More USA documents get released by Wikileaks

[Naraku893]

Im glad to see Assange out of jail.

[Zierro]

How has facebook revolutionized anything?

 

Well, it has. I would say that giving people the illusion that they actually have lives by attaining a large number of random internet associates (AKA "friends") on their profile page constitutes as revolutionizing social interaction. After all, the site single-handedly dropped society's standards on what social interaction is. But since I'm such an introverted rebel, my points all of a sudden lose their merit.

 

Facebook isn't just a detriment. It's a cancer decaying social etiquette and everything our great grandfathers have worked for - and I'm sure they would agree.

 

Please tell me what measure you're using to place certain social interactions above others. Without that, this is meaningless.

 

Real life interaction VS technological impersonal interaction. You know, talking to people face to face so you can allow tone, body language, gestures, emotion, etc. to be implemented into communication. I personally think real life provides for a less restrictive social encounter. Of course it does me no justice saying this on a forum, but then again we're both strangers merely trying to articulate a few trivial points - so it doesn't really warrant a face to face talk.

 

I admit that Facebook is great for keeping in touch with old friends and whatnot, but at the same there's quite a lot of people who sit in front of it all day and use it as a substitute for socialization like many people do with MMO's. And I mean a lot. I could provide you with other reasons why I dislike the site if it still seems like I'm just hopping on the bandwagon to look cool.

 

EDIT: Ooops, meant to PM that to him. :lol:

[TTanT]

Im glad to see Assange out of jail.

I go on this thread to hear about wikileaks, but it's so derailed I didn't even hear about this! <_<

[Bloodstain]

Im glad to see Assange out of jail.

I go on this thread to hear about wikileaks, but it's so derailed I didn't even hear about this! <_<

 

Wouldn't kill you to actually look at something like the guardian for 5 minutes to check for updates. I would have posted it in the thread, but I assumed everyone already knew. The leaks have been getting less reporting coverage with the whole Julian bail zoo. Hopefully after the holidays it'll pick up full force again

 

 

e: interesting leak

Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has siphoned as much as $9bn out of his impoverished country, and much of it may be stashed in London banks, according to secret US diplomatic cables that recount conversations with the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court.

 

Some of the funds may be held by the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, according to prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who told US officials it was time to go public with the scale of Bashir's theft in order to turn Sudanese public opinion against him.

 

"Ocampo suggested if Bashir's stash of money were disclosed (he put the figure at $9bn), it would change Sudanese public opinion from him being a 'crusader' to that of a thief," one report by a senior US official states. "Ocampo reported Lloyds bank in London may be holding or knowledgeable of the whereabouts of his money," the cable says. "Ocampo suggested exposing Bashir had illegal accounts would be enough to turn the Sudanese against him."

 

Lloyds responded by saying it had no evidence of holding funds in Bashir's name. "We have absolutely no evidence to suggest there is any connection between Lloyds Banking Group and Mr Bashir. The group's policy is to abide by the legal and regulatory obligations in all jurisdictions in which we operate."

 

...

If Ocampo's claim about Bashir's fortune is correct, Sudanese funds being held in London banks amount to one tenth of annual GDP in Sudan, which ranks fifteenth from bottom in the UN's index of the world's poorest countries. Ocampo discussed evidence of the stash with the Americans just days after issuing an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president in March 2009, the first issued by the court against a serving head of state. Bashir was indicted for seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity last year with a further three counts of genocide added in July. Ocampo, who has never released details of the alleged funds, was severely criticised for the indictment by many in Sudan and internationally amid criticisms the move would inflame fighting in the southern Darfur region.

 

...

 

Speculation that Bashir may have deposited billions in oil money in foreign accounts is likely to add to demands for his arrest and transparency in Sudan's oil sector."The arm of the law, when it comes to this type of crime, committed by or alleged to have been committed by heads of state or heads of government, has gotten longer," said [bleep]er. "There is a long road to trial in The Hague, but what's striking is a number of other heads of state and heads of government have wound up in court much to their surprise through often lengthy and circuitous pathways."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/wikileaks-sudanese-president-cash-london

[Bloodstain]

Hahahaha

US officials regard European human rights standards as an "irritant", secret cables show, and have strongly objected to the safeguards which could protect WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from extradition.

 

In a confidential cable from the US embassy in Strasbourg, US consul general Vincent Carver criticised the Council of Europe, the most authoritative human-rights body for European countries, for its stance against extraditions to America, as well as secret renditions and prisons used to hold terrorist suspects.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/wikileaks-european-human-rights-standards

 

Damn those Europeans and their human rights!! :evil:

[Will H]

Ahem.

 

This topic is NOT about Facebook, please don't make it that way.

 

If you really think Facebook is not as important as Wikileaks then talk about Wikileaks! Not Facebook.

 

Sorry.

 

Here's a mighty good interview with Assange regarding Wikileaks and the sexual assault allegations, the first one after he was granted bail.

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...000/9308216.stm

 

EDIT: And a transcript.

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...000/9309320.stm

[obfuscator]

Ahem.

 

This topic is NOT about Facebook, please don't make it that way.

 

If you really think Facebook is not as important as Wikileaks then talk about Wikileaks! Not Facebook.

 

Sorry.

 

I don't think this works outside of the UK, but here's a mighty good interview with Assange regarding Wikileaks and the sexual assault allegations, the first one after he was granted bail.

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...000/9308216.stm

 

EDIT: And a transcript for people who can't listen to it.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9309000/9309320.stm

 

Works for me (Canada).

[Will H]

Ahem.

 

This topic is NOT about Facebook, please don't make it that way.

 

If you really think Facebook is not as important as Wikileaks then talk about Wikileaks! Not Facebook.

 

Sorry.

 

I don't think this works outside of the UK, but here's a mighty good interview with Assange regarding Wikileaks and the sexual assault allegations, the first one after he was granted bail.

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...000/9308216.stm

 

EDIT: And a transcript for people who can't listen to it.

 

http://news.bbc.co.u...000/9309320.stm

 

Works for me (Canada).

 

Ah, good. I'll leave the transcript there anyway.

[Sam]

BBC News is worldwide, should work anywhere.

[Will H]

BBC News is worldwide, should work anywhere.

 

I often confuse it with iPlayer, my bad.

[Bloodstain]

Going to bed, haven't had time to fully read yet but this seems damning

The British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organisations as a "government death squad", leaked US embassy cables have revealed.

 

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been held responsible for hundreds of extra-judicial killings in recent years and is said to routinely use torture, have received British training in "investigative interviewing techniques" and "rules of engagement".

 

Details of the training were revealed in a number of cables, released by WikiLeaks, which address the counter-terrorism objectives of the US and UK governments in Bangladesh. One cable makes clear that the US would not offer any assistance other than human rights training to the RAB and that it would be illegal under US law to do so because its members commit gross human rights violations with impunity.

 

Since the RAB was established six years ago, it is estimated by some human rights activists to have been responsible for more than 1,000 extra-judicial killings, described euphemistically as "crossfire" deaths. In September last year the director general of the RAB said his men had killed 577 people in "crossfire". In March this year he updated the figure, saying they had killed 622 people.

 

The RAB's use of torture has also been exhaustively documented by human rights organisations. In addition, officers from the paramilitary force are alleged to have been involved in kidnap and extortion, and are frequently accused of taking large bribes in return for carrying out crossfire killings.

 

However, the cables reveal that both the British and the Americans, in their determination to strengthen counter-terrorism operations in Bangladesh, are in favour of bolstering the force, arguing that the "RAB enjoys a great deal of respect and admiration from a population scarred by decreasing law and order over the last decade". In one cable, the US ambassador to Dhaka, James Moriarty, expresses the view that the RAB is the "enforcement organisation best positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation".

 

In another cable, Moriarty quotes British officials as saying they have been "training RAB for 18 months in areas such as investigative interviewing techniques and rules of engagement". Asked about the training assistance for the RAB, the Foreign Office said the UK government "provides a range of human rights assistance" in the country. However, the RAB's head of training, Mejbah Uddin, told the Guardian that he was unaware of any human rights training since he was appointed last summer.

 

The cables make clear that British training for RAB officers began three years ago under the last Labour government.

 

However, RAB officials confirmed independently of the cables that they had taken part in a series of courses and workshops as recently as October, five months after the formation of the coalition government. Asked whether ministers had approved the training programme, the Foreign Office said only that William Hague, the foreign secretary, and other ministers, had been briefed on counter-terrorism spending.

 

The US ambassador explains in the cables that the US government is "constrained by RAB's alleged human rights violations, which have rendered the organisation ineligible to receive training or assistance" under laws which prohibit American funding or training for overseas military units which abuse human rights with impunity.

 

Human rights organisations say the RAB cannot be reformed, noting that its human rights record has deterioriated still further in the last 12 months. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly described the RAB as a government death squad.

 

Brad Adams, the organisation's Asia director, said: "RAB is a Latin American-style death squad dressed up as an anti-crime force. The British government has let its desire for a functional counter-terrorism partner in Bangladesh blind it to the risks of working with RAB, and the legitimacy that it gives to RAB inside Bangladesh. Furthermore, it is not clear that the British government has ever made it a priority at the highest levels to tell RAB that if it doesn't change, it will not co-operate with it."

 

Amnesty International has also repeatedly condemned the RAB, while the Bangladeshi human rights organisation Odhikar has painstakingly documented the RAB's involvement in extra-judicial killings and torture since the creation of the force in March 2004.

 

Asked to comment on the rights groups' concern about the RAB, the Foreign Office said: "We do not discuss the detail of operational counter-terrorism cooperation. Counter-terrorism assistance is fully in line with our laws and values." At least some of the British training has been conducted by serving British police officers, working under the auspices of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which was established in 2007 to build policing capacity and standards. Recent courses for RAB have been provided by officers from West Mercia and Humberside Police.

 

Asked whether it believed it was appropriate for British officers to be training members of an organisation condemned as "a government death squad", and whether courses in investigative interviewing techniques might not render torture more effective, an NPIA spokesman said the courses had been approved by the government and by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

 

"The NPIA has given limited support to the Bangladeshi Police and the RAB in technical areas of policing such as forensic awareness, management of crime scenes and recovery of evidence. Throughout the training we have emphasised the importance of respecting the human rights of witnesses, suspects and victims."The purpose of our sanctioned engagement is to support the development and improvement of professional policing that supports democratic, human rights-based practices linked to the rule of law in countries that may have different laws, faiths and policing practices from our own."

 

It is understood that there have been disagreements within the Foreign Office about the British government's involvement with the RAB. Some officials have argued that the partnership with the RAB is an essential component of the UK's counter-terrorism strategy in the region, while others have expressed concern that the relationship could prove damaging to Britain's reputation.

 

Successive Bangladeshi governments have promised to end the RAB's use of murder. The current government promised in its manifesto that it would end all extra-judicial killings, but they have continued following its election two years ago.In October last year, the shipping minister, Shahjahan Khan, speaking in a discussion organised by the BBC, said: "There are incidents of trials that are not possible under the laws of the land. The government will need to continue with extra-judicial killings, commonly called crossfire, until terrorist activities and extortion are uprooted."

 

In December last year the high court in Dhaka ruled that such killings must be brought to a halt following litigation by victims' familes and human rights groups, but they continue on an almost weekly basis. Most of the victims are young men, some are alleged to be petty criminals or are said to be left-wing activists, and the killings invariably take place in the middle of the night.

 

In the most recent "crossfire" killings, the RAB reported that it had shot dead Mohammad Mamun, 25, in the town of Tangail, shortly after midnight on Monday, and that 90 minutes later its officers in Dhaka, 50 miles to the south, had shot dead a second man, Taku Alam, 30. Today the RAB announced it had shot dead a 45-year-old man, Anisur Rahman, said to be a member of the Communist party in the west of the country.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/wikileaks-cables-british-police-bangladesh-death-squad

[magekillr]

A top aide to German Prime Minister Angela Merkel today explained that Germany does not view WikiLeaks as a threat at all. Indeed, the official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, said that while WikiLeaks was "irritating and annoying," the true threat comes from having governments be able to pressure private corporations (such as MasterCard, Amazon, Paypal) to terminate relationships with entities the government dislikes ("he said he was opposed to financial entities cutting off payments to WikiLeaks under pressure from Washington. 'If this occurs under pressure from the U.S. government, I don't think it is acceptable'.").

 

WikiLeaks “no threat,” top German official says

 

So what was that about "no evidence the U.S. government is pressuring private companies" again?

[Will H]

A top aide to German Prime Minister Angela Merkel today explained that Germany does not view WikiLeaks as a threat at all. Indeed, the official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, said that while WikiLeaks was "irritating and annoying," the true threat comes from having governments be able to pressure private corporations (such as MasterCard, Amazon, Paypal) to terminate relationships with entities the government dislikes ("he said he was opposed to financial entities cutting off payments to WikiLeaks under pressure from Washington. 'If this occurs under pressure from the U.S. government, I don't think it is acceptable'.").

 

WikiLeaks no threat, top German official says

 

So what was that about "no evidence the U.S. government is pressuring private companies" again?

 

Hear hear. Glad to see some governments are seeing sense now.

[sees_all1]

Going to bed, haven't had time to fully read yet but this seems damning

...

The US ambassador explains in the cables that the US government is "constrained by RAB's alleged human rights violations, which have rendered the organisation ineligible to receive training or assistance" under laws which prohibit American funding or training for overseas military units which abuse human rights with impunity.

...

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/wikileaks-cables-british-police-bangladesh-death-squad

Damning to limeys. You brits need to get your act together, get your government under control! :twss:

[Range_This11]

Ex-Swiss Banker Gives Account Data To WikiLeaks

 

[spoiler=Article]A former Swiss banker said Monday that he has handed over to WikiLeaks two discs containing what he claims is information on 2,000 offshore bank account holders.

 

Rudolf Elmer, an ex-employee of Swiss-based bank Julius Baer, said the documents reveal case after case of tax evasion and involve 40 politicians as well as entertainers and multinationals from the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere. He refused to name the account holders, but said the data span a period of at least 19 years and involve three banks.

 

Elmer, who is scheduled to go on trial this week for breaking bank secrecy laws, said he believes he has the right to take a stand against a system that permits secret and often illegal activity.

 

"I do think as a banker I have the right to stand up if something is wrong," said Elmer, who addressed reporters at London's Frontline Club alongside WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

 

"I am against the system. I know how the system works and I know the day-to-day business. From that point of view, I wanted to let society know what I know. It is damaging our society," Elmer said.

 

WikiLeaks said that none of the material will be published on its website before Assange's team has had a chance to verify the data.

 

The Julius Baer bank said it was aware of Elmer's decision to pass a new set of files to WikiLeaks.

 

"He didn't attack us at this press conference, he explicitly targeted not us but 'the system,"' said the bank's spokesman, Jan Vonder Muehll.

 

Assange praised the ex-banker's attempts to expose alleged shady practices in the financial industry. The WikiLeaks founder was making a rare public appearance since he was released on bail on Dec. 16 following his arrest on a Swedish extradition warrant.

 

Elmer has previously offered files to WikiLeaks on financial activities in the Cayman Islands and claims his previous disclosures showed evidence of major tax avoidance in the Caribbean.

 

Assange said that as with other releases by WikiLeaks — which caused an uproar in November when it began posting its cache of about 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables to the Internet — some media organizations could be given the bank information ahead of time. He named the Financial Times and Bloomberg as possible candidates.

 

The files, or parts of the files, also may be provided to British government fraud investigators to examine for any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the website's founder said.

 

"We will treat this information like all other information we get," Assange said. "There will be a full revelation."

 

Britain's tax authority declined to comment when asked about Assange's plan to supply details of alleged wrongdoing.

 

Under the terms of his release on bail, Assange must live at the mansion home of Vaughan Smith, the owner of the Frontline Club. He has compared the regime to "high-tech house arrest," but has recently promised that the flow of leaked documents published by his organization would increase

 

 

Oh man, this should be fun! :thumbsup:

[Bloodstain]

Good to see someone else has been following it. Did you see that Assange apparently has another security file that contains info about Rupert Murdoch and his company? Or hear about Tunisia?

[Range_This11]

I usually just browse NPR for articles, so I haven't heard much. Post the info!

[Bloodstain]

In an interview with Britain's New Statesman by journalist John Pilger, who has been a prominent supporter of the former hacker, Mr Assange said WikiLeaks had "504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organisation" and "cables on Murdoch and News Corp".

 

Just picked the first site that popped up

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/assange-has-murdoch-files/story-e6frg6so-1225987387451

 

As for Tunisia, there's a huge revolution occurring where other causes were the powder keg and wikileaks was the match basically. Other countries (like Egypt) are fearing that it will spread to them

[Dupin]

The Bank of America docs have been released. I'm surprised this hasn't been posted already:

 

http://bankofamericasuck.com/03/13/ex-bank-of-ameica-employee-can-prove-mortgage-fraud-part-1

 

http://imgur.com/1ahFt

http://imgur.com/5v5bh

http://imgur.com/rNZPC

 

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B3D3Qv5hS0HVYzliNjY0YjgtMzU4NS00MjdjLWI2OTQtZWJmYjY4YTJlZDEy&hl=en&pli=1

[Danqazmlp]

Because as it has been said earlier in the thread, nobody actually cares. Once the media lost interest, it was realised that us, the public, couldn't give two chickens about Assinge or the wikileaks things.

[Dupin]

I hate to start this whole argument again, but the links I posted said nothing at all about Assange or Wikileaks. What they did mention was a multi-billion dollar fraud in which Bank of America essentially scams the US Gov't and its taxpayers, and if you don't care about that then you must be living in your own little bubble.

[Danqazmlp]

Or another country.

[Dupin]

Right, but it still applies. Either way, I see no reason to post "nobody actually cares". It's a completely relevant story for many people, if only in the US, and dismissing it in such a way borders on absurdity. At the very least, you should allow the people who the story may be relevant to time to post, leaving a thread that doesn't interest you alone.

[Danqazmlp]

I was actually replying to your post asking why nobody had posted it yet. The thread did because people, the media and the public lost all interest in anything leaked.

[Dupin]

Either that or the fact it's less than 20 hours old - I expect to see it in tomorrow's paper.

 

I just think that, as a moderator, you should refrain from making posts that detract from the discussion. If people don't like a thread, they don't read it. If a thread is useless, it dies. There's no need for "nobody cares" posts.