David Frost interviews Julian Assange:
There is no transcription yet for those without the time or a fast connection.
Wikileaks joins forces with Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta to release information Wikileaks has specific to Russia.:
"Assange said that Russians will soon find out a lot about their country and he wasn’t bluffing," Novaya Gazeta said. "Our collaboration will expose corruption at the top tiers of political power. No one is protected from the truth."
The weekly newspaper is known in an industry dominated by state-run companies for its critical reports of the Kremlin and investigative coverage of Russian affairs.
Novaya Gazeta correspondent Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote about graft under then-President Vladimir Putin and chronicled abuses by military forces in Chechnya, was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building in 2006, on Putin’s birthday.
Novaya Gazeta received unlimited access to the WikiLeaks database, which has a "wide range" of materials, including documents about Politkovskaya’s murder as well as information about Russian politicians’ ties to organized crime, Nadezhda Prusenkova, a Novaya Gazeta spokeswoman, said by phone from Moscow. The newspaper will start releasing materials next month.
Cenk Uygur Interview with Julian Assange
For transcriipt, go to Cenk's diary
The Center for Public Integrity released this article. Here is a bit:
The WikiLeaks cables with light-hearted and trivial observations reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity were classified as either "confidential" or "secret."
Blanton worries about the classification system’s credibility.
He likens the current classification system to a low fence of security around a large prairie of information. Instead, he said, the United States needs "a tall fence around a graveyard" — safeguarding only the most sensitive secrets.
Keeping secrets can be expensive for the taxpayer.
In 2009, the Information Security Oversight Office, the agency charged with overseeing the government’s security classification system, spent $8.8 billion to safeguard classified information according to its June report to President Obama — and that only includes intelligence operations that aren’t themselves classified.
Tangible and intangible costs, including loss of confidence in the system, can add up if valuable messages are released, said William Bosanko, the oversight office’s director.
"Over-classification is not in the interest of the government," said Bosanko. "Finite resources are best deployed when they are focused on the information that truly requires protection."
The cables published by WikiLeaks span multiple presidential administrations. Typical is one sent in March 2008, reporting on a meeting the previous month between a top U.S. military official, William Fallon, and the Sultan of Oman at one of the Arabian leader’s castles.
The admiral, then head of U.S Central Command, found Qaboos bin Said al Said "in good health." Qaboos was "cheerful," reported a diligent diplomatic correspondent in an official State Department cable to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The sultan was too busy "to do all the things he wanted to do, such as reading more books" – though he always found some time to "watch the news." The cable was marked "secret."
Had such documents not been disclosed on WikiLeaks in November, the world would have had to wait decades. Under classification rules for the cable on Fallon’s meeting with the sultan, it would remain secret until 2018.
An April 2009 classified cable sent from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office to the American Embassy in Argentina amounts to little more than a thank you for the embassy’s help in forwarding information on key state figures, including "a nice example of when [then-Foreign Minister Jorge] Taiana has cracked a joke in meetings to lighten the mood."
That cable, with some sections marked as secret, would not have been declassified until 2034.
This is surreal:
The CIA has launched a special task force to assess the impact of WikiLeaks’ release of 250,000+ sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables, The Washington Post reports.
Its name? The WikiLeaks Task Force, but at the CIA headquarters it’s mainly known as WTF — an acronym that carries a set of connotations the CIA probably doesn’t want to be associated with.
In response to WTF, Andy Borowitz has some other suggestions:
"Stop Terrorists From Uniting" (STFU).
National Security Forces Workgroup (NSFW).
UN looking into Manning's treatment:
The United Nations' top anti-torture envoy is looking into a complaint that the Army private suspected of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks has been mistreated in custody, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
The office of Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture in Geneva, received a complaint from one of Pfc. Bradley Manning's supporters alleging conditions in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., amount to torture, said spokesperson Xabier Celaya. Visitors say he spends at least 23 hours a day alone in a cell.
The U.N. could ask the United States to stop any violations it finds.
U.S. pushes back at UN Notice the language in this quote:
A spokesman for Quantico Marine Corps Base, where Pfc. Bradley Manning is being held, told FoxNews.com that U.N. intervention in the case would be unusual.
"I've never heard of the U.N. coming in to inspect a brig or confinement facility," Villiard said, "The Marines that are working at the brig are extremely professional. ... They've been doing this for awhile."
Villiard said Manning is being treated "fairly" and his conditions are being monitored by U.S. officials.
"We've been reviewed ... No concerns have been voiced from a (Department of Defense) perspective," Villiard said.
And just to be clear, there is no proof that Bradley Manning is responsible, other than Adrian Lamo’s statement. The problem with his statement is that he was talking to someone alleged to be manning via IM. There is no proof that the account actually belonged to Manning, or that if it did belong to Manning, that Manning was actually using it...
Forbes writers must laugh their asses off while they buy $30 drinks at an American Psycho style nightclub. I mean, this is really fucking disturbing:
I’m starting to think Julian Assange is a major shareholder in Bank of America. How else can we explain the surge in BofA shares since rumors erupted that the bank was Wikileaks’ next target?
You know how Lindsay Lohan (or any other messy but relatively talented actor) attracts publicity by being a part of some dramatic story about a break-up or an all-night rager in Las Vegas? This Bank of America/Wikileaks drama kind of reminds me of that, and Assange is playing the role as Bank of America’s genius P.R. manager.
She writes this while stating how BoA is fine b/c their dirty deeds have already led to a bazillion in fines so, what is that geek going to do? And to make sure you understand how stupid she and Forbes think anyone no on Wall Street is, well writer person, the reason BoA's stock went up is BECAUSE it is paying those fines BECAUSE there is no serious regulation. Perhaps the writer might think about how the Wikileaks info might lead to a public outcry and then more investigations and then.....regulation. All of wich means death-to-share-prices for her beloved BoA. These people are so sick. Speaking of BoA:
11 Ways Bank of America Practices Hurt Americans tells us:
Today's front page New York Times story about Bank of America illegally breaking into people's homes and taking their possessions is a painful reminder that many American families are spending the holiday season desperately trying to save their homes. The system seems stacked against ordinary people, but the tide is beginning to turn with the attorney generals stepping up their investigation into mortgage fraud, growing public anger, more-and-more lawsuits and this week's confirmation from WikiLeaks that it plans to release a trove of internal Bank of America documents early next year.
Read the 11 at the link.
Sorry I am late. Busy day. Blow my socks off in the comments!!