Wikipedia says:
](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#cite_note-104)
But its for our own good right? They’ve been doing this crap a lot though. Gonna have to get me a proxy hosted in russia soon so I can taste their sweet freedom.
I know I should be expecting this kind of stuff from the government, but I’m still incredibly angry about it. If I wasn’t already an implacable enemy of the United States government, I sure as hell would be now.
When you DO set up that proxy, Sieben, kindly inform me how to do it as well, please.
I know WikiLeaks has agreements with Switzerland and Liechtenstein to host the site. Also the US Department of State has outdone Assange and his staff by publicly demanding Switzerland not to grant Assange political asylum: since most of the recently released material mostly concerns the US meddling with their “allies” and “friends” internal affairs the irony is not lost to us.
The funny thing is that while the US government and its fellow robbers writ large are in a mad scramble to block the site the big mainstream media, among their most faithful servants, are literally salivating to have more of the files Assange promised. The New York Times, Der Spiegel, La Repubblica, Le Figaro… they all had a taste of potentially explosive material and they want more: they may even pay for it since it’s great sales boosting material. The WikiLeaks staff played their card in a splendid manner: give the scoop to big media for a few days and then upload it to their servers for everyone to see. It’s a win-win situation. Government agencies cannot do anything about it: block the website and the newspapers publish it. Block the newspapers and the website publishes it. Arrest Assange and the files will be sent. Block the Internet and the newspapers and you are in an extremely tight spot: isn’t democracy all about freedom of speech? Why are we in Afghanistan to give them freedom of speech if we are denied it at home? People may not care about being robbed blind by inflation but they will get really upset if they cannot read about the politicians’ personal vices.
One last thing: Fidel Castro, if you are reading this please grant Assange political asylum. Just imagine the look on The Witch’s face…
I follow Wikileaks on Twitter, and some of their tweets are absolutely hilarious. This first one relates to what Sieben posted:
Utterly surreal: Pravda justifiably criticising US for trying to stifle a free press. How times change.
And this one from yesterday made me crack a smile:
Sarah Palin says Julian should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden–so he should be safe for at least a decade.
Gets even better than that. The DoD has issued a directive that all military and contractor personnel are forbidden to view or download classified documentation posted in public forums or news outlets without authorization.
The undertones of their threat is that by viewing this material these people have committed a security violation. Based on that, who’s to say what they will do? Punishment for security violations can include fines, imprisonment, debarment (for contractors), loss of security clearance (and therefore possible job loss), and just about anything else they’d like to come up with including death.
So they are apparently more concerned with punishing their own people than they are in having the information fall into the hands of a potential enemy.
It’s only a matter of time when the U.S. Government moves to shut down the internets. They’ve already made overtures about doing it anyway. Perhaps this Wikileaks incident provides them with the excuse.
This is all working to Wikileaks advantage. If the US government ignored them, then they would go away, but by overreacting and creating a debate, they are lending credibility to Wikileaks, and inspiring thousands if not millions of people to mirror and share/analyze the data.
Same thing happened to 9/11 truth and Ron Paul during his campaign.
I’m not sure what is more tragic, that the statists are self-defeating but may still prevail (due to the next part), or that libertarians are too disorganized, ignorant and cowardly to take advantage of the state’s obvious and predictable mistakes.
From Wikileaks Facebook 2 hours ago: “Swiss postal system closes bank accounts belonging to founder Julian Assange.”
Assange has had to go dark regardless. He’s willing to take all of the heat, including death, so that the work can go ahead. Whether one agrees with his politics or his tactics, it is hard to refute his seriousness.
I hope that big secret file has data not released yet, or not planned for release soon. That’s a GREAT insurance policy, because Assange seems to care less about his comfort than his mission.
I just can’t get over the feeling that this is controlled dissent. What’s the headline news today? “Google attacked by China!” This serves US interests. Of course, I also believe Google is an intelligence asset (yet, I use Gmail… go figure).
Clayton -
Besides having trouble getting into Canada, I don’t think Alex Jones ever had this much government attention/attraction, which must show how frightened various governments are of Wikileaks and Julian Assange when his site is being blocked, his bank accounts are closed, and he has warrants in various countries.
I think in the end he will be beaten. He has no problems taking the heat but he has children. Enough said.
And while I really appreciate this new tactics born out of the sobering experience of the Iraq-Afghanistan files in the end he’s going to make zero difference. People will yawn, scratch their nether regions and continue legitimizing those same robbers, liars and blackmailers because it’s much less effort and kicking them out of office. In fact he may even end up hurting the Internet like nobody before. Who wants to take a wager? In a year time we’ll finally have censure on the Internet without going to China.
As usual I have a bad feeling about this.
Wikileaks is a terrorist organization, according to individual’s like Newt Gingrich, because they reveal the terrorist acts of various governments.
The MSM seems pretty good at getting all of this out. I thought they usually covered for the man. Is there anything they’re omitting?
I agree with fellow Libertarian activist Hugo Chavez on Hillary. “You should resign, Mrs Clinton, it’s the least you can do”.
Wow, I didn’t know that. This is just one more reason I believe he must be an asset. Who in their right mind would go into something like this with children?? There is no “insurance policy” for, “Do what we say or your wife and little ones will hit a patch of ice on a blind corner into a ravine on a back country road going too fast.”
Clayton -
I don’t know what to think about this. Anybody got any good sources on the issue?
It’s not because “People will yawn” that he will make no difference. It’s because most Libertarians are still waiting for the People not to yawn.
Thank you.
So I guess the million dollar question here is “What should we do?” I, personally–being far more inexperienced at such things–must confess I’m at an absolute loss.
What I’m most disappointed about in this whole fiasco is that half of the nation is actively calling for his execution. Absolutely barbaric and horrendous, and the State is granted legitimacy in its pursuit of Assange just by having the explicit support of that number.
However, go Assange! He’s got the United States military/defense complex in an absolute tizzy and I’m loving every second of it. Shows just how much power governments have when this guy is on the lam in developed nations and they still can’t get their hands on him. Not to mention, the nature of Statism is on full display right now. When libertarians discuss implicit death threats, the State will always resort to explicit death threats when pushed to the brink–AND get away with it to boot. But keep going Assange. I’m absolutely inspired by how much you are willing to sacrifice for this.
What do you think Assange’s politics are? I doubt he’s a libertarian. He strikes me as being a big social-democracy-type guy. Not that it matters, I was just wondering.
Nope. When asked, “Would you call yourself a free market proponent,” he replied:
See the rest of the interview below, in which he expands on his personal politics.
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/5/