Posts by Jason Kemp
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Hard News: Ten Thousand Maniacs, in reply to Russell Brown,
Thanks Russell. I don't think the "linkages" are straight forward at all. What has become clearer is that the host states on *all* sides have created a perfect storm of sorts. For example -part of that is supporting the Saudi government.
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I was looking for some trade numbers in the region – preferably arms deals.
Apparently Qatar, Kuwait & Saudi Arabia are big donors/ supporters of radical Islamists.
Although Saudi Arabia has given $100m (£60m) to the UN anti-terror programme and the country’s grand mufti has denounced Isis as “enemy number one”, radical Salafists across the Middle East receive ideological and material backing from within the kingdom. According to Clinton’s leaked memo, Saudi donors constituted “the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide”.
But again, don’t expect Britain to act. Our alliance with the regime dates back to 1915, and Saudi Arabia is the British arms industry’s biggest market, receiving £1.6bn of military exports. There are now more than 200 joint ventures between UK and Saudi companies worth $17.5bn.
To really combat terror, end support for Saudi Arabia - Owen Jones
Cutting the supply lines doesn’t look like a real option but it should be.
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Hard to get through all the analysis but so far it looks like the obvious military response would be exactly the wrong one. ISIS want a showdown.
Instead of victory or death - it seems like many of them want to die in a holy war.
Jon Snow writes in Paris attacks: Middle East’s wars arrive in Europe
Where does this end? How does it stop? What is fuelling this? Certainly the fight between Sunni and Shia fought between Iran and Iraq in the eighties casts a long shadow. It’s been continued by proxy ever since, funded and encouraged by Iran and Saudi Arabia, and is seen right now in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Iran supports and arms and funds its proxy armies, and Saudi Arabia matches it in each country, but there is a fundamental difference. Isis are now a threat on a different level, either by deliberate plan or inspiration.
The causes of this spread of terrorism are complex, but one aspect we have to tackle head on — its ideological roots in Wahhabi Islam, the official religion of Saudi Arabia. The House of Saud rules at the mercy of the clerics, some of whom see jihadism as a legitimate method of advancing their religion. The state in Saudi Arabia may not directly fund Isis, but the fundamentals of the Saudi state and society mean many of its people do.
My understanding is that the Saudi's have huge influence over the supply lines but how to stop that when British, U.S, French and other military vendors are selling arms to the Saudi's...
I read the Graeme Wood piece in the Atlantic. To most of us the ISIS thinking is crazy but it has its own logic to the true believers.
A follow on piece by Wood The True Believers
Sam Harris and Graeme Wood discuss the Islamic StateWood: I take your point. But since what they say they believe in is the goodness of slavery, crucifixion, and public executions of street magicians, as shorthand I will continue to call them “crazy.”
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Meanwhile in Canada Trudeau gives Canada first cabinet with equal number of men and women and makes sure that cabinet is diverse as well.
Ethnically diverse ministers include 15 men and 15 women,
PM Justin Trudeau hails ‘a cabinet that looks like Canada’
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Asked to explain his gender parity promise, he answered: “Because it’s 2015Surely we can expect the NZ PM to be more robust in standing up for NZ'ers in Australia.
Yes some of those people have committed crimes but many of them have lived in Australia for decades and it would seem much fairer to recognise that.
Also if they have served their time then they shouldn't continue to be penalised for that or demeaned by politicians making cheap shots.
Andrew Geddis writes over at Pundit Australia: purging the convict stain? that Australians in NZ have a much more equitable arrangement.
If the Australian has been resident for more than 10 years, he or she can't be deported for criminal offending.
There are other categories but it seems if the 10 year mark is picked reciprocal CER style thinking should apply and at the very least the Australian law should match.
I have long thought that the PM continues to speak and think like a trader who has fallback positions. His entire mindset is yes, but and what we see as barefaced lies he views as changing circumstances and never mind the truth.
I would like a government that was more like the Canadian example. Australia should be challenged on its detention centre policies for all who are sent there - not just NZ'ers but clearly we can only do that if the current government stands up for all of us rather than throwing a tantrum in parliament.
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Dita deBoni has nailed it (in case you missed her piece)
That's right, Mr Key, pathetic lefties won’t keep us safe from rapists -
Speaker: The real balance sheet, in reply to Alfie,
I'm curious as to why 3D was moved from Sunday night where it had viewers to a slot on Monday where it was doomed to fail. Surely switching timeslots like that is at least negligent if not constructive demolition?
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Hard News: The good guys, in reply to George Darroch,
More on the low sugar vibe in the team here
“The movie ‘The Sugar Film’ has influenced the players quite a lot I think. Most of the guys now understand that we need to get the sugar out. We’ve come a long way. I would say we are in a low-sugar environment. That’s a big change. We now have nuts on the sideline after training, not lollies.
from DR NIC GILL, LOW CARB, LOW SUGAR AND THE, ALL BLACKS
It seems like a brand value mismatch to have the AB's advertising grog and sugar water. I hope young people don't think elite sports teams are really excessive drinkers. Hoping that the commercial elements start getting the message.
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I don’t generally watch sports at all. For too long I think rugby and the like has been oversold to the general population when actual interest has declined. I’m fine with people enjoying sports ball but it is great when a “magic moment” like the SBW one actually happens.
Lydia Ko gets overlooked while Danny Lee gets reported. In July a Neilsen survey The Changing NZ Consumer
Walking, camping and working out has increased in popularity as many traditional sports such as rugby, league, cricket and netball slip back. Despite this, sport remains very important to our nation.
This research was mentioned on RNZ Mediawatch cupwatch starts at 23 mins where they noted only 25% of population is interested in rugby.
Obviously during a world cup it is easy to be a fan when your team is winning. But the best moment I have heard about from the current competition was what SBW did there and you are quite right to provide the context.
It is a great example of the elevation effect in action.
That the team were supportive of SBW’s actions was a transformative act. That is what we really need from our sports rather than the overtly commercial ‘sell more milk in black bottles’ spiel we get now.
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Apparently NZ govt has leaked - this > NZ government leaks on TPP: copyright terms will go to life plus 70 years
According to the bulletin, the TPP signatories will have to retroactively extend their copyright terms, giving longer copyrights to works that were created before the agreement was struck, and taking works out of the public domain and putting them back into copyright's restrictions.
This is likely to bite even the USA in the ass, as there are many works that are in the public domain because they were not registered with the Copyright Office (prior to the abolition of the registration requirement in 1976) or didn't have their copyrights renewed.
It is starting to look like unintended consequences or collateral damage from TPP might be quite large
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To me it looks like the aim has been to win small $ concessions for sunset industries but trade away the IP based (sunrise) sector. Partly this may be because knowledge based exports are more intangible and harder to value but that seems to be an area that needs more work.
Secondly – it has been suggested that TPP only needs to be passed by NZ cabinet and not something that even needs to be voted on by parliament. Does anyone know what the ratification process is for NZ ?
I do think that pressure from the public has helped tone down a couple of the detriments but waiting up to 25 years to see if there is a benefit doesn’t seem like a win. A lot of those $m numbers are equivalent to rounding errors.
There is an argument that NZ could have opted out and then signed on later if it looks better down the track. Apparently other nations can sign up without all of the secrecy and stumblebum process we have just been through.
One last question. It seems like the FTA that Australia and US signed doesn’t seem to have worked out for Australia. I wonder if we are in for the same “thumscrew” process here.
The costs of Australia’s ‘free trade’ agreement with America
The critics were right. Ten years after the Australia–United States free trade agreement (AUSFTA) came into force, new analysis of the data shows that the agreement diverted trade away from the lowest cost sources. Australia and the United States have reduced their trade by US$53 billion with rest of the world and are worse off than they would have been without the agreement.