescued and repaired and kept safe those who have been hurt by Cyclone Gabrielle, we have an obligation to donate to Turkey in their moment of utter catastrophe.
Our common humanity demands it and in these catastrophic times, requires it.
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We are very selective to whom we turn a blind eye. Isreal has gotten away with years of terrorism towards Palestinians. We in the West frown but ignore.
We in the West also ignored 8 years of Ukraine shelling Russians, then got on our high moral horses when Russia stopped it. Very selective.
Now watch Iran, the West retains some “rules” allowing sanctioning and bombing them for being a theocracy. We get vocal about their human rights abuses, but ignore Israeli and Ukrainian abuses.
So let’s get real. In a material sense. Our oil supply comes out of the Gulf, and Iran can very easily block it. Our principles, especially when they are so very compromised have consequences.
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