"How Barrett Brown Shone Light on Security Contractors" (Remember the Plan to Discredit Greenwald?)

[struggle4progress]

22. (1) So Arun Gupta is pushing the conspiracy theory that the Federal charges against Brown

are motivated by his alleged whistle-blowing activities. So what? Brown's very public and very adolescent behavior is perfectly consistent with the criminal charges against him

(2) I suppose the details of the PR campaign plan against Greenwald have some limited interest but

(a) The good news is, in part, that the campaign plan shows just how utterly clueless the consultants can be. Although I don't much like either Assange or Greenwald, the notion that Greenwald has been in any way central to the success and survival of Wikileaks is laughable. Assange has been an effective self-promoter for some years, and Greenwald has played no significant role there -- except that in recent years, Greenwald has reliably echoed some of the Assangist conspiracy theories

(b) That corporations hire PR consultants, not only improve their own image but also to undermine those whom they feel obstruct them won't be news to anyone who's ever been involved in a major political fight. In the cold war era, one could reliably expect a well-orchestrated barrage of accusations "Communist!" in some sorts of fights. One particular arena in which the PR game is regularly played is union organizing: some folk make money drawing up such plans for union-busting