Antony Loewenstein

America, your perceived exceptionalism isn’t a view shared by millions of people who feel your freedom bombs dropping on their homes:

Americans widely agree that the United States has a unique character because of its history and Constitution that sets it apart from other nations as the greatest in the world. This view, commonly referred to as “U.S. exceptionalism,” is shared by at least 73% of Americans in all party groups, including 91% of Republicans.

At the same time that Americans believe the U.S. is exceptional, they also are inclined to believe that status is far from secure, according to the Dec. 10-12 USA Today/Gallup poll. Three-quarters of those who believe the U.S. is exceptional (62% of all Americans) also believe the U.S. is currently at risk of losing its unique character.

Assange on Al-Jazeera discusses the role of Wikileaks, not being opposed to paying for material (why should journalists be the only ones compensated when leakers are taking the biggest risks, he argues?) and getting material from closed societies such as China:

Prosecute the bastards:

The Israeli mainstream and European far-right fascists. A natural fit?

Ayoob Kara, a deputy minister and a member of Israel’s ruling Likud Party, told reporters Tuesday that he considers Heinz-Christian Strache and his Freedom Party as partners in the fight against terrorism and that there was nothing in the group’s program that “isn’t kosher.”

Austria’s Jewish community criticized the get-together and called for Kara’s resignation. Strache’s anti-immigration party recently saw a surge in support in local elections in Vienna, the country’s capital, following a campaign laced with anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Kara said he would do all he could to “legitimize” Strache in Israel and around the world.

Max Blumenthal has the goods on the growing campaigns in the US organised with the Zionist lobby, anti-Muslim haters, Republican politicians and those looking for a scape-goat. Remember Jews; this is the new public face of our religion. What are you doing about it?

The landmark new book by the brave Israelis who detail the full extent of Israel’s apartheid regime in the West Bank. This is all about control and humiliation of Palestinians:

Breaking the Silence Full Book ENG Dec22-10 [Occupation of the Territories — Israeli Soldier Testimonies 2…

Jeffrey Bleich, US ambassador in Australia, writes an embarrassing defence of secrecy post-Wikileaks, claims lives have been lost (with no evidence) and wishes for the good old days of governments sharing secrets because they know what’s best:

Before I became an ambassador, I worked for many years as a lawyer advocating for freedom of expression and for public access to information in the United States. Today, confronted by WikiLeaks, both roles lead me to the same conclusion – the disclosure of purported classified government information, including as advocated by WikiLeaks, is bad for free expression.

Even as a civil rights lawyer, I understood that protecting the confidentiality of sensitive government communications was vital to maintaining a free society, and confidentiality is entirely consistent with America’s and Australia’s bedrock commitment to freedom of expression.

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And today, as a US diplomat, I’ve been impressed that this commitment is shared throughout our diplomatic corps, which work around the world to promote both free expression and effective government.

As a lawyer, I handled many ”free expression” cases over two decades. These included representing media organisations demanding that the government unseal records or remove gag orders. I remain passionately committed to freedom of expression, and – like WikiLeaks – I have quoted president John F. Kennedy’s observation that as a free nation, ”we decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it”.

But, unlike WikiLeaks, I have not blinked away the other part of the president’s admonition: that a free society also depends upon the moral duty of its people to protect the confidence of truly sensitive materials.

Even the most ardent ”free expression” supporter recognises that some information is best kept confidential. This applies to many aspects of our private lives. We know it is better to handle problems with family members by offering candid advice behind closed doors, not by blurting the same thing out over Christmas dinner. We expect this discretion from professionals, too.

The following was just released by the ACTU:

WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief Julian Assange will today (Thursday) be given his Media Alliance union card, confirming that he is a member in good standing with the Australian journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance.

Assange’s Melbourne lawyer Rob Stary QC will accept Assange’s new media card from ACTU President Ged Kearney at a ceremony in Melbourne outside the office of Fairfax Media newspaper The Age.

Media Alliance Victorian branch secretary Louise Connor said that Assange had contacted the Alliance in November, just as the ‘cablegate’ story began to break, wryly noting that his credit card had been cancelled and that he may not be able to pay his union dues.

“Julian Assange has been a member of the Media Alliance for several years. Clearly, with banking corporations freezing his accounts, his situation is quite extraordinary,” Connor says.

Earlier, on the occasion of the Media Section of the Alliance celebrating its 100th birthday, the federal Media Section committee meeting in Melbourne, voted to show its support for Assange, she says. The Media Section had been created as the Australian Journalists Association on December 10, 1910.

Connor says it was decided that his union fees should be waived. “We’ve drawn up a new union card for him and offer him the full support of his union and professional association.”

Connor adds that attacks on WikiLeaks over the revelations in the cablegate saga are a clear attempt to intimidate journalists like Assange and undermine the public’s right to know. “WikiLeaks is not the leaker of these cables, nor is it the whistleblower. It is an online publisher representing the new media which is working with at least six other media groups to bring these cables to light so that the public can be kept informed.

“Attempts to muzzle the media, whether it is new media like WikiLeaks or old media like the New York Times or the Guardian or Australia’s Fairfax newspapers, cannot be tolerated if we are to lay claim to having a strong, functioning and enduring democracy,” said Ms Connor.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said Julian Assange and WikiLeaks deserve our support.

“WikiLeaks is simply performing the same function as media organisations have for centuries in facilitating the release of information in the public interest. Mr Assange’s rights should be respected just the same as other journalists.

“WikiLeaks has broken no Australian law, and as an Australian citizen, Julian Assange should be supported by the Australian government, not prematurely convicted,” said Ms Kearney.

Oops:

An Oslo-based newspaper reportedly has become the only medium in the world that’s secured unlimited access to more than 250,000 documents initially leaked to the non-profit organization WikiLeaks. The leak from WikiLeaks seems to have spoiled the organization’s strategy to retain control over the vast array of classified material mostly originating from US embassies around the globe.

One:

This is why Wikileaks is so crucial: A June 2009 cable from France, days after the great Cairo speech of Obama, in which the Israelis are said to claim a secret deal with the US for settlement growth. I’m running. More to say later. And note too where Sarkozy says, Israel, the horse of history is galloping past the window. Jump now or you are finished. The Palestinians are stronger than you think. Beautiful. Europe is taking Palestine’s side now because of this understanding. Wow. Thank you, Mr. Assange:

“MFA Middle East Director (Assistant Secretary-equivalent) Patrice Paoli informed POL Minister Counselor June 18 that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told French officials in Paris June 15 that the Israelis have a “secret accord” with the USG to continue the “natural growth” of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Paoli noted that the French anticipate strong Israeli resistance to USG pressure on this issue….

“President Sarkozy will have three messages to convey to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu when they meet in Paris on June 24:

“– ‘You think you’ve got time, but you don’t.’
“– ‘You think you have an alternative solution, but you don’t.’
“– ‘You think you’re stronger than the Palestinians, but you’re not.’

“Paoli said that Sarkozy will stress that ‘there is a single door and it is imperative to move through it now.’”

Two:

Forced prostitution and trafficking abroad for sex of Tamil children are amongst the organized criminal activities being undertaken with the knowledge of the Sri Lankan government by its troops and allied Tamil paramilitary groups, according to another Wikileaked US embassy cable from May 2007. The cable says these practices, which constitute war crimes, were raised “repeatedly” with Sri Lanka’s top leadership, including the President and top ministers. “The preponderance of [accounts] and the extent to which they independently corroborate each other points to a pattern of GSL complicity with paramilitary groups on multiple levels,” the then US Ambassador Robert Blake wrote.

Oh dear:

No sooner had Sri Lanka’s supposed change of heart on allowing the UN panel of experts on war crimes convened by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon been announced, the Colombo regime made clear the circumscribed space it will accord the panel and, more importantly, the dangerous reciprocity it is demanding.

After months of defiance in the face of growing international calls for investigations, and mounting evidence of war crimes, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government this weekend (conditionally) agreed to allow the UN expert panel to visit. The ever acquiescent Mr. Ban not only grasped the regime’s new offer, but reportedly commended President Rajapaska’s “flexibility on this issue.”

The UN experts, Ban said, would “visit Sri Lanka and meet with” the Sri Lanka’s own ‘Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission’ (LLRC) – staffed by government loyalists and already dismissed as neither genuine nor credible by international human rights groups. (Sri Lanka, however, has a different idea – the External Affairs ministry says the UN experts are to present before the LLRC, something UN sources deny).

While Sri Lanka has been under growing international pressure, its adjunct logic for agreeing to Mr. Ban’s deal soon became clear. Media minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters: “We resisted the panel saying we can’t allow a UN investigation unilaterally. But in this case, the president has invited them not to undertake any investigation but to share the evidence.”

There can be no doubt who stands to benefit from any such an arrangement. While the LLRC arguably has nothing useful to offer a proper investigation, Sri Lanka’s murderous regime is, for obvious reasons, keen to study the evidence, including witness details, in the UN’s possession. In short, in exchange for meeting the LLRC, the UN panel is being asked to hand over information gathered about atrocities to the very people who committed, sanctioned and ordered these.