Free Julian Assange! Hands off WikiLeaks!
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was jailed in Britain Tuesday on charges that are nothing more than a pretext for an act of political repression dictated by the US government. The aim of this judicial travesty is, in the first instance, to punish Assange for having made public secret cables exposing crimes and conspiracies carried out by US officials.
Spanish air traffic controller: “We have arrived at something akin to Stalinist Russia, the Stasi or Hitler’s SS”
The following correspondence has been sent to the World Socialist Web Site by a Spanish air traffic controller. It details the impact of the emergency legislation imposed by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government, bringing in military control of airports, including forced labour at gunpoint.
Another government handout...for the rich
Another giveaway to the rich is being justified in the name of "bipartisan compromise." President Obama announced that he made a deal with Republicans on extending tax cuts for the richPresident Obama announced that he made a deal with Republicans on extending tax cuts for the rich. TIMES ARE tough, workers are suffering, and the president says that he can't stand by any longer--he has to act. So what's Barack Obama's proposal? A crash program to create jobs for the millions of long-term unemployed? Double spending on projects to rebuild America's crumbing infrastructure? A new government initiative to stem the surge in hunger since the economic crisis began?
Why is Julian Assange in jail?
THE SUPPOSED "international manhunt" for Julian Assange ended December 7 when the WikiLeaks founder turned himself into police in London--and was promptly locked up by the British court system.
WikiLeaks cables cast fresh light on coup against former Australian PM Rudd
The latest round of US diplomatic cables distributed by WikiLeaks has cast fresh light on the circumstances surrounding the anti-democratic Labor Party coup on June 23-24 that ousted Kevin Rudd as Australian prime minister. In 2008 and 2009, the US embassy issued an extraordinary series of scathing assessments of Rudd’s performance, centring on his attitude to China. While the full story is yet to come out, the WSWS noted in the aftermath of the coup that “Washington’s increasingly aggressive stance towards Beijing was undoubtedly a major factor in the recent political upheavals in Canberra.”
We could make the budget deficit disappear and fully fund Social Security and Medicare without raising taxes, if we only outspend our biggest military rival by threefold. The United States spends more on its military and security services than the rest of the world combined, yet in the midst of a major debate over our fiscal situation, that enormous drain on our national treasure isn't really "on the table" in any serious way. Obama's deficit commission recommended cutting the Pentagon's purse, but the thrust of its focus was on veterans' pensions and health-care -- rather than, say, maintaining costly bases to defend such imperiled allies as Italy and Germany -- and the spending reductions were largely symbolic relative to the level of bloat that plagues our security budget.
Cheney faces Nigeria bribery charge
Nigeria's anti-corruption agency has charged Dick Cheney, a former US vice-president, over a bribery scheme involving Halliburton, an oil services company, during the time he served as the company's top executive. The charges stem from a case involving upto $180 million allegedly paid in bribes to Nigerian officials, Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said on Tuesday.
12/07/10
Goddamned Bastards
...The recent developments concerning WikiLeaks and Assange in particular fill me with immense rage, and they also cause me profound sadness. I'm not in the least surprised that the murderous bastards who rule us and much of the rest of the world are so intent upon destroying him and WikiLeaks, as all my writing on WikiLeaks has made clear from the beginning. They perceive all too clearly the very significant threat WikiLeaks represents. Still, to see the vicious motherfuckers pursue destruction and death with such grisly, insatiable, bloodthirsty determination ... it's the stuff of nightmares...
Fort Lauderdale breaks cold record for Dec. 7
South Floridians woke up Tuesday morning to temperatures hovering around the very low 40s that sometimes felt like the mid-30s because of the wind chill factor. In Fort Lauderdale, a low temperature record of 42 degrees for Dec. 7 that had been in place for 169 years was broken, said Dan Gregoria, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.
Net neutrality, the FCC, Wikileaks and the future of internet freedom
Regardless of what you think about the Wikileaks release of state secrets, there's no debating the astonishing fact that the internet made these leaks possible. Without the internet, no single organization such as Wikileaks would have been able to so widely propagate secret government information and make it public. In the old model of information distribution -- centralized mainstream media newspapers and news broadcasts -- such information would have been tightly controlled thanks to government pressure.
U.S. judge dismisses targeted-kill program lawsuit
A judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt the Obama administration's program to capture or kill American citizens who join militant groups abroad, a case involving a Muslim cleric in Yemen. The ruling was a defeat for civil liberties groups that brought the lawsuit on behalf of the father of Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who joined al Qaeda in Yemen and has been tied to plots against the United States.
Chomsky, Singer declare support for WikiLeaks’ Assange
Chomsky, Singer declare support for WikiLeaks AssangeTwo distinguished scholars and activists, Noam Chomsky and Peter Singer, signed an open letter to the Prime Minister of Australia on Tuesday, urging the government to condemn calls for Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be assassinated.
George W. Bush is the most unpopular living U.S. president, claims survey
George W. Bush has been named as the least popular living U.S. president, according to a survey released yesterday. The 64-year-old Republican nicknamed Dubya, who took America to war against terrorism, and under whose watch the financial downfall occurred, was labelled the most unpopular living leader of the last 50 years in the U.S. by respected pollsters Gallup.
South Korea push to build 'military fortresses'
President Lee Myung-bak vows to turn five islands along North Korea border into 'military fortresses' with jobs for civilians. The president of South Korea vowed today to turn five islands along the tense border with North Korea into "military fortresses", with jobs for permanent civilian communities, including those destroyed in a North Korean artillery attack.
Argentina recognizes Palestine pre-1967 borders
Argentina's government said Monday it had decided to recognise a Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 war, following a similar move days earlier by neighboring Brazil. Skip related content. The Foreign Ministry said centre-left President Cristina Fernandez had informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the decision in a letter.
Israel warns Argentina: Recognizing Palestinian state shatters peace process
Argentina's announcement follows Brazil's declaration of recognition last week, in wake of request made by Abbas on Latin American tour last year. Israel's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned as "highly regrettable" Argentina's announcement of the previous day that it recognized Palestine as "a free and independent state" within its borders prior to the 1967 Six-Day War. The decision was highly "damaging," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, "because they are in fact shattering the foundation of the peace process."
U.S. Climate Envoy Refuses to Answer Democracy Now!'s Questions on WikiLeaks Cables' Account of Summit Manipulation
At the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Cancún, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern refuses to comment on the WikiLeaks cables’ account of discussions with the European Union on using climate aid to gain the backing of small island states for the informal Copenhagen Accord reached at last year’s U.N. climate summit. He also avoided answering a question addressing the removal of funding to Bolivia and Ecuador, whose governments opposed the accord.
From the Deficit Panic to the TARP Financial Collapse Tales of Economic Apocalypse
Hollywood used to be the place where creative people went to cook up outlandish horror plots. But Hollywood has been displaced. Now people go to Washington to spin their wild tales of looming disaster. The national agenda has been dominated by such tales over the last two years. Most recently we have had the story of the bond market vigilantes doing to the United States what they have already done to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. This story requires suspending disbelief, but people who report on economic and political issues for major news outlets are good at ignoring reality.
The Arrest of Julian Assange Truth in Chains
Well, they got him at last. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the target of several of the world’s most powerful governments, turned himself into British authorities today and is now at the mercy of state authorities who have already shown their wolfish – and lawless – desire to destroy him and his organization.
One November’s Dead: The American War Dead Disappear into the Darkness
America’s heroes? Not so much. Not anymore. Not when they’re dead, anyway. Remember as the invasion of Iraq was about to begin, when the Bush administration decided to seriously enforce a Pentagon ban, in existence since the first Gulf War, on media coverage and images of the American dead arriving home at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware? In fact, the Bush-era ban did more than that. As the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote then, it “ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases.”
Why Are We in Afghanistan – Still?
You have to wonder what it might take to get the man in the White House to acknowledge just how absurd the current U.S. military effort in Afghanistan has become. Would the president of Afghanistan himself telling us to start getting our troops out do it? Nah. How about the leader of the last country to send its army there telling us "Victory is impossible in Afghanistan"? Nope. Finding out that some of the guards who protect NATO bases were Taliban -- but the top Taliban guy we'd been negotiating with actually wasn't? Neither. A Hollywood agent might push this story as farce. But it's real life and that qualifies it as tragedy.
The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Poorer
More tax breaks for the rich in exchange for another year's worth of unemployment benefits for the desperate: Now there's a compromise that makes me proud to be an American. My father wouldn't have been surprised. He grew up during the Great Depression and worked in factories before he was drafted and served in the Army during World War II. Dad told me that the harder he worked (physically), the less he got paid. And he told me there was nothing like repetitive and physically-grueling factory work to make you want to improve yourself. By becoming a civil servant (a firefighter), he escaped the factory and its dismal pay for a job that paid enough to provide five children with a lower-middle-class existence.
Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg calls for boycott of Amazon.com
The man responsible for what was once the largest amount of secret US government information ever leaked has called for free speech advocates to boycott online retailer Amazon.com over their removal of WikiLeaks from their cloud servers. Saying that he’s "disgusted" by Amazon claiming a violation of their terms of service for taking WikiLeaks offline, Daniel Ellsberg sent an open letter damning the company for capitulating to public and private sector officials who "aspire to China’s control of information and deterrence of whistle-blowing."
Targeted Killing: "A Unique and Extraordinary Case"
"A unique and extraordinary case" is how a federal judge described our lawsuit, with the Center for Constitutional Rights, challenging the Obama administration's targeted killing policy.
Glenn Greenwald Calls Julian Assange's Arrest "Pure Authoritarianism"
Greenwald: "What is really going on here is a war over control of the Internet, and whether or not the Internet can actually serve its ultimate purpose." WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested in London on an international warrant to face sex crime allegations in Sweden. Assange is expected to face a hasty extradition process to Sweden. We speak with Glenn Greenwald, constitutional attorney and blogger at Salon.com. Greenwald says: "Whatever you think of WikiLeaks, they have not been charged with a crime, let alone indicted or convicted. Yet look what has happened to them. They have been removed from Internet … their funds have been frozen … media figures and politicians have called for their assassination and to be labeled a terrorist organization. What is really going on here is a war over control of the Internet, and whether or not the Internet can actually serve its ultimate purpose—which is to allow citizens to band together and democratize the checks on the world’s most powerful factions."
Euro at risk of collapse, says Treasury watchdog as economic crisis sweeps Continent
The Euro is at risk of collapse as economic crisis sweeps the continent, Britain’s independent Treasury watchdog warned last night. ‘General consensus’ is that currency unions ‘eventually fail’, Professor Steve Nickell, a senior member of the Office for Budget Responsibility, told MPs on the powerful Treasury Select Committee. And the OBR’s chairman, Robert Chote, added: ‘We are not assuming a cataclysmic outcome for the eurozone but, as Steve said, monetary arrangements come and monetary arrangements go.’
24 Signs That All Of America Is Becoming Just Like Detroit – A Rotting, Post-Industrial, Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland
For years, people have been laughing at the horrific economic decline of Detroit. Well, guess what? The same thing that happened to Detroit is now happening to dozens of other communities across the United States. From coast to coast there are formerly great manufacturing cities that have turned into rotting, post-industrial war zones. In particular, in America's "rust belt" you can drive through town after town after town that resemble little more than post-apocalyptic wastelands. In many U.S. cities, the "real" rate of unemployment is over 30 percent. There are some communities that will start depressing you almost the moment you drive into them. It is almost as if all of the hope has been sucked right out of those communities.
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