McCully’s Kobayashi Maru

Spock: The Kobayashi Maru scenario frequently wreaks havoc on students and equipment. As I recall you took the test three times yourself. Your final solution was, shall we say, unique?
Kirk: It had the virtue of never having been tried.

Anyone who has seen Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and of course the latest Star Trek movie will know of the Kobayashi Maru: a situation designed to test the mettle of potential Starfleet captains. Put simply, it is a no-win situation.

Over the past week we’ve seen our own little no-win scenario develop. On one hand we have the Jaspanese ship Shonan Maru 2 claiming the ramming was unintentional and the crew of Sea Shepard’s Ady Gil claiming it was intentional.

There is video footage from the Ady Gill, there is also video footage from the Shonan Maru 2. Neither is particularly conclusive but seriously, why would Sea Shepard and the Captain of the Ady Gill put such a massively expensive boat at even greater risk than it already was.

A New Zealand registered boat has sunk in waters that Australia has search and rescue jurisdiction over. Neither the Australian goverment or the New Zealand government are willing to speak out against the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research’s bizarre claims.

McCully has eschewed all of his power as Minister of Foreign Affairs to speak out against the Japanese and support New Zealand’s traditional distaste for whaling and the importance of preserving whales from needless slaughter.

So now McCully has to either do two things in his own Kobayashi Maru. Condemn the actions of the Japanese vessel and take moves to further discourage whaling in the Pacific. A hard pill to swallow since Japan is NZ’s third largest export destination. Or stay course with his initial reaction and risk alienating a lot of swing voters as well as the Blue-Green bloc within the National party, not to mention send the message to Japan that we just don’t care any more.

There is no need for Japan, or any other country, to continue whaling. If there is one thing we learnt from Star Trek it should be: DON’T FUCK WITH THE WHALES.