Obama welcomes Tunisians’ courage and dignity - but what about the WikiLeaks contribution?
By Nigel Horne LAST UPDATED 11:24 AM, JANUARY 15, 2011
Have we just witnessed the first WikiLeaks-inspired revolution? It is clear that leaked cables from the US Ambassador in Tunis, describing the opulent lifestyle of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's family and the public loathing for his wife, Leila Trabelsi, played an important role in firing up the nation's disaffected youth.
Spreading the word via Twitter and Facebook, young Tunisians felt encouraged in their protests by the fact that the corruption inside the presidential palace at Carthage, and throughout Ben Ali's extended family, was now common knowledge.
As the New York Times reported from Tunis yesterday, the WikiLeaks cables added "grist" to the protesters' complaints.
Full Story Here
Saturday, January 15, 2011
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fights back- CNN News Report: Video
Julian Assange expresses disappointment in the Pentagon's handling of the Afghanistan war documents leak.
Exclusive Julian Assange Interview With Cenk Uygur (12/22/10): Video
Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on MSNBC.
Julian Assange on the Afghanistan war logs - They show the true nature of this war
Here is a video of Julian Assange talking about Afghanistan.
The War on WikiLeaks : Pilger's investigation and interview with Julian Assange
by John Pilger, January 15, 2011
The attacks on WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, are a response to an information revolution that threatens old power orders, in politics and journalism. The incitement to murder trumpeted by public figures in the United States, together with attempts by the Obama administration to corrupt the law and send Assange to a hell hole prison for the rest of his life, are the reactions of a rapacious system exposed as never before.
In recent weeks, the US Justice Department has established a secret grand jury just across the river from Washington in the eastern district of the state of Virginia. The object is to indict Julian Assange under a discredited espionage act used to arrest peace activists during the first world war, or one of the "war on terror" conspiracy statutes that have degraded American justice. Judicial experts describe the jury as a "deliberate set up," pointing out that this corner of Virginia is home to the employees and families of the Pentagon, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, and other pillars of American power.
"This is not good news," Assange told me when we spoke this past week, his voice dark and concerned. He says he can have "bad days – but I recover."
The attacks on WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, are a response to an information revolution that threatens old power orders, in politics and journalism. The incitement to murder trumpeted by public figures in the United States, together with attempts by the Obama administration to corrupt the law and send Assange to a hell hole prison for the rest of his life, are the reactions of a rapacious system exposed as never before.
In recent weeks, the US Justice Department has established a secret grand jury just across the river from Washington in the eastern district of the state of Virginia. The object is to indict Julian Assange under a discredited espionage act used to arrest peace activists during the first world war, or one of the "war on terror" conspiracy statutes that have degraded American justice. Judicial experts describe the jury as a "deliberate set up," pointing out that this corner of Virginia is home to the employees and families of the Pentagon, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, and other pillars of American power.
"This is not good news," Assange told me when we spoke this past week, his voice dark and concerned. He says he can have "bad days – but I recover."
Chairman King: Treasury should 'explain' itself on WikiLeaks
By Sara Jerome - 01/14/11 03:21 PM ET
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) called on the Treasury Department on Friday to explain why it will not place sanctions on WikiLeaks, barring U.S. corporations from doing business with the organization and its founder.
The comments come after the Treasury Department said it currently lacks the evidence necessary to take that action. In response, King listed what he saw as harms caused by WikiLeaks.
Full Story Here
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) called on the Treasury Department on Friday to explain why it will not place sanctions on WikiLeaks, barring U.S. corporations from doing business with the organization and its founder.
The comments come after the Treasury Department said it currently lacks the evidence necessary to take that action. In response, King listed what he saw as harms caused by WikiLeaks.
Full Story Here
Treasury Department refuses to add WikiLeaks to blacklist
by Jason Smith
With WikiLeaks publishing even more secret US cables, US Rep Peter King of New York may have had his hopes dashed when the Treasury Department refused to blacklist it.
Through the entire WikiLeaks saga, it seems to some that the non-profit has been one step ahead of governments. Assange, while detained, is out on bail through generous donations, he already has a book offer, Sweden has thus failed to extradite him, and the US government is scrambling come up with something, in fact anything, on which to charge him. In addition, WikiLeaks hasn't stopped what it seems to do best, publish.
Full Story Here
With WikiLeaks publishing even more secret US cables, US Rep Peter King of New York may have had his hopes dashed when the Treasury Department refused to blacklist it.
Through the entire WikiLeaks saga, it seems to some that the non-profit has been one step ahead of governments. Assange, while detained, is out on bail through generous donations, he already has a book offer, Sweden has thus failed to extradite him, and the US government is scrambling come up with something, in fact anything, on which to charge him. In addition, WikiLeaks hasn't stopped what it seems to do best, publish.
Full Story Here
Friday, January 14, 2011
Trailer Park Resident Sues WikiLeaks, Julian Assange for $150M in Miami Court
By Kyle Munzenrieder, Fri., Jan. 14 2011 @ 4:54PM
Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are currently knees deep in a heap of legal concerns. And their latest, and most ridiculous, comes from a Florida man named David Pitchford who has sued the organization and it's figurehead for emotional distress. Pitchford, who lists a Key West trailer park as his address but also claims to be a resident of Miami, is seeking $150 million in damages and claims he is now in a constant state of fear over the possibility of "nucliar war" [sic] because of Assange's actions.
Full Story Here
Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are currently knees deep in a heap of legal concerns. And their latest, and most ridiculous, comes from a Florida man named David Pitchford who has sued the organization and it's figurehead for emotional distress. Pitchford, who lists a Key West trailer park as his address but also claims to be a resident of Miami, is seeking $150 million in damages and claims he is now in a constant state of fear over the possibility of "nucliar war" [sic] because of Assange's actions.
Full Story Here
For lonely teenager Assange, a computer was his only friend
Adrian Lowe January 15, 2011
''HE WOULD be bullied and the only real saviour in life … was this computer. His mother, in fact, encouraged him to use the computer and at some stage she realised that it had become an addictive instrument to him at a very early age.''
A 1996 court case in Melbourne - details of which were released for the first time yesterday - reveal the beginnings of Julian Assange's fascination with the power of computers.
Now 39, the WikiLeaks co-founder is one the world's unlikeliest celebrities, after taking on the US government by releasing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables.
Advertisement: Story continues below
He is now in London awaiting extradition proceedings to Sweden to answer rape charges.
Full Story Here
''HE WOULD be bullied and the only real saviour in life … was this computer. His mother, in fact, encouraged him to use the computer and at some stage she realised that it had become an addictive instrument to him at a very early age.''
A 1996 court case in Melbourne - details of which were released for the first time yesterday - reveal the beginnings of Julian Assange's fascination with the power of computers.
Now 39, the WikiLeaks co-founder is one the world's unlikeliest celebrities, after taking on the US government by releasing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables.
Advertisement: Story continues below
He is now in London awaiting extradition proceedings to Sweden to answer rape charges.
Full Story Here
Twitter, Wikileaks and the Broken Market for Consumer Privacy
By Barton Gellman on January 14, 2011
Federal prosecutors want to indict Julian Assange for making public a great many classified documents. In December the feds obtained a secret order instructing Twitter to hand over private account contents for Assange and four Wikileaks associates, including network addresses, connection logs, credit card information and identities of everyone they talked to. The order forbade Twitter to notify those affected, among them Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of Iceland's parliament.
Full Story Here
Federal prosecutors want to indict Julian Assange for making public a great many classified documents. In December the feds obtained a secret order instructing Twitter to hand over private account contents for Assange and four Wikileaks associates, including network addresses, connection logs, credit card information and identities of everyone they talked to. The order forbade Twitter to notify those affected, among them Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of Iceland's parliament.
Full Story Here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)