Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Foreign Affairs

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  • Paul Campbell,

    you have a tag to fix there ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Nouvelle Vague do a pretty cool lounge version of Guns of Brixton.

    As for Obama, sorry but I just can’t get past thinking it’s all platitudes. Perhaps it’s the accent that does that to me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • David Cormack,

    Interesting that the Rasmussen Report had a poll out saying 63% of those surveyed didn't think that this trip would help Obama learn more.

    It's concerning that the media completely adore him and yet McCain is still within spitting distance of him.

    it is still hard to credit that Americans could elect a candidate as manifestly inadequate as McCain

    Incidentally, I don't think McCain is as big a dunce as you think.

    He is old.

    Reallllllly old.

    But hey, anything's better than Bush ain't it?

    Suburbia, Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Nouvelle Vague do a pretty cool lounge version of Guns of Brixton.

    I have a weird feeling that Nouvelle Vague's version has influenced Calexico's. Hmm...

    I rather liked it, especially how turns the Black Maria from a paddywagon into a dark reference to the Virgin.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    I just can’t get past thinking it’s all platitudes.

    It's not all platitudes. Obama's July 15 Foreign Policy speech. (36 min.) His most important speech so far, that I've seen.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    When was the last time an American President spoke to a rally of 200,000 people outside of America, let alone a candidate.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • MikeE,

    When it comes to Santogold, I'm still a big fan of the track with switch and freq nasty "Creator" with its dubstepesqe basslines. Noice..

    Worth checking out diplo's Mad Decent website as well.

    Washington DC • Since Nov 2006 • 138 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    200,000 people in Berlin! Still, I hear those Germans are suckers for a charismatic public speaker...

    In many ways Obama is a reaction to the cronyism and corruption of the Bush administration, so my biggest concern for Obama is he is being elected as a change candidate from an electorate with impossibly high expectations. The potential for disillusionment with not just the political process but with democracy itself is high if he turns out to be a failure or has his policy agenda defeated by the U.S. corporate oligarchs.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    When was the last time an American President spoke to a rally of 200,000 people outside of America, let alone a candidate.

    Or in America, for that matter.

    As for the platitudes (demagoguery?) charge, it was never going to be a speech full of policy detail (neither was the Kennedy speech in which he claimed to be a doughnut, of course), but it was hardly a speech without content. Think how differently Bush would have framed the concepts of diplomacy, (fair) trade, disarmament, international institutions, global warming. Even freedom. And he used a word, sacrifice, that you won't find in any bush or mccain speech, except in the narrow sense of the sacrifice of professional soldiers sent to a battleground.

    And then of course there are the many speeches in which he has articulated the detail of his policies, both foreign and domestic. They tell us he's not the most liberal of politicians - and let's face, the US are hardly the most liberal of countries - but I don't find them inconsistent with what he said today.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    I remember when Obama was elected to the Senate - he was lauded as the most liberal of politicians at the time (at least by US standards) - I see his fast pedaling to the right as normal in the US context where you need to hold the center, whereever it is, to win

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Gavin Knight,

    someone needs to do a similar venn diagram for Labour and its acolytes and their scandals, and those of their support parties

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Jul 2008 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Graham,

    I do think it'd be funny if Obama rung up McCain and offered him the entire Obama campaign fund to start up a charity if he dropped out of the election.

    The outrage would at least be mitigated by the prospect of no campaign ads.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 118 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Incidentally, I don't think McCain is as big a dunce as you think.

    He is old.

    Reallllllly old.

    But hey, anything's better than Bush ain't it?

    Where "anything" includes "someone who cannot use the internet", then, no, it isn't. I'm sorry, but in this digital age, anyone who can't be arsed to learn how to use email is not qualified to be the most powerful person in the world. And his age is no excuse.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    someone needs to do a similar venn diagram for Labour and its acolytes and their scandals, and those of their support parties

    That is so apples and elephants.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen,

    Loving the use of the word 'acolyte' though!

    Auckland • Since Apr 2008 • 47 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    someone needs to do a similar venn diagram for Labour and its acolytes and their scandals, and those of their support parties

    Go on then, Gavin.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    Presidential motorcade went too fast on Texas highway: Bush refuses to testify, Gonzales involved in cover-up.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Where "anything" includes "someone who cannot use the internet", then, no, it isn't. I'm sorry, but in this digital age, anyone who can't be arsed to learn how to use email is not qualified to be the most powerful person in the world. And his age is no excuse.

    Ironically, using a phone yourself isn't even particularly required to be President, he certainly doesn't check his own email address.

    Though yes, some understanding that there's an internet out there and how it works and having seen a few of the things on it would be nice in a candidate.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Ironically, using a phone yourself isn't even particularly required to be President,

    You don't carry a wallet, you don't use the phone, yes. There's a story about a US president (I forget which) who made his first call after leaving office and thought there was something wrong with the line on account of the strange noise he was hearing. They had brought in the dialtone.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • John Morrison,

    I thought Obama would be too inexperienced for the top job, and if elected, would become a lightweight after being ground down by the Washington commentariat and lobby groups.

    Now I'm not so sure.

    You have to admit it is a very smart campaign he is running. Going to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Europe is certainly courageous, and pulling it off without even a small gaffe is really something to behold. Then he makes an inspirational speech in the same place where JFK spoke makes people sit up and take notice. Obviously McCain is - now moaning about media bias.

    Cromwell • Since Nov 2006 • 85 posts Report Reply

  • Angus Robertson,

    someone needs to do a similar venn diagram for Labour and its acolytes and their scandals, and those of their support parties

    Easy enough.

    Substitute G.W. Bush with Tony Blair, Dick Cheney with Gordon Brown, Alberto Gonzales with Lord Goldsmith, Karl Rove with Tom Kelly and anglicise other names on whim. Change DOJ Firing to BAE Investigation, DOJ Hiring to Knighthoods, CIA Tapes to Dr Kelly/Yellowcake, but leave Wiretapping and Coercive Interrogation as is.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    so my biggest concern for Obama is he is being elected as a change candidate from an electorate with impossibly high expectations. The potential for disillusionment with not just the political process but with democracy itself is high if he turns out to be a failure or has his policy agenda defeated by the U.S. corporate oligarchs.

    An interesting point, given that the US system is set up specifically to stymie major reform. To his advantage (or otherwise), chances are the Dems will control Congress for at least the first half of the next term, so if he does get elected that will work in his favour.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Blair didn't drive a car all the time he was PM.

    One of the good things about NZ is how our politicians are more connected to real life and do drive cars, have mobile phones, travel on public aircraft next to ordinary people, and so on.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    someone needs to do a similar venn diagram for Labour and its acolytes and their scandals, and those of their support parties

    I'm sure it'd be fun, but really ... I think you'll find no one was tortured or died, dozens of judicial officers weren't illegally sacked for political reasons, illegal surveillance wasn't permitted ... you get the picture.

    OTOH, who'd bet against Murray McCully turning up as the Gonzales in a National version of the exercise?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Hubbard,

    Yeah I was moved alright - to throw up.

    Having correctly named the (actually global, not just European) view that the US and it's imperial ambitions are as much part of the problem as the solution, he segues nicely into the usual US-centric drivel, naming a range of threats and enemies, all of which the US is supposedly helping to combat.
    And at the same time as he tours Israel, propping up the Usrael vote (see the lead World story in the Dom Post).

    At the same time as that glorious triumph over communism of the Berlin wall, the US was training and running death squads in South America. Not such a great talking point.

    No offence Russell, but if this gives you hope, you're needing that hope pretty bad..

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 18 posts Report Reply

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