WIKILEAKS AND THE STRATFOR DEBACLE

I am amazed, although I shouldn't be, at the level to which Wikileaks is stooping to make hay from the theft and release of Stratfor internal emails.  So far none of the emails exhibit any wrong doing but only a well plugged in company with competent analysts doing the job of open source analysis.  In the process of open source analysis you get information where it is available.  Sometimes that means reading local newspapers and watching local television programs, sometimes that might be taking polls or using poll data, and sometimes it might mean paying people for information.  As long as you are paying for information that doesn't break any confidentiality agreements or classification issues (and even then thats on the source not Stratfor) there are no issues.  Wikileaks of all organizations it seems laughable to me they have an issue with this.  It is not a crime to make money.  There is zero illegal or immoral surrounding a company that has developed a business model around collecting, compiling, and selling insights to information.  If Wikileaks wants their information they just have to subscribe like everyone else.

The idea there is something nefarious with Stratfor looking to develop an investment capability based on the information it collects is ludicrous.  Any decent investment institution does the exact same thing but they probably don't have as robust of information sources.  You don't make investments without conducting analysis on the prodcutcts, companies and environment in which you are going to make the investment.  Since Stratfor had what appears to be ZERO insider trading connections but a host of people and connections that had a strong pulse on the political, social, and economic climates globally, I can see absolutely nothing wrong with this endeavor.

I will post more thoughts here on this release and the emails and analysis to follow but so far I am very disappointed and I will be even more disappointed if the discerning public and MSM buys in to this sensationalism to the point they will dispense rational thought and feed the biggest troll on the Internet - Wikileaks.

As for the relationship now solidified between Anonymous and Wikileaks, it was always there now just public.  I think this partnership illustrates an organization taxed by legal battles, lack of funding, and lack of continued relevancy.  Its a hail mary, the dying breaths of an organization that has lost its way and given in to the ego of a grade-A Narcissist.