In this issue: Why continue to be kicked around by Australia et al? – Memo To Firas Al Atraqchi – Who is Right?
***
Why continue to be kicked around by Australia et al?
Today Prime Minister Clark takes a New Zealand business delegation to an Australia that I wish well, but it is to an
Australia that we want far more than it wants us. This reflects a continuing poverty of thought that has afflicted
decision-makers of all political persuasions on this side of the ditch ever since we depended on Britain as its colony.
Dependence on large, self-interested powers does not work in the long term, be they Britain, Australia, or the United
States. It only leaves us vulnerable to being kicked around whenever the power concerned wishes to do so. That should
now be obvious enough.
There is another option that a few have proposed for some decades, but it requires thought and planning. That is to
develop international leverage as a diplomatic and economic, knowledge-age intermediary. A now wealthy Singapore learned
these lessons decades ago, when it began working assiduously to develop as an international information hub. That has
paid off handsomely.
New Zealand could also strategise to build up successful international brokerage roles. They would build on our success
as a diplomatic intermediary (something that Australia itself has needed, over Bougainville, for instance), and
prioritise plans to develop international information and storage and processing services in a remote, independent New
Zealand.
Yours sincerely
John Gallagher
***
Memo to Firas Al-Atraqchi
Dear Firas,
Surely in the context of the current round of violence in Israel, the statement from CAIR that the Memorial Day protest
in SF was anti-war AND pro-Palestinian can only be taken to mean that those at the rally - irrespective of age - support
the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent Israeli civilians by the most gruesome and inhuman means that are being
employed by the Palestinians and their backers and supporters.
As Arlo Guthrie asks, "Which side are you on, boys?" Otherwise, yes the arrest of an 11-year-old is a little over the
top.
Yours in the service of peace and democracy.
David Harris.
***
Who is right?
Sir
Two headlines today:
Grey Forecast For Farmers and PM Says Grass Is Greener in NZ
Who is not telling whom what?
Mirek Marcanik