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Cookiepusher-gate Goes Live

by Anne Laurie

The NYTimes has started posting its latest Wikileaks collaboration.

They’ve also posted “A Note to Readers: The Decision to Publish Diplomatic Documents“:

... Beginning Sunday, WikiLeaks intends to publish this archive on its Web site in stages, with each batch of documents related to a particular country or topic. Except for the timing of publication, the material was provided without conditions. Each news organization decided independently what to write about the cables…

The Times has taken care to exclude, in its articles and in supplementary material, in print and online, information that would endanger confidential informants or compromise national security. The Times’s redactions were shared with other news organizations and communicated to WikiLeaks, in the hope that they would similarly edit the documents they planned to post online.

After its own redactions, The Times sent Obama administration officials the cables it planned to post and invited them to challenge publication of any information that, in the official view, would harm the national interest. After reviewing the cables, the officials — while making clear they condemn the publication of secret material — suggested additional redactions. The Times agreed to some, but not all. The Times is forwarding the administration’s concerns to other news organizations and, at the suggestion of the State Department, to WikiLeaks itself. In all, The Times plans to post on its Web site the text of about 100 cables — some edited, some in full — that illuminate aspects of American foreign policy…

It would be interesting to compare the Wikileak source dumps with the NYTimes‘, and other publishers’, redacted versions. If only there were someone with the memetically selected high-IQ metatalents to fully grokk the PURE DATA in a post-gutenberg Sufi undertanding not available to us bioluddite olds!

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November 28, 2010 5:38 pm Posted in: Daydream Believers, Foreign Affairs, hoocoodanode, War on Terror aka GSAVE®  80 Comments

80 Responses

  1. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 5:45 pm · Link

    The American Empire will come out with so many black eyes from this.

    It will be beautiful to behold…will Hillary have to resign in disgrace?

  2. Winston Smith - November 28, 2010 | 5:46 pm · Link

    If only there were someone with the memetically selected high-IQ metatalents to fully grokk the PURE DATA in a post-gutenberg Sufi undertanding not available to us bioluddite olds!

    All I need is a quarter ounce of meth and 36 hours.

  3. Maude - November 28, 2010 | 5:47 pm · Link

    The only thing so far that I find disturbing is Clinton wanting the biometric data on diplomats at the U.N.

  4. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 5:49 pm · Link

    @Maude:

    The only thing so far that I find disturbing is Clinton wanting the biometric data on diplomats at the U.N.

    Sure. Why not? She has mine. Biometric data isn’t necessarily some scary ebil thing.

  5. Omnes Omnibus - November 28, 2010 | 5:52 pm · Link

    If only there were someone with the memetically selected high-IQ metatalents to fully grokk the PURE DATA in a post-gutenberg Sufi undertanding not available to us bioluddite olds!

    That is simply brilliant. Sheila, take a bow.

  6. Ned Ludd - November 28, 2010 | 5:54 pm · Link

    In the last batch, Marcy Wheeler looked at a document about the capture of the three American hikers by Iran, and she found that Wikileaks redacted more than the New York Times.

    At first read, here’s the information that is redacted in the Wiki version but which appears in the NYT version (please tell me if you see something I’ve missed):

    Her post has a list of the specific items.

    So in general, Wiki provides a few operational details NYT does not, but NYT provides names (at least of Meckfessel), provides indication of who was captured, and describes the involvement of the Kurds and Iranians. And, of course, NYT provides multiple details of location, which is critical to its Michael Gordon narrative about Iran.

    Also, the way in which Wikileaks redacts information is much more secure, but also makes the document harder to follow.

    To its credit, the NYT seems to be indicating not only each redaction, but how long the redaction is. But Wiki is using just 3 character underlines for all redactions, thereby obscuring even the parts of speech (note how the redaction of prepositions disguise some of the movements). And the more important redactions are probably operational details that show how the military treated these reports; Wiki is redacting so much that these lack real context.

  7. wengler - November 28, 2010 | 5:56 pm · Link

    If we still lived under Bush, the NYT would wait for 2 years so as to “not interfere with the elections” just like for the massive wiretapping story.

    The newspaper industry is so outmoded. I think I will ignore the Times story and go straight to the source. Or better yet I am already reading the Guardian coverage of this before the source material drops.

  8. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 5:57 pm · Link

    @Omnes Omnibus: This. Also. Too.

    @Ned Ludd: So it’s a whole lotta teeth gnashing over…not so much in the end.

  9. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 6:02 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:

    This is just the beginning. It’s going to be a seven-day series: drip, drip, drip.

    And he’s promised to reveal info about US assassinations and death squads.

  10. I_D_Inuse - November 28, 2010 | 6:04 pm · Link

    Ya know Anne Laurie, there is a difference between nuance and hyperbole. Snark does not, nor ever will trump reason and facts based on available knowledge. The question before us in this age of information, verified or not, is very simple, what is real and what is an imagined real, ginned up to enhance a point of view?

    Never mind the facts as we know ‘em, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes, no matter the blowback? Unreasoned emotional fee-fees rule? That is not nor ever will be an adult answer and FSM knows we need adults at the helm of our so called ship-of-state.

  11. Maude - November 28, 2010 | 6:05 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:
    That’s with your permission, isn’t it? If I gave permission for that data to be released to an agency, I’d be fine with it.
    What bothers me is the amount of personal data wanted on diplomats without their permission.

  12. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 6:10 pm · Link

    @Maude: With my permission inasmuch as if I wanted the job I’d better give it. Without their knowledge or consent does get into creepy territory. Unsurprising, but still creepy. Though what the State Department wanted with the weights of diplomats at the UN is beyond me.

  13. Brick Oven Bill - November 28, 2010 | 6:10 pm · Link

    Leaked!

    A far more accurate portrayal of sensitive American diplomatic relations.

  14. Ned Ludd - November 28, 2010 | 6:16 pm · Link

    I’m not sure I understand your comment. Are you talking about Wikileaks, or are you talking about Clinton’s order to spy on UN leadership?

    A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.

    Clinton also wanted biometric information “on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders”. Biometric data included “DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.”

    According to the Guardian, Clinton’s order appears to violate the UN convention on privileges and immunities.

  15. Ned Ludd - November 28, 2010 | 6:23 pm · Link

    @Maude: I have a comment in limbo/moderation that asks what you meant by comment #11. Anyway, I missed your comment at #3, which clears things up. So when my other comment appears, you can ignore the question.

  16. Maude - November 28, 2010 | 6:23 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:
    Maybe they were going to have them on see saws and wanted to see who would tip the board too much.
    I want to see how this plays out.
    I read the list of things wanted by DoS and that’s what disturbed me.

  17. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 6:26 pm · Link

    Exactly what would wikileaks reveal that would cause any sort of change in US government behavior? Because is that not the goal here? If we show the public what kind of nefarious shit we do, maybe we won’t do it anymore? PLEASE. After the Warren Commission, the Pentagon Papers, IranContra, and on and on, what would Assange actually reveal that could make the crazy train stop? The answer is nothing. The President of the United Stats openly admits to giving kill orders on American citizens w/o any type of process. We have admitted to having secret prisons in other countries. Unless there is some document signed by the government authorizing testing of diseases and drugs on an unknowing populace, there will be no change. Oh wait (Tuskegee, MKULTRA). Tom Clancy and Dale Brown are as much to blame as anybody.

  18. Ned Ludd - November 28, 2010 | 6:31 pm · Link

    @Yutsano: Not just weights, but also “DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.”

    More, from the Guardian:

    Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and “biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives”.

    […]

    [The directive] requested “current technical specifications, physical layout and planned upgrades to telecommunications infrastructure and information systems, networks and technologies used by top officials and their support staff”, as well as details on private networks used for official communication, “to include upgrades, security measures, passwords, personal encryption keys and virtual private network versions used”.

  19. Luthe - November 28, 2010 | 6:33 pm · Link

    If only there were someone with the memetically selected high-IQ metatalents to fully grokk the PURE DATA in a post-gutenberg Sufi undertanding not available to us bioluddite olds!

    ...Aaaaand crowd-sourced reading/algorithmic analysis of the cables in 3, 2, 1…

  20. BGinCHI - November 28, 2010 | 6:35 pm · Link

    @Bnut: Agreed. Dale Brown was a terrible basketball coach.

  21. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 6:37 pm · Link

    And it’s no coincidence that the WikiLeaks site went down today—that’s our “cyberwarfare” unit at work, working on keeping relevant information from it’s own citizens.

    USA! USA! USA!

    The Empire will never fall!

    Most rotten nation since 1945.

  22. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 6:38 pm · Link

    @Ned Ludd: Which of course begs the question why State wants to venture over into CIA territory with all this. I freely admit it’s more bizarre than anything. Though now I’m curious as to what information the Chinese have about the UN diplomats.

    @Kenneth: Dude…do you need a towel now or just a moment to yourself?

  23. Maude - November 28, 2010 | 6:41 pm · Link

    @Ned Ludd:
    Thank you for posting the list.
    I think this is going to cause real problems.
    Bet Dr. Susan Rice isn’t having fun right now.

  24. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 6:41 pm · Link

    @BGinCHI: Actually THAT Dale Brown was fucking awesome. He hated the NCAA.

  25. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 6:44 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:

    I’ll save the towel for next Sunday when they drop the China documents.

    That should be entertaining, and will fuck the Washington foreign policy establishment in this country for decades to come.

  26. Omnes Omnibus - November 28, 2010 | 6:46 pm · Link

    @Kenneth: Yeah, it is impossible that Wikileaks servers were overwhelmed. FFS if we were going to knock over their servers as a cyber-warfare technique, would we do it before the documents were leaked? But don’t let me stop you from suggesting that the US is a purely malign force.

  27. BGinCHI - November 28, 2010 | 6:46 pm · Link

    @Bnut: OK, I agree. He also hated Bobby Knight, which I always thought was brave.

  28. WyldPirate - November 28, 2010 | 6:47 pm · Link

    @Bnut:

    Unless there is some document signed by the government authorizing testing of diseases and drugs on an unknowing populace, there will be no change. Oh wait (Tuskegee, MKULTRA)

    Ah, quit yer bitchin’, bnut. We at least APOLOGIZED for this shit. What more do you fucking want?

    For fucks sake. Some of you must expect us to live up to the ideals our country was allegedly founded on.

    USA! USA! USA! We’re #1!

  29. BGinCHI - November 28, 2010 | 6:48 pm · Link

    I’m curious about what Jonah Goldberg is going to suggest we do to Julian Assange in his next column.

    My guess is something along the lines of “getting medieval on his ass.”

  30. burnspbesq - November 28, 2010 | 6:51 pm · Link

    Meanwhile, Mr. Assange is continuing to refuse to cooperate with Swedish prosecutors. Could it be that they have a case, and he knows it?

    Kenneth, that’s your cue to jump in and argue without one shred of evidence that the Swedish prosecutors are doing the CIA’s evil bidding. Don’t disappoint me, lad. I’m already laughing at you.

  31. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 6:51 pm · Link

    @BGinCHI: That ascribes a level of creativity that Doughboy there has not demonstrated up to this point. But it could be fun counting the movie cliches.

  32. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 6:52 pm · Link

    @BGinCHI: If he doesn’t mention some pliers and a blowtorch we’ll know he’s gone soft in his (doughy) middle age.

  33. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 6:53 pm · Link

    @burnspbesq:

    It is interesting that these “rape” allegations came right after he started leaking info of the US government and it’s lackeys, isn’t it?

    Fortunately he will find asylum in Switzerland. And Switzerland is one of the few western countries not beholden to the Empire.

  34. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 6:56 pm · Link

    Favorite wikileaks revelation: a profile of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, who they say is accompanied everywhere by a “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse.

  35. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 6:56 pm · Link

    @Kenneth:

    Fortunately he will find asylum in Switzerland.

    I think that would require him being in Switzerland. And there is no evidence that is the case at this time. Unless you possess some uber secret knowledge you’re just giggling over.

    And Switzerland is one of the few western countries not beholden to the Empire.

    The Swedes have an empire again? Did this happen when I wasn’t looking?

    @Bnut: Okay, yeah, that’s kind of hilarious.

  36. arguingwithsignposts - November 28, 2010 | 6:56 pm · Link

    ok, i have to admit i lol’d at the matoko_chan slapdown. :)

  37. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 6:56 pm · Link

    Hope Mr Assange grows a pair of eyes in the back of his head, and maybe one for his alleged felonious dick.

  38. eemom - November 28, 2010 | 6:57 pm · Link

    I recommend this Der Spiegel article—best account of the whole mess I’ve seen yet:
    http://www.spiegel.de/internat.....80,00.html
    I love this quote:

    The development is no less than a political meltdown for American foreign policy. Never before in history has a superpower lost control of such vast amounts of such sensitive information—data that can help paint a picture of the foundation upon which US foreign policy is built. Never before has the trust America’s partners have in the country been as badly shaken. Now, their own personal views and policy recommendations have been made public—as have America’s true views of them.

    For the record, I still think Julian Assange is nothing more than a megalomaniacal asshole. Other than that, I don’t really give a shit about any of this, and sort of look forward to being an impartial spectator at the tsunami of bullshit that will drench the emmessemm over the next few days. Especially if it will drown out fucking Palinmania.

  39. Omnes Omnibus - November 28, 2010 | 6:57 pm · Link

    @Kenneth: Asylum in Switzerland? Don’t be so sure.

  40. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 6:58 pm · Link

    Ukrainian nurse.

    I here they can rock yer world

  41. eemom - November 28, 2010 | 7:01 pm · Link

    @Kenneth:

    That should be entertaining, and will fuck the Washington foreign policy establishment in this country for decades to come.

    how endearingly naive. It’s not gonna matter worth a shit.

  42. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 7:01 pm · Link

    mclaren is awake. Y’all consider yourselves warned.

  43. burnspbesq - November 28, 2010 | 7:01 pm · Link

    @Kenneth:

    It is interesting that these “rape” allegations came right after he started leaking info of the US government and it’s lackeys, isn’t it?

    It’s equally interesting that the allegations came right after he had sex with two Swedish women, which they claim was non-consensual.

    I think my timeline has a bit more explanatory power than yours.

  44. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 7:02 pm · Link

    All this, and still no Whitey Tape.

  45. burnspbesq - November 28, 2010 | 7:02 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:

    mclaren is awake.

    I’m reasonably certain that I don’t want to know how you know this.

  46. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 7:05 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:

    Well, it is post sunset, so Vlad the Magnificent ought to be having his first cup bout now. I think we have the best whackjobs on the blogs, somebody ought to study it.

  47. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 7:06 pm · Link

    @Yutsano: For the longest time I thought Maclaren strollers were some type of expensive racing stroller from Mclaren. It made me hate people in Brooklyn more than usual. But then I realized I could not read or spell, so I felt a bit better.

  48. eemom - November 28, 2010 | 7:09 pm · Link

    @burnspbesq:

    We’d better not discuss s*x with little Kenny—I doubt his mommy and daddy have told him the FOL yet.

    He might be a good match for little matoko, though, once the two of them pass puberty.

  49. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 7:09 pm · Link

    @General Stuck: “Oh we’re all quite mad here my dear. I’m mad, you’re mad.”

    “Me? I’m not mad!”

    “But of course you are. If you weren’t you wouldn’t have come here.”

  50. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 7:12 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:

    Welcome to the wabbit hole.

  51. BGinCHI - November 28, 2010 | 7:12 pm · Link

    @Bnut: 5 bucks Cole describes Tunch as a “voluptuous blonde.”

  52. mclaren - November 28, 2010 | 7:13 pm · Link

    Because by refusing to print said portions of the Wikileaks dump, the Times will prevent anyone from finding out what was in ‘em.

    Oooooooookay.

    You know, sometimes I think I came from another planet in a spaceship and landed as a baby on the Planet of the Slow People by accident.

  53. Joseph Nobles - November 28, 2010 | 7:15 pm · Link

    @Ned Ludd: So Wikileaks is redacting more than the New York Times, and this was after the Times submitted cables to the government and took some of the suggestions. Nice to know about Wikileak’s abundance of caution.

  54. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 7:16 pm · Link

    @mclaren:

    You know, sometimes I think I came from another planet in a spaceship and landed as a baby on the Planet of the Slow People by accident.

    Just your dumb luck there sparky, landing in the land of ice castles and telephone booths.

  55. Nellcote - November 28, 2010 | 7:17 pm · Link

    @mclaren:

    You know, sometimes I think I came from another planet in a spaceship and landed as a baby on the Planet of the Slow People by accident.

    Sometimes I think you should go home for the holidays.

  56. Yutsano - November 28, 2010 | 7:17 pm · Link

    @Bnut: I discovered one of the reasons Noo Yahkers are relatively nice to others is that they’re too busy hating on each other. It’s kinda funny to me, but when a city’s been around for 400 years I guess resentment builds up fast.

    Oh boy. Anyone else see the cable re: the Saudi king? That will get ugly real fast.

  57. Luthe - November 28, 2010 | 7:19 pm · Link

    @Kenneth:

    Speaking of falling empires, y’all have heard Dar Williams’s song ‘Empire’, correct?

  58. General Stuck - November 28, 2010 | 7:20 pm · Link

    Of course most of the America haters will comb through this pile of shit, for a nugget or two of “told you so”, but about everything I’ve read so far seems to indicate a lot of people simply doing their jobs.

    edit – that now will make it harder to do those jobs amidst the resentments these leaks will surely cause over petty jibs and jabs/ Hopefully, no major or minor wars will break out from it all.

  59. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 7:21 pm · Link

    @Yutsano: People tend to live around those who are like them. I think urban settings just force us so close together, we start to hate everyone around us because we see our own flaws in them.

  60. Cat Lady - November 28, 2010 | 7:21 pm · Link

    mclaren’s in the house, where’s cell phone nation’s #1anti-slave embryo anime wallah? There’s an hour until Colts-Chargers to kill.

  61. JGabriel - November 28, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link

    Yutsano:

    Though what the State Department wanted with the weights of diplomats at the UN is beyond me.

    Clearly, this information is needed for the government’s advanced work in the science of Bio-Rhythms. It’s all a matter of making sure none of our great diplomatic allies are actually secret terrorists, through the predictive power of Biorhythms!

    Why do you hate America?

    Before long, you’ll be criticizing our plan to harness the power of Dianetics and install Thetan particle detectors at our great airports. Everyone knows terrorists are overburdened by Thetan souls trapped here by Xenu!

    .

  62. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 7:25 pm · Link

    @Yutsano:

    Empire means the American-Israeli Empire.

  63. Bnut - November 28, 2010 | 7:26 pm · Link

    @JGabriel:

    Though what the State Department wanted with the weights of diplomats at the UN is beyond me.

    I’m assuming it’s profiling. Who knows how many personality profilers there are between CIA, NSA, State, etc.

  64. Nellcote - November 28, 2010 | 7:28 pm · Link

    Well at least now the congressional goopers will have something to investigate.

  65. JGabriel - November 28, 2010 | 7:32 pm · Link

    Yutsano:

    Anyone else see the cable re: the Saudi king? That will get ugly real fast.

    DUDE! You don’t drop a bomb like that without providing a link!

    There are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of cables! How the fuck are we supposed to be able to find just one?

    .

  66. JGabriel - November 28, 2010 | 7:35 pm · Link

    @Bnut:

    I’m assuming it’s profiling.

    And that’s more scientific than bio-rhythms and dianetics how?

    .

  67. dan - November 28, 2010 | 7:39 pm · Link

    i’m especially amazed at how the zionists infiltrated the saudi government to get them to ask the US to destroy Iran’s nukes. Israel must be even more powerful than in the wildest conspiracy theories.

  68. Kenneth - November 28, 2010 | 7:40 pm · Link

    @dan:

    Saudis are just Imperial puppets, you haven’t realized that yet?

  69. matoko_chan - November 28, 2010 | 7:42 pm · Link

    Only the greys quote Heinlein.
    We quote Morgan and Stephenson and Herbert and Gibson.

    One of the most frightening things about your true nerd, for many people, is not that he’s socially inept – because everybody’s been there – but rather his complete lack of embarrassment about it.
    Neal Stephenson

  70. Bob Loblaw - November 28, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link

    @General Stuck:

    The Gulf states come off looking really bad. Just feckless and whiny and underhanded. They will not be pleased with our inability to contain the leaks.

    Honestly, this series of wikileaks is one of the most strident acts of anti-authoritarianism in years, bordering on near anarchy. They’ve decided to flip the bird to every last world leader in a single stroke.

  71. burnspbesq - November 28, 2010 | 7:57 pm · Link

    @Bob Loblaw:

    The Gulf states come off looking really bad. Just feckless and whiny and underhanded. They will not be pleased with our inability to contain the leaks.

    Yeah, it’s a damn shame that the world will see them for what they are.

  72. Anya - November 28, 2010 | 8:01 pm · Link

    @dan: Saudi Arabia started as a counter to the Ottoman Empire and it continues to be a client state. Mohamed Abdul-wahab started off as an ally to the British Empire to defeat the Turks and now his distructive message continues through these teenage boys who are dreaming of mass murder.

  73. Anne Laurie - November 28, 2010 | 8:02 pm · Link

    @JGabriel: From Der Spiegel’s helpful overview :

    Such comments are hardly friendly. But in the eyes of the American diplomatic corps, every actor is quickly categorized as a friend or foe. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? A friend: Abdullah can’t stand his neighbors in Iran and, expressing his disdain for the mullah regime, said, “there is no doubt something unstable about them.” And his ally, Sheikh bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi? Also a friend. He believes “a near term conventional war with Iran is clearly preferable to the long term consequences of a nuclear armed Iran.”

    @Yutsano:

    Though what the State Department wanted with the weights of diplomats at the UN is beyond me.

    Given our recent embarrassment in over the “high-ranking Taliban official” who turned out to be just another Afghan grifter, perhaps the diplomats just want really, really comprehensive descriptions of every non-Amurkin they’re liable to be dealing with?

    @Cat Lady: “cell phone nation”—dang, I knew there was a tic I’d overlooked!

  74. mclaren - November 28, 2010 | 8:04 pm · Link

    Fortunately, this latest massive Wikileaks dump is good news for John McCain.

  75. Omnes Omnibus - November 28, 2010 | 8:07 pm · Link

    @Anne Laurie:

    “cell phone nation”—dang, I knew there was a tic I’d overlooked!

    Don’t be a perfectionist.

  76. maus - November 28, 2010 | 8:43 pm · Link

    @dan: Are you smug AND stupid? Hating israel doesn’t preclude them from hating their neighbors.

  77. lawguy - November 28, 2010 | 8:48 pm · Link

    @burnspbesq: I do believe that they have found a stash of coke and 180,000 kroners in his apartment.

  78. burnspbesq - November 28, 2010 | 9:15 pm · Link

    @lawguy:

    I do believe that they have found a stash of coke and 180,000 kroners in his apartment.

    Is there a point lurking there?

  79. JGabriel - November 29, 2010 | 12:51 am · Link

    @Anne Laurie: Thank you, Anne.

    .

  80. Platonicspoof - November 29, 2010 | 2:12 am · Link

    . . . understanding not available to us bioluddite olds

    Conversely:
    Is there someone in the State Dept. who knows all this day to day activity, the histories behind it all so there’s context and then, even the short term effects?

    E.g., the day to day events before, during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or 911, or the occupation of Iraq?


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