Catchup time!
Wikileaks and Assange
-Because five media partners was not enough, rumours circulate that Assange and co. are looking for SIXTY for the release of the remaining 99% of the cablegate cable....gates. Which might be too much noise for me to keep up with, and sounds like a logistical nightmare, but whatevs. Assange is insisting on full name redaction, which wins points from me.
Also, he's got an extradition hearing on Feb 7th. Swedes, mark your calendars, and maybe rethink any internet transactions that day.
-NYT and other big news machines are considering setting up leaking infrastructure (which is funny to say), a la the Al Jazeera Transparency Unit. I temporarily overlook the hypocrisy of the New York Times in order to appreciate this little bit o' sense.
-CEO of google considered stopping the archiving of the cables, but kept on, because "it's legal". Another reason why I still like google, even though they're as close to Skynet as we're ever going to get.
-Those cheeky Anonymous guys are asking for help to take down the Egyptian government sites, presumably as punishment for being jerks and randomly beating people/press members.-There's a new Wikileaks game app. You play a TSA agent. Ummm what.
-Apparently it's been impossible to find a direct, incriminating link between Assange and Manning that would get the former tossed into Quantico with the latter. Apparently, though, for many of the case's biggest adherents, that doesn't particularly matter.
Bradley Manning
-Yet more insanity surrounding Bradley Manning: approximately the same time that the FireDogLake folks showed up to drop off a petition in support of Manning, orders from on high barred any visitors from seeing him--even pre-approved guests, and his lawyer. Aforementioned guests and lawyer then got shaken up and threatened with arrest for showing up. Manning has been put on suicide watch, which is basically the only thing worse than what he's already been going through. Every time someone in the article mentions taking "appropriate action", a little part of me scoffs and a huge part of me dies inside.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International sends a letter to the chief of the Pentagon about the "breach of international standards" that their treament of Manning constitutes.
From the Cables:
-Cable naming names of corrupt Cuban officials on the take contains the amazing quote:"Because most Cubans work for the state, the entire system -- from petty officials to Castro's closest advisors -- is rife with corrupt practices''Which implies that work for the private sector is inherently less corrupt. Which caused me to spit tea through my nose remembering Enron.
Cuba (aka Raul Castro) claims to want "normal relations" with the States. In other news, there's still a standing committee of US politicians intent on meddling in Cubano affairs and "installing democracy" in the "outpost of tyranny" (two terms which still sound batshit to me).
No word on whether a similar Cubano group exists, intent on installing good cigars and cheap beach resorts to the US.
-Apparently there's a big ol' cache of nuclear waste just sitting around somewhere in Kazakhstan that the States is worried could be picked over by terrorists.
I feel like terrorists are a tertiary problem here, secondary to the problem of RANDOM NUCLEAR WASTE LYING AROUND. Jesus.
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| Clearly, this is a sub-optimal place for a Walmart. |
-Norway to Walmart et al: "Fuck you and your questionable ethics."
Walmart et al to no one in particular: "Uh oh."
-That British-trained Bangladeshi Extrajudicial Murder Brigade I covered in a previous wikirecap is at it again, and the Guardian is all over that shit.
-Mexico border issues and something to do with the US interviewing foreign aliens. I don't even know what's going on here, but here's the cable.
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