WikiLeaks

Smith:  Ah, I see, I thought you meant babblers, not John Bolton, calling it a false flag attack.    Agree, Bolton is talking out his ass here (as much as Rachel Maddox is on the other side of the issue).   But my point remains that there is no evidence Russia was behind the leaks of the DNC emails.     I don't know what you mean by the cat ate it comment.   My position is that the actor(s) behind the leaks of the DNC emails are unknown, and the prudent thing to do is wait for actual evidence.

Re: my questions,  we're not talking about a spy agency in the hypothetical and how justified they may be in conducting survellience.   We're talking about the CIA, which has somewhat of an troublesome record of how they've "used their tools" in the past.   I hope you'd agree with this?  

To answer your question, I don't think anyone should be bugged unless there is a warrant and plausible reason to bug them.  Phone or TV doesn't make any difference to me.  I believe citizens of the US should expect privacy from their government, and that I as a Canadian should have the right to privacy from American intelligence agencies.  

You missed my last question though, does the activities of the CIA keep Americans safer in your view?  Or, if you prefer, more generally, do intelligence agencies exist to keep citizens safe?

Smith:  Re my questions about the CIA keeping Americans safer, sure I'll answer but I hope you will too.   I ask because I think it is at the heart of our difference here on the significance of the leaks coming out about Trump and Russia.   I'm not trying to trap you, I'm trying to come to a place where the differences in positions are clear and we can leave it there.  And perhaps discuss new evidence with a shared framework, if you will, rather than continually retreading old ground.

I think the CIA's primary purpose is to allow greater control over the population and the political narrative in the media by the state.   The purpose of survellience is to indentify threats to state interests, provide competitive advantages to favoured businesses, further American foreign policy goals and find and eliminate political threats to the elite consensus.   I believe that American foreign policy is not substantially controlled by the President or Congress, I think they have choices to make within a general strategic framework decided in state planning departments that persist outside the electoral cycle/democratic control.   I think the CIA's main goal is to keep this lack of democratic control intact - they are a danger to democracy, and make Americans and everyone else in the world less safe.

The above is a rough summary, I think, of the Glenn Greenwald/counterpunch wing of the anti-imperialist left.  

As this relates to leaks/Trump:   CNN/MSNBC are receiving leaks at an unprecedented pace since Trump took office.   My position is that they are doing this because of Trump's position on Russia, in an attempt to undermine his ability to de-escalate relations with Russia, and also whip up a useful fear of Russia/Putin in Americans.   

Some of your comments above seem to imply that Wikileaks is releasing their CIA leaks to take the heat off Trump by reminding Americans exactly what the CIA is up to.    I do think that is plausible.  

Is that enough for the table?   Would you please answer my question:   Do the activities of the CIA keep Americans safer?    It would greatly clarify for me if you would give your position first rather than just respond to my answer above.

WikiLeaks CIA Vault 7

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/379862-wikileaks-cia-vault7-data/

"We are looking at George Orwell's 1984." - Annie Machon

https://youtu.be/FKO2e99NGyI

Errand boy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/20/nigel-farage-trumps-win-part-...

I wonder why Putin would order Trump to open up communications with Assange? Interesting that Trump would use Farage for the job. Do you think Putin recommended him?  I love how bits of news get knit into webs.

I think you missed the dripping sarcasm. I think he didn't want to reveal that he was there trying to recruit Assange to endorse his intended run for the leadership of the Labor party.  With Corbyn on the ropes it seems like a good time for a hostile takeover of the only real opposition to the hated Conservatives.

 I know I know Putin is the spawn of the devil, vilely manipulating Western democracies at will while plotting global conquest. What's not to despise? If one cherishes America as the height of democratic traditions then all Russian plots no matter how specultive must be investigated by a special committee of Congress. I have a name for it, with a nice ring, House Un-American Activities Committee 

Actually I just did a CIA logic analysis on it. A post was made about Farage seeing Assange and you linked them together with Trump, relying on a story from before the inaugeration. Hell I figure if you want to maked those kinds of absurd leaps then go all the way and add it in the absurd leaps about Putin's control over Trump. Its all in good fun and my response to my belief that many on this board seem to be chasing every bone that the US MSM throws out.

The WikiLeaks Revelations and the Crimes of US Imperialism

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/09/pers-m09.html

"The WikiLeaks documents expose the US as the world's greatest 'rogue state' and 'cyber-criminal'. The monstrous US espionage network, paid for with hundreds of billions in tax dollars, uses diplomatic posts to hide its activities from its 'allies', spies on world leaders, organizes kidnappings and assassinations and aims to influence or overturn elections all over the world.

On Tuesday, former CIA director Michael Hayden replied to the revelations by boasting, 'But there are people out there that you want us to spy on. You want to have the ability to actually turn on that listening device inside the TV to learn that person's intentions.' One can only imagine the howls of indignation such statements would evoke in the American press if they were uttered by a former Russian spymaster.

The WikiLeaks documents show that the US seeks to cover up its illicit operations by planting false flags indicating that its geopolitical adversaries, including Russia and China, bear responsibility for its crimes.

Just one day after the WikiLeaks revelations, the media spin machine was already busy portraying them as part of a Russian conspiracy against  the US and indicting WikiLeaks for acting as an agent of foreign powers..."

'Double Standards': CIA Leaks Don't Stir MSM, Russia Stays in Spotlight

https://youtu.be/oF6GroMUtaE

Julian Assange Press Conference and Q&A on Vault 7, Year Zero and the CIA (03-09-2017)

https://youtu.be/uxmMt4EW3PQ

#Vault 7: Assange Answering Questions on WikiLeaks 'Dark Matter' Data Dump Release (live audio)

https://on.rt.com/86rz

Isn't he the cocky one?

He might want to remember that Moreno's predecessor cut his internet off once already. And he is a guest, not the president.

josh wrote:

NDPP wrote:

Assange Congratulates Ecuador's Lenin, Taunts Defeated Banker

http://telesurtv.net/english/news/Assange-Congratulates-Ecuador-Lenin-Ta...

"I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)', Assange tweeted Sunday night as the final election results rolled in, giving Lenin a clear victory."

Interesting that the import you take from Moreno's win, in this and other threads, is Assange.  Not as a victory for the left or for the Ecuadorian people.

Methinks you read alot into the spaces between the lines NDPP actually wrote. 

I find it truly hilarious when people complain about what other people don't post. 

Desperate enough for attention, you mean. They were made for each other.

Or maybe this is his version of a reminder about the quid pro quo.

Lest we forget...

'Al Qaeda is on our side in Syria'

https://t.co/Jq5FDgD2hr

"Email from policy advisor to Sec State Hillary Clinton"

Sources: US prepares charges to seek arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/politics/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-charg...

https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch/status/855198403843764224

US To File Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange - Report

https://www.rt.com/usa/385508-assange-justice-department-charges/

http://news.google.com/news/url?sr=1&sa=t&ct2=ca%2F0_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjC...

Pamela Anderson to the rescue!

Quote:

Anderson has been coy about her relationship with Assange, but in her new poem, titled I Like How You Resist Me, she tries to explain how her dealings with the Wikileaks founder can help U.S. President Donald Trump’s working relationship with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and many other world leaders.

“I may have some advice for Trump and May on special relationships - based on my own special relationship with Julian Assange,” she writes. “Regarding Free Speech and Democracy... It is a romantic struggle. Things that the USA and UK bring to the relationship are Bad secrecy laws. Keeping Julian illegally detained. Hating transparency and Bombing countries. It is dysfunctional and unequal, this relationship to date. I wish to help them to improve it, and make it work...”

Breaking: WikiLeaks Reveals 'Athena', Another CIA Spying Program Targeting ALL Versions of Windows (XP to Win 10)

https://twitter.com/TheHackerNews/status/865530960393064448

Quote:

How the CIA Spies On Your Everyday Life, According to WikiLeaks

And also according to Wikileaks:  "Click HERE to read every personal e-mail Emmanuel Macron ever sent or received!  You won't BELIEVE #14658!!!"

The Guardian article's comment about "guarded praise" of Trump was not changed, so I am not sure what she is talking about there.

This article was amended on 29 December 2016 to remove a sentence in which it was asserted that Assange “has long had a close relationship with the Putin regime”. A sentence was also amended which paraphrased the interview, suggesting Assange said “there was no need for Wikileaks to undertake a whistleblowing role in Russia because of the open and competitive debate he claimed exists there”. It has been amended to more directly describe the question Assange was responding to when he spoke of Russia’s “many vibrant publications”.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/24/julian-assange-donald-trum...

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29/the-guardians-summary-of-julian-assa...

Funny, no one is going after Glenn Greenwald for spinning it as the article being "completely false".

And personally, I am not sure why they paraphrased Assange's claim that Russia has "many vibrant publications" in the first place. Much more to the point. Considering how his previous relationship with The Guardian involved trying to dictate what they could and could not publish maybe it is honestly how how he thinks newspapers should operate.

Or maybe he's jealous. The most he can do is threaten lawsuits, not have people shot, poisoned, or thrown out of windows.

Quote:

Helping government authorities discredit Julian Assange and destroy WikiLeaks, mainstream media outlets twisted a recent interview to make Assange look like a Donald Trump backer

Perhaps he's not so much a "Trump backer" as a "Clinton hater".

But it's super-duper-curious that Wikileaks can't seem to dig up even a single disparaging thing about a President who bragged about "grab[bing] them by the p**sy" to a rolling camera.

Assange was still grinding that axe against her as recently as March, long after she became a private citizen.

50,000% Return: Assange Thanks US Authorities Who Forced Him To Invest in Bitcoin

https://on.rt.com/8pu1

"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange posted a sardonic 'thank-you' note addressing US authorities who forced the whistle-blowing website into investing in Bitcoin in 2010. The cryptocurrency has seen a 50,000 percent bump in value in the interim..."