Obama’s Brave New World

I am one of those who believe that the various Wikileaks document dumps of the past year or so are pivotal historic events.  They are key events by the very nature of the leaks and publication themselves made doubly important by the content of the documents.  Of equal importance is the reaction of the key players within the American empire — and that reaction has been disturbingly authoritarian.

I don’t just mean the very public calls for the execution of Julian Assange, and the political arguments being established for unilateral action by the US in some other nation to seize Assange and his team.

I also don’t just mean the un-American anti-freedom activities of Amazon and Paypal acting as surrogates for Joe Lieberman and Homeboy Security.

But I also mean the insidious Big Brother nature of the State Department telling students that to read any coverage of the leaked cables threatens their future employment with the US Government. And I mean the Brave New World news-speak of the Defense Department telling all their millions of employees and contractors that to read anything about the leaked material — even coverage in mainstream media — opens them to the threat of severe disciplinary action.

I know this is the futile kicking of a dying empire, but that doesn’t make their claws any less dangerous today.