Qaddafi bites the dust
The guys who went to war in their family cars have won. They have liberated Libya, with a good deal of NATO help, and are their nation’s heroes.read more
View ArticleOccupying London's financial sector
It’s getting colder in London.We had a lingering summer, but that is over.Not such a great time to be on the streets for any longer than you have to.The central heating goes on and the thick duvet is...
View ArticleGoodbye Mr President: Is it time for more monetary muscles in Europe?
I'll let you in on a secret. Jean-Claude Trichet is considered something of a heart-throb in the CNBC newsroom in London. To which some of you might say, Jean-Claude who? I'm not talking about the...
View ArticleHow bad is it in Europe?
I don't think the CNBC team in Rome would mind me telling you that they're knackered. (A bit like Roman politics? - Ed).read more
View ArticleThe Euro deadline: 10 days and counting
In the Matrix films you get a sense of deja vu when the machines controlling your experience of the world change something. In real life, you get the uncanny sense that you've said and done exactly the...
View ArticleNew Zealand's new Pacific role, as the US moves in
At the start of President Obama's first term there was talk of him being the first "Pacific President"– being born in Hawaii and schooled in Indonesia gave him a rare westward view of the world, a...
View Article'The Office'– Taliban-style
In the long, miserable story of what was once called "the war on terror", it's hard to identify turning points. Since the foolhardy US invasion of Afghanistan in particular, it's been hard to find many...
View ArticleGillard v Rudd: understanding this fight to the death
I worked as a National Organiser for the Australia Labor Party during the Hawke years, when Kevin Rudd was a functionary in the office of the leader of the ALP in Queensland and Julia Gillard was the...
View ArticleTED comes to Auckland
Come get inspired at one of the internationally-famous TEDx talks, little brother to the TED events that have been sparking ideas and innovation since 1984.read more
View ArticleGame of Thrones: choosing a new Pope
When global events happen, some in our media hit the cultural cringe button and head out to find the New Zealand angle. We can’t just be citizens of the world.read more
View ArticleThe Pope got on a bus
Pope Francis got on the bus. It was a simple action. But symbolism is reality in the Catholic church. It was as if he took the church off the unreachable and opulent Vatican balcony, leaving behind the...
View ArticleCould Cyprus happen here?
Does anyone really understand what the hell just happened in Cyprus? Disaster appears to have been avoided today with a ‘Plan B’ agreed. The draft deal, cobbled together over the weekend would see bank...
View ArticleThe curious dispute over the Falkland Islands
Now for something completely different – a blog about the Falkland Islands.read more
View ArticleHow do you make sense of more than a million leaked documents?
News has been coming out of Washington DC recently of a massive leak of tax haven information. I have spent the past 15 months working on this project, helping to dig through the leaked material to...
View Article15 things you need to know about Syria
Anyone who thinks that stopping genocide and mass killings is nothing to do with New Zealand is saying we should rip up our membership of the ‘international community’ now. Here are the arguments for...
View ArticleEd Snowden could come to NZ
Ed Snowden has done a runner from his hotel in Hong Kong, but is presumably still in the city. Dotcom also spent years in Hong Kong avoiding arrest. They’d have so much in common. A modern day Bonnie...
View ArticleInternational law is on the side of intervention in Syria
The Iraq invasion and subsequent fiasco is what happens when you do nothing for too long. If the West had intervened in 1988 when Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds at Halabja, the 1991 war and...
View ArticleUnglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat
Over at No Right Turn, I/S has a post up hailing the UK House of Commons vote against military action in Syria and giving Tony Blair the credit for it.read more
View ArticlePalestinians pay for Iran deal
When Netanyahu was humiliated by the deal between the UNSC permanent members plus Germany (P5+1), and Iran he could not hide his anger. He came out spitting, even at his best friend, the US.read more
View ArticleNo, we’re not the most secular nation in the world
In December politicians try as hard as they want, there’s no out-polling the man with the white beard. No press release can compete with our collective obsession with an obese man in Labour red,...
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