US Upset That New Zealand Government Has Too Much Respect For Free Speech
from the can't-have-that dept
Following the leaked cables that showed how the US offered to help write New Zealand's new copyright laws, Chargone points us to the news that the US was equally (if not more) interested in rewriting New Zealand's anti-terrorism laws, which it believed were inadequate.Particularly galling to the US State Department? The idea that New Zealanders have a healthy respect for free speech (how dare they!):
In the post-9/11 world, one would expect that New Zealand would have an adequate law to deal with foreign as well as domestic terrorism - it does not. Critics of the TSA [Terrorism Suppression Act] say that the law was never envisaged to apply to domestic terrorism, but one wonders if it would have applied to foreign terrorists plotting much the same activities as those leaked by the press. The inherent weaknesses of the TSA underscore that the Labour Party and its minor party partners in government (many of whom are veterans of Vietnam War-era street protests) are not comfortable with legislation that in any way would undermine legitimate political expression. We hope the Law Commission, which will review the law...Yeah. We come from the country in which we're told that the government "shall make no law," that infringes on our right to free speech... and here that same government is whining that another country has too much respect for free speech. The US ambassador seems upset that New Zealand would dare consider free speech rights to be important. It's stories like these that make the State Department's claims of supporting freedom around the globe ring pretty hollow...
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Filed Under: anti-terrorism, free speech, new zealand, us
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Its really unfortunate that we don't have more people in government service that aren't there for altruistic reasons. For almost all of them its about money and power and woe-betide anyone whose rights get in the way of that.
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[the Untied States]
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Not "The U.S."
As a citizen, I personally LOVE the fact that New Zealand's government has respect for free speech, and I think there's no such thing as too much of it.
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Re: Not "The U.S."
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Re: Not "The U.S."
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Re: Not "The U.S."
Whether they admit it or not, everyone believes that... until they wake up one day only to find it's working against them.
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Do as I say......
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So...
When can we expect this to stop, reasonably, with Super Obama in office? Conversely, when do we stop making excuses for him?
-C
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Re: So...
Of course, proof and facts have never stopped the anti-Obama crowd before.
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Re: Re: So...
fact is, the system is broken, and Obama, so far as i can tell, is not making it better, and is infact perpetuating the downward spiral. so... both half right, all stupid for arguing over it rather than realising the problem and looking into viable solutions.
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Misrepresent much Mike
"The cable expressed hope that the Law Commission's now-stalled review of the terror laws would strike a balance that would "find a way to preserve peaceful political dissent and civil liberties without leaving the country vulnerable to those - foreign or domestic - who would do it harm"."
Shame shame Mike. That is just pathetic.
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Re: Misrepresent much Mike
I instead see that quote as a "the ends would justify the means" push.
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Re: Misrepresent much Mike
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Re: Re: Misrepresent much Mike
Uh...yes, exactly the same thing, if by that you mean complete opposite:
"US wants some liberties removed to fight "terrorism"
is exactly the opposite of:
"find a way to preserve peaceful political dissent and civil liberties"
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Re: Re: Re: Misrepresent much Mike
It's a certain type of speech they want curtailed. In this case, they overheard phone calls discussing possible destruction of public buildings. The so called 'terrorists' talked about it but never actually carried out any violence. That's the sort of thing that these terrorist acts are made for - to put people in jail who may be a 'credible threat' regardless of whether any violent act occurs.
Were they really going to kill somebody, or were they just vocalizing some ugly fantasies? The TSA blurs that distinction.
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The reality of this story
New Zealand passed the Terrorism Suppression Act, which creates a few new laws relating to terrorism. In 2007, the police raided an alleged paramilitary training camp deep in the Urewera mountain range. The police intended for them to be charge using the Terrorism Suppression Act, but the prosecutor decided not to because the the TSA was too complex:
"Dr Collins said there was insufficient evidence to establish "to the very high standard required that a group or entity was planning or preparing to commit a terrorist act as that term is defined in the legislation".
The legislation was "extremely complex, very, very tortuous in the way in which it is put together and almost impossible to apply in a coherent manner".
He said it was not his job to criticise the piecing together of the Act, but recommended it be referred to the Law Commission for it to determine whether it not it should be completely reviewed."
So the law is broken, and pretty much everyone knows it. So ambassador William McCormick was giving his private analysis of why the law is broken in the leaked cable. Note he is not the "US", nor even the "US government", but a single individual offering an opinion on why the law is what it is.
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Re: The reality of this story
And we should pay attention to your unsourced version of the story because...?
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Re: Re: The reality of this story
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/17023?label=Environment
And the rest of the story I found from Wikipedia or from the direct references on Wikipedia.
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Re: Urewera “Terrorism” Raids
What a load of bullshit. Like he couldn’t have said as a submission at the time the law was being passed? It was just a lame, face-saving excuse for some totally over-the-top police action. After the initial nationwide publicity over the raids, they had to backtrack and backtrack from their initial claims over the seriousness of the issue, until nothing was left but a few firearms-possession charges. “Terrorism” it was not.
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More reality
Tuhoe have been pretty grumpy about various things but so far they haven't killed anyone or shown any real sign that they want to.
And In case you're wondering, they aren't Muslims.
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Speaking as a kiwi
One of the areas they're currently interfering in is the drug industry. Medication is actually up to 40% cheaper here than in the US because Pharmac, the agency that imports about 70% of it, negotiates with the suppliers for a decent price. However now the government is being told that if we don't enact legislation regarding drug sales favourable to US drug companies, the price of that medication will go up. Way up. It will become unaffordable to an awful lot of people - potentially killing. The US has even issued a report blaming Pharmac for our relatively low OECD rating for preventable deaths (related to health care), despite the fact that the US is even lower on the list (22nd out of 27) and in regards to *improvements* in preventable deaths we're 13th and they're 26th (from 1996 to 2006).
What this is is simply another example of the US trying to meddle with another country's laws. It doesn't matter exactly what they want curtailed. Our laws are ours, not theirs. They are made with the welfare of New Zealand people in mind, and the situations in the two different countries are very different. Unfortunately, we currently have a right wing government that seems to be quite happy to pander to at least some of the US government's demands, but our government being spineless or corrupt or whatever it happens to be does not excuse the behaviour of the US here. The US government describes us as "a friend, not an ally" but it seems what they really want us to be is a watered down puppet-country who'll do whatever they want.
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Re: Speaking as a kiwi
yeeeeeeah, there's a reason why most New Zealanders i talk to hold an opinion reguardin the US something to the effect of 'well, i don't Hate them... don't realy care on the whole. But i wish they'd just go away and leave us alone'. ... the degree of vehemence varies.
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free speech, concerning New Zealand
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Re: free speech, concerning New Zealand
The US Watergate scandal says otherwise.
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