Wikileaks tool: I’d love to expose Russia’s and China’s secrets too

I’m starting to believe him, not because I think he’s genuinely indifferent to which country’s information it is that he’s freeing but because he seems like enough of an egomaniac to maybe develop a full-blown messianic complex from all this media attention. (Per the first link, he’s got the editor of Time magazine hanging breathlessly on his every word.) And would-be messiahs are apt to take risks that more rational sorts wouldn’t. Could a man who once started a site called IQ.org and churned out self-important pap like this convince himself that he’s the one who’ll lift the peoples of Russia and China out of oppression?

I’m thinking … yeah, quite possibly.

Asked if he wanted to expose the secret dealings of China and Russia the way WikiLeaks has done with the U.S., Assange said, “Yes, indeed. In fact, we believe it is the most closed societies that have the most reform potential.” He sounded heartened, if not overwhelmed, by the response to the megaleak so far. “The media scrutiny and the reaction are so tremendous that it actually eclipses our ability to understand it.” But he said he believed there was a shake-up going on, adding, “There is a tremendous rearrangement of viewings about many different countries.”

In a 36-minute interview with TIME (the full audio will be available soon on TIME.com), Assange explained that exposing abuses can lead to positive change in two ways. When abusive organizations are in the public spotlight, “they have one of two choices,” he said. The first, he continued, “is to reform in such a way that they can be proud of their endeavors, and proud to display them to the public.” The second choice, he said, “is to lock down internally and to balkanize, and as a result, of course, cease to be as efficient as they were. To me, that is a very good outcome, because organizations can either be efficient, open and honest, or they can be closed, conspiratorial and inefficient.” What he left unsaid but clearly implied was that organizations of the second type eventually fail.

There’s more where that came from, including a lament that in western countries it’s awfully tough to produce economic change due to “contractual obligations.” Bear that in mind the next time you hear libertarians celebrating Assange.

In fairness to him, he’s already revealed material that’s embarrassing to Russia and China in this current document dump, including a new cable published tonight in which a U.S. diplomat suggests that Putin ordered the hit on Alexander Litvinenko. The Chinese might already be trying to shut him down, in which case Assange may conclude that there’s little left to lose in airing whatever dirty laundry on him that he’s got. But where, oh where, can a man being hunted by Interpol, the CIA, and possible Russian and Chinese intelligence go to stay safe? Hmmmm.

Speaking of libertarians celebrating Assange, via the Right Scoop, here’s a fun clip of Fox News’s Truther of the week debating John Bolton about the wisdom of leaking the documents. Take two minutes to read this smart Ross Douthat post about Assange, too. The great champion of open systems and informational efficiency is likely to achieve the opposite as governments clamp down tighter on state secrets and as bad data that was never intended for public consumption starts to spread.

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