WikiLeaks: Fruit of an unhealthy tree

[struggle4progress]

16 December 2010
Michael Fullilove

... The playing field WikiLeaks has established is not a level one. It is much easier to steal information from open, democratic societies than from closed, authoritarian ones. WikiLeaks has hinted about future Russian leaks, but so far the vast preponderance of material is American in origin. Therefore the world sees the frailties of US diplomacy in much sharper focus than that that of, say, China or Iran. Do US diplomats look good in every exchange on which they report? No. But WikiLeaks doesn't allow us to compare them fairly to their foreign counterparts ...

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/42348.html

[sabrina 1]

1. What BS. Wikileaks has published leaks from

many countries around the world. Poor U.S. crying about something being 'unfair'.

Are our wars on disarmed civilians in disarmed country a 'level playing field'. Omg, this is the most whiny, ridiculous article I have yet to see in defense of the world's biggest bully, who never cares much about level playing fields. They are crying over some of their secrets, some of their crimes against humanity, being exposed? At least Wikileaks isn't dropping bombs on them.

The leaks from the U.S. came about because of an 'unfair war'. Was it fair to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and AFghans, Pakistanis and whoever else got in the way?

If there had been no war, the soldier who released the documents would never have had to so.

Really, if you want to be the world's most powerful super power and use that power to kill, in discriminately, citizens of other countries, stop whining when people feel that the field is not a level one for the people whose countries you invade with your multi-billion dollar bombs and drones.

Stupid way to try to defend this country from a truly Free Press.

[struggle4progress]

2. The author of the material I linked is Australian; material is hosted at an Australian media site

I'm sorry if you dislike the notion of a diplomatic pouch, but it really is essential for diplomacy that diplomats be able to communicate discreetly with their home governments

[EFerrari]

3. Michael Fullilove has apparently never bothered to read a word

about Iceland or about Peru or about Nigeria, that is, he hasn't bothered to read any material before cablegate and unfortunately blames Wikileaks for his ignorance.

How embarrassing for him.

[struggle4progress]

4. Hmmm

http://www.brookings.edu/experts/fullilovem.aspx

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/author/michael-fullilove

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=Michael+Fullilove&num=10&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=%22Michael+Fullilove%22&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_sdt=1.&as_sdts=34&hl=en

[glinda]

5. Look at posts in a row. looks like a coordinated attack on Wikileaks.

[bemildred]

6. The comments are interesting. nt

[ChemDork]

10. Ever heard of the 50 cent Army?

We have versions of it, in the USA.

[bemildred]

11. I have now. But it's no surprise. nt

[ixion]

7. Mr. Fullilove is Full-o-sh*t

So many places to start shredding this fawning, ridiculous piece of infotainment, it's hard to know where to start.

[Democracyinkind]

8. Funny how Wikileaks was started in part by Chinese dissidents, isn't it?

I call bull on this. I've read juicy stuff on China and Russia on Wikileaks, too. OTHO; neither China nor Russia has started an aggressive bid for world hegemony in the last 10 years so they're clearly not the focus. Insinuating that Wikileaks would not publish a cablegate-equivalent scoop if it came out of China or Russia is simply dishonest.

And BTW - are we now honestly plugging the imperial think tank in order to defend our make-believe image in the world? The day that brookings is peddled as gospel on DU is the day that I realize that I'm way too far to the left and way too opposed to the empire as to have any sympathy left for DLC imperialists.

[rpannier]

9. This topic was discussed on RT (Russia Today) yesterday

Everyone seemed to be in agreement that diplomats need to be able to discuss with their home countries secretly.

One former KGB official commented how the Soviet Union used the old iron typewriters for years because they left no ribbon that someone might get hold of.

Thanks for posting this -- I get ABC (Australia Broadcasting) here in Korea.

Rec'd the story

[ChemDork]

12. Yes, the KGB.

An excellent source of idealism and interest in free & open societies.

[bemildred]

13. But authoritative when it comes to how to keep stuff secret. nt