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Steven Ratuva: Quiet diplomacy needed to thaw ‘cold war’ with Fiji - After New Zealand offered an olive branch to Fiji to ease diplomatic tension between the two countries, Fiji responded in two unexpected ways. Firstly, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, while welcoming the move, was also quoted by Fiji media as saying that he was... More >>

Prof. Francis Boyle: Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza - Jan. 27--``What we're seeing in Gaza now, is pretty much slow-motion genocide against the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in Gaza.... If you read the 1948 Genocide Convention, it clearly says that one instance of genocide is the deliberate infliction of conditions... More >>

Historical Amnesia: Haiti and its Canadian media presentation - The disaster of Haiti is well represented in Canadian media, with significant coverage in print and on television. MacLean’s magazine’s recent cover article photo is one of the very few that perhaps accidentally represents what is really happening... More >>

Suzan Mazur: Free Science Peer Review From Cultish Conspiracy - While the hacked emails episode several months ago revealing attempts by scientists to withhold information about global warming from publication has put the matter of peer review under scrutiny like never before , secrecy in peer review continues ... More >>

Shaping Up To Fight: Gordon Campbell traverses the new White Paper on Defence - Defence policy tends to be the mumblespeak of grey men in and out of uniform – which is unfortunate, given that our defence policy says a lot about New Zealand’s plans for survival, who our friends and enemies are regarded to be and the level of... More >>

Denis O’Reilly: The Real Three Strikes: Mad, Sad And Bad - When Rufus Marsh, a poster boy for the promoters of the 3 Strikes legislation, died earlier this month there was no tangi at his papakainga, Mangaroa Marae. The first I knew of his passing was a story in the Dominion Post. I’m told that he had been... More >>

Lyndon Hood: Installing a crime-prevention camera in the Justice Minister’s mind. - Pity Simon Power. On his sofa watching The Shawshank Redemption, crying into his ice cream while Judith Collins and Rodney Hide announce a new Three Strikes plan. The Minister of Corrections and the Minister of... More >>

Rosalea Barker: Californian voters learn to live with constitutional gridlock - In the photo at left, the pages held together by the pink paper clip are the US Constitution; those held together by the binder clip are California’s as it was when this book was published by the California State Assembly in 2001. In his foreword, the Chief... More >>

Cushla McKinney: The mixed blessings of commercial gene testing - Imagine being able to send a sample of saliva off to a laboratory and (for a small fee) receiving a personalised assessment of your chances of developing a host of physical and mental illnesses, the medications which will be most effective in treating or... More >>

Prakaj Roy: Hebron’s spiral of despair - Hebron is a sad, lost city hidden deep within the West Bank – despite it being only 40km away from the metropolitan, cosmopolitan and similarly contentious Jerusalem. Outside of Gaza, it’s arguably the site where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is felt the most... More >>

Scott MacWilliam: Fiji Electoral Reform Vital To Speedily End Malapportionment - The current regime in Fiji has correctly identified one vote one value as an important democratic principle which should underpin electoral reform. The system used under the 1997 Constitution for the 1999, 2001 and 2006 elections grossly... More >>

‘Noisy and Messy’: Obama’s First State of the Union Address - The need was there to mount a rearguard action after the Democrat’s defeat in Massachusetts and a dip in the polls, and President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address went some way in doing so. The usual charismatic ingredients were there: the proverbial ... More >>

ALSO:

• Connie Lawn - Fallout from The State of the Union
• Michael Collins - "Capitalist Tool"
• The White House - U.S.: State Of The Union Address

Crosbie Walsh: Diplomacy With Fiji – The Regime Should Build Bridges Not Threaten Them - Having spent 20 minutes on Radio New Zealand in an interview with Bryan Crump this week, arguing a case that the nomination of Lieutenant-Colonel Neumi Leweni – the regime’s chief media minder - as Fiji diplomatic counsellor in Wellingon is not... More >>

Martin LeFevre: Our Place In The Universe - For at least 100,000 years, since ‘modern man’ first emerged from East Africa, we have been as we are—tribal, self-centered, and dominated by the adaptive strategy of ‘higher thought.’ Now, as the fragmentation of the earth and humanity by the ... More >>

An Open Letter: From John Minto To Willie Apiata - It’s a long way from Te Kaha to Kabul but our newspapers have been full of big photos of you last week emerging from a house in the Afghani capital where three “insurgents” lay dead after a firefight. PM John Key didn’t like the pictures. ... More >>

Paul Buchanan: Why The NZDF Is In Afghanistan - The controversial publication of photographs of NZSAS soldiers in action in Kabul has again raised questions about the reasons why New Zealand military forces are deployed in Afghanistan. Critics from both ends of the political spectrum question the utility of the mission as well as... More >>

Gordon Campbell: The SAS in Kabul, and the media’s duty to report on their actions - The saga of media coverage of the SAS in Afghanistan took another turn on the weekend with National MP Eric Roy bizarrely blaming Helen Clark for the ‘ degeneration’ in media coverage of our special forces.More >>

Varieties of eating dirt: the United States, Haiti and Nicaragua - The US government and its international and regional allies view real autonomy and independence for Caribbean nations and for Central and South American countries as a threat. The US government response has been to militarize Latin America and the... More >>

Uri Avnery: The Liebarak - THE BUSINESS is registered in the name of Binyamin Netanyahu. But the reality is different. Netanyahu has never been more than a slick patent medicine salesman. That is a type that appears frequently in American Westerns and sells an elixir that is... More >>

Randall Amster J.D., Ph.D.: Invasion Of The Body Scanners - The concept of ''stimulus'' may soon take on new connotations in the days ahead. The federal government is poised to emplace full-body scanners at airports across the nation, capable of peering under a person's garments. As noted by a former Cabinet ... More >>

Michel Collins: It's The "New Haiti!" - The appointment of former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as key players in Haitian relief should cause the people of Haiti grave concern, if they weren't otherwise preoccupied with survival. These former presidents' records as... More >>

US Supreme Court Shreds Campaign-Finance Laws: Overturns Ban on Corporate Spending - In a sweeping 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down several longstanding prohibitions on corporate political contributions, saying legislative measures to control such spending infringed upon corporate First Amendment free speech rights... More >>

ALSO:

• Greg Palast - Manchurian Candidates: Supreme Court allows China and others unlimited spending in US elections

Connie Lawn in Washington: Reflections On Politicians - This has been a mixed week for American politicians – President Obama had a less than stellar first year Anniversary; Republican Scott Brown swept to a game changing victory in Massachusetts, and former Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards... More >>

Ramzy Baroud: Iran And Latin America - The Media States Its Case - Should the United States be concerned about Iran’s determined efforts to reach out to Latin America? Or, as was suggestively described in the Economist, by the Ayatollahs’ strategy of cozying up to Latin America? More >>

John Chuckman: The Horror Of Haiti - What The Press Coverage Tells Us - It is relentless, the pictures of terror-stricken people, broken limbs, and bloated dead, and many of us cannot stand to see or hear more. One has to ask: what are we to do with such information? Create pressure on governments to keep the assistance ... More >>

Scott MacWilliam For Pacific Scoop: Boosting Fiji Engagement A Wise Move Towards Encouraging Democracy - Now that New Zealand has started to recognise the need to change its previous hard-line against the military regime in Fiji, a range of suggestions are being made about the most appropriate policy changes.More >>

Martin LeFevre: Meditation Isn't Navel Staring - A reader asks, “Can the people who have a natural talent to quiet their thoughts and clean their mind, not by effort and struggling, but only through insight, point the way for others?” More >>

Ernest Partridge: Don't Ridicule The Tea-Baggers -- Recruit Them - Along with the rest of you, I am amused and entertained when Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, et al, lampoon the tea bag brigades. It is so easy to target those poor souls, with their stupid signs, their incoherent slogans, and their appalling ... More >>

Martha Rosenberg: Holiday Dieting--An Oxymoron - If you over imbibe during the holidays you can fall back on Winston Churchill's famous riposte, ''Ah, but tomorrow, I shall be sober.'' (And you, who accuse me of being drunk, will still look the way you look.) More >>

Sol Salble In Sydney: Is Shahar Peer Just Another Tennis Player? - [ Middle East News Service comments : The decision by Australians For Palestine to demonstrate against Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe’er has raised a few eyebrows. Of course the AfP demonstrated in a peaceful manner that earned praise from the Herald-Sun ... More >>

Damien Kingsbury: Regional Conflicts Defy Asia-Pacific Optimism About 2010 - It is usual to look forward to a new year with a degree of hope and optimism but, so far as much of Australia and New Zealand’s region is concerned, there is little chance for that. Given the conflicts... More >>

Stateside With Rosalea Barker: California - If I’d been living in 1840 where I live today, the last line of my mailing address would have read “Mexico”. Twenty years earlier it would have read “New Spain”, but the 1821 Mexican Revolution resulted in the ousting of a colonial power and its... More >>

Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman: Will Diebold steal Ted Kennedy's seat – and the Senate? - The same types of machines that helped put George W. Bush in the White House in 2000, and “re-elect” him 2004, may now decide who wins the all-important “60th Senate seat” in Massachusetts. The fate of health care and much much more hang in the ... More >>

David Swanson: What Bush Did To Haiti - If a group of dedicated scholars, attorneys, journalists, and activists had tried to generate a comprehensive list of impeachable offenses committed by George W. Bush as president, and only 35 of them had been introduced into Congress, one of the many... More >>

ALSO:

• William Rivers Pitt - Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh: The Scum Of The Earth
• Middle East News Service - Israel's compassion in Haiti can't hide our ugly face in Gaza
• Greg Palast - Greg Palast: History of a Haitian Holocaust
• Rosalea Barker - Stateside: Haiti earthquake
• Martin LeFevre - Meditations - Haiti and the ‘Global War on Terror’
• Binoy Kampmark - The Cruel Country: Haiti’s Earthquake
• Cuban Embassy - Reflections By Comrade Fidel: Haiti’s Lesson

Gordon Campbell: On The Monarchy, and Keith Locke’s Mechanism For Replacing It - Flexibility is an essential feature of the modern monarchy. How ironic that Prince William, as the Queen’s emissary, should be chosen to open the new Supreme Court in Wellington this morning, a building that embodies... More >>

Crosbie Walsh: ‘Step By Step’ – How NZ Can Really Help Fiji Towards Democracy - Murray McCully’s recent statements on Fiji suggest a much more realistic appraisal of the situation than was evident under the former Labour-led government, and an improvement on his own earlier statements.More >>

Franklin Lamb: Lebanon on US media crusades and mushrooming T lists - Khalas (Enough)! - John McCain dropped in on Beirut last weekend en route to Israel to join fellow US Senator Joe Lieberman in agreeing with their hosts that, a just as he told them during the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama was real bad for Israel... More >>

Sherwood Ross: Obama Spreads War Flames To Engulf The Middle East - As President Obama steps up the war that is inflaming ever wider sectors of the Middle East, USA continues its rapid slide toward Third World status. The two developments are not unrelated. Spending on war does not boost an economy as does domestic spending---and... More >>

Satire: The Weekly Coitus – Pat Robertson Personally Witnessed Devil/Haiti Pact - After a backlash to earlier comments linking the Haitian earthquake to a pact with the devil Pat Robertson has come forward to explain that he was in fact present on the day in 1791 for the fateful meeting. More>>

ALSO:

• NY Mag Out-Link - Satan's Open Letter to Pat Robertson
• Borowitz Report Out-Link - Pat Robertson 'A Public Relations Nightmare,' Says God
• TV3 Video - Haitians praise God after apocalyptic quake

Gordon Campbell: On Whether People Should Be Able To Burn The Flag At Anzac Day - Any masochist who wants to feel depressed about the state of the New Zealand judiciary needs only to turn to Justice Terence Arnold’s recent majority decision in the Court of Appeal – and read through his rationale for dismissing the Valerie Morse appeal against... More>>

Crosbie Walsh: ‘First Strike’ Method In Bainimarama’s Long-Term Strategy For Fiji? - Something’s going on. After months of easing tensions– no fresh reports of possible human rights abuse, supportive statements from many in Fiji, from blogs such as mine and many overseas commentators culminating... More >>

Martha Rosenberg: Before You Take That Antidepressant, Visit This Web Site - With our national love of drugs, sex, celebrities and violence you'd think SSRIstories.com would be more popular. The 12-year-old web site lists 3,500 crime related news reports linked to the use of SSRI antidepressants with celebrities like Wynona Ryder, Heath ... More >>

John Minto: Tennis Protests Not A Popularity Contest - If last week's protests directed at Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer were a popularity contest she would have won hands down against the protestors. This was reflected in the Weekend Herald's editorial which described the protest action as a disgrace... More >>

ALSO:

• TV3 Video - Minto accuses police of seeking to destroy megaphone

Clinton's Pacific Tour: Obama Sets His Sights On Indonesia - On Thursday, January 7, the State Department’s Foreign Press Center held a briefing for foreign journalists about Secretary Clinton’s upcoming visit to the Pacific. The full transcript of the briefing is available here . More >>

Ponies and Pigs: The Californian Budget Mess - ‘He did address some of the serious issues,’ suggested one Californian commentator in weak fashion. In truth there was much that could have been far more serious about the Californian Governor’s last State of State speech (7 Jan). More >>

Earlier:

• Rosalea Barker - Pigs vs ponies

Gordon Campbell: Keeping Tabs on Terrorists - Supposedly, the intrusions on our civil liberties in the course of the war on terrorism was meant to be a trade-off. Grudgingly, we have allowed the authorities to monitor our bank transactions, emails etc and put up with delays... More >>

"Conspiracy or cock up?" White House reaction to ersatz bomber - "Conspiracy or cock up?" White House reaction to ersatz bomber Michael Collins The underpants bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is a curious terrorist. He became disillusioned with his privileged life as the son of a bank chairman and ... More >>

Uri Avnery: The Quiet American - THE QUIET AMERICAN was the hero of Graham Greene’s novel about the first Vietnam War, the one fought by the French. He was a young and naïve American, a professor’s son, who had enjoyed a good education at Harvard, an idealist with all the best intentions. ... More >>

“We’re Clueless”: Tricking American Intelligence - He was seen as the Central Intelligence Agency’s best hope in years. But Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor inadequately vetted and cultivated by Jordanian intelligence, was no such thing. More >>

Media Vultures Are Coming: Freedom of Expression at Risk - As you flip through a range of channels on your TV or browse through a stack of newspapers and magazines at a newsstand, you may feel lucky about living in a world where such a plethora of viewpoints is available. It might also seem that the apparent increase ... More >>

Yemen Hidden Agenda: Behind the Al-Qaeda Scenarios, A Strategic Oil Transit Chokepoint - On December 25 US authorities arrested a Nigerian named Abdulmutallab aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on charges of having tried to blow up the plane with smuggled explosives. Since then reports have been broadcast from CNN... More >>

Pacific Scoop: Fiji’s Children Face Bleak Future As Global Crisis Hits Economy - Shonal Chand, 16, has ditched school to work full time to assist his financially struggling family. He sells pineapples, watermelons and other local seasonal fruit by the roadside six days a week...More >>

William Blum: Cuba. Again. Still. Forever. - More than 50 years now it is. The propaganda and hypocrisy of the American mainstream media seems endless and unwavering. They can not accept the fact that Cuban leaders are humane or rational. Here's the Washington Post of December 13 writing about an ... More >>

The Russian Resurgence: America and the Great Crisis of 2010 - The Russian Resurgence is now in full-bloom. I've been cataloguing the ongoing collision between America and Russia's strategic interests across parts of Eurasia in my 'scoop' pieces and on my blog . In essence, the Cold War didn't end. To be more specific, ... More >>

Omens Of Doom: Dubai’s Burj Khalifa Tower - It is a colossus, towering over the Dubai skyline. The company behind it claims to have made a successful return of 10 percent. The local paper, the Khaleej Times, did not shy away from hyperbole, seeing the building as ‘an example of human courage... More >>

Martin LeFevre: When The Truth Is Called Defeatism - When activists in America consider the unbelievable apathy of the American people, there are generally two reactions. The first is to invoke the hackneyed ideology of ‘the people as victims of an oppressive government;’ the second is to psychologize ... More >>

Stateside With Rosalea Barker: Pigs vs Ponies - Excuse me while I wipe a tear from my eye. In his final State of the State address, the CA Governor has just delivered a heartfelt plea for us to feel sorry for the 144k Californians who contribute 50 percent of the state’s taxes for the benefit... More >>

Franklin Lamb: Obama adds 675 million Muslims to the ultimate US Terrorism List - However President Obama is judged on various subjects for his first year in office, he has already made history in the way that neither his predecessor nor any other leader has ever managed. More >>

ALSO:

• The White House - Remarks by the President on security reviews
• Embassy of Cuba - Cuba Is Not A Terrorist Country
• USDHS - New Security Measures for International Flights
• The White House - President Obama to Protect American People