Is our government signalling a green light for the further privatisation of water services?
New Zealand's decision to abstain from supporting a UN resolution declaring access to clean drinking water as a basic human right is deeply disappointing. Equally unfortunate is the scant coverage that this important issue received in our mainstream media.
Where the F word is not a dirty word, and what a breath of fresh air that is.
I've just returned from two weeks in the United States, hence my absence from these pages.
As the wife of current president of the NZ Bar Association, each year I get to tag along to sessions at the American Bar Association's annual conference. The US organisation is vastly different from this country's. For starters, their motto is, "Defending Liberty, Pursuing Justice".
If the Afghanistan alarm bells were not ringing in Wellington over the last weekend – they should have been
The weekend saw four significant events that should be giving New Zealand’s foreign affairs and defence specialists cause for grave concern about our current risk exposures in Afghanistan.
The government says we're in Afghanistan to stop it becoming a safe haven for terrorists. Problem is, the war has changed and that rationale no longer stands up to scrutiny
The government is right when it says that the death of Lt Tim O'Donnell is no reason to pull our troops out of Afghanistan, but it still has one heck of a problem explaining to New Zealanders why we're there and what we're achieving.
Sir Geoffrey Palmer's Gaza flotilla inquiry already looks beset by political storms, but could it turn out to be another step up the ladder for Helen Clark at the UN?
Already it's begun. Within hours of Israel relenting and agreeing to a UN-led inquiry into its attack in May on the Gaza aid flotilla, the political games and attacks are underway. In the coming weeks, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, our former Prime Minister, will learn the true meaning of "damned if you do, damned if you don't".
The dauntingly large cache of documents detailing the increasing futility of war in Afghanistan doesn't deliver anything new... but gives cause for concern and puts the heat on the rather dubious ally, Pakistan.
The AfghanistanPapers – let’s call them AfPak - leaked this week were no Pentagon Papers of the Vietnam War era, but nevertheless they are quite capable of doing s
David Young is happier even than Sue Bradford and Deborah Coddington were to leave parliament. More satisfied than Nicky Hager was when Don Brash stepped down. He is chirpier even than… Tim Watkin.
I left my job at TVNZ eighteen months ago to move to Denmark. It was not such a culture shock: just like New Zealand’s state broadcaster these days, Denmark is mainly occupied by beautiful blondes.
The first Canadian soldier to have been charged with murder on the battlefield has dodged that bullet, but been found guilty of disgraceful conduct. Why? What did he do?
Is there such a concept as a warrior code which excuses the shooting of a severely injured combatant – enemy or friendly – to put him/her out of misery on the battlefield?
How the 20th century New York pop art brigade and its middle class sexist followers are too hypocritical to stand up and identify child abuse when they see it
I guess one should never be surprised by the hypocrisy, sexism, and downright inhumanity of those who dwell in the higher echelons of the publishing, literary and art worlds. It's the same all over the world.
Global condemnation may have forced Iran to abandon plans to stone to death a woman 'convicted' of adultery, but don't count on it. The campaign to fight Sakineh Ashtiani's execution needs more recruits - now!
The mixed messages now coming out of Iran in terms of the stoning to death of a 43-year-old Iranian woman are cause for muc
Obama and Netanyahu met (again) and managed a pretty good rendition of calm and purposeful intent. But Obama's two goals--a nuclear-free world and a peaceful Middle East--increasingly appear to be political pocket lint trapped in his extremely smart suits
What exactly went on behind closed doors in the latest – and this time photographed – Obama-Netanyahu meeting will gradually spill out, but at first blush it seems the US President is willing to play the nuclear non-prolifer
If you think the U.S. strategy for Afghanistan is in a mess – take a look at ours.
The trouble really started in August last year, when Prime Minister John Key announced New Zealand would commit SAS troops to combat duty in Afghanistan for a period of 18 months.
The billion dollar protection fences are coming down now world leaders have left Canada, but the country has major headaches to deal with following mass arrests, suspension of civil rights and nothing really tangible to show for the outrageous cost of the G8/G20 summits
Contrary to popular belief, Canada’s largest city, Toronto, survived the G20 summit, but
The rest of the world is about to start reining in all those stimulus packages that took the edges off the recession. That could be really good for New Zealand, or really, really bad
If you only caught the headlines from the weekend's G20 summit, you could be excused for thinking all is coming right with the global eocnomy.
Rudd's remarkable run in power was driven by state politics, factions and Wayne Swan; and it was those same forces that brought him down
When Kevin Rudd led the Australian Labor Party to victory in the federal election of 2007, it marked a high watermark for ALP hegemony on the continent, with all six states, both territories and the Federal Government in Labor hands for the first time Australian histor
President Karzai has lost his preferred commander – General McChrystal falls on his sword – and New Zealand’s commitment to Afghanistan has not changed. Does anyone know what’s really happening in the labyrinth?
Prime Minister John Key says the Rolling Stone row in Washington will not influence New Zealand’s commitment to Afghanistan.
Canadians are aghast at revelations the government is splurging more than a billion dollars hosting the G8 and G20 summits for three days. While most goes on security and of course flowers, there's also cash for a fake lake
Forgive me, but I thought the world was in a bit of a squeeze when it came to financial largesse, and that the requisite austerity measures many countries are grappling with to stave off bankruptcy were the focus of global financial gurus.
As the propaganda war rages on over the Israeli Defense Forces' botched raid of the humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, it is time for a few home truths about the seemingly endless search for Middle Eastern peace
So here’s the analogy….I am in my own home going about my lawful business and someone breaks in…I defend myself and in the process injure the intruder, but he shoots me – fatally – and claims self defense.
Political junkies take note--the leadership battle across the Tasman is about to get really interesting
In 2007 Helen Clark knew Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister of Australia before Kevin Rudd did.
Here’s how that happened and why political junkies should be looking across the ditch at a fascinating fight shaping up in Federal Australia.
Quebec has waded in to the burqa fight, and while the legislation that will lead to a limited ban on full facial covering has been suspiciously suspended, the debate of persecution versus xenophobia rages on.
As the French and the Belgians tear back the veil worn by Muslim women, so too is Quebec enmeshed in the same row
The drama in London this week meant that the Euro-zone crisis received relatively little coverage or commentary. It's big news – and what happens next could be even bigger.
Kept at home by an annoying flu, I spent much of this week following the live coverage of the British election and its fall-out.
So farewell to Brown, one of the great contradictions of post-war British politics and the man who never won an election. And hello to David Cameron, a new prince in troubled times
Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it.
Endorsing Parliament's supremacy over government, Canada's Speaker has ordered secret documents concerning how Canadian troops handled Afghan detainees to be made available to the House
Canada’s Parliament has sent a blunt message to
The PM's two words that brought his campaign to a thudding halt... and what it means for the next few days on the trail
As one colleague at the newspaper office I work in said, "I haven't seen so many journalists crowded around the TV since 9/11."
New Zealand's military chief wants to negotiate with the Taliban. It's a controversial approach that raises the classic question of whether we talk with terrorists... and dozens of other questions alongside
In May 2008, then-President George W Bush stood before the Israeli Knesset and said, "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."
This Week, ABC network’s political TV programme, missed the boat when they chose a new anchor – an anchor who isn’t Jake Tapper
ABC News’ front man George Stephanopoulos eludes me.
As the latest Pope passes the five year milestone, rather than take the time to pardon the Beatles, he could do worse than reflect on advice from an American columnist
Incredibly funny American comedian Lewis Black has this skit about evolution triumphing over creationism, in which, true to the exaggerated delivery of Black he screams “it’s fossils stupid…it’s fossils…it’s fossils…fossils, I win”.
While President Obama has been strutting the world stage with the "un-American" intention of stopping nuclear terrorism, his country's tea-partiers are working assiduously to undermine him
IIt would appear the President of the United Stateshas been reacquainted with his mojo. Well done.
As Afghanistan's President rants on about being invaded by Western troops and toys with the potential of defecting to the Taliban, NATO governments' worries grow about the stability of this dubious 'ally'
It looks as if Hamid Karzai has been raiding his brother’s stash.
Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai has been threatening to join the Taliban. He should be encouraged to do it and we should leave his country quickly
This month, New Zealand dispatched its 16th rotation of troops to the Provincial Reconstruction Team base in Bamyan Province. Our SAS unit in Kabul must also be almost due for rotation. We are unlikely to hear about that changing of the guard until it has happened.
The British election race will be tighter than expected. And New Zealand may yet have a footnote in the outcome
Not long ago, they looked like they would walk it.
Just when Canada's Conservative government through it was doing OK conceding to contraceptives as part of its initiative for developing world maternal health care, Hillary Clinton comes to town and says abortion must also be on the agenda.
Don’t you just hate it when you are planning a party and some bossy guest starts wading in on how to run it?
When American right-wing maven Ann Coulter was shut down in Canada, she resorted to type—she went feral—but the whole incident brings in to focus the fine line between free speech and hate speech
Ann Coulter is one of those right-wing American protagonists most people would not invite into their own home, but there is something fascinating about someone who gets off on her own capacity to be so consistently arrogant, nasty and offensive.
As Israel launches a public relations campaign to try and improve its damaged international reputation, its own spy agency Mossad is at the centre of a diplomatic row following a high profile assassination of an enemy of Israel in a Dubai hotel
Oops, looks like Mossad has done it again… and this time it is more than the New Zealand Government on the Israeli spy agency’s bumbling tail
A decision by Mohawk leaders to evict all non-aboriginals from the Kahnawake reserve just outside Montreal has fueled the racism debate, and begs the question of when the preservation of bloodlines can or ought to be justified.
So here’s the dilemma – when is eviction for not being of the desired race not racism?
The controversy over errors in the IPCC's assessment of climate change have people asking whether it's all a beat-up. But where's the peer reviewed evidence that no risk exists, asks one of the IPCC's authors
As has been well reported recently by the media, several errors have emerged from the IPCC 4th Assessment Report (AR4) published in 2007.
This week's 31st anniversary of the establishment of Iran's Islamic Republic is likely to be marked by bloody and brutal crackdowns on protesters and the execution of nine currently on death row. The question must now be how long before the regime implodes.
This Thursday will be a critical marker in the future of the Iranian government.
The US has begun the long process of overturning law that required gay soldiers to lie about their sexual orientation. But overturning the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy promises to be a nasty, dirty fight
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ has been a policy devised by US politicians who have not had the guts to do what is right because of the potential electoral consequences. At long last it has been outed as such.
The brain in the White House appears to have been outsmarted by the brawn of a nude centrefold, as Obama's filibuster-proof Senate number has been whipped away by a man once voted America's Sexiest Man. You couldn't make this stuff up.
Politicking 101…get your kit off.
Reference to the wrath of God seems part of human nature in times of disaster, but the televangelists take it too far when perhaps they could be concentrating on helping rather than pontificating
Amidst the anguish and devastation that is Haiti it is difficult to ignore the consistent references to God’s role in all of this.
From the pet peeves file, I simply have to take a stand against this country's repeated sin against the 44th president of the United States of America
A rose may smell as sweet, whether you call it a rose, a hornswoggle or Barry. But a president deserves more respect than even a flowering beauty, which is why I've finally reached my limit on how New Zealand media pronounce the name of the 44th president of the United States.
David Cameron has had four strong years. Now Gordon Brown is playing the posh card - and no wonder, it may just give him half a chance
It doesn’t seem that long. But David Cameron has now been leader of the British Conservative party for four years. And he’s achieved plenty. He has spruced up the Tory image, stitched up internal ruptures, and seen popular support climb and climb.
In taking their army knife to the civil rights of Swiss Muslims by banning minarets on mosques, the Swiss have fallen prey to the politics of hate and fear bubbling all too close to Europe's surface
The overwhelming vote by the Swiss to ban the building of minarets on their soil has rightly sent a chill through the legal, diplomatic and religious bones of governments, groups and individuals around the world.
It will be January before Tony Blair is required to appear before the Chilcot inquiry, but in truth he's already in the dock and not faring well
This week will be the second of the Chilcot Inquiry into why Britain went to war in Iraq and already has heard enough to put the case for dragging in Blair and his toady Cabinet compatriots, put them un
Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is a campaign book delightfully free of boring old policy and so is a sure fire dog whistle to her adoring base. It reinforces why she should never be President, but who the heck does the Republican Party have as an alternative candidate vaguely as charismatic as Caribou Barbie?
Every now and then we face really tough decisions…I mean capital ‘T’ tough. This week’s was whether or not to spend $34 on Sarah Palin’s God-bothering, petty and vindictive score-settling payback and thereby contribute to ‘the cause’ so to speak. Did I? You betcha!
Octomom Nadya Suleman has made a new documentary—once again stirring a hornet's nest of contempt and condemnation. Diss her if you like, but think of the kids
I have to admit, this is one cheesy British "documentary" that I really want to see.
President Obama's sitcky-outy ears are getting a fair bashing for his perceived dithering over what to do next in Afghanistan. But maybe we'll be better off for his serious evaluation of the situation as opposed to what happened with Vietnam... and then Iraq
Not even one year into his presidency and Barack Obama is at a moment which could define him as a refreshing intellectual or an intellectual ditherer. Given the make-up of the man it is the first description that should be his note in history.
While the world was focused on celebrating twenty years without the Berlin wall, perhaps it should have used the occasion to call for the breaching of Israel's wall which is contributing to the misery millions.
Watching the twenty-year old footage of the beginning of the fall of the Berlin Wall it was not hard to feel very emotional about a truly historic moment for freedom, amongst countless other ideals.
The Pope's cunning plan to bring conservative Anglicans back into the Roman fold has prompted a deluge of tricky questions, and sent a sure message to Catholics that they can forget any little gifts of modernity under this year's Christmas tree
While the world seems to be going to hell in a handcart – death, destruction, climate catastrophe and abject poverty, what was the spiritual leader of the largest single Christian religion doing?
Afghanistan's Hamad Karzai has faced up to the unpalatable reality that he did not win the August election, and must now front up for a run-off in two weeks time. How can Afghan citizens, so widely defrauded the first time, be convinced to go through it all again?
It is a fair bet the international diplomatic community breathed a sigh of relief that the haughty Hamad Karzai has capitulated and agreed to hold a run-off election in Afghanistan in a couple of weeks.
Obama needed the Nobel Peace prize like another hole in the head, because it is effectively a set of virtual handcuffs on a President mired in war and global unrest—and don't his opponents know it
There are likely very few people in our great Western consumer societies who haven’t been given something they wish they could refuse, or give back, or sell on eBay.
John Key says his government will review the long-standing convention of secrecy over Special Air Service operations. He needs to lift the veil on much more than that
As predicted, New Zealanders learned where the NZSAS is based in Afghanistan by accident, from an ally.
And you thought John Key's bit on Letterman was a sad attempt at scaring up tourists. In Denmark the state tourism organisation filmed a fake YouTube appeal in which a hot Dane woman admitted her fling with a foreign visitor produced a child
So, have American tourists started calling up, expressing interest in the Cinnabon at Auckland Airport yet?
For a non-smoker it is a tough call to lean in the direction of tobacco companies, but the latest fad in Canada—sue the tobacco companies to pay for the health costs of their products—seems, well, a tad hypocritical and smells of more than just smoke.
Iran goes into talks with the UN Security Council members, plus Germany, against a backdrop of various players lying and cheating and bullying—but at least staying within the nuclear rules...unlike Israel
What would happen if Iran decides to copy Israel and refuse to abide by the world’s nuclear safeguards?
Sarah Palin's memoir is rushed to print and another of Bill Clinton's ladies, oops aides, writes a tell-all
Only 49 sleeps till Sarah Palin's book is released in the US, y'all!
You've gotta love the UN as it plays host to the rehabilitated terrorist Qaddafi and the thief of democracy Ahmadinejad, who in turn send diplomats and fellow leaders to sleep or to walk out in protest. All that and Obama's inaugural UN speech as President.
It is a week of global firsts…first address to the UN as US President by Barack Obama, first address by the supposedly rehabilitated terrorist Qaddafi, and of course Pundit’s first birthday.
Outrage in Canada as the government sends native communities not medicine but bodybags in preparation for the upcoming winter and round two of swine flu
Canada’s impoverished native community asks for medicine and hand sanitizers to pre-empt swine flu, and they get sent b
Presdident Obama has finally woken from his summer slumber to find the health care reform juggernaut almost out of his reach. It is time for him to show some political mongrel to regain control—for the sake of America, but also those around the world who would like him to be more than a one-termer
When it comes to the American health care debacle it has so far been quite acceptable to give it a cursory glance and move on armed with prior knowledge of how out of control and unfair it is and has always been.
Canada's taking its fight against having to repatriate one of its citizens from Guantanamo all the way to the Supreme Court. But rejecting the former child soldier leaves the country open to charges of not in my backyard, merci
Canada is skating on really thin ice in terms of its public position as an arbiter of the rule of law, due process, the rights of its citizens and, in this case, the rights of children. Why such harsh words for the usually boring and beautiful nation?
As Afghanistan's votes are counted the fraud accusations grow, the size of the turnout appears dismal and the new US military review doesn't tell us much that's new
As Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai inches closer to the magical number that will relieve him of a pesky election run-off, hope for the beleaguered country ebbs away.
Despite the best of intentions, Scotland has been made to look an idiot over the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds. Al-Megrahi arrived back in Libya to a hero's welcome leaving the world asking why
When international politics begins to smell like oil it has this uncanny ability to stink.
To understand the Aghan election we will need to re-think our idea of success
When you dodge bombs and bullets on the way to the voting booth and face the real possibility that your finger stained with indelible ink as proof of voting will be chopped off on the way home, you deserve a decent government.
As the US sweeps in to rescue an American from the clutches of the Burmese military junta, the woman the world really wants to see free, Aung San Suu Kyi, is left behind to her fate
Another American mercy dash, another US ‘prisoner’ released, but this time the gal was left behind.
By demanding that none other than Bill Clinton come to resuce the imprisoned US journalists, the reclusive Kim Jong-Il has added to Barack Obama's foreign policy headache
He may look like he is about to croak, but once again Kim Jong-Il has proven he’s quite the master at playing international politics. He’s the sure fire winner in the mercy dash Big Dog Bill Clinton made to the hermetic kingdom to secure
The latest NATO tactic for trying to exit the war in Afghanistan is to reach out to the enemy. Talking with Taliban 'moderates' is now under serious, top level consideration, but do such 'moderates' exist and can they be trusted to finish the job of Operation Enduring Freedom?
Britain and the US want to talk
As the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan continues to mount, the latest public opinion poll shows Canadians steadily losing faith in sending troops into that war. John Key should take note
As the death toll mounts, America's allies in Afghanistan – Britain and Canada in particular – a
Did the Canadian PM eat the communion wafer, or pocket it? Days before his audience with the Pope, why did Stephen Harper—a Protestant—take communion at a Catholic funeral?
Politics and religion rarely make peaceful bedfellows and are shied away from if a polite dinner party is the aim of any cautious host…but as Canada’s Prime Minister has found, it is also mighty uncomfortable when the host—of the Catholi
While New Zealand prime minister John Key hip-hopped his way through Tonga, Samoa, Niue and the Cook Islands – Fiji’s Frank Bainimarama was working on his moves with his own trip to Melanesia.
It took a while to work out why John Key took the Prestige Dance Group on his 'four nations in four days' Pacific tour. But eventually it became clear.
Is it wrong to hope Sarah "hockey mom" Palin will remain on the world stage simply for our own entertainment? And does that make us as bad as the folks who convinced her she has a shot at choosing the drapes for the Oval Office?
Sarah Palin truly is the gift that keeps on giving, and while many would really like to put that gift on Trade Me or E-Bay, I deeply suspect most want to keep her right in the spotlight…and watch…like a car crash, or as some wit described, a moose on roller skates—not at all graceful, bu
New Zealand is reviewing its involvement in Afghanistan, as President Hamid Karzai fights for his political life, the US and NATO pour thousands of additional troops onto the battlefield, and Kiwi troops come under fire in Bamiyan
The temperature is rising in war-torn Afghanistan. The country is less than two months away from presidential and provincial government elections.
Iran's Guardian Council admits excess voters; CFR's 'Must Reads' on Iran; Australian email at centre of ute affair a fake; bomb blast injures leader in Caucuses; and more
Top of the Agenda: Iran Election Aftermath
Education bureaucrats want to dump the only spelling rule that I can remember
The stuff filling the newspapers in NZ has seemed a bit predictable over the last few days.
As Iranians throng Tehran's streets, braving batons and bullets, the Islamic State's Supreme Leader has opted for an inquiry into the election results. Will it be a legitimate exploration of an implausible result, or a tactic to kill the protest momentum?
Is this what revolution looks like?
North Korea's latest bargaining chips, two US journalists, are a human dimension to an out of control nuclear situation which has left the world's diplomats stumped—again. It is now a waiting game to see what they are worth
It is difficult to imagine a preference for the Iranian judicial system over others, but being subjected to ‘justice’ à la North Korea makes Iran’s leaders, the
Twenty years after the pro-democracy uprising in China's Tiananmen Square the Communist Party remains haunted by its reaction
As anniversaries go, there’s little but loathing when it comes to marking the 20 years since hundreds, possibly thousands of people were mowed down by tanks on the order of the Chinese Communist Party. It is 20 years since Tiananmen Squa
A Montreal judge has suspended his coroner's inquiry into the fatal shooting of a young black man until legal aid is available for the victims—not just the police who did the shooting
Quebec has this week seen one gutsy judge take a stand against the establishment out of his stated respect for justice, and his stance couldn’t be more pertinent for any society in which minorities are so often in conflict with
The International Whaling Commission is staring extinction in the face. Sir Geoffrey Palmer talks about its struggle to save itself, let alone the whales.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Portugal next month, in the throes of delicate and difficult negotiations, which might be a metaphor. It has to save itself, before it can save the whales.
A former Canadian PM is the latest politician to prove "political judgment" is an oxymoron
As the release date for more US troop-abuse photos nears, the White House executes another awkward policy turnaround
Has torture talk become torture in itself or is that just too flippant by half?
Obama now has to deal with plague and pestilence to add to his 100 days of crises, and swine flu is proving no complacent little piggy
You know things are bad when the Latino ‘air-kiss’ greeting is a no-no, as the World Health Organisation has now declared in the face of as swine flu crisis.
The white collar guys who forumlated the US torturers' manifesto may be under the screws themselves as President Obama has now said they are open to investigation
Is strapping someone to a board, covering their face with a clinging wet cloth, inclining them so their feet are well above head level, and pouring water onto their face to simulate drowning, over and over and over again torture?
Fidel Castro has survived many US Presidents, and a trip to Cuba suggests he may outlive the Cold War as well as Obama re-thinks 50 years of failed sanctions
It is rather an odd feeling to be witnessing the closing chapter of the Cold War, as the United States admits the Castros have won, and it is time to move on… Well, almost.
The 116 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan were not sacrificed for the sake of interfering with women's rights
There are times in the life of a blogger or columnist (or whatever the moniker) when one is truly spoiled for choice. This is that moment, but it is possibly best to leave the G20 for what actually happens at the G20—although the communiqué has bee
Despite appearances, the tolerance for extremism in Pakistan is waning
By Richard Wike, Associate Director, and Katlheen Holzwart, Research Analyst, Pew Global Attitudes Project
The unintended consequences of tackling two of the world's most hideous despots are difficult to stomach, but the world has little option but to take action
It has been a week in which two of the world’s worst despots have been vying for title most foul, and it makes you realise that if some politicians were insects, they would certainly be cockroaches—vile and repugnant but undoubted masters of survival.
Who said money can't make you happy? Pew Research suggests the world's middle class is more satisfied with life than its lower classes, and is also more concerned with freedom of speech and religion. Poorer people are more concerned with freedom from want
Assuming the current reversal in fortune being suffered by the global economy doesn’t also result in a reversal in the flow of history, we can expect continued increases in the portion of the world population that can be reasonably classified as “middle-class.” And if the past is a guide, as
Those who sat by and watched the destruction of Gaza have now come up with a quick $4 billion in guilt reparatiion. It's all a little much to stomach.
There’s something pretty stomach churning in the spectacle of the world’s major countries and large donors gathering in Egypt’s holiday mecca and in a day raising $4 billion to rebuild Gaza.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez now has the consitutional power to remain in office beyond a second term, but he may be losing the political support he needs
Venezuelans handed President Hugo Chavez another victory last week when they endorsed a constitutional amendment eliminating term limits for the office of president, permitting him to seek a third term.
As Ottawa indulges in a little Obama-mania, the economy, Afghanistan, and the rise of sharia law in Pakistan hang heavy over the new Commander-in-Chief
Canada’s capital, Ottawa, is in fully fledged Obama-mania mode as it prepares for the US President’s first ever overseas visit (Friday NZ time) in his new leading rol
Just what the final US stimulus package says about only buying US-made goods remains vague, but here we explain the issue and what's at stake
I was all primed this morning to post a link to a more-than decent analysis of what has happened to the 'Buy American' provision in the ultimate US stimulus package that I came upon last night.
Three weeks into the job and Obama may have just reaslied he has to toughen up if he is to stay ahead of the great Republican machine and pass the legislation his team wants to get through – after all, they won the election didn't they?
The day before Obama’s inauguration Eugene Robinson, a deputy editor of the Washington Post and MSNBC commentator, stood before a private function and
In the bleak midwinter, Canada is fighting to ensure it doesn't lose billions of dollars as a protectionist US Congress pushes forward with its 'Buy American' legislation
It is really, really cold here north of the 49th parallel, but that’s what you expect in February.
Canada's minority Conservative Government has survived its first budget test after prematurely proroging Parliament late last year. However PM Stephen Harper is on a tight leash
There’s nothing like being an inch away from political death to refocus a Prime Minister, and when last we met Canada’s Stephen Harper he was just a
Every obnoxious security officer, crowd crush, and queue will be worth it to witness Barack Obama taking of the Oath of Office.
I’m packing my bags for Washington and heading for The Inauguration. That’s right, capital ‘T’ capital ‘I’(or should that be ‘capitol’): The Inauguration.
Even in the midst of DIY projects somewhere out beyond Gisborne, it was impossible to avoid the horror of Gaza and the sheer stupidity on display at George Bush's final press conference
I've spent the past couple of week up a ladder shooting a seemingly endless number of tubes of gap-filler into holes in a ceiling. The ceiling in question was a good 14 feet high, and so at the top of that ladder I was blissfully removed from any computer, and indeed most media. Nevertheless, a couple of news stories reached me even up on the seventh rung, breaking into my DIY reverie.
As the bloodshed increases and the desperation intensifies, it is time to ask what is the ultimate aim of the bombardment of Gaza, and how will the international community stop each side from harming the innocents of the other.
As the Israeli-Palestinian crisis deepens and the number of dead rises, two urgent questions need to be answered.
As the pillars of capitalism collapsed around him, the man once called the maestro summed up 2008 by admitting, "I have found a flaw"
As 2008 is about to fade into memory, I've been pondering which is the most striking current affairs moment of the year. I'd be interested in the stories and images that most struck you, but for me there's one I keep coming back to.
Afghanistan will be one of Obama’s first tests in office, and his Canadian neighbours are in no mood to be persuaded to stay
In less than three weeks the so-called Free World will have its new leader, but few leaders in the history of the world start so far behind the eight ball.
Barack Hussein Obama is going the whole name hog in his inauguration and in so doing he may well define a new political generation. Names it seems are critical in top US politics – think Clinton, or Kennedy or Bush…
So what’s in a name? Plenty when there’s politics involved and probably never more so than with the man who will soon move in to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC.
Barack Hussein Obama has decided that he will indeed be sworn in by his full name when he takes over from George Walker Bush on January 20. A big deal it should not be, but a big deal it is.
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush has refocused attention on the plight of an occupied people
There’s something rather ugly in this week’s George W. Bush Memorial Victory Lap of countries he has invaded.
The Canadian PM's desperate clutch at power is likely behind the resurgence of the sovereignist Parti Quebecois in this week's provincial election, and could have major federal implications when he is next forced to go to the polls
Canada is a country divided. As with many things Canadian, the world tends to say “who cares, it’s Canada and it’s boring”, but the divisions go to the very heart of its ethos of nationhood; an ethos shared by fellow democracies, including New Zealand.
A groundbreaking ruling in Canada means any Prime Minister faced with a confidence vote can pull the plug on Parliament by running to the Governor General
The face of Canadian politics has changed dramatically and not necessarily for the better in terms of upholding the We
Canada's Conservative government is desperately trying to stave off the vote that will oust it after just seven weeks in power. Taking its place could be an unholy alliance of losing, socialist and seperatist parties whose one point of agreement is that they hate the Tories even more than they hate each other
Beware the political bully – not for what he or she can do to political foes, but for the comeuppance bullies from schoolyards to debating chambers ultimately reap.
After just six weeks Canada's Conservative minority may be brought down by its own hubris
Canada’s six-week old government could be the main casualty of the country’s economic downturn, and will have only itself to blame.
Stories of the EU "overhauling" its farm subsidies are coming off the wires today. If only they were true
If you have a herd of cows and a flock of sheep, what's the collective term for the mass of conflicting news stories coming out today on the meeting of EU farm minister in Brussels overnight debating the future of Europe's archaic farm subsidies? A gaggle? A cloud? A murmuration?
The American auto industry car tsars took their corporate jets to Washington to plead poverty, but the Big Three's warnings of catastrophic job losses haven't convinced senators to ride to their rescue
North America is the land of SUVs. Sitting among the beasts in the 'parking lot' that these highways so often become, the plight of the so-called Big Three auto makers seems surreal. It seems there are plenty of their vehicles around me, belching fumes from gas guzzling monster engines.
Before we write-off this weekend's G20 meeting as a talkfest, let's appreciate the fact that countries outside Europe and North America are finally getting a seat at the table
Pondering the G20 summit that starts in Washington DC tomorrow is enough to make your head hurt, but what we can safely presume is that this is just the first of many, many meetings to re-design the world's financial systems. We will be hearing about "new global financial architecture" for months, maybe years, to come.
Stephen Harper remains Canada's PM after an election in which barely half the electorate bothered to vote. What the country needs is the jolt of proportional representation
Canada has just blown $300m on its third election in five years, only to reproduce the status quo. They have groundhogs here, and electorally-speaking, Tuesday was their day.
US evangelicals aren't the conseratives the used to be. And the implications for the election couldn't be bigger
Back in the day, when Jim Wallis started telling evangelicals they didn't have to be Republicans or even right-wingers to be good Christians, he used to wave around a Bible that had been cut to shreds. He had gone through the good book and cut out all references to helping the poor and social justice.
George Bush insists the generals, not congress should be running the Iraq war. So why didn't he listen to military chiefs in the first place?
As pressure for yet another strategic change in Iraq grows in Washington and Congress's desire to withdraw troops grows more urgent, President Bush has been repeatedly falling back on one oft-repeated line of spin.
