Video: Biden Says Wikileaks Has Damaged Diplomacy, Put People in Jeopardy

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On Meet the Press today, Vice President Joe Biden said the release of thousands of diplomatic cables by Wikileaks has damaged the United States’s ability to conduct diplomatic business, and put people’s lives and occupations in jeopardy around the world.

Of course, that’s what you’d expect from a right wing nut job like Joe Biden. But since Julian Assange makes no bones about the fact that he intends to damage the diplomatic processes of nation states, I guess he can give himself a pat on the back for a job well done.

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71 comments
1 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 10:50:37am

Since Julian Assange makes no bones about the fact that he intends to damage the diplomatic process of nation states, I guess he can give himself a pat on the back for a job well done.

2 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 10:51:27am

It's damaged diplomacy in general, but I think in a highly temporary way. I hope so, anyway.

The biggest damage, I feel, will be the incidental damage of dissidents exposed to authoritarian governments.

3 Transfromnation  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 10:55:24am

re: #1 Charles

I guess Mr. Assange can give himself a nice fat christmas bonus, considering just how many lives he's put in danger.

4 Political Atheist  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 10:57:23am

[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]

ROFL

Nice one Reine!

5 Kronocide  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 10:57:37am

'You're a Vice Presidential Tabloid Shmuck.'

Julian Assange

6 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 10:58:01am

Of course, that's what you'd expect from a right wing nut job like Joe Biden.

7 Political Atheist  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:08:02am

One of the more annoying arguments from Wikileaks supporters is the claim there were no deaths or the harm has been minor. Of course no one can say what all this could trigger up the road.

8 Kronocide  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:09:33am

This is one of those times where I was hoping for a choice Bidenism.

9 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:13:13am

By the way, since it's quite a spectator sport lately among deranged obsessives to document every little thing I do or say, I'd like to point out that I added two sentences to the post above, shortly after writing it, but I did not scrupulously document the change.

Because that's just how evil I am.

10 sagehen  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:14:49am

re: #7 Rightwingconspirator

One of the more annoying arguments from Wikileaks supporters is the claim there were no deaths or the harm has been minor. Of course no one can say what all this could trigger up the road.


And isn't it funny how many partisans' views on Wikileaks are exactly opposite to what they said about outing Valerie Plame?

11 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:15:23am

re: #9 Charles

You should then delete your post.
Ought to really mess with em!
;)

12 Stanghazi  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:15:40am

re: #10 sagehen

And isn't it funny how many partisans' views on Wikileaks are exactly opposite to what they said about outing Valerie Plame?

Excellent point.

13 Political Atheist  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:15:44am

re: #10 sagehen

Hah! Now that's a worthwhile reminder.

14 jamesfirecat  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:18:07am

re: #10 sagehen

And isn't it funny how many partisans' views on Wikileaks are exactly opposite to what they said about outing Valerie Plame?

It's probably the "one death is a tragedy a million is a statistic" effect.

Valeria Plame was able to put a human face on the outrage involved in her being outed whereas so far we've heard of, but I don't think we've heard from (or at least not yet I'm sure it is coming) the people who Assange outed....

And even then the fact that there is more than one of them will lead to them either intentionally or uninentionally struggling against one another to be the name/face most associated with the damage wikileaks has done...

15 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:19:49am

Gee Charles - you could always just delete your blog. No one would think that was conspiratorial or that you were hiding anything. After all since Assange deleted his blog.

16 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:20:25am

re: #9 Charles

By the way, since it's quite a spectator sport lately among deranged obsessives to document every little thing I do or say, I'd like to point out that I added two sentences to the post above, shortly after writing it, but I did not scrupulously document the change.

Because that's just how evil I am.

I will never trust you again. My eyes have been opened to your unique badness. I will leave this blog forever, only returning to operate multiple sock accounts, and dedicate the rest of my life to obsessing over you.

Or not, you know.

17 [deleted]  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:22:37am
18 jaunte  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:24:04am

re: #15 karmic_inquisitor

Gee Charles - you could always just delete your blog. No one would think that was conspiratorial or that you were hiding anything. After all since Assange deleted his blog.


Assange: "Here then is the truth to set them free. Free from the manipulations and constraints of the mendacious. Free to choose their path, free to remove the ring from their noses, free to look up into the infinite voids and choose wonder over whatever gets them though. And before this feeling to cast blessings on the profits and prophets of truth, on the liberators and martyrs of truth, on the Voltaires, Galileos, and Principias of truth, on the Gutenburgs, Marconis and Internets of truth, on those serial killers of delusion, those brutal, driven and obsessed miners of reality, smashing, smashing, smashing every rotten edifice until all is ruins and the seeds of the new."

OMFG

19 Kronocide  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:26:19am

So Charles, are you worried about the impending Assangement of your emails with Trainwreck Brown?

Yeah, I'll bet you're just all a-Twitter with consternation.

20 reine.de.tout  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:28:18am

re: #18 jaunte

OMFG

ooof.

That's nearly as incomprehensible as Chinglish.

"Off my head there is a path".

21 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:28:36am

re: #19 BigPapa

So Charles, are you worried about the impending Assangement of your emails with Trainwreck Brown?

Sweating bullets.

22 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:31:25am

Here is an excerpt from a fawning article from the Guardian (back when they didn't tell readers they were negotiating with Assange for access to the dipolmatic cables):

When I try to question him about the morality of what he's done, if he worries about unleashing something that he can't control, that no one can control, he tells me the story of the Kenyan 2007 elections when a WikiLeak document "swung the election".

The leak exposed massive corruption by Daniel Arap Moi, and the Kenyan people sat up and took notice. In the ensuing elections, in which corruption became a major issue, violence swept the country. "1,300 people were eventually killed, and 350,000 were displaced. That was a result of our leak," says Assange.

The article title calls him "Monk of the online age". Message to all aspiring online monks: lay off any pedophilic inclinations and go for rough, unpleasant sex with Swedish groupies instead.

23 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:32:33am

Weird. Assange compares himself to Solzhenitsyn-- in 2006.

[Link: iq.org...]

If there is a book whose feeling captures me it is First Circle by Solzhenitsyn. To feel that home is the comraderie of persecuted, and infact, prosecuted, polymaths in a Stalinist slave labor camp! How close the parallels to my own adventures! What longing one has when reading Solzhenitsyn's love for his first cell of self similars! Such prosecution in youth is a defining peak experience. To know the state for what it really is! To see through that veneer the educated swear to disbelieve in but still slavishly follow with their hearts!

I know he got arrested for hacking, but I'm fairly sure he got released with a slap on the wrist.

Comparing himself to Solzhenitsyn is pretty goddamn hubristical.

24 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:33:49am

re: #23 Obdicut

Weird. Assange compares himself to Solzhenitsyn-- in 2006.

[Link: iq.org...]

I know he got arrested for hacking, but I'm fairly sure he got released with a slap on the wrist.

Comparing himself to Solzhenitsyn is pretty goddamn hubristical.

How old was he when he wrote that? I mean, MY GOD. And English is his first language, correct? He's not translating this out of German, or some language where that kind of gush is still viable?

25 SanFranciscoZionist  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:34:26am

re: #24 SanFranciscoZionist

How old was he when he wrote that? I mean, MY GOD. And English is his first language, correct? He's not translating this out of German, or some language where that kind of gush is still viable?

And yes, comparing himself to Solzhenitsyn is pretty ridiculously over the top, even if you approve of what he's doing.

26 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:34:53am

re: #20 reine.de.tout

ooof.

That's nearly as incomprehensible as Chinglish.

"Off my head there is a path".

Image: ignorance-swat-team.jpg

27 jaunte  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:35:24am

re: #23 Obdicut

Comparing himself to Solzhenitsyn is pretty goddamn hubristical.


He also shows that side when complaining about being imprisoned in the basement (!!!) of a Victorian (!!11) prison.

28 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:36:29am

re: #17 Charles

The depths of my evil are still unsuspected.

They could be calculated. All someone would need to know is the cubic feet of nitrogen pumped into your lair each day. From that and a little geology inferences about subterranean Denver, one could estimate those depths. All the kids at 4chan have to do is hack the billing records of the Denver area industrial gas suppliers and look for the invoices paid by "Zionist Conspiracy" and they have the goods on you, dude.

29 jaunte  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:40:15am

re: #22 karmic_inquisitor

Funny that he's so ready to rely on a libel lawsuit when displeased by a report.
Smash the State!

30 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:42:25am

Pssst ... let's not mention comment #17, OK?

31 Dancing along the light of day  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:44:15am

re: #30 Charles

LOL!
I was going to suggest you delete it...

32 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:44:15am

The secret of immortality and infinite riches!

[deleted]
33 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:46:20am

re: #31 Floral Giraffe

Delete what?

34 [deleted]  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:46:50am
35 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:47:21am

Latest Assange WhineLeak:

"There is a threat to my life".

Also "The case in Sweden is a travesty".

Oh - and BofA has cut off payments to WikiLeaks.

Yawn.

36 justaminute  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:49:44am

Hi everyone, I’ve been really busy working and only having time to lurk. I have not had a lot of time to pay that much attention to the Wiki/Assange story but looking around today I am curious about this inconsistency

On Thursday, December 16 Vice-president Biden did an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC saying the opposite:

MITCHELL: This is Vice President Joe Biden, who told me that the leaked cables created no substantive damage -- only embarrassment . . . .
BIDEN: And I came in [to the U.N.] almost all to embraces - it wasn't just shaking hands - I know these guys, I know these women - they still trust the United States - there's all kinds of --
MITCHELL: So there's no damage?
BIDEN: I don't think there's any damage. I don't think there's any substantive damage, no. Look, some of the cables are embarrassing . . . but nothing that I'm aware of that goes to the essence of the relationship that would allow another nation to say: "they lied to me, we don't trust them, they really are not dealing fairly with us."

What happened in one day?

37 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:54:48am

re: #36 justaminute

I don't think there's any inconsistency there. In the Mitchell interview he's saying there hasn't been the kind of substantive damage that would make it impossible to do diplomatic business. In the Meet the Press interview he's saying that nonetheless, it has done damage and negatively affected the process.

Which, you know, is pretty much common sense.

38 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:56:23am

To be transparent to everyone, I'd just like to admit that I've been editing my posts all along, despite that being impossible.

I'm sorry.

39 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:57:04am

re: #38 Obdicut

To be transparent to everyone, I'd just like to admit that I've been editing my posts all along, despite that being impossible.

I'm sorry.

I've been using my time machine to accomplish that.

40 jaunte  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:57:40am

re: #38 Obdicut

You didn't edit the 'not' completely out of that.

41 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:59:15am

re: #36 justaminute

Hi everyone, I’ve been really busy working and only having time to lurk. I have not had a lot of time to pay that much attention to the Wiki/Assange story but looking around today I am curious about this inconsistency

On Thursday, December 16 Vice-president Biden did an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC saying the opposite:

MITCHELL: This is Vice President Joe Biden, who told me that the leaked cables created no substantive damage -- only embarrassment . . .
BIDEN: And I came in [to the U.N.] almost all to embraces - it wasn't just shaking hands - I know these guys, I know these women - they still trust the United States - there's all kinds of --
MITCHELL: So there's no damage?
BIDEN: I don't think there's any damage. I don't think there's any substantive damage, no. Look, some of the cables are embarrassing . . . but nothing that I'm aware of that goes to the essence of the relationship that would allow another nation to say: "they lied to me, we don't trust them, they really are not dealing fairly with us."

What happened in one day?

Here is the complete transcript.

Notice that Mitchell's question that prompted Biden's remark is wholly absent. So when she says " So there's no damage?" then we have no idea what scope her question of damage took in the first place. We can only infer the scope from Biden's initial remarks following the unprovided prompt. In that, Biden is clearly talking about the interpersonal relationships within the diplomatic community - how the US is regarded by these diplomats.

42 justaminute  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:01:14pm

re: #37 Charles

Thank you for answering. I don't know much about this and have not kept up like you guys have. It kinda of made me think they were making him go back and backtrack his story.

43 Buck  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:03:22pm

It hasn't damaged anything, it just changed it.

Now all diplomats will have to be honest and forthright. Countries will just have to follow all the rules, and be completely open.

That's all... doesn't seem so bad. How can honest be bad?


/super sarc tag

44 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:05:25pm

re: #43 Buck

It hasn't damaged anything, it just changed it.

Now all diplomats will have to be honest and forthright. Countries will just have to follow all the rules, and be completely open.

That's all... doesn't seem so bad. How can honest be bad?

/super sarc tag

Let us join together in song.
:P

45 Stanghazi  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:05:33pm

re: #42 justaminute

Missed you around here Justa!

46 justaminute  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:10:34pm

re: #45 Stanley Sea

I've missed you guys too! My husband hurt his back and I've had to pick up the slack and have company (27 guests) at Thanksgiving. Now Christmas coming up. I read some posts in the evening but to tired to actually engage anyone in coherent conversation.

47 Stanghazi  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:12:18pm

re: #46 justaminute

I've missed you guys too! My husband hurt his back and I've had to pick up the slack and have company (27 guests) at Thanksgiving. Now Christmas coming up. I read some posts in the evening but to tired to actually engage anyone in coherent conversation.

DANG! Hang in there.

48 prairiefire  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:27:49pm

re: #46 justaminute

Hello, hello, hello! Good grief, 27 people at Thanksgiving dinner. You are a saint!

49 Killgore Trout  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:28:41pm

More Wikileaks supporters anti-Isreal agenda....
Funding illegal Israeli settlements?
Priceless.

Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all enable donations to be made to US-registered groups funding illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in defiance of international law.

It appears at least one of the major credit cards also enables donations to an extremist Jewish group that has placed a bounty on the lives of Palestinians.

All three have in the last week ceased enabling donations to WikiLeaks. Neither Mastercard nor Visa have explained the basis for their decision to do so. PayPal has backed away from its initial claim that the US State Department told PayPal WikiLeaks had broken the law after the claim was discredited. This is the third occasion on which PayPal has suspended payment services for WikiLeaks.

50 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:30:21pm

re: #49 Killgore Trout

They should have been at LGF for the Great Tu Quoque Wars of 2010. Then they'd know better than to use such a dumb argument.

51 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:37:11pm

re: #18 jaunte

his blog is awesome in a sort of we-are-sliding-towards-drunken-oblivion way :D

52 justaminute  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:37:29pm

re: #48 prairiefire

My son came home and really helped my out. Preparing dinner for 27 was a snap but keeping my employees on track at the restaurant was the challenge. The employees love the tips at the holidays but they have a problem with the whole working part. Gotta love them, thats where the sainthood part comes in. Ha Ha

53 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:37:58pm

re: #51 WindUpBird

He writes like I did when I was 17.

I was insufferably pretentious when I was 17, and full of 'Fuck you, mom & dad!' angst.

54 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:43:35pm

re: #53 Obdicut

He writes like I did when I was 17.

I was insufferably pretentious when I was 17, and full of 'Fuck you, mom & dad!' angst.

I didn't write when I was 17, save pissing off my friends on BBSes about the relative merits of Seattle bands :D I was less angsty and more just withdrawn and wound-too-tight

what do you know, not much has changed

55 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:46:53pm

Assange goes Larry Summers ...

Mon 17 Jul 2006 : Female mathematics
Mathematics is a systemization of communicable human thought created by brain architectures that have male-type spacial abilities and extremised by the extremes within that group. Extreme female brain architectures would create a different sort of mathematics. It won't be created by the females currently in mathematics because they need a male type brain to thrive in the existing mathematical world.

Perhaps a good cognitive neuroscientist will do it for them.

That or maybe a really bad screw.

56 sizzleRI  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:48:16pm

re: #53 Obdicut

At 17 I thought The Fountainhead was the deep answer to all that ailed me. I was just to brilliant for this world! Yeah, I was fun to be around.

57 Gus  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:48:18pm

Oh... So Julian Assange has an IQ of 167.

That explains a lot.

//

58 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:48:26pm

re: #55 karmic_inquisitor

Assange goes Larry Summers ...

That or maybe a really bad screw.

I use big words.
I pretend convey philowhatsits thought.
I smart!

59 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:48:26pm

I agree with Biden? Cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria!

60 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:49:14pm

Strange days indeed. I find myself agreeing with Biden, and happily so.

Of course, that’s what you’d expect from a right wing nut job like Joe Biden.

Tee hee.

61 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:50:01pm

Man - I have to say that reading Assange's blog is a treat.

It should be obvious why he deleted it.

From it we get this nugget that I think would be a great rotating title:

"Sometimes my eyes are lovingly full of Eastern European tradegy."

62 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:51:28pm

re: #61 karmic_inquisitor

Man - I have to say that reading Assange's blog is a treat.

It should be obvious why he deleted it.

From it we get this nugget that I think would be a great rotating title:

"Sometimes my eyes are lovingly full of Eastern European tradegy."

Lol.
If someone asked him what he means by that, you'd get a blank stare.

63 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:52:49pm

re: #62 Varek Raith

He's kinda like the bad parts of Hemingway combined with the bad parts of Chomsky.

64 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:53:51pm

re: #62 Varek Raith

Lol.
If someone asked him what he means by that, you'd get a blank stare.

... which sympathetic journalists would document as "a tense moment of deep contemplation". That is how Parrot Brown would document it, methinks.

65 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:55:24pm

re: #63 Obdicut

He's kinda like the bad parts of Hemingway combined with the bad parts of Chomsky.

So would he be for or against a "Free Tradegy Agreement?"

66 lostlakehiker  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:56:54pm

re: #38 Obdicut

To be transparent to everyone, I'd just like to admit that I've been editing my posts all along, despite that being impossible.

I'm sorry.

Haw! I don't edt mine evn before I poost.

67 karmic_inquisitor  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:59:17pm

re: #66 lostlakehiker

Haw! I don't edt mine evn before I poost.

Bin thair, done dat.

68 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:59:31pm

re: #66 lostlakehiker

Haw! I don't edt mine evn before I poost.

YOU DIDN'T DOUBLE SPACE AFTER YOUR FIRST SENTENCE!
;)

69 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 12:59:54pm

re: #56 sizzleRI

At 17 I thought The Fountainhead was the deep answer to all that ailed me. I was just to brilliant for this world! Yeah, I was fun to be around.

The good news? You grew out of that.

The bad news? A whole shit-ton of adult, teabaggin' libertarians have not.

70 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 1:25:13pm

re: #56 sizzleRI

At 17 I thought The Fountainhead was the deep answer to all that ailed me. I was just to brilliant for this world! Yeah, I was fun to be around.

I just cut to the musical chase

71 Dancing along the light of day  Sun, Dec 19, 2010 9:33:13pm

re: #33 Charles

That was funny. Were you deliberately #17 like the rotating title?


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