WikiLeaks Julian Assange Busting a Move

This post isn’t relevant. And believe me, I dance far worse. I just think it’s funny – you know, in that Euro-trashy discothèque sort of way.

What Wikileaks Failed to Absorb

Pakistan’s been a major player in the whole Cablegate fiasco. From the U.S being terrified of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremists to false leaks, heavily anti-Indian and conspiratorial, being spread throughout the country vis a vis some of the most respected newspapers in the region – Pakistan’s been an integral player in one way or another.

What do Netanyahu and Qaddafi have in common?

Aside from a tendency toward dramatic hand gestures, both the Israeli prime minister and Libyan leader have expressed support for WikiLeaks.

Top 10 Wikileaks Palestine Nuggets

Yousef Munayyer of the Palestine Center put together a nice list of Wikileaks gems on Palestine. Here, they are in summary form:

#1. Qatar’s Prime Minister met with Senator John Kerry and discussed a variety of issues including Qatar’s views on the Palestinian issue. read

Wikileaks: U.S. Actively Ignored Iraqi Torture

This Al Jazeera English report summarizes some of the conclusions that can be made from the latest Wikileaks document dump. They show extensive torture by the Iraqi government and American complicity. Most telling is the gap between the government’s public statements about Iraqi torture not happening and what they actually knew.

CABLE NEWS: ENOUGH!

Whenever you turn on the tube to watch the news, on any channel, you don’t need to wait long to figure out where the deception is.

Most media critics focus on the actual news being delivered, and on how it’s being delivered and the choice of words and tone used – they’re looking in the wrong place. The real deception is in the news that is not being reported at all.

Pick any day and you will find this problem to be ubiquitous. In the US, the media corporations give the viewers the illusion that the three main Cable news channels (MSNBC, CNN, and FOX) represent the semi-totality of the ideological spectrum, yet they all report the same news stories except with three different sets of opinions/commentary. This past week, and still ongoing, the major stories have been: the invasion of illegal immigrants, the anchor baby (with a special edition of terror anchor baby, comes with fries and coke), the mosque “at” ground zero, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s N word. Even if you don’t watch the news for an entire week, you’re bound to hear about some of these stories from friends and colleagues who did get exposure. That is if you haven’t watched them with a Stewart/Colbert twist, for those who would normally get a heart attack from looking at Soledad O’Brien’s facial expressions.

Julian Assange at TED

Among the amazing TED talks on video posted online, this interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is particularly timely given the recent mega-leak of hundreds of thousands documents pertaining to the war in Afghanistan.

Many debate the novelty of the information revealed — some, like President Obama, argue it says nothing new, others content it undermines the government’s portrayal of the state of the war.

Whither, American journalism: CNN vs. Al-Jazeera

Yesterday, WikiLeaks leaked a video exposing a US government cover-up of the killing of 2 Reuters cameramen in Iraq in 2007. Juan Cole writes that an attack, also captured in the video, on people trying to help the wounded may constitute a war crime.