Unlimited Wikileaks Shenanigans

[Cramulus]

oooh! Blocked from my workplace though - can someone please x-post the article and a link to the relevant cable?

[Ari]

oooh! Blocked from my workplace though - can someone please x-post the article and a link to the relevant cable?

Wikileaks Releases Bank of America Documents

Thousands of leaks in 2005-2009, Iraqi War Logs, and the Afghan war logs didn't bring much heat from the United States government against Wikileaks.  However, the day Wikileaks announced that they would be releasing a leaked Bank of America executive's hard drive brought the biggest "internet sanction" in history.  It makes sense that the United States government has little care for an organization that exposes their rampant corruption, war crimes, and blatant control of  the media.  Conversely there is one United States mechanism that you don't tamper with and expect limited consequences, and that is their financial institutions.
Leaked Documents Show Bank of America had Foreknowledge of the Bail-out

Not only was Bank of America well aware of the bail-out months before it happened but executives also discussed in detail how their toxic assets were going to be offloaded to the tax payers through debt loans to China.  This correlates perfectly with a previously released leaked diplomatic cable that details Central Bank of England governor, Mervyn King , discussing almost the exact same topics in the exact same manner.

It is rather funny how the banks are so openly selfish when talking behind the curtains yet in the midst of the bail-out talks they preached the "better for everyone in the long run" speech.  With 22% of the population of the United States without a job, a 14 trillion dollar debt, and no hope for a recovery for anyone but banks and corporations in site, I would disagree that anyone but the banks and corporations are better off.  To top it all off lobbyists were successful in including the millionaires and billionaires in the tax break extensions.
Will These Revelations Change Anything?

Sadly, nothing will change and business will continue as usual.  Amazingly the United States population seems to be completely oblivious to the exposure of their owner's corruption.  They gobble up their cheap Chinese products and mainstream media and don't seem to suffer much inconvenience from the red, white and blue dick they get up their asses on a daily basis.  It will probably take the absolute worst conditions possible for the people to actively seek out the removal of corporate lobbyist owned Washington and from what we are seeing, those conditions are around the corner.

[LMNO]

You know, if Assange hadn't done a blanket release of these documents, and just leaked a few at a time, this might have had a larger impact.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Tar.

Feathers.

Ridden out of town on a rail.

[Adios]

Sadly, nothing will change and business will continue as usual.  Amazingly the United States population seems to be completely oblivious to the exposure of their owner's corruption.  They gobble up their cheap Chinese products and mainstream media and don't seem to suffer much inconvenience from the red, white and blue dick they get up their asses on a daily basis.  It will probably take the absolute worst conditions possible for the people to actively seek out the removal of corporate lobbyist owned Washington and from what we are seeing, those conditions are around the corner.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

Here is the link to the actual cable.  http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/03/08LONDON797.html

It looks like it's from the diplomatic cables that are still being released, just happens to mention King and BofA, and he hasn't dipped into his BofA stash yet.

[Cain]

Yeah, I read the Mervyn King cable a while back myself.

[The Johnny]

The effects of Wikileaks seem to be, generally speaking, negative, because it turned out to be just a sociological experiment (unintentionally ofc) to see how much shit people can take; and it seems to be a lot more than everyone expected.

Expect the banks and insurance companies to become bolder in their moves after this.

[Cramulus]

give it time. These events are still unfolding. The feedback mechanism that wikileaks represents is still quite young.


That feedback loop has been in a larval stage for hundreds of years, now that it's adapted itself to world of digital information, it's finally walking on its own two feet. There are more websites being set up to facilitate leaks, and after assange gets the axe, nobody's going to make the same mistakes again. The leak phenomenon will get more efficient and robust as it grows.


I think that years from now, Assange will be remembered as a martyr. He represents the new form of journalism, one that doesn't rely on newspaper sales or magazine subscriptions. That won't be appreciated for a while because people still think of journalism as the evening news. But if the leaks provoke people, and then they changes the world for the better, Assange will be seen as a actor in that motion and he'll be re-contextualized.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The effects of Wikileaks seem to be, generally speaking, negative, because it turned out to be just a sociological experiment (unintentionally ofc) to see how much shit people can take; and it seems to be a lot more than everyone expected.

Expect the banks and insurance companies to become bolder in their moves after this.

Actually, the reasons they've had no effect are:

1.  The public has been sold on the idea that reading them is treasonous, and will get soldiers killed, and

2.  The media will only talk about the leak itself, not the contents.  I mean, who do you think sold the public on #1?

[Adios]

There is no force on earth, nor any immoral act, nor brazen act of enslaving the American people that is capable of crushing generations of apathy and selfishness.

[Triple Zero]

The effects of Wikileaks seem to be, generally speaking, negative, because it turned out to be just a sociological experiment (unintentionally ofc) to see how much shit people can take; and it seems to be a lot more than everyone expected.

Expect the banks and insurance companies to become bolder in their moves after this.

Actually, the reasons they've had no effect here are:

1.  The American public has been sold on the idea that reading them is treasonous, and will get soldiers killed, and

Slight correction.

BTW we even got very local wikileaks style sites popping up here.

2.  The media will only talk about the leak itself, not the contents.

This is unfortunately also true on my side of the pond.

[Cramulus]

2.  The media will only talk about the leak itself, not the contents.

This is unfortunately also true on my side of the pond.

I'm being blindly optimistic again,
but this is one of the things where bloggers will probably lead the long tail.

I think traditional journalists are afraid to start reporting on the leaks as if they're true because it will open a big can of worms. Everybody's waiting for there to be a consensus on the leaks.

Bloggers have no such fears and have been dissecting the cables here and there.


Once the bloggers generate a little bit of real world action, the traditional journalists will [safely] report on that, thereby reifying the data in the cables.

[Adios]

2.  The media will only talk about the leak itself, not the contents.

This is unfortunately also true on my side of the pond.

I'm being blindly optimistic again,
but this is one of the things where bloggers will probably lead the long tail.

I think traditional journalists are afraid to start reporting on the leaks as if they're true because it will open a big can of worms. Everybody's waiting for there to be a consensus on the leaks.

Bloggers have no such fears and have been dissecting the cables here and there.


Once the bloggers generate a little bit of real world action, the traditional journalists will [safely] report on that, thereby reifying the data in the cables.

Let me teach you the way of the Jaded........

[Rumckle]

2.  The media will only talk about the leak itself, not the contents.

This is unfortunately also true on my side of the pond.

We don't get that as much here (though to be fair I only read a couple of Australian newspapers and even then mainly on their websites). However they often lump a wikileak release in the technology section rather than the world news section, which means it is slightly harder to find.

One paper even publishes some of the cables that they got exclusively, on their site (they are all to do with Australia though).