hi all, it is not perfectly clear but it does appear that Wikileaks instigated a revolution in Tunisia over revelations of govt corruption. nepotism by the so-called "family". bribery, kickbacks, embezzlement etc all the way to high officials.

I have very mixed feelings on this. as much as we idealize or glamorize revolutions in this country with eg the Jeffersonian pt of view, they are nasty, bloody affairs. in english the word "revolution" has a lot of different connotations ranging from the lofty to the depraved. arguably a revolution is really not all that much different than a span/window of anarchy. hopefully, the window is brief and not so bloody if the public is lucky.

but the french revolution is one example of one of the scariest scenarios that can play out with Robospierre who was sort of like an out-of-control Joseph McCarthy except with a real, working, sharpened guillotine. or several. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. yeah, uh huh, riiiight. as new yorkers say, "and how is that working out for you?" maybe jared Loughner was the latest in a one-man Revolution.

other big news. wikileaks has info on many high-up individuals including the highest-ranking US politicians/executives who are using swiss bank accounts in a caribbean bank. hoo boy. now theres a white hot Third Rail of corporate machination international Elite manipulation lawlessness political corruption control tax evasion complicated/developing legal situation.

how about this for a headline, "wikileaks cables suggest US oil motivates US policy more than fighting terrorists"... gasp. something Ive been saying ever since early 2000s. but now the unthinkable [by joe sixpack] is at least semi-thinkable. what freud or jung might call a [gaping, cavernous] Collective Blind Spot....

another headline re Boeing-Airbus shows how the US diplomatic core runs as a sort of extension of US industry marketing departments.

much more public hand-wringing and outrage on the solitary confinement of Manning, slowly twisting in the wind as the expression goes. there is a small silver lining. increasing public awareness of cruel and inhumane conditions in US prisons.

Im including a link that reexamines/analyzes the US Supermax prison complex which routinely uses solitary confinement in questionable cases. yes after decades of politicians posturing about "getting tough on crime" the chickens are coming home to roost. US has the largest prison population on the planet and per-capita incarceration rates. do you feel more secure? the US Prison Complex seems to complexly intertwine with our familiar bad guy [well, familiar only if you read this blog I guess], the US Military Industrial complex.

in economics theres a concept of a "moral hazard" which in my summarization is basically, cases where a corporation or individuals can make a profit [maybe obscenely so] on actions with sometimes intensely negative larger social repercussions. these days it seems like our culture is rife with generalized moral hazard everywhere, far outside of the economics field. surprise! so there really is a role for good government....

goldman sachs simultaneously creating faulty mortgage pools and then betting against them [shorting them] is a good example. similarly it appears we have created massive govt-sponsored corporate incentives/subsidies for corporations to put as many quasi-criminals in high security prisons as possible. but the public and congress is still largely blind to a complicated multidimensional concept like "moral hazard" that requires you to have more than one idea in your head at a time.

and the estimated costs are staggering. it costs tens of thousands of dollars per year per prisoner. and the system does not really seem to have the slightest interest or curiosity or motive for actually reforming prisoners. in fact, one has the sneaky suspicion it might be far less profitable! because otherwise there might be less need for prisons.

* * *

elsewhere, excellent vanity fair article.  goes into the "strange bedfellows" relationship between assange and the Guardian. it seems that Julian makes independent agreements with various media outlets trying to put the material on embargo, but the material tends to circulate and then the Guardian reneged on its initial agreement with assange because it got the material from one of Assanges other partners.

its a little bizarre how assange is himself in the middle of the wild gyrations of Leaks. it reminds me of an old japanese aphorism, "the reverse side also has a reverse side". its as if he is a new Information Warlord but he cannot even control the Pandoras Box that he has unleashed. a modern Sorcerers Apprentice. the water is indiscrimately leaking and the mops are furiously mopping.

the Guardian is a very old newspaper but struggling to come up with a new model of journalism. as I have said I emphasize assange's great genius is getting information into the MSM like a virus, and he's working with the most cutting-edge elements of the MSM in doing so, and making them more cyberspatially oriented in the process.

its an intense shearing in play, "when an irresistible force meets an immovable object" continuing to play out before our eyes and the dust is far from settled. a gamechanger!

assange is not merely content to release information on wikileaks, he wants it to have impact which he discovered still requires the MSM. so even as he excoriates the MSM, he is in a sense subservient, a slave to it as is everyone else.

so to me, assange is actually hacking Consensus Reality, and that is his main goal. he wants people not only to grasp fundamentally new information & perspectives about how our world works but understand a new interpretation of that information. which we see to be largely controlled by the MSM to a great degree.

 the MSM tells us what to pay attention to and [very subtly/imperceptibly, but effectively] what to think about it. the idea that it neutrally/objectively presents information that the public reacts to is somewhat false, an increasingly untenable fantasy. the MSM is like the drunk searching for his keys under the streetlight. Assange has turned on entirely new streetlights.

do you remember the old argument that fax machines and copiers led to the downfall of the USSR & soviet republics? maybe the xerox is to the USSR as wikileaks is to the current International Order.....?

elsewhere...

suggestions of widespread CIA connections among high-up arab leaders.

US subpoena on twitter. these are "secret" subpoenas, mostly introduced in the Bush admin, that are not allowed to be publicized by the target according to law, but apparently twitter challenged it and managed to publicize it.

a lawyer Bodstrom in Sweden involved in the Assange extradition request was instrumental in an illegal rendition out of Sweden in which the targets suspects later sued Sweden in a civil lawsuit and won. Bodstrom strenuously, continuously denies to the media and also to the Swedish Congress under oath that he knew that the CIA was going to rendition the suspects. he was as shocked about that as all the rest of us.

sure, enough, Putin targeted in leaks of top secret photos of his massive mansion near the Black Sea estimated to cost $1B. I doubt putin is going to be saying anything more about "cows mooing" after this one. thats an astonishing figure. last I heard bill gates massive, sprawling mansion cost something like $250M to build. I guess those russian quasi-mafioso-dictator figures have a little more leverage in the world.

^{vzn assange saga archives}
VIII VII VI V IV III II I

Many Arab officials have close CIA links: Assange
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/137385-many-arab-officials-have-close-cia-links-assange-.html

What if the WikiLeaks Dream of an Open Society Became Reality? - TIME
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2039996,00.html

WikiLeaks: UAE Considered Keeping Hamas Hit Quiet - ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=12489742

Wikileaks' Cables Suggests that Oil Motivates U.S. Policy More than Fighting Terrorists | World | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/world/149227/wikileaks%27_cables_suggests_that_oil_motivates_u.s._policy_more_than_fighting_terrorists/

WikiLeaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza | World | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/world/149387/wikileaks%3A_israel_plans_total_war_on_lebanon%2C_gaza/

In Boeing-Airbus Rivalry, Hidden Hand of Diplomats - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/business/03wikileaks-boeing.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Why Journalists Aren't Defending Julian Assange - Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/04/why-journalists-aren-t-defending-julian-assange.html

WikiLeaks' Most Terrifying Revelation: Just How Much Our Government Lies to Us | | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/story/149393/wikileaks%27_most_terrifying_revelation%3A_just_how_much_our_government_lies_to_us

WikiLeaks’ Assange Threatened Lawsuit Over Leaked Diplomatic Cables | Threat Level | Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/vf-wikieaks/

The Man Who Spilled the Secrets | Politics | Vanity Fair
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/02/the-guardian-201102

8 Smears and Misconceptions About WikiLeaks Spread By the Media | | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/story/149369/8_smears_and_misconceptions_about_wikileaks_spread_by_the_media/

WikiLeaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza | World | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/world/149387/wikileaks%3A_israel_plans_total_war_on_lebanon%2C_gaza/

U.S. Sends Warning to People Named in Cable Leaks - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/world/07wiki.html?_r=1

U.S. subpoenas WikiLeaks' Twitter account
Group suspects Google, Facebook and others are also being ordered to hand over information
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40975656/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/

Assange lawyer condemns calls for assassination of WikiLeaks' founder
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/

Meet the people who want Julian Assange "whacked"
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/12/meet-the-people-who-want-julian-assange-whacked.ars

WikiLeaks subpoenas spill out into public realm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110108/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks

‘High-Tech House Arrest’ Fails to Deter WikiLeaks Founder - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/world/23wikileaks-assange.html?_r=1&ref=technology

WikiLeaks: Julian Assange 'faces execution or Guantánamo detention' | Media | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/11/julian-assange-wikileaks-execution-gantanamo

WikiLeaks: Locking Up Whistleblower Bradley Manning in Solitary Confinement Puts America's Depravity on Full Display | News & Politics | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/news/149410/wikileaks%3A_locking_up_whistleblower_bradley_manning_in_solitary_confinement_puts_america%27s_depravity_on_full_display/

WikiLeaks Gives $15k to Bradley Manning Defense | Information Security News, IT Security News & Expert Insights: SecurityWeek.Com
http://www.securityweek.com/wikileaks-gives-15k-bradley-manning-defense

WikiLeaks GI's complaint targets his Marine jailer - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110121/ap_on_re_us/us_wikileaks_army_private 

WikiLeaks Founder Said to Fear ‘Illegal Rendition’ to U.S. - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/world/europe/12assange.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Bodström reported over CIA terror deportations - The Local
http://www.thelocal.se/17020/20090119/

The First WikiLeaks Revolution?
http://wikileaks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/13/wikileaks_and_the_tunisia_protests

The Cyberactivists Who Helped Topple a Dictator
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/15/tunisia-protests-the-facebook-revolution.html

Vision: Can WikiLeaks and Social Media Help Fuel Revolutions? The Case of Tunisia | Vision | AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/vision/149564/vision%3A_can_wikileaks_and_social_media_help_fuel_revolutions_the_case_of_tunisia/

Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer plans to hand over offshore banking secrets of the rich and famous to WikiLeaks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/16/swiss-whistleblower-rudolf-elmer-banks?cat=media&type=article

Branding Transparency
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16fob-consumed-t.html

Twitter, Wikileaks and the Broken Market for Consumer Privacy - Techland - TIME.com
http://techland.time.com/2011/01/14/twitter-wikileaks-and-the-broken-market-for-consumer-privacy/

Russian WikiLeaks comes under attack over photos allegedly showing Putin’s ‘palace’ | Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/russian-official-praised-assange-russia-blocks-wikileaks-photos-putins-mansion/

Americans Face Guantanamo-Like Torture Everyday in a Super-Max Prison Near You
To little public outcry, tens of thousands of citizens are being held in horrific conditions in super-harsh, super-maximum security, solitary-confinement prisons.
http://www.alternet.org/story/149233/

Julian Assange
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037118_2037146,00.html

NY Times considers creating an ‘EZ Pass lane for leakers’
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110125/ts_yblog_thecutline/ny-times-considers-creating-an-ez-pass-lane-for-leakers

Statement of Events: Bradley Manning’s Primary Visitor Detained at Quantico | FDL Action
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/01/23/statement-of-events-bradley-mannings-primary-visitor-detained-at-quantico/

NBC: U.S. can't link Army private to Assange - U.S. news - WikiLeaks in Security - msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41241414/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/

Army Was Warned Not to Deploy Bradley Manning to Iraq | Threat Level | Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/army-warned-about-manning/

Secrets and Transparency  - Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/pontin/26314/?p1=A3

FBI Knocks Down 40 Doors in Probe of Pro-WikiLeaks Attackers | Threat Level | Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/fbi-anonymous/

The Times's Dealings With Julian Assange - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Wikileaks-t.html?_r=1&ref=technology

WikiLeaks Reveals Details of Mubarak's Severance Package
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/wikileaks-reveals-details_b_819122.html