Posts by mark taslov
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Hard News: The Hager saga continues, in reply to WH,
The Fourth Labour Government was elected after Muldoon bankrupted the country
However incomplete, comparisons have been made. Looking forward, and all other things considered, it’s worth remembering that the straw which eventually broke the camel’s back was ideological in nature. Not to imply that National could have won in ’84, simply that Marilyn Waring’s insurrection gifted Labour a lot of momentum, helping Labour to cement an ethical standpoint that would become an intrinsic part of our national identity. With a less defensive approach, currently one could name a number of ideological lines Labour could draw in the sand to better protect the rights, privacy and the independence of ANZ and our people.
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Hard News: The Hager saga continues, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Heh. MSM asides, so who knows. He always struck me as someone who’d strop till he drops with no heir apparent, leaving mobocracy in his wake.
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Speaker: David Fisher: The OIA arms race, in reply to nzlemming,
Yep that's onus.
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Hard News: The Hager saga continues, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Winston was the winner.
During the election there was some mention of this being Winston’s last term, has there been any formal announcement or is it just speculation?
If so, NZFers would seem the obvious first stop in the vote hoovering operation.
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Earlier this morning the Herald played the hand first with their ongoing Terror in Canada: Gunman opens fire in Ottawa parliament, so I skipped over to Stuff where the leading headline made no use of the word terror or conjugations. A few minutes later Stuff had replaced that lead story with a full spread also using ‘terror’ or a derivative, this has subsequently been shelved.
the Herald is now rocking a second Terror in Canada: NZ reviews Parliament security. Though I’m still not feeling the terror, acutely. When they’re specifically targetting the Parliament and the military, ‘terror attack’ is about as accurate as ‘Gunmen declare war on Canada’.
A security clampdown has being instituted at Chez Taslov and
In yet another show of solidarity with NZ our lockdown is not being enacted in conjunction with a change to the terror threat level. -
Legal Beagle: Terrorism is already illegal, in reply to Marc C,
Most clearly the west has lost the war against terror
Aren’t the west fighting to enhance terror, and making a real go of it?
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Hard News: The Hager saga continues, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Yeah, why not eh? I enjoyed the feeling of them together and the way they worked off one another. Ancient lore and arbitrary impositions:
...are made to be broken.
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Hard News: The Hager saga continues, in reply to WH,
I can’t tell you how uninterested I am in debating matters of doctrinal purity
I don’t see that the Labour Party is in any danger of falling into that trap.
Q&A(9:43-13:55)Corin Dann: The issue of Iraq, Syria, ISIS, if you were leader of the Labour Party, would you send in troops to fight ISIS?
Nanaia Mahuta: Look, now that we’ve got a seat on the UNSC I think that we can push harder for a UN sanctioned action in that space, it’s really important that we maintain our independence on foreign policy it’s also important that we uphold our track record in this area; humanitarian aid is something that we’ve been good on in the past as well as taking our role and our place in peacekeeping.
Corin Dann: So no circumstances where you would not be part of a UN sanctioned group to go into Iraq?
Nanaia Mahuta: I think a UN sanctioned action is something that will hold confidence but there are a number of questions to be responded to before New Zealanders will get their full vote on that and New Zealanders have to have confidence that any action we take in the international community is one based on our track record of humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping.
Corin Dann: …we’ll go to Andrew Little would you send in troops, why not stop ISIS, Isn’t, I mean, everyone agrees don’t they that we should be stopping ISIS?
Andrew Little: Yeah, and everyone wanted to stop Al Qaeda, and we’ve had, we’ve seen, in recent history, join with others, getting into conflicts, that we really don’t know what we’re getting into, they’ve spiralled out of control I think, the issue is not that we don’t play our role as a responsible international citizen, but that if we are going to put New Zealand citizens in our forces in harms way then there’s gotta be a jolly good case to do so, we haven’t heard that case. I don’t think we know what we’re getting into with ISIS it is, they are an organisation that spans borders
Corin Dann: But if there was a case, if there was a strong case, if you get briefed, if you become leader and you’re briefed by John Key and he gives you the case,would you consider going in without a UN mandate, yes or no?
Andrew Little: Well, I think the main thing is that there has to be a case for us to put combat troops on the ground, we’ve done so before…
Corin Dann: And if there is a case, hypothetically you would do it?
Andrew Little: Well, you know, you don’t rule anything out, but you want to make sure if we’re going to put New Zealand lives at risk, then we are doing so as a responsible international citizen.
Corin Dann: Grant Robertson would you send in troops without a UN mandate if there was a case put to you if you were potentially leader?
Grant Robertson: I, it’s highly unlikely, obviously we’ve got to hear the case, and see what…
Corin Dann: That sounds suspiciously like John Key, ‘highly unlikely’…
Grant Robertson: well no, what I’m saying is that in my view is that the Labour Party’s history points to a very clear stance, we only are involved in these sorts of conflicts where there is a UN mandate, my view is New Zealand is not in a situation now where we should be putting troops on the ground,we have to be open to the briefing, we haven’t had access to it, but the reality is, the experience in the middle east, by western forces going in, has not been good, New Zealand has a proud record of peace keeping, and of humanitarian assistance, if there is a UN mandate I believe that’s where our strengths lie, that’s where we should go, and at the moment I have seen no evidence to indicate this, that doesn’t mean that we stand by and say what ISIS does is ok, what they do is barbaric, and we cannot do that but we have to find the right place for New Zealand to support a UN mandated effort.
Corin Dann: David Parker ‘barbaric’ why not stop them?
David Parker: Ah it is barbaric it’s also hideously complex you know ISIS in part has its seeds in the failed war in Iraq and I was part of the Government that stayed out of that and I’m proud of that decision, it was a hard decision taken by Helen Clark and Phil Goff on our behalf or led by them. You know ISIS is armed largely from arms that were left over by the Americans after the Gulf war, gets money from other Gulf States, it’s got Turkey on the border refusing to engage because of conflict with the Kurds. these are very complex..
Corin Dann: It might be complex but what’s wrong with you coming out and saying in principle, if there’s a case, you would stand up for beating these guys?
David Parker: well you know we have to be satisfied that engaging makes the situation better not worse and we’re not yet satisfied that that is the case, though, I’ll take some convincing that it’s necessary, I agree with what Grant and others have said that you can’t describe these things in the abstract and we haven’t had the detailed briefing from the Government yet, but I’ll take some, it’s a wee bit different in Iraq compared with Syria because of course Iraq doesn’t need a UN resolution if they invite people in but even then you have to be satisfied that you have an exit strategy and that it’s gonna, if you’re gonna put people at risk you gotta be making things better.
Aiming to win the election hinges on being able to form a formidable opposition and a credible alternative.
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It’s almost like the medium of politics has become so attuned to supporting the right that anything genuinely “left” cannot no longer survive in that environment.
Sounds about right Caleb. The police at least went to some effort to apologise. All things considered, it’s not like the voters expect the Labour Party to apologise for all their members’ hijinks, or to make amends for every nail The Labour party hammered into the coffin, it’s just that “I’m sorry for being a man” doesn’t come close to beginning to own, let alone atone for the ideological drift. As someone who voted for the 5th Labour Government I get the feeling I’m either supposed to be an amnesiac or live in a vacuum. Focus on the colours and I guess you’d miss the fade.
Those moments when you lose yourself in the receding tide, you're moving until you're not, that sense of loss, your feet sunken deeper. few will stand their ground, instead we chase the ocean further out, fearful of looking back to that lofty high water mark.
