Is there any difference between China and USA?
Keith Parkins | 08.12.2010 03:42 | Palestine | Repression | Terror War | World
In Freedom for Sale, John Kampfner looks at a number of countries where freedoms is for sale, China and the USA are in among his case studies.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange refused bail
' ... one of the major reasons for government secrecy is to protect the government from its own population.' -- Noam Chomsky
In Freedom for Sale, John Kampfner looks at a number of countries where freedoms is for sale, China and the USA are in among his case studies.
http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/freedom-for-sale/
The recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize will be marked by an empty chair. That chair signifies more than any other symbol the committee were correct in awarding the prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. A far more worthy recipient than last year's sick joke.
http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/chinese-dissident-liu-xiaobo-awarded-nobel-peace-prize/
A number of countries will not be attending. They have been bullied and intimidated into not attending by the corrupt thugs who run China.
The US Diplomatic Cables (so-called Cablegate) released by Wikileaks reveals Russia to be a mafia fiefdom. Mafia intimidate businesses to get their way.
The Diplomatic Cables reveal US intimidated countries at least year's climate talks.
The US has intimidated companies to shut down Wikileaks, hackers have tried to shut down the site. As I write, wikileaks is now mirrored on over a 1,000 sites around the world.
http://www.wikileaks.ch/
http://www.wikileaks.ch/mirrors.html
The latest has been Visa. This evening on BBC Radio 4 news The World Tonight I had to hear stomach churning garbage from Visa justifying their blocking of Wikileaks from the Visa payment system. Now correct me if I am wrong, but do not Visa facilitate and enable all manner of Internet scams? We all know how difficult it is to get companies to stop dealing with dodgy regimes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wdh8d
Swiss banks will not handle money for Wikileaks. Quite though happy to handle money for Nazis, Third World thugs, mafia and and any number of corrupt and dodgy individuals and organisations.
Try searching Tiananmen Square Massacre in China. Try even mentioning the date.
US has done its best to remove Wikileaks off the net, from servers hosting the site, from domains name servers needed to find the site.
Remember Scot Ritter, US weapons inspector who said Blair's Dodgy Dossier was dodgy, that there were no WMDs, that we were being taken into an illegal war on a lie? Out of nowhere came sex allegations against him.
Remember David Mellor, a Tory Minister in the last Conservative Government? He launched a scathing attack on Israel. Next thing he knew he was embroiled in a sex scandal. She turned out to be an Israeli.
The Swedish lawyers say the extradition request for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has nothing to do with politics. Why then following his arrest did US Defence Secretary Robert Gates welcome his arrest!
Anyone who has read the excellent Millennium trilogy knows how dirty is Sweden when it comes to locking away dissidents who threaten the state.
It is difficult to understand why the US is so upset about the release of the Diplomatic Cables. Most of it is tittle-tattle, more what you'd expect in Hello magazine than of diplomatic concern. The information of substance is nothing what is not already known to informed opinion.
But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested in somewhat Orwellian fashion that "such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government."
What though this release does expose is the crass hypocrisy, governments saying one thing in public, another in private.
The US regards diplomatic secrecy as sacrosanct, and yet its own cables reveals it was spying on diplomats at the UN.
Julian Assange has been denied bail. Why? Thugs are let out on police bail. People of standing were prepared to vouch for him. He is not a danger to society. The very fact he has been denied bail says this is political. The establishment has had its tail tweaked and does not like it.
What is maybe more revealing about the Diplomatic Cables, if we put to one side the Hello magazine tittle-tattle is what they do not tell us, and here I quote Noam Chomsky in conversation with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! (30 November 2010):
--- quote ---
One of the most interesting cables was a cable from the U.S. ambassador in Israel to Hillary Clinton, which described the attack on Gaza- which we should call the U.S./Israeli attack on Gaza- December 2008. It states correctly there had been a truce. It does not add that during the truce- which was really not observed by Israel- but during the truce, Hamas scrupulously observed it according to the Israeli government, not a single rocket was fired. That’s an omission. But then comes a straight line: it says that in December 2008, Hamas renewed rocket firing and therefore Israel had to attack in self-defense. Now, the ambassador surely is aware that there must be somebody in the American Embassy who reads the Israeli press- the mainstream Israeli press- in which case the embassy is surely aware that it is exactly the opposite: Hamas was calling for a renewal of the cease-fire. Israel considered the offer and rejected it, preferring to bomb rather than have security. Also omitted is that while Israel never observed the cease-fire- it maintained the siege in violation of the truce agreement- on November 4, the U.S. election 2008, the Israeli army invaded Gaza, killed half a dozen Hamas militants, which did lead to an exchange of fire in which all the casualties, as usual, were Palestinian. Then in December, Hamas- when the truce officially ended- Hamas called for renewing it. Israel refused, and the U.S. and Israel chose to launch the war. What the embassy reported is a gross falsification and a very significant one since- since it has to do the justification for the murderous attack- which means either the embassy hasn’t a clue to what is going on or else they’re lying outright.
--- end quote ---
The truth is always the first casualty in war and make no mistake this is war. It is a war between those who want an open society and those in power. We are seeing the first infowar for control of cysberspace. What we are also seeing is a dying empire lashing out at its critics.
Also see
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange refused bail
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11937110
Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332
Wikileaks: servant of democracy, enemy of hypocrites and liars
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2185/27/
The Shameful Attacks on Julian Assange
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/05-1
News Flash: 123 Americans Dead, No WikiLeaks Connection
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/02
“I Am Wikileaks” Campaigners Rally to Defense
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/07
Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership"
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/30-7
U.S. Climate Envoy Refuses to Answer Democracy Now!'s Questions on WikiLeaks Cables' Account of Summit Manipulation
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/us_negotiator_refuses_to_answer_questions
Pablo Solón Responds to Secret U.S. Manipulation of Climate Talks Revealed in WikiLeaks Cable
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/6/bolivian_un_ambassador_pablo_solon_reacts
Glenn Greenwald on the Arrest of Julian Assange and the U.S. "War on WikiLeaks"
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/glenn_greenwald_julian_assange_arrest_and
Guardian Environment Editor John Vidal on WikiLeaks Cables and U.S. Manipulation of Climate Talks
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/guardian_environment_editor_john_vidal_on
Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/06/western-democracies-must-live-with-leaks
Revealed: Assange ‘rape’ accuser linked to notorious CIA operative (WikiLeaks)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/12/470020.html
Assange Beseiged: Making a Mockery of the Real Crime of Rape
http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir09142010.html
Revealed: Assange ‘rape’ accuser linked to notorious CIA operative
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assange-rape-accuser-cia-ties/
In Freedom for Sale, John Kampfner looks at a number of countries where freedoms is for sale, China and the USA are in among his case studies.
http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/freedom-for-sale/ The recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize will be marked by an empty chair. That chair signifies more than any other symbol the committee were correct in awarding the prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. A far more worthy recipient than last year's sick joke.
http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/chinese-dissident-liu-xiaobo-awarded-nobel-peace-prize/ A number of countries will not be attending. They have been bullied and intimidated into not attending by the corrupt thugs who run China.
The US Diplomatic Cables (so-called Cablegate) released by Wikileaks reveals Russia to be a mafia fiefdom. Mafia intimidate businesses to get their way.
The Diplomatic Cables reveal US intimidated countries at least year's climate talks.
The US has intimidated companies to shut down Wikileaks, hackers have tried to shut down the site. As I write, wikileaks is now mirrored on over a 1,000 sites around the world.
http://www.wikileaks.ch/ http://www.wikileaks.ch/mirrors.html The latest has been Visa. This evening on BBC Radio 4 news The World Tonight I had to hear stomach churning garbage from Visa justifying their blocking of Wikileaks from the Visa payment system. Now correct me if I am wrong, but do not Visa facilitate and enable all manner of Internet scams? We all know how difficult it is to get companies to stop dealing with dodgy regimes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wdh8d Swiss banks will not handle money for Wikileaks. Quite though happy to handle money for Nazis, Third World thugs, mafia and and any number of corrupt and dodgy individuals and organisations.
Try searching Tiananmen Square Massacre in China. Try even mentioning the date.
US has done its best to remove Wikileaks off the net, from servers hosting the site, from domains name servers needed to find the site.
Remember Scot Ritter, US weapons inspector who said Blair's Dodgy Dossier was dodgy, that there were no WMDs, that we were being taken into an illegal war on a lie? Out of nowhere came sex allegations against him.
Remember David Mellor, a Tory Minister in the last Conservative Government? He launched a scathing attack on Israel. Next thing he knew he was embroiled in a sex scandal. She turned out to be an Israeli.
The Swedish lawyers say the extradition request for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has nothing to do with politics. Why then following his arrest did US Defence Secretary Robert Gates welcome his arrest!
Anyone who has read the excellent Millennium trilogy knows how dirty is Sweden when it comes to locking away dissidents who threaten the state.
It is difficult to understand why the US is so upset about the release of the Diplomatic Cables. Most of it is tittle-tattle, more what you'd expect in Hello magazine than of diplomatic concern. The information of substance is nothing what is not already known to informed opinion.
But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested in somewhat Orwellian fashion that "such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government."
What though this release does expose is the crass hypocrisy, governments saying one thing in public, another in private.
The US regards diplomatic secrecy as sacrosanct, and yet its own cables reveals it was spying on diplomats at the UN.
Julian Assange has been denied bail. Why? Thugs are let out on police bail. People of standing were prepared to vouch for him. He is not a danger to society. The very fact he has been denied bail says this is political. The establishment has had its tail tweaked and does not like it.
What is maybe more revealing about the Diplomatic Cables, if we put to one side the Hello magazine tittle-tattle is what they do not tell us, and here I quote Noam Chomsky in conversation with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! (30 November 2010):
--- quote ---
One of the most interesting cables was a cable from the U.S. ambassador in Israel to Hillary Clinton, which described the attack on Gaza- which we should call the U.S./Israeli attack on Gaza- December 2008. It states correctly there had been a truce. It does not add that during the truce- which was really not observed by Israel- but during the truce, Hamas scrupulously observed it according to the Israeli government, not a single rocket was fired. That’s an omission. But then comes a straight line: it says that in December 2008, Hamas renewed rocket firing and therefore Israel had to attack in self-defense. Now, the ambassador surely is aware that there must be somebody in the American Embassy who reads the Israeli press- the mainstream Israeli press- in which case the embassy is surely aware that it is exactly the opposite: Hamas was calling for a renewal of the cease-fire. Israel considered the offer and rejected it, preferring to bomb rather than have security. Also omitted is that while Israel never observed the cease-fire- it maintained the siege in violation of the truce agreement- on November 4, the U.S. election 2008, the Israeli army invaded Gaza, killed half a dozen Hamas militants, which did lead to an exchange of fire in which all the casualties, as usual, were Palestinian. Then in December, Hamas- when the truce officially ended- Hamas called for renewing it. Israel refused, and the U.S. and Israel chose to launch the war. What the embassy reported is a gross falsification and a very significant one since- since it has to do the justification for the murderous attack- which means either the embassy hasn’t a clue to what is going on or else they’re lying outright.
--- end quote ---
The truth is always the first casualty in war and make no mistake this is war. It is a war between those who want an open society and those in power. We are seeing the first infowar for control of cysberspace. What we are also seeing is a dying empire lashing out at its critics.
Also see
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange refused bail
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11937110 Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332 Wikileaks: servant of democracy, enemy of hypocrites and liars
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2185/27/ The Shameful Attacks on Julian Assange
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/05-1 News Flash: 123 Americans Dead, No WikiLeaks Connection
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/02 “I Am Wikileaks” Campaigners Rally to Defense
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/07 Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership"
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/30-7 U.S. Climate Envoy Refuses to Answer Democracy Now!'s Questions on WikiLeaks Cables' Account of Summit Manipulation
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/us_negotiator_refuses_to_answer_questions Pablo Solón Responds to Secret U.S. Manipulation of Climate Talks Revealed in WikiLeaks Cable
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/6/bolivian_un_ambassador_pablo_solon_reacts Glenn Greenwald on the Arrest of Julian Assange and the U.S. "War on WikiLeaks"
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/glenn_greenwald_julian_assange_arrest_and Guardian Environment Editor John Vidal on WikiLeaks Cables and U.S. Manipulation of Climate Talks
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/7/guardian_environment_editor_john_vidal_on Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/06/western-democracies-must-live-with-leaks Revealed: Assange ‘rape’ accuser linked to notorious CIA operative (WikiLeaks)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/12/470020.html Assange Beseiged: Making a Mockery of the Real Crime of Rape
http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir09142010.html Revealed: Assange ‘rape’ accuser linked to notorious CIA operative
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assange-rape-accuser-cia-ties/
Keith Parkins
Homepage:
http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/is-there-any-difference-between-china-and-usa/
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Moral blindness
08.12.2010 11:22
I notice that the envoys of Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, Ukraine, Cuba and Morocco would miss the Nobel Prize ceremony "for various reasons".
Not exactly a proud list of democracies that revere the rule of law, is it?
alka
Hey alka
08.12.2010 11:35
You got a list of ones that do?
Just asking like......
eager to be educated.
Personally I blame the teachers ...
08.12.2010 15:14
How about the countries of the EU and northern America? Oh, I've no doubt you can point to this case or that, and say, 'Look! It's not perfect! Therefore it's all crap.'
On the other hand, where do you think Assange would be now if he tried a similar stunt in China? I doubt a trial in open court would figure largely in the authority's reckoning.
alka