Helen's support for Bush's wars
NoRightTurn notes yesterdays announcement by Helen Clark and Phil Goff to "extend" New Zealand's military commitment in Afghanistan. In particular he criticises the decision to continue to operate a New Zealand frigate in the region at the same time US President George Bush is making noises about bombing Iran.
The Government Press Release today says "New Zealand will also again deploy a frigate to join the Maritime Interdiction Operation (MIO) in the Arabian Gulf. The frigate will join the MIO for just over a month in mid 2008 as an extension of a planned deployment to the South/South East Asia region."
There is actually a more fundamental reason why New Zealand should not have a frigate in the Gulf at present. A New Zealand frigate on non-combat duties gives the US and the UK the opportunities to deploy more of their frigates on more active roles, in other words helping to kill the population in Iraq, Afghanistan and (possibly) Iran. So, to the people of the Middle East New Zealand sending a frigate for non-combat duties is as good as dropping the bombs ourselves.
We sent the Te Mana frigate at around the time of the Iraq invasion - perhaps an indication that while NZ publicly opposed the invasion of Iraq, Helen still felt she had to give penance to our so called 'allies' who were bullying all in sundry for "support" for their illegal invasion.
Helen Clark's announcement would not have anything to do with meeting with George Bush next week would it?
PS: Tried to post this last night, but Woosh Internet slowed down to a crawl. Not at all impressed with the speed or reliability of their service, and phone calls to customer service can be left waiting for 30 minutes with no answer. I have no qualms calling from a cellphone!
PPS: The new blogger spellcheck is a big improvement and much easier to use.
Labels: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Labour, Peace
posted by Joe Hendren @ 22:36
2 comments
2 Comments:
You should be grateful that a slow connectiona nd poor customer service are the worst of your problems with Woosh. They've been billing me for at least six months for a free service, and now that I've finally been able to reach them (by snail mail - email apparently being too difficult for an ISP) they are desperately tryign to deny that there is a problem. Its not a lot of money, but its annoying. Unfortunately I'm worried that if I take them to the small claims tribunal over it, they'll disconnect me just because they can.
When I first went to pick up the equipment there was a large line of people and only two staff. Admittedly it was lunchtime, but they should have prepared for that instead of forcing their customers to wait over half an hour.
Many were returning their Woosh equipment - now I know why.
What "free service" are you talking about? Perhaps I should check my bill also.
I was also less than impressed to find out Craig Heatley is involved with Woosh - what could possibly be the connection between business roundtable lackeys and telcos offering an absmal service?
Perhaps you should take them to the small claims tribunal - and blog the results. Have a press release ready to send on another connection if they make any moves to disconnect you.
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