A bravo sierra argument ...
is this:
Quote:
from JMA
The aim (IMHO) is to sort Bradley Manning out and not try to use him to get to Assange. As the Brits will tell you... a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Oh, are the UK folks going to tell us about Kim Philby (cryptonym: Stanley), Donald Duart Maclean (cryptonym: Homer), Guy Burgess (cryptonym: Hicks) Anthony Blunt (cryptonym: Johnson), and John Cairncross (cryptonym: Liszt) ?
For them and more links, see the Cambrifge Five; and for the more diligent, The Vassiliev Notebook and The Mitrokhin Archive - at the Wilson Center, Cold War International History Project). Also, at GWU National Securiy - the Rosenberg Grand Jury Transcripts, and at NSA - Venona (the mother lode).
The idea in any conspiracy case (which includes all true espionage cases) is to determine whether there was a conspiracy (which usually means that a conspirator flips); and then who was involved in it (which usually requires lengthy interviews with the flipped conspirator and with all other leads). Instead of using the term "conspirators", you may use "accomplices before the fact" with more universal legal meaning.
When to pull the trigger in these cases is a matter of judgment - too quickly, and other birds fly; too slowly, and all birds fly. Was the trigger pulled too quickly on Manning ? Perhaps, perhaps not; I don't have the evidence to even suggest an estimate. Since the trigger has been pulled, trying to determine "conspirators" ("accomplices before the fact") is only prudent. We'll see if Manning will co-operate in tht endeavor.
Regards
Mike
It can only happen in America?
Wikileaks and Julian Assange Slapped with $150-M Lawsuit
Quote:
Pitchford said that the damage that WikiLeaks’ actions will cause will lead to a reduction of the Medicaid benefits that he relies upon for health care, because the United States may eventually run out of money.
It really seems mental health issues are getting out of control in the US...
JMA, you post interesting news items ...
and then destroy the arguments with 1/2-a$$ed conclusions. Oh well, that is your privilege.
Let's see. No attorney, and the plaintiff pays a $350 filing fee (GENERAL CIVIL CASE FILING REQUIREMENTS, p.17 of pdf) and takes a shot at $150 M. Are the odds worse than Lotto ? Probably.
However, the guy may have more method than that in his "madness". If Wikileaks and Assange do not defend, the plaintiff can default them. Now, no judge will award $150M (and Assange and Wikileaks are likely already protected against judgments); but the guy will get his 15 minutes of fame.
If they defend, the judge probably will not allow discovery of Wikileaks and Assange; but what if he did ? If so, the plaintiff might do as good a job as DoJ in investigating the direct and indirect contacts with Manning, pointing to a conspiracy (see prior post #301).
So, the plaintiff may not be able to spell, may or may not have mental health issues, but probably sees himself as a patriot - who is taking the legal approach, rather than blasting away with a 9mm Glock.
And, that is where your argument picks up apples (file a complaint) and oranges (blow someone away), conflates the two and ends up with a genuine fruit salad.
Regards
Mike
Two UK-based think tanks say
Two contrasting comments on Wikileaks: by a RUSI analyst, which opens with:
Quote:
The damage to US and allied interests lies less in the embarrassment the leaked cables may have caused and more in the real intelligence they have provided to well-organised and sophisticated international terrorist groups.
Link:http://www.rusi.org/analysis/comment...4D2DD4B6DB505/
By the more international outlook IISS, which IMHO is both wider and less alarmist.
Link:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...-sharing-data/
WikiLeaks Views Won’t Get Military Computers Wiped
From the folks at the Danger Room...
Quote:
Work for the military? Couldn’t help but view a purloined WikiLeaks cable on your desktop?
The Pentagon has to insist you delete it.
This being the Pentagon, the memo tells information experts to “delete the affected file(s) by holding down the SHIFT key while pressing the DELETE key for Windows-based systems.”
Would those info professionals not know how to delete?
Much more hysteria at the link !
With friends like these...
U.S. officials backed rebels planning Egyptian uprising in 2008: WikiLeaks
Quote:
Even as they were officially supporting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, American officials were secretly helping dissidents interested in using social media to overthrow his regime, a secret dispatch from the U.S. embassy in Cairo has revealed.
...and we learn this through Wikileaks.
WikiLeaks nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
From the folks at FT.com
Quote:
Snorre Valen, 26, a Norwegian musician and politician, said he chose to nominate WikiLeaks for promoting human rights and freedom of speech.
Some observers did not rate WikiLeaks’ chances of winning.
“To claim that [Mr Assange’s] actions have in some way promoted ‘fraternity among nations,’ to invoke the famous line in Alfred Nobel’s will, would be far-fetched, if not altogether inaccurate,” Scott London, a US journalist and Nobel Peace Prize specialist, told the AFP news agency.