What do you see as the lessons to be learned?

My observations.....
1) Governments LIE. All of them. Not conservative governments lie. Not Liberal governments lie. Not Progressive governments lie. Not democratic governments lie. Not oligarchial governments lie.
GOVERNMENTS LIE. Period

2) If governments lie to each other as amply demonstrated by WikiLeaks, is it reasonable to expect that they suddenly turn righteous and tell their own citizens the truth? I submit that governments lie to their own citizens as well as to each other.

3) For the US, and other Constitutional representative republics---The only way to control a government is to LIMIT its power by scrupulously adhering to the Constitutional boundaries; not by stretching the words to allow it to assume ever greater power.

4) The greatest lie remains, " I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.

What lessons do you see?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

All those things are true. I would add an additional lesson learned:

This current administration evidently has no trouble with others stealing information.

I just saw a news flash on CNN, that the administration is attempting to draw up an apparatus that will prevent this thing happening in the future..
Sounds to me like they were very ill-prepared for such an occurance.

The lesson I get from all of this, is that while technoligy helps..it can also be very destructive...crippeling in some circumstances.

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CHILCUTT~
The secret to a long life. Is knowing when it is time to leave.

Wikileaks is media so it's going to be difficult going after them.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Notice-- they won't stop the lying, just make it harder to prove they're lying.

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

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Governments lie, corporations lie, non-profit organizations lie, grandmotherly little old ladies lie...How much of this is an epiphany to you?

Something brand new for Presidential administrations, Larry?

Yep, a very good example of the OTHER devious Presidents!

.......The world is still full of stupid people.

A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday condemned calls for his assassination as "absolutely outrageous and indeed illegal" and claimed remarks by Sarah Palin may prevent him from getting a fair trial in the United States.

Jennifer Robinson, of London law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, spoke out as pressure mounted on the whistle-blowing organization and Assange himself.

The U.S. authorities chased WikiLeaks from an American commercial computer network, Amazon.com, and temporarily stopped the leak of embarrassing diplomatic documents, apparently aided by freelance computer hackers.

But within hours the website was back online, publishing from a fortified bunker in Sweden.

The virtual chase was mirrored by a real-life pursuit as a Swedish court refused to allow him to appeal against an arrest warrant.

In a statement given to NBC News, the Swedish Prosecution Office said Assange had been "detained in his absence, charged with rape, sexual molestation and illegal coercion."

Undeterred by this and American attempts to silence WikiLeaks, the 39-year-old Australian continued releasing confidential government documents.

Some showed how the Obama administration and Congress helped persuade Spain not to pursue charges against members of George W. Bush's administration for allowing torture of terrorism suspects.

Meantime, criticism of Assange has mounted. Tom Flanagan, a former aide to the Canadian prime minister, has called for Assange's assassination, while former Alaska governor Palin said he was an "anti-American operative with blood on his hands" in a Facebook message Monday.

..Mike Huckabee, like Palin a potential Republican presidential candidate, also said the person who leaked the information to Assange should be tried for treason and executed.

Speaking Thursday to Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now" program, Robinson said Assange was in the U.K. but said she could not confirm his "exact whereabouts" because of fears for his safety.

"These calls for his assassination are absolutely outrageous and indeed illegal. I think that the prosecuting authorities ought to consider prosecuting these individuals for incitement to violence," Robinson told the radio station. "Obviously, assassination is illegal, and we take these concerns very seriously." duh!

She said reports he was trying to evade arrest were "absolutely inaccurate."

"One can imagine that when you have very public officials making these sorts of very serious calls for assassination that one would be concerned for their personal safety," Robinson told the Pacifica. "I also think that it raises genuine concerns when you have Sarah Palin making such allegations, for the prospect of my client receiving any sort of due process in the US."

She added they would be seeking advice from U.S. lawyers about the U.S. Espionage Act, saying a possible prosecution there was "of grave concern."

"In our view, WikiLeaks ought to be entitled to First Amendment protections for free speech. And any prosecution under the Espionage Act would call into question these protections," Robinson said.

Robinson also denied that Assange is in hiding. She said he continues to offer his cooperation to the Swedish authorities investigating the sexual assault allegations. "I must, I'm sorry, correct you that he's not in hiding evading any Interpol arrest warrant. He has genuine concerns for his personal safety as a result of numerous very public calls for his assassination. And he's obviously very busy with the WikiLeaks current works and the attacks on their systems. So any suggestion that he is evading Interpol arrest warrants is incorrect."

In her Facebook message, Palin said Assange was not a journalist "any more than the 'editor' of al-Qaida’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist.'"

"His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaida and Taliban leaders?" Palin said.

She also questioned why WikiLeaks staff shouldn't have their assets frozen "just as we do to individuals who provide material support for terrorist organizations?" and why "cyber tools" had not been used to disable WikiLeaks permanently.

U.K. asks Sweden for more details
Also Thursday, Sweden's highest court announced it had refused permission to Assange to appeal against the arrest order.

Assange has denied the allegations, which were made earlier this year after he visited the Nordic state. His lawyer lodged an appeal against the arrest order at the High Court this week but the court has now refused to consider the case.

"The High Court has not granted a leave to appeal, so the Svea Court of Appeals ruling still stands," High Court official Kerstin Norman told Reuters.

Noting the court's decision not to allow him to appeal, the Swedish Prosecution Office said in a statement that British police had asked for more information about the case regarding "the penalties for the other crimes, in addition to rape, that Julian Assange was arrested for."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40467957/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security

Once again, Newton's Third Law of Motion, finds application in the political world.

Sadly, this is nothing new.

This article is rather long, but a good read for those interested in the subject.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no2/article13.html

It speaks to the subject of Gentlemen don't read other Gentlemen's mail.

No epiphany to me. Just a reminder.
However, many people seem to think that government is all beneficent, and seeks only good for all the citizens. I just used the Wikileaks story to hopefully cause some of them to think about basic assumptions of the goodness of government.
As Representative Barny Frank said in his Town Hall meeting this past summer in response to a voter complaining that she didn't feel she could trust her government anymore. " Whoever told you to trust your government?"
Its was one of the most revealing thing I ever heard him say.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I had the same reaction. We all know that people in the government speak in half-truths, and never say what they are actually thinking, for fear that they'll offend somebody.

The surprise to me is the degree of the lying and deceipt.

While I agree little with his politics, Barney Frank is a really intelligent guy, and it is interesting to hear him speak.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

We used to tell people who were being readied for overseas posts that the management would never lie to them, but they would not tell you everything.

3) For the US, and other Constitutional representative republics---The only way to control a government is to LIMIT its power by scrupulously adhering to the Constitutional boundaries; not by stretching the words to allow it to assume ever greater power.

Exactly that's why we most hold the government to it, and why the 2nd amendment is so important.

Governments are by far the most dangerous things in the world. They are highly efficient at killing their own people as has been shown again and again.

An armed citizenry who understands their rights is the most dangerous thing to a government, this is why the try to limit this.

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