WikiLeaks in context
Richard Moore
Below are several articles about WikiLeaks, from various perspectives.
I recommend those if you want to be well-informed about the topic.
At the same time, I have my own way of examining the situation.
Hillary Clinton has called WikiLeaks "an attack on the international
community". Coming from her, we must assume that is meant in all
seriousness.
We must compare it to what we saw on our screens on 9/11: "America
under attack".
When a Secretary of State announces that we are 'under attack', it
follows without saying that we can expect some kind of response to
that attack. Indeed the word 'attack' is more or less reserved for
occasions where a response is planned. Otherwise the statement would
be interpreted as reflecting weakness and impotence.
When America was 'under attack', we got the Patriot Act domestically,
and never-ending war internationally -- the Constitution was shredded
along with international law. That was a very big response. What
kind of response can we expect when the 'international community'
is declared to be 'under attack', because a website has revealed a
few relatively harmless secrets?
If the State Department really felt that the WikiLeaks operation
was a serious threat to national security, or even a serious
embarrassment politically, they could have shut it down at any time.
They have their ways. And they could have 'gotten to' Assange in
one way or another, as they got to David Kelly, who really was a
threat, with his testimony that WMDs did not exists, testimony that
was never heard about again, after he 'committed suicide'.
Instead, with WikiLeaks, we have Assange at large flaunting it, and
we see the leaks being published in the mainstream media, both in
print and online, conveniently indexed. What's wrong with this
picture? If the leaks are harmful, why are they doing everything
they can to make sure everyone, including any 'potential terrorists',
sees them?
The WikiLeaks affair has become a major dramatic story line on the
stage of the global mass media. It's very much like the launch of
a new television series. We've got a dramatic personality at the
center, seen by some as a super hero and others as a super demon,
who is able to reveal a million secrets at a single bound. We've
got increasing dramatic tension, as the attack alarms ring, the
secrets keep coming out, and... nothing decisive is being done.
Something must be done! That's clearly where this story line is
leading.
By doing nothing decisive, and with Assange out on bail, the message
between the lines is that new legislation is needed. Perhaps new
legislation is already being discussed; I haven't been following
that part of the story. But as the dramatic tension mounts in the
media, so that it becomes 'obvious' that something must be done,
we can be sure we will end up with a draconian Cyber Terrorism Act,
akin to the Domestic Terrorism Act.
Clearly, the provisions of this act will be very far-reaching. That
has been the consistent pattern with each of our various 'terrorism'
acts. Currently, anyone can be arbitrarily declared a domestic
terrorist, and be locked up forever incommunicado. That hasn't been
happening on any significant scale, yet, but the provisions are
that far reaching.
Similarly, in a Cyber Terrorism Act, we'll get a provision that any
website can be arbitrarily declared 'in aid of terrorism', closed
down, and anyone involved with it can be treated as a domestic
terrorist. The Act will be that far-reaching, but we probably won't
see a lot of such closures happening.
Instead, we'll get hit in more subtle ways. Websites will be simply
be seized, without fanfare, and that's already been happening, under
the logo of Homeland Security.
I think we can take a clue from the TSA experience at airports, as
regards what we can expect at 'net ports'. Consider, for example,
the 'no fly' list.
If you're on the list, you can't fly, they don't give you any
reasons, and they even seem to flaunt how arbitrary the list is.
They are arbitrarily restricting your ability to connect with people
face to face.
Similarly, from what might be called the Communications Security
Administration (CSA), we can expect a 'no send' list. If you're on
the list, you can't send or post messages, and no reasons will be
given. They will be arbitrarily restricting your ability to connect
with people remotely. Already, I've been encountering problems with
sending, where my IP address has been mysteriously tagged as a spam
source, and my ISP claimed to have no explanation.
Consider also the invasive screening process at airports. Everyone
is treated as a potential terrorist, until they pass the invasive
screening process.
Similarly, every message anyone tries to send will be treated as a
'potential cyber threat', until it passes an invasive 'threat
filter'. Google is already deploying such a filter, and calling it
a spam filter. Currently, with manual intervention, you can rescue
a message from the filter. The CSA's filter will simply delete your
message, end of story, before it even gets to your ISP.
Air travel and the Internet have been the 'great global connectors',
of people and of ideas. The thrust of 'security' measures has had
little to do with terrorism, and everything to do with making
'connection' more and more difficult. Same story when you try to
cross a border in your car.
WikiLeaks is indeed the 9/11 of the Internet. The leaks themselves
are an inside job, just like the Twin Towers, with the leaks carefully
selected to avoid anything really damaging, or anything embarrassing
to Israel. And just as they didn't scramble the interceptors, they
didn't close down the WikiLeaks site. They let both events play
out, down on Highway 61, and then they splashed them all over the
media. Such things are always done for a purpose.
rkm ______
Wikileaks diplomatic cables release 'attack on world' BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11868838
WikiLeaks: A Big Dangerous US Government Con Job By F. William
Engdahl http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=22357
Who is Behind Wikileaks?
Michel Chossudovsky
http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=22389
Is the Internet 9/11 Under Way?
Infowars.com<http://Infowars.com>
http://www.infowars.com/is-the-internet-911-under-way/ _________________
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