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John Dolva

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Rudd fires back at US over WikiLeaks: it's your fault

December 8, 2010 - 5:23PM Return to video More video

Wiki makes things sticky for Rudd

According to the latest leaked documents, the US regards the Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd, as an abrasive, impulsive ''control freak''.

(Videos)

Foreign minister Kevin Rudd today blamed the United States, not the WikiLeaks founder, for the unauthorised release of about 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables - some of which reflected badly on him.

He said those who originally leaked the documents were legally liable.

Kevin Rudd ... says US needs to tighten security. Photo: Paul Harris

And, he added, the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of US security over the cables.

"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications network," Mr Rudd told Reuters in an interview.

"The Americans are responsible for that," he said.

Yesterday, Mr Rudd said in response to a journalist's question about what governments should do in response to the leaked diplomatic cables: ''Rule No.1 for our friends in the United States is - how do you tighten things up a bit?

''I think that's a fair old question. Maybe 2 million or so people having access to this stuff is a bit of a problem,'' he said, alluding to the fact that many US government officials had access to the classified material.

Mr Rudd earlier shrugged off claims he is an abrasive, impulsive "control freak", and has offered support to the founder of the website that leaked the comments by diplomats.

Mr Rudd said today the criticism of him in US diplomatic cables being a "control freak" was like "water off a duck's back".

"I don't, frankly, give a damn about this sort of thing. You just get on with it," he told the Seven Network.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today defended the man she toppled to take leadership of the country, saying Mr Rudd was doing a "fantastic job" in foreign affairs.

"Kevin Rudd is a man who throughout his adult life has devoted himself to expertise in foreign policy," she told reporters in Melbourne.

"He's bringing that expertise to bear for the Australian nation and doing an absolutely first-class job."

Detailed messages, sent by the US embassy in Canberra over several years and obtained by WikiLeaks, show US officials viewed Mr Rudd as a "control freak" while he was prime minister.

US officials criticised his foreign relations performance for being focused on media-driven photo opportunities and for making snap announcements without consulting other countries.

He was seen as making various "missteps" and "significant blunders" for micro-managing and once in 2008 demanded a meeting with US president George Bush only to cancel two days later.

Ms Gillard expressed her full confidence in Mr Rudd and said it would be foolish to form a view of someone from published criticisms. Instead, she said she was focused on outcomes.

In June, Ms Gillard made similar comments in the days before she ousted Mr Rudd as prime minister.

"The thing that matters is not what's in the pages of the daily newspapers but a focus on making a difference," she said less than two weeks before her successful leadership bid

The cables have revealed embarrassing details in foreign affairs, but several government members said on Wednesday they would not damage US-Australia relations, which remained strong.

Ms Gillard, however, has continued to tone down her language in describing the WikiLeaks website and its editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

She initially called the website "illegal" but later said the "foundation stone" of the issue was the illegal leaking of confidential documents.

Today, she said the publication of the embassy cables was "grossly irresponsible".

Reuters and AAP

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http://act.demandprogress.org/act/wikileaks/?referring_akid=33.120277.vRtJap&source=typ-fb

Senator Lieberman is at it again : Asking for laws to be created that will make Wikileaks illegal - then demanding extradition of Mr Assange from the UK to answer for his crimes.

Sen. Lieberman is also the lackwit behind the "Internet Blacklist" - a list of internet sites that are deemed "against the interests of the USA", and should be forced to close without recourse to courts and trials.

Isn't he the idiot that once said a while ago, something along the lines of "China has a button to shut the internet down, why can't we?"?? Or was that another idiot that was talking outside his expertise? O_o

Edit : I can't help feeling that McCarthy would have been all over Lieberman's arse in the 1950s for his views on the Internet....

Edited by Steve Knight
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http://www.google.co...AzAA&fp=1&cad=b

edit add : imo it's important to remember that Sweden has refused to pull Wikileaks main site. There are currently abot 1700 mirrors and various heads of government are declaring support to the point of guaranteeing asylum and hosting.

AFAIK the Swedish Military rejects the US rendifion ops, and have for some time, and it could be that Sweden will not bow to US pressure.IOW maybe JS is best off in Sweden?

Edited by John Dolva
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http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/12/12/the-wikileaks-founder-has-the-right-barrister/

The WikiLeaks founder has the right barrister

benchu.thumbnail.jpg

Geoffrey-Robertson-QC-001-150x150.jpgI

wrote a profile of Geoffrey Robertson QC, the barrister who will be acting for Julian Assange as he fights extradition to Sweden, in Saturday’s Independent. Annoyingly, but alas not unusually, the real significance of Robertson’s involvement in the case only struck me after I’d filed.

There is a pattern to Robertson’s career. He doesn’t necessarily win all the cases he is involved in, and yet he tends to prevail. That sounds contradictory, but let me explain what I mean.

Robertson’s first case was the Oz trial in 1971, in which the magazine was accused of ”corrupting public morals”. The Oz editors were actually convicted under the Obscene Publications Act. But they were acquitted on appeal. And such was the outcry over the original trial result that police more or less gave up trying to bring such cases against subversive magazines. The verdict did not go Robertson’s way, but it ultimately turned into an important victory against state censorship.

In 1995, Robertson was involved in the prosecution of the former Malawian dictator Hastings Banda, who was accused of ordering the murder of opposition politicians. Banda was acquitted. But the case helped to establish the principle that repressive national leaders should not be immune from prosecution. Seven years later, in 2002, the International Criminal Court, which Robertson had long pressed for, was established.

The key to Robertson’s success is not just his skill in the courtroom, but his knack of getting involved in cases that will generate publicity and support for his liberal political agenda.

The Matrix Churchill trial is another example of the oblique way Robertson reaches his goals . This was ostensibly a simple defence of businessmen who were accused of illegally selling weapons to Saddam Hussein. But the case ultimately led to the Scott Report, which exposed double dealing and hypocrisy by Conservative ministers and showed how state secrecy conflicts with justice.

I think this is relevant to the Assange case. Robertson might not be able to prevent the WikiLeaks founder being deported, yet it makes a lot of sense for Assange to have him involved. Causes that Robertson supports (and Assange feels that he is being persecuted for championing open government) tend to prevail in the end.

Tagged in: geoffrey robertson qc, hastings banda, Julian Assange, Matrix Churchill, Wikileaks

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Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 1005 sites (updated 2010-12-07 21:55 GMT)

http://wikileaks.se/mirrors.html

Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 2174 sites (updated 2010-12-14 22:12 GMT).

The HQ bunker securely protected on (under) Swedish soil (rock).

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http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/14/wikileaks-us-air-for.html

Wikileaks: U.S. Air force blocks more than 25 news sites that published secret cables

Xeni Jardin at 10:04 PM Tuesday, Dec 14, 2010

I cannot recall a media blackout this massive ever having been implemented on a US military computer network. This is unprecedented.

Reuters: "The U.S. Air Force has blocked employees from visiting media websites carrying leaked WikiLeaks documents, including The New York Times and the Guardian, a spokesman said on Tuesday."

The Wall Street Journal broke the story here (paywall link).

Eric Schmitt in the New York Times reports that more than 25 media websites are now blocked for this reason:

When Air Force personnel on the service's computer network try to view the Web sites of The Times, the British newspaper The Guardian, the German magazine Der Spiegel, the Spanish newspaper El País and the French newspaper Le Monde, as well as other sites that posted full confidential cables, the screen says "Access Denied: Internet usage is logged and monitored," according to an Air Force official whose access was blocked and who shared the screen warning with The Times. Violators are warned that they face punishment if they try to view classified material from unauthorized Web sites.

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Julian Assange has been granted conditional bail by a judge today. Mr Justice Ouseley granted conditional bail at the Royal Courts of Justice and supporters put up £240,000 in sureties. How often does Sweden take so much trouble over a case that they admit, that even if he was convicted, he would not receive a prison sentence. Mr Assange's solicitor, Mark Stephens, said afterwards the bail appeal was part of a "continuing vendetta by the Swedes". The people of Britain have been shocked by the behaviour of the Swedish legal system.

John, I am interested in how this case is being reported in Sweden. Is there any understanding of the impact it is having on the image of what I have always considered to be a country with a fine tradition of political freedom.

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I am also interested in that, John.

Swedes can be somewhat inscrutable.

Personally I think the Swedish legal system and in this instance laws are properly being followed up on. I think the Swedish model of equal rights and human rights and strong protection of those are admirable.

A procedure must be followed.

I wonder if in this instance whether it is extraordinarily applied which would be interesting as a pointer as to where Sweden is at today.

One could assume that, given that a Swedish nuclear shelter is the protected WikiLeaks headquarters IN Sweden. ie Sweden has kept Wikileaks alive and refuses to do otherwise. This may create a need to villify Sweden.

AFAIK renditions through Sweden by US forces ceased some time ago.

When Swedes strike, you'll hear about it.

It is possible that Sweden recognises that if Assange is to be kept out of the loop then the SAFEST place for him would be in Sweden.... thats one view point.

If Sweden aquiesced to US rendition pressures once he was in Swdeish custody then the amount of face that Sweden would lose is such that, given I think Swedes are generally not stupid nor prone to roll over, something very surreal would have happened.

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http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/12/17/193441_news.html?utm_source=twitterfeed-sport&utm_medium=twitter

BAD news for Julian Assange's enemies. The WikiLeaks founder is back online, and nine days in solitary confinement has made him as angry as hell.

The head of the whistle-blowing website said his time in a south London jail had only made him more determined to continue his secret-spilling work.

''It has not altered my position, in fact it has confirmed my position to me personally that we are on the right path,'' he said.

''It has given me enough anger about the situation to last me 100 years.''

His strong rhetoric came just moments before entering the plush Ellingham Hall, his place of ''mansion arrest'' in the British countryside, after being granted conditional bail at the High Court in London on Thursday.

Mr Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations made by two women but said his major fear was being handed over to US authorities.

The 39-year-old Australian has become a hate figure in Washington over his website's release of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables containing embarrassing revelations.

''I do not have too many fears about being extradited to Sweden,'' he said.

''I have much bigger concerns about being extradited to the United States.''

''We had a rumour today from my lawyer in the United States that there has been an indictment made against me in the United States.

''I have not had that confirmed.''

Looking tired after being locked up for 23-and-a-half hours a day at Wandsworth Prison for the past week-and-a-half, he said the US administration's attempts to bring down him and his website were out of line.

''I think it is clear it is not a path that is acceptable to the world community,'' he said.

''Certainly not acceptable to the people of Australia or the people of Great Britain and to a large degree, not acceptable the people of Sweden as well, although the administrators are a different matter.''

After being shut off from the world in jail, Mr Assange was informed he had a ''good internet connection'' to work with at the 10-bedroom residence owned by independent journalism campaigner and supporter Vaughan Smith.

''We have seen in my week away, my team is robust and we continue to publish in a successful manner ... that is not to underestimate the risks associated to all of us,'' Mr Assange said.

It had been feared that he might be spending another night in jail on Thursday as his camp spent more than four hours scrambling to meet the demands of Justice Duncan Ouseley.

Mr Assange's team managed to put up the STG200,000 ($A316,000) in security and STG40,000 ($A63,000) in surety promised earlier this week but had problems gathering sureties from five extra people demanded by Judge Ouseley.

It meant that seven individuals in all staked their reputations and up to STG20,000 ($A31,000) each on the nomadic figure sticking to his bail conditions and not going into hiding.

Judge Ouseley rejected the appeal on behalf of Swedish prosecutors against Mr Assange's bail, saying that with his reputation on the line, Mr Assange had too much to lose by skipping bail and going underground.

Mr Assange was not a ''fugitive of justice'', having spent more than a month in Sweden following the accusations and fully answering police questions on the matter, the judge said.

Wearing an electronic tag, Mr Assange must obey curfew between 10am and 2pm and 10pm and 6am within the countryside mansion on the 240-hectares estate, located about 200 kilometres northeast of central London.

Having surrendered his passport last week, he must attend a local police station daily during its opening hours between 2pm and 5pm or be present when an officer checks in on dates the station is closed.

''I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations,'' Mr Assange said.

He is due back in court on January 11 for a case management session, with February 7 and 8 set down for his extradition hearing.

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Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 2194 sites (updated 2010-12-16 17:45 GMT)

edit add sbs.com.au ''The Australian Federal Police (AFP) say WikiLeaks has broken no Australian criminal laws.''

Edited by John Dolva
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PART I and PART II (see PART II BELOW)

ASSANGE STAYS AT VAUGHN MANSION,ASSANGE MI6 ?????????

"

Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails.

(Cervantes, Don Quixote)

"

The Sargeants Inn \\ Homepage : Post

Vaughn Smith, Julian Assange, George Soros and Claims That Julian Assange is Helping The Neocons

Author Blackwatch (of 17/12/2010 @ 12:00:11, in Wikileaks, viewed 117 times)

By his own admission, independent video-journalist Vaughn Smith’s motivation in going out to Afghanistan “was out of concern at how the British public seem to be failing to take ownership of the war in Afghanistan”.

Leaving the British Army twenty years ago as a Captain, Vaughn re-entered the conflict zone as an ‘independent’ journalist’ – posing as an officer to do so.

Writing on NATO's Nato review website, Smith laments that an uninterested public makes little commitment to conflicts like those in Afghanistan; “I have seen the misinformed behave unpredictably when surprised by uncomfortable truths", he goes on. “They never supported the invasion of Iraq, and British politicians had never really admitted to getting anything wrong in that campaign. So the British people seemed to consequently lose a sense of responsibility for the British military engagement in Afghanistan too" (Vaughn Smith, NATO review, Across The Wire, 2008)

In response to what Smith saw as inadequate and hostile reporting, Smith set up the Frontline Club – a hub for ‘quality journalists’ and ostensibly an interface between the military and the press, or as Smith describes it, ‘a venue for exchange’. As Smith sees it, there is a staggering demand for a limited number of "embed" places available to journalists in conflict zones and the Frontline Club helps in identifying the most supportive. The club itself has received substantial financial support from the Open Society Institute, a non-profit organization set up by the Hungarian-American billionaire investor, George Soros - the ubiquitous capitalist thug who broke the British Pound during 1992's Black Wednesday currency crisis (he is reported to have made $1 billion as a result of the Pound's collapse1). Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in 1997, Soros, whose wealthy Jewish family fled Nazi occupied Hungary during the war, joked to reporters, 'If there was ever a man who would fit the stereotype of the Judeo-plutocratic Bolshevik Zionist world conspirator, it is me' (Sydney Morning Herald interview, November 15, 1997).

As a consequence of Smith's work for the Frontline Club, Smith knows many of the MOD and Army Press officers quite well.

It is then quite astonishing to think that the flamboyantly pro-establishment and pro-military Smith is playing host to such a celebrated anti-establishment figure as Julian Assange – the founder of Wikileaks. As part of the conditions of his bail, Assange will be staying at Ellingham Hall, the sumptuous Surrey mansion that has been in the Smith family for generations.

For those who don’t know, Vaughn’s full name is Henry Vaughn Lockhart-Smith. His grandfather was Major Henry Brockton Lockhart Smith, who was himself the issue of Lt.–Col. Henry Lockhart Smith, DSO, JP. The Lockhart-Smith family – who appear prominently in Burke’s Peerage – are deeply enmeshed in British and European Military history and tradition. In fact, Vaughn’s Scottish forebear, Sir Symon Lockhart was one of the small group of knights who carried the heart of Robert the Bruce back into the Holy Land as part of the Crusades in the 1300s. As a reward for his bravery in capturing a Saracen Emir, Simon was awarded the ‘Lee Penny’ – which has been passed down through the family ever since (see also: Norman Lockhart-Smith and James Lockhart whose daughter Maria married John Smith, the Lord of the Manor at Ellingham Hall. James’s elder brother George Lockhart accompanied Bonnie Prince Charlie into exile in Paris after the pair’s defeat at Culloden).

Why Vaughn dropped Lockhart from his name isn’t clear, although one might consider the incongruence of such an aristocratic moniker for someone clearly determined to present himself as an 'Ordinary Joe' tumbling around the Holy Land with a copy of Thomas Burke's Fourth Estate in one hand and an SLR in the other like some latter-day Indiana Jones. Nor would it too wonderfully offset the liberal banner Smith chooses to perform under (unlike fellow blue-blooded liberal, Nick Twisleton-Wykeham-Smythe-Clegg).

When you also consider stories of Assange being wined and dined at the US Embassy in Iceland as the guest of Sam Watson, the embassy's deputy chief of mission a rather contradictory picture of the Wikileaks founder begins to emerge (unless of course these people have aligned themselves with Assange in a deliberate attempt to undermine his credibility with his more discerning supporters out there).

Assange’s right-wing sympathies are in little doubt as Robert Wright of the New York Times makes clear in his article, 'Is Julian Assange Helping the Neocons' and, let's face it, the recent torrent of cables reads like a necon wish-list of sorts:

•Communist North Korea aids Burma in deloping Nuclear Capabilities.

•Litvinenko murdered by Vladamir Putin – confirmed.

•Syria has provided "advanced ballistic missiles and other weaponry" to the Iranian backed Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah.

•Hezbollah has military presence in Syria.

•Bomb Iran Now Says Saudi Arabia.

•Secret Iran arms deals with Chinese companies.

•Libya Threatens Britain Over Lockerbie Bomber.

•Mumbai terrorists plotted minister's assassination.

•Qatari ruler ‘understands’ Israel’s mistrust of Arabs.

•Obama administration manipulated 2009 Copenhagen climate accord.

•Obama traded anti missile shield for Russian support

•Democrat leader Obama is a Terrible President says Diplomat.

•Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Comes Across As Quite Likeable and an Okay Chap Really.

So is Julian Assange and Wikileaks being used in a neconservative, pro-Israeli propaganda campaign? It’s hard to tell. The recent allegations and extradition drama has propelled Assange into the limelight and kept the cable leaks under intense media scrutiny. From this perspective it all sounds remarkably contrived and rehearsed. The case against Assange is virtually non-existent – so little of that is likely present any real or enduring threat and it seems inevitable that Assange will emerge from all this with more support than ever before; the entire spectacle cementing his super-anarchist status (also, the allegations just happened to be made by members of Sweden’s Christian Social Democratic Party – who have been controversially aligned with Islamic and Anti-Semitic groups in recent years. How poorly this is going to reflect on them is anyone’s guess, once Julian’s innocence has been proved and his divinity re-enshrined. The women have already been turned into the world's most vilified women, according to the Independent, so what impact is this likely to have on the party?).

It wouldn’t be the first time the CIA and other Intelligence groups have sought to manage information online. In August 2007, the Daily Telegraph ran a story that alleged that the CIA were amongst those making the largest volume of edits on Wikipedia, so they certainly have previous form. And just who is providing the leaks anyway? The very nature of Wikileaks makes it vulnerable to abuse – and much the same thing can be said of Wikipedia. The content of both sites is based on submissions and so the integrity of either site is only ever as firm - or transparent - as those supplying it.

However, there may be other unseen forces to consider if the backing of Vaughn Smith and the Frontline Club's financier, George Soros is anything to go by, supporting as he has many controversial, anti-communist figures in the past. When Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003 by masked and armed members of Russia's security police force FSB, it was Soros who supported him publicly - just as he propped up other exiled Russian gangster's like Michael Cherney (wanted by the FBI and exiled in Israel), Boris Berezovsky (friend of Alexander Litvinenko and a Frontline Club member himself) and Oleg Deripraska. In fact, it was reported that Soros was one of the senior business figures calling for President Obama to go and gave his tacit backing to the electoral 'avalanche' he sees as the so-called Tea Party movement. Given how critical the leaks are of the Obama Administration - it's not difficult to see what kind of loose and far-reaching cabal could behind the recent flood of cables (Smith and Soros are likely to have been united by interests in Kosovo but this ought really be explored in another post as Soros and Smith wouldn't be the first to have done business with the Serbs in Kosovo - another Sargeants Inn favourite, Pauline Neville Jones was also accused of profiting handsomely from Milosevic's Kosovo campaign).

Let's be clear about one thing: the cable leaks are not anti-US they are anti-Obama - not pro-Israel necessarily but anti-communist.

Anyway, readers are invited to make up their own minds about it, I think Assange and the leaks have had more than their fair share of media attention as it is.

The following report written by Robert Wright of the New York Times takes a slightly different tack - arguing that Assange and Wikileaks offers only negative reinforcement of the neconservative brand and a glorious pretext for clamping down on communications of this ilk - but it makes some tantalising observations all the same.

And as regards the opening shots of incendiary static in the world's first cyber war; where is GCHQ's Gareth Williams when the UK really needs him? His death some three months in advance of all this shouldn't pass without comment in my view. But then I am rather cynical.

1 Prime Minister John Major was Prime Minister at the time the British Bank was broken on Black Wednesday. Major went on to become Head of Carlyle Europe. Ironically, Soros - who became a household name as 'The man who broke the Bank of England' in the aftermath of Black Wednesday - is one of the major investors in the Carlyle Group - often jokingly referred to as the 'ex-president's club' (former Republican leader, George W. Bush is also a member). Major came on board in 2001, Soros in 1995. John Major and Chancellor Norman Lamont were accused of repeated delays in taking the fiscal and monetary steps that were needed to avoid the crisis. This is now accepted to have accelerated the crash. At the time, the Bank of England was not independent and interest rates were set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lamont subsequently blamed Major for the fiasco. According to a 2001 report in The Guardian, 'Carlyle has become the thread which indirectly links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity employees' (The ex-presidents' club, Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger, The Guardian, 2001)

******************************************

New York Times - Opinion Pages

Is Julian Assange Helping the Neocons? - Robert Wright, December 7, 2010

It turns out our government has been lying to us about whether we have troops in Pakistan engaging in combat operations. The Pentagon has said the mission of American soldiers is confined to “training Pakistani forces so that they can in turn train other Pakistani military,” but in fact our forces have been embedded in Pakistani fighting units, giving them electronic data and other support as they kill the enemy ... contd here

################******************************############################

PART II

Wikileaks' Assange's Lawyer has connections to Rothschilds

3.166665.Your rating: None Average: 3.2 (6 votes)It has emerged recently that Assange is in the UK since October which means that all those three successive and massive US documents "leaks" have been orchestrated by him from his secret residence in the UK.

So why is this done from the UK. The answer is because that is where he is the closest from his masters, the super powerful dynastic Rothschild banking and zionist family.

And now here comes the proof that this is indeed the case:

Assange's lawyer is the prominent Mark Stephens whose law firm Finers Stephens Innocent is legal adviser to the Rothschild Waddesdon Trust which is concerned with the "maintenance, improvement and payment of certain of the outgoings in respect of Waddesdon Manor (Rothschild's most prestigious property in the UK) in the Vale of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire."

The Wadesdon Trust's board of trustees is chaired by the Queen''s former Private Secretary Lord Fellowes and has three Rothschild family members as trustees, Lord (Jacob) Rothschild, Lady Rothschild (his wife) and Beth Matilda Rothschild. It is domiciled 14 St James's Place in London which is also the London address of Lord Jacob Rothschild and his high profile wealth management business St. James's Place Group (formerly J. Rothschild Assurance Group).

http://www.charityperformance.com/charity-details.php?id=17426

Besides that, and as a side note, Mark Stephens law firm Finers Stephens Innocent appears to have a strong focus in providing tax avoidance advisory services to mega-rich customers (see Michael Lewis and Simon Malkiel particularly) such as, I suspect, Sir Philip Green who advises the government on how to recover the mega money his and his peers avoid to pay in taxes thanks to the services of Finers Stephens Innocent's lawyers by squeezing public services, etc....

Edited by Steven Gaal
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LOTS OF ODDBALL STUFF FROM Wikileaks

Source: Guardian

WikiLeaks cables: Michael Moore film Sicko was 'not banned' in Cuba

Film-maker says diplomats made up the story to discredit film that showed healthcare was worse in US than Cuba

David Batty guardian.co.uk, Saturday 18 December 2010 15.26 GMT

American diplomats made up a story that Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, in an attempt to discredit the film which painted an unflattering picture of the US healthcare system, the film-maker said today.

A confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks claimed that Castro's government banned the Oscar-nominated film because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash".

But Moore said that far from being supressed by Havana, the film – which attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system – was shown on national television.

The film-maker said on his blog that the diplomatic cable, dated 31 January 2008, was "a stunning look at the Orwellian nature of how bureaucrats for the state spin their lies and try to recreate reality (I assume to placate their bosses and tell them what they want to hear)".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/18/wikileaks-u...

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LOTS OF ODDBALL STUFF FROM Wikileaks

Source: Guardian

WikiLeaks cables: Michael Moore film Sicko was 'not banned' in Cuba

Film-maker says diplomats made up the story to discredit film that showed healthcare was worse in US than Cuba

David Batty guardian.co.uk, Saturday 18 December 2010 15.26 GMT

American diplomats made up a story that Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, in an attempt to discredit the film which painted an unflattering picture of the US healthcare system, the film-maker said today.

A confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks claimed that Castro's government banned the Oscar-nominated film because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash".

But Moore said that far from being supressed by Havana, the film – which attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system – was shown on national television.

The film-maker said on his blog that the diplomatic cable, dated 31 January 2008, was "a stunning look at the Orwellian nature of how bureaucrats for the state spin their lies and try to recreate reality (I assume to placate their bosses and tell them what they want to hear)".

Read more: http://www.guardian..../wikileaks-u...

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Reflections of Fidel

The empire stands accused

(Taken from CubaDebate)

JULIAN Assange, a man known only to a very few in the world some months ago, is demonstrating that the most powerful empire to have existed in history can be challenged.

The daring challenge did not come from a rival superpower; from a state with more than 100 nuclear weapons; from a country with millions of inhabitants; from a group of nations with vast natural resources which the United States could not do without; or from a revolutionary doctrine capable of shaking to its foundations the empire based on plunder and exploitation of the world.

He was just a person barely mentioned in the media. Although he is now famous, little is known about him, apart from the highly publicized accusation of having sexual relations with two women, without taking due precautions in these times of HIV. A book on his origins, his education, or his philosophical and political ideas has not as yet been written.

Moreover, the motivations which led him to the resounding blow that he delivered to the empire remain unknown. All that is known is that morally, he has brought it to its knees.

The AFP news agency reported today that the "creator of WikiLeaks is to remain in prison despite obtaining his release on bail [...] but he must remain behind bars until the appeal filed by Sweden, the country applying for his extradition for alleged sexual crimes, is resolved."

"…the attorney representing the Swedish state, [...] has announced her intention of appealing the decision to release him."

"…Judge Riddle established as conditions for the bond of $380,000, his use of an electronic bracelet and complying with a curfew."

The same cable noted that, in the event of his release, "… [Assange] must reside in a property belonging to Vaughan Smith, his friend and president of the Frontline Club, the London journalists club where WikiLeaks established its headquarters a few weeks ago…"

Assange stated, "My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed. If anything this process has increased my determination that they are true and correct…"

The valiant and brilliant U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore publicly offered the assistance of his website, his servers, his domain names and anything else he could do to "…keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars …"

Assange, Moore affirmed, "is under such vicious attack [...] because they have outed and embarrassed those who have covered up the truth."

"…And regardless of Assange's guilt or innocence [...] this man has the right to have bail posted and to defend himself. [... ] I have joined with filmmakers Ken Loach and John Pilger and writer Jemima Khan in putting up the bail money."

Moore’s contribution amounted to $20,000.

The United States government barrage against WikiLeaks has been so brutal that, according to ABC News/Washington Post surveys, two out of every three U.S. citizens want Assange to be taken before the U.S. courts for having disclosed the documents. On the other hand, nobody has dared to challenge the truths that they contain.

Details of the plan drawn up by the WikiLeaks strategists are not known. It is known that Assange distributed a significant volume of communications to five major media transnationals, which currently possess the monopoly of much of the information, some of them as extremely mercenary, reactionary and pro-fascist as the Spanish PRISA and the German Der Spiegel, which are utilizing news items to attack the most revolutionary countries.

World opinion will continue closely following everything that happens in the context of WikiLeaks.

Responsibility for being able to know the truth, or not, about the cynical politics of the United States and its allies will fall squarely on the right-wing Swedish government and the bellicose NATO mafia, who so like to invoke the freedom of the press and human rights.

Ideas can be more powerful than nuclear weapons.

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Fidel Castro Ruz

December 14, 2010

9:34 p.m.

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It is possible that Sweden recognises that if Assange is to be kept out of the loop then the SAFEST place for him would be in Sweden.... thats one view point.

If Sweden aquiesced to US rendition pressures once he was in Swdeish custody then the amount of face that Sweden would lose is such that, given I think Swedes are generally not stupid nor prone to roll over, something very surreal would have happened.

Yes, if I was Assange I would definitely go to Sweden and ask for political asylum. If he stays in England, he may well end up being extradicted to the United States. The problem is that he has not broken any laws. Nor has he behaved any different from the editor of the New York Times or the Guardian. Assange is being held while the US attempts to construct a law that they can say Assange has broken but the New York Times has not.

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