Waiting for ...... wikileaks

[Zebo]

I was not trying to encourage you with mockery

 

[yllus]

Wil Wilkinson of The Economist writes:

In defence of WikiLeaks

Greg Mitchell's catalogue of reactions to the leaked cables is a trove of substantive information. For example, drawing on the documents made available by WikiLeaks, the ACLU reports that the Bush administration "pressured Germany not to prosecute CIA officers responsible for the kidnapping, extraordinary rendition and torture of German national Khaled El-Masri", a terrorism suspect dumped in Albania once the CIA determined it had nabbed a nobody.

I consider kidnapping and torture serious crimes, and I think it's interesting indeed if the United States government applied pressure to foreign governments to ensure complicity in the cover-up of it agents' abuses. In any case, I don't consider this gossip.

I think we all understand that the work of even the most decent governments is made more difficult when they cannot be sure their communications will be read by those for whom they were not intended. That said, there is no reason to assume that the United States government is always up to good. To get at the value of WikiLeaks, I think it's important to distinguish between the government—the temporary, elected authors of national policy—and the state—the permanent bureaucratic and military apparatus superficially but not fully controlled by the reigning government. The careerists scattered about the world in America's intelligence agencies, military, and consular offices largely operate behind a veil of secrecy executing policy which is itself largely secret. American citizens mostly have no idea what they are doing, or whether what they are doing is working out well.

The actually-existing structure and strategy of the American empire remains a near-total mystery to those who foot the bill and whose children fight its wars. And that is the way the elite of America's unelected permanent state, perhaps the most powerful class of people on Earth, like it.

As Scott Shane, the New York Times' national security reporter, puts it: "American taxpayers, American citizens pay for all these diplomatic operations overseas and you know, it is not a bad thing when Americans actually have a better understanding of those negotiations". Mr Shane goes on to suggest that

"Perhaps if we had had more information on these secret internal deliberations of governments prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, we would have had a better understanding of the quality of the evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."

If secrecy is necessary for national security and effective diplomacy, it is also inevitable that the prerogative of secrecy will be used to hide the misdeeds of the permanent state and its privileged agents. I suspect that there is no scheme of government oversight that will not eventually come under the indirect control of the generals, spies, and foreign-service officers it is meant to oversee.

 

[yllus]

yllus: I think the release of many of these diplomatic cables are ultimately quite harmful. It damages the relationship of trust that exists in sensitive diplomacy. Without some form of protection or secrecy, negotiations between states and governments could become paralyzed or devolve into a random crapshoot of snap-decisions and guesstimates.

I think Assange has deluded himself, much like POW, that he is serving some higher purpose here when truthfully he is just a shit-stirrer. He just happened to be lucky enough to run into Pfc. Bradley Manning before he was caught by the U.S. military. Assange's delusions and the few allies he has left have allowed to Assange to create a fantasy world in which his actions are righteous and just. I think he and his team are no longer capable of processing what the true worldwide ramifications will be as a result leaking these sensitive communications and documents.

No doubt remains in my mind that people WILL DIE because of these leaks, sensitive negotiations will be set back for years or ended, and the true effects of the leaks will not be known for a very long time.

I do not believe that all information should be free or available to the general public. I see the common good of protecting certain types of information (whether it be intellectual property or classified materials).

I think the trust in human beings will be maintained, but the trust that Americans will be able to keep stuff under their hat will be damaged. Even this I consider an overall plus, as if this 22-year-old truly did get at that information on his own, Americans will now be obliged to reexamine the security of your network from head to toe. (Because if he could get at it, Iran/Syria/North Korea/etc. have had access forever.)

Assange is no hero, but I do hope that others pick up for him if he falls. Less money and people would disappear to never be heard from again if autocrats in our defence industries knew that the truth might inconveniently leak out.

 

[Kadarin]

Slashdot is now tracking a story on Forbes where Wikileaks will expose a major bank scandal:

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/11/30/1849235/WikiLeaks-Will-Unveil-Major-Bank-Scandal

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/

This is going to get even more interesting.

 

[yllus]

Pressure from the U.S. government has been successfully applied to Amazon, who's just shut off all of WikiLeaks' distributed web server instances.

WikiLeaks' Amazon Servers Go Offline (LIVE UPDATES)

Amazon pulled the plug on hosting WikiLeaks today amidst increasing political pressure.

The Associated Press reports:

Amazon.com Inc. forced WikiLeaks to stop using the U.S. company's computers to distribute embarrassing State Department communications and other documents, WikiLeaks said Wednesday.

The ouster came after congressional staff had questioned Amazon about its relationship with WikiLeaks, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut.

WikiLeaks confirmed it hours after The Associated Press reported that Amazon's servers had stopped hosting WikiLeaks' site. The site was unavailable for several hours before it moved back to its previous Swedish host, Bahnhof.

WikiLeaks tweeted in response: "WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted. Free speech the land of the free--fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe," and later, "If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books."

Keep up with the latest WikiLeaks news in our continuously-updated live blog below.

Is there a known authentic torrent for the WikiLeaks information?

Edit: Here's the "history insurance" torrent from The Pirate Bay:

https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5723136/WikiLeaks_insurance

 

[Phokus]

Slashdot is now tracking a story on Forbes where Wikileaks will expose a major bank scandal:

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/11/30/1849235/WikiLeaks-Will-Unveil-Major-Bank-Scandal

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/

This is going to get even more interesting.

God i hope this is Goldman Sachs, if there were ever a bank that deserves getting gutted, it's Goldman.

 

[sportage]

Who needs Wikileak scandal?
We have enough scandal sitting around now from the Bush era. Like the little movie now out called "Fair Game".
Face it.. no one cares.
This isn't the America Benjamin Franklin grew up in or envisioned for us.
Franklin said "You have a republic, IF... you can keep it".
Looks like we could really give a rats ass about those last four words.
Sure makes GW smile with a big grin, and have the nerve to still show his puss in public.
Face it... its over.
People don't care.
Faux news and Rush rule the country.
And people really just don't have desire to know the truth.
It's now all about "the game".
Wikileak? Maybe nintendo will make some video game out of it for our pleasure.

 

[Darwin333]

God i hope this is Goldman Sachs, if there were ever a bank that deserves getting gutted, it's Goldman.

While I agree with you about GS, I'll bet a months pay its BAC. I am not saddened one bit though, BAC deserves it almost as bad, not quite but pretty damned close.

 

[Generator]

Who needs Wikileak scandal?
We have enough scandal sitting around now from the Bush era. Like the little movie now out called "Fair Game".
Face it.. no one cares.
This isn't the America Benjamin Franklin grew up in or envisioned for us.
Franklin said "You have a republic, IF... you can keep it".
Looks like we could really give a rats ass about those last four words.
Sure makes GW smile with a big grin, and have the nerve to still show his puss in public.
Face it... its over.
People don't care.
Faux news and Rush rule the country.
And people really just don't have desire to know the truth.
It's now all about "the game".
Wikileak? Maybe nintendo will make some video game out of it for our pleasure.

You got it exactly right. I can barely smell the fucking stink anymore.