Wikileaks media coverage

[Sola]

I can't say I was surprised, but I couldn't find one non-biased news story anywhere. This in my opinion shows the dark blanket of propaganda

that's been thrown over the population. I know of many people myself included that believe information should be in the public domain all the

time, especially when elected leaders are spending tax payers money. Julian Assange and his people are allowing the public to access information

that would be hidden for many years if it surfaced at all. Every television channel, including SBS & ABC, portrayed the public access to information

as though lives would be lost, leakers were unpatriotic and the government spin doctors were openly saying that they were trying to minimise

harm by speaking to the media.

Which in my way of thinking means avert the public attention and keep them pacified.

As far as losing lives I presume they're talking about soldiers that they sent to war and are now at risk as a result of public access to documents they created.

And it was a US spokeswoman who called the leakers unpatriotic but I think we all have to remember these people are obviously in positions in the defence

force and have made what politicians call a 'conscience vote' and yes I think it's fair to call it unpatriotic but when your government starts behaving in an

embarrassing/ illegal/ inhumane manner then I think it's the individuals obligation not to follow blindly.

Anyway, I thought a few others may have some opinions on the topic. I was outraged at the obvious lack of awareness in the general populace of

just how penetrating and all pervasive the current propaganda program is.

Sola

[Auxin]

The claim that wikileaks is putting lives in danger is completely ridiculous. In all three instances (afghanistan papers, iraq papers, diplomatic papers) wikileaks contacted the pentagon and offered to let them review the papers in advance so they could point out any names that should be blacked out to protect people. The pentagon flatly refused so they could maintain their self righteous bitching and moaning. In the absence of help protecting people wikileaks scoured the documents and blacked out names on their own, they seem far more interested in protecting US troops than the pentagon does! Not to mention that to date no one in any country has been killed as a result of those leaks.

Under bush and obama US government secrecy has rocketed to heights not seen since the height of the cold war, the situation begs for a counterbalance. The government whines that publishing these cables could offend allies and strain relations, well theres a simple solution to that- act morally and the truth wont hurt! I practice the best preventative measure against going to jail for murder, I never murder anyone to begin with. I apply the same policy to rape and cluster bombing civilians and many other things, its a philosophy that governments rarely try out for themselves.

My only regret is that the US constitution prevents me from meaningfully voting for Julian for US president in 2012

They dont write their own stories but you might like this news site: [Link]

[∂an]

totally agree sola, the public's response to this has been spineless. even 'letters to the editor' columns are full of people saying how wikileaks is an attack on the free world... we truly have a propagandised population when the people side with the governments and organisations that oppress us.

[Yeti101]

I think the coverage on the ABC news website has been a bit more even handed. They've even run a couple of opinion pieces defending his actions and disputing that previous leaks have led to even one attributable death. Plenty of comments supporting assange & wikileaks there as well - more proof that the majority of ABC viewers are left-wing-pinko-greenies

[synchromesh]

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.

See how they run. See how they run.

They all ran after the farmer's wife,

Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,

Did you ever see such a sight in your life,

As three blind mice?

- Three Blind Mice National Security

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear and Read

[Guest svarg26]

wikileaks is a zionist operation. it releases leaks at the most appropriate time to take the focus off of israel and its destruction of palestine. its next release of crap will put the focus on poor old iran. nothing wikileaks has released has caused any problems for the west. if julian was really posting damaging information he would be dead by now. just think of the russian journalists who get murdered each year. the cia and mossad are just as capable as the russians at killing "real" threats to their empire of lies and deceit.

just my two cents.

peace.

[ThunderIdeal]

not very familiar with the whole wiki leaks scenario but i do think you raise an important point. if wikileaks is this rogue thorn-in-the-side then why hasn't it been destroyed?

[Sola]

It's true you can see reasonably non-biased reports on dateline later at night but during the more commonly

watched primetime news reports even ABC had anti-wikileaks comments. Mostly snippets of US and Aus. officials press conferences.

It seems to me that the intelligence community may have deliberately decided not to make a martyr of Julian, causing them

more problems ITF. If people at all levels decided to leak information they could lose their hierarchy of percieved power.

Interesting though; I do think some information would be intentionally leaked including misinformation but I don't think

they'd be linked. AFAIK the wikileaks group try to validate material and screen people before they get too close to

their secret information. But I truly don't know, they're also part of our media that arrives via screen & print with little or no way of validating comments.

They do seem to be more trustworthy in sharing material we would not otherwise see but it could be a well organised intentional point of leakage, (i.e. full of shit) .

I thought the govt. here tried to blacklist the site because wikileaks published the contents of the blacklist/ banned sites list.

As Auxin said; there is a solution to all this controversy. Behave morally and humanely to all people and avoid problems.

[occidentalis]

An Interpol warrant has been put out for Assange, so it seems the powers that be have decided he is more than just a nuisance now.

He has hinted that if anything happens to him, there is a very special cache of information that is ready to be released so he has a bit of collateral. He is also a very well known person now and has a lot of supporters, some of whom are no doubt very well connected.

[synchromesh]

Wikileaks "Cablegate" Psychological Operation Justifies Zionist War Propaganda

Published on 11-29-2010

"Believe nothing, question everything."

- Buddha Gautama

[mr me]

The Interpol warrant for Assange is a load of shit, a total setup. I'm sure he will end up dead and it will be blamed on suicide.

[incognito]

wasnt he accused of raping some chick in sweeden?

as far as i understand he hasnt denied bonking her saying 'it was a personal matter', though vehemently denies the rape allegation?

[ThunderIdeal]

incog the prosecutors dropped the rape charge

basically he has been accused of refusing to use a condom though being asked repeatedly

[Sola]

I remember a quote by Jim Garrison on The JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapes where he says "If they can't kill you they concentrate on discrediting you."

It seems this may again be the case, as I believe the case was formally dropped and then back on. Not very organised if there was credible evidence.

Incidentally, some tv channels have recently had old footage from around the time of the JFK assassination but I've only seen a second or two with Jim

Garrison. For anyone interested I think the above mentioned doco is worth a look and frames the recent tv stuff quite well.

Several pieces of key footage were still conspicuolously absent.

Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

[Auxin]

"Believe nothing, question everything."

- Buddha Gautama

The buddha didnt say that, he actually repeatedly corrected people who said 'believe nothing'. (if you maintain a belief that you should believe nothing, doesnt that mean your automatically wrong already? And if you cant believe anything whats the point of questioning if you cant believe your answers?)

What the buddha said was dont blindly adhere to beliefs based on tradition, habit, greed, reverence for teachers, personal opinion, laziness, or preconceived notions but to question and evaluate the statements of others and compare your own findings against others who are wise and to ultimately adopt those philosophies which are devoid of identifiable logical fallacy and which bring benefit to both oneself and others. And also to have rational faith in the statements of those who are wise until you have an opportunity to evaluate their teachings and compare results with others (buddhist 'faith' is looking at a map and if confirming that part is correct and no known part is incorrect, to assume the rest is probably correct too until you have an opportunity to test it and find out). Unfortunately all thats too long to go on a bumper sticker so people pervert his teachings into "Believe nothing, question everything."

Back to wikileaks...

The rape allegations against him were dropped, they only reappeared after cablegate started brewing. And INTERPOL does not issue warrants for rape. Its just a farce to get him into someones custody so we can extradite him into the custody of the US army and send him to lebanon for years of torture to destroy his mind and make him confess to anything.

Julian Assange for PM!

Edit: oh yeah, proof of the double standards: The canadian government has called on people to (in their words) assassinate Julian Assange. Wheres the INTERPOL warrant for the arrest of them?

Edited December 1, 2010 by Auxin

[Gunter]

there are politicians in the USA calling for wikileaks to be considered a terrorist organization and calling for the assassination of Assange

[synchromesh]

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

- Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.

Happy now, Auxin?

[Rabelais]

there are politicians in the USA calling for wikileaks to be considered a terrorist organization and calling for the assassination of Assange

I was waiting for Wikileaks to be described as terrorists...didn't take long, so predictable.

He surely has massive support, and I have no doubt that support has grown in the last week or so. The more governments go after him, the more of an idol he will become. Assassinating him would just make things worse for those in power.

I got a connection to the cable site today and read a few of them. What did I take away from my brief readings? That many people in power are incredible half-witted and juvenile...comedy is the word, not terrorism.

I can't wait to see what they have on the banks, supposedly it is on par with the Enron emails. And surely they are sitting safely somewhere waiting to go out just in case anything happens to Assange. Brilliant, I can't wait.

[Magicdirt]

It seems we have the first international martyr with no religious implications (the first I can think of before my caffeine kicks in)

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

It could be a wake up call for a lot of sheeple who are still brainwashed by US propaganda.

Maybe not, but it certainly wont endear anyone to the US and it wrongdoings.

[Yeti101]

It's not getting any better.. "WikiLeaks site down, Assange close to arrest". http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/03/3084384.htm

Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/34lst6o

[Yeti101]

This was interesting too http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/02/when-it-comes-to-assange-r-pe-case-the-swedes-are-making-it-up-as-they-go-along/

[Yeti101]

http://213.251.145.96/

[Guest svarg26]

i can't wait for someone to assassinate the zionist shill. apparently israhell are the good guys in world affairs and 9/11 is a crazy conspiracy theory.

nice hero.

WikiLeaks And Espionage, Israeli Style

http://rense.com/general92/wkk.htm

Edited December 3, 2010 by svarg26

[The Dude]

I can't wait to see what they have on the banks, supposedly it is on par with the Enron emails. And surely they are sitting safely somewhere waiting to go out just in case anything happens to Assange. Brilliant, I can't wait.

What's with the timing of releases. This is what gets me suss on this whole thing being a facade of transparency and truth when in fact it is well timed diversion. I figured that as soon as they've got the information it should be released (after checking for sensitive information that would get people killed). Misdirection and slight of hand are all a magician needs. Being a supposed whistle blower and bringer of the truth we are enamored with his saviour style persona and swallow it all hook line and sinker. It's nice to have a strong person like Julian Assange to stick it to the man, way to go! You're my hero!

Interesting article svarg26. I cannot condone the call to assassinate him though. Good to point out contrary viewpoints so long as they're not violent hate mongering as this hurts your credibility as a force for peace, especially amongst all us leftie pinkos.

[Rabelais]

What's with the timing of releases.

I've wondered this also. I have heard that the bank and pharmaceutical company leaks will happen early next year and that in general Wikileaks will now be turning attention to corporations. I suspect they hold onto the leaks for leverage and keep people second guessing what they have and don't have.

Man this is a divisive issue. People seem really passionate on both sides of the fence.