What have we learned from @WikiLeaks ? Friends, this thread will go for a while. Consider and evaluate whether this material is in the public interest as events regarding #WikiLeaks and #Assange unfold. Also, feel free to unfollow if you can't hack it. wikileaks.org/10years/timeli…
2/ Information released by WikiLeaks has been used by those seeking justice in numerous court cases, for example, the Chagos Islands case uses cables in evidence. theguardian.com/world/2010/dec…
3/ The Minton Report detailed how Dutch multinational company Trafigura had dumped toxic waste in the Ivory Coast affecting 108,000 people. The report had been suppressed through a super injunction. theguardian.com/world/2009/oct…
4/ El-Masri, a completely innocent German citizen, snatched off the streets, detained, tortured, and dumped on the street in Albania, took a case to the European Court of Human Rights, using six cables in evidence. spiegel.de/international/…
6/ The Syria Files provided extraordinary insight into the Assad regime through over two million emails from 680 Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies and the regime's international security contracts. search.wikileaks.org/syria-files/
7/ We learned the US has a manual for unconventional warfare, active policy doctrine, that was created in 2008 for US Special Forces for when they are overthrowing a government. opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/the…
8/ We learned that Saudi Arabia offered a bribe to the United Kingdom of $100,000 to "help" the UK campaign to be on the Human Rights Council. Part of the deal, offered by the UK, was a vote swap, that saw Saudi Arabia leading the Human Rights Council. theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/s…
9/ We learned that the IAEA had warned Japan about safety issues at nuclear plants in 2009, years before the Fukushima disaster, particularly that its power plants could not withstand powerful earthquakes. wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/0…
10/ We learned that the Obama Administration spied upon United Nations leadership and personnel, authorising theft of biometric data (DNA, fingerprints, retina scans etc) as well as passwords etc theguardian.com/world/2010/dec…
11/ TPP, TTIP & TISA major trade agreements were drafted and negotiated in secret without proper democratic oversight were seen by those affected when WikiLeaks provided multiple draft chapters & negotiating positions to the public, fueling social justice & fair trade movements
12/ We learned about numerous cases of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Iraqi police and soldiers, as well as proof of the US government’s involvement in the deaths and maiming of more than 200,000 people in Iraq, csmonitor.com/World/Middle-E…
13/ The Guantanamo Files exposed systematic and routine violations of the Geneva Conventions and abuse of 800 prisoners as young as 14 and as old as 89 at Guantanamo Bay. wikileaks.org/gitmo/
14/ The Collateral Murder classified US military video showed a helicopter gunship slaying eighteen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists and their rescuers, documenting a war crime. collateralmurder.wikileaks.org
15/ The Global Intelligence Files revealed the inner workings of the private intell firm Stratfor that services the US government & large corporations such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and numerous government agencies. search.wikileaks.org/gifiles/
16/ The NSA World Leaders Targets revealed interceptions of NSA targets, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's meetings with Heads of State, Prime Ministers Berlusconi and Netanyahu, President Hollande, the Japanese cabinet, UNHCR and WTO. wikileaks.org/nsa-201602/
17/ We learned in 2016 of a corrupt multi-billion dollar war by Western and Chinese companies grab uranium and other mining rights in the Central African Republic (CAR) and escape paying for the environmental consequences. wikileaks.org/car-mining/
18/ We learned about safety and security issues with the UK Trident nuclear weapon system as revealed to WikiLeaks by Royal Navy Able Seaman William McNeilly wikileaks.org/trident-safety/
19/ We learned that cash payments were made to Indian MPs for support of US India nuclear deal thehindu.com/news/the-india…
20/ We saw footage of the 1995 Japanese Monju disaster. Following the 2008 announcement that the fast breeder nuclear reactor would be reopened, activists leaked the suppressed video footage of the sodium spill disaster that led to its closure in 1995. wikileaks.org/wiki/The_Monju…
21/ We learned that Burma shipped 10,000 tons of rice to food poor North Korea as payment for sophisticated conventional weapons. The cable references a business source stating that exchange of weapons for food had gone on for more than five years. wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/0…
22/ We learned that Australia worked with Britain, Canada, Japan, and others to undermine the cluster munitions treaty, ensuring that deploying US cluster bombs on their soil was not precluded by the convention. wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/0…
23/ We learned of illegal spying by German intelligence on the German press when the missing pages of the 2006 report compiled by former federal judge Professor Schaefer investigated spying on journalists by Germany's secret intelligence service wikileaks.org/wiki/How_Germa…
24/ By providing the latest draft of EU-India free trade agreement (FTA) when there was still time for industry and civil society in the EU and India to know what their government's intend to agree to. wikileaks.org/wiki/EU-India_…
25/ WikiLeaks has released over 650,000 critical documents relating to Russia under Vladimir Putin, including releases about surveillance contractors in Russia. wikileaks.org/spyfiles/russi…
There is not one cable or release that is the best or says it all. IT'S THE ALL THAT SAYS IT ALL. It's the archive, of times and institutions and our history. Our understanding of power - gov, corporate and military - that has grown and cannot be unlearned.
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Here we go. There will be an online discussion on radioactive waste - low level, the gowns the medical waste - but also spent fuel and reprocessing wastes - very different streams. It's not clear, due to secrecy, which will be dumped in SA.
Nobody disputes the importance of radiotherapies, says @Scottludlam . But the materials are spread across 100 sites, scattered and unmanaged. The government has been sitting on a business case for 2 years, including keeping the shite where it is, rather than transporting it.
What have we heard from Julian #Assange? Here is a thread from talks when he could still engage with audiences and answer questions to mark the #Unity4J#FreeAssange 50 hr/50 guest online vigil. I agree with the principles and ideas that follow.
"This from Proverbs is the earliest occurrence known to me of the well known idea that knowledge is power. To keep a person ignorant is to place them in a cage. Radio 4, New Years address 2 Jan 2014 bbc.com/news/uk-politi…
The Internet has become the most important device for revealing the truth since the printing press. It has become the number one antidote to TV. It has allowed one person with some truth to speak to every single person. Oxford Union, 1 Feb 2013
So pleased to get a wait listed ticket for the launch of the important book by @BehrouzBoochani who refuses to be silenced. The translater Omid Tofighian is here at UNSW for the event.
This important and devastating book is a testimonial and witness bearing from a deeply engaged political thinker and poet. It defies all literary classifications, says the french translator.
Translator Omid Tofighian graciously thanks Janet Galbraith, to whom the book is dedicated as well as Moones Mansoubi. And then we hear the voice of @BehrouzBoochani also thanking his friends for help and also to Vic Simms who gave such a warm welcome to country.