Julian Assange: Free Speech Warrior

The hypocrisy of the fake free speech warriors at The Australian is exposed in the Murdoch rag's editorial on the arrest of genuine free speech warrior Julian Assange:

"It is not known when Assange might face a US court, but he should. He could not hide forever. In the interests of all Western nations and the fight against terror, US security and military services need to protect sensitive information and close loopholes that allowed so much data to be extracted and dispersed." (Assange must be accountable, 13/4/19)

Here is Assange's compelling rationale for the over 2 million US diplomatic cables published up to 2015 from his introduction to The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire (2015):

"While national archives have produced impressive collections of internal state communications, their material is intentionally withheld or made difficult to access for decades, until it is stripped of potency... What makes the revelation of secret communications potent is that we were not supposed to read them. The internal communications of the US Department of State are the logistical by-product of its activities: their publication is the vivisection of a living empire, showing what substance flowed from which state organ and when.

"Diplomatic cables are not produced in order to manipulate the public, but are aimed at elements of the rest of the US state apparatus, and are therefore relatively free from the distorting influence of public relations. Reading them is a much more effective way of understanding an institution like the State Department than reading reports by journalists on the public pronouncements of Hilary Clinton, or Jen Psaki.

"Whilst in their internal communications State Department officials must match their pens to the latest DC orthodoxies should they wish to stand out in Washington for the 'right' reasons and not the 'wrong' ones, these elements of political correctness are themselves noteworthy and visible to outsiders who are not sufficiently indoctrinated. Many cables are deliberative or logistical, and their causal relationships across time and space with other cables and with externally documented events create a web of interpretive constraints that reliably show how the US Department of State and the agencies that inter-operate with its cable system understand their place in the world.

"Only by approaching this corpus holistically - over and above the documentation of each individual abuse, each localized atrocity - does the true human cost of empire heave into view." (pp 5-6)

The Jury's in on Morrison's Jerusalem Surprise

No wonder the Morrison government's got it in for the ABC:

"Australian embassies were put on notice to upgrade travel warnings and boost security BEFORE the Government's shock Israel embassy [16/10] announcement during the Wentworth by-election, sensitive documents reveal." (Australian embassies warned over security before Scott Morrison's Israel announcement, Dan Conifer & Michael McKinnon, abc.net.au, 9/2/19)

Note that was "JUST ONE DAY BEFORE"! (ibid)

So there you go. Damn the travelling public - as long as Dave Sharma gets in!

Speaking of the guy who once gushed that "Israel will always be in our hearts, blood, souls, veins":

"The documents... emphasised Mr Sharma's role in the decision. 'The Prime Minister will announce he has found the arguments put forward by Australia's former Ambassador to Israel [Dave Sharma]... persuasive,' it said." (ibid)

And yet, at the time the announcement was made:

"The Coalition denied the policy was aimed at wooing Jewish voters in the inner-Sydney electorate, which is home to the largest proportion of Jewish voters in Australia." (ibid)

The jury's in then: Scott Morrison's Jerusalem surprise - for the buck stops with the prime minister - was nothing more than a shameless grab for the Jewish vote, initiated by an Israel-besotted, wannabe politician and undertaken without regard for potential security, diplomatic or commercial consequences.

This commendable ABC sleuthing should be front-page news, but I won't be holding my breath for too long.

Why So Coy? 2

Sarah Ferguson: How do you account for [the Israel lobby] wielding so much power?
Bob Carr: I think political donations and a program of giving trips to MPs and journalists to Israel (7.30 Report, 9/4/14)

***

For the second time the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and AIJAC have shied away from naming those who've just returned from one of their joint Journalists Missions:

"Four journalists who participated in the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies' recent mission to Israel will report on their experiences and impressions next Monday, November 17, 7.30pm at Central Synagogue. The intensive week-long program included a visit to Sderot, a tour of Yad Vashem, and briefings from Prime Minister's spokesperson Mark Regev and other top authorities. The group also heard from Palestinian spokespersons in Ramallah and visited a Druze village. '[The mission] gave the participants rare access to key players across the board,' JBOD CEO Vic Alhadeff, who accompanied the journalists, said. 'We encourage members of the community to turn out to hear what they have to say.'... The group was accompanied by four journalists who travelled as guests of AIJAC." (Journos to report back, Australian Jewish News, 14/11/14)

Is this omission of names becoming a trend? If so, could it perhaps be in response to my popular file - I've been to Israel too, 30/3/09 - in which the names of those journalists and politicians who just can't help themselves are recorded on an ongoing basis?

Popping Popeye

Next time you see an Australian politician on TV strutting his stuff in front of an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce backdrop, think of Popeye:

"Australia is quietly exporting dozens of missiles to other countries to try to recoup some of the $200 million it has wasted on them in botched military purchases*... The deals have been conducted without publicity... because they are an embarrassing reminder of failed defence projects that have cost taxpayers more than $1.4 billion... Defence has also sold two of its Israeli-built, air-to-surface, Popeye AGM-142 missiles to South Korea... the remainder were disposed of by 'explosive demolition'." (Missiles go cheap: defence's fire sale, Cameron Stewart, The Australian, 11/11/14)

But where the Defence Department is concerned, Popeye's not all that's getting popped:

"Sensitive Department of Defence documents are being regularly destroyed by defence bureaucrats, with erased files including abuse scandals at Duntroon, 'chemical and biological warfare', and 'treatment of Indonesians captured in Malaysia (in 1964-65)'... Fairfax Media can reveal only about 0.3% of surviving Defence records for 1957 to 1987 are listed on the National Archives' electronic database, and even fewer are publicly 'open', effectively shielding the vast bulk of files from public scrutiny." (Defence records being destroyed & kept secret, Greg Pemberton, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/11/14)

[*"In the late 1990s, the RAAF purchased the AGM-142 Popeye missiles from Rafael Advanced Defense systems for use on the F-111 bombers. Due to integration problems, their use was delayed until 2006, just 4 years prior to the bombers end of service." (Wrist-slapping unlikely to halt Israeli military sales to Australia, Henry Lebovic, onlineopinion.com.au, 19/12/12)]

Why So Coy? 1

Why, I wonder, is the J-Wire site so coy about naming these rambammers:

"The journalists who participated in the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies' recent Journalists Mission to Israel will address a public meeting in Sydney next week. The journalists - from the Sydney Morning Herald, Sky News Business, SBS Television World News and Channel Ten News - participated in an intensive week-long study mission. While in Israel they visited the Lebanese border, the Gazan border, West Bank settlements, the Australian Light Horse memorial in Beersheva and a Palestinian refugee camp, were briefed by a range of top-level experts across a broad range of areas and disciplines, and spent time at such iconic addresses as Yad Vashem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Masada, among a range of other activities... The Board of Deputies Journalists Mission... was conducted in conjunction with AIJAC." (Journos report back, jwire.com.au, 27/11/13)

Be that as it may, I shall nevertheless reserve a spot for them on my long list of the rambammed: I've Been to Israel Too (30/3/09).

And while on the subject of rambamming, the following disclosure appeared at the foot of a 'report' (No borders for doctor saving kids, David King, The Australian, 23/11/13) on the patching up of wounded Syrians at Israel's Ziv Medical Centre*:

"David King travelled to Israel on a study tour provided by the Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council."

[*On Ziv Medical Centre, see my 3/9/13 post Our Man in Tel Aviv 2.]