Commentary By Ron Beasley
Forbes interviewed Julian Assange a couple of weeks ago. He told Forbes that his next "megaleak" would not involve a government but a large US bank.
These megaleaks, as you call them that, we haven�t seen any of those from the private sector.
No, not at the same scale for the military.
Will we?
Yes. We have one related to a bank coming up, that�s a megaleak. It�s not as big a scale as the Iraq material, but it�s either tens or hundreds of thousands of documents depending on how you define it.
Is it a U.S. bank?
Yes, it�s a U.S. bank.
One that still exists?
Yes, a big U.S. bank.
The biggest U.S. bank?
No comment.
When will it happen?
Early next year. I won�t say more.
Please let it be Goldman Sachs although any of them would be a treat. And could it be enough to force Eric Holder and the Obama administration to actually uphold the law? Will it be so toxic it will enrage the teabaggers and make them turn on their billionaire corporate sponsors? Sadly the answer to both questions is probably no. But it may be fun anyway.
Update:
Asked what he wanted to be the result of the disclosure, he replied: "I'm not sure. It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume."
He compared this release to emails that were unveiled as a result of the collapse of disgraced energy company Enron Corp.
"This will be like that. Yes, there will be some flagrant violations, unethical practices that will be revealed, but it will also be all the supporting decision-making structures and the internal executive ethos ... and that's tremendously valuable," Assange said.
"You could call it the ecosystem of corruption. But it's also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that's not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they're fulfilling their own self-interest," he said.
So far Assange strikes me as a fairly responsible gate-keeper. The muckraker's challenge is much like that of a poker player. He understands that information is power and sharing it is like shooting fireworks. Bottle rockets and sparklers are impressive in the darkness but they are like cake decorations. Once they are gone the show's over. He's smart, keeping part of the inventory in reserve.
ReplyDeleteDon't expect embarrassment on the part of big shots caught doing wrong. It is a feeling of which sociopaths are not capable. A few (like Robert McNamara or George Wallace) may have a change of heart but it will be too little, too late.