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No doubt at this end of town the banking expose to come is on many a mind. It may be larger and more far reaching than anticipated.
Anarchy is the description I've heard bandied about by some of the more misguided souls in relation to wikileaks.
wikileaks has merely revealed the anarchy (or some of it) that we are all participants in.
Ask your father or grandfather whether they really would have gone through the second world war if they had known their sons and daughters would become no better than their enemy.
My own uniquely Australian personal thoughts and I make no apologies to anyone in advance:
We are at a nexus. Of that I have no doubt. The great danger for the 'rulers’ is that they are increasingly looking shonky. We see wars fought, people tortured and murdered almost every day in the name of some mysterious danger. Of course there are dangers present, and ‘terrorists’ whatever they are, are among them.
The real danger is that corporations and government have united to become terrorist creators. Torture breeds terror and the response will be ‘terrorists’. Inneffectual governments, corruption, lies, inequality and poor economies all breed terrorists. The difference here is that the governments have been caught out making torture, murder, and assassination everyday business, hidden for a while but now and forever in the public view. The right reaction of governments would be to deal with the issues raised in the leaks, not shoot the messenger. Failing to do so and attacking the messenger is going to breed some internal dissent. If that dissent is fuelled then the consequences could be severe in the short term.
No doubt some governments will invoke Stalinist tactics aka the USA and others will see governments fall. Cyber dissent is probably the least desirable for governments (and financial institutions) as they are significantly behind the game, and if dissent is internal there is little chance of governments keeping any secrets at all.
Is Julian just the alter-ego whistleblower and exposer of bad deeds inside all of us, only we’re too afraid to speak out? There are no doubt some of us who feel a little ashamed to think that our troops may be ordered to do the same things US troops do. I pity the Australian soldiers returning from Iraq because they may find that in the end they are less popular than Vietnam veterans were after that fiasco. At least they didn’t have to deal with allegations of routine torture.
I pity any country which sends it finest to do such bidding as is being done in our names. Handing thousands of people over to become victims of abuse, torture, rape and murder is not what they signed up for. Turning a blind eye is not doing them or us any good. What jobs will we give these ignorers of torture and abuse when they return home. Perhaps we’d like them to police or teach our children. The US may be able to live with that but it will kill the Australia I was born in.
That is the great danger for us.
Are our hopes dashed that Australia’s first ever woman Prime Minister might have brought better judgement, some compassion and humanity to the office? Thus far she has shown herself wanting in regard to Julian Assange. Is it a sign of what is to become of all of us?
And what of Great Britain? Do you still deserve the title and is British justice still the exemplary leader that laid the foundation for so many others?
USA if you've lost your way I have John Adams' navigation book his father gave him in 1743 and which he used to teach John Quincy how to navigate aboard the Boston fighting their way to France to raise the money for the Revolution. Remember John - one of the Founders. What would they think?
p.s Should it be disconcerting that there have been three reads and I hadn't published it yet? ha ha.
This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.
Victor Irechukwu Head, Engineering at OnePipe Services Limited
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Alex Kreger Founder & CEO at UXDA
27 November
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