In an unexpected coincidence, Wikileaks releases something about FBI Director Mueller delivering highly enriched uranium to Russia. And it’s secret! Scary, right?
WikiLeaks cable Robert Mueller delivering highly enriched stolen Uranium to Russia in 2009 https://t.co/X3Ea2m6kS5 h/t @apblake pic.twitter.com/yhC91B2IBK
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 18, 2017
This is pretty standard procedure for sensitive material: Make sure the Russian Federation is ready for the flight; make sure US chain of custody is in order; check that the Russians will pick it up. Keep it secret to avoid alerting troublemakers. The only question is why the FBI director would be carrying it rather than a courier. One of my followers (a BJ-er?) supplied the answer.
@CherylRofer Wikileaks, leaving out context. https://t.co/fbKDc4EY4P
— stacy (@MoMom2two) May 18, 2017
The material was seized in a nuclear smuggling case in Georgia (the country), and the Russian Federation wanted to analyze the material to double-check where it may have come from. A law-enforcement matter, and it’s likely the US wanted to make a point to Russia that it’s serious. You don’t get more serious in law enforcement than the head of the FBI.
Many thanks to Stacy! I’m posting this now to head off the questions that will arise.
Cross-posted at Nuclear Diner.
Omnes Omnibus
Woohoo! Some formatting glitches.
Baud
I can’t wait to see what WikiLeaks has on Baud!
khead
Blockquote for the win!
Cheryl Rofer
Fixed! Jackals!
Baud
I’m more concerned about what Trump is handing over to Russia.
debbie
Hannity is all over this. /eye roll/
khead
I was just hanging out and looking to post some cat pics.
Baud
@debbie: Even without the context, I don’t understand the issue.
TenguPhule
Wikileaks obviously needs to be plugged. For good.
LAO
I will cut the next person who claims Wikileaks isn’t a Russian propaganda organization.*
By cut, I mean verbally disembowel.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Your high school gym scores, for starters.
And that picture of you in a dress dooms any chance of a future in politics.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
All. The. Secrets.
Baud
@LAO: Hey now. Don’t forget all the dirt that WikiLeaks dishes on the Republicans….
Citizen_X
Wikileaks: now fully an instrument of the FSB/world oligarch-white power douchebag confederacy.
Omnes Omnibus
@LAO: @Baud: Cut him! Cut him now!
hovercraft
So who’s going to be the first to tell us that Wikileaks is just about in keeping governments honest and transparent?
Corner Stone
Can we skip TRMS and go right to the Joy Reid Last Word Show?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: Maybe we could get some Plumbers.
NotMax
@Baud
Old punchline:
The sheep lies!
(Shall leave it up to those unfamiliar with the joke to look it up.)
cynthia ackerman
Living in the digital/online age is sure strange.
Davis X. Machina
@hovercraft:
@Citizen_X:
They’re just doing their bit to cut the US imperialist hegemon down to size, to throw sand in its gears on its march to world domination, all in the hopes of creating a more peaceful, less unequal world. All true progressives must realize this.
In other news, I am an Adélie penguin…
efgoldman
Why did/is the Ecuadoran embassy giving shelter and cover for this asshole? Do they expect him to stay there until he dies of old age? Can’t they cut off his intartoobz access?
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m sure the CIA could find some willing to get their hands dirty.
Major Major Major Major
They just aren’t even trying any more.
Has Snowden weighed in?
Immanentize
This WikiLeaks “scoop” will only serve to piss off Mueller and everyone else involved in the investigation. Thanks, Assange!
Truly this is where the Russians do not understand what narratives work in the US.
TenguPhule
@hovercraft:
Money’s on Glenn.
efgoldman
@Davis X. Machina:
Can’t fool me! There aren’t any penguins in Maine; especially ones who speak Latin.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
I think the Russians are fitting out his coffin as we speak.
Felonius Monk
@LAO:
Overruled, counselor. Strike the word “verbally” from the record. :-)
hovercraft
@debbie:
You know that this will be all over bizarro world until he goes overseas, and then they’ll switch over to The Glorious Leaders triumphant progress overseas, and how he is being feted by worlds leaders as he restore glory to our poor beleaguered nation after 8 years in the wilderness.
TenguPhule
@Felonius Monk: Point of order, defendant lacks a food handling license.
Baud
@hovercraft: They’ll probably splice in footage of Obama’s crowds.
Jeffro
Was this part of the uranium that Hillz was selling to Russia (when she wasn’t busy running a kiddie molesting ring out of the basement of a pizza shop)?
Inquiring minds want to know!
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Only because the Polar bears ate them all.
NotMax
@efgoldman
Et tu, Adélie?
Jeffro
@Baud:
It’s going to be a strange world, starting yesterday, when high technology FX + worldwide reach of the Internet = you can only trust what you see on your own front lawn.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m sure he’s still consulting with GG to make sure they are on the same page.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Well if FOX didn’t think of it before, they sure will now. Thanks a lot!
GregB
Have I said fuck Assange lately?
Yes, England needs to meet with Ecuador and let them know that they can’t allow a cyber war to be waged from their embassy.
George Spiggott
Looks like someone’s crapping their pants. Help, Pootie-Poot, help!
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Lies! The grass is made of people! Its made of people I tell you!!
sm*t cl*de
@TenguPhule:
IKR? Horizontal stripes, what was Baud! thinking.
Raoul
These days, if it’s Wikileaks, I pretty much don’t have any questions, since they ruined their reputation quite some time ago. But this post is quite helpful for us to help address the more credulous out there.
LAO
@NotMax: oh, that’s horrible.
@Immanentize: left you a message below, I’m very sorry to hear about your wife.
hovercraft
@Baud:
I didn’t realize that James O’Keefe was going on the trip.
Major Major Major Major
@sm*t cl*de: yeah, considering Al Franken is a senator this must be quite a bad drag photo.
LAO
@Jeffro: it will be, in about an hour.
NotMax
@Jeffro
Beware the garden gnomes.
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
Wait I thought it was Bill at CGI with the Kazaks with some Canadian billionaire as the intermediary…..
My head hurts ; (
amk
@efgoldman: Read on beebs last week that Equador was getting impatient with swedes dragging their feet over the rapist’s investigation.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: That’s where The Plumbers came from.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
No one could tell whether it was black and blue or white and gold.
dr. bloor
@Immanentize:
This isn’t even going to move the needle on Mueller’s Concern-O-Meter. Proof of “collusion” or not, that whole cabal is about to get a High Colonic from Hell.
sm*t cl*de
@NotMax:
It’s just ice-cream!
debbie
@Baud:
I didn’t stick around to listen when he started to tie it in with Seth Rich and the bogus explanation of his death.
Eric the Fruit Bat
I see someone is calling out Wikileaks on this….
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: you monster.
Frankensteinbeck
I remember when M-C was informing us daily how Assange was a genius who would end tyranny because in the new world, governments could not keep secrets from the people.
Gin & Tonic
@amk: Maybe they should just put him in the street, then. I’m sure MI6 will just let him saunter over to the nearest train station.
different-church-lady
Sooooo…. once Trump gets removed from office, do the Republicans still consider it a win if they manage to keep duping their base?
amk
@Gin & Tonic: consider it a warning bell?
marv
just wanted to say – I played two months in the big leagues (I’m neither proud or embarrassed about that – for me it was hard just to get there) and I learned not to dismiss even horrible people like Trump. “Talent doesn’t care where it resides”. But also ultimately the big leagues is a meritocracy – and with this appointment tonight, my sense is it’s not inappropriate to say to the Orange Androgyne: Welcome to the big leagues!
Raoul
You also know it will only be a matter of days before Hannity is frothing at the mouth about the turncoat Mueller. The GOP will attempt to destroy him, first via the sleazier outside groups, but pretty soon on primetime Fox.
Trump’s base will eat it up, but it will be ugly. And that ugly will add to the growing stench of the GOP ‘brand.’
Sab
@NotMax: I looked it up. I don’t get it . Just saying. Please don’t bother to explain it.
Eric the Fruit Bat
It always to seem to come down to that, doesn’t it-we must protect the brand at all costs.
It’s OK when a corporation does it-but when a political party IN POWER does it to hold on to its power, we no longer live in a functioning Democracy anymore.
Anya
@hovercraft: I am sure Glen Greenwald is already drafting a 20000-word think piece.
efgoldman
@Anya:
I think I won’t read it.
Morzer
@Davis X. Machina:
Blonde hair and can’t sing?
hovercraft
@efgoldman:
Why would anyone, we all know exactly what it would say.
efgoldman
@hovercraft:
I have no idea why, but some people take him seriously.
Jeffro
@Raoul:
That’s exactly how the Republican Noise Machine works, you’re right.
dm
@Major Major Major Major: He was on DeeRay McKeeson’s podcast, “Pod Save the People” (there’s an interview with McKeeson with a link to that podcast at the Columbia Journalism Review). It was the day after the Comey firing. Snowden said it was a Big Deal and something people should really be concerned with. It sounds like he’s way off that part of the Glenn Greenwald reservation.
I’d never heard Snowden speak before. He struck me as articulate and thoughtful — he’s a good advertisement for his own cause without seeming like an advocate.
McKeeson’s podcast is quite good, as is its companion podcast, “Pod save America”, run by a bunch of junior Obama staffers — recent interviews have been Mark Warner and Kamala Harris.
scott (the other one)
I’m so old I can remember when wikileaks seemed like it might be doing legit, important work, and might herald the future. Well, the last part, sadly, was right, at least.
Keith P.
They’re trying to give cover to Trump for when he inevitably fires Mueller. To do it just cuz would be a nuclear option, so they want some way for Trump to justify it (somehow)
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Srsly. (I’m trailing on the DVR and switching back and forth to Archer.)
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Do you like this season of Archer? I am iffy about it.
Regnad Kcin
@NotMax: anyone with acquantainces who attended Dartmouth can help you w that one
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Eric the Fruit Bat: s
So Assange yet another conservative girlyman American fleeing the oppressive femanazi. tsk, tsk. Was it really that hard John to picture those women wearing tight leather when yelled at you?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@dm:
Benedict Arnold was quite an brave man, speaking of traitorous scum.
AxelFoley
@TenguPhule:
Soilet Green?
Spider-Dan
@Immanentize: @Immanentize:
I think it will work exactly as intended. Trump still has overwhelming support with Republicans, and Wikileaks’ tweet is designed to reinforce that support.
quakerinabasement
Nice posting, Cheryl Rofer. I can see why you were added as a frontpager!