Wikileaks diplomatic files.

[Tonci87 163]

Could someone tell me if there are files regarding croatia? I can´t find any but I heard there are some.

And be glad that there are People in he World that don´t fear consequences. So many lies would have been undiscovered without the good and constant work of Journalists.

[soul_assassin 1750]

comment from a guy who walks around with his head clearly up his own ass.

your host nation is the home of douchebaggery.

oh and darkhorse.... stop being suckered into these arguments amongst fools.

and..and...you're a poo poo head

(sorry, couldn't come up with better comeback to your comeback)

[wld427 1705]

and..and...you're a poo poo head

(sorry, couldn't come up with better comeback to your comeback)

wow thats awesome.

thanks for the laugh mate

[Big Mac 19]

Hi Big Mac

And Julian Assange is not a US citizen so your point is?

Kind Regard walker

The PFC who opened the can of beans was. I could give two shits about Julian Assange; He's a cunt yes, but as you said he's not an American citizen so the worst we can do directly to him is ban him from entry into the US and sue to have the website taken down, but that's long term..

I'm more concerned with plugging his source....preferably permanently... Anyone who sells out their country deserves to die a slow painful death.

Oh and Darkhorse and Big Mac: all u guys are doing is just compounding the embarrassment, making douche-bag comments to back up a douche-bag foreign policy.

Right and I'm sure your country lives by the words of Hello Kitty.. BTW I wasn't aware I made foreign policy for my country nor was I aware I backing up my country's idiotic moves, maybe if I did make policy the world wouldn't be as fucked up as it already is. Edited November 30, 2010 by Big Mac

[max power 21]

Please stop with the 'I know you are but what am I?' comments. Because more than one country's foreign policy is questionable at times does not mean that it's a good thing, or even acceptable. The fact that country Y does Z has no relevance to country X doing W.

[Zipper5 74]

Okay, it's obvious many people can't keep a mature discussion going longer than a page, even if this is already a touchy subject. Thread locked for now.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Zipper5

[Zipper5 74]

Thread re-opened by request. Please keep on topic and remain civil to one another this time. :)

[walker 0]

Hi all

I have, like many others, always appreciated the freedom and openness that has pervaded the BIS forum; in allowing us to discuss matters of world security and polity in the frank and honest fashion that has characterised this forum since its inception. It is one of the factors that has encouraged the intellectual quality of the forum and IMHO contributed to the quality of those who come here to use and MOD the various versions of the Real Virtuality engine.

I must say I am happy to see that, that spirit still exists.

A few decades back, I was one of the first westerners to travel to Prague after the velvet revolution; I had some links with several refugees who eventually became members of Vaclav Havel's first Government. Not long after I arrived, some people had set up stalls in the train station to sell banned books; they had been across in to Germany to buy them. As I said the Books had been banned by the previous regime and were still considered such, the stalls had massive queues, but the old style secret police were still around and promptly arrested the books sellers and confiscated the books and stall tables. The next day though, they were freed and their confiscated stock returned and they were once again doing a roaring trade.

In the light of the Wikileaks Website Address having been removed from the Internet as a result of a DDoS attack on its DNS; something that has never happened before in the history of the Western Internet and in consideration of its effects on censorship and what it may bode for the openness of the internet in the future:

3 December 2010 Last updated at 08:16

Domain name provider forces Wikileaks offline

The website of whistle-blowing organisation Wikileaks has been shut down by the company providing it with domain name services.

EveryDNS.net said it had terminated services because Wikileaks.org had come under massive cyber attacks.

It said the attacks threatened its infrastructure and endangered access to thousands of other websites...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11907641

As always follow the link to the original article in full

I think it may be time for us all to consider what is at stake here for the future of all peoples right to air their views on the Internet without fear of the midnight knock at the door.

Kind Regards walker

Edited December 4, 2010 by walker
grammar, layout

[eble 3]

Larger forces are at play now, Julian Assange will be arrested shortly in the UK, once in custody, well anything could happen.

A lot of countries will be bowing to US pressure, he could end up anywhere, I'm guessing the US will lay some sort of charges on him the moment he is arrested, he'll go Sweden and be aquitted then onto the US and probably 40 years jail or something.

Just reading some of these cables it's astounding at what was/is being discussed.

Wikileaks is back it lasted all of 6 hours...

http://www.news.com.au/technology/wikileaks-offline-after-domain-killed/story-e6frfro0-1225965338553

[[frl]myke 14]

Wikileaks hosted in (my) Switzerland? :eek:

I think i better prepare for the upcoming american invasion friendly visit.

[eble 3]

Julian Assange Q&A here 1pm GMT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/dec/03/julian-assange-wikileaks

Fwoggie

I'll start the ball rolling with a question. You're an Australian passport holder - would you want return to your own country or is this now out of the question due to potentially being arrested on arrival for releasing cables relating to Australian diplomats and polices?

Julian Assange

I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal. However, during the last weeks the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the attorney general, Robert McClelland, have made it clear that not only is my return is impossible but that they are actively working to assist the United States government in its attacks on myself and our people. This brings into question what does it mean to be an Australian citizen - does that mean anything at all? Or are we all to be treated like David Hicks at the first possible opportunity merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties.

girish89

How do you think you have changed world affairs?

And if you call all the attention you've been given-credit ... shouldn't the mole or source receive a word of praise from you?

Julian Assange

For the past four years one of our goals has been to lionise the source who take the real risks in nearly every journalistic disclosure and without whose efforts, journalists would be nothing. If indeed it is the case, as alleged by the Pentagon, that the young soldier - Bradley Manning - is behind some of our recent disclosures, then he is without doubt an unparalleled hero.

Daithi

Have you released, or will you release, cables (either in the last few days or with the Afghan and Iraq war logs) with the names of Afghan informants or anything else like so?

Are you willing to censor (sorry for using the term) any names that you feel might land people in danger from reprisals??

By the way, I think history will absolve you. Well done!!!

Julian Assange

WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time there has been no credible allegation, even by organisations like the Pentagon that even a single person has come to harm as a result of our activities. This is despite much-attempted manipulation and spin trying to lead people to a counter-factual conclusion. We do not expect any change in this regard.

distrot

The State Dept is mulling over the issue of whether you are a journalist or not. Are you a journalist? As far as delivering information that someone [anyone] does not want seen is concerned, does it matter if you are a 'journalist' or not?

Julian Assange

I coauthored my first nonfiction book by the time I was 25. I have been involved in nonfiction documentaries, newspapers, TV and internet since that time. However, it is not necessary to debate whether I am a journalist, or how our people mysteriously are alleged to cease to be journalists when they start writing for our organisaiton. Although I still write, research and investigate my role is primarily that of a publisher and editor-in-chief who organises and directs other journalists.

achanth

Mr Assange,

have there ever been documents forwarded to you which deal with the topic of UFOs or extraterrestrials?

Julian Assange:

Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules.

1) that the documents not be self-authored;

2) that they be original.

However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.

gnosticheresy

What happened to all the other documents that were on Wikileaks prior to these series of "megaleaks"? Will you put them back online at some stage ("technical difficulties" permitting)?

Julian Assange:

Many of these are still available at mirror.wikileaks.info and the rest will be returning as soon as we can find a moment to do address the engineering complexities. Since April of this year our timetable has not been our own, rather it has been one that has centred on the moves of abusive elements of the United States government against us. But rest assured I am deeply unhappy that the three-and-a-half years of my work and others is not easily available or searchable by the general public.

CrisShutlar

Have you expected this level of impact all over the world? Do you fear for your security?

Julian Assange:

I always believed that WikiLeaks as a concept would perform a global role and to some degree it was clear that is was doing that as far back as 2007 when it changed the result of the Kenyan general election. I thought it would take two years instead of four to be recognised by others as having this important role, so we are still a little behind schedule and have much more work to do. The threats against our lives are a matter of public record, however, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a super power.

JAnthony

Julian.

I am a former British diplomat. In the course of my former duties I helped to coordinate multilateral action against a brutal regime in the Balkans, impose sanctions on a renegade state threatening ethnic cleansing, and negotiate a debt relief programme for an impoverished nation. None of this would have been possible without the security and secrecy of diplomatic correspondence, and the protection of that correspondence from publication under the laws of the UK and many other liberal and democratic states. An embassy which cannot securely offer advice or pass messages back to London is an embassy which cannot operate. Diplomacy cannot operate without discretion and the

protection of sources. This applies to the UK and the UN as much as the US.

In publishing this massive volume of correspondence, Wikileaks is not highlighting specific cases of wrongdoing but undermining the entire process of diplomacy. If you can publish US cables then you can publish UK telegrams and UN emails.

My question to you is: why should we not hold you personally responsible when next an international crisis goes unresolved because diplomats cannot function.

Julian Assange:

If you trim the vast editorial letter to the singular question actually asked, I would be happy to give it my attention.

My fav quote of the Q&A, he basically set up Amazon and the US, proving freedom of speech isn't actually free, someone told Amazon to switch them off, which they did...

rszopa

Annoying as it may be, the DDoS seems to be good publicity (if anything, it adds to your credibility). So is getting kicked out of AWS. Do you agree with this statement? Were you planning for it?

Thank you for doing what you are doing.

Julian Assange:

Since 2007 we have been deliberately placing some of our servers in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit inorder to separate rhetoric from reality. Amazon was one of these cases.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Eble

[walker 0]

Hi all

John Perry Barlow Co-founder of one of the oldest and most august websites on the World Wide Web; the Electronic Frontier Foundation has tweeted as follows:

"The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops,":

John Perry Barlow co-Founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Amid the Government Seizure of 82 websites mostly Rap and Hiphop sites:

November 29th, 2010

U.S. Government Seizes 82 Websites: A Glimpse at the Draconian Future of Copyright Enforcement?

Legal Analysis by Corynne McSherry

Over the past few days, the U.S. Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and nine U.S. Attorneys’ Offices seized 82 domain names of websites they claim were engaged in the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and illegal copyrighted works.

Setting aside the due process concerns inherent in seizing any website without notice or appropriate recourse for the owner, it appears that the "raid" has swept up several sites that are hardly in the business of willful copyright infringement. For example, the the list of targets included OnSmash.com and RapGodfathers.com. Both sites are dedicated to promoting rap and hiphop, showcasing new artists and helping fans connect and share information about the music they love. According to the owners, they regularly and expeditiously process copyright infringement notices and take down links as appropriate...

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/11/us-government-seizes-82-websites-draconian-future

As always follow the the link to the original text in full

The US government is now looking to do the same to Wikileaks

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Security

Wikileaks loses domain name after DoS attacks

By Darren Pauli, ZDNet Australia, 3 December, 2010 09:24

NEWSThe DNS of Wikileaks.org and Cablegate.org have been erased in a move that may torpedo efforts to access the websites.

The websites can still be accessed via their IP addresses — http://88.80.13.160/ and http://204.236.131.131/, respectively — according to a Wikileaks list of IP address mirrors. Alternatives are also on the mirror site.

However, the DNS registration that allows a user to enter an alphabetical web address, such as www.wikileaks.org, no longer exists. Users attempting to type in the address will be served a blank page...

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security/2010/12/03/wikileaks-loses-domain-name-after-dos-attacks-40091046/

As always follow the the link to the original text in full

So what do you do?

Kind Regards walker

Edited December 3, 2010 by walker
Additions and formating

[mrcash2009 0]

Has anyone pondered the ideas that wikileaks is basicly a front or the very least manipulated into latest shenanigans, and this is a show, and the end result of the show, is to let everyone know you cant post these things, opening more laws to clamp down on internet freedoms in many forms.

To me this site is the equivalent to the underwear bomber, used to push a point, he helped scanners in airports for everyone, wikileaks helps clamp down justification for the net and "non mainstream sites" etc.

Its been too obvious, too much "for the media" for my liking. Its Oswald in website form.

Edited December 3, 2010 by mrcash2009

[baddo 0]

The bits about Russia being a corrupted "mafia" country did make me laugh out loud I have to admit. This is not surprising information at all.

And just today I heard in the news that Russia is again harassing Finnish food producers with dubious claims about the quality of our food products. It's bullshit, but this is what you have to deal with when you deal with the Russians. They make some dubious claims and block our products from their market.

This is actually normal for us. They seriously harmed our timber import from Russia (some of our pulp & paper factories had to shut down completely because of this), they have blocked our food export to Russia more than once this year, they block our people crossing the border, like border guards just seem to go missing for a day or something like that, or rules change all of a sudden so you need to pay more.

Oh, and how coincidental was it that just as our President was meeting their President, our food production facilities were being inspected at the same time. Honestly, I don't believe it was a coincidence at all. They do this sort of bullshit to apply political pressure on us and to protect their own companies.

In my opinion we should do the same to them, if they block our products, we should block theirs, and not wait an hour to do it. If the fees they impose on us at the border control go up, our fees that we impose on them go up as well, and so forth. I demand a harsher attitude from our politicians towards the bullying tactics and corruption which are both in wide-spread use in the Russian politics.

Mrs. President, whilst you seem to be quite happy to lick their boots, please do not assume it is the way the majority of us want it done. And many of us know your background and it isn't doing you a favour let's put it that way - you were lucky to get elected for the first and second term as a lot of people voted without researching what you have actually done in your life.

What the Russians do is bullshit and everyone knows it but it continues like that. It's such a corrupted joke of a country run by crooks and thugs that I feel very sorry for the genuinely honest people who try to make a living and live over there. Such a great country and culture has been ruined and is being ruined even more as we speak.

And they made new school books presenting a different history than the previous books did (some teachers actually refused to use the new books, it seems like not everyone can be controlled like puppets in Russia). I have got this advice for the Russian youth: read more than one source to get your information on historical events from, that way you can weed out the most likely bullshit.

And Putin is trying to sell an image of Russia as a democratic country to us. Vladimir Putin, you can go to hell as far as I am concerned. We who are not brainwashed by Soviet and Russian propaganda can see what is going on very well, you are not fooling us at all. It's in fact almost embarrassing to watch you do your theatre. Oh and sorry if I interrupted you choking a tiger - carry on! :j:

Edited December 3, 2010 by Baddo

[maturin 12]

And just today I heard in the news that Russia is again harassing Finnish food producers with dubious claims about the quality of our food products. It's bullshit, but this is what you have to deal with when you deal with the Russians.

That's very interesting, in that it is precisely what the Russians did with Georgian wine. Only Georgia is ex-USSR, so they just banned imports outright.

But I don't think you can fault Putin for presenting a democratic, liberal image to the world. Medvedev, maybe. But mostly he just presents a bellicose, unapologetic image that plays straight to the country's id. Those who don't like it can stuff it, basically.

Could someone tell me if there are files regarding croatia?

What sorts of things would be embarrassing about Croatia?

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

Hmm... perhaps their president is secretly a Serb? ;)

I have been reading story after story after wikileaks for the past few days. I applaud Amazon and I hope that the French are sucessful. You can spout your free speech crap all you want Walker, but spreading diplomatic cables on the internet is not covered. Spreading military documents is not covered either. The PFC who stole the documents in the first place, who assange is calling a hero (and apparently you feel the same way walker) should be tried for treason and should face a firing squad. The US may have gone easy on Assange, until he spread the most damaging files over mirrors and P2P networks. Now that he has done that, there is no deleting them. He is screwed and I hope he sees the inside of "the worst prisons on earth".

[baddo 0]

Oh, I would agree that the Assange guy is screwed. And the people who offered him his closest help (the people who gave him the leaked documents) are most likely screwed as well. I can't see how this guy can have a normal life ever again.

I am in no way saying whether it was right or wrong for him to do what he did. I just think he's massively screwed.

---------- Post added at 00:51 ---------- Previous post was at 00:46 ----------

But I don't think you can fault Putin for presenting a democratic, liberal image to the world. Medvedev, maybe. But mostly he just presents a bellicose, unapologetic image that plays straight to the country's id. Those who don't like it can stuff it, basically.

I recall Putin said something that Russia is a democratic country but that they take their history and geopolitics and peculiarities, or something to that effect, into notice when they form their own democracy.

So he has in fact formed a new definition of democracy - it is the one that he is using. It's not the kind of democracy I would want to have.

I couldn't find a quote now but he said something to the effect that they are having a democracy but they define it by themselves. It is a pretty worthless thing to say as he was effectually saying that they can change what democracy means as it suits Russia (or probably more precisely, as it suits Putin himself).

Edited December 3, 2010 by Baddo

[maturin 12]

I sympathize with Assange's motives somewhat as a war on government secrecy and deception, and a symbolic fight for a more open flow of information. A lot of what has been released is information that should be public.

And really, all this nationalistic umbrage should be embarrassing. Assange didn't hack any government websites or steal any documents, he just publishes what other people (some traitors included) stole. That's very lazy and incomplete as an argument, and I'm not trying to defend him totally, but it should be enough to make people realize that calls for his assassination are idiotic.

I really don't agree with the leak of diplomatic cables. Open diplomacy is impossible. If our diplomats can't discuss global issues and crises with the mutual understanding of secrecy, governments will put no faith in dialog and will resort to violence and coercion needlessly. It violates the rules of international relations, and it's not going to end well.

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

I agree that calls for his assassination are stupid (that canadian made me laugh though), but if he were to be found dead in an alley I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over the bastard.

I also agree that there are plenty of things (in the FIRST release) that should have been made public by the government, and while the theft was still wrong they wouldn't have done much damage. Assange should have released them after they had been sanitized of the names of contacts, etc. that could (and did) have gotten people killed.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Darkhorse 1-6

[thomas c 0]

I have never seen or heard any calls for the dimise of this chap, only from a certain "brain washed" or I imagine "young" let's say, set of peaple.

On the contrary I think he has done a great service to us all.

Let me just say at this point, flag waveing is for dogwankers. : )

[tacticalnuggets 24]

I agree that calls for his assassination are stupid (that canadian made me laugh though), but if he were to be found dead in an alley I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over the bastard.

I also agree that there are plenty of things (in the FIRST release) that should have been made public by the government, and while the theft was still wrong they wouldn't have done much damage. Assange should have released them after they had been sanitized of the names of contacts, etc. that could (and did) have gotten people killed.

Its funny that you are bad mouthing someone that you have no capability of understanding.

These people were already dead! This information already happened! Just because it was not public information does not mean a war wasn't waging behind the scenes. An information war between many countries has been happening for the last decade. These people would have been killed eventually, as intelligence operations have been killing people even when we didn't know it.

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

you can't say for a fact that they would have been killed had they not released it. Whereas if the documents had not been released these names wouldn't have been so easily available, and those people would have lived, atleast a little bit longer than they did.

@Thomas - Apparently some Canadian politician or ex politician called for his assassination. Quite amusing actually. He will be regretting that soon I bet.

[maturin 12]

Um, who died and what did I miss?

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

People who were named in the first document leak. I remember a story mentioning that several people were killed as a result.

[tacticalnuggets 24]

you can't say for a fact that they would have been killed had they not released it. Whereas if the documents had not been released these names wouldn't have been so easily available, and those people would have lived, atleast a little bit longer than they did.

@Thomas - Apparently some Canadian politician or ex politician called for his assassination. Quite amusing actually. He will be regretting that soon I bet.

Wow. No hole in that argument whatsoever... :rolleyes:

I'm sure everybody will think that every assassination will now be a result of wiki leaks.