It seems an appropriate time to start a scoreboard, seeing as every other conflict gets one.

I was thinking Presidents, Ex-presidents, Bank Presidents, Prime Ministers and perhaps Senators would be sufficient for one side of the field and perhaps wikileakers on the other.

Should we count loss of position or only actual imprisonment?

Perhaps a try for loss of position and a goal for imprisonment (or execution - it still happens in some places, like the US and Iraq.).

Anyone have any predictions? Should we start a sweepstakes?

On the funding front wikileaks is pleased that certain financial institution have graciously and recklessly offered to finance wikileaks expansion perhaps along the lines analysed by US counter-intelligence (see another wikileak for that) but with a few extra leaps and bounds. I didn't see anything in the counter-intelligence report about the potential of mass web attacks against corporations from within the US by disgruntled US citizens but I noted that they felt corporations could exert influence over wikileaks. Perhaps it won't quite turn out the way they expected - thats probably why they call it counter-intelligence.

Perhaps with the new equipment they'll become the google of dirty secrets, much like google used to be the revealer of many US classified secrets if you knew how to ask. For a time the US networks were alarmingly open but the techo's got over it faced with the impossible. Looking at the who's who in US cyber-warfare I'm certainly going to bet on the free speech people. Another issue was that there could be more than one (dozen) mole(s) in the US government. I don't think they quite took into account the second wave of digruntled americans which is likely to follow the release of the banking industry collection. There may be a few Senate vacancies.

Some financial service providers have left themselves no option but to apologise and settle generous damages on wikileaks. Amazon will also likely be donating in the same manner courtesy of some observant bookbuyer spotting them actually selling electronic and print versions of the US leaks from their site, significantly weakening any case the US might make against Assange.

Perhaps another guessing competition could be how much settlement in total the courts eventually award wikileaks.

I know it's a sensitive subject and perhaps you don't want to have your employer know you enjoy a good guessing competition so you could email wikibucks@idme.to with your guesses and use a pseudonym. We'll delete all server records daily. You never know.

I do so like the Americans that I know, all of them, they know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Just for some reasons those currently in control seem to think they can go on forever. I'm guessing that by easter there will be a few million americans willing to make a difference. It could really be the second American Revolution all legal like and at the polls, and make Adams and Jefferson proud. Meanwhile businesses which operate globally had better get their global act together and show consistency in their approach or be prepared to face the consequences in the media, boardroom or court.

Given that Mastercard, Visa, paypal and others (not Amazon they were profiting like that German guy in WW2) have effectively tried to assist in the concealement of serious crimes including possible war crimes, chemical weapons use in Iraq etc, their example may not be the one for your business to follow. All the efforts by the US govt on Mastercard & Visa's behalf in Russia might just amount to nil.

I'm not sure if what the US companies has done comes under RICO but it certainly smacks of a conspiracy.

The new year might just be that.