Australia: Assange on Federal Police Raid On Opposition Labor Party

Australia: Assange on Federal Police Raid On:  Opposition Labor Party AUSTRALIA http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1somvku http://archive.is/xNTPA  Assange on Federal Police Raid On:  Opposition Labor Party - Australia Assange statement on Australian police raids on #ALP #AFPraids #ozpol #auspol Friday May 20, 2016 13:09 AEST The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raids on the opposition (ALP) cannot be tolerated.  Raiding a suspected media source for a story embarrassing to the government is bad enough. But to raid the opposition during a federal election campaign in order to hunt down the source of such stories makes Australia look like it has become an Asian democratic backwater.  Of course, it is hard for me to have much sympathy for the hypocritical ALP, which created what it called a 'whole of government' task force against me, which included the AFP, in-order to ingratiate itself with the US.  But the issue is not about ALP or the government. It is about the rights of all Australians to know what their government is up to.  When the opposition and the media work together to publicly reveal infrastructure mismanagement they are doing their jobs and doing it well.  When police conduct raids on the opposition during an election to hunt down media sources they are not doing their job. They're stopping all the rest of us from doing ours. It is not the role of policemen to interfere with elections--whether instructed to do so by the government or not. Julian Assange http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1somvku http://archive.is/xNTPA Article AFP Raids on Opposition Labor Party National Broadband Network Leaked Documents LINK  | here POLITICAL PERSECUTION ASSANGE UNDER SIEGE Link | here https://justice4assange.com/

Israel Nukes Whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu - Shopped to Mossad by Sydney Morning Herald, ASIO & ASIS

ꕤ Article SOURCE EXTRACT ONLY - CONTINUE AT SOURCE http://mailstar.net/vanunu.html Peter Myers / MailStar Ari Ben-Menashe on the Capture of Mordecai Vanunu Selections by Peter Myers, September 15, 2001; update November 21, 2015. My comments are shown {thus}. Write to me at contact.html. You are at http://mailstar.net/vanunu.html. Ben-Menashe was a former Israeli intelligence officer. The Sydney Morning Herald, & The (Melbourne) Age, as well as Australia's spy agency ASIO, played a part in the capture of Vanunu. The Sydney Morning Herald alerted ASIO, which alerted ASIS, which alerted Mossad. The BBC produced a TV documentary about Vanunu's capture, and Israel's secret nuclear weapons program, titled "Israel's Secret Weapon". Transcript, BBC World Service, 29 June 2003, Part 1: http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1665.shtml. Part 2 of the transcript is at http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1667.shtml. (1) Mordecai Vanunu - caught by a Honey Trap (2) Mossad posing as "Palestinian Terrorists"; and a special flight to Tehran of Israeli air-force pilots disguised as civilians. (3) Gordon Thomas, writer of political thrillers - a disinformation agent? (4) Israeli Recruiter of Convicted Spy Pollard Reemerged on American Soil (5) Robert Fisk on Vanunu's importance (6) Gordon Thomas discloses Mossad's role in the "Monica Lewinsky" scandal (7) Daniel Halper: Israelis tried to blackmail Bill Clinton with Lewinsky tapes to force spy release (1) Mordecai Vanunu - caught by a Honey Trap Mordecai Vanunu was lured by a "honey trap", after which he was jailed (in Israel) for 18 years (11 solitary); and he never even got the honey. Ari Ben-Menashe, Profits of War: The Sensational Story of the World-Wide Arms Conspiracy, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 1992. {p. 200} ... My only experience with it was the so-called "Vanunu affair" in 1986. EXTRACT ONLY - CONTINUE AT SOURCE http://mailstar.net/vanunu.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Thought this article was cool. Only had a quick skim of it. Article demonstrates why independent whistleblower publishers such as WikiLeaks are important. After Vanunu's experience, potential whistleblowers would be crazy to attempt leak vital data to untrustworthy (and treacherous) corporate media, or to untested publishers. Is anybody else appalled that the Australian daily newspapers and intelligence authorities basically condemned a whistleblower to Mossad kidnapping, 18 years prison and 11 years of solitary confinement (ie torture)? Note also, Australian authorities handed over those young Australians who were busted for drugs in some country they got executed in, eventually. Bali Nine in Indonesia. Bali Nine: Australian Federal Police unapologetic for tip-off that led to Chan and Sukumaran executions By political reporters Jane Norman and Anna Henderson Updated 4 May 2015, 8:32pm Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin says it is possible future investigations could result in an Australian facing the death penalty overseas, even though the AFP's guidelines have been strengthened since the arrest of the Bali Nine drug smugglers. [ ... ] Commissioner Colvin defended the AFP's decision to inform Indonesian authorities about the drug syndicate, saying the AFP did not have enough evidence to arrest the Australians before they left for Indonesia. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/afp-says-more-australians-could-face-death-penalty-over-drugs/6442084 Australian law enforcement authorities have as good as killed those kids themselves, in their haste to notify the Indonesians. The distinctly unAustralian attitude of Australian law enforcement, intelligence services, and politicians -- all public servants -- probably also explains, to some extent, why the Australian authorities have not challenged (let alone publicly and vigorously challenged) the political persecution of award-winning Austrlian journalist, whistleblower publisher, Julian Assange. It is the inaction (and, really, negligence) of  these Australian authorities that has enabled the 5-year British political persecution and detention of Julian Assange, who is obviously targeted for extradition and 'live burial' (ie. decades long incarceration, at a minimum) in the exposed criminal state, otherwise known as:  United States of America. Australians should be outraged that the politicians and sundry other public servants, that are appointed by Australians to serve Australian interests, do not serve the interests of all Australians, of democracy and of justice, first and foremost. Julian Assange Editor, WikiLeaks Justice4Assange WikiLeaks Site WikiLeaks Twitter BOOK:  The WikiLeaks Files (2015) Link | here PS ...  just reading re the 2003 Vanunu BBC documentary.  I'm not the only one describing incarceration as entombment: "He was buried alive ..." [re Vanunu] ꕤ

AUSTRALIA: AFP Access Journalists' Metadata / Australian Greens - STOP Data Retention

AUSTRALIA - POLICE STATE COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Source - https://twitter.com/vanbadham/status/577955499703816192 See ADAM BRANDT video:   #StopDataRetention -- Adam Bandt https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=839543312747570 Adam Brandt is deputy leader of the Australian Greens. Why is there such a zeal to monitor what people do online? Labor has joined with the Liberals to push through poorly thought out legislation that violates the principle of prevention of government intrusion (eg state/police intrude only on those suspected of having committed a crime - not intrude upon entire civilian population, as is the case with mass surveillance & retention of data).  Brandt also pointed out that: Criminals can switch to international web-based servers and won't get caught by data retention bill, but the bulk of the unsuspecting population will (so this legislation does not serve the purpose it purports to serve). EUROPEAN UNION and NETHERLANDS have opted out of the data retention step, for good reason. Opens the public up to potential CIVIL LAWSUITS if information subpoenaed  (eg media conglomerates / copyright) -- HYPOCRITE LABOR JOINS LIBERALS TO RUSH THROUGH LEGISLATION Brandt says the public is told that there will be protection for journalists in the Bill and Labor says they'll back up the Liberal government, but no amendment has been circulated in the chamber or made publicly available and the Labor Party is prepared to take the LNP government on faith; but Greens are not.  Why should parliament be required to vote on legislation without a chance to properly look through amendments:  this is complicated & giving people protections from these kinds of laws is complicated. -- COMMENT Government intent on giving journalists protections?  Got to be kidding.  The police state is already violating the liberty of journalists. I'm shocked. If journalists are subject to state violation and intimidation, what hope of freedom has the average person got?

Something Stinks: British Detention & FBI Investigation

Court reveals FBI still investigating WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Date     March 5, 2015 - 2:21PM     -     Philip Dorling A United States court has confirmed that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still being targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation more than five years after the anti-secrecy website's first publication of a secret diplomatic cable leaked by US soldier Chelsea Manning. In a judgment handed down on March 4, 2015, US District Court judge Barbara Rothstein has stated that the FBI and the US Department of Justice are still pursuing an "ongoing criminal investigation of WikiLeaks" arising from the leaks of classified information by private Manning in early 2010. In largely rejecting an application by the US Electronic Privacy Information Centre for release of documents under US freedom of information laws, Judge Rothstein accepted FBI and Justice Department claims that the disclosure of any information would prejudice a "multi-subject investigation" into WikiLeaks that is "still active and ongoing." Judge Rothstein found that the FBI and Justice Department's National Security and Criminal Justice Divisions provided "sufficient specificity as to the status of the investigation, and sufficient explanation as to why the investigation is of long-term duration." She also confirmed that the WikiLeaks investigation is "separate and distinct" from the investigation and prosecution of private Manning who was convicted by a US military court of espionage and other offences in July 2013 and sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment. Judge Rothstein accepted claims by the FBI Justice Department that disclosure of any details about the investigation could "expose the scope and methods of the investigation, and tip-off subjects and other persons of investigative interest". The judge said she gave "appropriate defence to the executive on issues of national security..." In January it was revealed that that three journalists who have worked for WikiLeaks since 2010 – Sarah Harrison, Joseph Farrell and Kristinn Hrafnsson – had been informed by Google that all their Gmail account content, metadata, subscriber information, and other content were provided to US federal law enforcement in response to search warrants issued in March 2012. US laws referenced in the search warrants related to espionage, conspiracy, theft of US government property and computer fraud and abuse. WikiLeaks first published a US diplomatic cable leaked by Private Manning in February 2010. The anti-secrecy website subsequently published tens of thousands of secret documents covering US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the conduct of US diplomacy. Australian diplomatic cables released to Fairfax Media under freedom-of-information laws later revealed that in December 2010 senior Justice Department officials privately described the WikiLeaks investigation as "unprecedented in scale and nature". Since June 2012, Mr Assange has lived at Ecuador's London embassy, where he has been granted political asylum by Ecuador on the grounds that he is at risk of extradition to the US to face espionage and conspiracy charges. British police are on guard outside the embassy 24 hours a day, waiting to arrest Mr Assange so he can be extradited to Sweden to face questioning about sexual assault and rape allegations first raised in August 2010. Mr Assange's lawyers have advised that his extradition to Sweden could facilitate his extradition to the US. A recent freedom of information application by Fairfax Media shows the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has largely given up reporting on Mr Assange's circumstances, with the Australian embassy in Washington mentioning WikiLeaks in only two brief diplomatic cables between November 2013 and January 2015. One cable referred without comment to a Washington Post article in November 2013 that quoted unnamed US administration sources as saying that it would be difficult to bring espionage charges against Mr Assange, although no final decision had been taken. http://www.theage.com.au/world/court-reveals-fbi-still-investigating-wikileaks-julian-assange-20150305-13vuwj.html?utm_source=FreeAssangeNow&utm_medium=Twitter COMMENT A frothing at the mouth USA launches an unprecedented investigation into the activities of publisher Julian Assange & WikiLeaks, following the 2010 publication of the whistleblower Chelsea Manning US classified information. Lo and behold, by August-September 2010 (on the eve of publication of further US classified material - Iraq war logs), Sweden (long-time political, intelligence and military partner of the US) is suddenly pursuing WikiLeaks publisher, Assange, in relation to sexual assault related allegations. Following an initial police investigation that was dismissed by a Swedish prosecutor and then quietly and mysteriously reactivated shortly thereafter by a Stockholm prosecutor, Sweden issued a dime-a-dozen European Arrest Warrant (see Sweden hypocritical 'concerns' re misuse of EAW for political persecution) and an Interpol Red Notice for the suspiciously convenient arrest of Assange. Taking a look at the WikiLeaks releases timeline, it's obvious (to all but the disturbingly naive or wilfully stupid) that multiple US government agencies must have been frantically deployed to shut down WikiLeaks operations by any means.  By the time Sweden suddenly revived a tossed out allegations inquiry with which to pursue Assange, WikiLeaks had already enraged US government officials by publishing the explosive Manning material in April 2010, followed by publication of the Afghanistan war logs and announment of an imminent publication of the Iraq war logs:  WikiLeaks Timeline 2006-2009 Exposing government & corporate wrongdoing 2010 (April) Manning material incl. VIDEO:   Collateral Murder 2010 (July) Afghanistan - war logs 2010 (Oct) Iraq -  war logs With US determination to shut down the WikiLeaks organisation and to cripple all those associated with whistleblower publisher which exposed US wrongdoing, it's  unsurprising that Assange's political asylum has been blocked by cooperative allied governments, hang the cost to the British taxpayer:  https://govwaste.co.uk/ Let that be a terrifying warning to all journalists and would-be publishers of US secrets. Five years on, the US is actively investigating the publisher and those associated with the organisation and citing 'national security' interests to block release of further information regarding their multi-subject investigation. Declaring 'national security' is a government trump card for shutting down transparency and, basically, doing whatever the government officials choose to do, relieved of public scrutiny and therefore of accountability. Meanwhile, journalists and others associated with the non-US publisher organisation are being harassed and intimidated by what surely must be yet another example of US government overreach, seeing the non-US organisation and people associated with it are beyond American borders and have not committed any crime within their own national jurisdictions. Assange, in the meantime, has been deprived of liberty in Britain for over 4 years without charge and the Australian Foreign Affairs department has barely shown interest in Assange in the last year or so.  Never mind fighting fearlessly for the freedom of an Aussie journalist-publisher by strongly (and publicly) condemning Sweden, Britain and United States, and challenging what is de facto detention and obvious political persecution of Julian Assange. Israel Stands By Israelis / Australia Kowtows to America Were Assange an Israeli citizen, there would be no keeping Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman from doing everything they possibly could do to protect their citizen, which is enough to make you want to be an Israeli. Take Jonathan Pollard, US citizen convicted of spying for Israel and others, arrested 1987.  Pollard was a US navy analyst who sold information.  Yet he was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995 and Israel has been doing everything it can to secure his release: Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard release talk infuriates US intel community http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-spy-jonathan-pollard-release-talk-infuriates-us-intel-community-20140401-zqpm5.html  ................................................ Israel fights for Pollard: 1998:  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Pollard was an Israeli agent, handled by high-ranking officials of the Israeli Bureau for Scientific Relations (Lekem). The Israeli government ... continues to ask for his release. Benjamin Netanyahu has been particularly vocal in lobbying for Pollard's release, visiting Pollard in prison in 2002. Netanyahu raised the issue with President Bill Clinton during the Wye River peace talks in 1998. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard Netanyahu has characterized Pollard as "a warmhearted Jew, proud and a real Zionist." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu Israel consistently and persistently stands by its own no matter what. Even over the passage of decades, regardless of a conviction for wrongdoing. In contrast, Australia sits on its hands doing nothing while an Australian journalist and publisher, who is has committed no offence, is trapped and deprived of liberty without charge, for over 4 years.  ................................................ Julian Assange has committed no crime in Australia: AFP http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/julian-assange-has-committed-no-crime-in-australia-afp-20101220-190eb.html December 20, 2010 Dylan Welch Neither WikiLeaks nor its founder Julian Assange has committed any crime in Australia over the leaking of official United States government documents, the Australian Federal Police announced this afternoon. This comes despite Prime Minister Julia Gillard labelling the actions of the group "illegal" two weeks ago. A statement released by the federal police just before 1pm said: "The AFP has completed its evaluation of the material available and has not established the existence of any criminal offences where Australia would have jurisdiction.  ................................................ End the persecution of Julian Assange, now http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/end-the-persecution-of-julian-assange-now/ Australian Times (UK) is a London publication for and by Aussies.  No idea who the author of the article in Australian Times (UK) is, but I rather liked the article and have linked it.    ................................................ SWEDEN -  Hypocrisy Selective Human Rights Concerns SWEDEN - Gregorian Bivolaru Asylum / European Arrest Warrant (EAW) In meetings 17th October [2013] in Brussels several Swedish MEPs expressed their concern and interest to work for the case, and the Romanian misuse of the European Arrest Warrant to pursue political persecution of the refugee Bivolaru.  ................................................ Blog post and link regarding the Gregorian Bivolaru matter in Sweden - here.