Wikileaks: when the pen is mightier than a combat weapon?

From The Globe and Mail

Watching on television and reading (in print and online) the response of the U.S. Government and some American politicians to Wikileaks' Cablegate and Julian Assange, I get the distinct impression that a large segment of the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free completely lost the plot in December 2010.

Assange is engaged in terrorism and is an enemy combatant? Now that really is believing the pen is mightier than the average AK-47!

What is fascinating about all this off-the-wall outrage is the fact that it appears that the content of ninety-nine per cent of the diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks so far has been in the mainstream media as supposition, rumour, expert opinion or stated political position for literally years.

To date nothing I've read in those cables has actually come as a surprise - just filled in the background for what I have heard elsewhere before from numerous conventional sources.

Rather ironically some of those conventional sources were 'tell all' books written by former politicians and public servants from those very countries which are screaming loudest about Wikileaks' recent disclosures.

A quiet look at Gill-bott at the end of 2010

If an Abbott-led Coalition government leading the nation would've been a rolling apocalypse for Australia, it is disappointing to find that six months on the alternative Gillard-led Labor federal government is an ongoing disaster.

What all the fuss is about

I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website - it's a grossly irresponsible thing to do and an illegal thing to do [Julia Gillard in The Age, 2 December 2010]

Is it just me or does anyone else think Prime Minister Gillard is being a little too cute in attempting to characterize the release of cables such as the one below containing this inaccurate, out-of-date list (and cables containing well-known tittle tattle concerning the former PM and former Foreign Minister) in that way?

From Wikileaks Cablegate:

¶15. (S//NF) Following is the 2008 Critical Foreign Dependencies 

Initiative (CFDI) list (CI/KR organized by region):  

[BEGIN TEXT OF LIST]     

AFRICA Congo (Kinshasa): Cobalt (Mine and Plant) Gabon: Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Guinea: Bauxite (Mine) South Africa: BAE Land System OMC, Benoni, South Africa Brown David Gear Industries LTD, Benoni, South Africa Bushveld Complex (chromite mine) Ferrochromium Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Palladium Mine and Plant Platinum Mines Rhodium EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Australia: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Brookvale, Australia Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Sydney, Australia Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Nickel Mines Maybe Faulding Mulgrave Victoria, Australia: Manufacturing facility for Midazolam injection. Mayne Pharma (fill/finish), Melbourne, Australia: Sole suppliers of Crotalid Polyvalent Antivenin (CroFab). China: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Chom Hom Kok, Hong Kong C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing Shanghai, China China-US undersea cable landing, Chongming, China China-US undersea cable landing Shantou, China EAC undersea cable landing Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Tong Fuk, Hong Kong Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Fluorspar (Mine) Germanium Mine Graphite Mine Rare Earth Minerals/Elements Tin Mine and Plant Tungsten - Mine and Plant Polypropylene Filter Material for N-95 Masks Shanghai Port Guangzhou Port Hong Kong Port Ningbo Port Tianjin Port Fiji: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Suva, Fiji Indonesia: Tin Mine and Plant Straits of Malacca Japan: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Chikura, Japan C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Shima, Japan China-US undersea cable, Okinawa, Japan EAC undersea cable landing Ajigaura, Japan EAC undersea cable landing Shima, Japan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Wada, Japan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Wada, Japan Japan-US undersea cable landing, Maruyama, Japan Japan-US undersea cable landing Kitaibaraki, Japan KJCN undersea cable landing Fukuoka, Japan KJCN undersea cable landing Kita-Kyushu, Japan Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1) undersea cable landing Ajigaura, Japan Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1) undersea cable landing Shima, Japan Tyco Transpacific undersea cable landing, Toyohashi, Japan Tyco Transpacific undersea cable landing Emi, Japan Hitachi, Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Port of Chiba Port of Kobe Port of Nagoya Port of Yokohama Iodine Mine Metal Fabrication Machines Titanium Metal (Processed) Biken, Kanonji City, Japan Hitachi Electrical Power Generators and Components Large AC Generators above 40 MVA Malaysia: Straits of Malacca New Zealand: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Whenuapai, New Zealand Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Takapuna, New Zealand Philippines: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Batangas, Philippines EAC undersea cable landing Cavite, Philippines Republic of Korea: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Pusan, Republic of Korea. EAC undersea cable landing Shindu-Ri, Republic of Korea FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Pusan, Republic of Korea KJCN undersea cable landing Pusan, Republic of Korea Hitachi Large Electric Power Transformers 230 - 500 kV Busan Port Singapore: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Changi, Singapore EAC undersea cable landing Changi North, Singapore Port of Singapore Straits of Malacca Taiwan: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Fangshan, Taiwan C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Tanshui, Taiwan China-US undersea cable landing Fangshan, Taiwan EAC undersea cable landing Pa Li, Taiwan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Toucheng, Taiwan Kaohsiung Port EUROPE AND EURASIA Europe (Unspecified): Metal Fabrication Machines: Small number of Turkish companies (Durma, Baykal, Ermaksan) Austria: Baxter AG, Vienna, Austria: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Octapharma Pharmazeutika, Vienna, Austria: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Azerbaijan: Sangachal Terminal Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Belarus: Druzhba Oil Pipeline Belgium: Germanium Mine Baxter SA, Lessines, Belgium: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Glaxo Smith Kline, Rixensart, Belgium: Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Component GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, Wavre, Belgium: Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Component Port of Antwerp Denmark: TAT-14 undersea cable landing, Blaabjerg, Denmark Bavarian Nordic (BN), Hejreskovvej, Kvistgard, Denmark: Smallpox Vaccine Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Bagsvaerd, Denmark: Numerous formulations of insulin Novo Nordisk Insulin Manufacturer: Global insulin supplies Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark: DTaP (including D and T components) pediatric version France: APOLLO undersea cable, Lannion, France FA-1 undersea cable, Plerin, France TAT-14 undersea cable landing St. Valery, France Sanofi-Aventis Insulin Manufacturer: Global insulin supplies Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine finishing Alstrom, Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Alstrom Electrical Power Generators and Components EMD Pharms Semoy, France: Cyanokit Injection GlaxoSmithKline, Inc. Evreux, France: Influenza neurominidase inhibitor RELENZA (Zanamivir) Diagast, Cedex, France: Olympus (impacts blood typing ability) Genzyme Polyclonals SAS (bulk), Lyon, France: Thymoglobulin Sanofi Pasteur SA, Lyon, France: Rabies virus vaccine Georgia: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Germany: TAT-14 undersea cable landing, Nodren, Germany. Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) undersea cable landing Sylt, Germany BASF Ludwigshafen: World's largest integrated chemical complex Siemens Erlangen: Essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals Siemens, GE, Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Draeger Safety AG & Co., Luebeck, Germany: Critical to gas detection capability Junghans Fienwerktechnik Schramberg, Germany: Critical to the production of mortars TDW-Gasellschaft Wirksysteme, Schroebenhausen, Germany: Critical to the production of the Patriot Advanced Capability Lethality Enhancement Assembly Siemens, Large Electric Power Transformers 230 - 500 kV Siemens, GE Electrical Power Generators and Components Druzhba Oil Pipeline Sanofi Aventis Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Lantus Injection (insulin) Heyl Chemish-pharmazeutische Fabrik GmbH: Radiogardase (Prussian blue) Hameln Pharmaceuticals, Hameln, Germany: Pentetate Calcium Trisodium (Ca DTPA) and Pentetate Zinc Trisodium (Zn DTPA) for contamination with plutonium, americium, and curium IDT Biologika GmbH, Dessau Rossiau, Germany: BN Small Pox Vaccine. Biotest AG, Dreiech, Germany: Supplier for TANGO (impacts automated blood typing ability) CSL Behring GmbH, Marburg, Germany: Antihemophilic factor/von Willebrand factor Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics GmbH, Marburg, Germany: Rabies virus vaccine Vetter Pharma Fertigung GmbH & Co KG, Ravensburg, Germany (filling): Rho(D) IGIV Port of Hamburg Ireland: Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing, Dublin Ireland Genzyme Ireland Ltd. (filling), Waterford, Ireland: Thymoglobulin Italy: Glaxo Smith Kline SpA (fill/finish), Parma, Italy: Digibind (used to treat snake bites) Trans-Med gas pipeline Netherlands: Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) undersea cable landing Beverwijk, Netherlands TAT-14 undersea cable landing, Katwijk, Netherlands Rotterdam Port Norway: Cobalt Nickel Mine Poland: Druzhba Oil Pipeline Russia: Novorossiysk Export Terminal Primorsk Export Terminal. Nadym Gas Pipeline Junction: The most critical gas facility in the world Uranium Nickel Mine: Used in certain types of stainless steel and superalloys Palladium Mine and Plant Rhodium Spain: Strait of Gibraltar Instituto Grifols, SA, Barcelona, Spain: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Maghreb-Europe (GME) gas pipeline, Algeria Sweden: Recip AB Sweden: Thyrosafe (potassium iodine) Switzerland: Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc. Basel, Switzerland: Tamiflu (oseltamivir) Berna Biotech, Berne, Switzerland: Typhoid vaccine CSL Behring AG, Berne, Switzerland: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Turkey: Metal Fabrication Machines: Small number of Turkish companies (Durma, Baykal, Ermaksan) Bosporus Strait Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Ukraine: Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade United Kingdom: Goonhilly Teleport, Goonhilly Downs, United Kingdom Madley Teleport, Stone Street, Madley, United Kingdom Martelsham Teleport, Ipswich, United Kingdom APOLLO undersea cable landing Bude, Cornwall Station, United Kingdom Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) undersea cable landing Whitesands Bay FA-1 undersea cable landing Skewjack, Cornwall Station Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing, Southport, United Kingdom TAT-14 undersea cable landing Bude, Cornwall Station, United Kingdom Tyco Transatlantic undersea cable landing, Highbridge, United Kingdom Tyco Transatlantic undersea cable landing, Pottington, United Kingdom. Yellow/Atlantic Crossing-2 (AC-2) undersea cable landing Bude, United Kingdom Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine finishing BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd., Presont, Lancashire, United Kingdom: Critical to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter BAE Systems Operations Ltd., Southway, Plymouth Devon, United Kingdom: Critical to extended range guided munitions BAE Systems RO Defense, Chorley, United Kingdom: Critical to the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) AGM-154C (Unitary Variant) MacTaggart Scott, Loanhead, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom: Critical to the Ship Submersible Nuclear (SSN) NEAR/MIDDLE EAST Djibouti: Bab al-Mendeb: Shipping lane is a critical supply chain node Egypt: 'Ayn Sukhnah-SuMEd Receiving Import Terminal 'Sidi Kurayr-SuMed Offloading Export Terminal Suez Canal Iran: Strait of Hormuz Khark (Kharg) Island Sea Island Export Terminal Khark Island T-Jetty Iraq: Al-Basrah Oil Terminal Israel: Rafael Ordnance Systems Division, Haifa, Israel: Critical to Sensor Fused Weapons (SFW), Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMD), Tail Kits, and batteries Kuwait: Mina' al Ahmadi Export Terminal Morocco: Strait of Gibraltar Maghreb-Europe (GME) gas pipeline, Morocco Oman: Strait of Hormuz Qatar: Ras Laffan Industrial Center: By 2012 Qatar will be the largest source of imported LNG to U.S. Saudi Arabia: Abqaiq Processing Center: Largest crude oil processing and stabilization plant in the world Al Ju'aymah Export Terminal: Part of the Ras Tanura complex As Saffaniyah Processing Center Qatif Pipeline Junction Ras at Tanaqib Processing Center Ras Tanura Export Terminal Shaybah Central Gas-oil Separation Plant Tunisia: Trans-Med Gas Pipeline United Arab Emirates (UAE): Das Island Export Terminal Jabal Zannah Export Terminal Strait of Hormuz Yemen: Bab al-Mendeb: Shipping lane is a critical supply chain node SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Kazakhstan: Ferrochromium Khromtau Complex, Kempersai, (Chromite Mine) India: Orissa (chromite mines) and Karnataka (chromite mines) Generamedix Gujurat, India: Chemotherapy agents, including florouracil and methotrexate WESTERN HEMISPHERE Argentina: Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine finishing Bermuda: GlobeNet (formerly Bermuda US-1 (BUS-1) undersea cable landing Devonshire, Bermuda Brazil: Americas-II undersea cable landing Fortaleza, Brazil GlobeNet undersea cable landing Fortaleza, Brazil GlobeNet undersea cable landing Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Iron Ore from Rio Tinto Mine Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Niobium (Columbium), Araxa, Minas Gerais State (mine) Ouvidor and Catalao I, Goias State: Niobium Chile: Iodine Mine Canada: Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada James Bay Power Project, Quebec: monumental hydroelectric power development Mica Dam, British Columbia: Failure would impact the Columbia River Basin. Hydro Quebec, Quebec: Critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of Northeast U. S. Robert Moses/Robert H. Saunders Power, Ontario: Part of the St. Lawrence Power Project, between Barnhart Island, New York, and Cornwall, Ontario Seven Mile Dam, British Columbia: Concrete gravity dam between two other hydropower dams along the Pend d'Oreille River Pickering Nuclear Power Plant, Ontario, Canada Chalk River Nuclear Facility, Ontario: Largest supplier of medical radioisotopes in the world Hydrofluoric Acid Production Facility, Allied Signal, Amherstburg, Ontario Enbridge Pipeline Alliance Pipeline: Natural gas transmission from Canada Maritime and Northeast Pipeline: Natural gas transmission from Canada Transcanada Gas: Natural gas transmission from Canada Alexandria Bay POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Ambassador Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Blaine POE, British Columbia: Northern border crossing Blaine Washington Rail Crossing, British Columbia Blue Water Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Champlain POE, Quebec: Northern border crossing CPR Tunnel Rail Crossing, Ontario (Michigan Central Rail Crossing) International Bridge Rail Crossing, Ontario International Railway Bridge Rail Crossing Lewiston-Queenstown POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Peace Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Pembina POE, Manitoba: Northern border crossing North Portal Rail Crossing, Saskatchewan St. Claire Tunnel Rail Crossing, Ontario Waneta Dam, British Columbia: Earthfill/concrete hydropower dam Darlington Nuclear Power Plant, Ontario, Canada. E-ONE Moli Energy, Maple Ridge, Canada: Critical to production of various military application electronics General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada, London Ontario, Canada: Critical to the production of the Stryker/USMC LAV Vehicle Integration Raytheon Systems Canada Ltd. ELCAN Optical Technologies Division, Midland, Ontario, Canada: Critical to the production of the AGM-130 Missile Thales Optronique Canada, Inc., Montreal, Quebec: Critical optical systems for ground combat vehicles Germanium Mine Graphite Mine Iron Ore Mine Nickel Mine Niobec Mine, Quebec, Canada: Niobium Cangene, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Plasma Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., Toronto, Canada: Polio virus vaccine GlaxoSmithKile Biologicals, North America, Quebec, Canada: Pre-pandemic influenza vaccines French Guiana: Americas-II undersea cable landing Cayenne, French Guiana Martinique: Americas-II undersea cable landing Le Lamentin, Martinique Mexico: FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Tijuana, Mexico Pan-American Crossing (PAC) undersea cable landing Mazatlan, Mexico Amistad International Dam: On the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas and Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico Anzalduas Dam: Diversion dam south of Mission, Texas, operated jointly by the U.S. and Mexico for flood control Falcon International Dam: Upstream of Roma, Texas and Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico Retamal Dam: Diversion dam south of Weslaco, Texas, operated jointly by the U.S. and Mexico for flood control GE Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators: Main source for a large portion of larger components Bridge of the Americas: Southern border crossing Brownsville POE: Southern border crossing Calexico East POE: Southern border crossing Columbia Solidarity Bridge: Southern border crossing Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) Rail Line, (Mexico) Nogales POE: Southern border crossing Laredo Rail Crossing Eagle Pass Rail Crossing Otay Mesa Crossing: Southern border crossing Pharr International Bridge: Southern border crossing World Trade Bridge: Southern border crossing Ysleta Zaragosa Bridge: Southern border crossing Hydrofluoric Acid Production Facility Graphite Mine GE Electrical Power Generators and Components General Electric, Large Electric Power Transformers 230 - 500 kV Netherlands Antilles: Americas-II undersea cable landing Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles. Panama: FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Fort Amador, Panama Panama Canal Peru: Tin Mine and Plant Trinidad and Tobago: Americas-II undersea cable landing Port of Spain Atlantic LNG: Provides 70% of U.S. natural gas import needs Venezuela: Americas-II undersea cable landing Camuri, Venezuela GlobeNet undersea cable landing, Punta Gorda, Venezuela GlobeNet undersea cable landing Catia La Mar, Venezuela GlobeNet undersea cable landing Manonga, Venezuela [END TEXT OF LIST]

UPDATE:

Glen Greenwald on 7 December 2010 in Anti-WikiLeaks lies and propaganda - from TNR, Lauer, Feinstein and more; WikiLeaks has posted to its website only 960 of the 251,297 diplomatic cables it has. Almost every one of these cables was first published by one of its newspaper partners which are disclosing them (The Guardian, the NYT, El Pais, Le Monde, Der Speigel, etc.). Moreover, the cables posted by WikiLeaks were not only first published by these newspapers, but contain the redactions applied by those papers to protect innocent people and otherwise minimize harm...... How can it possibly be that WikiLeaks should be prosecuted for espionage, but not The New York Times, or The Guardian, or any other newspaper that publishes these cables?

UPDATE:

From The Piping Shrike on 8 December 2010 in Censor what?; But the hypocrisy is flying round in all directions. All the attention of governments has been focussed on Assange, but surely the one who is really at the centre of this is the one who leaked all the documents, not the one who stuck it on a website. The dysfunctional state of the US State Department that would allow such a massive breach is of course the unmentionable throughout this whole affair. It is not the first time. At another period of dysfunctionality in the US government, when the Vietnam War was starting to go wrong, we had the release of the Pentagon Papers detailing Washington’s role in the conflict. At that time it was dropped into a furious public debate about a war that the US was starting to lose. This time a whole lot of stuff is being released into nothing.

UPDATE:

John Pilger on 8 December 2010 giving opinion on Assange and Wikileaks

NSW Health Minister gets a bi-partisan letter from NSW North Coast MPs

The following is a copy of the bi-partisan letter sent to the NSW Health Minister by NSW North Coast MPs Saffin, Georges, Cansdell and Page:

Friday, December 3, 2010.
REF: PE.03.12.10.

The Honourable Carmel Tebbutt MP
NSW Deputy Premier
NSW Minister for Health
Level 30 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000.

Dear Carmel,

I am writing, with the support of three North Coast-based State MPs, to express our deep disappointment that the NSW Government has excluded the Lismore Base Hospital Stage 3 Redevelopment from a list of priority projects for funding under the Federal Government’s Health and Hospitals Fund Round 3.

We simply cannot reconcile this decision, particularly as this long overdue, $150-million capital works project is so critical to the future wellbeing of a coastal region with one of the fastest growing and ageing populations in Australia.

Lismore Base is a major referral hospital and its importance as the public health service hub for the entire Northern Rivers cannot be understated.

Federal and State governments, regardless of their political colours, and local community leaders, have long recognised the absolute need for this final stage of the hospital’s redevelopment to cope with an estimated 30-per cent increase in patients over the next decade.

This is reflected in the extensive planning done by the North Coast Area Health Service on a proposed new and expanded Emergency Department; upgraded medical imaging; new operating theatres and wards; a new procedures centre, helipad and additional parking.

In 2005-2006, a capital options study was undertaken as part of the planning process, which signalled that capital funds were imminent and construction would start soon after.

We fail to understand how, on any grounds -- be it clinical services need, population demand or time spent waiting in the queue for funding -- any hospital could have been prioritised higher than the Lismore Base Hospital.

All of these major capital improvements, together with an increase of 90 beds and about 70 full-time clinical staff, are also what the people of the Northern Rivers expect and deserve.

At every public forum held in recent years, including a Big Ideas seminar organised by The Northern Star newspaper in Lismore last Sunday, LBH Stage III has been consistently identified as our region’s No. 1 priority.

While we realise that the Health and Hospitals Fund Round 3 is a highly competitive environment, the NSW Government now has made it that much harder for us to argue our strong case for ‘the forgotten corner’ of this State – north of the Central Coast and Port Macquarie.

As Members of Parliament who cover geographic areas beyond Lismore, we too have other priority health projects, but we know that if Lismore Base is not progressed at State level, it will be virtually impossible to get those ones looked at.

The Northern Star has a petition, which calls on you as NSW Health Minister torethink the decision, and further, calls on Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, The Honourable Nicola Roxon MP, to give priority to LBH Stage III, regardless of the current advice coming from NSW Health.

We come from across the political divide to stand unified in representing the interests of several hundred thousand Australians living in our electorates, and we respectfully ask that you act on our bipartisan approach as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely,

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page.

Thomas George MP

State Member for Lismore.

Don Page MP

State Member for Ballina.

Steve Cansdell MP

State Member for Clarence.

Cc. Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, The Honourable Nicola Roxon MP.

Wikileaks thumbs its nose at efforts to shut it down with 76 mirror site links

Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 76 sites (updated 2010-12-05 11:00 GMT)

		wikileaks.enzym.su
freeus.jsdev.org	wikileaks.kafe-in.net ipv6	wl.opsec.eu ipv6
wikileaks.challet.eu	wl.gernox.de	wikileaks.morningtime.com
wikileaks.renout.nl	wikileaks.fdn.fr	wikileaks.gonte.se
wikileaks.kaptenkong.se	leaks.gooby.org	wikileaks.dubronetwork.fr ipv6
wikileaks.perry.ch	wikileaks.sbr.im	wikileaks.u0d.de
wikileaks.81-89-98-125.blue...	wikileaks.psytek.net	wl.mrkva.eu
wikileaks.joworld.net	wikileaks.chiquitico.org	wikileaks.rout0r.org
www.gruiiik.org	wikileaks.high-color.de	wikileaks.holarse-linuxgaming.de ipv6
wl.alfeldr.de	wikileaks.huissoud.ch	wikileaks.geekview.be
wikileaks.franslundberg.com	wikileaks.krkr.eu ipv6	wl.yoltie.net
wikileaks.aelmans.eu	wikileaks.serverius.net	wikileaks.synssans.nl
wl.ernstchan.net	wikileaks.dena-design.de	wleaks.3sge.pulsedmedia.com
wleaks.hellfire.pulsedmedia.com	wikileaks.palisades-berlin.de	wikileaks.dokansoft.com.ar
wikileaks.gonte2.nu	leaks.stumcomie.com	wikileaks.timburke.org
wikileaks.myscripts24.de	wikileaks.breit.ws	wikileaks.now-pages.com
wikileaks.ego-world.org	cablegate.r3blog.nl ipv6	www.wikileakz.eu
wikileaks.realprogrammer.org	wikileaks.the-secret-world.info	wikileaks.rtjuette.de
wikileaks.rustigereigers.nl	mirror1.wikileaks.lu	mirror2.wikileaks.lu
internaluse.net	wikileaks.r00t.la	wikileaks.cordover.id.au
brd.mcbf.net	wikileaks.1407.org	wikileaks.mollar.me
azow.selb.us	wikileaks.furdev.org	wikileaks.datkan.net ipv6
wikileaks.threefingers.ca	wikileaks.brenne.nu ipv6	wikileaks.hutonline.nl
vm8157.vps.tagadab.com	nl1.wikileaksmirror.nl	wikileaks.xcplanet.com
www.wikileaks.nw-ds.com	wikileaks.infinium.org.uk	peoplerule.info
wikileaks.solvare.se	wikileaks.marktaff.com	wikileaks.hmaks.com

Sentiment in Australia appears to be favouring Assange over recent comments by the Australian Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Federal Attorney-General.
This is a snapshot of a survey question in The Age online at approximately 6.30am on 6 December 2010:


UPDATE:

Before the ink was dry on this post the number of Wikileaks mirror sites began to grow and now stands at 748+, including wikileaks.savetheinter.net and cablegate.savetheinter.net launched by Pirate Party Australia.

Wet, wetter, wettest in 2010

It is flooding across much of eastern Australia right now and thousands of people are affected in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, with many on the move ahead of rising river levels. Who else might find floods under their Christmas tree this year?

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology: The national rainfall outlook for summer (December-February) favours wetter than normal conditions in southeast Queensland, eastern NSW, northern NT and most of WA. Drier conditions are favoured in parts of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Australian Bureau of Meteorology

BOM National Warnings Summary

New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory
Rainfall and River Height Data

North Coast river levels

Cancún conference participants insist on follows the same old route

Reading between the lines it would appear that the world learned nothing from the failed processes used in the past to negotiate an as yet unrealised global response to anthropomorphic global warming and Copenhagen COP15 2009 is being revisited at Cancún with draft documents having so much wriggle room that an unsatisfactory outcome is almost a given:

Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol

Fifteenth session Cancun, 29 November 2010. Agenda item 3

Consideration of further commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol

Revised proposal by the Chair

Statements made in connection with COP 16 / CMP 6

Ending the Australian year as we began it........

Drought in some places, floods in others, coastal erosion on the go, crop worries, rising prices, state and federal parliaments closely resembling 18th century bedlams, serial political pests and too many opinion polls - the year is ending in much the same way as it began.

Here's a little something from this week's Essential Report showing pollies travelling in circles with the Coalition now on top:

Click on image to enlarge

Borowitz homes in on Cablegate

Andy Borowitz puts the recent Wikileaks Cablegate shenanigans into humorous perspective:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In the first major policy fallout from the WikiLeaks disclosures, the State Department has ordered all U.S. diplomats to “cease and desist telling the truth until further notice.”

“We are working overtime to try to make sure that leaks like these don’t happen again,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters. “But until we’ve got the leaks plugged, it’s incumbent on all our diplomats to put on their lying caps.”

Secretary Clinton noted that since many US diplomats are major political donors with long careers in the business world, “this shouldn’t be a reach for them.”

But for those career diplomats who came up through the Foreign Service, the State Department will be holding a series of “truth avoidance seminars,” led by executives of Goldman Sachs.

Additionally, Secretary Clinton said, the State Department would install on all diplomats’ computers new software called CandorShield™, which automatically translates truthful language into a less embarrassing truth-free version.

For example, she explained, the software would translate the phrase “two-faced weasels” into “trusted Pakistani allies” and would delete all references to French President Nicolas Sarkozy as “Monsieur Shorty Pants.”

Elsewhere, Interpol issued this statement about its pursuit of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: “We will find Julian Assange, and then we will hire him.”

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Some unexpected Christmas carolling

A big thank-you to Alphabet Photography

and You Tube.................