This is a curious story in the New York Times. Low on details and high on insinuation, it’s difficult to truly know the reality behind the article so here it is: The State Department is warning hundreds of human rights activists, foreign government officials and businesspeople identified in leaked diplomatic cables of potential threats to…
Assange and Mugabe aren’t sharing drinks at sunset
Oh the irony. A former Bush administration official – didn’t their democracy work bring so much happiness to the world? – slams Wikileaks and Julian Assange for allegedly helping Robert Mugabe cement his dictatorship in Zimbabwe by the release of some sensitive cables. Michael Gerson seems to misunderstand the process here. Wikileaks didn’t recklessly release…
What is the role of the state when “secrets” are revealed?
Leakers pay a price in American culture. The greatest fear of Washington is thinking individuals inside government who know some things are simply wrong; a moral conscience is the only way forward: A former CIA officer has been indicted on charges of disclosing national security secrets after being accused of leaking classified information about Iran…
If you’re Iranian and don’t love Israel, watch out
This is all too comical and pathetic and yet this is what has happened to some of my people. Outright hatred and bigotry in the service of Zionism: Here’s something curious, via the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). It seems Stanford professor Jeffrey Ullman harbors some antipathy toward Iranian students as evinced by his negative…
Gaza isolation all about money?
Really: A key Israeli cargo crossing for goods entering the Gaza Strip was rife with corruption, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks on Thursday The June 14, 2006, cable, published Thursday by Norway’s Aftenposten daily, says companies told U.S. diplomats they were forced to pay hefty bribes to get goods into Gaza.…
Would you like privatised jail care, man?
Privatised prisons are a growing blight on the Western world. Governments love them because they pass responsibility to somebody else. But when profits come before care, the system is sick: Arnold Porter was serious, and seriously worried. He was dizzy and short of breath, he told Dr. William Sightler, with a crushing, tightening sensation in…
Now the Wikileaks genie is out of the bottle
The US government may have to realise that good citizens and employees may want to speak out and expose the truth: The White House has instructed every US government department and agency to create “insider threat” programmes that will ferret out disgruntled or untrustworthy employees who might be tempted to leak the sort of state…
Israel looks at Iran approvingly
So here we are. As the Israeli Knesset starts investigations into left-wing groups that dare question Zionist occupation and war, web censorship is now happening at the country’s only international airport. Perhaps Tel Aviv looks at Tehran and would like advice how to block “offensive” websites: Internet sites of political organizations, both left-wing and right-wing,…
Monbiot takes on critics and shows transparency
What a shame it’s come to this. George Monbiot, wonderful British columnist, journalist and author, has written a short piece about his finances to prove he has nothing to hide from critics who spend absurd amounts of time criticising anybody who dares challenge the status-quo. I salute him: Regular readers will know that I have…
Israel embraces fascism and where is the Zionist Diaspora?
One: Just hours after the Knesset approved a motion calling for a parliamentary investigation into the activity of B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence and other groups, National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari referred to members of the leftist organizations as “traitors who must be persecuted at any cost.” Speaking at an SOS Israel conference in…