The blind eye
What do Australia, Canada and the UK know that we don't?
Consider the following:
The United States hit Iran hard on the weekend. It was not a symbolic strike designed to tidy up a headline cycle or distract from the Epstein files. It was a serious use of force of breathtaking force and capability that eliminated the country’s supreme leader.
The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are, in measured tones, supportive of the action. Sir Keir Starmer was tentative but not ambiguous on the Iranian threat. Mark Carney forthright. Anthony Albanese was more like Carney than Starmer. The UK is now allowing the US to use its assets to stage “defensive” strikes.
Those countries all have left wing governments not particularly sympatico with Donald Trump. Britain has been visibly awkward in its dealings with America. Canadian-American relations are probably at their lowest since the War of 1812.
New Zealand has a centre-right government that has not had a lot of public friction with the Trump administration.
Despite points 2 through 4 above, New Zealand has been less supportive of the strikes than Canada, the UK or Australia. We have not condemned America while also carefully avoiding any clear endorsement of the strikes. Where Canada, the UK and Australia speak in relatively plain English, we are ducking and weaving.
So far, so incontrovertible.
But why?
