Julian Assange, o homem do momento - Julian Assange, man of the hour

Esta é uma matéria bastante boa da TIME sobre o Julian Assange e o site WikiLeaks. Ela traz também os links para outras matérias relacionadas. Se você não lê inglês, passe o tradutor eletrônico - não vai ficar nenhuma maravilha, mas vai dar para entender. Em resumo o que a matéria diz é que com essa perseguição toda, Assange  está virando mártir e o WikiLeaks está mais famoso do que nunca. De fato, com a colaboração de milhares espalhados pelo mundo, vai ser impossível tirar o site do ar. Concordo com o Lula: quem merece levar lambada é quem escreveu as bobagens. De qualquer maneira, acho o WikiLeaks uma boa idéia. Prender o Assange, nem tanto.

Why WikiLeaks Is Winning Its Info War

By Massimo Calabresi / Washington Wednesday, Dec. 08, 2010

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2035817,00.html#ixzz17dn25A00

There was a time when WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's voluntary surrender to the British authorities might have put an end to the crisis created by the Internet provocateur's dissemination of tens of thousands of state secrets. But in the upside-down world of transnational crowdsourcing unleashed by WikiLeaks, in which thousands of activists around the globe can be rallied to defend and extend its work, Assange's arrest is a win, not a loss, for his organization.

The asymmetrical info war initiated by the WikiLeaks dump of diplomatic cables is all about spectacle — the more Assange is set up by world powers, the more powerful his own movement becomes. "The field of battle is WikiLeaks," wrote John Perry Barlow, a former Grateful Dead lyricist and founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the First Amendment advocacy group, in a message to his followers. "You are the troops." WikiLeaks admiringly forwarded the post to 300,000 of its own followers. As the U.S. and other governments attempted to close down WikiLeaks over the past week, those "troops" have fought back. And so far, it doesn't look like much of a contest.(Read TIME's interview with Julian Assange.)

First, the U.S. government pushed WikiLeaks off the servers of Amazon, its U.S. host — thanks in part to an effort by the office of Senator Joe Lieberman, who heads the Senate Homeland Security Committee. After the rogue site was pushed off a smaller, backup host in the U.S., it moved first to a Swiss domain, then to a simple numeric one. WikiLeaks has complained, and some news outlets have reported, about apparent hacker attacks against the website. The effect of all that pressure, however, was very much like cutting the head off the mythical Hydra. By Tuesday evening, WikiLeaks listed 507 Web addresses that it said were hosting the site worldwide.

The U.S. and its allies have taken other steps to curb WikiLeaks' activities. The French Industry Minister Eric Besson called for the site to be banned from French servers. Swiss bank PostFinance announced it had frozen $41,000 in an account set up as a legal-defense fund for Assange. The bank said it took action because Assange had claimed Geneva as his domicile when opening the account, but this had proved incorrect and he could not show that he is a Swiss resident. PayPal, MasterCard and Visa have all blocked donations to WikiLeaks. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks' backers are fighting back, though their hacker attacks on some of the sites that shut off WikiLeaks funding may be less effective.(See all of TIME's WikiLeaks coverage.)

Assange's detention is not without its costs to him and WikiLeaks. Swedish prosecutors say he has been accused of having had unprotected sex with a woman, identified only as Miss A, despite her insistence that he use a condom, and that he had unprotected sex with a second woman, Miss W, while she was asleep. Both scenarios would be crimes in Sweden, and the attention to the charges has divided some of his supporters. Assange has not been formally charged with any crime and denies any wrongdoing.

But the principal effect of his arrest has been to rally the troops. Assange, who was in hiding in England, turned himself in to British police on Tuesday morning. That afternoon, he faced a hearing in which his British lawyer pledged to appeal again against extradition to Sweden. Several people present offered tens of thousands of dollars worth of bail, but the judge ordered him held without bail. Supporters cheered Assange as he left the courthouse.(Read "WikiLeaks' War on Secrecy.")

And the David vs. Goliath stagecraft continues. Assange's Swedish attorney, Bjorn Hurtig, told Reuters on Friday that he suspects "somebody has an interest in getting [Assange] to Sweden and maybe asking for him to be extradited to another country [from there]." In fact, extradition from Europe to the U.S. is hard, and even if Assange could be extradited it's not clear what he could be charged with.

There is, of course, a limit to how much Assange can win. In the U.S., officials are finding that while there were certainly structural reasons like expanded technology and overclassification behind the theft of the leaked documents, practical reasons were equally important. Thanks to an imperative from then commander of the U.S. Central Command David Petraeus and others to share information with allies on improvised explosive devices and other threats, the Central Command allowed the downloading of data from its secret in-house network, SIPRNet, to removable storage devices, officials tell TIME. The information was then carried to computers linked to secret networks used by allies and uploaded. The process was derisively called "sneaker net," because it was so inefficient, although it replaced the prior need to manually retype all information into the allied computers.(Comment on this story.)

New restrictions on downloading media have been imposed over the past six months, restoring the restrictions that existed before the leaks. That may be one victory for the U.S. in its attempts to fight WikiLeaks. Meanwhile, Assange's lawyer said Tuesday that a new editor in chief of WikiLeaks would step in during Assange's absence.
— With reporting by Eben Harrell / London

Read "WikiLeaks' Assange: Under Arrest, Fighting Extradition."

See the top 10 leaks.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2035817,00.html#ixzz17dnXn2Zg

As pessoas ouvem o que querm ouvir - People hear what they want to hear

‎"Mesmo sem mentir diretamente, as pessoas só ouvem o que realmente querem ouvir ou o que são capazes de ouvir ... o que muitas vezes tem bem pouca semelhança com o que realmente foi dito." Dr.Paul Weston - Em Terapia

 ‎"Even without outright lying, people only hear what they really want to hear or what they are capable of hearing... which often has very little resemblance to what was actually said". Dr. Paul Weston - In Treatment

Amor de irmã (Ou o sonho que não deu certo - ainda bem!) - Sister's love (Or the dream that didn't come true - thank God)

O mundo dos sonhos é complexo mesmo. Esta noite sonhei que minha irmã não queria falar comigo de jeito nenhum. Ela e minha mãe estavam zangadas comigo e me ignoravam totalmente. Acordei até chateada. E aí, abri um e-mail que minha irmã me mandou, dizendo que me ama. Olha só o que veio no e-mail.










Poema do amigo aprendiz..... 

Quero ser  tua amiga 
Nem demais e nem de menos.
Nem tão longe e nem tão perto.
Na medida mais precisa que eu puder.
Mas amar-te sem medida e ficar na tua vida,
Da maneira mais discreta que eu souber.
Sem tirar-te a liberdade, sem jamais te sufocar.
Sem forçar tua vontade.
Sem falar, quando for hora de calar.
E sem calar, quando for hora de falar.
Nem ausente, nem presente por demais.
Simplesmente, calmamente, ser-te paz.
É bonito ser amigo, mas confesso é tão difícil aprender!
E por isso eu te suplico paciência.
Vou encher este teu rosto de lembranças,
Dá-me tempo, de acertar nossas distâncias... 
 
 
Fernando Pessoa 


Não é fantástico que a realidade seja tantas vezes melhor que o sonho!

The dream world is really complex. Last night I dreamed that my sister would not talk to me at all. She and my mother were angry with me and ignored me altogether. I woke up upset. Then, I opened an email that my sister sent me saying she loves me.

Look at what came in the e-mail.

Poem of the apprentice friend

I want to be your friend

Not too much nor too little.

Not too far nor too near.

Insofar as accurate as I can.

But to love you without measure and to stay in your life.

As discreetly as I know how.

Not taking away your freedom, never suffocating.

Not forcing your will.

Not speaking, when it is time to be silent.

And not being silent, when it time to speak.

Nor too absent, or too present.

Simply, quietly, bring you peace.

It is beautiful to be a friend, but I confess, it is so hard to learn how!

And so I beg your patience.

I will fill your face with memories,

Give me time to settle our distances ...  

Fernando Pessoa

Isn’t it amazing how reality is often better than dreams!

Segunda-feira cinza - Gray Monday

A segunda-feira está cinza, mas produtiva. Trabalhando, trabalhando. Nos intervalos lendo "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate" de Alexander McCall Smith. Maravilhoso, delicado e tocante. Isabel, a personagem principal, é filósofa e nas suas reflexões diz coisas fantásticas. Por exemplo:

"... Havia sempre uma cópia do Le Monde e do Corriere della Sera, e às vezes  do Spiegel, que Isabel achava interessante por causa do seu hábito de publicar artigos sobre a Segunda Guerra Mundial e a culpa alemã. É importante lembrar, e talvez alguns alemães achassem que nunca poderiam esquecer, mas haveria um ponto em que as imagens terríveis do passado poderiam ser deixadas para trás? Não, se quisermos evitar uma repetição, disseram alguns, e os alemães levaram isso muito a sério, enquanto outros talvez preferissem esquecer. Os alemães merecem grande crédito por sua seriedade moral, motivo pelo qual Isabel gostava tanto deles. Qualquer um - qualquer povo - seria capaz de fazer o que eles fizeram em seu momento histórico de loucura - e sua bondade reside no fato de que eles mais tarde enfrentaram o que haviam feito. Os turcos por acaso passaram um pente fino na sua história?  Ela não tinha conhecimento de o que tivessem feito e aparentemente ninguém falava  do genocídio dos armênios - uma atrocidade virtualmente ainda na memória viva - exceto os armênios, claro. E ela de repente se lembrou de que os belgas haviam aprovado  uma resolução em seus Senado, há poucos anos, citando o que aconteceu na Armênia. Alguns disseram que estava tudo muito bem, mas então o que dizer do que Leopoldo fez no Congo? E não havia ilhéus, algures no Pacífico, cujos antepassados foram acusados de comer - sim, comer, os habitantes originais das terras que eles ocupavam? Uma infelicidade. E depois havia os britânicos, que se comportaram muito mal em tantas partes do mundo. Havia a história lamentável da extinção dos indígenas da Tasmânia e tantos outros exemplos de crueldade e roubo sob a proteção fulgurante da  Union Jack. Quando é que os livros de história britânicos fariam face à terrível contribuição britânico para a escravidão, que envolveu os árabes, também, muitos africanos (que também escravizaram além de serem escravizados)? Cada um de nós é tão mau quanto o outro, mas em algum momento temos de ignorar esse fato, ou pelo menos não dar a ele tanta importância. A história, ao que parece, poderia rapidamente se tornar uma questão de acusação mútua e recriminação, uma regressão infinita de crueldade e opressão, a menos que o esquecimento ou o perdão interviessem."

Monday is gray, but productive. Working, working. In the intervals reading "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate", by Alexander McCall Smith. Wonderful, delicate and touching. Isabel, the main character, is a philosopher and in her reflections he says amazing things. For example:

"...There was always a copy of Le Monde and Corriere della Sera, and sometimes Spiegel, which Isabel found interesting because of its habit of publishing articles about the Second World War and German guilt. It was important to remember, and perhaps some Germans felt that they could never forget, but would there be a point at which those awful images of the past could be put away? Not if we want to avoid a repetition, said some, and the Germans took this very seriously, while others perhaps preferred to forget. The Germans deserved great credit for their moral seriousness, which is why Isabel liked them so much. Anyone - any people - was capable of doing what they did in their historical moment of madness - and their goodness lay in the fact that they later faced up to what they had done. Did the Turks go over their history with a fine-tooth comb? She was not aware of it, if they did, and nobody seemed to mention the genocide of the Armenians - an atrocity which was virtually within living memory - except the Armenians, of course.
And the Belgians, she suddenly remembered, who had passed a resolution in their Senate, only a few years previously, noting what happened in Armenia. Some said that was all very well, but then what about what Leopold did in the Congo? And were there not islanders, somewhere in the Pacific, whose ancestors stood accused of eating - yes, eating, the original inhabitants of the land they occupied? Most unfortunate. And then there were the British who behaved extremely badly in so many parts of the world. There was the woeful story of the extinction of the Tasmanian aboriginals and so many other instances of cruelty and theft under the bright protection of the Union Jack.  When would British history books face up to the appalling British contribution to slavery, which involved the Arabs, too, and numerous Africans (who were not just on the receiving end)? We were all as bad as one another, but at some point we had to overlook that fact, or at least not make too much of it. History, it seemed, could so quickly become a matter of mutual accusation and recrimination, an infinite regress of cruelty and oppression, unless forgetfulness or forgiveness intervened".

Cansada, porém feliz - Tired, but happy

A festa foi até duas e meia da manhã, com direito a céu estrelado. Estimativa de umbandistas presentes na tenda da AUEESP: 3.200. Isso só na tenda da AUEESP, é claro, sem falar nas tendas de outros terreiros espalhadas pela praia. Tudo muito lindo, muito bem organizado, muito harmonioso com sempre, sob a batuta do mestre Rubens Saraceni. Destaque especialíssimo para a louvação a Xangô. Fortíssimo. Com certeza ter ido foi uma boa idéia. Mas cheguei cansada, quero esticar as pernas e depois conto os detalhes.

The festivity went on until  two thirty in the morning, with a starry sky. Estimated umbandistas present in AUEESP's tent: 3,200. This just in AUEESP's tent of course, not to mention the tents of other temples scattered across the beach. All very beautiful, very well organized, very harmonious as always, under master Rubens Saraceni's coordination. The praise to Shango was a very special highlight. Mighty. Going was surely a good idea. But now I'm tired, and I just want to stretch my legs. Later I'll tell you tell the details.

Hoje é festa - Festivity today

Hoje é dia de Festa de Iemanjá em Mongaguá, com o mestre Rubens e o pessoal do colégio. Estarei lá cultuando nossa Mãe, Senhora das Águas, divino Trono Feminino da Geração e da Criatividade. Faz uns três anos que não vou e senti que participar este ano seria uma boa idéia. Me faz muito bem essa ligação com as forças da Natureza, com os Sagrados Orixás, Senhores do Ori, da Natureza e das naturezas. Purifica, energiza, preenche, completa. O que eu mais gosto na Umbanda é essa sensação que a gente não consegue explicar, de ligação com o todo; essa coisa que preenche o corpo e a alma e faz a gente se sentir plena. Toda religião tem sua teologia e teogonia, é claro, e a teologia umbandista é linda, mágica e misteriosa. Mas as teologias, a meu ver, são apenas maneiras que o homem encontra de tentar explicar o que em si é inexplicável e racionalizar o que é pura emoção. Odoyá, Mamãe.

Today is the Festivity for Iemanjá in Mongaguá, with master Rubens and the guys from the school. I'll be there worshiping our Mother, Lady of Waters, Divine Female Throne of Generation and Creativity. I haven't been to the festivity in three years and I felt that participating this year would be a good idea. This  connection with the forces of Nature, the Sacred Orishas, Lords of the Ori, of Nature and Natures, makes me feel very good. Purifies, energizes, fills, completes. What I like most in Umbanda is this feeling that we cannot explain, of being in connection with the whole; this thing that fills the body and soul and makes us feel plentiful. Every religion has a theology and theogony, of course, and Umbanda's theology is beautiful, magical and mysterious. But the theologies, in my view, are just ways in which Man tries to explain that which is in itself inexplicable, and rationalize what is pure emotion. Odoya, Mom.

Começando - Será que é uma boa idéia mesmo? Begining - Is it really a good idea?

Hoje tive uma boa idéia. Escrevi para o meu irmão tentando explicar um mal entendido que está nos afastando há dois anos. Vai funcionar? Não sei. Às vezes a gente faz as  coisas com a melhor das intenções e é mal interpretada porque, como dizia um chefe que eu tive, "o que importa é a percepção que o outro tem". E mudar a percepção que o outro tem é difícil. Não adianta falar, você tem que demonstrar de maneira que a percepção que o outro tem de você seja alterada. O impacto tem de ser muito mais forte que o das palavras. Espero que o meu irmão sinta esse impacto, que ele sinta além das palavras, o próprio ato de eu escrever o e-mail. Espero que a percepção dele mude. Tomara que tenha sido uma boa idéia.


Today I had a good idea. I wrote to my brother trying to explain a misunderstanding that has been keeping us apart for  two years. Will it work? I don't know. Sometimes we do things with the best intentions but en up being misunderstood because, as one of my former bosses used to say,  "what matters is the perception that the other person has." And changing someone's perception is difficult. It is useless to talk, you have to demonstrate in a way that changes the perception that others have of you . The impact has to be much stronger than words. I hope my brother feels such an impact, that he feels beyond words, the very act of me writing the e-mail. I hope that his perception changes. Hopefully it was a good idea.