Archive: Fiji 1987: ‘Sit down everybody. This is a takeover!’
Fiji: Countdown to a coup
ANALYSIS: By David Robie in New Outlook
Sakeasi Butadroka fingers his trademark blood-red bow-tie and laughs: "This represents the blood of...
Archive: Poisoned Reign – bringing us up to date about ‘merciless’ France’s nuclear hostages in the Pacific
REVIEWS: By David Robie
When it first appeared in 1977 under the title Moruroa, Mon Amour, the Danielsson's book was a damning indictment of French...
Archive: ‘A subversive in Kanaky’ – something out of a B-grade police movie?
French police and soldiers harassed and arrested Islands Business correspondent David Robie during an assignment in New Caledonia in January 1987. It was his...
Archive: Challenging Goliath – New Internationalist 1986
When Aotearoa (NZ) banned nuclear warships from its ports it was seen as David standing up to Washington's Goliath. But behind Prime Minister David...
Archive: Gaston Flosse’s iron grip in Tahiti
Victory was complete. Gaston Flosse crushed all opposition at the polls. David Robie in Pape’ete asks how powerful can he become as France’s newly...
Archive: Tahiti: Caricature of the leader
By David Robie
One political cartoon depicted President Gaston Flosse as a vampire. A potted "species" note in the opposition newspaper Te Teo o Te...