Stephen Franks on aspects of New Zealand Culture

But a government that leaves today’s service-people with no air defences, and could fine a farming couple $40k for not obediently kneeling to commands to wear safety helmets on their own bikes, would have struck them as the kind of rulers they were fighting. They would not have listened long to speeches from politicians trying to wrap themselves in lost historical glory, paid for by people whose values they now despise.

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Before going any further make sure you have read the brilliant article by Stephen Franks. Fundamentally I agree with the thrust of the argument that is presented to the reader. Below is my commentary on what I call New Zealand's zombie culture. 

New Zealand has 2 key obsessions .These obsession’s have destroyed a generation of people ability to think critically. I am of course talking about New Zealand Anti American Nuclear Ban and Treaty of Waitangi payouts that have been an endless drain on the tax payer.

In a previous article I referred to the ignorant generation that has doomed the next generation to deal with the mistakes being made by current western political leaders. As the ignorant generation is a product of the Zombie Culture , let's consider what has been inflicted upon New Zealand.

The first duty of the government is the defence of the realm. Yet if you were to believe the prevailing political wisdom the obsessions I mentioned above are at the forefront of any government's sworn duty. Voters have failed to punish successive government's that have undermined the New Zealand Defence Force. How many of those voters would turn against any political party whose policy stance was to end Maori Welfare, err The Treaty of Waitangi gravy train?

The madness goes on to a point where as a nation New Zealand doesn't discuss the emergence of China as a military and economic power. The rise of China as a global power is the greatest challenge New Zealand has ever faced. Simply viewing China as the number 1 customer for our dairy exports (This is John Key's thinking) is intellectually bankrupt.

The Main Stream Media must bear it's share of the blame for the ever rising number of Kiwi Zombies. Zombies watch the 6 o'clock news and believe they have been served up actual news. The latest murder trial or irrelevant human interest story isn't news worthy. The events that are defining our time are taking place in places like the Spratly Islands and not in your local court house.

I wish to finish up on a more positive note. Below is a brief look at some recommended reading for those who delve into the history,geopolitics and foreign policy arenas. The list is by no means exhaustive and is only indicative of the resources that are available to the contemporary reader.

• Winning The Peace Australia’s Campaign to Change the Asia-Pacific by Andrew Carr . Andrew Carr joined The Lens of History studio for a chat about his book. 
• Currently I am reading Robert Kaplan's book: The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate. 
• The Strategist,the official blog of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 

In my experience the best thing I ever did was to ditch the nightly TV news broadcast. The time I have saved has been well spent in furthering my passion's for Geopolitics , history and their ties to foreign policy. History and geography will shape New Zealand's future. No amount of denial's or Straw Man's from the ignorant generation and it's perpetrates will ever change this fact.

Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh on appeasement

There are disquieting parallels between the situation that confronted our country some 90 years ago and that which now prevails. In the late Twenties and early Thirties, Britain was engulfed in revulsion at the horrors of the Great War and all but bankrupt as a result of it, as well as striving to recover from the Depression years. Despite the growing menace that Nazism presented to European stability, the notorious “Ten Year Rule” – which assumed that Britain would not be at war in the next decade – remained in force. The nation’s defences were progressively weakened, while calls for rearmament fell largely on deaf ears.

Against a widespread background of support for pacifism and appeasement, blind faith in collective security through the League of Nations was used to excuse unwillingness to grasp the nettle of rearmament, at least until it was nearly too late.

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A very good article that reinforces the very arguments I have made in The Lens of History blog and podcast. If you swap Russia for China the article equally applies to New Zealand.

Why aren't former senior members of the New Zealand Defence Force speaking out in the same manner as Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh?Are they fearful of being labelled heretics for speaking out against New Zealand's foreign and military policies?

The absence of a Winston Churchill type figure in New Zealand politics is very telling. As a nation New Zealand excels at obsessing over rugby , taking our current foreign and military policies as gospel and electing governments that will forever increase social spending. This is why the current Prime Minster of New Zealand is a Neville Chamberlain clone.

Sometimes as if I am witnessing a tragic comedy worthy of William Shakespeare. Now my next task is find a women who is a worthy of a Juliet....

I find how Kiwis lack awareness concerning the consequences of the policy of appeasement to be unfortunate. New Zealand Prime Minster John Key is a enthusiastic practitioner of appeasing China's territorial claims in Asia. The National lead government failure provide the NZDF with a suitable force structure is comparable to the defence cutbacks that are taking place in the UK and the USA.

If David Cameron and his lieutenants in France and Germany are inviting the Russians to invade Western Europe, then New Zealand is inviting the Chinese to go on the rampage in the Pacific. It is regrettable that history is repeating in such a obvious manner.

The future of the Suez Canal

Mr Mameesh said the new canal would reduce navigation time for ships to 11 hours from about 22 hours, making it the fastest such waterway in the world. The new and old canals are connected by four small channels.

Eighty five percent of dredging works have been completed, with 219.3 million cubic metres of sand excavated from a total of 258 million cubic metres, Mr Mameesh said, adding that the new waterway would be fully secured.

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I don't foresee the Egyptian government making a return on their investment. This comes to mind , when I factor in the deteriorating security situation in Egypt and the wider Middle East region. Is the Egyptian government using the expansion of the Suez Canal (hereafter the Canal) to boaster the confidence of global shipping and insurance firms?

If or when global commerce decides the risk of goods transiting through the Suez Canal is to great a pivotal moment will have been reached. The pivotal moment may take a another route with Islamic extremists seizing outright control of the Canal.

Before I go on any further I believe it is worth making a few points. One of the goals of Isis is to ensure they have direct access to Mediterranean via ports along the coast of Libya. From their bases Isis and its cohorts will be able to conduct acts of piracy if not outright terrorism against UK and European interests.

The capture of the Suez Canal would be a great propaganda victory for Isis. As a propaganda triumph and a symbol of gross political/military errors I believe handing the Suez Canal over to the enemy would be akin to the Fall of Singapore in WW2. The National prestige the Canal enjoys in Egypt is equal to the value the Canal as a artery of the world's shipping lanes.

In economic terms the closure of the Canal would see increased costs passed onto consumers. The additional time goods spend in transit will increase the costs of transportation will see shipping costs rise. The increased mileage will expose sea based commerce to emerging threats.

The Egyptian Armed forces role may switch from construction duties to providing security for the Canal. Providing security for the canal is going to be problematic. At the time of writing security for the Canal is still in the hands of local border patrol/police forces. Civilian law enforcement agencies will be a tempting target for Isis and other terrorist groups.

Why does the Egyptian government appear reluctant for either a greater level of cooperation or assistance with defending the Canal? The answer is straight forward as Nationalistic pride is coming before the fall. Egypt would loath to ask the ex colonial powers , France and the United Kingdom for direct military assistance or intervention.

In the event Egypt did defy the prevailing religious/nationalistic political ideology , what might or might not occur? The US ; UK and the rest of the international community is suffering from Vietnam err, I mean Iraq syndrome. Even if the UK was to overcome their syndrome cutbacks in defence spending would prevent any kind of intervention or joint military cooperation from taking place.

I believe the Egyptian government would request naval and maritime air patrol support in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army would be responsible for the security of the waterway from a land perspective.

The first serious bite in the Cutbacks to the UK Armed Forces may be seen as events in Egypt continue to slide. The RN ability to project sea power (abet a soft version of it in this case) has been servilely handicapped by the penny pinching budgets of the last 5 years. The Maritime patrol aircraft the RAF no longer has in service is also a glaring omission.

The history and future of the Suez Canal demonstrates how history and geography are and will continue to determine the course of human affairs. Political brothers in arms John Key and David Cameron are delusional because they do not silly the grease which keeps the wheels of international events turning.

United Kingdom defence cut backs lessons for New Zealand

Strategic ineptitude. As much as proper financial backing, what is desperately needed is an over-arching grand strategy for foreign and defence policy. We need a restructuring of the shambolic National Security Council that has minimal representation from the armed forces and is a reactive organisation lacking in the ability to proactively develop long-term plans.
We are now in the run up to the Strategic Defence and Security Review due in October 2015. Unless there is a dramatic change in outlook, this will be just another round of treasury-driven cuts.

Save the Royal Navy Op Ed

Another good article from The Lens of History friends at the Save The Royal Navy Campaign. @NavyLookout 

The Government should recognise that "defence is different" and treat it more generously than other spending departments, said the UKNDA.

Drawing a contrast between the PM who appeased Hitler and the one who defeated him, the association asked: "Does the Prime Minister wish to be remembered as a Chamberlain or a Churchill?"

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The horse has already bolted from the stable. David Cameron is a Neville Chamberlain clone. The crippling defence cutbacks Cameron has overseen have guttered the UK armed forces. Appeasing Hitler , I mean Vladimir Putin's territorial ambitions in the Ukraine will invite future Russian military aggression against Western Europe. Cameron and other NATO political leaders have gone out of their way to ensure Europe and the UK will be plunged into its third war in 80 odd years.

The cut backs have ensured the UK will play an isolationist role in world affairs for the next decade or so. The UK retreat from its international obligations will play a part in the road to the coming global conflict. Since the end of the Cold War the UK military has been subjected to spending cut backs. After the Cold War ended UK and other western leaders mistakenly assumed a fairy tale peace had broken out.

Cameron is intent on delivering the final nail in the coffin to the UK armed forces . Once the nail has been hammered in with a giant mallet the UK will be subject to the winds of a increasingly unstable world. The Winds go by the name of expansionist Russia , Isis and Iran's territorial ambitions/Nuclear program.

Spending money on Education and Health is much more politically attractive to voters then adequate levels of defence spending. This applies to the UK and New Zealand equally. The voters who go to the polls without considering defence and foreign policy issues have enabled the resurrection of Chamberlain clones.

What are the lessons for the Kiwi reader? First of all the reader should note how in political terms the Prime Minster of New Zealand John Key is Cameron brother from another mother. Key has continued Labour's foreign and defence polices unabated.

Key is an actively pursuing the policy of appeasement towards China. Key either takes no notice of China rise as a military power or is completely ignorant of its geopolitical implications. The current National government view the Chinese solely as New Zealand's number 1 customer for our diary exports.

The current government's failure to ensure the NZDF has a suitable force structure that can cope with the prevailing winds (Just swap Russia for expansionist China). The NZDF weak force structure contributes nicely to the morally bankrupt policy of appeasement. The only way to prevent the occurrence of total war is Peace Through Strength.

New Zealand and the UK are on opposite sides of the globe. Despite the differences in the geographical placement both countries are unable to muster sufficient political will/military strength to prevent the coming world war.

The majority of Kiwi voters ignorance of world affairs manifests itself when they go to the polls every 3 years. In the same time frame the desire for every increasing amounts of social spending also dominates the priorities of swing voters. This can said to be why the New Zealand parliament doesn't contain a single dissenting voice in the mould of Winston Churchill.

The voters who I mentioned above have sealed the fate of the next generation who are still in school . The sons and daughters of what I will call the ignorant generations are set to pay a heavy price in blood for the mistakes being made by political leaders like Key and Cameron.

New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully in Israel

New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully arrived in the Middle East in a push to get Israeli and Palestinian leadership back to the negotiation table.

While at a function at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and asked by the New Zealand Herald how soon peace talks could resume Mr McCully said: "my first preference would be tomorrow morning".
New Zealand is set to have a pivotal role when it commences chairing the Security Council in July but Mr McCully is under no illusion of the challenges ahead in getting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian head Mahmoud Abbas to the negotiating table after over a year hiatus.

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Credit to Twitter user @SarahRoseNZ . The above video and article came up in Sarah's Twitter Feed.

This is just plain embarrassing. Murray McCully making a fool of himself is a symptom of the disease that is afflicting New Zealand's foreign policy. The disease is New Zealand's foreign policy being based on idealism.

The reality of international events has played little part in successive government's foreign policy decisions. The beginnings of what I view as a tragic disease was in 1984. The Lange government's adoption of the anti American Nuclear Ban was based on left wing derangement syndrome and not intellect/sound policy.

The Israeli and Palestinian conflict bears no relation to the not so new reality's the Middle East region is facing at present. The observant reader will notice how the Israeli and Palestinian conflict has been quiet of late. In my view the Palestinians have rightly concluded that Isis and not Israel is the real enemy.

The Palestinians have had a lot of successes winning the propaganda war in the western media. During the last limited excursion by the Israel Defence Force into Gaza the Palestinians won the battle for favourable publicity in the world's press.

Simply gaining favourable media coverage won't save the Palestinians from genocide at the hands of Isis and other Islamic extremists , after a wider war has broken out in the Middle East region. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Israel and the Palestinians are sharing intel concerning the threat posed by Isis and other Islamic extremist factions.

My prediction is that in the coming war the Kurds , Palestinians and the remnants of Israel’s Jewish population will be allies in the fight against Iran. The Kurds , Palestinians and Jews will be in a bitter struggle for their own survival.

Coming back to the present it is worth examining the body language of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and McCully in the above video. Netanyahu can barley hide his feelings from the camera. Netanyahu must have felt like he was hosting one of those in laws you just dread having around at Christmas time. You know the in law someone’s better half insists on inviting.

McCully gives the feeling that he never really wanted to accept the invite to a mid year Christmas lunch. Pressure from his side of the family (his role as Foreign Minster) saw him attend the event. All in all New Zealand's diplomatic efforts in the Middle East have all the makings of a gross failure.