Monday, November 22, 2010

Massive New Document Release Promised By WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks,  the whistleblower organization, indicated that it is preparing to release a new batch of previously classified U.S. military documents, according to the article below. In October, WikiLeaks released nearly 400,000 U.S. military reports about operations in Iraq. In July, it released more than 70,000 reports from the war in Afghanistan and this next release promises to be much, much larger. If I were WikiLeaks, I'd get out of the country!
     ....June

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Wikileaks promises massive new document release
CNN.com: Bythe CNN Wire Staff November 22, 2010 12:50 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- The whistleblower organization WikiLeaks indicated Monday that it is preparing to release a new batch of previously classified U.S. military documents.

'Next release is 7x the size of the Iraq War Logs,' the group stated via Twitter. 'Intense pressure over it for months. Keep us strong.'

In October, WikiLeaks released nearly 400,000 U.S. military reports about operations in Iraq. In July, it released more than 70,000 reports from the war in Afghanistan.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said last month that the Defense Department has been bracing for the release of more secrets by WikiLeaks. Lapan said WikiLeaks has more Pentagon material beyond what the group's founder, Julian Assange, has admitted publicly to possessing.

The military has charged Pfc. Bradley Manning with leaking video to WikiLeaks, as well as downloading documents from military computers while he served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Among the documents he is alleged to have taken are 150,000 diplomatic cables. WikiLeaks has denied being in possession of those cables.

Manning is currently being held at a military jail in Quantico, Virginia.

The Stockholm Criminal Court recently issued an international arrest warrant for Assange, saying he is suspected of rape, sexual molestation and illegal use of force.
Read entire article

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Should those US Classified documents remain classified for the safety of the American Forces overseas?  Or do you believe that it was right to be a whistleblower with reference to those documents. Which side are you on? Leave a comment

June

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

'LEAKING' CONFESSION by WikiLeaks Boss Julian Assange?

 WikiLeaks CEO Julian Assange has told of the despair caused by his constant urge to leak all over the internet, according to the tongue-in-cheek article below. Although the piece is very entertaining, it probably contains some nuggets of truth. Julian Assange has opened some large Pandora's Boxes and has been targeted by some pretty scary people. Be careful Julian!
     . . . June


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"How The Internet Ruined My Life" by WikiLeaks Boss:
by Rimbaud Bawdy  November 10th, 2010

REYKJAVIK - Iceland - The head of the WikiLeaks website, Julian Assange, has told of the despair caused by his constant urge to leak all over the internet.


'I have this irresistible urge to leak all over the World Wide Web. Sometimes, I have to be locked away from an internet connection. Please, I need help, my leaking is getting out of hand,' Mr Assange told Wired magazine.


The WikiLeaks boss is so dedicated to leaking that he is permanently glued to the internet via a special internet goggles headset. He is so engrossed in his leaking activities that he sometimes does not even have time to eat or pass bodily functions for days at a time.

His long suffering girlfriend, Matilda Huberstinka, speaks about Assange's ailing condition: "Julian doesn't sleep but leaks all through the night, then if he hears something from a military or CIA source, his leaking gets more pronounced. Sometimes I try to feed him Twinkies or M&M's through a makeshift tube linked to his quivering mouth, sometimes I put a few shrimps on the barbie and he eats those. I get to change his nappies three or four times a day because his constant leaking means he doesn't do conventional bathroom breaks. We also have to keep moving, from motel to motel, which can be a problem too. If the American government gets wind of where we're staying, then we soon get these sinister looking assholes in grey suits turning up. You ever tried to change a grown man's nappy whilst being pursued by crazed secret servicemen on a mission to bust you for leaking the truth.

No doubt, Mr Assange's brave leaking is a breath of fresh air in a world where the media is so tightly controlled by governments worldwide, so in this respect, Mr Assange should be commended for his dutiful role as the world's foremost leaker extraordinaire..

Read More


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I still think that Julian Assange is a very brave person to take on the US Government as well as lots of other high profile organizations - or is that just being foolhardy?  Leave a comment.


June


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Friday, November 5, 2010

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Founder Considers Asylum in Switzerland


 Julian Assange, Founder of WikiLeaks is considering applying for asylum in Switzerland, according to the article below. He certainly has ruffled a lot of feathers with the leaked documents about US Military secrets and he's threatening releases of other US documents as well as some from other "repressive" regimes. No wonder he needs asylum. Watch your back Julian!
    . . . June


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WikiLeaks founder mulls asylum in Switzerland:
The Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The founder of WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowers' Web site, said Friday he may apply for asylum in Switzerland, claiming he and his group have come under increasing pressure since releasing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. military documents.

Julian Assange told reporters he was 'still looking into the process' of requesting asylum, but was considering the Alpine country because 'the Swiss have a history of fierce independence.'

In October, Sweden denied Assange's application for a residence permit. The 39-year-old Australian had sought to establish a base for WikiLeaks in Sweden to take advantage of its laws protecting whistle-blowers.

Prosecutors in the Scandinavian country are still investigating rape and sexual molestation allegations against Assange by two Swedish women. Assange has denied the allegations.

Assange was speaking Friday at the United Nations in Geneva after a meeting organized by the Iranian Elite Research Center, a U.N.-accredited group based in Tehran.

He has urged U.S. authorities to probe possible rights abuses by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq following the publication by his group of almost 500,000 secret U.S. documents about the wars there.

U.S. State Department legal adviser Harold Koh dismissed the call Friday, saying information in the leaked files was already known to U.S. authorities and hundreds of investigations into suspected abuses in Afghanistan and Iraq had taken place.

Assange, a veteran computer hacker, established WikiLeaks in 2006 and it has obtained secret documents, stored them outside the reach of governments, then released them globally.

That has included 391,832 secret documents on the Iraqi war and some 77,000 classified Pentagon documents on the Afghan conflict.


Read More


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Monday, November 1, 2010

Is WikiLeaks Planning To LEAK SECRETS About Russia the China?

 If I were Julian Assange, I think it might be time to back off. Russia and China could be rather dangerous enemies. According to the following article, Assange told the global media that new leaks will expose more secrets not only about the U.S. military but about other 'repressive regimes,' such as Russia and China. Be careful what feathers you ruffle!
    . . . June

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WikiLeaks: Is Russia the Next Target?
TIME:  By Simon Shuster / Moscow Monday, Nov. 01, 2010

Say what you will about Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, but his work has shown him to be pretty fearless. After his site published the biggest cache of secret files in U.S. history on Oct. 22, detailing some of the ugly truths about the war in Iraq, he continued to travel around Europe despite U.S. reprimands and warnings. He even told the global media that new leaks will expose more secrets not only about the U.S. military but about other 'repressive regimes,' such as Russia and China.

The signals coming from Moscow, however, suggest that the Russian reaction will not be as reserved as America's. So is WikiLeaks really ready to take on the world's more callous states?

It's certainly talking the talk. In an interview published on Tuesday in Russia's leading daily newspaper Kommersant, WikiKeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said that "Russian readers will learn a lot about their country" after one of the site's upcoming document dumps. "We want to tell people the truth about the actions of their governments."






So far Russia has had no official response. But on Wednesday, an official at the Center for Information Security of the FSB, Russia's secret police, gave a warning to WikiLeaks that showed none of the tact of the U.S. reply to the Iraq revelations. "It's essential to remember that given the will and the relevant orders, [WikiLeaks] can be made inaccessible forever," the anonymous official told the independent Russian news website LifeNews.


Read more:

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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Daniel Ellsberg Endorses the WikiLeaks Publication of Iraq War Log

 There appears to be a direct correlation between Daniel Ellsberg, once called 'The most dangerous man in America' and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. According to the article below, Ellsberg famously leaked 7,000 pages of Pentagon documents much as Assange is now leaking Pentagon Documents.
   . . . June

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The 'most dangerous man in America':
gulfnews

Daniel Ellsberg, former US military analyst, speaks during a press conference in London to endorse the WikiLeaks publication of almost 400,000 Iraq war logs last week

The 'most dangerous man in America' is how former US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger once described the man. But in person Daniel Ellsberg is anything but. Down to earth, friendly and a bit jetlagged is how I find the 79-year-old former military analyst when we meet in London — where he had journeyed to attend the largest intelligence leak in US history by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Nearly 40 years ago, long before Julian Assange became a household name, Ellsberg famously leaked 7,000 pages of Pentagon documents which are said to have helped bring to an end the Vietnam War.

There are, of course, key differences between the ways the two leaks were conducted. For one, in Ellsberg's case, back in 1969, the internet wasn't an option when it came to spreading the word. He had to copy the Pentagon Papers on a slow Xerox machine in the small advertising agency of a friend while his 10-year-old daughter cut the words "Top Secret" off the top and bottom of the pages. His son helped too.

It wasn't a decision he had taken lightly. Ellsberg risked life in prison for carrying through with the task he had set himself. Yet he wanted his children to know their father wasn't a traitor, that he felt what he was doing was right for the country. A top Pentagon official at the time, working for the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg spent months smuggling out the papers in his briefcase after becoming deeply unhappy with the long war in Vietnam which was ongoing under President Nixon at the time. The documents exposed the lies and cover-ups the American people had been fed about the war.

He initially tried releasing the documents through politicians, but when that didn't work out, Ellsberg got the New York Times and Washington Post involved. With some difficulty, the information was finally released in 1971. Ellsberg went on the run but was eventually arrested and charged under the Espionage Act. He was acquitted in 1973 after gross government misconduct and illegal evidence gathering were revealed.

Read entire article


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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Julian Assange, WIKILEAKS Founder Hits Out At Wired Magazine

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder has attacked Wired magazine, claiming it is deliberately spreading misinformation. According to the following article, Assange said that speculation on one of the US tech magazine's blogs led to more than 700 articles being published all over the world this week about WikiLeak's SUPPOSED upcoming release of confidential Iraq war documents.Maybe they need to confirm their sources.
    . . . .June

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WikiLeaks founder takes aim at credibility of Wired magazine
The Daily Telegraph:

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has attacked Wired magazine, claiming it is deliberately spreading misinformation.

The criticism comes amid ongoing speculation this week about the release of confidential Iraq war documents.

In a post on Twitter yesterday, Assange, 39, accused one of the US tech magazine's blogs of being a 'known opponent' of WikiLeaks and a 'spreader of all sorts of misinformation' about the whistle-blowing website.

Assange wrote that speculation on the blog led to more than 700 articles being published all over the world this week about WikiLeak's supposed upcoming release of confidential Iraq war documents.

He wrote that the only source of claims that WikiLeaks would release nearly 400,000 documents on Iraq was Wired blog.

Assange wrote that the magazine had "ramped up" its attacks on WikiLeaks since the whistle-blowing organization called for an investigation into what role Wired magazine played in the arrest of US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning.


Manning was arrested by US authorities on suspicion of leaking video footage of a US air strike in Baghdad. The footage was published by WikiLeaks in April 2010.

Assange also accused two Wired blogs - Threat Level and Danger Room - of "ship[ping] puff pieces" and publishing "a tremendous amount of other completely false information [about] WikiLeaks."

Wired senior editor Kevin Poulsen hit back at Assange's attack, saying the magazine and its blogs had "diligently charted WikiLeaks' successes, and its setbacks" in more than 70 stories over the years.

Read entire article


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