The power of Wikileaks

-
US embassy cables :  whats happening in the world of powerful diplomacy? Remember, Wikileaks's recent releases below.




(Lennart Preiss/AP/File) Julian Assange
The founder of Wikileaks arrested Tuesday
Assange, 39, turned himself in to police 
Tuesday morning, hours after Britain
 received a formal warrant for his arrest
 from Swedish authorities. Assange denies 
any wrongdoing and says he will fight the 
attempt to extradite him, beginning with a
hearing Dec. 14.
That could be the start of a legal battle 
that could drag on for weeks or even 
months, in part because the case against 
him in Sweden remains rather murky. 
Assange, who is Australian, is eager to
 avoid extradition for fear that it could set 
the stage for him to be sent to the U.S. if 
prosecutors there charge him with offenses
 relating to the WikiLeaks disclosures of 
State Department diplomatic cables and
 classified Pentagon files related to the wars
 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those leaked files have turned Assange into
 an international figure, vilified by the U.S. 
and governments around the world for spilling 
official secrets but lionized by activists 
demanding a free flow of information. 
In Washington, the Obama administration
 blames Assange for recklessly damaging 
U.S. relations with other countries and even 
aiding terrorists.
A spokesman for WikiLeaks vowed that 
Assange's arrest would not affect the website's 
plans to continue publishing its cache of 
confidential documents.
The accusations against Assange in 
Sweden have dogged him since the summer,
 before his organization began releasing
 portions of its huge trove of rifled State
 Department cables. The allegations stem
 from separate sexual encounters he
 had with two women in August, 
which Swedish prosecutors say may
 have involved molestation, 
"unlawful coercion" and rape.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Afghanistan: “It’s Just Damage Limitation Now”

-
By Mark Thompson Source:  time.com   Briton Ben Anderson is a documentary filmmaker (the BBC, HBO, the Discovery Channel), but he turns to the written word in No Worse Enemy : The Inside Story of the Chaotic Struggle for Afghanistan . The book offers a gritty – and grim — assessment of the war. Anderson embedded with U.S. and British troops for months in the southern part of the country from 2007 to 2011. He details corruption, incompetence, fear — by both allied troops and Afghan civilians — and a Groundhog Day kind of existence., where a battle fought for days has to be fought again, later. Most distressingly, he argues that the American and British publics are getting a misleading picture of progress on the ground. Battleland conducted this email chat with Anderson last weekend. Why did you write No Worse Enemy: The Inside Story of the Chaotic Struggle for Afghanistan? I’d been travelling to Helmand for five years, first in 2007 with the Brits, t...
Read more

China bans a painkiller, Dextropopoxyphene

-
Image
By Hanan Habibzai Chinese authorities ordered ban on medicines that contain Dextropropoxyphene, a painkiller. The country’s drug watchdog agency warned that medicines, which have negative side effects, may create a potential threat to the life of citizens. A statement issued earlier this week by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) urged the market, the medicine should be withdrawn. The statement suggests that all companies should stop production, marketing and usage of Dextropropoxyphene, from July this year. The Dextropropoxyphene, used for decades in China, has serious toxic side effects on the heart and could be fatal in high doses, said a press release.The withdrawal will allow a safe transfer of patients to appropriate alternative therapies, the statement added. The decision is based on the outcome of both domestic and overseas research, and the instruction of Chinese experts.According to medical analysts in Europe, there have been concerns about the safety of thi...
Read more

There are non-Taliban poets in the 'Poetry of the Taliban’

-
Image
By Hanan Habibzai It is truly a matter of controversy as it appears that non-Taliban Afghan poets are presented as Taliban. It is a matter of shock to read in the Independent that Ezatullah Zawab, a permanent journalist and poet, is Taliban poet. It is still unclear how many more (non-Taliban names) are there in the ‘ Poetry of the Taliban ’. Zawab is not a Taliban but a critic of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and the continuous political and social corruption within Karzai’s government. He studied at the Nangrahar University, working as a freelance journalist since 2001 in eastern Afghanistan. His reports mainly published by IWPR and the Pajhwok Afghan News . He was among the first journalists who covered the killing of tens of civilians in June 2008 where American-led air-strike bombed a wedding convoy in Shinwari district in eastern Nangrahar province killing more than 55 civilians including the bride. Most of the victims were children and women. In the aftermat...
Read more