Six months into a war he considers both illegal and predictable, Otago University professor Robert Patman is asking New Zealand to reckon with a quiet cost: that diplomatic silence, offered as prudence, may have purchased neither safety nor goodwill. As the Trump administration reshapes American foreign policy along lines of dominance rather than rules, Patman argues that small nations which depend on international order cannot afford to stay neutral about its unraveling. The question he poses to Wellington is not whether speaking out carries risk, but whether silence carries a greater one.
NZ should abandon 'softly, softly' approach to Trump, says foreign policy expert
The Iran war has killed thousands of people over six months of conflict.