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Thursday 29 January 2015

Telling A Lie For A Noble Cause
Julian Assange:-
The Man In The Iron Mask*
(The European Union's Foremost Political Prisoner*)

[''We Steal Secrets''**]



Monitoring the movements and activities of political and economic rivals or terrorists is certainly nothing new. Until about 40 years ago humint (human intelligence) was still the main cornerstone of operational activities. Today it is heavily anchored in cyberspace.
Did you know that, in the past, in places where the presence of others would be too obvious or too sensitive, Mossad sometimes had a well placed source (or asset) at key international transit routes from Nicaragua to Cape Verde to Rio to Dublin Airports?
The operative was never an Israeli and sometimes in order to identify who exactly that individual was you had to perform a number of tasks – one of which was to be able (or possess the capability) to dig back into every employees past a very long way – to a time before when records became computerized and it was impossible for all but those who knew how to dot the ''i's'' and cross the ''t's'' to put the pieces together.  The more senior the individual the further you sometimes had to reach back.
The digital era availability of mass security data sharing by transnational agencies makes this no longer necessary – at least not in it's old format.
It was exactly the same for Soviet moles within British Intelligence. That's a historical fact and not my say so.   In fact it was much easier than that above as many of their past activities, if carefully looked into, would have easily unearthed affiliations which, if those individuals had not such impeccable progeniture and family connections within 'established' circles, a red flag would immediately have gone up, at least for careful monitoring after appointment.
The point I am making here is that once a secret is 'outed' you cannot put the genie back into the bottle.   It's out there and available for everyone (including any astute eager researcher) for better or for worse.   If, like me, your sources or contacts are long vanished because the passage of time has so blurred events, or no written records have been kept as evidence (or for security reasons have been destroyed) even they have become untraceable, with the footprints long dusted over, then identification or outing becomes an impossible task for the outsider.
When handling contentious information which you are convinced is genuine, you also need to have (almost) a sixth sense with regard to the timing of it's release.
There is always a difference in timing between the right to know and national security.    This is no more evidently displayed today in open democratic societies than in the perennial legal tug-of-wars (or dance of death) between the 'free' press and government.
Sometimes a little prudence (rather than humility) is desirable to ensure balanced sensitivities.

Masters of War
Many years ago (at least 30, probably more) I had the opportunity to join a firm, Tripower, at a United Kingdom office located in the prestigious Regent Street.
[One of the few opportunities I ever had to join a private sector firm where the salary was beyond even my dreams.]
I knew a little about the technical aspects of military hardware so would have been an ideal recruit as minimal training would have done the rest.
[The firm was, of course, a front for another group and it's only existence you will now find is at Companies House and nothing beyond that is now traceable.  You will not find it listed as a company which dealt in military hardware but something more 'politically correct' - even for that time. ] 
I felt that I needed to take spiritual' guidance (one of the uniquely few times in my life!) as I would be involved in supplying weapons (arms) to countries and non-State entities in different parts of the world.   That guidance was not, of course, from a guy in a cassock and dog collar but more an 'inner guidance' as to where I thought I wanted to be with my existence.   [Having said that, if my trusted and saintly Primary school teacher, Sister - - , had still been alive, I might very well have sought her opinion.]
At that time I was pretty desperate for money. That's also probably an understatement. In the end I decided to politely decline the tentative offer of engagement.
Looking back now, I have absolutely no regrets and know that, if I was still alive, I would be a very different person to the one I am today had I been engaged in this profession.   But somebody took the job.   Somebody's life was otherwise changed by the experience.   My decision did not prevent weapons being used for evil or for good.   It simply meant that someone else other than myself was the supplier of the shipments or cargoes.   Yes if we lived on a planet where we are all linked spiritually and can all experience each other's pain, then nobody would ever engage in such harmful activities.   The point is that we do not.   We live in a world where if you don't do the job, then it's likely that someone even uglier and more brutal, less caring and humane than you will step up to the mark.   Who knows, perhaps supplying armaments to a non-State entity might actually end up saving more lives than the opposite.

A Cry In the Dark
It was evident that Private Bradley Manning had cried out for help but nobody was listening outside cyberspace.   Julian Assange stepped in to fill the void.
In the new era digital age, 'advisors', 'agony aunts' and 'confessors' are to be found at anonymous sites online.
Manning, when in, could not find a way out – and the pain was too much to bear. 
So who should have been on trial?   The Army, Manning, Assange or all three?

Sweden – The 'Deep' State
I have said the above to explain why I stand by Julian Assange and again say, as I did when I was Secretary of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, that his continued detention is unjust, unreasonable, that attempts to extradite him to Sweden are, in the context of the totality of events and the public interest, not desirable.  Those involved in the extradition proceedings in Sweden might well find themselves joining Assange at some future time in the spotlight of the murky underworld where truth is just as evasive and blurred beyond recognition as were Olof Palme's assassins.
Neither do I believe that it is desirable for the perception of the United States worldwide, after Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, that Assange be extradited for, what would become, a McCarthy-era show trial.
The whole world already knows what the verdict - by a 'hanging' judge and jury - would be in such a case.   There would be an international uproar if the case was tried by a judge without a jury – no doubt to the delight of Russia Today [''the Bullhorn of President Putin'']as it's ratings on coverage of such a circus would likewise soar into the stratospheric billions – making it the most popular (or watched) news channel by far on the planet.  So ironically, a 'show trial' [Soviet-era style] of Assange in the United States could 'make' Russia Today, as it 'milks' the event for all it's worth, to no end.
In the Court of World Public Opinion what would be on trial in the world's greatest democracy, would be, in effect, the American justice system itself, and the verdict on that by the international community at grass roots levels, is already, likewise, also predictable.
Sweden is a classic 2084 (not 1984) country where the 'deep state' is already invisible.   At least in the U.S. there is the Freedom Of Information Act.*** In Sweden everything is kept securely under lock and key, almost forever.  Don't believe the hype about 'transparency' in Sweden.    It was just a mirage.
The assassination of Olof Palme and the twilight world of international arms dealing, mining contracts and other activities have been securely buried in the fog and haze of Swedish secrecy, never to see the light of day for fear of the embarrassment of those influential Swedish individuals, associate beneficiaries and whatever other governments might also be implicated. 
So perhaps there are also other reasons, closer to home, why Sweden wants Assange and his database shut down.
Unfortunately for Mr Assange, the lists of so many governments, agencies and individuals with their own personal agendas as to why they would like to see his database either offline or protected online are so numerous and polarized, that there is no room for compromise.
As to the merits of the release of classified data in the way it was done by Wikileaks, the balance between the right to know and national security is always a very heavy responsibility.   In my view (which likewise has not changed) Assange got the balance terribly wrong.
But isn't it a strange world that he should be incarcerated, virtually tried and convicted 'in absentia' and in unison by the Left and the Right – including by a former President of Harvard Law Review - without due process and that his only 'loyal' supporter superpowers are the economic, military and political rivals of the United States for world supremacy – Russia and China - or countries such as Brazil and Ecuador - which themselves have appalling human and civil rights records - with journalists being routinely murdered extra-judicially and such assassinations sanctioned by the government, as in Brazil. [I have covered the fact (in other blogs) that it's African-Brazilian population, some 80% of the country, live in conditions of virtual slavery.   But I would never expect Mr Assange nor his colleagues to be taking up the shield of justice for the poor and the dispossessed.]
He has yet to realise it but Mr Assange is safer in The United Kingdom than he could ever be as a 'free man' in Ecuador or Brazil or Russia.

A Dogs Dinner or
(''here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!'')***
I am sometimes told that I am strong on criticisms but weak on solutions so I want to 'take a position' on this occasion.   My humble advice to the British Government, if I had the capability to so do, would be that it release Mr Assange to a country of his choosing before Britain is left, in the Court of World Public Opinion, 'holding the baby' – everybody else with any common sense having long since 'bailed out' (or cut their losses) for reasons of political expediency, leaving Great Britain 'to go down with the ship' as 'the fall guy', rather embarrassingly, preventing, by force of arms, Mr Assange, as Europe's most prominent political dissident and prisoner, from fleeing 'across The Iron Curtain' to 'the free world'; to the 'freedom' and welcoming arms of 'democratic' Russia, Ecuador or Brazil.


©Patrick Emek, 2015



For anyone interested in Julian Assange with regard to motives for Wikileaks, some understanding can be gained by watching following documentary:
''We Steal Secrets'' (2013, Alex Gibney and James Ball)

[I would guess that this is a documentary Julian Assange certainly does not approve of as it attempts to analyse personal motives as opposed to being a pure critique of Wikileaks. It also gives some insights into the personality of Mr Assange, which are likewise quite useful.]

title and subtitle of this blog ''Telling A Lie For A Noble Cause'' are taken from a comment made in the documentary''We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks'' (see above)
a review (of sorts) of this documentary can be found at:
*subtitle idea: from The Man in the Iron Mask (Wordsworth Classics) by Alexandre Dumas


secondary subtitle: ''We Steal Secrets'' taken from a comment made in the documentary of the same name (see above.)



secrets within secrets within enigmas:
"Shortly after Palme was killed, I was told by three independent sources that recruiters for the killing -variously described as a group of Swedish businessman, with Finns and Germans also involved, possibly financed by a South African group, had approached mercenaries and arms dealers in London in order to find a suitable 'hitman'. All the sources agreed that the former SAS (Special Air Service) and other possible killers approached had turned down the contract, and had then passed details of the approaches to Special Branch or to MI6 contacts. In turn, MI6 passed a warning to Sapo (SAK), the Swedish secret police. One source said that the purpose of the killing was to destabilise Sweden and its powerful liberal stance on such matters as apartheid. A senior Special Branch, Detective Chief Inspector David Palmer-Hall, liases directly with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6.) A former Special Branch commander, Rollo Watts, also works for Saldin1 (sic) Security, the cover company for the private British mercenary service KMS Ltd. KMS which is registered in Jersey was most recently and controversially used by Colonel Oliver North to assist in guerrilla missions with Contra forces in Nicaragua." 
(June 17, 1988, p.7).............................................


full transcript to be found at:

if removed you can obtain a copy of the original transcript from:
















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