Cav's Place

Since cables have once again started being published on the site, it’s certainly time for yet another WikiLeaks update. Admittedly, you can’t say that any shocking things have happened lately that are strictly related to WikiLeaks, but a lot of things did happen, though many flew under the traditional media’s radar. Still, even that media is starting to regain interest in the issue these days, due to the latest developments, some of them not even related to Cablegate anymore, which is one more reason to get this update out of the way now, before I’ll start being flooded with more and more news. Even so, there’s a huge number of issues I need to cover, so once again expect me to jump from one to the other very quickly. Click the links for further details.

While what’s happening on the ground in those countries is beyond the scope of this post, I would like to start by pointing out Anonymous‘ attacks against sites belonging to the governments of Zimbabwe and, more notably, Tunisia, where the campaign was sustained for quite some time.
The WikiLeaks releases were the spark that ignited these fires and some things still happen as a direct result of the cables, but what’s going on now is about so much more than that and, if I may use the term, it fills me with hope to see people from all over the world help each other and fight for such causes together, especially since even more help should be on the way towards those areas. As a result of the leaks, people know more. Or, more exactly, people have the evidence they need in support of theories they were probably already aware of, but couldn’t fully verify until now. That makes them more willing and better prepared to fight, as we can all see. And, while in Europe you usually only see a few minor effects here and there, the impact has obviously been massive in the Arab world and, most encouragingly, it has made some governments actually start working for their people for a change.
Sure, everyone knows that this war is still in its early stages and any who think they have already won are only turning their backs on their very cunning enemies and setting themselves up for a resounding defeat, but there are good signs. There are finally some good signs somewhere… And, perhaps oddly enough, although they have little direct influence in “real life” affairs and pretty much never start or finish anything, only reacting to what is already happening and then relying on others to escalate the situation to the point where things may actually change, the Anonymous legion can be seen as being “responsible” for a significant portion of what’s going on, in the best sense of the term. (As a side note, I wonder if them focusing their resources on these issues has anything to do with the recent drop in spam levels.)

But now it’s time to get back to matters that are strictly related to WikiLeaks. For that purpose, we move on to the United States and see that, while Miss America recently offered one more piece of evidence regarding the intelligence of such contestants by speaking out against WikiLeaks with phrases apparently taken straight out of a brainwashing manual, the White House is trying to come up with strategies to prevent further leaks. As expected, instead of making public as much as they possibly could and ensuring that what needs to stay secret deals with operations that people would be proud of, said strategies involve figuring out who may be unhappy enough with the situation and getting rid of them before they get a chance to act. And, of course, the Republicans prioritize the WikiLeaks investigation and one of them even wants to prohibit people and companies within the US from doing business with WikiLeaks, which spells even more trouble, considering the recent election results over there. Thankfully, there is no basis for that latter demand, but who knows what they’ll come up with next…
However, the most important new development on that front is the demand for personal details from Twitter regarding people connected to WikiLeaks, which has sparked a lot of controversy and has resulted in statements from ACLU, Icelandic politicians and, of course, Anonymous, among others. But this campaign certainly doesn’t stop there, instead being a concerted effort to subdue any such “undesirables” by whatever means are available, as Jacob Appelbaum points out when describing his experience upon returning to the US. Therefore, while it’s obvious that such statements are also carefully planned in order to gain the most support, I really do believe that Julian Assange fears being sentenced to death, and I assume that the flood of murder incitement domain names directed at him does nothing to alleviate such fears.

That should be enough bad news for the moment, so let me now mention that supporters of WikiLeaks and Assange have once again made their voices heard on the streets as well, some rallies taking place on January 8th and a significantly larger number, many of them organized by Anonymous, on January 15th. While some of these rallies were obviously small affairs, some were really successful, proving that the support truly exists down there on the streets as well, despite most of the noticeable activism usually taking place on-line. And this support is very much needed, so if you think you’d want to take part in such a rally, take a look at the list and see if there are any near you. If not, you could always try to organize one yourself, if you have any skills in this area or know someone who does.

Just to prove that this concept is still spreading like wildfire, an updated list of whistleblowing sites may be required, though you are advised to use your own judgment and exercise caution when dealing with them, as some may not be what they appear. On the other hand, for those who want to make the most out of the current releases, there’s also a potentially invaluable list of advanced Cablegate resources.
As for more traditional media, Die Welt has recently also obtained access to the cables through their own means and will likely publish what and how they see fit, as they are under no agreement with WikiLeaks. That will certainly help spread the word even more, but the end result may be either good or bad, depending on how they’ll handle a task of this magnitude and what their true goals actually are. Still, considering the traditional media’s obvious issues, I’m somewhat worried when I see such developments…

Last but not least, I can’t finish this without mentioning something about the man who, if truly the one who sent all these cables to WikiLeaks, is the real hero behind it all and should be regarded as such instead of left to rot in maximum security confinement! I am, of course, talking about Bradley Manning and the kind of treatment he’s being subjected to, which has recently resulted in an open letter from Psychologists for Social Responsibility, adding yet another set of voices to those demanding at the very least fair treatment for him while he’s being detained.
Thankfully, WikiLeaks was also able to partially fulfill the pledge made to support a part of his defense costs, probably quelling certain voices claiming that they just used him and will now let him rot in prison. Sure, $15100 isn’t much and I seem to remember, from other messages released by Cryptome in the past, that their original pledge was for at least $50000, but that was made when they could still easily receive donations and, also according to certain messages I seem to remember reading on that site, as soon as the account specifically opened for donations meant to cover defense costs was frozen, Bradley’s defenders said that they couldn’t blame them in any way for not fulfilling any part of said pledge, as it simply was no longer possible under those circumstances. As I seem to remember them saying at the time that said account contained “about $31000” when it was frozen, I would be inclined to say that it was a slight exaggeration and now Bradley’s defenders were sent exactly half of the $30200 that had actually accumulated in that account by the time it was frozen, which is their fair share, as that account was meant to cover both Bradley Manning’s and Julian Assange’s legal expenses. But that’s just my opinion…