US diplomatic cables to be dropped by wikileaks; US doing pre-emptive damage control

[Demosthenes11]

it hurts me that I don't know if I believe that anymore.

[Kuya]

Not even our govt is stupid enough to do something like that in front of our eyes.

Not that it's dumb, but if it's smart enough to use public opinion:

Most of those polled - 68 percent - say the WikiLeaks' exposure of government documents about the State Department and U.S. diplomacy harms the public interest. Nearly as many - 59 percent - say the U.S. government should arrest Assange and charge him with a crime for releasing the diplomatic cables.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...21401650.html?

[aurik]

Anyone else find it interesting that the Assange arrest/detention/legality/whatever is dominating the news wires instead of the pretty-damning-stuff that are in the cables?

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

how are you a law student that doesn't know about ex post facto...

I'm no longer surprised by your idiotic retorts like this.

[archibaldcrane]

Anyone else find it interesting that the Assange arrest/detention/legality/whatever is dominating the news wires instead of the pretty-damning-stuff that are in the cables?

I'm a little surprised that Fox News hasn't run with the "Hillary should be fired for spying on the UN!" angle.

It's a weird thing though, since the right wants us to be spying, and hates the UN...but man, they hate Hillary so much...I thought they'd still run with it.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

Democracy Now video for this morning has guests John Pilger and Julian's lawyer Mark Stephens as guests. Towards the end of the WL discussion, she asks Pilger to stick around to give his input in the discussion of Richard Holbrooke [warning, if you like Holbrooke, the commentary in general is critical]. Below that is from Amy's blog with mp3/podcast.

Attorney: Swedish Case is a "Holding Charge" to Get Julian Assange Extradited to U.S.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in a London prison after Swedish authorities challenged the court’s decision to release him on bail with conditions. Assange’s attorney Mark Stephens joins us to discuss his possible extradition to Sweden for questioning on alleged sexual crimes amidst rumors the Obama administration has convened a grand jury to indict Assange in the United States. [includes rush transcript]


John Pilger: Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against U.S. Militarism, Secrecy

The award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger is one of many high-profile public supporters of Julian Assange and his organization WikiLeaks. Pilger has attended Assange’s court proceedings in London and has offered to contribute funds for his more than $300,000 bail. Pilger’s latest film, The War You Don’t See, includes interviews with Assange. Pilger says that WikiLeaks is revolutionizing journalism and galvanizing public opinion to stand up to global elites. [includes rush transcript]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...hing_20101214/

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/201...the_real_thing

MP3-podcast link for story "Assangination" http://traffic.libsyn.com/democracyn...ssange_1-2.mp3

‘Assangination’: From Character Assassination to the Real Thing
Posted on Dec 14, 2010

By Amy Goodman

Despite being granted bail, WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange remains imprisoned in London, awaiting extradition proceedings to answer a prosecutor’s questions in Sweden. He hasn’t been formally charged with any crime. His lawyers have heard that a grand jury in the United States has been secretly empaneled, and that a U.S. federal indictment is most likely forthcoming.

Politicians and commentators, meanwhile, have been repeatedly calling for Assange to be killed.

Take Democratic strategist and commentator Bob Beckel, who said on a Fox Business show: “We’ve got special ops forces. A dead man can’t leak stuff. ... This guy’s a traitor, he’s treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I’m not for the death penalty, so ... there’s only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch.” U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., called WikiLeaks a “foreign terrorist organization” and said that the website “posed a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.” He went on: “This is worse even than a physical attack on Americans; it’s worse than a military attack.”

One of Assange’s lawyers in London, Jennifer Robinson, told me, in response to the flood of threats: “Obviously we take these sorts of very public pronouncements incredibly seriously. And people making these statements ought to be reported to the police for incitement to violence.”

One of Beckel’s co-panelists on Fox said what needed to be done was to “cut the head off the snake,” a phrase which, ironically, gained more significance when it appeared days later in one of the leaked cables. In the cable, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Adel al-Jubeir “recalled the King’s frequent exhortations to the U.S. to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program. ‘He told you to cut off the head of the snake.’ ”

Assange has found support in some surprising quarters. Conservative Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith blogged: “I find myself agreeing with those who think Assange is being unduly vilified ... it is not obvious what law he has violated. ... I do not understand why so much ire is directed at Assange and so little at The New York Times.” (WikiLeaks has partnered with several news organizations, including The New York Times, in its document releases.)

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff of Secretary of State Colin Powell, joined a group of former government officials in a letter of support for Assange, writing, “WikiLeaks has teased the genie of transparency out of a very opaque bottle, and powerful forces in America, who thrive on secrecy, are trying desperately to stuff the genie back in.”

Likewise from a feminist group in Britain. Since the principal, public reason for Assange’s arrest relates to questions about potential sexual crimes in Sweden, Katrin Axelsson, from the group Women Against Rape, wrote in a letter to the British newspaper The Guardian: “Many women in both Sweden and Britain will wonder at the unusual zeal with which Julian Assange is being pursued for rape allegations. .... Women don’t take kindly to our demand for safety being misused, while rape continues to be neglected at best or protected at worst.”

Assange, in an Op-Ed piece published in The Australian newspaper shortly after his arrest, wrote there is a chorus in the U.S. State Department of “‘You’ll risk lives! National Security! You’ll endanger troops!’ by releasing information, and ‘then they say there is nothing of importance in what WikiLeaks publishes. It can’t be both.’ ”

In a statement released to Australian television, Assange said: “My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed. ... If anything, this process has increased my determination that they are true and correct.”

Extradition proceedings are complex, lengthy affairs. WikiLeaks, for that matter, is not just Julian Assange, but a geographically distributed network of people and servers, and it has promised that the work of facilitating the release of documents from governments and corporations will continue. The U.S. Justice Department, if it pursues a case, will have to answer the question: If WikiLeaks is a criminal organization, what of its media partners, like The New York Times?

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 800 stations in North America. She is the author of “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.

© 2010 Amy Goodman

[Melchiah]

lol at pundits calling for treason indictments on a foreign national. Idiots.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

Live Tweeting from the hearing now by various reporters..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/twitter/list/julianassange

Video: Julian Assange tells mother of prison life

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/vide...medium=twitter

Julian Assange tells mother of prison life

Christine Assange wrote notes on her arm when visiting her son in Wandsworth prison. The WikiLeaks founder described his 'quiet anger' at his plight. Assange has been held after being refused bail over a request to extradite him to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault charges

tweets from my lists:

@Rob_Banks/assange-hearing-live

»
http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1...ter_normal.jpg
fieldproducer Neal Mann
RT @AlexiMostrous: #assange hearing begins in 5 mins. Judge will issue ruling on twitter first following application by the times #wikileaks
1 minute ago
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VikramDodd vikram dodd
Assange will appear in the dock, behind black metal bars. Court has dark wood panels and an atrium lets in the dull winter day light
2 minutes ago
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lukeharding1968 Luke Harding
High court packed for julian assange hearing. Assange's mother in third row #wikileaks
4 minutes ago
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jimsciuttoABC jim sciutto
Assange's mother has arrived at court #Wikileaks
5 minutes ago
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VikramDodd vikram dodd
Case will be heard by mr justice ouseley. Assange's mum christine in court
6 minutes ago
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AlexiMostrous Alexi Mostrous
#assange hearing begins in 5 mins. Judge will issue ruling on twitter first following application by the times. #wikileaks
6 minutes ago
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VikramDodd vikram dodd
Judge to issue ruling on if reporters can tweet from court. Lol
12 minutes ago
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estheraddley esther addley
Judge going to rule on use of twitter at 11.30. In 140 characters? #wikileaks
13 minutes ago

Doh! judge blocked twitter this time in court.

[Bingbong]

The judge denied bail appeal. So Assange will be granted bail, payable by Michale Moore, and off to the fortress of solitude.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101216/...ileaks_assange

[aurik]

You'd think that if they could afford to send a contingent of lawyers to appeal the bail ruling, they could simply just send the prosecutor that is interested in interviewing Assange, and skip all this extradition nonsense.

[Ragnus]

Except that unless he's in Sweden there's no chance of extradition to the US. Duh.

Either that or he'd just have an coincidentally fatal and tragic "accident" during his trip to Sweden.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

http://skyplayer.sky.com/vod/page/playLiveTv.do

Has ongoing reports from uk and the statement of Assange so when you go to the site you will see regular news unless they are going back to the ongoing WL coverage at the Royal Court. It is Sky News and it is the online live feed from the front of the Royal Court where their reporter is standing, showing Assange's statement in between the reporter's update.

It was so cool seeing Assange make the statement and seeing the expressions of the people standing beside him, the ones who came out of the Royal Court with him. I really like the sky news feed but can't register in USA for further benefits of the site since they only allow Northern Ireland and UK to sign up.

Pic of him.
http://yfrog.com/h05v6gaj



Assange statement after his release [transcript of what he said to the crowd]:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/...ge-bail-appeal

It's great to smell the fresh air of London again.


First, some thank yous. To all the people around the world who have had faith in me, who have supported my team while I have been away. To my lawyers, who have put up a brave and ultimately successful fight, to our sureties and people who have provided money in the face of great difficulty and aversion. And to members of the press who are not all taken in and considered to look deeper in their work. And I guess finally, to the British justice system itself, where if justice is not always the outcome at least it is not dead yet.


During my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a Victorian prison I had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world also in solitary confinement, also on remand, in conditions that are more difficult than those faced by me. Those people also need your attention and support.


And with that I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. Thank you.

Video of Julian Assange press statement. [flash photography warning]
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/vid...sky-news-video

[Kuya]

Original place where i found it:

The Guardian reports from US State Department cables released by Wikileaks that the oil and gas giant, BP, experienced a platform disaster in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan in September, 2008, very similar to last summer’s Deep Water Horizon platform explosion. BP was reported to have covered up the details of the catastrophe even from its own partners.

http://www.juancole.com/2010/12/bp-p...wikileaks.html

Original article that the blog links to:

Striking resemblances between BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster and a little-reported giant gas leak in Azerbaijan experienced by the UK firm 18 months beforehand have emerged from leaked US embassy cables.

The cables reveal that some of BP's partners in the gas field were upset that the company was so secretive about the incident that it even allegedly withheld information from them. They also say that BP was lucky that it was able to evacuate its 212 workers safely after the incident, which resulted in two fields being shut and output being cut by at least 500,000 barrels a day with production disrupted for months.

Other cables leaked tonight claim that the president of Azerbaijan accused BP of stealing $10bn of oil from his country and using "mild blackmail" to secure the rights to develop vast gas reserves in the Caspian Sea region.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...jan-gulf-spill

[Uzor]

Except that unless he's in Sweden there's no chance of extradition to the US. Duh.

Either that or he'd just have an coincidentally fatal and tragic "accident" during his trip to Sweden.

If he gets extraditioned to Sweden, he don't run a higher risk of getting shipped to the US than he would if he were to remain in England. Neither England nor Sweden has expressed any interest of compying with US demands that he get shipped to the US, as the US has no legal ground to prosecute him on. And believe you me when I say that there would be a huge outrage in not only Sweden, but the rest of the world as well, if he'd run in to a tragic "accident" if he were to be extraditioned to Sweden. If he were to be extraditioned to Sweden, he'd have enough bodyguards that even Osama Bin Ladin would have felt safe in the middle of the US army.

Why? Because I somehow dount England or Sweden feels like dealing with the ammount of shit they'd get from the world population that supports him - especially since they've already had a taste of it just from putting him in jail.

[Pirian]

Why does Sweden want him so bad that they will extradite him for a clearly faulty rape charge?

[aduidarnenye]

I thought this story about the recent attacks on Mastercard and Visa was really interesting and well written. It's the first article I've read that really explains what happened, why, and how undangerous it actually was.

I'm not going to paste the whole article as it is quite long but I think that most of you will find it interesting so read it!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...zon-mastercard

[aurik]

Why does Sweden want him so bad that they will extradite him for a clearly faulty rape charge?

Why does Sweden want him so bad that they will extradite him to interview him as a person of interest in a clearly faulty rape case. They haven't even charged him, remember.

The lead prosecutor just wants to talk to him in person in her office, after her office previously told Assange he was free to leave the country.

[Pirian]

Why does Sweden want him so bad that they will extradite him to interview him as a person of interest in a clearly faulty rape case. They haven't even charged him, remember.

The lead prosecutor just wants to talk to him in person in her office, after her office previously told Assange he was free to leave the country.

Yeah that's my point. So, if the Swedish government isn't more likely to hand him over to the US, then why is Assange fighting extradition so hard? Whether or not the Swedish people would be outraged at their government for handing Assange over to the US is kind of irrelevant. First of all, he probably wouldn't just be handed over. The whole process would play through as normal, but with a predetermined outcome. Why does he think he's safer in Great Britain than in Sweden?

[aurik]

I think he just feels no obligation to be somewhere in particular just because someone wants to talk to him. As an ideologue, this is a perfect martyrdom for him.

[Pirian]

So he's being defiant just to be defiant, is what you're saying?