Damien Grant: Hug your kids today. They may be drafted tomorrow

I don’t often cite Karl Marx but the gentleman wasn’t without insight. In a letter to his colleague Frederick Engles in 1863 he wrote about decades that passed without incident “… though these may again [be] succeeded by days into which 20 years are compressed.”

This is the genesis of the saying that nothing happens for decades and then decades happen in a week. This past week seems one of those.

Dr Will Jones: Britain Signs Deal to Deploy Troops to Ukraine

Britain has signed a deal to deploy boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of a proposed ceasefire deal backed for the first time by the United States. The Telegraph has more.

Dr Will Jones: The US “Needs Greenland”, Says Trump

Donald Trump has set his sights on a US takeover of Greenland after capturing Nicolas Maduro and saying he would run Venezuela, telling reporters: “We do need Greenland, absolutely.” The Telegraph has more.

Ryan Bridge: Putin's game of chicken

Putin’s playing a game of chicken with the Europeans and Europeans are the chickens.

NATO’s so far done nothing but talk about these fighter jets and drones.

Take your pick of experts and former military bosses chiming on the why over the weekend, and you’ll get 10 different answers.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: How Nato failed Putin’s drone test

On Wednesday morning last week, I was getting ready for my afternoon speech at the Financial Services Council conference in Auckland.

Between sessions, I scrolled through X on my phone. What I saw shocked me. Russian drones had violated Polish airspace. NATO fighters were scrambling in darkness. For the first time since the Ukraine war began, a NATO member was firing on Russian military assets.

Clive Pinder:

History, we are told, is written by the victors. Yet in Ukraine, the story may end up being written by those clever enough to redefine what ‘victory’ looks like.

Two tribes have been shouting across Western commentary trenches since 2022. On one side sit the realists, like John Mearsheimer, shrugging that Russia was provoked and that Ukraine must accept the grim realpolitik of geography. On the other side perch the idealists, like Matthew Syed, wagging fingers that anything short of total victory is appeasement.

Point of Order: Much more than a minerals deal

Full credit to European politicians: they know how to brief.

Latest in London’s Daily Telegraph is that “Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have together pulled off a remarkable feat of high statecraft” in shaping the US – Ukraine minerals deal signed a few days ago. There are even some nice words for Boris Johnson’s contribution.

Who knows, it could even be true. But it’s perhaps more important that they’re thinking that way.

Roger Partridge: Putin’s dangerous war games

Geopolitics offers no shortage of distractions. Ukraine peace negotiations lurch forward then stall. A global trade war gathers momentum. The United States pivots in its stance towards Russia, sometimes multiple times in a single week.

It is all too easy to become absorbed in trying to understand today’s events. Yet it is crucial that we also look ahead to developments already visible on the horizon. Especially those with long and troubling historical precedents.

Roger Partridge: The Wilful Blindness of Putin’s Apologists

Some see Ukraine’s fight as a defining battle for freedom. Others dismiss it as a reckless provocation. This divide is not just academic. It has profound consequences – and not just for Ukraine. My recent column in Quadrant, “A Feckless President’s Betrayal,” argues that US President Donald Trump’s approach to the war in Europe has betrayed Ukraine, its Western allies and America itself. The column sparked intense debate. Online comments from some readers echoed pro-Putin arguments advanced by American economist Jeffrey Sachs – and the Kremlin’s own talking points.

Ramesh Thakur: Trump’s Ukraine policy changes the World Order

With President Donald Trump’s re-election and his well-known views, Europe and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky faced an in-tray from hell.

Yet, their shock is more an indictment of their impuissance than any perfidy by Trump. The more interesting question is: Will this awaken Europe from its strategic slumber?

DTNZ: Switzerland drifting towards NATO – largest party

The nation’s neutrality is being jeopardized by its policies on the Ukraine conflict and cooperation with the bloc, the SVP has said.

A gradual drift towards NATO and indirect support of Ukraine are threats to Switzerland’s neutrality and security, the conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has warned, urging Defense Minister Viola Amherd to resign.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Nato leader arrives at a crunch time

There are easier jobs than NATO Secretary-General. And if you have just finished almost 14 years as Dutch PM, it is hardly a downscaling option.

Yet that is what Mark Rutte has chosen to do. He formally started his new job on 1 October – and he has inherited a military alliance facing its most significant challenges since the Cold War.

Russia wages its war in Ukraine. China expands its global influence. Within NATO itself, political tensions threaten its future. Yet Rutte, in his first statements, appears undaunted by the task ahead.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive 15/7/24

So that’s why David Seymour is Acting PM this week

The comings and goings of key ministers – up to a point – can be tracked through the latest posts on the government’s official website.

Trade Minister Todd McClay comes into the “goings” category. He will attend the Group of Seven (G7) Trade Ministers meeting in Reggio Calabria, Italy this week.

On the other hand, we learn that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has finished a four-day visit to the United States with meetings in California on his final day focusing on innovation and investment.

But where was he headed after that?

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/7/24

Perhaps Tinetti knows how to lift Kiwi kids’ progress in schools – but don’t forget what happened when she was Education Minister

Responding to news that children in their first year of school will undergo phonics checks to help teachers understand their reading progress, former Education Minister Jan Tinetti bleated something about the government taking “another backwards step for education”.

Clive Bibby: Deterrent or Paper Tiger

As the Ukraine war drags on with little show of victories (even small ones) on the Russian Front, and the much needed American replacement armaments package stalled in the US Congress, the question surely needs to be asked of the NATO alliance members - “Isn’t the outcome of this war EUROPE’S RESPONSIBILITY?”

Because the current stalemate is looking more and more like a lost cause if the European member states of NATO continue to allow the Americans to do the heavy lifting.

Geoffrey Miller: Antony Blinken’s endgame for New Zealand

Antony Blinken is heading down under.

The US Secretary of State’s visit to New Zealand and Australia this week comes as the two countries jointly host the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

New Zealand foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has highlighted the potential for ‘good old-fashioned sports diplomacy’ – and the Secretary is scheduled to attend the United States vs. Netherlands match in Wellington on Thursday afternoon.

But the travel is more than just a chance to take in a game.

Benjamin Macintyre: Sweden steals Ukraine's show

Last week’s NATO summit in Vilnius was supposed to be about Ukraine’s needs and whether they would be met. Zelenskiy wanted guarantees for future NATO membership and the military alliance wanted to present a united front to Putin.

In a surprise twist, the real winner of the summit was Sweden.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 13/7/23

Maori leadership features in govt funding for family violence services – more corporate welfare is being delivered, too

Three Maori organisations, several businesses and the war-ravaged Ukraine will be the recipients of the millions of dollars dispensed in three government announcements over the past 24 hours.

The headline on one of the announcements – about the granting of almost $1 million – says Govt to support family violence services in cyclone affected region.

That one came from the Minister for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Marama Davidson.

Alexander Gillespie: After being a ‘welcome guest’ at NATO

NZ now needs to consider what our partnership with the alliance really means

As a “welcomed guest” at the latest NATO summit in Lithuania, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins had a front-row seat for debates over Ukrainian membership, the role of countries outside NATO’s traditional geographic boundaries, the ongoing threat of China, military spending and an accelerating nuclear arms race.

The NATO meeting reaffirmed the alliance’s “iron-clad commitment to defend each other and every inch of allied territory at all times, protect our one billion citizens, and safeguard our freedom and democracy”.

Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand gets ready to embrace NATO

Is New Zealand about to join ‘NATO+’?

That seems to be the effective endgame, if reports ahead of New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ attendance at the NATO summit in Lithuania are anything to go by.

Formally, the expansion by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into the Indo-Pacific is unlikely to use such snappy shorthand.