So, wikileaks, then

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

Born in the US, Tubbs.

[WOM]

So, wikileaks, then

Toto Gramsciddu wrote:

Turns out my Italian citizenship is going to take months to come through.

You qualify for Italian citizenship?

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

Just look at his name, man.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So, wikileaks, then

You mean there are people from rich countries who want to be EU citizens? That we're part of an organisation that means something worldwide?

Someone tell the English newspapers.

[WOM]

So, wikileaks, then

Pfft. I'm as mangiacake as they come and I'm more Italian than him.

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

It's his missus, innit?

[WOM]

So, wikileaks, then

Yeah, but that qualifies him? I didn't know about the spousal thing.

My missus is a Yank. That wouldn't get me US citizenship, would it?

[Renart]

So, wikileaks, then

Worn Old Motorbike wrote:

Yeah, but that qualifies him? I didn't know about the spousal thing.

My missus is a Yank. That wouldn't get me US citizenship, would it?

Yes, it would, wouldn't it? (Or have they changed the rules?)

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

It gets you a green card, WOM.

Trashpicking isn't as good down here, though.

[WOM]

So, wikileaks, then

Trashpicking sounds like a judging word. I simply provide a new home to unappreciated mid-century modern furniture.

[Renart]

So, wikileaks, then

Are you sure about that, ursus? We throw away a lot of trash down here.

So marrying an American doesn't grant you citizenship automatically, but it makes the path to naturalization/citizenship much easier, doesn't it?

(I'm remembering a sham marriage between some acquaintances of mine in San Francisco back in the nineties. A girl I knew married an English fellow to help him get citizenship here. I think they were even required to live together for a number of years, and immigration officials checked in on them from time to time, a situation rife with comic possibilities as they were both dating other people.)

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

Here's a precis from the USCIS.

They have indeed become much more strict about "sham" marriages.

[Anton Gramscescu]

So, wikileaks, then

If you marry an Italian and live in Italy, you can get citizenship after 6 months. If you marry an Italian and live outside Italy, the threshold is 3 years. Which I passed a couple of months ago.

(Since I started on OTF exactly two weeks before my wedding, that happens to make it a convenient way to remember how long I've been using this place as my personal time sink).

I would obviously dispute WOM's claims of being a better wop than me, he obviously isn't entirely mangiacake either. Anyone able to use the word mangiacake in a sentence is by defintion not irretrievably mangiacake.

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

I just found out that (some) Canadians call pacifiers/dummies "soothers".

I'm terribly cross at both of you for not telling me this in advance.

[WOM]

So, wikileaks, then

....I'll bet you the Italians put out some nice roadside furniture.

Of course they're soothers. But how did that come up?

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

[Anton Gramscescu]

So, wikileaks, then

That raises more questions than it answers. What on earth are you doing reading the Ottawa Sun?

[Guest]

So, wikileaks, then

It looks like the site has been hit on the leg by a polonium-covered umbrella spike. Oooh-er.

[Gerontophile]

So, wikileaks, then

(as an aside to something mentioned upthread, and nothing to do with Wikileaks at all):

(American) trashpicking = (Glasgow) midgy raiding.

[Guest]

So, wikileaks, then

It's back again, refusing to give in, a bit like a cyber-Vietnam, or something.

[ad hoc]

So, wikileaks, then

I don't think your analogy works Gramsci. If it were just work emails being exposed then yes, possibly, but this is a leak of information sent out by representatives of a state (indeed a very large and powerful state that sees itself as the world's policeman).

Leaks are used all the time by governments as a way of controlling the information in the public domain. They are pissed off here because they are not controlling what is leaked. Now you might argue that wikileaks should sift through this and only put out what is actually interesting and not mere gossip and tittle tattle, but then they would be in the position of creating their own agenda, since the moment you start making those value judgements you make yourself the arbiter of news. So, wikileaks is (a) doing the right thing in putting it all out there, and letting us decide for ourselves what is worthy of our attention; and (b) doing something inherently valuable.

So it's not like you slagging off a client and having that info suddenly made public. It's more like, say, that memo that recently came to light from the French interior ministry instructing the police to target Rroma. I think we can say the first example is merely embarrassing; while the second example is a crucial brake on the shit things that states get up to. If some of these cables fall into the first category, then oh well, nobody gets hurt, it will all be forgotten soon enough. If some fall into the second category, then excellent, the work of wikileaks is a genuine service

[ursus arctos]

So, wikileaks, then

Gramsci, the Heatley story was all over the hockey media yesterday. I had been previously unaware of the Ottawa Sun, which is quite a piece of work.

[E10 Rifle]

So, wikileaks, then

Today's revelations include the jaw-dropping bombshell that the US diplomatic class wanted the Labour party to elect a right-wing leader. Well fuck me ragged. Not that this will stop the plotting Ed-bashers from using it as ammo.

And though the US cables' attacks on Gordon Brown seem to be being reported as "proof" that Gordy's not up to the job, I reckon he comes off quite well in them. So he interrupted Obama's thanksgiving to press him on a Tobin Tax - fucking diddums.

[ad hoc]

So, wikileaks, then

The US has been trying to take wikileaks down by attacking anyone who hosts the site. Now the Guardian is supposed to be hosting a live Q&A session with Julian Assange and has gone down.

It's all very dodgy

(Here by the way is a list of all the new wikileaks mirror sites set up to try and get round the attacks http://wikileaks.info/ )

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

So, wikileaks, then

Wikileaks is absolutely 'untakedownable'. I have read about their infrastructure and there is all sorts of measures in place to handle any kind of attack possible save for nuking every country that harbours a server that has mirrored the content.

And even then some of the data centres will be nuke-proof.

All that can be done easily is to remove files from any US servers (Amazon S3) and trash DNS so the domain doesn't resolve. Big wow - all that needs to happen is a new DNS and some new storage.

The genie is out of the bottle.