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Speaker 1: The Prime Minister has confirmed we will not be signing

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Speaker 1: on to Donald Trump's so called Board of Peace. The

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Speaker 1: body was created to oversee reconstruction and peace efforts in Gaza,

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Speaker 1: but New Zealand will not join. Countries have already joined,

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Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia and Russia, and we'll be avoiding the eyewatering

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Speaker 1: price tag that comes with it. Robert Patman is the

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Speaker 1: Otago University International Relations PROFESSORO is with us now, Hi,

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Speaker 1: Robert Hi? Hell, obviously the right call, isn't it?

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Speaker 2: I think so? Yes? I think given the fact that

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Speaker 2: New Zealand has traditionally stood and still does for a

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Speaker 2: two state solution involving Israel and the Palestinians, this Board

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Speaker 2: of Peace, headed by mister Trump does not have any

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Speaker 2: Palestine representation on it, and it also doesn't seem to

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Speaker 2: recognize the principle of political self determination for the Palestinians.

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Speaker 2: So it will be hypocritical for us to sit on

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Speaker 2: such a board which falls short in those areas.

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Speaker 1: Right now, There's been a reasonable amount of pressure on

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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister in the last week to answer questions

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Speaker 1: about it, and he's chosen only today to say it.

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Speaker 1: Why today is that simply so that we could join

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Speaker 1: a crowd who all say it at the same time.

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Speaker 2: I think that you know, one or two people have said,

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Speaker 2: why didn't we turn it down immediately? I'd probably find

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Speaker 2: myself in that camp. But to be fair to the government,

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Speaker 2: I think that they probably wanted to be seen as

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Speaker 2: weighing it up carefully and not making an impulsive decision.

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Speaker 2: But I do think the decision they made is the

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Speaker 2: right one.

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Speaker 1: Now, do you think that it doesn't pose a threat

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Speaker 1: in any way to the UN? In that the UN

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Speaker 1: may look at this and realize there are moves of

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Speaker 1: foot well, at least there is the consideration of setting

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Speaker 1: up an alternative body that may cause the UN to

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Speaker 1: actually find some reason to reform itself.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it is a serious rival to the UN.

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Speaker 2: The UN consists of one hundred and ninety three countries,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of countries have already declined to participate

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Speaker 2: in mister Trump's so called Board of Peace. And you know,

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Speaker 2: if you want to chair a board of peace, you

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Speaker 2: also have to walk the talk. And in thirteen months

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Speaker 2: in office, mister Trump has threatened to the territories of

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Speaker 2: two Democratic allies, Denmark and also Canada as well as

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Speaker 2: he's now threatening Iran. So in a sense, it seems

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Speaker 2: to lack the sort of credibility you need to draw

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Speaker 2: in lots of other countries. Now, let's be quite clear,

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Speaker 2: the UN is struggling, But one of the reasons it's

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Speaker 2: struggling is because it is saddled with this ridiculous system

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Speaker 2: in the UN Security Council, of which the US has

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Speaker 2: an exceptional privilege. The US, Russia, and China, the UK

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Speaker 2: and France all have the privilege of VETO, so they

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Speaker 2: can block anything they don't like. We live in the

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Speaker 2: world where five countries can do two in matters of

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Speaker 2: war and peace, and that is pretty The rest of

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Speaker 2: us are putting up the cost. But what do you

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Speaker 2: do in that situation? Do you move on to a

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Speaker 2: new international organization? Not necessarily, you try and make the

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Speaker 2: assisting one much better.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's the problem, isn't it, Robert. Nobody's making

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Speaker 1: the existing one much better, and that's what I'm hoping for. Hey,

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Speaker 1: thank you for your time. Robert Patman, International Relations Professor,

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Speaker 1: Otago University. Okay.

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