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You are here: Home / Wikileaks Jumps In

Wikileaks Jumps In

by Cheryl Rofer|  May 17, 20179:02 pm| 84 Comments

This post is in: All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell

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In an unexpected coincidence, Wikileaks releases something about FBI Director Mueller delivering highly enriched uranium to Russia. And it’s secret! Scary, right?

WikiLeaks cable Robert Mueller delivering highly enriched stolen Uranium to Russia in 2009 https://t.co/X3Ea2m6kS5 h/t @apblake pic.twitter.com/yhC91B2IBK

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 18, 2017

This is pretty standard procedure for sensitive material: Make sure the Russian Federation is ready for the flight; make sure US chain of custody is in order; check that the Russians will pick it up. Keep it secret to avoid alerting troublemakers. The only question is why the FBI director would be carrying it rather than a courier. One of my followers (a BJ-er?) supplied the answer.

@CherylRofer Wikileaks, leaving out context. https://t.co/fbKDc4EY4P

— stacy (@MoMom2two) May 18, 2017

The material was seized in a nuclear smuggling case in Georgia (the country), and the Russian Federation wanted to analyze the material to double-check where it may have come from. A law-enforcement matter, and it’s likely the US wanted to make a point to Russia that it’s serious. You don’t get more serious in law enforcement than the head of the FBI.

Many thanks to Stacy! I’m posting this now to head off the questions that will arise.

 

Cross-posted at Nuclear Diner.

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Reader Interactions

84Comments

  1. 1.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    Woohoo! Some formatting glitches.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    May 17, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    I can’t wait to see what WikiLeaks has on Baud!

  3. 3.

    khead

    May 17, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    Blockquote for the win!

  4. 4.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 17, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    Fixed! Jackals!

  5. 5.

    Baud

    May 17, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    I’m more concerned about what Trump is handing over to Russia.

  6. 6.

    debbie

    May 17, 2017 at 9:08 pm

    Hannity is all over this. /eye roll/

  7. 7.

    khead

    May 17, 2017 at 9:08 pm

    I was just hanging out and looking to post some cat pics.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    May 17, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    @debbie: Even without the context, I don’t understand the issue.

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:11 pm

    Wikileaks obviously needs to be plugged. For good.

  10. 10.

    LAO

    May 17, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    I will cut the next person who claims Wikileaks isn’t a Russian propaganda organization.*

    By cut, I mean verbally disembowel.

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    @Baud:

    I can’t wait to see what WikiLeaks has on Baud!

    Your high school gym scores, for starters.

    And that picture of you in a dress dooms any chance of a future in politics.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 17, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    @Baud:

    All. The. Secrets.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    May 17, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    @LAO: Hey now. Don’t forget all the dirt that WikiLeaks dishes on the Republicans….

  14. 14.

    Citizen_X

    May 17, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    Wikileaks: now fully an instrument of the FSB/world oligarch-white power douchebag confederacy.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    @LAO: @Baud: Cut him! Cut him now!

  16. 16.

    hovercraft

    May 17, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    So who’s going to be the first to tell us that Wikileaks is just about in keeping governments honest and transparent?

  17. 17.

    Corner Stone

    May 17, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    Can we skip TRMS and go right to the Joy Reid Last Word Show?

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 17, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    @TenguPhule: Maybe we could get some Plumbers.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    @Baud

    Old punchline:

    The sheep lies!

    (Shall leave it up to those unfamiliar with the joke to look it up.)

  20. 20.

    cynthia ackerman

    May 17, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    Living in the digital/online age is sure strange.

  21. 21.

    Davis X. Machina

    May 17, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    @hovercraft:

    So who’s going to be the first to tell us that Wikileaks is just about in keeping governments honest and transparent?

    @Citizen_X:

    Wikileaks: now fully an instrument of the FSB/world oligarch-white power douchebag confederacy.

    They’re just doing their bit to cut the US imperialist hegemon down to size, to throw sand in its gears on its march to world domination, all in the hopes of creating a more peaceful, less unequal world. All true progressives must realize this.

    In other news, I am an Adélie penguin…

  22. 22.

    efgoldman

    May 17, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    Why did/is the Ecuadoran embassy giving shelter and cover for this asshole? Do they expect him to stay there until he dies of old age? Can’t they cut off his intartoobz access?

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m sure the CIA could find some willing to get their hands dirty.

  24. 24.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 17, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    They just aren’t even trying any more.

    Has Snowden weighed in?

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    May 17, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    This WikiLeaks “scoop” will only serve to piss off Mueller and everyone else involved in the investigation. Thanks, Assange!

    Truly this is where the Russians do not understand what narratives work in the US.

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    @hovercraft:

    So who’s going to be the first to tell us that Wikileaks is just about in keeping governments honest and transparent?

    Money’s on Glenn.

  27. 27.

    efgoldman

    May 17, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I am an Adélie penguin…

    Can’t fool me! There aren’t any penguins in Maine; especially ones who speak Latin.

  28. 28.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Has Snowden weighed in?

    I think the Russians are fitting out his coffin as we speak.

  29. 29.

    Felonius Monk

    May 17, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    @LAO:

    By cut, I mean verbally disembowel.

    Overruled, counselor. Strike the word “verbally” from the record. :-)

  30. 30.

    hovercraft

    May 17, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    @debbie:
    You know that this will be all over bizarro world until he goes overseas, and then they’ll switch over to The Glorious Leaders triumphant progress overseas, and how he is being feted by worlds leaders as he restore glory to our poor beleaguered nation after 8 years in the wilderness.

  31. 31.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    @Felonius Monk: Point of order, defendant lacks a food handling license.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    May 17, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    @hovercraft: They’ll probably splice in footage of Obama’s crowds.

  33. 33.

    Jeffro

    May 17, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    Was this part of the uranium that Hillz was selling to Russia (when she wasn’t busy running a kiddie molesting ring out of the basement of a pizza shop)?
    Inquiring minds want to know!

  34. 34.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Can’t fool me! There aren’t any penguins in Maine; especially ones who speak Latin.

    Only because the Polar bears ate them all.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @efgoldman

    Et tu, Adélie?

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    May 17, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @Baud:

    They’ll probably splice in footage of Obama’s crowds.

    It’s going to be a strange world, starting yesterday, when high technology FX + worldwide reach of the Internet = you can only trust what you see on your own front lawn.

  37. 37.

    hovercraft

    May 17, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I’m sure he’s still consulting with GG to make sure they are on the same page.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Was this part of the uranium that Hillz was selling to Russia (when she wasn’t busy running a kiddie molesting ring out of the basement of a pizza shop)?

    Well if FOX didn’t think of it before, they sure will now. Thanks a lot!

  39. 39.

    GregB

    May 17, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    Have I said fuck Assange lately?

    Yes, England needs to meet with Ecuador and let them know that they can’t allow a cyber war to be waged from their embassy.

  40. 40.

    George Spiggott

    May 17, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    Looks like someone’s crapping their pants. Help, Pootie-Poot, help!

  41. 41.

    TenguPhule

    May 17, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    @Jeffro:

    you can only trust what you see on your own front lawn.

    Lies! The grass is made of people! Its made of people I tell you!!

  42. 42.

    sm*t cl*de

    May 17, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    And that picture of you in a dress dooms any chance of a future in politics.

    IKR? Horizontal stripes, what was Baud! thinking.

  43. 43.

    Raoul

    May 17, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    These days, if it’s Wikileaks, I pretty much don’t have any questions, since they ruined their reputation quite some time ago. But this post is quite helpful for us to help address the more credulous out there.

  44. 44.

    LAO

    May 17, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    @NotMax: oh, that’s horrible.

    @Immanentize: left you a message below, I’m very sorry to hear about your wife.

  45. 45.

    hovercraft

    May 17, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    @Baud:
    I didn’t realize that James O’Keefe was going on the trip.

  46. 46.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 17, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    @sm*t cl*de: yeah, considering Al Franken is a senator this must be quite a bad drag photo.

  47. 47.

    LAO

    May 17, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    @Jeffro: it will be, in about an hour.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    @Jeffro

    Beware the garden gnomes.

  49. 49.

    hovercraft

    May 17, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @Jeffro:
    Wait I thought it was Bill at CGI with the Kazaks with some Canadian billionaire as the intermediary…..
    My head hurts ; (

  50. 50.

    amk

    May 17, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @efgoldman: Read on beebs last week that Equador was getting impatient with swedes dragging their feet over the rapist’s investigation.

  51. 51.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 17, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @TenguPhule: That’s where The Plumbers came from.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    May 17, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    quite a bad drag photo

    No one could tell whether it was black and blue or white and gold.

  53. 53.

    dr. bloor

    May 17, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    @Immanentize:

    This isn’t even going to move the needle on Mueller’s Concern-O-Meter. Proof of “collusion” or not, that whole cabal is about to get a High Colonic from Hell.

  54. 54.

    sm*t cl*de

    May 17, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    @NotMax:

    The sheep lies!

    It’s just ice-cream!

  55. 55.

    debbie

    May 17, 2017 at 9:34 pm

    @Baud:

    I didn’t stick around to listen when he started to tie it in with Seth Rich and the bogus explanation of his death.

  56. 56.

    Eric the Fruit Bat

    May 17, 2017 at 9:35 pm

    I see someone is calling out Wikileaks on this….

  57. 57.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 17, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    @Baud: you monster.

  58. 58.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 17, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    I remember when M-C was informing us daily how Assange was a genius who would end tyranny because in the new world, governments could not keep secrets from the people.

  59. 59.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 17, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    @amk: Maybe they should just put him in the street, then. I’m sure MI6 will just let him saunter over to the nearest train station.

  60. 60.

    different-church-lady

    May 17, 2017 at 9:40 pm

    Sooooo…. once Trump gets removed from office, do the Republicans still consider it a win if they manage to keep duping their base?

  61. 61.

    amk

    May 17, 2017 at 9:43 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: consider it a warning bell?

  62. 62.

    marv

    May 17, 2017 at 9:44 pm

    just wanted to say – I played two months in the big leagues (I’m neither proud or embarrassed about that – for me it was hard just to get there) and I learned not to dismiss even horrible people like Trump. “Talent doesn’t care where it resides”. But also ultimately the big leagues is a meritocracy – and with this appointment tonight, my sense is it’s not inappropriate to say to the Orange Androgyne: Welcome to the big leagues!

  63. 63.

    Raoul

    May 17, 2017 at 9:44 pm

    You also know it will only be a matter of days before Hannity is frothing at the mouth about the turncoat Mueller. The GOP will attempt to destroy him, first via the sleazier outside groups, but pretty soon on primetime Fox.

    Trump’s base will eat it up, but it will be ugly. And that ugly will add to the growing stench of the GOP ‘brand.’

  64. 64.

    Sab

    May 17, 2017 at 9:47 pm

    @NotMax: I looked it up. I don’t get it . Just saying. Please don’t bother to explain it.

  65. 65.

    Eric the Fruit Bat

    May 17, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    And that ugly will add to the growing stench of the GOP ‘brand.’

    It always to seem to come down to that, doesn’t it-we must protect the brand at all costs.
    It’s OK when a corporation does it-but when a political party IN POWER does it to hold on to its power, we no longer live in a functioning Democracy anymore.

  66. 66.

    Anya

    May 17, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    @hovercraft: I am sure Glen Greenwald is already drafting a 20000-word think piece.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    May 17, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    @Anya:

    Glen Greenwald is already drafting a 20000-word think piece.

    I think I won’t read it.

  68. 68.

    Morzer

    May 17, 2017 at 9:54 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I am an Adélie penguin…

    Blonde hair and can’t sing?

  69. 69.

    hovercraft

    May 17, 2017 at 9:56 pm

    @efgoldman:
    Why would anyone, we all know exactly what it would say.

  70. 70.

    efgoldman

    May 17, 2017 at 9:58 pm

    @hovercraft:

    Why would anyone

    I have no idea why, but some people take him seriously.

  71. 71.

    Jeffro

    May 17, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    @Raoul:

    The GOP will attempt to destroy him, first via the sleazier outside groups, but pretty soon on primetime Fox.

    That’s exactly how the Republican Noise Machine works, you’re right.

  72. 72.

    dm

    May 17, 2017 at 10:08 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: He was on DeeRay McKeeson’s podcast, “Pod Save the People” (there’s an interview with McKeeson with a link to that podcast at the Columbia Journalism Review). It was the day after the Comey firing. Snowden said it was a Big Deal and something people should really be concerned with. It sounds like he’s way off that part of the Glenn Greenwald reservation.

    I’d never heard Snowden speak before. He struck me as articulate and thoughtful — he’s a good advertisement for his own cause without seeming like an advocate.

    McKeeson’s podcast is quite good, as is its companion podcast, “Pod save America”, run by a bunch of junior Obama staffers — recent interviews have been Mark Warner and Kamala Harris.

  73. 73.

    scott (the other one)

    May 17, 2017 at 10:16 pm

    I’m so old I can remember when wikileaks seemed like it might be doing legit, important work, and might herald the future. Well, the last part, sadly, was right, at least.

  74. 74.

    Keith P.

    May 17, 2017 at 10:18 pm

    They’re trying to give cover to Trump for when he inevitably fires Mueller. To do it just cuz would be a nuclear option, so they want some way for Trump to justify it (somehow)

  75. 75.

    Steeplejack

    May 17, 2017 at 10:23 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Srsly. (I’m trailing on the DVR and switching back and forth to Archer.)

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    @Steeplejack: Do you like this season of Archer? I am iffy about it.

  77. 77.

    Regnad Kcin

    May 17, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    @NotMax: anyone with acquantainces who attended Dartmouth can help you w that one

  78. 78.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 18, 2017 at 1:26 am

    @Eric the Fruit Bat: s

    Dear Wikileaks and John Paul Hawkins (your birth name, not your Julian Assange name that makes you sound exotic-trust me, I know your type:)

    So Assange yet another conservative girlyman American fleeing the oppressive femanazi. tsk, tsk. Was it really that hard John to picture those women wearing tight leather when yelled at you?

  79. 79.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 18, 2017 at 1:39 am

    @dm:

    ’d never heard Snowden speak before. He struck me as articulate and thoughtful — he’s a good advertisement for his own cause without seeming like an advocate.

    Benedict Arnold was quite an brave man, speaking of traitorous scum.

  80. 80.

    AxelFoley

    May 18, 2017 at 2:24 am

    @TenguPhule:

    Lies! The grass is made of people! Its made of people I tell you!!

    Soilet Green?

  81. 81.

    Spider-Dan

    May 18, 2017 at 3:24 am

    @Immanentize: @Immanentize:

    Truly this is where the Russians do not understand what narratives work in the US.

    I think it will work exactly as intended. Trump still has overwhelming support with Republicans, and Wikileaks’ tweet is designed to reinforce that support.

  82. 82.

    quakerinabasement

    May 18, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    Nice posting, Cheryl Rofer. I can see why you were added as a frontpager!

Comments are closed.

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