Wednesday, 8 December 2010
So dishonest he scams THE Nigerians!!!
JPBarlow Nigeria, which has an extradition treaty with the U.S., has charged Dick Cheney with bribery. http://bit.ly/ExtraditeDick
The rush to smear Assange's rape accuser
You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find the timing of Interpol's warrant for the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who turned himself in to British authorities today, curious. The charges -- "one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape," according to a statement from Scotland Yard -- were brought against him in Sweden last August, yet he suddenly graduated to "most wanted" status just after releasing over a thousand leaked diplomatic cables in late November? It would be irresponsible of journalists, bloggers and average citizens of countries most eager to plug the gushing WikiLeaks not to wonder if those dots connect.
Still, as the New York Times put it, "there is no public evidence to suggest a connection," which some members of the public seem to find unbearably frustrating. With no specific target for their suspicions and no easy way to find one, folks all over the blogosphere have been settling for the next best thing: making light of the sexual assault charges and smearing one of the alleged victims.
By Sunday, when Keith Olbermann retweeted Bianca Jagger's link to a post about the accuser's supposed CIA ties -- complete with scare quotes around the word "rape" -- a narrative had clearly taken hold: Whatever Assange did, it sure wasn't rape-rape. All he did was fail to wear a rubber! And one woman who claims he assaulted her has serious credibility issues anyway. She threw a party in his honor after the fact and tried to pull down the incriminating tweets. Isn't that proof enough? The only reason the charges got traction is that, in the radical feminist utopia of Sweden under Queen Lisbeth Salander, if a woman doesn't have multiple orgasms during hetero sex, the man can be charged with rape. You didn't know?
As of today, even Naomi Wolf -- Naomi Effin' Wolf! -- has taken a public swipe at Assange's accusers, using her status as a "longtime feminist" to underscore the absurdity of "the alleged victims ... using feminist-inspired rhetoric and law to assuage what appears to be personal injured feelings."
Wow. Admittedly, I don't have as much experience being a feminist as Wolf has, but when I see a swarm of people with exactly zero direct access to the facts of a rape case loudly insisting that the accusation has no merit, I usually start to wonder about their credibility. And their sources.
Continue reading
Kate Harding @'War Room'
STD fears sparked case against Julian Assange
Swedish Director of Prosecution Marianne Ny answers questions during a news conference at the police headquarters in Gothenburg December 7, 2010. The sexual misconduct case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a personal matter and not connected with his work releasing secret U.S. diplomatic cables, Ny said on Tuesday.
Credit: Reuters/Adam Ihse/Scanpix Sweden
The two Swedish women who accuse WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of sexual misconduct were at first not seeking to bring charges against him. They just wanted to track him down and persuade him to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, according to several people in contact with his entourage at the time.
The women went to the police together after they failed to persuade Assange to go to a doctor after separate sexual encounters with him in August, according to these people, who include former close associates of Assange who have since fallen out with him.
The women had trouble finding Assange because he had turned off his cellphone out of concern his enemies might trace him, these sources said.
Assange, who was arrested and held in custody by a British court Tuesday, has both admirers and detractors. His WikiLeaks group publishes secret documents from governments and companies, most recently making public a vast trove of U.S. State Department cables between Washington and embassies abroad that have cast a revealing and sometimes embarrassing eye on the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy.
Assange's elusiveness may have worked against him in the Swedish investigation, which might well have gone nowhere had he taken the women's calls and not left Sweden when police started looking into the allegations.
The Swedish investigation has undergone head-spinning twists and turns. After initially issuing a warrant for Assange's arrest on rape and molestation charges in mid-August, a Swedish prosecutor dropped the rape charge the next day. After this U-turn, it appeared likely that the whole investigation of the 39-year-old Australian computer hacker would be abandoned.
Assange's accusers then hired a lawyer who declared he would press prosecutors not only to keep the investigation going but to reinstate rape charges. The case was soon transferred to one of Sweden's three Directors of Public Prosecutions, Marianne Ny, who indeed decided to reinstate the rape investigation and continue the molestation probe. She ordered that Assange should be subject to official interrogation about the allegations.
After Assange left the country, Swedish authorities issued a European arrest warrant under which Assange could be detained and returned to Sweden. A spokeswoman for Swedish prosecutors affirmed, however, that at the moment Assange is not formally charged in Sweden with any criminal offense, but is only wanted for questioning...
The women went to the police together after they failed to persuade Assange to go to a doctor after separate sexual encounters with him in August, according to these people, who include former close associates of Assange who have since fallen out with him.
The women had trouble finding Assange because he had turned off his cellphone out of concern his enemies might trace him, these sources said.
Assange, who was arrested and held in custody by a British court Tuesday, has both admirers and detractors. His WikiLeaks group publishes secret documents from governments and companies, most recently making public a vast trove of U.S. State Department cables between Washington and embassies abroad that have cast a revealing and sometimes embarrassing eye on the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy.
Assange's elusiveness may have worked against him in the Swedish investigation, which might well have gone nowhere had he taken the women's calls and not left Sweden when police started looking into the allegations.
The Swedish investigation has undergone head-spinning twists and turns. After initially issuing a warrant for Assange's arrest on rape and molestation charges in mid-August, a Swedish prosecutor dropped the rape charge the next day. After this U-turn, it appeared likely that the whole investigation of the 39-year-old Australian computer hacker would be abandoned.
Assange's accusers then hired a lawyer who declared he would press prosecutors not only to keep the investigation going but to reinstate rape charges. The case was soon transferred to one of Sweden's three Directors of Public Prosecutions, Marianne Ny, who indeed decided to reinstate the rape investigation and continue the molestation probe. She ordered that Assange should be subject to official interrogation about the allegations.
After Assange left the country, Swedish authorities issued a European arrest warrant under which Assange could be detained and returned to Sweden. A spokeswoman for Swedish prosecutors affirmed, however, that at the moment Assange is not formally charged in Sweden with any criminal offense, but is only wanted for questioning...
Continue reading
Mo Money Mo Problems: The Printing Mistake that Cost Billions
Getting your printed poster back from the shop can sometimes be cause for frustration—if the colors don’t match, if the dimensions don’t fit, and so on. But rarely is that the cause of a billion-dollar problem, as the US government is now in the midst of, reports CNBC.
The US recently unveiled a new, high-tech hundred-dollar bill that sports a 3D security strip among others. Initially scheduled for release in February 2011, the bills have now been quarantined after a billion of them have been found to contain a printing error, CNBC said. The total value of the bills amount to US$110 billion, about 10% of the entire supply of US currency.
The printed bills have a creasing problem on one of its edges that when unfolded, reveals a blank portion of the note, people close to the matter told CNBC. All these new bills have been stored in vaults—only about 30% of them are flawed, but there is no way to sort out the good ones from the rotten.
CNBC estimates that to hand-sort through the deluge will take approximately 20 to 30 years, or a mechanized system could be developed that will reduce that time to about a year.
Since the bills aren’t in circulation, the US hasn’t exactly wasted US$110 billion but the loss is still in the millions. Each note cost 12 cents to produce—about twice as much as the normal bill—which makes the total production cost US$120 million, reports Fast Company.
As one official astutely told CNBC: “Somebody has to pay for this.”
The US recently unveiled a new, high-tech hundred-dollar bill that sports a 3D security strip among others. Initially scheduled for release in February 2011, the bills have now been quarantined after a billion of them have been found to contain a printing error, CNBC said. The total value of the bills amount to US$110 billion, about 10% of the entire supply of US currency.
The printed bills have a creasing problem on one of its edges that when unfolded, reveals a blank portion of the note, people close to the matter told CNBC. All these new bills have been stored in vaults—only about 30% of them are flawed, but there is no way to sort out the good ones from the rotten.
CNBC estimates that to hand-sort through the deluge will take approximately 20 to 30 years, or a mechanized system could be developed that will reduce that time to about a year.
Since the bills aren’t in circulation, the US hasn’t exactly wasted US$110 billion but the loss is still in the millions. Each note cost 12 cents to produce—about twice as much as the normal bill—which makes the total production cost US$120 million, reports Fast Company.
As one official astutely told CNBC: “Somebody has to pay for this.”
Santa Claus’ “Naughty/Nice” List Released by Wikileaks
“The ‘Naughty vs Nice’ files maintained by Santa Claus ahead of his annual Christmas gift-giving flight around the globe are the latest documents released by self-proclaimed ‘whistleblower,’ Wikileaks.
“The file is divided into a ‘naughty list,’ for children who misbehaved or treated people badly, who are therefore less deserving of presents; and a ‘nice list,’ which includes an inventory of gifts for children whose actions fall under the rubric of ‘good.’
“The confidentiality of the file is considered vital to a Christmas season filled with joy, surprises and holiday cheer.
“Santa Claus - known in some countries as Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or St. Nicholas- reacted with fury at the leak.
“‘That's it. Assange is on the permanent ‘naughty’ list,’" he fumed from his North Pole workshop. ‘No more Swedish women for him!’”
@Huffington Post
“The file is divided into a ‘naughty list,’ for children who misbehaved or treated people badly, who are therefore less deserving of presents; and a ‘nice list,’ which includes an inventory of gifts for children whose actions fall under the rubric of ‘good.’
“The confidentiality of the file is considered vital to a Christmas season filled with joy, surprises and holiday cheer.
“Santa Claus - known in some countries as Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or St. Nicholas- reacted with fury at the leak.
“‘That's it. Assange is on the permanent ‘naughty’ list,’" he fumed from his North Pole workshop. ‘No more Swedish women for him!’”
@Huffington Post
Psychology of fire survival
December 1 is the first day of summer and in some areas of the country, that heralds bushfire season. Just under two years ago the Black Saturday bushfires swept parts of Victoria killing 173 people and destroying more than 2000 homes.
A Victorian Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires looked in detail at the circumstances surrounding deaths of those 173 people. Psychologists working for the Commission also examined the mental attitudes of people who survived.
In this report: Dr Jim McLennan, Bushfire CRC, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne; Dr Susie Burke, Australian Psychological Society.
Listen to or download story.
Listen to or download story.
jonsnowC4 Who wags the tail of Amazon,Paypal,EBay,VISA,Mastercard? Happy to make money with Wiki-leaks until..oh dear, was that uncle sam at the door?
SLAB! - Six New Songs (2010)
Stephen Dray, founder member of SLAB! has released the first new SLAB! songs in 20 years on his blog "Darker Than Deep Space".He writes:
"The songs are new. Some are heavy in the old SLAB style, some are SLAB pared down to the barest of bones.
Let me know your thoughts."
Let me know your thoughts."
MORE
(Thanx Dray & HerrB!)
Rowenna_Davis Funny how men take rape allegations seriously when their power structures are at stake. #wikileaks #assange
Julian Assange refused bail over rape allegations
Julian Assange is driven into Westminster magistrates court today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Julian Assange was today refused bail and remanded in custody until 14 December over claims he committed sex offences in Sweden.
Julian Assange was today refused bail and remanded in custody until 14 December over claims he committed sex offences in Sweden.
Assange told City of Westminster magistrates court today that he intended to fight his extradition, setting up what could be a long legal battle.
The 39-year-old Australian turned himself in to Scotland Yard this morning to face a European arrest warrant.
He was asked by the court whether he understood that he could consent to be extradited to Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape, molestation and unlawful coercion, involving two women.
Assange said: "I understand that and I do not consent."
Assange denies the allegations, which stem from a visit to Sweden in August. He and his lawyers claim the accusations stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex", and have said the case has taken on political overtones.
Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny has rejected those claims.
Journalist John Pilger, filmmaker Ken Loach, and socialite Jemima Khan were among six people in court willing to offer surety. They all offered at least £20,000 each. An anonymous individual offered £60,000.
But District Judge Howard Riddle refused the WikiLeaks founder bail on the grounds that he had access to financial means and might fail to surrender.
The judge said these were "serious allegations against someone who has comparatively weak community ties in this country and the means and ability to abscond". But he rejected the prosecution claim that bail should be rejected on the grounds of Assange's safety.
Assange appeared in court in blue suit with a white shirt. Asked to give an address he replied: "PO Box 4080." When the question was asked again, he said: "Do you want it for correspondence or for some other reason?" Later, the WikiLeaks founder, who was accompanied by officials from the Australian high commission, gave an address in his native Australia.
Gemma Lindfield, for the Swedish authorities, told the court Assange was wanted in connection with four allegations.
She said the first complainant, Miss A, said she was victim of "unlawful coercion" on the night of 14 August in Stockholm.
The court heard Assange is accused of using his body weight to hold her down in a sexual manner.
The second charge alleged Assange "sexually molested" Miss A by having sex with her without a condom when it was her "express wish" one should be used.
The third charge claimed Assange "deliberately molested" Miss A on 18 August "in a way designed to violate her sexual integrity".
The fourth charge accused Assange of having sex with a second woman, Miss W, on 17 August without a condom while she was asleep at her Stockholm home.
A European arrest warrant issued by the Swedish authorities was received by officers at the Metropolitan police extradition unit last night. An earlier warrant, issued last month, was not valid as officials had failed to fill in the form properly.
Assange has been at the centre of an international row since WikiLeaks released a huge tranche of US embassy cables, in conjunction with five news organisations including the Guardian, at the beginning of last week.
The sex offence allegations are a separate case. "This case is not about WikiLeaks," Riddle told the court.
WikiLeaks faces increasing problems continuing to operate. Today, Visa said it had suspended all payments to the organisation "pending further investigation", while MasterCard said it was "taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products".
Earlier today, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, welcomed Assange's arrest. Speaking to reporters on a visit to US troops in Afghanistan, Gates said: "I hadn't heard that, but that sounds like good news to me."
Assange defended the leak of the embassy cables in an article in the Australian today, saying: "The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth."
World leaders would love the key to this Melbourne PO box... but WikiLeaks won't have it for much longer
Julian Assange: Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths
His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.
Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.
I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.
These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia, was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.
WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?
Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.
People have said I am anti-war: for the record, I am not. Sometimes nations need to go to war, and there are just wars. But there is nothing more wrong than a government lying to its people about those wars, then asking these same citizens to put their lives and their taxes on the line for those lies. If a war is justified, then tell the truth and the people will decide whether to support it.
If you have read any of the Afghan or Iraq war logs, any of the US embassy cables or any of the stories about the things WikiLeaks has reported, consider how important it is for all media to be able to report these things freely.
WikiLeaks is not the only publisher of the US embassy cables. Other media outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany have published the same redacted cables.
Yet it is WikiLeaks, as the co-ordinator of these other groups, that has copped the most vicious attacks and accusations from the US government and its acolytes. I have been accused of treason, even though I am an Australian, not a US, citizen. There have been dozens of serious calls in the US for me to be "taken out" by US special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be "hunted down like Osama bin Laden", a Republican bill sits before the US Senate seeking to have me declared a "transnational threat" and disposed of accordingly. An adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister's office has called on national television for me to be assassinated. An American blogger has called for my 20-year-old son, here in Australia, to be kidnapped and harmed for no other reason than to get at me.
And Australians should observe with no pride the disgraceful pandering to these sentiments by Julia Gillard and her government. The powers of the Australian government appear to be fully at the disposal of the US as to whether to cancel my Australian passport, or to spy on or harass WikiLeaks supporters. The Australian Attorney-General is doing everything he can to help a US investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and shipping them to the US.
Prime Minister Gillard and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have not had a word of criticism for the other media organisations. That is because The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel are old and large, while WikiLeaks is as yet young and small.
We are the underdogs. The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings.
Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel? One might have thought an Australian prime minister would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality. The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.
Every time WikiLeaks publishes the truth about abuses committed by US agencies, Australian politicians chant a provably false chorus with the State Department: "You'll risk lives! National security! You'll endanger troops!" Then they say there is nothing of importance in what WikiLeaks publishes. It can't be both. Which is it?
It is neither. WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed. But the US, with Australian government connivance, has killed thousands in the past few months alone.
US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure. The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan. NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn't find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published.
But our publications have been far from unimportant. The US diplomatic cables reveal some startling facts:
► The US asked its diplomats to steal personal human material and information from UN officials and human rights groups, including DNA, fingerprints, iris scans, credit card numbers, internet passwords and ID photos, in violation of international treaties. Presumably Australian UN diplomats may be targeted, too.
► King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asked the US to attack Iran.
► Officials in Jordan and Bahrain want Iran's nuclear program stopped by any means available.
► Britain's Iraq inquiry was fixed to protect "US interests".
► Sweden is a covert member of NATO and US intelligence sharing is kept from parliament.
► The US is playing hardball to get other countries to take freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Barack Obama agreed to meet the Slovenian President only if Slovenia took a prisoner. Our Pacific neighbour Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to accept detainees.
In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government". The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth.
HA!
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
ggreenwald Todd Gitlin & @TNR publish an entire column based on a pure falsehood: that WikiLeaks "indiscriminately" dumped cables: http://is.gd/ikV6c
Joy Division & New Order's Stephen Morris On His Top 13 Albums
Stephen Morris - he who drummed for both Joy Division and New Order, both considered hallowed deities by those of us who inhabit The Quietus bunker - is comparing the agony of selecting 13 albums for our Bakers Dozen feature to choosing records for a DJ set. "You end up realising most of the records you've got are shit anyway," he says. "And even the ones you think are good probably aren't particularly good. But if other people don't like them... well, I don't worry about that."
His choices:
John Cale - Paris 1919
Television - Marquee Moon
Neu! - Neu!
Steve Reich - Drumming
Can - Tago Mago
Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Sparks - No. 1 In Heaven
Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
DJ Shadow - Entroducing
Read what Stephen Morris had to say about his favorite albums
HERE
Justice For Assange
wikileaks RT @doctorow #imwikileaks #imassange Today Westminster Magistarte's Court meet 13:30 http://www.justiceforassange.com #wikileaks #cablegate Pizza Hut sparks race row after asking black footballers to pay before eating
Five players from League One side Bournemouth were told they would have to pay, despite a Pizza Hut employee admitting to them it was not company policy. The incident prompted the club's chairman, Eddie Mitchell, to say today that "it is upsetting to hear that people are treated differently because of the colour of their skin".
Pizza Hut today apologised, but said the incident was not "racially motivated". The restaurant called the police after the men refused to leave.
"We ordered our food. The manager came up with the bill and said: 'Would you mind paying first?' We asked if that was the policy and he said 'no'," midfielder Anton Robinson, 24, told the Bournemouth Echo.
"When we asked why he had asked us, he said: 'It's the way you look.'"
"We had a good idea what he was trying to get at. A group of white kids came in straight after us and they weren't asked to pay before they had their food. The only thing that was different was the colour of our skins."
Robinson said the group of players, including fellow first-team regulars Marvin Bartley and Liam Feeney, told the Pizza Hut employee they were professional footballers, and were happy to pay when they were finished.
"That's what normal people do," Robinson said. "He hadn't asked other customers to pay before their meals. It got a little bit heated, then he said: 'If you're not going to pay the bill now, I'm going to call the police to escort you off the premises'."
Robinson said all players were smartly dressed, telling the Echo: "When the lads go out for a meal, we know we're representing the club. We know that people recognise us and we have to behave."
Dorset police were duly called to the restaurant during the incident last Thursday, a spokesman confirmed today, after receiving a call from Pizza Hut regarding disruptive customers.
"A group of men had been asked to leave. They weren't happy about this, but we spoke to them and they did leave," the spokesman said.
Mitchell, Bournemouth's chairman, said the club was "highly disappointed to hear about the treatment a number of players received on a recent visit to Pizza Hut."
"Our players are magnificent ambassadors for AFC Bournemouth. Their behaviour is exemplary and they are a credit to the club ," he added in a statement posted on the club's website.
"In this day and age, it is upsetting to hear that people are treated differently because of the colour of their skin, and at AFC Bournemouth we will not condone any treatment of people in such a way."
Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, said the town has an "enviable reputation for its tolerance and openness", adding that this sort of incident was "very rare indeed".
"I am glad Pizza Hut has issued a full apology, not least for the appalling choice of words used by the manager," he said.
"AFC Bournemouth stands out as an organisation that excels in binding our local community together. Pizza Hut might learn to follow suit by spending more time with both players and club alike."
A spokeswoman for Pizza Hut said: "This incident was not racially motivated. We have recently had a spate of customers leaving without paying their bills, so were advised by the police to ask people to pay for their meal before dining. We have been doing this at our discretion, and in this case the situation was poorly handled. We have spoken to the team member involved and have contacted the customers concerned to apologise for any offence caused."
Adam Gabbatt @'The Guardian'
Counting down
I am now allowed to say that The Australian newspaper has an Op-Ed written by Julian Assange, to be published at midnight #wikileaks
Open letter calls for Gillard to defend Assange
A group of almost 200 prominent names have appealed to Prime Minister Julia Gillard to defend WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Many prominent US figures have called for Mr Assange's death since his whistleblower organisation began releasing hundreds of US diplomatic cables last month.
And Ms Gillard has been accused by Mr Assange's lawyers of prejudicing any case against him by claiming he is "guilty of illegality" for leaking the documents.
But in the open letter posted on the ABC's Drum website, figures such as writer Noam Chomsky, former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson, retired intelligence officer Lance Collins and actor Max Gillies call on Ms Gillard to ensure Mr Assange's safety in light of the inflammatory rhetoric surrounding WikiLeaks.
"We therefore call upon you to condemn, on behalf of the Australian Government, calls for physical harm to be inflicted upon Mr Assange and to state publicly that you will ensure Mr Assange receives the rights and protections to which he is entitled, irrespective of whether the unlawful threats against him come from individuals or states," they write.
In the letter, almost 200 signatories including Chaser star Julian Morrow, Greens MP Adam Bandt and author Helen Garner, say the Prime Minister needs to make a strong statement in support of freedom of information and resist calls to punish Mr Assange for the leaks.
"We urge you to confirm publicly Australia's commitment to freedom of political communication; to refrain from cancelling Mr Assange's passport, in the absence of clear proof that such a step is warranted; to provide assistance and advocacy to Mr Assange; and do everything in your power to ensure that any legal proceedings taken against him comply fully with the principles of law and procedural fairness," the letter states.
"A statement by you to this effect should not be controversial - it is a simple commitment to democratic principles and the rule of law."
It says the leaks represent a "watershed" in the cause of freedom of speech, and the Government can make a difference by speaking out in defence of Mr Assange.
"In many parts of the globe, death threats routinely silence those who would publish or disseminate controversial material," it writes.
"If these incitements to violence against Mr Assange, a recipient of Amnesty International's Media Award, are allowed to stand, a disturbing new precedent will have been established in the English-speaking world."
Mr Assange has become the focal point for anger over the latest leaks, which detail private cables of US diplomats and have revealed damaging and embarrassing information about senior government figures around the world.
Library of Congress Blocks Analysts from Researching WikiLeaks
The Library of Congress, which recently shutoff access to WikiLeaks on its computers, may be unintentionally undermining the research its analysts perform for lawmakers, classification expert Steven Aftergood, who regularly publishes a government secrecy newsletter, blogged on Monday. The Congressional Research Service, a branch of the library that scours bills, news and other primary sources to inform lawmakers of pressing issues, "will be unable to access or to cite the leaked materials in their research reports to Congress," wrote Aftergood, who runs the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, a nonpartisan think tank.
Several current and former library employees told him that restricting access to WikiLeaks could degrade CRS analysts' research and may not have a legal basis, he added.
The library did not respond to Aftergood's request for comment on the issue over the weekend. Aftergood's summation: "If CRS is 'Congress' brain,' then the new access restrictions could mean a partial lobotomy."
Several current and former library employees told him that restricting access to WikiLeaks could degrade CRS analysts' research and may not have a legal basis, he added.
- "It's a difficult situation," said one CRS analyst. "The information was released illegally, and it's not right for government agencies to be aiding and abetting this illegal dissemination. But the information is out there. Presumably, any Library of Congress researcher who wants to access the information that WikiLeaks illegally released will simply use their home computers or cell phones to do so. Will they be able to refer directly to the information in their writings for the library? Apparently not, unless a secondary source, like a newspaper, happens to have already cited it."
- "I don't know that you can make a credible argument that CRS reports are the gold standard of analytical reporting, as is often claimed, when its analysts are denied access to information that historians and public policy types call a treasure trove of data," a former CRS employee said.
- In a press release, LOC explained its actions by citing an Office of Management and Budget memo regarding the obligation that federal agencies and federal employees have to protect classified information. "But LOC is statutorily chartered as the library of the House and the Senate. It is a legislative branch agency. I don't recall either chamber directing the blocking of access to WikiLeaks for/or by its committees, offices, agencies, or members," a different former analyst said.
The library did not respond to Aftergood's request for comment on the issue over the weekend. Aftergood's summation: "If CRS is 'Congress' brain,' then the new access restrictions could mean a partial lobotomy."
Aliya Sternstein @'nextgov'
Lebanese Newspaper Publishes U.S. Cables Not Found on WikiLeaks
Nearly 200 previously unreported U.S. diplomatic cables were posted on Thursday to the website of Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar. The cables, from eight U.S. embassies across the Middle East and North Africa, have not appeared on Wikileaks' official website or in the Western media outlets working with Wikileaks. Al Akhbar, which defines itself as an "opposition" newspaper, is published in Arabic. It has posted all 183 cables in their original English but promises readers a forthcoming Arabic translation.
It's unclear how Al Akhbar got the cables, which they say are "exclusive," and whether they posted them with the permission of Wikileaks, which has tightly controlled who publishes which of its cables and when. Wikileaks offered a handful of media outlets, such as The Guardian and Spain's El Pais, advance access to some cables on the condition that they coordinate release. But neither Wikileaks nor those media outlets have released the same cables posted by Al Akhbar. If Al Akhbar had coordinated their release with Wikileaks, it stands to reason that the Lebanese publication would have been granted sufficient advance time to translate the cables to Arabic.
The documents appear to be authentic as the cables from Tripoli match up with The Atlantic's background reporting for an earlier story on a 2009 Libyan nuclear crisis, some details of which The Atlantic did not publish but nonetheless appear in Al Akhbar's cables. The rest of the cables are from U.S. embassies in Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. They portray U.S. diplomats as struggling to understand and influence the region's oppressive and sometimes unpredictable regime.
One series of cables from Baghdad reports that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki replaced hundreds of his most experienced intelligence and security officials with under-qualified "political officers" in advance of the 2010 Iraq elections.
Another series from Beirut in 2008 shows Lebanese Defense Minister Elias al-Murr telling U.S. diplomats, in a message he implied they should pass on to Israeli officials, that the Lebanese military would not resist an Israeli invasion so long as the Israeli forces abided by certain conditions. Murr, apparently hoping that an Israeli invasion would destroy much of the Hezbollah insurgency and the communities in Lebanon's south that support it, promised an Israeli invasion would go unchallenged as long as it did not pass certain physical boundaries and did not bomb Christian communities. A U.S. embassy official wrote, "Murr is trying to ascertain how long an offensive would be required to clean out Hizballah in the Beka'a." Murr added that he had discussed the plan with then-Military Commandant Michel Sleiman, who has since become the President of Lebanon. The small but vibrant community of Middle East-based, English-language Arab bloggers have expressed outrage at Murr and Sleiman's apparent invitation, predicting it will bring political disaster and possibly worse...
Continue reading
Max Fisher @'The Atlantic'
Columbia University Reverses Anti-WikiLeaks Guidance
Days after Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) caused an uproar by warning its students against linking to WikiLeaks or discussing the secret-spilling website’s latest cache of diplomatic cables online, the prestigious training ground for future diplomats has changed tack and embraced free speech.
Last week, the SIPA Office of Career Services sent an e-mail to students saying that an alumnus who works at the U.S. State Department had recommended that current students not tweet or post links to WikiLeaks, which is in the process of releasing 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables — many of them classified — because doing so could hurt their career prospects in government service.
“Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government,” the Office of Career Services wrote.
Now, SIPA Dean John H. Coatsworth has clarified the school’s policy and issued a ringing endorsement of free speech and academic freedom.
“Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution,” Coatsworth wrote in an e-mail to the SIPA community Monday morning (full e-mail message below). “Thus, SIPA’s position is that students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or to their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences.”
SIPA Professor Gary Sick, the prominent Middle East expert who served on the National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan, went even further in repudiating the memo.
“If anyone is a master’s student in international relations and they haven’t heard of WikiLeaks and gone looking for the documents that relate to their area of study, then they don’t deserve to be a graduate student in international relations,” Sick told Wired.com in an interview.
Still, the school says it will pass on any official State Department WikiLeaks guidelines, if and when it gets them.
Over the weekend State Dept. spokesperson P.J. Crowley denied that there is a formal policy warning students against reading, linking or discussing the WikiLeaks cable online. SIPA’s original warning attributed the no-commenting on the released cables to an unnamed State Department alumnus.
Neither Coatsworth’s office nor a State Dept. spokesperson immediately returned requests for comment.
Despite the numerous stories that the leaked cables have inspired, the federal government is calling the leaks dangerous to national security and “illegal.” Following outrage from the government, both Amazon and PayPal suspended services to WikiLeaks in the past week, while federal government IT systems (including that of the Library of Congress) have started blocking access to the site.
The original Career Services warning provoked a spirited debate on and off campus about free speech and academic freedom.
In the interview, Sick said the Career Services warning was most likely a well-meaning attempt to remind students that what they post on social networking sites can affect their career prospects. But, he said, asking international affairs graduate students not to use the internet to discuss WikiLeaks is, well, “absurd.”
Not only is such a request likely to be ignored, but it sends the wrong message to students, according to Sick.
Sick has criticized the WikiLeaks release as an “ego trip for [WikiLeaks chief] Julius Assange,” and said that many of the cables pose a real risk to U.S. interests. But, he said, trying to prevent international relations students from reading or discussing them is naive at best.
“It doesn’t hurt to remind students that things they say in public can be documented and can affect their career prospects,” Sick said. “But The New York Times and Fox News are all reporting their interpretations of the WikiLeaks documents. Scholars and students always want to go to the source, not take someone else’s word for it.”
Telling students that they can’t read or discuss the primary documents is “absolutely contrary to any decent practice in international affairs or any other field of study,” Sick said.
And anyway, he said, “It’s too late. The barn door is wide open. The internet is full of this stuff and it’s not going to go away. They can only make it worse by trying to crack down on this and push it back down the rabbit hole.”
In a blog post over the weekend entitled, “Am I a Criminal?” Sick elaborated: “Note to the US government: We know this is bad for you. Don’t make it worse by criminalizing everyone who studies international politics.”
Full e-mail message from SIPA Dean John H. Coatsworth follows:December 6, 2010Original e-mail message from the Office of Career Services:
Dear SIPA Community,
Last Tuesday, SIPA’s Office of Career Services received a call from a former student currently employed by the U.S. Department of State who pointed out that the U.S. government documents released during the past few months through WikiLeaks are still considered classified. The caller suggested that students who will be applying for federal jobs that require background checks avoid posting links to these documents or making comments about them on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter.
OCS emailed this cautionary suggestion to students, as it has done many times with other information that could be helpful in seeking employment after graduation. We know that many students today share a great deal about their lives online and that employers may use that information when evaluating their candidacy. Subsequent news stories have indicated that the Department of State has issued guidelines for its own employees, but has not issued any guidelines for prospective employees.
Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution. Thus, SIPA’s position is that students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or to their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences. The WikiLeaks documents are accessible to SIPA students (and everyone else) from a wide variety of respected sources, as are multiple means of discussion and debate both in and outside of the classroom.
Should the U.S. Department of State issue any guidelines relating to the WikiLeaks documents for prospective employees, SIPA will make them available immediately.
Sincerely,
John H. Coatsworth
Dean
From: Office of Career Services
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Subject: Wikileaks – Advice from an alum
To: “Office of Career Services (OCS)”
Hi students,
We received a call today from a SIPA alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance.
The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.
Regards,
Office of Career Services
Sam Guslin @Threat Level'
WikiLeaks Mirrors (Updated)
JPBarlow RT @juliandibbell Be the cloud or be clouded, yall. "How to: Setting up a Wikileaks mirror." http://is.gd/ihvqehttp://wikileaks.ch/mirrors.html
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
