Julian Assange, the man who has cooked up a storm by leaking secret cables sent by US diplomats to the state departments is currently residing at a friends property in London after being granted bail.Two Swedish women have claimed that Assange had unprotected sex with them even after they protested,an act punishable under the Swedish laws.Meanwhile Assange continues to maintain that he is being falsely implicated and its a ploy by the American government to permanently gag him.Assange is being heralded as the Messiah of truth and justice.Many famous personalities have joined the campaign to free Julian Assange.
Assange started Wikileaks in 2006 "to radically shift regime behaviour".He had published materials on extra judicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste disposal in Africa,Church of Scientology and Guantanamo procedures.From 28th november 2010 wikileaks had been publishing some hundreds of thousands of American diplomatic cables in their possesion.If reports are to be believed a disgruntled former US soldier Bradley Manning was the one responsible for leaking the cables.Bradley, it is said was discriminated against in the military for being gay and eventually he got disillusioned with the US foreign policy.So the former Intelligence Analyst downloaded top secret information from the military computers and eventually leaked them.Though Wikileaks denied having any knowledge about the source of their information as Wikileaks follows a strict privacy setting which doesn't allow them to trace the identity of the whistle blower.Manning now faces upto 52 years in prison.
India too has been dragged in this controversy.Diplomatic cables reveal that Rahul Gandhi is twice as concerned about Hindu extremism than he is about LeT.This has become an issue at the national level as RSS and Sangh Parivar outfit have quite understandably taken 'offence'.And certain unflattering remarks made by Ted Osius on Sonia Gandhi have also come to light.In a way what Wikileaks is doing is admirable.Journalism of Truth and Freedom of Expression are almost absent in todays market driven media.But the indiscriminate leaking of secret documents can prove to be detrimental.Terrorists and other opportunistic elements might use these kind of information to suit their agenda.If ,God forbid, tomorrow there is another major terrorist attack on India and even if the involvement of foreign elements can be established,they will capitalize on the remark made by Mr. Gandhi.There is a flip side to everything and Wikileaks is no exception.On one hand it is made public the torture and death of thousands of Afghan civilians at the hands of the French NATO and US army but I have to say that in Wikileaks ethics are simply nonexistent.There is no process of screening involved or reviewing of the material being published.
Everybody is trying to cash in on the sensation created by Wikileaks, from ageing celebrities who feel they might regain some of their lost glamour to media houses and activists.But nobody except the embarassed government of USA is questioning the legitimacy of the site.Everybody has been swayed by the idealistic nature of Wikileaks but few are aware of the threats it poses for those working towards world peace.Every nation and its leaders have the right to have their own views but that does not warrant such illegal disclosure.There is a purpose behind information being made classified by higher authorities.Its high time we should recognise the detriment being done by Wikileaks before the damage becomes irrepairable.
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