Julian Assange, Television Series Host
Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)
Common Dreams reports:
Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, has announced plans for a new television series. The program will launch mid-March and will include ten weekly half-hour episodes featuring “in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world.”
Should things go accordingly for Assange, the show will “explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it. Are we heading towards utopia, or dystopia and how we can set our paths? This is an exciting opportunity to discuss the vision of my guests in a new style of show that examines their philosophies and struggles in a deeper and clearer way than has been done before,” Assange states.
The theme of the show will be “the world tomorrow”. The Wikileaks press release adds:
Upheavals and revolutions in the Middle East have commenced an era of political change that is still unfolding. In the…
Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Halts Publication In Order To Survive
Christopher Hope reports in the Telegraph:
The whistleblowing website set up by Julian Assange said that it is temporarily suspending publication of leaks to fight a “blockade” by credit card companies.
The refusal to accept donations has cost the website “tens of millions of dollars” in lost funding, the website said.
Mr Assange was due to make the announcement at a press conference in London, and appeal for donations to help flight the blockade.
WikiLeaks said “in order to fight for its survival” it has decided temporarily to stop publishing secret state documents, while it battles the financial blockade through the courts.
In a statement, WikiLeaks said: “In order to ensure our future survival, WikiLeaks is now forced to temporarily suspend its publishing operations and aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents.”
What’s In The WikiLeaks Mystery File?
Is this the notorious Julian Assange “insurance” file? From AFP:
WikiLeaks released a mysterious encrypted file on Wednesday after telling its followers on Twitter to stand by for “an important announcement.”
WikiLeaks did not identify the contents of the 571 megabyte file and it could not be opened without a decryption key, which the anti-secrecy website said would be released “at the appropriate moment.”
In July of last year, WikiLeaks posted what it called an “insurance file,” which was also encrypted.
According to press reports, the 1.4-gigabyte file was intended for public release in the event of something untoward happening to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Assange is currently fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden where he is wanted to face questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault.
The release of the latest mystery file comes just days after WikiLeaks published more than 130,000 US diplomatic cables from what it says is a cache of more…
Wikileaks’ Julian Assange to Address 9/11 Conspiracy?
Via Prison Planet Live:
Julian Assange may be about to address concerns over his comments last year that 9/11 truth was a “false conspiracy” which he found “annoying”. Assange made the statement despite Wikileaks’ 2009 release of half a million pager messages on the day of 9/11 from New York City officials, many of which contradicted the official story.
The Wikileaks founder is currently in London embroiled in an extradition appeal relating to allegations of rape, which many suspect are unfounded and part of a smear campaign against Assange.
An increasing number of activists are questioning Assange’s motives, including some of his former colleagues like Cryptome’s John Young. However, we have noted that Anonymous, the hacking collective that has vigorously defended Assange, is doing excellent work in exposing the power elite head on, particularly with their intention to shine a light on the secretive gathering of globalists at this week’s Bohemian Grove confab.
Julian Assange And Slavoj Zizek In Conversation
What good is freedom of speech if you’re on the moon?
Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman moderates an entertaining two-hour conversation in London between Julian Assange and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, discussing the broader meaning of Wikileaks, the media, and “the attack on the public use of reason”. Thanks to Zizek, the discussion also veers between everything from dirty jokes to Stalinist propaganda to Psycho to the rumors linking him romantically to Lady Gaga. Things get going about ten minutes in.
WikiSecrets: The Inside Story of Bradley Manning & The Largest Intelligence Breach in U.S. History (Video)
Worth watching, available now on Frontline’s website. Here’s part one of five:
Mainstream Media Calls For Indictment Of Assange, For Competing With Them
Partial Objects notes the rank hypocrisy as the Wall Street Journal unveils “Safe House”, its new WikiLeaks-lite website. (Whistle-blowers, submit your juicy classified documents and emails!) Of course, the WSJ may report tipsters to law enforcement and “third parties”:
The WSJ calls for Assange to be indicted, elaborating on the difference between him and regular media (they use the NYT as their counterexample).
Yet the WSJ also announces the start of their new site, Safe House:
Documents and databases: They’re key to modern journalism. But they’re almost always hidden behind locked doors, especially when they detail wrongdoing such as fraud, abuse, pollution, insider trading, and other harms. That’s why we need your help. If you have newsworthy contracts, correspondence, emails, financial records or databases from companies, government agencies or non-profits, you can send them to us using the SafeHouse service.
The easy criticism is that the Journal, i.e. Murdoch, is being hypocritical. But no good deed goes…
Assange: Facebook, Google, Yahoo Are Spying Tools For U.S. Intelligence
Julian Assange says Facebook, Google and Yahoo are spying tools for U.S. intelligence:
DreamWorks Studio Buys Rights To WikiLeaks’ Book
It was only a matter of time there was a movie about Assange. Looks like Spieldberg’s studio got to it first. The Guardian reports:
Steven Spielberg’s Hollywood studio looks set to oversee WikiLeaks: the Movie after securing the screen rights to WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy, the book by Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding.
Reportedly conceived as an investigative thriller in the mould of All the President’s Men, the film will be backed by DreamWorks – the studio founded in 1994 by Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.
Leigh and Harding’s book charts Julian Assange’s life and times, from his itinerant childhood through to the creation of the WikiLeaks website in 2006. It also provides the inside story of Assange’s explosive partnership with the Guardian and the release, last December, of more than 250,000 secret diplomatic cables.
Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media, said: “The Guardian’s unique collaboration with…
WikiLeaks Opens Gift Shop
WikiLeaks not only leaks government secrets. They’ve also got an online gift shop! (”Keep us strong,” it announces to new visitors.)
“What better way to make a little extra cash than to open an online store selling branded merchandise?” jokes this technology blog, acknowledging that all proceeds go towards running of the site, and that “Assange is facing a hefty legal bill which he’ll need to pay.”
The shop includes t-shirts with appropriate sayings, including “Censorship reveals fear” and “Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.” Interestingly, the shop’s t-shirts are supplied by the same German merchandising company that makes t-shirts for the Spice Girls.
Julian Assange To Be Extradited To Sweden
Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)
Any bets on how long it takes the United States to persuade the Swedes to turn him over to American prosecutors?
Esther Addley and Alexandra Topping report on his extradition to Sweden for the Guardian:
The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Assange will appeal, his legal team has confirmed. If they lose he will be sent to Sweden in 10 days.
Delivering his ruling at a hearing at Belmarsh magistrates court in London, the chief magistrate, Howard Riddle, dismissed each of the defence’s arguments against Assange’s extradition.
Assange’s legal team had argued that the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny did not have the authority to issue a European arrest warrant. The magistrate ruled that she did possess this authority and the warrant was valid.
Ny’s credibility had been questioned by the defence team but Riddle said those doubts…
Media Roots Radio: Wikileaks, Bradley Manning & False Memory Research
In this episode of Media Roots Radio, Robbie and Abby Martin discuss Wikileaks, Bradley Manning and the inhumane conditions of his detention.
Media Roots Radio- Wikileaks, Bradley Manning, False Memories with Guest Researcher Steven Frenda by Media Roots
During the second half of the show, guest Steven Frenda talks about his studies and research in the field of human memory: manipulated and false memories, coerced confessions, and how they relate to the legal system…
Who Wants To Kill Julian Assange?
Who believes that WikiLeaks’ revealing of classified information warrants a penalty of death for the leakers? Surprisingly (or not), many of our leaders and political pundits do. PeopleOKWithMurderingAssange.com collects quotes from mainstream sources calling for the killing of Julian Assange, suggesting that the assassination of whistle blowers has become a respectable thing to endorse:
“This fellow Anwar al-Awlaki, a joint U.S. citizen hiding out in Yemen, is on a ‘kill list’. Mr. Assange should be put on the same list.” — G. Gordon Liddy (Former White House Adviser, talk show host)
“I’d like to ask a simple question: Why isn’t Julian Assange dead? Why wasn’t Assange garroted in his hotel room years ago?” — Jonah Goldberg (Editor-at-large of National Review Online)
“Julian Assange should be targeted like the Taliban.” — Sarah Palin
The Power To Control Information And Culture Itself
Seems Bank of America was so nervous about what Wikileaks would be revealing about them, that they went on the attack, and now we have some of the details about this, ironically thanks to both Wikileaks and a similar organization, Crowdleaks.
A very interesting anonymous post on this matter was made over at the Slashdot website:
Three information security consultancies with links to US spy agencies cooked up a dirty tricks campaign late last year to destroy Wikileaks by exploiting its perceived weaknesses, reads a presentation released by the whistleblowers’ (pdf) organization that it claimed to be from the conspirators. Consultants at US defense contractors Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary proposed to lawyers for a desperate Bank of America an alliance that would work to discredit the whistleblowers’ website using a divide and conquer approach. Since the plan was hatched, disgruntled volunteers mentioned in the PDF broke away from Wikileaks, financial…
Julian Assange Defends WikiLeaks on ‘60 Minutes’ (Video)
Reports 60 Minutes:
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, speaks to Steve Kroft about the U.S. attempt to indict him on criminal charges and the torrent of criticism aimed at him for publishing classified documents.
John Pilger Interview With Julian Assange: ‘I Have Murdoch Insurance’
.jpg)
Perhaps as a return favor for posting bail for him, Julian Assange has given veteran British journalist John Pilger an exclusive interview. It will appear in the print edition of New Statesman, but some choice excerpts are on the New Statesman site:
… On Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, Assange says: “I’d never heard his name before it was published in the press.” He argues that the US is trying to use Manning – currently stuck in solitary confinement in the US – to build a case against the WikiLeaks founder:
“Cracking Bradley Manning is the first step,” says the Australian hacker. “The aim clearly is to break him and force a confession that he somehow conspired with me to harm the national security of the United States.”…
Yesterday, Assange’s lawyers warned that if he is extradited to America he could face the death penalty – for embarrassing…
Assange: Many Arab Leaders Closely Aligned With CIA
Julian Assange claims that numerous high-ranking officials in Arab countries work closely with the CIA in secret — “[They] are spies for the US in their countries” — and says their names will be released if he is killed. Will the threat be enough to save him from the United States’ wrath? A decidedly miffed Business Insider reports:
Julian Assange has set the ultimate dead man’s switch: Arrest or kill him and thousands of files will be automatically released, including documents that out CIA-backed Arabs.
The Wikileaks leader had previously claimed to have files on auto-release. That he had info on CIA ties was first-mentioned in an interview yesterday with Al-Jazeera.
This is exactly the type of information that lead people to condemn Wikileaks as dangerous. If released it would certainly endanger many American operatives and cause a massive political disruption.
Julian Assange Hijacks Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Man of the Year’ Speech (SNL Video)
TIME Magazine pretty much consigned itself to the dinosaur dustbin of old media when it chose Mark Zuckerberg over Julian Assange for its increasingly irrelevant “Man of the Year” award. Nonetheless, the ridiculous decision did make good fodder for Lorne Michaels’ effervescent team at Saturday Night Live:
<
WikiLeaks Gets … Leaked?
Assange has only released around 2,000 of the U.S. embassy cables WikiLeaks obtained but now a Norwegian paper is claiming access to the 250,000 cable motherload. If this is true, prepare for all hell to break loose. Devin Dwyer reports on ABC News:
Norway’s main business newspaper reported Wednesday that the Aftenposten news service has obtained unfettered and unauthorized access to the entire cache of secret government documents held exclusively by Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange.
If true, Aftenposten would be the only international news organization to have direct possession of the entire trove of U.S. diplomatic cables and military records believed to have been originally leaked by U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning.
The paper does not reveal who leaked the documents from inside Wikileaks’ operations.
“I have no comments on how we have secured access to the documents. We never give our sources, even in this case,” Aftenposten news editor Ole Erik Almlid…
