So NYTimes editor throws Assange under a bus? Of course, the Times is a Serious paper that helped the US invade Iraq so everybody should take that publication very seriously, indeed: Is WikiLeaks a media organization, or is it something else? It’s a question with important implications, given the special protections afforded the press, but…
Wikileaks
Wikileaks is one of the biggest and most important stories in the world, challenging governments and journalists alike. I’ve been writing extensively about the group since 2006, featured an exclusive interview in 2008 with founder Julian Assange and examined the myriad of issues around the website. Assange himself asked me in the early days whether I wanted to be on the group’s board to vet incoming leaks and determine their veracity before publishing. I agreed but unfortunately this never eventuated.
Assange freedom
He’s out, on bail, and gave the following speech on the steps outside the British court: It’s great to smell the fresh air of London again. First, some thank yous. To all the people around the world who have had faith in me, who have supported my team while I have been away. To my…
Just watched Pilger’s The War You Don’t See
It’s a powerful indictment of journalists keen to sell war. Many reporters and officials admit they were propagandists for conflict and occupation, defending the state to get close to power and good access. Pilger weaves devastation of Iraq/Afghanistan/Palestine with reporters who embed with the state to sell the message. Little shame there. New interview with…
Don’t forget Bradley Manning
The alleged Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning is in solitary confinement in the US under torture conditions. He has been charged with no crime but has remained in isolation for months on end. In the supposedly most democratic nation on earth. Reading back over his online conversations with hacker Adrian Lamo from earlier in the year…
So that’s why many resent Wikileaks
Glorious understatement by David Rieff: …The back-story of Wikileaks is not that American diplomacy is threatened or that Al Qaeda has been strengthened but that American diplomats have lost face, and American policy intellectuals have been confronted by an existential threat to their priestly monopoly on inside information. Oh, the pity of it!
Helping US spy on Fiji in the name of democracy
Laying bare the workings of our democratically elected officials: New Zealand has been using the Waihopai communications base to spy on Fiji’s military, passing the intelligence to the United States Government, WikiLeaks cables reveal. The base was used in the 2006 coup and probably the 2000 coup, although New Zealand officials have always denied that…
How we know what Assange thinks from inside
The oddly comical and tragic; How the mother of Julian Assange wrote messages on her arm from him in prison.
The evolving Wikileaks website (and its attackers)
Watch Washington try and find something, anything, to get Julian Assange and how many Western states are keen to help them. We must resist: Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion…