OPINION
In the leaders’ debate there was a single question on foreign policy – about AUKUS. I am a US citizen and one of the true oddities of being an American abroad is the astonishing similarities to being a ‘made man’ in cosa nostra. Let me explain.
In 1986 the US Congress passed the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Anti Terrorism Act. This was when Ronald Reagan decided that confining federal jurisdiction to mere national borders would end; henceforth, the entire planet was subject to section 2332 of the US code.
Killing a US citizen abroad sees the following scenario unfold: the FBI sends agents down to investigate the murder (rather than, say, the NZ police). They find the murderer and then extradite him to the US for trial. The views of the ‘host country’ are ignored – the murderer needs to be made an example of.
If a NZ court does something silly like refuse extradition and remand the murderer in custody, the Feds just send a team of marines to the remand prison for a ‘smash and grab’, then stick the perpetrator on a US government plane and off to the US. This is why extradition is always granted. Imagine word getting out how easy it is to undertake a smash and grab at a New Zealand prison! (Hint: remember that mystery plane at Wellington airport in 2017?)
Once in America you have no rights. No, they don’t take the risk of you wriggling off the hook. They give you a public defender on his first week on the job and the trial is very speedy. A couple of weeks later you go on trial on Monday, get convicted on Tuesday (there’s no such thing as an acquittal), you launch an appeal on Wednesday, it’s rejected on Thursday, your final appeal to the President for clemency is rejected on Friday and you fry in the electric chair on Saturday, while the Secretary of State stifles a yawn as the NZ ambassador throws a tantrum in his office.
In short – kill an American and you’re stuffed. This has happened a few dozen times since 1986 and every perp has been caught and executed.
My point in mentioning this is to say Ronald Reagan’s decision to declare the entire planet subject to US jurisdiction is of great benefit to New Zealand as an exporting trading nation. Each day we send huge volumes of exports on ships and planes to be flogged off in other parts of the world.
Prior to 1986 we were subject to piracy, U-boats during the war, smart-alec dictators closing the Suez Canal and other vagaries that compromise world trade, and could do nothing about it. Subsequent to 1986 these problems haven’t arisen because America guarantees world trade.
Needless to say this is of great benefit to New Zealand. We no longer need to worry about our exports being disrupted and should all be celebrating. It also makes David Lange’s treachery in the 1980s all the more appalling: not only did he try to destroy our export industries from within with the first ‘war on farming’, but he then upset our main ally who guarantees world trade gets to its destinations! That there was a single question on foreign policy in an election debate was bizarre, as if our bread isn’t buttered in export markets. Our bread is further buttered by remembering who ensures NZ exports get to their destination unimpeded. The sooner we join AUKUS, get some nukes and stop being childish, the better!