By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
Books - Guardian - NY Mag - Brutal Kangaroo
LITERARY SDNY, July 17 – One thing about the Wikileaks data-dumps was that they often resurfaced, made relevant again by current events.
As Kurt Wheelock began digging through the more than 300 references to Wikileaks in US Federal court cases, he came across the State Department memo about bribes paid to witnesses against Viktor Bout in Thailand.
Now in 2022 there was talk of Bout being traded by the Administration for WNBA player Brittney Griner.
The leaked memo: "Classified By: Ambassador Eric G. John, reason: 1.4 (b) and (d). 1. (S) Summary: The Ambassador on March 4 pressed Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to ensure retraction or rebuttal of false court testimony in the extradition proceedings of Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, which resume March 6. Suthep said Prime Minister Abhisit had previously discussed the matter with him, and he would investigate and take appropriate action."
Bout was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, before then-Judge Shira A. Scheindlin.
She shot down Bout's argument as being "based on two 'secret United States State Department cables which [were] leaked to Wikileaks' that reveal 'a multi-pronged effort to seek a successful reversal [of the Thai lower court’s denial of extradition] during the appeals process.' However, far from any impropriety, the cables merely demonstrate the State Department’s view that Bout was “a high priority for the United States," etc.
Now, with the SDNY prosecutors raring to ask for a lengthy sentence for Joshua Schulte, those above them were said to mull freeing the merchant of death.
They'd made a movie about Bout, with Nicholas Cage. But no movie, barely a podcast, about Joshua Schulte.
There was, however, as of July 16 a blues, here. And as of July 13, a booklet - now with eight typos fixed (better late than never).
One thing not corrected but amplified: while some set a strangely high standard for "who is a whistleblower," not unlike "who is a journalist," Kurt with experience as both thought: having covered the United Nations, showing abuses of power and immunity with the help of staff whistleblowers who can not only be fired but also deported from NY if they are found out, conclude a person doesn't need to confess in order to be whistleblower.
Some were comfortably setting a requirment of voluntary martyrdom. But some martyrdom's are unintentional, ineffable. The search continued.
This might be a new project, a follow-up to Brutal Kangaroo.
Order here. Watch this site.
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