Monday, November 29, 2010

Never Too Late to Plug the Leaks

(Yes, that is Michele Kelemen, though I provided the fetching cap.)

The dike of secrecy ain't just leaking; it has collapsed, thanks in large part to WikiLeaks. But NPR's Michele Kelemen still thinks she can channel the little Dutch Boy and plug those holes. A news agency's first story on any major event can be quite telling; consider NPR's initial story on the latest WikiLeaks document release that ran on Sunday's ATC:
Audie Cornish: "Michele, there's a lot to cover, but let's talk about that last cable we just heard. That is a directive to essentially spy on other diplomats at the United Nations. And what have you learned about that?"

Kelemen: "....The U.S. government apparently wants these diplomats to learn about potential links between U.N. organizations and terrorist organizations and to learn about corruption in the U.N."
It funny how the Guardian had a few other truthy ideas about what the US was up to in spying on UN officials and provides a healthy context for the likely criminality of such actions.

Noting that reported harm and danger from previous WikiLeaks have been proven to be lies, Glenn Greenwald asks today, "Will that prevent media figures and many other people from running around this week mindlessly parroting the Government's claim -- without pointing to any specifics or other evidence -- that WikiLeaks has endangered lives with this latest release? Hmmm, let's see how NPR answers the call,
Kelemen: "...the White House was reminding people today that these are not expressions of policy. It's just field reporting....That said, the U.S. does worry that these disclosures could put diplomats at risk, as well as their sources, you know, human rights activists, journalists, bloggers."
Bloggers? Uh oh!

Finally, there is Iran. Ah yes, there is always the boogie man of Iran. Juan Cole points out that the released cables reveal how much BS the Bush/Obama warministrations have foisted on the public - especially in relation to the absurd idea that Iran has been helping out the Taliban [something old Fair and Balanced Sorya Sarhadi Nelson has been commended for]. Seems like Kelemen couldn't help but sing about the evil TENTACLES of Iran:
"And the ambassador, Stephen Beecroft, writes that the metaphor most commonly deployed by Jordanians when they talk about Iran is that of an octopus whose tentacles reach out insidiously to manipulate, foment and undermine the best-laid plans of the West and regional moderates. It says that Iran's tentacles include its allies Qatar and Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories."
Oooooh, so scary!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

These leaks will put "journalists" in danger? I wonder how many "journalists" on NPR dole, I mean payroll, are co-operating with any of the 16 US security/intelligence services when they return from overseas?

So far it seems only regular NPR listeners/supporters would be surprised to hear this stuff. In fact there was a book out a few years ago called CHATTER where there was a discussion of US bugging UN offices ahead of the second vote required before UN would sanction attacking Iraq (which US did anyway even though no second vote was taken). And to think that Saudi Arabia would advocate military force against its' rival in the region, well, that's got to be news. Or maybe not if one pays attention to politics of that region from sources other than NPR. And every time I've seen Quadaffi I've noticed "the nurse". Feckless and vain? I'd bet that even NPR knows that Berlisconi is the poster boy for those traits. And on and on and on. There is something not being said here I figure with all the attention to these things evrybody I know already knows about. But that's just me. I wonder how the "private discussions" in Isreal go concerning Isreal/Palestinian issues and how other Arab nations are selling the Palestinians down the Nile in return for US/Isreali patronage?

edk

Patrick Lynch said...

Well, if you want to talk surprise by only listening to NPR, I imagine those who discover that the FBI completely funded and provided support to that kid who tried to bomb the event in Oregon would be surprised. Something I seriously doubt he would have done on his own.

I'm enjoying the hell out of the Wikileaks because this round is pointing up all of the hypocrisy we know all along goes on between countries but I had to laugh when somber voiced NPR reporters say that the revelations "could potentially embarrass" governments. You think, NPR?

Anonymous said...

'the U.S. does worry that these disclosures could put diplomats at risk, as well as their sources, you know, human rights activists, journalists, bloggers."

Say what?

"human rights activists, journalists, bloggers" are diplomats' sources?


Every time I ask myself (in response to some stupid NPR report), "Can the 'reporting' at NPR get any stupider?"


...it does....WITHOUT FAIL.

So I won't even ask this time.

gDog said...

Yes, well, I would hope that when Ambassador Hoagland contacts Mr. Murrey for the inside dope on how to spin Kazahkstan for the NPR audience, that the information should be held in the utmost confidence and not compromised by intrepid interlopers with Lady Gaga lip syncs.

Anonymous said...

I suspect we will see more lame/pathetic attempts from the "Women of NPR" (WONPR) Kelemen, Totenberg, Norris, Roberts, etc to attack wikileaks -- in order to protect the "good name" of their idol, Hillary Clinton, who, the leaks have revealed, ordered US diplomats to spy on members of the UN.


Poor widdle WONPR.

Porter Melmoth said...

Indeed, Narcissist Public Radio is just too, too cool NOT to be droll about W-leaks and their little thingies. I suppose they think that adopting an icky-poo attitude about this stuff increases their sophistication rating or something.

(Can you imagine what, say, the Liechtenstein ambassador in DC thought of Dubya when he/she was sending cables home? - Probably what the rest of us thought...)

As befitting a swaggering empire, I imagine that many of the US diplomats ain't got no class. Naturally, NPR would sympathize with their kind.

One thing about Fox News, they make no bones about what they really are - unlike NPR.

Porter Melmoth said...

NPR stresses the gossipy/goofy material.

DN! gets right to the point, and it's not gossipy or goofy at all.

larry, dfh said...

Consider
this
as a prophylaxis for your ears, because starting Tuesday we are going to be hearing all about the scary deficit. Cool michelle martin, hostess of 'tell me nuttin' will bring on the austerity in a hip new way: y'all gotta live within your means. Monday was scott horse'sass being all artistic with Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Like gwb brought freedom, scrooging us out of our Social Security will make us better. In neither martin's teaser for Tuesday's show, nor horse'sass bit this afternoon was The Military ever mentioned (iirc). The full party line will be Tuesday's affair, as was the coverage of Wikileaks: you aint gettin' no social security, now suck it up.
Here's
something
from the Ghost of Christmases Yet to Be.

gDog said...

Port, Yeah, it's the difference between caring about knowing what's going on in the world (DN) and trying to make people feel happy despite/while getting royally screwed (NPR).

larry, dfh said...

About 2 hours ago I posted
this link
and

this one, too
as preparatory reading for the onslaught starting Tuesday about the upcoming release of the Catfood Commission Report. And then my post disappeared. I saw that the post was up and the links worked. And then it vanished. Who's messing with this site?

Porter Melmoth said...

larry,

I think pretty much everything is liable to be messed with these days.

Computer geeks can be just as mercenary as Blackwater employees.

That latest 'terrorist scare' in Portland, OR? Mighty suspicious if you ask me. Especially after Portland's mayor stood up to the Homeland Insecurity big boys. One might assume that he was taught a 'lesson' for being so uppity. Gotta keep the fear up.

Hillary and Mike Mullen and even John Kerry doing damage control after the WikiLeaks leaks? Neoconics (for lack of a better term) are expanding and adapting.

Conspiracy theorizing? You betcha. Except that a new term should apply: probable scenario.

Dan Ellsberg on DN! (at about 45-50 min in) tells us much of what we need to know.

Anonymous said...

Hillary and Mike Mullen and even John Kerry doing damage control after the WikiLeaks leaks? "

No surprise that Kerry would be siding with his pal Hillary.

They are both Yalie brats who learned their "Yale [swiftboat] lesson" well: smear the messenger and you won't have to deal with the message.

gDog said...

Larry,

I've noticed that if I try to post a piece that's too long, it may appear and then disappear, after which, posting the material in parts doesn't work either. The blogbot seems to recognize the text and will then filter it out...even though it may appear temporarily. I don't think it's a human deciding the content is offensive, it's just part of the blogspotbot software?

Anonymous said...

It strikes me that many of those at NPR have the same attitude toward democracy as our leaders have: they hate it.

In fact, those at NPR (Schiller, Kelemen, Norris, Gonyea, Inskeep, Davidson, Roberts, Totenberg, etc) are very condescending toward anything that smacks of popular democracy.

Their every word drips with contempt for the "opinions" of ordinary people.

They (the annointed ones at NPR and their carefully slected "experts") are the only ones who can be trusted (according to them).

The irony is that they are some of the stupidest saps on the planet -- the rejects of the rejects when it comes to journalism.

Anonymous said...

Kelemen is a Hillary Clinton patsy.

She follows Clinton around like a little puuppy dog and fawns over her every utterance.

Just like what Don Gonyea used to do with George Bush.

People like Kelemen and Gonyea obviously think that because they are "covering" a political figure, that means they have to provide "cover" for them (protect them).

It's really rather pathetic.