Manning’s First Day in Court

Last weekend marked Bradley Manning’s 1,oooth day of incarceration, today was his second day in court, truly a week of milestones.

Without trial and gagged since May 2010, the US Army private is accused of providing secret documents to WikiLeaks, and today he finally got his day in court – well first day – he also managed to squeeze out a few words.

Manning pleaded guilty to 10 charges of misusing classified material he felt “should become public,” he has however denied a dozen charges of aiding the enemy.

Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, entered a guilty pleas at today’s pre-trial hearing, prior to his court martial, which is set to begin on June 3, in a case that centres on the biggest leak of government secrets in US history.

In September last year, Manning’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss all charges with prejudice, arguing that Manning has been unable to obtain a speedy trial. The motion claimed that the then 845 days he’d spent in pre-trial incarceration was much longer than periods that the Court of Appeals had previously found to be facially unreasonable. The U.S. military requires a trial within 120 days :: Read the full article »»»»

Julian Assange’s Christmas Message

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has announced the release of files affecting ‘every country in the world’ in his second public appearance since seeking asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

In a Christmas message marking six months since he entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over claims of rape and sexual assault, Mr Assange said the door was open to negotiations to resolve the situation. Speaking to an audience of around 100 supporters, Mr Assange said it had been a ‘huge year’ for his anti-secrecy website.

“Next year will be equally busy,” Our Julian said. ”WikiLeaks has already over one million documents being prepared to be released, documents that affect every country in the world.”

Mr Assange thanked Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa for granting him asylum and hit out at the United States and other Western governments :: Read the full article »»»»

Julian Assange Confirms New Australian WikiLeaks Political Party

Julian Assange says he intends to run for a Senate seat in the next election, with plans for an Australian WikiLeaks party “significantly advanced”. The Australian has been holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy since June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over sexual assault allegations.

Mr Assange is concerned that if he goes to Sweden, authorities will allow him to be extradited to the United States to be questioned over WikiLeaks’ release of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Mr Assange has told Fairfax Media he intends to push ahead with previously-announced plans to run for the Australian Senate. He said he had not yet registered to vote, but told Fairfax he believes he will be able to register in either New South Wales or Victoria as an overseas voter.

Mr Assange said a “strategic decision” would determine which state he would run to represent. He also said “a number of very worthy people admired by the Australian public” have expressed interest in standing for a yet-to-be registered Australian WikiLeaks party :: Read the full article »»»»

World of the News

The global behemoth that is News (Ltd + International) is creeking and groaning under it’s own size as it attempts to reform itself for the digital age, changing the way it does business, answering for the way it’s done business and comes to terms with the trouble it’s had downsizing it’s business.

In the UK, the saga of phone-hacking goes on with Former News International chief Rebekah Brooks has appeared briefly in a London court, accused of conspiring to hack phones. As well as Brooks, former legal manager of Rupert Murdoch’s News International has been arrested in connection with the phone hacking scandal. In Australia the behemoth has not announced that up to 80 more editing and reporting jobs will be cut from News Limited, including dozens across Queensland.

The once golden Nine stable of multimedia products has dipped further into trouble times. Nine Entertainment has announced the sale of ACP Magazines – Australia’s largest stable of print based media –  to German media giant Bauer. The sale is reported to be worth about $500 million and is expected to be finalised in the next one to two months.

No post would be complete without comment on Julian Assange, his latest antics – stuck within the shrinking walls of the Eucadorian Embassy in London – Mr Assange, or Our Jullian as we like to refer, is prepping himself for a 12 month camp-out as he steadies himself for waht looks like a very long fight. At what point does one need to ask the question; ‘surely he’d be done with the fight if he’d gone to Sweden 3 years ago?’

In proof that there is still some value in old-school communication devices, a Scottish fishing boat’s skipper has found a message in a bottle, 98 years after it was released. The bottle was released by the Glasgow School of Navigation in 1914 as part of an experiment to map the currents in the sea off the Scottish coast  :: Read the full article »»»»

UPDATED! Has Our Julian Fallen For His Own Celebrity?

It’s been a while since – July 6: Wikileaks Latest Round of Releases, Syrian Emails! – we bought into the Assange story, his antics up until July this year seemed to follow a fairly righteous route. Is he simply trying to avoid facing Swedish questioning on charges that he’s pretty much admitted to?

Has Mr Assange now fallen for his own celebrity? Asking this question might seem a little odd, but consider US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland’s statement yesterday and the question becomes more than a little relevant.

Ms Nuland said that the US had nothing to do with the UK’s attempt to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden, that our Julian was simply avoiding facing possible charges for having sex without a condom, a crime in Sweden where two female WikiLeaks volunteers in Sweden have accused Assange of sexual misconduct.

“He is making all kinds of wild assertions about the US when in fact his issue with the government of the United Kingdom has to do with whether he’s going to face justice in Sweden for something that has nothing to do with WikiLeaks, it has to do with charges of sexual misconduct,” Ms Nuland said in a press conference. ”He is clearly trying to deflect attention away from the real issue, which is whether he’s going to face justice in Sweden. That case has nothing to do with us. It’s a matter between the United Kingdom, Sweden and now Ecuador has inserted itself.”

We realise that WikiLeaks – as an organisation – has an obligation to protect it’s protagonists, but is Julian Assange WikLeaks? or is the organisation larger than just one man? For a man who is prepared to spend – perhaps – the rest of his life in asylum, it’s odd that he simply doesn’t front the Swedish charges, surely there is someone within WikiLeaks that might keep the fight going in his absence?

In fairness to Mr Assange, Ms Nuland, as with previous US statements, declined to comment on the intentions of the US to prosecute WikiLeaks members :: Read the full article »»»»

Wikileaks Latest Round of Releases, Syrian Emails!

WikiLeaks – the behemoth that would be our galactic Yoda –  has begun publishing more than 2 million emails from Syrian political figures that it says will shed light on the regime’s crackdown on dissent and embarrass Syria’s opponents. The emails date back to 2006 but also cover the past 16 months, in which thousands have been killed in a bloody crackdown by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The whistleblowing website says the files will give an insight into how the Assad government operates, and also reveal Western countries and businesses which continue to support Syria. WikiLeaks says the emails came from Syrian ministries including foreign affairs, finance and presidential affairs.

In a statement on the website, Wikileaks says: “Today, Thursday 5 July 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing the Syria Files – more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies, dating from August 2006 to March 2012. This extraordinary data set derives from 680 Syria-related entities or domain names, including those of the Ministries of Presidential Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information, Transport and Culture. Over the next two months, ground-breaking stories derived from the files will appear in WikiLeaks (global), Al Akhbar (Lebanon), Al Masry Al Youm (Egypt), ARD (Germany), Associated Press (US), L’Espresso (Italy), Owni (France) and Publico.es (Spain). Other publications will announce themselves closer to their publishing date“.

Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the material is embarrassing to Syria, as well as to Syria’s opponents. It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts,” Mr Assange said in a statement. “It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it.” :: Read the full article »»»»