Skatert'ya Doraga Zuev
Russian Ambassador in Wellington, Georgii Zuev refuses to talk to the NZ Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committees.
He says it would be futile.
I say it would mean he would proffer the story that his Russia was forced to defend itself against Ukrainian Nazi-ism and that there was no actual war taking place and no civilians have been murdered, killed, raped, tortured or forced to flee either to other countries or to Russia itself and that no non-military or non weapons-hiding buildings have been destroyed by Russian forces or bombardment. And so on. USA President, Joe Biden has called Russian actions in Ukraine "genocide" and that Putin is a war criminal. I am sure Jacinda Ardern concurs.
I am certain Zuev looks at TVNZ, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera news and thus knows what many of the Russian population do not know about the so-called Russian Military Operation in Ukraine. So he could do what ambassadors are meant to do - talk to the NZ Government and its direct branches of Government - or get out of here.
I say that the PM or her Minister of Foreign Affairs should kick Zuev out because he has nothing to say and neither should we say anything more than skatert'ya doraga Mr Zuev.
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Same Again Dan
Who else besides me has gotten annoyed well before now with TVOne weather presenter, Daniel Corbett constant use of the term: SAME THING AGAIN.
Dan uses this term at least two-three times on any evening he is doing the weather presentation. A year ago and it wasn't in his vocabulary.
Ok, NZ is not a huge country and therefore the weather region by region, city by city can be pretty similar. But to use the same terminology when there is either no need to or many alternatives, rankles me anyway.
His weather colleagues have never used this Corbett habitual three worded expression.
Another thing Dan does with so much more repetitiveness of late is the frimmp, woosh, voomb sounds of noise he makes to describe rain, wind, impending climatic conditions or whatever.
Come on Dan. You weren't doing or saying these things in the UK.