New Zealand’s supply of vaccines to the Pacific may cap a critical role in the region’s rising geopolitical tensions, writes Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk. Last week’s announcement New Zealand has secured enough vaccinations not only for its own population, but for Pacific Island “neighbour” nations, is significant for more than just the fact that we have a … Read more
Huawei is stoking tensions overseas, causing some countries to ban its technology from their 5G networks. But what does that mean for us? Last week the UK announced it would be banning the country’s mobile providers from buying 5G equipment from Huawei, previously a major technology provider for the new network. That decision is expected … Read more
New Zealand has crushed Covid-19, but now the government must devise a resilience strategy that will ensure our independence and sovereignty are protected in the post-Covid world, writes Anne-Marie Brady in this paper for the SSANSE Commission for a Post-Covid Future at the University of Canterbury. New Zealand has emerged from eight weeks of Covid-19 … Read more
From international relations to climate change to world trade, New Zealand has an opportunity to affect the post-pandemic world for the better, writes Robert G Patman in this paper for the SSANSE Commission for a Post-Covid Future at the University of Canterbury The Covid-19 crisis has confirmed the near breakdown of an international rules-based order … Read more
We’re only just beginning to understand the vast political ramifications of the coronavirus, both here and around the world, writes Colin James. What comes after Covid-19? Not business as usual. The global virus is a disjunctive shock and such a shock sets up a chain reaction that changes the order of things. That there is … Read more
The prime minister is in Thailand for the East Asia Summit. RNZ’s political editor Jane Patterson sets the scene. The last-minute cancellation of Apec in Chile has left the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Thailand as the new main game in town. The two summits are usually held close together; Apec is viewed as the heavy-hitting event, … Read more
New Zealand is underprepared for Indonesia’s rapid economic growth, and our nearest Asian neighbour is a potential close friend, writes Jordan King Ask a New Zealander to discuss Indonesia and you may get a response about Bali, Bintangs, or perhaps West Papua or The Act of Killing. Or you might get no response at all. … Read more
Washington and Beijing won’t be fooled by the bridge and broker rhetoric. They know that should push come to shove New Zealand will have to make a choice writes security consultant Paul Buchanan The Labour-led government in New Zealand has settled on a new mantra when it comes to addressing the US-China rivalry. It claims … Read more
New Zealand Alternative – a new, open organisation – seeks to challenge the orthodoxy, starting with a call to establish an independent Conflict Prevention Unit. Co-founder Thomas Nash explains Marking 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of World War One, Foreign Minister Winston Peters represented New Zealand at the Paris Peace Forum … Read more
As NZ marks a major anniversary for what is now called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Michael Appleton explains what it is that he and his fellow diplomats actually do New Zealand’s first professional diplomat, Carl Berendsen, was positioned in the Prime Minister’s Department; from 1926 till 1943, he was essentially our one-person … Read more
Attempts to renegotiate the TPP provide the immediate task, but defence also looms as a big challenge for a government with three key internationally focused positions filled by NZ First MPs, writes the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, David Capie One of the biggest surprises to emerge from talks to form a new … Read more
Donald Trump’s increasingly bellicose threats against North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un are raising fears of all-out war. But if the worst happens, which way will New Zealand jump? Victoria University professor Robert Ayson considers the options. Many of us are thinking, or at least hoping, that Donald Trump is bluffing when he implies that violence is … Read more
The Turkish president has brutally suppressed protesters and purged every branch of government of any opposition. We must stand up against him, writes Maria Armoudian. The test of a leader’s commitment to democracy is not in peaceful and agreeable times but in times of dissent and disagreement. And Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has failed … Read more
At Greenpeace we’re not so big into war. We like peace, hence the name. But the US government’s decision to send a ship here marks something distinctly positive – a victory for the people of nuclear-free New Zealand, writes Russel Norman. If a US ship arrives in our waters later this year as part of … Read more
Opinion: Making inroads against ISIS requires the West to rediscover its ideological confidence, argues Nicholas Ross Smith. In what is sadly becoming all too common an occurrence, the world is grappling with news of another horrific terrorist attack, this time taking at least 84 lives in Nice, France. While there has been no claim of … Read more
The ruling from the Hague on the South China Sea is stunning. For the region the stakes are huge, and New Zealand’s response is notably more cautious than Australia or the US, writes David Capie. Last night’s decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague delivered a resounding legal defeat to China’s maritime … Read more
The very long-awaited and very weightily long Chilcot report, from the inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, has just been published. We’ve read all 2.6 million words (we haven’t), and plucked out the bits that really tell the story. Sir John Chilcot took the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Centre in Westminster to … Read more
In defiance of most predictions, the UK has opted to quit the European Union, prompting David Cameron to stand down as PM. Reaction from Neil Cross, Rawdon Christie, Noelle McCarthy, Bryan Gould, Andrea Vance and more Paul Brislen: A victory for old Britain Fog in Channel – Europe cut off. I blame Morecambe and Wise. And … Read more
Less than a week out from the Brexit vote, the ‘leave’ side is in the ascendant. But it’s hard to find much to admire in either camp, writes David Hall. Plus: a word on Jo Cox If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, it deserves everything that comes to it. Perhaps what comes will … Read more
Just over two years ago, the Azraq refugee camp was opened in Jordan to house Syrians fleeing their war-ravaged home. Today around 35,000 refugees live there. World Vision’s Simon Day recently returned from Azraq. Here he shares some of what he saw 1 Shimmering on the horizon are the white boxes of the Azraq refugee … Read more
With an increased emphasis on our immediate neighbourhood and non-traditional defence activities, the White Paper strikes a refreshing balance, writes the Centre for Strategic Studies’ David Capie The immediate media response to the 2016 Defence White Paper suggests we are all vulnerable to being mesmerised by high-tech toys. Even before the paper was officially launched … Read more
Opinion: John Key says he’s open to China’s request for an extradition treaty and has asked the Law Commission to investigate. But we’ve been monitoring the Chinese justice system for years already, and the moral answer couldn’t be clearer, writes Amnesty International’s Grant Bayldon. In 2013 a woman named Liu Ping dared to challenge the … Read more
David Seymour has thrown his member’s bill into the parliamentary hat. But the legislation currently being debated in Canada differs in some important ways, writes Andrew Geddis. The case of Lecretia Seales last year brought to prominence the issue of doctor assisted suicide/aid in dying (it’s a telling sign of how divided views are that … Read more
Were it down to competence, ability and integrity, the former NZ PM would be all but a shoo-in for Secretary General. But it’s much less straightforward than that, writes former NZ ambassador to the UN Terence O’Brien Helen Clark’s bid to be next UN Secretary General is now official. It is hardly a surprise. Speculation … Read more