Tagged: WikiLeaks
Glennzilla on the “WikiLeaks Threat”
Glenn Greenwald weighs in on the conspiracy.
Must read: “The WikiLeaks Threat”
Private security firm, after bragging about a successful infiltration of cyber-activist group “Anonymous” finds itself hacked by same (yeah..maybe they didn’t think that one through) and juicy secrets revealed. Including a proposal – “The WikiLeaks Threat” – to their lovable client Bank of America on how to deal with upcoming embarrassing leaks.
“Traditional responses will fail; we must employ the best investigative team, currently employed by the most sensitive of national security agencies.”
Today in reckless and deceptive fearmongering
Today’s Vancouver Sun has an article titled “Al-Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb”. It is a most misleading headline. It’s actually a reprint from the Daily Telegraph which, while not my favourite British newspaper by a long shot, at least gives it’s version of the article the title “WikiLeaks: al-Qaeda ‘is planning a dirty bomb’”. A radiological “dirty” bomb and a nuclear weapon are not the same thing. One is nasty and can kill people. The other is nasty and can kill a whole lot of people. ie. a step up from a typical IED v. a true weapon of mass destruction. You learn this, sort of, in the body of the Sun article, but most people will scan the headline and freak out.
Actually reading the cable that directly relates to al Qaeda further dilutes the sensationalism. Here it is in full:
21. (C/NF) Terrorist acquisition of WMD was the next topic of major concern. Although there was a limited assessed capability for al-Qaeda and other groups to acquire WMD, the intent was clearly present, and there were ongoing credible reports of attempts to recruit the needed expertise. A “dirty” radiological IED program was assessed to be under active consideration by al-Qaeda.
Get that? al-Qaeda wants a dirty bomb [surprise!] but lacks capability. Things they would also like: Sharks with lasers in their eyes and a secret volcano headquarters. Furthermore, the Sun warns:
A leading atomic regulator has privately warned that the world stands on the brink of a “nuclear 9/11″.
In the Telegraph, we learn this regulator is Tomihiro Taniguchi, the deputy director-general of the IAEA. The Telegraph links to a cable seemingly in support of this (given the link is attached to the words “nuclear 9/11″) – but there is no mention of “nuclear 9/11″, Tomihiro Taniguchi or any mention of nuclear terrorism. What gives? Linked to the wrong cable? In fact, none of the links to cables seem to support the claims in the main article. Example two – “Acute safety and security concerns” is placed in quotes as if it’s, you know, a direct quotation. But the linked cable has no such quote. Ditto “small time hustler” in Lisbon. In this last example, the cable describes a substance seized by Burundian Intelligence that had been offered for sale by a local businessman. Of note: “There was no radiation alarm, and no other technical inspection of the material has taken place.” My quotes are in fact a direct quote. There is no mention of Lisbon, Portugal.
Most of the article relates to the lack of security around uranium mines and other such sites. What is missing in these later cases is any link to or even mention of al-Qaeda involvement.
What gives? This is either really sloppy or really deceptive. And this being the Torygraph and Vancouver Sun, I know which side I’m on: Both!
Stories about “dirty bombs” are nothing new. They come out every few years. Remember Jose Padilla? The question about the latest one is why now? And in pondering that the ongoing Egyptian revolution – and possibility of client state charting it’s own path – looms large. Scare stories are needed to undermine public support for the protesters.
Read of the day: Bradley Manning and Mohamed Bouazizi
University of Michigan’s Juan Cole has today’s article of the day. Bradley Manning is the U.S. service member accused of leaking documents to Wikileaks. Mohamed Bouazizi was a Tunisian who, in desperation set himself on fire, an act that many point as the start of the Tunisian uprising.
WikiLeaks: Vancouver – A plot revealed
Well…speak of the devil – the latest WikiLeaks release has a dispatch from Vancouver…and it reveals a long-hatched Yankee plot of incredible complexity to install a Manchurian Candidate into the Mayor’s office in a bid to block oil tanker traffic to Asia.
Shocking.
Zzzzzzz….
The WikiLeak War has begun
For nearly a week now, WikiLeaks has been facing the full power and fury of a nation state scorned. It’s servers have been subjected to denial of service attacks, it’s domain revoked, it’s had the means by which the public could offer financial support – Paypal, Visa, Mastercard – withdrawn under political pressure. It’s been the subject of withering attacks in many (though not all) of the editorial pages of the establishment press. It’s public face has been arrested.
And yet for all that it’s not enough to stop WikiLeaks from continuing it’s work.
And now whatever amorphous mass consciousness WikiLeaks sprung from is pushing back – websites for Swiss banks, Visa and Mastercard are currently down and groups like “anonymous” is the culprit. The stakes are high:
This is the old order’s first salvo, an old-fashioned show of power, using old-world intimidation tactics to bring down tangible assets and demonstrate the fragility of the Internet we thought we could trust. Make no mistake, if they win here, online life will change. Expect tighter government control, more regulations and sanitised information flow.
But I wouldn’t bet against the “[a]ngry, porn-obsessed adolescents” – and I don’t think that’s an accurate description of the demographic or the motivation. But for the sake of argument let’s assume this purposely dismissive and common characterization is true. In a few brief years they won’t be adolescents anymore, they’ll be blooded veterans of the WikiLeaks War. And let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to be an insurgent from the comfort of your parent’s basement*
No one’s in control at the moment. But someone has blinked.
*As opposed to taking to the streets of Tehran and facing down the Basij. Which the angry, porn-obsessed adolescents did anyway.
WikiLeaks: Thoughts
I’ve been talking to some friends and fellow political junkies offline about the latest WikiLeaks releases and it has led me to some reflection about the significance of WikiLeaks as a whole, and I’m finding it – surprisingingly – difficult to grapple with. On the one hand, a non-profit, non-political organization releasing the secrets of states and corporations alike is d’uh of course significant unto itself and serves the public good. On the other hand, some of my friends say, what’s been released isn’t particularly relevatory to those that follow the Great Game closely. Saudi Arabia plays a double game? Mafia is to today’s Russia as fish is to water? Not really a big surprise. (I disagree – the releases are huge and will take quite a long time to sort and digest. And there has been new and important information revealed)
I think there is more going on than meets the eye and it’s difficult to put a finger on. We may be on the verge of a real sea-change in the way the game is played. The internet is the beast that got away from the masters of the universe – no one truly controls it, no one truly can control it…and it’s now becoming increasingly apparent that no secret is safe. So why keep them? And we are once again reminded, in a very dramatic way, how the large, corporate media has both abdicated it’s watchdog role and it’s, if ratings and subscriptions rates are any indication, increasing irrelevance.
Some random thoughts:
Barring the press regrowing a spine, WikiLeaks will become the new normal. The hue and cry will die down with each subsequent release. Governments and corporations will adapt. If we are to look at the glass as half full, they will accept they in wall-less castles and cease the now routine classifying of the most mundane of things. If we look at the glass as half empty, they will not only adapt, but co-opt. There’s some hint of this already:
He then dropped a hint that’s likely to be nervously parsed in Russia’s corridors of power: “We are helped by the Americans, who pass on a lot of material about Russia,” to WikiLeaks, he said.
(That said, if there’s an “arms race” between the Powers as to who can leak more, sign me up.)
Leaking too is, by nature, selective and subject to the whims and discretion of the individual leaker. Exculpatory evidence may not be released (at least until the incriminated leak it themselves).
My friends were particularly worried about the upcoming corporate release. If a bank falls and it triggers more economic pain…well, we all suffer. But personally, I think that pain is coming anyway and it’s best to shine a light on these charlatans now and take our lumps for letting them get away with for so long. Keeping it under wraps doesn’t mean the systemic problem will go away….
He may or may not be guilty of rape (Swedish version). He may or may not be trying to cultivate a rock star image. But Julian Assange is not the WikiLeaks project. It’s set up in such a way that if he were to…cough…disappear, WikiLeaks would continue. His personal life does not diminish the importance of what has been released or the WikiLeaks staff, and those that try to conflate the two desperately want the public conversation to be about Assange rather than the documents.
And let’s face it, an already cynical public might get even more cynical and bored.
We live in a world with too many secrets, and something is pushing back.
Quote of the Day
“The real-world alternative to the current iteration of WikiLeaks is not the Perfect Wikileaks that makes perfect judgments about what should and should not be disclosed, but rather, the ongoing, essentially unchallenged hegemony of the permanent National Security State, for which secrecy is the first article of faith and prime weapon. “
The man, as he usually does, has a point.
Wikileaks lovin’ – Ode to the North edition
Image via Wikipedia
I see WikiLeaks has made available some cables from the Ottawa embassy, and what it reveals is shocking! Outrageous! Beyond the pale!!….
No matter which political party forms the Canadian government during your Administration, Canada will remain one of our staunchest and most like-minded of allies, our largest trading and energy partner, and our most reliable neighbor and friend.
….oh.
Zzzzzz…..
P.S. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
