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WikiLeaks-Julian Assange - The New Age Icon
Author : ZeiTGeiST ASIA
Submitted : 2011-10-09 Word Count : 870 Popularity: Not Rated
Tags: wikileaks, assange, obama, federal
JULIAN ASSANGE is the darling of the bleeding-heart liberals and the crusaders for truth and transparency all over the world. He is believed to have created a "Truth Bank" which is immune to any kind of physical or cyber attack. Some believe that it can survive even a severe nuclear attack.
And, what is he securing in so secure a Truth Bank? Secret official documents, particularly, about half a million diplomatic cables from the US State department sources, from all over the world. These cables are secret reports by US diplomats from the countries where they were accredited. Several of these documents also contain military and even operational matters and include the names of US assets in various countries. Julian Assange also claims that he has two CDs containing names of people from different parts of the world, holding secret, numbered, accounts in the Swiss banks.
Why is Julian Assange doing all this? And what is he trying to achieve by that? As far as the United States is concerned it already has laws which require the administration to make all documents public after a certain number of years. Julian Assange, through his great whistle blowers' network is only advancing that date of publication by a few years. So there is nothing much he is contributing through his publications towards achieving transparency.
What is his position on secrecy? Does he believe that diplomatic negotiations should be conducted with the microphones on? Is secrecy such an evil thing in every situation? Julian Assange would of course say yes and that all public affairs should be conducted in broad day light and in total truthfulness. It sounds very good to hear except that we are living in a real practical world. When Julian Assange was sleeping with those Swiss girls, even if he was not raping them as alleged, he did not have the video cameras on.
And how has he managed to get hold of these millions of secret documents? Will he care to name his sources? No, he will certainly not on the ground that this would seriously jeopardize the safety of his sources. He would also claim media's privilege to protect its sources. Therein lies the rub. If secrecy is a privilege for the media why can it not be a privilege for the diplomats and for the generals and for the politicians, too? What is good for the goose has to be good for the gander, too.
He has asserted that it is for the governments to maintain the security of the secret documents. By the same logic, the governments can claim that it is for him to protect himself from the wrath of the law and that once the laws, including the ones on official secrecy catch up with him, he would meet his nemesis.
The other disturbing aspect about what Julian Assange is doing is that he is releasing documents in instalments rather than publishing them or at once as soon as they come into his possession. Is he trying to coerce or over-awe the authorities and the individuals concerned in different countries? A couple of months ago he was seen flashing two CDs on TV screens which, he claimed, were containing the names and account numbers of people all over the world, including India, who were holding secret, numbered accounts in the Swiss banks. Well, I myself and most of the twelve hundred million Indians have been anxiously waiting for those names. Julian Assange has not yet obliged. Has he also been bought over or incorporated into the system since then?
I do not think so. I think he is just a fraudster who bought over and coaxed some disgruntled elements in the US government and in the Swiss banking system to steal official data and used the same to project himself on to the world stage. Even the secrets he has divulged are nothing more than a few salacious details about routine interactions amongst diplomats and intelligence officers and their assets in different parts of the world.
The phenomenon which the liberals had labelled the 'Julian Assange era' is already over.
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