WikiLeaks

[tazinib1]

I am alarmed by this as you should be

 

I'm all about free speech and all the jazz that goes with it but this dueche isn't even from this country. What gets me even more, is the founder of this site is a former hacker. Really chaps my hide that he is putting American Diplomacy in danger.

 

Julian Assange is a dirtbag

 

There is an international warrant for his arrest and he's wanted in Sweden on rape charges. Lets put this dueche on America's Most Wanted and stick his ass in some dark cell deep in the Afgan mountains. Better yet, lets just drop his ass off in the middle of the Afgan desert.

[SEC=UGA]

Can we just kill this guy and his cohorts already... We need to find the leakers and get rid of them, also.

[Square]

Just thought this was interesting....

 

Wikileaks and the death of American badassery.

 

You know the one thing that blew my mind about Julian Assange and the Wikileaks document dump? The way the US reacted to it. The fact that people read those cables and were shocked, shocked, that the world runs this way! It's as if everyone acted suddenly surprised and found themselves shocked to discover that they were tricked into believing that diplomats were somehow supposed to be different from the rest of us. The leaks made clear that world diplomatic relations between countries are no different from our own sh!tty relations with each other in regular society, like that contractor who disappeared with the deposit I gave him for my sink repair or the dodgy mechanic who swapped out my tires when he fixed my brake pads.

 

The world is full of chit. And the world is at war, humans are at war, constantly and on every level. Between nations, between citizens and their rulers, between citizens and other citizens, between you and your own friends. War is the base level of human reality, war for resources, war for status, war for success, war for money, puzzy and land. War to prove I'm better than you. Like Clausewitz said, "War is the continuation of diplomacy by other means". It's the point where hate gets physical.

 

That's reality.

 

Contrary to the world presented on TV by those trying to sell you chit.

 

News media presents an image of reality that people sense is bullchit but would like to live up to anyway. As an example, Wikileaks revealed that American diplomats think England's Prince Andrew is a rude a-hole, but suddenly that's controversial when it's leaked. Why? Because Prince Andrew probably is an a-hole but that isn't allowed to be known, voicing that experience off the record by those who've met him is a non allowable media experience, instead, the media consensus (and so the manufactured one) is that Prince Andrew is automatically good because he's a prince. No reporter ever ran the story of Prince Andrew being a prick as it doesn't make for a good story because the rich don't like the idea of it and the plebs don't need to know anyway. When Wikileaks document dumps the truth that American diplomats who've met him think that way, everyone ends up shocked.

 

Wikileaks here reveals a fundamental disconnect between how the world is portrayed as a 'feel good wish fulfillment consumer phantasmagoria' in the media and the actual world you meet everyday when the alarm clock blares and rushes you to your cubicle as a wage slave; all so you can keep the lights on and food in your gut. Life is war and you're the civilian.

 

My favorite leak is that US and UK diplomats are chitting bricks about the current state of Pakistan and the fate of its ever growing nuclear arsenal. Oh really? I've been chitting about that since 2003. It's only a shocking revelation because the media never reports it. So when we find out that diplomats have no idea who controls the nukes there, that 100,000 Pakistani personnel are involved in the nuclear program there and the Taliban captured the Swat valley with collusion from Islamacists in the Pakastani military and government, you know that smuggled chunk of highly enriched uranium is gonna go on the market in some scumbag Albanian dive bar very soon.

 

That should make you chit bricks.

 

A US city getting glassed by a nuke in an uninspected ship container freely rolled into a US harbor while the TSA searches your granny's tits for a silicon implant bomb. Talk about security theater... It's a story that should be on the front page of every US newspaper everyday. But it isn't. It took a document dump to the world's media to even be elevated to the point of a news story. If that isn't a total failure of popular journalism then I don't know what is.

 

Oh, and Bill O' Reilly and Hannity called for Assange's assassination on national TV. I mean here are 'journalists' (LOL) openly calling for the murder of other journalists for doing their jobs and daring not to be spokesmen for the complex. This is Penny Laneing surreal. The death of real balls in America. Truth is now deemed the enemy. In the land of free speech, they want to arrest or kill the only man prepared to hand it to them. Yet we're fighting for 'freedom' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

These right wing 'badass' appealers to American badassary in war miss the point by so wide a mark that it makes me rage. You know what American badassery is? It's Patton driving through France in '44. It's holding out in Bastogne and writing "nuts" on a piece of paper when asked to surrender. It's MacArthur pulling off that amphibious assault at Inchon in 1950. Hell, it's Custer going down with all hands at Little Big Horn.

 

The only badass left in America today is the TSA laughing at your saggy 'bad' ass in your naked irradiated scan at the airport.

[driveby]

It is understandable for the administration to underplay the significance of the State Department cables released by WikiLeaks. But while it was wise not to go into a public panic, it is delusional to think that this is merely embarrassing gossip and indiscretion. The leaks have done major damage.

 

First, quite specific damage to our war-fighting capacity. Take just one revelation among hundreds: The Yemeni president and deputy prime minister are quoted as saying that they’re letting the U.S. bomb al-Qaeda in their country, while claiming that the bombing is their government’s doing. Well, that cover is pretty well blown. And given the unpopularity of the San’a government’s tenuous cooperation with us in the war against al-Qaeda, this will undoubtedly limit our freedom of action against its Yemeni branch, identified by the CIA as the most urgent terrorist threat to U.S. security.

 

Second, we’ve suffered a major blow to our ability to collect information. Talking candidly to a U.S. diplomat can now earn you headlines around the world, reprisals at home, or worse. Success in the War on Terror depends on being trusted with other countries’ secrets. Who’s going to trust us now?

 

Third, this makes us look bad, very bad. But not in the way Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implied in her cringe-inducing apology speech, in which she scolded these awful leakers for having done a disservice to “the international community” and plaintively deplored the way this hampers U.S. attempts to bring about a better world.

 

She sounded like a cross between an exasperated school principal and a Miss America contestant professing world peace to be her fondest wish. The problem is not that the purloined cables exposed U.S. hypocrisy or double-dealing. Good God, that’s the essence of diplomacy. That’s what we do; that’s what everyone does. Hence the famous aphorism that a diplomat is an honest man sent to lie abroad for his country.

 

Nothing new here. What is notable, indeed shocking, is the administration’s torpid and passive response to the leaks. What’s appalling is the helplessness of a superpower that not only cannot protect its own secrets but shows the world that if you violate those secrets — massively, wantonly, and maliciously — there are no consequences.

 

Time to show a little steel. To show that such miscreants don’t get to walk away.

 

At a news conference on Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder assured the nation that his people are diligently looking into possible legal action against WikiLeaks. Where has Holder been? The WikiLeaks exposure of Afghan War documents occurred four months ago. Holder is looking now at possible indictments? This is a country where a good prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich. Months after the first leak, Justice’s thousands of lawyers have yet to prepare charges against Julian Assange and his confederates?

 

Throw the Espionage Act of 1917 at them. And if that is not adequate — if that law has been too constrained and watered down by subsequent Supreme Court rulings — then why hasn’t the administration prepared new legislation adapted to this kind of Internet-age violation of U.S. security? It’s not as if we didn’t know more leaks were coming. And that more leaks are coming still.

 

Think creatively. The WikiLeaks document dump is sabotage, however quaint that term may seem. We are at war — a hot war in Afghanistan, where six Americans were killed just this past Monday, and a shadowy world war where enemies from Yemen to Portland are planning holy terror. Franklin Roosevelt had German saboteurs tried by military tribunal and shot. Assange has done more damage to the United States than all six of those Germans combined. Putting U.S. secrets on the Internet, a medium of universal dissemination new in human history, requires a reconceptualization of sabotage and espionage — and the laws to punish and prevent them. Where is the Justice Department?

 

And where are the intelligence agencies on which we lavish $80 billion a year? Assange has gone missing. Well, he’s no cave-dwelling jihadi ascetic. Find him. Start with every five-star hotel in England and work your way down.

 

Want to prevent this from happening again? Let the world see a man who can’t sleep in the same bed on consecutive nights, who fears the long arm of American justice. I’m not advocating that we bring out of retirement the KGB proxy who, on a London street, killed a Bulgarian dissident with a poisoned umbrella tip. But it would be nice if people like Assange were made to worry every time they went out in the rain.

 

— Charles Krauthammer is a nationally syndicated columnist. © 2010 The Washington Post Writers Group.

[Duchess Jack]

Truth is now deemed the enemy. In the land of free speech, they want to arrest or kill the only man prepared to hand it to them. Yet we're fighting for 'freedom' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

This is not journalism, its espionage. Journalism would focused on a story. What this guy is doing is an attack on America and he needs to be put down. Why the heck are we not leaning on the UK to get this dbag.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Duchess Jack

[Perchoutofwater]

This whole thing is a complete and total embarrassment. I don't know how allowed this to happen.

[i_am_the_swammi]

This whole thing is a complete and total embarrassment. I don't know how allowed this to happen.

 

I'm sure it stems from Free Speech rights. You know, that thing called the Constitution that everyone thinks shouldn't be tweeked to fit the modern day world?

[Perchoutofwater]

I'm sure it stems from Free Speech rights. You know, that thing called the Constitution that everyone thinks shouldn't be tweeked to fit the modern day world?

 

How does allowing sensitive information getting leaked involve free speech? I'm not talking about whether or not this Good Day, Sunshine has the right to publish the information, my comment was based upon him getting the information to begin with. However there are ways to amend the Constitution if we deem that it needs to be amended. It's called the amendment process.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Perchoutofwater

[Duchess Jack]

I'm sure it stems from Free Speech rights. You know, that thing called the Constitution that everyone thinks shouldn't be tweeked to fit the modern day world?

so if somebody stole nuclear secrets from the US and sold them to Pakistan - would that be a free speech issue?

[peepinmofo]

Rather than say this guy is the one at fault for releasing documents, wouldnt the wrong doing be on our part for actually keeping this type of information? If this stuff is SO SENSTITIVE, then perhaps it never should have been documented to begin with. Additionally, we live in a country that is as corrupt as any other. Our country and government need a reboot.

[Hugh 0ne]

I'm sure it stems from Free Speech rights. You know, that thing called the Constitution that everyone thinks shouldn't be tweeked to fit the modern day world?

 

[H8Tank][/H8Tank]

[bpwallace49]

Did this joker steal the documents himself? Or were they given to him?

 

Either way, these documents were not obtained legally . . . so someone has to be brought to justice for the original theft.

[Duchess Jack]

is it legal to be in possession of stolen goods?

[cliaz]

He is a smart cat though. I was watching the news last night and he basically sent out to all of the wikileakers an encrypted file that, in the event of his death, a key would be sent out to unlock those files and, apparently, those files are the cream of the crop. Apparently, there is no known way to break his encryption on those files (don't know how true that is).

 

This guy is leaking highly classified information to the world that comprises US national security. Both himself and the people within our own government leaking this information need to be brought up on charges.

[Square]

Re: Wikileaks- In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble.

 

-Ron Paul

 

[caddyman]

Re: Wikileaks- In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble.

 

-Ron Paul

 

Absolute nonsense. When truth threatens national security, then it should not be told. PERIOD.

[bpwallace49]

He is a smart cat though. I was watching the news last night and he basically sent out to all of the wikileakers an encrypted file that, in the event of his death, a key would be sent out to unlock those files and, apparently, those files are the cream of the crop. Apparently, there is no known way to break his encryption on those files (don't know how true that is).

 

This guy is leaking highly classified information to the world that comprises US national security. Both himself and the people within our own government leaking this information need to be brought up on charges.

 

That is my point. Who gave him the stuff (assuming it is a US citizen so we have jurisdiction over him) and what is being done to prosecute them?

 

Also, I am guessing from the accent that this guy is not an American citizen. What is being done to shut the guy's website down?

 

Lastly, what specifically is "threatening our national security" in this stuff?

[Duchess Jack]

Lastly, what specifically is "threatening our national security" in this stuff?

 

Who knows - I am sure it hasn't all be gone through yet and more is likely to come.

 

Let's say you own a business though and to run this business as best you can - you have other businesses you work with and have relationships with. If somebody ruins your relationship with those other businesses and relationships - that hurts your business.

 

If somebody goes into your files to purposely ruin your business, how long do you think it'll take that person to start giving competetors your trade secrets?

 

In this case, the business is running our country.

[cliaz]

That is my point. Who gave him the stuff (assuming it is a US citizen so we have jurisdiction over him) and what is being done to prosecute them?

 

Also, I am guessing from the accent that this guy is not an American citizen. What is being done to shut the guy's website down?

 

Lastly, what specifically is "threatening our national security" in this stuff?

[I Like Soup]

I love how the government is funded by our tax dollars, but it is like pulling teeth to get certain information. My guess is that other than military information, there isn't much that we couldn't see that would hinder our national security. That is a lame fall back position, in my opinion.

[Perchoutofwater]

I love how the government is funded by our tax dollars, but it is like pulling teeth to get certain information. My guess is that other than military information, there isn't much that we couldn't see that would hinder our national security. That is a lame fall back position, in my opinion.

 

I agree to a point. I don't see this as affecting our national security so much as affecting our standing in the world, and how well we are able to deal with other world leaders.

[caddyman]

That is my point. Who gave him the stuff (assuming it is a US citizen so we have jurisdiction over him) and what is being done to prosecute them?

 

Also, I am guessing from the accent that this guy is not an American citizen. What is being done to shut the guy's website down?

 

Lastly, what specifically is "threatening our national security" in this stuff?

Releasing classified State Department cables is not a threat to our security? What is the function of the State Department?

[caddyman]

I agree to a point. I don't see this as affecting our national security so much as affecting our standing in the world, and how well we are able to deal with other world leaders.

How we deal with the world leaders directly relates to our security. What do you think the Sate Department is discussing with the leaders of Great Britain, Israel, Iraq, and Pakistan?

[bpwallace49]

Releasing classified State Department cables is not a threat to our security? What is the function of the State Department?

 

I think you are making a leap in saying just because something is classified means that it is an automatic threat to our national security.

 

Like saying the Chancellor of Germany is "risk adverse" somehow compromised our national security?

 

I would agree with you that if there is anything that could cause an attack on US forces as a result of this being leaked, but from what I have seen I really dont see anything that controversial so far?

[bpwallace49]

How we deal with the world leaders directly relates to our security. What do you think the Sate Department is discussing with the leaders of Great Britain, Israel, Iraq, and Pakistan?

 

Are they all invading us becasue they are pissed off over some emails?