OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: SECRET MILITARY LULZ

33 Responses

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  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Jeremy Eade,

    And none of the usual suspects has pointed out that foreigners investing in China are required to enter into a joint venture.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Xtra Xtra, read all about it!
    ah well now, maybe McCully can have a chat with Coleman and arrange to get his emails put through the NZDF’s new $83 million 20 year satellite deal with Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) programme, which is a network of nine military satellites built by Boeing and operated by the US Department of Defence.

    Any unused capacity can be made available to other government agencies.

    Hell at that price you’d think so, too!
    Sheesh, are we operating drones somewhere we don’t know about?
    There’s maybe 300-400 defence personnel scattered about the planet, I’d have thought we coulda piggy backed out on some of the satellites GCSB monitors or at least that the Americans coulda given us a better deal for all the intel we pull down for them (I mean why else would we be listening to all those communications?)

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX, in reply to Jeremy Eade,

    But the other problem is what the hell are the poor people working there expected to achieve.

    Sat Waht and where? I don' get what you are saying?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    And none of the usual suspects has pointed out that foreigners investing in China are required to enter into a joint venture.

    Um, probably because that is not actually true? Foreigners are banned from some industries for "national security" reasons (scare quotes because that includes publishing - us pesky foreigners are much harder to persuade to STFU about sensitive issues - although foreign publishers can licence brands and content to Chinese publishers), required to enter joint ventures in some industries, and permitted to form Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises (WFOEs, sometimes called WOFEs for whatever reason) in other industries. But China Law Blog has much more detailed and higher quality information on these subjects.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • izogi, in reply to Jeremy Eade,

    But the other problem is what the hell are the poor people working there expected to achieve.

    Well, to start with the obvious, MFAT is responsible for administering overseas Embassies and High Commissions and so on, employing most of the people who work in them, looking after communications (regular diplomatic mail bags and stuff, although much of that gets delegated to Australia) and providing the necessary support from New Zealand.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 1142 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Waugh, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) programme, which is a network of nine military satellites built by Boeing and operated by the US Department of Defence.

    Might as well just CC everything automatically to the relevant desks at the pentagon and State departments while your at it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 98 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    So today the mfat will be trimmed. Yet aren't trade and foreign affairs vital to this ocean locked nation. It's just a reduction to ease a budget sorely missing revenue. It doesn't seem to make sense in a long term strategic sense. This idea that bureaucracy is only improved by reduction is fundamentally flawed.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    Also off topic but it will be fascinating on a cultural level to see how our paul does in auz. Paul Henry is a one man "fox and friends." He's worried about his Australian tax payments already. You could make the arguement so were we when we paid him with our taxes to be on da state telly.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

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