Assange Watch

[UndercoverElephant]

Great news. Now wait for the Americans to start throwing toys out of their pram.

[clv101]

Here's a fairly good write up from The Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/intera ... rd-snowden

I've been impressed with their coverage and willingness to to spill the beans.

[emordnilap]

Here's a fairly good write up from The Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/intera ... rd-snowden

I've been impressed with their coverage and willingness to to spill the beans.

Chairman Wow, hell of an article. Phew.

[emordnilap]

Julian Assange speaks on the Bradley Manning verdict:

Today Bradley Manning, a whistleblower, was convicted by a military court at Fort Meade of 19 offences for supplying the press with information, including five counts of "espionage." He now faces a maximum sentence of 136 years.

The "aiding the enemy" charge has fallen away. It was only included, it seems, to make calling journalism "espionage" seem reasonable. It is not.

Bradley Manning's alleged disclosures have exposed war crimes, sparked revolutions, and induced democratic reform. He is the quintessential whistleblower.

This is the first ever espionage conviction against a whistleblower. It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism. It is a short-sighted judgment that cannot be tolerated and must be reversed. It can never be that conveying true information to the public is "espionage."

President Obama has initiated more espionage proceedings against whistleblowers and publishers than all previous presidents combined.

In 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama ran on a platform that praised whistleblowing as an act of courage and patriotism. That platform has been comprehensively betrayed. His campaign document described whistleblowers as watchdogs when government abuses its authority. It was removed from the internet last week.

Throughout the proceedings there has been a conspicuous absence: the absence of any victim. The prosecution did not present evidence that -- or even claim that -- a single person came to harm as a result of Bradley Manning's disclosures. The government never claimed Mr. Manning was working for a foreign power.

The only "victim" was the US government's wounded pride, but the abuse of this fine young man was never the way to restore it. Rather, the abuse of Bradley Manning has left the world with a sense of disgust at how low the Obama administration has fallen. It is not a sign of strength, but of weakness.

The judge has allowed the prosecution to substantially alter the charges after both the defense and the prosecution had rested their cases, permitted the prosecution 141 witnesses and extensive secret testimony. The government kept Bradley Manning in a cage, stripped him naked and isolated him in order to crack him, an act formally condemned by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for torture. This was never a fair trial.

The Obama administration has been chipping away democratic freedoms in the United States. With today's verdict, Obama has hacked off much more. The administration is intent on deterring and silencing whistleblowers; intent on weakening freedom of the press.

The US first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." What part of "no" does Barack Obama fail to comprehend?

[biffvernon]

This is the Third World War. It is so unconventional that most folk don't yet realise that we are in it.

[emordnilap]

This is the Third World War. It is so unconventional that most folk don't yet realise that we are in it.

Good point. Combine these USA administration's tactics with their use drones and you have a war run by cowards.

[biffvernon]

Oh wars have been run by cowards for a long time. Lions and donkeys. You have to go back to medieval times to find the king himself in the centre of battle.

The Third World War possibly (at least in this early 'phoney' phase) has relatively few mortal casualties but is just as much concerned with control of power, wealth and influence as any.

edit: Actually, I'm tempted to include the whole global health, wealth and knowledge maldistribution thing in the Third World War, in which case the victims of malnutrition and obesity need to be included in the casualty role. Thus the Third World War is already far and away the most deadly.

[PS_RalphW]

The NSA funds GCHQ to the tune of $100M.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013 ... rvices-nsa

GCHQ puts more effort into keeping the NSA sweet than any other business.

This is treason.

[emordnilap]

Oh wars have been run by cowards for a long time,

Thank you for saying 'run' and not 'fought'.

[emordnilap]

BTW, see here.

[UndercoverElephant]

The NSA funds GCHQ to the tune of $100M.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013 ... rvices-nsa

GCHQ puts more effort into keeping the NSA sweet than any other business.

This is treason.

Yep.

[emordnilap]

Surveillance is normal in the Age of Regression - as Edward Snowden revealed. Ubiquitous cameras are normal. Subverted freedoms are normal. Effective public dissent is now controlled by police, whose intimidation is normal.

The traducing of noble words like "democracy", "reform", "welfare" and "public service" is normal. Prime ministers who lie openly about lobbyists and war aims are normal. The export of £4bn worth of British arms, including crowd control ammunition, to the medieval state of Saudi Arabia, where apostasy is a capital crime, is normal.

The willful destruction of efficient, popular public institutions like the Royal Mail is normal. A postman is no longer a postman, going about his decent work; he is an automaton to be watched, a box to be ticked. Huxley described this regression as insane and our "perfect adjustment to that abnormal society" a sign of the madness.

More here.

[UndercoverElephant]

Surveillance is normal in the Age of Regression - as Edward Snowden revealed. Ubiquitous cameras are normal. Subverted freedoms are normal. Effective public dissent is now controlled by police, whose intimidation is normal.

The traducing of noble words like "democracy", "reform", "welfare" and "public service" is normal. Prime ministers who lie openly about lobbyists and war aims are normal. The export of £4bn worth of British arms, including crowd control ammunition, to the medieval state of Saudi Arabia, where apostasy is a capital crime, is normal.

The willful destruction of efficient, popular public institutions like the Royal Mail is normal. A postman is no longer a postman, going about his decent work; he is an automaton to be watched, a box to be ticked. Huxley described this regression as insane and our "perfect adjustment to that abnormal society" a sign of the madness.

More here.

Thanks for posting. Have reposted to facebook and stuff...

[emordnilap]

Thanks for posting. Have reposted to facebook and stuff...

Thanks for that.

John Pilger is up there with the best of them. Phenomenally incisive man.

[emordnilap]

Pfc. Bradley E. Manning's Statement for the Providence Inquiry

I thought these cables were a prime example of a need for a more open diplomacy. Given all of the Department of State cables that I read, the fact that most of the cables were unclassified, and that all the cables have a SIPDIS caption, I believe that the public release of these cables would not damage the United States; however, I did believe that the cables might be embarrassing, since they represented very honest opinions and statements behind the backs of other nations and organizations.

In many ways these cables are a catalogue of cliques and gossip. I believed exposing this information might make some within the Department of State and other government entities unhappy.