Independent Analysis and Reportage
Recorded Live - A View from Afar - In this episode, political scientist and former Pentagon Analyst Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning deep-dive into: The End of the Liberal Internationalist Order and the Rise of Illiberalism.
LIVE@ 12:30PM (NZ TIME): A View from Afar podcast. Series 06, Episode 03 – In this episode, political scientist and former Pentagon Analyst… Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will deep-dive into: The End of the Liberal Internationalist Order and the Rise of Illiberalism. The topics to discuss are: A Global Transition Process – What is this ... <a title="Podcast: The End of the Liberal Internationalist Order and the Rise of Illiberalism – AVFA" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/20/podcast-the-end-of-the-liberal-internationalist-order-and-the-rise-of-illiberalism-avfa/" aria-label="Read more about Podcast: The End of the Liberal Internationalist Order and the Rise of Illiberalism – AVFA">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 14 April 2026. Despite the mega-commentary about the Israel-Iran war, and especially the United States’ participation in that war, almost nothing is being debated about how the war is being funded. I’ll make some comments about Iran later. But we need to focus on the United States, which is by far ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Printing Money to Finance this and other Wars" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/14/keith-rankin-analysis-printing-money-to-finance-this-and-other-wars/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Printing Money to Finance this and other Wars">Read more</a>
In this episode of A View from Afar, political scientist and former Pentagon Analyst Paul Buchanan and journalist Selwyn Manning deep-dive into the US-Israel war in the Middle East.
Analysis by Keith Rankin. One puzzling feature of the present Israel-Iran war is the almost complete absence of reference – in the western media at least – to the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian. The American president claimed that Israel had killed the Iranian President, but he was referring to the Supreme Leader. Killing Ali Khamenei, ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – The Enigma of the Iranian President" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/27/keith-rankin-analysis-the-enigma-of-the-iranian-president/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – The Enigma of the Iranian President">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin – This analysis was first published on 26 March 2026. One of the United States’ navy ships heading towards the Persian Gulf is the USS Tripoli. (USS = United States Ship.) How the heck did it get that name? (Will the next two United States’ naval ships be called the USS ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – USS Tripoli: What’s in a Name?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/27/keith-rankin-analysis-uss-tripoli-whats-in-a-name/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – USS Tripoli: What’s in a Name?">Read more</a>
Editorial by Selwyn Manning. The New Zealand Government’s response to Israel-US attacks on Iran has revealed a chasm. On one side are those who argue; that New Zealand must stay aligned with its 20th century allies right or wrong. On the other side are those who insist; that the long fought for reputation, of a ... <a title="EDITORIAL: When Mediocrity Fails National Interest" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/03/editorial-when-mediocrity-fails-national-interest/" aria-label="Read more about EDITORIAL: When Mediocrity Fails National Interest">Read more</a>
Essay by Keith Rankin, 25 February 2026. Over the last few days, there has been plenty of media chatter in relation to the government’s proposal to pass a law enabling police to forcibly shift street dwellers from Auckland’s CBD. (Refer ‘Move On’ orders penalise those with the least, Scoop 22 Feb 2026.) While Labour likes ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – Vagrants and a Very Basic Universal Income" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/28/keith-rankin-essay-vagrants-and-a-very-basic-universal-income/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – Vagrants and a Very Basic Universal Income">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 19 February 2026 The RNZ news bulletin of 10pm on 18 February stated: “New Zealand and Australia are outliers in having three-year parliamentary terms, with four or five year terms far more common … politicians have over the years expressed frustration at how much can be achieved in a three-year cycle.” ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Parliamentary Term Length; is New Zealand really an Outlier?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/28/keith-rankin-analysis-parliamentary-term-length-is-new-zealand-really-an-outlier/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Parliamentary Term Length; is New Zealand really an Outlier?">Read more</a>
PODCAST: A View from Afar - Paul G. Buchanan: “The sad fact, though, is that the US is the center of our earthly geopolitical universe, serving as the first rock to drop in the global pond whose ripple effects are extensive, negative, and washing up in unexpected and unforeseen ways. That rock, in fact, is a black hole sucking the remnants of the rule based order into oblivion, or if not oblivion, irrelevance in a new age of power politics (might makes right, etc.). It is a dark force from which things as they exist cannot return.”
Keith Rankin, 13 February 2026 On 14 January, Al Jazeera produced an episode of ‘Inside Story’, their daily current affairs feature programme: Why is the US Fed chair criminal probe causing global alarm? The context is the conflict between the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, versus the man who appointed him to that role, President ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – The New Alchemy: Democracy, and the Church of Money" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/15/keith-rankin-essay-the-new-alchemy-democracy-and-the-church-of-money/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – The New Alchemy: Democracy, and the Church of Money">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Labour Party Policies Last month the New Zealand Labour Party announced two policies: a second sovereign wealth fund, and a capital gains tax on non-owner-occupier real estate. For me, both are worrying, representing further steps in the financialisation of an already over-financialised economy. Then yesterday, I heard a story (Report highlights ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – The Mansion as a Metaphor for Neoliberal Finance Capitalism" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/11/14/keith-rankin-essay-the-mansion-as-a-metaphor-for-neoliberal-finance-capitalism/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – The Mansion as a Metaphor for Neoliberal Finance Capitalism">Read more</a>