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…
The Promiscuous Life of Julian Assange
Should we be concerned with Assange’s sex life? Is it deserving of the media attention or is it taking away from what WikiLeaks’ leaks? Via Daily Mail:
The two women who say they were sexually assaulted by the WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange would never have complained to police if he had agreed to take an HIV test, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
WikiLeaks’s Swedish co-ordinator, who worked closely with Mr Assange for months, said in an exclusive interview that he repeatedly begged his boss to have the test, both to head off the possible police investigation and for Mr Assange’s own peace of mind, given his promiscuous sex life.
‘The two women told me, that if he goes to the clinic for an HIV test, then we won’t go to the police,’ said Mr Assange’s colleague, who wishes to remain anonymous because he is a witness in the case brought by Swedish…
The Full Allegations Against Julian Assange
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Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)
The Guardian reports:
The case against Assange, which has been the subject of intense speculation and dispute in mainstream media and on the internet, is laid out in police material held in Stockholm to which the Guardian received unauthorised access.
Assange, who was released on bail on Thursday, denies the Swedish allegations and has not formally been charged with any offence. The two Swedish women behind the charges have been accused by his supporters of making malicious complaints or being “honeytraps” in a wider conspiracy to discredit him.
Assange’s UK lawyer, Mark Stephens, attributed the allegations to “dark forces”, saying: “The honeytrap has been sprung … After what we’ve seen so far you can reasonably conclude this is part of a greater plan.” The journalist John Pilger dismissed the case as a “political stunt” and in an interview with ABC news, Assange said Swedish prosecutors were withholding evidence which…
Newton’s Third Law – The Coming Collision
The Singularity by Ken Vallario.
“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.”
In watching the coming collision collision between one individual and the world’s mightiest government, we are about to see if these forces are in fact equal, or if these laws will soon be broken.
The Good News
In the light of the latest Wikileaks events I have been thinking very deeply about citizen empowerment and how technology enabled a small group of people to threaten the legitimacy of the most powerful government the world has ever known. And surprisingly that same government has yet to find a legitimately effective response against this very big pie in their very large collective face.
As many of us have done, I have attempted to fill this void with my own speculations about the retaliatory…
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange is Free (For Now): Speaks After Release On Bail
This man certainly doesn’t sound like a “terrorist”…
Michael Moore: Why I’m Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
Michael Moore writes on his blog:
Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail.
Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars.
We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could…
WikiRebels: The WikiLeaks Documentary (Video)
Could Swedish public service TV network SVT’s new documentary film about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have been released at a more timely moment? It’s bang up to date and for anyone intrigued by Assange and co., essential viewing. Thanks to tipster Ken V, who correctly describes the film as “thorough and very informative.”
Going Rogue: What Happens Next to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks?
Via the First Church of Mutterhals:
Just a short time ago many Americans had never heard of Julian Assange or Wikileaks. It’s understandable, this past summer was action packed with quality TV programming and most of us can’t be bothered to pay attention foreign goings on. But now you literally cannot flee news of Assange, a man who is quickly becoming a modern day folk hero for the disenfranchised and fed up.
While liberals argue whether or not Assange is a rapist and conservatives call for his head, the rest of us marvel that someone finally stood up and did something about the shitty state of the world that didn’t involve complaining about injustice on a blog or staging a meaningless protest only serving to garner the organizer some much needed attention. People like Assange and Bradley Manning and those involved in hacking Wikileaks opponents are heroes in the truest sense of…
Truth Is Contagious: WikiLeaks Copycat in Russia
Rospil.info, the Russian whistleblowing site
It seems that the phenomenon of WikiLeaks is spreading to other countries, and inspiring digital denizons to take on corruption elsewhere. The newest example of this is a Russian political activitst named Alexei Navalny, who is crusading against the rampant corruption that has infected the center of the former Soviet Union. Tired of the Russian oligarchy, mobsters, and generally getting ripped off at every turn, this guy is quite popular with regular folks.
Personally, I’m hoping his actions spawn a counterpart in China next.
This recent development also speaks to the incorrect nature of a central assumption which has been made about this sort of thing by the mainstream old-school press, who still don’t understand “the interwebs”. Borders don’t matter anymore, and shutting down free speech isn’t as easy as eliminating one person anymore. The power of the web is it’s very distributed, decentralized nature. And some people…
WikiLeaks Latest: Nobel Peace Prize For Assange? Social Networks Go Hostile
The single biggest story everywhere is the incredible saga surrounding WikiLeaks and larger than life leader Julian Assange, now languishing in a British jail. Among today’s headlines:
- Russia says Assange should be given the Nobel Peace Prize, with a source in President Medvedev’s office stating “”Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him.”
- Glenn Beck calls a foul on the government actions against Assange:
I want you to know, I am not defending Assange. I think he is a dirt bag. I think he is a dirt bag. He obviously has no problem using his 15 minutes of fame to sleep with anyone who is crawling.
But I have to tell you something, if you look at the people who are all lining up in defense of Julian Assange, and you see that these two are uber-leftists as well and you know the case that we have laid out over especially the…
4Chan, Anonymous Wreak Revenge On MasterCard, PayPal, Banks
The Faces of Anonymous. Photo: Vincent Diamante (CC)
I’ve not thought too highly of the hordes at 4Chan until now, but Julian Assange needs some help and they’re doing what they do best, making massive coordinated attacks on Assange’s various foes, as reported by ArsTechnica (since that report was posted MasterCard has also come under attack):
The forces of Anonymous have taken aim at several companies who are refusing to do business with WikiLeaks. 4chan’s hordes have launched distributed denial-of-service attacks against PayPal, Swiss bank PostFinance, and other sites that have hindered the whistleblowing site’s operations.
A self-styled spokesman for the group calling himself “Coldblood” has said that any website that’s “bowing down to government pressure” is a target. PayPal ceased processing donations to the site, and PostFinance froze WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s account. The attacks are being performed under the Operation: Payback banner; Operation: Payback is the name the group is using in its long-running…
WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange In Jail For Failure To Use Condom
I can’t imagine the late Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson would have dared have Lisbeth Salander kick a hornet’s nest as hard as Julian Assange has with his death-defying (so far) revelations of the U.S. government’s foreign “diplomacy.” Neither can I imagine Larsson coming up with such a ridiculous plot element as Assange’s arrest for failure to use a condom. This is definitely in the “truth is stranger than fiction” category, and it has captured the world’s attention just as The Millennium Trilogy did. The latest from the Guardian, which seems to have become the leading authority on all things WikiLeaks:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was today refused bail and remanded in custody until 14 December over claims he committed sex offences in Sweden.
Assange told City of Westminster magistrates court today that he intended to fight his extradition, setting up what could be a long legal battle.
The 39-year-old Australian turned himself in to…
Julian Assange To Release Files On Guantanamo And BP If Arrested
With half the world chasing after him, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tries to save himself by threatening to unlock an encrypted “doomsday file” of documents if detained. As reported by the New York Post (with readership seeming to favor Assange’s assassination):
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has circulated across the internet an encrypted “poison pill” cache of uncensored documents suspected to include files on BP and Guantanamo Bay. One of the files identified this weekend by The (London) Sunday Times — called the “insurance” file — has been downloaded from the WikiLeaks website by tens of thousands of supporters, from America to Australia.
Assange warns that any government that tries to curtail his activities risks triggering a new deluge of state and commercial secrets.
The military papers on Guantanamo Bay, yet to be published, believed to have been supplied by Bradley Manning, who was arrested in May. Other documents that Assange is confirmed to possess…
Non-Surprise: Assange’s Accuser Linked To CIA
Anna Ardin
An interesting ‘coincidence’ in the still unfolding honey pot trap that has ensnared Julian Assange. From Kirk Murphy at Firedoglake.com:
Yesterday Alexander Cockburn reminded us of the news Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett broke at Counterpunch in September. Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of which is US funded and openly supported by a former CIA agent convicted in the mass murder of seventy three Cubans on an airliner he was involved in blowing up.
Anna Ardin (the official complainant) is often described by the media as a “leftist”. She has ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups. She published her anti-Castro diatribes (see here and here) in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba. From Oslo, Professor Michael Seltzer points out that this periodical is the product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. He further notes…
WikiLeaks’ Plan To Take Down A Major Bank
Julian Assange, perhaps THE man of the media moment, says that early in 2011 WikiLeaks will disclose documents so damning that their release could “take down a bank or two.” Finally perhaps, some retribution for the Plunder of America by the banksters? From Andy Greenberg’s interview with Assange for Forbes:
Julian Assange
Forbes: Is it a U.S. bank?
Assange: Yes, it’s a U.S. bank.
One that still exists?
Yes, a big U.S. bank.
The biggest U.S. bank?
No comment.
When will it happen?
Early next year. I won’t say more.
What do you want to be the result of this release?
[Pauses] I’m not sure.
It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume.
Usually when you get leaks at this level, it’s about one particular case or one particular violation. For this, there’s only one similar example. It’s like the Enron emails. Why were…
Wikileaks Founder Walks Off CNN Interview
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange walks out of an interview with CNN reporter Atika Shubert after asking personal questions.
The Secret War Between Wikileaks And The Pentagon (And Some Media Outlets)
It happened on a Friday, the anniversary of the first U.S. casualties of the Vietnam War, way back in 1957. It was also the anniversary, in 1964, of French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre’s announcement that he was turning down the Nobel Prize. He later sat as a judge on Bertrand Russell’s Vietnam War Crimes Tribunal, which indicted that conflict’s carnage and lies.
It was the day this year that the often shadowy Wikileaks, chief nemesis of the Pentagon, maybe their worst nightmare—considered perhaps even more dangerous than the Taliban—surfaced again with the largest public drop of secret military documents in history. Wikileaks is a public web site run by the Sunshine Press, a non-profit group.
For understandable reasons, the Pentagon is at war with its information war against the war—literally.
Wikileaks introduced the significance of their immense treasure trove of secrets on their website this way: “The 391,832 reports (’The Iraq War Logs’),…
Government Charges Wikileaks Founder With Rape
[UPDATE, CNN now reports that the Swedish government has dropped charges.]
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has some serious criminal charges being leveled at him by the government of a major Western nation. After all, you can’t just go around spreading truth, can you? Report from CNN:
The founder and editor of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is wanted in Sweden after accusations of rape and molestation, a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutor’s office told CNN Saturday.
Spokeswoman Karin Rosander said Assange was arrested in absentia Friday night, and faces charges in relation to two separate instances…
From WikiLeaks to Swedish Tabloid
Hacker, writer, Australian. Julian Assange certainly made a ruckus as the founder and chief of Wikileaks. Now he will be a columnist. Could this change to Aftonbladet be because Wikileaks is trying to get a lisence for journalistic protection and, while operating servers in Swedish, a column connection may just help? Daily Tech reports:
Embroiled in an international politics controversy and owner of one the internet’s most divisive properties, what’s a man to do? Well, if you’re Julian Assange, founder and chief of whistleblowing site Wikileaks, the answer is apparently “write for a tabloid”.
The Australian native who rose to infamy as a hacker in the late 1980s and early 1990s, announced in a Saturday interview [Swedish] with Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that he would be joining the staff. A translation of the interview can be found here on Mathaba.
In the interview, when asked what is column will be about, Assange comments, “About press issues and about what’s happening…
