Um, I Think It's Time for a Thread on WikiLeaks

what's vaild? does assange have a lot of idiotic blind loyalists? sure. should he have to stand trial for what he's accused of in sweden? of course, and to my understanding he is willing to do so, so long as he isn't extradited to the US. using his most strident supporters to strawman him is lazy character assassination, a red herring, and intellectually bankrupt imo.

idk i am try not to be reflexively contemptuous towards ppl but i just watched a crowd youtube of this thing today and some bawbag was randomly interjecting 'free pussy riot' and ugh

"intellectually bankrupt" is a funny phrase to whip out right after distancing oneself from the "most strident" supporters

i'm not following dude

If Julian Assange is extradited to the United States, it would have consequences around the world, write Michael Moore and Oliver Stone.

no stan for either of those guys but they're basically right

Assange addresses UN via videolink:

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/27/assange_skewers_obama_in_un_speech/

Gaga, the new (and improved?) Bono:

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/09/gaga_meets_with_assange/

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/10/wikileaks_to_begin_election_related_dump/

every time I see a journo refer to Anonymous as if it were a real organization I feel like I am in some weird alternate dimension. They know it's just a ton of unrelated internet dudes right?

They all own V for Vendetta masks, right?

LOL @ 'election related dump'

It's not good policy and it's definitely not the way to run a country with a global military presence, but I'm still all for releasing all information, information wants to be free, hack the planet, etc.

good thing wikileaks doesn't run a country!

every time I see a journo refer to Anonymous as if it were a real organization I feel like I am in some weird alternate dimension. They know it's just a ton of unrelated internet dudes right?

― www.toilet-guru.com (silby), Wednesday, October 10, 2012 11:13 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sure but so is al qaeda.

Assange allegedly arrested.

Is there a topic where people have been talking about Anonymous and this Steubenville rape scandal?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/look-whos-already-trouble-over-steubenville-rape-case/60621/

Pretty amazing investigative work.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A_2-jkLCAAEuUH1.jpg

http://www.heraldstaronline.com/page/content.detail/id/581789/-Enough-is-enough-.html?nav=5010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/14/bradley-manning-deserves-a-medal

let's see if i can guess the author w/out opening the link...

no surprises here but this was interesting:

By exposing some of the worst atrocities committed by US forces in Iraq, the documents prevented the Iraqi government from agreeing to ongoing legal immunity for US forces, and thus helped bring about the end of the war. Even Bill Keller, the former New York Times executive editor and a harsh WikiLeaks critic, credits the release of the cables with shedding light on the corruption of Tunisia's ruling family and thus helping spark the Arab spring.

yeah! and we all know how well the Arab spring is turning out!

First, Manning decided to leak the millions of war documents he had from Iraq and Afghanistan. Remarkably, he actually tried to give them to two leading US newspapers—and was turned away. Manning said a message he left at the New York Times was not returned, and a reporter at The Washington Post didn't take him seriously. He also considered contacting the website Politico, but ultimately didn't approach them because of bad weather conditions.

Spokespeople for the Post and the Times both said today that those newspapers had no knowledge of an attempt by Manning to offer information to them.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/02/manning-shocked-by-the-bloodlust-went-with-wikileaks

Really underscores how in deep the mainstream press is w the govt.

if only tunisia was still under corrupt dictatorial rule

it is a beautiful day and I am about to go on a bike ride but his actual statement is incredibly fascinating

http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/pfc_bradley_e_manning_providence_hearing_statement.html

The more I read the cables, the more I came to the conclusion that this was the type of information that should become public. I once read a and used a quote on open diplomacy written after the First World War and how the world would be a better place if states would avoid making secret pacts and deals with and against each other.

I thought these cables were a prime example of a need for a more open diplomacy. Given all of the Department of State cables that I read, the fact that most of the cables were unclassified, and that all the cables have a SIPDIS caption.

sources pleez

mordy can i be your friend on the fb

and hopefully get stoned w/ u one day.

co-sign

Big article on Manning in recent Rolling Stone, the one with Green Day dude cover I think. Seeing surveillance of US troops doing Iraq gov dirty work on nonviolent civilian whistleblowers was a crucial turning point, Manning says.

So...Kissinger cables!

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/04/26/wikileaks-suspect-wont-be-san-francisco-pride-parade-marshal/

fuck em

Pride's statement is heinous.

weak as water. daniel ellsberg is a great man but it's a slap in the face to nominate him instead, since he is 1. not gay and 2. saw a fair trial with no prison time.

sad to realize that if nixon hadn't been such a bumbling idiot (along with being a corrupt bastard) that ellsberg would probably still be in jail.

xp I got the impression that Ellsberg was participating for Manning before the backpedal but maybe I misunderstood.

oh. wouldn't be surprised if that was the case thinking about it, i know he's a big advocate of wikileaks/manning

Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney on Assange, Manning, and his imminent film We Steal Secrets:

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/alex_gibney_julian_assange_has_become_like_those_he_despises/

WL rebuts and spars with Gibney:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/wikileaks-goes-to-war-with-alex-gibney-over-we-steal-secrets

A fantastically lucid Daniel Ellsberg takes the MSNBC youngsters to school. Was Touré always a sycophant?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1N24Oilp6o

"he chose to join the military, which is a...very special area of society"

why is he dressed like Denzel Washington in "St. Elsewhere"?

anyone seen the movie yet?

looks like it's ending in NYC, so tonight for me

Film is good 'nuff, but too much of Assange, Manning psychohistories and not enough political/policy meat.

... but I expect that may be even more the case with the narrative-fiction film due in the fall.

also, I was not expecting the Wrath of Khan clips here.

war crimes, war crimes, war crimes

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/as-bradley-manning-trial-begins-press-predictably-misses-the-point-20130605

and more Ellsberg:

Bradley Manning's case might seem to have no relevance to some of these other civilian disclosures because it's a military court-martial. But the charge they're using against him, the specific one of aid and comfort to the enemy, is one that puts virtually all dissent in this country for government policies at risk. Not only leaks in general, like WikiLeaks, or the New York Times for that matter, but people who aren't in journalism at all. He's charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy, a charge that has no element of intention or motive, simply by putting out information that the enemy might be happy to read.

I think they're going to put into the trial for example, indications that Osama bin Laden downloaded the New York Times, as anyone in the world could do. No doubt Osama was happy to have the world realize that his enemies were committing atrocities that they weren't admitting and that they weren't investigating. It was no intention of WikiLeaks or Bradley Manning to give comfort to Osama bin Laden. That was an inadvertent effect of informing the American public of that, which definitely did need to know it.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/370-wikileaks/17827-focus-daniel-ellsberg-obama-would-have-sought-a-life-sentence-in-my-case