I’m afraid John Key has failed the empathy test. He knows that thousands of refugees have been fleeing persecution from Sri Lanka, Burma and elsewhere, many dying at sea. Yet all he can see in the possibility of one boat making it here is a threat, justifying the legislation he passed allowing the asylum seekers to be imprisoned on arrival.
When asked about Saudi Arabia bombing Yemen John Key said that “we understand why they are doing what they are doing” and said he wouldn’t “condemn” it.
According a recent Herald-Digipoll 28% of New Zealanders don’t have confidence in our intelligence services. It will be good if their concerns are elaborated in submissions to the government’s intelligence and security review, scheduled to begin next month and run through until February.
It’s bad news that the British Conservatives will be ruling for another five years. But the good news is that the parties campaigning on the strongest left platforms, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Greens, both picked up a lot more votes.
The war had nothing to do with upholding our “values”. A central value – to give everyone a fair go – was undermined by the war. Racism reared its ugly head. New Zealanders of German origin were insulted, sacked and sometimes interned.
New Zealanders should ask themselves: do they want our GCSB providing vital intelligence information to torturers and murderers? Because this is exactly what the GCSB has been doing.
As far as I can tell New Zealand (which has a representative on the UN Security Council) has yet to condemn the raids, which constitute illegal aggression against a neighbouring country.
As in New Zealand, it’s always been hard for the Aussie Greens to win electorate seats. But in Saturday’s New South Wales election they won three seats (and maybe four after postal votes are counted).
It’s common for governments to spin a story to make the indefensible sound defensible. Usually it is the government putting the best light on some commonly agreed facts.