Impossible to know the reliability of this story (from Wired) but short-term problems for Wikileaks are surely almost inevitable: The arrest without bail of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday has left the organization in a state of uncertainty, despite transition plans laid out prior to his surrender to British police, according to one dispirited…
Please count how many in the Aussie elites have more than one master
Just how many senior Australian politicians are essentially working for the American interest, being good little sources of information for the empire? We are not a truly independent nation: FEDERAL minister and right-wing Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib has been revealed as a confidential contact of the United States embassy in Canberra, providing inside information and…
Of course Canberra wants other people to protect our empire in Afghanistan
Australia begins to copy the American mercenary model; outsourcing essential tasks with little or no parliamentary oversight: Australia has awarded a $20 million two-year contract guarding diplomats in Kabul to a private security company owned by a special forces soldier turned British lord and that once hired a former South African apartheid-era assassin. The move…
Trying to stop Wikileaks is about as futile as arguing the sun is square
Because Wikileaks has many defenders, far faster than sluggish governments: An anonymous, loosely affiliated group that has been responsible for a series of recent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against entertainment industry websites over copyright issues, has started attacking organisations viewed as being hostile to WikiLeaks, says a PandaLabs researcher. The group, dubbed Anonymous,…
Don’t get creative legally over Assange
Yet more reasons why Julian Assange should not go to the US. A fair trial is impossible when the powers that be simply want to silence him. A political with-hunt is in season. Australia must do far more: One: The Justice Department, in considering whether and how it might indict Julian Assange, is looking beyond…
Assange cannot be the new David Hicks; abandoned to his fate
Cameron Stewart writes a perceptive piece in the Australian on the troubles for the Australian government. It either stands up for its citizen, Julian Assange, or is made to simply follow Washington’s dictates. The evidence thus far is not good: Australia faces potentially the greatest political fallout of any non-American nation from the WikiLeaks controversy.…
ANZ realises that cluster bombs aren’t the nicest weapon out there
This news from last week (via Crikey) is worth getting out and shows how naming and shaming corporate giants can have a positive effect: The Uniting Church has secured victory in a long-running campaign to convince ANZ Bank to stop funding companies involved in the production of cluster munitions. An international treaty banning cluster bombs…
Rabbinical racism has been backed by Zionist state for decades
No comment required: Fifty Israeli rabbis have signed an open letter warning Jews not to let or sell property to non-Jews, saying those who do should be “ostracised”, a copy of the letter showed on Tuesday. “In answer to the many questions, we say that it is forbidden in the Torah to sell a house…
Chalk one up for intellectual strength over Wikileaks
Academic bravery does happen. But how few in the academy are willing to seriously challenge the state itself? There’s no need for the entire DVD collection of James Bond films when there’s the unfolding intrigue of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Deakin University’s senior lecturer in international relations, Dr Scott Burchill, is keeping a close eye…