Coverage in January 2010:
The Executive Director for the Rosenberg Children's Fund and long time activist, Robert Meeropol, made a statement last week urging support and defense of Julian Assange in anticipation of the use of the US Espionage Act against him. Meeropol's own experiences with the Espionage Act have led him to extend particular criticisms of its use in a constitutional context. It is with this in mind that he voices support for Julian Assange.
I view the Espionage Act of 1917 as a lifelong nemesis. My parents were charged, tried and ultimately executed after being indicted for Conspiracy to Commit Espionage under that act.
The 1917 Act has a notorious history. It originally served to squelch opposition to World War I. It criminalized criticism of the war effort, and sent hundreds of dissenters to jail just for voicing their opinions. It transformed dissent into treason.
Many who attacked the law noted that the framers of the Constitution had specifically limited what constituted treason by writing it into the Constituton: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort” (Article III, section 3). The framers felt this narrow definition was necessary to prevent treason from becoming what some called “the weapon of a political faction.” Furthermore, in their discussions at the Constitutional Convention they agreed that spoken opposition was protected by the First Amendment and could never be considered treason.
Wikileaks is named the top newsmaker of 2010 by Al Jazeera and senior editors at Postmedia Network newspapers and canada.com.
“Assange’s organization indisputably demonstrated the emerging power of social media, while illustrating the risks governments run when they say one thing in private and another in public,” said Marlon Marshall, managing editor of the Regina Leader-Post.
“This was a game-changer in terms of citizen journalism, as well as marking a shift in the balance of power between government, big business and the collective citizenry via social media,” agreed Patricia Graham, editor-in-chief of the Vancouver Sun.
In a recent BBC interview Julian Assange stated: "People affiliated with our organization have already been assassinated." This was not pursued by the BBC interviewer, but apparently caused consternation among other members of the media who had not heard this story. So here it is for reference.
Wikileaks writers killed in Kenya
On Thursday afternoon March 5, Oscar Kamau Kingara, director of the Kenyan based Oscar legal aid Foundation, and its programme coordinator, John Paul Oulo, were shot at close range in their car less than a mile from President Kibaki's residence. The two were on their way to a meeting at the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights.
Both had been investigating extrajudicial assassinations by the Kenyan Police. Part of their work forms the basis of the "Cry of Blood" report Wikileaks released on November 1 last year and subsequent followups, including the UN indictment last month. ...
Two men got out, approached the vehicle of Oscar Kamau Kingara and John Paul Oulu, and shot them through the windows at close range. According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the minibus was in police uniform whilst the other men were wearing suits. The closest eyewitness to the incident was shot in the leg and later taken away by policemen.
The Guardian: Morgan Tsvangirai faces possible Zimbabwe treason charge
"Lawyers to examine PM's comments on sanctions after WikiLeaks reveals talks with US diplomats. Zimbabwe is to investigate bringing treason charges against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other individuals over confidential talks with US diplomats revealed by WikiLeaks."
The Guardian: WikiLeaks: rule of law in Mikhail Khodorkovsky trial merely 'gloss'
"US dismisses Russian efforts to show due process in tycoon's trial, whose verdict is due today, as 'lipstick on a political pig'.
The trial of Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky shows the Kremlin preserves a "cynical system where political enemies are eliminated with impunity", US diplomats say in classified cables released by WikiLeaks today." [Though this information has been already released by El País: 26-12-2010]
El País: EE UU usa el arresto de un marine de la VI Flota para tildar de racista a la policía (The United States used the case of an arrested marine to argue that the police in Spain are racist)
"Washington alertó el pasado verano a sus ciudadanos del riesgo que corrían los turistas afroamericanos que viajaran a España. (Last summer, Washington warned its citizens about the alleged risk for African-American tourists traveling to Spain.)"
El País: Siria alentó el ataque a las embajadas por las caricaturas de Mahoma (Syria cheered the attack against the embassies do to the Muhammad cartoons)
"El primer ministro dio instrucciones al gran muftí para que los imanes caldearan las protestas. El régimen usó los disturbios para legitimarse. (The Prime Minister gave instructions to the Great Mufti to encourage the protests through the Imams. The regime utilized the disturbances to publicize itself.)"
El País: "Piñera maneja la política y sus negocios al límite de la ética y la ley" ("Piñera leads politics and business on the ethical and legal edge")
"La Embajada de EE UU en Santiago siguió con recelo la carrera del actual presidente de Chile antes de la campaña que le llevaría al poder en 2010. (The American Embassy in Santiago followed with mistrust the current Chilean President's road to the campaign that gave him the power in 2010.)"
The Sydney Morning Herald: Australian police help build secret hit lists
"Australian police in Afghanistan have helped compile secret intelligence files on insurgent leaders later targeted in capture-or-kill missions by special forces soldiers.
The Pentagon has confirmed that Australian Federal Police officers are ''assigned to work with'' a joint police task force in Kabul that produces files used by military commanders to "shape the battlefield" - a term often used to describe the capture-or-kill raids mounted by elite troops in Afghanistan."
El País: China garantizó su apoyo a EE UU en lo peor de la crisis financiera (China announced its support to the United States during the worst part of the financial crisis)
"Pekín sugirió que seguiría comprando deuda pública estadounidense tras la quiebra de Lehman Brothers para no recrudecer la crisis. Amenazó a Washington con cambiar su política de adquisición de bonos por una operación de venta de armas a Taiwán. (Beijing suggested that it will keep buying American public debt after Lehman Brothers bankruptcy to not make the crisis worse. Though it threatened Washington with changing that policy due to an American weapons deal with Taiwan.)"
El País: Washington destapó el ataque israelí a Siria tras ocultarlo siete meses (Washington unveiled the Israeli attack against Siria after covering it for seven months)
"EE UU solo informó a sus aliados del bombardeo de una planta atómica secreta en el desierto sirio para impulsar la investigación nuclear de Naciones Unidas. (The United States informed only to its allies about an Israeli bombing of a secret nuclear facility in the Syrian desert in order to push nuclear investigations in the UN forward.)"
El País: EE UU ve el juicio contra Jodorkovski como una farsa (The United States sees the trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky as a charade)
"La Embajada en Moscú considera que el antiguo magnate del petróleo ruso es una víctima del régimen de Putin. (The American Embassy in Moscow believes the former russian oil magnate is a victim of Putin's regime.)"
The New York Times: Cables Portray Expanded Reach of Drug Agency
"The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables."
El País: Dubái reveló la pista israelí en la muerte de un líder de Hamás por temor a represalias (Due to feared sanctions, Dubai revealed the Israeli track on the death of famous Hamas leader)
"El emirato quiso evitar que los radicales lo considerasen cómplice del Mosad. (The Emirate wanted to prevent the radicals from thinking Dubai was working with Mossad.)"
El País: El Gobierno pidió ayuda a la CIA para paralizar la construcción de una fábrica española de ácido nítrico en Libia (The Spanish government asked for help to the CIA to prevent a Spanish factory of Nitric Acid from working in Libia)
"Técnicas Reunidas nunca logró hacer la planta por la sospecha de que la factoría sirviese para elaborar combustible para misiles Scud. ("United Techniques" never achieved its facilities in Libia due to the suspicion of producing fuel for Scud missiles.)"
El País: La Agencia Antidroga de EE UU pone el punto de mira en África Occidental (The American Drug Enforcement Administration focuses on West Africa)
"La DEA alerta de que la región ha caído en manos de los narcotraficantes sudamericanos. Los carteles usan esos países como escala en la ruta internacional de la cocaína. (The DEA warns about the region, allegedly on the ands of South American drugdealers. The cartels use these countries as part of the international route of cocaine.)"
El País: El presidente de Panamá pidió a la DEA escuchas telefónicas (The President of Panama asked the DEA to wiretap [other politicians])
"La agencia respondió que no espiaba a "objetivos políticos". (The Administration answered that they do not spy on "political targets".)"
According to a Los Angeles Times article on Dec 22, the CIA launched the new task force to study the WikiLeaks revelations, called WTF or the WikiLeaks Task Force. This comes at a time when rumors have begun recirculating in some circles speculating that WikiLeaks is a CIA front or at least an unwitting tool of US interests.
Glenn Greenwald has assembled a graphic collection of headlines from around the world that dramatize how much WikiLeaks has revealed since April 2010, and counters claims either that there was "nothing new" in the documents or that they have done "grave harm" to U.S. national security.
As a coda to the succession of headlines, Greenwald writes:
Those are the truths that led WikiLeaks -- and whomever the leaker(s) is -- to sacrifice their own interests in order to disclose to the world.
The Guardian reports on Julian Assange's views on a prospective extradition request from the USA while he is in the UK in an ongoing Swedish extradition process.
Julian Assange said today that it would be "politically impossible" for Britain to extradite him to the United States, and that the final word on his fate if he were charged with espionage would rest with David Cameron.
In an interview with the Guardian in Ellingham Hall, the Norfolk country mansion where he is living under virtual house arrest, the founder of WikiLeaks said it would be difficult for the prime minister to hand him over to the Americans if there was strong support for him from the British people.
"It's all a matter of politics. We can presume there will be an attempt to influence UK political opinion, and to influence the perception of our standing as a moral actor," he said.
El País: Industria crea un concurso a medida de una firma solar de California a petición de EE UU (The Secretary of Industry created a contest to suit the profile of a Californian solar company after asked to do so by the United States)
"El embajador reclamó a Sebastián en enero que la empresa Solar Reserve entrara en el cupo termosolar siete meses fuera de plazo, según un cable. En noviembre el Gobierno convocó un concurso diseñado para la compañía, que proyecta una central en Ciudad Real. (The American ambassador demanded in January to the judge Miguel Sebastián to accept the company Solar Reserve in the termosolar competition seven months after the contest was due, according with the cable. Designed to suit such company, the contest started by the government in November and projects new facilities in Ciudad Real.)"
El País: El Gobierno asegura que Pumpido intentó abrir una vía judicial para la familia Couso en EE UU (The Spanish government affirms that Pumpido tried to open a judicial case against the Couso family in the United States)
"Rubalcaba defiende que España tomó una posición más activa en el caso de lo que hacen pensar las revelaciones de los cables de la Embajada de EE UU. ([The First Vice-president of the Spanish government and Internal Minister] Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba argues that Spain tried a more active position on this case than the one that could be inferred after the revelations of the American embassy’s cables.)"
El País: Francia rechaza los planes de desarme nuclear de la Casa Blanca (France rejects the White House’s plans on nuclear disarmament)
"Sarkozy se resiste a que la propuesta de un mundo sin armas atómicas lanzada por Obama obligue a eliminar la fuerza de disuasión francesa. (Sarkozy is reluctant to the proposal by Obama on nuclear disarmament to eliminate the French dissuasion weapons.)"
El País: Berlusconi y la oposición recelan de la justicia italiana (Berlusconi and the opposition distrust the Italian justice)
"Tanto el jefe del Gobierno como D'Alema, líder en la sombra del centro-izquierda, aseguran a la Embajada de EE UU en Roma que la magistratura amenaza al Estado. (Both the President and D’Alema, leader of the center-leftist shade, affirm to the American embassy that the magistracy threats the country.)"
El País: EE UU quiere vigilar de por vida al jefe de Al Qaeda en España (The United States want to keep watching on the chief of Al Qaeda in Spain during his whole life)
"Pretende que se incluya a Abu Dahdah en una lista negra de terroristas. Interior apoya la iniciativa pero Exteriores se ha opuesto, según revelan los cables secretos de la embajada. ( The US want to put Abu Dahdah in a list of terrorists. The Spanish government aproves the initiative, but the office of foreign affairs opposes it.)"
El País: España entregó una lista secreta de 87 posibles islamistas (Spain gave to the US a secret list with 87 alleged islamists)
"El Gobierno facilitó en 2004 a la Embajada de Estados Unidos una lista de 87 sospechosos islamistas "con posibles vínculos terroristas en España" entre los que figuran cinco españoles, según recoge uno de los cables de la legación diplomática. El documento, sin clasificar, advierte que el texto completo no es accesible. (The Spanish government provided in 2004 to the American Embassy with a list of 87 suspicious islamists "with possible terrorist links in Spain"; five Spaniards are part of the list, according to one of the American diplomatic cables. The document, without classification, admits that the complete text is inaccessible.)"
Toronto Star: "Dirty oil" anger shocked Tories, leaked documents show
"Canada was 'too slow' to respond to the damage done to the country’s reputation by the Alberta oilsands, then-Environment Minister Jim Prentice told the American envoy in Ottawa a meeting last year. Despite the brave public face of the Conservative government, Prentice told U.S. ambassador David Jacobson that he was stunned by backlash around the world to carbon-intensive Canadian oil and was prepared to correct the damage done with stringent emissions-cutting regulations."
Bloomberg announced that Novaya Gazeta, the Moscow newspaper controlled by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and billionaire Alexander Lebedev, will collaborate with Wikileaks to publish material specifically about Russia.
The weekly newspaper is known in an industry dominated by state-run companies for its critical reports of the Kremlin and investigative coverage of Russian affairs.
Novaya Gazeta received unlimited access to the WikiLeaks database, which has a “wide range” of materials, including documents about Politkovskaya’s murder as well as information about Russian politicians’ ties to organized crime, Nadezhda Prusenkova, a Novaya Gazeta spokeswoman, said by phone from Moscow. The newspaper will start releasing materials next month.
President Dmitry Medvedev said the documents published by WikiLeaks don’t hurt Russia’s interests and that the Russian authorities don’t care what’s being discussed in diplomatic circles.
AolNews reports that US government agencies have requested a firewall to block Wikileaks' data from entering their systems regardless of its origin.
Fidelis Security, a Boston-based network security company that works with the military and other government agencies, says it's being asked to set up a firewall against WikiLeaks document traffic, regardless of whether it flows from a website, e-mail or other source. ...
The Air Force, for example, has started blocking news media sites such as The New York Times that have re-posted some of the documents.
But Bertone said that the Air Force approach wouldn't prevent someone from being e-mailed a leaked document, or accessing a website that hasn't been specifically blocked by the Air Force.
Der Spiegel published a Q&A with the Wau Holland Foundation about WikiLeaks funding.
The Dylan Ratigan Show interviewed Julian Assange on December 21.
The newest interview in the U.S. of Julian Assange on the Wikileaks Thing. Discussion about the 1917 Espionage Act and our political leaders including V.P. Biden, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee. Assange making his case in a short 15+ minute interview with Cenk Uyger on MSNBC's "The Dylan Ratigan Show" Dec. 21, 2010.
Frost over the World aired an interview on Tuesday where Assange talked of the goals of Wikileaks, his personal situation, and the Swedish legal case against him.
EFF has a story about a Wikileaks mirror being removed by a site provider:
Recently we heard from a user who mirrored the Cablegate documents on his website. His hosting provider SiteGround suspended his account, claiming that he "severely" violated the SiteGround Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. SiteGround explained that it had gotten a complaint from an upstream provider, SoftLayer, and had taken action "in order to prevent any further issues caused by the illegal activity."
SiteGround told the user that he would need to update his antivirus measures and get rid of the folder containing the Wikileaks cables to re-enable his account. When the user asked why it was necessary to remove the Wikileaks folder, SiteGround sent him to SoftLayer. The user asked SoftLayer about the problem, but the company refused to discuss it with him because he isn't a SoftLayer customer. Finally, SiteGround told the user that SoftLayer wanted the mirror taken down because it was worried about the potential for distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. When the user pointed out that no attack had actually happened, and that this rationale could let the company use hypothetical future events to take down any site, SiteGround said that it was suspending the account because a future DDOS attack might violate its terms of use.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression issued a joint statement on December 21st.
In light of ongoing developments related to the release of diplomatic cables by the organization Wikileaks, and the publication of information contained in those cables by mainstream news organizations, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression see fit to recall a number of international legal principles. The rapporteurs call upon States and other relevant actors to keep these principles in mind when responding to the aforementioned developments.
1. The right to access information held by public authorities is a fundamental human right subject to a strict regime of exceptions. The right to access to information protects the right of every person to access public information and to know what governments are doing on their behalf. It is a right that has received particular attention from the international community, given its importance to the consolidation, functioning and preservation of democratic regimes. Without the protection of this right, it is impossible for citizens to know the truth, demand accountability and fully exercise their right to political participation. National authorities should take active steps to ensure the principle of maximum transparency, address the culture of secrecy that still prevails in many countries and increase the amount of information subject to routine disclosure.
Peninsula has posted a partial transcript of an interview in Arabic with Julian Assange. Here is the full interview with Ahmed Mansour for Al Jazeera's 'Without Borders'.
“There are 3,700 files related to Israel and the source of 2,700 files is Israel. In the next six months we intend to publish more files depending on our sources,” said Assange in the nearly one-hour interview telecast live from the UK.
“The Guardian, El-Pais and Le Monde have published only two percent of the files related to Israel due to the sensitive relations between Germany, France and Israel. Even New York Times could not publish more due to the sensitivities related to the Jewish community in the US,” he added.
Norway's largest newspaper, Aftenposten claimed on the 17th to be in possession of the entire database of US state cables held by Wikileaks, and further stated they are under no outside restrictions regarding what to publish as they have no agreement with Wikileaks.
Translated:
In cooperation with Svenska Dagbladet, Aftenposten has so far had access to about 2000 documents, which until now has been the background for the issues Aftenposten published. Ole Erik Almlid, news editor of Aftenposten, says it has worked a long time to access the documents to the newspaper. "We have worked long to get the documents, but it would be wrong of me to tell who is the source. We have not paid for the material, which we have gained access to with no conditions. It is we who decide what to publish and how we should handle it," he said.
He said that the same criteria and ethical guidelines for publication will be applied to the Wikileaks documents as they use for all stories, and people's privacy and security will be respected.
Their coverage can be followed here.
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