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New Zealand getting too close to NATO

By Keith Locke The following article was published on Newsroom on 23 June 2022 Keith Locke explains why the Prime Minister’s decision to attend the Nato Leaders meeting might make David Lange turn in his grave The invitation for Prime Minister...

NZ shouldn’t Big Brother the Solomons over relations with China

This article was published in the Daily Blog on 1 April 2022 Every now and again there’s a scare story about China trying to establish a military base in the South Pacific.In 2018 it was Vanuatu’s turn. Australia’s Fairfax...

Many anti-nuclear reasons to oppose AUKUS

The following article was first published in the Daily Blog on 20 September 2021 There are multiple reasons for nuclear-free New Zealanders to be upset about Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.Much of the commentary has focused on the exclusion...

The urgent need for New Zealand aid to Afghanistan

By Keith Locke The following article was published in the Daily Blog on 4 September 2021 Our government has understandably been preoccupied with helping refugees leave Afghanistan. But now the focus should shift to emergency aid for Afghanistan itself.UN Secretary-General...

New Zealand should never have joined the war in Afghanistan

This article was first published in the Spinoff on 18 August 2021. I argued 20 years ago that sending troops would only help the Taliban. And so it has proved, writes former Green MP Keith Locke. After the fall of Kabul,...

New Zealand’s response to the Soleimani assassination is shamefully timid

How can New Zealand claim to have an independent foreign policy when it won’t even criticise America’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian leader? The furthest foreign minister Winston Peters went was to express “strong concern” at the “heightening...

Keith Locke: Our defense policy and exercises align us with the US against China

With so many New Zealanders put off by Donald Trump and his maverick foreign policy, I had expected a Labour/New Zealand First Government to keep its distance. However, with its ban on Huawei's involvement in the 5G network our...

Why on earth is NZ sending a plane into the Kim-and-Trump tinderbox?

Winston Peters says the Orion is to implement UN sanctions, but that’s only half the story, writes former Green MP Keith Locke We all know the erratic nature of Donald Trump’s policy towards North Korea. One moment he’s threatening a...

Splashing $2.3 billion on aircraft erodes NZ’s independent foreign policy

The purchase of four surveillance planes signals an even closer military alignment with the United States, and the reflects badly on our non-aligned status, writes former Green Party defence spokesperson Keith Locke. It was disappointing to see a Labour-led government...