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.
U.S. support, he said, could be used to build an internet or cable-TV based communications network to counter the closure of media outlets by the government. Similar requests had been made in the past, but this time ‘there was an element of panic’.

13:42 PM A cable shows the U.S. was irked by a Democracy Now! report on a deadly United Nations raid in Haiti.
A subject discussed yesterday by Kim Ives and Dan Coughlin on Democracy Now!

11:13 AM Australia delays statutory protection of whistleblowers.

11:01 AM There is a new cablegate search engine, and it's very easy on the eye: cabledrum.net

10:58 AM Dawn Paley has been going through cables concerning U.S. sponsored training of Peruvian police and has found the greatest benefit to this is an increased number of local restaurants and businesses.

10:55 AM Today we celebrate Kristinn Hrafnsson's birthday, with a good profile on the Icelandic journalist and Wikileaks' spokesperson.

10:44 AM 'Escape To New York', a three day event dedicated to music and art in Southampton, NY will feature a personal address by the head of Wikileaks, Julian Assange in the beginning of August : The Great ‘Escape To New York’ (Due to circumstances, I’m thinking this will happen via video.)

10:43 AM Not surprisingly, a study on everyday life in Afghanistan shows that, contrary to Barack Obama’s claims, US military presence in Afghanistan has been ineffectual against what is described in a 2009 diplomatic cable "as a criminal enterprise masquerading as public administration". Farmers still overwhelmed by Taliban taxes, corruption and cooperation with the Taliban abound.

10:31 AM New York has legalized same sex marriage and plans a march on behalf of Bradley Manning in the LGBT Pride Parade on Sunday.