country:new zealand

Israeli spy claims over Christchurch earthquake | World news | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/20/christchurch-earthquake-israeli-spy-investigation

New Zealand intelligence services launched an investigation into a possible Israeli spy operation in Christchurch after suspicious activity was observed in the immediate aftermath of the February earthquake, the New Zealand prime minister, John Key, has confirmed.

But Key insisted the investigation had been completed with no evidence found of wrongdoing.

Inquiries centred on a potential breach of the national police computer system.

According to a report in the Southland Times, the investigation was prompted by the departure from New Zealand of three Israeli citizens within hours of the 22 February quake and the discovery of as many as five passports on one of three Israelis killed.

[...]

There was widespread speculation in New Zealand that the country could be facing a sequel to the events of 2004, when Helen Clark’s government imposed diplomatic sanctions on Israel after two suspected Mossad agents were convicted of passport fraud in Auckland. The Israeli government apologised the following year.

#Socialbots: Uber-human #Twitter Whores | Death and Taxes
►http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/84347/socialbots-uber-human-twitter-whores

For the twits who grew attached to the Kiwi, it must have been hard to hear the news that James was no more than a creation of social software, devised by a team of New Zealand techies, team EMP, competing in Web Ecology Project’s Socialbots 2011 Competition.

Les #baleines savaient // On Japan, whales and the nuclear age | Philip Hoare | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/16/japan-tsunami-whales-nuclear

What happened last Friday, deep beneath the surface of the Pacific, was invisible to us; as invisible as the radiation that is now drifting southwards from Fukushima reactors. But others conclude, as they did in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, that whales and dolphins – cetaceans – acted as advance warnings of what was to come. Forty-eight hours before the Christchurch earthquake, for instance, more than 100 pilot whales were stranded on New Zealand’s South Island. Then on 4 March, 50 melon-headed whales washed up on the eastern Kashima shore of Japan.

There is no scientific basis for such theories – although whales, like birds, probably do use the Earth’s electromagnetic field for navigation, and such abrupt alterations in it may well cause them to strand. (Indeed, the Maori who first colonised New Zealand probably followed migrating whales there from Polynesia, who themselves were following electromagnetic lines).

#japon

US wants to take an axe to New Zealand IP law (updated) - l w.geek.nz
►http://lawgeeknz.posterous.com/us-wants-to-take-an-axe-to-new-zealand-ip-law

De l’intérêt des fuites (#leaks) pour manipuler une négociation

It’s one way of negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (#TPPA) I guess.

Leak a document containing multiple extreme positions and then gracefully back down in the face of inevitable objection from other parties fuelled by local community uproar - arriving at terms that are at least as good if not better than what you were really after. And the US is playing that game like a master if it’s latest leaked TPPA IP chapter is anything to go by. Mind you, it had some ground to make up after its embarrassing stumble with #ACTA.

US presses punitive copyright deal on trade partners - 3/14/2011 - Computer Weekly
►http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/03/14/245904/US-presses-punitive-copyright-deal-on-trade-partners.htm

Après l’#ACTA, c’est pas fini... on passe au #TPP

The US is continuing its secret efforts to secure tougher copyright laws, even though its Hollywood-sponsored anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (Acta) has still to be validated, a leaked document has revealed.
A 10 February draft of the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property Rights Chapter calls for the provisions of the US’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act to be implemented by countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and Vietnam.

#WikiLeaks #cablegate : US intervened in #Michael_Moore NZ screening | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/22/wikileaks-cables-michael-moore-nz

After a leaked cable from US diplomats in Havana falsely claimed Cuba had banned Moore’s documentary Sicko – when in fact it was shown on state television – another cable reveals US officials flying into a panic after hearing a rumour that a #New_Zealand cabinet minister was hosting a screening of Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11.

Labelling the event a “potential fiasco”, the classified cable from the US embassy in Wellington in 2003 reads like a failed plotline for an episode of In the Loop, breathlessly reporting a series of calls to the New Zealand prime minister’s office and to the minister involved, Marian Hobbs.

Cette info, assez anecdotique, confirme un aspect important des câbles diplomatiques : une grosse partie de l’activité « diplomatique » des ambassades consiste à lécher les bottes de la hiérarchie. Ici : faire montre d’un zèle ridicule pour faire annuler la projection d’un film. Ailleurs : transmettre les « hearsay » (témoignages indirects) les plus imbéciles du moment qu’ils vont dans le sens de la politique décrétée à Washington.

Nicky Hager » #Wikileaks: Leaked US cables spill the beans on NZ ties
►http://www.nickyhager.info/wikileaks-leaked-us-cables-spill-the-beans-on-nz-ties

NEW ZEALAND’S collaboration with United States intelligence agencies was “fully restored” in August 2009 but both governments decided to keep the decision secret.

(...) the news “should not be acknowledged in public”.

The US imposed restrictions on intelligence supply in the 1980s as retaliation for New Zealand’s #nuclear-free policy, and American ambassador Bill McCormick was still saying in late 2005 that there was “little room to move” while the anti-nuclear legislation remained in place.

But the cable reveals the US quietly resumed the intelligence flow despite the nuclear-free policy. It said despite the 1985 #ANZUS break, New Zealand remained a member of the Five Eyes intelligence community, but with access to certain types of material curtailed.

“Our intelligence relationship was fully restored in August 29, 2009,” the SECRET/NOFORN cable, meaning for American eyes only – No Foreign Nationals, says.

#New_Zealand #USA #Echelon