WikiLeaks US Embassy Cables:
http://213.251.145.96/cablegate.html
Last Updated: 06/01/11 :: 12:09
"It is our normal business to publish banks--information about banks--and we have been attacked, primarily not by government, but in fact by banks. Banks from Dubai, banks from Switzerland, banks from the United States, [and] banks from the U.K." - Julian Assange
Julian Assange's Deal With the Devil
Date: January 5th, 2011
The main job of a newspaper or news website is to process raw data and transmit it to a reader. This work requires an experienced and highly qualified staff. Not every newspaper or website has such resources, and none of the independent sites can compete with the mainstream outlets for readership. That is why Julian Assange chose to partner with a few important Western liberal newspapers of the mainstream media.In the case of Belarus, the Guardian published three cables the day before elections in order to maximize the exposure and to influence the results of the election. One of the headlines, published on December 18, 2010 said: “WikiLeaks: Lukashenka’s [sic] fortune estimated at 9 billion USD”. It was a very misleading headline. Wikileaks made no claims about Lukashenko’s wealth. Read the entire article, and you will find that it was nothing more than a US embassy employee who had heard a rumor and transmitted it to the State Department. Only in the second to last sentence of the article do they mention that the cable admits: “the embassy employee couldn’t verify the sources [sic!] or accuracy of the information”.
Thus the Guardian made use of Wikileaks in order to influence Belarus voters and Western audiences, and prepare them for an Election Day riot.
Recent Updates:
- One-on-one with Wikileaks' Assange
- "WikiLeaks' Assange says he'll release bank information in Jan." and "Bank of America says it won't process payments intended for WikiLeaks"
- WikiLeaks' Assange freed on bail
Julian Assange is whistling your national anthem.
January :: [5]
December :: [23] [17] [16] [15] [10] [9] [8] [7] [6] [4] [3] [2] [1]
November :: [30] [29] [28]
Julian Assange's Deal With the Devil
Date: January 5th, 2011
The main job of a newspaper or news website is to process raw data and transmit it to a reader. This work requires an experienced and highly qualified staff. Not every newspaper or website has such resources, and none of the independent sites can compete with the mainstream outlets for readership. That is why Julian Assange chose to partner with a few important Western liberal newspapers of the mainstream media.In the case of Belarus, the Guardian published three cables the day before elections in order to maximize the exposure and to influence the results of the election. One of the headlines, published on December 18, 2010 said: “WikiLeaks: Lukashenka’s [sic] fortune estimated at 9 billion USD”. It was a very misleading headline. Wikileaks made no claims about Lukashenko’s wealth. Read the entire article, and you will find that it was nothing more than a US embassy employee who had heard a rumor and transmitted it to the State Department. Only in the second to last sentence of the article do they mention that the cable admits: “the embassy employee couldn’t verify the sources [sic!] or accuracy of the information”.
Thus the Guardian made use of Wikileaks in order to influence Belarus voters and Western audiences, and prepare them for an Election Day riot.
Source: Counterpunch
One-on-one with Wikileaks' Assange
Date: December 23rd, 2010
Source: MSNBC
"WikiLeaks' Assange says he'll release bank information in Jan." and "Bank of America says it won't process payments intended for WikiLeaks"
Date: December 17th, 2010
Assange also said Friday that his organization "has been attacked" by banks in the United States, United Kingdom, Dubai and Switzerland. It was unclear what type of alleged attacks he was referring to.Keep an eye on how Bank of America's stock performs today. The last time Assange spoke of his plans to release information about a financial institution, Bank of America's stock dropped more than three percent.
"Bank of America joins in the actions previously announced by MasterCard, PayPal, Visa Europe and others and will not process transactions of any type that we have reason to believe are intended for WikiLeaks," the bank said in a statement.
"This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments."
Source: The Washington Post and The Kansas City Star
"WikiLeaks' Assange freed on bail"
Date: December 16th, 2010
Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblower website WikiLeaks, has been freed after spending nine days in solitary confinement in a London jail over a request from Sweden for his extradition.Assange was released late on Thursday after a senior British judge ruled that he can be released on conditional bail following a week of legal drama.
For those who missed the preceeding press conference, you can watch it here:
Source: Al Jazeera and Sky News
"Opinion: TIME picks 'wrong person' this year"
Date: December 16th, 2010
There are also, of course, financial considerations. Backlash over TIME’s choice of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 allegedly resulted in thousands of subscription cancellations.More than two-thirds of the American public believe that Assange should face criminal charges, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll; had TIME gone with the controversial figure anyway, they might have risked losing subscribers once again.
The biggest question of all in regard to TIME's choice, however, is also the most benign: "why now?" Facebook hit its peak in 2008, when it became the world’s most popular social network.
Source: Al Jazeera
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention"
Date: December 15th, 2010
In sum, Manning has been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America's Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado: all without so much as having been convicted of anything. And as is true of many prisoners subjected to warped treatment of this sort, the brig's medical personnel now administer regular doses of anti-depressants to Manning to prevent his brain from snapping from the effects of this isolation.Source: Salon.com
"After 12 days of WikiLeaks cables, the world looks on US with new eyes"
Date: December 10th, 2010
Pakistani conspiracy theorists insisted the cables had been deliberately leaked as part of a Washington plot to discredit the Muslim world; the Saudi ambassador described them as "a rapist's propaganda".Source: The GuardianBut for most Pakistanis, the cables simply confirmed how much influence the US wields over their military and civilian leaders. Several headlines referred to the "WikiLeaks shame"; former diplomat Asif Ezdi said they proved Pakistan had become "the world's biggest banana republic".
Anonymous continues bombarding anti-WikiLeaks sites and focuses their attention on more productive measures.
Date: December 10th, 2010
Information spreads when one blinks as Anonymous remains one step ahead of anti-WikiLeaks groups by issuing a new operation called "Leakspin":In addition, for those of you who think they know everything surrounding WikiLeaks, let us remind you of one, of countless, videos that have appeared pre-November 28th:http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad356/greenTYPEWRITERSarchive/leakspin.jpg
Julian Assange Extradition Faces Hurdles
Date: December 9th, 2010
Britain and the United States signed a fast-track extradition treaty in 2003, a pact aimed at ensuring that terrorists and money launderers could more easily be taken from one country to stand trial in another. Karen Todner, a lawyer who has been involved in several high-profile extradition cases, said from a U.S. prosecutors' point of view, Britain would be the best place in Europe to seek a suspect.Source: The Huffington PostSweden has a long history of neutrality and its press freedom laws were recently rated as the best in the world, according to Reporters Without Borders. Extraditing Assange for what many in the Nordic country consider an act of journalism would be tricky.
Russian and China 'suggest' that Julian Assange should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Date: December 9th, 2010
"Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him," the source from inside president Dmitry Medvedev's office told Russian news agencies. Speaking in Brussels, where Medvedev was attending a Russia-EU summit yesterday, the source went on: "Maybe, nominate him as a Nobel Prize laureate."Sources: The Guardian and China Media ProjectIt was an editorial in Beijing Daily, the official Party mouthpiece of the Beijing city leadership, criticizing the Nobel Peace Prize as a “tool of Western values and ideology,” and snidely suggesting that this year’s prize be given instead to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
"Operation Payback cripples MasterCard site in revenge for WikiLeaks ban"
Date: December 8th, 2010
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.Sources: The Guardian and SecureTradingThe site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
But one payment service company told the BBC its customers were experiencing "a complete loss of service" on MasterCard SecureCode. The credit card company later confirmed that loss [i.e. all online money transfers]. MasterCard SecureCode is currently down. This means that all MasterCard and Maestro transactions cannot be processed via 3-D Secure. This is affecting all payment service providers and is not SecureTrading specific.
DataCell, a small Icelandic company that facilitates transfers made by credit cards including Visa and MasterCard, says it will take up "immediate legal actions" and warned that the powerful "duopoly" of Visa and MasterCard could spell "the end of the credit card business worldwide".
"WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops"
Date: December 7th, 2010
Many of DynCorp's employees are ex-Green Berets and veterans of other elite units, and the company was commissioned by the US government to provide training for the Afghani police. According to most reports, over 95 percent of its $2 billion annual revenue comes from US taxpayers.Source: Houston PressThe State Department has called bacha bazi a "widespread, culturally accepted form of male rape." (While it may be culturally accepted, it violates both Sharia law and Afghan civil code.)
As we mentioned, this isn't DynCorp's first brush with the sex-slavery game. Back in Bosnia in 1999, US policewoman Kathryn Bolkovac was fired from DynCorp after blowing the whistle on a sex-slave ring operating on one of our bases there. DynCorp's employees were accused of raping and peddling girls as young as 12 from countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. The company was forced to settle lawsuits against Bolkovac (whose story was recently told in the feature film The Whistleblower) and another man who informed authorities about DynCorp's sex ring.
"Wikileaks founder Julian Assange refused bail"
Date: December 7th, 2010
Prosecutors in Sweden have insisted the extradition request is a matter of criminal law and they "have not been put under any kind of pressure, political or otherwise".Source: BBC NewsUS State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said it was possible the US would make an extradition request for Mr Assange but he said it was premature as the criminal investigation into Wikileaks was still ongoing.
"Lockerbie bomber freed after Gaddafi's 'thuggish' threats"
Date: December 7th, 2010
The cables reveal how the Scottish Nationalist first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, was edged into taking the political heat for releasing Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with cancer in September 2008. The message US diplomats received from Jack Straw, then justice minister, was that although Megrahi might survive up to five years, Labour's rivals in Scotland – Salmond and his SNP – were nonetheless inclined to release him.Source: The GuardianThey also show that the former UK government were playing false on the issue, with a different public position from their private one - which must be deeply embarrassing for the Labour Party in Scotland - and that the US government was fully aware of the pressure being applied to the UK government."
"`The truth will always win’ - Julian Assange writes"
Date: December 7th, 2010
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?Source: The AustralianEvery 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?
"Wikileaks defended by Anonymous hacktivists"
Date: December 7th, 2010
So far the denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which swamp a site with so many requests that it becomes overwhelmed, have failed to take any sites offline although that is not the point of the attack, according to Coldblood.Source: BBC News"The idea is not to wipe them off but to give the companies a wake-up call," he said. "Companies will notice the increase in traffic and an increase in traffic means increase in costs associated with running a website."
http://twitter.com/Anon_Operation
"Julian Assange's Swiss bank account closed"
Date: December 6th, 2010
The international pressure on Julian Assange increased today after the banking arm of the Swiss post office announced that it had closed the WikiLeaks founder's account because he had given "false information... regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."Source: The Guardian
"World Cartoons about WikiLeaks"
Date: December 6th, 2010
Source: Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Blog
"Columbia University Reverses Anti-WikiLeaks Guidance"
Date: December 6th, 2010
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.Source: Wired.com“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,” SIPA Professor Gary Sick told Wired.com in an interview.
"State Department To Columbia University Students: DO NOT Discuss WikiLeaks On Facebook, Twitter"
Date: December 4th, 2010
Talking about WikiLeaks on Facebook or Twitter could endanger your job prospects, a State Department official warned students at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs this week.Source: The Huffington PostWhile the massive disclosure of once-classified documents detailing some of the nation's most tightly-guarded secrets has inflamed allies and enemies alike, the move by the State Department represents a new front in the administration's camapaign against unauthorized leaks.
"WikiLeaks cables are dispatches from a beleaguered America in imperial retreat"
Date: December 4th, 2010
But, between the lines, the leaks are telling a bigger, more ominous story. These are exclusively state department documents – not the thoughts of other American power centres with an interest in foreign policy. And these diplomats' reports reveal how far their department has lost prestige and influence. It's a far cry from the days when foreign service giants like Averell Harriman or George Kennan, in the Moscow embassy or in Washington, could issue judgments which would sway a president. Now, though, other agencies – hairier and more shadowy – take it as read that they can require state department officers to carry out their leg work. It's enough to look at the instructions, pretty clearly from the CIA, for US diplomats to spy on their colleagues at the United Nations and even on the secretary-general's office.Source: The Guardian
"PayPal Announces It Will No Longer Handle Wikileaks Donations"
Date: December 4th, 2010
PayPal's announcement will certainly result in a loss of donation dollars for Wikileaks. But it also marks an important symbolic loss for the organization as well, as it represents yet another major private tech company that has closed its doors to Wikileaks. In addition to those who've refused to provide Wikileaks with hosting and financial services, the visualization company Tableau Software also expunged all Wikileaks content from its site.Source: ReadWriteWeb
"WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord"
Date: December 3rd, 2010
The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid is used by countries to gain political backing; how distrust, broken promises and creative accounting dog negotiations; and how the US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial "Copenhagen accord", the unofficial document that emerged from the ruins of the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009.Source: The Guardian
"WikiLeaks cables visualisation pulled after pressure from Joe Lieberman"
Date: December 3rd, 2010
Lieberman, an independent senator who was re-elected in 2006 but is seen as close to the Democrats, persuaded Amazon to stop hosting the Wikileaks site on Wednesday. He said then that "[Amazon's] decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material. I call on any other company or organisation that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them."Source: The Guardian
"Britain conspired with US over Iraq war"
Date: December 2nd, 2010
Britain's government gave secret assurances to Washington it would limit the scope of an inquiry into the Iraq war to protect US interests, according to diplomatic messages leaked by a whistle-blowing website.Source: Stuff.co.nz
TRANSCRIPT: Larry King Live Interview with Vladimir Putin
Date: December 1st, 2010
“I believe in human beings. I believe in his good intentions. I believe in the fact that all of us have come to this would to do good. And if we do so, and if we do so together, then success is awaiting for us. And both with regards to our relations as people to people, or inter-state relations. And most important, we will achieve the ultimate goal, comfort in our own heart.”Source: CNN.com
- Vladimir Putin
"US embassy cables culprit should be executed, says Mike Huckabee"
Date: December 1st, 2010
"Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason, and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty."Source: The Guardian
- U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee
"Dissatisfaction with Assange: Former WikiLeaks Activists to Launch New Whistleblowing Site"
Date: December 1st, 2010
A group of former members of WikiLeaks is planning to launch its own whistleblowing platform in mid-December, according to a German newspaper. The activists criticize WikiLeaks for concentrating too much on the US and want to take a broader approach.Source: SPIEGEL Online
"TIME's Julian Assange Interview: Full Transcript/Audio"
Date: December 1st, 2010
"The Chinese case is quite interesting. Aspects of the Chinese government, Chinese Public Security Service, appear to be terrified of free speech, and while one might say that means something awful is happening in the country, I actually think that is a very optimistic sign, because it means that speech can still cause reform and that the power structure is still inherently political, as opposed to fiscal."Source: TIME Magazine
- Julian Assange
"Alexander Litvinenko murder 'probably had Putin's OK'"
Date: December 1st, 2010
The cables released by WikiLeaks, however, provide further clues that suggest the Russians deliberately obstructed the Litvinenko investigation. A file from the US consulate in Hamburg reports how Dmitry Kovtun left "positive traces" of radioactive polonium-210 in Germany before departing for Britain.Source: The Guardian
"Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'"
Date: November 30th, 2010
Further evidence of China's increasing dismay with Pyongyang comes in a cable in June 2009 from the US ambassador to Kazakhstan, Richard Hoagland. He reported that his Chinese counterpart, Cheng Guoping was "genuinely concerned by North Korea's recent nuclear missile tests. 'We need to solve this problem. It is very troublesome,' he said, calling Korea's nuclear activity a 'threat to the whole world's security'."Source: The Guardian
"Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; 'To destroy this invisible government'"
Date: November 29th, 2010
"To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us, and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not. Firstly we must understand what aspect of government or neocorporatist behavior we wish to change or remove. Secondly we must develop a way of thinking about this behavior that is strong enough carry us through the mire of politically distorted language, and into a position of clarity. Finally must use these insights to inspire within us and others a course of ennobling, and effective action."Source: zunguzungu
- Julian Assange
"US diplomats spied on UN leadership"
Date: November 28th, 2010
A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton's name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.Source: The GuardianIt called for detailed biometric information "on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders" as well as intelligence on Ban's "management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat". A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi said biometric data included DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.
