Politics

Back from the Gulag – just

Vladivostok has got a lot going for it. But out in the ‘Gulag’ – the concrete monstrosity that the Russians have plonked on Russky Island – it wasn’t so hot. It wasn’t the shoddy building standards (lifts stopping mid-floor; toilet doors too large for their frames) but the E-coli bug that did in several NZ delegates there for the prestigious APEC CEOs …

Read More »

Get use to the security Alan – this is APEC.

Former Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard beat a swift retreat from the recent Russian APEC. Bollard clearly wasn’t used to being tracked by big ominous looking Russians and did not hang about after being announced as APEC’s new executive director.The APEC role is the ultimate when it comes to “herding cats” – aka the many officials from around the region who …

Read More »

Singing ‘rum and coca cola’ – Murray McCully to visit Jamaica, Cuba

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully left has left the ‘Big Apple’ to visit Jamaica and Cuba for bilateral talks. McCully displayed considerable prowess at the United Nations where he delivered a cut-through address slamming the Security Council’s failure to deals with the mounting deaths in Syria. He wants the P5 – the club of five permanent council members; the US, Russia, …

Read More »

Who owns what for an answer start here

Blowing in the wind … John Key grapples with the problems of ownership. Photo / Mark Mitchell Mr Speaker, I rise today in this House to introduce legislation to vest all natural resources – water, geothermal steam, airwaves, aquifers and, for the avoidance of doubt, all minerals, ironsands, magma, rare earth deposits, coal, lignite, methane and uranium in this country …

Read More »

DFAT: Eighth Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum looks at bilateral opportunities in “Asian Century.”

The Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) is a business-led initiative designed to further develop the Australian and New Zealand bilateral relationship as well as joint relations in the region. The ANZLF brings together ministers and leaders of business, government and academia to create an independent public platform for consideration of the whole Australia New Zealand relationship. The inaugural forum …

Read More »

Fran O’Sullivan: Winning face of new China

Hu Jintao’s calm face softened as he spoke poignantly of his greatest challenge since becoming President of China seven months ago. “I felt as if my heart was on fire.” He was talking of the Sars epidemic, which claimed hundreds of lives as the new Chinese leadership fought to bring “this scourge” under control. The virus originated in southern China. …

Read More »

Fran O’Sullivan: Apec Agenda stays off-course

The fight against global terrorism has emerged as a major business issue at Apec. The issues are intricate – even at the geo-political level, where presidents and prime ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific economies of Apec clearly hold sway. But the links between security and trade – added to this year’s formal leaders’ agenda – are now finely drawn. Global …

Read More »

US acknowledges flinty academic deserves respect

 Shanghai Prime Minister Helen Clark’s strong backing for the American war on terrorism won her and New Zealand new respect at the Apec conference. After just four days at Shanghai, she is now looking like an emerging Asia-Pacific leader and power player. She has shed, in United States eyes, her image as a flinty anti-American academic and joined the ranks …

Read More »

Fran O’Sullivan: NZ should link arms with US

Today’s Wall St opening will be the most difficult hurdle for financial markets since the 1987 global sharemarkets collapse. The one-week halt to trading is the longest since the First World War closure. The human carnage wreaked by terrorists who destroyed New York’s twin pillars of capitalism – the World Trade Center towers – will exact a different toll on …

Read More »

Clinton Swansong plays to different tune

ANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – In Auckland last year, Bill Clinton could hardly move without feeling the beady eyes of his mother-in-law tracking his every move. The Clinton women: wife Hillary, daughter Chelsea and mother-in-law Dorothy Rodham, were not about to risk another bimbo eruption. Hillary Rodham Clinton – stepping up her campaign to run for a seat in the US …

Read More »