<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><br>On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 09:43:10AM -0800, spike wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">or none of it. Even then, it is difficult to see how reading a few<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">cables would turn anyone's attitude. From what I have seen, there is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">nothing particularly scandalous in there.<br></blockquote></blockquote><br><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://mindstalk.livejournal.com/264371.html">http://mindstalk.livejournal.com/264371.html</a><br></blockquote><br><blockquote type="cite">Coverups of mass killings; US contractors supporting pedophilia;<br></blockquote>complacency to Ugandan war crimes; Hillary illegally ordering our diplomats<br>to spy on allies; our formal policy of not investigating Iraqi human rights<br>abuses; interference in the Spanish judiciary; US/Swedish cooperation kept<br>secret from the Swedish people<br><br><blockquote type="cite">But hey, nothing scandalous. Just gossip, right?<br></blockquote><br><blockquote type="cite">-xx- Damien X-)<br></blockquote><br>But how do we know these are true? Any of this could have been written by<br>anyone after the leak, or could be counterfeit, intentionally placed in case<br>of a leak. Do we have any way to confirm any of it?<br><br>spike<br><br></span></blockquote></div><br><div><br></div><div>"Do we have any way to confirm any of it?" Is that a serious question?How about investigative journalism and civil/criminal inquiries?</div><div><br></div><div>These only seem to be useful for dealing with Julian Assange however. Isn't it interesting that his 'sex crimes' trial is going to boil down to a 'he said/she said' situation completely devoid of objective facts at issue? (Everyone agrees that the sex took place, at issue is the consensuality of it.) Also interesting is the fact that it's going to be two against one, which will lend some sort of greater likelihood to the perception of guilt. Added to that is the fact that Julian Assange has no previous accusers in his thirtysome years of life but he is accused of committing two crimes within the span of a week.</div><div><br></div><div>The level of self-censorship and cowardice in the media is disgraceful. As disgraceful in fact as the level of complacency and willing blindness among the population.</div><div><br></div><div>More attention needs to be put into investigating the veracity of the leaked cables and less into the sideshow that is the Assange 'sex crimes' trial.</div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Omar Rahman</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>