Manning

2011-07-14 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

11:10 PM Senator John McCain has asked for a committee to be appointed to investigate Wikileaks and Anonynomous, which he described as a threat.

10:55 PM Investigation concludes Bradley Manning's treatment at Quantico violated Navy policy.

He was inappropriately kept under suicide watch after a medical officer established in two separate occasions a suicide risk status was no longer warranted.
On at least 20 occasions psychologists or psychiatrists also determined he was to be taken off “prevention of injury” status but brig commanders rejected the recommendations.

The Pentagon’s top lawyer had insisted Bradley Manning's treatment was in compliance with the law and military regulations, back in April when he was transfered to Fort Leavenworth, and Manning's complaint about his treatment had been previously been formally rejected, considered 'without merit'.

10:20 PM A press conference was held by Wikileaks today in London on the subject of the financial blockade imposed by Visa and Mastercard and subsequent legal action started by DataCell.

Update: Full press conference here.

2011-07-11 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

10:40 PM The discs publicly handed to Julian Assange last January by Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer are now reported to be devoid of any secret banking information…
Elmer has been held for six months without charges.

10:25 PM Be present at Royal Courts of Justice (London) tomorrow, the first day of the extradition appeal hearing, for a demonstration in support of Julian Assange, click here for more information.

10:20 PM Our very own Julian Assange Trial Coverage, with a Press Archive that I'm trying to keep updated. And the best resource website on the case : swedenversusassange.com

09:50 PM U.S. soldier and Collateral Murder eyewitness Ethan McCord tells The Nation:

…Steve Fishman's article Bradley Manning's Army of One in New York Magazine erases Manning’s political agency. By focusing so heavily on Manning's personal life, Fishman removes politics from a story that has everything to do with politics.

09:45 PM An insightful interview with David House by Democracy Now !

2011-07-09 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

05:30 PM Julian Assange’s extradition hearing is only two days away. Fair trial for Julian Assange in case he gets extradited?

05:00 PM During today's ‘Free Assange ! End the Wars !’ public meeting in London, Peter Tatchell encouraged everyone to send letters of support to Bradley Manning:

If you haven't written to Bradley Manning, please do so - and ask your friends to.

Also, as a reminder, there are only 9 days left to contribute towards a Bradley Manning billboard in Kansas. Click here if you wish to help.

All human progress has been based on brave people putting themselves at great personal risk, I believe Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are such people. - Peter Tatchell

04:50 PM Wikileaks partner in Pakistan, Dawn, reveals the Musharraf regime's efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear weapon program.

Based on the frequency of reporting to American officials on the issue, toeing the US line seems to have been one motivation for this deep involvement. But in an April 2006 meeting with US Senator Chuck Hagel, Mr Kasuri provided a list of other reasons why Pakistan was so keen to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

2011-07-04 The Homophobic Smear of Bradley Manning

ImageA recent article by Steve Fishman in New York Magazine trots out more salacious gossip about Bradley Manning's sexuality, in what is now a sustained media campaign to discredit the military whistleblower. On foot of the Fishman article, WL Central examines the more insidious aspects of this trend.

Bradley Manning's sexuality is irrelevant. For anyone who has read the logs purporting to document his confession, his professed motives were plain. If he is guilty of blowing the whistle, he clearly blew the whistle on conscientious grounds. His sexual identity is irrelevant to this. If he did not blow the whistle, his sexuality is equally irrelevant.

His sexuality is irrelevant, but what is becoming relevant is how assiduously the press have focused on it. The issue has become seperate from the story of Manning's alleged involvement with Wikileaks. Since Ginger Thomson's Bradley Manning piece in August last year, mainstream media coverage of the issue has created and reinforced an alternative history of the Manning case, wherein his actions were the pathological outcome of a deeply psychologically troubled individual, recklessly breaking protocol in a fit of indulgent self-realization.

2011-07-04 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

08:50 PM First interview with Sabu of LulzSec:

When I found out about what happened to Julian Assange, his arrest in the UK and so on, I found it absolutely absurd. So I got involved with Anonymous at that point.

08:00 PM Zinnia Jones who contributed with chat logs to the NY Mag piece on Bradley Manning releases statement about it, says unredacted logs will be made available next week.

I provided them with our logs because I wanted them to see a different side of Bradley. I will be releasing the unredacted logs next week so that everyone can read them. After all of the stories portraying him as mentally unstable and revealing his problems at home and in the military, I felt it was important for people to know that there was a time when he seemed satisfied with his life.

07:45 PM assangedidnot.com A collection of evils Julian Assange is not to blame for – and respective culprits.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

2011-07-03 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

08:15 PM Also, back from London from an inspirational and very entertaining discussion between Julian Assange and Slavoj Zizek, moderated by Amy Goodman. Much has been written about it already, both on twitter and the special blog opened by the Frontline Club (1 , 2) for the occasion.

A video of the event is available here.

Julian Assange on the origin and impact of Wikileaks:

“We need a cablegate for the CIA, we need a cablegate for the SVR, when need a cablegate for The New York Times, actually, one of the stories that have been suppressed and how they’ve been managed. And once we start getting that sort of volume and concretize and protect the rights of everyone to communicate with one another, which to me is the basic ingredient of civilized life

It is not the right to speak. What does it mean to have the right to speak mean if you’re on the moon? There’s no one around. It doesn’t mean anything. Rather, the right to speak comes from our rights to know and the two of us together, someone’s right to speak and someone’s right to know produce a right to communicate and so that is the grounding structure for all that we treasure about civilized life.

2011-07-02 WikiLeaks Notes: Stainless Steel Rat, Bradley Manning Rally, WL Crusade Against Visa & Mastercard

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Remember that the WikiLeaks essay competion has 8 finalists

Find your favorite essay in order to vote and/or comment clicking on our competition tag.

Wikileaks lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard

Great Reddit discussion on WikiLeaks and Datacell to sue Visa & MasterCard for engaging in an unlawful, U.S. influenced, financial blockade.

Stainless Steel Rat, is the play about the life and works of Julian Assange a rip-off?

Paul Tomlinson writes in the Harry Harrison Official News Blog: Assange is known for taking things which don’t belong to him and making them freely available. The authors of the ‘wikiplay’ Stainless Steel Rat seem to have taken a similar approach, but they’re using Harry Harrison’s creations for their own profit. Shame.

On the words of Harry Harrison: These guys are ripoff artists. I'd have them in jail if I could. I'm trying.

2011-07-01 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

10:25 PM Cable on U.S.-Panama Express Rendition Program dissected.

07:45 PM Wikileaks just made an important announcement on twitter:

Stay tuned for important news regarding the attack on WikiLeaks by VISA, MasterCard and others

Update: This was after legal action against the financial institutions had been announced by Kristinn Hrafnsson in Brazil.

06:20 PM The Wikileaks you missed: Foreign Policy sums up four months of secret diplomatic cable releases on Thailand, Haiti, India, Pakistan, Peru and Japan.

05:30 PM Apparently, while in Brazil, Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed Wikileaks has something to reveal about Visa and Mastercard.

A write-up on his talk at the 6th International Congress of Investigative Journalism with the participation of the founder of A Pública, Natália Viana, can be found here.

2011-06-29 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

11:35 PM Senator Youri Latortue, ally of Haiti's president, described as a drug-trafficker, gang godfather, death-squad leader and overall corrupt politician in U.S. State Department cables.

11:25 PM Inside Canada’s very own W.T.F.: a Wikileaks Task force and a ‘war room’ were set in Ottawa to deal with Wikileaks releases by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. This ‘war room’ used to be operational 12 hours a day and was the only place where access to the Wikileaks website was allowed.

04:40 PM Curators of Wikileaks-inspired art exhibition Information is Currency praise Wikileaks' impact in new interview:

WikiLeaks has shaken power dynamics; it has given some power back to people. 'We can access you; you're not impenetrable or invincible, and we can wreak our own sense of moral justice on you'. That's what youth identify with; that they want to wrestle some of this power back.

2011-06-28 Most in the American LGBT Community Do Not Know of Bradley Manning

(update below)

Photo by ChicagoGeek

In San Francisco, New York and Chicago, support contingents for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks whistleblower, participated in Sunday’s gay pride parades. Those who marched in contingents aimed to make the LGBT community more aware of Bradley Manning.

Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network and Bradley Manning Support Network Advisory Board member, says he and others in the LGBT community organized a contingent because Manning is a gay man and “we think it is important to stand up for those in our own community who are being victimized.”

The Bradley Manning Support Network finds Manning is “being increasingly hailed by LGBT activists as a hero.” Lieutenant Daniel Choi, an active and well-known gay rights advocate who helped contribute to the movement that ultimately results in the repeal of DADT, recently announced he was “proud to stand by side with Bradley Manning” and on the day of the pride parades tweeted, “I dedicate this Pride to American Hero Private Bradley Manning, our fellow gay freedom fighter currently locked up in Ft. Leavenworth, KS.”

The pride parade in Chicago was one of the first major events for the Chicago chapter of Bradley Manning supporters. Here in Chicago, activists are confronting the fact that many do not know of Manning.

2011-06-28 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.

11:25 PM Cable on Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy offers insight into Malaysia's government-controlled media.

08:55 PM Good news. Julian Assange in conversation with Slavoj Žižek, moderated by Amy Goodman will be live streamed this Saturday, 04:00 PM GMT at democracynow.org

06:20 PM Bahamas concerned over Chinese labor in the country close to 2007 general election, a cable shows.

05:00 PM After six months of having 90% of their donations unlawfully blocked, Wikileaks releases video and statement calling for investigation and de-licensing of the five major U.S. financial institutions responsible: VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union and the Bank of America.

2011-06-27 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are GMT.

23:35 PM Before leaving to Brazil to participate in the 7th International Congress on Investigative Journalism in São Paulo, Kristinn Hrafnsson gave an interview to Brazilian magazine Época where he states that Wikileaks is in possession of so much material to go through already that fixing its sabotaged submission system was not considered a priority.

He also stresses the organization’s capacity to survive and adapt to any circumstances involving its members : It’s not an idea that depends 100% on a single person or a small number of people.

22:55 PM A Pública continues its analysis of diplomatic cables related to Brazil, including the government’s intention of building a hydroelectric plant in territory disputed by Venezuela and Guyana in an ‘effort to consolidate Guyana’s claim to the area’.
During Wikileaks Week about 50 articles total will be published based on Wikileaks material.

2011-06-26 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases & #WikiLeaks

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are GMT.

17:35 PM The Chinese government has refused to comment on a U.S. State Department cable that reveals China’s ex-Finance Minister Jin Renqing was victim of a honeytrap by a woman believed to be a Taiwan intelligence operative. This situation preceded his sudden resignation in 2007.

15:20 PM Wikileaks' supporters organize events in London advocating Julian Assange’s freedom : a Free Assange, End The Wars public meeting is scheduled for the 9th of July, at the Giuseppe Conlon House and a video of a previous manifestation of support entitled Julian Assange Subterranean Homesick Blues can be seen on youtube :

2011-06-25 Timothy Lawson interviews Jim Richardson, member of Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning

ImageTimothy Lawson spoke to Jim Richardson, a member of Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning, about the group’s campaign work. This interview was sent to us by Mr. Lawson, for publication on WL Central.

Can you tell me about the Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning group?

Bradley Manning is a US army soldier accused of passing information to WikiLeaks, including the “Collateral Murder” video of an American airstrike that killed two journalists and nine other Iraqis and wounded two children; the Afghan War Diary; the Iraq War Logs; and more than 250,000 diplomatic cables, many of which reveal vast differences between the public statements and the actions of numerous governments.

Manning was arrested in May 2010, and from July 2010 to April 2011 was held waiting trial in maximum security under widely criticised conditions at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia.

He is facing charges carrying sentences of up to 52 years jail, and, in theory, the death penalty. After worldwide outcry, on April 20, still awaiting trial, Bradley was moved to a new military remand prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where his detention conditions seem to be better.

Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning is a small, informal, self-organised group, currently of six people. Michele, our founding member, started things going in March 2011, with a rally in support of Manning in Sydney’s Martin Place.

2011-06-25 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases, #WikiLeaks & More

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This is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are GMT.

21:12 PM Five more seats at table with Julian Assange and Slavoj Žižek are being auctioned by Wikileaks to raise funds, four of them start with a £50 bid.

20:05 PM «The Age of Wikileaks» by Greg Mitchell is now for sale in Japan, and the design featured on its cover can be purchased as a t-shirt from Wikileaks’ official store.

20:01 PM Wikileaks’ partner Semana reveals Venezuelan opposition deputy Ismael García requested U.S. funds for his party Podemos through the National Endowment for Democracy, according to a 2009 diplomatic cable.
Confronted with U.S. ambassador Patrick Duddy’s refusal, García suggested U.S. interests faced potential risks due to Cuban and Iranian involvement in Venezuela, and that it was time for the U.S. to start intervening in the country.

2011-06-24 LGBT Community Rallies for PFC Bradley Manning at Pride Events

ImageBradley Manning Pride Contingents Planned for San Francisco, Chicago & Other Cities

Lieutenant Dan Choi Speaks Out in Support of PFC Manning

San Francisco, CA — This Sunday, June 26, during the Pride events in San Francisco, a contingent of LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) activists and allies will rally in support of PFC Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst who stands accused of revealing classified documents to WikiLeaks. Similar Bradley Manning Pride Contingents are being organized for Pride events in several other cities, including in Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, and London. (A few of these events already took place last weekend.)

“Bradley Manning has stood with the LGBT community before, and we look forward to him marching with us again when he’s free,” said Andy Thayer of the Chicago Gay Liberation Network, and advisory board member of the Bradley Manning Support Network. “Bradley has a strong track record of standing up for human rights and equality. If he did what he is accused of—if he released information to the American people that should have been public in the first place—then it’s clear that his motivation was rooted in a commitment to social justice. He’s a hero.”

Details about Bradley Manning Pride Contingents (Sunday, June 26):

Chicago

San Francisco

For details about other contingents, or for interviews or other information, contact Matt Smucker: jms@beyondthechoir.org, 717.209.0445

2011-06-24 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases, #WikiLeaks & More

ImageThis is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa. All the times are EST.

10:30 PM At AlterNet: "Since WikiLeaks, authorities have been more aggressive about arresting citizen cyber activists. Yet new actions by the biggest "hacktivists" show they're willing to risk it."

10:20 PM The Australian "The standard imposed on WikiLeaks is one that cannot be imposed on any media organization." For more, go here.

7:45 PM Journalist Dan Coughlin and Nation editor Betsy Reed for TheNation.com in a "Nation Conversation" on the stories the site has been publishing on the Haiti cables. Coughlin says what has been striking about the cables has been how they really pull "the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz."

He finds the level of bullying—how the US State Dept uses extraordinary power to push around the Haiti government—and the micromanagement—how the US is so concerned with, for example, the location of a police station in a slum—to be most shocking.

2011-06-23 Lt. Dan Choi: Proud to Stand Shoulder to Shoulder with Bradley Manning

While at Netroots Nation 2011, I had the privilege of speaking to Lieutenant Dan Choi, who served in the US Army infantry, went to war in Iraq and graduated from West Point with a degree in Arabic.

Choi was kicked out of the military under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) about one year ago. At Netroots Nation, Choi celebrated his one year "anniversary or birthday" as a civilian. He also noted that despite DADT being repealed there are still soldiers getting kicked out of the military for being gay.

The US government is putting Lt. Dan Choi on trial August 29 for "demonstrating in front of the White House in November of last year." Choi refuses to plead guilty or accept any kind of deal.

“I believe this Administration is making a grave mistake in limiting the areas, times and manners that free speech should be allowed," declares Choi. And adds nobody should be intimidated into not protesting.

I spoke to Choi the day after he had gone with Hamsher to support Bradley Manning Support Network co-founder David House, as he went before a federal grand jury investigating individuals supportive of alleged military whistleblower Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks. Choi says House is an "American hero" and "our situations are exactly the same."

2011-06-23 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases, #WikiLeaks & More

ImageThis is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa.

All the times are EST. You can contact me at kgosztola@hotmail.com with any news tips. Twitter username is @kgosztola. Also, if you are looking for some insightful discussion of stories related to WikiLeaks, I encourage you to check out the catalog of podcasts posted here at WL Central from the "This Week in WikiLeaks" show I produce every week.

8:10 PM Cables provide new insight into "international tug of war" over individual on US EPA's list of environmental fugitives

5:00 PM Lt. Dan Choi, now facing federal charges for engaging in a civil disobedience action at the White House fence in protest of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," in video says he is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bradley Manning.

4:45 PM Op-ed by Dave Shipler in the New York Times on how it was a rough spring for the Fourth Amendment - privacy, warrants, the right of citizens to not be subject to unreasonable searches or seizures.

2011-06-20 WikiLeaks Notes: Latest News on #Cablegate Releases, #WikiLeaks & More

ImageThis is a "WikiLeaks News Update," constantly updated throughout each day. The blog tracks stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks but also follows stories related to freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and sometimes the national security establishment of the United States because each issue/topic helps one further understand WikiLeaks and vice versa.

All the times are EST. You can contact me at kgosztola@hotmail.com with any news tips. Twitter username is @kgosztola. Also, if you are looking for some insightful discussion of stories related to WikiLeaks, I encourage you to check out the catalog of podcasts posted here at WL Central from the "This Week in WikiLeaks" show I produce every week.

11:35 PM Peru cables: US Chamber of Commerce urged State Department to co-sponsor conference to help push Peru government to crack down on piracy and better support intellectual property rights

11:25 PM If Nelson Mandela was still involved in South African politics, he would be opposed to the current Protection of Information bill.

11:20 PM Patrick Kingsley for the Sydney Morning Herald writes on the "menace of computer hacking." Why is it menacing? Targeted attacks have become so dangerous because of the amount of information that can be divulged on the Internet.

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