On Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 5:14 PM, J-M wrote:

(big snip)
> Again, what did you expect. They were sent on a mission by the
> French Government. The least you would expect is said Goverment
> to do its best for them. NZ allowed it. Your problem...

> > Yes, funny how sleeply ol NZ managed to catch those who were meant to be
> > their best.

> I assure you that sleepy ol NZ can't be given much credit for
> their arrest.

The problem with government agents is that they're the ones that we all poke
the finger at when they get caught for doing what they're employed to do!

What happend in Auckland, New Zealand, was a government inspired action!  It
was - by any stretch of the imagination - overkill!  (I was there at the
time.)

The fact that, as a nuclear power, France saw fit to conduct a series of
tests on an attoll close to our part of the world was of no import to the
decision makers in Paris.  (Their decision to test nuclear weapons in the
South Pacific was, in fact, suggested as a cause of my own thyroid cancer!)

J-M!  You're right in suggesting that the executives deserved the support of
their government.  But their actions - in attempting to deny the right to
protest a northern hemisphere's government's actions that affected those of
us in the South Pacific - were indefensible!  They were caught!  They were
murderers!

Whether or not New Zealand had the international and economic muscle to
argue the fact with France is neither here nor there.  But - as far as I'm
concerned - they should have had the guts to throw their paid agents to the
lions:  Not use trading agreements to secure their freedom and snub a - to
them - insignificant country that had no more international weight than the
island nations affected by the radiation fall-out!

(Test some of those devices in the south of France and see what sort of
protest follows!)

Strike