At least there are some rational and strong political voices in Australia: Key independent MP and former whistleblower Andrew Wilkie has accused Julia Gillard of trashing freedom of speech and ignoring Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s right to be presumed innocent. As the fallout from the WikiLeaks revelations continues, the Tasmanian federal crossbencher also said today…
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.
BBC World Service on Wikileaks and importance of whistle-blowing
I was interviewed by the BBC World Service program World Have Your Say today about Wikileaks and why the website forces media and corporates to reassess their attitude towards information. More transparency and freedom is the answer. If not, the public will respond accordingly:
What to do with colluding corporates?
With hackers attacking Visa and Mastercard for colluding with censorship of Wikileaks, blogger Jon Seymour has an idea: I have a concrete suggestion for a campaign idea. The Australian Parliament, for example, could reserve for itself the right to impose a “freedom tax” on payment services like PayPal, MasterCard and Visa. The tax rate would…
John Pilger backs Wikileaks rally in Sydney
Renowned independent journalist and filmmaker… John Pilger has offered his support for the protest organised by supporters of Wikileaks on… Friday, December 10 at… 1pm… at Sydney… Town Hall. Greens Senator-elect… Lee Rhiannon and NSW Greens MLC… David Shoebridge are the latest confirmed speakers to address the protest. Shoebridge is also the lead candidate on the NSW Greens Upper House ticket for…
Our jolly good mates in Saudi laugh at our oil dependence
Wikileaks-released cable about Saudi Arabia, our cuddly fundamentalist friend in the Middle East. We’ve been supporting these brutes for decades and yet no major Western leader seems to think it may be a good idea to move away from them. Alternative energy anybody? Summary: The Saudi regulatory system offers the al-Saud regime a means to…
Saudi elites drink, smoke and sleep around (thanks for the help, world)
Our close friends in Saudi Arabia are a bunch of hypocritical bigots who love a good party like the rest of us. Oh, they also don’t allow women to work or vote, support terrorist organisations and hate democracy. Just the kind of friend the West loves: United States diplomats have described a world of “sex,…
Confirmation that Paypal takes orders from US government
So the US State Department tells a company something is illegal and they simply follow orders and do as they’re told (any major evidence shown, peoples?). Paypal, we’re watching: PayPal today admitted it suspended payments to WikiLeaks after an intervention from the US State Department. The site’s vice-president of platform, Osama Bedier, told an internet…
Wikileaks post Assange?
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…