First and foremost, what steps were taken to stop Wikileaks director Julian Assange from distributing this highly sensitive classified material especially after he had already published material not once but twice in the previous months? Assange is not a “journalist,” any more than the “editor” of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a “journalist.” He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. 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 Qaeda and Taliban leaders?
I don’t think that the release of the diplomatic cables is as much a glorious victory for civil society as some of the other wikileaks revelations. In general I’m not too concerned about the fact that a lot gets said in diplomatic work that would never be repeated in public – that’s just the rules of the game. I won’t go so far as to say that releasing the cables was *wrong*, but I do think it’s less important and has less of a clear-cut upside than some of their other scoops.
But that said – classifying the world’s most successful campaigner for government transparency and accountability as a terrorist is a bit much, and says something about Palin’s priorities. I had wondered for a while whether I had genuine policy differences with the woman or whether it was just her more superficially objectionable aspects that made me instinctually dislike her as a political candidate. I think this answers my question. Palin doesn’t just have ear-gratingly smug dlivery; she has a vision of perpetual war which is just as ugly as that of – well, as that of just about every other politician in power these days. Alas.
EDIT: …and that’s the charitable interpretation. The cynical interpretation is that she’s just another unprincipled operator who is happy to be either pro-tyranny or anti-tyranny depending on where the best political leverage is to be found.
Palin’s what I term as a “reactionist”. She’s useless to society for the most part. She can be entertaining I suppose at times.Assange is most likely a criminal in the U.S., but let the courts decide that if we can get our hands on him anyway. Calling him a terrorist is kind of scary. Especially from someone like Palin, who has compared free speech to a right not to be criticized by the media. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/31/palin-criticism-threatens_n_139729.html
Your EDIT is more likely correct: unprincipled operator who is happy to be either pro-tyranny or anti-tyranny depending on where the best political leverage is to be found