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21 Aug 2010 11:43

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World: “Dirty Tricks” or the real thing?: Julian Assange’s sex-assault charges

  • We were warned to expect ‘dirty tricks’. Now we have the first one.
  • Julian Assange • Regarding the arrest warrant against him on rape and molestation charges in Sweden. Whether or not this is true, the timing of all this seems awful strange, right? In case you’re wondering whether or not Wikileaks will be able to go on without its fearless leader, this statement should warm your heart: “While Julian is focusing on his defenses and clearing his name, WikiLeaks will be continuing its regular operations,” according to a post on Wikileaks’ Web site. (Update: Actually, it appears to have been dirty tricks. The charges were totally dropped against Assange, making this a hyperspeed false rape accusation.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Aug 2010 12:00

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Politics: On Wikileaks, Sarah Palin does what she does best: Spouts off

  • Wikileaks staff-whomever’s calling the shots there is unconscionably aiding/abetting the enemy;don’t contribute to this. Speak out. Do right
  • A tweet from @SarahPalinUSA • Taking on Wikileaks’ decision to release more Afghan War documents. Despite the fact that Wikileaks is an organization with no U.S. ties that attempts to operate outside of any government’s control, she invokes freedom of the press in criticizing Wikileaks: “Free press protection gives no license to aid enemy,” she writes. Odds that someone at Wikileaks will heed this: Zero. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

12 Aug 2010 22:16

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World: Wikileaks, damn the man, is going to release more documents

  • 15,000 the number of Afghan War documents Wikileaks plans to release next; they’re halfway through right now
  • no human-rights groups aren’t very happy with Wikileaks right now (particularly Reporters Without Borders) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

08 Aug 2010 22:47

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U.S.: Wikileaks: Bradley Manning has a lot of friends on the outside

Bradley Manning has tons of supporters, and all of them look like nerds and conspiracy theorists. We mean that in the nicest way possible. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2010 09:53

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Politics: Obama: The Wikileaks documents are sensitive … but not really

  • I’m concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations. … The fact is these documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate about Afghanistan.
  • President Barack Obama • Saying one thing but immediately contradicting himself. If this data was so sensitive, how come it doesn’t reveal an issues that haven’t already informed our public debate? Security experts suggest that the documents don’t create an immediate threat, but note that the tendency is dangerous. Tying this into last week’s “Top Secret America” thang that the Post did, it’s possible that the government’s tendency to overclassify documents hit here too. But this sort of doublespeak simply doesn’t get us anywhere. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jul 2010 20:52

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U.S.: Nice try, Wikleaks: Congress passes war spending bill anyway

  • $37 billion in spending is about to hit the Afghan War source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2010 10:37

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Politics: Andrew Sullivan: Wikileaks proves how tough Afghan War’s end will be

  • What do we really learn from the Wikileaks monster-doc-dump? I think the actual answer is: not much that we didn’t already know. But it’s extremely depressing – and rivetingly explicit – confirmation of what anyone with eyes and ears could have told you for years.
  • Mega-blogger Andrew Sullivan • Describing the nature of what’s inside the Wikileaks data dump. (We couldn’t have said it better.) The Atlantic Wire has a pretty succinct report of what the data shows. Sullivan, meanwhile, says that the data shows how politically treacherous all of this is for the U.S.: “A president who withdraws and then presides over a terror attack will be vulnerable to cheap political attacks of the Palinite variety.” Is he right? Should we take a more minimalist approach to the war, as Joe Biden is pushing? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink
 

26 Jul 2010 10:28

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World: Afghanistan and The White House: How do THEY feel about Wikileaks?

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2010 20:48

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Politics: Why did Wikileaks contact the press before its big Afghan War leak?

  • Short answer: It gains little traction otherwise. NYU superhuman being Jay Rosen pointed this fact out on Twitter tonight. Last year, Wikileaks guy Julian Assange put it like this: “You’d think the bigger and more important the document is, the more likely it will be reported on but that’s absolutely not true. It’s about supply and demand. Zero supply equals high demand, it has value. As soon as we release the material, the supply goes to infinity, so the perceived value goes to zero.” So in other words, if they just put it up without talking to the press first, nobody would see it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2010 20:47

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Politics: Why Wikileaks does what it does – even if people don’t like it

  • We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies. All governments can benefit from increased scrutiny by the world community, as well as their own people. We believe this scrutiny requires information.
  • A note on the Wikileaks Web site • Noting why they do what they do, despite the controversy it creates. Let’s face it. They’re very self-promotional. They know how to get their name out there. And they want to get a message out there. The message this time? “[The leak] shows not only the severe incidents but the general squalor of war, from the death of individual children to major operations that kill hundreds,” said Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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