Skeptics & Prodigals: Can Christianity Solve Our Existential Crisis?

Dr Geoffrey Miller, who wrote his PhD on New Zealand's relations with the Gulf States, reflects on how the world has changed since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.

Dr Miller compares the day to 9/11 and warns against conflating Hamas with Palestinians, as the Gaza death toll climbs past 74,000. He unpacks the stalemate since last year's deal: Hamas refuses to disarm while Israel still occupies two thirds of Gaza, and strikes continue most days. He argues Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline response was driven by an intelligence failure and political survival, weighs up how polarised the debate has become here in New Zealand, and insists there are no military solutions, only diplomatic ones. He also highlights Yemen, where a 2022 truce has collapsed and full-scale war is returning.

Chapters
0:00 Reflecting on October 7
1:57 Who were the victims?
2:50 Hamas vs Palestinians
3:35 Gaza's stalemate
4:30 Can the world mediate?
5:27 Netanyahu as "Mr Security"
6:41 A culture war in New Zealand?
7:37 No military solutions
8:59 Did Israel's response backfire?
9:39 The Gulf States & Yemen

#Israel #Gaza #MiddleEast #October7 #NewZealand

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Nathan Seiuli of PILLAR @PILLAR_NZ reviews the opening weeks of New Zealand's 2026 election campaign, from sparsely attended launches and signwritten buses to a fresh wave of hoarding vandalism.

Nathan argues that damaging election signs is not political expression but vandalism of privately funded property, and warns that rising identity politics is pushing public debate towards emotion and tribalism. He makes the case for parties campaigning everywhere, even in neighbourhoods they are unlikely to win, and highlights the principle of subsidiarity: whoever wins on November 7, the greatest influence on people's lives and communities remains themselves.

He also reflects on serving at a volunteer-run community kitchen in Ōtara.

Chapters
0:00 Sparse crowds at campaign launches
1:39 The return of the campaign bus
2:51 Hoarding vandalism: not free speech
5:11 Where's the creativity?
7:10 Rising tribalism & praying for leaders
8:20 Identity politics & subsidiarity
10:12 Serving at an Ōtara community kitchen

#NZElection2026 #NZPolitics #Election2026 #CommunityService
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University of Otago international relations expert Professor Robert Patman assesses the Russia-Ukraine war as it heads into another northern winter, and explains why the outcome matters for New Zealand.

Professor Patman says Russia's slow, grinding gains in the Donbas have come at enormous human cost, leaving the front close to stalemate until Ukraine's recent breakthrough near Lyman. He looks at how drones are changing the war, from Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries to Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities meant to break morale. He argues diplomacy has gone nowhere because Mr Putin will only accept a "land for peace" deal on Russian terms, and warns that European support is starting to crack as pro-Russian populist parties gain ground. Closer to home, he says New Zealand has a direct stake in Russia's defeat because of the precedent it would set for China over Taiwan and the Pacific, and notes rare cross-party agreement here against the invasion.

Chapters
0:00 Russia's summer push in the Donbas
2:10 Why the Donbas matters to Putin
3:03 Drones, refineries & a new kind of war
5:34 Ukraine's growing self-reliance
6:47 Why peace talks have stalled
8:10 Cracks in European support
10:07 Trump, China & Putin
12:02 NZ's stake: Taiwan & the Pacific
14:21 Rare political consensus at home

#Ukraine #Russia #NewZealand #Geopolitics #Taiwan


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