5 – Under the News Radar 2018 – The brutal occupation of Palestine, brutal Saudi fuelled civil war in Yemen & the magnitude of climate catastrophe

And finally the remaining news that went under the radar were your usual suspects, the brutal continuing occupation of Palestine (that no one can say anything about unless they want to be labelled anti-semitic), the brutal Saudi fuelled civil war in Yemen and the true magnitude of what climate change catastrophe will really do.

Sure we had some limited overage of the ongoing atrocities in Israel, but News media ignored it in case coverage was attacked by the very vocal pro-Israel lobby in NZ

Joint ministerial group sign accord for stronger Saudi-New Zealand cooperation

A Saudi and New Zealand joint ministerial group ended a two-day series of meetings in Auckland on Friday with an agreement to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

The committee’s minutes were signed by Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli, and New Zealand Minister of Trade and Export Growth David Parker.
Saleh Al-Nuweiser, charge d’affaires of the Saudi Embassy in New Zealand, and representatives of the government bodies took part in the meetings.

Al-Fadhli said: “Trade between the two countries has witnessed remarkable development in past years, rising from SR675 million ($16 million) to about SR3 billion in 2016.”

He said the committee will contribute to the development of sustainable cooperation in all fields.

Abdulaziz Al-Hewesh, director-general of the ministry’s General Administration of Legal Affairs and International Cooperation, said that the joint ministerial committee recommended strengthening work and partnerships to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in the fields of diplomacy and justice, trade and investment, consumer protection, standardization, finance and banking, as well as cooperation in the fields of energy, industry, mineral wealth, information technology and sports.

This didn’t get much attention from the local NZ media, but last year we held a two day cuddle festival with a regime that is killing thousands of civilians in Yemen, crucifies people, beats bloggers, arrests women who drive oh and who butchered a Washington Post journalist.

We were sold some bullshit that banning single use plastic bags was somehow meaningful in the fight against climate change….

 Supporters were celebrating all over the media. The announced move to ‘ban single use plastic bags’ was seen as a victory against plastic pollution; a saviour for our marine life, otherwise choking on ingested plastics; it’s a boon for our clean, green, pure environment; a show of leadership.

But as with most policy announcements, the devil is in the detail. And though it might seem churlish, if you look closer, this is more a victory for public relations than it is for our environment. As usual, political measures are too little, too late, and not even what they seem.

…the true magnitude of climate change catastrophe was watered down so as to not spook the consumers or suggest that anything other than business as usual was needed.

Our denial on all three fronts was a disgrace and beneath our collective intelligence.