BoRev.Net

What could account for this? A Hayek-reading sysadmin recruited from Andrés Bello Catholic University? Laptop stolen at gunpoint in Caracas? Or did Chávez set his password-reminder secret question to "What is your first wife's maiden name"?

I seriously doubt this "information" IS authentic. A real aide would know that compromising his loyalty this way would basically condemn him to daily public peltings with rotten produce and day-old bread, at the very least.

And an auction for some data which could all be fake (and probably is)? Hell, why not just sell the magic laptop on eBay, I'd bid on it...and pay handsomely for the privilege of dissecting, minutely, with REAL experts, the inauthenticity of the whole damn thing. ("Look, ma, no scorch marks! This thing really IS bomb-proof!"--right before I take it out to my dad's old blacksmith shop and put it on his anvil, and take his hammer, and...)

BTW, that Salvador Dali story is great, and jibes perfectly with what I learned when I recently purchased a DVD of Un Chien Andalou. The additional features really add a lot to the disturbingness of the film. Bunuel's son talks about Dali's betrayal of his dad to the fascists, and says money and a woman were the main motives. Dali started out extremely timid, with his friends basically guiding him in his work and life. Then, along came the woman who turned Dali's head. Bunuel's communism never did Dali any harm, but he denounced him to the Franquistas anyway and Bunuel had to flee. Years later, Bunuel turned his back on Dali when he saw him coming, and no one could blame him one bit. Figures that fascism is just capitalism with the gloves off.

(Pardon my lack of accents and tildes, but I'm on a Mac and I'd have to change keyboard viewers to get them. A real PITA.)

Oh, God, Borev, my imagination is at times so limited as to be unable to fathom all the possibilities--especially Anna Nicole ones, and their ties to South Ossetia and the FARC. I love how your brain works. You have my phone number and you can always sell me what you're smoking: I swear, man, I'll pay you top dollar for an ounce of the hooch if it expands my mind as much.

But on a serious note: wtf? In March of last year, when Wikileaks.org was launched, I was applauding: what a great way to use the www!

But auctioning off the information--if authentic--is so unethical and on so many levels that I am dismayed.

It reminds me of an anecdote I will relate here:

Back in the days of the Surrealist movement, Salvador Dalì counted himself among its members and André Breton, the daddy of the Surrealists, welcomed his contributions.

Then Salvador went to New York and was seduced by fame and fortune and really broke away from the Surrealists, who were essentially anti-capitalist and wanted to change the world.

Well, at that point, Breton expelled him from the Surrealists for Salvador's penchant for profiteering,and nicknamed him Ávida Dollars, an anagram based on Salvador's name which captured Dalì's avidity for lucre. And that's how I now feel about Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.org. What a paumé, what a vendido, what a sell-out!

Now, Bina, whilst I, too, take a leak on Wikileaks with this post, your comment brings to mind a passage (was it from Neruda's autobiography Confieso que he vivido? I can't recall), but, let's just say it paints a picture.

I'm with you, is what I'm saying. You go girl.

I hereby take a leak on Wikileaks.

Who's going to pay for this? Maybe Uribe will use some of his Plan Colombia money.