The Flood of Leaks from Wikileaks
The Flood of Leaks from Wikileaks
Some initial thoughts
Wikileaks has added a new chapter to the information age we are living in. With 24 hour non-stop television, internet, mobile, and other hand-held gadgets people are flooded with information, and facts, sometimes distorted, sometimes not, but almost always severed from the context. Well, like it or not, it has to be like that. Why? Because people are in hurry, no time to go to details, explore meanings, and ultimately arrive at truths. Therefore, it is info and info, and very little knowledge, if at all any. Information and facts being only the raw materials, knowledge and understanding requires quest and motivation both of which relate to one’s human capacity which is unfortunately so badly impoverished in the presently dominant Western Civilization because of its total and exclusive focus on one’s material well-being and living a good life for the sake of it. Information has become a commodity to trade in, and people at large are the consumers, and there it ends.
There is no doubt that Julian Assange the founder of Wikileaks, and his whole team have really worked very hard to produce such a huge collection. When it comes to what and why of this project it is very difficult to characterize it in a definite way. However, if I was asked what Wikileaks is, I will say ‘it is a post-modern media adventure’, and if further asked what has been its impact, my reply will be ‘disturbance’. My answers do not sum up the whole reality, but they bring out the most basic dimension of it.
First, what Wikileaks is, I say Post-modern adventure, because it is not Julian Assange only, there is a school of thought, or better to say, a crude mix of a few schools of thought, and groups of people representing those thoughts who are behind Wikileaks. When I say crude mix, I mean a loose coalition of following forces:
Anarchists: Anarchy is not necessarily a modern phenomenon, but in the Western context it is a post-modern development. We cannot afford to go into the philosophical discussion of the dialectic of history here, but it does seem that the modern state and it’s apparently loose, but in reality a tight grip on peoples’ lives, has evoked a strong reaction towards all forms of control and authority. There are groups who are against all forms of management believing that people need not be and must not be managed, that is against individual freedom. The American U-bomber is one example. In his manifesto published in April, 1995 and entitled ‘Industrial Society and Its Future’ he argued that his bombings were extreme but necessary to attract attention to the erosion of human freedom necessitated by modern technologies requiring large-scale organization. Read more about this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski. There is a strong presence of anarchists and in USA and Western Europe.
Anti-War groups: Another element in the coalition is anti-war movement that has grown fast after American aggression on Iraq.
Socialists: they have a strong base in Western Europe particularly in England. One can understand why Wikileaks got itself published, not through big TV channels (Sky, CNN) but through ‘The Guardian’, A London based left-of-centre English daily.
Pro-people groups: We use this term as a matter of convenience to refer to such people/groups who believe in the empowerment of common masses as opposed to privileged groups or elites. Some of them regard governments and elites as institutions with a vested interest, who at some point in time can/do collaborate with each other against the interest of ordinary people. Loosely categorized, one may perhaps include India’s Sub Altern Studies Group (SSG) in this who believe in studying history from below, where focus is on what happens among the masses rather than the elite. eBay, the well-known online market place is yet again an example in this regard. It is not only big companies established from ages; ordinary people can become online traders and exporters of goods.
Second, what has been its impact, I say ‘disturbance’ because that is what has at least happened and everywhere. One can compare it with a hypothetical situation where a naughty boy enters a big hall where different groups of people are busy talking to each other discussing their own issues/problems, and the boy with a stick in his hand indiscriminately hits every one left and right. No one gets seriously injured nor is anybody killed, so one cannot say that the boy’s objective in creating this havoc was basically to seriously injure the person A or kill B. Wikileaks do not seem to be negatively (bringing harm) or positively (bringing benefit) aimed at one single individual or country, although there are so far a couple of leaks with huge political overtones. One, that China wanted Korean unification under South Korea, which completely expose China’s credentials as a supporter of North Korea, and as serious challenger of West’s strategic global objectives. The other, that US officials believed UK forces were not up to the task of securing Helmand province. Now this is so serious that the US Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton had to publicly express her regrets on this so that the NATO alliance in Afghanistan remains intact.
There is a huge amount of information contained in Wikileaks, but there is hardly anything new. For example, the Saudi King requested USA to attack Iran is nothing new, everyone knows that Saudi Kingdom along with other Sheikhdoms and Egypt consider Iran, and not Israel, as the main threat in the region. The brutal war imposed on Iran by Saddam soon after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 was mainly financed by Ale-Saud and al-Khilifah dynasty of Kuwait. Likewise the fact that Pakistan’s rulers or aspirants to power, Mullahs and Misters alike, all knock the doors of US for favour, is known to any and everyone living a politically conscious life.
An important concluding remark: Leaks by Wikileaks are in a way useful. The public opinion these leaks have created is more fertile for a genuine change in the world. The world needs a change and is destined for one, not a superficial change involving change of nomenclature, but a basic change with a change in the overall civilizational direction, and goals. The world should become a place of ever lasting benefit and gain for the human being. He/she is on a time bound mission in this world, and should pass on to the next stage of life (the life hereafter) without loss, a loss that is bound to occur, as Allah (SWT) says in the noble Quran, should people turn their back on the Divine guidance, and get lost in the race for grabbing more and more comforts for this life alone. A real change involves two autonomous efforts: first, a voluntary withdrawal from the present which is not good and needs to be changed: second , a constant effort to build what is not but should be. Wikileaks, and all other schools of thought underpinning it can play a useful role in the first effort because they expose the evil associated with the present, but when it comes to the positive effort of building up genuine alternatives, only Islam will lead the way. Islamic Republic of Iran is undoubtedly shouldering this mission now. As the present world order keeps digging its own grave, and getting exposed, the Islamic Republic should continue growing stronger, championing the universal goals of Islam. That, in other words, would mean that a void is constantly getting created, and at the same time, a genuine alternative to fill the void is also gradually emerging. For the world to change for the better, the two processes should go hand in hand.
About Blogger:
Dr. Syed M. Inayatullah Andrabi is the founder convenor of Mahazi-Islami, Occupied Kashmir. He is an intellectual-political activist from Srinagar, capital city of occupied Kashmir.
Most of us know in one way or other that to be in power the road passes through US in the Muslim world (barring few exceptions where Iran stands at the front). Pakistan and Arab countries appear at the top of the list where leaders- religious or non-religious, civil or military have always believed that US blessings are a must to be in power. Since road to power tunnel through US and that is why most of the leaders in the Muslim world are not elected rather imposed or self-appointed, which helps US in executing their policies without a second of resistance from the Muslim world. Therefore, these leaks are nothing new but they simply put a stamp of confirmation on these leaks.
I just can’t understand why we Muslims consider everything from the Zionist regime and US and why we believe in the conspiracy theories. Now the case of wikileaks, in this case as well most of Muslims blame Zionist regimes where as whatever leaks these leaks are leaking are in fact true. We Muslims got to get out of the box of blaming Zionists and US for all the mess we have created ourselves, thanks to the leaders and kings ruling the Muslim world.
I am bit confused.I read some articles claiming wikileas as fraud.Then President Ahmedinajad also said that they were incredible.However,your article is really useful.It raises many important points and i am really benifitted.May be when i thin more about it my confusion is washed off. I hope you will continue to guide us.May Allah reward you.
i agrre with mr. rebel
Go through the commentry of Zaid Hamid on ARY programme with Dr. Shahid Masood on Wikileaks.
Nice article
I think we got to come out of the state of mind we Muslims are in as we always tend to blame others for our mess. It seems if we Muslims suffer from constipation we will blame US and Zionists.
Wikileaks leak about India, Israel & Afghanistan also visit the link below :- http://www.mahazi-islami.com/features/articles.asp?ID=175
Even if Iran’s president have called wikileaks not reliable but it won’t make any impact since the leaks leaked by these wikileaks are fact and true in nature.
To Ishfaq Ahmed: We have to keep our eyes open to see, and never behave like an ostrich, ears open to hear, and never shut our ears before listening to what one tries to say, but, it is ultimately our mind that will decide. I saw some people outrightly characterizing Wikileaks as CIA, Mossad, etc.etc. but they are simply using buzz words. Dr Ahmedinajad’s case is altogether different, his words have to be taken seriously, he is one of the most sincerest guys committed to Islam. As far as I made of what he said is that Wikileaks should not dictate our agenda, we know our friends and enemies(better and before Wikileaks), we know when to deal with whom and how. That is absolutely right, on a TV channel when I was asked about Wikileaks, I said that we should not let Wikileaks shape the thinking of innocent people; yes Wikileaks, as I said in the article above, has exposed a lot which can be beneficially used, but we should educate people’s mind on the bigger project, which is establishment of a just world order on the basis of Islam under ‘muttaqi’ leadership.
The problem is that Muslim world is now overwhelmed with people like Zaid Hamid who just want us to believe in conspiracy theories. People like Zaid Hamid are there to manufacture these conspiracy theories to blow them in public, which directly plays a role in drifting the needed attention of Muslims to the problems they are in. We Muslims are in problems due to the mess created by us intentionally or unintentionally. Lets get our act together and be rationale and sensible rather than to believe Zaid Hamid league of people.
@ Nazeer: I think we should not jump to the conclusions drawn by people like Zaid Hamid. Let logic, rationality and sensibility be our tools to measure the thing.
Dear Aijaz Actually So called Muslim leader have created mess and what is happening in Middle East or South Asia (like india and Pakistan) they present it in such a way that all blame goes to Zionists. India and other so called Muslim leaders in other countries are not coming under scanner and they are the big sinners.
To Nazeer Motta: I watched Dr Shahid Masood with Zaid Hamid. Actually, a mindset is being built where as Ajaz Khan rightly says ‘if we Muslims suffer from constipation we will blame US and Zionists’.Zaid Hamid typifies this approach. He claimed with cent per cent confidence that the hacking could have not taken place without Mossad’s help. How ignorant, as a student of computer science, I can confirm that, in theory at least, any and everything stored on cyberspace can be accessed by a person who knows how to do it. It is simple: Computer is a machine, and does what we want it to do, the only thing is we must know how to communicate. The way to communicate is through a set of instructions written in a language called programming language. If we want to hide some thing from others, we encrypt it which is a program(a set of instructions). It can be decoded yet by another set of instructions, so Mossad is not necessarily needed at any stage. It is high time we must forcefully reject the spicy, popular, emotion-arousing politics and political discourse. As long as we do not start looking at ourselves no change is possible.
Doesn’t Assange deserves applauds for displaying the real face of the sole super power. Assange raised against the lone super power at least on moral grounds.
“The tagline of Wikileaks is ‘ We Open Up Governments’. That includes both American and non- American. Most of these cables have exposed non-Muslim regimes and not only Muslims anyway. So, bringing religion into play and pro-west and anti- Muslim rags don’t suffix here, because the intention behind leaking those diplomatic cables is to provide dissemination of factual truth and discourse in justice. The aim of Wikileaks is to ground basis for just journalism so that each citizen of the world can see through the prism of absolute reality, and not through ‘corporate newsroom bulletins’, where money and parti pris makes the news. I want to justify some of the arguments already floating in the world media, and articulated by the author: Socialist Connection: Guardian have been advocates of ‘Democratic Socialism’ like the Labor party, idealized through Orwellian thought. It’s interesting to know why WikiLeaks wanted to get itself known through The Guardian. Saudi and Iran: Arabs regard Iran more of a political and economic competitor, and very less of a Muslim ally. They want to crush Iran’s growing strategical position in the Middle East and they also want to deplete their ardent resistance to western powers. This is a known fact. Saudi and Iran always had cold relations, if not fiery hostility. Biases and prejudices will suffer greatly. It is an open source organisation, however, they don’t comprise on authenticity of the submitted information: A futuristic concept which will change the fate of journalism and newsworthiness forever. Why to oppose an information from an ethical and reformatory institution as a terrorist organisation? Why shouldn’t the world know the cruel realities behind the offensive strategies in Aghanistan or in Iraq, the motives of materialistic Saudis or the prisoner trading of Slovenia? Is it that after these regimes have been clearly accused or tarnished in the world public, they stand a strong defense by questioning these cables in terms of legal accountability? There is an interesting point to know which is that this diplomatic information is ‘not’ leaked on wires, but through PDF’s and emails via secured networks. They have an arcanum and extremely confidential membership. It works outside the bounds of any western government: ‘Neo-imperialists’ which people, mostly from the non-western countries like to say. A very nice article to read.
Wikileaks just put the stamp of confirmation on the leaks, which in fact, are true. These leaks proved now beyond any doubt about the state of mind of self-imposed rulers of the Muslim world barring Iran, which in fact, have the true representation of the masses.
THIS PAGE SEEMS TO BE DOMINATED BY CRITICS OF ZAID HAMID.INSTEAD OF CONDEMING ANTI ISLAM FORCES,U PPL R MORE INTRESTED IN QUESTIONING ZAID HAMID’S INTENTION & SO ON.YES ITS 100% TRUE,ILLEGITIMATE STATE OF ISRAEL,US & ITS ALL ALLIES R RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CURRENT MESS AROUND THE WORLD.
Wiki has done its job well. Change can be effected by positive intelective monority through knowedge and strategy. And not by terror or demogogy under the garb of Islam. See Jews, a fringe minority on the globe having a domineering role. They are equipped with knowledge and knowledger is power.
Dear brothers on the blog I am forwading an article which may help us to reach some conclusion about wikileaks. WikiLeaks: Advancing an Israeli Agenda? by Maidhc Ó Cathail (Saturday, December 11, 2010) Like 9/11, WikiLeaks has been singularly good for Israel. Asked on the night of September 11, 2001 what the terrorist attacks meant for U.S.-Israel relations, Benjamin Netanyahu, the then former prime minister, tactlessly but accurately replied, “It’s very good.” And on the day after WikiLeaks’ publication of U.S. diplomatic cables, Netanyahu “strode” into a press conference at the Israeli Journalists Association, looking “undoubtedly delighted” with the group’s latest embarrassment of U.S. President Barack Obama. “Thanks to WikiLeaks,” Aluf Benn wrote in Haaretz, “there is now no fear Washington will exert heavy pressure on Israel to freeze settlement construction or to accelerate negotiations on a withdrawal from the territories.” Instead, also courtesy of WikiLeaks, the world’s attention had been shifted exactly where a “vindicated” Netanyahu wanted it – toward Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons programme. “Our region has been hostage to a narrative that is the result of 60 years of propaganda, which paints Israel as the greatest threat,” Netanyahu told the assembled journalists. “In reality leaders understand that that view is bankrupt. For the first time in history there is agreement that Iran is the threat.” While there is considerable dispute about the extent to which Arab leaders share Netanyahu’s understanding of “the Iranian threat,” the Arab public overwhelmingly considers Israel to be a far greater threat. Nevertheless, according to Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit, Julian Assange “has shattered the accepted dogma on the understanding in the Middle East in the 21st century.” WikiLeaks, crowed Shavit, “proved” that the Israeli occupation and colonisation of Palestine was not the main cause of instability in the Middle East. Instead, the secret cables “revealed” that “the entire Arab world” is concerned about “one problem only — Iran, Iran, Iran.” Thus, Shavit concluded, the only way to bring peace to the region was to deal with “Iran first.” Strangely, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seems to accept the Israeli vision of “war is peace” in the Middle East. In an interview with Time magazine, Assange singled out Netanyahu as an example of a world leader who believed the publication of Arab leaders’ provocative privately expressed comments “will lead to some kind of increase in the peace process in the Middle East and particularly in relation to Iran.” Even more puzzling, Assange had an op-ed piece in Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian, in which he quoted something the media mogul had written in 1958: “In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.” In choosing another pro-Israelapologist as a model of transparency, is it possible that Assange is ignorant of the key role played by Murdoch’s media empire in propagating the lies that led the New York Times to dub the war in Iraq “Mr. Murdoch’s War”? Assange seems equally oblivious to the significant contribution made by the New York Times itself to the war whose conduct he now claims to oppose. On September 8, 2002, the paper of record led with a front-page story by Judith Miller and Michael Gordon, which falsely claimed that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy aluminium tubes as part of its “worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb.” As Michael Massing later wrote, “In the following months, the tubes would become a key prop in the administration’s case for war, and the Times played a critical part in legitimizing it.” Chosen by Assange to publish its leaked documents because it is one of “the best newspapers in the world for investigative research,” the pro-Israel Times is now busily spinning the leaks to push America into an equally unnecessary but even more disastrous war with Iran. Given that the WikiLeaks revelations have been such an unexpected “diplomatic coup” for Israel, its American lobby appears to be strangely divided over the issue. On one side, there are those like David Frum, Jeffrey Goldberg and Michael Ledeen who delight in being able henceforth to cloak their incessant Iran warmongering behind a specious Arab cover. “Those who suggest that it’s some ‘Israel lobby’ or Jewish cabal that is driving the confrontation with Iran” should be embarrassed by the leaks, writes Frum. “WikiLeaks confirms that the region’s Arab governments express even more anxiety than Israel about the Iranian nuclear weapons program.” Meanwhile, the most virulent attacks on WikiLeaks have come from some of Israel’s staunchest supporters. William Kristol, editor of Rupert Murdoch’s Weekly Standard, wants Congress to enable Obama to “Whack WikiLeaks.” Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, appear only too willing to oblige. Both senators have called for the prosecution of Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act. Feinstein is also working with Senator Charles Schumer on media legislation that would allow the prosecution of organizations like WikiLeaks. How do we reconcile the Israel lobby’s apparently schizophrenic reaction to WikiLeaks? Could it be that Julian Assange has killed two birds for Israel with one document dump? Thanks to WikiLeaks, the well-publicised remarks of a few Arab leaders provide much-needed cover for pro-Israelis as they relentlessly press America to whack Iran. At the same time, the disclosure of U.S. diplomatic secrets has given the likes of Joe Lieberman another excuse to “kill the internet” — to prevent Americans from ever finding out how they got into such a mess in the Middle East. But just like 9/11, no matter how much WikiLeaks has benefited Israel, most observers still seem loath to consider the Tel Aviv connection.
Respected Dr. Sahib: I too want the reality of wikileaks to be known but lack of proper information and analytical minds compels ( i think) all of us to see here and there and Zaid Hamid is one of them. I do not fully adhere to his views either on the issue of Wikileaks or others but sees him a true pakistani nationalist. Coming to the point of wikileaks dissimenting information which is crucial to the interests of anti-Islamic forces, then how come such information may be easily hacked / stolen from cyberspace. Absolutely right, we should not blame others (including US and Mossad …. and their allied forces of Islamic nature/contour) for our own mess. But ultimate question is why Muslim Ummah is receeding from Islam.
Dear brother Aijaz: But I do not know how to measure ???? What and When is a secondary question
Nice article and good comments
Thought provoking blog.
Wikileaks — game played by Jews? As this is written Wikileaks is a daily front- page story giving shocks after shocks to USA and then other Western countries. Wikileaks boss is a Jew, Julian Assange. And his target is mainly the US, again controlled by the Jews. What is this? Assange was arrested in London, which is the capital of Jews, and sought to be handed over to Sweden which again is a Jewish stronghold. The Jewish-owned Nobel Foundation is in Swedish capital. The person who strongly supported Assange and condemned his arrest is Naom Chomsky, a noted Jewish professor at the MIT (USA). We have not come across any instance in history of Jews fighting their own brothers. Nor is there any instance of the “Jews of India” fighting between themselves. Are they playing a ball game to confuse the world as part of their wider game to threaten and kill the Christian West for not protecting their blue-eyed boy, the zionist Israel? Ed.Sheikh GULZAAR (Writer/Journalist) Writer-South Asia POB: 667 GPO Srinagar SGR JK 190001 Ph: +91-1933-223705, +09858986794 e-mail: [email protected] http://writerasia.blogspot.com
It was really nice piece of info that helped me a lot in knowing bout the hidden truth but don’t you feel that you are excessively pro-tehran…in every single word of yours…! Pdi stuff i guess….:-D