Defence

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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...

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...

Keith Locke: Take on extremists with words not war

Countering the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq requires solutions that are mainly political, not military. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11345416 New Zealanders are right to be concerned about the rise of the Islamic State (Isis), but our best contribution would be to provide...

Keith Locke: There’s nothing great about Great War

WWI was a disastrous struggle for imperial power rather than a fight for freedom — and we must share blame Read this article on the NZ Herald website Over the next four years we will learn much about World War I...

Battered nation syndrome

News: The NZ frigate Te Kaha joins the US RIMPAC war game off Hawaii for the first time in 28 years and exercises with US nuclear subs. However, Te Kaha is then barred from docking at Pearl Harbour because...