This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a daily news update of stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
New Cables were released today.
12:30 PM A year has passed since Bradley Manning was transferred from a military jail in Kuwait to Quantico, Virginia... He is currently detained at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, still awaiting trial.
12:15 PM Cyprus government resigns "amid growing public anger over the handling of Iran-bound ammunition that exploded earlier this month and wiped out the country's main energy plant, triggering market fears that the island nation may be the next in line for a eurozone bailout." (via EUObserver)
A diplomatic cable from 2009 revealed Cyprus had been pressured by the United States to store the Iranian ammunition.
05:55 AM Julian Assange addresses this generation with an inspirational speech, screened at Splendour in the Grass festival.
"When I was twelve my family and I lived in Byron Bay. Some days I would try to climb up to the lighthouse. Earth would overhang the sea cliffs and sometimes a pebble would shift or a gull would cry and I would wonder if I was standing on the overhang.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a daily news update of stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
* Two cables dating from 2007 and 2009 show inflexibility of U.S. and Okinawa over controversial relocation of Futenma Air Station. Okinawan politicians, according to the 2007 cable, proposed faking a revision in Futenma’s relocation plan that would allow them to keep public promises. Former Tokyo-based U.S. Consul General Keving Maher, reportedly fired this year after referring to Okinawans as ‘lazy’ and ‘masters of extortion’, considered any revision to the plan ‘unnaceptable’.
Similar efforts are documented in the second diplomatic cable, from 2009, where Japanese foreign affairs official Nobushige Takamizawa is said to have suggested public discussion of a "package" of military issues by the United States would ‘provide the (Democratic Party of Japan) significant political cover to continue the (Futenma relocation facility)’.
* Brandon Neely speaks of the abuses he witnessed while serving at Guantanamo Bay as a guard, with particular focus on the treatment of David Hicks and political interference in his case.
* In a diplomatic cable recently published, it is alleged armed Cambodian soldiers are protecting loggers working illegally in Thai territory.
This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a daily news update of stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
New Cable(s) were released today.
* Julian Assange, John Pilger and Noam Chomsky have added their names to an online petition that aims to prevent commonwealth prosecutors from seizing the proceeds of David Hicks’ memoirs Guantanamo: My Journey.
"The move against Hicks’ memoirs should concern everyone. But it is of particular relevance to writers and publishers, precisely because of the direct interference into publications with which the government politically disagrees.", the petition reads.
* UMNO’s abuse of security institutions and national security laws pointed out as causes to political crisis in Malaysia in a diplomatic cable from 2008.
"In good times UMNO can maintain control by distributing power and money to get what it wants. In bad times, it uses the stick, and for now that means intimidation. The ruling elite
El País: El Arma es la Red (The Weapon is the Web)
"Los papeles de Wikileaks revelan cómo los blogueros de Egipto iniciaron su rebelión en 2005, se inspiraron en la revuelta de Irán y usaron Facebook para enfrentarse a la dictadura. (The Wikileaks documents unveil how bloggers from Egypt started their insurrection in 2005, got inspired by the one in Iran and used Facebook to face the dictatorship.)"
El País: Guatemala's congress reinstates data protection: the end of the problem that refused to go away
"Guatemala's Congress passed legislation by an overwhelming majority to reinstate data protection for drugs and agrochemicals, paving the way for consideration of the CAFTA in the U.S. Congress. This was the end of a drama played out over years that was fraught with misinformation, conflict of interest, partisan politics, and a pronounced lack of decisiveness by top political leaders. It has consumed in aggregate more of our full-time attention than any other issue in recent months. Most of what follows has been reported in e-mails and, to a lesser extent, cables as we have moved from one operational crisis to the next. Here, we lay out more systematically the extent of the problem, the forces at play, and the efforts of many to succeed on an issue where the easy arguments lie on the other side."
El País: Next steps for Thailand's compulsory license bid
El País: Objetivo: matar a Osama Bin Laden (The Goal: kill Osama Bin Laden)
"Arabia Saudí propuso unir las fuerzas de seis países para capturar o asesinar al jefe de Al Qaeda, según revelan documentos secretos del Departamento de Estado de EE UU. (Saudi Arabia proposed to unify the strength of six countries to capture or assassinate the chief of Al Qaeda, according to secret documents from the State Department of the United States.)"
The Telegraph: Why Scots want to stay in the Union
"Scotland would remain part of the United Kingdom for “a generation” because of the economic crisis, the then Scottish secretary told US officials."
The Telegraph: Zardari is a numbskull, British told Americans
"British officials described Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, as “highly corrupt” and a “numbskull”, according to leaked documents."
The Telegraph: Tony Blair's fees the talk of Beijing
"When senior diplomats met in Beijing to discuss the burning issues of the day, one topic seemed to exercise them as much as any other – the size of Tony Blair’s lecture fees."
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