I’ve not written anything about WikiLeaks recently because I’ve found the whole circus surrounding Julian Assange rather dizzying. Reading the commentariat on Guardian Cif has hardly helped my feverish state of mind over the last few days and I must admit that I found myself beginning to loathe my fellow man for a moment. That moment has passed, I’m glad to say.
Suffice to say, I do think that Julian Assange should probably answer these charges in Sweden, but I also have the feeling that this is indeed part of an obvious and concerted campaign to ‘get him’. None of this dizziness, however, takes away from the fact that WikiLeaks has been serving up some interesting, if hardly surprising, morsels in the diplomatic cables episode [this blog referenced WikiLeaks a couple of years back regarding the leaked BNP membership list – much more exciting]. Hearing that China isn’t a monolithically stupid country convinced that the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea is a bastion of like-minded souls against the world didn’t take my breath away. Nor did the revelation that Putin’s as corrupt as the Church, or that pressure was brought to bear on Spain regarding the Jose Couso case. Sadly, these are slightly depressing truths that we all kind of knew already, just confirmed in dull, bureaucratic language.
To cheer myself up, I’ve been thinking of some things WikiLeaks could reveal in the future. Here are mine. You can share yours in the comments…
- Memos that prove me right about there being little or no evidence of WMDs in Iraq prior to the war, and that Blair misled parliament.
- Stuff about the banks and how they’re all bastards. Ideally some memos proving that they laugh at the rest of us for funding their rescue. Because I’m sure they do.
- Something about alien life. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but after the important-but-nowhere-near-as-exciting-as-it-might-have-been NASA announcement last week, it would be great to read.
- Categorical confirmation that Aznar and the PP intentionally misled the country over 11M.
- Anything that makes Dick Cheney look even madder than he already does (like, he picked out crowns for himself and Bush or something).
- Clear evidence of corruption in FIFA, UEFA and European leagues.
- Anything they have on Dr. David Kelly. I more or less accept the suicide story but the whole case stinks.
- Proof that 9/11 ‘truthers’ are led by a 7-foot lizard.
- Material covering the huge increase in opium crop since the beginning of the Afghanistan war, which companies are profiting and by how much.
- Anything at all to do with Catalan politics. Just so we can see how special they feel.
How about you? What would you like to see revealed by WikiLeaks?
Surely the power of these leaks will come in the weeks and months to come, as journalists are able to make links from the less headline-grabbing cables. Digging around with the power of evidence is very different from the “unfounded” complaints and suspicions.
At the current rate of 100 cables per day, we are in for another 7 years of this! Unless the lack of VISA & MASTERCARD means that the world economy grinds to a halt!
There are things we already know: we don’t need American embassy staff around the world to confirm what is already public knowledge. By placing so much kudos on US cables, we are giving them more credibility and solvency that they merit.
1) No WMD found after invasion. The dossier was “sexed up”. That’s clear enough to me.
2) That will be coming soon. I think the revelation that WikiLeaks had something on one of the big banks is what has triggered the media mob on him personally and across all other media.
3) There is probably nothing out there.
4) Do we really need more of that?
5) Ditto.
6) Andrew Jennings articles and books.
7) I agree that this one would be something extraordinary if it was true but I think it won’t happen.
8) We already know that the CIA had “intelligence” but failed to act on it.
9) This has been reported by the UN already, will try to find it.
10) Would not bet against it. There are 200,000 documents, some say more in the pipeline to come out. It will take months to filter through all the stuff.
What I would like to know:
11) Why Lehman Brothers was left to collapse, Bearn Stearns was rescued by JPMorgan with Federal money, why WaMu and Merrill Lynch were rescued by BoA with Federal money and why AIG was rescued directly by the government. And why Goldman Sachs has been miraculously spared any big losses, unlike Morgan Stanley or Citigroup.
12) What is the US contingency plan for when China takes over Taiwan.
13) Who ordered the assassination of JF Kennedy.
14) Were the US/UK/French secret services aware of the bomb that would kill Carrero Blanco and did not tell the Franco regime?
Seriously now though, what worries me about this saga is the attack on civil liberties that will unfold on societies across the developed world which will destroy, in a matter of months, rights and freedoms won over decades of struggle. We are in for a backward step on our democratic standards and we are powerless to do anything about it. And most of the mainstream media is doing nothing to help against this rollback on the right to freedom of expression.
Notice also how the momemtum against Wikileaks accelerated when he revealed they had something on one of the big banks. It was then that all hell broke loose. I think Wikileaks has made some mistakes and a refocus of strategy is required, starting with the immediate registration of Wikileaks as a newspaper before it is too late.
Found something mildly interesting:
http://www.wikileaks.cat/cable/2006/04/06MADRID934.html
All cables from the Spanish embassy in http://www.wikileaks.cat/origin/42_0.html
Enjoy -or be bored to death. 😉
I want to believe in him, and so I will, but I would like to find out if there is evidence of puppet strings and puppet masters that propelled Obama into the hot seat.
Rab, your right about the civil liberties, but have some hope. People are fighting back! Viva la resistance!
In no particular order:
* Who killed JFK
* Who killed Elvis
* Who killed Marilyn
* False flag operations
* Incriminatory evidence against a certain king of Spain regarding the murder of his little brother 🙂
Quite honestly, I am not that interested in things happening on the other side of the pond, much less in those that have happened long ago, and my interest is zilch when actors, singers or pornstars are involved.
I am totally interested in the dealings of our European politicians, governments, enterprises and pressure groups. I want to know more about how these groups are related, and what effect these relationships had and are having on how my tax money is spent. In fact, I’d like to know all about it.
Y’all know I like to move on this meta level of discussing the comment rating:
Except it comes from a politician, there must be hate involved if you get a negative vote for a comment like mine above. Now that I think of it, same thing when I apologised to another commenter for not having marked an ironic remark as such, or when I wished Tom a speedy recovery.
It’s fun.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/EE/UU/considera/Cataluna/mayor/centro/mediterraneo/yihadismo/elpepuesp/20101210elpepunac_27/Tes
A report on Intereconomía a few days ago tried to establish that the Catalan government was creating a favourable atmosphere for jihadist terrorism. Among other interviwees, Pilar Rahola helped to fundament this view.
Just an anecdote, certainly. What the article describes is serious.
Yeah and Intereconomía broadcasts mass from the Vallé de los Caídos too. It’s a fucking joke.
Damn, maybe I wasn’t clear, *again*! Interconomía is a joke, and the report about Catalonia/jihadists was a joke. I brought it up because of Rahola’s participation in it (the anecdote).
I am definitely not a rightist wingnut.
er zijn veel stomen mensen. wij waren opweg naar een wereld order met onze kerk dat we niet meer bezig zijn met de aarde maar het heelal en veder gaan dan alleen de problemen hier op aarde maar strijden tegen een ander geloof koraan die ons heel hard heeft gepakt 911 en veel heeft voorberijd en ons aanvalt met onze stomheid en vervolgens ons tegen mekaar opzetten en ons van ons geloof afhelpen wij zien nog steeds niet dat wij veloren hebben als we nu nix doen onze kop is ervan af wtc en ze hebben america veroverd vandaar een barack obhama en osama binladen barac is osama en dat is moeilijk te geloven hun strijden niet meer maar wachten tot wij nix meer kunnen en lopen over ons heen sprijt dit door
muslim take over the world
please trensulate and send it alot whe are stil bick to gether
hebben jullie geen punt of komma in’t nederlands?
I like the way his comment is comprehensible thanks to one number and 5 words in English