Wednesday, December 01, 2010

WikiLeaks: nothing surprising so far

"Tis fascinating, really, reading some of the howls of outrage from some sections of the community but have yet to see anything that is truly devastating.  Most of the papers released so far only confirm - well, to me at least - what had instinctively thought, or understood,  anyway.

Have to admit, though, that while had 'heard" about WikiLeaks, didn't really know very much about them; so went to their site for a bittuva squizz at their philosophy. Fascinating. Not some 'fly-by-night' yahoos.  Apparently a world-wide organisation of investigative journalists (and here's me thinking there were none left .. heh.).

Bit hypocritical of USA gummint getting its knickers in a knot, though. They seem to be quite happy to "spy" willy-nilly  on their citizens (and the rest of the world).  Why can't the rest of the world have a squizz at THEIR dirty linen .. heh..

Reminds me of the furore here, when Andrew Wilkie walked out of the door to tell us the truth about non-existent Iraqi "Weapons of mass destruction".

 "  .. and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John: 8 
Feel a bit sorry for Bradley Manning, though.  Evil criminal to some: Hero to others.


update 1.
wish that had written it.

2 comments:

lemmiwinks said...

Agreed Davo. Anyone who's studied a bit of modern history and some of the conflicts therein (Vietnam, Afghanistan (first time around, with the USSR), Cuba etc) knows the USA has their fingers in the pie.

Soviets in Afghanistan is a favourite of mine. Going with the old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach, the CIA supplies the Mujahideen with various weapons, mostly AK-47's so that it can be assumed they got them from fallen USSR soldiers if captured, but the helicopter gunships are giving them a hiding. So the CIA supplies UK made Blowdart surface to air missiles as these are openly available on the international weapons market.

Unfortunately these are notoriously terrible missiles and prove to be useless (could be operator error I suppose, but anyway). Mujahideen morale plummets, CIA is compelled to provide US made Sidewinder heatseaking surface to air missiles, despite the fact that they are not available from anyone but the US government.

The USA's foreign policy has always been classic "Do as we say, not as we do". What's happening there now is a bit end of the Roman Empire style of thing. Big question is who will be Nero this time around? Not Sarah Palin methinks, but you never know.

Davoh said...

Mmm, there's always a "shock, horror" moment when the mirror is reversed. Dunno about "the end" of the US "Empire" though. Will have to revisit the history and see what period corresponds. On the other hand, would love to write a short scenario based on the parallels - 'Gone in 60 seconds' .. heh.

I see that interpol have an arrest warrant out for Assange, based on a very flimsy charge. Not a popular pixie among the embarassed, aparently.