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.
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.
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.
Next: We got Obasanjo to anoint Yar'Adua, says Saraki
"Contrary to the belief that former President Olusegun Obasanjo personally hand-picked late President Umaru Yar'Adua as his successor, a United States diplomatic cable obtained by Wikileaks and made available exclusively to NEXT, has detailed how a group of governors led by Bukola Saraki, the Kwara State governor, worked behind the scene to pressure Mr. Obasanjo into anointing the former Katsina State governor as his replacement.
No other person than Mr. Saraki himself gave the account of the political intrigues that threw up the late president to a former US Consul General, Brian Browne."
Aftenposten: MP CRITICIZES JAPANESE NUCLEAR PLANS
"Lower House Diet Member Taro Kono voiced his strong opposition to the nuclear industry in Japan, especially nuclear reprocessing, based on issues of cost, safety, and security during a dinner with a visiting staffdel, Energy Attache and Economic Officer October 21. Kono also criticized the Japanese bureaucracy and power companies for continuing an outdated nuclear energy strategy, suppressing development of alternative energy, and keeping information from Diet members and the public. He also expressed dissatisfaction with the current election campaign law."
Aftenposten: CLIMATE CHANGE: EMISSION IMPOSSIBLE: NPP SHUTDOWN EXACERBATES JAPAN´S KYOTO TARGET BIND
Next: Govt paid N20m ransom to free Delta hostages
"The Nigerian government, through its secret police, fuelled kidnapping in the restive Niger Delta region by paying millions of naira in ransom to kidnappers, a leaked US diplomatic cable, made available to NEXT, has revealed.
The cable, dated February 6, 2007, and which punctured the claims by the government, and the Nigerian security agencies, that ransoms were never paid to kidnappers, detailed how the government funnelled N20 million through an official of the State Security Service (SSS) to militants to free two foreign hostages."
Next: CHEVRON NIGERIA SEEKS LONG-TERM SOLUTION TO DELTA UNREST
"Chevron Nigeria security consultant Hamish MacDonald shared concerns that a large amount of money was paid for the release of the Delta hostages and an industry of hostage-taking may be in the offing. Chevron has managed thus far to stay out of harm's way, but MacDonald feels the urgent need to expand internationally-supported, long-term development programs. He plans to discuss the matter privately with Delta State Governor Ibori. Chevron will be welcoming a new Managing Director, and, with his arrival, MacDonald expects Chevron to transition from an expansion mode to one of consolidation."
El País: "Ábrelo y di ahhhh: Sistema venezolano de salud" ("Open it up and say ahhhh: Venezuelan health system")
Aftenposten: READOUT NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 28, 2009
"AFGHANISTAN: ISAF Senior Civilian Representative Gentilini said the Afghans were eager for NATO to respond to its proposal for a military technical agreement, sent to NATO in early January. The SCR and several Perm Reps stressed that a MTA with the Afghans could help address the issue of civilian casualties, but many cautioned that the legal difficulties involved in negotiating such an agreement called for the Alliance to proceed with caution. Saying it needed more time to seek instructions, Hungary blocked consensus on a decision that fully filling the Elections Support Force (ESF) should take priority over filling the NATO Response Force (NRF), which would have allowed nations to pull NRF components for use in the ESF. The NAC will revisit the issue next week."
Aftenposten: AMBASSADORS JANUARY 11 MEETING WITH NATO SENIOR ISAF REPRESENTATIVE ON GIROA PROPOSED AFGHANISTAN-NATO MILITARY TECHNICAL AGREEMENT
El País: Zelaya logró que Chávez y Castro firmaran una propuesta sin saber que era de EE UU (Zelaya influenced Chávez and Castro into signing a proposal without letting them know it was an American one)
"Según los cables del Departamento de Estado, Chávez reclamó a Honduras que dejara de considerar a las FARC como un grupo terrorista. (According with the cables of the American State Department, Chávez demanded to Honduras to stop calling FARC a terrorist group.)"
El País: EE UU retrata al presidente yemení totalmente alejado de la realidad (The United States says the Yemeni president is completely out of reality)
""Si le digo que el país tiene problemas, se enfada", confesó un parlamentario. ("If I tell him the country has problems, he gets upset", confessed a diplomat.)"
New York Times: Cables Show How U.S. Privately Pressured Egypt
"It was Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first meeting as secretary of state with President Hosni Mubarak, in March 2009, and the Egyptians had an odd request: Mrs. Clinton should not thank Mr. Mubarak for releasing an opposition leader from prison because he was ill.
In fact, a confidential diplomatic cable signed by the American ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey, advised Mrs. Clinton to avoid even mentioning the name of the man, Ayman Nour, even though his imprisonment in 2005 had been condemned worldwide, not least by the Bush administration."
El País: EE UU pone en duda la capacidad de Repsol para desarrollar su mayor proyecto petrolero en Venezuela (The United States doubts the abilities of Repsol to develop its major oil project in Venezuela)
"Washington se esfuerza por intensificar la relación entre la estadounidense Chevron y Caracas. Las multinacionales abogan por un boicot general para arrancar mejores condiciones a Chávez. (Washington makes an effort in order to intensify the relation between the American company Chevron and Caracas. The multinational oil companies request a general boycott to gain better conditions from Chavez.)"
El País: Estados Unidos considera que Chile afrontó la muerte de Pinochet mejor que España la de Franco (The United States believes that Chile faced Pinochet's death in a better way than Spain the death of Franco)
"Washington celebró la forma en que Chile afrontó la muerte del dictador, en oposición al caso de España. (Washington celebrated the way chile faced the dictator's death, in opposition to the case of Spain.)"
Aftenposten: Does Hamas have a cash flow problem in Gaza?
"Hamas was more than a week late in paying January salaries and, according to Post´s Gaza contacts, has not yet paid those salaries in full. While most contacts report that Hamas faces a liquidity crisis, they disagree on the cause. Hamas reportedly relies heavily on foreign assistance to support its budget, and the current cash flow problem is most likely a result of Egyptian anti-smuggling efforts. Gaza-based contacts report that Hamas is cutting costs and increasing its internal revenue collection, through taxes and fees. The amount of extra revenue that these efforts can generate is limited, however. Gazans speculate that recent real estate investments may also have tied up some of Hamas´s available cash."
Aftenposten: Rail Projects Underway, But a Uniform Network Remains Elusive
"While two rail construction projects in Afghanistan are underway and several more are under discussion, the dream of a nationwide rail network remains remote. Small-scale projects sponsored by neighboring countries require different rail gauges, matching those of the countries these projects border; while the security situation is delaying two projects and likely deterring proposals for more. The enforcement of a single rail gauge is not practical since it would fail to make connections with at least half of Afghanistan´s neighbors. The Afghan Government must obtain funding f´ and build gauge changing stations if it is serious about connecting Afghanistan´s major population centers and industrial areas by train."
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) are looking for organizations interested in submitting proposals for projects that support what the document terms 'internet freedom'. Specifically, they have US$30 million for
projects that will foster freedom of expression and the free flow of information on the Internet and other connection technologies in East Asia, including China and Burma; the Near East, including Iran; Southeast Asia; the South Caucasus; Eurasia, including Russia; Central Asia; Latin America, including Cuba and Venezuela; and Africa. Programming may support activities in Farsi, Chinese, Russian, Burmese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, and other languages spoken in acutely hostile Internet environments.
The State Department's previous attempts at promoting 'internet freedom' met with a lack of success, according to Foreign Policy because "By aligning themselves with Internet companies and organizations, Clinton's digital diplomats have convinced their enemies abroad that Internet freedom is another Trojan horse for American imperialism." The statement from the link above: "DRL and NEA support programs ... in countries and regions of the world that are geo-strategically important to the United States." may have helped convince their enemies. They will have the opportunity to disprove that idea when all of the following technology is turned in all other directions, as history shows it will be. Always assuming any of the new projects work better than, for instance, Haystack.
The Telegraph: WikiLeaks release: Timeline of the key WikiLeaks revelations
The Telegraph's John Swaine looks at nine WikiLeaks releases, including the Guantanamo Bay operating procedures, the BNP membership list, the Trafigura report, 'Climategate' emails, war logs and more.
Read more
El Mundo: El destape en periodismo
Hernan Mira on investigative journalism and why WikiLeaks provides a much needed service: "The indignation at the [Iraq] leaks is not the most relevant issue, points out journalist Enrique Valiente, with whom I agree. What is absurd is to minimize the facts revealed. The kind of journalism that makes public the behavior of governments is very important. Access to information and transparency are essential to a free society. It is as if people had allowed torture and murder to "put on a form of suicide, which is the suicide of one's values," said Valiente."
Read more
The Voice of Russia: WikiLeaks, Part 2: Extracts of GI reports
Ignat Kulagin's second installment looking at cases from the Iraq War Logs delves into civilian death incidents. "It’s not hard to hide information about civilian losses during wartime. It is enough just to lay blame on insurgents. In fact, this gets two birds with one stone: you reaffirm the righteous path of the war machine, both with the local civilians and the world community, all the while “cleaning up” the statistics, since soldiers are penalized for civilian casualties."
Read more
Upcoming release coverage
The international press has picked up quickly on the WikiLeaks statements on Twitter about their upcoming release, prompting massive speculation about the nature and subject of the release, and sometimes making assumptions presented as fact. While we have listed a few articles on the topic in previous posts here and here, please find below some additional references:
USA Today: WikiLeaks says next release will be 7 times larger than Iraq war logs
TIME: WikiLeaks: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
CTV: WikiLeaks says next leak 7 times size of Iraq files
Sydney Morning Herald: WikiLeaks to drop another bombshell
Antiwar News: WikiLeaks Promises ‘Seven Times Bigger’ Leak
Truthdig: WikiLeaks Promises Biggest-Ever Leak
Nouvel Observateur: WikiLeaks annonce la publication "dans les prochains mois" de nouveaux documents
France 24: WikiLeaks promet de nouvelles révélations fracassantes
El País: WikiLeaks anuncia que publicará nuevos documentos en los próximos meses
El Universal: WikiLeaks advierte que próxima filtración será siete veces mayor que la de Irak
La Tercera: WikiLeaks anuncia nueva difusión masiva de documentos secretos
Netzwoche: WikiLeaks will die Geschichte neu schreiben
Netzwelt: WikiLeaks: Veröffentlichung von 2,8 Millionen Dokumenten geplant (Update)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer
