Illegitimate Transfer of Inalienable European Rights via Convention(s) & Supranational Bodies Establishment of Sovereignty-Usurping Supranational Body Dictatorships Enduring Program of DEMOGRAPHICS WAR on Europeans Enduring Program of PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR on Europeans Enduring Program of European Displacement, Dismemberment, Dispossession, & Dissolution
No wars or conditions abroad (& no domestic or global economic pretexts) justify government policy facilitating the invasion of ancestral European homelands, the rape of European women, the destruction of European societies, & the genocide of Europeans.
U.S. RULING OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR TO SALVAGE HEGEMONY [LINK | Article]
Who's preaching world democracy, democracy, democracy? —Who wants to make free people free?
role of reading indictments to the German leaders on trial
served with the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials, investigating Krupp
wrote several books about his war experiences including an account of the capitalist victor trials
was awarded the Bronze Star by the US government 1948
promoted to lieutenant-colonel 1950 (retroactive from 1948)
1950 & 1951, stood for the Conservative Party
career was held back by a heart attack he suffered in 1959
Neave - campaign manager for Margaret Thatcher's leadership of Conseratives bid
1975, Thatcher elected leader
Neave rewarded with post as head of Thatcher private office
/ then appointed Shadow Sec. of State, Northern Ireland
/ & poised to take equivalent cabinet position at time of assassination, in the event of 1979 Conservatives win
Neave was a strong supporter of Roy Mason, who had extended the policy of Ulsterisation
Neave - author of the new and radical Conservative policy of abandoning devolution in Northern Ireland
+ concentrating on local government reform instead
this * integrationist policy * abandoned hastily by successor
information from an intelligence agent 'Lee Tracey', claiming Neave had met Tracey, to recruit Tracey to team of intel & security specialists who would ensure politician Tony Benn "was stopped" - ie. alleged assassination of Tony Benn if Labour elected
/ second meeting planned but Neave was killed before meeting took place
MAGNETIC CAR BOMB, fitted with ball-bearing tilt switch, exploded under his new vehicle
at 2:58 pm, as he drove out of PALACE OF WESTMINSTER carpark
/ serious leg injuries - died in hospital without regaining consciousness
INCALCULABLE LOSS TO THE BRITISH RULING CLASS
INLA issued a statement:
In March, retired terrorist and supporter of capital punishment, Airey Neave, got a taste of his own medicine when an INLA unit pulled off the operation of the decade and blew him to bits inside the 'impregnable' Palace of Westminster. The nauseous Margaret Thatcher snivelled on television that he was an 'incalculable loss'—and so he was—to the British ruling class.
Neave assassination x2 days after the vote of no confidence
brought down Callaghan's government (few weeks before the 1979 general election)
saw Conservative victory / Margaret Thatcher to power as PM
Neave's wife: subsequently elevated to the House of Lords as Baroness Airey of Abingdon
following Neave assassination, INLA was declared illegal across UK
KEVIN CAHILL
Kevin Cahill
Kevin James Cahill
author and investigative journalist
1965 and served as a platoon commander
in: Aden, Bahrain, and Northern Ireland
1968, leaves army
University Ulster, BA Eng Lit.
worked as a systems analyst at Farrington Data, Rank Xerox, Glaxo Ltd, Gulf Oil UK
+ Singer & Friedlander merchant bank
/ finished his professional career in computers as a project manager at International Computers Limited
1979 he became a full-time journalist
part-time Research Assistant to Paddy (now Lord) Ashdown in the House of Commons
+ various other
/ advised many politicians
investigative journalist, Kevin Cahill
claimed Neave assassination was an inside job
Neave killed by MI6 agents working with CIA
/ Neave sought to prosecute senior figures in intel establishment for corruption
Cahill wrote:
prior to Neave assassination in 1979, Conservative MP Airey Neave
on verge of a massive overhaul of the security services
possibly merger of MI5 & MI6
due to belief in corruption in security services
Cahill suggested link between assassination of Neave
& Sir Richard Sykes murder
+ attempted murder of: Christopher Tugendhat, 1980
Cahill claims Neave would have been head of the combined security services
+ Sykes (foreign ops) and Tugendhat (home ops) as his deputies
HOUSE OF COMMONS - nobody would talk, says Cahill
"everyone knew" the story behind Neave's death but that no one could talk about it in detail because it would have been too dangerous
Cahill claims security staff did not believe INLA murdered Neave but that it was an "inside job"
FORCED FEDERALISATION
Kevin Cahill book: Trade Wars (1987)
most important historical fact in the book - note in 1954 by a British Civil Servant
(T. W. Garvey, later Sir T. W. Garvey)
INDICATING UK had,
because of the 'special relationship' with USA:
1. "the Loan, the lion's share of MARSHALL AID"
2. "comparative immunity from FORCIBLE FEDERALISATION ..."
Wikipedia: "No historian has been able to explain what 'forcible federalisation' was"
COMMENT: likely the NATO & EUROPEAN UNION capitalist federalisation & the capitalist promotion of dispossession of European peoples, promoted as 'humanitarian' benevolence of capitalism, in what is a push for 'globalisation' of ruling capitalist power - a capitalist-ruled world slave state
Interesting Capitalist History
Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
It was a business world defined by globalization and growing interdependency. But it's not international trade circa 2000. As HBS professor Geoffrey Jones points out, the "global economy" first emerged in the 1870s.
London had a unique role as the international service centre for the emergent global economy, providing information and contacts about investment opportunities worldwide. — Geoffrey Jones
Kevin Cahill book: Who Owns the World: The Hidden Facts Behind Landownership (2006)
Queen Elizabeth II is the legal owner of one sixth of the land on the Earth's surface
/ more than any other individual or nation
/ 6,600 million acres in 32 countries
/ Crown is never separate from the individual who holds it
all territories owned by the Crown,
including Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom,
the governments (on behalf of the people) of those countries DO NOT own the land of the country
but may administer it on behalf of its owner, HM Elizabeth II
/ all forms of land possession in those territories are based, formally and in law, on the Crown's superior ownership
Land Registry in places like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia cannot register land ownership, only tenure
/ freehold and leasehold are defined in law as forms of tenure, not ownership
USA = only major country in which ownership of land was clearly defined as belonging to the citizens who had paid for it
USA federal govt owns one-third of the land of nation
as a landowner on a legal par with any other landowner and without a superior right to any land other than that endorsed on deeds as the property of the US federal govt
'eminent domain' - gives right of govt federal authorities & bodies to acquire privately owned land for public purposes
ENOCH POWELL
Enoch Powell, Ulster Unionist
claimed in an interview with The Guardian, 1984
that Americans had killed:
1. Airey Neave
2. Lord Mountbatten
3. Robert Bradford MP
said: evidence came from a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
said (1986): Neave assassinated by "MI6 and their friends"
Neave's Northern Ireland policy had been one of integration with the rest of the UK
Americans feared that this process, if implemented, would be irreversible
Enoch Powell claimed;
Neave assassination
intended to make the British govt adopt a policy more acceptable to America in her aim of a united Ireland within NATO
wife: married in 1942 Diana Josceline Barbara Giffard
United States asked Canada to help spy on candidates during 2012 French election: WikiLeaks
Zane Schwartz 02.16.2017
>> IN SUMMARY <<
CIA and FVEY spying on FRENCH 2012 Presidential Elections
CIA docs released by WikiLeaks
list CANADA as ONE OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES (x5)
asked to assist US while US spies on 2012 FRENCH presidential election
x5 countries working on human intelligence parts of the op
in addition to Canada
> New Zealand, Great Britain, and Australia
> all listed under a section indicating which countries are assisting with the “HUMINT” or human intelligence
> those x4 countries, plus USA
> comprise the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance
x3 CIA tasking orders
request following be closely monitored:
- current French president Francois Hollande
- then president Nicolas Sarkozy
- current first round presidential front runner Marine Le Pen
to uncover the secret strategies of the candidates
+ info re on internal power dynamics within the parties
Communications Security Establishment Canada
- Canadian Security Intelligence Service
DID NOT immediately reply to requests for comment
Ashley Lemire, senior communications advisor
Dept of National Defence, told the National Post
“The Government of Canada does not comment on leaked documents.”
revelations come amidst CLAIMS by the U.S. intelligence community
that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
orders are all marked “NOFORN”
meaning they are supposed to be restricted to U.S. eyes only
so no potential allies are offended
Canadian spying on allies have caused significant diplomatic issues before
according to leaked docs
Communications Security Establishment Canada
spied on Brazil’s mining and energy ministry
> to gain economic intelligence
> 2013, documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden showed
> NDP leader Tom Mulcair said the revelations gave Canada “a black eye in the world.”
> economic intelligence was also a focus of the spying during France’s 2012 election
> agents asked to answer questions about non-ruling political parties and candidates
> including: “What are their opinions on the German model of export-led growth?”
U.S. intelligence with compiling info on
brewing export deals or export contracts in France worth $200 million or more
United States asked Canada to help spy on candidates during 2012 French election: WikiLeaks Zane Schwartz 02.16.2017 OTTAWA CITIZEN
Guillermo Lasso
Tu Banco del Barrio / Mi Banco
Your Bank of the Neighbourhood / My Bank
CREO en el salvataje bancario
(CREO) I BELIEVE in BANK BAILOUT
#NOMASLASSOS NEUSTROS LOZOS NO SON UN EGACIO, NUESTROS LAZOS SON LA UNION DE UNA PATRIA ENTERA QUE GRITA: NO MAS BANQUEROS
#NOMASLASSOS OUR TIES ARE NOT A BUSINESS, OUR TIES ARE THE UNION OF A WHOLE COUNTRY THAT SHOUTS: NO MORE BANKERS
Banco de Guayaquil
founded 1923 Guayaquil Bank
- financial institution of Universal Bank
- HQ - city of Guayaquil, Ecuado
- formerly SA Banco Italiano
- name change: 1941 - Banco de Guayaquil
- name change: 2014 - Bank Guayaquil
- established as foreign bank
- WWII, Italy part of the Rome-Berlin Axis
- operation Italian capital & managers
- Italy tried to nationalize the bank
- in response, name of the institution changed to: National Bank of Ecuador
- 1941, a new deed renamed entity - Bank of Guayaquil
- immediately several capitalist Ecuadorians began buying all the shares
1984, group of shareholders of Financiera del Sur SA,
better known as Finansur
> acquired most of the shares of Banco de Guayaquil
result, Danilo Carrera Drouet
(then the CEO of Finansur)
> was appointed as executive president of the Banco de Guayaquil
> his replacement as CEO of Finansur was Guillermo Lasso Mendoza (known as: Guillermo Lasso) - his brother-in-law
1990, refors to general banking law
> merger between:
- Banco de Guayaquil SA
- Financiera del Sur SA
- Banco de Guayaquil SA
Guillermo Lasso Mendoza
known as: Guillermo Lasso
exec. president of FINANSUR
> appointed EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
> thus, GENERAL MANAGER of Banco de Guayaquil
> 1997 the Banco de Guayaquil merged with Banco General Society
> becomes one of the LARGEST banks in Ecuador to date
> 1999, financial crisis
> Bank of Guayaquil, was chaired by Guillermo Lasso
2007, joint report of the National Finance Corporation and Research Commission Salvataje Bank
launched by: President Rafael Correa
> to investigate those responsible for financial crisis + possible detriment of private banks
> reportedly no finding of Guillermo Lasso responsibility re 1999 crisis (wikipedia)
2011, "Major Project Bancarización Latin America 2010"
- awarded "strategies banking" awards Beyond Banking Award
> re solidarity economy
> award organized by INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banco_Guayaquil
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
- founded: 1959
- an international financial org
- HQ city of Washington DC, USA
- Regional offices in MADRID and TOKYO
- origin dates back to AMERICAN CONFERENCE 1890
- committee of governors / uses a 14-member Executive Board to oversee the ops
- stated purpose
to finance projects - economic, social & institutional development
to promote regional trade integration - Latin America & Caribbean
to reduce poverty in Latin America & Caribbean / promoting "sustainable growth"
LARGEST financial institution of regional development of this kind
IDB is currently the LARGEST regional development bank in the WORLD
> & serves as a MODEL for other similar institutions
- ordinary capital of the bank amounts to 101 billion US dollars at present - members 48 countries
- member countries that are 48 are classified into two types: non-borrowing members or borrowing members
non-borrowers are:
- Germany
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Slovenia
- Spain
- United States
- Finland
- France
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Portugal
- United Kingdom
- Republic of Korea
- People 's Republic China
- Sweden
- Switzerland
OVER 50% of the net funding of the project
> channeled to low-income citizens
born within the Organization of American States (OAS)
> reportedly has no connection with
- Pan-American institution
- International Monetary Fund ( IMF )
- World Bank
Guillermo Lasso
Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza
described as: Catholic
b. city of Guayaquil, 1955
family described as 'high class'
last of 11 children
father, civil servant born Quinto
parents migrated to Guayaquil in 1950s
1976, met wife Maria de Lourdes Alcívar Crespo
1980, married (x5 children)
Lasso manager ProCrédito
brother-in-law Danilo Carrera (FeCrédito founded in Panama)
ProCrédito + FeCrédito MERGE > resulting in: Finansu (1980)
1984, Lasso appointed by national subsidiary of COCA-COLA
- vice president to implement a rehabilitation process of the company
president / board of following private foundations:
- Fundación Ecuador Libre
- Fundación del Barrio
- Technical Center Laboral Montepiedra
- Latin American Board of GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Public foundations:
- board member of the Andean Development Corporation
- head of: Malecón 2000 Foundation
- + other
education:
- business admin at the Business Development Institute (SDI)
- 2011 the University of the Americas awarded him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa
his public agenda
> classical liberals points as
- defence of the separation of powers >> to limit government <<
- fundamental rights such as >> freedom of the press <<
- in favor of >> reducing taxes and the national debt <<
- increasing >> productivity & employment in private sector <<
- >> to ELIMINATE at least x9 TAXES << if elected PRESIDENT
- in favour of OPEN TRADE with major partners in Ecuador >> USA << >> EUROPEAN UNION <<
- economic agenda: "despetrolizar the economy" of Ecuador
- via diversification of domestic production by
>> deregulation of entrepreneurship <<
- anti-abortion
- in favour of homosexual unions / civil unions, as distinct re conventional marriage
- pro immigration / proposed controls re criminal records
- pro decriminalisation re drugs
- called the supranational body ALBA as a "third world empire"
GUILLERMO LASSO
= declared enemy of the XXI century socialism
promoted by Venezuela and Cuba
which Ecuador chapter identifies with Citizen Revolution led by Rafael Correa
= representative of the political forces that ruled Ecuador prior to RAFAEL CORREA eletion 2007
= Lasso's tax proposals are irresponsible with the state budget
= was involved in the financial crisis in Ecuador in 1999, according to President RAFAEL CORREA
ALBA
est. 2004
Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - People's Trade Treaty
aka Treaty of Commerce of the People or ALBA-TCP
international org of regional members
LATIN AMERICA + CARIBBEAN
emphasis - fight against poverty & social exclusion, based on doctrines of LEFT
collaborative project / supporting complementary political, social and economic reform
promoted by Cuba and Venezuela in return for USA originated: FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas)
Free Trade Area of the Americas or FTAA
expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (USA, Mexico and Canada)
2005, LCA entered crisis, to the point that many already consider it a dead project
intent was in USA which dates back to 1885
original version called for
- gradual reduction of tariff barriers
- investment in 34 countries in the region (except Cuba)
> change of governments in South America complicated negotiations
Latin American market
= population of 800 million
= gross domestic product (GDP) of US $ 21,000 combined BILLION annually
most controversial issues of the treaty proposed by USA
= related to the rights of intellectual property and patents
RE patents, Latin American analysts have accused the US of wanting to patent everything from inventions, discoveries, Indian mythology to living beings
would prevent the scientific research in Latin America resulting in further inequality and dependence on technology
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Lasso
University of the Americas
founded 1995 by a group of entrepreneurs Chileans and Ecuadorians
x4 campuses
affiliated to the network Laureate International Universities
Laureate International Universities
= subsidiary of Laureate Education Inc
- brings together 76 institutions of higher education in 27 countries around the world
- collaborators in Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania
- over 100 campuses
- LARGEST worldwide network of PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES
Laureate International Universities HQ - BALTIMORE, USA Honorary Chancellor: BILL CLINTON
2012, Chile investigation:
>> institution also falls within the framework of "buying and selling of universities under the control of economic and foreign groups" <<
[wikipedia]
CREO movement, Creating Opportunities (CREO)
political party
ECUADOR
registered: 2012 President: Guillermo Lasso
held out as: movement is akin ideas CREO Liberal Democrats
participated in 2013 elections in ECUADOR
> organized the electoral coalition "United for Ecuador"
> took second place
> CREO = second political force in ECUADOR, 11 parliamentary seats
> sectional Ecuador Elections 2014, won 22 mayoralties
> since 2014, CREO formed COALITION of Ecuador group (group Compromiso Ecuador)
> comprising: several political and union groups & political leaders
> in relation to: draft CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS promoted by the current CORREA govt
2016, CREO was admitted as a member of the Union of Latin American Parties
/ South American regional branch of the International Democrat Union
Lasso and his movement formed the coalition ALLIANCE FOR CHANGE
- as electoral and political platform
- Guillermo Lasso is contesting the 2017 Ecuador presidential elections
International Democratic Union
founded: 1983 >> HQ, London <<
>> grouping of anticommunist political parties <<
mainly conservative and in some cases Christian Democrats and Liberals
International Democratic Union
founded by several heads of state and prominent members of CAPITALIST government
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, MARGARET THATCHER
- President of USA, GEORGE H.W. BUSH
- Chancellor of Germany, HELMUT KOHL
- President of the French Republic, JACQUES CHIRAC
46 associate members
chaired by: former PM of Australia: JOHN HOWARD
associated with several regional org
eg. >> International Union of Women Democrats <<
members include:
United States: Republican Party (Rep / GOP) United Kingdom: Conservative Party (Con) Sweden: Moderate Party Australia: Liberal Party of Australia (Lib) Ecuador: Social Christian Party (PSC)
Germany : Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU)
France : Republicans (LR)
Russia : Union of Right Forces
Belarus : Popular Front Party of Belarus (PBNF)
Bosnia and Herzegovina : Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Party of Democratic Progress (PDP)
Croatia : Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)
Serbia : Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)
Hungary : Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union
Greece : New Democracy (ND)
[unless otherwise marked, all notes from wikipedia]
Between Guillermo Lasso and his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera contributed to the campaign of Jamil Mahuad 1,027 million sucres
Wednesday, 17/10/2012 - 04:28:49 PM
Guillermo Lasso Mendoza and his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera Drouet.
Quito, October 18 (Andes) .- Jamil Mahuad Witt, (elected president of Ecuador for the period 1998-2002 and ousted in January 2000), narrowly won the election. Álvaro Noboa, defeated candidate, requested a recount of votes that the electoral court denied.
During the campaign he had the support of powerful financiers such as Fernando Aspiazu Seminar, Banco del Progreso; Danilo Carrera Drouet and Guillermo Lasso Mendoza, Bank of Guayaquil; Ernesto Noboa Bejarano; Ernesto Estrada (Hijastro of Luis Noboa Naranjo and, at that time son-in-law of Leon Febres Cordero); Fuad Dassum; National soap; Soft drinks; Osvaldo Zavala Egas; Jhonny Czarnwinsky, My Commissariat; The Universal.
Also Mariano González Portés, Ingenio San Carlos; Oscar Orrantia; According to Wong, Reybanpac / Fertisa; Plywood; Pronaca; Coca Cola Guayaquil; Fidel Egas Group (Banco del Pichincha / Diners); Olga de Eljuri and Roque Sevilla, among others. And although Ramon Yulee, signed as campaign treasurer, Eduardo Mahuad Witt, brother of Jamil was the fundraiser.
It is curious that only between Danilo Carrera Drouet (Emperor of the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grupo Financiero Guayaquil, Manager of the Central Bank, head of the Ministry of Industries during the last military dictatorship, and President of the Monetary Board Fabián Alarcón) and Guillermo Lasso Mendoza, current candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, the two leaders of the Bank of Guayaquil at that time, added 1,027 million sucres as a contribution to that election campaign.
Fernando Aspiazu Seminary was the largest contributor with three million one hundred thousand dollars. And it was so evident that the now ex-banker and Mahuad were fined by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for having contributed illegally.
Still, nothing could stop him and, with such support, he broke a dozen banks and similar numbers of financial institutions. Mahuad issued a bailout law that allocated state resources to address the problems of the broken private banks that financed his election campaign. This crisis caused, among other things, the emigration of compatriots to Spain and Italy.
In November 1998, Filanbanco, the parent company of the country's fifth largest financial group, presented liquidity and solvency problems, prompting a bail-out by the government of Loan, Tungurahua and Finagro banks.
After the fall of Filanbanco and other small banks, the bank of El Progreso, considered the second bank of the country by the size of its assets, and one of the most profitable institutions.
To prevent the entire financial system from collapsing, the government opted to freeze deposits. The result was a situation of insolvency in most of the financial system and distrust in the sucre.
Jamil Mahuad led the country to one of the worst economic crises of all time. Excessive printing of bills to meet state obligations triggered the dollar's trading at levels never before seen, at which point it adopted the US dollar instead of sucre, with a change from 4,500 to 25,000 sucres.
Meanwhile the "descendants of the statue", as Asaad Bucaram called them, the owners of the private media, continued talking about honesty to give false moral lessons.
Jorge Núñez, in the book "Banks and Bankers". From Urbina Jado to Aspiazu, Editorial El Conejo, 1999, said that "Throughout the twentieth century, private banking scandals have shaken the consciousness of successive generations of Ecuadorians."
"In the 1920s, the economic and political disruptions of the bancocracy, associated with a voracious and insatiable state, unleashed severe inflation, created the scene for the massacre of workers of November 15, 1922, corrupted the political system and aggravated Effects of the export crisis ".
"In the second half of the century ... the scandals of La Previsora and the Bank of Guayaquil broke out in the 60s, which were solved in the same way: covering the black holes of the corrupt bank, while Rodrigo Icaza Candell and other fugitives The good life abroad or set up new companies ... "
"Years later came the fall of the Discount Bank, also caused by poor management, denounced by a sector of the same shareholders."
"... The bankruptcy of Banco Continental, whose beneficiaries were the Ortega Moreira brothers, and whose" bail-out "hurriedly attended the then President of the Monetary Board, Ana Lucía Armijos, violated the law and gave the bank owners an enormous amount of resources State, never justified ... "
But they now live Christian in Miami from the benefits provided by a bank and various real estate companies. For them there was never an extradition request and some of the brothers get angry when they are told thieves.
"Most financial institutions ended the first five years of the 1980s by owing to the Central Bank amounts greater than their equity value. By 1984, the emergency debt of the Ecuadorian banking system, with the issuing institute, exceeded 60,000 million sucres, while the capital and reserves of the banking system did not exceed 50,000 million sucres.
During the 1980s, Ecuador experienced a process of structural adjustment ordered by the multilateral credit agencies (World Bank, IMF) to pay off the external debt. The social conflicts created an atmosphere of political instability that extended until the 90s and only in the first decade of the 21st century could be stopped the voracity of the bankers.
The strange tale of a dating site’s attacks on WikiLeaks founder Assange
October 27, 2016 5:43 PM
By Tim Johnson
tjohnson@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON
For an online dating site, toddandclare.com seems really good at cloak-and-dagger stuff. Disconnected phones. Mystery websites. Actions that ricochet around the globe.
But the attention grabber is the Houston-based company’s target: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, whose steady dumps of leaked emails from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign have given supporters of Donald Trump the only cheering news of the last few weeks.
[Read the latest update on this story.]
[RELATED: Internet cutoff is just the latest trouble for WikiLeaks’ Assange]
In some ways, toddandclare.com’s campaign against Assange is as revelatory as the leaked emails themselves, illustrating the powerful, sometimes unseen, forces that oppose WikiLeaks.
Whoever is behind the dating site has marshaled significant resources to target Assange, enough to gain entry into a United Nations body, operate in countries in Europe, North America and the Caribbean, conduct surveillance on Assange’s lawyer in London, obtain the fax number of Canada’s prime minister and seek to prod a police inquiry in the Bahamas.
And they’ve done it at a time when WikiLeaks has become a routine target of Democratic politicians who portray Assange as a stooge of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his reported efforts to disrupt the U.S. election.
Freedom of speech
Opinion Whistleblowers keep us safe. We can’t allow them to be silenced
Shami Chakrabarti
With its proposed changes to the Official Secrets Act, the Law Commission would make it all but impossible for government wrongdoing to be exposed
Tuesday 14 February 2017 04.15 AEDT
Last modified on Tuesday 14 February 2017 09.00 AEDT
The Law Commission is an important body with a proud history. Set up in 1965 to provide independent advice to government on law reform, it describes itself as non-political ...
...
So the government’s invitation to the commission in 2015 to look at what is bureaucratically called the “protection of official data” must have caused considerable excitement.
Protecting national security is important, but investigative journalism and individual ethics have a place in democracy
--Shami Chakrabarti, The Guardian
Coming two years after Edward Snowden’s revelations on the blanket surveillance of entire populations without parliamentary or judicial sanction and with an extremely spurious basis in law, no one can have imagined this to be a routine spring clean of the Official Secrets Act or simple “future-proofing”, as was suggested in the consultation paper published on 2 February. This is an extremely political area of the law, and venturing into this territory brings great risk to an independent body that would never want to be seen as a proxy for any government or the security state.
This is why there is considerable concern about the consultation process so far, and the fact that only seven weeks remain for public input – let alone some of the provisional recommendations.
Then there is the lopsided nature of who has been consulted. It seems that government departments, the police and security agencies have understandably had the ear of the commission, but no journalists or past whistleblowers. Three NGOs are said to have been consulted, but they don’t seem to agree that this happened. Finally, and tellingly, the consultation paper was not openly launched in the media. It was given as an exclusive to a publication thought to be onside. A commission spokesperson is said to have explained that this was because that “it’s a nuanced issue. We wanted to secure an opinion editorial first.” That is spin worthy of a political operation, not public communication from a quasi-judicial body.
The provisional recommendations include sentencing provisions stipulating draconian jail sentences, which place leaking and whistleblowing in the same category as spying for foreign powers.
According to the proposals, these sentences would apply to any leaker, whether or not they were a British citizen or operating within the UK.
More alarmingly still, the commission says there should be no statutory public interest defence for anyone accused of the offences.
Threatened by such grave consequences and offered little-to-no legal protection, it is surely more than we can ask of any journalist or genuine whistleblower to come forward in order to protect the public interest.
Journalists and the whistleblowers with whom they work perform an essential service in ensuring transparency – often where government would keep us in the dark.
There are at present very few means by which wrongdoing within government agencies can be exposed, and as a consequence it falls to individuals.
There is no question that protecting national security is important, but public interest journalism and individual ethics have their place in democracy alongside security and the law.
...
... journalists, human rights lawyers and whistleblowers ... have so far been excluded from the process.
It is essential for the credibility of the report (and the commission) that a greater balance between the two sides of this debate are reflected.