Hard News: Misquote Unquote
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Prediction: 10 years from now Fonterra will be 'exporting' it's 'knowledge' in milk production to China. The government of the day will laud this as a 'success' and there will be much back-slapping over the revenue generated. Fonterra will show (for a price) the Chinese where they should build their dairy farms (areas recreating NZ conditions re climate, soil, grass production etc) and set up the modern dairy factories for them.
New Zealand companies are already involved in sending their knowledge offshore. New Zealand's dairy and cattle expertise and equally importantly, genetic stock, are being exported on a reasonable scale, and hailed as a success. Say goodbye to that competitive advantage (of course, good soil and consistent rainfall cannot yet be exported).
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Athens was still pulling things together in the weeks leading up to the games, I think I heard that China had basically finished two years in advance. They've put a massive investment into the Olympics.
Well, perhaps I'm a little too cynical for my own good but I wonder if its much easier to push things through when you don't have to deal with any pesky political or media scrutiny or arse around with tiresome building, environmental or labour standards.
Well at least so far their "death of builders on Olympics site" stats are down below the 13 killed in Athens. And damn if those lax standards don't produce some beauuuuutiful buildings...
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But I don't think journalists are doing themselves any favours trying to catch out Key or Cullen because, otherwise, they don't have a tax cut story this week.
And to be fair, a large part of my irritation is that Ruth Laugesen can actually do better. Certainly a damn sight better than the usual standard of the Sunday Star Times.
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china will never let go of tibet, given the current geopolitical situation. it needs to ensure secure boundaries, particularly with US trying to isolate china by sucking up to its near neighbours, particularly india. no doubt US will be doing its best to ensure that china doesn't become a rival superpower, or probably the dominant superpower. splitting china up into various countries a la the former USSR (as suggested by someone upthread) would certainly achieve US objectives, but i wonder how it would really go down with the chinese population.
would love to hear some comments from chinese new zealanders about the situation.
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It is a misquote. Key did not say 2010 was the "earliest date for tax cuts", nor did he say "the earliest a National-led government could deliver tax cuts would be April 2010.". He said "It could be that sort of distance away, notwithstanding any changes we might make. We have always argued about phased-in tax cuts, not a big-bang approach. Assuming it was in Budget 2009, then generally speaking the start would be in April 2010."
Fair enough. So he couldn't remember exactly what he'd said in one of his meandering, overly-qualified answers. It still isn't occasion for claiming the journalist got the date wrong.
With the economy threatening to tank and the public crying out for some relief it makes sense to bring the cuts forward in a mini-budget.
Which is what he should have said.
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Well, perhaps I'm a little too cynical for my own good but I wonder if its much easier to push things through when you don't have to deal with any pesky political or media scrutiny or arse around with tiresome building, environmental or labour standards.
Yeah, that's the obvious answer, though my memory from the story was that the overwhelming reason was just the total Chinese commitment to it. I guess when you've got a billion people and an economy to go with them, setting up an olympics isn't too hard, no matter what the political/environmental climate you're working in.
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"...Splitting china up into various countries a la the former USSR (as suggested by someone upthread) would certainly achieve US objectives..."
Sixty-three years ago the Europeans surveyed their ruined cities and finally realised were trying to force people to live in countries they don't want to live in or engaging in force to maintain hegemony gets you. The aftermath of WWII was massed ethnic cleansing and re-aligning of borders to ensure ethnically homogeneous populations all lived together in the same countries. Only in the ex-Yugoslavia, where Tito used an iron totalitarianism to suppress this historical conclusion of a century and a half of nationalism, did this not occur and the only result of that was to delay the inevitable until the 1990's. The re-drawn nations of Europe then VOLUNTEERILY entered into a form of federation via the E.U. the success of this body is obvious by the queue of countries desperate to surrender some of their sovereignty and join.
It seems to me the lesson of Europe should inform the Chinese leadership that only viable way forward for China is become a federation of autonomous states, otherwise no matter how powerful China becomes, revolt will be just a foreign backer away throughout their anachronistic empire. In the long run all empires built on repression fail, and it seems to me that in the long run a China without its empire is a better bet for world stability and better bet to become a superpower.
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Indians were brought to Fiji as indentured labour to work in the sugar cane fields. They were not allowed to own land - that was an ethnic Fijian privilege. And that's why so many later ended up running shops, which was not racially forbidden (a bit like Jews in medieval Europe).
I recall discussing ethnic differences with a group of mixed Fijians in the mid 1960s, when the Indian population numbers there started approaching parity wih Fijian. There was unrest then, but with the UK running things, a lid was kept on it.
We were told that the ethnic Fijians had the land, the army and the police force. The minority Chinese had the business sector sewn up, and assured us that when the time came, they would go quietly. The Indians, apparently, had the cane knives.
(At which point a policeman present observed that 90 percent of Fiji's murders occurred on the Eastern side of Viti Levu, and most of them were done by cane knife.)
I have no idea whether these opinions were true or not, but they were believed at the time.
I next went back there in 1968 with a troup of Boy Scouts and leaders (it's been a rich life...), and saw that the Indians had the Scouting movement sewn up as well! We toured quite a bit and the only time we saw Fijian scout leaders was at the Vatukoula Gold Mine, which was of course a strategic asset. Coincidence, doubtless.
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Oh yes and whatever the latest excuses are for John Key his lack of preparation and seeming lack of knowledge regarding critical policy areas is a very poor look if you contrast it with Helen Clark’s formidable command of all aspects of her government. Perhaps he just doesn’t have her ferocious work ethic?
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agree with you tom. but then, you have to give them 63 years to achieve that... hopefully with out the world war & resulting ruin as an impetus.
incidentally, india is also a country that has used force to maintain central control. the punjabis tried hard for sovreignity, and i guess have been beaten into submission (an excellent bollywood film called "maachis" is worth seeing, if you can get a version with decent subtitles). also the kashmiris have been trying unsuccessfully ever since partition. the same reasoning seems to be in the minds of the central indian government - if they let one state have independence, many others would want the same.
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The New Yorker has a relevant -- and fascinating -- review of a new book about the Dalai Lama.
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There are also long running conflicts in the east of India, in the seven states, ranging from demand for greater autonomy to outright separation.
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Oh yes and whatever the latest excuses are for John Key his lack of preparation and seeming lack of knowledge regarding critical policy areas is a very poor look if you contrast it with Helen Clark’s formidable command of all aspects of her government.
Well, when you can get her to front and stay on topic. Or you can just go the Winston Peters route, and regard having your own words or press releases quoted back to you as treason.
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would love to hear some comments from chinese new zealanders about the situation
Most of the ones I know just shrug when asked about 'China'. And their parents just chuckle. They'll tell you horrific stories of life in China/Hong Kong and why they left 50-40 years ago, but then laugh when you suggest 'something should be done to make China more democratic'. The current regime is just one of many that have ruled China for 8,000 years. The Chinese believe patience is a virtue.
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I think we can all agree that large countries don't play by the rules that we hold, or try to hold for smaller countries, depressing as that is. Anyway, here is a mildly relevant podcast by Gorbachev's press advisor/spokesman on the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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"The current regime is just one of many that have ruled China for 8,000 years. The Chinese believe patience is a virtue."
Patience is a virtue, true, but that’s a hell of a patience for people with a life expectancy of 71 years, an increase of 40 years in the last 100 years mind.
I wish there was a chinese “public address” so I could read their threads.
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The couple of chinese citizens I converse with every week have mentioned their pleasure of living here and going home for holidays.They also love NZ and believe their children will be more worldly because of our education and democracy. Ones comment last week was he had been taught that Tibet was part of china 1000 years ago but freely accepted he may have been misinformed. The other Thing I have noted with them is they love quality over cheap chinese imports (their words) and our fish! They know about pollution so shyed from eating fish in Beijing and think our waterways are luxury in comparison. I agree with I/O .They do believe in patience being a virtue.
As for the Olympics, they were formed to embrace nations without any political agenda, weren't they?The bringing together of different peoples.If so then China has as much right as any country to host.Heard from a mate how difficult it was to get anything done in Athens. -
As for the Olympics, they were formed to embrace nations without any political agenda, weren't they?
Sofie... if only. Anyone who thinks that the Olympics and poitics don't have a very intimate and complex connection should have the uncomfortable experience of sitting through this enormously influential film at least once.
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Ethnic Tibetans certainly have a grievance. But so, arguably, do native Fijians, and we'd hardly be comfortable with them wreaking ethnically-targeted havoc on Indian businesses in their towns
I think your comparison might be more valid if the British Empire hadn't decolonised Fiji 38 years ago. The Chinese empire is far from decolonising Tibet and until they do, the blame for any mistreatment of the Han falls on them, not the Tibetans.
Colonialism isn't an answer to anything, whether in Tibet, Iraq or Palestine.
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Sophie, no matter what the original ideal of the Olympics, they now stand more for the self aggrandisement of national leaders rather than any unifying principal.
The Tlateloco Massacre of 1968 prior to the Mexico City Olympics, the SuperPower pissing contests of 1980 and 1984, obviously Hitler's Olympics of 1936. I'd also include the boycott caused by our sporting contact with South Africa in 1976 and the blatant corruption of the Salt Lake City winter games. The Olympics is about power & money before it's about sport.
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New Zealand companies are already involved in sending their knowledge offshore. New Zealand's dairy and cattle expertise and equally importantly, genetic stock, are being exported on a reasonable scale, and hailed as a success. Say goodbye to that competitive advantage (of course, good soil and consistent rainfall cannot yet be exported).
You want us to stay a low wage primary economy?
We need to transition from that to a knowledge-based economy, and exporting our agricultural technology is one way of doing that. Plus, we can't feed the world from NZ. Helping other countries to build an efficient, secure agriculural sector is good for them and good for us.
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Russell you bear a heavy responsibility because I depend on you to give me a balanced, well researched view of current events. You did just that on the events in Tibet. Thanks
Benjamin -
The Olympics is about power & money before it's about sport.
Absolutely. I'd be very pleased if the Olympics in its present form was scrapped altogether. A smaller event where participants and host were expected to be decent democratic states, and corporate sponsorship was scrapped would be much better. Of course, it wouldn't keep the Olympic ogligarchs in their Swiss chalets
I'm trying to avoid buying the products of the Olympic sponsors:
Coca-Cola (stick to Pepsi, or beer)
GE (watch where that carloan comes from)
Johnson & Johnson (try another baby oil supplier)
Kodak (use Fuji)
Lenovo (loads of alternate printers)
McDonalds (yet another reason not to eat their yukky food)
Omega (horrid watches. Get a Swatch)
Visa (must get a Mastercard and start using it)
Samsung (don't buy that flatscreen telly)
Panasonic (bugger. bugger. They make the SL1200. Still, I have mine, they were made years ago. If you are taking up DJing, get yours on TradeMe) -
New Zealand companies are already involved in sending their knowledge offshore.
That's a bold statement.
NZ companies (Fonterra, Wrightsons - being NZ Farming Uruguay) etc are setting up companies offshore to use the knowledge they have generated here in companies offshore but aren't "sending" it offshore. They are very strict on keeping the ownership of the IP and see that as their only ongoing profit generator. And it's a long overdue, excellent idea... -
Paul R;
Don’t forget the shambles that was the CNN Coca Cola Olympics in Atlanta.
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