Time To Be Counted

New Zealand likes to feel it stands up for fair play, likes to be a world leader from a small country. Well now is the time to let the world know how we feel about Russia and their invaion of Ukraine. We should declare that we will send troops to the Ukraine to assist them in their fight for freedom. Who knows some of the other much larger, more powerful countries will follow. We could shame them into action. Come on Jacinda, really make a name for yourself and be remembered as a leader who stood up against repression and agression of a large foreign power. The west has enough nuclear weapons to be a huge threat to Russian so that Putin the coward, will not push the button to guaranteed anihilation. Jacinda this is your moment. Or it could be.

Putin - Greatest Threat Since Hitler

The war on the Ukranian people is pushing the whole world into turmoil. His actions in the Black Sea has basically cut the world off from food security. The Ukraine is a world leader in agricultural supplies to many nations. We have seen record prices for grains, vegetable oils and other commodities. Some leading charities depend on food supply from the Ukraine. In essence Putin has declared war on the nations who depend on good food security and the organisations who try to make the lives of those less fortunate a little more bearable. The Western countries have basically ceded to Putins whims since he raised the possibility of nuclear actions. It is time to call him out. We should create a no fly zone over the Ukraine. We should send in our troops and use our own capabilty to assist the Ukranian people. We allowed Hitler to invade a number of nations and sat back thinking he will soon be satisfied and we can get back to living a normal life. If we do not stop Putin we will be back to WW2. Now is the time to intervene.

Dirty Politics NZ

Jami-Lee Ross. This move to section him under the mental health act is a warning to everyone. Jami-Lee Ross decided to stab his party leader in the back, ok, not the best thing to do, but he did have concerns about the leaders integrity. Once that had been done how quickly some others from within the system came out of the woodwork denouncing him as a sexual predator and person of bad moral character, all national party members I should think. Anonymous accusers, front up and state who you are and admit to your part of the scandal if in fact there is one. That didn't work so how can the National Party bring more public scrutiny into this. Couldn't really do it. Jami-Lee Ross admitted to affairs and two specific occurrences, he should have named the MP concerned at that time, and he decided to stay on as an MP until the next election. What a thorn in the side for the opposition leader. Yes, the National Party had to close ranks further, a smear campaign hadn't worked as hoped. Lets look for something else, the seed had already been set by putting out on "leave" due to concerns over his welfare. The Mental Health Act give National the tools, get him sectioned and assessed then force him out of Parliament. Great! Appropriate authorities are contacted and voila, job done. Now ask anyone who has actually needed help from the Mental Health sector for a whole lot of real problems just how difficult it is to get anyone to listen. Almost impossible they will say. So how come this guy is sectioned for his own safety in a matter of days. I suspect it is because he threatened the leader of the opposition and they have the contacts and power to make it happen. What is does say very loudly is that there is more dirt to come out about the National Party and its ineffectual leader and that it must be stopped at all costs. Even the mental health of a fellow MP. The National leadership has thrown out the gauntlet, cast doubt on this persons mental capability and ability to be rational, he can't be trusted to behave rationally, lock him up, then when he gets out its ok, no one will ever believe a word he says.

Greece - Way To Go

This could be the perfect opportunity for China to get a foothold into the European Community. Greece should approach China to finance the country and provide support. China wants to create a world banking order of its own and this could provide them with the perfect start. Bail Greece out, give very favourable terms and hey presto a big wedge into the established order. What has Greece to lose? There is always a price to pay but it could be interesting for the rest of us to see what that is!

Ebola - The next Spanish Flu

In 1918 the world experienced a flu pandemic that infected rougly 500 million people and killed 50 to 100 million of them. A huge disaster in human terms. Ebola could be the equivalent of the flu pandemic this century. This is especially true if the spreads beyond its current borders It is estimated that in West Africa alone that the virus is under reported by 2.5 times as a minimum, that makes the 8000 confirmed cases more like 20,000 and with a death rate of 50% the problem is much wider than that officially reported. In West Africa we are dealing with the difficulty of access to areas, the problems with having diagnostic facilities to confirm the actual incidence of the disease and also the mistrust of local people who are unwilling to accept that this is actually happening. This disease needs a concerted effort to contain it in the areas that it already has a strong grip on and then wait it out until the disease disappears naturally. ie no one left to infect. In the mean time we need to find a cure or better ways to treat it that results in far fewer deaths. If you have been planning a trip to West Africa, cancel it. Many of the health care workers have themselves become infected and died. This is not a situation to be triffled with. The disease spreads easily and is obviously very contagious. It has an unpredictable incubation period and the dead are apparently contagious for up to 3 days. We must not be hysterical about the situation but we do need to isolate the disease where it currently is if we want to avoid another catastrophic event.

Islamic State Group

I have read recently about twitter posts by people of the Muslim religion comparing the western civilisations of not apologising for Adolf Hitler while decrying the actions of the Islamic State movement. One glaringly obvious difference is that the western civilised states opposed to Adolf Hitler actually did something about it. They went to war and eradicated the perpetrator of the actions carried out under the name of Adolf Hitler. Then put other senior members of that regime on trial. I don't see much of the Islamic nations doing anything to eradicate the Islamic State leadership and their extremist followers. A little less bleating and more action is required. These people should not be fleeing ther homes and cities, they should be fighting back with everything under their power and in any way they can. If the Islamic State manage to take control of an area the people there should start a well organised campaign to slowly kill off any of the Islamic State members they can, plant bombs, poison their food

3 Mor Years

Well the National Party of New Zealand has secured another 3 years running the country. The worst part is that they can be a government without the help of any other party. Heaven knows what they might chose to do! How did it happen? Firstly the .com fiasco only helped John Key, mass surveillance wasn't an issue for the majority of Kiwis who implicitly believe that the government knows best, it's a Kiwi trait. They also do it with the justice system, hence some of the great miscarriages if justice we have seen. Also, for those sitting on the fence regarding surveillance were pushed in the National Party direction by the ever so convenient raids and arrests by the Australian Authorities just a few days before polling day. A happy coincidence? Perhaps. What we need is for a few disaffected National MP,s to quit! not likely to happen. However we do know that not a great deal will change over the next three years. We have another government that has no clear vision beyond New Zealand being a primary agricultural producer and not much else. As a nation we had better hope that prices remain at high levels for what we do produce, but that is unlikely as more countries having seen the high returns for agricultural produce begin to catch up and flood the market with produce, bringing the high price market to an end. Result, increasing government deficits, higher interest rates and higher unemployment. I hope I'm wrong.