Glenn Greenwald has joined the Guardian from Salon. His first article is an absolute corker. I don’t think this means he has moved to London, (though I may be wrong) as it is part of the Guardian’s drive to get more online US readers. I expect it won’t be too long before Greenwald, like Seumas Milne, becomes the target of dreadful in-house backstabbing and Blairite attempts to oust him.
But wherever he writes, Greenwald is one of the few journalists really worth following.
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Interesting that Joan Smith is on his list of those in the media with an animus for Julian Assange.
[..]
‘Indeed, the personalized nature of this contempt from self-styled sober journalists often borders on the creepy (when it’s not wildly transgressing that border).
[..]
A columnist for the Independent, Joan Smith, recently watched Assange’s interview of Ecuadorean president Rafeal Correa and offered up this wisdom: “He’s put on weight, his face is puffy and he didn’t bother to shave before his interview with Correa.”‘
[..]
The first of many who don’t like it up ’em. They should just keep quiet but they have to keep babbling on Twitter.
Peter Beaumont Guardian
1) peter beaumontþ@petersbeaumont
another column in the guardian by greenwald telling guardian reporters like me – as well as rest of media – just how crap we all are.
2) peter beaumontþ@petersbeaumont
I promised myself I wasn’t going to do this but I reject the assertion of a sucesion of writers in CiF that to believe in human rights …
3) peter beaumontþ@petersbeaumont
… in Russia and Syria – or to ask whether Assange should face his accusers in Sweden – is imperialist hypocrisy.
I doubt Glen Greenwald will survive at the Guardian if he continues to produce such un-PC pieces…..possibly Rusbridger thought Glen would be good for his developing online US market….but they will not play well with the Guardian’s newest financial backers……….
As far I know, Greenwald and his partner still live in Rio de Janeio because the US government refused his partner a long-term visa for the US whereas Greenwald managed quite easily to obtain one for Brazil.
Apart from that, Glenn’s first article for The Guardian is absolutely brilliant – he’s already got some of his new colleagues over there foaming at the mouth. 🙂
Following the money:
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/01/06ATHENS131.html
Kindly note the major investor in the (2006, lol) thriving and attractive Greek economy – Apax.
Which owns half of GMG.
Hey, Criag, on a separate matter you can see how comfortable Karimov is with the West at the moment if Gulnara is seizing Russian JV’s (MTS).
Best regards
Gary
Why dont the Unions start their own newspaper? the guardian and their kind will soon be out of business
CiF comments closed: some obviously orchestrated posts there, and not a few deletions. Comments are still open for this reasonably sensible piece:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/23/women-against-rape-julian-assange?INTCMP=SRCH
Whether or not Assange is guilty of sexual violence, we do not believe that is why he is being pursued. Once again women’s fury and frustration at the prevalence of rape and other violence, is being used by politicians to advance their own purposes. The authorities care so little about violence against women that they manipulate rape allegations at will, usually to increase their powers, this time to facilitate Assange’s extradition or even rendition to the US. That the US has not presented a demand for his extradition at this stage is no guarantee that they won’t do so once he is in Sweden, and that he will not be tortured as Bradley Manning and many others, women and men, have. Women Against Rape cannot ignore this threat.
In over 30 years working with thousands of rape victims who are seeking asylum from rape and other forms of torture, we have met nothing but obstruction from British governments. Time after time, they have accused women of lying and deported them with no concern for their safety. We are currently working with three women who were raped again after having been deported – one of them is now destitute, struggling to survive with the child she conceived from the rape; the other managed to return to Britain and won the right to stay, and one of them won compensation.
You’re right – it’s an absolute corker! 🙂
Greenwald remains unbreakable.
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It’s hard to fathom what has happened to people’s brains.
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We have:
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Right-wing ideologues suddenly becoming ardent defenders of rape victims.
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Dyed-in-the-wool Guardian readers identifying the ‘progressive’ position as being to denounce Julian Assange as a cowardly justice-dodging rapist.
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Endless ad hominem attacks on Julian Assange.
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Smearing of those who try to contextualize the story (like Craig, Pilger, Milne this morning) as being about Wikileaks’ publishing and US fury at him, rather than the personality and the possible misdeeds of Assange being summarily denounced as enemies of women everywhere.
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A plethora of what look like paid-for commenters, too, posters with no account history. Just like that CE cretin here yesterday.
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It’s a brilliant propaganda effort in terms of keeping the discussion of US crimes off the agenda.
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All we can do is take the names of all those columnists who have played their hand.
Martha Kearney interviews Karin Rosander, Director of Communications for the Swedish Prosecution Authority
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http://audioboo.fm/boos/928311-swedish-prosecution-authority-on-julian-assange-case-the-world-at-one-bbc-radio-4
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Karin Rosander says the Swedish prosecutor demands Assange be interviewed in Sweden but has not given any reason as to why.
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So anyone claiming that Swedish law says Assange can only be interviewed in Sweden
is wrong.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/22/julian-assange-media-contempt?commentpage=13
Comments on this page are now closed.
Naturellement.
PS However Greenwald, Milne et al are still taking the Rusbridger shilling.
@mary
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Yes. I am bemused that the very newspaper that courted Wikileaks/JA and is now acting like a spurned lover, is the place that Greenwald has chosen as his new home.
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He has always said that being free from editorial interference is his be-all and end-all, but by that logic he could go and write for the Pentagon. He doesn’t seem able to grasp that he will be tarred by the scumbags writing for The Guardian and by Establishment apologists like Rusbridger and White. At Salon, the other writers were not so much of an issue, as they basically wrote bog-standard progressive rubbish and lots of me-me-me journalism.
I suspect it’s all about the money KingFelix. He has a lot of outgoings.
“A couple of years ago, I started realising one of the themes that tied together so much of what I was writing about is this concept of this two-tiered justice system, and the way the whole concept of equality before the law has been not just violated but actually repudiated,” says Greenwald. He is on a Skype call from his home in the mountains above Rio de Janeiro, where he lives with his husband and 10 dogs, which they keep rescuing from the streets. These dogs’ barks, snarls, whines and whimpers are set off by the slightest provocation – a passing car usually does the trick – providing a backdrop to our conversation.
http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/books/glenn-greenwald-interview/
and a home in New York to keep up.
@mary
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He’s also had a number of bestsellers and lots of speaking engagements.
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Do you think The Guardian is in a position to pay any sort of big money?
Some more emollient balm from the US? C&P’d by everyone today…
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/uk-wikileaks-assange-usa-idUKBRE87L13420120822
PJ Crowley is probably worth paying attention to –P.J. Crowley, said that by taking refuge in Ecuador’s embassy and demanding that the United States “renounce its witch-hunt” against WikiLeaks, Assange made it more difficult for Washington to abandon what officials acknowledge is a continuing U.S. probe of Assange and WikiLeaks.
Crowley said that Assange, in a speech on Saturday from an embassy balcony, had “challenged the president” to close down the investigation. But Assange’s demand made it politically more difficult for President Barack Obama to do that, particularly during a presidential election season, he said.
Assange has “painted himself into a corner and he’s going to stay there for some time,” said Crowley, who resigned after criticizing the government’s treatment of alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning..
And see – {http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/bradley-manning-clinton-crowley-comments}
I think the Guardian is in deep financial poo. NI is threatening to launch an internet rival to Auto Trader, GMG’s other flagship, and the actuality – that the Grauniad needs readers – is slowly beginning to sink in. And what do readers mean? Celebrity journos, apparently. Look forward to seeing Boris Johnson and the ghost of Gore Vidal costarring. It won’t change the biased management of CiF one bit.
Agreed an excellent piece of journalism and the Twatts, licked up by Mary, show that Mr beau mont did not put his spell checker on.
2) peter beaumontþ@petersbeaumont
I promised myself I wasn’t going to do this but I reject the assertion of a sucesion of writers in CiF that to believe in human rights.
Its double cc and double ss in succession, peter.
Assange was seeking to poke Obama with a sharp stick……..not to get Obama to actually take any advice……
Komodo,
Interesting, especially as we are constantly being told there is no US invstigation into Assange.
sorry, should have been ‘picked up’, I’m as bad as him.
Craig, that was last year. However I posted another link (yesterday, ‘Banned Names’ 8.07 pm) strongly supporting though not confirming the existence of an active investigation:
http://darkernet.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/dfat-foi-1112-f264.pdf
Pages 11 – 14.
sorry – confused by hitting too many sites. Obviously, that wasn’t last year. My link was.
My understanding is that the Guardian’s media plan is to try to have a large online presence in the USA. That involves recruiting commentators from the USA and a move to the right, which we are witnessing. They already hired neocon (Josh trevino, Jerome Trevino? My mind wiped his name immediately) who called for the IDF to assassinate US citizens on board aid convoy ships to Gaza. There was such a furore that they have obviously thought to “balance” this with Greenwald.
This is, in my view, driven by their financial troubles. Taking a major US online market share would be very profitable. BTW did you find it hilarious that the animated guardian vids about “Life after Capitalism” were fronted by car ads?
Great article. For ages I’d intended to subscribe to the digital edition of Salon, pretty much for Greenwald, but I’ve missed that boat, and there’s no ****ing chance I’ll be paying the Guardian any money. It’ll have to be a Greenwald book instead – any recommendations, anyone?
@Larry Levin – the closest thing to a union paper is the Morning Star atm. The writing style isn’t as sharp or readable as Greenwald, and their front pages often appear to behind the MSM in terms of their recency, but they’ve a small team and their heart is in the right place. They can’t afford a nightshift operation like the big papers, and are boycotted by all the big advertisers, so rely a great deal on donations.
Recite this at Doune for instant comedic success:
Slipstream Song
There is a grey lordling rules the earth
A little angel, less than an angel,
Presiding over the rising cities
And all the slow webs of glinting cars
And telephone-television pulses
Which lace the fair air
And men who scurry here and there
Under it all, we people racing
To make the last train,
Desperately fending
The new moment off
Afraid if we stop.
We hear the bright light, the blind light
Ahead, falling over the edge,
Our white desire; we may not stop to seek,
But scurry, or tired, creep, and keep
The rule of the lord, the corners of the street.
But though we have no time to pause,
Tumbling under his whip, we roll
Towards his last border;
Since we have music, sir, I go
Dance with the drums, recking you not,
Because I know.
(Louise Mensch)
Thanks to Private Eye for keeping its promise. I need some fresh air.
This post from havana needs a response to the BBC, Gavin Essler should apologise, whether its in Spanish English or Gujarati, it is the BBC that has published ANNA ARDINS name before Craig mentioned it.
Havana
23 Aug, 2012 – 5:51 am
You should let Gavin Estler know that her name was published on the BBC website itself, almost 18 months ago!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mundo/cartas_desde_cuba/2011/02/no_es_para_menos.html
“You should let Gavin Estler know that her name was published on the BBC website itself, almost 18 months ago!”
I and others have already told him, on Twitter.
Despite your reference to ‘twatts’, Nevermind, Gavin Esler, Jon Snow, Glenn Greenwald, BBC, Reuters, etc, etc, and ‘anybody who’s anybody’ nowadays, has a Twitter account. In fact, Alex Thomson said a lot more from Damascus via Twitter than made it onto Channel 4 News.
And when Louise Mensch goes to the USA, I see no reason why she would shut hers down.
@jon
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There was never any need to subscribe to Salon to read Greenwald, that was only to get some sort of premium experience like less ads.
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All his columns from the last 5 years are there to read.
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http://www.salon.com/writer/glenn_greenwald/