Alright. I'll take a sec to make a comment on a subject that I don't often comment on, and that is New Zealand politics. The reasons I don't often do this are:
1) Kiwis are relatively private when it comes to discussing politics and religion (And these two subjects are things that have little influence or impact Kiwis in their daily decisions)
2) New Zealand politics are fairly banal, and generally low impact, particularly when it comes to foreign policy.
3) I've largely given up making any comments on any political subject because it feels like I'm pissing in the wind.
4) I generally don't have time.
...So my comment is this, and I'll start with a question. How many Kiwis are aware that the
NZDF has decided to deploy
LAVs in support of our
SAS personnel
serving in
Afghanistan? This of course in addition to
Army personnel deployed in reconstruction efforts.
I suspect the answer to this question is "Not many". I put this down to a failure on the part of the New Zealand media to give the matter any real coverage. Unfortunately the news in New Zealand is heading down hill. Detail in stories is getting smaller, we're getting more quick coverage across a spectrum of subjects (Good if you want your information to be broad. Not good if you want your information to be deep) and more puff pieces are flowing in. I refer primarily to the TV news here. New Zealand doesn't actually have a source for hard news really. You can watch stuff from overseas, but this fails to cover New Zealand issues like the ones above.
I actually (Politely) asked three Kiwi work mates their thoughts on this subject recently, and one of them stutteringly tried to answer the question, with a look of shock on his face that I asked the question, and the other two quietly shuffled their feet while looking at the ground, not even bothering to answer the question. Kiwis are good at burying their heads in the sand some times. Not when it comes to hard work, but certainly when it comes to hard questions.
So on the matter of the LAVs. Sure. The reason behind deploying them has some merit in that they will make our SAS personnel there more safe (grammar check suggests “safer”. I’d have received a wrap on the knuckles for that while I was at school) than they currently are. This doesn't belie the fact that our SAS should not be in Afghanistan in the first place. For arguments of "Helping the people of Afghanistan", "Spreading [sic] freedom and democracy" and "Rebuilding a failed state"*, the SAS are actually there to curry favour with the United States relative to a free trade agreement. So what this means is, New Zealand military personnel have potential to die in a country with which New Zealand is NOT at war, all to sell more butter in the United States. Keep enjoying your National lead government. I told you so. How's that tax cut your were lied^H^H^H^Hpromised?
So if you don't have a problem with the LAV deployment, do you have a problem with Hercs being sent as well? How about artillery? How about more support personnel? Where does it end? And what will you say when someone turns their attention on New Zealand and says "This is for your support of the imperial aggression on the part of the United States"? The US doesn't even know what it's doing there. What are we going to do when the conflict in Afghanistan spreads even further than the worst kept secret of (Illegal)
CIA drone attacks in Pakistan? So why are we assisting in a conflict; the basic purpose of which those who are carrying it out is in question. But that is another thing I've ranted over before. The US is over. Seriously. I've given up, and I'm just watching the country spiral down the drain. I have no faith that a real positively transformative figure can be elected to president in the United States. The country will collapse through its own debt, which is a result of ignorance and greed. The parallels with the end of the Rome cannot be ignored. All empires end. It's China's turn now. The only question is, do we destroy our environment while we’re at it.
* For anyone who wants to use this argument in support of what's being done in Afghanistan, I hope you're not a hypocrite and have plans to invade other failed states to carry out the same efforts.
Leaving because of 3PV? Read this.
