kerkko.fi

The Finnish government continues to receive unsatisfactory answers from Afghanistan as to why President Karzai ordered the release of five Afghan men convicted in June 2007 for detonating a roadside bomb that killed a Finnish peacekeeper. Unofficial reports from Afghanistan-based Finnish officers all seem to point to corruption that may include top Karzai government officials.

Finnish military and civilian officers in Afghanistan have pieced together a picture of what they believe really happened. The information they have gathered points to probable prisoner mistreatment before the sentencing and corruption in connection with the pardon, perhaps even on the highest level. Most disturbing of all, money changed hands in connection with the pardon.

The search for a plausible answer in this case stems from a desire to ensure that the event does not prompt negative public opinion toward the ISAF mission. Finland has been engaged in a public debate over whether to increase its commitments in Afghanistan. Clearly, the Defence and Foreign Ministry officials do not want the freeing of a peacekeeper's killers to become part of the debate.

David Pitchford, a Florida trailer park resident, names Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as defendants in a personal injury suit filed with the Florida Southern District Court in Miami. In the complaint filed on 6 January 2011, Pitchford alleges that Assange's negligence has caused "hypertension," "depression" and "living in fear of being stricken by another heart attack and/or stroke" as a result of living "in fear of being on the brink of another nuclear war."

The US government's document on how to get various government agencies to prevent future leaks has been leaked to MSNBC. It does not get any more ironic than that. The Obama administration is telling federal agencies to take aggressive steps to prevent further leaks. These steps include figuring out which employees might be most inclined to leak classified documents, by using psychiatrists and sociologists to assess their trustworthiness. Government agencies would also require employees report any contacts with members of the news media they may have.

Alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old U.S. Army intelligence analyst, is confined in a 6-by-12-foot cell with a bed, a drinking fountain, and a toilet for about 23 hours a day. On a "typical day," he is awakened at 5 a.m. and is not allowed to sleep between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m.; if he tries to sleep during those hours, guards will make him sit up or stand. He eats all his meals in his cell. He is allowed one hour of "exercise" daily outside his cell, consisting of walking in figure eights in an empty room. When he goes to sleep, he is required to strip down to his boxer shorts and give his clothing to the guards. He is not allowed to have any personal items in his cell.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris that "there was a single door [in the peace process] and that it was imperative to move through it now." French diplomats said Sarkozy had three things to say to Netanyahu: "you think you have time, but you do not"; "you think you have an alternative solution, but you do not"; and "you think you are stronger than the Palestinians, but you are not".

http://wikileaks.fi/cable/2009/06/09PARIS827.html

At a January 2008 dinner he hosted for a Congressional Delegation and embassy officials, [Eritrean dictator] Isaias Afewerki became involved in a heated discussion with his US legal advisor about some tomato seedlings the legal advisor provided to Isaias' wife. Isaias complained that despite tender care by his wife, the plants produced only tiny tomatoes. When the legal advisor explained that they were cherry tomatoes and were supposed to be small, Isaias lost his temper and stormed out of the venue, much to the surprise of everyone, including his security detail.

This [Congressional Research Service] report identifies some criminal statutes that may apply [to dissemination of classified documents], but notes that these have been used almost exclusively to prosecute individuals with access to classified information (and a corresponding obligation to protect it) who make it available to foreign agents, or to foreign agents who obtain classified information unlawfully while present in the United States.

Leaks of classified information to the press have only rarely been punished as crimes, and we are aware of no case in which a publisher of information obtained through unauthorized disclosure by a government employee has been prosecuted for publishing it. There may be First Amendment implications that would make such a prosecution difficult, not to mention political ramifications based on concerns about government censorship.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/information-antidote-fear-wikileaks-law-and-you

The US government has just announced that it will be hosting World Press Freedom Day while at the same time trying to squash WikiLeaks. Commenters on the event's Facebook page are having a ball: "Will you be inviting Julian Assange? He's done some fantastic work in this area," wonders one. "This reminds me of the time Iran tried to join the UN womens' rights group," writes another.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley writes:

The theme for next year's commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals' right to freedom of expression.

At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.

http://www.connect.connect.facebook.com/WPFD2011/posts/180945228583171

Anna Ardin, who has accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of rape in Sweden, has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of which is US-funded and openly supported by a former CIA agent convicted in the mass murder of 73 Cubans on an airliner he was involved in blowing up.

Ardin published her anti-Castro diatribes in the Swedish journal, Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas, put out by Misceláneas de Cuba, which is a product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. The group is connected with Union Liberal Cubana, led by Carlos Alberto Montaner, who is linked to the CIA.

Montaner joined the leader of the failed coup in Ecuador on a right-wing Colombian television channel to savage President Rafael Correa, the target of the coup. Also, Montaner vociferously supported the violent coup against President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras and became an fervent supporter of the Honduran junta.

In Cuba, Ardin interacted with the anti-Castro group Las Damas de Blanco, which receives support from Luis Posada Carriles, an anti-communist terrorist and a former CIA agent. Carriles was convicted of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

A Finnish legal expert says Assange may not have much time left. Bradley Manning, US Army intelligence analyst who was arrested for leaking classified Pentagon information to WikiLeaks, is likely to face trial in the US. Yet US authorities have very little legal means at their disposal to go after Assange himself, says Martti Koskenniemi, Professor of International Law at Helsinki University.

"The United States has little legal recourses, given that Assange is neither a US citizen, nor is he currently located inside the US," Professor Koskenniemi noted. "Those recourses will thus have to be other than legal," he said. It was, however, unclear what exactly such measures could be. Koskenniemi did not rule out the possibility that Assange may be assassinated or abducted.

"Perhaps some sort of a surgical strike," Professor Koskenniemi surmised. "Many of us have made the estimate that Assange has very little time left. One can, of course, expect that the United States will cooperate with its allies to deliver Assange to US soil," the professor said. He was speaking in an interview with Finland's YLE News.

http://m.yle.fi/w/uutiset/yle24/ns-yduu-3-2187784