New Wikileaks Dump is Unconscionable

cosmictraveler said:
Treason
2. a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.

3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.

4. sedition mean disloyalty or treachery to one's country or its government.
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You claim:

"I would think that there's a difference between the situations. One was showing that the government was lying and decieving the public while today they are disclosing a great deal more including people that could be in mortal danger and lose their lives because of some of this information. That's the big difference to me."

There has not been one death due to wikileaks cables. Not one. As a matter of fact even Armytimes.com notes:

"A Pentagon letter obtained by The Associated Press reported that no U.S. intelligence sources or practices were compromised by the Afghan war logs' disclosure."

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/10/ap-wikileaks-expected-to-post-more-documents-102110/

FoxNews: "In a letter released Friday, Pentagon officials stated that no U.S. intelligence sources or practices were compromised by WikiLeaks July document release, but that the military thinks the leaks could still cause significant damage to U.S. security interests.
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, suggested that some of the Obama administration's worst fears about the July disclosure of almost 77,000 secret U.S. war reports had so far failed to materialize."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/16/wikileaks-set-release-secret-iraq-war-docs/


I mean talk about burying the lead, there were not any names disclosed of informers or people on the ground in the latest cables. Don't you find it ironic? I mean what gall does those who send young men to fight and kill those in sovereign nations in an illegally waged war have to accuse a whistle blower who exposes their excesses, for putting peoples lives in mortal danger when they are killing civilians as well as insurgents and placing american soldiers lives in constant danger? The argument is a red herring to distract everyone from what these cables have uncovered. Daniel Ellsberg who disclosed the Pentagon papers backs wikileaks 100% and is part of the effort to fund Assange's defense, he doesn't see any difference in what Assange is doing and he had done. Ellsberg if he had made the same decision under this political climate would have also been accused of 'putting people's lives at risk'. Ellsberg himself notes in this video (http://213.251.145.96/video.html) that they also attempted to silence him under the espionage act. So I don't really see why everyone thinks there is a difference save that the government and press keep harping that it somehow is. Also don't you find it strange that its Assange who's life is being threatened?

Tom Flanagan, a senior advisor and strategist to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper today called for the assassination of Wikileaks director Julian Assange:

http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...ld-be-assassinated-canadian-pm-senior-advisor


Take a look at Pailin's language:

"Assange is not a 'journalist', any more than the 'editor' of al-Qaeda's new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist'."

Take a look at what conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer had to say:

“I think what [Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] should have said is nothing about the leaks themselves,” Krauthammer said. “Simply say we’re going to ask the military justice and the Justice Department to try to prosecute the alleged leaker, the alleged guy who stole this, on treason — not just on mishandling — but on treason, and to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law, up to and including execution if that is warranted.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/krauthammer-prosecute-journalists-who-collaborate-with-wikileaks/



Basically they are trying to lump dissident journalists who expose them as being terrorists. A wary or uncaring public who do not protect freedom of speech will one day find themselves in a police state where government has the right to censor, not to mention shut down agencies, any or all information it finds disfavorable or embarrassing. Assange's case and how it is handled in a court of law will set a precedent for any future organization that supports whistleblowers and the material they provide as they challenge State governments and corporations.

Again Cosmic are you implying that anyone who speaks out against treacherous acts against the State should be hounded, silenced and jailed on the grounds of sedition? Is it blind obedience to the State what you call loyalty? ALL dissident groups could be labeled with sedition.

This isn't so much about what is being leaked as much as its about the precedent it will set in the future for whistleblowers who have the balls to out the government and organizations that make their information public. So again should the likes of Ellsberg or Woodrow and Bernstein go completely without support because of release of the Pentagon papers and Watergate? Should the Washington Post have been blocked from disclosing the information?

@Hype

I was merely referring to the hypocrisy of the muslim nations involved vis a vis pointing at Israel as being the aggressor towards Iran when their own leaders are calling for attacks on Iran. That being public I'm sure has the Israeli's pissing with laughter.
 
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Lucysnow said:
I was merely referring to the hypocrisy of the muslim nations involved vis a vis pointing at Israel as being the aggressor towards Iran when their own leaders are calling for attacks on Iran. That being public I'm sure has the Israeli's pissing with laughter.
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More like miserable and troubled, but gratified at the same time.
 
CptBork said:
More like miserable and troubled, but gratified at the same time.
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The point is that the cables make all governments look bad because it shows complicity among all these disparate players. In short they are all shown to betray their public face behind doors. Israel and the US are not the only ones implicated in this.
 
@Cosmic

Here is an interesting debate on the wikileak affair by Democracy Now:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/3/is_wikileaks_julian_assange_a_hero


Its interesting how the US government is threatening or warning students as well as those who work for USAID and other government officials from reading the cables:


From: Office of Career Services <sipa_ocs@columbia.edu>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Subject: Wikileaks – Advice from an alum

"Hi students,

We received a call today from a SIPA alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance.

The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.

Regards,
Office of Career Services"


Or how about this:

“Any classified information that may have been unlawfully disclosed and released on the Wikileaks web site was not ‘declassified’ by an appopriate authority and therefore requires continued classification and protection as such from government personnel… Accessing the Wikileaks web site from any computer may be viewed as a violation of the SF-312 agreement… Any discussions concerning the legitimacy of any documents or whether or not they are classified must be conducted within controlled access areas (overseas) or within restricted areas (USAID/Washington)… The documents should not be viewed, downloaded, or stored on your USAID unclassified network computer or home computer; they should not be printed or retransmitted in any fashion.“

http://www.alterpolitics.com/politi...-employees-and-college-students-on-wikileaks/


Or this:


"The Obama administration is banning hundreds of thousands of federal employees from calling up the WikiLeaks site on government computers because the leaked material is still formally regarded as classified.

The Library of Congress tonight joined the education department, the commerce department and other government agencies in confirming that the ban is in place. Although thousands of leaked cables are freely available on the Guardian, New York Times and other newspaper websites, as well as the WikiLeaks site, the Obama administration insists they are still classified and, as such, have to be protected.

The move comes at a time when civil rights and other liberal groups are becoming increasingly critical, inviting parallels with the kind of bans on information imposed by China and other oppressive governments."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-cables-blocks-access-federal


Does the above ban on reading the cables by government and educational institutions bother you at all? Does it bother you that it isn't even being covered by mainstream american news agencies though its being covered by agencies in the UK?
 
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stopthepress.png
 
I don't care what the government hides. I only ask why there is a need for policy to be hidden. To keep people from thinking the governments job is to make people safe by purchasing and manufacturing nuclear weapons between countries. We already know that. The peoples job is to be dissatisfied with the current situations of people within their own society. Or perhaps we should see what other type of leaks are written in other languages. Learn to spell America in 300 different ways. Thats going to be hard with a qwerty.
 
Well here is what some journalists from The Economists, to The Daily News, The Atlantic and Huffington Post have to say about wikileaks and how they are being treated:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/usembassyfiles/2010/12/201012418439383556.html


I find it interesting that they are desperately trying to shut down the site after Assange disclosed to Reuters that there would be a release of documents that would implicate a large US bank:

"We have one related to a bank coming up, that's a megaleak. It's not as big a scale as the Iraq material, but it's either tens or hundreds of thousands of documents depending on how you define it," Assange said in the interview posted on the Forbes website.

He declined to identify the bank, describing it only as a major U.S. bank that is still in existence.

Asked what he wanted to be the result of the disclosure, he replied: "I'm not sure. It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume."

He compared this release to emails that were unveiled as a result of the collapse of disgraced energy company Enron Corp.

"This will be like that. Yes, there will be some flagrant violations, unethical practices that will be revealed, but it will also be all the supporting decision-making structures and the internal executive ethos ... and that's tremendously valuable," Assange said.

"You could call it the ecosystem of corruption. But it's also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that's not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they're fulfilling their own self-interest," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AS68S20101129
 
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Lucysnow said:
...@Hype

I was merely referring to the hypocrisy of the muslim nations involved vis a vis pointing at Israel as being the aggressor towards Iran when their own leaders are calling for attacks on Iran. That being public I'm sure has the Israeli's pissing with laughter.
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They are clearly making some public hay of it, but any real belly-laughs are surely tempered by thoughts of what happens if Arab Shi'a populations are emboldened to topple their USraeli maharajas- then, the "joke" would be on Jewish separatists and supremacists. If there is interest in exploring that pants-wetting potentiality, we should do so in a thread on that topic.
 
hypewaders said:
They are clearly making some public hay of it, but any real belly-laughs are surely tempered by thought of what happens if Arab Shi'a populations are emboldened to topple their USraeli maharajas.
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I don't care what is thought on the ground by Arab Shia. How Assange and Wikileaks is being handled is bigger than whatever is going on with Arab Shia. I'm concerned about the attempts to censor Assange and wikileaks, the message that is being sent to whistleblowers and the press and Obama's administration's decision to warn and threaten educational and government employees from reading the material. In short I care about the consequences and what is happening within our own society in terms of transparency and the publics right to information.

Wikileaks data dumped which may have been a mistake in terms of keeping a singular focus but as a former hacker I understand his method. On the other hand it makes it much more difficult for the US government to determine the information and sift the wheat from the chaff by having to detail so much information, so maybe the data dumping approach has its merits.
 
:D I know, I know. (you're killing me) still searching for a Shi'a-intifadeh thread to respond in...

OK can't find anything appropriate, so I composed a Title and OP here: Fi Shi'Intifada?

HEY LUCY! :spank:
 
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Wiki is brilliant! Keep it comin'...Just jove to see the politicians squirm!
 
ULTRA said:
Wiki is brilliant! Keep it comin'...Just jove to see the politicians squirm!
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Yeah and the heavy handed treatment of Assange and his org might just backfire on those who would like to persecute the organization. The crack down is so heavy hopefully the public will begin to question the motives by the powers that be.
 
Hey Lucy, I totally agree.
Censorship is the enemy of democracy.
 
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