It's most instructive to read carefully the Stratfor emails WikiLeaks released recently. Their language and tone are alarming: both brutal and ruthless, in my view they reflect all that is wrong with a world now programmed to a rampant neo-liberal economic model that is underpinned by Machiavelli's philosophy of power.

In any financial center, war zone or mineral-rich backwater, private intelligence staff are easy to stumble across. Conspicuously inconspicuous, they can be found mingling at barbecues or muckraking at parties, trying to glean scraps information that could help or harm their clients in business and government. Few of the sector s biggest players - Aegis, Control Risks, Diligence, Kroll - are household names, but their clients certainly are.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has lost a financial lifeline. Since December, bans by the world's major credit card networks, it has been difficult for supporters of the controversial whistleblower to send him donations. But this week, WikiLeaks gained a brief respite with the unwitting help of an Icelandic bank.