January 4th, 2011

Wikileaks

Posted in Death of the Left, Geopolitics, Journalism, Sorrows of Empire by ed

“The whole universe or the structure that perceives it is a worthy opponent, but try as I may I can not escape the sound of suffering. Perhaps as an old man I will take great comfort in pottering around in a lab and gently talking to students in the summer evening and will accept suffering with insouciance. But not now; men in their prime, if they have convictions, are tasked to act on them.”

– Julian Assange, 2007 blog entry

Having looked into the Wikileaks a bit, one sees that Julian Assange is a new-age hero, and reaffirms that the American republic is dead.

New Yorker profile of Assange from earlier this year — must read.

Ron Paul’s reaction on the floor of the House — hear, hear him.

The great cache of pieces at The New York Times

Hackers of the World Unite in attacks on corporate and other sites in reaction to harassment of Assange

An overview of the American Empire’s lying machine

Upcoming data dump will focus on one of the big banks, perhaps the great zombie Bank of America:

“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,” Assange said in the November 2010 interview with Forbes. “For this, there’s only one similar example. It’s like the Enron e-mails.”

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28 comments

  1. ed says:

    Bradley Manning in solitary confinement

    http://www.alternet.org/story/149410/wikileaks%3A_locking_up_whistleblower_bradley_manning_in_solitary_confinement_puts_america%27s_depravity_on_full_display

    January 5th, 2011 at 9:02 am

  2. ed says:

    Cindy Sheehan re Bradley Manning
    http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/fbi-protest-in-dc-and-convoy-to.html

    January 7th, 2011 at 6:18 pm

  3. ed says:

    The Obamarama has subpoenaed the Wikileaks and related accounts at Twitter. Twitter has resisted to the extent it was able to overthrow the gag order associated with the court order.

    Glenn Greewald comments at Salon, which has posted a copy of the order.

    And the Times.

    Obama is a real nowhere man.

    January 8th, 2011 at 10:13 am

  4. ed says:

    Assange has a court hearing in London and then talks to the press.

    Expresses fear of being “rendered” by the fucking Yanks if he were to be returned to Sweden to face the prima facie ludicrous Condom charge.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/world/europe/12assange.html?ref=global-home

    January 11th, 2011 at 4:28 pm

  5. ed says:

    hackers in defense of wikileaks

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11935539

    January 15th, 2011 at 1:17 am

  6. ed says:

    Swiss banker announced intent to dump a ton of stuff about tax evasion and famous rich people to Wikileaks sometime soon

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/16/swiss-whistleblower-rudolf-elmer-banks

    January 16th, 2011 at 1:14 pm

  7. ed says:

    the swiss banker makes the transfer

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/business/global/18baer.html

    January 17th, 2011 at 11:42 am

  8. ed says:

    Mr. Elmer said he had turned to WikiLeaks to educate society about what he considers an unfair system designed to serve the rich and aid money launderers after his offers to provide the data to universities and governments were spurned and, in his opinion, the Swiss media failed to cover the substance of his allegations. “The man in the street needs to know how this system works,” he said, referring to the offshore trusts that many “high net worth individuals” across the world use to evade taxes.

    January 17th, 2011 at 11:45 am

  9. ed says:

    State Department consensus to Congress is that the first wave of Wikileak cables did VERY LITTLE damage.

    Opens gap between State and White House flacks.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/19/wikileaks-white-house-state-department

    January 18th, 2011 at 9:27 pm

  10. ed says:

    USG tells NBC that it has not been able to link Pvt Bradley Manning, who’s been held without bail in solitary and without charge, to Wikileaks at all.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41241414/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/

    January 24th, 2011 at 10:04 pm

  11. Conversation » Death Notice: Palestinian State stillbornNow begins the Terror says:

    [...] These are the days of miracles and wonder. These are the days when the Justice Department proceeds beyond the bounds of law against Anti-War demonstrators and the free press. [...]

    January 26th, 2011 at 12:19 pm

  12. ed says:

    The Times boss editor, Bill Keller, accounts for his paper’s involvement with Wikileaks, with much scorn expressed for Julian Assange, yet little reason for such scorn presented

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Wikileaks-t.html

    I dropped a Comment on the Times page:

    Your scorn for Mr Assange, Mr Keller, seems underdetermined by the shallow evidence you present here. Your own arrogance outshouts his.

    And actions in any case speak louder than such words. The actions of Wikileaks are golden.

    One hopes the Times will undertake to assemble a secure pipeline of its own, along the Wikileaks model, for sources of the future to safely blow the whistle. Then you won’t have to dirty your fancy hands.

    January 26th, 2011 at 4:15 pm

  13. ed says:

    FBI says it served 40 warrants today on re attacks by international Wiki hackers on Visa, Mastercard et al after those companies acted against Wikileaks in wake of the first Diplomatic Cables publication.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/us/28wiki.html

    January 28th, 2011 at 12:48 am

  14. ed says:

    The New Statesman has an interesting interview with JA

    http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/01/china-wikileaks-assange

    January 28th, 2011 at 12:54 am

  15. ed says:

    Here’s an interview with a hacker working with the Anonymous network in support of Wikileaks.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0hDERwFpoI

    January 28th, 2011 at 11:34 pm

  16. ed says:

    The Tunisian revolution flowed directly from the Wikileaks cables relating to Tunisia.

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/01/tunisias-wikileaks-revolution.html

    The Egyptian revolution seems more inspired by the Palestine Papers. But whatever the precise network of causes, it’s amazing.

    The Palestine Papers make clear how badly bought off the leaders of eg Tunisia were. Bought by the US-Israeli alliance. The arab citizens of Tunisia found this intolerable.

    January 29th, 2011 at 10:18 am

  17. ed says:

    Wikileaks — the truth about the Western half of the mideast order — has disturbed the primal balance.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqEcLlp_Big

    January 30th, 2011 at 7:42 pm

  18. ed says:

    Julian Assange on Sixty Minutes !!!

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/26/60minutes/main7286686.shtml

    Wow. Seems that Steve Kroft was bowled over, impressed.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20029950-10391709.html?tag=component.0

    Aha. Kroft paraphrases the NETWORK line re fucking with primal forces of nature.

    HIlarious.

    January 30th, 2011 at 7:48 pm

  19. ed says:

    “I’m not yet a martyr. Let’s keep it that way.”

    “Our founding values are those of the American revolution.”

    JA’s precisely and thrillingly right at the end of the first segment about publishing and the anglo-american constitutional tradition.

    This really is CBS and the ghost of Edward R Morrow giving Keller and the Times a well deserved slap.

    Here’s a clip not broadcast re the Times

    http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7299691n&tag=contentBody;housing

    January 30th, 2011 at 8:24 pm

  20. ed says:

    The revelations of the Wikileak diplomatic cables and, on their heels, the Palestine Papers released thru Al Jazeera’s mirror “Transparency Unit” — these are an important part of the background to the Egyptian revolution.

    http://newcombat.net/Conversation/2011/01/30/egypt/

    February 3rd, 2011 at 9:56 am

  21. ed says:

    This again is the NY Times cache

    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/statessecrets.html?ref=middleeast

    February 3rd, 2011 at 10:16 am

  22. ed says:

    This is the report of US Ambassador Margaret Scobey re routine and pervasive torture practiced by the Egyptian police and secret police:

    EG:

    2. (C) Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread. The police use brutal methods mostly against common criminals to extract confessions, but also against demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate bystanders. One human rights lawyer told us there is evidence of torture in Egypt dating back to the times of the Pharaohs. NGO contacts estimate there are literally hundreds of torture incidents every day in Cairo police stations alone. Egyptians are bombarded with consistent news reports of police brutality, ranging from high profile incidents such as accidental but lethal police shootings in Salamut and Aswan this past fall (refs B and C) that sparked riots, to reports of police officers shooting civilians following disputes over traffic tickets. In November 2008 alone, there were two incidents of off-duty police officers shooting and killing civilians over petty disputes. The cases against both officers are currently making their way through the judicial system.

    http://www.wikileaks.la/us-embassy-cables-police-brutality-in-egypt/

    February 3rd, 2011 at 10:31 am

  23. ed says:

    JA’s extradition hearing begins today in London

    http://wlcentral.org/node/1225

    Here is a taped interview from mid last year:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded

    Here is info as to how to donate money to Wikilieaks and JA’s defense fund:

    http://wikileaks.ch/Support.html

    February 7th, 2011 at 1:21 am

  24. ed says:

    A live blog of the proceedings at the JA extradition hearings, day one, from the Guardian

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/feb/07/assange-extradition-hearing

    February 7th, 2011 at 10:52 am

  25. ed says:

    Dennis the K demands a visit with Bradley Manning.

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/kucinich-seeks-visit-with-accused-wikileaks-source/

    February 7th, 2011 at 9:26 pm

  26. ed says:

    Wikileaks cable shows Sulieman was israel’s choice to replace Mubarak in 2008

    http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m74716&hd&size=1&l=e&fb=1

    February 7th, 2011 at 9:31 pm

  27. ed says:

    Anonymous takes down private security firm that threatened to expose Anonymembers.

    Pretty hilarious video report:

    And the PC Mag print story.

    Here are the 60,000 firm emails publicized as part of the “bitch slap.”

    This is a SECURITY firm. HP Gary. Not likely to appreciate having their mail read in public.

    Here is the cover letter Anonymous posted with the cache of leaked mail:

    Greetings HBGary (a computer “security” company),

    Your recent claims of “infiltrating” Anonymous amuse us, and so do your attempts at using Anonymous as a means to garner press attention for yourself. How’s this for attention?

    You brought this upon yourself. You’ve tried to bite at the Anonymous hand, and now the Anonymous hand is bitch-slapping you in the face. You expected a counter-attack in the form of a verbal braul (as you so eloquently put it in one of your private emails), but now you’ve received the full fury of Anonymous. We award you no points.

    What you seem to have failed to realize is that, just because you have the title and general appearence of a “security” company, you’re nothing compared to Anonymous. You have little to no security knowledge. Your business thrives off charging ridiclous prices for simple things like NMAPs, and you don’t deserve praise or even recognition as security experts. And now you turn to Anonymous for fame and attention? You’re a pathetic gathering of media-whoring money-grabbing sycophants who want to reel in business for your equally pathetic company.

    Let us teach you a lesson you’ll never forget: you don’t mess with Anonymous. You especially don’t mess with Anonymous simply because you want to jump on a trend for public attention, which Aaron Barr admitted to in the following email:

    “But its not about them…its about our audience having the right impression of our capability and the competency of our research. Anonymous will do what every they can to discredit that. and they have the mic so to speak because they are on Al Jazeeera, ABC, CNN, etc. I am going to keep up the debate because I think it is good business but I will be smart about my public responses.”

    You’ve clearly overlooked something very obvious here: we are everyone and we are no one. If you swing a sword of malice into Anonymous’ innards, we will simply engulf it. You cannot break us, you cannot harm us, even though you have clearly tried…

    You think you’ve gathered full names and home addresses of the “higher-ups” of Anonymous? You haven’t. You think Anonymous has a founder and various co-founders? False. You believe that you can sell the information you’ve found to the FBI? False. Now, why is this one false? We’ve seen your internal documents, all of them, and do you know what we did? We laughed. Most of the information you’ve “extracted” is publicly available via our IRC networks. The personal details of Anonymous “members” you think you’ve acquired are, quite simply, nonsense.

    So why can’t you sell this information to the FBI like you intended? Because we’re going to give it to them for free. Your gloriously fallacious work can be a wonder for all to scour, as will all of your private emails (more than 44,000 beauties for the public to enjoy). Now as you’re probably aware, Anonymous is quite serious when it comes to things like this, and usually we can elaborate gratuitously on our reasoning behind operations, but we will give you a simple explanation, because you seem like primitive people:

    You have blindly charged into the Anonymous hive, a hive from which you’ve tried to steal honey. Did you think the bees would not defend it? Well here we are. You’ve angered the hive, and now you are being stung.

    It would appear that security experts are not expertly secured.

    We are Anonymous.
    We are legion.
    We do not forgive.
    We do not forget.
    Expect us – always.

    February 7th, 2011 at 9:44 pm

  28. ed says:

    The tensions, ahem, between the major newspapers and Wikileaks et al is evident at this recent symposium on investigative journalism

    http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/04/wikileaks-julian-assange-ny-times-feud-at-logan-symposium099.html

    host lowell bergman is the former 60-minutes producer who did the tobacco-industry expose (dramatised in the film THE INSIDER).

    April 10th, 2011 at 12:55 pm

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