Imagine if the Government had announced the $20b new spend on the military on Budget Day. Or if yesterday’s announcement had occurred before the declaration that New Zealand was pulling its troops out of Iraq. It would have been much less palatable to supporters, some of whom are already questioning the priorities of this Labour-led …
John Key was once very candid in explaining the realpolitik reason New Zealand had to send troops to assist the US war on terror: it was simply “the price of the club”. He was speaking of the intelligence alliance known as Five Eyes involving the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. The Labour-led …
What’s happened to the protest movement in New Zealand? Weapons conferences are met with blockades, but when the new Government announces the purchase of their $2.3 billion “submarine-killing” combat planes for the Air Force, there’s barely a banner raised in anger or sadness. The announcement last week of the extraordinary purchase of the Boeing Poseidon …
There is something rotten going on in a number of New Zealand government departments and agencies. That’s the first conclusion from the scandal revealing security and intelligence agency Thompson and Clark is widely used by the public service. Hopefully the ever-widening investigation by the State Services Commission will shine some light on this, but the …
Should New Zealand be giving support to Trump’s military intervention in the Middle East? New Zealand politicians and commentators are very divided on what the best course of action is. So far, the Government has tried to take a middle path, being highly diplomatic in its response to the US-UK-France bombing of Syria, with Prime …
New Zealand’s military conduct in its longest running war ever – in Afghanistan – is finally getting an official government inquiry. This has the real potential to open up a can of worms. So far, the announcement of the Government’s inquiry into Operation Burnham has been met with a great diversity of reactions. Nicky Hager …
The New Zealand Defence Force’s attempted cover-up of the Hit and Run controversy appears to be unravelling. The military has finally been forced to make an about-turn – what they had claimed was a key flaw in the allegations in the 2017 book was, in fact, correct. Previously the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) had …