The problem with the wikileaks method of releasing the documents through mainstream media outlets, is that they are then interpreted for the public by a lazy and incompetent group of “Journalists” whose arses have grown plump on the rewards of retailing spoonfed propaganda.
So the mainstream missed the underlying stories and context, simply because they are too lazy and stupid to know the facts. The Prince Andrew story is a typical example. The Guardian reports that the US Ambassador disapprovingly notes his jolly (and stupid) remarks about corruption:
“In an astonishing display of candour in a public hotel where the brunch was taking place, all of the businessmen then chorused that nothing gets done in Kyrgyzstan if President [Kurmanbek] Bakiyev’s son Maxim does not get ‘his cut’.
“Prince Andrew took up the topic with gusto, saying that he keeps hearing Maxim’s name ‘over and over again’ whenever he discusses doing business in this country. Emboldened, one businessman said that doing business here is ‘like doing business in the Yukon’ in the 19th century, ie only those willing to participate in local corrupt practices are able to make any money … At this point the Duke of York laughed uproariously, saying that: ‘All of this sounds exactly like France.'”
But the delicious irony of this, as regular readers of this blog will know, is that the US government was, fully knowingly, the greatest source by far of corrupt funds straight into the pocket of Maksim Bakiyev. He was awarded the supply contracts for the US base in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, and he ripped off more than US $60 million from the fuel supply alone.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/06/afghan_war_spre.html
This is part of a deliberate US government policy of bribing and propping up Central Asia’s corrupt and dictatorial regimes in order to secure their support for US troops in neighbouring Agfhanistan. Indeed, the monies taken by Maksim Bakiyev from the Pentagon pale in comparison with the huge sums funnelled by the Pentagon to dictator’s daughter Gulnara Karimova in Uzbekistan for ground supply services to US troops.
None of which detracts from the boorish stupidity of Andrew’s remarks. It is a fascinating glimpse into the world in which Blair gave our biggest weapons company BAE immunity from prosecution for massive corruption. To the senior establishment, the idea of the rule of law is simply to be laughed down when they feel far away and unobserved, or gravely put aside in the public interest when they are on the record at home.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/01/jack_straws_cor.html
You can learn more about Kyrgyzstan than the entire staff of the Guardian has ever known in my brief posting here:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/06/kyrgyzstan_hund.html
never mind the royals, but who is interfering with my computer?
Hmm, I’m allowed to sign on here, but not with my local papers, or electronic intifada, even google does not like me,
displaying a page that says’ we have detected unusual traffic from your computer’ with an identification tag alongside.
Have I been rumbled? Shall I say thanks to someone for that?
Basically I cannot use my computer unless it is sorted, I really do need a first class computer help.
ingo:
How are you connecting to the net? Does your ISP assign you a permanent IP or is it dynamic? (if dynamic, unplug your modem for 10 seconds and see if they give you a new IP).
@Ingo:
“Trouble connecting: Unusual traffic from your computer network”
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=86640
“The problem with the wikileaks method of releasing the documents through mainstream media outlets…”
I don’t know about that. As I understand, all 250,000-odd docs are being made generally available directly at the “cablegate” site.
The fact Wikileaks works with media outlets prior to publication is not ideal, but given the vast quantities of raw material Wikileaks handles and vets and redacts prior to publication, it’s perhaps unavoidable at the moment.
The key thing wrt Wikileaks is that it facilitates open-source journalism, what the media miss or mess up, they are now more likely to be called out on. Maybe over time, Wikileaks will be able to bypass working with media outlets, but that probably depends on them getting the resources they don’t have at the moment.
I don’t believe they are all available on the site – if so, I can’t find them. I am understandably keen to find those from Uzbekistan.
Ed
I don’t believe they are all available on the site – if so, I can’t find them. I am understandably keen to find those from Uzbekistan.
I was careful with the tense I used… They’ve said all along that they weren’t going to release all the docs at once; if they are good to their word, however, then all docs will eventually appear at the site. The sooner the better, too.
How about a little Reality Check Here?
I am sure, that if I really wanted to, I could have met Julian Assange by now.
He has turned up at various meetings including this one in Oxford that was Televised in front of a large audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZByoqBTE4
Now even I have attended meetings in Oxford, though I have never met Julian Assange
Julian Assange has also continued to travel widely quite openly going through airports – and still does
Now I know some people may think that individuals who work for the various intelligence services are a bit stupid, but I don’t actually think that is true
Am I supposed to believe that this individual who has released thousands of secret US Government documents, and continues to communicate with US Intelligence Services and negotiate with them about which names should be redacted – cannot be found, arrested, tortured and interrogated – by the kind of people who do this kind of thing to Muslims with long hairy beards???
Or is it because he is a white Australian and has got diplomatic immunity because Aussies have a great sense of humour?
FFS
Most people will believe anything.
Tony
Tony:
Or is it because it would do more harm than good (to the US cause) if they arrested and tortured someone like Assange? He can be replaced, the technology still exists to publish leaks. So what good does it do the US to lose in the court of public opinion?
The important news of today, is that it is snowing like buggery and is expected to do so for most of this week.
When this happens, although you may be able to get to the shops, the guys driving the big lorries have a great deal of difficulty and often fail to get there.
So the shops rapidly run out of food.
Some people don’t prepare in advance for this contingency – especially old people…
So it is a good idea to call on some of your elderley neighbours – and ask them if you can get them anything – before even you are totally snowed in…
Strangely enough – My wife has already done so and my son has got his skis out ready.
The sledges have already sold out, but we do have some snow chains.
Tony
I rather fond of the basic ideas behind democracy and the rule of law, without them where would we be?
Both concepts are though, substitutes, or alternatives to real power, which is why people like Andrew and his kind find them so amusing, and rather quaint.
Little people, which are what the vast, overwhelming majority, are, really need democracy and the rule of law, because without them they’ed be at the mercy of the rich and powerful.
I think it’s pretty obvious that we are moving into a new, bleak, and austere era, where Power, Raw Power, is making a thrusting comeback, and democracy and the rule of law are being shoved aside.
Oligarchy, that’s what we have declined into. Democracy is on its last legs.
We’ve a stark choice ahead. Either we enter a neo-fuedal period, or we fight back and revolt in circumstances that look closer and closer to 1789.
CheebaCow,
Yes I had already come across this theory on an obscure website, and I can’t completely discount it…
The theory goes, that all the Intelligence, Government and UN websites have been piped for years to multiple locations, amd if Assange or any of these “hackers” are arrested or “disappeared” that far more damaging stuff will be revealed…like for example…The Truth about really Important Stuff…
But I am kind of discounting this Blackmail theory, after discovering much more about Assange’s history – and the views of the people who have been doing similar kinds of stuff and have previously worked for him.
The clincher for me is what Assange said about 9/11 to a journalist who works for The Belfast Telegraph. It wasn’t Joe Quinn, but I’m pretty sure Joe Quinn does or has worked for The Belfast Telegraph, and I have enormous respect for Joe Quinn.
You can find him on Sott.net. He’s even started doing weekly newscasts on youtube. They are a bit like what Deek Jackson used to do – the guy who didn’t beat Gordon Brown – in a fair election.
Joe Quinn does it straight though.
My own view is that all that has been released is a direct propaganda attack against Iran – already obvious by the Israelis jumping for joy – and saying we told you so – even all the Arabs want to Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran
Check out the “rat poison” already mentioned here and wash your fruit and veg.
I could of course be wrong, but I reckon Assange wouldn’t get away with it if he was a Muslim with a long curly beard and a meat cleaver for a hand.
Tony
Typical “logic” of the truther idiots who inhabit this blog:
If Assange is not subject to travel restrictions and is not arrested, it must be a conspiracy.
If Assange is subject to travel restrictions and finds himself arrested, it must be a conspiracy.
Ingo, run this powerful trojan scanner – Hitman Pro
http://www.surfright.nl/en
“a lazy and incompetent group of “Journalists” whose arses have grown plump on the rewards of retailing spoonfed propaganda” –Craig
It’s become ridiculous. We have very few journalists left.
“A study carried out in Dublin City University shows that the Irish print media depends heavily on public relations material for its daily news content.
“The study, carried out by postgraduate students in 2010, found that between 11.6% and 21% of newspaper stories across eight major daily publications were mainly or entirely generated by public relations material, and that between 32% and 50% of all stories contained elements of public relations material.”
http://tinyurl.com/2vodf5p
They are now processors of whatever comes their way. The people I knew in the NUJ in the seventies didn’t spend their time like that and would have been highly insulted if anyone suggested they did.
——————–
ingo,
Is there any chance you have a virus? Something that’s sending out stuff unbeknownst to you? There are a few online scanners you could use, for example
Trend Micro Housecall
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/
Maybe CheebaCow can suggest a better one. Or Clark or Vronsky.
Aha! Anon already did. Snap!
Tony:
I didn’t mean to imply there was some secret blackmail documents waiting to be released if something happens to Assange. I just mean that Assange could be killed tomorrow and it would have 0 impact on the ability to publish leaks on the internet, so why ‘disappear’ him when it would only make the US look bad? Whether someone thinks 911 was an inside job or not doesn’t really change what I think about someone. I accept that reasonable and intelligent people will come to different conclusions (it’s how they reach the conclusion that really matters). I do agree that Assange probably would have been treated quite differently if he wasn’t so white and western.
Clinton is making ominous noises about prosecuting the people responsible for these leaks. I thought they already had the guy. I can’t see how Wikileaks is any different from the Grauniad. So is Clinton talking about suppressing the press ?
Thanks, Craig, for linking to your previous article; I’d failed to recognise Maksim Bakiyev’s name. I rather enjoyed the account of Prince Andrew’s performance at brunch, especially his mention of the US continuing the ‘Great Game’, and the subsequent embarrassed denials from the US ambassador.
WikiLeaks are claiming to be experiencing a massive Distributed Denial Of Service attack. Those are generally achieved using ‘botnets’, comprising thousands to millions of infected Windows computers worldwide, ie they rely upon viruses or malware. Such attacks are normally associated with organised crime networks. Presumably someone is paying to have WikiLeaks attacked; I wonder who?
For AV software I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials [free if you have a legit copy of windows, or at least if MS hasn’t flagged your copy as being illegal =P ].
(microsoft.com/security_essentials/)
The third party software I would recommend is Avast (avast.com/free-antivirus-download) and Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org).
“or we fight back and revolt in circumstances that look closer and closer to 1789.”
–writerman
Given what’s just happened to Ireland, that’s what I favour. But I won’t be much good to anyone other than as a conduit or maybe a safe house. Shame!
I recommend changing to a Linux operating system. You can try Knoppix which boots direct from its CD; you don’t need to install it, and your Windows system remains idle, unaffected. The Knoppix project is by Klaus Knopper, a German engineer and activist against software patents.
http://www.knoppix.net/
Were we to believe Ubersturmfuhrer Murray we would think that the US drive to control trillions dollars worth of oil and gas in the Caspian had nothing at all to do with Zionist planners and the international “permanent revolution” crowd led by Soros and Kouchner et al.
Chris Bollyn covered this story nearly a decade ago:
http://www.bollyn.com/the-great-game
He subsequently wrote a book about it.
All this long before the Zionist psy-war Wikileaks gang had been heard of.
Denial of Service attacks were major problems 10 years ago, but they are a bit last century. Not that I am particularly into this kind of stuff but my son is (Preventing them). He used to tell me about this kind of thing quite frequently. He even used to get phone calls from Internet Security services warning him in advance of a possible DOS attack. I think modern networks are pretty much immune to them now…
Of course PC viruses are still rampant and some of the major ones advertise themselves as “free” anti-virus software.
The Free versions of AVG, malwarebytes and even Adaware seem to be O.K. though.
Being a complete cynic, and knowing the Billions in Profits that antivirus companies make, I remain very suspicious about the origins of most of them.
There’s even a free version of AVG for Linux. Whatever next?
As regards 9/11, I just read this sentence, though I don’t believe it, cos they were probably all drinking Fosters at the time…
“A Herald Sun poll in Australia the week before, 10,000 respondents, showed 78% support for 9/11 being an “inside job.””
Tony
Funny no-one, least of all our former ambassador, finds it at all incongruous that members of the British Royal Family are involved in securing arms deals with unsavoury regimes like Saudi.
Guess we just got used to it after all these years!
Better watch our royal Ps and Qs though Mr Ambassador. Should Hollywood get round to filming Murder in Samarkand and Queenie deem it then timely to offer His Excellency that knighthood one wouldn’t want to have already blotted one’s copybook by bad-mouthing
Andy over brunch!
LMAO
“A Herald Sun poll in Australia the week before, 10,000 respondents, showed 78% support for 9/11 being an “inside job.””
Tony, that doesn’t surprise me. The numbers are growing all the time, from what I can see on the net.
Ahh I remember the days when I could knock someone off IRC with my crappy 28.8kb modem. Sure, networks are a lot more resilient now, but when you have millions of computers slamming you, it’s likely going to have some effect.
I’m not as cynical as you Tony, but it’s a common joke in geek circles that AV such as Norton or McAfee is worse than a virus. In terms of system performance it’s usually true =P It’s also funny to see real viruses programmed to clean/stop other viruses from spreading so that the initial virus is more effective.
BTW we don’t drink fucking Fosters, we just sell the shit to people who don’t know any better 😉
Also don’t take too much heart from the Herald Sun poll, those same readers are the ones who support the Iraq and Afghan wars and approve of imprisoning refugee children.
Blogosphere verdict on Wikileaks:
RECYCLED CONTROLLED MEDIA RAT POISON!
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/comidwiki.php
WIKILEAKS SOLELY DESPICABLE!
WIKILEAKS SOLELY AIPAC!
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/11/29/gordon-duff-wiki-murders-in-iran-signal-false-flag-terror/
Wait for gatekeeper blogs like this to tell you the Iranians are despicable “Holocaust deniers” and “anti-semites” who must be taken out forthwith!