Last week, Australian PM Scott Morrison extended its ban on foreign visitors from or passing through from mainland China for a third week. NeZ has dutifully followed suit, with our travel ban. More>>
Quick quiz to end the week. What deserves the more attention – the death of a US basketball legend, or the end of Palestinian hopes for an independent state? Both died this week, but only one was met with almost total indifference by the global community. More>>
So, evidently, you can get away with murder. It looks as though a further escalation in the ongoing war between Iran and the US has been avoided – mainly thanks to Iran NOT responding in kind to the recklessly unhinged behaviour by the United States. ... More>>
Are National really better political managers than Labour, particularly when it comes to running the economy? For many voters – and the business community in particular - their belief in National’s inherent competence is a simple act of faith. More>>
By now, the end game the Republican Senate majority has in mind in their setting of the rules for the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump is pretty clear to everyone: first deny the Democrats the ability to call witnesses and offer evidence, and then derisively dismiss the charges for lack of evidence. For his part, does former security adviser John Bolton really, really want to testify against his former boss? If there was any competing faction within the Republican Party, there might be some point for Bolton in doing so – but there isn’t. More>>
If they enter public life, women can expect a type of intense (and contradictory) scrutiny that is rarely applied to their male counterparts... More>>
Those “Meghzit” headlines seem apt, given how closely Britain’s January 31 exit from the European Union resembles the imminent departure from the Royal Family’s top team of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. For young Iranians, the accidental downing of the Ukrainian airliner is just the latest example of the deadly incompetence and dishonesty of their leaders... More>>
So, evidently, you can get away with murder. It looks as though a further escalation in the ongoing war between Iran and the US has been avoided – mainly thanks to Iran NOT responding in kind to the recklessly unhinged behaviour by the United States. Given the massive outpouring of public grief in Iran over the murder of Qassem Soleimani, some reciprocal action by Iran was necessary, but (so far) it has been almost entirely symbolic in nature... More>>
This was a year where so many of the highlights came from female musicians. But amid all that richness, there was one standout album... More>>
Brexit has always been very much an English obsession... So while it isn’t surprising that Boris Johnson won the election, he might also have lost the United Kingdom in the process. More>>
Kim Dotcom’s Appeal against the decision allowing the GSCB to withold information as to communications illegally intercepted by them has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand. More>>
ALSO:
- NZ Court of Appeal - Appeal Decision: Kim Dotcom v AG (GSCB)
- Binoy Kampmark - Legitimised Surveillance: Kim Dotcom’s case against GCSB
Even before the local body election results came in from Hong Kong, China had been having a p.r. nightmare this week. First, the ICIJ released a trove of leaked cables about the mass concentration camp system that China has built to control and to “re-educate” over a million people from its Uighur minority... More>>
The MFAT tweet condemning rocket fire from Gaza while failing to condemn the Israeli extrajudicial assassinations and civilian killings that generated Islamic Jihad’s rocket-fire in defensive response, reveals the hypocrisy at the heart of New Zealand’s so-called “even-handed” foreign policy and practice towards Palestine. More>>
Hope For Nature: A New Deal For The Commons
Joseph Cederwall on The Dig: To fully understand the biodiversity crisis and explore what comes next, it is necessary to address this mind-virus at the heart of our modern civilisation – the dominion worldview. More>>
ALSO:
- HiveMind - Biodiversity HiveMind: Final Report
Peace Plan: Ten Ways To Tackle Online Hate
A Helen Clark Foundation project to reduce online harm will be presented today in competition at the Paris Peace Forum... 'The Christchurch Principles' is the only Australasian initiative out of the 120 international projects chosen to be highlighted at the forum. More>>
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Good Death: A Historical Perspective On Euthanasia
Some critics of the bill present religious and moral objections against euthanasia, while proponents have focused on the trauma and pain of terminally ill patients and their families. All these arguments have a long history. More>>
5 November - Parihaka: How NZ Government Misused Laws To Crush Non-Violent Dissent
This week, Māori in the Taranaki region remembered the “day of plunder” – the 1881 government invasion of Parihaka, the small settlement that had come to symbolise peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land. More>>
Scoop Hivemind Report: Common Ground On Biodiversity
The HiveMind report Protecting and Restoring New Zealand’s Biodiversity, published today, analyses and summarises the findings of this engagement in which over 500 Kiwis took part. [Image: Cameron Houston, DOC] More>>
ALSO:
- HiveMind - Biodiversity HiveMind: Final Report
- Earlier HiveMind - Biodiversity HiveMind Progress Report - Biodiversity HiveMind: Back From The Brink? - Scoop Hivemind: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity
- Scoop - Full Coverage: Biodiversity Information and Journalism - The NZ Biodiversity Strategy Discussion Document Explained
- Joseph Cederwall - There is a field: Reimagining Biodiversity in Aotearoa
- Dave Hansford - Whose Biodiversity is it Anyway?
- Veronika Meduna - Kaitiakitanga: seeing nature as your elder
- Ellen Rykers - Community Conservation: The solution to the biodiversity crisis?
- Ian Llewellyn - Statement on Biodiversity is where interests could collide
Gordon Campbell: On Trudeau’s Election ‘Victory’
Even before the votes were counted, the prospect of a Liberals/NDP minority government was being depicted as being not only Big Energy’s worst nightmare but as grounds for the western province of Alberta seceding (Wexit!) from Canada... More>>
ALSO:
- Binoy Kampmark - Brand Trudeau Wins a Second Term
Gordon Campbell: On Betraying The Kurds
The Americans have now callously thrown the Kurds under the bus and created the ideal conditions for Islamic State to mount a comeback – all done so that Donald Trump can brag on the 2020 campaign trail that he brought the US troops home. How is the current fighting likely to proceed? More>>
ALSO:
- Out-Link - Turkish troops advance into Syria as Trump washes his hands of the Kurds | The Guardian
- United Nations - UN chief urges ‘maximum restraint’ in Syria
- Binoy Kampmark - Cynical Enterprises: The Kurds Await Their Fate
Expert Comment: Online Voting Won’t Mean More Engagement
“Overseas experience is that online voting tends to be popular with those who are already likely to vote and who have high levels of digital literacy. It does little to help add new people to the voter pool, and this holds even for young voters.”More>>
ALSO:
- Image RNZ - Local elections turn-out too early to tell
Ellen Rykers on The Dig: Community Conservation – The Solution To The Biodiversity Crisis?
It’s increasingly clear that a government agency alone cannot combat the biodiversity crisis successfully. These grass-roots initiatives are a growing resource in the conservation toolbox. More>>
ALSO:
- HiveMind - Biodiversity HiveMind Progress Report
Gordon Campbell: On The Saudis (Not) Getting Away With Murder
On October 2nd last year, the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, by a hit squad of assassins acting on the orders of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman. More>>
Gordon Campbell: On The Saudi Oil Refinery Crisis
So the US and the Saudis claim to have credible evidence that those Weapons of Oil Destruction came from Iran, their current bogey now that Saddam Hussein is no longer available. Evidently, the world has learned nothing from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 when dodgy US intel was wheeled out to justify the invasion of Iraq, thereby giving birth to ISIS and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. More>>
ALSO:
- BusinessDesk - Trump authorises use of emergency crude stockpile - MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares fall; high oil prices weigh - NZ dollar edges higher as concerns over Saudi attack ease
- RNZ - Saudi attacks: Global oil prices spike, petrol uncertainty
- TVNZ - Q+A: Megan Woods interviewed by Jack Tame
- Gull Petroleum - $US6.50 per Barrel increase for petrol
- Binoy Kampmark - Oiling for War: The Houthi Attack on Abqaiq
Veronika Meduna on The Dig: Kaitiakitanga - Seeing Nature As Your Elder
The intricate interconnections between climate change and biodiversity loss, and how this disruption impacts Māori in particular. More>>
ALSO:
- HiveMind - Last Chance: Back From The Brink HiveMind
Gordon Campbell: On China And Hong Kong (And Boris)
In the circumstances, yesterday’s move by Lam to scrap – rather than merely suspend – the hated extradition law that first triggered the protests three months ago, seems like the least she can do. It may also be too little, too late. More>>
ALSO:
- Earlier Gordon Campbell - Gordon Campbell on the Hong Kong protest movement
- Access Now - Internet shutdowns will further hurt Hong Kong
- Image Out-Link - Studio Incendo / Wikimedia commons
Dave Hansford on The Dig: Whose Biodiversity Is It Anyway?
The DOC-led draft Biodiversity Strategy seeks a “shared vision.” But there are more values and views around wildlife than there are species. How can we hope to agree on the shape of Aotearoa’s future biota? More>>
ALSO:
- Hivemind - Back from the brink? Biodiversity HiveMind Update - Scoop Hivemind: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity
- Scoop Full Coverage - Biodiversity Information and Journalism
There Is A Field: Reimagining Biodiversity In Aotearoa
We are in a moment of existential peril, with interconnected climate and biodiversity crises converging on a global scale to drive most life on Earth to the brink of extinction… These massive challenges can, however, be reframed as a once in a lifetime opportunity to fundamentally change how humanity relates to nature and to each other. Read on The Dig>>
ALSO:
- The Dig - Scoop’s Engaged Journalism Platform Launches
- HiveMind - Scoop Hivemind: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity
- Scoop Full Coverage - Biodiversity Information and Journalism
- The Scoop Team - The NZ Biodiversity Strategy Discussion Document Explained
- Te Koiroa o te Koiroa - Discussion document [PDF]
- Ian Llewellyn - Statement on Biodiversity is where interests could collide
- NZ Govt - Government takes action for nature - Better border security
- Scoop Video - Hon. Sage Launch Speech
- RNZ - Government seeks feedback on biodiversity strategy - New biodiversity strategy a roadmap to reversing the trend - Leadership 'lacking' in new conservation strategy - Government's biodiversity document lauded by farmers' union - Tarakihi numbers can be turned around - marine biologist
- Science Media Centre - DOC Biodiversity Strategy - Expert Reaction
- Environmental Defence Society - EDS Welcomes NZ Biodiversity Strategy Discussion Document
- Forest And Bird - Forest & Bird welcomes biodiversity plan - Giant kokopu hotspot discovered on Waiheke Island - Call for more marine protection around Auckland
- Federated Farmers - Federated Farmers backs key themes of biodiversity strategy
Gordon Campbell: On Ensuring Boris Gets Blamed For Brexit
Everyone needs to step back and let Johnson have his ‘no deal’ Brexit, since that’s the only way of making sure that the current Tory leadership gets to wear the consequent turmoil. More>>
ALSO:
- Johnson aims for election if defeated in Parliament - UK Prime Minister's statement: 2 September 2019
- The Conversation - Boris Johnson has suspended the UK parliament
- August Gordon Campbell - On why Boris is threatening to shoot a puppy
On the current evidence though, voters are less likely to regard a female politician as ‘likeable’ than a male one, and – even worse – this perception tends to become a barrier that only female candidates in the main, have to face. More>>
Guardian journalist James Murray says Boris Johnson wears the hat that works, depending on what he’s trying to achieve. More>>
ALSO:
- Binoy Kampmark - Boris Johnson Becomes British PM
- June RNZ - Peters backs Boris Johnson for British PM
By telling those four elected, American born and/or raised women of colour to “go home”, US President Donald Trump’s racist agenda has come out of the shadows. More>>
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Mediaversaries: 20 Years Of The Scoop Information Ecosystem
Scoop celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. To celebrate, we are offering 20% off all ScoopPro subscriptions, including the newly launched ScoopPro Citizen service for Citizen readers. More>>
ALSO:
- Out-Link - The Scoop Ecosystem Turns 20 | PledgeMe
- Scoop Pro - 20 Anniversary Sale- 20% Off A Year Of ScooPro
- ScoopPro Citizen
- 10 June 1999 - !!!!!SCOOP IS BORN!!!!!
- BusinessDesk - NZME hits 10,000 paying subscriber target early
Lyndon Hood: Better Analogies For National Pilfering Budget Data
After the Treasury Secretary's tragically doomed effort provide a metaphorical image for the budget data breach, and the rash of media attempts that followed, we never got an analogy that really covers all the bases. Until now. More>>
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Resignation Of Metiria Turei: Were Journalists 'Just Doing Their Job'?
In our research we examined the role of journalism in animating the Turei controversy and the different perceptions of professional journalists and online commentators sympathetic to Turei’s left politics. ... More>>
Gordon Campbell: On The Extradition Of Julian Assange
It isn’t necessary to like Julian Assange to think that his extradition to the US (on the charge of aiding and abetting Chelsea Manning) would be a major injustice... More>>
ALSO:
- Binoy Kampmark - Julian Assange as Neuroses - The Effort to Relabel Julian Assange - Shredding Asylum: The Arrest of Julian Assange - Terms of Asylum and Distraction: Moreno’s Assange Problem - Grand Jury Efforts: Jailing Chelsea Manning
- Caitlin Johnstone - How You Can Be Certain The Charge Against Assange Is a Fraud
- David Swanson - 10 Reasons Assange Should Walk Free
- United States Department of Justice - WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy
- Committee to Protect Journalists - CPJ troubled by prosecution of Julian Assange
- Caitlin Johnstone - The Prosecution Of Assange Is Infinitely Bigger Than Assange
- Media Lens - Assange Arrest : 'So Now He's Our Property'
- Robert J. Burrowes - Defending Julian Assange; Defending the Truth
Gordon Campbell: Islamic State Meets The Searchers
The histories of the European children forcibly recruited into Native American tribal life during the 19th century do remind us of just how difficult the social re-integration of the children of ISIS is likely to be. More>>