Sex, lies and Wikileaks

As once friendly news outlets report the Julian Assange story more critically, we ask if the media has lost the plot. Listening Post Last Modified: 25 Aug 2012 11:21
Sex, lies and Wikileaks: Has the media lost the plot? Plus, an interview with one of Egypt's most influential voices, Yosri Fouda. This July marked two years since the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks released the Afghan War Logs. Since then, the path for its founder Julian Assange has not been a smooth one, and it has led to an extradition battle between the UK and Ecuador. When the war logs first came out, major newspapers like the New York Times, Der Spiegel and The Guardian collaborated with Wikileaks, but two years on those relationships have changed. Once friendly media outlets are now reporting Assange's story - the allegations of sex crimes, his extradition and now his asylum - far more critically. But is this all fair comment or is Assange part of a media witchhunt? In this week's News Divide we ask if the media have lost the plot on the Wikileaks story. Quick hits from News Bytes: The press in Myanmar are handed a small victory in their battle against censorship; in Syria, a Japanese journalist is killed whilst covering the ongoing conflict there; and the Indian government clamps down on social networking sites after a campaign of misinformation forces thousands of people to flee the cities. Ever since the arrival of the Arab Spring in Egypt last February, we have been tracking the work of journalists revolutionising the Egyptian media. One man at the forefront of those changes has been Yosri Fouda. Fouda is a former reporter at Al Jazeera's Arabic news channel and now hosts an influential, late night political talk show in Cairo. We sat down with the host during his recent trip to London. As London bid farewell to the London 2012 Olympics, the city also welcomed the second part of the Games, the Paralympics. Beginning on August 29, this multi-sport event will feature competitors with disabilities. Britain's official broadcaster for the event is Channel 4 and to mark their involvement, they have produced a series of adverts featuring the athletes. The TV channel says it wants to show a different side to the Paralympian and judging by the response online, it has achieved what it set out to do. We have made it our Video of the Week ... enjoy! Listening Post can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Saturday: 0830, 1930; Sunday: 1430; Monday: 0430. Click here for more Listening Post.
Source: Al Jazeera

US pitbull threatens to raid Ecuador embassy to get #Assange - @wikileaks

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China-Japan Tensions Rise Amid Islands Row

The dispute in the East China Sea, which saw 14 Chinese activists detained, has increased tensions between the two powers.

1:24pm UK, Thursday 16 August 2012

 

Video: Land Row: China-Japan Tensions Rise

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Beijing

China's deputy foreign minister has said a territorial crisis with Japan in the East China Sea has pushed tensions between the two countries to a 'new high'.

Fu Ying has summoned Japan's ambassador to China to receive an official complaint over the incident - triggered by the arrest of 14 Chinese activists.
The activists successfully managed to plant a Chinese flag on the disputed territory - known as the Senkaku Islands by Japan and Diaoyu by China.
That infuriated Japan and sparked similar diplomatic complaints in Tokyo. China has urged Japan to free the 14 detainees.

An anti-Japan protest takes place in Shanghai, China

Japanese coastguards failed to stop the activists in spite of a huge air and sea operation.
Two coastguard vessels could be seen 'pinning in' the activists' fishing boat. But some of the group still managed to swim ashore for the symbolic flag planting.
The remainder of the group was arrested aboard their boat and they are now all being transferred to Okinawa in Japan.
What the Japanese do next will signal whether this is a crisis which gets defused or has the potential to turn into something very serious.
Relations between Japan and China are traditionally fraught.

The disputed islands are uninhabited

There is a weight of history in this part of the world which means any actions by Beijing or Tokyo are interpreted with deep suspicion.
China believes Japans has failed to fully apologise for its war-time atrocities.  Japan occupied much of China in the Second World War.  The events flared on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender.
On their arrival in Japan, the activists remained defiant, shouting 'Diaoyu is China's territory, Japan must get out'.
The 14 activists who were arrested had travelled by boat from Hong Kong.

A fishing boat carrying activists sails near the disputed islands

The uninhabited islands, which are rich in natural resources including gas, are not only claimed by China and Japan but also Taiwan.
China has been flexing its muscles of late in various territorial disputes in Asia.
It also disputes ownership of a series of islands in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
China has made it clear its territorial claims are non-negotiable and has initiated a military build-up raising tensions in the region.

Ecuador grants political asylum to Wikileaks' Assange

Ecuador has agreed to grant political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Quito's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said on Thursday. The decision comes a day after British authorities threatened to storm the embassy to arrest Assange.

By FRANCE 24 (video)
News Wires (text)

 

REUTERS - Ecuador granted political asylum to Julian Assange on Thursday, ratcheting up tension in a standoff with Britain which has warned it could revoke the diplomatic status of Quito’s embassy in London to allow the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder.
The high-profile Australian former hacker has been holed up inside the red-brick embassy in central London for eight weeks since he lost a legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over rape allegations.

Britain vows to extradite Assange Britain said on Thursday it was disappointed by Ecuador’s decision to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up at the Latin American state’s embassy in London for two months. “We are disappointed by the statement from Ecuador’s foreign minister, that Ecuador has offered political asylum to Julian Assange,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. “Under UK law with Mr Assange having exhausted all options of appeal the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden. We shall carry out that obligation,” the spokesman added. REUTERS

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said he feared for the safety and rights of Assange which is why he said his country had decided to grant him asylum.
“Ecuador has decided to grant political asylum to Julian Assange,” Patino told a news conference in Quito.
Ecuador’s decision takes what has become an international soap opera to new heights since Assange first angered the United States and its allies by publishing secret U.S. diplomatic cables on his WikiLeaks website.
Outside the embassy near London’s famed Harrods department store, supporters made the announcement over a loudspeaker to cheers and clapping from protesters who had gathered outside the building in support of Assange.
Protesters shouted: “The people united will never be defeated!”, bearing Ecuador flags and holding posters showing Assange’s head that read “no extradition”.
Before the decision was announced, Britain said it could use a little-known piece of legislation to strip Ecuador’s embassy of its diplomatic status so that Assange could be detained.
“It is too early to say when or if Britain will revoke the Ecuadorean embassy’s diplomatic status,” a Foreign Office spokesman said before Ecuador’s decision was announced. “Giving asylum doesn’t fundamentally change anything.”
“We have a legal duty to extradite Mr Assange. There is a law that says we have to extradite him to Sweden. We are going to have to fulfill that law.”
The Ecuadorean government has bristled at Britain’s warning. It’s foreign minister said Britain was threatening Ecuador with a “hostile and intolerable act” and accused London of blackmail.
Britain’s threat to withdraw diplomatic status from the Ecuadorean embassy drew criticism from some former diplomats who said it could lead to similar moves against British embassies.
“I think the Foreign Office have slightly overreached themselves here,” Britain’s former ambassador to Moscow, Tony Brenton, told the BBC.
“If we live in a world where governments can arbitrarily revoke immunity and go into embassies then the life of our diplomats and their ability to conduct normal business in places like Moscow where I was and North Korea becomes close to impossible.”

UK threatens to storm embassy to get Assange

Britain threatened to storm Ecuador’s London embassy on Wednesday in order to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is seeking political asylum in the South American country. Quito said a decision would be announced Thursday.

By FRANCE 24 (video)
News Wires (text)

 

REUTERS – The diplomatic standoff over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange escalated on Wednesday after Britain threatened to raid Ecuador’s embassy in London if Quito did not hand over Assange, who has been taking refuge there for two months.
The Ecuadorean government said such an action would be considered a “hostile and intolerable act” as well as a violation of its sovereignty.
“Under British law we can give them a week’s notice before entering the premises and the embassy will no longer have diplomatic protection,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
“But that decision has not yet been taken. We are not going to do this overnight. We want to stress that we want a diplomatically agreeable solution.”
Quito bristled at the threat and said it would announce its decision on Assange’s asylum request on Thursday at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT).
“We want to be very clear, we’re not a British colony. The colonial times are over,” Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said in an angry statement after a meeting with President Rafael Correa.
“The move announced in the official British statement, if it happens, would be interpreted by Ecuador as an unfriendly, hostile and intolerable act, as well as an attack on our sovereignty, which would force us to respond in the strongest diplomatic way,” Patino told reporters.
Ecuador, whose government is part of a left-leaning bloc of nations in South America, called for meetings of regional foreign ministers and the hemispheric Organization of American States to rally support in its complaint against Britain.
“We are deeply shocked by British government’s threats against the sovereignty of the Ecuadorean Embassy and their suggestion that they may forcibly enter the embassy,” the mission said on its website.
“This is a clear breach of international law and the protocols set out in the Vienna Convention.”
The embassy, near London’s famed Harrods department store, was under tight surveillance, with three police officers manning the entrance and several others patrolling around the red-brick building.
A group of Assange supporters who responded to a rallying call by WikiLeaks on Twitter gathered outside to demand Assange’s freedom and streamed the scene live on the Internet.
“We have been here day in day out as a vigil to make sure there is at least a witness to all of this,” said Anthony, one of the supporters.
WikiLeaks earlier tweeted saying, “If police storms, they will do so in early hours of the morning. Please stay, & those who can, go to the embassy and #ProtectAssange”.

Wanted in Sweden
The Australian former hacker has been in the embassy for eight weeks since losing a legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he has been accused of rape and sexual assault by two WikiLeaks supporters.
“The UK has a legal obligation to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of sexual offences and we remain determined to fulfill this obligation,” a Foreign Office spokesman said earlier.
Swedish prosecutors have not yet charged Assange, but they have moved forward with their investigations and they believe they have a case to take to trial.
Assange fears Sweden could send him on to the United States, where he believes authorities want to punish him for publishing thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks in 2010 in a major embarrassment for Washington.
Even if he were granted asylum, Assange has little chance of leaving the Ecuadorean embassy in London without being arrested.
There has been speculation he could travel to an airport in a diplomatic car, be smuggled out in a diplomatic bag, or even be appointed an Ecuadorean diplomat to give him immunity.
But lawyers and diplomats see those scenarios as practically unworkable.
The Ecuadorean government has said it wants to avoid Assange’s extradition to Sweden, but approval of asylum would offer no legal protection in Britain where police will arrest him once they get a chance.
“The question of asylum is arguably a red herring,” said former British government lawyer Carl Gardner.
Ecuador’s leader Correa is a self-declared enemy of “corrupt” media and U.S. “imperialism”, and apparently hit it off with Assange during a TV interview the Australian did with him in May.
Correa joked then with Assange that he had joined “the club of the persecuted”.
Some, though, find Assange’s connection with Ecuador odd, given that Correa is labeled a persecutor of the media by journalism freedom groups.

Ecuador ‘yet to decide’ on Assange's asylum

Latest update: 15/08/2012 

- Ecuador - Julian Assange - Political asylum

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said on Wednesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (pictured) had not been granted political asylum, as was previously reported, and that a decision has yet to be made.

By News Wires (text)

 

AFP- Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Tuesday denied a British media report that his country had granted asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
"The rumor of asylum for Assange is false. No decision has yet been taken. Awaiting report from the foreign ministry," Correa wrote on Twitter.
Assange, 41, took refuge at Ecuador's embassy in London on June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where the Australian national faces police questioning over sexual assault allegations.
But he also fears being extradited to the United States to face charges over WikiLeaks' publishing of a trove of secret documents, including information relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countless diplomatic cables.
Correa's statement came after Britain's Guardian newspaper said on its website Tuesday that Ecuador was set to grant Assange asylum, citing an unnamed official in Quito.
"We see Assange's request as a humanitarian issue," the official told the Guardian.
"It is clear that when Julian entered the embassy there was already some sort of deal," the official added.
Correa later told reporters in the southwestern port city of Guayaquil that the Guardian "is a very serious newspaper, but I don't know what source they used."
In an interview late Monday, Correa said he expected to respond to Assange's political asylum application later this week.
"We expect to have a meeting no later than Wednesday," Correa said, referring to his diplomats in London.
Even if his asylum request is granted, it is unclear whether Assange will be allowed to travel to Quito as British police are waiting outside the embassy ready to arrest him for breaching the terms of his bail granted in 2010.
He has embarked on a marathon round of court battles, but finally exhausted all his options under British law in June when the Supreme Court overturned his appeal against extradition.
The mother of the WikiLeaks founder met with Correa earlier this month to discuss the fate of her son.

'Orgy photos' of Chinese politicians spark online outrage

A group photo posted on the Chinese social networking site Weibo.

 

A Chinese Internet user recently published of nearly 200 photos showing men and women taking part in what appears to be an orgy. He claimed the men in the photos were prominent politicians affiliated with China’s ruling party. The photos quickly went viral, and the story took a series of bizarre twists and turns.

 

As he was surfing on the Chinese social networking site Weibo, the Internet user in question came across photos showing three men and three young women enjoying the pleasures of the flesh. At first, he didn’t think much of it. But then, as he later wrote online, he recognised two of the men as local political leaders. They were, he claimed, Wang Minsheng, the ruling party’s leader for Lujiang district (which has a population of over a million), located in Anhui province; and his deputy, Jiang Dabin.

 

On August 8, in order to prove that these were the men, he reposted the photos along with other photos showing these politicians carrying out their normal duties. The photos then spread like wildfire online. Internet users recognised the third man in the photos as being Wang Yu, one of the party's youth leaders at Hefei University. Many online commentators found these images quite ironic given that the Chinese authorities have made cracking down on pornography a priority.

  

                                          These photos went viral on the Chinese social networking site Weibo.

 

Two of the accused men quickly spoke out to clear their names. On August 9, Wang Minsheng said he was being framed and these photos were nothing but montages made by enemies of his. Jiang Dabin, his deputy, gave the same defence.

 

On the same day, an Internet user who purported to be the same person who first accused the men on Weibo posted a message on the online forum Baidu Tieba explaining that he was mistaken about their identity: “When I was surfing on Weibo, I thought I recognised the party secretary for Luijang district in a series of pornographic photos. But it turned out I was wrong. I did not realise at the time that this could have such serious consequences, so I would like to offer my most sincere apologies.”

  

 

However, Wang Yu, the third alleged orgy participant, admitted to having posed in these photos. On August 10, he explained that one of the women in the photos was none other than his wife, who teaches at a high school in Hefei. Three days later, the local authorities released a statement saying that following these revelations, Wang Yu and his wife had had their party membership revoked.

 

On August 13, Hefei University published a statement on its website encouraging members of the Communist Party to engage in “self-discipline”, without naming Wang Yu or directly referencing the sex scandal.

 

Meanwhile, this scandal continues to stir up debate online. Many of the comments are indignant, like this one:

 

“How can teachers put themselves in such situations?”, this man asks. “I hope this is only an isolated incident and that other teachers do not behave this way, or this could affect the quality of public service in our country.”