Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Sounds from the rest of the paragraph that you have pretty much decided he had it becoming because he sleeps around, which is, again, frankly quite odd. Having lots of consensual sex surely is not enough in itself to qualify you as a rapist?
No, it is not. I did not say that and at no point have I said that. But, as the Guardian reported, even his colleagues were concerned about his behaviour with women. I do think there are ethical issues in exploiting your position as leader of an organisation that makes moral claims as strong as Wikileaks' to get sex on tap.
I'm appalled by the way US politicians are acting with respect to Wikileaks and Assange (although the polls suggest a majority of the public is with them, sadly). I think talk of a stitch-up to extradite Assange from Sweden is ludicrously speculative, given what the extradition agreement between the US and Sweden, and extradition law in general, actually says. I would contribute money to a defence of such an action being taken, even though it seems unlikely.
But I inadvertently kicked off this whole theme by offering the opinion -- before this all blew up -- that Assange should go back to Sweden and sort this thing out. I'd have to say that remains my view.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to Ross Mason,
From a receiver of such an "award" that may be so. But from the giver it IS obvious they were trying to find "friendly" journalists. Surely.
I actually think the section on the journalists is hilarious, and in keeping with the bullshit tone of most what we've seen from the Wellington embassy. Read it: the author is not only claiming credit for every conceivably favourable thing any of them have written or said since, but for their subsequent professional success. Perhaps they've also written or produced some things that cast America in a bad light -- but obviously he's not going to tell the boss that.
And the reference to all the journalists by their first names is sort of sad.
Can you not see the danger of treating the blatherings of an ambassador who wants to keep a scheme that's already been cut in half (he expresses the hope that the Edward R. Murrow scheme will pick up the slack) as empirical fact? The Wellington cables are interesting and valuable in part because they give us a look inside the ambassador's head. Not a pretty place.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to Don Christie,
Isn’t that the fault of, you know, journalists?
So it is the SST that “fosters a culture of conspiracy”, no? Actually, more like a conspiracy of shit reporting.
To a fairly receptive audience, it must be said.
This thing exists publicly for 60 years, then suddenly a bunch of people start talking like it’s a scandal.
Because, in my view, the presence of any information in a Wikileaks release tends to frame it in a certain way.
I’m also extremely disturbed by the lengths to which a frighteningly large number of self-proclaimed champions of Wikileaks have gone. Like this guy, who explains why he posted the addresses and phone numbers of the two, poor Swedish women on the internet:
Posting their addresses and phone numbers isn’t intended to encourage vigilantism, but to send a bigger message to women like Ardin and Wilen – if you lie about being raped, this is what will happen to you. Your anonymity will be compromised, your life will be laid bare for all to see, and your name will be destroyed. No rape shield law or journalistic ethic can protect you. You will suffer as the man whose name you vindictively dragged through the mud has suffered.
I want women to see that their choices have consequences. If enough false rape accusers have their identities and personal data exposed to the jeering Internet hordes, others will think twice before they accuse men of heinous crimes for petty and selfish reasons.
Ugh. But he, too, believes he’s part of the great revolution. And have Assange’s lawyers done a thing to disabuse him and those like him of that notion? No, they have not.
They have consistently implied he is the victim of a conspiracy, when all the reports from Sweden suggest that Assange’s practice of treating Wikileaks as a non-stop groupie pool in a country with strong laws around sexual conduct was a significant contributory factor in what has happened to him.
I’m finding that revolting, and I don’t think it’s irrelevant. Neither are the recent defections from Wikileaks, or the eyebrow-raising internal correspondence that’s been leaked. In offering him unquestioning praise, we’re saying we’re happy with a great deal of power resting in the hands of a man whose erstwhile colleagues, and that includes the two Swedish complainants, have some very serious problems with him.
As with the two previous releases, Cablegate has revealed some very important stories (and also the spectacle of many US foreign service staff acting professionally and well). As a small shareholder in Scoop, I'm delighted that Scoop is hosting the local cables in such a useful way. But I’m not really down with the revolution according to Julian. Or with reciprocal internet vandalism – by both sides – being jazzed up as “infowar”.
Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Feel free to disagree.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Avec the odd exception, designed to make it look like it’s all lovely and egalitarian-like, yes. It’s pretty elementary PR.
And So Solid Crew, Jamelia and a number of other black, working-class British artists. And, as I noted, journalists like David Leigh, who even then was bringing down corrupt ministers.
These days, the BC in New Zealand is involved in an international creative cities programme, in People in Your Neighbourhood, a musical collaboration between Britain’s Urban Soul Orchestra and young artists from South Auckland, and in the James Dyson Award, which recognises and assists outstanding young New Zealand designers.
I think they do good stuff, and that they do far, far more than assist the “children of the elite”, if, indeed, they do much of that at all these days.
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Hard News: We are all twatcocks now…, in reply to ange wither,
In Easy A they pronounce it ‘twot’
I do believe this to be the original pronunciation.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to giovanni tiso,
The British Council in Milan was also the place where the posh got to learn English. I wouldn’t underestimate the extent in which all of these programmes boil down to enabling the children of the elites to network internationally.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to Simon Grigg,
The British one, through its Council often sends out, or invites in, DJs and bands. I quite like that bit. I would’ve been thrilled if the State Dept had sent The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys or Chuck D around the planet as cultural ambassadors
Yes. It was a shame when the British Council had a strategy change and scaled down its presence here to target other countries.
I helped organise Intermediate, a seminar that brought a dream list of interesting people to Auckland, including John Peel, Lynn Barber and -- now here's some symmetry -- The Guardian's Wikileaks main man David Leigh.
It didn't pay (why do I do so many things that don't pay?) but they fed and watered us very well, and I got to hang out with John Peel and Sheila, so I think I made on the deal.
Also, Damian once received a British Council scholarship to Oxford.
The idea, like the IVP, was to present British culture and society to people of other nations in the hope of their good opinion.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to HORansome,
Which is the by-the-by; frankly, humans have been explaining things conspiratorially almost as long as we’ve had recorded history, and so it clearly isn’t a case of WikiLeaks causing people to come up with conspiracy theories to explain recent events but rather our tendency to be conspirational explains the conspiracy theories about the WikiLeaks’ cables and their contents.
I bin schooled :-)
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to giovanni tiso,
But would you call that a failing of WikiLeaks?
I’d call it a failing of the culture it has fostered.
And besides, couldn’t it be treated like a teachable moment?
That would be good.
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Hard News: The Wellington Cables, in reply to nzlemming,
Linky no worky
Linky got no URL in it.
Edit: Fixed now!