> "Contrast Washington’s animosity against Snowden with the pardon that Bush gave to Dick Cheney aide, Libby, who took the fall for his boss for blowing the cover, a felony, on a covert CIA operative, the spouse of a former government official who exposed the Bush/Cheney/neocon lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction."
Political newbie here. Could anyone with an idea of who Paul Craig Roberts is [1], and what his political bias is, comment on this claim? I.e. is it possible/fair to compare the two events M. Roberts does compare? Is today's Washington (under Obama) so much uglier and more aggressive towards whistle-blowers than previous governments, or more of the same?
Further, he has his facts totally wrong. The real leaker turned out to be Colin Powell's subordinate, Dick Armitage. Colin Powell knowingly let Scooter Libby take the fall and GO TO JAIL over what Armitage had done.
And now Powell does the talk show circuits and tries to come off as some kind of moral authority.
Thread is dead, but your response is totally off. Libby had no clue as to what was going on when he was questioned. At worst, he misremembered (thought it was Tim Russert) where he had heard about Plame and the incident and then was prosecuted for it.
There is no evidence that Powell and Armitage let Bush/Cheney/Libby know about what Armitage had leaked.
Libby was not innocent. He was an active participant in the leak. And when questioned about his role, he deliberately lied about his involvement. Perhaps Armitage also deserved to be prosecuted, but that doesn't make Libby blameless.
Looks like he started out on the right, especially economically (see the background on Reaganomics) but since the end of the cold war the Overton Window has shifted so far that he's now on the civil-libertarian end of the spectrum, which is often referred to disparagingly as "liberal" in American politics.
Shifted? With the implication that there's been some sort of Right-shift in the US that leaves this guy in the middle or in civil-libertarian space?
Pick a topic: drug legalization, gay marriage, social program spending, state intervention in private commerce, public health care. Look at the goals of the Left in the US and the goals of the Right in the US over the past 30 years. Clearly the Left has made all of the policy and public mindshare advances. Even military spending is relatively flat and purpose of the military has gone from some hard right fight against communism to a squishier press for democracy.
Such bullshit could only be written by someone who has never lived in the USSR and doesn't really understand what it was about. It's amazing what lengths of absurdity people & media will go to in order to get catchy titles.
The UK isn't keeping Assange inside the embassy for the USA, we're doing it because we follow the rule of law - he breached his bail after exploring the full extent of the appeals process around his extradition.
Russia recently put a dead lawyer, who had died in jail, on trial in order to discredit him. He'd been jailed after uncovering corruption. All manner of other incredibly unsavoury stuff goes on in modern Russia.
Compared with the USSR modern Russia is slightly more liberal. Assange and Snowden may raise the spectre of execution because a few blowhard Congressmen mention it - whereas the USSR repeatedly actually executed those who spoke out.
They even still do - compare Alexander Litvinenko with Snowden or Assange.
America isn't perfect, and indeed has been acting in a way prejudicial to its own interests for a while. That does not make it the USSR, and to do so is ignorant, undermines your case and exposes you as someone using hyperbole to cover up the ability to make a rational argument.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 37.6 ms ] threadPolitical newbie here. Could anyone with an idea of who Paul Craig Roberts is [1], and what his political bias is, comment on this claim? I.e. is it possible/fair to compare the two events M. Roberts does compare? Is today's Washington (under Obama) so much uglier and more aggressive towards whistle-blowers than previous governments, or more of the same?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Craig_Roberts
And now Powell does the talk show circuits and tries to come off as some kind of moral authority.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/colin-po...
Libby was innocent.
>> Edit:
Thread is dead, but your response is totally off. Libby had no clue as to what was going on when he was questioned. At worst, he misremembered (thought it was Tim Russert) where he had heard about Plame and the incident and then was prosecuted for it.
There is no evidence that Powell and Armitage let Bush/Cheney/Libby know about what Armitage had leaked.
(Non-American here ...)
Pick a topic: drug legalization, gay marriage, social program spending, state intervention in private commerce, public health care. Look at the goals of the Left in the US and the goals of the Right in the US over the past 30 years. Clearly the Left has made all of the policy and public mindshare advances. Even military spending is relatively flat and purpose of the military has gone from some hard right fight against communism to a squishier press for democracy.
[I lived both in the USSR and the USA]
The UK isn't keeping Assange inside the embassy for the USA, we're doing it because we follow the rule of law - he breached his bail after exploring the full extent of the appeals process around his extradition.
Russia recently put a dead lawyer, who had died in jail, on trial in order to discredit him. He'd been jailed after uncovering corruption. All manner of other incredibly unsavoury stuff goes on in modern Russia.
Compared with the USSR modern Russia is slightly more liberal. Assange and Snowden may raise the spectre of execution because a few blowhard Congressmen mention it - whereas the USSR repeatedly actually executed those who spoke out.
They even still do - compare Alexander Litvinenko with Snowden or Assange.
America isn't perfect, and indeed has been acting in a way prejudicial to its own interests for a while. That does not make it the USSR, and to do so is ignorant, undermines your case and exposes you as someone using hyperbole to cover up the ability to make a rational argument.