Tag Archive: Assange


Date  March 29, 2013

Philip Dorling

The  Sydney Morning  Herald

Zoom in on this story. Explore all there is to know.

Julian AssangeTurmoil surrounding case in Sweden: Julian Assange. Photo: AP

The top Swedish prosecutor pursuing sexual assault charges against Julian Assange has abruptly left the case and one of Mr Assange’s accusers has sacked her lawyer.

The turmoil in the Swedish Prosecution Authority’s effort to extradite Mr Assange comes as another leading Swedish judge prepares to deliver an unprecedented public lecture in Australia next week on the WikiLeaks publisher’s case.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority wants to extradite Mr Assange to have him questioned in Stockholm in relation to sexual assault allegations by two women.

Anna ArdinAlleged victim: Political activist Anna Ardin.

Fairfax Media has obtained Swedish court documents that reveal high-profile Swedish prosecutor Marianne Nye has unexpectedly left Mr Assange’s case from Wednesday, and has been replaced by a less-experienced prosecutor, Ingrid Isgren. The reasons for the change have not been disclosed yet.

Read Full Article Here

 

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Assange legal shakeup: Prosecutor walks, Supreme Court judge to speak out on case

RT

Published time: March 28, 2013 14:43
Edited time: March 28, 2013 15:38

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Reuters/Luke MacGregor)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Reuters/Luke MacGregor)

The lead Swedish prosecutor pursuing sexual assault charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no longer handling the case, media reports revealed. Her departure comes as a top Swedish judge is set to speak publicly on the ‘Assange affair.’

Recent court documents have revealed that starting Wednesday, high-profile Swedish prosecutor Marianne Nye will no longer be at the helm of the case against Assange, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Nye will be replaced by her far less experienced colleague Ingrid Isgren; the reasons for her departure have not been disclosed.

However, according to a Swedish newspaper report, Nye “has not quit the Assange case formally rather that there is a new ‘investigator,'” WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Anna Ardin, one of two women who accused Julian Assange of sex crimes, also moved to fire her controversial lawyer Claes Borgstrom late last month after she lost faith in his ability to represent her.

Ardin charged that Borgstrom was more interested in being in the media spotlight than providing her legal counsel, and has often referred her inquiries to his secretary or assistant. The court has approved Ardin’s new lawyer, Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Borgstrom reportedly supported his former client’s decision, saying that “in cases concerning sexual offenses, it is particularly important that the plaintiff has confidence in the lawyer representing her,” Swedish tabloid Expressen quoted him as saying.

News of the legal shakeup in the Assange case comes less than a week before Swedish Supreme Court judge Stefan Lindskog’s lecture at the University of Adelaide on the “Assange affair, and freedom of speech, from the Swedish perspective.”

Assange blasted Justice Lindskog – who is chair of the Supreme Court of Sweden, the country’s highest court of appeal – for his decision to publicly discuss the case.

“If an Australian High Court judge came out and spoke on a case the court expected or was likely to judge, it would be regarded as absolutely outrageous,” he told Fairfax media.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Ecuador raises Julian Assange case with Labour

Diplomat brings up subject of WikiLeaks founder taking refuge in embassy at meeting with Kerry McCarthy MP

Julian Assange Ecuador embassy

Julian Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy since June 2012. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Ecuadorean diplomats have raised the case of Julian Assange with the Labour party as part of attempts to lay the groundwork for a resolution of the diplomatic standoff between Britain and the South American state over the WikiLeaks’ founder.

As part of its continuing search for an end to the impasse, Ecuador has been seeking a commitment from the coalition that it would not support Assange’s onward extradition to the US should he choose to go to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault.

In an indication that the Ecuadoreans are now also setting their sights on a possible change of government after the 2015 election, Ecuador’s ambassador, Ana Alban, raised Assange’s case during a meeting with the shadow foreign minister, Kerry McCarthy.

The meeting had been requested by Ecuador to discuss environmental issues and bilateral trade, and the Labour side were taken by surprise when the Australian’s case was raised by the Ecuadoreans towards the end of the meeting.

A Labour source was eager to distance the party from the issue, saying: “The meeting was on the basis of a discussion about other issues and was one part of a series of regular contact meetings with foreign governments in London.

 

Read Full Article Here

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JourneymanVOD

Published on Jul 16, 2012

Second only to Julian Assange, Bradley Manning is the most important figure in the Wikileaks controversy; his is alleged to have handed over hundreds of thousands of secret US war files and diplomatic cables. But, while the world watches Assange’s trial with baited breath, Manning is already wasting away in solitary confinement; this is the story of his daring intelligence heist. We hear the only recording of Bradley Manning’s voice and we listen to the logs of alleged conversations with the man who ultimately betrayed him. Brought to you by Journeyman Pictures: http://www.youtube.com/user/JourneymanVOD?feature=mhee

Published on Nov 30, 2012 by

Julian Assange has made a name for himself by co-founding the website WikiLeaks and revealing sensitive governmental information. Now Assange is facing the consequences for his actions where he has been held up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for months and he speaks to RT on governments are intercepting entire nations through the Internet.

Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It

World News  :  Legislation  –  Security

Condom used as evidence in Assange sex case ‘does not contain his DNA’

  • But its thought another condom, submitted by the second alleged victim, does.
  • Swedish authorities requesting his extradition from Britain to stand trial
  • First alleged victim claims that Mr Assange deliberately ripped a condom

By Abul Taher

 

 

Forensic staff could not find any conclusive evidence of Mr Assange¿s DNA on a torn condomForensic staff could not find any conclusive evidence of Mr Assange¿s DNA on a torn condom given to Swedish police by one of the alleged victims

Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have revealed that a key piece of evidence does not contain his DNA.

A torn condom given to Swedish police by one of the alleged  victims was examined by staff at two forensic laboratories but they could not find any conclusive evidence of Mr Assange’s DNA on it.

The same forensic teams found DNA thought to belong to the WikiLeaks boss on another condom, which was submitted by the second alleged victim.

The revelation is contained in a 100-page police report that was written after witnesses were  interviewed and forensic evidence had been examined.

The report, which has been seen by Mr Assange’s lawyers, has led to the Swedish authorities requesting his extradition from Britain to stand trial, though he is yet to be charged with any offence.

Mr Assange, who denies allegations of rape and sexual molestation, has been fighting extradition to Sweden for the past two years. He claims it is a ruse to send him to the United States where he could face trial for espionage.

The 41-year-old is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after being granted asylum by the country’s president, Rafael Correa.

In the report, the first alleged victim, now 33, claims she was sexually molested by Mr Assange at her flat in Stockholm on  several occasions.

She also claims that Mr Assange deliberately ripped a condom before wearing  it so that he could have unprotected sex with her against her will.

Julian Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after being granted asylumJulian Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after being granted asylum by the country’s president, Rafael Correa.

His lawyers have said that the fact no DNA could be found  conclusively on an apparently used condom suggests a fake one may have been submitted.

The report also appears to cast doubt on the claim made by the second alleged victim, who told police that she was ‘raped’ by  Mr Assange when she was asleep.

 

But during a police interview,  the woman, now 29, apparently suggests that she did not mind  him having unprotected sex  with her.

The Swedish prosecutor’s office refused to comment on the report but said the case was ongoing.

Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It

Government Overreach : Whistle Blowers

Why the US is Out to Get Julian Assange

Seumas Milne
The Guardian
flag gag

© Oli Scarff/Getty

Considering he made his name with the biggest leak of secret government documents in history, you might imagine there would be at least some residual concern for Julian Assange among those trading in the freedom of information business. But the virulence of British media hostility towards the WikiLeaks founder is now unrelenting.

This is a man, after all, who has yet to be charged, let alone convicted, of anything. But as far as the bulk of the press is concerned, Assange is nothing but a “monstrous narcissist”, a bail-jumping “sex pest” and an exhibitionist maniac. After Ecuador granted him political asylum and Assange delivered a “tirade” from its London embassy’s balcony, fire was turned on the country’s progressive president, Rafael Correa, ludicrously branded a corrupt “dictator” with an “iron grip” on a benighted land.

The ostensible reason for this venom is of course Assange’s attempt to resist extradition to Sweden (and onward extradition to the US) over sexual assault allegations – including from newspapers whose record on covering rape and violence against women is shaky, to put it politely. But as the row over his embassy refuge has escalated into a major diplomatic stand-off, with the whole of South America piling in behind Ecuador, such posturing looks increasingly specious.

Can anyone seriously believe the dispute would have gone global, or that the British government would have made its asinine threat to suspend the Ecuadorean embassy’s diplomatic status and enter it by force, or that scores of police would have surrounded the building, swarming up and down the fire escape and guarding every window, if it was all about one man wanted for questioning over sex crime allegations in Stockholm?

To get a grip on what is actually going on, rewind to WikiLeaks’ explosive release of secret US military reports and hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables two years ago. They disgorged devastating evidence of US war crimes and collusion with death squads in Iraq on an industrial scale, the machinations and lies of America’s wars and allies, its illegal US spying on UN officials – as well as a compendium of official corruption and deceit across the world.

WikiLeaks provided fuel for the Arab uprisings. It didn’t just deliver information for citizens to hold governments everywhere to account, but crucially opened up the exercise of US global power to democratic scrutiny. Not surprisingly, the US government made clear it regarded WikiLeaks as a serious threat to its interests from the start, denouncing the release of confidential US cables as a “criminal act”.

Vice-president Joe Biden has compared Assange to a “hi-tech terrorist”. Shock jocks and neocons have called for him to be hunted down and killed. Bradley Manning, the 24-year-old soldier accused of passing the largest trove of US documents to WikiLeaks, who has been held in conditions described as “cruel and inhuman” by the UN special rapporteur on torture, faces up to 52 years in prison.

The US administration yesterday claimed the WikiLeaks founder was trying to deflect attention from his Swedish case by making “wild allegations” about US intentions. But the idea that the threat of US extradition is some paranoid WikiLeaks fantasy is absurd.

A grand jury in Virginia has been preparing a case against Assange and WikiLeaks for espionage, a leak earlier this year suggested that the US government has already issued a secret sealed indictment against Assange, while Australian diplomats have reported that the WikiLeaks founder is the target of an investigation that is “unprecedented both in its scale and its nature”.

The US interest in deterring others from following the WikiLeaks path is obvious. And it would be bizarre to expect a state which over the past decade has kidnapped, tortured and illegally incarcerated its enemies, real or imagined, on a global scale – and continues to do so under President Barack Obama – to walk away from what Hillary Clinton described as an “attack on the international community”. In the meantime, the US authorities are presumably banking on seeing Assange further discredited in Sweden.

None of that should detract from the seriousness of the rape allegations made against Assange, for which he should clearly answer and, if charges are brought, stand trial. The question is how to achieve justice for the women involved while protecting Assange (and other whistleblowers) from punitive extradition to a legal system that could potentially land him in a US prison cell for decades.

The politicisation of the Swedish case was clear from the initial leak of the allegations to the prosecutor’s decision to seek Assange’s extradition for questioning – described by a former Stockholm prosecutor as “unreasonable, unfair and disproportionate” – when the authorities have been happy to interview suspects abroad in more serious cases.

And given the context, it’s also hardly surprising that sceptics have raised the links with US-funded anti-Cuban opposition groups of one of those making the accusations – or that campaigners such as the London-based Women Against Rape have expressed scepticism at the “unusual zeal” with which rape allegations were pursued against Assange in a country where rape convictions have fallen. The danger, of course, is that the murk around this case plays into a misogynist culture in which rape victims aren’t believed.

But why, Assange’s critics charge, would he be more likely to be extradited to the US from Sweden than from Britain, Washington’s patsy, notorious for its one-sided extradition arrangements. There are specific risks in Sweden – for example, its fast-track “temporary surrender” extradition agreement it has with the US. But the real point is that Assange is in danger of extradition in both countries – which is why Ecuador was right to offer him protection.

The solution is obvious. It’s the one that Ecuador is proposing – and that London and Stockholm are resisting. If the Swedish government pledged to block the extradition of Assange to the US for any WikiLeaks-related offence (which it has the power to do) – and Britain agreed not to sanction extradition to a third country once Swedish proceedings are over – then justice could be served. But with loyalty to the US on the line, Assange shouldn’t expect to leave the embassy any time soon.

Julian Assange of WikiLeaks Seeks Asylum in Ecuador In Attempt To Avoid Extradition to U.S.

Published on Jun 20, 2012 by

DemocracyNow.org – WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London and asked for asylum. Assange made the move Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crime accusations. Earlier today, police in London announced Assange is now subject to arrest because his decision to spend the night at the Ecuadorean embassy violated the conditions of his bail. Assange is seeking asylum because he fears extradition to Sweden may lead to his transfer to the United States where he could potentially face charges relating to Wikileaks. “In my view, it is a situation of political persecution of Julian Assange for his political activities,” says Michael Ratner, a member of Assange’s legal team. “It fits in the asylum application procedure under the Declaration of Human Rights.” In an apparent reference to the United States, an Ecuadorean official said Assange fears being extradited “to a country where espionage and treason are punished with the death penalty.”

See Democracy Now!’s interviews with Julian Assange: http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/julian_assange

Bail Break: Loz Kaye on Assange Ecuador asylum request

Published on Jun 20, 2012 by

Julian Assange is facing arrest – British police say the Wikileaks editor has violated his bail terms by seeking sanctuary at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Assange has asked for political asylum in the Latin American country to avoid extradition to Sweden. For more, RT talks to Loz Kaye, the leader of the Pirate Party in the UK.

Politics

Saudi diplomat shot dead in Bangladesh

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/06/world/asia/saudi-diplomat-killed-bangladesh/index.html

Why No One Would Listen

Eyal Press, News Analysis: “What’s worse: to be persecuted and indicted for trying to expose an act of wrongdoing — or to be ignored for doing so? Whistleblowers have been under intense scrutiny in Washington lately, at least when it comes to the national security state.”

http://www.nationofchange.org/why-no-one-would-listen-1331142258

Tribes rip Abramoff, ethics watchdogs

By Jordy Yager
Native American tribes are questioning the ethics of government watchdog groups that have partnered with Jack Abramoff since his release from prison.

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/214593-tribes-rip-abramoff-watchdogs

Economy

Modern Alchemy: The Money Illusion

Have you ever wondered why the vast majority of hard working people on this planet does not make enough earnings to have a reasonable standard of living without being in debt? Our personal debt is modern version of slavery*.

Modern Alchemy: The Money Illusion

Iran may stop oil exports to Belgium, Czech Republic, Netherlands

http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/96113-iran-may-stop-oil-exports-to-belgium-czech-republic-netherlands

Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford convicted of bilking $7B from investors in 20-year Ponzi scheme

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/judge-says-jury-has-reached-verdict-in-7b-ponzi-scheme-trial-of-texas-financier-stanford/2012/03/06/gIQAY9yzuR_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

Goldman Secret Greece Loan Shows Two Sinners as Client Unravels

Greece’s secret loan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was a costly mistake from the start.

On the day the 2001 deal was struck, the government owed the bank about 600 million euros ($793 million) more than the 2.8 billion euros it borrowed, said Spyros Papanicolaou, who took over the country’s debt-management agency in 2005. By then, the price of the transaction, a derivative that disguised the loan and that Goldman Sachs persuaded Greece not to test with competitors, had almost doubled to 5.1 billion euros, he said.

ECB Blows Up Europe? Creates ‘Super-Immune’ Elite Bonds … Throws Credit Market into Disarray

Investors call on ECB to play fair in sovereign credit … Resentment at the European Central Bank’s immunity from losses on Greek debt has left fund firms wondering about the strength of their creditor rights and whether they should blacklist bonds purchased during emergency sprees by the lender of last resort. By sidestepping markdowns on Greek bonds, the ECB has effectively robbed fellow senior creditors of their top rank status, investors say, forcing each to forgive a greater proportion of the debt than they might otherwise have needed to. “I think many investors believed that as they were holding the same bond as the ECB, they should therefore be considered in the same boat as the ECB,” said Michael Krautzberger, head of the Euro fixed income business at BlackRock. – Reuters

Dominant Social Theme: What central banks do is “legal.” What YOU do is something else again.

Free-Market Analysis: We have often written the goal of the Anglosphere power elite is to create a worldwide depression on the way to one-world government. They are seemingly well on their way to doing that using the power of monopoly central banking, which they certainly seem to control.

ECB Blows Up Europe? Creates 'Super-Immune' Elite Bonds … Throws Credit Market into Disarray

15 Potentially Massive Threats To The U.S. Economy Over The Next 12 Months

We live in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable, and the potential for an event that could cause “sudden change” to the U.S. economy is greater than ever.  There are dozens of potentially massive threats that could easily push the U.S. economy over the edge during the next 12 months.  A war in the Middle East, a financial collapse in Europe, a major derivatives crisis or a horrific natural disaster could all change our economic situation very rapidly.  Most of the time I write about the long-term economic trends that are slowly but surely ripping the U.S. economy to pieces, but the truth is that just a single really bad “black swan event” over the next 12 months could accelerate our economic problems dramatically.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/15_Potentially_Massive_Threats_To_The_U.S._Economy_Over_The_Next_12_Months_/18310/0/0/0/Y/M.html

Wars and Rumors of War

Netanyahu tells Obama: I have yet to decide whether to attack Iran

U.S. president and Israeli premier agree to increase their coordination on Iran, in two hour White House meeting.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-tells-obama-i-have-yet-to-decide-whether-to-attack-iran-1.416711

What are the Saudis really looking for in Baghdad?

http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/96118

IAEA: Iran tripled higher-grade uranium production

Amano voices “serious concern” over Tehran’s nuclear program to UN atomic watchdog’s 35-nation governing board.

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=260522

Britain admits funding Syria rebels

06 Mar 2012 The UK government has acknowledged that it has provided an extra GBP 2 million to the Western-backed rebels fighting the popular government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Prime Minister David Cameron told a hearing at the House of Commons Liaison Committee on Tuesday afternoon that his government provided cash and equipment to foreign-backed rebels in Syria under such names as ‘aid agencies’ operating on the ground to help deliver emergency medical supplies and food. The acknowledgement is yet another proof that the rebellion in the Middle Eastern Arab country has its root somewhere in Britain and France.

Britain admits funding Syria rebels

Assad determined to fight ‘foreign-backed terrorism’

06 Mar 2012 Syria’s president defied mounting international pressure to end the year-old crackdown on an [Western-backed] uprising against him and said Tuesday he was determined to go on fighting what he called [and is] “foreign-backed terrorism.” After a powerful American senator called for airstrikes on Syria, President Barack Obama said unilateral U.S. military action against President Bashar Assad’s government would be a mistake. The United States said it is proposing a new United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an end to violence in Syria, first by government forces and then by opposition fighters. Russia and China, powerful allies that have blocked a Security Council resolution against Syria, made clear they were still standing by the government in Damascus.

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120306/120306_syria_crisis/20120306/

Tears for Somali’s “Baby Soldiers”

http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/4525

Syria: Game Over for Western Propaganda

Why should the West intervene in Syria when it turns out “activists” giving daily body counts, the sole source of “evidence” for the UN’s ever climbing grand total, are caught not only lying, but staging entire interviews complete with fake gunfire directed “off stage?” Why should the US, UK, EU, or the West’s stable of Arab proxy-regimes be allowed to arm Syrian rebels admittedly carrying out their own horrific atrocities? Clearly Syria’s opposition have turned out, just as they have in Libya, to be craven, murderous, and ultimately deceitful extremists – making any further contact with them by the West a direct violation of their own national and international laws…..

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Syria%3A_Game_Over_for_Western_Propaganda_/18314/0/0/0/Y/M.html

Eastern Libya pulls away from central government

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Tribal leaders and militia commanders declared oil-rich eastern Libya a semiautonomous state on Tuesday, a unilateral move that the interim head of state called a “dangerous” conspiracy by Arab nations to tear the country apart six months after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

http://news.yahoo.com/eastern-libya-pulls-away-central-government-200358649.html

Economic Warfare and Strangling Sanctions: Punishing Iran for its “Defiance” of the United States

The economic sanctions imposed upon Iran are having the desired effect of punishing the population through hunger and economic strangulation, making life miserable for the many. As tensions increase between the “international community” (the West) and Iran, talk of war is in the air. For years, sanctions have been imposed upon Iran in an attempt to devastate its dependence upon the oil industry for 80% of its revenues. The West seeks ‘regime change,’ and we hear a never-ending proliferation of proclamations from Western leaders about respecting democratic rights and freedom for Iranians, in lambasting the Iranian government for its human rights record, portraying it as a state sponsor of terrorism, and, of course, that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons with a stated goal of wanting to ‘wipe Israel off the map.’

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Economic_Warfare_and_Strangling_Sanctions%3A_Punishing_Iran_for_its_%E2%80%9CDefiance%E2%80%9D_of_the_United_States/18305/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Obama seeks to calm ‘beat of war’ over Syria, Iran

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-07/obama-warns-against-military-action-in-syria/3872982/?site=sydney

Environmental

How do you stop a synthetic-biology disaster?

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/How_do_you_stop_a_synthetic_biology_disaster_999.html

UN’s Environmental “Solution”: More Government

With the time counting down to the next United Nations conference on “sustainable development,” a new report recently published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) clearly indicates that the UN’s approach to the entire topic is to expand the power of government to regulate and control all levels of economic development throughout the world.

http://thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/11089-uns-environmental-qsolutionq-more-government

BP vs. Gulf Coast: It’s Not Settled Yet

Antonia Juhasz, Op-Ed: “On March 2, the first agreement in the historic trial against BP and all of the companies responsible for the largest maritime oil spill in world history was announced. The settlement proposal between BP and some 120,000 individuals and businesses includes key provisions long sought by those most economically and physically devastated by the gulf oil disaster. It also entails a number of critical unknowns, with vital details under negotiation for up to forty-five days.”

http://www.nationofchange.org/bp-vs-gulf-coast-it-s-not-settled-yet-1331134971

Cyber Space

Five arrested in high-profile cyberattacks

06 Mar 2012 Top members of the computer hacker group “Anonymous” and its offshoots were arrested and charged Tuesday after a wide-ranging investigation used the help of a group leader who was working as a secret government informant. Five of the suspects, considered by investigators among the “most sophisticated hackers in the world,” were arrested in the United States and Europe and charged in a Manhattan federal court over their alleged role in high-profile cyberattacks against government agencies and large companies, according to an indictment. A sixth man, Hector Xavier Monsegur, a notorious hacker known as “Sabu,” pleaded guilty in August to computer hacking and other crimes.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/06/us/new-york-hacker-arrests/index.html

LulzSec boss Hector Monsegur was working for us – FBI

Monsegur, aka Sabu, turned by FBI last June –‘We’re chopping off the head of LulzSec’ 07 Mar 2012 Police on two continents swooped on top members of computer hacking group LulzSec early today, and acting largely on evidence gathered by the organisation’s leader – who sources say has been secretly working for the government for months – arrested three and charged two more with conspiracy. Charges against four of the five were based on a conspiracy case filed in New York federal court. An indictment charging the suspects, who include two men from Great Britain, two from Ireland and an American from Chicago, is expected to be unsealed today in the Southern District of New York. “This is devastating to the organisation,” an FBI official involved with the investigation said. “We’re chopping off the head of LulzSec.” [We’ll see.]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/computer-hacking-group-lulzsec-brought-down-by-own-leader/story-e6frfro0-1226291313158

STRATFOR email on Assange refers to ‘switching him off’

http://www.legitgov.org/STRATFOR-email-Assange-refers-switching-him

The accepted culture at Stratfor includes sharing advice about how to take control of informants ‘by means of financial, sexual or psychological control’.

Assange Counts Down to Sweden

Assange Counts Down To Sweden

07 Mar 2012 Julian Assange has worn an electronic manacle for 454 days. Every day for 454 days he has signed in at a police station. Every night for 454 nights Serco has ensured he is home by 10pm, monitoring him in a fixed location for a required 10 hours, an equivalent of 225 days in prison. These bail conditions are maintained in the absence of any charge being laid against him – or even a decision to prosecute. They were set after an Interpol Red Notice was issued for Assange’s arrest. Gaddafi attracted an orange notice around the same time. The emails about Assange and Wikileaks are vicious; one little charmer refers to “switching him off”, that is, murder. Others lament when Assange is not killed in a car accident and joke, “Screw the terrorist. He’ll be eating cat food forever… Assange is going to make a nice bride in prison”. Their language and suggestions are sadistic and their strategy reads like spooky prophecy because Stratfor’s advice is being taken.

Top Republican publishes full ACTA text for public look-see

‘Secret negotiations not the American way’ 06 Mar 1012 Republican congressman Darrell Issa of California has published the full text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), saying that the public has a right to know what their governments have been hiding from them. “ACTA represents as great a threat to an open Internet as SOPA and PIPA and was drafted with even less transparency and input from digital citizens,” Issa said in a statement.

Negotiations on ACTA started under President [sic] Bush the Younger, and have been carried on by the current administration. [Of course they have. Obusha hasn’t deviated much from the previous regime, and in most situations (NDAA, killer drone attacks) has moved farther to the right than Bush. For some reason, he gets a ‘pass.’ –LRP]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/06/issa_opens_acta/

US, Israeli hackers fail in their effort to take down Press TV

[Press TV needs to *return the favor.*] 06 Mar 2012 A recent cyber attack launched by US and Israeli hackers against the website of Iran’s 24-hour English-language news channel, Press TV, has failed to take down the website. According to the Press TV report, the attack against the website took place from 14:00 on March 5 to 04:00 local time on March 6. However, the effective security countermeasures taken by the Press TV technical team foiled the cyber attack on the website. This is not the first cyber attack on Press TV. A similar attack was launched on the website on February 18, from 07:50 to 10:05 local time, which also failed.

http://www.legitgov.org/US-Israeli-hackers-fail-their-effort-take-down-Press-TV

US, Israeli hackers fail in their effort to take down Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/230303.html

Attacking The Hacker Hydra: Why FBI’s LulzSec Takedown May Backfire

from the top-down-approach-to-a-bottom-up-threat dept

Interesting timing. Just about the same time that we had our story concerning how LulzSec kept its own site from getting hacked, the news was breaking that the key leaders of LulzSec were being arrested, in large part because the “leader” of the group had become an FBI informant after they tracked him down last year. Of the various hacking efforts out there, LulzSec has definitely been the most brazen, so it’s not a huge surprise that it would be targeted by the FBI. Also, unlike “Anonymous,” LulzSec was pretty clearly an effort by a few key individuals, rather than a loose collective of folks joining and leaving at will.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120306/09451918000/attacking-hacker-hydra-why-fbis-lulzsec-takedown-may-backfire.shtml

Misc

What is the New World Order?

The nations of the world are increasingly recognizing the authority of international law. We now have the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization and the World Court just to name a few. We have a World Court to adjudicate the international laws of the emerging world government.          –Irvin Baxter

What is the New World Order?

State Investigators, Workers Cite Labor Abuses in Warehouse Empire

Lilly Fowler, News Analysis: “As a warehouse worker in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the nation’s biggest distribution hub for consumer goods, Jorge Soto handles shipments for retail giant Walmart every day. But Soto, who works for a subcontractor, claims that, along with routine jobs such as unloading trucks, he also has been ordered to perform an illegal task: falsifying employees’ time sheets to cheat them out of getting the minimum wage.”

Politics

Democratic lobbyists giving cold shoulder to Obama super-PAC

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/212909-democratic-lobbyists-giving-cold-shoulder-to-obama-super-pac-

‘Not for Pub’: US drew up secret Assange charges – Stratfor leak

http://rt.com/news/us-assange-charges-indictment-stratfor-425/

Homeland Security Dept. Pays General Dynamics to Scour Internet for Criticism of its Policies

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Homeland_Security_Dept_Pays_General_Dynamics_to_Scour_Internet_for_Criticism_of_its_Policies_1202Economy

US ‘ties North Korea food aid to nuclear progress’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17201046

Obama using Espionage Act to ‘silence and prosecute federal workers’ – NYT

US tax dollars at work: War games: Tel Aviv missile drill

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4195662,00.html

McCain Charges White House With Israel Leaks

Sen. John McCain charges that the Obama administration is intentionally undermining Israel in its standoff with Iran.

Economy

S&P Declares Greece in Default

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203833004577249831718108646.html

Venezuela to Keep Syria Fuel Exports, Deepen Ties With China

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-28/venezuela-to-keep-syria-fuel-exports-deepen-ties-with-china.html

Irish leaving in droves to work abroad:  More people will leave Ireland to find work abroad, than at any time since the 1980s

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/02/2012228103831963169.html

Durable goods orders drop by most in 3 years:  U.S. businesses slashed spending on machinery and equipment in January after a tax break expired, pushing orders for long-lasting manufacturing goods down by the largest amount in three years

http://news.yahoo.com/durable-goods-orders-drop-most-3-years-133644833.html

Democratic leaders intensify blame on Wall Street for rising oil prices

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/213013-dem-leaders-keep-pressure-on-wall-street-over-rising-oil-prices

20 Signs That Dust Bowl Conditions Will Soon Return To The Heartland Of America

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/20-signs-that-dust-bowl-conditions-will-soon-return-to-the-heartland-of-america

Dow crosses 13,000, first time since crisis

http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/story/2012-02-28/stocks-february-28/53283088/1

HSBC could face US criminal charges and ‘significant’ fines over ‘money-laundering’

HSBC has admitted for the first time it may face criminal charges that could see it hit with “significant” penalties stemming from a US investigation into alleged money-laundering by Britain’s biggest bank.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9111850/HSBC-could-face-US-criminal-charges-and-significant-fines-over-money-laundering.html

America 1950 vs. America 2012

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/america-1950-vs-america-2012

Iran’s crude oil price exceeds $124 in Asian markets

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1545637

Wars And Rumors Of Wars

Israel Won’t Warn U.S. Before Strike On Iran: AP Source

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/israel-wont-warn-us-befor_n_1305601.html?1330398253&ncid=webmail2

Britain leads dash to explore for oil in war-torn Somalia:  Government offers humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in country’s future energy industry http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/25/britain-oil-dash-somalia

NATO airstrike kills four Afghan civilians –The victims were reportedly bombed twice while herding sheep in the snow.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/228735.html

Misc

Anonymous hackers: Police arrest 25 in four countries

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17195893