Jeff Huber Anchors A-weighs in on Assange & the Big Bright Green Wiki-Leaks MAchine

Unapologetically, I have lifted retired Commander Huber's entire post.  No futher commenting is necessary.  The man is THAT good.  He covers all the basses (and the tenors, alto's contralto's and soprano's too).  Sing us a song - you're the naval music man; sing us a song tonight; well we're all in the need of a melody, and you got us thinkin' all right!

Monday, December 06, 2010

Pots and Kettles and Wikileak

by Jeff Huber

Among the gourmet morsels contained in the latest Wikileaks release was a cable written a year ago by Secretary of Screech Hillary Clinton.  In the cable, Hillary accused several Arab states, most of them our supposed allies, of funding terrorism.  She says citizens of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are the primary funders of al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas and other outfits that her hapless State Department classifies as “foreign terrorist organizations.”  The Mossad, Israel’s assignation bureau, isn’t on that list for some reason.  Neither are the CIA or Blackwater or the Ku Klux Klan, but they’re all based in America so they don’t qualify as foreign terrorist groups.  

Go ahead, pull it!

Suzy Strident (too damn funny Jeff) is especially cross with the Saudis because terror groups raise “millions” of dollars each year from Saudi sources.  Christ in a CARE package, Hillary.  You’re dragging a cheese grater across the faces of the closest things we have to friends in that part of the world over millions of dollars?  What, you’re like Dr. Evil and just woke up from three decades in cryogenic preservation and you think millions of dollars are worth getting worked up about?   

Hillary says in her little cable that Saudi contributors are the main source of terror funding around the world.  Mother of Moe, Curly and Shemp, lady, how many billions do you suppose have made their way from collection plates in Boston to the Irish Republican Army’s war chest over the past couple of centuries?  

I wish only to speak with The Red Rascal.

But the money private American citizens blow to arm Irish hoodlums isn’t a shot of Jamesons in the ocean compared to the tens of billions, quite possibly hundreds of billions that the United States government steam shovels into the hands of the same band of Muslim merry men that Hillary says gets all its money from the Saudis and a few other Arab states. 

There’s no telling exactly how much of every dollar we piddle into Afghanistan and Iraq ends up in the hands of the people we’re supposedly fighting, but it’s enough to float several third world nation’s economies and more than enough to sink ours.  King David Petraeus, the counterinsurgency “genius,” has been passing out stacks of greenbacks and cases of weapons to camel banditos for years now.  Iraq still looks like a carpet-bombed animal park and the Bananastans are so bonkers that our best hope for a peaceful solution there is probably Gary Trudeau’s Red Rascal (aka Jeff Redfern).  

Oh.  God.  Shut.   Up.  

Thank God for Wikileaks.  Hillary has been playing FAG (Foreign Affairs Groupie) Hag to bureaucratic bimbo Bob Gates, the undisputed master of the delicate balance between sucking up to his superiors and appeasing his subordinates, since young Mr. Obama made the bad judgment of nominating her for the State Post.  Of course, you wouldn’t get that impression of her from big media.  The way they treat Hill the Pill and Uncle Bob, you’d think you should take them seriously. News outlets like the Washington Post, the paper that saved the Constitution from Richard Milhous Nixon, have become the de facto propaganda arm of the American warmongery.  It’s a wonder anybody bothers to watch Fox News or listen to Rush anymore.  Old habits die hard, I guess. 

In July, Wikileaks posted 90,000 documents that The Guardian described as “a devastating portrait of the war in Afghanistan.”   Today, you’re hard pressed to find a mirror of the Wikileaks site that hasn’t been shut down under pressure from our anal-retentive government (they can pry into our secrets but we can’t know theirs).  But you can tune into ABC’s Good Morning America and watch the vaginal George Stephanopoulos embed his nose half-way up Dave Petraeus’s colon, and see footage of all the wonderful things going on in Afghanistan thanks to the magnificent work of our troops (“It was enough to make me want to jump on a plane and visit the place,” a friend reported).  

Wikileaks honcho Julian Assange is under attack from all corners.  Even mug-mogul Jon Stewart has attacked Assange, illustrating once again that underneath his hip exterior, Stewart’s low-comedy act is about getting cheap laughs, not seeking the truth.  Stewart, a master of appearing informed by memorizing a handful of factoids his staff spoon-feeds him, has illustrated once again that he seldom understands what he’s talking about.

The Christian Science Monitor suggests that Assange may already be under indictment by a secret U.S. grand jury for his latest round of leaks.   If the Feds manage to bag Assange and render him to the states for trial, watch our media fail to rise in defense of the freedom of the press it so long ago abnegated.

Assange has been arrested by our British lapdogs on a Swedish warrant that charges him with sexual misconduct toward former female Wikileak employees.  Funny how that timed out, isn’t it?  If there is anything to these allegations, though, I’m not sure what they say about Assange other than that he’s eminently qualified to serve as a justice on our Supreme Court.  

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) is the author of the critically applauded novel Bathtub Admirals, a satire on America’s rise to global dominance.   

OK, OK.  So, I added some parenthetical comments.  Huber does that too me.  Huber and Bourbon and Beer would make for a novel.  Love to you all, I'm hitting the North Country for a while. 

Black Commentator Weighs in on Julian Assange

From the invaluable, right-thinking, cut-to-the-chase Black Commentator:

Dec 9, 2010 - Issue 405

Cover Story
WikiLeaks is the Upton Sinclair of this Century
The Color of Law
By David A. Love, JD
BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor

I find it interesting, though not surprising, that most discussions in the media about WikiLeaks focus on the suitable form of punishment for its editor-in-chief Julian Assange, rather than the nature of the diplomatic correspondence he and his organization have shared with the public.  None of the documents were top secret—as they were either labeled secret, confidential or classified— and arguably they should be a part of the public domain.  Some people are calling for the arrest and prosecution of Assange for espionage, and the branding of WikiLeaks as a terrorist organization.  Rather than condemn Assange, we should commend him for doing all of us a great service.

Commenting on the good that can come from openness and transparency, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”  Well, today we find ourselves in a foul, germ-ridden place, where official misconduct is allowed to breed, infect the body politic and fester.  Things are done in the name of the American people that would outrage them if they really knew the truth.  And some past generations had the benefit of brave individuals to shine the light and clear up the stench, and they were all the better for it.  

    

Without question, Noam Chomsky said it best in a recent interview with Democracy Now!  “One of the major reasons for government secrecy is to protect the government from its own population,” Chomsky said.  Of the similarity of WikiLeaks to the Pentagon Papers— a top secret history of the Vietnam War first published in the New York Times—Chomsky noted:

“But if you look at the Papers themselves, there are things that Americans should have known that the government didn’t want them to know.  And as far as I can tell, from what I’ve seen here, pretty much the same is true. In fact, the current leaks are—what I’ve seen, at least—primarily interesting because of what they tell us about how the diplomatic service works.”

The Pentagon Papers revealed that the Johnson administration had lied about the Vietnam War, deliberately expanding the war in private while telling another story in public.  In recent years America has been faced with two costly, deadly and seemingly useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The latter is causing the nation to bleed $2.8 billion a week.  And the military-industrial complex eats up half of the government’s discretionary spending when other nations prefer to spend their money on high-speed rail and green technology.  This comes at a time when Wall Street is awash with record profits, yet millions are chronically unemployed.  

Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor, the highest since 1928, is turning the U.S. into a nation of serfs.  This is why we must embrace the spirit of WikiLeaks in 2010 and beyond, to inform citizens of potentially disastrous government decision making while something can be done to avert catastrophe.

In 1906—65 years before the Pentagon Papers and over a century before WikiLeaks— Upton Sinclair applied his own brand of disinfectant called The Jungle.  His novel depicted the harsh conditions of the meat-packing industry, of diseased animals and dead rats finding their way to the dinner table.  Ultimately, the visceral public reaction to The Jungle led to government reform of the food industry.  More importantly, Sinclair shed light on the plight of poor and working people, on racism and immigration, on wage slavery, and the greed and corruption of people at the top.  It was a book about an era when, like today, capitalism ran amok.  Every generation might not get an Upton Sinclair to make things right, and some generations need one more than others.  At a time when some in the media are far too eager to embed themselves in power rather than expose the powerful, the second decade of the twenty-first century desperately screams out for sunlight. 

Julian Assange is Upton Sinclair exposing the rotten meat.  The message is, don't buy the rotten meat, or the rotten wars they're trying to sell to you.  No wonder Bank of America is worried that they could be next.

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, David A. Love, JD is a journalist and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a contributor to The Huffington Post, theGrio, The Progressive Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service, In These Times and Philadelphia Independent Media Center. He also blogs at davidalove.com, NewsOne, Daily Kos, and Open Salon. Click here to contact Mr. Love.

You can kill the revolutionary, but not the revolution

Julian Assange arrested in Britain

---

Top story: British police arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today, after he showed up at a police station in London. His appearance had been previously arranged with authorities. He will appear in front of a court later today, where a magistrate will rule on his lawyers' request that he be freed on bail. The WikiLeaks Twitter feed wrote that the hearing is scheduled for 1:30 pm. 

Assange, who was arrested by Scotland Yard's extradition unit, faces charges of rape and sexual molestation in in Sweden. Mark Stephens, Assange's lawyer in Britain, has previously argued that the request for extradition is meant to place pressure on Assange to halt WikiLeaks' release of over 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables.

WikiLeaks, however, said that Assange's arrest will not alter its plans to release the documents. "Today's actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won't affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal," a post on the WikiLeaks Twitter account stated. 

Here is a revealing headline: The noose tightens around WikiLeaks' Assange

And it reveals a "truth"; that various vigilante groups seek to put a rope around the neck of Julian Assasnge and strangle that poor motherf#cker so that he can't be heard from again; so that the embarrassment he has caused to so many American politicians will just go away.

The noose tightens around WikiLeaks' Assange

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER and MALIN RISING, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter And Malin Rising, Associated Press Thu Dec 2, 11:27 pm ET

LONDON – The law is closing in on Julian Assange. Swedish authorities won a court ruling Thursday in their bid to arrest the WikiLeaks founder for questioning in a rape case, British intelligence is said to know where in England he's hiding, and U.S. pundits and politicians are demanding he be hunted down or worse.

Hunted down OR WORSE of course, they are advocating his murder - and with no trial - and for what crimes?

The former computer hacker who has embarrassed the U.S. government and foreign leaders with his online release of a huge trove of secret American diplomatic cables

 Those are his crimes; in a nutshell. That he did

(1) Embarrass the U.S. government and

(2) Embarrass foreign leaders with his online release of a huge trove of secret American diplomatic cables (which ain't exactly so secret now!)

suffered a legal setback when Sweden's Supreme Court upheld an order to detain him — a move that could lead to his extradition.

So, he would have rather not been detained - in order that he might avoid extradition.

Meanwhile, Assange continues to leak sensitive documents. Newly posted cables on WikiLeaks' website detailed a host of embarrassing disclosures, including allegations that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi accepted kickbacks and a deeply unflattering assessment of Turkmenistan's president.

Berlusconi - accepting bribes?  The wealthiest newspaper mogul in the world who also (coincidentally) happens to be Prime Minister?  In order to avoid facing criminal charges? ... And worse still - Berlusconin uttered deeply unflattering assessment of Turkmenistan's presidnet.!  SO

TAKE THAT Julian Assange! Your ass is gonna be got!

Assange is accused in Sweden of rape, sexual molestation and coercion in a case from August, and Swedish officials have alerted Interpol and issued a European arrest warrant to bring him in for questioning.

In America, we send men who own and fight dogs to jail, curtailing their professional sports careers at their heights; serial rapist, sexual molesters, and sexual coercionists, we ban them from their first four football games of the season. Which is worse? I ask you.

The 39-year-old Australian denies the charges, which his lawyer, Mark Stephens, said apparently stemmed from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex." Stephens said the case is turning into an exercise in persecution.

I'd LOVE to hear the courtroom exchange in re: the "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex."

While Assange has not made a public appearance for nearly a month, his lawyer insisted authorities know where to find him.

As in, he's not playing hide 'n seek?

"Both the British and the Swedish authorities know how to contact him, and the security services know exactly where he is," Stephens told The Associated Press.
It was unclear if or when police would act on Sweden's demands. Police there acknowledged Thursday they would have to refile their European arrest warrant after British authorities asked for more details on the maximum penalties for the three crimes.

They want the MAX?  Because ... he's a frigging example.

Scotland Yard declined comment, as did the Serious and Organized Crime Agency, responsible for processing European arrest warrants for suspects in England — where The Guardian claims Assange is hiding out.

In a statement, Assange's lawyer in Sweden, Bjorn Hurtig, suggested that Assange is being retaliated against for the leaks.

"I do find it somewhat strange and to say the least `coincidental' that Interpol has made the arrest warrant public simultaneous to Wikileaks releasing its latest revelations," Hurtig said. "My mind remains open as to whether the prosecutor has been influenced by any third-party considerations."

 Just saying, ya' know?

Stephens — who also represents the AP on media-related matters — said that if Assange is ever served with a warrant, he will fight it in British court. "The process in this case has been so utterly irregular that the chances of a valid arrest warrant being submitted to me are very small," he said.

The Swedish case has been subject to a great deal of back and forth, with Swedish prosecutors repeatedly overruling each other and disagreeing over whether to classify the most serious accusation as rape.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said late Wednesday that the organization is trying to keep Assange's location a secret for security reasons. He noted that commentators in the United States and Canada have called for Assange to be hunted down or killed.

Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, likened Assange to an al-Qaida propagandist and accused him, without offering any proof, of having "blood on his hands."

"Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaida and Taliban leaders?"

Easy.  Because they are not the threat to the U.S. government that Julian Assange is!

she asked in a message posted on her Facebook page.

"I think Assange should be assassinated, actually," Tom Flanagan, a former adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told the CBC. "I think Obama should put out a contract or maybe use a drone or something." Flanagan, a U.S.-born professor of political science at the University of Calgary, later apologized.

Flannagan - UNFUCK you. Stop breeding. Asshole.

In Washington, the top Democrat and Republican at the Senate Intelligence Committee called on Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute Assange for espionage. Committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and vice chairman Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said in a letter Thursday that they believe Assange's behavior falls under the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to willfully pass on defense information that could hurt the U.S.

U.S. government lawyers are investigating whether Assange can be prosecuted for spying, a senior American defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier this week. WikiLeaks has not said how it obtained the documents, but the government's prime suspect is an Army private, Bradley Manning, who is in the brig on charges of leaking other classified documents to WikiLeaks.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said WikiLeaks is not a news organization and Assange is neither a journalist nor a whistle-blower, but someone with a political agenda.

"I think he's an anarchist," Crowley said. He said Assange is

Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy.^[1][2] It seeks to diminish or even abolish authority in the conduct of human relations.^[3] Anarchists may widely disagree on what additional criteria are required in anarchism. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy says, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain family resemblance."^[4]
There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive.^[5] Strains of anarchism have been divided into the categories of social and individualist anarchism or similar dual classifications.^[6][7] Anarchism is often considered to be a radical left-wing ideology,^[8][9] and much of anarchist economics and anarchist legal philosophy reflect anti-statist interpretations of communism, collectivism, syndicalism or participatory economics. However, anarchism has always included an individualist strain ^[10] supporting a market economy and private property, or morally unrestrained egoism.^[11][12] Some individualist anarchists are also socialists.^[13][14]
Differing fundamentally, some anarchist schools of thought support anything from extreme individualismcollectivism.^[2] In the end, for anarchist historian Daniel Guerin "Some anarchists are more individualistic than social, some more social than individualistic. However, one cannot conceive of a libertarian who is not an individualist."^[15] The position known as anarchism without adjectives consists on "recognising the right of other tendencies to the name "anarchist" while, obviously, having their own preferences for specific types of anarchist theory and their own arguments why other types are flawed."[16

"trying to undermine the international system that enables us to cooperate and collaborate with other governments."

 Just what the f#ck international system is that? Did WE THE PEOPLE get a chance to vote for it? Is it democratic?  Is it the same system that enabled us to cooperate and collaborate with the sovereign Iraqi government under it's democratically elected lead Saddam Hussein?  If so, I want out, and anybody that can do anything to tear down such a flawed stucture ought to be nominated for sainthood.

"What he's doing is damaging to our efforts and the efforts of other governments," the spokesman said.

 Damaging to your efforts to do just the f#cking hell WHAT?  Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran?

One batch of the latest leaked dispatches — these from the U.S. Embassy staff in Turkmenistan — portrays the president of the former Soviet state in Central Asia, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, as "vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative, a practiced liar," and "not a very bright guy."

Sounds an AWFUL lot like George W. Bush, but, I'm just saying.  Oh, and BTW - this sounds like about what we'd expect from a high school government where the KEWL KIDZ win all the elections and make all the rules (win all the erections and make themselves fools; yes, that too.)

According to another one of the cables, Georgia's ambassador in Rome claimed that Berlusconi was promised a cut of the profits in energy deals with Russia. Berlusconi denied the allegation.

OF F#CKING COURSE - he was promised a cut of the profits, and he would deny the allegation.

The documents also included a frank assessment from the American envoy to Stockholm about Sweden's historic policy of nonalignment — a policy that the U.S. ambassador, Michael Woods, seemed to suggest was for public consumption only.
Sweden's military and intelligence cooperation with the U.S. "give the lie to the official policy" of non-participation in military alliances, Woods said. He added in a separate cable that Sweden's defense minister fondly remembers his time as a high school student in America and "loves the U.S."

We are all Americans now!  Have the Swedes had a chance to weigh in on this?

Woods cautioned American officials not to trumpet Sweden-U.S. cooperation in the fight against terrorism too openly, because that would open up the Swedish government to domestic criticism.

OMG!  Please Brer Fox - don't open up me government to domestic criticism. ANYTHING but that!

In England, meanwhile, a front-page story in The Guardian alleged that one of the leaked cables showed British politicians trying to keep Parliament in the dark over the storage of American cluster bombs on British territory — despite an international ban on the weapons. Britain's Foreign Office denied the charge.

WELL ,... looks like time to go to the Guardian!

___
Rising and Louise Nordstrom reported from Stockholm. Gillian Smith in London contributed to this report.