The End of WikiLeaks

[jefferson_dem]

The End of WikiLeaks

Last fall when the news broke that WikiLeaks was in possession of a quarter million U.S. diplomatic cables, I wrote that the putative pro-transparency organization was in fact a detriment to a serious movement aimed at more openness in government. Mine was among the few voices on the left at the time to take this position, but I believed in my bones that WikiLeaks founder and leader Julian Assange was more interested in fame and power (and money, as it later turned out) than he was in a true democratization of government secrets and data. Further, I came to believe that the flamboyant and outspoken Assange was WikiLeaks - that his voice, his decisions, his direction, his personal politics, and his personality were fused permanently to the organization.

Finally, I asserted that openness by force in a democratic society without the consent or participation of the governed isn't really openness at all. "Wikileaks is resolutely anti-engagement, anti-development, anti-cooperation, and anti-peace, " I wrote last December. "And virulently to its very DNA, anti-democratic."

The events of the last few days prove that my 2010 assertions were entirely correct, but there's not much joy in the realization. You see, WikiLeaks could have been a contender.

Releasing the full database of unredacted cables has exposed scores of U.S. information sources to the world (and to the intelligence services of regimes that would do them harm). WikiLeaks' original media partners in the carefully redacted and researched initial tranche of limited releases - The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel - excoriated the organization in an extraordinary joint statement today:

We cannot defend the needless publication of the complete data – indeed, we are united in condemning it. The decision to publish by Julian Assange was his, and his alone.

<SNIP>

http://tomwatson.typepad.com/tom_watson/2011/09/the-end-of-wikileaks.html

[Harmony Blue]

1. Wikileaks isn't going anywhere

the establishment is quaking in their boots.

[treestar]

7. Are they getting new stuff?

Seems they will run out at some point and the leaks stopped up.

[in_cog_ni_to]

23. I hope you're right! The world needs Wikileaks!

I'm hoping someday they will concentrate their efforts on the election fraud committed by Rethugs...and break it all wide open.

[krabigirl]

37. I agree.

[villager]

2. Then long live Anonymous!

:thumbsup:

[tblue]

9. I'll drink to that!

:toast:

I like sunlight myself.

[Harmony Blue]

11. Definitely!

Wikileaks and Anon are shining light into the darkness! :fistbump:

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. DITTO! +1000! n/t

[krabigirl]

38. Yep.

[wuushew]

3. What is YOUR opinion of this guy's opinion?

random blog ranting is now newsworthy? unrec.

[jefferson_dem]

5. I think he makes an excellent case and support his conclusions.

Now please continue scouring DU threads for "random blog rantings" to unrec. :hi:

[Poll_Blind]

4. The Guardian's copy of the archive was put on torrents 8 months ago. Guardian published pw in a book

So WTF is up with pretending like WikiLeaks/Assange are dropping all this unredacted material now? The point is the Guardian paper's copy of the archive was uploaded to The Pirate Bay. They published the full password in a printed book a few months ago, for shit's sake.

That's why WikiLeaks is looking into suing them.

Tom Watson has his head up his ass, intentionally or otherwise.

PB

[Harmony Blue]

6. Absolutely.

It seems this flailing around to try to disparage the good works of wikileaks shouldn't surprise me.

[jefferson_dem]

8. Much of what you claim is refuted.

Here - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/02/wikileaks-publishes-cache-unredacted-cables

[Poll_Blind]

12. "Refuted" by the same folks who published the password in their book.

:eyes:

PB

[jefferson_dem]

26. Let's be clear. Wikileaks violated their own standards by purposely reusing that password..

because they knew it was already in the public domain.

[Harmony Blue]

27. That sums it up doesn't it?

They can whine, kick, and scream but wikileaks is here to stay. :headbang:

[digitaln3rd]

10. The sooner that asshat Assange goes away

The better.

[Rex]

13. Dream on.

It will never happen.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. "News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising."

"News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising."
~ Lord Northcliffe, British publisher 1865-1922

[bemildred]

16. +1. nt

[jefferson_dem]

17. So unfiltered dumps of official documents, with zero editorial judgment or context, is ...just news.

No thanks. No standards are even worse than low standards.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. Well, Wikileaks and the contents of the cables have been making a lot of news.

So, what would you consider news? The winner of the largest pumpkin contest?

I'd say that revealing how are government works is newsworthy and that people are capable of sorting through it without the help of "editorial judgement".

And, I'd also say that our "transparent" government's efforts to suppress is newsworthy itself.

[bemildred]

43. The raw stuff of History is what it is, "news" doesn't really cover it.

The fact that most of our "leaders" are too narcissistic, corrupt, and incompetent to conduct the public's business in the light of day makes it all the more imperative that they be exposed. If the weasels were honest in the first place, there would be no issue.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Thomas JEFFERSON a democrat would have approved of Wikileaks

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”


“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”



“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”



''There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.''


Thomas Jefferson

[Rex]

18. This is just a grumblefish thread aimed at shaking the tree

and hoping SOMETHING falls out! It pisses people off that someone had the guts to openly air the dirt of many powerful nations...funny that.

[jefferson_dem]

20. Are you channeling him right now?

Irresponsible, scorched-earth leaks of classified documents and highly sensitive information - the release of which would only serve to embarrass, put the security of people at great risk, and chill critical sources - is hardly what Jefferson means by "dissent".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. It sounds like you're the one channeling Tom deciding what he meant.

What does he say about these two quotes of his?

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795.

[jefferson_dem]

30. You're cute.

Just pasting in any Jefferson quotes, pretending that they are relevant --- and excuse this case of criminal irresponsibility by Wikileaks.

By your standards, Jefferson would have never withheld any national secrets from the public while he was president. Right.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. If he did he would be wrong to do so and a hypocrite.

But, I'm not "channeling" him like you are.

So, you consider it "criminal" for the public, in an alleged democracy, to know what its government does?

Puzzle me this: If we don't know what our government does, how do we decide who we should hire to lead it? Channeling?

[Harmony Blue]

33. What crime has wikileaks committed

I am curious?

[Rex]

34. They stole information from various govts and posted the info to the WWW.

Which makes Wikileaks one of the most dangrous organization on the planet...to the nations at large that commit horrible acts and try to cover up their tracks.

Evidently whistleblowing is seen as traitorous action...sad and pathetic, but there you have it!

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. “Unthinking respect for authority

“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” Albert Einstein.

I don't give a fuck anymore about our rotten secrets that hide reality.

[jefferson_dem]

35. Who can disagree with Einstein?

Problem is, the object of this "unthinking" respect is Assange and his colleagues.

The point responsible, respected media outlets like the Guardian are making is that Assange blew it. He could have been the key partner in exposing the "rotten secrets" and, therefore, serving the greater good we all strive toward. Instead, he chose the route of wreckless megalomaniac.

[Rex]

36. No shit!

Maybe Wikileaks will cause various nations to start 'cleaning up their acts' out of fear of Wikiblowing! So something GOOD has come from all this - fear of being outted for torture, war crimes etc.

[Ichingcarpenter]

40. The Freedom of Information Act is almost a joke now

This is 55 years old




You know you've seen more crap like this even when its 60 years old.

Long live Wikileaks.

[krabigirl]

39. Same here.

[sabrina 1]

21. I doubt the end of Wikileaks is here. Even if this organization which

is being attacked by the Western governments who have so much to hide, were to go away, the idea will not.

We know so much now that we did not know before Wikileaks, and we needed to know it. Some things we only suspected have been confirmed, so we cannot be called 'conspiracy theorists' anymore.

We learned how our governments lie to the people. And they are acting like spoiled children now caught in the lies they've been getting away with for so long.

When Assange mentioned that he had info on BOA last summer, that is when they really went after him. I believe they got to his former partner. The Bank hired Corps to investigate and try to stop the release of that info, even going after bloggers like Glenn Greenwald because he followed the story relentlessly, and while they could control the MSM, they cannot control everyone.

Anonymous blew their cover and exposed even more of the lies and the fact that the US DOJ was involved in helping BOA go after Wikileaks, Glenn Greenwald et al.

The Congressman who replaced Cynthia McKinney has set up a committee to investigate the role of this government in going after Wikileaks. He is outraged. We need more in Congress like him, whose focus is on the message rather than trying to kill the messenger.

No matter what happens, Wikileaks changed the world and the genie cannot be put back in the box. But it's interesting to watch the temper tantrums being thrown by the usual suspects as their secrets are revealed and they now things will never be the same again. The people are going to be a little wiser about their governments from now on, and that is a good thing.

[Rex]

22. Wikileaks is here to stay, permanently.

Those that wish otherwise are naive.

[WillyT]

29. Well... According To Wikileaks... It Was The Guardian... And Then Again...

Some news reports cited WikiLeaks rival OpenLeaks, founded by WikiLeaks defector Daniel Domscheit-Berg, as the source of the tip-offs. A resident of Germany, he may be the "individual in Germany" mentioned by WikiLeaks as a target of its "pre-litigation action."

Link: http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/231600630

Could get REAL interesting...

:shrug:

[NorthCarolina]

32. LOL...Good luck pushing that meme. nt

[whatchamacallit]

41. No surprise authoritarians hate WikiLeaks n/t

[jefferson_dem]

42. "They hate us for our freedoms!1" n/t

[johnaries]

44. Julian is an Anarchist because he doesn't want anyone to tell him

to wear a condom.

Hey, Julian - NO means NO!