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Flicker Of Hope: Biden’s Throwaway Lines On Assange
Friday, 12 April 2024, 11:46 am | Binoy Kampmark
Walking stiffly, largely distracted, and struggling to focus on the bare essentials, US President Joe Biden was keeping company with his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, when asked the question. It concerned what he was doing regarding ... More >>
Here We Go Again
Friday, 12 April 2024, 11:32 am | Media Matters NZ
The News Makers are in the News again and this time because of mass layoffs laid on for the delectation of the staff involved, mainly news and current affairs people, which has, its fair to say, given them a thoroughly justified bellyache. It will ... More >>
Where Did Vladimir Putin’s Dream Of A ‘Russian World’ Come From?
Friday, 12 April 2024, 10:42 am | Thomas J. Barfield
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by asserting the existence of a singular “Russian world” that needs protection and reunification. He set aside the secular socialist ideological rationales that the Soviet Union used ... More >>
Killing Humanitarian Workers As A Strategy: Israel’s Endgame In Gaza
Thursday, 11 April 2024, 1:42 pm | Ramzy Baroud
The latest killing of the internationals in Gaza was done to serve the same goal: ensuring that no aid distribution mechanism is allowed. More >>
On Winston Peters’ Pathetic Speech At The UN
Thursday, 11 April 2024, 9:17 am | Gordon Campbell
Tens of thousands of Gazans have been slaughtered, two million are on the brink of starvation and what does our Foreign Minister choose to talk about at the UN? The 75 year old issue of whether the five permanent members should continue to have veto ... More >>
How To Immobilise A Health System’s Primary Statutory Adviser And Monitor
Thursday, 11 April 2024, 9:15 am | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the immobilising implications of the Government’s severe public service staff cuts for the critical health system functions of the Ministry of Health. More >>
It Is Time To De-demonise Hamas
Wednesday, 10 April 2024, 1:59 pm | Eugene Doyle
Who would not condemn the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 when hundreds of Israeli civilians, as well as hundreds of military and security personnel were killed? Why then is Hamas so popular amongst Palestinians and in the wider Muslim world? March ... More >>
Death By Algorithm: Israel’s Ai War In Gaza
Wednesday, 10 April 2024, 1:52 pm | Binoy Kampmark
We are no longer talking about a form of advanced, scientific war waged proportionately and with precision, but a technologically advanced form of mass murder. More >>
NZ’s government is relying on executive power to govern – that’s not how MMP was meant to work
Wednesday, 10 April 2024, 10:42 am | The Conversation
The coalition is increasingly using parliamentary urgency, cutting the public service and fast-tracking legislation – all of which risks upsetting the equilibrium between government and the governed. More >>
Germany, Gaza And The World Court: Broadening The Scope Of Genocide
Tuesday, 9 April 2024, 12:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In 2023, 30% of Israel’s military equipment purchases totalling US$326 million came from Berlin. The Scholz government has also been a firm public supporter of Israel’s offensive. More >>
Gordon Campbell On Israel’s Murderous Use Of AI In Gaza
Monday, 8 April 2024, 4:15 pm | Gordon Campbell
Gordon Campbell on Israel’s murderous use of AI in Gaza T his may seem like a dumb question– but how come Israel has managed to kill at least 33,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including over 13,000 children? Of course, saturation aerial bombing ... More >>
Aukusing For War: The Real Target Is China
Sunday, 7 April 2024, 4:36 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Official statements about the AUKUS security pact between Washington, London and Canberra, rarely mention the target in so many words, except on the gossiping fringes. More >>
Killing Aid Workers: Australia’s Muddled Policy On Israel
Friday, 5 April 2024, 2:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Beyond an investigation, mounted and therefore controlled by the Israeli forces themselves, nothing much else can be hoped for. The Albanese approach has been one of copybook warnings and concerns to an ally it clearly fears affronting. More >>
The Brain Is Greater Than Thought
Friday, 5 April 2024, 12:46 pm | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
Man’s enslavement to time, by modernity’s clock or prehistoric people’s sun, denies the full awakening of insight in the brain. Thought is time, and time is thought. More >>
Irremediable Defeat: On Israel’s Other Unwinnable War
Friday, 5 April 2024, 11:50 am | Ramzy Baroud
An end to the Gaza war, even if branded as a ‘victory’ by Netanyahu, will only further the polarization and deepen Israel's worst internal political struggle since its founding on the ruins of historic Palestine. More >>
Rat-ling The Cage: The Ethical Dilemmas Of Our Food Systems
Friday, 5 April 2024, 10:53 am | Lynley Tulloch
I believe we should consider the suffering of all animals, including rats. Rats have feelings too. A book entitled ‘Mama’s Last Hug’ by Frans de Waal makes this case. Rats faces express joy when they are tickled. More >>
Killing Humanitarians: Israel’s War On Aid Workers In Gaza
Wednesday, 3 April 2024, 6:41 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Responsibility for the killings is unlikely to translate into accountability, let alone any public outing of the individuals involved. This is not to say that such exercises are impossible, even with Israel not being a member of the International ... More >>
Gordon Campbell On The Death Of Library Browsing
Wednesday, 3 April 2024, 11:12 am | Gordon Campbell
At present, the content and function of libraries – and the funding for them - are in flux. Increasingly, libraries are being under-funded and seen as unnecessary in the digital age. More >>
Time For Health Minister To Step Up On Workforce Crisis
Wednesday, 3 April 2024, 8:17 am | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses why and how new health minister Shane Reti needs to step up over resolving the health system’s workforce crisis. More >>
The Young Woman Who Fired Joe Biden
Tuesday, 2 April 2024, 4:36 pm | Eugene Doyle
So, what can we lesser mortals do when confronted, as we are, with the crime of crime – genocide – being committed with the active support of our governments? More >>
On The Death Of Library Browsing
Tuesday, 2 April 2024, 4:28 pm | Gordon Campbell
Increasingly, libraries are being under-funded and seen as unnecessary in the digital age. With good reason, many people are worried that the library space devoted to books is shrinking, the ability to browse is vanishing, and the social and communal ... More >>
The Baltimore Bridge Collapse: Conspiracy As Mother’s Milk
Tuesday, 2 April 2024, 3:25 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Singaporean-flagged MV Dali container ship lost power on March 26 and collided with the bridge in the early morning, causing the dramatic destruction of the bridge and the deaths of six construction workers who fell into the Patapsco River. More >>
On Kuffiyehs And Watermelon - Revealing The Meaning Of Palestinian Symbols
Tuesday, 2 April 2024, 7:27 am | Romana Rubeo and Ramzy Baroud
And, while Palestinian symbols reflect the desire of Palestinians to return to the land of their ancestors, and to reclaim the rights and justice which they have been long denied, Israeli symbols seem to merely lay claims - ancient, religious, unverifiable. More >>
Kategate: From Conspiracy To Contrition Extraction
Tuesday, 2 April 2024, 7:19 am | Binoy Kampmark
Cancer is a stomping bugger of a disease. It seeks the worm-ridden end, a thief finding its way into your body unasked and willingly helping itself. This cellular mass army will, in a most tribal way, make off with your remains chance permitting. ... More >>
Katya Rivas' Passion Of Christ (2024)
Sunday, 31 March 2024, 2:50 pm | Katya Rivas
A serialisation of Katya Rivas’s “The Passion”. More >>
Function Versus Form: Public Service Cuts
Saturday, 30 March 2024, 7:00 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the public service staffing cuts being pushed by the new government in the context of the relationship between function and form along with process improvement. More >>
Starvation In Gaza: The World Court’s Latest Intervention
Saturday, 30 March 2024, 6:54 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In this, the Court points to the possible, and increasingly plausible nexus, between starvation, famine and deprivation of necessaries as state policies with the intent to injure and kill members of a protected group. More >>
Imperial Fruit: Bananas, Costs And Climate Change
Friday, 29 March 2024, 6:03 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There is good reason then to take a rather withering view of the banana trade. It has become the feature fruit of monstrous monopolies, a brutal currency of exchange. More >>
Complicit In Genocide: Where Israel Gets Its Weapons From
Thursday, 28 March 2024, 2:05 pm | Ramzy Baroud
Over 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. Mothers have been the largest share of Israeli killings, at an average of 37 mothers per day since October 7. The numbers above, from the Palestinian ... More >>
On The US Opposition To Mortgage Interest Deductibility For Landlords
Thursday, 28 March 2024, 9:58 am | Gordon Campbell
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don't think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government ... More >>
Distinctions Without Difference: The Security Council On Gaza Passes
Thursday, 28 March 2024, 7:12 am | Binoy Kampmark
The UN Security Council presents one of the great contradictions of power in the international system. More >>
Purgatorial Torments: Assange And The UK High Court
Wednesday, 27 March 2024, 2:53 pm | Binoy Kampmark
What is it about British justice that has a certain rankness to it, notably when it comes to dealing with political charges? The record is not good, and the ongoing sadistic carnival that is the prosecution (and persecution) of Julian Assange continues ... More >>
How AI Art Reshapes Perspectives
Wednesday, 27 March 2024, 9:57 am | Hugh Grant
Last year, generative artificial intelligence created waves in the art community. It created a lot of controversy, with human artists claiming that AI was infringing on their intellectual property rights. There’s still a lot of debate around this ... More >>
World War Two: Baddies And Goodies
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 3:30 pm | Keith Rankin
My earlier article – Can 'Good' be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil framing of international conflicts makes it difficult for participants – especially those who are convinced they are ... More >>
On Labour’s Fear Of Commitment
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 11:59 am | Gordon Campbell
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a ... More >>
The AUKUS Cash Cow: Robbing The Australian Taxpayer
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 11:16 am | Binoy Kampmark
Two British ministers, the UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, paid a recent visit to Australia recently as part of the AUKMIN (Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations) talks. It showed, yet again, that Australia’s ... More >>
Can 'Good' Be The Greater Evil?
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 10:27 am | Keith Rankin
Much of our conflict in the world has been (at least at the time it was happening) framed as Good versus Evil, and with Good therefore having a moral imperative to prevail 'at any cost'. Once upon a time – and in my lifetime – many of us regarded ... More >>
US-imposed Austerity In Cuba
Monday, 25 March 2024, 2:19 pm | Mike Treen
Over the last few weeks, the Western news media has been full of stories of “unrest” in Cuba including protests over food and fuel shortages. From Western media reports, you would think that the Government of Cuba was neglectful and unresponsive to the ... More >>
Capitation Should Not Be Decapitated
Sunday, 24 March 2024, 8:03 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the importance of not allowing the system of funding general practices (capitation) from being decapitated by eroding neglect. More >>
Julian Assange And The Plea Nibble
Saturday, 23 March 2024, 8:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The current process is one of gradual judicial & penal assassination, conducted through prolonged proceedings that continue to assail the publisher’s health even as he is confined to Belmarsh Prison More >>
Download Weekly: Mobile phone market bounces back
Saturday, 23 March 2024, 6:25 pm | Digitl
Upmarket phones lead handset market recovery. Bubbles in the frame as US government launches Apple antitrust case. Chorus expands edge racks after Mount Eden pilot sellout. More >>
Orcas Are Very Smart, But They Don’t Construct Separate Selves
Friday, 22 March 2024, 11:51 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
Orcas, projectively called Killer Whales, are the top predators of the sea. Different “cultures” of orcas use different strategies to hunt everything from manta rays to Great White sharks. There is no recorded instance of orcas killing a human in ... More >>
Censors Celebrated: Misinformation And Disinformation Down Under
Friday, 22 March 2024, 6:03 am | Binoy Kampmark
The proposed bill on assessing, parcelling and dictating information (mis-, dis-, mal-) is a nasty little experiment in censoring communication and discussion. More >>
From Overcoming ‘Bonkers’ To A Political Pickle
Thursday, 21 March 2024, 7:32 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the political pickle that New Zealand finds itself between an increasingly unpopular new government and a deeply unpopular former government. More >>
Why Artificial Intelligence Must Be Stopped Now
Thursday, 21 March 2024, 9:57 am | Richard Heinberg
Those advocating for artificial intelligence tout the huge benefits of using this technology. For instance, an article in CNN points out how AI is helping Princeton scientists solve “a key problem” with fusion energy . AI that can translate text ... More >>
On The Attack Of The Tax Cut Zombies, And A Music Playlist
Thursday, 21 March 2024, 9:48 am | Gordon Campbell
As long ago as 2007, New Zealanders were telling pollsters that while they wanted tax cuts, a majority of the public opposed tax cuts if the funding for them required cuts to social services. Seventeen years later, we’re still in the same boat. Almost ... More >>
“You Could Hear A Frog Piss On Cotton”
Thursday, 21 March 2024, 9:46 am | Eugene Doyle
Anyone who remembers the Black September attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics or the various protests, boycotts and expulsions of recent games may, in the shadow of today's Gaza, wonder whether Paris 2024 could be a long hot Summer Games. Moments when sport ... More >>
Dunne's Weekly: Media Dance On Peters' String
Thursday, 21 March 2024, 9:30 am | Peter Dunne
Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister ... More >>
Economic Performance: New Zealand versus Japan
Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 4:28 pm | Keith Rankin
Tomorrow we will see the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for New Zealand. It's worth looking today, however, at what the situation is before that data release (with its revisions as well as new data). And in context by comparing New Zealand ... More >>
Complicity In Gaza: Holding US Foreign Policy Legally Accountable
Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 3:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
On March 15, the next stage of an intriguing legal process seeking to hold the Biden administration accountable for its failure to prevent, as well as being complicit in, alleged acts of genocide taking place in Gaza, was taken. It all stems from a ... More >>
Predictable Outcomes: Australia, The National Security Committee, And Invading Iraq
Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 6:31 am | Binoy Kampmark
The latest documents from the NSC are more sleet than snow. They do confirm that the parliamentary system, more than ever, should be involved in reining in the wild impulses of war makers. More >>
Starlink’s fixed wireless challenge
Monday, 18 March 2024, 6:32 pm | Digitl
SpaceX’s Starlink deprioritised plan challenges rural fixed wireless broadband. Spark job cuts. More >>
On Dune 2, And Images Of Islam
Monday, 18 March 2024, 11:29 am | Gordon Campbell
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and ... More >>
Five Years Since The Christchurch Terror Attack, Many Unanswered Questions Remain
Monday, 18 March 2024, 10:00 am | Socialist Equality Group
By Tom Peters March 15 marked five years since fascist terrorist Brenton Tarrant murdered 51 men, women and children, and injured 40 other people, in mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The 2019 terror attack was the country’s ... More >>
We Need A Plan For The Transition To Renewable Energy
Friday, 15 March 2024, 9:26 am | Independent Media Institute
The transition to renewable energy is inevitable given the current climate crisis and the fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource. To make the shift, a detailed plan is required to indicate the first steps and anticipate challenges in allocating ... More >>
Words Vs. Action: A Supplication For Gaza, And Humanity
Thursday, 14 March 2024, 2:14 pm | Ramzy Baroud
‘All we can do for Gaza is just offer our Du’a.” This is an oft-repeated statement by enraged Arabs and Muslims who feel helpless before the Israeli genocide in Gaza. But is it true that only invocations and supplications are possible, as tens of thousands ... More >>
Prejudicial Bans: Congress Tosses Over TikTok
Thursday, 14 March 2024, 1:18 pm | Binoy Kampmark
How delicious is political hypocrisy. Abundant and rich, it manifests in the corridors of power with regularity. Of late, there is much of it in the US Congress, evident over debates on whether the platform TikTok should be banned in the United States. ... More >>
On National’s Fantasy Trip To La La Landlord Land
Thursday, 14 March 2024, 11:39 am | Gordon Campbell
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast ... More >>
Winning Director Compares Gaza To Auschwitz
Wednesday, 13 March 2024, 9:45 am | Eugene Doyle
At the Oscars this week Jonathan Glazer went nuclear. The director of Zone of Interest, the Best Foreign Film, directly compared the Auschwitz death camp to what is happening in Gaza. I have to admit that until I heard his speech I had no intention of watching ... More >>
Matters Of Revenue: Meta Abandons Australia’s Media Stable
Tuesday, 12 March 2024, 12:55 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was praised to the heavens as a work of negotiated and practical genius when it was struck. The then Australian treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, had finally gotten those titans of Big Tech into line on how revenue would be shared with media outlets ... More >>
