Gaddafi’s voluptuous Ukranian nurse

On the usefulness of WikiLeaks and the self-destructive personality of its founder, Julian Assange.

Julian Assange.

Anyone who has done any kind of archival research will know immediately the use of the WikiLeaks cables, and also their limits. Now that the superficial and the obvious are out of the way, the truly interesting material is coming to light; specifics of diplomacy and statecraft in an era where those arts are in decline.

2. For instance, I have an interest in West Africa. Cables that the press outlets have presented in the last few days have given me new insight into efforts to stop the spread of Salafist groups in the Sahara; the influence game of oil majors in Nigeria; how mercenary-piloted Ivorian aircraft bombed the French base in Bouaké, and with what consequences; and how Moussa Dadis Camara was sidelined, clearing the way for elections in Guinea. This level of material is where the substantive value of this information concentrates.

3. Almost nothing that has been said in American political and media circles about WikiLeaks in the last ten days merits dignifying with a comment. Most of it has been factually wrong. Glenn Greenwald, a voice in the wilderness, has been keeping track.

4. Julian Assange is obviously a loose cannon and a narcissist. That should make it all the less surprising to learn that his sexual ethics were challenged. There is a particular form of privilege — white and male privilege — that at once underlies sexual and other forms of behavioral license and gives an agitator the needed room to agitate. The next step is to find ways to keep pushing the envelope against entrenched authority while at the same time treating one another with dignity.

Further Reading

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.

The sound of revolt

On his third album, Afro-Portuguese artist Scúru Fitchádu fuses ancestral wisdom with urban revolt, turning memory and militancy into a soundtrack for resistance.

O som da revolta

No seu terceiro álbum, o artista afro-português Scúru Fitchádu funde a sabedoria ancestral com a revolta urbana, transformando memória e militância em uma trilha sonora para a resistência.

Biya forever

As Cameroon nears its presidential elections, a disintegrated opposition paves the way for the world’s oldest leader to claim a fresh mandate.

From Cornell to conscience

Hounded out of the United States for his pro-Palestine activism, Momodou Taal insists that the struggle is global, drawing strength from Malcolm X, faith, and solidarity across borders.

After the uprising

Following two years of mass protest, Kenya stands at a crossroads. A new generation of organizers is confronting an old question: how do you turn revolt into lasting change? Sungu Oyoo joins the AIAC podcast to discuss the vision of Kenya’s radical left.

Redrawing liberation

From Gaza to Africa, colonial cartography has turned land into property and people into populations to be managed. True liberation means dismantling this order, not redrawing its lines.

Who deserves the city?

Colonial urbanism cast African neighborhoods as chaotic, unplanned, and undesirable. In postcolonial Dar es Salaam, that legacy still shapes who builds, who belongs, and what the middle class fears the city becoming.