2011-09-06 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a daily news update of stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

>> Updates on WikiLeaks news from #wlfind twitter hashtag (as curated by @wikileaks):

* Absolutely extraordinary cable on Indian extrajudicial assassinations 'encounter killings'.

* Georgia expresses concern over 2010 increase in Russian arms shipments to Armenia.

* WikiLeaks Cable Shows US Embassy Believed Jakarta Election Was ‘Rigged’.

* Tantawi sucking up to centcom in 2006, said "simple" Egyptians don't understand benefits of US-Egypt relationship.

10:35 PM Muammar Gaddafi was a key financier of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing and offered support to terrorist groups world wide.
Excerpt of a U.S. diplomatic cable from 1991:

"On rare occasions the Libyans have used couriers to deliver money to terrorist organizations; the transfer usually occurs in a third country"

"Trainees from Asia, Latin America, and Africa often go to Libya legally, usually pretending to be students. Sometimes, third world nationals travel to Libya for what they believe to be legitimate schooling, such as technical or religious training," it added. "When they arrive, however, they find themselves met at the airport by soldiers, placed on a truck, and transported to a terrorist/dissident training camp."

09:50 PM Documents released by WikiLeaks regarding U.S. pressure over Canada’s copyright law paint an alarming picture, according to a statement issued by the NDP.

09:25 PM Kenya trained Somalia fighters:
"Kenya Army was involved in training Kenyans of Somali origin in efforts to topple al-Shabaab from Gedo and the lower and middle Juba region. The United States cables released by whistle blower website, Wikileaks, say the recruitment of up to 4,000 soldiers took place in 2009. (…)" via The Standard

09:15 PM Bollywood funded by gangsters, politicians.

07:15 PM Julian Assange spoke this morning at Medienwoche@IFA in Berlin, via satellite. He commented on The Guardian’s role in the events that lead to the accidental release of the full unredacted Cablegate archive, and defended the publication of the unredacted documents by WikiLeaks after they were already circulating online.

"Let us look at this case properly, he said, - the Guardian newspaper revealed the entire encryption password including that component they were instructed never to write about, and did so in breach of their contract"

In an interview for the New Scientist, Julian elaborated on WikiLeaks’ motives to publish the unredacted cables:

"The reason being that a race commenced between the governments who need to be reformed and the people who can reform them using the material," says Assange.

"Additionally, for harm minimisation, there are people who need to know that they are mentioned in the material before intelligence agencies know they are mentioned – or at least as soon after as possible.

"By the time we published the cables, the material was already on dozens of websites, including Cryptome, and were being tweeted everywhere. And even a searchable public interface had been put up on one of them."

Another motive for publishing the tranche, Assange claims, was the provision of a reliable source for the leaks. In the field of leak publishing, he says. WikiLeaks has become a trusted brand. Although versions of the cable tranche were appearing online, "there was not an authorised version of the cables that the public could rely on".

"By 'authorised' I mean a version that is known to be true – it doesn't have another agenda. The unauthorised versions that were being tweeted everywhere – although as far as we can determine they were accurate, the public and journalists couldn't know they were accurate."

A video of the Medienwoche event is can be viewed on this page, and live updates on twitter were compiled into a chirpstory.

05:05 PM Chief Minister Mayawati accuses ‘the WikiLeaks owner’ of having gone ‘mad’ following the release of a diplomatic cable a detailing her eccentricities (which include sending a empty jet to Mumbai to get a pair of sandals) and corruption.
Julian Assange responded with a statement…

04:00 PM Raw notes on Ghana’s leaked U.S. Embassy cables.