KEY POINTS:
After 23 years, it seems New Zealand has finally been forgiven by the leader of the "free" world. It is ironic we have been exonerated for our ban on nuclear warships visiting our harbours by the arguably most right-wing president and biggest warmonger in living US history.
David Lange, in 1984, made us proud in taking a stand against nuclear silliness. Of course, there was a price and New Zealanders have been happy to pay it. Mind you, the US did us a favour by not allowing us to join their military exercises and receiving some of their military secrets. The value of their so-called military intelligence was evident when they used their erroneous data to justify their invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The expulsion of New Zealand from the US military club has no doubt kept us out of harm's way. Imagine what we may have been dragged into with George W Bush and John Howard if we were still full partners in the Anzus military pack. We have never really cared about not being invited to war games anyway with our former Anzus buddies. I was in Washington in the early 90s and met some State Department officials who strongly advocated why New Zealand should let in US nuclear warships. They couldn't seem to get the fact that it would be impossible for any political party to overturn the nuclear ban. It's taken two decades for the pin finally to drop.
Since Lange left office, New Zealand governments - whether National or Labour - have spent a lot of time sucking up to Uncle Sam. That's because we wanted a free-trade deal from the US. We knew we'd never get one whilst the US were pissed at us but it never stopped us from trying.
In some sense we have become a more trusted US ally. To curry favour we have kept our silence on America's adventurism in the world. When there were atrocities and massacres carried out by US forces or their allies there was rarely a squeak from us. With the obvious exception of Iraq, we have been in every war theatre alongside them.
We still have our SAS commandos and other military personnel riding shotgun for the US-backed regime in Afghanistan. Because of the mess in Iraq, Afghanistan is, to a large extent, off the radar. But the situation in Afghanistan is as bad as it was under the Taliban rule. At least the Taliban eradicated the drug trade during their time in power. To pacify the country, the US Administration has done deals with regional warlords who now run the country. Millions of US taxpayers' dollars have been transferred as bribes to these bandits and their private militias. The US and their allies have turned a blind eye to mass opium production. In the last two years there have been bumper crops, and the opium trade is bigger there now than in the rest of the world combined.
You can forget about democracy and freedom in Afghanistan. The resurgent Taliban have done deals with the US-backed warlords to ban girls from schools and requiring women to cover themselves up. So much for America's anti-drug and freedom crusade.
Our Government will, however, stick in there in the hope that the American administration will smile benignly on us and reward us a free-trade agreement.
Of course, any agreement isn't going to happen any time soon, despite the beat-ups last week. This is because Bush has been permitted by Congress to enter into free trade agreements only until June of this year. Any decision after this date will be made by the Democrats-controlled Congress. This isn't going to happen because any agreement will benefit New Zealand farmers and exporters at the expense of the American voters. Any fool can see that the American politicians between now and the next presidential election have only got one priority: to ensure the economic interests of their electorates are preserved.
The Democrats in 18 months want to win the presidency and outright control in the Senate and US Congress, and they will not lift one finger to help New Zealand at the expense of their voters. So Helen Clark is correct when she turns up in Washington, playing down expectations. If you had any doubts about the status of free trade between New Zealand and the US, you only had to watch Bush's guffaw when the idea was mentioned.
What is not widely understood by New Zealanders is that our country is one of the most free-market economies in the world. The World Bank ranks New Zealand as the world's most pro-business government. So when the US talks about free trade and abolishing tariffs, what they mean is that they should allow free access for American exports into their countries. Despite their rhetoric the US is a protected economy. New Zealand already allows free trade of US goods into New Zealand. Why, then, would the US return the favour to our exporters when they don't have to?
Don't get me wrong, it was a significant step this week that our nuclear-free policy was officially accepted by the US. But it won't make an ounce of difference in reality.
It's in the US interest to have us in the Middle East and, more importantly, have us act as Australia's little helper in minding US interests in the South Pacific. That's the real reason that Bush had lunch with Clark this week. But don't think there will be any economic benefit to New Zealand.
