Larry Williams Drive

Okay, let's talk about the debate Helen Clark has sparked on whether New Zealand should be condemning the US air strikes on Iran. As you’ll have noticed, New Zealand hasn’t condemned the strikes. In fact, in a radio interview this morning, the Prime Minister said that our position aligns with Australia’s - and Australia has openly supported the strikes. The logical conclusion, then, is that we support the strikes too, even if we’re not saying so explicitly. That lack of condemnation has upset Helen Clark because, as she points out, the air strikes are illegal under international law. And she is right about that. But can anyone seriously argue that the strikes shouldn’t have happened? Consider the counterfactual - the strikes didn’t happen at the weekend. Ayatollah Khamenei is still alive. He continues to kill tens of thousands of Iranians for protesting, continues to fund Hamas to attack Israel, continues to fund and support the Houthis as they cause turmoil in the Middle East, continues backing Hezbollah to