Bloodthirsty Liberal

The good news is Israel has the codes for Iran’s missiles:

Russia gave Israel codes for breaking Iran’s missile defense system in return for codes of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Israel sold to Georgia, WikiLeaks claims.

The information was among 5 million emails released this week by WikiLeaks, which said it worked in cooperation with the Anonymous hacker group. The leaked information focused on the U.S.-based Stratfor global intelligence company.

A source identified as “A” was quoted in an e-mail from a Stratfor employee as having heard from a “former Mexican cop” and military analysts that “the Georgians are frantically looking for a replacement for the Israeli UAVs that were compromised.”

The bad news is that it’s news. Whatever advantage that gave Israel, it’s gone.

Thanks, Wikileaks. Every document dump they made only proved Israel’s claims of being surrounded by hostile and threatening regimes. My impression was that while every other country was embarrassed by something released, Israel just stood back, arms crossed, nodding its head as if to say “What have I been telling you?” And this is the thanks it gets.

Remember Wikileaks? Neither do we, but evidently it was quite the big deal once upon a time. Like the Lindy or Tom Mix.

You know what they say: sic transit Gloria Grahame:

The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is suspending its publication of classified files.

Wikileaks said that it would focus instead on raising funds to ensure its future survival.

The announcement came after what the group called a blockade by US-based finance companies.

This followed its disclosure on the internet of hundreds of thousands of secret US government files and diplomatic cables.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that since last December an “arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade” had been imposed by Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union.

“The attack has destroyed 95% of our revenue,” he said.

The former computer hacker said the organisation had lost “tens of millions of dollars in lost donations at a time of unprecedented operational costs”.

So, are you saying they used computers to secretly undermine you, Julian? How dastardly! Taking something that doesn’t belong to you, even online, ought to be against the law, don’t you think?

Only Julian Assange could make me side with government secrecy and intimidation. But he’s no hero, at least not mine.

PS: Things just keep happening to poor Julian. He’s a bit of a schlamzel:

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s memoirs failed to top the bestsellers’ book chart after shifting just 644 copies in its first three days on sale.

Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography was the 50th best-selling hardback non-fiction book of the week, according to Nielsen BookScan.

Mr Assange has said it is a draft and was published without his approval.

But publishers Canongate Books claim he initially agreed to it and had signed a contract with them.

They insisted the book “explains both the man and his work, underlining his commitment to the truth” and he had already accepted an advance for the book, which has not been paid back.

…

Mr Assange said earlier this month: “The events surrounding its unauthorised publication by Canongate are not about freedom of information.”

“They are about old-fashioned opportunism and duplicity – screwing people over to make a buck.”

He said Canongate had acted in breach of contract and personal assurances that the draft would not be released without his permission had been given.

So, it was Top Secret, is what you’re saying. They published something that wasn’t meant for public consumption. Wow. Too bad.

PPS: I should be more sympathetic. As we’ve noted repeatedly, Wikileaks has corroborated every Israeli claim of Arab perfidy. If Assange is about only the truth and not some agenda, I’ll try to be less hostile to him. Try.

PPPS: Oh wait, now I remember why I think he’s such a putz:

A report published by a British magazine on Tuesday said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, suggested that British journalists, including the editor of the newspaper The Guardian, were engaged in a Jewish-led conspiracy to smear his organization.

His remarks appeared in the magazine Private Eye, in an article by its editor, Ian Hislop, who outlined a rambling phone call that Mr. Assange made on Feb. 16 to complain about the coverage of WikiLeaks.

…

When Mr. Hislop pointed out that Mr. Rusbridger was not Jewish, Mr. Assange countered that The Guardian’s editor was “sort of Jewish” because he and Mr. Leigh, who is Jewish, were brothers-in-law. Later, the article recounted, Mr. Assange asked Mr. Hislop to “forget the Jewish thing,” but he continued to insist there was a conspiracy against WikiLeaks based on the friendship among Mr. Rusbridger, Mr. Leigh and Mr. Kampfner.

After all, you really ought not to be friends with Jews.

Wikileaks

Beautiful.

Twitter was abuzz Thursday with the death of Apple visionary Steve Jobs but another topic was gathering steam as the day progressed. Who will win this year’s coveted Nobel Peace Prize?

Not Jobs, though many among his huge global following posted messages that he should. The Nobel is never awarded posthumously and that rule also eliminates Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed college graduate whose self-immolation in Tunisia sparked a popular uprising that led to the fall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s government. The Tunisian revolt began this year’s so-called Arab Spring.

Some years, there are clear frontrunners — Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi.

This year, it’s anyone’s guess with a record number of nominations — 241 — received by the Nobel committee. Of those, 53 are organizations, including WikiLeaks — the website founded by Julian Assange that facilitates the publication of classified information and made headlines for leaking documents and videos related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also released thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables.

Wikileaks would be a better choice than Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama.

- Aggie

Every WikiLeaks revelation just supports Israel’s POV more than the one before:

Israel said it was worried about Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia’s “quantitative and qualitative military build-up” and by the potential risk this could pose to the IDF, a March 2006 WikiLeaks document released Wednesday revealed.

In the classified document, Israeli Defense Ministry official Rami Yungman discusses with US officials how Israel can maintain its “Qualitative Military Edge” following a US presentation to Jerusalem on proposed defense sales to the Middle East.

…

The officials emphasize that the transfer of US weapons and technology “substantially improve the operational capabilities (air and naval in particular) of the Arab armed forces, and their potential to challenge IDF’s major capabilities and systems, which in turn may in the long run influence also their intentions. In addition, we are worried that some of the capabilities may, under certain circumstances, fall into the hands of terror elements.”

On Egypt, the paper said Cairo’s military shift to a “western offensive doctrine” and the “cold peace” policy that conveys to the Egyptian people and army that Israel is still a potential enemy could “prove explosive given a regime change” in the country. The Israeli officials conclude that in light of these considerations, Egypt should not be given weapons systems that could give it an advantage on the ground.

Oh, snap! They sure called that one right. I can just imagine the Muslim Brotherhood sitting atop piles of US weaponry, laughing themselves silly over their good fortune and America’s (Bush in this case) idiocy.

Hey Israel, nobody likes a know-it-all:

Various US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks on Wednesday portray differing views of Syrian President Bashar Assad from the perspective of various Israeli political and military leaders in meetings with prominent US figures.

Former director of Military Intelligence Amos Yadlin in 2006 said that Israel does not trust Assad’s rhetoric regarding peace.

…

Yadlin also said that Syria continues to supply weapons to Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which was “not in good shape” and was “buying time to rebuild its infrastructure.”

“Israel is concerned about al-Qaida’s encroachment into the Middle East, including the Gaza Strip,” Yadlin was quoted as saying in the cable.

…

Former IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi in 2009 said that Assad is “smiliing to the West while supporting Hezbollah and Hamas” and must be forced to pursue a breakthrough with the West or ally with Iran.

According to the cable from a meeting between Ashkenazi and a US Congressional Delegation on November 15, Ashkenazi said Assad is “enjoying the best of both worlds.”

Not only is Syria shipping arms to Hezbollah from Iran, but the country is also directly supplying the Lebanese terror group from its depots, Ashkenazi told the US officials.

Israel may be correct more often than everyone else, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily smarter. It’s just that staring down the barrel of gun focuses the mind.

I’m beginning to think WikiLeaks is a Zionist plot (I know, I’m a little slow). How could every other country come out looking so bad, while Israel comes out looking so good?

And not just countries [h/t Yerushalimey]:

The files, obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph, disclose that a phone number of someone at the BBC was found in the phone books and phones of a number of extremists seized by US forces.

A detainee assessment, dated 21 April 2007, states: “The London, United Kingdom (UK), phone number 0044 207 XXX XXXX was discovered in numerous seized phone books and phones associated with extremist-linked individuals.

“The number is associated with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).” Analysis by The Daily Telegraph suggests the number is one for Bush House, home of the BBC World Service.

The assessment continues that US forces uncovered many “extremist links” to this number, suggesting that extremists could have made contact with BBC employees who were sympathetic to extremists or had information on “ACM [anti-Coalition Militia] operations”.

…

The Daily Telegraph rang the phone number on Monday. A single tone on the line suggested that it had been disconnected, or was no longer in use.

The possible link between extremism and staff at the BBC will anger the national broadcaster, which prides itself on its impartiality.

Hee-hee.

Ask CAMERA about the BBC’s impartiality.

Or pretty much anyone who can read, for that matter.

Heck, you can ask the BBC itself.

This isn’t just about catching the BBC or any media outlet in a lie. That’s dog bites man.

The Left believes that the Causes of Social Justice and anti-Colonialism trump any role they have to play. If the BBC trained dentists instead of biased journalists, your mouth would look like the Carlsbad Caverns, your teeth having been extracted and sent to the Deserving Poor in Chad.

To be serious for a moment, the BBC forms opinions, and not just in Britain. It was CNN before CNN, and its news programs are carried on many cable systems (on BBC America). It is not unique in its bias, but it is notable and shameless. It has been caught red-handed (or should I say yellow-starred) repeatedly, yet it persists. Even this story will not shake things up.

Israel has been proved right again, yet Israel will remain the media’s villain. No matter how much truth come out, I don’t see that changing.

Alan Dershowitz:

WikiLeaks reveals that a far greater proportion of civilian deaths were caused by British, German and US military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan than those caused by the IDF in Operation Cast Lead. These latest revelations signal that it’s high time a single standard be applied to all democracies.

[The link at the Jerusalem Post is behind a pay wall. I was able to find another source, but I will respect the JPost's understandable profit motive by linking to their home page, and by not quoting further.]

But Dershowitz is just playing to the jury. He knows full well that Israel will not be judged by the same standards any time soon.

To recap: Judge Goldstone wrote a report based solely on the biased testimony of one side (as he freely admits); the report has since been repudiated, not least by Goldstone; WikiLeaks reveals that all—all—of Israel’s public (and private?) concerns are true; America and its allies were a lot bloodier on civilians than Israel ever was—and don’t forget virtually all of Hamass’ victims were civilians.

And Israel is the intransigent one, the violent one, the criminal one.

Dershowitz knows what it’s all about. We know.

Again, every other country has come out of WikiLeaks looking bad.

Every country but one:

Syria placed long-range missiles equipped with chemical warheads on high alert after an attack on a Syrian nuclear plant in 2007, WikiLeaks documents obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth indicate.

…

Israel apparently asked the US to strike, but it refused due to pressure from then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

According to the reports, the main concern prior to the attack was whether Assad would retaliate and attack Israel. The reports suggest that US and Israeli intelligence elements were certain the Syrian president would open war with Israel.

Der Spiegel reported that following the attack, Olmert sent a calming message to the Syrians via the Turkish prime minister. The message stated that should Assad refrain from retaliating, Israel would “keep a low profile.”

America wouldn’t take it out, so Israel had to. And either Boy Assad wussed out, or he was bought off in some kind of deal. Maybe that’s why Hillary thinks he’s a reformer.

We’ve heard the rumors, we knew the day was coming.

Now, the truth can be told:

Classified documents from 2007 – long before unrest swept though the Mideast – revealed Director of Military Intelligence Major-General Amos Yadlin had told Americans that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is unlikely to survive another war with Israel.

Mossad Chief Meir Dagan echoed the sentiment at the time, further expressing his concern over the instability of several Middle East regimes.

Dagan intimated the Israel’s security community felt that the regimes in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon were unstable – an assessment proved right in early 2011.

Those fiends!

Mohammed Tantawi, the head of the interim junta ruling Egypt who has expressed solidarity with the Palestinian Authority, was an obstacle to efforts to stop arms smuggling within the Gaza strip, according to Israeli security forces in 2009. The cables also revealed praise for former Egyptian intelligence minister Omar Suleiman, who was described as “supportive”.

Shock!

Monroe reported back to Washington: “He [the king] revealed that Bahrain already has contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level (ie [sic] with Mossad) and indicated that Bahrain will be willing to move forward in other areas.”

Horror!

Washington was told, “Hizbullah possesses over 20,000 rockets … Hizbullah was preparing for a long conflict with Israel in which it hopes to launch a massive number of rockets at Israel per day. A Mossad official estimated that Hizbullah will try to launch 400-600 rockets and missiles at Israel per day – 100 of which will be aimed at Tel Aviv. He noted that Hizbullah is looking to sustain such launches for at least two months.”

Other countries come out looking two-faced from their WikiLeaks exposés; Israel is vindicated.

No surprise here.

You’d think the man privy to all the secrets would already have known that Jews rule the world:

A report published by a British magazine on Tuesday said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, suggested that British journalists, including the editor of the newspaper The Guardian, were engaged in a Jewish-led conspiracy to smear his organization.

His remarks appeared in the magazine Private Eye, in an article by its editor, Ian Hislop, who outlined a rambling phone call that Mr. Assange made on Feb. 16 to complain about the coverage of WikiLeaks.

He was especially angry about a Private Eye report that Israel Shamir, an Assange associate in Russia, was a Holocaust denier. Mr. Assange complained that the article was part of a campaign by Jewish reporters in London to smear WikiLeaks.

A lawyer for Mr. Assange could not immediately be reached for comment, but in a statement later released on the WikiLeaks Twitter feed, Mr. Assange said Mr. Hislop had “distorted, invented or misremembered almost every significant claim and phrase.”

The Private Eye article quoted Mr. Assange as saying the conspiracy was led by The Guardian and included the newspaper’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, and investigations editor, David Leigh, as well as John Kampfner, a prominent London journalist who recently reviewed two books about WikiLeaks for The Sunday Times of London.

When Mr. Hislop pointed out that Mr. Rusbridger was not Jewish, Mr. Assange countered that The Guardian’s editor was “sort of Jewish” because he and Mr. Leigh, who is Jewish, were brothers-in-law. Later, the article recounted, Mr. Assange asked Mr. Hislop to “forget the Jewish thing,” but he continued to insist there was a conspiracy against WikiLeaks based on the friendship among Mr. Rusbridger, Mr. Leigh and Mr. Kampfner.

One can be “sort of Jewish” by having a Jewish brother-in-law? In what Top Secret document did Assange learn that? That would make me “sort of” left-wing kook and “sort of” foreign-born because of my brothers-in-law.

Would that we could “forget the Jewish thing”, Julian, would that we could. Jews have been praying for that for millennia. But the “sort of” goyim won’t leave the Jewish thing alone.

We wrote this up yesterday, but this piece in Britain’s Daily Telegraph appears to be the first public source

Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.

Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.

The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications obtained by the WikiLeaks website.

Details of the behind-the-scenes talks are contained in more than 1,400 US embassy cables published to date by the Telegraph, including almost 800 sent from the London Embassy, which are published online today. The documents also show that:

• America spied on Foreign Office ministers by gathering gossip on their private lives and professional relationships.

• Intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US became strained after the controversy over Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantánamo Bay detainee who sued the Government over his alleged torture.

…
Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.

Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain.

Professor Malcolm Chalmers said: “This appears to be significant because while the UK has announced how many missiles it possesses, there has been no way for the Russians to verify this. Over time, the unique identifiers will provide them with another data point to gauge the size of the British arsenal.”

Obama to Britain: See ‘ya. Wouldn’t want to be ‘ya!

- Aggie