Luger: Prospects Improve for OK of Arms Treaty from the Associated Press
"The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he's more optimistic now about ratification of a nuclear weapons treaty with Russia."
Covert War Against Iran's Nuclear Aims Takes Chilling Turn from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Sophisticated cyber-worms, motorcycling assassins: but who is behind the increasingly sinister campaign against the Iranian energy program?"
How to Fight and Win the Cyberwar (Mort Zuckerman) from the Wall Street Journal
"We should think of cyberattacks as guided missiles and respond similarly—intercept them and retaliate."
As usual, Mort Zuckerman brings forth the "neocon" take on an important topic. I think his view reflects a dramatic shift that is taking place among policy makers and military-industrial-complex types about the future of the nature and shape of cyberwar. Given the Stuxnet worm in Iran and what Wikileaks has been up to [just to name two instances among many], look for this conversation to get much more public. Hopefully, it will go in more creative directions than Mort takes here.
Wikileaks' Wall Street Bombshell (Charlies Gasparino) from the Daily Beast
"With Assange's next release apparently targeting Bank of America, traders fear a subprime lending scandal will be exposed. Charlie Gasparino talks with someone who has read the leaked files."
From WikiLemons, Clinton Tries to Make Lemonade from the New York Times
"When American diplomats get together these days, there is lots of dark talk about the fallout from the sensational disclosure of secret diplomatic cables. Will angry foreign governments kick out ambassadors? Will spooked locals stop talking to their embassy contacts? Behind all the public hand-wringing, however, there is another, more muted reaction: pride."
Cables Depict Range of Obama Diplomacy from the New York Times
"…engagement can take many forms, from friendly to wary, naïve to cunning, and it was never quite clear how the term would translate from a campaign sound-bite to a practical approach to the world. Now we know, from the granular picture of engagement-in-action that emerges from that trove of 250,000 Wikileaks cables, many from the first 13 months of the Obama presidency. Mr. Obama’s style seems to be: Engage, yes, but wield a club as well — and try to counter the global doubts that he is willing to use it."
After the Leaks, the Shakeup (Philip Shenon) from the Daily Beast
"In the wake of the WikiLeaks cable disaster, Team Obama plans to reassign key U.S. embassy personnel—pulling those who were compromised and could be in danger."
WikiLeaks Cables Reveal How US Manipulated Climate Accord from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen accord."
Imperialist strong-arming, lying, and heavy-handed manipulation -- for the cause of curbing global warming. To me this story speaks to the complexity of trying to make broad generalizations about the US's role as an imperial superpower.
WikiLeaks Founder Threatens to Release Entire Cache of Unfiltered Files from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]
"At the centre of a tightening web of death threats, sex-crime accusations and high-level demands for a treason trial, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange threatened to unleash a “thermonuclear device” of completely unexpurgated government files if he is forced to appear before authorities."
The arrogant SOB. From the most casual contacts to long-term imbedded sources, they will all be compromised. Who cares the thousands of lives who will be placed in danger or the non-US, non-diplomatic careers and lives that will be up-ended if he does this? From the beginning this was all about him -- there was never any great "first amendment" principle being upheld or some new era of "openness" being advocated. These releases were all an expression of his own personal pique with the US. [See the Trudy Rubin piece below] Now he's going to lash out. If he follows through. he's toast. The first amendment (as articulated in the Pentagon Papers case) does not protect this kind of behavior. Indeed, his styling of this threat [if you read the article] brings him further into a realm of illegality that few countries will tolerate. Indeed, what is predictable now is a cyber version of the Patriot Act. Just as an aside: if he does this I suspect this will put Pfc Bradley Manning, Assange's original source for the leaks, into a WHOLE NEW CATEGORY of legal danger. Thanks Bradley for all your help!
Julian Assange, Information Anarchist (Gordon Crovitz) from the Wall Street Journal
"Whatever else WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accomplished, he's ended the era of innocent optimism about the Web. As wiki innovator Larry Sanger put it in a message to WikiLeaks, "Speaking as Wikipedia's co-founder, I consider you enemies of the U.S.—not just the government, but the people." The irony is that WikiLeaks' use of technology to post confidential U.S. government documents will certainly result in a less free flow of information. The outrage is that this is Mr. Assange's express intention."
While there are several points Crovitz makes that I don't agree with, his general point about less free flow of information I think is spot on.
Worldview: Disclosure Without a Cause (Trudy Rubin) from the Philadelphia Inquirer
"WikiLeaks' recent document dump was reckless and of limited value, and the group's founder has expressed dubious motives."
And more from a completely different front in the increasingly complex world of global cyberwar:
Vast Hacking by a China Fearful of the Web from the New York Times
"That cable from American diplomats was one of many made public by Wikileaks that portray China’s leadership as nearly obsessed with the threat posed by the Internet to their grip on power — and, the reverse, by the opportunities it offered them, through hacking, to obtain secrets stored in computers of its rivals, especially the United States."
What Don't Ask, Don't Tell Protects (Brendan Tapley) from the Daily Beast
"The military's outlawing of gayness has made it one of the last bunkers of safe male bonding. Brendan Tapley on what motivates Don't Ask, Don't Tell's supporters."
I'm not sure I buy the author's argument -- but it's an interesting psycho-historical speculation.
CA-Att Gen: 'Female Obama' Must First Tackle California (Nicole Allen) from the Atlantic
"Northern Californians have long been chattering about Kamala Harris, the Indian and African American San Francisco DA who tackled the city's prison industrial complex and recidivism rates with a vengeance. But now that she's won a protracted vote-count for state attorney general, Harris is drawing national attention. And Democratic star-spotters are liking what they see."
CAR NUGGET!!
The Best New Electric and Plug-In Cars from Newsweek
"Plug-in cars. Prius killers. Diesels that don’t stink. Automakers are in a race to earn their green stripes."
ANCIENT ROME NUGGET!!
Shoe Designer Wants to Restore Roman Colosseum but Not Do the Work from Italy Global Nation (IGN)
"The founder and chief executive of luxury shoe company Tod's said he is willing to spend 25 million euros to sponsor Italy's effort to restore the 2,000 year old Roman Colosseum. The catch is the Italian government must scrap a rule that restoration sponsors have to organise the work."
They're considering putting billboards up IN THE COLOSSEUM to help pay for the big-buck renovations!? That's whacked!
BOOK NUGGET!!
100 Notable Books of 2010 from the New York Times
A wonderful collection of 2010 books! Might give some folks some Christmas gift ideas!
MARS NUGGET!!
'Postcards from Mars': 15 Amazing Pictures of the Red Planet (PHOTOS) from the Huffington Post
"NASA's amazing Spirit and Opportunity rovers have survived (and generally thrived) on Mars for more than 25 times their expected lifetimes, returning spectacular images and other data that are helping scientists literally rewrite the textbooks about Martian history."
The pictures are amazing!
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