Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) remains silent after Israel kills dozens and maims 3400 people across Lebanon, actions a UN official says constitute a war crime.
Another item of interest related to this MFAT omission was the circulation, within a short time , of the “look over here “ 5 eyes release on alleged PRC controlled smart device botnets - https://media.defense.gov/2024/Sep/18/2003547016/-1/-1/0/CSA-PRC-LINKED-ACTORS-BOTNET.PDF. The choreography and timing of these kind of releases, mostly anti China, unmistakable and NZ a full participant. I don’t have the energy or capability, but a series of OIA requests aimed joining all these dots , double face support for the defense of Israel, NZ involvement in Ukraine war, briefing papers to cabinet prior our support for both these, the basis for the constant and synchronized 5 eyes China bashing , precursor engagement and communications on AUKUS2 etc - would be very illuminating. If we follow the long track of the build up and eventual outbreak of war with (lesser enemy) Russia… then war with the (primary) threat China, with NZ’s involvement seems inevitable. Current NZ Govt seems all in. Many many indicators. Awful. Defense capability statement coming - no doubt justification for greater spend and deeper interoperability with our “likeminded partners”.
If we join AUKUS I think the writing will be on the wall why you'd want to be a puppet to the USA is beyond me economically their failing compared to China & seem to have this paranoid egotistical view of the rest of the world.
Increasingly these terror designations are becoming meaningless in the face of Western hypocrisy and breakdown in narrative control. The US, UK Canada and several others designate the whole of Hezbollah a terror group. Australia designated its External Security Organisation a terror group in 2003. It seems most countries who designate the group make this distinction, taking into account it plays a role in government and in wider Lebanese civil society as a party and movement.
There can be no denying that the pager and walkie-talkie attacks were a serious setback for Hezbollah and the entire "axis of resistance" to the expansionist State of Israel. However they also have the effect of further degrading the moral standing of Israel in the international community - if that could be thought possible. The point is not just that the attacks constituted war crimes (under the booby trap category) but that to the ordinary person they had the look and feel of a typical terror attack. Like white powder arriving through the mail, or a bicycle exploding in a busy market, the pager attack was a case of everyday things upon which we all depend (in this case electronic communication devices) becoming an object of terror. That will have two consequences for the collective subconscious. First, it will associate Israel all the more clearly with ordinary garden variety terrorism. Second it will create a sense of uncertainty and may drive a subtle change in people's relationship to their electronic communication devices even in the nations of the west which assume themselves to be not at risk from Israeli attacks.
Hezbollah will also be reflecting on what went wrong, and some of the answers are not too hard to determine. The regime in Taiwan is a US client with close relations to Israel. Hungary is a member of NATO which is friendly to Israel even though it takes an independent position on the Ukraine war. Therefore it seems inexplicable that Hezbollah decided to source communication devices through Taiwan and/or Hungary. Even if they had not been turned into machines of death (almost certainly before arriving in Lebanon), the Taiwan/Hungarian pagers should have been a security and intelligence issue for Hezbollah. Similar devices could have been safely purchased from the Peoples Republic of China without fear of tampering. Hezbollah will be needing to explain to its supporters just how and why these devices were sourced in the way that they were.
Another item of interest related to this MFAT omission was the circulation, within a short time , of the “look over here “ 5 eyes release on alleged PRC controlled smart device botnets - https://media.defense.gov/2024/Sep/18/2003547016/-1/-1/0/CSA-PRC-LINKED-ACTORS-BOTNET.PDF. The choreography and timing of these kind of releases, mostly anti China, unmistakable and NZ a full participant. I don’t have the energy or capability, but a series of OIA requests aimed joining all these dots , double face support for the defense of Israel, NZ involvement in Ukraine war, briefing papers to cabinet prior our support for both these, the basis for the constant and synchronized 5 eyes China bashing , precursor engagement and communications on AUKUS2 etc - would be very illuminating. If we follow the long track of the build up and eventual outbreak of war with (lesser enemy) Russia… then war with the (primary) threat China, with NZ’s involvement seems inevitable. Current NZ Govt seems all in. Many many indicators. Awful. Defense capability statement coming - no doubt justification for greater spend and deeper interoperability with our “likeminded partners”.
If we join AUKUS I think the writing will be on the wall why you'd want to be a puppet to the USA is beyond me economically their failing compared to China & seem to have this paranoid egotistical view of the rest of the world.
Typically vile Israeli terrorism added to the litany over the last 75 + years, supported by cowardly western silence and complicity.
Is Hezbollah a designated terrorist organisation? I thought I recall Craig Mokhiba, former UN human rights lawyer, disputing this accusation.
Increasingly these terror designations are becoming meaningless in the face of Western hypocrisy and breakdown in narrative control. The US, UK Canada and several others designate the whole of Hezbollah a terror group. Australia designated its External Security Organisation a terror group in 2003. It seems most countries who designate the group make this distinction, taking into account it plays a role in government and in wider Lebanese civil society as a party and movement.
Netanyahu & his government seem to be the biggest terrorists in the world at present.
There can be no denying that the pager and walkie-talkie attacks were a serious setback for Hezbollah and the entire "axis of resistance" to the expansionist State of Israel. However they also have the effect of further degrading the moral standing of Israel in the international community - if that could be thought possible. The point is not just that the attacks constituted war crimes (under the booby trap category) but that to the ordinary person they had the look and feel of a typical terror attack. Like white powder arriving through the mail, or a bicycle exploding in a busy market, the pager attack was a case of everyday things upon which we all depend (in this case electronic communication devices) becoming an object of terror. That will have two consequences for the collective subconscious. First, it will associate Israel all the more clearly with ordinary garden variety terrorism. Second it will create a sense of uncertainty and may drive a subtle change in people's relationship to their electronic communication devices even in the nations of the west which assume themselves to be not at risk from Israeli attacks.
Hezbollah will also be reflecting on what went wrong, and some of the answers are not too hard to determine. The regime in Taiwan is a US client with close relations to Israel. Hungary is a member of NATO which is friendly to Israel even though it takes an independent position on the Ukraine war. Therefore it seems inexplicable that Hezbollah decided to source communication devices through Taiwan and/or Hungary. Even if they had not been turned into machines of death (almost certainly before arriving in Lebanon), the Taiwan/Hungarian pagers should have been a security and intelligence issue for Hezbollah. Similar devices could have been safely purchased from the Peoples Republic of China without fear of tampering. Hezbollah will be needing to explain to its supporters just how and why these devices were sourced in the way that they were.