For the minimisation of war and oppression, for a real chance of human survival and sustainability of the planet’s resources, all states should submit to international law, and most especially the rogue hegemon. Despite some easing in US stance since Obama took office, the empire still rejects the expansion of the role of the International Criminal Court in order to protect its war criminals. Further, US embassy advices denote the Council of Europe courts as “an organization with an inferiority complex and, simultaneously, an overambitious agenda”. Of particular annoyance to the US is the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), described as “an irritant”:
The ECHR will block the extradition of prisoners to non-COE countries if it believes they would be subject to the death penalty or torture. It has also requested more information on pending British extradition cases to the U.S. where it believes the prisoners might be sentenced in the U.S. to life imprisonment with no possible appeal or automatic judicial review of the life sentence.
In another Wikileaks cable, the US sought to pressure the incoming COE Secretary General on its vile renditions.
Jagland can be expected to criticize the U.S. for the death penalty; he may, however, be less enthusiastic than the previous SecGen, Terry Davis (UK), in publicly criticizing renditions, particularly if we review such issues with him soon.
If the flagging US empire wishes to be respected, then it should set an example which is beyond reproach. Yet in its latest outrage documented in the video below, the US hypocritically abandons a peaceful Palestinian activist protesting Israeli land theft, apartheid and violence.
Protection by the US and cronies of fascist, apartheid land thief, Israel, is unconscionable and unsustainable. Boycott, divest and sanction from the illegal occupier, Israel, now!
Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel? One might have thought an Australian prime minister would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality. The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.
The writing is on the wall for the Labor Party – regardless of the pusillanimous prospect of US and Israel’s disapproval, the party’s true left must be empowered or those remaining within it who value truth, justice and Australian sovereignty above sycophancy and treachery will continue to bleed to the Greens, the only party which has any right to hold its head high.
Send hope to 800 children and unaccompanied minors in immigration detention in Australia this Christmas – let them know you care about them and are hoping they are released from detention soon.
As Australians shudder briefly at the death toll from the refugee shipwreck at Christmas Island before returning to important issues of last minute card-sending, present-buying and turkey roasting, few commentators discuss the prime reasons for many refugees heading to Australia – that they flee from the results of wars in which Australia is participating, has participated or supports, and ironically, despite the monstrous Howard wedges and the gruesome legacy of the racist White Australia policy, Australia’s overseas image remains one of a land of the easygoing dinkum Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin fair go instead of a despicably racist polity represented and inflamed by opportunistic politicians. I remember some years ago when a bemused Iraqi refugee who had braved the perils of several seas to reach temporary sanctuary was interviewed on Nauru. He said “if we’d known Australia didn’t want us, we wouldn’t have come here”.
It is significant too that the number of people who overstay their holiday visas with an intention to remain permanently is far higher than the numbers of asylum seekers and these folks are not treated as criminals and thrown into mandatory detention.
‘It is estimated that over 50,000 people are overstaying their Australian visa and living in the country illegally, with the majority coming from China, Malaysia, the US, and Britain.’
The Australian Wikileaks cables reveal a disturbing pattern of snitching by politicians and union leaders, a disgusting collaboration between right wing elements from Australia and the US.
AWU union boss and zionist Paul Howes surfaces as a confidant of the American Embassy [6/13/2008 2:13 08CANBERRA609 Embassy Canberra].
‘When we reminded Paul Howes (protect), head of the right-wing Australian Workers Union, that ALP politicians from the Left, no matter how capable, do not become party leader, he said immediately: “but she votes with the Right.”‘
Gillard is given gold stars by the US for her pro-Israel sycophancy. This cable [6/10/2009 22:19 09CANBERRA545 Embassy Canberra] makes it explicit that Australian leader’s support for the brutal Israeli occupier is of paramount importance to the US.
PRO-ISRAEL
7. (C/NF) Gillard has thrown off the baggage of being from what one analyst called the “notoriously anti-Israel faction” of the ALP. As Acting Prime Minister in late December 2008, Gillard was responsible for negotiating the Government’s position on Israel’s incursion into Gaza. Left-wing ALP MPs, a group to which Gillard used to belong, wanted her to take a harder line against Israel. Instead, she said Hamas had broken the ceasefire first by attacking Israel – a stance welcomed by Israel’s supporters in Australia. MP Michael Danby, one of two Jewish members of Parliament and a strong supporter of Israel, told us that after the Gaza statement he had a new appreciation of Gillard’s leadership within the ALP (ref B). Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem told us that Gillard has gone out of her way to build a relationship with Israel and that she asked him to arrange an early opportunity to visit. He will accompany Gillard and a delegation of Australian officials (including newly-appointed Minister Mark Arbib and Liberal Party heavyweights former Treasurer Peter Costello and Chris Pyne, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) to a meeting of the Australia-Israel Leadership Forum later this month.
The Australian comments on Gillard’s plans for a leadership coup, with Senator Farrell ‘telling US embassy staff in June last year Ms Gillard was trying to knock off Mr Rudd’.
“Don Farrell, the right-wing union powerbroker from South Australia, told us Gillard is ‘campaigning for the leadership’ and at this point is the frontrunner to succeed Rudd, conceding that the Right did not yet have an alternative,” the cable states.
If correct, this means Ms Gillard was eyeing off Mr Rudd’s job before Tony Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as Coalition leader, and before the international climate change talks at Copenhagen had failed and Labor’s carbon pollution reduction scheme was shelved.
At that time, Newspoll had the government ahead by a 10-point two-party-preferred lead over the opposition, and Mr Rudd had a 32-point lead over Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull as preferred prime minister.
…
The cable says several Rudd “confidants have told us that Rudd appreciates Gillard and sees her as a possible PM, but that he wants to avoid anointing her to head off a possible leadership challenge when his poll numbers inevitably sag”.
They said Mark Arbib, the right-wing powerbroker behind the coup, “once told us a similar story, though he stressed Rudd appreciates Gillard’s strengths. However, another Rudd adviser told us that while the PM respects Gillard, his reluctance to share power will lead to a falling out, while Gillard will not want to acquiesce in creating potential rivals.”
The leaked US embassy briefings show Washington took a keen interest in the rise of Ms Gillard, and her migration from Labor’s Socialist Left faction to the party’s centre. The cables note that after the ALP won government in 2007, Ms Gillard sought to alter her left-wing image, particularly in asserting her credentials as a supporter of Israel and the US alliance.
Australian Ex Secretary of Defence, Primary Industries and Energy, Paul Barratt confirms there are two sine qua nons for being in office in Oz – being pro-ANZUS and pro-Israel. To hold Australia’s top job, one must be pro-imperialism, pro-neoliberalism, and pro-apartheid. No left-wingers or humanists need apply! Remember the lesson the US gave Australia when Gough Whitlam, the last left wing ALP leader, who ended conscription for the appalling US war on the people of Vietnam, was summarily dismissed.
Michael Hand helped forge documents used by the media to discredit the Whirtlam government, while his partner Frank Nugan was the conduit for CIA money to the Liberal Party. Millions of dollars flowed to the conservative parties via Nugan Hand.
Shackley played a key role in the security crisis of November 1975, which revolved around the US military base at Pine Gap. Whitlam had threatened that if the US tried to “bounce” his government, he would look at the presence of US bases in Australia.
The lease for Pine Gap was due for renewal in December 1975. On 10 November 1975, the day before Whitlam was sacked, Shackley sent an extraordinary cable from the CIA to ASIO’s director general, threatening to remove ASIO from the British-US intelligence agreement because he considered Whitlam a security threat.
The cable was published by the Financial Review in 1977 and has been widely reprinted. It shows Shackley’s involvement in the security crisis.
Shackley was furious that Whitlam had accused the CIA of funding the opposition conservative parties and had claimed CIA money was being used to influence domestic Australian politics. In particular, Whitlam was asking questions about the close relationship between Richard Stallings, who ran the so-called joint facility at Pine Gap, and National Party leader Doug Anthony.
“The CIA has grave concerns as to where this type of public discussion may lead”, Shackley’s cable said.
In his 1977 speech calling for a royal commission into the activities of the CIA in Australia, Whitlam called Shackley’s cable “a clear example of the attempted deception of the Australian Government by the American intelligence community … The message was offensive in tone, deceitful in intent and sinister in its implications.”
Australia’s lack of integrity is laid bare by Wikileaks. Another cable, 08CANBERRA609 sent on June 13, 2008, reveals Julia Gillard’s speechwriter, Michael Cooney has been a confidential source of information for United States embassy officials in Australia.
All Australian political snitches and sycophants who have dragged Australia through the mud by asserting a prior allegiance for apartheid Israel and US imperialism should resign NOW!
Senator Arbib told The Weekend Australian yesterday that “the unedited cables show that there are serious factual errors in the original story, which is very disappointing”. The Weekend Australian cross-checked the WikiLeaks cable against the Fairfax report and discovered a comment attributed to Senator Arbib in one report was in fact made by Kevin Rudd’s brother, Greg Rudd.
Several other errors have emerged, including misquoting former US ambassador Robert McCallum and claiming former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation was a “blessing in disguise” when the WikiLeaks cable quoted US officials saying it was a “blessing for the government”.
…
The Australian also established from the cables that Ms Gillard’s speechwriter, Michael Cooney, was designated as a “protected source” by the US embassy, just like Senator Arbib and Mr Howes.
Mr Howes yesterday said he had “no idea what being a protected source means”.
“I have met with the embassy a few times; I know colleagues have as well. The fact that moderates in the ALP support the US alliance is hardly news,” he said.
OTHER NOTABLE POINTS RE THE AUSTRALIAN/US/ISRAEL ALLIANCE
06CANBERRA1366 9/8/2006 :
Beazley: “The Labor Party, for its part, could be counted on to continue to support the alliance’s core elements of ship visits, the joint facilities, and joint exercises.”
“the Howard government had had full knowledge of the Australian Wheat Board’s violations of the Iraq sanctions regime”
“Rudd had also provided a candid description of where Labor differed from the U.S. approach on certain issues, while reaffirming the leadership’s ironclad commitment to the overall alliance.”
“Australians remained obsessed with the United States, and followed Washington,s every move, perhaps to a fault.”
“In the meantime, the Ambassador told Beazley that he was committed to ensuring Washington had a comprehensive picture of Australian views, which meant those of the Opposition and well as those of the Government.”
“The government, and Foreign Minister Downer in particular, had badly misstated the facts, Beazley charged, when Downer claimed in August of 2004 in Beijing that a conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would not necessarily trigger Australia,s ANZUS obligations to aid the U.S. In the event of a war between the United States and China, Australia would have absolutely no alternative but to line up militarily beside the U.S., Beazley said.”
“Labor supported Australia,s military contributions in Afghanistan, and would continue to do so until Hell freezes over, since Australia,s actions clearly fell under its ANZUS obligations to respond to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Iraq was different, he maintained, and was a terrible mistake because it damaged, rather than strengthened, the overall war on terror. Labor would not commit an act of vandalism, however, if it came to power.”
“David Hicks was a ratbag who had almost certainly been up to nefarious things, and should probably spend a long time in jail, Beazley said.”
“Although the reasons for Mark Latham’s loss to John Howard in 2004 are legion, Labor recognizes that his multiple, embarrassing pronouncements on issues affecting the alliance represented blunders of the first order”
06CANBERRA1574 10/5/2006 :
(Ongoing as I trawl through the Australian cables)
On The Drum, Jonathan Holmes has broached the Fairfax vessel and uncovered its seedy motives for ignoring the ‘scientific journalism’ process made possible by Wikileaks and extolled by Assange.
Third, Julian Assange has made another claim for WikiLeaks, which he says sets it apart from other media organisations. According to this op-ed in The Australian last week:
WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?
Well, WikiLeaks clearly doesn’t insist on ‘scientific journalism’ being practised by all the media outlets with which it’s working. The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald are still publishing story after story by Philip Dorling – stories that have deeply embarrassed or compromised Kevin Rudd, Mark Arbib, Joel Fitzgibbon, and Stephen Gumley, to name just a few, not to mention the US Embassy in Canberra. But we can’t judge for ourselves if Dorling has reported accurately or fairly, because Fairfax hasn’t posted a single cable online.
On Monday I sent an email to SMH editor-in-chief Peter Fray, asking him why not. His response (read it in full here) makes it clear that the primary reason is to protect not the public, but Fairfax’s commercial, interest:
…the volume of material in The Australian referenced cables means we are still mining the source documents. There are, for instance, several potential stories in each cable; to put the material online would be to give access to our competitors in the local market.
That’s not a line of reasoning that has prevented The Guardian, the New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde or any other of WikiLeaks’s collaborators from posting cables online to support their stories; and it would seem to be in direct contravention of the principles espoused by Julian Assange. Perhaps he’s been too preoccupied by other matters recently to have noticed.
Philip Dorling has undoubtedly scored a major scoop for Fairfax. Most of the stories he’s writing – and there are goodness knows how many to come – are fascinating, especially to politics and foreign policy junkies. But we’re having to take them on trust, and we shouldn’t have to. And very few are telling us stuff we didn’t already know (Kevin Rudd’s a control freak; Defence Procurement is a mess; China doesn’t like the Defence White Paper): what they are telling us is that the US Embassy knew it too, often before we did. Surprise, surprise.
The Australian puts in its bib bleating “We would have loved the leaks given to Fairfax papers but we note the problems they have had sieving wheat from chaff”, patting itself and the rest of the mainstream media on the back for raising Wikileak’s circulation, and filtering the information on behalf of an inept public. This is the sort of contemptuous attitude which further encourages one to distrust Australian dead wood media generally. The UK Guardian has managed to keep its pact with its readers, while Australians are deemed inadequate.
@newsbrooke Heather Brooke
In an amazing nod to the fact we live in digital age, judge has said we can tweet #assange. So I will be along w @AlexiMostrous #
More than two weeks after Wikileaks began publishing US embassy cables, Fairfax is still printing “exclusives” from its treasure trove of leaks without linking to the source, subverting the process to which the honourable Guardian adhers by making its cables available for public scrutiny and interpretation. The Guardian blew the whistle on fake documents published last week by Pakistani dailies, so one might presume that if the Fairfax cables were not authentic, they too would be exposed. Crikey’s Bernard Keane has pointed out Fairfax’s ignominy. Asad Abukhalil is vouching for the authenticity of additional cables published by Al Akhbar. There are even more cables streaming from Indoleaks in Indonesia, according to the Jakarta Globe.
‘Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all enable donations to be made to US-registered groups funding illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in defiance of international law.
It appears at least one of the major credit cards also enables donations to an extremist Jewish group that has placed a bounty on the lives of Palestinians.’
As I’ve previously revealed, an Australian Zionist organisation, the United Israel Appeal’s New South Wales branch, also offers online credit card facilities for tax deductible donations to its Women’s Division, 50% of whose funds are directed toward the consolidated revenue of Keren Hayesod which is involved in illegal Israeli ‘national’ heritage projects in the West Bank.
“Our view has been consistent for a long period of time, and that is that all states in the region should adhere to the NPT, and that includes Israel.”
But it is what he added next by referring to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors that has caught Israeli officials by surprise: “And therefore their nuclear facility should be subject to IAEA inspection.”
He was speaking before reports that a WikiLeaks cable suggested Australia, along with the US, could be drawn into a nuclear war in the Middle East if Israel were to attack Iran in an attempt to disable its nuclear program.
Perhaps Rudd hasn’t noticed that Lieberman told the Russians in 2009 that Israel did not intend attacking Iran, nor that Israel has repeatedly, deliberately and tactically linked ‘peace’ with Palestinians with the US confronting Iran. That this fiction about an attack on Iran must be maintained when the IAEA inspectors have not found any evidence of wrongdoing is annoying. The Israelis can’t attack without US support. The US would prefer a non-confrontational dialogue with Iran. Senator Kerry made this perfectly clear in February, 2010. Thus, ‘peace’ with Palestinians is also a fiction.
Israeli officials were not surprised by Mr Rudd’s call for Israel to sign the NPT but were taken aback by his call for IAEA inspections. One high-ranking Israeli official said: “I don’t remember any Australian minister saying (Israel’s) facilities should be put under inspection.”
…
On settlements, which have been at the centre of the collapse of direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, Mr Rudd said: “The position of the Australian government has long been clear. We do not support new settlement construction and the reason is that it undermines the prospects of the successful prosecution of peace negotiations.”
Mr Rudd said the Australian government fully understood Israel’s security concerns from Gaza, but that settlements were “a different matter”.
He expressed concern after comments by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, that if the peace talks achieved nothing he might dissolve the Palestinian Authority and hand over day-to-day running of the West Bank to Israel. “There is a second reality also, which is what security challenges Israel would face if the peace process entirely collapses, if the Palestinian Authority totally disengages or if Abu Mazen were to give effect to what he publicly implied in his recent statements about folding the authority, or if the moderate Arab states would begin to adopt a different posture against a protracted and non-successful peace negotiating process.”
Mr Rudd warned that there may be serious consequences if the peace process collapsed.
“All of us, if we are any students of the history of the last decade or so, have a grasp of what can go wrong, and what can go wrong big time if the Palestinian people don’t have a stake in a negotiated outcome,” he said.
For Palestinians, there are serious consequences if the peace process continues, because the interminable peace process is and has always been a facade for more Israeli land theft. Netanyahu called the US bluff with his refusal to stop settlement building despite handsome US bribes and now further, insisting Jerusalem will not be shared. Unless there are concrete repercussions from the US and other nations, the Israel will continue to steal, murder and occupy in pursuit of its expansionist strategy and goal. Is Kevin a knowing participant in this ongoing villainous mythology? A brief examination of a map of the illegal West Bank settlements should be enough for him to realise the two state solution is a vexatious illusion and a de facto one state with discontinuous, unofficial bantustans is the present reality. Israel is an apartheid state to be engaged accordingly with a tangible justice process through boycotts, divestments and sanctions to shortcircuit the duplicitous ‘peace process’ charade.
For many demented US politicians and media shills, Wikileaks is the US equivalent to Salman Rushdie’s fatwahed Satanic Verses. While the Wikileaks insurance file with its encrypted archive of unredacted documents has been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of Wikileaks supporters during the last week, it seems the US has only just realised the implications. One tweet containing the password, and the entire archive can be unencrypted for public viewing – this is insurance against a US coverup of its criminality, not a means of protecting Julian Assange, who is resigned to the consequences of his public stance. Assange has stated the reason for Wikileaks’ existence is for there to be no need for a Wikileaks. The ‘invisible government’, the obscene hidden oligathical conspiracy and exceptionalism must end and all governments be accountable to international law and their electors. The US State Dept representative, Philip J. Crowley tweets his smear only today:
@PJCrowley: Julian #Assange comes clean as opportunist, threatens to put others at risk to save his own hide. #
that if Mr. Assange were to be brought to trial on rape accusations he faces in Sweden, or for treason charges that have been suggested by U.S. politicians, he would release the encryption key. The tens of thousands of people who have downloaded the file would instantly have access to the names, addresses and details contained in the file.
Against a backdrop of impunity and exceptionalism, the issue of repellent doctrines of pre-emption and full spectrum global dominance adopted during the venal Bush years, and consequent massacres of millions of brown-skinned innocents far from those who fund and vote them, the hypocritical imperial crocodiles are concerned about the impact of the release of unredacted documents it will create by its own hand.
Nor will Assange’s detainment or the closure of his defence fund prevent the upload of further documents. The Wikileaks site is now mirrored at 507 sites and its wikileaks.ch domain is safe in the hands of the Pirate Party and protected by the Swiss courts – and the revolution WILL be tweeted. Even the superpower cannot withstand a tide of discontent from a mushrooming global movement insisting on the right to publish in the public interest as a check on elite corruption and deceit.
The US is particularly irascible about the publication of critical sites which it regards as critical around the world. Yet as the Wikileaks site points out, those sites were available to around 2.5 million people – hardly guarded knowledge. Australian sites of interest include
Australia: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Brookvale, Australia Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Sydney, Australia Manganese – Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Nickel Mines Maybe Faulding Mulgrave Victoria, Australia: Manufacturing facility for Midazolam injection. Mayne Pharma (fill/finish), Melbourne, Australia: Sole suppliers of Crotalid Polyvalent Antivenin (CroFab).
What is of most concern is the methodology the US used to glean this knowledge.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said:
“The latest release from the Embassy Cables reveals US embassies were asked to gather information on key infrastructure and resources without the knowledge of, or consultation with, their host governments.
“This further undermines claims made by the US government that its embassy officials do not play an intelligence gathering role.
“In terms of security issues, while this cable details the strategic importance of assets across the world, it does not give any information as to their exact locations, security measures, vulnerabilities or any similar factors – though it does reveal the US asked its diplomats to report back on these matters.
Some of the names have been added to a US list of people banned from boarding commercial flights, with the rest to be monitored by US spy agencies.
Kevin Rudd claims Assange will be treated ‘like any other citizen’ which means no doubt the supine Australian government would hand him over to its master on demand as it did David Hicks, another occasion when the Australian government’s tongue was inserted from US bottom to tonsils. Would the Australian government also OK a US assassination order? There is a list of organisations and people who have criminalised Wikileaks and threatened Assange here.
Wikileaks continues to expose the cloying connubial relationship between government and corporate entities: Jillian C. York notes the hypocrisy of EveryDNS.com which removed Wikileaks DNS service.
@jilliancyork: EveryDNS: “we believe in our New Hampshire state motto, Live Free or Die.” http://www.everydns.com/ (block on right side of page) #
York also asks:
“Did Library Of Congress Lie? White House Says No Requirement To Block Wikileaks | Techdirt” ( http://bit.ly/f0AfJI ) #
Guardian originalGuardian New NATO
Interestingly, The Guardian, which has been redacting and releasing wikicables alters a headline about NATO’s posture toward Russia. The original headline reads ‘WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plan for war with Russia Alliance agrees to defend Poland and Baltics if Moscow attacks – while Warsaw fumes over ‘potted plant’ Patriot batteries” which is replaced by
“WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plans to defend Baltics from Russia
• Leaked diplomatic cables reveal Russia strategy
• British troops identified for combat operations
• Washington offers to beef up Polish security”
Content of the stories also differs. Decide for yourself which is the better interpretation by reading the original redacted cables at the Guardian.
Julia Gillard in a press conference broadcast today by the ABC has claimed Wikileaks cable publications are “grossly irresponsible misconduct”, there has been “no advice from the Australian federal police yet” and the cables’ “foundation stone is an illegal act”. In common with many politicians, she appears to have a low regard for normal journalistic activities.
Opposition Legal Affairs spokesman George Brandis accused Ms Gillard of being “clumsy” with her language on the issue of illegality.
“As far as I can see, he (Assange) hasn’t broken any Australian law,” he told Sky News.
“Nor does it appear he has broken any American laws.”
Senator Brandis, a Queen’s Counsel, called for any debate about the publishing of the cables to have a well-defined understanding of the difference between something which appeared to be morally wrong and an act which was illegal.
“As far as I can see, nothing Mr Assange has done does break the law.”
In a positive move, Columbia University has reversed its fatwah on Wikileaks.
“Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution,” Coatsworth wrote in an e-mail to the SIPA community Monday morning (full e-mail message below). “Thus, SIPA’s position is that students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or to their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences.”
SIPA Professor Gary Sick, the prominent Middle East expert who served on the National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan, went even further in repudiating the memo.
“If anyone is a master’s student in international relations and they haven’t heard of WikiLeaks and gone looking for the documents that relate to their area of study, then they don’t deserve to be a graduate student in international relations,” Sick told Wired.com in an interview.
The US state department knew there were more cables to come months ago. The Afghanistan and Iraq material published earlier this year was opaque and acronymed – to work through them required extreme dedication and professionalism. According to Iraq body count, the data will take many months more to work through.
The current cables range from didactic to droll and are much more accessible to a prurient public hot for salacious ruling class peccadillos. The elite apparently don’t mind if the bodies they slaughtered are inspected long after, as long as their precious image at embassy cocktail parties isn’t tarnished, their complicity in torture coverups uncovered, that their deceptive sabre rattling at Iran isn’t exposed as a charade. Even now, despite the glaring evidence, many cling to the delusion that an attack on Iran is imminent.
I wavered as I read Kevin Rudd’s presentation to Clinton, knowing full well what I would find – evidence of an increased military buildup to keep pace with China’s growing security role in the region which they promised it years ago, though not with the boorish suggestion of matched belligerence. I thought Kevvie did rather well given the limitations and arrogance of the US – they will still run the show through membership of a regional body – yet it makes sense in a cold-hearted financially pragmatic way, since Australia is a quarry for the military juggernaut. China and America build implements of war from our minerals – increased militarisation suits everyone except me, and others like me, which is just about everyone.
After yesterday’s frolics, between throwing Leftist Palestinian charters and speeches identifying imperialism as organically related with zionism at anti-semite white supremacists and dealing with a plague of conspiracists who think because Assange said Netanyahu was a sophisticated politician this was a form of praise and evidence of zionist collusion rather than an equation of him with a used car salesman or particularly venomous snake, along with attempting to preserve my own citizenship rights from the craven compliance of the Australian government with empire, noticing little solidarity for this from non-Australians, my messages back to @wikileaks and @wikileaks2 were
Send her down Huey 🙂 RT @wikileaks: Cablegate: Boy, the last time there was a leak like this, Noah built himself a boat. #
Hey there … power on, process A OK, govt still seems to want to commit to ridiculous amounts of arms purchases 🙂 #
For 2 yrs a chain: #netfilter => #openinternet => #opensociety : #wikileaks helps Australians confront censorship then AND now 🙂 thanks! #
Here’s my Christmas Wikiwish list:
(1) No, we don’t want those F35s (2) Global demilitarisation (3) Equal human rights for all (4) Whatever happened to Al Suri?
One last thought – as with the rightsless Palestinian people, Australian rights and justice go out the window when the US is concerned, The ruling class that disallows justice for Palestinians is the same ruling class that is enabling the persecution of Julian Assange and Wikileaks.
Later
Julian Assange has now been arrested according to the BBC. An op-ed will appear in tomorrow’s Australian – here’s the beginning of a gist.
‘Mr Assange begins by saying: `In 1958, a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide’s The News, wrote: `In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.’’
It goes on to say a few more things about freedom of speech; the `dark days’ of corrupt government in Queensland (where Assange was raised); the Fitzgerald inquiry; and it says much about his upbringing in a country town, “where people spoke their minds bluntly.’’
It says that Australian politicians are chanting a “provably false chorus’’ with the US State Department of “You’ll risk lives! You’ll endanger troops!’’ by releasing information, and “then they say there is nothing of importance in what Wikileaks publishes. It can’t be both.’’
