Assange back in Australia

About time. Not that I have that I really have that much sympathy with Julian Assange. Always seemed like a bit of a narcissistic dickhead to me. But I get really pissed off with the level of US over-reach with their laws. Seems to me that this is a good time to rework our extradition treaties with them.

No extradition for Assange

Great news. While unexpected, Nicky Hager who was an expert witness for Assange at the trial, thought this might be a possibility when he spoke to the Fabian Society in November. More details tomorrow.

Update: Bail application to be heard on Wednesday London time.

Assange’s torture and the death of journalism

On the eve of Assange’s extradition hearing in London, award-winning freelancer Jonathan Cook has written a scathing indictment of corporate journalism’s collusion in ignoring his official torture. I posted an example of that here last year, where Richard Harman denied Assange was a journalist at a panel convened at Parliament by the British High Commissioner.

British Justice tortures Assange

Craig Murray reports on the horror of Julian Assange’s treatment by British so-called “justice.” Read it and don’t weep. You can see why Murray resigned from the UK foreign service; their diplomacy is just as bad.

Assange Arrested

Julian Assange has been arrested by British Police inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London after his asylum was revoked.

UPDATE: Assange has been convicted of skipping bail and the US has requested his extradition.

Chelsea Manning Jailed

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning has allowed herself to be jailed for contempt of court. She says it’s a matter of principle. But what principle?

Julian Assange and the Streisand Effect.

Wikileaks has tried to silence media organisations on behalf of Julian Assange. Why is a ‘transparency’ organisation opposed to free speech and have they made things worse for the Aussie hacker?

UPDATE: The list has been leaked. Link in post.

Assange and Manning

Swedish prosecutors are dropping their seven year old preliminary investigation into an allegation of rape against Julian Assange. Chelsea Manning has been released from prison after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence.

All Apologies

Did commenters on the recent Julian Assange post overstep the mark in their defence of the Wikileaks founder? Are they really rape apologists?

Land of the free?

With so much going on in terms of large scale disasters at the moment, it is easy to lose track of the stories of a mere individuals.  But there are two individuals who’s stories should not be forgotten.  They are facing the full might and anger of the American establishment.  Their “crime” was to tell the truth.

Marianne Ny: Making an arse of Swedish law.

The Wikileaks release of US government diplomatic wires is less interesting to me than the behavior of the Sweden’s director of public prosecutions, Marianne Ny. Her charges and actions against Julian Assange indicate that she is driven more by the politics than respect for the law. I fail to see why Interpol is involved for such a minor charge. Apparently the charge is question is something pretty weird called “sex by surprise”

What is all of the fuss about?

There has always been an inherent design conflict in giving widespread access to information. On one hand it allows better service for people and organisations. On the other hand it means that less material can be kept secret because giving more people access to information and more opportunity to whistleblow when people see a problem or an ethical conflict. That has always been the inherent conflict.

Whistleblowers

Currently the “hunt” is on for whistleblowers in cases both within NZ, and internationally. When a whistleblower takes on a big organisation over a matter of genuine public significance they are taking a risk, in some cases a huge risk. Let’s hope that there will always be people who are brave enough to make sure that we the people know the truth.