Subject: Re: The Hierarchy of Death
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 18:19:48 +1300


Salil -

New Zealand was and is serious about its opposition to nuclear weapons -
anywhere. It was and is opposed to nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific
Ocean, by anybody.  It does not accept the position that it is protected by
America's nuclear arsenal, or by anybody else's nuclear arsenal. In 1985,
New Zealanders who opposed French nuclear testing in the Pacific were  when
protest voyage to the nuclear test site at Moruroa Atoll, when their boat,
the Rainbow Warrior, was blown up in Auckland Harbor. One crew member died
in the explosion.  Two French secret agents were captured, tried, confessed,
and sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter.  They escaped two
years after their conviction.

New Zealand is not a pacifist country.  New Zealanders have fought in all
the big wars of the last century, and they are fighting in the current one.
They have never required protection from invasion.  Their basic job,
militarily, is to help America and its allies in America's wars, so that
America will not impose economic sanctions on them.  Economic sanctions are
always America's trump card.

New Zealand has not benefited in any way from ANZUS.  America does not
defend New Zealand when push comes to shove, as it did in 1985.

I am not a New Zealander.  I just live here.  But I do think that on the
matter of nuclear weapons and defense pacts, New Zealand cannot reasonably
be accused of "nimbyism" or refusal to assist its allies in foreign wars.

Margaret


>
> Saeed,
>
> When New Zealand decided to join Anzus, it had made the moral choice --
that
> if push comes to shove and if it needs defense and lacks the materiel, the
> US will provide it. That could include nuclear weapons.
>
> NZ in the 1980s wanted it both ways -- the security of Anzus pact (which
if
> I recall correctly, Lange never repudiated officially, he did not take his
> country out of Anzus, that is; the US suspended cooperation till he was in
> office) and yet it wanted the feel-good factor of Nimbyism -- not in NZ's
> backyard. That's why the position of many countries on proliferation
issues
> is suspect -- their security is underwritten by other superpowers, so they
> can afford to take certain positions.
>
> So on wrinkles: if NZ was serious about its pacifism, it should have never
> joined ANZUS....
>
> Sorry to sound so cynical about it; I personally oppose nuclear weapons
> everywhere; but then nobody asked me to write NPT.....
>
> Salil
>
> >From: saeed urrehman <saeed.urrehman-AT-anu.edu.au>
> >Reply-To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> >To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> >Subject: Re: The Hierarchy of Death
> >Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 18:45:34 +1100
> >
> >At 07:32 AM 11/30/01 +0000, you wrote:
> >>. But I believe subsequently, after Lange left office, those wrinkles
were
> >>ironed out -- do you know the latest on that?
> >
> >are these mere wrinkles? the difference between nuclear or non-nuclear
> >ships is huge.
> >
> >saeed
> >
> >
> >
> >     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>
>
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