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Now for a commercial break from Wikileaks

Jul 132011

Journalistic hero or a terrorist? Julian Assange, head of Wikileaks, remains under house arrest in England – where he has been since March of this year, attempting to stave off extradition to Sweden on rape allegations.

That case aside, Assange remains with a tremendous amount of political and judicial pressure on him since the release of the U.S. State Department cables in November of last year. While the story of those cables being released has long since faded from a day-to-day news story in the United States – fading as soon as a couple of weeks into the document dump – revelations of information have continued to stir reaction and affect change around the world.

A string of cables released about the U.S. admitting just how corrupt the regime in Tunisia was is regarded as one of the contributing factors to the eventual Tunisian Revolution, which was the opening salvo in what is now known as the Arab Spring.

A 2-day hearing on Assange’s extradition began today. It has been floated that Assange’s extradition from the United Kingdom to Sweden would make him a target for extradition to the United States because of his role in the dissemination of information from the State Department leaks.

Self Immolation in the Arab Street; A Corrupt Government Falls in Tunisia

Newsbyte 2 Responses »

Jan 182011

Anti-government Protesters in Tunis, Tunisia, waved the national flag in front of the interior ministry building on January 14th. Demanding the resignation of the President, they would soon see their wish fulfilled in a matter of hours.

Very few acts are as powerful in the world of protesting than self-immolation. The act of lighting yourself on fire, condemning yourself to almost certain death, in support of anything is a very haunting way to end one’s life. Perhaps the most famous photograph of such an act is the 1963 suicide of a Buddhist monk in Vietnam, Thích Quảng Đức. The world famous photo shed a bright spotlight on then South Vietnamese President Diem’s persecution of Buddhists in his country. While government change would soon be following, it turned out the change was one corrupt regime for another – proof that change cannot be controlled, and can be hijacked by forces just as perverted as those being ousted.

Similar acts would be committed by protesters demanding freedom from the Soviet Union in Eastern Bloc countries. The first notable self-immolation in the Soviet Sphere occurred in 1968 in Poland – 21 years before that country would see the casting off of oppressive shackles – proof that sometimes change is a very lengthy process, but works out well in the end.

After the self-immolation of an unemployed student by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi, it remains to be seen exactly what type of path the unfolding events in the North African nation of Tunisia will take. Still, inspired by the most ghastly of protest, the citizenry has already forced the resignation of a known and corrupt President who has held onto power for more than two decades – Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. His sudden resignation and escape to Saudi Arabia has left a power vacuum in Tunisia that is clamoring to be filled by factions of the opposition as well as hardliners of the previous regime, creating a potential power-keg that could cause much more damage to the country than just a few days of rioting.

The Cold Cost of Truth Telling

Writings & Musings No Responses »

Jan 122011

Pfc. Bradley Manning has been held in solitary confinement without trial at a site in Virginia since July 29th, 2010. His alleged crime was leaking information to Wikileaks.

For Wikileaks to release the State Department cables to major media organizations, there had to be a transaction before that point. Julian Assange (head of Wikileaks) did not himself acquire the information from the source – it was given to him. Someone on the inside had to leak the information out. The U.S. Army believes they have the man who did so, and have had him for quite some time. They have him, they are not going to release him, and there is the chance that his treatment since being apprehended might just make Guantanamo Bay look attractive by comparison.

Pfc. Bradley Manning is currently being held in solitary confinement at a holding facility in Quantico, Virginia. Between November 19th, 2009, and May 27th, 2010, he leaked classified information – presumably anonymously – to whistle-blowing site Wikileaks. The information leaked included the now-infamous “Collateral Murder” video which showed an air-based assault on journalists who may or may not have been caught up in the wrong place in the wrong time. The information leaked is also believed to include what are now known as the State Department Cables – something which only a tip of has been released so far.

On May 21st Pfc. Manning engaged in conversations with a former hacker – Adrian Lamo – who subsequently turned the chat logs over to the authorities. Mr. Manning was arrested on May 26th, while stationed in Iraq. He was initially held at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait before being transferred back stateside on July 29th. He has been in solitary confinement ever since, being alone 23 hours of each and every day.

A driver’s license for the Internet?

Techy Go Beep 1 Response »

Jan 102011

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke could soon find himself heading an effort to provide digital IDs for every American citizen, in the name of security.

A month ago I wondered aloud what the Internet would look like in the months and years to follow the embarrassing-for-government fiasco that has been the Wikileaks State Department leaks. The government and powers-that-be would be sure to want to respond to try and prevent similar leaks and dissemination of information from occurring again. We may just be in the very early stages of seeing exactly what sort of form that prevention is going to take:

President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It’s “the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government” to centralize efforts toward creating an “identity ecosystem” for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

The announcement was made at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research where Commerce Secretary Gary Locke spoke. While still months away from being released – perhaps not until the summer of 2011 or further onward, early hints at the official message are already making their way to the table.

The Obama Dream & 30 Items From A Sold Out Reality

Writings & Musings No Responses »

Dec 162010

Policy items accomplished? Sure, and many of them. What has been left behind, however, is inexcusable.

In the still-infant months of the Obama administration, April of 2009, the shine of hope and promise that was ushered in during the previous campaign began to see its first blemishes. While there was the embracing of releasing Bush-era memos detailing exactly how and when captives held by the United States could be tortured, and under what legal framework would be created to protect said behavior, any hope for actual justice for such heinous acts carried out in the name of the United States were quickly snuffed from existence.

Obama stated, back then, that CIA agents right on up to members of the Bush administration would not face prosecution for orchestrating, implementing, and justifying systematic torture of prisoners. Not now, and in theory not ever.

Within days, the enormous amount of power that was diverted to the Executive Branch during the Bush administration via the AT&T-led warrant-less wiretapping program also found a new voice of support stemming from the Obama administration. There would be no investigation of high-level Bush administration officials that pushed for the surveillance and there would be no investigation of the American companies that took part in the American government-sponsored spying on American citizens of every walk of life.

The reaction from the vast and general public was a collective shrug of the shoulder. The President took shelter behind approval ratings in the mid 60′s and continued to ride out the storm. Nearly two years later, the government can also now take nearly-nude photographs of you and feel you up – for your safety, of course.

Thus highlighted what would become an extremely depressing and long line of Very Important Things that the President would either ignore, capitulate on, reverse course, and – as much as the cheesiness of the phrase makes me cringe – flip flop on.

Encouraging Religious Exclusion, Bigotry, & Standing Against Science: The Vatican’s Diplomatic Games

Writings & Musings 1 Response »

Dec 152010

Pope Benedict XVI leads the world's Roman Catholics, and seeks to impose its conservative values on the Western world via diplomacy

One of the latest tidbits of interesting information to expose itself thanks in part to Wikileaks is the apparently quite active diplomatic schedule of the Catholic Church, from its sovereign post in Vatican City.

Over the past ten years the Vatican has either stuck its nose or made a very concerted effort to stick its nose in the affairs of relatively serious issues across Europe, and since the calls are being made, there does have to be someone on the other end of the line listening. The question becomes: why?

Why does only one of the world’s main religions find itself with a place at the diplomatic table with actual countries who have to contend with actual issues that effect millions of people on the actual world’s stage? Why does only one of the world’s main religions get a diplomatic megaphone that allows it to continuously be a force, or at least factor, in a wide range of geopolitical & science issues?

The Internet after Wikileaks

Techy Go Beep 3 Responses »

Dec 092010

Julian Assange of Wikipedia – Wanted by Interpol, but not for what you think.

Crises precipitate change.

Make no mistake: the release of information by Wikileaks – the State Department cables still standing at a mere ~1,200 of 251,287 released – with more promised for next year (target: Bank of America?) is coming off as a devastating shot by the freedom and openness that the Internet offers at the halls of entrenched power and the extremely complex chess game that makes up the way things are. Those on the power-side of the argument: governments, politicians, businesses; will be looking for figurative (or literal) blood after this is all set and done.

The gears of “justice” are already in motion against Wikileaks’ head Julian Assange. Though much like notorious gangster Al Capone being eventually busted for tax evasion because it was an easier case for the government to pursue, Mr. Assange is also being prosecuted for something that has nothing doing with the core reason why governments want him silenced. Instead of leaking information, he is being charged with rape. The rapid-fire and rapid-research world that the Internet brings us today, Mr. Assange being wanted by Interpol is quickly countered with enough smoke to make one really have to consider just what is real and what is stirred-up feelings that amount to nothing more than a smear campaign – ultimately being a well-placed diversion from the continuing secrets of the world’s balance of power being bled onto the Internet.

Given time, this will all pass. What will be next for the Internet, though?

Difference Indistinguishable

Writings & Musings No Responses »

Dec 032010

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faces a protest in 2007

In the early days of the Obama Administration – March of 2009 – a human rights group in Spain named Association for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners made an appeal to Spain’s National Court that the body use its ability to protect the rights of Spanish citizens no matter where they may be by targeting the United States and it’s creation of “a legal framework that allegedly permitted torture”. Charges were brought against a who’s-who list of the legal accomplices to the pro-torture policy of the Bush Administration:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Chief of staff/legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, David Addington
Pentagon general counsel William Haynes
Undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith
Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, Jay Bybee
Official in the Office of Legal Counsel, John Yoo

Between these men, you had the sources for policies that reigned for most of the opening decade of this century when it came to America’s outward appearance to the rest of the world. From these men you saw the legal framework and backing for the undoing of decades of goodwill that the United States made and gained throughout the 20th century. From these men you saw the legal justification for a superpower – and by extension anyone else if they so chose – to abandon things like the Geneva Convention.

The Obama Administration had a rather important decision to make.

The Drive to Snuff the Light: Outspoken Calls for Assassination of Wikileaks’ Assange

Writings & Musings 1 Response »

Dec 022010

We’ll start with a Video of the day…

Brazen? Cold? Irresponsible? Reprehensible? A full week of leaks hasn’t even concluded yet, and there are outright calls for assassination to do… what, exactly? The full load of documents have already been released to major media outlets, and there are back up plans out there even in the event of Mr. Assange’s death. Still, with merely 600 of the 251,000+ leaked State Department communications out there, the cries for blood have started to rise in the political classes the world over. Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Assange, for rape – charges that were brought in August of this year, just after embarrassing documents were released by Wikileaks about America’s current involvement in Afghanistan.

President Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, has said the U.S. government might want to prosecute Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, for violating U.S. secrecy laws and perhaps even for espionage. But that is not the reason for the notice – at least not yet. Swedish authorities on Nov. 18 asked Interpol to help them take Assange into custody for questioning on accusations of rape and sexual harassment.

The charges were brought by two Swedish women in August after what both described as consensual sexual encounters in Sweden that escalated into something unwanted and illegal. Assange, who has long expressed fear of reprisal from Washington and other governments, denied anything but consensual sex and suggested that the two women were part of a plot to smear his name and undermine his campaign to get government secrets into the open.

Before the women came forward, Assange had sought a Swedish residence visa, hoping to benefit from the country’s strong protection of press freedoms. But since then, he has been traveling constantly and staying below the radar, popping up in London, appearing on a videoconference in Amman, Jordan, and answering questions from Time magazine via Skype, reluctant to show himself in flesh and blood.

To be honest, calls for blood sound a little atypical eliminating from Canada, but rest assured that in places you would expect them, there the calls for blood lie. Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin has already done it by saying Mr. Assange should be hunted down with the same urgency as Osama Bin Laden, which one would think the intent being “kill him” – though if it is handled as haphazardly as the original target, Mr. Assange has 10 years and counting to roam free.

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