Foreign Correspondent programmes are re-broadcast regularly “by more than 20 international networks, including CNN International, Al Jazeera, NHK Japan and TV NZ”. Al Jazeera English re-broadcasted “Follow the Money” retitled as “About a boycott” on its “People & Power” show on October 6, 2011. So who inserted the ubiquitous fake Max Brenner this time – for this is not the first occasion that Max Brenner has been anthropomorphised.

The “Max Brenner Shop Owner” title pops up in the screenshot opposite at about 10.07 minutes into Al Jazeera English’s slightly truncated re-broadcast version. This individual is named in the Foreign Correspondent transcript as “GRAHAM WEINBERG (IN CROWD)”. Now we know which balding lookalike Max Brenner is this month. The Max Brenner site states “ALL AUSTRALIAN MAX BRENNER CHOCOLATE BARS ARE COMPANY OWNED & WE DO NOT CURRENTLY FRANCHISE”.

Foreign Correspondent Eric Campbell captures some correct information from a protester at a recent rally against the Israeli occupation-supporting Max Brenner business in Newtown.

CAMPBELL: “And what’s Max Brenner doing?”

PROTESTOR: “Max Brenner is financially and morally supporting the Israeli defence forces, particularly two brigades – the Golani and the Givati”.

Like Max Brenner, Sodastream is bound to the illegal, brutal Israeli military occupation, and is a legitimate boycott target.

Al Jazeera made an appearance in some recently released WikiLeaks cables.

“Al Jazeera is a vital component to the USG’s strategy in communicating with the Arab world.” — Joseph E. LeBaron, U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, November 6, 2008

“Al Jazeera Board Chairman Hamed bin Thamer Al Thani has proven open to creative uses of Al Jazeera’s airwaves by the USG beyond straightforward interviews.” — Joseph E. LeBaron, U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, February 10, 2009

Might the omnipresent bald man be such an example of ‘creative uses’ of Al Jazeera’s airwaves by the US or was the inserted caption a plausibly deniable slipup?

Related Links

Double Protests! Occupy Melbourne and BDS Action Against Apartheid Israel!
Protest against Max Brenner: Say no to Israeli Apartheid
Kate Ausburn: Conversations with BDS counter-protesters in Newtown
Conversations with BDS counter-protesters in Newtown
Accusations of anti-Semitism rife as the Australian Senate debates BDS
Max Brenner and Australia’s fascists
Just who are those blindly backing Israel and hating BDS in Australia?
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]“

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

Palestine / Israel Links

The hand of a thief: Taking a page from Nixon (“If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal!”) Netanyahu instructed Justice Minister Ya’acov Ne’eman, a religious ultra-nationalist, to come up with a legal way for Israel to keep even the radical hilltop settlement outposts built on land that Israel itself recognizes as being owned by Palestinians.

Other Links

Next come the micro-drones to zap anyone with soma who says nasty things about neoziocons. Government Aims to Build a ‘Data Eye in the Sky’
Here Comes FIATtackWatch: Ben “Big Brother” Bernanke Goes Watergate, Prepares To Eavesdrop On Everything Mentioning The Fed

Here’s The Whorestralian’s outrageous editorial against Chomsky being awarded the Sydney Peace Prize – Greg Sheridan is more perspicacious and peaceful? really? FFS!

Why was Chomskey awarded the prize?

We chose Professor Noam Chomsky for inspiring the convictions of millions about ways to achieve those universal human rights, which bolster peace with justice.

For more than 50 years he has been a world champion of freedom of speech, of the value of transparency in government and the need to challenge secrecy and censorship.

In his study of the political economy of human rights, he exposed state crimes, induced by US foreign policy, across South America, the Middle East and South East Asia.

With unfailing moral courage he has challenged abusive uses of power and the false claims made about democracy.

He has offended almost every establishment figure and institution: Chomsky is anathema to the Israeli government, was the only scientist or philosopher on the Nixon White House enemies list and the Soviet Union imposed a total ban on his works.

In his analyses of democracy and power he identifies the “manufacture of consent” by governments, corporations and the media.

Professor Chomsky has always argued that forces for change should be non violent.

Boycott the Murdercracy’s lies which support your exploitation by the ruling class – to obtain decent, reliable news, subscribe to Crikey online! Also recommended and freely available is Green Left Weekly, New Matilda and the ABC’s The Drum.

And here’s what the Whorestralian whitewashes, the Israeli fascism which is rampant on the streets of Jerusalem:

Related Links

Chomsky peace award blasted
Ideologue on a peace pedestal
Bully Boy Tactics at the Oz betray another Australian Political Swindle
How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear FactoryEven Murdoch’s family can’t stand Ailes. Outstanding review of Fauxnews totalitarian Dear Leader style.
Australian Newscaster Engages in Some Light, Racist Banter
Choosing Chomsky for the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize

Palestine ./ Israel Links

Israel army chief outlines new, more brutal doctrine against nonviolent protests
Ours is not to reason why – zionism’s addiction to bleats about security
Salah: 1 million Turks registered for Gaza flotilla
Jewish settlers assault Palestinian teacher

The witnesses said that the settlers kicked the woman, who was only saved by a group of Palestinian passersby, adding that the settlers tried to ignite a bigger scuffle.

Israel accused after Palestinian boys burned by mystery canister

The army does not deny leaving the devices, but would not identify them and suggested they were left over after training exercises. But the area where they were found does not feature on an army map of designated training areas and the canisters appeared new and unweathered.

A Shameless Secretary General versus Freedom Flotilla 2 Richard Falk takes well-deserved aim at imperial puppet, Ban Ki Moon:

‘In light of these surrounding circumstances, including the failure of Israel to live up to its announced promise after the attack in 2010 to lift the blockade, it shocks our moral and legal sensibilities that the UN Secretary General should be using the authority of his office to urge member governments to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla 2.’

Israeli Soldiers Attack West Bank Anti-Wall Protests, Injuring Six Civilians
Israel’s Affirmative Action bill is reminiscent of Hungary’s anti-Jewish laws

But like in Hungary of 1920, so too in Israel of 2011, the spirit of the law is more important than the language, and everyone is clear on its purpose: to get rid of the Haredim and the Arabs. The state is the one that exempted them from mandatory military service and now wants to punish them for alleged “evasion.”

Manifest destiny and the ‘Wild West Bank’

Americans see in Israel their own preferred reflection of themselves. They see a lone, devout and free people on the edge of a vast continent full of dusky, hostile natives. Like the European colonists who settled North America, the destiny of this free people is to build a “city on a hill” on virgin land, a beacon of freedom and civilisation in a tragic world.

IDF gearing for next wave of Palestinian protests Israel is to shoot non-violent protesters who attempt to cross its non-existent borders: ‘While Israel will strive to avoid casualties, security forces will be able to open fire on anyone illegally crossing the border.”
Palestine supporters target Seacret

Phil Monsour addressed protesters gathered outside in the mall: “We will not be silent over the continuing oppression of Palestine. We have a message to politicians, to condemn Israel over its aggression against the Palestinians.

Get rid of Zionism

The “Land of Israel” is a phantasm. Withdrawing from “parts of it” is presented as a “concession” even by supporters of the move. But the only concession we needed to make, even back in 1967, was giving up the messianic claim that this is our land, from the Bible, and therefore we have a right to it. In comparison with this claim, the Serbs, with their preoccupation over the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, are rational, secular people.

Life is in no need of “ancestral rights.” Most of us were born here. That has no connection with the Bible, which for the most part is a very nice book. It has no connection with the prayers of the religious. We don’t need religion, either as a menu in a restaurant or as a strategic analysis.

Rally for Palestine: tear down the apartheid wall :

TEAR DOWN THE WALL!
End the occupation of Palestine!
Equal rights for Palestinians!
Right of return for Palestinian refugees!

RALLY: Sat July 9, 1pm
King George Square, city

Boycott apartheid Israel! Cut all trade ties!

An Unpalatable Truth : The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism John Pilger: “Jonathan Cook and Charles Charles Clover, together with Umar Cheema, are the winners. It was impossible to choose.”

Who is Ben Nitay? a sleazy liar then, a sleazy liar now. ‘The only things that have changed since the following video was made is his name and his hairline, the message of hate remains the same.’

In a remarkable video from 1978, 28 year old MIT grad Benjamin Netanyahu debates whether there should be a Palestinian state created on the West Bank and Gaza. Netanyahu argues that such a state would have but one goal: to destroy the Jewish state of Israel.

Zionists’ ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Haifa exposed
Exonerating the ethnic cleanser, Ben Gurion

In the light of this, it is peculiar that Aftenposten editor, Hilde Haugsgjerd, won’t own up as to where her paper obtained the documents. It would be welcome if Wikileaks could clarify, particularly since Hilde is claiming that Assange is “angry” about Aftenposten’s access.

The editor of Oslo-based newspaper Aftenposten was fending off reaction Tuesday to a commentary she wrote on her paper’s access to all of the more than 250,000 diplomatic cables initially leaked to the non-profit organization WikiLeaks. She had called it a “paradox” that WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange reportedly is angry that Aftenposten now can report freely from the leaked cables.

Aftenposten’s editor-in-chief, Hilde Haugsgjerd, elaborated on her media company’s access to the WikiLeaks documents.

“Paradoxically enough, the chief of one of our times’ biggest leaks is angry because there was a leak from his own leak,” editor-in-chief Hilde Haugsgjerd wrote in her commentary in Monday’s edition of Aftenposten. She wrote that Aftenposten’s own access to the cables, with no strings attached, “destroyed Assange’s own strategy for when and how documents about international conficts and themes should be made public.”

WikiLeaks, Haugsgjerd claimed, had a media plan to “secure themselves the best possible coverage and contribute to the most international debate possible around the leak’s content.” Aftenposten, she noted is not adhering to WikiLeaks’ plan, which she referred to as a “news monopoly” that involved a consortium of international media outlets.

“We have not signed the confidentiality clause that hinders (the media outlets) from publishing stories without an explicit agreement with WikiLeaks,” Haugsgjerd wrote.

That sparked a reaction from journalists at The Guardian in the UK, which has been among the media outlets that secured access to the cables from WikiLeaks. Nick Davies of The Guardian’s editorial staff told the web site for Norway’s journalists’ union, Journalisten, that Assange has had “zero influence” on The Guardian’s editorial decisions regarding its use of the WikiLeaks cables.

The Guardian also scotched Aftenposten’s boast about having exclusive access to all the documents.

Davies claimed that the agreement signed between The Guardian and WikiLeaks determined, in fact, that Assange would not have any influence, and he has not.

David Leigh, another editor at The Guardian, told Journalisten on Tuesday that his paper has all the cables as do the other newspapers in the original agreement with WikiLeaks. Leigh told Journalisten that the papers themselves have decided what they will publish, and when. After writing their stories, he said, edited copies of the relevant cables are sent to WikiLeaks (with some identities deleted, for example, for security reasons) so that WikiLeaks can publish the documents at the same time.

I’m equally curious about Karl Rove’s relationship with the Swedish government and attempts to extradite Julian Assange to the US.

Amongst other striking releases, Aftenposten has published cables relating to German commercial spy satellite development.

12.2.2009: GERMANY SEEKS U.S. PARTNER TO DEVELOP OPTICAL SPACE IMAGERY CAPABILITIES – “Eckardt said that DLR explored various scenarios for international partnerships, but in the end came to the conclusion that a U.S. partnership (DG) made the most “business sense.” “Should DLRs partnership with DG materialize, DLR indicated that the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) would be the “prime customer identified”, with DG serving as the U.S. market entry point.”
15.2.2009: GERMANY EXPANDING OVERHEAD RECONNAISSANCE PROGRAMS AND EYE CLOSER USG PARTNERSHIP –
“(S//NF) On 8 April 2009, US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) officers met with German Intelligence Service (BND) officials to discuss Germanys plans for expanded nationally operated overhead reconnaissance resources.”

This cable above is weird because the contents refers to a meeting in April, 09 whereas the cable is dated 15th Feb 09. The date for removal of embargo is 05/14/2034 … so the cable may really be dated 05/14/09.

20.5.2009: GERMAN COMPANY MARKETING SATELLITE IMAGERY TO US DESPITE FRENCH OPPOSITION – “Without going into details, Walati claimed that a German/US cooperative agreement on HiROS would fend off the French opposition.”
3.9.2009: GERMANY TO FRANCE: STAY OUT OF OUR COMMERCIAL SATELLITE AFFAIRS
10.9.2009:GERMAN INTELLIGENCE VIEWS ON OPTICAL RECONNAISSANCE CAPABILITIES – “The BND has come to the conclusion that having complementary optical imagery along side Germanys SAR-Lupe data is essential and is actively promoting HiROS. BND advocates a HiROS partnership with the US as a way to share costs/risk and well as provide some political cover from the French.”
11.9.2009: GERMAN OPTICAL SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING: THE PATH FORWARD Satellite sensors can ‘see’ potentially down to 25 – 40 cm. There goes the neighbourhood.
30.9.2009: GERMAN SPACE AGENCY SEEKING USG SUPPORT ON OPTICAL SATELLITE COOPERATION – “DLRs two primary objectives for this meeting were to float the idea of combining the military aspects of the GPS and Galileo Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems under the framework of NATO (reporting SEPTEL) and to solicit USG support for cooperation on HiROS. ”

UPDATE 7/1/11

Shoeless Assange claims Aftenposten is a Wikileaks media partner, Aftenposten disagrees. What the hell is going on?

Neither Wikileaks commander or his spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson have so far wanted to comment on his relationship to Aftenposten. The newspaper claims to have gotten all the so-called “Cable Street” – over 250,000 diplomatic documents – without having to enter into any agreement with Wikileaks. . It has, however, the site’s so-called media partners – reject as El País, The Guardian and Le Monde – concluded.

COLD FEET? Even though the temperature was around freezing, went Assange in the base stone. DN is not aware whether it was a conscious choice or a consequence of bad times.

- Aftenposten is currently a media partner of Wikileaks, says Julian Assange to DN before reporting to the police.

- However, Aftenposten said that it is not it?

- Events are treated as other media partners.

- It’s amazing to hear him say it. We are not a media partner of Wikileaks, says chief editor of Aftenposten Hilde Haugsgjerd.

“Lite content”

December, it is not known whether the leak of Wikileaks documents to Aftenposten has happened alerts directly from the site, from one of its media partners or others with access to the material.

Commenting on Monday wrote Hilde Haugsgjerd that Wikileaks “after what we know, to say the least [is] unhappy with the newspaper Aftenposten also has received the so-called” Cable Street “with 251 287 U.S. diplomatic documents from a source” . Haugsgjerd stressed that “the Aftenposten is not included in the Assange refers to as the consortium, the few international editors who from the start was invited to participate in the publication of all documents,” and that the newspaper is free to publish cases from the documents without having to deal with Wikileaks.

- I can not comment. I have not read the comment, “said Assange.

Assange would not say anything more about the relationship to Aftenposten – a relationship which, however, has become more and more inflamed in the past two weeks. The reason for Haugsgjerd comment will be telephone calls between journalists in Aftenposten and Wikileaks few days before Christmas. In the calls attempted and Julian Assange spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson to conduct negotiations to bring Aftenposten publication of documents in controlled circumstances.

Would negotiate

- I know Assange have had contact with a few reporters with us. I do not know the details of these conversations, except that he has expressed a desire that we should be included as one of Wikileaks’ media partners. He has also expressed a desire to talk to me, but I have not heard from him, “said Hilde Haugsgjerd.

She denied that anyone in Aftenposten has entered into any agreement with Assange, and stressing that the newspaper is free to use the Wikileaks material.

- Since he has not spoken with either me or the other of the Aftenposten editors, it goes without saying that the newspaper has not entered into any agreement with him.

- Assange claims the now, however, that you are a media partner. What do you think about it?

- It seems as if Assange wish and believe that we will be media partners. Men at han ønsker og mener det, betyr jo ikke at vi er en mediepartner. But he wants and believes it, does not mean that we are a media partner.

- So what are you then?

- We have not had access to this material from Wikileaks. And I know that we have gained access to the material without having entered into any agreement on use. We are now keen to use the material in a responsible manner, “said Haugsgjerd.

Newspapers gossip

The agreements between Wikileaks and media partners have never been made public, and the details in them are not known.. But Julian Assange said himself to The Guardian, 3 December that part of the agreement is that the media partners will review and contribute to sladding of the documents that the papers reviews before they are published on the Wikileaks website. . In this way, Wikileaks escaped much of it is very time consuming skidding work. It has been known that the agreement also contained a release date for when the first cases could be released.

After the DN understand the Evening Post’s journalists have refused to acquiesce to the demands of Assange. They showed that the Event has been given access to the documents without any prior agreement.

Aftenposten has the last three weeks published cases each day from the disputed documents, but Wikileaks has little posted the documents referred to Aftenposten, the site makes such alerts when the other media partners publish cases based on diplomatic documents

Related Links

Norwegian paper says it has all WikiLeaks cables
Aftenposten Wikileaks cables
Vanity Fair profiles Julian Assange: Wikileaks threatened to sue Guardian over leaked cables
BACKGROUND: Vanity Fair’s spectacularly unfair portrait of Assange & WikiLeaks
Vanity Fair turgid scuttlebutt : The Man Who Spilled the Secrets
The day Julian Assange threatened to sue The Guardian over the US embassy cables story
Strategic Communications Conference Will Cover New Media for Government on January 20 – Speakers include the US State Department, Microsoft, HP, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, The Israeli Consulate (LA), Booz Allen Hamilton and others.
US envoy assessing WikiLeaks fallout
Cables reveal how US and UK sought to plunder Zimbabwe’s resources

Israel / Palestine Links

Tell Combined Systems Inc. to Stop Providing Tear Gas that Israel
Uses to Kill and Maim Protesters
The Israelis arrest three Beit Rema municipality officials
Open letter to Combined Systems Inc, Maker of Israeli Tear Gas by Joseph Dana
On the morning following the putsch : Knesset NGO persecution law : ‘Israeli equivalent of the burning of the Reichstag’
Ivory Coast, Palestine, democracy, and the rule of law
Israel asks U.S. to ban Turkish charity behind Gaza flotilla
Is Israel on its way to becoming like Saudi Arabia or Iran?
A New Year’s song of hope for Gaza
A “support rally” for the controversial English Defence League is scheduled to take place at the Toronto Zionist Centre on Tuesday night. The event is being organized by the Jewish Defence League of Canada.
Netanyahu woos top Labor minister in bid to save coalition – ‘On Tuesday, Netanyahu asked Ben-Eliezer to join him on his trip to Cairo today and invited him for the first time to join the debate at the prestigious Forum of Seven. In addition, Netanyahu agreed to Ben Eliezer’s request to allow more than 5,000 Palestinian farming and construction laborers to work in Israel. Ben-Eliezer had made the request months ago, but until now it had been rejected by the prime minister and his close associates’.
Israel embraces fascism and where is the Zionist Diaspora?
Israeli Leftists Show Alliance in Wake of Palestinian’s Death
Palestinian medical teams remove bodies after clashes in Jabaliya

Other Links

Turkey’s bid for global actorhood: Davuto?lu’s new foreign policy lexicon
The U.S. Invasion of Panama: ‘Greatest Genocide in Our History’
ATO Troops Kill Three Civilians in Afghan Night Raid – Ghazni Province Raid Sparks Angry Protests Among Locals
NT Intervention Housing Travesty
First for child sex abuse reporting laws
Monbiot takes on critics and shows transparency
Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates Resolution- January 5, 2011 : FBI Raids on Trade Union, Anti-War and Solidarity Activists
U.S. teenager tortured in Kuwait and barred re-entry into the U.S.

High profile Jewish activist, Jonathan Pollak, attended court two days ago. Bearing witness in court were a throng of journalists and supporters. Joseph Dana provides an excellent account of Jonathan’s trial.

Tel Aviv Magistrates court judge Yitzhak Yitzhak convicted Israeli leftist Jonathan Pollak of illegal assembly for his participation in a January 2008 Critical Mass ride against the siege on Gaza and then sentenced him to three months imprisonment that will begin on January 11th, 2011. Pollak was the only one detained at the said protest, and was accused of doing nothing other than riding his bicycle in the same manner as the rest of the protesters.
…

During the trial, an Israeli supporter of Pollak was violently removed from the courthouse for wearing a shirt that said “there is no pride in occupation.” After the verdict was handed down, supporters began chanting in the courtroom against Israeli fascism and the occupation. They were forcibly removed one by one from the courthouse and subsequently held a demonstration on the sidewalk.

Despite evidence of Israeli wrongdoing in the course of the Gaza war, the only Israeli sentenced to jail so far is a leftist who choose to ride his bike through Tel Aviv in non-violent protest. The state of Israel sent a clear message with this verdict: that it will not tolerate dissent from the left. In fact, the state persecutor asked for a severe sentence in order to ‘make an example out of Pollak and those who engage in similar anti-occupation work.” Pollak said that he will continue to work with Palestinians against the occupation and repeatedly cited the much harsher verdicts given to Palestinians involved in non-violent protests. The only remorse that he showed was that he did not do enough to express dissent about the siege of Gaza. If peacefully riding a bike against violent aggression is a crime, Pollak said that we will happily go to jail.

Less well-known, and unreported in the western media, was the trial yesterday of Nuri al-Uqbi, a 68 year old Bedouin father of 8 children. Like Jonathan Pollak, Nuri was arbitrarily charged with a petty offence. Nuri’s punishment was increased by the magistrate to ‘seven months in prison for “running a business without a license”‘ to send a deliberate, vicious political message to other Bedouins who might have the temerity to oppose their dispossession. Five years ago, Nuri commenced a legal challenge against the state to regain his family’s lands in the Negev.

al-Uqbi’s expert, Oren Yiftachel, of Ben Gurion University in Beersheva, has countered that there was a well-established system of Bedouin land ownership and crop cultivation in the Negev long before Israel’s creation.

He says Bedouin deeds — though never formally recorded — were recognized by the Ottomans, the British and even early Zionist organizations such as the JNF, which bought land from the Bedouin.

A 1921 document from the public records office in London unearthed by Yiftachel shows that Winston Churchill, the colonies minister, signed an agreement with Bedouin in the Beersheva area that exempted them from registering their lands and set up a special tribal court to settle land disputes.

Al-Uqbi has kept a large store of documents passed on to him, showing that his father cultivated crops on the land and paid regular tithes on the profits to the Ottoman and British authorities.

He also has a copy of the treaty signed in 1948 between 16 Bedouin tribes, including the Uqbi, and the new Israeli army, pledging loyalty in return for a guarantee that they could continue living on their lands.

Clearly, the magistrate’s intimidatory message to Nuri and the outrageously harsh sentence relays the racist, predatory concerns of the zionist state. Will Nuri’s sentence be used against him by the state in his pending land rights case?

The Negev, constituting nearly two-thirds of Israel’s territory, has been almost entirely nationalized by the state, with the land held in trust for world Jewry. But the Bedouin have outstanding legal claims on nearly 80,000 hectares of ancestral property.

In recent months, the Israeli government has ramped up demolitions of Bedouin homes in the Negev to clear the way for more Jewish colonialists and Jewish National Fund pine forests. The village of al-Araqib was bulldozed for the eighth time since July last week, along with homes of 20 people in al Sadier village. Bedouins say Israel is demolishing homes “on a daily basis”.

Below is a google translation of the original Hebrew piece relating Nuri’s trial, pending a better version.

The judge wrote in the verdict: “worsened with the Okbi to deliver a message for the Negev Bedouin
by Noa Levy on Tuesday, 28 December 2010 at 21:28

Nuri al Okbi, rights activist Negev Bedouin Arab residents

Sentenced to seven months in prison for “running a business without a license”

The judge wrote in the verdict: “worsened with the Okbi to deliver a message for the Negev Bedouin”

Nuri al Okbi, chairman of the Association to protect the rights of the Bedouins who is also active in defense of rights and Arab residents of Lod many of them Bedouin origin, was sentenced today to seven months in prison for possession of a business without a license. Judge Zachary Yemini Ramle Magistrate’s Court verdict explicitly wrote that he had decided to aggravate the sentence – Okbi for being active in the Bedouin rights, and that the sentence is intended to “send a message Bedouin diaspora.”

After which the – Okbi guilty guilty several weeks ago the court referred him to community service, and – Okbi already expressed willingness in this work for the public good in a soup kitchen in Ramla was interested to receive it. But surprisingly, the judge decided to worsen and cut him seven months in prison instead of six which can be converted to community service.

Attorney Avi Dubin, lawyer of the Okbi, asked the court to delay the execution to allow the filing of an appeal, but the judge conditioned the implementation delay immediate deposit of thirty thousand dollars the court fund, a sum that is in his hands – and he was taken immediately imprisonment. In addition to imprisonment imposed on the court Nuri al – Okbi fine of forty thousand shekels or four hundred days in prison for them.

Business without a license is accused managed to – Okbi is a garage that opened in 1964 to Okbi Hasmonean 11th Street in Lod, when passed, like many other Bedouins from the Negev, to live in it. Over the years, changed the policy of the Municipality of Lod, which some in the garage and gave license to – Okbi other years denied him. “I feel discrimination and intimidation taken against me for political reasons, to keep me open my mouth and fight against the policy of the municipality – for example the destruction of seven homes of Arab residents about a week ago. I received a certificate from the Police, Fire Department, the Ministry of Interior Ministry of the Environment workshop working properly, but City Hall deprived me of the license while the people around me got business licenses started many years after my garage. I am convinced that if I was ready to walk the line dictated by the Town Hall, I had no problem obtaining a license. My garage is not their real problem, but a public activity.

UPDATE

Nuri al-Oqbi was hospitalised with his heart condition shortly after the trial – he collapsed after sentencing.

Following the harsh verdict, al-Okbi – who is 68 years old and suffers from a heart condition – felt bad and was hospitalized at the Assaf Harofeh Hospital, where he is hospitalized under police supervision and his hands and feet handcuffed to the bed. The police also prevented al-Okbi’s son, who came to the hospital, from talking to him.

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

Two years after Operation Cast Lead, Gaza remains imprisoned
How much racism can a “democracy” take?
Israel blocks essential medical supplies for Gaza hospitals
China imports Israel’s methods of propaganda and repression
Israeli politician urges “a shot in the head” for Bedouins
Bedouin-Jewish Justice in Israel
Cablegate – Mastercard numbers used by the Mossad Dubai killers 10ABUDHABI103
Some Israelis Question Benefits for Ultra-Religious
TIBI: The tragedy of a two-state solution
Christian extremists assist Israel in displacing Negev Bedouin
Gaza farmers pack strawberries and hope for export
Conspiracy Theories Linking Israel to WikiLeaks Circulate on the Internet
Israeli army: leave Khirbet Tana or else
Shelling Reported in Gaza City
Students for Justice in Palestine condemns US government witch hunt
Israeli leaders, soldiers fear arrest over Gaza War Crimes
Culture Group Rebuffs Bid To Condemn Boycotts
Barrier separates Palestinian farmers from their land
Detained journalist questions right to freedom of speech for Palestinians
CNN reports on racist letters emanating from ultra-orthodox rabbis or their wives in Israel.

Other Links

How thick is your grey matter? The grey matter was found to be thicker in ­people who described themselves as liberal or Left-wing and thinner in those who said they were conservative or Right-wing.
The Australian : A “serious” newspaper debases itself
Backing extremists is fine if you work for CNN

David Milliband, then foreign secretary, told MPs that Israel had shown a “profound disregard” for British sovereignty, adding: “The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury.”

Will Pardo’s magnanimity extend to Australia, Ireland, France and Germany, whose passports were also abused by Mossad?

The duplicitous use of foreign passports is not the primary crime committed by Israel. Extrajudicial executions are outlawed by the Second Additional Protocol of the Geneva Conventions (1977) that states:

“No sentence shall be passed and no penalty shall be executed on a person found guilty of an offence except pursuant to a conviction pronounced by a court offering the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality.” (Second Protocol of the Geneva Conventions (1977) Art 6.2)

Zionist exceptionalism is enabled and paralleled by that of its indulgent sponsor, the US, with its disgraceful preemptive strike policy and legal permissiveness for extrajudicial assassinations even of its own citizens.

In December 2006, Israel’s High Court of Justice outrageously declared the legality of the extrajudicial executions of Palestinian activists suspected of being “unlawful combatants.”

The taking of life based on suspicions against a person, represents a gross violation of fundamental principles of law and morality. It is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, and further, is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. These legal-moral principles are applicable to every country, organization and person, whether or not they are an official party to these instruments.

In this ruling, the Israeli High Court indiscriminately adopts the Israeli government’s practice that strips “unlawful combatants” of their legal and human rights. International law does not recognize a category of “unlawful combatants” who do not enjoy either the rights of combatants in the battlefield or those of protected civilians. The Court did not question the prevailing modus operandi of Israel’s security forces, which declares that all Palestinian civilians are “unlawful combatants” a posteriori, after an execution has been made, again without any legal review or oversight.
…

The Fourth Geneva Convention relates to the protection of civilian population in time of war. Article 146 of the Convention obligates the High Contracting Parties to enact effective penal sanctions for persons who have committed, or ordered to be committed, “grave breaches” of the Convention. Article 147 defines “grave breaches” to include “willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment.”

As Israeli scholar Tanya Reinhart says: “Under military rule, Israel has become a leading force in the destruction of the very protections that humankind has established, out of World War Two, for its own preservation, protections that we too may need one day, as history has already shown us”.

For how long will the world turn a blind eye to Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity which overshadow mere passport abuse, and that include ongoing brazen slaughter of civilians, ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Territories and within Israel itself?

Palestine / Israel Links

SEATTLE, USA: King County executive prevents “Israeli War Crimes” bus ads from appearing
King Co. rejects Israeli-Gaza bus ad
GISHA REPORT: “Reconstructing the Closure” Dec10 [.pdf]
Israeli demolitions traumatic for Palestinian children, says UN official
Inflaming racist rhetoric
Israelis kill Gazan shepherd, wound three – medics
UN envoys criticise Israel home demolitions
1932 is already here
Fuel for racism
US should recognize Palestine – John Quigley
Israeli racial purity
Turkey set on improving Israel ties, but insists on apology for Gaza flotilla raid
Anger after Nazareth suburb bans Christmas tree
The Palestinian ‘legitimacy war’
Jeffrey Goldberg’s Anti-Boycott Bluster & Blunder
Israeli Foreign Ministry Plans New Hasbara Effort Against Palestinians

STL-PSC Flash Mob: Boycott Israeli Apartheid in Palestine! (YouTube Censors the Video)
The Holy Land is on a tourism high
Jerusalem & Babylon / Demons on the streets of Israel
No legitimate Palestinian leader can negotiate with Israel while it continues to colonize Palestinian land.
Lieberman’s Great Big Palestinian Land Heist Plan
Christmas and New Year’s Eve: More Homeless Palestinian children
Senior Labor minister: Without peace talks, even U.S. may soon recognize Palestinian state
World may recognise Palestine soon: Israel minister
Delegitimizing Israel: the dictionary
Israel mobilizing forces in Silwan for possible eviction of non-violent leader
French activists arrested at West Bank protest
Gaza doctor takes Israel to court
The Gaza Strip is a castle that will defend Palestinian rights and resist occupation
Deputy FM: ‘The state of Facebook’ is more real than Palestine
Israeli diplomat ambushed by NY Times staff
Max Ajl returns to Gaza and locates Palestinian freedom – ‘it’s under an Israeli-American jackboot’
‘Asylum seekers trying to reach Israel are being trapped and tortured in Sinai’
Steve Rosen’s Plaint against AIPAC
Texas Tea Party : anti-Semitic and pro-Zionist
Lieberman: Israel’s governing coalition unable to agree on peace deal with Palestinians
In Israel, parenthood is perceived of as a national mission
Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia: 26th of December 2010 : Flashmob/freeze scene
Gaza aid ship returns to Turkey
Gaza: Two years after the horror of Operation Cast Lead

Wikileaks Links

Banks and Wikileaks
Bank of America wonders about WikiLeaks’ planned ‘megaleak’
WikiLeaks given $1.3m in 2010, and Julian Assange pays himself two thirds of the salary budget
DEA reach goes global, beyond drugs: report
20 things we learned in 2010
We’re no pawns: Assange accusers
WikiLeaks: Kiwi mosque spied on by US

Other Links

Murphy: ‘The FBI raids and subpoenas . . . [are] best understood as backlash aimed at silencing our successful movement’

Download Wikileaks posters and other paraphenalia for Operation Paperstorm.

While you are at it, please vote here for signs to go on buses in Seattle highlighting Israeli war crimes.

Today’s Wikileaks Links

Julian Assange Calls ABC News Reporter ‘Tabloid Schmuck’ And Walks Off When Asked About Rape Charges
Freed Assange launches attack on ‘illegal and aggressive’ US investigation
Assange denounces ‘business McCarthyism’
Wikileaks and the Moral Dualism of the U.S. State Department
Robert Fisk: Stay out of trouble by not speaking to Western spies
Not-So-Gentle Persuasion: US Bullies Spain into Proposed Website Blocking Law
Joe Biden v. Joe Biden on WikiLeaks – Glenn Greenwald slices through absurd US prevarications
Why Israel has not figured in Wikileaks yet – unfortunately titled post by Asad Abukhalil as there are several cables dealing with Israel and Palestine which I’m annotating on this site.
John Pilger: Swedes are smearing him and encouraging the US – this article refers to the Guardian annotation of Swedish allegations.
Is Julian Assange being railroaded or will European Court on Human Rights derail the train
WikiLeaks’ lesson on Haiti
US embassy cables: ICC prosecutor alleges Bashir secret fortune of $9bn
US embassy cables: US sought to press new EU chief on rendition
WikiLeaks cables: Julian Assange says his life is ‘under threat’
Bank of America Suspends Payments to WikiLeaks
The Anonymous WikiLeaks protests are a mass demo against control
Opinion: WikiLeaks and its anti-Semitic spokesmen
WikiLeaks founder not welcome at Davos forum
‘Hope Is Action’: Hedges and Ellsberg Arrested at White House Protest
WikiLeaks’ Assange gets leaked on
Julian Assange’s Secret Patron
Wikileaks: MPAA, RIAA and BSA Lobbied for HADOPI
WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Twisted Ethiopia’s Arm to Invade Somalia
Julian Assange like a hi-tech terrorist, says Joe Biden
Wikileaks Show Why Washington Won’t Allow Democracy in Haiti
US Pressured Italy to Influence Judiciary with CIA Renditions

Today’s Australian Wikileaks Links

Policy failure puts Fiji on brink of ruin
US pressure over Saddam scientist
Julian Assange Don’t Shoot the Messenger stamps
Aussie “journalist” repeats “get Iran” mantra of her Zionist lobby friends

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

The orphaned Israeli left
U.S. military chief: We are ‘very ready’ to counter Iran – more US lies about Iran’s intentions
UN: Israel demolished 47 Palestinian structures in one week
New York-based rabbi: Letter forbidding rental to Arabs endangers Jews abroad
Bantustan on track : Palestinian PM: Plan to declare statehood by 2011 remains on track
Hasbara joke of the day : Clinton a danger to Israel
Book review: “Spy Trade” details history of Israel lobby in the US
Arab states preparing UN resolution against Israeli settlements
Marrickville Council first to support the boycott Israel campaign
On Clinton’s sycophantic, racist speech on Israel
MNA Khadir in Quebec urges boycott of shoe store selling shoes made in apartheid Israel
Ladysmith Black Mambazo plans to break the boycott against Israel and play there – disgraceful
US Senators can’t handle the truth about apartheid Israel – Seeking Boycott of Durban 111
‘Israeli War Crimes’ signs to go on Metro buses
Obama’s failure has served to expose Israeli intransigence here and abroad
Palestinian farmer watches settlers burn 19 of his sheep, killing 12
Disorganized Priorities (as usual) – housies have other things to do.
Israel/West Bank: Separate and Unequal : HRW Report on Israeli apartheid
NGO Monitor’s scurrilous response to the HRW report
Palestinians embark on the ‘Intifada of Graves’ – the evil Israeli occupier objects to Palestinians burying their dead on Palestinian land
Zionism is the chauvinist poison which renders Israel as a deadend toxic ghetto.
Settlers Destroy Farms and Trees Near Nablus, Unleash Dog on 66-year-old
“Boycott Sabra and Tribe Hummus” guerilla advertising spotted in San Francisco
The State of Israel Against Freedom of Expression
High Court ruled tax breaks based on location discriminate against Arab communities but government ignored ruling
Kosovo organ donor ring: the Israeli connection
S. African politicians ‘beaten up by IDF’ – Parliament members say ‘shoved’ by soldiers during anti-Israel protest in village near Bethlehem last week.
Netanyahu: Peace process deadlock not the reason for attacks on Israel
Refugees’ flat torched in Ashdod – Burning tire thrown at apartment’s door; five Sudanese nationals lightly hurt
Israel can’t defeat Hezbollah – Israeli expert
Human Rights Watch report: West Bank ‘separate but unequal’ – dastardly NGO Monitor glowering at the end

Other Links

Afghans: Victimized by Conflict, Occupation, Extreme Deprivation and Genocide
US drones slaughter 54 in Pakistan
Who is worthy of ‘self determination’ in Iraq
Scale of Walsh cover-up by church breathtaking
10,000 Belarusians protesting against election
Uladzimir Niakliaeu, leader of the opposition movement “Za Praudu” (“For Truth”) and several of his people were badly beaten today by people in dark camouflage.
Minsk, Protests
Bite Me : An evolutionary case for cannibalism.

Third, Julian Assange has made another claim for WikiLeaks, which he says sets it apart from other media organisations. According to this op-ed in The Australian last week:

WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?

Well, WikiLeaks clearly doesn’t insist on ‘scientific journalism’ being practised by all the media outlets with which it’s working. The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald are still publishing story after story by Philip Dorling – stories that have deeply embarrassed or compromised Kevin Rudd, Mark Arbib, Joel Fitzgibbon, and Stephen Gumley, to name just a few, not to mention the US Embassy in Canberra. But we can’t judge for ourselves if Dorling has reported accurately or fairly, because Fairfax hasn’t posted a single cable online.

On Monday I sent an email to SMH editor-in-chief Peter Fray, asking him why not. His response (read it in full here) makes it clear that the primary reason is to protect not the public, but Fairfax’s commercial, interest:

…the volume of material in The Australian referenced cables means we are still mining the source documents. There are, for instance, several potential stories in each cable; to put the material online would be to give access to our competitors in the local market.

That’s not a line of reasoning that has prevented The Guardian, the New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde or any other of WikiLeaks’s collaborators from posting cables online to support their stories; and it would seem to be in direct contravention of the principles espoused by Julian Assange. Perhaps he’s been too preoccupied by other matters recently to have noticed.

Philip Dorling has undoubtedly scored a major scoop for Fairfax. Most of the stories he’s writing – and there are goodness knows how many to come – are fascinating, especially to politics and foreign policy junkies. But we’re having to take them on trust, and we shouldn’t have to. And very few are telling us stuff we didn’t already know (Kevin Rudd’s a control freak; Defence Procurement is a mess; China doesn’t like the Defence White Paper): what they are telling us is that the US Embassy knew it too, often before we did. Surprise, surprise.

The Australian puts in its bib bleating “We would have loved the leaks given to Fairfax papers but we note the problems they have had sieving wheat from chaff”, patting itself and the rest of the mainstream media on the back for raising Wikileak’s circulation, and filtering the information on behalf of an inept public. This is the sort of contemptuous attitude which further encourages one to distrust Australian dead wood media generally. The UK Guardian has managed to keep its pact with its readers, while Australians are deemed inadequate.

Geoffrey Robertson, QC is to defend Julian Assange tonight in old Blighty, and this will not be televised but live-blogged at the Guardian. Around the globe, demonstrations for Wikileaks and Julian Assange proliferate, and ‘all-out cyberwar’ is presaged following the trial.

Hearing

@newsbrooke Heather Brooke
In an amazing nod to the fact we live in digital age, judge has said we can tweet #assange. So I will be along w @AlexiMostrous #

Today’s Wikilinks

Julian Assange to appear in court to appeal for release
RBS chairman said directors ‘failed to live up to their duties’
Mervyn King plotted banks bailout by four cash-rich nations
Wikileaks Events and protests
In Defense of DDoS
Iceland may ban MasterCard, Visa over WikiLeaks censorship
A brilliant fan-made video
J’Accuse: Sweden, Britain, and Interpol Insult Rape Victims Worldwide
The US Government’s pursuit of WikiLeaks could be its undoing
‘Draconian’ whistleblowing laws need an overhaul, says academic
George Monbiot: These astroturf libertarians are the real threat to internet democracy
Why Wikileaks is now splitting the liberal elite
Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information
Wikiriver – wikileaks newsfeed

Today’s Australian Wikilinks

‘Defend Wikileaks’ Australian rallies & meetings
More than 1000 WikiLeaks protesters have vowed to march through Sydney today despite being refused permission by police.
Julian Assange’s overdue library book
WikiLeaks ‘a risk’: Defence Minister Smith

Rallies defend Wikileaks and the ‘right to know’
Lowy Institute Rory Medcalf “The website is bad for diplomacy and encourages voyeurism”. Newspeak for public scrutiny of politicians?
Sydney rally – http://yfrog.com/h2spfuj, http://yfrog.com/gyqxnnj, http://yfrog.com/h05m8aj, http://yfrog.com/h03k2jgj, http://yfrog.com/gy29tjj, http://yfrog.com/h0hz6hj, http://yfrog.com/h34yxnj, http://yfrog.com/h4w6otj, http://twitpic.com/3fsstd, http://twitpic.com/3fsoon, http://twitpic.com/3fsr4k, http://twitpic.com/3fsrl4

WikiLeaks protesters stopped by riot police – Sydney
Defending Wikileaks faces Oprah-obsessed police force

Melbourne rally – http://yfrog.com/h2oy3bnj, http://yfrog.com/h3nc7apj, http://yfrog.com/h4mgqbtj, http://yfrog.com/h2lm8nj, http://yfrog.com/h3si1lj, http://yfrog.com/h3wcmjj, http://yfrog.com/h37ioaj, http://yfrog.com/h05m8aj, http://yfrog.com/0cv2bz, http://yfrog.com/gyty5bj, http://yfrog.com/gy8qvuj, http://yfrog.com/h0qlngj, http://yfrog.com/h0kxqtj, http://yfrog.com/h4xksdj
LCA reins in profession over WikiLeaks outrage

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

Rescuing Zionism at Palestinian expense – Ali Abunimah shows how the US has chosen racism and Israel over Palestinian human rights and justice.
Gaza Health Ministry: 137 of required medicines out of stock
Stormy weather adds to plight of Gaza’s refugees
US editorial says Israel similar to North Korea
Knesset Approves New Law Preventing Detainees From Meeting Lawyers For Six Month
EU shelves recognition of Palestine
Chances of two-state solution in Palestine seen fading away – sorry, already gone
Internal pressure on Netanyahu mounts over prospect of apology to Turkey
Hamas reiterates all of Palestine claim
2011 ‘difficult’ for Mideast peace: Rudd – ‘Israel’s “settlement activity should cease and it must cease”‘.
Rudd: “What we need to see is not another peace process. What we need to see is a peace outcome.” Let’s have a justice outcome, please Kev. Equal rights, an end to occupation and recognition of right of return.
Israel’s War On Jerusalem Children
Scott Horton Interviews Max Blumenthal
Two more leftwing activists summoned to a meeting with Israel’s General Security Service
Asia2Gaza protest against Israel at Palestine square in Tehran
Israel and the Misrule of Law
Israel refuses entry to Palestinian firefighters being honored for Carmel fire assistance
Arab actor: Boycott Israeli cinema
Tourists in Washington: anatomy of an European Mideast failure
The Internet Goes to War

Other Links

Richard Holbrooke Dead: Diplomat Dies At 69
Police drag protester from wheelchair – the Beeb outdoes itself for squalid interviewing.
Jody McIntyre’s inspired reporting on Electronic Intifada.
How Holbrooke Lied His Way into a War
Tony Blair’s ex-roommate shut down inquest into death of David Kelly

Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.

His ‘Jerilderie letter‘ Op-ed in the Australia reminisces about the bad old days in Queensland, when Julian would have been a very bright young Townsville lad, aware of the corrupt police investigating police culture which the Fitzgerald Inquiry addressed in 1987, and the police investigation of the disappearance of backpacker, Tony Jones.

The first attempts of the Jones family to phone in a missing persons report on 11 November 1982 were complicated by red tape. The police investigation only commenced three days later when family members travelled some five thousand kilometres to file the report in person. As stated at the inquest, basic police inquiries were neglected: for example, police failed to get a report from the hospital on treatment Jones had received prior to his disappearance and at least one key witness mentioned by the coroner was never interviewed. The family was also left without police assistance when they conducted a door-knock inquiry in the vicinity of the phone booth in Bowen Road, Rosslea, which was the last confirmed whereabouts. Police did not release an identikit sketch of a suspect until 10 years after they received information about the suspect.

Media reports on the inquest highlighted other problems with the investigation, reporting that some of the witness statements were missing and that the former investigating officer had been uncooperative with coronial inquiries. The media also reported that it was 2001 before statements were obtained from several people who first approached police in 1982.

Other criticisms were voiced by the coroner and the coroner’s assistant. Coroner Fisher said “more attention should have been given to early investigation”, while his assistant, Sergeant Kym Farquharson-Jones, said the inquest evidence showed police investigations into the disappearance were “not sufficient by today’s standard”.

The view of Sergeant Farquharson-Jones is indicative of the systemic problems highlighted in the Fitzgerald Inquiry report. Tony Fitzgerald QC, who presided over the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct, said the Queensland police culture of the 1980s was “debilitated by misconduct, inefficiency, incompetence, and deficient leadership”. As a result of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Commissioner of Police Terry Lewis, the man who presided over the Queensland police in the early years of the Jones investigation, and whose name appeared on the original police reward for information on the suspected murder of Jones, was subsequently convicted and jailed for corruption.

Drugs, sex and gambling were also an integral part of the North Queensland police scene:

In 1983 four men from the Drug Squad in Brisbane arrived in Mareeba unannounced to take Dickson’s file on drug trafficking in Far North Queensland ‘to put on the computer in Canberra’. The files never arrived there. Early in 1984 Dickson was taken off all drug investigations and told not to leave Mareeba without giving full details to the inspector. He was transferred to Townsville in June 1984 and was forbidden to visit Mareeba unless accompanied by a Commissioned Officer.6

Fast Buck$ claimed that a prominent Queensland police officer, who was ‘well-known in the Police Force as the man who controlled (and still controls) escort agencies and gambling in North Queensland — and who was often to be seen in casinos with a call-girl on his knee’ also controlled this Drug Joke. Fast Buck$ also claimed that a prominent National Party minister was ‘an ambitious front man’ for the Mafia in North Queensland, feeding drug money into the coffers of the National Party.7

Although these Fast Buck$ allegations were ignored by the mainstream media, tens of thousands of pink Fast Buck$ Report leaflets were delivered to rush hour commuters during the 1984 election in Brisbane. And Fast Buck$ was given considerable publicity on radio station 4ZZZ.

The Fitzgerald Inquiry was held from 1987-89, presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC. Fittingly, it was triggered by the work of investigative journalists who risked their lives to winnow out the weevils infesting the Queensland Police Force.

The inquiry was established in response to a series of articles on high-level police corruption in The Courier-Mail by reporter Phil Dickie, followed by a Four Corners television report, aired on 11 May 1987, entitled “The Moonlight State” with reporter Chris Masters. With Queensland’s Premier of 18 years, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, out of the state, his deputy Bill Gunn ordered a commission of inquiry.

Did the young Assange learn from Fast Buck$ and 4ZZZ’s role models? Regardless of the sex-crime distraction and the outcome of Assange’s hearing, he honours principles which are vital for us all.

In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said “only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government”. The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth.

Undaunted, Wikileaks will continue to release the US embassy cables. Julia Gillard and Robert McClelland may be worried at this point.

The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.

Unlike the tawdry flock of politicians and aristocrats incensed and tarnished thus far by its revelations, Wikileaks has been unrelenting in its pursuit of the truth.

LATEST

2010-12-08: WikiLeaks events and protests [Update 3]
SO WHY IS WIKILEAKS A GOOD THING AGAIN?
Anti-WikiLeaks lies and propaganda – from TNR, Lauer, Feinstein and more
Australian PM Julia Gillard comments on Wikileaks
Lieberman: New York Times may be investigated for espionage
This is how Australia is seen; vassals used by Washington over Wikileaks
Geoffrey Robertson QC has agreed to act for WikiLeaks’ editor in chief Julian Assange.There are fears the US ‘will use a Swedish arrest warrant to have the Australian whistleblower extradited to face charges under the US Espionage Act.‘

Wikileaks defended by Anonymous hacktivists
Julian Assange Arrest & OSAMA

@wikileaks : Let down by the UK justice system’s bizarre decision to refuse bail to Julian Assange. But #cablegate releases continue as planned.#
@jrug : Magistrate; “if these allegations are true there is no way he should be granted bail. That is the dilemma.” #

Australia: Make Rights a Foreign Policy Priority
Assange: Australian of the year?
Julian Assange Arrested in London: Judge denies bail: Assange will fight extradition to Sweden
Assange wanted by US for ‘espionage offences’
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]“
Johann Hari: This case must not obscure what WikiLeaks has told us – brilliant article which looks at just some of the war crimes uncovered by the cables.
WikiLeaks Cables on Western Sahara Show Role of Ideology in State Department
Wikileaks and the New Fourth Estate
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange poised to be Labor’s David Hicks
Assange crowd gathers at wrong house
Lieberman: New York Times may be investigated for espionage
If Assange is a spy, then so am I
Wikileaks and the New Fourth Estate
Truth in Chains
Wikileaks: Australia FM says US to blame, not Assange – Kevin Rudd finally gets a partial clue.
Rudd’s WikiLeak cables could have been penned by scorned Labor caucus
Rudd hits back at scathing Wikileaks attack
Julian Assange and Wikileaks deserve protection
How Wikileaks has woken up journalism.
WikiLeaks goes underground … in a bunker deep in Sweden
Rudd shrugs off ‘control freak’ cable
WikiLeaks: What happens next?
Julian Assange Has Made Us All Safer — and Been a Great Gift to US National Security
Julian Assange is not your friend
Australia-wide protests support of Wikileaks founder after his arrest today in London

People all over Australia and the world are calling for the release of Julian Assange and his protection in the name of free speech and public interest. He has been vilified by politicians and right wing commentators worldwide, with the Canadian PM calling for his assassination!

Let the Aust gov know you support free speech and Wikileaks.
Call on Gillard to protect Assange.

The rally date coincides with International Human Rights Day. Rally organisers say the Australian government has failed to uphold the human rights of Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

Protest actions:

BRISBANE – 12 noon, this Friday December 10
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 295 Ann Street, City.

SYDNEY- Sydney Town Hall @ 1pm, Friday December 10.

MELBOURNE – Facebook event for the protest in Melbourne to defend Julian Assange: http://on.fb.me/gHWHyq

Melbourne Protest to defend Julian Assange at State Library, Melbourne 4.30pm, this Friday, Dec 10

Australia and Melbourne Indymedia stand in solidarity with Wikileaks

Other Links

Cheney charged in Halliburton case
Giving Up On Israel?
On the hunting of Palestinian children and re-education at the Ofer prison
Australia: Make Rights a Foreign Policy Priority
Obama Defends Tax Deal, but His Party Stays Hostile
The legacy of Vietnam’s long struggle
U.S.: Israel Settlement Freeze Demand Dropped
On the hunting of Palestinian children and re-education at the Ofer prison
Israel launches airstrikes on Gaza
Quod erat demonstrandum

@PJCrowley: Julian #Assange comes clean as opportunist, threatens to put others at risk to save his own hide. #

Assange’s lawyer, Mark Stephens warns:

that if Mr. Assange were to be brought to trial on rape accusations he faces in Sweden, or for treason charges that have been suggested by U.S. politicians, he would release the encryption key. The tens of thousands of people who have downloaded the file would instantly have access to the names, addresses and details contained in the file.

Against a backdrop of impunity and exceptionalism, the issue of repellent doctrines of pre-emption and full spectrum global dominance adopted during the venal Bush years, and consequent massacres of millions of brown-skinned innocents far from those who fund and vote them, the hypocritical imperial crocodiles are concerned about the impact of the release of unredacted documents it will create by its own hand.

Nor will Assange’s detainment or the closure of his defence fund prevent the upload of further documents. The Wikileaks site is now mirrored at 507 sites and its wikileaks.ch domain is safe in the hands of the Pirate Party and protected by the Swiss courts – and the revolution WILL be tweeted. Even the superpower cannot withstand a tide of discontent from a mushrooming global movement insisting on the right to publish in the public interest as a check on elite corruption and deceit.

The US is particularly irascible about the publication of critical sites which it regards as critical around the world. Yet as the Wikileaks site points out, those sites were available to around 2.5 million people – hardly guarded knowledge. Australian sites of interest include

Australia: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Brookvale, Australia Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Sydney, Australia Manganese – Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Nickel Mines Maybe Faulding Mulgrave Victoria, Australia: Manufacturing facility for Midazolam injection. Mayne Pharma (fill/finish), Melbourne, Australia: Sole suppliers of Crotalid Polyvalent Antivenin (CroFab).

What is of most concern is the methodology the US used to glean this knowledge.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said:

“The latest release from the Embassy Cables reveals US embassies were asked to gather information on key infrastructure and resources without the knowledge of, or consultation with, their host governments.

“This further undermines claims made by the US government that its embassy officials do not play an intelligence gathering role.

“In terms of security issues, while this cable details the strategic importance of assets across the world, it does not give any information as to their exact locations, security measures, vulnerabilities or any similar factors – though it does reveal the US asked its diplomats to report back on these matters.

The Wikileaks cables have revealed the US has ‘blacklisted’ 23 Australian nationals in Yemen.

Some of the names have been added to a US list of people banned from boarding commercial flights, with the rest to be monitored by US spy agencies.

Kevin Rudd claims Assange will be treated ‘like any other citizen’ which means no doubt the supine Australian government would hand him over to its master on demand as it did David Hicks, another occasion when the Australian government’s tongue was inserted from US bottom to tonsils. Would the Australian government also OK a US assassination order? There is a list of organisations and people who have criminalised Wikileaks and threatened Assange here.

Wikileaks continues to expose the cloying connubial relationship between government and corporate entities: Jillian C. York notes the hypocrisy of EveryDNS.com which removed Wikileaks DNS service.

@jilliancyork: EveryDNS: “we believe in our New Hampshire state motto, Live Free or Die.” http://www.everydns.com/ (block on right side of page) #

York also asks:

“Did Library Of Congress Lie? White House Says No Requirement To Block Wikileaks | Techdirt” ( http://bit.ly/f0AfJI ) #

Guardian original

Guardian NATO new

“WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plans to defend Baltics from Russia
• Leaked diplomatic cables reveal Russia strategy
• British troops identified for combat operations
• Washington offers to beef up Polish security”

Content of the stories also differs. Decide for yourself which is the better interpretation by reading the original redacted cables at the Guardian.

Julia Gillard in a press conference broadcast today by the ABC has claimed Wikileaks cable publications are “grossly irresponsible misconduct”, there has been “no advice from the Australian federal police yet” and the cables’ “foundation stone is an illegal act”. In common with many politicians, she appears to have a low regard for normal journalistic activities.

Opposition Legal Affairs spokesman George Brandis accused Ms Gillard of being “clumsy” with her language on the issue of illegality.

“As far as I can see, he (Assange) hasn’t broken any Australian law,” he told Sky News.

“Nor does it appear he has broken any American laws.”

Senator Brandis, a Queen’s Counsel, called for any debate about the publishing of the cables to have a well-defined understanding of the difference between something which appeared to be morally wrong and an act which was illegal.

“As far as I can see, nothing Mr Assange has done does break the law.”

Julian Assange is considering a suit against Gillard for defamation.

In a positive move, Columbia University has reversed its fatwah on Wikileaks.

“Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution,” Coatsworth wrote in an e-mail to the SIPA community Monday morning (full e-mail message below). “Thus, SIPA’s position is that students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or to their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences.”

SIPA Professor Gary Sick, the prominent Middle East expert who served on the National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan, went even further in repudiating the memo.

“If anyone is a master’s student in international relations and they haven’t heard of WikiLeaks and gone looking for the documents that relate to their area of study, then they don’t deserve to be a graduate student in international relations,” Sick told Wired.com in an interview.

The US state department knew there were more cables to come months ago. The Afghanistan and Iraq material published earlier this year was opaque and acronymed – to work through them required extreme dedication and professionalism. According to Iraq body count, the data will take many months more to work through.

The current cables range from didactic to droll and are much more accessible to a prurient public hot for salacious ruling class peccadillos. The elite apparently don’t mind if the bodies they slaughtered are inspected long after, as long as their precious image at embassy cocktail parties isn’t tarnished, their complicity in torture coverups uncovered, that their deceptive sabre rattling at Iran isn’t exposed as a charade. Even now, despite the glaring evidence, many cling to the delusion that an attack on Iran is imminent.

I wavered as I read Kevin Rudd’s presentation to Clinton, knowing full well what I would find – evidence of an increased military buildup to keep pace with China’s growing security role in the region which they promised it years ago, though not with the boorish suggestion of matched belligerence. I thought Kevvie did rather well given the limitations and arrogance of the US – they will still run the show through membership of a regional body – yet it makes sense in a cold-hearted financially pragmatic way, since Australia is a quarry for the military juggernaut. China and America build implements of war from our minerals – increased militarisation suits everyone except me, and others like me, which is just about everyone.

After yesterday’s frolics, between throwing Leftist Palestinian charters and speeches identifying imperialism as organically related with zionism at anti-semite white supremacists and dealing with a plague of conspiracists who think because Assange said Netanyahu was a sophisticated politician this was a form of praise and evidence of zionist collusion rather than an equation of him with a used car salesman or particularly venomous snake, along with attempting to preserve my own citizenship rights from the craven compliance of the Australian government with empire, noticing little solidarity for this from non-Australians, my messages back to @wikileaks and @wikileaks2 were

Send her down Huey RT @wikileaks: Cablegate: Boy, the last time there was a leak like this, Noah built himself a boat. #

Hey there … power on, process A OK, govt still seems to want to commit to ridiculous amounts of arms purchases #

For 2 yrs a chain: #netfilter => #openinternet => #opensociety : #wikileaks helps Australians confront censorship then AND now thanks! #

Here’s my Christmas Wikiwish list:

(1) No, we don’t want those F35s (2) Global demilitarisation (3) Equal human rights for all (4) Whatever happened to Al Suri?

One last thought – as with the rightsless Palestinian people, Australian rights and justice go out the window when the US is concerned, The ruling class that disallows justice for Palestinians is the same ruling class that is enabling the persecution of Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Later

Julian Assange has now been arrested according to the BBC. An op-ed will appear in tomorrow’s Australian – here’s the beginning of a gist.

‘Mr Assange begins by saying: `In 1958, a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide’s The News, wrote: `In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.’’

It goes on to say a few more things about freedom of speech; the `dark days’ of corrupt government in Queensland (where Assange was raised); the Fitzgerald inquiry; and it says much about his upbringing in a country town, “where people spoke their minds bluntly.’’

It says that Australian politicians are chanting a “provably false chorus’’ with the US State Department of “You’ll risk lives! You’ll endanger troops!’’ by releasing information, and “then they say there is nothing of importance in what Wikileaks publishes. It can’t be both.’’

WikiLinks for Today

Julian Assange WikiLeaks – latest
Defend WikiLeaks or lose free speech
WikiLeaks Shows Intel Blackmailed Russian Govt.
Wikileaks Exposes Iran’s Secret Revenge on Iraqi Pilots For 1980s War
Al Jazeera rejects leaked US claims
Wikileaks : The Talking Points
V for Vendetta, A for Assange
CableGate, Copyright Expansionism and Stopping to Think
Campaigners rally to defence as attempts to muzzle site mount
In the flood of US cables, a resurgent Turkey emerges
WikiLeaks: Israel weapons manufacturer listed as site vital to U.S. interests
WikiLeaks winners and losers: Early edition
Cable reveals details about Saddam Hussein’s ‘hastily run’ execution
Kuwaiti IM suggests US release Gtmo detainees back in Afghanistan to be ‘killed in combat’
Why is Australia silent on Julian Assange?
Julia Gillard fails to name law broken by Wikileaks or Julian Assange
Police complaint filed after Tom Flanagan calls for assassination of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange
Facebook: We’re Not Kicking Wikileaks Off Our Site
Israel supporters using Wikileaks to promote attack on Iran are ignoring Arab public opinion
What’s the thinking behind Wikileaks?
Indecent Exposure: WikiLeaks Hounded for Showing Power Its True Face
In the eye of the Assange media storm – media storm after Daniel Assange interview
‘Critical infrastructure’ = hysterical reaction
Facebook: We’re Not Kicking Wikileaks Off Our Site
Net closes in on Assange? #wikileaks #cablegate
Aussie web hosts shy away from Wikileaks [despicable]
Not such wicked leaks : Umberto Eco
Open letter: To Julia Gillard, re Julian Assange
Wikileaks : Some thoughts on what is happening and where it might lead
WikiLeaks in the clouds: why attempts to shut down Assange will fail – behind a paywall, with free trial available
Wikileaks and the Long Haul
2010-12-07: Statement by Civil Liberties Australia – strong, well-aimed message
Has Australia Abandoned WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange? TIME
So Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?
Cables: US fails to stop Hamas arms flow
Rant from Howard Stern about Wikileaks and government.
“I can see Julian Assange from my house”
Wikileaks support protest in Sydney on Friday
The lawless Wild West attacks WikiLeaks

More Links

Pictures of Palestine from 1868
Researcher says Palestinian detainees were used in Israeli medical experiments
Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
A Wildfire Is Burning All Illusions in Israel
U.S. Must Condemn Gaza Border Wall as a Human Rights Violation
Message to Vieux Farka Touré: Colonialism is colonialism, whether it happens in West Africa or Palestine

On the run in February, 1879, Ned Kelly had no advocate, instead dictating to his comrade Joe Byrne the circumstances which led him to become a fugitive of the law. The marvellous Jerilderie letter, sometimes known as Kelly’s manifesto, was intended to be published as a pamphlet.

Some of my favourite quotations from Ned Kelly’s letter are below, testimony of a colonial ‘lesser being’ to the empire which abrogates his rights and freedoms through its craven corrupt employees, with relevance to Julian Assange’s current situation confronting the superpower whose specious narrative and actions are challenged by the release of diplomatic cables supplied to Wikileaks by a whistleblower, and its shameful sycophant, Australia, his country of birth, whose leader has betrayed him and all of its citizens with bad legal advice and sacrifice of citizens rights to the hegemon.

‘It will pay Government to give those people who are suffering innocence, justice and liberty. if not I will be compelled to show some colonial stratagem which will open the eyes of not only the Victoria Police and inhabitants but also the whole British army and now doubt they will acknowledge their hounds were barking at the wrong stump.’

‘yet remember there is not one drop of murderous blood in my Veins’

‘yet in every paper that is printed I am called the blackest and coldest blooded murderer ever on record’

‘yet they know and acknowledge I have been wronged and my mother and four or five men lagged innocent and is my brothers and sisters and my mother not to be pitied also who has no alternative only to put up with the brutal and cowardly conduct of a parcel of big ugly fat-necked wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splaw-footed sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known as Officers of Justice or Victorian Police who some calls honest gentlemen but I would like to know what business an honest man would have in the Police as it is an old saying It takes a rogue to catch a rogue and a man that knows nothing about roguery would never enter the force an take an oath to arrest brother sister father or mother if required and to have a case and conviction if possible Any man knows it is possible to swear a lie and if a policeman looses a conviction for the sake of swearing a lie he has broke his oath therefore he is a perjurer either ways.’

‘What would England do if America declared war and hoisted a green flag as its all Irishmen that has got command of her armies forts and batteries even her very life guards and beef tasters are Irish would they not slew around and fight her with their own arms for the sake of the colour they dare not wear for years. and to reinstate it and rise old Erins isle once more, from the pressure and tyrannism of the English yoke, which has kept it in poverty and starvation, and caused them to wear the enemys coats. What else can England expect. Is there not big fat-necked Unicorns enough paid to torment and drive me to do thing which I dont wish to do, without the public assisting them I have never interefered with any person unless they deserved it, and yet there are civilians who take firearms against me, for what rea-son I do not know, unless they want me to turn on them and extermin-ate them without medicine.’

From the torrent of support and journalistic output about Wikileaks and the issues underlying the leaked cables, this exceptional article by Nikki Usher captures the arguments for the essential role of a free media in facilitating government openness and accountability for all .

‘The truth is, though, that everyone here is a winner — traditional media and non-traditional journalism and, most importantly, the public.
…
Imagine this: Look at what happens when mainstream news and whatever we want to call WikiLeaks work together. The forces are not in opposition but are united with a common goal — again, informing the public — and the result is that mainstream news can do what it does best thanks to the help of the information WikiLeaks provides. (But, of course, it couldn’t do it without WikiLeaks.) This is a moment of glory for all those who talk about crowdsourcing, user-generated content, and the like. Perhaps this is the ultimate form of users helping to create and shape the news. And the result is a better-informed public.’

Here on our ABC, the intercourse between Clinton and Rudd is subject for debate, contempt and many less than useful explanations.

According to the document, Ms Clinton expressed concern about China’s economic rise and asked Mr Rudd: “How do you deal toughly with your banker?”

Mr Rudd responded by saying that China needed to be integrated into the international community, but that countries should be prepared to deploy force if everything goes wrong.

In contrast to the ALP’s niggardly “un-Australian” and exceedingly unpopular betrayal of Assange, Abbott’s taciturnity and Bishop’s abbreviated nod to the citizenry, Bob Brown has maintained a steady, clear voice.

“Australian citizenships should be respected and he should be reassured that his citizenship is safe,” Senator Brown said.

“Mr Assange has come across a great ream of documents which throw some light on US foreign policy. It is important that we know what drives governments to make decisions.”

“Mr Assange has had no criminal conviction and there is a lot of political conjecture and juggling of claims against him.”

“If this material had gone straight to one of the Australian newspapers they would have published it. The press works off leaks like this all the time.”

“I understand that WikiLeaks goes through a process before releasing any documents to help ensure that such releases do not put lives in danger,” Senator Brown said. “I urge WikiLeaks to be diligent in that.”

Recording of Bob Brown’s interview on ABC Radio 774 here.

Lawyer, Stephen Keim, says threats to WikiLeaks ‘damages Australia

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights president Stephen Keim says accusations of criminal law breaches levelled at Assange undermine free speech principles.

“Although the Attorney-General is entitled to disagree with – even protest – the actions taken, it is a particularly objectionable misuse of political hyperbole in these circumstances to make sweeping allegations of illegality,” Mr Keim said.

Downer rushes to the rescue of the political ruling class, perhaps hoping the same courtesy will be extended to him if a cable should materialise with his name on it. Downer feels “sorry for Kevin Rudd in this situation.” Kevin, though is relaxed and cheerful in comparison to his incensed US counterparts, who vow to change the law especially to punish the messenger, who is simply doing what journalists do. Politicians are often to resent the audacity of the press – Bjelke Petersen used to call it ‘feeding the chooks’. The empire is used to embedded reporters for some years, submissive to the imperatives of America’s perpetual wars.

As for WikiLeaks’ Australian founder Julian Assange, Mr Downer said he thought that morally he was an appalling person.

“I think to do this is to undermine the interests of millions of people around the world and to degrade diplomacy and the relationships between countries all for just being some sort of public relations smart-arse.”

Those opposing Wikileaks’ professional journalism take the bait with extraordinary enthusiasm, exposing themselves in all their monstrous glory. Avoiding engagement with the global conversation, they’d like to topple the fisherman off his rock.

They don’t seem to fathom why accountability is in the public interest, nor understand the inexorable nature of the tide which leaves them high and dry.

Would the governments be howling to the moon and stars if the leaks had been delivered to Murdoch’s establishments?

Wikileak Links for Today

Why the revolution might not be tweeted; or why Gladwell was right but for different reasons
US overreaction to Wikileaks ‘looking increasingly like that of a bully’
GLW: We have a right to know
The man who knows too much
WikiLeaks and Our Boorish “In Your Face” Diplomacy
WikiLeaks Ready to Release Giant ‘Insurance’ File if Shut Down
Could WikiLeaks survive without Julian Assange?

Mass-Mirroring Wikileaks

http://wlcentral.org/node/506

Evgeny Morozov has cautioned in The Financial Times

that the US backlash against WikiLeaks and Julian Assange may have unintended consequences: “WikiLeaks could be transformed from a handful of volunteers to a global movement of politicised geeks clamouring for revenge. Today’s WikiLeaks talks the language of transparency, but it could quickly develop a new code of explicit anti-Americanism, anti-imperialism and anti-globalisation.[...] An aggressive attempt to go after WikiLeaks – by blocking its web access, for instance, or by harassing its members – could install Mr Assange (or whoever succeeds him) at the helm of a powerful new global movement able to paralyse the work of governments and corporations around the world.”

Sex, lies and diplomatic cables

Website under constant assault

On Saturday, Mr Assange said it was ”impossible” to return to Australia because of comments by Mr McClelland and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who labelled his actions ”illegal”.

But yesterday Mr McClelland seemed to offer some concession to the Townsville-born former hacker, saying: ”Mr Assange is entitled to the same rights as any other Australian citizen.

”This includes the right to return to Australia and also to receive consular assistance while he is overseas if that is requested.”

Mr Assange also revealed that more than 100,000 people had downloaded an ”insurance” file containing an encrypted version of the cables, and the key to that code would be released if ”something happens to us”.

Rich all of a twitter about Big Brother

Professor Tom Flanagan: Glib about Murdering Julian Assange

”Instead of Big Brother overwhelming us, all these little brothers – us – will have data through products like research.ly that will give us the ability, just like WikiLeaks has, to overwhelm Big Brother,” Rich said in an interview with the blogger Robert Scoble.

Rich said his website could create ”virtual friends groups on the fly”.
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”What we need is humans to evolve to that next level so we have a collective consciousness that persists and that we can delve into to give us the data that we need to build these friends groups on the fly,” he said, in what appeared to be a new form of Orwellian doublethink.

WikiLeaks a blueprint for things to come : Mark Pesce

Everything is different now. Everything feels more authentic. We can choose to embrace this authenticity, and use it to construct a new system of relations, one which does not rely on secrets and lies. A week ago that would have sounded utopian, now it’s just facing facts

What remains of Western morality is becoming threadbare

Professor Tom Flanagan: Glib about Murdering Julian Assange
Don’t cry over WikiLeaks – Australian Legal
Assange Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group
Julian Assange’s lawyers say they are being watched
Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality
A Fairly Short List of Goodies for Wikileaks Santa
A Letter to PM Gillard
Wikileaks : Winning the War What’s the point of trying to shut down Wikileaks? If this past week has shown anything, it’s that cutting off the hydra’s head only results in a hundred more growing in its place.
Good luck shielding yourself from the next Wikileaks dump – diplomatic reshuffles
How to Eat the Cheese
Door open for Assange to come home – yeah right
Who Will Be TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year?
Bernie Sanders Unearths the Fed’s Sordid Details
Only WikiLeaks Can Save US Policy
Rudd defends ‘robust’ China relationship
Digital McCarthyism
And so this is Christmas
WikiLeaks cables claim al-Jazeera changed coverage to suit Qatari foreign policy
The Canberra Cables
An open letter to Malcolm Turnbull regarding Julian Assange
Operation Avenge Assange
Open letter to University of Calgary President Dr. Elizabeth Cannon regarding Dr. Tom Flanagan’s remarks
Salaries of WikiLeaks Staffers to Be Revealed in New Report

Other Links of Interest

The Flash Mob to raise awareness about Motorola’s support of Israeli human rights violation
United Nations Silent as NATO Destroys Potentially Thousands of Afghan Homes
ALBA and the Promise of Cooperative Development
Protest, arrests in Gaza over closure of youth organization
Abunimah: The Native American analogy doesn’t work
Danny Ayalon Needs To Thank Palestinians Too
New South Wales Greens embrace BDS
Nationalism: the virus and its cure
Leila Khaled Interview
Tales from the Crypt The Depraved Spies and Moguls of the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird
Israeli, Turkish diplomats meet in Geneva to repair ties
Industrial Workers of the World Union Votes to Officially Support BDS

UK Labor calls for compulsory settlement product labeling
Dick Cheney : The former VP is fingered in a massive cash-for-contract scandal in the African country’s oil-rich Niger Delta.