Peter Carr
In the heady aftermath of the US election, one could be forgiven for being a bit bored with the whole everlasting muddle thrown at us by the media. Especially American media with its overlay of false news.
Peter Carr
They were totally wrong in forecasting the result of the key vote would take several days to emerge. It was all over without a whimper overnight.
Recriminations will abound, most from within the Democrat camp. The elderly lady congresswoman from California – Nancy Pelosi – who refuses to ‘go quietly’. still clings on to her (own) perception that she is the powerhouse of the party and has the status of (very) wise old person. Yet this same VWOP is the one and the same that commandeered an American government plane and transported herself and her not-needed views onto the shores of Taiwan. If ever there is a hot simmering potato in the vegetable patch that is the China Sea, then it is the highly successful nation that emerged in 1949. And a piece of rock that China has a high desire to own.
Earlier this year we cruised the China Sea from end to end starting at Shanghai. And had to make an unplanned call off the coast of Taiwan to transfer a sick passenger to a Taiwanese coastguard vessel. All pretty simple really except on looking only a mile away we observed, sitting quietly on the water, a Chinese destroyer. Which brought home that the two nations – the bloodline of both going back to the original Chinese mainland – are, one day, to become a hotspot that will make the Ukraine conflict look like a kindergarten.
Aerial photo of Taiwan. Photo: Gabriel Peter, pexels.com
For all his blustering rhetoric and often misplaced observations the new President-elect of the US is here to stay. He is not going to cause the Ukraine conflict to cease ‘in 24 hours’ nor is he going to successfully bulldoze what may be up to 11 million illegal immigrants across the border back into Mexico. Witness the Latino vote this time swung behind Trump – the power of which he will be well aware.
His blustering on trade tariffs is only good until he realises (or is persuaded by the saner members of his cabinet) that the wider US public will wake up and understand that tariffs work two ways – the greater effect being an increase on retail costs and a rapidly rising inflation.
Trump alone did not cause the swing that bounced him and his MAGA movement back into the White House. The US experienced a notable shift to the right that has emerged in most western states except for the UK.
But the Prime Minister there is finding it very hard to make a worthwhile footing and one should not be surprised to see yet another election on those politically battered and bewildered islands soon.
Previous PM John Key was criticised for stating that Trump as President would be good for the US, world trade and New Zealand. Sometimes standing back from the fray leads to wise counsel and sensible words.
What was interesting on Sunday was to hear a well-respected American political observer heaping praise on Winston Peters for his handling of diplomatic matters and focused selling of the New Zealand cause. But back here on LaLa Land we will have to be ready to be bombarded from our TV screens with pro and anti Māori blathering while the Act party attempts to undertake the impossible – with not a single other party in the House to support them.
Well at least we beat the Irish!
