Le Café Politique De Camus De Café: The WikiLeaks Flap Is Not About Security; It’s About Government Wanting To Do Whatever The Hell They Want To In Our Names!

The WikiLeaks Flap Is Not About Security; It’s About Government Wanting To Do Whatever The Hell They Want To In Our Names!

If It Is True That Only Fascists Fear The Truth; We Are In A Shit Load Of Trouble!

WikiLeaks Founder Out of Jail, Will Release More Documents
KSTP.com
The founder of WikiLeaks says there'll be more secret documents posted on his website at a faster pace, now that he's out of jail. ...See all stories on this topic »

Wikileaks Chief Says He Fears US Ready To Indict

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL3E6N80HH20101217

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/12/2010121713254281685.html

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange delivers a statement to the media outside the High Court, London, after his release on bail, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Assange is swapping a Victorian prison cell for an English country mansion after a judge granted bail to the WikiLeaks founder wanted in Sweden for questioning on sex-crimes allegations. . (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (Lefteris Pitarakis - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange delivers a statement to the media outside the High Court, London, after his release on bail, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Assange is swapping a Victorian prison cell for an English country mansion after a judge granted bail to the WikiLeaks founder wanted in Sweden for questioning on sex-crimes allegations.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (Lefteris Pitarakis - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up a court document for the media after he was released on bail, outside the High Court, London, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released on bail following a week of legal drama over his extradition. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, centre, delivers a statement to the media outside the High Court, London, after his release on bail, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Assange is swapping a Victorian prison cell for an English country mansion after a judge granted bail to the WikiLeaks founder wanted in Sweden for questioning on sex-crimes allegations. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (Lefteris Pitarakis - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks as he leaves Britain's High Court Thursday Dec. 16, 2010 in London, England. A British judge released Julian Assange on bail Thursday, freeing the WikiLeaks founder to work on his secret-spilling website from a mansion in eastern England. (AP Photo/Peter Macdiarmid, Pool) (Peter Macdiarmid - AP)

The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, top center, addresses the media outside the High Court in London, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. A British judge released Julian Assange on bail Thursday, freeing the WikiLeaks founder to work on his secret-spilling website from a mansion in eastern England. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (Matt Dunham - AP)

Julian Assange head of WikiLeaks poses for photographers at the home of Frontline Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

Julian Assange head of WikiLeaks talks during a press conference at the home of Frontline Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

Julian Assange head of WikiLeaks takes a drink during a press conference at the home of Frontline Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, poses the media in the grounds of Ellingham Hall, the home of Front Line Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, faces the media in the grounds of Ellingham Hall, the home of Front Line Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks,prepares to met the media in the grounds of Ellingham Hall, the home of Front Line Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, poses for photographers in the grounds of Ellingham Hall, the home of Front Line Club founding member Vaughan Smith, at Bungay, England, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Assange said he feared that the United States is getting ready to indict him, saying Friday that he believed that a grand jury was meeting to consider charges against him. He has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) (Kirsty Wigglesworth - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, centre, speaks outside the High Court in central London, Thursday Dec. 16, 2010. A British judge released Julian Assange on bail Thursday, freeing the WikiLeaks founder to work on his secret-spilling website from a mansion in eastern England. (AP PHOTO/Stefan Wermuth, pool) (Stefan Wermuth - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, centre, speaks outside the High Court in central London, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2010. A British judge released Julian Assange on bail Thursday, freeing the WikiLeaks founder to work on his secret-spilling website from a mansion in eastern England. (AP PHOTO/ADRIAN DENNIS, pool)` (Adrian Dennis - AP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange waves legal papers as he leaves Britain's High Court Thursday Dec. 16, 2010 in London, England. A British judge released Julian Assange on bail Thursday, freeing the WikiLeaks founder to work on his secret-spilling website from a mansion in eastern England. (AP Photo/Peter Macdiarmid, Pool) (Peter Macdiarmid - AP)

The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, center, addresses the media outisde the High Court in London, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Assange is swapping a Victorian prison cell for an English country mansion after a judge granted bail to the WikiLeaks founder wanted in Sweden for questioning on sex-crimes allegations. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (Matt Dunham - AP)

The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, center under arch, addresses the media outside the High Court in London, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released on bail following a week of legal drama over his extradition. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (Matt Dunham - AP)

The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, center, holds up a court document before addresses the media outside the High Court in London, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released on bail following a week of legal drama over his extradition. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) (Matt Dunham - AP)

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER

The Associated Press

Friday, December 17, 2010; 9:33 AM

-- LONDON - The founder of WikiLeaks said Friday he fears that the United States is getting ready to indict him, but insisted that the secret-spilling site would continue its work despite what he has called a dirty tricks campaign.

Assange spoke from snowbound Ellingham Hall, a supporter's 10-bedroom country mansion where he is confined on bail as he fights Sweden's attempt to extradite him on allegations of rape and molestation. Assange insisted to television interviewers that he was being subjected to a smear campaign and "what appears to be a secret grand jury investigation against me or our organization."

He did not elaborate, but said he had retained an unnamed U.S. law firm to represent him.

Assange has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks' continuing release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables, which have angered and embarrassed U.S. officials worldwide.

U.S. officials are investigating WikiLeaks and considering charges against Assange, a case that if pursued could end up pitting the government's efforts to protect sensitive information against press and speech freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. The government suspects WikiLeaks received the documents from an Army private, Bradley Manning, who is in the brig on charges of leaking other classified documents to the organization.

A High Court judge freed Assange on bail Thursday on condition he reside at the 600-acre estate in eastern England, wear an electronic tag and report to police daily. Assange spent more than a week in prison after handing himself in to British police on Dec. 7. He is wanted in Sweden for questioning about sex allegations leveled against him by two women he spent time with while visiting the country in August.

Swedish officials - and the lawyer for the women involved - have denied accusations from Assange and his supporters that the allegations are politically motivated.

Attempts to reach Assange's British lawyers weren't immediately successful Friday.

Assange appeared to come close Friday to acknowledging that Manning was one of his sources, calling him "a young man somehow embroiled in our publishing activities."

"We can see that he's the only person, only one of our military sources, who has been accused," he said.

But Assange appeared to be citing media accounts of Manning's links to WikiLeaks, rather than his own knowledge. In an interview later Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Assange said that he had never even heard Manning's name until the press began reporting it.

Assange also claimed to have information that more "smears" were on their way. He didn't go into detail.

Although Assange promised to focus on clearing his name, he said his first priority was to his work - which he said would continue at a faster pace now that he was back in charge.

"Now that I am back to assist the directing of our ship, our work will proceed in a faster manner," he said in an interview with the BBC late Thursday.

---

Online:

http://wikileaks.ch/

Dear Government of Sweden ...

By Michael Moore

Dear Swedish Government:

Hi there -- or as you all say, Hallå! You know, all of us here in the U.S. love your country. Your Volvos, your meatballs, your hard-to-put-together furniture -- we can't get enough!

There's just one thing that bothers me -- why has Amnesty International, in a special report, declared that Sweden refuses to deal with the very real tragedy of rape? In fact, they say that all over Scandinavia, including in your country, rapists "enjoy impunity." And the United Nations, the EU and Swedish human rights groups have come to the same conclusion: Sweden just doesn't take sexual assault against women seriously. How else do you explain these statistics from Katrin Axelsson of Women Against Rape:

** Sweden has the HIGHEST per capita number of reported rapes in Europe.

** This number of rapes has quadrupled in the last 20 years.

** The conviction rates? They have steadily DECREASED.

Axelsson says: "On April 23rd of this year, Carina Hägg and Nalin Pekgul (respectively MP and chairwoman of Social Democratic Women in Sweden) wrote in the Göteborgs [newspaper] that 'up to 90% of all reported rapes [in Sweden] never get to court.'"

Let me say that again: nine out of ten times, when women report they have been raped, you never even bother to start legal proceedings. No wonder that, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, it is now statistically more likely that someone in Sweden will be sexually assaulted than that they will be robbed.

Message to rapists? Sweden loves you!

So imagine our surprise when all of a sudden you decided to go after one Julian Assange on sexual assault charges. Well, sort of: first you charged him. Then after investigating it, you dropped the most serious charges and rescinded the arrest warrant.

Then a conservative MP put pressure on you and, lo and behold, you did a 180 and reopened the Assange investigation. Except you still didn't charge him with anything. You just wanted him for "questioning." So you -- you who have sat by and let thousands of Swedish women be raped while letting their rapists go scott-free -- you decided it was now time to crack down on one man -- the one man the American government wants arrested, jailed or (depending on which politician or pundit you listen to) executed. You just happened to go after him, on one possible "count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape (third degree)." And while thousands of Swedish rapists roam free, you instigated a huge international manhunt on Interpol for this Julian Assange!

What anti-rape crusaders you've become, Swedish government! Women in Sweden must suddenly feel safer?

Well, not really. Actually, many see right through you. They know what these "non-charge charges" are really about. And they know that you are cynically and disgustingly using the real and everyday threat that exists against women everywhere to help further the American government's interest in silencing the work of WikiLeaks.

I don't pretend to know what happened between Mr. Assange and the two women complainants (all I know is what I've heard in the media, so I'm as confused as the next person). And I'm sorry if I've jumped to any unnecessary or wrong-headed conclusions in my efforts to state a very core American value: All people are absolutely innocent until proven otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. I strongly believe every accusation of sexual assault must be investigated vigorously.

There is nothing wrong with your police wanting to question Mr. Assange about these allegations, and while I understand why he seemed to go into hiding (people tend to do that when threatened with assassination), he nonetheless should answer the police’s questions. He should also submit to the STD testing the alleged victims have requested. I believe Sweden and the UK have a treaty and a means for you to send your investigators to London so they can question Mr. Assange where he is under house arrest while out on bail.

But that really wouldn't be like you would it, to go all the way to another country to pursue a suspect for sexual assault when you can't even bring yourselves to make it down to the street to your own courthouse to go after the scores of reported rapists in your country. That you, Sweden, have chosen to rarely do that in the past, is why this whole thing stinks to the high heavens.

And let's not forget this one final point from Women Against Rape's Katrin Axelsson:
"There is a long tradition of the use of rape and sexual assault for political agendas that have nothing to do with women's safety. In the south of the US, the lynching of black men was often justified on grounds that they had raped or even looked at a white woman. Women don't take kindly to our demand for safety being misused, while rape continues to be neglected at best or protected at worst."

This tactic of using a rape charge to go after minorities or troublemakers, guilty or innocent -- while turning a blind eye to clear crimes of rape the rest of the time — is what I fear is happening here. I want to make sure that good people not remain silent and that you, Sweden, will not succeed if in fact you are in cahoots with corrupt governments such as ours.

Last week Naomi Klein wrote: "Rape is being used in the Assange prosecution in the same way that 'women's freedom' was used to invade Afghanistan. Wake up!"

I agree.

Unless you have the evidence (and it seems if you did you would have issued an arrest warrant by now), drop the extradition attempt and get to work doing the job you've so far refused to do: Protecting the women of Sweden.

Yours,
Michael Moore

Why I Am Donating $50000 to WikiLeaks' Defense Fund
Huffington Post (blog)
If WikiLeaks had existed in 2003 when George W. Bush was ginning up the war in Iraq, America might not be in the horrendous situation it is today, ...See all stories on this topic »

Julian Assange Interview: WikiLeaks Founder On the 'Today' Show
Huffington Post
The Today show interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday, after his release from prison on bail Thursday afternoon. ...See all stories on this topic »

UK medic: WikiLeaks made me object to Afghan war
Washington Post
AP LONDON -- A Royal Navy medic who claims documents released by WikiLeaks persuaded him to fight his deployment to Afghanistan has lost his appeal to leave ...
See all stories on this topic »

Zodiak Nabs Worldwide Distribution Rights to WikiLeaks Documentary
Hollywood Reporter
"WikiLeaks: War, Lies & Videotape,: which profiles the site's founder Julian Assange, is produced by Luc Hermann and Paul Moreira. ..See all stories on this topic »

WikiLeaks cables indicate Cuba sought 'secret channel' to US
MiamiHerald.com
... as the only way his government could "make major moves toward meeting US concerns," according to senior Spanish diplomats cited in new WikiLeaks cables. ...
See all stories on this topic »

Pro-WikiLeaks hackers may be hard for US to pursue
Reuters
By Andrew Longstreth NEW YORK Dec 17 (Reuters Legal) - Legal hurdles could make it tough for US prosecutors to go after pro-WikiLeaks hackers who waged ...

Pied Piper Julian Assange brooks no dissent in land of WikiLeaks
The Australian
Mr Assange previously fell out with two of his key WikiLeaks colleagues. Birgitta Jonsdottir, a political activist in Iceland who worked on the leaked video ...See all stories on this topic »

The Anonymous WikiLeaks protests are a mass demo against control
The Guardian
The Anonymous web protests over WikiLeaks are the internet equivalent of a mass demonstration. It's a mistake to call them hacking (playful cleverness) or ...See all stories on this topic »

It is a matter of definition for US to charge WikiLeaks as an espionage portal
Ecommerce Journal
“By clearly showing how WikiLeaks is fundamentally different, the government should be able to demonstrate that any prosecution here is the exception and is .See all stories on this topic »

WikiLeaks CableGate: December 17, Day 20
CBS News
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the press, Dec. 16, 2010, as he arrives at Ellingham Hall in southern England. Check and update this page often ...See all stories on this topic »

WikiLeaks' Fundamental Hypocrisy
By Chris Yeh
Few subjects have been more in the news than WikiLeaks; few have been less understood (for example, WikiLeaks is not a wiki!).For a great profile of both WikiLeaks and its controversial leader, Julian Assange, I direct you to the New ...CloudAve - http://www.cloudave.com/

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange: Is the US pursuing him in secret?
Christian Science Monitor
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange claimed Friday that US prosecutors are carrying out a secretive grand-jury probe into WikiLeaks activities. ...See all stories on this topic »

Help Julian: “FSI - Julian Assange Defence Fund” Sort code 20-77 ...
Twitter
Help Julian: “FSI - Julian Assange Defence Fund” Sort code 20-77-67, account number 93842452. Terms: ur1.ca/2lr9t twitter.com/wikileaks/status/15603490013323264

US Criticises Court That May Decide On Julian Assange Extradition, Wikileaks Cables Show

Leaked dispatches reveal diplomats' disdain for Council of Europe's stance against extraditions to US and secret renditions

A series of WikiLeaks cables single out for criticism the Council of Europe's British former secretary general Terry Davis, who had attacked American officials on secret renditions.

Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

US officials regard European human rights standards as an "irritant", secret cables show, and have strongly objected to the safeguards which could protect WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from extradition.

In a confidential cable from the US embassy in Strasbourg, US consul general Vincent Carver criticised the Council of Europe, the most authoritative human-rights body for European countries, for its stance against extraditions to America, as well as secret renditions and prisons used to hold terrorist suspects.

He blamed the council for creating anti-US sentiment and hampering the US war on terror. "The Council of Europe (COE) likes to portray itself as a bastion of democracy, a promoter of human rights, and the last best hope for defending the rule of law in Europe – and beyond," Carver said. "[But] it is an organisation with an inferiority complex and, simultaneously, an overambitious agenda.

"An investigation [by the Council of Europe] into renditions and 'secret prisons' in Europe connected to the US war on terrorism … created a great deal of controversy and anti-US sentiment in the Council of Europe," wrote Carver.

The European court of human rights, the final court of appeal for human rights claims from the UK, whose judgments include the decision to ban deportations to countries which practise torture, is also singled out by the cables.

"The European court of human rights … has also requested more information on pending British extradition cases to the US where it believes the prisoners might be sentenced in the US to life imprisonment with no possible appeal or automatic judicial review of the life sentence," Carver wrote.

Amid growing speculation over whether Assange could face extradition to the US, the cables make clear America's opposition to any attempts to interfere on human rights grounds, out of concern for prison conditions in the country.

Assange would have the right to appeal against any extradition decision to the European court of human rights if all other legal avenues failed. His lawyers are already forming human rights arguments to block his extradition within the EU.

The cables also single out high-profile individuals within the Council of Europe for criticism, in particular British secretary general Terry Davis – now retired – who is described by the Americans as an "unpopular lame duck.

"Terry Davis leaves office this summer, after a five-year term that has been, according to many sources, devoid of vision," Carver wrote in 2009.

"Davis is known as a micro-manager and will not be missed by many of his staff as well as by many resident ambassadors." Davis provoked the wrath of American officials through his outspoken attacks on secret renditions.

The cables show that US diplomats wanted to visit his successor, current secretary general Thorbjørn Jagland, to persuade him to refrain from similar public criticism of the US.

"Jagland can be expected to criticise the US for the death penalty; he may, however, be less enthusiastic than the previous secgen, Terry Davis, in publicly criticising renditions, particularly if we review such issues with him soon," Carver wrote.

"In this regard, we highly recommend a visit by a ranking department official ... to review our human rights agenda with the new secretary general in the next several weeks."

News that the Americans sought to pressure Jagland, the former prime minister of Norway, to prevent him from criticising secret renditions is likely to anger many in Europe, who see the council's role in protecting human rights from counter-terrorism policy as crucial.

But the Americans also reserved judgment on Thomas Hammarberg – the council's human rights commissioner – for his criticism of US counter-terrorism policy. In a separate cable referring to comments made to the US by the Maltese ambassador, Hammarberg is accused of seeing himself as "God's gift to the world".

The cables also reveal the pettiness of diplomatic exchanges within the Council of Europe.

In one exchange the US noted "a rather sad exchange" where Greece complained that Hammarberg had chosen photos of Turkey for his website that portrayed a positive image of the country.

"The Greek ambassador criticised photos apparently chosen for Hammarberg's website regarding [his] recent official visit to Turkey," Carver wrote. "The Greek contrasted the 'vacation-like, very positive' images with those associated with the commissioner's visit to Greece."