We all know that Jacinda Ardern is the World’s Greatest Leader, beloved of the global media for her wisdom and insight.
There’s not a virtue signalled, a piety paraded, or a photo opportuned, without “Saint Jacinda” jumping up and down, cooing, “Look at me! Look at me!” She’ll happily don the appropriate ethnicky garb, parade her 1.0 children — hell, anyone’s children, especially if they’re handily a bit on the tan side — and hug anyone who’ll endure her cloying embrace. Whatever it takes to get her name in print.
So when a whole lot of public figures are vying to outdo themselves with the most venal and/or clueless statement about the disaster in Afghanistan, naturally Our Jacinda is one of the fastest, dumbest horses out the gate.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister has ‘implored’ Taliban leaders to uphold human rights, telling a press conference ‘What we want to see is women and girls being able to access work and education’ which she insightfully noted ‘are things that have traditionally not been available to them where there has been governance by Taliban.’ The Taliban’s response is as yet unknown.
I suspect it will be something like this…
Meanwhile, New Zealanders might be given more pause to consider whether Ardern’s decision to let back in a New Zealand woman who ran off to join ISIS really was “the right step”. Here’s the lawyer for her fellow ISIS brides, Tasnime Akunjee, on the Taliban victory:
The boys are back in town.
Mind you, New Zealand doesn’t have Antipodean dibs on pro-Taliban dunderheadedness. Here’s Australian Marxist and one-time Greek minister of finance (no, that’s not a comedy title, it’s an actual job) Yanis Varoufakis:
On the day liberal-neocon imperialism was defeated once and for all, DiEM25’s thoughts are with the women of Afghanistan. Our solidarity probably means little to them but it is what we can offer – for the time being. Hang in there sisters!
In 239 characters, the former Greek minister of finance manages to show what ‘solidarity’ means to him. Switching effortlessly from hailing ‘liberal-neocon imperialism’ being ‘defeated once and for all’ to washing his hands of all responsibility –’it is what we can offer’ – to end with the patronising sign-off ‘Hang in there sisters!’
But if Varoufakis is callously opportunistic, he’s a positive angel of compassion, compared to the German foreign ministry.
A German Defense Ministry spokesperson on its responsibility to get local Afghan support staff and translators out of the country: “It’s not like we forced them to cooperate with us.”
The Spectator
Still, as Varoufakis shows, for a socialist, every humanitarian disaster has a silver lining. While Jacinda Ardern is “imploring” the Taliban to respect wahmen, she might well find time to praise their pro-gun control message.
Taliban fighters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, started collecting weapons from civilians on Monday because people no longer need them for personal protection, a Taliban official said.
“We understand people kept weapons for personal safety. They can now feel safe. We are not here to harm innocent civilians,” the official told Reuters.
Reuters
Maybe Poto Williams will adopt that as Labour’s new gun confiscation slogan.
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