Monday, November 29, 2010
Victor Davis Hanson: The Confused Morality of WikiLeaks
National Review "Under Bush, press discussion of leaks focused on their embarrassing contents (after all, it was supposedly a higher calling that made brave whistle-blowers release confidential communications emanating from the Bush-Cheney right-wing nexus). In contrast, the press now seems more interested in responses of “How dare they” to the WikiLeaks methodology — as in, how could one be allowed to break laws and leak things from the Obamian State Department, if doing so might harm liberal diplomats, human-rights activists, etc., and embarrass a progressive government?"
The Arab Press on Wikileaks
"“After its own redactions, The (New York) Times sent Obama administration officials the cables it planned to post and invited them to challenge publication of any information that, in the official view, would harm the national interest,” The New York Times said in a story published on its website. “After reviewing the cables, the officials - while making clear they condemn the publication of secret material - suggested additional redactions. The Times agreed to some, but not all.”"
Reaction to WikiLeaks documents "Several major media organisations have published detailed reports on a massive trove of leaked US diplomatic cables.
"The files address negative perceptions of various world leaders, repeated calls for US attack on Iran, and requests for US diplomats to spy on other countries' officials.
"Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said the release of the classified documents by the whistle-blower website will amount to a "diplomatic history" of global affairs.
"The leaks, so far, have drawn different reactions from mainly the western world." ALJAZEERA
Just Another WikiLeak On An Already Sinking Ship
Heritage "Leaks are not going to stop nations from cooperating with the U.S., or for that matter sharing secrets with us. Nations cooperate with the U.S. because it is in their interest to do so. And no leak will stop nations from acting in their self-interest.
"But what is in our best interest? This has not been a good month for the Obama Doctrine: The President came home empty-handed from Asia, North Korea fired artillery at South Korea just days after revealing nuclear facilities no one knew they had, and Obama failed to get the G-20 to take any action limiting trade imbalances. It was not supposed to be this way. After apologizing for all of our nation’s sins, the world was supposed to swoon at President Obama’s unparalleled charisma. As American military power withered away, President Obama would use soft power and the United Nations to manage world affairs. But like Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter before him, this progressive foreign policy vision has failed."
US tries to contain damage from leaked cables "None of the disclosures appeared particularly explosive, but their publication could become problems for the officials concerned and for any secret initiatives they had preferred to keep quiet. The massive release of material intended for diplomatic eyes only is sure to ruffle feathers in foreign capitals, a certainty that already prompted U.S. diplomats to scramble in recent days to shore up relations with key allies in advance of the leaks.
"At Clinton's first stop in Astana, Kazakhstan, she will be attending a summit of officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a diplomatic grouping that includes many officials from countries cited in the leaked cables." Related: The leaked cables make it impossible for Hillary Clinton to continue as secretary of state. Slate Magazine.
Big Peace.com has a wealth of links you can follow.
State Department Cables, Wikileaks, and Classification "Part of the answer is probably better counterintelligence: Manning should have been seen for the obvious security risk that he was. He should not have had the access that he had, but that doesn't mean that soldiers in general shouldn't have access. It means we should be looking for people who have personal reasons to betray our trust. Just as we should be looking for bombers and not bombs in counterterror efforts, we should be looking for traitors in CI, not taking steps that would keep people who need to know this information from having access to it." Blackfive
Wikileaks Hath Spoken; Now Step Aside Or Get Stampeded By Journalists Seeking Pulitzers "When Wikileaks becomes an equal opportunity leaker and starts thumbing its nose at Vlad Putin, for instance, then maybe we'll talk. The thing is, journalists and intelligence folks who run afoul of Vlad have a strange habit of getting dead. (One would think there would be a story to be leaked in there somewhere to the industrious folks at Wikileaks.)" ThreatsWatch
Outrage Now, Back Then, Not So Much "At least we know the leak of 250,000 pages of sensitive documents and State Department cables weren't being used for blackmail. Of course we'll never know about the use of 700 raw data FBI files that just happened to be in the hands of the Clinton White House (do we all remember Craig Livingstone?)."
"But what is in our best interest? This has not been a good month for the Obama Doctrine: The President came home empty-handed from Asia, North Korea fired artillery at South Korea just days after revealing nuclear facilities no one knew they had, and Obama failed to get the G-20 to take any action limiting trade imbalances. It was not supposed to be this way. After apologizing for all of our nation’s sins, the world was supposed to swoon at President Obama’s unparalleled charisma. As American military power withered away, President Obama would use soft power and the United Nations to manage world affairs. But like Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter before him, this progressive foreign policy vision has failed."
US tries to contain damage from leaked cables "None of the disclosures appeared particularly explosive, but their publication could become problems for the officials concerned and for any secret initiatives they had preferred to keep quiet. The massive release of material intended for diplomatic eyes only is sure to ruffle feathers in foreign capitals, a certainty that already prompted U.S. diplomats to scramble in recent days to shore up relations with key allies in advance of the leaks.
"At Clinton's first stop in Astana, Kazakhstan, she will be attending a summit of officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a diplomatic grouping that includes many officials from countries cited in the leaked cables." Related: The leaked cables make it impossible for Hillary Clinton to continue as secretary of state. Slate Magazine.
Big Peace.com has a wealth of links you can follow.
State Department Cables, Wikileaks, and Classification "Part of the answer is probably better counterintelligence: Manning should have been seen for the obvious security risk that he was. He should not have had the access that he had, but that doesn't mean that soldiers in general shouldn't have access. It means we should be looking for people who have personal reasons to betray our trust. Just as we should be looking for bombers and not bombs in counterterror efforts, we should be looking for traitors in CI, not taking steps that would keep people who need to know this information from having access to it." Blackfive
Wikileaks Hath Spoken; Now Step Aside Or Get Stampeded By Journalists Seeking Pulitzers "When Wikileaks becomes an equal opportunity leaker and starts thumbing its nose at Vlad Putin, for instance, then maybe we'll talk. The thing is, journalists and intelligence folks who run afoul of Vlad have a strange habit of getting dead. (One would think there would be a story to be leaked in there somewhere to the industrious folks at Wikileaks.)" ThreatsWatch
Outrage Now, Back Then, Not So Much "At least we know the leak of 250,000 pages of sensitive documents and State Department cables weren't being used for blackmail. Of course we'll never know about the use of 700 raw data FBI files that just happened to be in the hands of the Clinton White House (do we all remember Craig Livingstone?)."
Max Boot on journalism and The Leaks
Challenge to the New York Times: Publish Your Internal Correspondence "Reading the New York Times’s “Note to Readers” explaining why it has decided once again to act as a journalistic enabler of WikiLeaks, I wondered why, if the Times believes that openness is so important to the operations of the U.S. government, that same logic doesn’t apply to the newspaper itself."
Journalism That Knows No Shame "These are, after all, the sorts of people who, over a few drinks, would no doubt tell you that diplomacy is far preferable to war-making. But it seems that they have no respect for the secrecy that must accompany successful diplomacy either. That, at least, is the only conclusion I can draw from their decision to once again collaborate with an accused rapist to publicize a giant batch of stolen State Department cables gathered by his disreputable organization, WikiLeaks."
This related comment from American Thinker:
Pious and hypocritical; media malpractice and Wikileaks: "The justification for it - nothing should be secret - rings hollow. When Wikileaks starts publishing Iranian or North Korean nuclear documents, then I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Until then, they are nothing but garden variety, hate America leftists who, like thoughtless children playing with gasoline, are looking to burn us down. Stuck as they are in 1960's perpetual adolescence, they are becoming a bore to grown ups who are once again forced to clean up after their mess. "....
"Who elected the New York Times to decide what constitutes a blow to national security and what is just a "diplomatic controversy?"
"Pious, hypocritical, arrogant fools."
Journalism That Knows No Shame "These are, after all, the sorts of people who, over a few drinks, would no doubt tell you that diplomacy is far preferable to war-making. But it seems that they have no respect for the secrecy that must accompany successful diplomacy either. That, at least, is the only conclusion I can draw from their decision to once again collaborate with an accused rapist to publicize a giant batch of stolen State Department cables gathered by his disreputable organization, WikiLeaks."
This related comment from American Thinker:
Pious and hypocritical; media malpractice and Wikileaks: "The justification for it - nothing should be secret - rings hollow. When Wikileaks starts publishing Iranian or North Korean nuclear documents, then I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Until then, they are nothing but garden variety, hate America leftists who, like thoughtless children playing with gasoline, are looking to burn us down. Stuck as they are in 1960's perpetual adolescence, they are becoming a bore to grown ups who are once again forced to clean up after their mess. "....
"Who elected the New York Times to decide what constitutes a blow to national security and what is just a "diplomatic controversy?"
"Pious, hypocritical, arrogant fools."
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