The cables revealed classified information like U.S military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in Bagdad, Iraq, including two Reuters news staffs. For that, the US government and its allies wanted to arrest WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange.
Last Tuesday, the British Police arrested Assange in London for allegations of raping two Swedish women as charged by the Interpol based on the request of the Police in Sweden.
However, until this present moment the U.S or its allies has still not been able to charge him or WikiLeaks for leaking the cables.
Cables transmitted by an embassy of a foreign country is a classified material, therefore said country would do its very best to safeguard it. If there is any leak, it should either be done by someone inside the embassy or someone who received it at the foreign affairs ministry of said country.
Although there is a possibility that WikiLeaks intercepted the said cable transmission, but I think this is almost impossible.
In my opinion leaking such classified material to unauthorized parties like WikiLeaks is an act of Crime, and publishing such material as done by WikiLeaks should be an accessory to Crime.
Considering the above, I wonder why the U.S and its alllies only focussed on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and not on those inside the U.S Embassies and/or State Department in Washington.
Sources :
- Wikileaks (Swiss) Website
- WikiLeaks (Wikipedia)
- Menlu dan Menkominfo Kumpulkan Data WikiLeaks .. (Detik)
- WikiLeaks Indonesia (Newoes)
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested (The Jakarta Post)
- Assange charges center on two women, sex (MSNBC)
Image : Courtesy of WikiLeaks
22 comments:
The US has arrested the whistle-blower who actually ( well allegedly 'stole' the information. Assange did do that, the suspect provided him with it. He gave to Wikileaks. His name is Bradley Manning , a demoted US soldier ( that is pretty telling about security in the American forces, isn't it?).
So in a sense Julian Assange is kind of a journalist who just did provide public with interesting information he received. He did so rather cautiously; he published most of the news via very renowned quality papers like the NYT in the US, the Guardian in the UK and Der Spiegel in Germany for instance.
In my opinion the Obama administration acted pretty foolishly. It in fact did the same they blamed China for when that country got after Google. Moreover it is a loose-loose situation; what if they "get" Assange? It will only increase the damage to US reputation. And it can't win the battle against internet anyhow. Going by their own 'first amendment', they should want to battle it in the first place.
Actually it is an exciting episode for all those who are interested in free press. I for one hope and think Wikileaks and Assange will prevail. After many years of governments and officials assembling all kinds of private information on all individual citizens, now the tables are turned: citizens get a lot more information on classified documents of the authorities.
I really wish for all citizens of those countries that other regimes like China, India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia for that matter will soon meet their own Julian Assanges.
Sorry where I wrote:
"Going by their own 'first amendment', they should want to battle it in the first place" I of course meant:
"Going by their own 'first amendment', they should NOT want to battle it in the first place.."
wah kk, aciid mampir lgi stelah beberapa hari vakum :)
I think that you already know my thoughts on this topic Harry. Theft is still theft and publishing stolen confidential documents is, in effect, accessory to theft. I don't see any difference between these actions by manning and assange than if they had stolen detailed bank account information from the public at large and published it.
What the cablegate has done is complicate the diplomatic process and quite possibly destroy the relationships of a lot of US diplomats and their sources.
I would tend to agree with colson that prosecution (of assange) will be difficult.
mampir perdana kesini,
@Colson,
Free press is good as long as it doesn't cause any disturbances to society and country's sovereignty.
By publishing leaked ( = illegal ) US embassy cables, WikiLeaks, Assange, and also Manning, should be ready to face US' legal action.
Others who follow their step should also be ready to face same consequences.
Re: arrest of Manning
The leaked cables originated from many US embassies. But until now only Manning arrested. Maybe US authorities are too busy trying to nail WikiLeaks and Assange.
@Aciid!!!
Saya senang dengan kunjungan dan komentar anda. Terima kasih.
@PJ,
Yes I still remember your blog post, and I agree with you.
And prosecution would be difficult.
Hi Umy,
Thank you for your visit and comment.
WikiLeaks & Julian jadi populer banget. Dan orang jadi pada ngeh tentang WikiLeaks itu apa :)
Another great post. I wrote something similar on my blog. Two points , at first I thought what he was doing was good in order to keep the US Government in check but now it seems to be going to far. Second knowing that all these governments are looking to arrest him why would he turn himself in? Follow me on my blog too and check out the post.
@Cucuharis,
Saya sependapat dengan anda.
@Jhess,
I am glad to to see you again.
On your two points :
1) Yes it has been going to far.
2) The British Police has arrested
Assange for rape charges but
not for cable leaking.
The US govt has arrested US
Soldier who allegedly leaked
the cable
wikileaks emang mengglobal bahkan menjadi incaran para hacker yang ingin menjebol website tersebut....
nasib pemiliknya gmn ya?? katanya banyak yang mengincar, termasuk polisinya..
Julian Assange dah di penjara,, dia seorang hacktivist, journalis yang berani mengungkap hal yang rahasia yang seharusnya hanya menjadi konsumsi birokrasi negara adidaya itu".. walau bagaimanapun keingininan untuk mengungkap ke khalayak, dan keberaniannya untuk memaparkan hal2 rahasia amerika ke publik adalah aksi yang "berani"
@Gebyar Speedy,
Pemilik Wikileaks : Julian Assange sudah ditangkap polisi di London tapi bukan karena karena pembocoran rahasia pemerintah AS tapi karena kasus sex di Swedia.
AS sedang usaha agar dia diextradisi kenegara mereka.
@Deasy,
Saya setuju bahwa Assange memang sangat berani untuk mengungkap hal2 yang tidak diketahui umum.
Tapi pemerintah AS dan sekutunya punya hak penuh untuk menjaga rahasia mereka.
I'm, still digesting this. But WikiLeaks has provided info that would embarrass the US. Assange isn't guilty of rape or indecent assault. You have obviously read about, so I won't repeat it here.
NZ's former PM, Helen Clark, now NO 3 in the UN, should be spied on according to Hillary Clinton in one of the WikiLeaks leaks. She visited NZ recently and was all lovey dovey with my country!
lagi rame-ramenya di bicarakan nih situs, oya sob izin follow yaaa, ditunggu follow backnya :)
@ Harry: Well, I think you made an interesting point: the press shouldn't disturb society. Here we have opposite opinions; without saying that the main function of the media is to cause disturbances, I for sure think they should write, talk about, discuss and show facts which people may like or dislike, but need to be revealed for public information.
I'm all for strong governments, but oppose easy secrecy and deception of the people.
Indonesia has made indoleaks. hopefully not because of talkative. :)
@Peter/Kiwi,
The leaked cables revealed how US top officials think about foreign countries and their leaders, some of the might disturb relationship with the US.
Re: Assange has only been arrested last Tuesday and the sex case has not been tried by the court.
@Four Dreams,
Terima kasih, saya past follow balik.
@Colson,
I believe in free press and really love it.
What I meant by reports that might cause disturbance are reports that could create animosity among people of different religion, race, ideology. I think such kind of reports would not be tolerated in Holland. Please correct me if i am wrong.
@ReBorn,
Indoleaks? hmmmm ... sounds interesting. I'll google it.
thanks for info, may be useful
Hi Team Mradio,
I am glad you enjoyed this post
At first before this latest release of documents I thought Julian Assange was doing the wright thing be releasing some of the Legally obtained documents. But now with all these classified docs coming out he's no longer helping to keep the government in check but acting just as bad as a terrorist. I have a few popular post on my blog about Julian Assange and Wikileaks too.
Hi Jhess,
The leaked embassy cables are classified US govt documents, therefore publishing without
permit would be illegal.
I will check your blog.
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