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Where's the Bank of America Leak?

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks is under a "kind of blackmail" over leaked Bank of America documents, according to the organisation’s editor-in-chief, Julian Assange.

"We are under a kind of blackmail in relation to those documents that will be dealt with over time," he said, though did not divulge the kind of blackmail the organisation was facing or from whom, saying only that "there are a range of possibilities." read more... or watch the full video (2 hrs below)

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Wikileaks.

In a world of war and economic distress, do you really take your governments word that they are actually representing you and your interests?

Imagine if Wikileaks had gotten some documents out of Enron before it collapsed. Or about the banks before the financial crisis. Imagine if it was able to leak documents about WMD before the US invaded Iraq. Imagine what a different world this might be. Wikileaks was founded in 2006, and it's work has just begun.

People calling for the murder of Assange, and for Wikileaks to be labeled as a terrorist organization are disgusting fascists. Their true colors come out at times like these. They want to destroy an organization, and snuff the life out of a human being because they have been "embarrassed".

Note the steaming piles of, um, hypocrisy - The Department of Defense has the nerve to call accidentally bombing an Afghan wedding "collateral damage" and then accuses Wikileaks of putting lives at risk? The world has seen a hundred fifty thousand confirmed deaths caused by this feckless, secretive, war machine - can anyone show a single death because of this Wikileaks publication? The bold invaders of Iraq, with the blood of a hundred thousand men, women, and children on their hands - now fret about the possibility of some heat on their informers. Preposterous.

Wikileaks, of course, did not leak these documents, and they are no more culpable for publishing them than the NYTimes. Having appeared in newspapers across the globe, these documents are clearly of interest. Wikileaks has certainly not killed anyone, and has redacted many names - in conjunction with the US Government (via the NYTimes) no less! If you label Wikileaks a terrorist organization (a group that has never committed an act of violence), then where does it end? This invented state of perpetual war is corrupting America to it is very core.

In the end, this will turn out to be a good thing. Embarrassing for those powerful people involved (oh no!), but it will not harm any relations. They will, in fact, form the basis for a more open an honest dialog among governments from here on out.



Who really deserves to be TIME's Person of the Year? Wikileaks founder or Facebook founder?



Wikileaks Redactions

Wikileaks have been redacting certain sensitive names from the cables. In most cases, this is wisely done to protect people from the possibility of harm by an unscrupulous government.

A Call For New Rules on Redactions

But there also exist some redactions which, it seems, are not names. The reasons for these redactions may be to avoid libel suits, though we, as the public, are not privy to the reasoning of Wikileaks and the media on these issues. Much in the same way that these cables require an explanation for classification, I believe Wikileaks and the media should draw up a public list of rules for use when redacting these documents. The public can then have access to the reasoning behind each redaction.

BULGARIA: BELENE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: MORE
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/07/09SOFIA363.html

Pressed to meet its own self-imposed deadlines,           to the "overnight creation" of temporary structures, and the lack of a Quality Assurance (QA) Program Plan for the temporary structures. (Construction of temporary structures during the "Demolition Phase" and “Site Preparation Phase” is a routine process and facilitates the storage of equipment and manufacturing of key construction components such as concrete).                                                                            

Interest: This document is very heavily redacted, but this is clearly not an issue of a political dissident. We are talking here about the shoddy building of a nuclear power plant by international corporations. The first redaction would seem to be the name of a corporation. This follows what could be the redaction of a whole sentence at the end of the paragraph. This should not have been redacted. This information should be put out, in full, so an investigation can be conducted into the construction of this nuclear plant so as to avoid any potential danger.

This should be investigated. We are talking about grave risks when nuclear power plants are built, especially with limited quality controls and dodgy workmanship.



A GLIMPSE INTO LIBYAN LEADER QADHAFI’S ECCENTRICITIES
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/09/09TRIPOLI771.html

Qadhafi appears to rely heavily on           and reportedly cannot travel with his senior Ukrainian nurse.

Interest: So, this can't be a name, can it? "Qadhafi appears to rely heavily on John Smith"? Maybe, but I doubt it. I'm just speculating. So, according to this, Qadhafi appears to rely on some mysterious ... plant, animal, mineral? I don't know. What could it be?

Please, feel free to speculate. We like this cable because it shows the ridiculous proclivities of a man, once a revolutionary, and now totally corrupted by his own power.



SPAIN DETAILS ITS STRATEGY TO COMBAT THE RUSSIAN MAFIA
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/02/10MADRID154.html

Grinda suggested that there are two reasons to worry about the Russian mafia. First, it exercises 'tremendous control' over certain strategic sectors of the global economy, such as aluminum. He made a passing remark that the USG has a strategic problem in that the Russian mafia is suspected of having a sizable investment in          .

Interest: This is clearly the name of a large aluminum producing corporation, but which one? I don't know, but I could speculate. A quick google search shows that Clinton pardonee Marc Rich, who was heavily involved in aluminum (check out a great book about unions fighting corporate criminal Marc Rich to save their jobs) and in Russia. So ... I don't know. I'm just speculating.