How much faith do we have in intelligence gathering in Afghanistan? Scores to be settled by locals? Frankly, somebody designated as an “enemy” by Western forces may not be anything of the sort, simply a legitimate resistance to foreign occupation. Besides, the West is in bed with a Kabul government backed and run by drug…
Wikileaks
Wikileaks is one of the biggest and most important stories in the world, challenging governments and journalists alike. I’ve been writing extensively about the group since 2006, featured an exclusive interview in 2008 with founder Julian Assange and examined the myriad of issues around the website. Assange himself asked me in the early days whether I wanted to be on the group’s board to vet incoming leaks and determine their veracity before publishing. I agreed but unfortunately this never eventuated.
Wikileaks Swedish problem
Julian Assange: Sweden is the Saudi Arabia of feminism. I fell into a hornets’ nest of revolutionary feminism.
We won’t tolerate secrets being kept secret anymore
The London Observer correctly explains the significance of Wikileaks and the empowering of the public against deceit pursued by the powers that be, and that includes many mainstream journalists: For a long time now, since digital media became the defining characteristic of our age, a revolution in information and secrecy has been predicted. WikiLeaks, and…
Thomas Friedman lives in a castle and barely knows the outside world
This is really delicious. One of America’s self-appointed leading foreign affairs columnists, the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, shows himself to be a rather insecure and technologically clueless man. And this is the guy who praises globalisation? Truly insulated: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman ’75 questioned the ethics of WikiLeaks and technology in journalism…
New tools of dissent in the internet age
The always provocative Evgeny Morozov writes in Foreign Policy about the politics and ethics of online dissent in the form of civil disobedience. What are the limits? And why is it so different from the real world? This is the post-Wikileaks new paradigm: First – and I briefly touched upon this subject in my previous…
Australia knows Afghanistan is a mess, Wikileaks shows
No wonder so many in positions of power fear Wikileaks. What we are seeing is diplomacy and statecraft laid bare. And the results are devastating. We are lied to on a daily basis. And what of the countless corporate journalists taken on embedded trips to Afghanistan, simply “reporting” futile battles and tiny details that ignore…
A litany of Wikileaks evidence that US behaves like rogue state
The Wikileaks stories keep on coming. One: The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables. In…
Wikileaks tells us the biggest stories of the year
The sound and fury directed at Wikileaks in the last month has (largely) been against the group itself rather than the revelations in the cables. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald outlines what we now know and why many in the political and media elites are afraid of the public learning of crimes committed in their names: As…
Yes, Israel attacked Syria
In a just world, the illegal bombing of another country’s facilities would be a declaration of war, the sign of a rogue state. Instead, the Zionist state is feted in Canberra, London and Washington. Thankfully, many people globally regard Israel as it really is; irresponsible and criminal: A confidential cable sent on April 25, 2008…
Sorry London, supporting death squads is a problem
Don’t say Wikileaks isn’t opening up the possibility of a more accountable Western state: The [British] government faces a legal challenge to its support for a Bangladeshi paramilitary group described by human rights organisations as a “government death squad”. Lawyers are to seek a judicial review of the legality of training assistance provided to the…