Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in Wikileaks case

Bradley Manning (Photo credit: Truthout.org)

The US soldier convicted of handing a trove of secret government documents to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Pte First Class Bradley Manning, 25, was convicted in July of 20 charges against him, including espionage. Last week, he apologised for hurting the US and for "the unexpected results" of his actions.

Prosecutors had asked for a 60-year sentence in order to send a message to future potential leakers. Pte Manning will receive credit for time he has already served in jail, plus 112 days' credit in recompense for the harsh conditions of his confinement immediately after his arrest.

Military prisoners can earn time off their sentences for good behaviour but must serve at least one-third of any prison sentence before they can become eligible for parole. Read more >>

Diplomatic cables reveal aggressive GMO lobbying by US officials overseas

American diplomats lobbied aggressively overseas to promote genetically modified (GM) food crops such as soy beans, an analysis of official cable traffic revealed on Tuesday.

The review of more than 900 diplomatic cables by the campaign group Food and Water Watch showed a carefully crafted campaign to break down resistance to GM products in Europe and other countries, and so help promote the bottom line of big American agricultural businesses.

The cables, which first surfaced with the Wikileaks disclosures two years ago, described a series of separate public relations strategies, unrolled at dozens of press junkets and biotech conferences, aimed at convincing scientists, media, industry, farmers, elected officials and others of the safety and benefits of GM products.

The report offers a further glimpse of the power of the agricultural and biotech industries in America, after the supreme court came down on the side of Monsanto in its effort to enforce its patented GM soybeans. The court ruled on Monday that an Indiana farmer had to buy new seeds directly from Monsanto every time he planted the GM Roundup Ready soybeans.

The public relations effort unrolled by the State Department also ventured into legal terrain, according to the report. US officials stationed overseas opposed GM food labelling laws as well as rules blocking the import of GM foods. Read more >>

When Did Dissent Become a Crime? America's Police State on Steroids

In cities hosting large gatherings such as the national political conventions or international summits, we’ve come to expect a massive militarized police presence, even as the ranks of protesters thin. But what happens to all of the new high-tech cop toys and newly passed ordinances once conventioneers leave town? They stay.

I was at the alternative journalist flophouse in Charlotte on Sept. 4, the first day of the Democratic National Convention, when I received word of kettled protesters a few blocks away. I had just met FireDogLake reporter Kevin Gosztola, and after forming a mutual admiration society, we raced outside.

We hoofed past siren-flashing police cars blocking side streets, hiking alongside an empty roadway. Walls of blue loomed ahead. Our hands went to our sides and drew cameras. As we neared a broad intersection, protesters appeared behind a double line of police using bicycles as barricades. The entire intersection was encircled by hundreds of ground troops, motorcycle cops, commanders, surveillance units and vehicles. Media flitted along the perimeter and uncertainty coursed through observers. Why had hundreds of police barricaded the protesters, were they going to sweep them up, would violence break out? Read more >>

LatAm countries back Ecuador in Assange case

Latin American countries voiced support Thursday for Ecuador's latest decision to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a move that triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.

The members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) -- Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and three Caribbean island nations -- said in a statement that they "strongly object" to the British threat of raiding Ecuador's embassy in London to seize Assange, who has taken refuge there since June 19.

The statement said Britain would violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and face "grave consequences if the threats are carried out." The ALBA also expressed its "steadfast solidarity" with Ecuador, which granted political asylum to Assange on Thursday.

Jorge Tarud, president of the Chamber of Deputies Foreign Relations Committee in the Chilean Congress, on Thursday asked the Chilean government to give full support to Ecuador on the issue. Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro also urged Britain to "respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and to guarantee the privileges, inviolability and immunity of Ecuador's embassy." Read more >>

WikiLeaks exposes US complicity in murder, torture by Egyptian government

On Friday, WikiLeaks released dozens of diplomatic cables that together reveal the US has long been aware of the criminality of the Mubarak regime in Egypt and its savage abuses, including torture, random arrest, and extra-judicial killings. The documents also reveal that plans for the military-supervised transfer of power from Hosni Mubarak to his son, Gamal, were presented to Washington.

The document release, which coincided with mass demonstrations and clashes with police in Cairo, Suez, and other cities, will only serve to further discredit Mubarak, and is a major embarrassment to the Obama administration, whose leading representatives, including President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have continued to insist that the Mubarak regime is not a dictatorship, while hypocritically calling for “restraint.”

The documents, diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Cairo from 2009 and 2010, make clear that the Obama administration was well aware that the Mubarak regime held onto power by terrorizing the population. Read more...

Swiss whistleblower plans to hand over banking secrets of the rich and famous to WikiLeaks

Image via WikipediaThe offshore bank account details of 2,000 "high net worth individuals" and corporations – detailing massive potential tax evasion – will be handed over to the WikiLeaks organisation in London tomorrow by the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history, Rudolf Elmer, two days before he goes on trial in his native Switzerland.

British and American individuals and companies are among the offshore clients whose details will be contained on CDs presented to WikiLeaks at the Frontline Club in London. Those involved include, Elmer tells the Observer, "approximately 40 politicians". Read more...

Celente 2011 prediction: GOVT will attempt to shut down net freedom

Celente 2011 prediction: GOVT will attempt to shut down net freedom.

The Fourth Estate is dead

Traditional lines of communication between the people and the press have fallen into such disrepair in America that a whole new approach is necessary to challenge the military-industrial-governmental complex, according to a former CIA analyst sympathetic to WikiLeaks.

"The Fourth Estate is dead," Ray McGovern, of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, told Raw Story in an exclusive interview. "The Fourth Estate in his country has been captured by government and corporations, the military-industrial complex, the intelligence apparatus. Captive! So, there is no Fourth Estate."

McGovern explained that the term the "Fourth Estate," known today as the news media in the US, was first coined by 18th century British statesman Edmund Burke. Burke is said to have pointed to the balcony in Parliament and lauded the print media of his day for being the safeguards of democracy.

"That was very powerful back then," McGovern said. "And just a century later you get Tom Paine, James Madison. You know what Thomas Jefferson said? He said if we have to make a choice between having a government and having a press, I’ll go for the press every time. He understood that any government without a free press will resort to despotism."more...

SECRET Pentagon video to be released by fugitive founder of WikiLeaks

Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr

theage.com

A SECRET Pentagon video showing an air strike in Afghanistan that killed dozens of children is set to be released by the fugitive founder of WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange, the Australian-born man behind the secretive web group, has been in hiding since last week following claims US authorities were ''hunting him''.

US media reported that Pentagon investigators were trying to find him and discourage him from publishing confidential diplomatic cables allegedly leaked to him by a disillusioned intelligence analyst

While Mr Assange's location is unknown - he may still be in Australia - he has continued to send email and Twitter messages to supporters.

In an email sent on Tuesday, he suggested he would soon release a secret Pentagon video of a US air strike on Granai in western Afghanistan in May last year.

US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both apologised for the bombing, which left as many as 100 people, mostly children and teenagers, dead.

In Tuesday's email, Mr Assange confirmed the website was ''still working on'' the ''Garani [sic] massacre''. More...