By Judge Mark Plawecki
“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” — Voltaire
The release by WikiLeaks of U.S. State Department cables demonstrating quite clearly the criminal elements ensconced in our federal government coincides nicely with the even more transparently visible fact that the current regime has proven, once and for all, to be a puppet of, by, and for the rich.
Date Which Will Live In Infamy II saw Julian Assange arrested in London for having sex without a condom in Sweden, Reno apparently being temporarily unavailable. Also, this December 7 witnessed a joint sneak attack by Republicans in Congress with Capitulator-in-Chief Barack Obama on the U.S. budget, capsizing it $900 billion so we perhaps won’t ever forget the USS Arizona.
Never mind that top marginal tax rates more than 90 percent were in vogue when our Empire was economically thriving (in the days of Truman-Eisenhower-Kennedy). Now the wealthiest 2 percent of us can’t live without an extension of a decade-long rate of 35 percent; an onerous increase to 39.6 percent loomed in McMansionland’s front windows. Instantly forgotten in this farce is the Democrats’ nixed second proposal (after the first one of increasing rates only on $250,000-plus households failed), which would have extended the cuts on the first $1 million of every single American. But then what’s a multimillionaire to do? Thus Obama guarantees a serious primary challenge in 2012 from an actual Democrat.
The arrest of Assange on dubious sex charges fools no one this side of Eric “The Red” Holder. Assange has now been made Empire Enemy No. 1 by its apologists for, well, exposing the truth. The federal assault on WikiLeaks is a desperate message from the bowels of the imperial regime: Don’t mess with us, or else. Calls for Assange’s assassination (former Canadian PM Harper’s aide), or being “hunted down like bin Laden” (Sarah the Polar Tweet) to being charged with espionage (Dianne “Einstein” Feinstein) show the tyrannical impulse at Empire Establishment’s core.
Nowhere in our “free” (meaning non-internet) press is anything resembling truth being told. The facts are that WikiLeaks has worked with five major papers of international notoriety, including the New York Times, and has so far released less than 1,000 of the 251,297 cables given it by a U.S. government whistleblower. These papers have all published numerous cables, after coordinated (between WikiLeaks and the papers) redactions to protect innocent people. WikiLeaks had actually previously approached the State Department to help it in the redactions, but State refused. Bad move.
The cables have shown, yet again, a foreign policy of high comedy and higher corruption. In the former Soviet satellites Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, for example, we wholeheartedly support ruthless dictators who keep their populations in abject poverty. Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov profits handsomely from having the world’s largest natural gas reserves. Our cable guy: “Berdi does not like people smarter than he is. Since he’s not a very bright person, he is suspicious of a lot of people.”
In Kazakhstan, leader Nursultan Nazarbayev holds the world’s largest oil reserves. In his latest election two top political opponents committed suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head, then binding their own hands behind their backs. Clever Cossacks were they! Needless to say, Nursu and Berdi are two of our staunch allies in the “war on terror.”
The cables also reveal that al Qaeda is safely harbored and/or funded by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates — more close U.S. allies. Meanwhile, the maiming of Iraq and Afghanistan continue, to the delight of our giant defense contractors. And though Hillary Clinton orders illegal spying and theft of UN officials’ personal information, the wrath of Wolf Blitzer, heard from both CNN and the Romulan neutral zone, centers on why We the People (and he) are allowed to even learn about it. Strange journalism Wolf digested at the Jerusalem Post.
The battle lines have been demarcated in the first genuine cyber war — between those who believe in democracy, and the imperial class personified by Joe “Shut down the Internet” Lieberman, a man whose twin loyalties to Israel and insurance industries are above reproach. Democracy is a concept Uncle Joe has managed to purge from a troubled intellect now haunted by a political career of near perfect perfidy. As Assange wrote four years ago, “The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie.” Washington, look in thy mirror.
But the government will lose this war. Already, more than 500 copies of the embarrassing documents are on different web sites. As Condor noted in these pages in January, the Internet, flawed as it may be, is the only hope left for the dissemination of truth in our corporate media controlled society. By prosecuting Assange, Lieberman & Co. might unwittingly be cutting their own throats.
Mark J. Plawecki is a District Court Judge in Dearborn Heights. Confessions of a Condor offers a dissenting opinion on the current American status quo.
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