Finally, a politician has had the courage to raise his index finger to the all high and mighty American government, and tell it as it is.
From the BBC:
Australia’s foreign minister has said the US is to blame for the release of thousands of diplomatic cables on Wikileaks, not its Australian founder, Julian Assange.
Kevin Rudd said the release raised questions about US security.
Mr Rudd said he did not “give a damn” about criticism of him in the cables.[1]
In making the statement, Kevin Rudd has gone against his prime minister, Julia Gillard, who in an earlier quote called Assange, “grossly irresponsible”.
It’s good that one politician on the planet has discovered he still has a backbone. All the rest sold their’s to America in exchange for ‘favors’. That’s one thing the leaked cables have revealed.
Take the kindest, gentlest, pet dog, stamp on its foot with all your might, and it’ll turn round and try to bite you. It’s a reaction. The animal doesn’t think – it reacts. It’s what animals do when they’re subjected to pain, or fear. A dog that develops a sudden belly ache may well try to bite at its own stomach.
The instinctive urge to turn on those we believe don’t act in our best interests is still prevalent among human beings. Yet Homo sapiens is able to overcome this instinctive reaction; it has an ability not given to lower animals – the power of cognitive response.
Response is vastly superior to reaction. It involves the use of conscious thought processes. Reaction is entirely instinctive, any brain involvement being on a purely autonomic level. Unlike a dog, when Homo sapiens reacts to a situation that causes it pain, or fear, it usually manifests in the emotional form known as ‘revenge’.
It was to this superior power of cognitive response that Jesus of Nazareth eluded when he staggered his disciples by telling them, “Love thine enemies.” To the Jews of that time, living under the sword of Rome, sworn to banish the invaders from the Holy Land, he must have seemed crazy. But Jesus preached love. He realized there was no future for mankind while one nation was constantly trying to annihilate another out of some vague sense of self-righteous revenge.
At no time was this demonstrated more starkly than immediately following the events of 9/11/2001, when the vengeful blood-lust of American citizenry completely blocked out the love and compassion emanating from all corners of the globe. Instead, a mass wave of negative vengeful emotion sanctioned the US government’s razing of an innocent Middle East nation; one that had nothing whatever to do with the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon
Genuine diplomacy, an ability to care about and comprehend the other’s viewpoint and by so doing reach an amicable arrangement, was what Jesus of Nazareth meant when he commanded his followers to, “Turn the other cheek.”
Wikileaks website owner, Julian Assange, appears the latest victim of vengeful reaction, but whether or not the accusations of rape have any basis in truth, or, more likely, are an undercover attempt to silence Assange, the apparent reactions of certain high-profile, right-wing, politicians to the latest Wikileaks revelations are not what they seem. They are, in fact, carefully considered, cognitive, responses designed to appear reactive.
Newt Gingrich, (himself hardly ‘without sin’), has called for the hunting down and execution of Assange, as has Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, and “Christian” Pastor Mike Huckabee.[1] [2]
While initially this may appear reaction rather than response, it must be remembered that all four are politicians with an eye to the presidency in 2012. Their aim is to secure support from voters. Projecting such, apparently, reactive opinions into the public arena is no more than a deliberate attempt to stir up the same nationalistic, combative, fervor that prevailed after 9/11.
Strangely, all these high-profile individuals publicize themselves as ardent followers of that same Jesus of Nazareth whose teachings advocated ‘turning the other cheek’. However, that is merely another result of their own cognitive responses. In a nation that salves its conscience by the advocacy of a decidedly warped form of Christianity, no politician will make career progress by declaring himself, or herself, other than a fervent member of that faith.
The aim of all four politicals is to head a national blood-lust against Assange that will create for them mythical leadership qualities capable of propelling one of them into the White House. Personal gain is the ultimate reward, rather than any concern for national security.
Meanwhile, Mr & Mrs John Doe have yet to prove whether their Christianity is as warped as that of their leaders, or indeed, if their brains are more evolved than that of a domestic pet dog.
“The fact is governments deal with the United States because it’s in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us and not because they think we can keep secrets.” ~ US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, November 29th 2010.
If the publication of ‘secret’ cables by Wikileaks this week proves anything at all, it’s that our leaders are a bunch of immature children with no better view of the real world than the five years olds they seem determined to emulate.
But, then, most of us knew that already.
It doesn’t take a certificate from Mensa to work out that the cossetted upbringing and lack of parental control so typical of the overly-privileged American family, coupled with places at universities bought rather than earned, hardly endows an average diplomat with the ability to know anything other than the narrow field of indoctrination bestowed on him by his inadequate education.
Is it any wonder they spend their time sending silly messages, labeling the president of Iran, “Hitler”, and suggesting Gadafi is ‘having it off’ with his nurse?
More concerning, is a US government that will hand out seventy year jail sentences for those who dare to hack into its computer systems[1] while merrily hacking into everyone else’s, and stealing private data from all and sundry, including such an august official as the UN Secretary-General, himself, Ban Ki-moon.
In an attempt to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, Slovenia is offered ‘a chance to meet with President Obama’ if they are willing to take one of the prisoners. It sounds uncannily like a TV quiz show prize.
The South Pacific island nation of Kiribati is offered ‘millions of dollars’ if it will take Guantanamo prisoners, while Brussels is told it could be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe”.
When CIA agents snatched a German citizen in Macedonia in 2004, wrongly assuming him to be an al Qaeda member, US diplomats went to great lengths dissuading Germany from issuing international arrest warrants against the agents. Not that it was blackmail. The US diplomats merely “pointed out that our intention was not to threaten Germany, but rather to urge that the German government weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the US”.
When faced with the consequences of this behavior, politicians, old admirals and other brass-dangling military men lumber out of the political woodwork muttering on the irresponsibility of those publishing these facts, and how ‘it could well cost American lives’.
From White House spokesman, Robert Gibb:
“To be clear — such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government.
By releasing stolen and classified documents, WikiLeaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals. We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.”
Oh, please! And what of all those who came to the White House for assistance in suppressing democracy and open government, and got that assistance?
The leaked cables implicate plenty of those, too.
The scenario portrays an overweight, self-serving, school bully believing he has the power and weight to push everyone else around. Yes, he has the biggest catapult, and a baseball bat inside his jacket, but the area between his ears is devoid of all but a low animal cunning. It’s this that makes him so dangerous.
I could be describing the US political system today.
Wikileaks
Manipulating the masses
Open-ing government