Hard News: Towards the Truth
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Just thinking, in reply to
I hope this is a positive move after Jerry Mateparae. One man with just too much power. I know nothing about him, other than he has held every position of power. He would need to be pretty incredible not to be influenced by that.
The alt view is that he's protecting his back and locked the skeletons away from any old Military rivals by shaping the selection process. -
Duncan Garner just raised the Yellow Peril flag on the Nation, talking of Chinas investment in PNG as Chinas Tentacles.
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<i>I'd argue that he was extremely lucky as RAF squadrons were in action in all the above. </i>
I'm sure he'd have been up for it, but the vast majority of the RAF was strung across the eastern UK and northern Germany ready for the Big One. Which is the most important role of a military - ultimate national defence.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
We dumped the Skyhawks – correctly I think – because they were antiquated and getting more so, and the then outgoing government had arranged to replace them with aircraft that really were no use to us – and at some cost.
Furthermore, similar tasks can be done with guided missiles for a fraction of the cost. Small problem though - there's no adrenalin rush from sitting in a missile control base.
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Simon Grigg, in reply to
Duncan Garner just raised the Yellow Peril flag on the Nation, talking of Chinas investment in PNG as Chinas Tentacles.
That overblown flag has been raised continuously by those that would have us re-arm with whatever overpriced gadgetry and toys the US & Australian military and the right wing doofheads like the odious Murdoch hack Greg Sheridan in The Australian tell us we need to prevent the swarming hordes that keep them awake at night arriving and removing our organs as we sleep.
As is the oft-stated claim that that China's neighbours are terrified of their rise. I'd argue that quite the opposite is the case - rather they're mostly basking in the economic boom and good times China has played a big part in bringing to the region, especially when placed next to the less than benign role Western tentacles have played in the region at times over the last century and more.
I've been a bit hard on the RNZAF. I share in the Pacific War amnesia, totally forgot their role in it.
We also forget that when there was a real regional threat (although not as direct a threat to our nation as we were and are led to believe) in 1942, we were able to raise a very credible armed airforce within 12 months and had them playing a major role in the South West Pacific with 18 months of Pearl Harbour.
Small problem though - there's no adrenalin rush from sitting in a missile control base.
Just make the controller look like a Wii handset and that becomes less of an issue.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
and the right wing doofheads like the odious Murdoch hack Greg Sheridan in The Australian tell us we need to prevent the swarming hordes that keep them awake at night arriving and removing our organs as we sleep.
I remember that TV interview where Jim Anderton (then deputy PM from memory) was taking the mickey out of him.
Seriously though, some people still see fit to flog the dead unicorn known as the Domino Theory (TM).
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But it wasn't until the very end of an online-only "Extra" segment, as long as the broadcast show itself, that he spoke the words that made the news.
From Australia I can stream the main two segments of Episode 5. When I try to stream the Media 7 Extra segment, though, the website tells me it's only available in New Zealand due to international rights agreements. Is this intended or has TVNZ mixed something up?
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Simon Grigg, in reply to
Is this intended or has TVNZ mixed something up?
I use iTunes podcasts - the direct TVNZ feed is very hit and miss overseas. I know Russell has tried to sort this several times but the gremlins seem to crawl back in every now and then. Podcasts seem to sidestep this
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It was our producer's idea -- and he maintains he always knew Sir Bruce would says yes. But, well, we were a wee bit surprised ...
I was surprised too. I bet the government and the upper echelons of NZ Defence were pissed that he agreed.
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Seriously though, some people still see fit to flog the dead unicorn known as the Domino Theory (TM).
Now that was a lovely old theory I feel quite nostalgic even hearing that phrase again – I remember it well. Communist world domination one country at a time.
Compare to the vastly more sophisticated Islamic Terrorist/Axis of evil theory the Domino theory seems almost quaint now.
These days we get our paranoia served up through a multi channel multi media all encompassing “it could be anywhere” scary monsters – your unpatriotic if you don’t buy it – mania.
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Former Air Marshal Sir Bruce Ferguson, the ertstwhile chief of the New Zealand Defence Force, joked with me before I interviewed him on this week's Media7 that he'd done media training, and learned that if there were any questions he didn't want to answer he should just keep talking for the allotted seven minutes.
He must have used the same media trainer as Don Brash when he was in the interview on the :Hollow Men" doco. Repeat.... repeat.... repeat.....deny the question.
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izogi, in reply to
I use iTunes podcasts - the direct TVNZ feed is very hit and miss overseas.
Thanks for the tip. Unless I'm missing something though, the RSS feed hasn't included the Extra segment. Only parts 1 and 2 of the main show. Oh well.
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Russell,
Nicky Hagar was nonplussed?
Nonplussed means confused and bewildered to the point of inaction. However, almost every time I've seen/heard it used in the last decade the writer/speaker means unconcerned or unfazed. A word turns into its own antonym.
Not really as important as the NZ defense forces operating outside the rules of war but worth quick comment.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Russell,
Nicky Hagar was nonplussed?
It would be fair to say he was.
Nonplussed means confused and bewildered to the point of inaction. However, almost every time I’ve seen/heard it used in the last decade the writer/speaker means unconcerned or unfazed. A word turns into its own antonym.
I know what the word means. Nicky genuinely didn't know what to say about the Wikileaks debacle -- he couldn't understand what had happened there.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Thanks for the tip. Unless I’m missing something though, the RSS feed hasn’t included the Extra segment. Only parts 1 and 2 of the main show. Oh well.
Sigh ...
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Russell Brown, in reply to
From Australia I can stream the main two segments of Episode 5. When I try to stream the Media 7 Extra segment, though, the website tells me it’s only available in New Zealand due to international rights agreements. Is this intended or has TVNZ mixed something up?
I asked them to fix this as soon as I became aware of it on Friday. I'm getting a bit tired of it, to be honest.
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Here's Part 1 on YouTube:
And Part 2
No sign of the Extra segment, even though we've emphasised its importance to the people who do the video.
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Sacha, in reply to
I'm getting a bit tired of it
Is their default setting not to share anything?
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ChrisW, in reply to
He must have used the same media trainer as Don Brash when he was in the interview on the :Hollow Men" doco. Repeat.... repeat.... repeat.....deny the question.
I think perhaps you're being a little unkind to
Former Air Marshal Sir Bruce Ferguson, the ertstwhile chief of the New Zealand Defence Force
- I didn't notice such tactics and didn't feel his apparent sincerity was faked. Maybe I'm gullible, but I wonder if Air Marshal is the key - that his fully Air Force background prior to promotion to Chief of the Defence Force meant he didn't get to see and hear all he might have from senior officers from the army and navy? These being the senior services used to ruling the defence forces, and which generated the stories Hager has documented.
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It 'erts, twhile on the other hand Russell has it down to a T -
Former Air Marshal Sir Bruce Ferguson, the ertstwhile chief of the New Zealand Defence Force
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I don't know what to make of what I saw in the interview. I haven't read Hager's book, but I believe there are some very serious points to be answered. And yet I also believed Bruce Ferguson when he said he had no knowledge of the calculation and underhand dealing that's been alleged. But if he didn't know, then who did?
Nonplussed!
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Ross Mason, in reply to
I was referring to Fergusson's comment to Russell about the media training he had received when he was in Defence. Not how he DID perform in the interview. I thought he was pretty up front with what he knew. The scary thing was what he probably did not know.
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It would be good to hear from anyone who has read the book properly, not just the details of what Ferguson knew/must have known, but a broader substantive summary and review of the book. There seems to be precious little of this fully informed commentary on-line - Gordon Campbell on Scoop a partial exception perhaps - and the issue is in danger from sinking without trace as far as the media and hence politicians are concerned.
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John Holley, in reply to
Thanks for the reminder to go to iTunes Russell. Now favourited on my Apple TV :)
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John Holley, in reply to
I suspect, now that I am a quarter of the way through the book, that the lack of informed comment is because most mentioned by name are still serving officers or in senior Govt posts.
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