Qaddafi's speech in Sirte in midst of the civil war over Libya

Qaddafi's speech in Sirte in midst of the civil war over Libya

Propaganda Campaign Fund by Washington Uncovered

Propaganda Campaign Fund by Washington Uncovered*

August 11th, 2011

Recent documents released by a request made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by US National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) and the Liberation newspaper showed that the US government paid journalists to orchestrate an aggressive campaign of lies against the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters during their rigged trial, Prensa Latina news agency reports.

More than 2,200 pages of contracts between Miami journalists and the right-wing anti-Cuban Radio and TV Marti were uncovered through a request submitted by these organizations.

The documents comprise US government payrolls containing the names of reporters who worked in the newspapers The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, Diario Las Américas, and in Miami-based TV and radio stations during the trial of the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters by US authorities.

The papers revealed that the US government was secretly paying notable journalists through its official propaganda agency, Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), to flood the media with highly biased and provocative reports about the Cuban Five, the Cubaminrex website reads.

According to a note released by the US solidarity group, there are some new requests made by the National Committee, the Liberation newspaper and the PCJF to the US government to release other documents which will further prove Washington’s illegal policy.

An example everybody can see in the reportersforHire.org website is the case of Enrique Encinosa, who has defended the attacks on Cuban hotels with bombs.

Encinosa was employed by the US government while he worked as an "independent" news director at a Spanish-speaking radio station operated by Miami’s extreme right.

The note reads that Encinosa bragged in an Internet radio interview about his involvement with paramilitary groups whose main target was the Cuban Revolution.

According to the FOIA, he received up to USD $10,400 to host a weekly radio show on Miami-based anti-Cuban Radio Martí Station from October 1st, 2000 to September 30, 2001. During which time he covered the Cuban Five trial which lasted from November 27, 2000 to June 8, 2001.

The presence of Miami journalists – who intended to report on the trial as "independent" press-, on the payrolls of the US government is intrinsically inserted in the unjust sentences given to the Cuban Five, who were not only victims of an accusation based on political reasons, but who were also the victims of a propaganda campaign by the US government.

* Url:http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art0036.html

Articles regarding Facebook and profiteering

Facebook is not a public utility,

but a big business focused on making money for its shareholders.*

I recently shut down my Facebook account; as far as I can see it is impossible to delete it as the site does not provide the wherewithal to allow me to do so. The problems I have with Facebook are two fold and they both revolve around privacy. The fact I was unable to delete my Facebook account speaks volumes about its attitude to its clients privacy.

Facebook is a multi national corporation whose founder appears to have the moral values of a dog's excreta. This being so I asked myself why would I trust Mark Zuckerberg's Corporation with a list of friends, comrades and acquaintances, etc. Given the high prevalence employers and government give these days to snooping; and having suffered blacklisting myself in my younger days and understanding how debilitating it can be, and how inaccurate those who draw up such blacklists can be. I found it impossible not to conclude I had been a dam fool for using Facebook. Not because I have anything to hide, these days I am mainly an armchair warrior, but why the hell should I make it easy for these creatures to collate information, so that Facebook can pass it on to god knows who.

The benefits of Facebook as a political tool are grossly overrated in my view, although some cannot be dismissed entirely, but for a political activist on the left they are far outweighed by the disadvantages. Having said this I am in no way criticising those who deem otherwise, it is simply FB is not for me.

Below is a piece sent to me by GW which I found pertinent.

MH

The giants of the web are not public utilities

but businesses focused on making money for their shareholders*

By John Naughton.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first render naive. That means us, folks. A prime case in point is provided by our (ie Anglo-American) response to the latest French initiative in internet control. The background is that earlier this month the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), France's media regulator, ruled that the country's TV networks and radio stations will no longer be able to explicitly mention Facebook or Twitter on air, except when discussing a story in which either company is directly involved.

In ruling thus, the regulator was implementing a 1992 government decree that makes it illegal for media organisations to promote brands during news broadcasts, on the grounds that doing so might inhibit competition. This means that French broadcast journalists cannot invite viewers or listeners to "follow" them on Facebook or Twitter but instead have to resort to circumlocutions like "your favourite social network".

A spokeswoman for the CSA explained the thinking behind the ban. "Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars," she asked, "when there are many other social networks that are struggling for recognition? This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it's opening a Pandora's Box – other social networks will complain to us saying, 'Why not us?' "

Quite. You can imagine the derisive reaction to this in the Anglo-American media, old and new. The broadcasting ruling was linked with President Sarkozy's clueless remarks at the G8 summit about "civilising" the internet, and interpreted as a sign of cultural resentment at American dominance in cyberspace. "Poor old Frenchies," was the general tenor of the commentary, "they just don't get it."

Actually, the joke's on us. As it happens, the French do "get" it. To appreciate that, just do a simple thought-experiment. Suppose, for a moment, that BBC News started to use "Dyson" instead of "vacuum cleaner" in its reports of dust-mite infestations, or "Bollinger" instead of "champagne" in its coverage of the drinks industry. We'd be outraged. Yet that is effectively what we are thoughtlessly doing when it comes to dealing with phenomena like social networking: taking the dominant commercial brand and pretending that it's generic.

What's going on, in other words, is that our media are treating Twitter and Facebook as if they were public utilities, like the open web. In fact it's even worse than that, as Dave Winer, one of the web's elder statesmen, pointed out last week. "The Library of Congress," he writes, "which is part of the government, is subsidising Twitter by doing a complete archive of Twitter before making a serious attempt at archiving the web. This helps cement Twitter as the medium of record, which is ridiculous. The market is just getting started. How can you justify the government taking sides over other equivalent (or better) ways to communicate, that are not owned by a company (like the web, for example). If this isn't against the law, to use taxpayer funds to help a company achieve dominance over competitors, it should be against the law."

Spot on. The illusion that corporations like Facebook or Twitter are public utilities is not only naive, it's positively pernicious because it enables them to get away with the pretence that they are solely forces for good, rather than single-minded corporations whose loyalties are ultimately to their shareholders, no matter how soothing their bedside manners are.

Naivety about social networking was much in evidence at the excellent conference on "Power and Media" organised by Charlie Beckett and his colleagues at the London School of Economics on 10 June. There was a lot of heady talk about the role of social media in the Arab Spring. Nothing, we were given to understand by some speakers, would ever be the same again. But a question (from me) about the downside of having companies such as Facebook and Twitter exercising what amounts to political power was met with uncomprehending stares, and a charming and very articulate Egyptian blogger explained patiently to me how the people had taken over Twitter and bent it to their will.

As it happens, we may see Facebook flexing its muscles sooner rather than later. There was some feverish speculation last week aboutwhether Zuckerberg's monster might have peaked. This was accompanied by stories about Facebook looking wistfully eastwards, where huge – and as yet untapped – markets beckon. If Zuckerberg and Co do indeed expand into, say, China, I'm sure they will prove endlessly accommodating to the powers that be. And then we'll have to admit that perhaps the French do get it. Sacrebleu!

* Url:http://www.organizedrage.com/2011/07/facebook-is-not-public-utility-but-big.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/19/twitter-facebook-free-plug

Rodong Sinmun:Enhanced role of Progressive information urged -KCNA

Rodong Sinmun:Enhanced role of Progressive information urged

Pyongyang, May 26 (KCNA) -- The imperialists are now hell-bent on massively spreading the reactionary ideology and culture and misinformation by communication means in accordance with their demand and interests.

In this regard Rodong Sinmun Thursday says in a bylined article;

This reality urgently requires the developing countries to rapidly develop the field of information in order to enhance the role of the progressive information.

The non-aligned information should be a fair judge of history defending justice and attacking injustice.

The imperialists spread the bourgeois "view of value", culture and way of life over other countries with reliance on the outdated international information order and their superiority in the field of information technology. They also set afloat distorted information to foment social disorder and incite overthrow of system in the progressive countries.

They are intensifying the reactionary propaganda offensive by dint of modern information means in a bid to contain the countries aspiring after independence against imperialism and their rivals.

Through information activities non-aligned and other developing countries should widely introduce the just struggle of the peoples for sovereignty, independence and social progress and lift up the voices of international solidarity with it. They should also disclose and condemn all sorts of domination and interference, aggression and war moves that violate freedom and rights of human being and the sovereignty of countries and nations and threaten and wreck the peace of the world.

It is important to promote international exchange and cooperation in the field of information if those countries are to develop the information service and enhance its role.

To boost the exchange and cooperation in the information field is a sure guarantee for developing the information service of the developing countries and lifting up the world progressives' voice of justice.

DHS To Gain Autonomy Under Obama Cybersecurity Plan

DHS To Gain Autonomy Under Obama Cybersecurity Plan*

The agency will be tasked with protecting federal civilian networks in the same way the DOD protects military and other critical U.S. infrastructure.

By Elizabeth Montalbano,

InformationWeek

May 24, 2011

The Obama administration's cybersecurity legislative proposal gives the Department of Homeland Security more power than ever to protect federal networks against cyberthreats and breaks down the department's communication barriers with the Department of Defense to do so, officials told a Senate panel this week.

White House officials testified Monday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the comprehensive plan laid out by the administration nearly two weeks ago to create legislation to protect U.S. critical infrastructure and networks. A video of the hearing is available online.

2010 Threats: Why they happened and the tools available to thwart them.

Take a quick look back to prepare for future threats.

One key aspect of the plan is to put the DHS's mission to protect U.S. federal civilian networks on par with the DOD's mission to protect U.S. military networks, giving the DHS more autonomy to act against cyberthreats on behalf of the government than before.

While the DHS has certainly been at the forefront of federal cybersecurity initiatives, working with the private sector and other agencies such as the DOD and the National Security Agency to share information and make policy, the administration's plan would solidify this role through legislation, officials said.

"[The proposal] strengthens DHS's role to deploy more rapidly intrusion protection, intrusion prevention, and other mechanisms for the federal government," said Philip R. Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, in what was likely his last appearance before the committee. Reitinger resigned his post last week and will leave the department June 3.

"It gives the DHS--recognizing our similar role to DOD with regard to federal civilian networks--similar authority with regard to personnel so we can bring them on board rapidly," he said. After Reitinger's departure, Greg Schaffer, assistant secretary of the DHS Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, will become acting deputy undersecretary.

The plan also gives DHS "much clearer authority and responsibility to work in a voluntary way" with the private sector, something it already has been doing, he added.

Robert Butler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, also testified about the new relationship the plan would create between his department and DHS, and acknowledged the new cybersecurity authority of the DHS that the plan would bring.

The proposal "breaks down barriers to information sharing" that exist between the DHS and DOD "so that stakeholders can really communicate effectively," he said, adding that it also "really strengthens the ability of the DHS to lead the executive branch" in cybersecurity activity.

The administration's cybersecurity plan is a broad legislative proposal to overhaul the nation's cybersecurity laws with new provisions to solidify privacy protection, data breach reporting, critical infrastructure protection, and the security of federal government systems.

It's an attempt by the Obama administration to get comprehensive cybersecurity legislation through Congress, an effort that--although there are numerous bills before both chambers--has so far been unsuccessful.

White House officials, including two more from the DHS, are scheduled to continue testimony about the cybersecurity proposal before the same committee Wednesday.

* Url:http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/state-local/229625515

Military set to lead on US domestic cyber-security

Military set to lead on US domestic cyber-security

NSA, Cyber Command have 'unparalleled expertise'

By Lewis Page

25th May 2011

The US military will play a leading role in defending homeland America from cyber attacks, and this will include providing cybersecurity to key infrastructure on US soil.

Robert J Butler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, briefed senators in Washington on the plans yesterday. Butler stated that the Defense department would of course safeguard its own .mil domain, but would also closely collaborate with the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to guard and patrol the rest of America's cyber territory.

Philip Reitinger, DHS bigwig, seemed to imply that the military would lead on cybersecurity even in the domestic sphere.

"We each bring unique things to the table," he said. "DOD [the Defense Department] has unparalleled technical expertise and cyber expertise."

Giving a hint as to just which bits of America the military would be keenest to secure, Butler stated that the US armed forces are "critically dependent" on the civilian power network, telecoms, transport and many other sectors run using computer networks.

"Just as our reliance on critical infrastructure has grown, so have the threats," Butler told the Senate homeland-security committee. His remarks were reported [1] by the US forces press service.

Evidently it is the US military's job to protect the United States from threats both foreign and domestic, but nonetheless there will be those worried by the prospect of military intelligence and security agencies getting involved in utility companies' networks and databases.

To some degree this is already happening. News emerged last year that the National Security Agency (NSA) - which not everyone remembers is a combat support agency of the Defense department [2] – had set up a "black" (secret) programme called "Perfect Citizen", intended to set up monitoring equipment on networks deemed to be of national-security importance, perhaps including those of utility companies.

This would allow the NSA to know when attacks were happening, rather than relying on companies to realise this and then report it. However the prospect also existed that such kit could allow for pervasive monitoring of such things as whether a given property was occupied, perhaps where a given car or rail passenger had been etc etc.

One insider was quoted [3] as saying that "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother".

At the time the NSA insisted [4] to the Reg that Perfect Citizen is "a research and engineering effort. There is no monitoring involved ... it does not involve the monitoring of communications or the placement of sensors on utility company systems ... Any suggestions that there are illegal or invasive domestic activities associated with this contracted effort are simply not true."

Nonetheless the news that the NSA – whose chief is also in command [5] of the uniformed Cyber Command and subsidiary single-service cyberwar units such as the 24th Air Force, 10th Fleet etc – is apparently to advise and guide – if not lead outright – US domestic cyber security efforts may give rise to a little disquiet as well as reassurance.

Links
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123257153
http://odam.defense.gov/omp/pubs/GuideBook/NSA.htm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/08/perfect_citizen/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/09/nsa_response_perfect_citizen/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/24/us_military_cyber_force_announced/

* Url:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/25/pentagon_lead_us_cyber_security/

Press freedom group condemns injury of photojournalist

Press freedom group condemns injury of photojournalist*

Published Monday 16/05/2011

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms on Monday condemned the use of "indiscriminate fire" by Israeli forces on Palestinian protesters, which injured hundreds including at least two journalists.

Freelance photographer Mohammad Osman, 25, and local radio correspondent Mohammad Bakr Allouh, 23, were both injured while covering the Palestinian commemoration of Nakba Day, which made headlines around the world.

Osman was covering the March of Return in the Gaza Strip, a report from the center said. The photographer was hit with live
rounds to his chest and right hand and had to be evacuated to Kamal Udwan hospital for emergency treatment before being transferred to the Ash-Shifa Hospital for surgery, the center said.

Osman will be transferred to Turkey for treatment, the report added.

At the same rally, Sawt al-Watan radio correspondent Mohammed Bakr Allouh suffered severe effects from excessive tear gas inhalation and was evacuated to hospital for treatment.

The media freedoms group called the injuries a "clear violation of the laws governing freedom of expression," and condemned the treatment of reporters as they covered peaceful protests in Palestine.

* Url:http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388216

WikiLeaks: grand jury hearing opens in US

WikiLeaks: grand jury hearing opens in US*

The FBI has ordered a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts to testify at a grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, who faces the possibility of being charged with espionage in the United States.

By Alex Spillius, Alexandria

12 May 2011

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Photo: REUTERS

The jury, which will decide if an indictment is brought, met in secret in Alexandria, Virginia. The subpoena, which was leaked to the news website Salon.com, indicated that the Department of Justice is seriously examining possible violations of the draconian 1917 Espionage Act.

Prosecutors are keen to show that Mr Assange and his organisation encouraged and abetted the leaking of a vast trove of American military and diplomatic documents, which has stunned and infuriated Washington.

Bradley Manning, a US army intelligence analyst, is suspected of leaking the information and is currently in military custody. Earlier reports said that two students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had aided Mr Manning, though it is not clear if either was the man ordered to testify on Wednesday.

Journalists are not allowed to attend grand jury hearings, which often last more than a year and usually result in a prosecution. However, a non-government party has never been prosecuted under the Espionage Act.

Mr Assange is currently in Britain fighting an extradition order to Sweden for a sexual assault case. His lawyers have argued that Sweden would be merely a stop on the way to extradition in the US.

* Url:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8508517/WikiLeaks-grand-jury-hearing-opens-in-US.html

WikiLeaks: US opens grand jury hearing

WikiLeaks: US opens grand jury hearing*

First session of process of deciding whether

to prosecute website and founder Julian Assange for espionage

Ed Pilkington

New York

guardian.co.uk,

Wednesday 11 May 2011

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange listens during a news conference at the Frontline Club in London. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

The US government has opened a grand jury hearing into the passing of hundreds of thousands of state secrets to WikiLeaks – the start of the process of deciding whether to prosecute the website and its founder, Julian Assange, for espionage.

The first session of the grand jury is understood to have begun in Alexandria, Virginia, with the forced testimony of a man from Boston, Massachusetts. The unidentified man was subpoenad to appear before the panel.

The terms of the subpoena – first revealed by the Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald – gave a clear indication that the jury has been convened specifically to consider whether to approve the prosecution of Assange and Wikileaks.

It said the hearing was investigating "possible violations of federal criminal law involving, but not necessarily limited to, conspiracy to communicate or transmit national defence information in violation of" the Espionage Act.

The Act, which was introduced in 1917 just after the US entered the first world war, was modelled on Britain's Official Secrets Act.

It was most famously applied, unsuccessfully, in 1971 against Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon papers on the Vietnam war.

The subpoena also reveals that the grand jury is considering approving a prosecution on grounds of "knowingly accessing a computer without authorisation or exceeding authorized access" and "knowingly stealing or converting any record or thing of value of the United States or any department or agency thereof".

That would appear to point more in the direction of Bradley Manning, the US military intelligence specialist currently facing court martial as the suspected source of the WikiLeaks documents.

The US has had a hard time so far trying to make charges, other than against Manning, stick in the WikiLeaks saga.

The Espionage Act has never been applied successfully against a non-government party, and to have a reasonable chance of prosecuting Assange or WikiLeaks as an organisation, the authorities would need to be able to prove to the satisfaction of a jury that they had actively encouraged or assisted the source of the leaks to transmit unauthorised material.

The FBI has been focusing its investigations aggressively on the hacker community of Boston, around the technology university MIT, in the hope of gaining information on how Assange made contact with his source. Wednesday's hearing is likely to be part of that effort.

The public radio network NPR pointed out that the WikiLeaks grand jury is just one of a spate of federal investigations into leaking that constitutes a major crack down by the Obama administration.

There are currently five separate criminal prosecutions relating to official leaks under way, a surge in activity that national security experts say is a worrying attack on the rights of whistle blowers.

The WikiLeaks grand jury, comprising between 16 and 24 jurors, will sit in secret. It will act as a kind of pre-trial, considering the prosecution evidence and calling witnesses, before finally deciding on whether or not to advance a prosecution.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

* Url:http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/11/us-opens-wikileaks-grand-jury-hearing

Obama says Bradley Manning "broke the law"

Obama says Bradley Manning "broke the law"*

Posted by Stephanie Condon
April 22, 2011

Speaking with supporters at a San Francisco fundraiser Thursday, President Obama said that accused Wikileaks leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning "broke the law," Forbes reports.

Mr. Obama's comments followed an incident earlier on Thursday in which protesters seeking Manning's release from prison interrupted a fundraising speech from the president.

Manning's prolonged detainment has been a source of controversy for the Obama administration for several months. Just this week, the Pentagon transferred Manning to an Army prison in Kansas from the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., where he spent nine months in restrictive conditions. Manning faces nearly two dozen charges, including aiding the enemy, but no trial date has been set.

Though Manning has yet to stand trial, Mr. Obama asserted yesterday that he is guilty.

"If you're in the military, and -- I have to abide by certain classified information," Mr. Obama explained to a supporter. "If I was to release stuff, information that I'm not authorized to release, I'm breaking the law. We're a nation of laws. We don't individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate... He broke the law."

The person to whom the president was speaking compared Manning to Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret Pentagon study related to the Vietnam War.

"It wasn't the same thing," Mr. Obama responded. "What Ellsberg released wasn't classified in the same way."

Ellsberg is among the protesters who were arrested last year for demonstrating against Manning's treatment.

The demonstrations against Manning's detainment spurred one congressman to compare Manning's situation at Quantico to Abu Ghraib and prompted Amnesty International and the British government to voice concerns over his treatment as well.

The Pentagon has said its treatment of Manning has been all legal, and Mr. Obama has supported that assertion.

Officials said this week it moved Manning to the Kansas facility because it is designed for long-term detention. His case could take months, if not years, to be settled because of its complexity, the Associated Press reported.

* Url:http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20056566-503544.html?tag=mncol;lst;3

FBI issues Grand Jury subpoena presumed to relate to Wikileaks, Espionage Act charges

FBI issues Grand Jury subpoena presumed to relate to Wikileaks, Espionage Act charges*

Xeni Jardin
Thursday, Apr 28, 2011

On April 26, accused Wikileaks source Bradley Manning's friend and supporter David House tweeted "Subpoenas are being issued in the WikiLeaks grand jury. Violations of Espionage Act. No further comment at this time." House is one of the few people who has visited Manning in detention in Quantico; where the former Army intelligence officer has been held for months before a recent transfer to Leavenworth, Kansas.

House later added that he did not receive a subpoena himself. The identity of the recipient is not yet publicly known.

From the Wikileaks Twitter account that same day: "Fresh subpoenas are being issued in the WikiLeaks Alexandra, VA secret grand jury in relation to the espionage act."

Glenn Greenwald at Salon writes that the FBI served at least one subpoena in Boston, and that this was presumably related to the Wikileaks case.

"Notably, the Subpoena explicitly indicates that the Grand Jury is investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. 793), a draconian 1917 law under which no non-government-employee has ever been convicted for disclosing classified information."

And Wikileaks, being Wikileaks, tweeted out the D.A.'s phone number.

* Url:http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/28/fbi-issues-grand-jur.html

WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning cleared to stand trial

WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning cleared to stand trial*

April 29, 2011 1:32 PM

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning

(Credit: AP/Grpahics Bank)

To nobody's surprise, the Army has declared Pfc. Bradley Manning mentally competent to stand trial on a host of charges stemming from his alleged leaking of government secrets to WikiLeaks.

The lengthy process of reaching that conclusion is what kept Manning, 22, in near solitary confinement in the Marine brig at Quantico since last July. That brig is not a pre-trial confinement facility. It's a place where convicted criminals do hard time. But Manning was sent there in order to keep him in the Washington area, available to Army psychiatrists who would judge his competence to stand trial.

It took nine months for the psychiatrists to judge him mentally fit, mostly because it took months and months to grant them the security clearances necessary to be read in on a case involving half a million secret documents. The conditions of Manning's confinement at the Quantico brig were made worse by the fact that there had been a suicide there the year before, and his jailors weren't taking any chances, even though psychiatrists did not consider him a risk to take his life.

So now Manning is out of solitary and living with other inmates in a very different place -a modern, medium-security facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is likely to be there a long time before his case ever comes to trial. The same sort of problems involving classified documents and security clearances that slowed his psychiatric evaluation will also delay his trial.

And that's not including the Department of Justice's attempts to build a case against Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Manning would obviously be key to any prosecution of Assange, and the government almost surely would not want to give anything away by bringing Manning to trial before it finished trying to build a case against WikiLeak's co-founder.

* Url:http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20058626-503544.html

Army prison where WikiLeaks suspect being held opened for media tour of conditions

Army prison where WikiLeaks suspect

being held opened for media tour of conditions*

By John Milburn,

The Associated Press

28, April 2011

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — Army officials are opening the doors to the military prison in Kansas where they are holding an Army private suspected of illegally passing U.S. government secrets to the WikiLeaks website.

Pfc. Bradley Manning was moved last week from the Marine brig in Quantico, Va., to the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth amid criticism over his treatment and confinement.

Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said the media tour of the military's medium-security prison at Fort Leavenworth would show the conditions under which the Army holds Manning as he undergoes further evaluation.

"Clearly, Pfc. Manning is an unusual circumstance," Collins said.

He said Manning would soon be completing the pretrial evaluation that all inmates go through when they arrive at a prison.

Manning is suspected of having obtained the classified documents while serving as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq. He is awaiting a determination by the Army on whether he's mentally competent to stand trial. He faces nearly two dozen charges, including aiding the enemy, a crime that can bring the death penalty of death or life in prison.

The Fort Leavenworth prison, which opened late last year, was built near the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, the military's maximum-security prison for inmates sentenced to at least five years confinement, including those sentenced to death.

About 150 inmates are at the medium-security prison, Collins said, including others awaiting military trial. The prison is the northern edge of the fort, which is also home to the Army's Command and General Staff College.

Manning was transferred to Fort Leavenworth amid international criticism about the 23-year-old's treatment during his detention in the Washington area. At Quantico, Manning was held in maximum security in a single-occupancy cell and was allowed to wear only a suicide-proof smock to bed each night.

Pentagon officials denied Manning was being treated improperly and said he was moved to a more suitable location for longer periods.

Kevin Zeese, organizer of the Bradley Manning Support Network, said it was clear that pressure from Manning's supporters and international observers was having an effect on President Barrack Obama's administration.

"This tour is an effort to relieve the pressure, but we will not let up until Manning is treated properly," Zeese said.

Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, confidential State Department cables and a classified military video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Iraq that killed a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

Zeese said Manning's actions were that of a "whistleblower" not traitor to his country.

"He is not charged with giving documents to Iran or any other enemy, or selling them to the highest bidder," Zeese said. "He is accused of leaking the documents to the media so the American people would know what our government is doing."

* Url:www.newser.com/.../army-prison-where-wikileaks-suspect-being-held-opened-for-media-tour-of-conditions.html

WikiLeaks Suspect No Longer in Solitary

WikiLeaks Suspect No Longer in Solitary*

Bradley Manning moved from Quantico to Kansas detention center.

By Josh Voorhees

Posted Friday, Apr. 29, 2011

Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier accused of providing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, will no longer be held in solitary confinement.

The Army announced Thursday that Manning was transferred last week from the Quantico Marine base in Virginia to a detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

At the Kansas facility, Manning will be housed with other medium-security military prisoners who are awaiting trial. He will have his own 80-square-foot cell, wear standard prison clothing and have access to communal areas during the day, according to the AP.

His new living conditions represent a drastic improvement from how he was treated at Quantico, where he was held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, "stripped naked each night and given a suicide-proof smock in which to sleep," USA Today reports.

The move suggests that the military no longer believes that Manning is a suicide risk, which was the official reason that military officials gave for his isolation and treatment at Quantico.

Manning’s attorneys and supporters called those conditions inhuman and excessively harsh, and Amnesty International said that the military’s treatment of Manning may have violated his human rights. His transfer comes slightly more than a week after a U.N. torture investigator complained that he was denied a request to meet with Manning in private at Quantico.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

* Url:http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/04/29/

bradley_manning_wikileaks_suspect_no_longer_in_solitary_army_say.html#

Supporters of WikiLeaks soldier heckle Obama

Supporters of WikiLeaks soldier heckle Obama*

Thu, Apr 21 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Protesters interrupted President Barack Obama at a campaign fund-raiser on Thursday to complain about the treatment in detention of a U.S. soldier accused of leaking documents that appeared on the WikiLeaks website.

Obama's administration has been criticized for Bradley Manning's treatment, although the president says the Pentagon has assured him the soldier is not being ill-treated while he is awaiting trial.

Obama was addressing a room of about 200 people -- many of whom paid as much as $35,800 to see him -- when a woman in a white suit stood up and announced that she and nine others sitting at her table had written a song for him.

Despite Obama's protestations, they then broke into a song that called for the 23-year-old soldier's release. They passed out "Free Bradley Manning" signs and the woman took off her jacket to reveal a black T-shirt with Manning's image.

"Now, where was I?" the somewhat flustered president said after the group stopped. "There's an example of creativity."

Manning is being held during an investigation of charges involving reams of sensitive diplomatic and military documents he is accused of leaking while posted as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Many of the documents appeared on the WikiLeaks website.

U.S. military officials have not said when Manning's trial might begin, but he was transferred on Wednesday to a detention facility at Fort Leavenworth military base in Kansas after his lawyers complained he was being mistreated at a Marine brig in Virginia.

He was kept alone in his cell 23 hours per day and forced to sleep naked while being awakened repeatedly during the night. The Pentagon said this was done to ensure his well-being and that it had only happened on a few occasions.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Vicki Allen)

* Url:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/21/us-obama-protesters-idUSTRE73K6RL20110421

Bradley Manning to be moved to Fort Leavenworth prison after criticism

Bradley Manning to be moved to Fort Leavenworth prison after criticism*

Richard Adams

Tuesday 19 April 2011 21.27 BST

guardian.co.uk

Bradley Manning, accused of leaking classified material, is to be moved after international condemnation of his treatment

Bradley Manning is held alone in a maximum security cell 23 hours a day,

and checked every five minutes day and night. Photograph: AP

Bradley Manning, the soldier being held on suspicion of leaking classified material to Wikileaks, is being moved to a different prison after what the Associated Press describes as "international criticism about his treatment".

Manning had been held at the brig of the US Marine base in Quantico, in Virginia, since July last year in conditions that have been described as "inhumane", while Amnesty International has said that Manning's treatment potentially violates his human rights.

At times during his solitary confinement in Quantico, Manning has been labeled a suicide risk, kept under close watch and has at times been forced to strip naked at night.

According to the AP report, Manning is being moved to Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas:

The officials say an announcement that Army Pfc. Bradley Manning will be moved is expected Wednesday at the Pentagon. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the move has not yet been made public.

In January, Manning's lawyer made a formal protest at his treatment, saying that holding him in maximum security custody for five months and placing him on suicide watch amounted to abuse.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 on suspicion of having passed restricted material to WikiLeaks, and later charged with transferring classified data and national security information to unauthorised sources.

Fort Leavenworth's military corrections complex houses the United States Disciplinary Barracks, the US army's maximum security prison, and the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, where Manning is thought most likely to be held while awaiting trail.

* Url:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2011/apr/19/bradley-manning-wikileaks-leavenworth-prison

WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning Headed to Kansas for Detention, Trial

WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning Headed to Kansas for Detention, Trial*

By DEVIN DWYER (@devindwyer)

WASHINGTON, April 19 , 2011

ABC news

The U.S. Army private accused of leaking thousands of classified government documents to WikiLeaks will be transferred from a Marine Corps detention center at Quantico, Va., to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, ahead of trial, the Pentagon said today.

Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, told reporters the military decided to move Pfc. Bradley Manning, 23, to Leavenworth's state-of-the-art Joint Regional Correctional Facility, in part to provide him with greater access to mental, emotional and physical health resources.

Johnson said the transfer was not prompted by outcry over conditions at the Quantico facility, which have drawn protests from several international human rights groups and representatives of German and U.K. governments and allegations that the military has violated Manning's basic human rights.

Manning, who has not yet been convicted of a crime, spends all but one hour a day in solitary confinement, has to exercise in chains, and is stripped naked each night and forced to wear what his attorney describes as a scratchy, suicide-proof smock.

The military has disputed claims that Manning has been mistreated, insisting he is being treated professionally like every other detainee.

"He's being provided well-balanced, nutritious meals three times a day. He receives visitors and mail, and can write letters. He routinely meets with doctors as well as his attorney," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in January. "Assertions ... that he is being mistreated, or somehow treated differently than others, in isolation, are just not accurate."

Manning's supporters said they believe the military is trying to use the distance from Washington to make it more difficult for the legal team to coordinate a defense and for visitors to meet with Manning.

"This is a good strategic move by the Army to make it harder for his supporters to rally around him," said Jeff Paterson, a spokesman for the Bradley Manning Support Network, which has mobilized grassroots support for Manning and is raising money to pay civilian attorney David Coombs.

"There's no question that if President Obama or the State Department wanted his detention conditions changed at Quantico, all they would have had to do is pick up the phone," Paterson said.

Manning has been in military detention for more than nine months, but has not yet been formally indicted. He was arrested in May 2010 after allegedly telling a former hacker that he had given documents to WikiLeaks.

In March, the Army filed 22 new counts against Manning, including aiding the enemy, theft of public property or records, computer fraud and transmitting information in violation of the Espionage Act. He could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

ABC News' Kirit Radia contributed to this report.

* Url:http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wikileaks-suspect-bradley-manning-headed-kansas-base-pentagon/story?id=13412274

Resist Aquino, AFP's veiled threats against Philippine media--CPP

Resist Aquino, AFP's veiled threats against Philippine media--CPP*

CPP Information Bureau
April 9, 2011

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said "by going all-out in blaming so-called negative coverage for their sagging popularity, Malacañang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are sending veiled threats to journalists, reporters and other media practitioners."

For several days now, Malacañang officials have been blaming the media for the drop in Aquino's "popularity rating" in surveys conducted over the recent months. In these and other surveys, the AFP was also found to be regarded as the "most corrupt" government agency. Aquino lambasted the media for supposedly not reporting "positive news" even as the AFP denounced the media for the coverage of public hearings conducted in the Senate which exposed corruption by top military officials over the past several years.

"In playing the blame game, Aquino and the AFP both seek to impose on the media what they presuppose to be its role in the war of information they are waging to shape the consciousness and perceptions of the people," pointed out the CPP. "This anti-democratic frame of mind should be resisted and opposed as it poses a threat to the independence and critical role of the media."

"The socio-economic conditions of the Filipino people have worsened so drastically in the past months under the Aquino regime that survey results could not be further manipulated to cover up the sharp drop in Aquino's 'popularity rating'," said the CPP. "By blaming his unpopularity on the media, Aquino is revealing himself to be completely detached from the conditions of the people."

"The Aquino regime has raised toll rates and train fares, failed to control the prices of oil and other basic commodities, refused to remove or reduce taxes on oil products, blocked wages increases, reduced social spending and increased costs of social services," pointed out the CPP. "In carrying out these measures, Aquino is bound to isolate himself more and more from the people."

"In its desperation to justify its detrimental antipeople measures, Aquino has resorted to the wornout Arroyo PR line that his regime is not playing a popularity game and that it is determined to carry out even so-called unpopular decisions," said the CPP.

"If he continues to justify such measures, refuses to heed the people's economic and political demands and resorts to acts of military suppression, Aquino risks surpassing the unpopularity of Arroyo and other past reactionary rulers."

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/resist-aquino-afps-veiled-threats.html

Niece of Vladimir Lenin dies in Moscow

Niece of Vladimir Lenin dies in Moscow*

By MANSUR MIROVALEV

March 25, 2011

In this June 23, 1999 file photo Olga Ulyanova, niece of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, attends a press conference in Moscow, Russia. Ulyanova, the niece and last direct kin of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin has died in Moscow. She was 89. Her uncle Vladimir Ulyanov took Lenin as his nom-de-guerre in 1901 while in exile near the Siberian river of Lena.

MOSCOW – Olga Ulyanova, a niece of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin who wrote several books praising her uncle and family, has died in Moscow. She was 89.

Lenin never had any children of his own, and Ulyanova was one of his last known living relatives, according to the government in the Ulyanovsk region, which was named after her family. She was the daughter of Dmitry Ulyanov, Lenin's younger brother and one of the first members of the Bolshevik party.

Olga Ulyanova, a chemist and a writer, died in Moscow on Friday, the regional government said. The cause of death was not given.

Her uncle, Vladimir Ulyanov, took Lenin as his nom-de-guerre in 1901 while in exile near the Siberian river of Lena. Sixteen years later, Lenin headed the Bolshevik revolution. He died in 1924, when Ulyanova was almost two years old.

After Lenin's' death, his embalmed body was placed in a mausoleum on Red Square, where it is open to the public.

Following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, many Soviet critics demanded the removal of his body from the mausoleum, seeing it as a symbol of the Communist past.

Ulyanova fiercely objected. "Those who want his reburial are just malefactors," she told the Interfax news agency in 2007.

She had fond memories of growing up in the Kremlin with other children of Bolshevik leaders and said she never abused her status as Lenin's kin. She worked as a professor of chemistry and physics at various universities and wrote extensively about her uncle.

"It was a mistake to turn him into an icon," she told the Italian Panorama newspaper in 2008. "But ideological distortions, falsification of his theories were even a bigger mistake."

She also claimed that her uncle disapproved of the 1918 shooting of last Russian Czar Nicholas II, his wife and five children.

One of Lenin's last living relatives is his great nephew Dmitry Ulyanov, an Orthodox priest in the western Russian city of Ivanovo who once demanded that his parish worship icons of Lenin and his successor Joseph Stalin, according to the Izvestia daily newspaper.

* Url: http://wp.me/pUZCt-1NO

WikiLeaks cables reveal a disturbing picture of India-U.S. relationship: Prakash Karat

WikiLeaks cables reveal a disturbing picture of India-U.S. relationship:

Prakash Karat*

Special Correspondent
“They are a sad commentary of where Manmohan Singh and Congress leadership have landed the country''

Prakash Karat

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Thursday that the WikiLeaks exposé laid bare the nature of India-U.S. relationship during the UPA and NDA regimes and revealed a disturbing picture.

“The publication and analysis of the U.S. embassy cables accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks is ongoing; but what has been made available so far reveals a disturbing picture… the cables are a sad and revealing commentary of where Manmohan Singh and the Congress leadership have landed the country,'' general secretary Prakash Karat said an article in the latest edition of the party organ, People's Democracy.

Washington's reach

Commenting on the influential reach of Washington in India's strategic affairs and foreign and economic policies, he said the U.S. had access to the bureaucracy, military, security and the intelligence system and successfully penetrated them at various levels.

Mr. Karat marks out specific areas — foreign policy, defence cooperation, security and intelligence cooperation, penetration and espionage, political influence and political corruption — where American stamp could be seen.

Referring to the Manmohan Singh government going back on its commitment in the Common Minimum Programme to pursue an independent foreign policy, he said the CPI(M) and other Left parties had to oppose this turnaround from the outset. The cables disclosed how this reversal was effected through the efforts of the U.S. embassy and high-level functionaries, with the vote against Iran in the IAEA being one illustration of U.S. pressure.

Other cables showed how Washington succeeded in getting New Delhi to coordinate policy towards Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Defence and security cooperation was the second area where the U.S. influence grew appreciably, with India signing the Defence Framework Agreement, the first of this type with any country. It was evident from the cables that the U.S. government and the Pentagon had been negotiating and planning for it since the time of the NDA government.

Intelligence cooperation

On security and intelligence cooperation, Mr. Karat said the cables showed the growing coordination of the security establishments of the two countries reaching a high level of cooperation after the Mumbai terror attacks and the American view that the then National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan was eager to establish a high degree of security cooperation involving the FBI and the CIA.

The cables also showed that information was accessed through sources within various government ministries.

He said collaboration between the intelligence and security agencies of the two countries resulted in American penetration and two cases of espionage: Rabinder Singh, who was helped by the CIA flee to the U.S.; and during the UPA regime, a system analyst in the National Security Council secretariat was found to have been recruited by the CIA, with contact established through the U.S.-India Cyber Security Forum.

Political influence

Referring to the cables on the 2006 Cabinet reshuffle with a mention of the strong pro-U.S. credentials of Ministers; the observation that the Left would be infuriated by this shuffle; and the removal of Mani Shankar Aiyar from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. Karat said: “Under the Manmohan Singh regime, the Americans have been provided licence to penetrate and influence every sector of the government.''

He said there was no use blaming the Americans, since the UPA government decided in 2007 that mandatory mid-career training programmes for IAS officers be undertaken in various American universities. “Whether they are civil servants or military officials, the way to go ahead is to get training in the United States.''

Corruption

The cables showed the Americans to be keen observers of the high level of corruption that existed in India's political system, Mr. Karat said. Understandably, the cables on the huge money used for buying MPs during the 2008 trust vote caused a furore.

The Americans wanted the Manmohan Singh government to win the vote, so that the nuclear deal could go through. “Any means, fair or foul, was acceptable for the Americans,'' he noted. The cables showed that the U.S. was not just after commercial benefit of a few billion dollars in the sale of nuclear reactors, but wanted India firmly on its side as a strategic ally.

Describing as pathetic the Prime Minister's claim that the cables “are unverifiable and cannot be treated as authentic,'' Mr. Karat said it was common knowledge that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself rang up External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna to warn him about the leak of the cables and the consequent embarrassment they may cause.

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* Url:http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/25/stories/2011032564471600.htm