Thursday, 9 December 2010
Someone's lying
PayPal says it stopped Wikileaks payments on US letter
PJCrowley The U.S. government did not write to PayPal requesting any action regarding #WikiLeaks. Not true.
Wikileaks Cable Shows US Involvement in Swedish Anti-Piracy Efforts
It is no secret that the US Government has been actively involved in copyright enforcement in other countries, including Sweden. After the raid on The Pirate Bay’s servers in 2006, it became clear that the US had threatened to put Sweden on the WTO’s black list if they refused to deal with the Pirate Bay problem.
But that was not the end of the ‘collaboration’ between the US and Sweden on this front.
According to an unreleased US Embassy cable in possession of Swedish Television, the US pressure on Sweden to deal with file-sharing issues continued in the years that followed. In the cable, which dates back to 2008, the US Embassy presented a list of six items that they wanted to see addressed, all related to online copyright infringement.
A year later, five of these six items were indeed turned into action, including the appointment of more copyright police and prosecutors, backed up by educational anti-piracy campaigns. Of course, the Pirate Bay wasn’t left unmentioned in this cable either.
The cable writer mentions that it was hard for the Embassy to get openly involved in piracy related issues, because most of the press coverage was unfavorable towards the copyright industry.
“After the raid on The Pirate Bay on May 31, 2006, the issue of internet piracy was fiercely debated in Sweden. Press coverage was largely, and still is, unfavorable to the positions taken by the rights-holders and the United States Government,” the cable reads.
“The Pirate Bay raid was portrayed as the Government of Sweden caving in to United States Government pressure. This delicate situation made it difficult, if not counter-productive, for the Embassy to play a public role in IPR issues,” it adds.
In a response to the revelations, Minister of Justice Beatrice Ask denied that Sweden ever responded to pressure from the US Government. She hinted that the cable writer was making these remarks just to get a better payday.
Former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde was surprised about the leaked cable, although the fact that the US put pressure on the Swedish Government was not that new to him.
“We all knew for a long while that the US was behind the raid and pressured Sweden, but that they’re still doing it was news to us,” Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak. “And that the Minster of Justice just says that the cable writer is lying ‘to get a higher salary’ shows that she doesn’t even care if her government is corrupt.”
The cable in question has not been published by Wikileaks yet, but is expected to be released in the near future. This, and other cables, are likely to add more insight into the backroom deals related to file-sharing and copyright issues.
Ernesto @'Torrent Freak'
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Cage Against the Machine - '4.33' (Mr. Scruff Remix)
When I was asked to remix the re-recording of John Cage's '4.33', it was suggested that the remix be 4.33 of ambient noise from of my life at a given time. That, however, seemed to be more of a cover version that a remix. I received the request on Friday 26th November, whilst soundchecking for my DJ set at Leamington Assembly. I had already set up 2 ambient mics for recording the crowd noise at my gig, so I secretly recorded a short period of time just before the gig started, the 'calm before the storm' if you will, when the crew were running around, doing final checks & tidying up. That was my cover version. Then I sequenced & manipulated the bits of conversation, air conditioner hum, clonks, bangs, mumbles & other background noise to make this remix. Thanks to the featured 'musicians' from my tour crew & the venue!
For more info on the 'Cage Against The Machine' Xmas no.1 campaign, check the Facebook page.. http://www.facebook.com/cageagainstthemachine?v=wall#!/cageagainstthemachine?v=info
(Thanx ANCB!)
NaomiAKlein Defending #wikileaks is not the same as defending rape and anyone who can't see the difference is a complete moron.
How the rape claims against Julian Assange sparked an information war
Julian Assange in Stockholm in August 2010, before he was accused of rape. Photograph: Scanpix Sweden/Reuters
Since Julian Assange was first accused of sex crimes against two Swedish women in August, his defenders have asserted his innocence and dismissed the allegations as malicious, or trumped up, or part of a politically driven conspiracy.
To his powerful critics, however, the rape charges have become elided with what they consider his other crimes, including accusations of espionage, for which a number of US political figures have already called for his execution.
But if the WikiLeaks controversy has seemed ferocious in its intensity to date, the fact that Assange is tonight in custody as an accused rapist means that the political, technological and moral culture wars that have been skirmishing for months around the website have reached a new pitch of vitriol, in which conspiracy theories, slander and misogyny have become every bit as central to the debate as high-minded principles of justice or freedom of information.
Certainly there are some, not only in the Australian's legal team, who argue that a rape accusation based on the details of the allegations in the public domain – some of them placed there by the women themselves – would be highly unlikely to come to court in this country. Others counter, however, that even those who support Assange or the principle of free speech must let the law decide on serious criminal accusations.
Two women who say they are victims of serious sex crimes find themselves key players in a very ugly reputational slanging match. Named in court only as Miss A and Miss W, their identities have nonetheless been circulating widely online since very soon after the attacks. And with Assange's arrest, parts of the internet have declared open season on the two women, vowing to enlist an army of tech-savvy research assistants skilled in squirrelling out information that others might wish to keep hidden — described with ill-disguised glee today by one blogger as "the First World Infowar"...
Continue reading
Esther Addley @'The Guardian'
Anon_Operation http://www.mastercard.com/ is DOWN! #ddos #wikileaks Operation:Payback (is a bitch!) #PAYBACK
Briton dies in Australian immigration centre
A 29-year-old Briton died in an Australian immigration centre Wednesday, officials said, with refugee advocates claiming it was a suicide -- the third within as many months.
Immigration officials said the man, detained for a visa breach, was found not breathing in his high-security accommodation block in the western Sydney Villawood centre at 3:20 am and attempts to resuscitate him failed.
"Investigations into the circumstances of this incident are ongoing," an immigration spokesman told AFP.
Refugee activists said they had been told by fellow inmates that the man had taken his own life.
"This is the third death in three months at Villawood. The immigration department cannot explain this away," said Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition.
"Something must be done to break the vicious downward spiral that has developed at Villawood."
The immigration official refused to speculate on whether the death was a suicide, saying it was now a police and coroner's investigation and "it would be inappropriate to discuss the matter further."
"The department expresses its sympathy to the family of the deceased man and will fully cooperate with the coroner," he said, adding that counselling would be provided to detainees and staff.
Two other men have died in Villawood since September, with a Fijian national jumping from a roof to his death and an Iraqi reportedly hanging himself in a bathroom.
Tensions are running high in Australia's crowded immigration centres, with rooftop demonstrations, breakouts, hunger strikes and one group even sewing their lips together in protest after the Iraqi's death last month.
Rintoul said the latest death illustrated the problems with Australia's mandatory detention policy for boatpeople and other illegal immigrants.
After experiencing an influx of such arrivals in 2010, mostly from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, detention centres have been stretched to capacity for months.
"The government's addiction to such an authoritarian and punitive detention regime is literally costing people's lives," Rintoul said.
"How many more lives will it take before the government puts a stop to it?"
NaomiAKlein Few societies have defended their own ignorance as aggressively or as enthusiastically as ours. #Wikileaks #Assange
And...?
Crowd gathers at Assange's son's house
somnideaJournalists showing off their utter incompetence again. http://bit.ly/eP3lfy I graduated and moved out years ago, guys. -.-
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!
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