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AUS GOVT FAIL: Secret inquiry on Habib rendition
The news over the weekend that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has asked the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (the IGIS) to inquire into new claims that the Australian government was complicit in a CIA rendition to Egypt (where he was tortured) of former Guantanamo Bay detainee and Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib should be met with some scepticism.
This is because an inquiry by Vivienne Thom, the current holder of the IGIS position, will be secretive. It would have been fairer and more transparent for Ms Gillard to have ordered a public judicial inquiry into what is, if proven correct, the most appalling conduct by the Australian government.(snip)
One would have thought that an allegation of Australian involvement, passive or active, in the illegal and notorious rendition activities undertaken by the CIA under the auspices of the war on terror should be subjected to public scrutiny given they involve serious matters of public policy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
There is also the question of whether or not Australia’s security agencies have more to fear from a public inquiry by a judicial officer applying years of experience and forensic skill. – from Unleashed
Who knows, Wikileaks may still have relevant cables to release in their Cablegate project. Maybe the Prime Minister’s motivation for the enquiry is that she suspects the same.
Towards Fascism in Australia
US Congressman John Hall warned that the nation could quickly descend into Fascism if more is not done to curb the influence of corporate money in politics.
Hall said, “I learned when I was in social studies class in school that corporate ownership or corporate control of government is called Fascism.
Well things are no different here in Australia. We are facing corporate control of our government by Big Tobacco and we should be alarmed.
The Herald Sun reports:
Philip Morris wants a clause added to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), currently being negotiated, which would allow the company to sue the commonwealth for damages internationally.
(snip)
Associate Professor Thomas Faunce says Philip Morris has lobbied the United States Trade Representative regarding the TPPA.
(snip)
“Such provisions grant investors covered by them a right to initiate dispute-settlement proceedings for damages in international arbitration proceedings against foreign governments…without having to first seek damages in domestic courts,” Professor Faunce writes in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.
No doubt, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is being negotiated by Australian, New Zealand, and American diplomats. Isn’t this the stuff that Wikileaks is telling us about? Once again, we see the United States interfering in the foreign affairs of other countries.
I agree … smoking is healthier than fascism.
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Assange v Starwars
Julian Assange, in his 2006 dissertations, speculated on what it would take to bring down a conspiracy. In his latest Cablegate release, we find that the Chinese have found an answer.
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Chinese relations in deep freeze : Views and News from Norway
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Aftenposten reported Tuesday that WikiLeaks documents it has obtained show that American officials are deeply worried over China’s newfound ability to shoot satellites out of the sky. Its first display of its ability took place in January 2007, when a rocket from the Xichang space center in Sechuan Province destroyed a US satellite and violated international agreements against exactly that.
China since has reportedly attacked at least three satellites, in violation of international agreements, and the US has needed to alter the course of several of its own satellites, to reduce the danger of more damage.
“The satellites are incredibly important, for surveillance, navigation or communication,” Ståle Ulriksen of foreign policy research institute NUPI told Aftenposten. “If anyone knocks them out, the entire western military concept can collapse. The US and NATO will lose their military might.”
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Julian Assange – Hero or Fool?
In the mid 1980’s – before the Internet and the state of the art computer was an 8286 processor with about 40 Mb hard drive – I used to attend computer swap meets where we brought our machines to a central place and swapped hardware and software.
One of our number was a blond headed, lanky teenager who became affectionately named “The Kid”. He had an uncanny ability to break the license code of any proprietary software presented to him. He was already fluent in encryption methods and was hacking into international network computers using a 1200 baud modem illegally connected to the Telecom phone system. At that time, there were no laws to be broken and it all seemed pretty harmless as he and his mates were not destructive of others networks – although they always left a message to say that they had been there to let them know that their security had been breached. I believe that kid grew up to become Julian Assange.
I have been a WikiLeaks reader for a couple of years and have referenced their revelations in my blog in particular the leak of the proposed banned web sites of the Australian government’s Internet filtering system.
When ‘Cablegate’ began, I wondered if ‘The Kid’ was indeed Julian Assange and embarked on a research effort delving into his past.
First, I uncovered the archive of his web postings from 2001 to 2007 which give an insight into how he has developed the philosophies he espouses with WikiLeaks. Then came ‘The Assange Essays‘ of 2006 where he searches for a way to break down conspiracies. But the daddy of them all is his development of Rubberhose an encryption method designed to withstand the torture often afforded to human rights workers who carry sensitive information on their laptops. Assange delves into the metits of the sytem when someone is being ‘Rubber Hosed” or beaten into submission.
This photo of a younger Julian help convince me that he is "The Kid" I knew
Early in the release of ‘Cablegate’, I suspected that Julian Assange had underestimated the might of the United States and that he will unwittingly suffer the worst of consequences. However, after researching his background, I am convinced that his life has been devoted to his cause and that he is the truest of freedom fighters. I challenge you to explore the above links.
Finally, having read No Secrets, Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency, I am totally convinced that this story parallels my own experience of ‘The Kid’.
Web censorship hits home
The Australian communications regulator says it will fine people who hyperlink to sites on its blacklist, which has been further expanded to include several pages on the anonymous whistleblower site Wikileaks.
According to Wikileaks, a site I regurlarly visit, the content on the blacklist is illegal to publish or link to in Australia, with fines of up to $11,000 a day for contraventions.
It disturbs me that there is a list of prohibited sites that I am not allowed to see and yet I can be fined for viewing or linking to – and that’s just a Danish list.
I have never seen an Australian list – there must be one as they have just added new sites to it? So, how can you know if you might break the law?
Weekend Watchdogging – 28 Mar 08
On my main website, there is a page titled World News-Just In fed from independent news sources providing the news you don’t get in our newspapers.
When you visit, make sure to Ctl+F5 to force an instant update of the very latest news.
Has Mugabe lost power? — Zimbabwe’s opposition party claimed an overwhelming victory against President Robert Mugabe in Saturday’s presidential election. The government’s electoral commission has yet to release the counts formally, but the MDC said that declarations posted at polling stations across Zimbabwe last night, and gathered from its agents observing the counts, showed Tsvangirai ahead of Mugabe in every province where results were available. Now … wouldn’t that be something!
However President Robert Mugabe’s government warned its opponents that premature victory claims would amount to an attempted coup. “It is called a coup d’etat and we all know how coups are handled,” government spokesman George Charamba told the state-owned Sunday Mail. … Mugabe has spoken!
UN year of the Nutritious Root — Well, this news item piqued my imagination so I checked it out only to find an international conference opening today aims to tap the future food potential of the potato – which already produces more food on less land than maize, wheat or rice – as part of the United Nations International Year of the nutritious root.
Human Rights abuse in Iraq — The U.S. military says it is taking steps to alleviate conditions at the Iraqi-run city jail in Fallujah after recent visitors found a filthy, overcrowded facility where prisoners had to provide their own food or starve. The episode was revealed by a whistleblower on the Wikileaks website and originally published by Scoop NZ.
Australia may be safe from bird flu — Ducks, rice and people – and not chickens – have emerged as the most significant factors in the spread of avian influenza in Thailand and Viet Nam, according to a study carried out by a group of experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and associated research centres. Australia doesn’t have the combination of rice paddies and wild ducks prevalent in the asian countries suffering from bird flu.
Real Work for No Money — Kevin Rudd has just killed ‘Workchoices’ and a new threat to workers emerges in Germany. “Finishing your degree and then finding proper work seems more and more difficult,” a university graduate said. “If you haven’t done quite a number of (unpaid) internships, you’re not going to find a job.” Watch for the concept to appear in Australia … and complain like hell!
It was a revelation to find that Germany has no minimum wage. Recent legislation to allow industry sectors to apply for minimum wages fell flat. Leading politicians from the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) as well as German business leaders have said the lack of interest is an expression of overall support for their anti-minimum-wage position. There goes the extreme right of politics again!
In Australia, we have a couple of concepts that exploit the worker as well. For years, school leavers wanting an apprenticeship have been bonded to a traineeship agent paid a fee by the government and the employer to provide young people to the industrial workforce for a six month period. They are then replaced by another trainee and are no closer to their apprenticeship.
Another dubious concept is the government funded employment agency that insists that the applicant register with the government as long term unemployed before they will attempt to place you. This is so that the agency receives their funding from the government. And … don’t get me started again on the explotation of foreign workers!
Things are worse in New Zealand with the minimum rate being lifted from $9 to $12/hr next week. “Over 9 years in the 1990s National (led governments) increased the minimum wage by only 14 per cent, less than a dollar, and the wage gap with Australia increased by 50%.” the CTU secretary said, “Over 9 years under Labour led governments, the minimum wage has increased by 71 per cent, or 5 dollars an hour, and the wage gap with Australia has increased by only 1.4%”. Sound familiar?
The Bush administration is finalizing details of a plan to rescue homeowners at risk of foreclosure by assisting borrowers who owe their banks more than their homes are worth because of plummeting prices. Therein lies the reason for massive rental increases. You have a rental property and suddenly find the mortgage repayments are not being met by the rental received. What are you going to do? What appears to be greed may well be a survival tactic.
Under the US plan, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) would encourage lenders to forgive a portion of those loans and issue new, smaller mortgages in exchange for the financial backing of the federal government. Have Australian house prices dropped so far that the mortgage is more than the home value?
Greg Naylor
Lee
David Naylor
GREG'S LEGACY 