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March 21, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 21 March 2026

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sungsamning

While the world watches the US-Iran war unfold, India is executing the most sophisticated diplomatic game on the planet. Two Indian gas carriers sailed through the Strait of Hormuz — without a single warship escort — while every other nation’s ships sat paralyzed outside. [India has geographical and political advantages. Its a counter balance to China, and a BRICs member. It has important relationships with many countries. It gave shelter to an Iranian warship. So, its LNG tankers are getting through. Its anexhausting and difficult highwire act.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWHxFEn7ICw
How India Is Quietly Winning a War It Never Joined.
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March 21, 2026 8:13am
- Master Mariner
  
  India has been sitting on the fence and trying to play both sides at once, More so with Russian Oil being diverted to its own refineries.
  The state owned Group got permission via BRICS pressure and Iran being a second tier member allowed the Gas carriers to transit. Much the same as
  Iranian Oil / Gas is allowed to transit. They are talking about having a transit fee for other non US aligned ships to transit.
  Meanwhile Russia is making moves to export Oil and Gas to other ASEAN countries ( The most affected during this crisis) and cancelling all orders to Europe altogether.
  Mean time in another world NZ, Is starting to take notice about supply chains and being at the arse end of the world.
  Just have a think, Even if SOH was opened today. How long would it take to restock refineries in SE Asia with Oil and reach full capacity ?
  My best guestimate will be 6 weeks, But this does not include the damage done on existing terminals in the Gulf states.
  This was predicted at least months before any crisis in Iran/US war that the SOH WILL be permanently closed.
  What was the useless information coming from regarding 5 eyes and other Intelligence / Foreign affairs agencies in NZ?
  This was obvious from the outset //
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:27am
  - Jack5
    
    A sailor’s view of the Gulf war …
    
    Another fine shipping update from Sal Mercogliano – 32 minutes on YouTube.
    
    Crews on trapped ships in the Persian Gulf running out of food and water; world freight cost rise; shades of a much bigger Marsden Point shutdown — transport bills from closing refineries in California; tinkering with the Jones Act, which restricts cabotage (foreign shipping between US ports), and possible effects.
    
    https://youtu.be/DcGKmkZT3Rg?si=t3a4_gUKiEhbfMLx
    
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    March 21, 2026 1:41pm
    - sungsamning
      
      I gather sanctions on Chinese tankers on the water have been lifted. Same for Russia. They’re sending a tanker to Cuba.
      
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      March 21, 2026 3:03pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Good relationships with multiple countries are the key to having a flexible foreign policy.
    
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    March 21, 2026 3:01pm
sungsamning

A fiery political clash has erupted as Pauline Hanson takes aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, delivering sharp criticism over Australia’s relationship with China. [Hamas and the CCP love albo. And Albo loves censorship. Liberals are Labor lite. The most incompetent government Australia has ever had.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC1gHXQWY8E
Pauline Hanson FIRES BACK at Albanese — Says “Xi Jinping Is MAKING A FOOL Of Him”.
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March 21, 2026 8:14am
- Paulus
  
  Hardly very difficult about Albo – any body can make a fool of him as he does not know it is happening ?
  
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  March 21, 2026 2:11pm
  - sungsamning
    
    His latest ‘diversity is our strength’ trip didn’t end well.
    
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    March 21, 2026 3:05pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Albo and crew are guided by “the experts”. Experts in pushing woke narratives.
    
    Australia’s reality check has arrived in the mail. Most are currently still obliviously running on “she’ll be right”. Probably for not much longer I would say.
    
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    March 21, 2026 3:41pm
Damocles11

Trump is blaming ‘NATO cowards’ for the Strait of Hormuz fiasco. The US President has said in a social media post Friday morning that, “NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!”
He has also claimed that “that fight is Militarily WON” and that NATO members are complaining about high oil prices but don’t want to help open the strait. “We will REMEMBER!” said Trump.
One wonders why Trump – possessing apparently ‘the most powerful military the world has ever seen’ – doesn’t just open the strait himself. In terms of cowardice, it’s one thing to launch missiles and drop bombs from distance, it’s another to put ‘boots on the ground’ and engage the enemy in ground combat. So who is and isn’t a coward in all this is no doubt a matter of some debate.
There’s unquestionably a widespread antipathy towards European nations by the MAGA base; Trump is engaging in his usual political tactics when he tries to pass the buck to traditional allies for the consequences of the failings evident in the execution of his war against Iran.
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March 21, 2026 8:19am
- Mod88
  
  Rubbish. They are all jumping on the bandwagon now the heavy lifting has been done. The Europeans are sending ships, the UK has opened up the airbases. They are quivering in their boots should the US have a pullback from NATO as well they should.
  
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  March 21, 2026 8:53am
  - kowtow
    
    Indeed and I suspect D11 knows the answers to his own questions . Trump is not being a coward , while the Euros are doing the same thing as Trump is doing ,in respect of their major naval vessels. Keeping them out of range.
    Democracies are always , quite rightly, reluctant to accept casualties ( and the loss of expensive assets such as major warships ) .
    Whereas crazed dictatorships are happy to have everyone die around them , esp this theocratic end time apocalypse loving terror regime , who essentially started this by developing a nuke and promising death to Israel , proof being Oct 7 .
    
    I’m at a loss to understand how many people here seem to shill for the Mullahs.
    
    Meanwhile some Froggy matelot is about to discover how nasty his own Republic can be as he’s revealed the exact location of their aircraft carrier in the eastern Med !
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:43am
    - Damocles11
      
      When you make legitimate questions about the Trump administrations prosecution of this war and treatment of US allies the equivalent of being ‘a shill for the Mullahs’, you have already lost the argument. Because it is verboten in MAGA-land to question or criticise the great one, we do get these weird distortions of reality and bizarre mental gymnastics in an attempt to excuse or vindicate his actions.
      
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      March 21, 2026 9:56am
      - Wandering Star
        
        Trump came out the other day and said that “I am MAGA,” which means that MAGA isn’t literally about making America great again, MAGA just means whatever Trump feels like and supports on any given day. Accordingly, wars for Israel are MAGA in this sense, despite being completely contradictory to MAGA in the literal sense we all thought it denoted.
        
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        March 21, 2026 10:58am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        WS: “Trump came out the other day and said that “I am MAGA,” which means…..
        
        Not much. Just rambling. But you go right ahead and create another anti Jew/Israel propaganda piece out of it.
        
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        March 21, 2026 3:45pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        “Those that speak ill of Mark [Levin, hardcore Zionist] will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies, and footings are not sound. THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM, and MAGA includes [bombing Iran]….”
        
        https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116236498017197393
        
        It’s a matter of simple logic that when he says he is MAGA, he’s defining it and identifying MAGA as himself the person, not a set of ideas about bettering America independent of Trump and Trump’s whims, actions and ideas.
        
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        March 21, 2026 5:41pm
    - Spoff
      
      “esp this theocratic end time apocalypse loving terror regime”
      Y’mean this one:
      “Hegseth Invokes Divine Purpose to Justify Military Might
      Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imbued U.S. military actions with a Christian moral underpinning that suggests they are divinely sanctioned.
      He spoke of “overwhelming force” and the U.S. military’s unmatched ability to rain “death and destruction from above” on its “apocalyptic” Iranian foes.
      
      Then, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing in the Pentagon, issued a call to the American people for a specific kind of wartime prayer. He asked them to pray for victory in battle and the safety of their troops.
      
      “Every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches,” he said, “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
      At a time when the U.S. and Israeli militaries are dropping thousands of bombs on a majority-Shiite Muslim nation, the explicitly Christian nature of Mr. Hegseth’s call stood out.”
      https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/us/politics/hegseth-christianity-military.html
      
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      March 21, 2026 6:00pm
  - jkt
    
    Rubbish.
    
    He never asked them for assistance until he no longer wanted to bear the full cost of the crisis that he created. Arrogance.
    
    Will this America come to defend their allies ….. when it suits them. Any American “ally” relying on America needs to look no further than the Ukrainian war.
    
    The wheel will turn … I hope.
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:45am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, its mostly ‘their oil’ that’s at risk. Small wonder the MAGA crowd think so little of the Fourth Reich and NATO.
    
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    March 21, 2026 3:07pm
- Handyman
  
  The Trump grand strategy is no secret.
  At some time in the future, the US will have to fight China, which will take at least all of the US military (not so much the army).
  China’s strategy is to split the US resources into a three-theatre war with its allies – Russia and Iran.
  
  Trump’s logical course of action is:
  1. Get Europe up to a standard to defend itself. They will lose part of Europe but that is on them.
  2. Neuter Iran to the point Israel can protect itself. Basically – no nukes.
  3. Get China influence out of its Latin American underbelly.
  
  Recent events have proved Europe will not help the US in the Pacific against China and they will not help Israel against Iran, but they expect the US to protect them from Russia and protect their oil deliveries.
  Trump must be very close to saying to the Europeans “stew in your own juice” or words that effect.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:29am
  - Wandering Star
    
    “The Trump grand strategy ….”
    
    Thinking that Trump has any strategy on anything at all shows you have no appreciation of what Trump is about. At best, he has tactics, which pretty much just involves saying “provocative” things that get his dwindling base excited, while never actually following through on any of it, or worse, doing the exact opposite.
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:01am
    - jkt
      
      Tramp has strategy!!
      
      He grabs Europe and allies by their private parts, because he can!
      
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      March 21, 2026 12:12pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      WS: “Thinking that Trump has any strategy on anything at all shows you have no appreciation of what Trump is about. ”
      
      Bollocks. Here’s what one of the dumbest and woke AI assistants outputs on Trump’s changes:
      
      “President Trump’s second term has seen significant changes, including a record number of executive orders focused on deregulation, immigration, and environmental policies. His administration has also emphasized a “drill, baby, drill” approach to energy and has made substantial cuts to federal climate regulations.”
      
      The list of strategic orders he has made is huge. Pull your head out.
      
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      March 21, 2026 3:51pm
  - kowtow
    
    Not even recent.
    
    MacArthur , correctly imho , wanted to nuke the Red Chinese to decisively win the Korean war .
    
    It was largely the Europeans who demurred , afraid that kindly Uncle Joe , would use that as an excuse to invade the Euros.And look at where we are now in relation to China and N Korea.
    
    source The Korean War .Max Hastings.
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:48am
  - jkt
    
    Tramp has signalled that Europe must stew in their own juice for long enough to convince Europe and other traditional allies that America may well not be a reliable ally.
    
    MAGA is more than Trumpism. Liberty for supporters of the MAGA ideology!
    
    I think the American constitutional values will survive Trump and MAGA … Liberty for all mankind.
    
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    March 21, 2026 12:09pm
  - Taieri
    
    The Trump grand strategy is no secret.
    ————–
    
    The ballroom construction strategy…?
    
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    March 21, 2026 12:24pm
Cassandra

Re Israel and Islam: Hezbollah’s continued aggression towards Israel from Lebanon “What has made all this possible – and continues to make it possible – is the combined lack of will and capacity of the Lebanese state to end the presence of non-state military organizations on Lebanese soil. Israel seeks nothing but quiet from Lebanon. Observable reality in Jordan and Egypt shows that when neighboring governments with full authority sign peace agreements with Jerusalem, the result is quiet borders.” From The Spectator.

It’s self-evident: all that’s needed for peace in the Middle East is for Arabia and Iran to recognise Israel. Everything else will then fall into place. Should have happened in 1948.
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March 21, 2026 8:21am
- Cassandra
  
  Someone will no doubt bring up the matter of Palestine [and it’s a great pity that the Palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity, as Abba Eban famously didn’t say (it was George Bernard Shaw many years earlier) and that Rabin was murdered] but even that thorny matter can be resolved.
  
  It’s not just a matter of the West Bank. It is after all Judea, and Palestinians have an even stronger claim to much of Syria – the Romans renamed the area Syria-Palestina because they wanted to do away with rebellious Judea. However some sort of Palestine state will be possible provided its inhabitants accept non-violence. Put sugar on the dead rat.
  
  A preemptive strike: W Star – be realistic and constructive, aggression (abuse?) is pointles
  
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  March 21, 2026 8:30am
  - Philview
    
    I read somewhere this week about some New Zealanders getting ready to join a flotilla heading to ‘Palestine’. One person interviewed had the standard Green Party pointy beard.
    
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    March 21, 2026 8:56am
    - R
      
      Can we start a ‘give a little’ page to by a large ship, and send all the greens and their sympathizers to Palestine?
      
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      March 21, 2026 10:58am
  - Wandering Star
    
    “A preemptive strike: W Star – be realistic and constructive, aggression (abuse?) is pointless.”
    
    Hilarious. Anyone who reads my comments will never see any “abuse” directed towards anyone else, certainly nothing exceeding a bit of banter directed at commenters. I think you mistake comments you find difficult to deal with in a non-emotive fashion as being “abuse.”
    
    In fact, it’s quite the opposite – I make quite reasonable points grounded in observation and/or logical inference, and yet I am frequently met with torrents of abuse (“vile antisemite” or variants of “you’re a horrible person” being popular) rather than any constructive critique or dialogue, with some exceptions.
    
    In this way, and quite apropos of the topic, I am being accused by you of “aggression” necessitating a “pre-emptive strike” when in fact it’s quite the opposite, and the respective roles are actually reversed.
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:11am
    - Cassandra
      
      I think I’ll let the ticks decide this. But one comment re abuse: take a look at your anti Israel comments, Star. There’s a reason you get red ticks.
      
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      March 21, 2026 11:11am
      - Wandering Star
        
        “I think I’ll let the ticks decide this. But one comment re abuse: take a look at your anti Israel comments, Star. There’s a reason you get red ticks.”
        
        This is exactly what I mean: no substance as a reply, just huffing and puffing and pointing fingers.
        
        Truly, if only we lived in a world wherein red ticks decided what was true and what was not, what was a good argument and what was a bad argument. What an alternative reality it would be where truth was a democratic exercise.
        
        Quite clearly, I wrote my “anti Israel comments” so I don’t need to revisit them in search for non-existent abuse. Harsh critique? Sure. But abuse? I’m happy for you to show us all what you mean when you make this claim.
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:31am
      - Cassandra
        
        Star: you commented about Israel and its 3,000 years of aggression (WTTE). I suppose you mean invasions by Egypt, Babylon, Rome, persecution by Russia, Poland, England, Spain, Germany, the Mufti – that sort of aggression?
        
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        March 21, 2026 12:27pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        Read the Old Testament: Jews are a warlike people motivated by what they see as their special position appointed to them by God himself. It’s literally there in black and white in the world’s most widely read book, it’s not my opinion. Moreover, we can see with our own eyes today that the Old Testament is mirrored in what is going on in the world today. This is why Netanyahu was talking in Old Testament terms post October 7th – to the Jews, the Old Testament never ended.
        
        It’s just not credible to say that, for three millennia, Jews have been a completely passive people who have been picked on by other aggressive groups for no other reason at all other than their Jewishness. That’s a self-interested narrative, not a description of reality.
        
        Of course, they’ll frequently tell us this narrative, but then again, why would they tell us otherwise about themselves, given the narrative’s obvious political value and, accordingly, that any deviation from the “Jews-as-victims” narrative would diminish the status they appoint to themselves?
        
        The facts are that all peoples at all times have been involved in innumerable conflicts throughout history, but it’s simply delusional to claim that Jews are, uniquely, always in the right and never in the wrong.
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:24pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        WS: “Read the Old Testament: Jews are a warlike people motivated by what they see as their special position appointed to them by God himself.”
        
        Oh FFS. More devious crap. Bronze/Iron age groups EVERYWHERE in the region were like that. …1000s of years ago. Chimps on steroids (IE typical defective humans) in primitive societies. Do not Muslims see themselves as the superior people on this earth? Do not Christians see themselves as “the saved”?
        
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        March 21, 2026 5:01pm
- Scott
  
  Cassandra, thanks for your post.
  
  The difficulty is that the Islamic Republic is based on “Death to the Great Satan” (America) and “Death to the little Satan” (Israel). That’s their cardinal message, they are a revolutionary govt that has instituted an Islamic state whose objective is to take people back to the golden days of Mohammed, the 7th century, and destroy their enemies, Israel and the USA.
  
  So they cannot be reasoned with because they have not arrived at their position by reason. They can only be resisted.
  
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  March 21, 2026 8:34am
  - Philview
    
    I have read they are an extreme faction who believe that an apocalyptic war will bring about the emergence of some character called Mahdi to rule the world. A nuclear war is a desired goal for this regime and so I fully support their destruction.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:02am
    - Paulus
      
      I thought that Mahdi was a Rowing Cup in New Zealand ?
      
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      March 21, 2026 2:15pm
  - Dougal10
    
    Islam is older than columbus’s america trip , who did they hate before the big satan .
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:07am
    - Cassandra
      
      Jews at first then everyone.
      
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      March 21, 2026 9:18am
      - Wandering Star
        
        If the proposition is that Muslims apparently hate everyone else because of an attitude inherent to them (whether by nurture or by nature), then why is it not a proposition as to everyone apparently hating Jews that this is due to some set of attitudes inherent in the Jews, whether by nurture or by nature?
        
        Why do you get to say that “all Muslims X” while it’s supposedly beyond the pale to say that “all Jews Y”? Why always judge Muslims in relation to their group, but never do so with Jews, except when it involves claims of Jewish group victimhood?
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:07am
      - david
        
        So a bit like we have Māori and Pakeha. Ie Māori and non-Māori ( M and everyone else) a purely binary world view.
        
        What is appearing to be is Muslims and non-muslims with a bit of slicing and dicing (pun intended) to identify smaller subdivisions within the non- Muslim populations in an attempt to prioritise the hate index.
        Do I have that right?
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:21pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        WS approx a quarter of a billion people killed by the sword under Islam since it’s inception.
        
        Go on Memri TV and listen to what their most revered teachers actually teach.
        
        Do you actually know what is in the Islamic doctrines?
        
        Do teachers in Judaism go on about the “filthy unbelievers” and how they need to be deceived, undermined, attacked and subjugated by Judaism? Of course they don’t.
        
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        March 21, 2026 4:30pm
      - Spoff
        
        “Jews at first then everyone.”
        Historically incorrect.
        In response to the Alhambra Decree, expelling the Jews from Spain by July 31, 1492, Sultan Bayezid II sent the Ottoman navy under the command of Kemal Reis to Spain in order to save Jews who were expelled.
        Jews lived in the Ottoman Empire for centuries in peace and harmony, often rising to high office. The period is known in Jewish History as “The Golden Age”.
        https://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/p10098.pdf
        Animosity between Muslim and Jew began with the massacres and expulsion of the Palestinian people.
        Proof of this is easily found. For example, Sassoon Eskell, a practising Jew, was Prime Minister of Iraq. In 1925 he was elected deputy for Baghdad in the first parliament of the Kingdom and was re-elected to all successive parliaments until his death on 31 August 1932. In the Iraqi parliament he was chairman of the financial committee and was regarded as the Father of Parliament.
        I recommend the works of Avi Shlaim an Israeli and British historian of Iraqi Jewish descent. He is not only Professor Emeritus at Oxford, he was born in Iraq.
        https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-avi-shlaim/
        
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        March 21, 2026 6:45pm
    - kowtow
      
      Are you serious ?
      
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      March 21, 2026 9:45am
      - Cassandra
        
        Assuming you’re asking me then yes, I’m serious. Mohammed’s first wars were against the dominant tribes in what is now Saudi, most Jewish, some pagan. Having beaten the Jews he then set about expanding Islam. There are excellent summaries of this history online.
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:15am
      - kowtow
        
        cass
        
        No was asking D10.
        
        In respect of Jews and Christains though , in classical “mainstream” Islam , as people of the book , as long as they accept dhimmi status they’re going to get on , on the margins of Islamic society .
        
        The folk who really need to worry about keeping their heads attached to their shoulders are pagans.
        
        That’s why I find it extraordinary about how the extreme leftists in the west can find common cause with extreme Islam.
        
        Speaking of which , the communists in Iran sided with the mullahs in the so called Islamic revolution against the Shah, but once in power the mullahs were quick to dispense with them ……..with extreme prejudice.
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:41am
      - Taieri
        
        Mohammed’s first wars were against the dominant tribes in what is now Saudi, most Jewish, some pagan
        ——————
        
        Before Islam, the predominant religion in Arab lands was polytheism.
        
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        March 21, 2026 12:30pm
  - R
    
    The Mullahs who control Islamic state, comma will never see rational reason for peace in the region; because their cognitive development is not capable of such a state of mind.
    The consequence of inbreeding, similar to our own NZ ethnic problem
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:20am
    - Paulus
      
      How dare you suggest that we have people in Aotearoa who have diminished cognitive development,when superiority remains paramount to their all their thoughts.
      Remember Tikanga overrides all.
      
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      March 21, 2026 11:41am
  - RichardX
    
    So they cannot be reasoned with because they have not arrived at their position by reason.
    
    The absolute hypocrisy of a young earth creationist making this claim is remarkable, but not surprising.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:56am
    - Scott
      
      Richard X, so nice to hear from you. Do you only pop up when I post something?
      Sure I do live by faith. However the difference between me, a Christian, and the mullahs is that I don’t think that anyone who is not a Christian should be a second class citizen nor do I think that anyone who stops being a Christian should be killed for apostasy. Nor do I think that Christianity can nor should be imposed by force.
      
      So my faith will not seek to do you harm and I’m always happy to engage in debate. The mullahs not so much. 😊
      
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      March 21, 2026 12:10pm
      - RichardX
        
        I have no interest in your persecution complex but I am dismayed by poor reasoning skills.
        
        Faith is not reason so thanks for confirming your hypocrisy.
        
        There is always the possibility of an equivocation fallacy with christian faith.
        If you are referring to the Hebrews 11 version that you accept faith as evidence when you have none, that is not a path to truth and pointless to debate, particularly if you use it to justify ignoring actual science such as astronomy, paleontology, geology, astrophysics, cosmology, huge chunks of biology, huge chunks of chemistry, etc, etc.
        
        While I consider some followers of islam to be a more immediate threat to me, I’m going to invoke Brandolini’s law on the origins of the universe and the harm your faith can inflict.
        
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        March 21, 2026 1:35pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        I see you neatly sidestepped the point that anyone who believes the Earth was created by God 6,000 years ago shouldn’t be lecturing people about logic and reasoning.
        
        Anyway clearly you’re OK with non-Christians being killed in the name of peace if you support Trump’s war on Iran. Doesn’t sound very Christian to me.
        
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        March 21, 2026 4:07pm
- Master Mariner
  
  “Observable reality in Jordan and Egypt shows that when neighboring governments with full authority sign peace agreements with Jerusalem, the result is quiet borders.” From The Spectator.”
  Egypt recieves nearly 3Bill and Jordan one 1 Bill annually to have “peacefull” borders with Israel.
  Why should US tax payers pay for another countries border ?
  Meanwhile other countries are kept in political Kaos through misadventure and meddling.
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:33am
  - Wandering Star
    
    “Why should US tax payers pay for another countries border ?”
    
    Precisely. The US can’t or won’t secure their own border, yet they spend a fortune annually securing Israel’s border. Why is this? The answer is very obvious on this datum alone, yet such a concrete fact and such a clear logical inference made therefrom are dismissed as “conspiracy theory.”
    
    In fact, what is the US’s latest disaster currently playing out in Iran other than another instance of an Israeli border defence initiative, costing by some estimates about US 1 billion dollars a day directly, quite apart from the economic cost to the world?
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:28am
- Wandering Star
  
  “It’s self-evident: all that’s needed for peace in the Middle East is for Arabia and Iran to recognise Israel. Everything else will then fall into place. Should have happened in 1948.”
  
  Recognising Israel is insufficient from Israel’s perspective – it is quite clear they want, expect and demand complete supplication and subjection. This can either be through “foreign aid” paid by the US taxpayer, or by the dissolution of any coherent polity that could conceivably stand in the way of Israelis regional dominance, again paid for by the US taxpayer and affected by the US military.
  
  This “Israel just wants to be left alone” idea is completely naive at best, or deliberately dishonest. Israel is active, not passive. It has been at constant war with the Arabs and Persians in the region since even before 1948, when it was also at war with the British in the region.
  
  Such is the Israeli chutzpah, they categorise any armed resistance to their project of regional dominance as “antisemitic hatred” or “terrorism” when in fact, these people are resisting the Jewish onslaught to create Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates, and probably beyond.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:21am
  - Cassandra
    
    Who attacked who in 1948?
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:17am
    - Wandering Star
      
      That’s coming in halfway into the story – why did the Jews feel they could declare a state on someone else’s land without consequence? That’s really the heart of the matter.
      
      Most homeowners would attack someone who came into their home and tried to push them out, would they not, even if the intruder claimed some historical occupation right? Would that be unreasonable? On your assumption, the new arrival would have free rein.
      
      Very ironically, there’s another post on KB today entitled “Your land, my rules” which on first sight, I expected to be discussing the formation and subsequent events surrounding the State of Israel.
      
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      March 21, 2026 11:22am
      - Cassandra
        
        The UN approved it, ffs! It would help if your opinion could be based on fact. Now, whether the UN decision was right or wrong is actually irrelevant now.
        
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        March 21, 2026 12:32pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        “The UN approve it.”
        
        Sure, but so what? My argument does not at all depend on official sanction or otherwise, only on the consequences of one group of people displacing another group. Even if the UN had not declared a state of Israel, all things being equal, the core cause of the conflict would still remain.
        
        Just because the UN were dumb enough to approve it, given the inevitable consequences than anyone with a brain could see playing out, does not change the fact that the area had to be at least partially ethnically cleansed to form the state of Israel, which would cause resentment and guarantee blowback, to put it mildly.
        
        If the UN came out tomorrow and retracted their approval for the State of Israel, I’m sure you’d be all on board with that? After all, in the UN approve something, then nobody can possibly have any argument against it right, because this is your premise.
        
        Moreover, the same UN have repeatedly ruled that the Israelis have been illegally occupying Palestinian territory since 1967 in violation of international law – again, on your own premises, you’d have to agree with Israel pulling out of those occupied territories.
        
        So this “the UN said X” line of argument is not a track you want to go down when defending Israel, given that Israel recognises or refuses to recognise the tenets of international law and the rulings on international bodies depending on whether or not it suits them.
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:39pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        WS can’t be fucked any more trying to educate you out of your always-twisted crap so just down ticked you. Life is too short. Educate yourself on the full history of the formation of Israel. Use sources like Grokipedia instead of half-baked rabbit-hole rubbish.
        
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        March 21, 2026 4:43pm
      - Spoff
        
        “The UN approved it”
        Again, Historically incorrect if by that you mean that Resolution 181 approved dispossession of the Palestinian people and transfer of the ownership of Palestinian land to European Jews.
        In the first place, there was no such intent. Nothing in 181 contemplates anything but Sovereignty, ie. Governorship.
        Secondly, 181 (and all UNGA resolutions) are recommendations and require ratification by the Security Council to become enforcible. This was never obtained.
        The establishment of the Jewish State was effected in a unilateral declaration by Ben Gurion on May 15, 1948 whose forces had already expelled 400,000 villagers and erased their homes.
        
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        March 21, 2026 7:17pm
- Ra Henare
  
  You have omitted Netenyaus plan for a greater Israel.!!!! He needs an ongoing war to stay out of gaol.
  
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  March 21, 2026 4:09pm
- KH
  
  Israel: “From the Nile to the Euphrates”
  
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  March 21, 2026 4:46pm
david in Aus

People may be wondering why the petrol prices in NZ now are exceeding the highs of 2022 despite the crude oil price of Brent oil being below the 2022 highs.

NZ sources petrol/diesel from Asian refineries, the prices they are paying for Middle Eastern crude grades are already $140 per barrell. The physical market, the real market, is experiencing much higher prices than the paper market.

There is speculation that there is market manipulation by the US government. They are desperate to have the appearance of lower crude oil prices for political reasons. So much so, they are removing sanctions from Iranian oil.

Each day of the war continues, analysts are expecting crude oil prices to go up by $2-3 per day.
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March 21, 2026 8:23am
- Dougal10
  
  Probably time the refineries looked a little to the north in the pacific (sea of japan) rather than in the indian ocean now sanctions have eased and go back to refining oil from there .
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:14am
  - david in Aus
    
    The Iranians would probably say yeah-nah to selling oil elsewhere. There are still financial sanctions, so how will they get paid if it is in US dollars? They will still sell to China and get paid in Yuan.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:39am
    - Taieri
      
      how will they get paid if it is in US dollars?
      ————
      
      Barter. Already applying to exports to China.
      
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      March 21, 2026 10:19am
    - Dougal10
      
      Iran doesn’t have an oil port in the sea of japan
      
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      March 21, 2026 11:44am
- Master Mariner
  
  Yep, ME crude is 100bbl +/- but the same bbl is 150 in asian refineries.
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:35am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Indeed. NZ sources 75% of its fuel from Singapore and South Korea. South Korea is limiting exports to protect its own market, and Singapore is thinking about it.
  
  Both will prioritise realpolitik over “contracts”. South Korea was stiffed over Project Irex, where we reneged on a contract (a very poor contract IMHO).
  
  So, how is our fuel security looking now? Closing Marsden still look like a good idea?
  
  Yes it needed modernisation, but in the event of war, closing fuel supply lines was always going to happen, and it turns out to precisely nobody who was watching’s surprise, insurance is the weakest link in the supply chain.
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:24am
  - david in Aus
    
    Supply from Singapore is relatively safe. We have an agreement that they supply petrochemical and we supply them food. They are also paranoid that they do not have a hinterland to provide food. If they cannot be trusted by not honouring agreements, it makes them less secure long-term.
    
    However, South Korea is very likely to significantly limit exports. They remember the Asian Financial Crisis. This caused devastation to a generation. Those affected are in power now. They will not sacrifice their industry for other countries.
    
    That is why I think NZ should be rationing diesel now. The expectation should be that the flow of fuel will be reduced in a few weeks. The stock we have now should last as long as possible.
    
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    March 21, 2026 12:48pm
    - AitchW
      
      Farmers the length and breadth of NZ will be contemplating improved security for their on farm diesel supplies. Theft is already a problem for many.
      If rationing is introduced I predict a black market supplied by thefts from farmers.
      
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      March 21, 2026 2:27pm
  - kowtow
    
    How’s that decision to sell Solid Energy looking now.
    
    They had plans for coal to fert and fuel.
    
    Win win.
    
    But given NZ ‘leadership’ and climate bollocks , for the Plebs it’s lose lose.
    
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    March 21, 2026 2:17pm
- Paulus
  
  Retail supplier Greed !
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:43am
- jkt
  
  Good point.
  The American regime has eased sanction on Russia …. Hmmmm
  
  I prefer to read into Trump’s actions that he wants to ease economic pressure that resulted from his unilateral (almost) action to attack Iran.
  
  Funny thing …. I have a suspicion he could have build a large alliance of countries willing to support his actions against Iran. But he chose to act unilaterally …. That says everything about his character.
  
  The “poor form” shown by some of MAGA who argue against the actions of the Trump Regime …. gives one cause to think 🤔
  
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  March 21, 2026 1:51pm
  - sungsamning
    
    There is a lot of suspicion in the administration that telling NATO what was coming up would result in a leak to Iran. Just look at Mandelson, and Andrew MB Windsor.
    
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    March 21, 2026 3:27pm
Scott

Nearly half, 47%, of all immigrants to the USA are on welfare:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/03/19/analysis-nearly-half-of-immigrant-households-in-u-s-are-on-welfare/amp/

When you look at people from individual countries we find that:
– 67% of Mexicans are on welfare
– 75% from Honduras
– 87% from Afghanistan!

I tried to find the figures for NZ but they don’t seem to be available? I wonder for instance how many of the refugees from Somalia are working?

Is diversity really our strength? I don’t believe in mass immigration anyway. But we need to make sure that anyone who comes here is a contributor to our economic life and not a taker from our economic life.

And in America Trump is right. The American economy is being dragged down by many, especially those from certain countries where almost everyone ends up on welfare.
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March 21, 2026 8:27am
- Wayne L Sexton
  
  New Zealand would be bankrupt right now if immigrants were all on welfare. Our 30–34 age cohort is already 45% foreign-born, compared to just 13% in the US. We have triple the immigrant share in their prime working years, yet we aren’t broke. I’m against mass immigration, but these facts don’t seem to support the ‘economic drain’ argument
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:14am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Rerun the numbers for “refugees” and I guarantee the numbers will be right up there in NZ. Refugee family “chains” are a huge scam. NZ is just incredibly lucky that boat people haven’t made it here (yet).
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:26am
- Dougal10
  
  Pretty sure refugees in nz don’t have to find work .
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:16am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    No immediately; and bear in mind that many refugees admitted to NZ are women and children. But I do expect that such people want to work: it’s a question of finding someone who will employ them, which raises questions of suitable skills, experience and language.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:40am
    - Drone
      
      I wouldn’t worry about Somali immigrants not working, I’d worry about jobs for the young New Zealanders currently struggling to find work.
      
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      March 21, 2026 10:42am
      - artemisia
        
        Young New Zealanders struggling to find work …. I guess location might be an issue for some of them, but here are 5 from my family that suggest why some struggle and some don’t. And there are fewer jobs, maybe, but there’s more to it than that based on these 5. Perhaps attitude has something to do with it.
        
        All these 5 left school in the last few years, two last year. Two had some NCEA, not a lot. Both worked after school / holiday jobs and have worked since leaving school. One did a trades foundation course at poly, no fees, then an apprenticeship. The other carried on in hospo with the after school job and built experience and reputation. Never out of work. The other 3 left school, no quals. One is brainy but prob always unemployable. One applied for the dole at 18, 2 weeks later working at Maccas through WINZ, still there a year later and building skills and experience to stay or move on. The other, similar, also sent to Maccas through WINZ, did not survive the 90 day trial (“attitude”), still unemployed.
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:15am
      - pdm
        
        23 year old grandson (stupidly in my opinion) walked off Supermarket job after being yelled at in front of customers by a senior staffer in mid February.
        
        By 10 March had a new job in a butchers with increased hours.
        
        There is work there for those that want to work.
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:23am
  - AitchW
    
    Refugees and immigrants ain’t the same beast. We have plenty of immigrants, only a relatively small number of refugees.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:51am
- artemisia
  
  That article says Most notably, the nation’s illegal alien population ranges from anywhere between 11 to 22 million. Yes big US population but that’s a lot of illegals even at the low end.
  
  Still at least some of the deported will leave a job vacancy behind, and since criminal illegals are being focused on (and staying well under the radar meantime) that’ll be freeing up law enforcement and prison cells.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:38am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  There have been some studies of the fiscal impact of migrants in New Zealand. Sorry am on my phone so I can’t cite them.
  
  IIRC skilled and business migrants have very low benefit uptake. Much lower than New Zealand born folk.
  
  Family sponsored migrants tend to be older and cannot access benefits for at least two years after arrival.
  
  That leaves refugee and humanitarian migrants who have high benefit uptake. I don’t know whether there have been longitudinal studies of that group. High benefit uptake when they arrive is not a surprise. It would be interesting to see their benefit dependency rate after being here for perhaps five years.
  
  The USA is not a good comparator to New Zealand when analysing the net fiscal impact of migrants.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:40am
- Paulus
  
  Ours perhaps could be dragged down from within !
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:44am
pdm

Does anyone else think that Councils are giving the Coalition Government the `middle finger’ on Co Governance?

Here are links to two examples.
https://www.democracyaction.org.nz/taup_council_s_draft_jma_a_major_shift_in_how_taup_is_governed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZeezudOl8Y&t=31s

In particular I think that National are now fully on board with:
* The Treaty is a Partnership
* Co Governance.
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March 21, 2026 8:32am
- Simon
  
  “National are onboard” lol.
  
  Rule of law flushed away by National as they believe with all their might in tribal mumbo jumbo like mountains can be people.
  
  National govern based on tribal garbage, charging parasitic levels of taxes to prop it all up.
  
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  March 21, 2026 8:38am
  - Albie
    
    National are scared and in full appeasement mode because they know that anything apart from tinkering around the margins will result in a shit storm in election year, aided and abetted by Te Media Pahti.
    If they were serious about pushing back against this partnership/ co governance nonsense they would have done it in their first year.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:00am
  - Cassandra
    
    Not correct, Simon. Nats don’t believe in it, they just don’t want the headlines. Cowardly yes, believers no.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:21am
    - Simon
      
      Wrong. National govern like they believe mountains can be people. It isnt lip service.
      
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      March 21, 2026 9:47am
      - septic skeptic
        
        Agree. Judge them by their actions. Listen carefully to what they say and pay special attention to any qualifiers and limitations. Such as opposed to co-governance of GOVERNMENT SERVICES. Both those last two words are exclusive of say council water supplies – these are local government AND assets, excluded twice over.
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:41pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  I have commented on this issue previously. The answer is “yes”.
  
  I don’t blame Councils. I blame the government. The Government has total control over what councils can do.
  
  There is currently a Bill progressing through parliament. The Local Government (Systems Improvement) Bill. The Minister responsible says it will reign in local government. It is very weak. It will do absolutely nothing to stop the tendency to co governance to which you refer.
  
  Also its weakness means that councils will be seeking ways that they can circumvent the new prescribed purposes of local government. The mindset will not be about compliance but obstruction.
  
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  March 21, 2026 8:57am
  - pdm
    
    `I don’t blame Councils. I blame the government. The Government has total control over what councils can do.’
    
    Really it is mainly the National component of the Government and a weak Minister – Simon Watts that is allowing this.
    
    ACT have tried hard but, probably could try harder while NZFirst will always `cherry pick’ the issues they want to speak up on as potential votes count first for Winston, so you cannot rely on them.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:13am
    - Dougal10
      
      Its the ministers like Watts that are keeping the opposition in the political race for the next election , there are about 4 ministers that could have changed the direction of the country but they have dragged their heals and nothing has happened , luxon and willis have been blind or stupid not to have seen this.
      
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      March 21, 2026 9:23am
      - AitchW
        
        Watts certainly has been unimpressive. Why is he still there, he’d be a good Labour minister.
        
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        March 21, 2026 9:52am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        Luxon and Willis have been neither blind nor stupid; they are complicit.
        
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        March 21, 2026 9:52am
      - Damocles11
        
        It’s not that Luxon and Willis are ‘blind or stupid’ at all; these ministers are in the positions they are in by design, not by accident. Luxon is the problem, not the solution.
        
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        March 21, 2026 9:59am
      - RoboRob
        
        Watts, Goldsmith, Willis and Luxon are clearly a ‘block’ in the National party intent on NOT making any major change. They clearly believe it is politically smart to keep the status quo. We see that through all portfolios except for education. They are either too timid to run the risk of upsetting someone OR they actually believe the current systems are the best. I believe the latter is true for Goldsmith and Willis. Who knows what Luxon thinks and I wonder if Watts is just incompetent, lazy or both.
        
        Ironically, if the Luxon and co opened their eyes they would see that National have received glowing support from people happy with the changes in education. They have lost support in the areas they have been timid in, such as co governance, finances, government size, energy, local bodies and media. All of these are areas managed by the timid (left?) of the party.
        
        If National loses this year, which is a possibility, they will likely blame it on Iran. That is sad because they have been steadily walking towards a defeat for the last year and a half. NZ will be the worse for Nationals failure to keep the looney left out of power.
        
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        March 21, 2026 10:46am
      - RoboRob
        
        @AitchW
        
        As would Goldsmith and Willis.
        
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        March 21, 2026 10:47am
      - pdm
        
        D10 – you are right about there being 4 ministers that could have changed the direction.
        
        I think Council’s would have been brought into line had Simeon Brown not had to be moved to Health.
        
        Simon Watts was the worst possible choice as Local Government Minister to replace him and we are all paying the price.
        
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        March 21, 2026 11:29am
- Gravelroad
  
  I think some councils are fixated on Maori interests and issues for reasons not immediately clear to many ratepayers.
  Ironic that most Maori “land owning” entities don’t actually pay rates.
  As far as central government goes, voters want clear policy options, not just commentary alluding to what might happen if things go their way at the election.
  If it is National Party policy to implement “co-governance” then they should have the courage to say so and let their electorate decide to vote for them or not.
  That’s leadership.
  
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  March 21, 2026 8:58am
  - Quail
    
    100% GR,
    New Zealand needs ( must have )the opportunity to vote on these matters!
    If not they will never be resolved and race relations will continue to deteriorate.
    ACT’s treaty bill was a good start! An opportunity missed .
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:19am
  - Damocles11
    
    National are demonstrably still implementing co-governance, largely on the quiet. You want they to say that they either are or are not doing so. Rather than judge them by what they say, judge them by their actions. (This is a good rule of thumb to apply to NZ First in the here and now).
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:01am
    - pdm
      
      NZFirst is easy to judge.
      
      They rarely do what they say unless Baubles are on offer for Winston.
      
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      March 21, 2026 11:32am
- Dougal10
  
  And schools and any organisation that lives on govt money like hospitals etc
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:18am
- imalwaysright
  
  Government policy is that Councils “don’t have to practice co governance”.
  
  That is very difference to banning co governance.
  
  It seems similar to the Government’s telling school boards that they “don’t have to abide by treaty principles”.
  
  Three guesses what the Councils and Boards will do…
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:38am
- Paulus
  
  Only up to the Election on November !
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:46am
Simon

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Netanyahu: “Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good.”

Netanyahu wanted war criminal. These disgusting people running Israel are blowing up the world.
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March 21, 2026 8:34am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  The people running Israel are responding to the evil theocrats who run the despotic nations surrounding them. Who want every last Israeli dead.
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:00am
  - Simon
    
    “The people running Israel are responding to the evil theocrats ”
    
    Wrong. There is a greater Israeli project and Israel has its own deep trenched religious issues. Its Israel who are killing those around them. Iran is the last hold out. But the world is changing fast.
    
    There are many moderate Israelis who are oppose their govt.
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:52am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      What would you have them do? What did you think would happen after the massive terrorist attack from Gaza, which murdered hundreds of folk? What did you expect after the Iranian government vowed for the last 47 years to destroy Israel?
      
      What surprises me is the restraint that Israel has shown.
      
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      March 21, 2026 10:48am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Do you honetsly believe that Hamas and other like minded palestinians had no reason to attack Israel on Oct 7th.??? Just woke up one morning and ran rampant?
        
        Yes it was horendous and emotional for many.
        
        Context.
        More civilians have been killed in both Iran and Lebanon by Israels attacks. Than Israelis killed on October 7th
        
        You will probably say Israels attacks were justified.
        
        Check some history of Palestine, then apply the same lens and you will see all 3 situations are similiar.
        
        Reactiond to threats and oppression
        
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        March 21, 2026 4:20pm
      - KH
        
        Israel has not shown restraint.
        They murdered 70,000 people in Gaza, and you call it ‘restraint’
        Delusional.
        
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        March 21, 2026 6:28pm
    - Paulus
      
      Worldwide ther are many so called moderates who hate their Governments – take New Zealand as an example led by the so called media.
      
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      March 21, 2026 11:48am
- Inandout
  
  Simon, Israel surviving, or a world where the mad Iranian mullahs daily threaten the US and the west with death? Dig a little deeper into the history of Iran from 1979 and you will discover a truly evil line of Islamic regimes. Their instability is shown in their attacking once allies like Saudia Arabia and Qatar. And finally why did that head wallah escape to Canada with his entourage of wives? Iran is nearing the end of its present reign because the people have tasted freedom.
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:09am
  - Drone
    
    American freedom Inandout. All their Malls have been bombed.
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:47am
    - Inandout
      
      Drone, I will choose US freedom over UK freedom any time.
      
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      March 21, 2026 12:59pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Inandout. I think you need to get out more
    
    Iran is nearing the end of its present reign because the people have tasted freedom.
    
    Which freedom taste are you refering to?
    The freedom of Israel & Trump to bomb the shit out of them on a pretext(ie Nuclear bombs)
    
    While both US and Iran were at negotiating tables and US Intelligence said no bombs no hint of bombs
    
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    March 21, 2026 4:23pm
- Mikey Martinelli
  
  If Genghis Khan was still alive, the Lord Jesus Christ could wipe him out with the smallest thought, or anybody for that matter. No contest!
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:22am
  - kowtow
    
    Puts me in mind of the leader of the UK ‘Greens” .
    
    He’s had a career in titty enlargement .
    
    From AI
    
    ‘ 2013 Incident: Polanski, then a Harley Street hypnotherapist, appeared in a The Sun newspaper article where he offered a reporter a session to increase her bust size. The reporter claimed her chest size increased following the session.’
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:30am
  - imalwaysright
    
    MM
    Why didn’t he wipe him out before he did the damage?
    
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    March 21, 2026 12:11pm
Wayne L Sexton

Keep a close eye on the “On-Water” numbers in Monday’s fuel update. The math suggests a massive hit to our supply chain that the “Total Days of Cover” figure might hide:

The Inflow: Last Monday, we had 13 ships on the water. Since then, 10 have docked. That leaves only 3 ships from the original fleet still coming.

The Outflow: We’ve used 7 days of normal fuel, plus roughly 3 extra days due to panic buying. That’s 10 days of fuel GONE in a week.

The Gap: If the 3 “safe ships” the Minister mentioned haven’t sailed yet due to the overseas refinery issues, we are walking into Monday with 10 fewer ships and 10 fewer days of cover than we had last week.

If the incoming pipeline is that empty, the government will be under immense pressure to move to Level 2 of the National Fuel Plan. Watch to see if they try to “refill” the count with ships that haven’t actually left port yet.

Note: More ships may be announced at Monday’s press conference. I am not an expert and have no idea what the government’s plan is to get around the overseas refinery closures — this is just about closely monitoring the pipeline numbers for transparency.
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March 21, 2026 8:44am
- Taieri
  
  There’re no oil tanker arrivals listed in Port Otago shipping schedule for the period between the 26th of March and 17th of June.
  
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  March 21, 2026 12:36pm
peterwn

“Tensions at Wellington City Council over mayor and councillors’ offices at new Jervois Quay HQ”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington/tensions-at-wellington-city-council-over-mayor-and-councillors-offices-at-new-jervois-quay-hq/CKHX3AAMLRGXFOTYHXYGJWYVXM/

There would be a reason for the leases building’s layout. The ‘civic’ floor (Mayor, Council Chamber etc) is only temporary. When (and if!) the Town Hall reconstruction is complete, these ‘civic’ functions will return to the first floor of the Town Hall building. Then the floor (probably just the ‘civic’ part) in the leased building would be re-purposed, so views would not matter.
This does raise the issue of whether the Mayor would be better in the administrative building, possibly even adjacent to the Chief Executive.
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March 21, 2026 8:52am
- imalwaysright
  
  Council offices should be in the cheapest nastiest part of town.
  
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  March 21, 2026 12:16pm
  - peterwn
    
    Before the Michael Fowler Centre was named it was sometimes referred to as the new Town Hall. Someone said ‘I did not know that Newtown had a town hall’.
    
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    March 21, 2026 2:55pm
artemisia

The current New Zealand government gets smacked hard for not doing things. The current United States government gets smacked hard for doing things.

Sounds a little bit like politics.//
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March 21, 2026 9:03am
- david in Aus
  
  Better to do nothing than dumb things.
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:09am
  - artemisia
    
    I did mention politics. Perhaps you didn’t notice.
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:05am
peterwn

A former Mayor lost their licence for 3 months after clocking up 100 demerits for speeding (ie where speeding is detected by a police officer). They must have also clocked up a hefty sum of speed camera tickets. One would think that a driver would not be so heavy footed after clocking up a series of speeding tickets. Perhaps the person is in the fortunate position of being able to pay for speeding tickets without a significant impact on budgets. However demerit points equally affect the rich man in the castle and the poor man at the gate.
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March 21, 2026 9:10am
- mandk
  
  [Deleted]
  Let’s just stop this stupid nonsense. [Mod – take your own advice]
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:34am
- MCōs
  
  Reminds me of the last time we had carless days.
  Bob Jones, being not short of a bob, just went out and bought another car to use on the day he couldn’t use his Jag.
  Nobody would have noticed except he had to make a song and dance about it in a column he used to write.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:37am
  - Inandout
    
    MC, old Bob actually had a liking for the Datsun 240Z.
    
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    March 21, 2026 1:02pm
    - peterwn
      
      He also apparently kept an old Hillman Minx or similar at his crib in the Turangi area. He could drive to fishing spots (like when he met Rod Vaughan) and not have to worry about vandalism etc.
      
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      March 21, 2026 2:59pm
- wsk12345
  
  Thats bei g caught twice doing 90-99 in a 60 zone. Or 5x doing about 10 k over.
  
  Doesn’t happen by mistake.
  
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  March 21, 2026 12:44pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Bryce Edwards has opened a great can of worms over the Paul Eagle spend-up….

Talk about mates looking after mates all over the landscape of contract deals:

None of this proves a political arrangement. But it is worth asking: is the Eagle-Agite contracting an example of politically connected people looking after each other? Not in the crude, cash-in-a-brown-envelope way. In the New Zealand way: contracts, “strategic advisory,” and the quiet recycling of insiders into paid influence work funded by public money.

https://www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-briefing-inside-the-network
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March 21, 2026 9:29am
- peterwn
  
  An acquaintance of mine recently left a strategic consulting firm to set up his own firm. He was not able to seek Government work because he was not on the list of approved consultants. Also there was no path to be added to the list, nor was there any date when the list would be ‘open’ for bids (with Government supply term contracts, fresh bids are usually sought each one or two years). His previous firm was on the ‘list’. He had not previously been a public sector employee which could possibly help getting on a list. So it makes wonder whether ‘connected’ people are at an advantage when seeking such consulting work.
  The good news is he has since landed a significant consulting assignment from a Government group because of the quality of his previous work.
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:48am
  - Paulus
    
    Many employees in Tauranga we are told a few years ago, took redundancy, and set up their own companies who tendered and got jobs, to do what they did as Council Employees, at double to cost of course to the ratpayers = a little boyos club.
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:53am
- AitchW
  
  Eagle certainly looks hopelessly compromised on several fronts. If the SFO doesn’t investigate him there is something awfully wrong.
  He even looks dodgy!
  
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  March 21, 2026 9:54am
- Damocles11
  
  Although Edwards would seem to come at things from the perspective of the political left, he does seemingly have access to more information that the average man in the street & is capable of connecting dots, which makes him worth reading most of the time.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:05am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  And then there’s Shane Jones and the commercial fishing industry.
  Other countries call it corruption.
  How naive are new New Zealanders..
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:02am
Maggy Wassilieff

And look… it’s not just ex-Labour MPs who are lax with their contracting processes…. Our Statistics Department seems to give $$$$$ away willy-nilly

https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/20/auditor-general-slams-mismanagement-of-millions-in-stats-nz-contracts/
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March 21, 2026 9:34am
Maggy Wassilieff

If you are worried about the proposal for NZ to do away with 5 year-Census, then read the comment by the former NZ Government Statistician – Len Cook – at the end of this article:

https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/20/auditor-general-slams-mismanagement-of-millions-in-stats-nz-contracts/
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March 21, 2026 9:41am
- artemisia
  
  The mismanaged $11.7m contract – part of the much bigger $29m Mana Ōrite agreement with iwi data group Te Kāhui Raraunga – is the second major issue around management of Māori data coinciding with the 2023 Census. The Auditor-General identified “significant deficiencies”.
  
  How can that possibly be? Tia Warbrick is
  Deputy Government Statistician and Deputy Chief Executive for Strategic Engagement, Maori Partnerships & Data Capability. She has worked at Stats NZ for 5 years or so, so not a newbie. Managing those contracts is her day job and seems she has failed the taxpayer (and her boss) rather expensively.
  
  I expect a comprehensive performance review is under way. Right?
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:04am
  - pdm
    
    DCM imminent arty?
    
    Doubt it.
    
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    March 21, 2026 11:36am
- kowtow
  
  There’s a grim irony that the census project in NZ which now appears to be diverted to racial purposes has collapsed because a significant proportion of the very people the state has targetted refuse to complete it.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:10am
Ian Boag

When petrol gets to $4/l when you can find some. or you are a dairy farmer and urea has gone up 50% and there are supply issues. And when helium supply gets tight enough that there are cutbacks in the use of MRI scanners …..

Thanks Don. Thanks Bibi. Start a war without thinking what the worldwide consequences might be. Good on you. So good that you have taken on the mad mullahs. What have we kiwis done to deserve this … ?

MM has it right – this has gone on long enough that there is now a significant gap in tanker arrivals that will take a while to close. And oilfields/refineries are not things you start up by just turning a tap.
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March 21, 2026 9:58am
- Damocles11
  
  I think it’s a case of a war begun for the right reasons, as below –
  1/ To remove a jihadist, terrorist regime which is an existential threat to Israel and a consistent underminer of the stability of the middle east.
  2/ To remove from the geopolitical chess board one player in the Russia – China – Iran axis which stands arrayed against the West.
  3/ To liberate, if possible, the Iranian people from the clutches of a tyrannical theocracy which squashes their basic human rights and freedoms.
  – So a war begun for the right reasons which is being prosecuted in some major respects incompetently and in ways that are damaging the West and fraying further the traditional alliances that have always been a bedrock of resisting the totalitarian states aligned against the democratic Western nations.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:14am
  - Ian Boag
    
    a war begun for the right reasons which is being prosecuted in some major respects incompetently
    
    And we are suffering the consequences …
    
    There has to be some reason why we should give a shit about this. When the NZ economy takes a hit and there are fuel/fertiliser/helium shortages etc we can feel warm and toasty about how we are taking it on the chin for the Israelis ….
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:28am
    - Wandering Star
      
      Look, I’m stoked to be paying a fortune at the pump and at the checkout for no other reason than it means that Israel can have no potential challengers and can realise its 3,000 year desire for dominance in a region on the other side of the world. Any sane person would think the same. I think of everything that Israel has done for New Zealand over the years and it’s only natural that we should suffer on their behalf as a means of payback.
      
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      March 21, 2026 10:39am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        WS: “for no other reason than it means that Israel can have no potential challengers”
        
        Obviously not the reason and again devious. “Challengers” hey? Sort of like a rival team of ping pong players? Or insane religious savages hellbent on genocide?
        
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        March 21, 2026 4:09pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        Yes, “challengers.” Iran is a nation of 90 million people with a land mass the size of much of Western Europe, with natural resources, a huge military and an ancient history and venerable culture. Israel is less than 100 years old and has none of these features.
        
        Of course Israel sees them as a regional challenger, and in fact, the principal one. As long as Iran exists as a coherent and stable state with all of the advantages I note, then Israel will always have someone much greater than they are as a near neighbour. Hence the Israelis’ long held desire to neutralise and diminish Iran as a potential challenger, by US miliary force preferably.
        
        But instead of putting it as I have, they sell their wars of aggression by promulgating ridiculous rhetoric like painting the Iranians as “insane religious savages hellbent on genocide.” And because the public are frequently so ignorant of the details, they believe the PR.
        
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        March 21, 2026 5:53pm
  - AitchW
    
    Let’s not forget the leftist governments on the west who have recognised Palestine and refuse to help because Orange Man Bad.
    
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    March 21, 2026 10:53am
    - MCōs
      
      As of late 2025 more than 150/193 UN members states formally recognized the State of Palestine.
      Note that before Israel existed Palestine did; albeit not as an independent sovereign state, but then again neither was NZ before 1907.
      
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      March 21, 2026 2:05pm
- grumpy
  
  “Thanks Don. Thanks Bibi. Start a war without thinking what the worldwide consequences might be. “
  
  Or, the “opportunity cost” of not starting the war, the unleashing of nuclear weapons by a fanatical regime and the end of civilisation as we know it.
  
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  March 21, 2026 12:32pm
  - Taieri
    
    the unleashing of nuclear weapons by a fanatical regime and the end of civilisation as we know it
    ————-
    
    There’re a couple of “fanatical” regimes possessing nuclear weapons right now. One of them happens to be Islamic. So far they haven’t unleashed them.
    
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    March 21, 2026 12:40pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    opportunity cost
    
    When you are a minimum wage Kiwi family struggling with increased fuel/food/power costs because of the Iran war ….. good ole Bibi 🙂
    
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    March 21, 2026 4:55pm
- MCōs
  
  A third of our urea is currently produced at Kapuni from natural gas by way of an Ammonia/Urea plant built in the ‘think big’ era.
  One wonders how much longer that will be viable.
  A consulting engineering firm I was working for at the time designed the plant foundation.
  We worked from drawings sent out from America and Japan where the plant originated.
  The Japanese drawings were pristine, but the American ones were barely legible and a bloke wearing the most garish clothes came out from Texas to help
  
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  March 21, 2026 2:24pm
  - Quail
    
    Mcos,
    Thanks are due from todays New Zealanders to Muldoon for those think big energy programs!
    They are still saving the 2026 economy after all those intervening years.
    All Governments post Muldoon ,have achieved, is falling productivity !
    
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    March 21, 2026 4:34pm
- peterwn
  
  Modern MRI machines use liquid nitrogen to avoid having to use scarce helium.
  There is lots of helium on the Sun, the only problem – mining it would be impossible.
  
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  March 21, 2026 3:06pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    The liquid helium is to cool the magnets down enough to be superconductors. In 2025 Philips has released a new model that will run with liquid nitrogen cooling (nowhere near as cold). Dec 2025 – so there won’t be a lot of them round just yet – or next month – or next year. All the MRI machines in the world right now use liquid helium ….
    
    https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/press/2025/philips-unveils-blueseal-horizon-industrys-first-helium-free-3-0t-mri-platform.html
    
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    March 21, 2026 4:52pm
- Ghost
  
  Maybe its time to talk about Diesel, your food supply, the delivery of food to the shops, etc
  
  New Zealand’s farming sector is being hit by a diesel shock, with just 22.7 days of fuel in the country and farm-level prices rising 50 cents to over $1 per litre in weeks. During peak harvest, farmers cannot cut usage while revenues were locked in months ago, forcing thousands in extra daily costs and squeezing margins across the industry. At the same time, rising fertiliser and supply chain costs are starting to push food prices higher, with supermarkets already warning of increases. This is no longer just a farming issue, it is a system-wide shock impacting the #nzeconomy, driving up costs across the food supply chain and worsening the #costofliving crisis.
  
  YouTube
  
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  March 21, 2026 7:04pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    Thanks again …. 🙂
    
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    March 21, 2026 9:40pm
Damocles11

For those who have abandoned any commitment to fiscal responsibility and the idea that our debt is anything other than largely meaningless numbers on a screen, it should be noted that the costs of borrowing seem to be moving higher which makes this debt a millstone around our collective necks. Every dollar we spend on interest on this debt is a dollar that can’t be spent on paying for the welfare state, or paying for badly needed infrastructure such as new hospitals or roads. Real world events are challenging New Zealanders cosy assumptions that we were able to, and entitled to, borrow as much money as we liked at dirt cheap interest rates. The arrival of inflation was the first rude shock, and the rising costs of global borrowing has been the second rude shock.
And now credit ratings agency Fitch has downgraded New Zealand’s outlook from stable to negative, citing debt reduction concerns. Despite this, the ratings agency has kept the country’s core rating grade at AA+. For now.
“The outlook revision reflects our view that a substantial debt reduction is becoming more difficult to envisage, as fiscal consolidation has been delayed in the past few years”, Fitch wrote. (Fiscal consolidation is a term used to describe getting back to surplus and reducing the debt ratio.)
The general Government debt-GDP ratio has increased substantially over the last six years as the economy has been buffeted by a number of shocks, Fitch stated.
I would contend that these shocks themselves are one thing, the policy response during the pandemic of fire-hosing money on all directions was quite another. It was reckless, irresponsible, and totally overdone and has left New Zealand in an extremely difficult position.
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March 21, 2026 10:26am
- AitchW
  
  Yet the left will absolve itself of any responsibility and blame the government for the consequences of Ardern, Hipkins, Robertson and Orr’s breathtaking incompetence and hubris.
  And voters will believe them and quite possibly elect a government of an almost unchanged Labour Party with Green and Maori parties thrown in for free.
  
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  March 21, 2026 10:58am
  - Paulus
    
    Unchange, surely you mean unhinged ?
    
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    March 21, 2026 2:27pm
MCōs

The other day when 91 petrol first hit $3 we had occasion to motor from Auckland up to Wellsford at about 9am.
We rarely venture over the Bridge into the hinterland.
Almost all the way up as far as Silverdale the traffic heading south was bumper to bumper while buses sped passed in a dedicated bus lane. It’s going to be mighty expensive for people commuting to work in petrol cars as the fuel prices continue to edge up.
I read today that Trump is not interested in a ceasefire — maybe tomorrow then
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March 21, 2026 11:06am
- Damocles11
  
  Even if Trump was interested in a ceasefire, and I don’t believe he will be until he has taken Kharg Island and / or opened up the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians would also need to want a ceasefire and I don’t they do at present. The Iranian regime is instead fixated on inflicting on Trump as much political damage as they can via rising oil and gas prices.
  For Trumps part, I think he now wants to open the Straits of Hormuz so he can claim a victory there and stick it to the ‘NATO cowards’.
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:17am
  - Paulus
    
    Iran finally has worldwide the media on its side so it will continually condemn the USA in the Mid Term Elections and try and get rid of Trump.
    
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    March 21, 2026 2:28pm
- kowtow
  
  If you see what his latest on truth whatever is , he sounds as if he’s getting ready to walk away and has invited the countries that need s o h to come and open it themselves .
  
  I hope he doesn’t pull out till the mullahs are gone , but with these operations that depend so heavily on intelligence , deception etc and of course the Trump factor itself , who knows .
  
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  March 21, 2026 11:25am
  - Wayne L Sexton
    
    The U.S. can’t pull out of the war without abandoning Israel and its Middle East bases. Iran isn’t going to let them stop fighting just because the U.S. wants to
    
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    March 21, 2026 12:17pm
    - Wandering Star
      
      The Israelis and Americans started this war themselves, and they can end it themselves. They made the choice to attack Iran, and they can make the choice to stop attacking Iran. There’s no reason at all to think that Iran would attack US bases or Israel if the US and Israel drew back to those locations, because Iran is defending itself from attack, not going on an offensive unprovoked.
      
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      March 21, 2026 1:32pm
      - nathie
        
        Hmmmm ….. let’s play swapsies and waddaya know – double standards alert!
        
        The ~~Israelis and Americans~~ Russians started this war themselves, and they can end it themselves. They made the choice to attack ~~Iran~~ Ukraine, and they can make the choice to stop attacking ~~Iran~~ Ukraine. There’s no reason at all to think that ~~Iran~~ Ukraine would attack ~~US bases or Israel~~ Russia if the ~~US and Israel~~ Russians drew back to those locations, because ~~Iran~~ Ukraine is defending itself from attack, not going on an offensive unprovoked.
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:01pm
      - Wayne L Sexton
        
        Why would Iran agree to that? They’ve been attacked unprovoked twice and have already shown they can deny the U.S. access to Middle Eastern oil. Why would they give all that power back to the USA?
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:29pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        nathie
        Sorry, but we’re talking about the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
        
        If you’re saying that Russia vis a vis Ukraine and Judeo-America vis a vis Iran are exactly the same in principle, then that’s a worthy argument we could address.
        
        If, however, you’re trying to distract from how completely wrong you are about the situation in Iran by talking about a conflict in another part of the world with no relevance at all to the attack on Iran, then I can see exactly what you’re doing.
        
        Should we discuss next whether or not the Romans under Scipio Aemilianus were wrong to sack Carthage to end the Third Punic War?
        
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        March 21, 2026 2:55pm
david in Aus

The off-ramp for Trump in this war is to blame the Israelis and then declare that he brought peace to the Middle-East by defanging the Israelis and hanging them up to dry. Declare peace by giving the Palestinians statehood and removing the West Bank settlements.

This will allow the Iranians to save face, and declare victory. Remove military aid from the Israelis. The US have spend 300 billion on Israel. Israel is not of strategic importance to the West, the straits of Hormuz is of vital strategic importance.

NZ should support efforts to isolate Israel. This is sad for me, as especially after Oct 7 I was very sympathetic. However, in realpolitics Israel is expendable, they also deserve it to some extent.
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March 21, 2026 11:57am
- Wandering Star
  
  This makes perfect sense: isolate and bring to heel Israel, a tiny and relatively insignificant nation of only about 9 million people, rather than taking on the many 100s of millions of the Arab/Persian world.
  
  The trouble with this extremely clean, logical and geopolitically and economically sound approach is that the Jewish/Israeli lobby is the dominant influence group in the United States, so therefore the consequent US policy is the worst possible one guaranteeing the worst possible outcomes for America and the Middle East, excluding Israel, which is the only winner.
  
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  March 21, 2026 12:13pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    I think the US fear the Israeli government whose influence of America has grown to such an extent that they no longer lobby congressmen and senators, rather they now seem to merely utter their lattest whim, and the Americans race to fulfill it.
    
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    March 21, 2026 2:20pm
    - Wandering Star
      
      Yes, to put it mildly, it’s certainly an unhealthy and completely one sided relationship and clearly detrimental to the United States on many levels.
      
      I think a lot of observers see US politicians (especially GOP ones) praising Israel lavishly (you could say slavishly), deferring to the Jewish community on everything, and constantly saying how much the US shares with its “closest ally” Israel and think this is all organic and of their own accord, rather than what it is, which is demonstrating complete submission to their masters.
      
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      March 21, 2026 6:05pm
- Taieri
  
  This is sad for me, as especially after Oct 7 I was very sympathetic.
  ————-
  
  So was I, but not anymore.
  
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  March 21, 2026 12:41pm
  - Wandering Star
    
    Netanyahu said after October 7 that Israel would use it to reshape the Middle East. You could see the attacks on Iran coming a mile away, premised initially on a response to Hamas but always look at other targets:
    
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-10/netanyahu-promises-massive-force-against-hamas-and-gaza/102954562
    
    “What Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible … we are going to change the Middle East”
    
    Obviously, “chang[ing] the Middle East” is a far more extensive exercise than just taking on Hamas in localised Gaza.
    
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    March 21, 2026 1:54pm
JJ56

Thomas Coughlan NZ Herald offering insightful commentary on the week just gone.
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March 21, 2026 1:50pm
- Paulus
  
  Think you know where the idiot Coughlan is coming from.
  Under it all he says is the underlying formation of the effective destruction of New Zealand as we know it.
  He is part of the left wing movement who believe they are clever in written inuendoes to cover the real media intentions.
  
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  March 21, 2026 2:34pm
- kowtow
  
  Being the Herald and Coughlan that’s more likely to be “inciteful”.
  
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  March 21, 2026 2:37pm
  - JJ56
    
    Or inspiteful in a couple of senses
    
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    March 21, 2026 4:13pm
MCōs

Engineers, unlike world leaders, usually factor all the information into their calculations before reaching a conclusion.
And then add a safety factor to cover their arse.
Near our house is an on ramp to the SW Motorway. It has three lanes; two controlled by lights at certain times and one not controlled for cars with two people or other conditions.
Whilst a good few steadfast citizens use the correct lanes plenty zoom down the uncontrolled lane when they shouldn’t because they know they’ll get away with it.
Some traffic engineer would have calculated the interval to allow vehicles to enter the motorway. I wonder what sort of factor they would have applied for these ne’er-do-wells
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March 21, 2026 4:39pm
Ghost

Seriously, someone has to ask for a longer sentence.

A man who was supplying a woman with illicit drugs, which she later fatally overdosed on, has asked a judge to give him a heavier sentence.

Matthew Allen Knox met the 24-year-old woman, who was often in pain from medical issues, in early 2024.

Article

The 25-year-old has been sentenced in the Hamilton District Court, where Judge Kim Saunders tried to hand down a term of four months’ community detention.

“I don’t want to put my foot in it,” Knox told the judge, before asking if she could instead give him about seven months to keep him on track with his own rehabilitation.

Good luck, I hope you can remain clean and change your life.
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March 21, 2026 6:41pm
Jack5

Is closing refineries a Lefty thing?

New Zealand shut down the Marsden Point oil refinery in 2022.

Now Britain’s last four refineries are at risk of being shut down after Rachel Reeves refused to put a carbon-levy tax on imported fuel.

Rachel Reeves is Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. UK’s finance minister).

British refineries pay some of the highest electricity prices in Europe and struggle to compete with products from overseas.
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March 21, 2026 9:31pm

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