Michelle Findlay

WHEN WE BOOT THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER THERE HAS TO BE AN INQUIRY INTO AT THE VERY LEAST THE FERRY CANCELLATIONS AND THE COST OF THAT, BUT I BELIEVE THERE HAS TO BE AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR HANDLING OF THE ECONOMY. They've borrowed till their eyes bled and NZ is now bankrupt

Inconvenient facts for current #NZ Govt: “NZ's sustained economic growth claim doesn't stack up”. The economy is smaller than it was when the current government was elected: nzherald.co.nz/business/econo… What about any of this would inspire confidence? aap.com.au/factcheck/nzs-…

For over a decade, we Iranians watched Western countries, Arab regimes, and their Israeli enablers stand by as our economy was deliberately crushed under the weight of America’s illegal sanctions and maximum pressure campaign. We watched them eagerly comply with policies designed to destroy our nation, shatter our lives, crush our dreams, bankrupt our businesses, rot our infrastructure, devalue our currency, and cut us off from normal trade and economic relations with the world. We watched European leaders pathetically nod in satisfaction and offer pathetic lip service as Trump declared the JCPOA a “bad deal,” using it as cover for the most brutal campaign against our people—fully aware that scrapping the deal was nothing more than his sick, twisted obsession with erasing his predecessor’s legacy. We watched U.S. officials and their Israel lobby handlers proudly parade before Congress, armed with figures and statistics, boasting how their vicious policies had tanked our currency, spiked unemployment, sent inflation soaring, and inflicted trillions of dollars in damage on our already strained economy. We watched them cheer these results and laugh at the shattered lives of millions of human beings. We watched them dutifully support the first Trump administration’s sadistic policies—even during the COVID pandemic—when his criminal Secretary of State moved heaven and earth to block Iran from securing even a meager $5 billion IMF loan, while their own governments freely spent hundreds of billions to protect their populations from the same virus. We watched them shamelessly endorse Israel’s attacks on our territory under the obscene slogan “Israel has the right to defend itself,” while branding Iran’s legitimate self-defense as “recklessness” and demanding that our government refrain from “escalation.” We watched them applaud the assassination of our war veterans and heroes, our scientists, and our brightest minds - all in the name of “non-proliferation” - while they kept their mouths tightly shut about Israel’s nuclear arsenal and expansionist agenda. We watched them, openly or in private, urging more pressure, more destruction, more assassinations, and more war. All of it justified by the ludicrous and baseless claim that Iran seeks nuclear weapons—a lie they knew was false. They were fully aware that the enrichment levels and constraints Iran had accepted under the JCPOA, and during subsequent negotiations for a new deal, made militarization impossible. They invented excuse after excuse to engineer our destruction, and they laughed while ensuring the pain was ours alone. But things have changed. Iran will no longer stand by and watch its own destruction while others nod, cheer and laugh. They will not be laughing anymore. This time, we will not be the only ones who feel pain. We will no longer tolerate unilateral sanctions and destruction. We may die standing—but this time, we will all be in same boat.

@RezaNasri1 @TrevorJ24567534 My heartaches for all you have suffered. What more can I say? Tears are not enough. The ache for love, compassion, and peace is so overwhelming that it's physically crushing. 💔

🔸️The hypocrisy plaguing the #EU has now reached a level of severity that can only be described as alarming—so much so that its officials no longer bother with coherent argumentation, instead stringing together hollow words in a grotesque parody of political discourse. 🔸️@KajaKallas deliberately turns a blind eye to the true root cause of the crisis tearing apart the region and beyond—namely, the relentless, aggressive attacks carried out by the illegitimate #Israeli regime and the terrorist #American regime against #Iran—while having the audacity to condemn Iran’s purely defensive actions. She speaks as if Iran, suffering from some kind of mental breakdown—like the current U.S. president—suddenly and inexplicably decided to launch assaults on American bases in the region. 🔸️In a recent conversation with China’s Foreign Minister, Kallas actually demanded that Iran respect the #UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea—a treaty that Iran is not even a party to. What kind of advisors surround her? A batch of spineless “yes-men” puppets, no different from the sycophants who surround Trump? 🔸️Someone needs to remind Kallas of the facts: Iran was a committed signatory to the NPT. And yet, its peaceful nuclear facilities—fully operating under NPT safeguards—were deliberately targeted and destroyed. 🔸️So let there be no confusion: the Islamic Republic of Iran, at this point, cares far more about its own people's lives, security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity—all of which, under international law and international humanitarian law, are supposed to be protected. 🔶️Let us be clear: international law is—and must remain—respectable and dignified for everyone. That includes the peoples of Iran, #Palestine, #Lebanon, #Syria, #Iraq, #Yemen, and beyond. No one, absolutely no one, has the right to hypocritically weaponize international law to secure their own interests or crush the legitimate demands of others.

They are evil insider traders.

@BRICSinfo Horrible. I cry for the people of Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon. Heartache for all.

JUST IN: 🇮🇷 Major explosions in Tehran, Iran following US-Israeli strikes.

PLEASE! I beg you! Do not buy this shit! Tasmanian salmon farming practices and ecological impacts are vile, repugnant. Boycott this rubbish and the shops that stock it Foodstuffs brings in ecologically dubious Tasmania salmon in place of NZ fish newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/02/foo…

@HelenClarkNZ @EFeijoa Yes. No question.

@EFeijoa Yes and no. NZ is at a particularly low ebb under the current “leadership” - or should we say “management”….

Excellent substack. Thought provoking as not just about which side is in government.

🚨🇮🇱 BREAKING: 4 lion cubs murdered by IDF soldiers at the Gaza zoo I have no more words. I just want israel gone forever.

NZ take note.

@kellyenz We should be negotiating with Iran. However, since our idiot decision makers have moved us closer to USA and away from independent foreign policy, this will be difficult, even if requests are made on our behalf by overseas buyers.

Long lasting supply chain effects even if this thing ends tomorrow - which it won’t as the Iranians rejected negotiations.

Wake up babe, a new Iran movie trolling Pete Hegseth just dropped

New Zealand's finance minister has defended the government's track record with an exaggerated claim about the country's economy. aap.com.au/factcheck/nzs-…

Uncomfortable home truths for the good ship 🚢 New Zealand 🇳🇿 as it drifts towards the rocks. Whatever the government strategy is, it’s not working. open.substack.com/pub/awrworker/…

@MungKiwi We just brought 2x25kg bags

Bought a 5kg bag of rice today. Will buy another next week. Won't buy them all at once as that would be wrong....give others a chance to see some writing on the wall.

WOW new Iranian LEGO movie just dropped They are upping the level with every movie they make This will make LEGO company, Israel and Trump so much crazy 😭🤣😂

1/ Seymour claimed 150,000 more kids attending school regularly. John Gerritsen @RNZeducation checked the math. Actual number: ~135,000. But even that's misleading. The school roll grew so ~65,000 of the "improvement" is just more kids existing. But wait, there's (a lot) more 🧵

#nzpol. Where would we be without humour? “An organisational chart to help CEO Christopher Luxon understand the government” from ⁦@TheSpinoffTV⁩: thespinoff.co.nz/politics/02-04…

IRAN'S FULL "OPEN LETTER" TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: "To the people of the United States of America, and to all those who, amid a flood of distortions and manufactured narratives, continue to seek the truth and aspire to a better life: Iran—by this very name, character, and identity—is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in human history. Despite its historical and geographical advantages at various times, Iran has never, in its modern history, chosen the path of aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination. Even after enduring occupation, invasion, and sustained pressure from global powers—and despite possessing military superiority over many of its neighbors—Iran has never initiated a war. Yet it has resolutely and bravely repelled those who have attacked it. The Iranian people harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America, Europe, or neighboring countries. Even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures throughout their proud history, Iranians have consistently drawn a clear distinction between governments and the peoples they govern. This is a deeply rooted principle in Iranian culture and collective consciousness—not a temporary political stance. For this reason, portraying Iran as a threat is neither consistent with historical reality nor with present-day observable facts. Such a perception is the product of political and economic whims of the powerful— the need to manufacture an enemy in order to justify pressure, maintain military dominance, sustain the arms industry, and control strategic markets. In such an environment, if a threat does not exist, it is invented. Within this same framework, the United States has concentrated the largest number of its forces, bases, and military capabilities around Iran—a country that, at least since the founding of the United States, has never initiated a war. Recent American aggressions launched from these very bases have demonstrated how threatening such a military presence truly is. Naturally, no country confronted with such conditions would forgo strengthening its defensive capabilities. What Iran has done—and continues to do—is a measured response grounded in legitimate self-defense, and by no means an initiation of war or aggression. Relations between Iran and the United States were not originally hostile, and early interactions between the Iranian and American people were not marred with hostility or tension. The turning point, however, was the 1953 coup d’état—an illegal American intervention aimed at preventing the nationalization of Iran’s own resources. That coup disrupted Iran’s democratic process, reinstated dictatorship, and sowed deep distrust among Iranians toward U.S. policies. This distrust deepened further with America’s support for the Shah’s regime, its backing of Saddam Hussein during the imposed war of the 1980s, the imposition of the longest and most comprehensive sanctions in modern history, and ultimately, unprovoked military aggression—twice, in the midst of negotiations—against Iran. Yet all these pressures have failed to weaken Iran. On the contrary, the country has grown stronger in many areas: literacy rates have tripled—from roughly 30% before the Islamic Revolution to over 90% today; higher education has expanded dramatically; significant advances have been achieved in modern technology; healthcare services have improved; and infrastructure has developed at a pace and scale incomparable to the past. These are measurable, observable realities that stand independent of fabricated narratives. At the same time, the destructive and inhumane impact of sanctions, war, and aggression on the lives of the resilient Iranian people must not be underestimated. The continuation of military aggression and recent bombings profoundly affect people’s lives, attitudes, and perspectives. This reflects a fundamental human truth: when war inflicts irreparable harm on lives, homes, cities, and futures, people will not remain indifferent toward those responsible. This raises a fundamental question: Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behavior? Does the massacre of innocent children, the destruction of cancer-treatment pharmaceutical facilities, or boasting about bombing a country “back to the stone ages” serve any purpose other than further damaging the United States’ global standing? Iran pursued negotiations, reached an agreement, and fulfilled all its commitments. The decision to withdraw from that agreement, escalate toward confrontation, and launch two acts of aggression in the midst of negotiations were destructive choices made by the U.S. government—choices that served the delusions of a foreign aggressor. Attacking Iran’s vital infrastructure—including energy and industrial facilities—directly targets the Iranian people. Beyond constituting a war crime, such actions carry consequences that extend far beyond Iran’s borders. They generate instability, increase human and economic costs, and perpetuate cycles of tension, planting seeds of resentment that will endure for years. This is not a demonstration of strength; it is a sign of strategic bewilderment and an inability to achieve a sustainable solution. Is it not also the case that America has entered this aggression as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime? Is it not true that Israel, by manufacturing an Iranian threat, seeks to divert global attention away from its crimes toward the Palestinians? Is it not evident that Israel now aims to fight Iran to the last American soldier and the last American taxpayer dollar—shifting the burden of its delusions onto Iran, the region, and the United States itself in pursuit of illegitimate interests? Is “America First” truly among the priorities of the U.S. government today? I invite you to look beyond the machinery of misinformation—an integral part of this aggression—and instead speak with those who have visited Iran. Observe the many accomplished Iranian immigrants—educated in Iran—who now teach and conduct research at the world’s most prestigious universities, or contribute to the most advanced technology firms in the West. Do these realities align with the distortions you are being told about Iran and its people? Today, the world stands at crossroads. Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before. The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come. Throughout its millennia of proud history, Iran has outlasted many aggressors. All that remains of them are tarnished names in history, while Iran endures—resilient, dignified, and proud."