Julian Assange — hero or villain?
Forbes mag has a fascinating interview with Assange that gives us a glimpse of the man behind the leaks.
Admire him or revile him, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange is the prophet of a coming age of involuntary transparency, the leader of an organization devoted to divulging the world’s secrets using technology unimagined a generation ago. Over the last year his information insurgency has dumped 76,000 secret Afghan war documents and another trove of 392,000 files from the Iraq war into the public domain–the largest classified military security breaches in history. Sunday, WikiLeaks made the first of 250,000 classified U.S. State Department cables public, offering an unprecedented view of how America’s top diplomats view enemies and friends alike.
[ ... ]
In a rare, two-hour interview conducted in London on November 11, Assange said that he’s still sitting on a trove of secret documents, about half of which relate to the private sector. And WikiLeaks’ next target will be a major American bank. “It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume,” he said, adding: “For this, there’s only one similar example. It’s like the Enron emails.”
Consider what the Wikileaks docs have revealed:
1. Hillary to the world as the devious, cold hearted, malevolent blackmailing battle axe Commie she is.
2. The machinations of the Arab world vis-a-vis Iran, and how their fear of the mullahs exceeds their hate for Israel.
3. The mass media now knows that its entire model of the Middle East has been wrong. For years, we have been told that the region revolves around the Arab-Israeli conflict.
4. Shows Syria’s radicalism, close links with Tehran, and how it has lied to the U.S. government making the Obama Administration look foolish.
5. Iran steadily smuggled arms to Hizballah using various means including in ambulances and medical vehicles during the 2006 war. This violates the laws of war.
6. Iran and North Korea cooperated to provide Tehran with long-rang missiles that were shipped to Hizballah.
7. He’s planning to divulge banking secrets.
8. Putin and Medvedev are Russia’s Batman and Robin.
9. John F. Kerry wanted to give half of Jerusalem to the Palestinian factions and believed that Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was a man of change.
10. It didn’t get nearly as much play as it should have, but Obama’s June 2009 meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah ended with the monarch flying into a tirade and more or less telling the President to get a grip. This was the Riyadh meeting that Obama took on his way to his insulting and failed Cairo Speech, the better to prepare himself by visiting “the place where Islam began.” The sit-down was such a disaster that Dennis Ross was hurriedly brought into the White House and given a broader role…
There’s more, much more, and yet more to come. Stay tuned…
UPDATE:
John McTernan writes:
WikiLeaked: John Kerry calls for Israel to cede Golan Heights and East Jerusalem
In some respects, I am delighted with the Wikileaks. It has exposed China, North Korea and Iran as truly being an axis of evil. It has also revealed what is going on with some US politicians. It has really exposed Senator John Kerry for what he is. He was stablbng Israel in the back with the Saudi Arabians as he wants Israel to give up Jerusalem and the Golan!
Tomorrow I plan on calling Kerry’s office and condemn him for what he did. I encourage everyone to call to show Israel is not to be carved up. Contact Senator John Kerry.
Bravo for the accuracy of Item 1.
As the person that organized THE FIRST anti-Hillary rally in NY State (three weeks BEFORE the start of her so-called “listening tour”, which was nothing but a taxpayer-funded, not-so-stealth campaign), it seems to me that the WikiLeaks documents reveal that, in her current role as Secretary of State, she is simply treating foreign leaders and diplomats in the same manner as she is accustomed to treating her political opponents.
Hmmmmmmmmmm.