If This Be Treason …
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp on Nov 30, 2010 in Commentary • Comments (7)… but, of course, it isn’t.
Julian Assange isn’t an American citizen. Wikileaks isn’t an American organization. Even if we accept the logic of state, neither Assange nor Wikileaks owe any duty of loyalty to the US government. Where no loyalty is due, no betrayal is possible. Whatever else they might be, the Wikileaks “dumps” of information deemed “classified” by the US government aren’t “treason” (as the usual suspects keep calling them) by any reasonable definition of that word.
Nor, contra US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s surreal claim, is the latest Wikileaks release “an attack on the international community.” If such a “community” exists, identifying it with the parasite states sitting atop its regional populations is like designating canine breeds on the basis of the ticks which infest each dog’s fur.
And talk about the pot calling the kettle black! It was Clinton, not Assange, who directed US State Department employees to spy on United Nations officials — including but not limited to permanent members of the UN Security Council and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon himself — in what looks an awful lot like an identity theft scheme right out of the latest crime news headlines. If the UN’s member states do indeed compose the “international community,” Clinton has cast herself in the role of neighborhood burglar.
But, if this be treason, make the most of it.
The penchant of state actors for secrecy stems from the same motives as any other criminal’s desire to keep his deeds out of the public eye. Their threats against those who might reveal their secrets are of precisely the same nature as the warnings of any child rapist to his victims: “Don’t tell, or YOU will get in trouble.”
We’ve been here before, many times. Not many remember, but the most vehement western objections to Russia’s “October Revolution” were concerned not with nature of Bolshevism but with this language in Lenin’s Decree on Peace:
We have to fight against the hypocrisy of the governments, which, while talking about peace and justice, actually carry on wars of conquest and plunder. Not one single government will tell you what it really means. But we are opposed to secret diplomacy and can afford to act openly before all people.
While Russia’s former allies did indeed oppose communism and desire an active Eastern Front (to reduce pressure on the Western Front), they were outright desperate to hide the details of their complicity in the ongoing disaster now known as World War One. Like vampires, politicians will choose gunfire over sunlight every time.
The subsequent actions of the new Russian state constitute an existence proof of the incompatibility of political government and transparency. Forced to choose between truth and power, the Bolsheviks chose power. Their regime and its spinoffs became (pardon the pun) the gold standard for secretive government.
The strength of Wikileaks is that it faces no similar choice. It’s not a state, nor do its principals evince any intention of making it one. Truth is its entire portfolio, and this drives the Hillary Clintons of the world insane. It threatens their aspirations to unquestioned power. It forces them to explain themselves to the rest of us: To the serfs who, as the politicians see things, exist for the sole purpose of footing the bill — in money and in blood — for those aspirations.
Which is exactly how it should be. “Treason” to and “betrayal” of the state is service to humanity. Wikileaks is your friend. Hillary Clinton is your enemy. Never forget that.
| Julian Assange of Wikileaks, who has published hundreds of thousands of “secret” documents to his Web Site is being touted as an enemy to the United States and all FREEDOM-LOVING countries, because some of what he posted “might” cause physical harm to some people, which is not necessarily clear that it will, but will MOST likely cause SERIOUS embarrassment to many people - ESPECIALLY TO OBAMA. But, is Assange really an enemy as much as he is a bit-player in a complicated game? I’m torn on what Assange has done in terms of releasing these documents, because I’m not sure if it hurts as much as it helps. And I’m not sure who he is involved with, or whether or not he’s just a straw-man or a dupe for others. Assange’s document “dump” is as fascinating as most of the information that was made public, since it asks an enormous volume of questions not just about most of the information released; as much as it does about governments which manage information. Such as – How did the USA allow this gargantuan volume of information to be compiled in a way that enables just one exceptionally low level government employee to bundle it, and simply make it all public? If the information “dumped” is REALLY all that sensitive, what are we to think about trusting the government with anything that should be kept secret? Or maybe these “secrets” were meant to get out? Also – If the information “dumped” by Wikileaks is so damaging to American and world security, why is Assange still alive to “dump” even more? And what’s this crap all of a sudden about arresting him for rape? I come to one of two conclusions: 1 – The information released is not nearly as injurious to national security as the media is portraying, as it is to the embarrassment of some national leaders who need to be shaken-up some, making me think that these releases go far beyond Julian Assange, perhaps into an intelligence manipulation strata beyond our comprehension. Remember – Statecraft is a three dimensional Chess Game of extraordinary subterfuge. And it is indeed possible that the Wikileaks releases are more a part of this subterfuge than they are what we are being led to believe. 2 – OR . . . It is possible that Assange with the help of a Private in the US military were able to reveal hundreds of thousands of private “secret” communications that the rest of the world could never hope to get their hands on, only because of a bumbling American bureaucracy, which I find hard to believe. All of that said – Some extremely important game-changing information has come out that I’m certain a number of people wish would have never become public, such as King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. There has been no shortage of rumors about the Saudis covertly offering the Israelis clear air passage, and even staging bases for Israeli aircraft if they wanted to go after Iran, including the existence of a secret Israeli airbase in the Saudi desert - Quite unbelievable right? Well maybe not. Since it has now been revealed that the Saudis begged the Americans to do their dirty work, one has to put more than just “some” credence about the Israeli/Saudi rumors, since the Saudis are not denying any part of the Wikileaks disclosures. In public, The Saudi’s have been telling the Americans and Israelis to stay away from attacking Iran, while in private, they’re shaking in their robes begging someone to put themselves in harm’s way because of what they’re too chicken-shit to do for themselves. In a world that doesn't have too many secrets, Wikileaks or not, I’m certain that it is no surprise to the Shiite Persian Iranians that their most hated enemy, the Sunni Arab Saudis want them and their nuclear capability slapped-down. But what changes now because of Wikileaks, is that the REAL-DEAL is on the table for everyone to see, making the Arab/Persian/Moslem hypocrisy that much more transparent. This changes everything in the Middle East. And not just for the Saudis. If any country benefits from the “outing” of this knowledge, it’s Israel. Then there’s China and North Korea. How must the North Koreans feel now, knowing that China would love to cut them loose and see a unified Korean Peninsula under the governance of South Korea? Not only does it create a strange new situation and reality in North Korea, it forces Obama’s hand on how he’ll play it, since everything has changed courtesy of Wikileaks. Obama cannot use the excuse of pissing off China any longer when it comes to dealing with North Korea. As I see it, whether all of this is part of a vast Machiavellian conspiracy, or something as simple as a lone private who steals hundreds of thousands of classified communications which he gives to a whacked-out European guy with a Web Site, is of no real importance, since the consequences are all exactly the same. Where bureaucrats, elected officials, and bumbling diplomats have so muddied the waters over the years, Wikileaks has given us a clearer view of their duplicity, to the detriment of everyone who profits enormously by keeping the pot stirred at the expense of the FREE WORLD. And now, like everything else that the DUFUS-IN-CHIEF must deal with, he has to figure out how to “vote” PRESENT on the international stage where PRESENT isn’t an option. So, between Obama’s un-kept promises like closing GITMO, his job-creating failures, his bank and insurance bailouts, the nationalization of much of the auto industry, the massive short and long term debt he has created, his horrific healthcare fiasco, the SHELLACKING his Democrats took on November 2nd because of him, the unparalleled divisions he’s created between the American people not seen since the Civil War, and that he has lost the voting center, independents, and his own LEFT, where does he go now? On July 23, 2009 I wrote: “I Told You So – Yes I Did” (see Archives), predicting that by the time of the mid-term elections, Obama will be at best a lame-duck President whose own Party will cut him loose, or that he might not even make it to 2012. There was no question in my mind that I was right when I wrote it. And there’s no question in my mind that it is even that much worse now for Obama and the Democrats, than I could have ever suspected then. Because of ill-informed people who in many cases voted as reverse racists, or people who wanted something for nothing (socialists), or are self-hating Americans, or people who voted for an American Idol instead of a real President, not only is America in serious trouble, but so is the rest of the world. I don’t for a second believe that this Wikileaks “dump” is what the media and others want us to believe. I truly believe that the Wikileaks “dump” was designed to do just what is happening now, and that is the medicine America and the rest of the world needs to CURE everyone of Obama. And like most aggressive medicines, this won’t be pleasant, but necessary nonetheless. Perhaps we might be saying hooray for Wikileaks. To know more about what I think of this issue, Click on the Radio Icon at the Top of this page to hear a 18-Minute Audio Editorial. Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
|
Posts
