Headlines of the day: Recessions and Big Agra

From EUbusiness:

Eurozone trapped in austerity-led recession

From Keep Talking Greece:

Recession here: Greece economy shrank by 5.3% in 1Q of 2013

From Svenska Dagbladet via Presseurop:

‘Inequality growing fastest in Sweden’

From The Guardian, reporting on something we’ve covered extensively:

Diplomatic cables reveal aggressive GM lobbying by US officials

Review of more than 900 cables reveals campaign to break down resistance to GM products in Europe and other countries

And, from Mother Jones, something else from Big Agra to worry about:

Mysterious Poop Foam Causes Explosions on Hog Farms

Quote of the day: High praise for Assange

Stefan Lindskog, chair of the Sweden’s Supreme Court, told an Australian audience Wednesday that Julian Assange is, quite simply, a benefactor of humanity, as Al Jazeera reports:

“He’ll be thought of as a person who made public some pieces of classified information to the benefit of mankind,” he said.

“It should never be a crime to make known [a] crime of a state.”

Julian Assange addresses the United Nations

In a livestream broadcast Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange took of the Obama administration and its war of WikiLeaks and the imprisonment and prosecution of Bradley Manning.

From Brian Winter of Reuters:

Assange mocked Obama for defending free speech in the Arab world in an address to the United Nations on Tuesday, pointing to his own experience as evidence that Obama has “done more to criminalize free speech than any other U.S. president.”

“It must have come as a surprise to the Egyptian teenagers who washed American teargas out of their eyes (during the Arab Spring) to hear that the U.S. supported change in the Middle East,” Assange said.

“It’s time for President Obama to keep his word … and for the U.S. to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks,” he said.

Read the rest.

RT has the video:

From RT:

On Wednesday night, Julian Assange, the creator of Wikileaks, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in an event called “Strengthening Human Rights” from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been trapped for several months. The event that was hosted by the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and gave Assange a platform to draw attention to his case and he emphasized the importance of revealing the truth. Here is that speech.

Quote of the day: A tale of two extradition bids

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, contrasting Britain’s eagerness to extradite Julian Assange to Sweden to face questioning on charges of sexual misconduct with Britain’s refusal a decade ago to extradite the murder Chilean ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet to stand trial on murder charges.

From MercoPress:

Pinochet was not extradited for humanitarian reasons, when there were dozens of Europeans and thousands of Latin Americans who were murdered, and tens of thousands of people were tortured during the Pinochet dictatorship.

If Pinochet was not extradited for humanitarian reasons then it’s clear that they can take the decision not to extradite Mr. Julian Assange.

Latin American ministers back Assange asylum

The diplomatic battle over the fate of Julian Assange, wanted in Sweden for questioning of allegations of sexual misconduct, heated up a notch today when foreign ministers of 12 Latin American nations backed Ecuador’s grant to diplomatic asylum to the WikiLeaks founder.

From Deutsche Presse Agentur:

South American nations expressed unanimous support for Ecuador in its row with Britain over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Sunday.

The foreign ministers of the continent’s twelve countries urged both sides to resolve the dispute through negotiation and condemned the potential use of force against Ecuador’s mission in London.

“We reiterate the right of states to grant political and diplomatic asylum,” the foreign ministers from the Union of South American Nations said in joint communique.

The bloc also rejected Britain’s claim that its own laws would allow it to violate international treaties.

It expressed “solidarity with and support for the government of Ecuador in the face of threats against its embassy in Britain,” where Assange has taken refuge since June to avoid extradition to Sweden on charges of alleged sexual offences.

Read the rest.

British threats boost Correa at home

The explicit threat by Great Britain to invade the Ecuadorean embassy in London has backfired in another way, giving a significant bump to the popularity of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

From MercoPress:

Hundreds of Ecuadoreans marched on Monday in support of the government’s decision to grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a saga that could help President Rafael Correa if he seeks re-election.

Ecuador is outraged at Britain for threatening to enter its embassy in London where the Australian anti-secrecy campaigner — faced with extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault accusations — has taken refuge.

There is also a wider power game at play between Ecuador and the bloc of populist Latin American governments it belongs to, and the United States.

Correa supports Assange’s claim that he is at risk of being sent to the United States for punishment over Wikileaks’ 2010 release of a deluge of US diplomatic cables and secret army documents.

Correa is already very popular and appears to be drawing more support with his stance on Assange. He has portrayed the standoff with London as a principled struggle between a small nation against a “colonial power.”

Read the rest.

The Obamans fire back at Correa

Meanwhile, Washington aimed some diplomatic shots at Ecuador today, as MercoPress reports in a second story:

The Obama administration on Monday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of making “wild assertions” about US persecution to deflect attention from sex allegations he faces questioning for in Sweden.

The Obama administration on Monday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of making “wild assertions” about US persecution to deflect attention from sex allegations he faces questioning for in Sweden.

>snip<

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also berated Ecuador for granting Assange asylum from possible US persecution at its embassy in London. And, she said Ecuador’s attempt to have the Organization of American States take up the matter was a “sideshow.”

Assange “is making all sorts of wild assertions about us, when, in fact, his issue with the government of the United Kingdom has to do with whether he is going to face justice in Sweden for something that has nothing to do with Wikileaks” Nuland told reporters.

“He is clearly trying to deflect attention away from the real issue, which is whether he is going to face justice in Sweden,” she said. “That case has nothing to do with us, it’s a matter between the U.K., Sweden and now Ecuador has inserted itself.”

Read the rest.

Here’s a London Telegraph video featuring Nuland, preceded by the remarks of Ecuadorian President Correa:

One has to wonder just what “us” Nuland is referring to. Is it the State Department? The White House? And what about the Justice Department, which is most certainly very interested in Assange?

So what are the legal issues?

Here’s a clip of attorney and Harper’s contributing writer Scott Horton and radio talk show host sam Seder parsing the fascinating legal history of diplomatic immunity and its application to the Assange case. It’s well worth a listen:

That said, the Swedish legal case is real, however questionable the motives of his accusers may be. He should answer questions, but not necessarily in Sweden, where he would be immediately incarcerated on arrival and where extradition to the U.S. would be considerably easier than in Britain. For an interesting discussion of the issue from a hard left perspective, see this post at Lenin’s Tomb.

Assange speaks out as diplomatic furor heats up

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke to supporters today from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London as the diplomatic battle over the decision of the government of President Rafael Correa to grant him asylum.

Assange took the opportunity to deliver a plea from alleged WikiLeaker Bradley Manning, now facing an army court martial on charges he provided WikiLeaks with those diplomatic cables that infamous video of a 12 July 2007 U.S. helicopter gunship shooting down 14 Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists.

The BBC reports:

Julian Assange has urged the US to end its “witch-hunt” against Wikileaks, in his first public statement since entering Ecuador’s London embassy.

He also called for the release of Bradley Manning, who is awaiting trial in the US accused of leaking classified documents to the Wikileaks site.

Mr Assange spoke from a balcony at the embassy and thanked Ecuador’s president, who has granted him asylum.

He faces extradition to Sweden over sexual assault claims, which he denies.

Mr Assange said: “As Wikileaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our societies.

“We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America.

“Will it return to and re-affirm the revolutionary values it was founded on?
Legal battle

“Or will it lurch off the precipice, dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark?”

Read the rest.

Before Assange spoke, his lawyer, suspended Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, spoke to reporters outside the embassy. From the London Telegraph:

The British government threat to invade the Ecuadorean embassy to arrest the WikiLeaks founder has provoked a furious response from that country.

From Emily Alpert of the Los Angeles Times:

As Britain and Ecuador remain locked in a diplomatic standoff over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the government in Quito made a public push to protect its London embassy.

Ecuador said Wednesday that Britain had threatened to storm its embassy to arrest Assange, who is being sought for questioning by Sweden on allegations of sexual assault. Ecuador has granted the activist political asylum, but Britain says it will not guarantee him safe passage out of the country. That leaves Assange marooned in the embassy, unable to leave despite winning asylum.

The British letter to Ecuador referenced a little-known law, saying, “You should be aware that there is a legal basis in the U.K. — the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act — which would allow us to take action to arrest Mr. Assange in the current premises of the embassy.”

The South American country has sought to marshal other nations across the Americas to insist that its embassy not be violated, calling a council meeting Friday of the Organization of American States.

At the meeting, Britain denied it had threatened Ecuador, saying Ecuador had aired a private note that had been misunderstood out of context.

“Allegations that the United Kingdom was threatening Ecuador and was about to storm the embassy are without foundation,” the British observer to the group told the council.

Read the rest.

Britain renounces doctrine of international law

Diplomatic asylum has been a key principle of international law, and embassy’s have traditionally reserved the right to house dissidents to shield them from persecution.

Embassy grounds are, by international law, sovereign territory of the state represented by the ambassador.

In perhaps the most famous case of diplomatic asylum of the 20th Century, the United States embassy in Budapest sheltered Hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty from 1956 to 1971, when he was finally allowed to leave the country.

But now Britain’s Foreign Secretary says his country no longer recognizes the principle.

From Robert Hutton of Bloomberg:

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain doesn’t recognize the concept of “diplomatic asylum” and won’t allow Wikileaks founder Julian Assange safe passage out of the country after Ecuador granted him political asylum.

“We cannot give safe passage to someone in this situation,” Hague told reporters in London today. “The U.K. doesn’t accept the principle of diplomatic asylum.”

The foreign minister’s remarkable declaration has drawn criticism and a warning from a former British ambassador of potentially grave consequence for the U.K.’s own diplomats.

But the government’s move poses dangers

That’s the opinion of the country’s former ambassador to Russia.

From Rosa Prince of the London Telegraph:

The Foreign Office risks breaching international law if it carries out its threat to revoke the status of the Ecuadorean Embassy in order to arrest Julian Assange, a former ambassador to Moscow has warned.

Sir Tony Brenton, who served as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Russia between 2004 and 2008, said “arbitrarily” overturning the status of the building where Mr Assange has taken shelter to avoid extradition, would make life ‘impossible’ for British diplomats

Ecuador grants asylum to Julian Assange

First, from RT, a video of Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino. announcing that his country is granting asylum.

Next, from the London Telegraph, University of Birmingham professor and international criminal law Robert Cryer predicts that Britain’s efforts to apprehend the WikiLeaks founder won’t stop with today’s announcement and predicts his arrest should he try to board an airplane:

And the story, from the BBC:

Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK.

It cited fears that Mr Assange’s human rights might be violated.

Foreign minister Ricardo Patino accused the UK of making an “open threat” to enter its embassy to arrest Mr Assange.

Mr Assange took refuge at the embassy in June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over assault and rape claims, which he denies.

The Australian national said being granted political asylum by Ecuador was a “significant victory” and thanked staff in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Read the rest.

We’ll have more later.

Brits threaten to storm embassy to get Assange

Wow!

The British government is threatening a move counter to all international law, just to get the man Washington desperately wants behind bars.

That the country would threaten a SWAT-type raid on the Ecuadorean embassy — foreign national property under law — reveals just how much pressure the government is feeling, pressure certainly beyond the ability of Sweden to exert.

Remember that Britain didn’t raid the Libyan embassy after a London police officer was killed by a shot police say was fired from inside embassy grounds in 1984 and you get an idea of how deeply the government feels the need to seize a man still not formally charged with any crimes by Sweden, the nation that seeks to extradite him for questioning in allegations of sexual misconduct.

From the BBC:

The UK has issued a “threat” to enter the Ecuadorian embassy in London to arrest Julian Assange, Ecuador’s foreign minister has said.

Ricardo Patino also said a decision on the Wikileaks founder’s asylum request would be made public on Thursday.

Mr Assange took refuge at the embassy in June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over assault and rape claims, which he denies.

The Foreign Office says the UK has a legal obligation to extradite him.

At a news conference in Quito on Wednesday night, Mr Patino said: “Today we received from the United Kingdom an express threat, in writing, that they might storm our Embassy in London if we don’t hand over Julian Assange.

“Ecuador rejects in the most emphatic terms the explicit threat of the British official communication.”

Read the rest.

The British government doesn’t deny the allegation.

An invasion of embassy grounds by an armed forced is tantamount to an act of war.

Was the U.S. behind the Paraguayan coup?

That’s certainly a reasonable suspicion about the strange constitutional coup that two weeks ago overthrew President Fernando Lupo. And if that’s the case, the reason becomes abundantly clear in a story from Mexico City’s La Jornada via a translation at Aletho News:

A group of US generals reportedly visited Paraguay for a meeting with legislators on June 22 to discuss the possibility of building a military base in the Chaco region, which borders on Bolivia in western Paraguay. The meeting coincided with the Congress’s sudden impeachment the same day of left-leaning president Fernando Lugo, who at times has opposed a US military presence in the country. In 2009 Lugo cancelled maneuvers that the US Southern Command was planning to hold in Paraguay in 2010 as part of its “New Horizons” program.

More bases in the Chaco are “necessary,” rightwing deputy José López Chávez, who presides over the Chamber of Deputies’ Committee on Defense, said in a radio interview. Bolivia, governed by socialist president Evo Morales, “constitutes a threat for Paraguay, due to the arms race it’s developing,” according to López Chávez. Bolivia and Paraguay fought a war over the sparsely populated Chaco from 1932 to 1935, the last major war over territory in South America.

The US has been pushing recently to set up military bases in the Southern Cone, including one in Chile and one in Argentina’s northeastern Chaco province, which is close to the Paraguayan Chaco, although it doesn’t share a border with Paraguay [see Update #1129]. Unidentified military sources say that the US has already built infrastructure for its own troops in Paraguayan army installations near the country’s borders with Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil; for example, an installation in Mariscal Estigarribia, some 250 km from Bolivia, has a runway almost 3.8 km long, in a country with a very limited air force.

Now consider a 21 September 2009 SECRET/NOFORN diplomatic cable from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the American embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay referring to U.S. Special Forces training operation then underway in the country:

One year into office, President Lugo is confronted by the reality of governing with a fractured ruling coalition, an antagonistic Congress, and entrenched systemic corruption. Lugo has proven resilient, and thus far has weathered deliberate destabilization efforts that included a wave of small explosive devices and bomb threats in Asuncion. Nevertheless, rumors of coup-plotting persist along with a continual erosion of Lugo’s political capital. Given the current environment and the absence of written status protections for all DoD personnel in Paraguay, their presence poses a potential political risk. At any point, those who oppose Lugo or merely wish to weaken his ties to the United States may publicly raise the issue of U.S. forces in Paraguay and speculate about their role in a way that undercuts U.S. interests. In addition, there is a potential personal risk to U.S. forces on training missions in Paraguay without the benefit of status protections or equivalent.

Then consider this excerpt from another cable, a SECRET dispatch sent to Washington on 2 June 2008 by Deputy Chief of Mission Michael J. Fitzpatrick in Asuncion:

Sensitive reporting indicates that some members of Lugo’s inner circle have ties to representatives of Venezuelan President Chavez. These Lugo insiders claim that he supports Chavez’ plans for Latin America; Lugo has stated publicly and privately (to Embassy officials) that he will not align himself with Chavez. Lugo volunteered to OAS chief of electoral mission (and former Colombia Foreign Minister) Maria Emma Mejia early April 21 that while Chavez was the first president to congratulate him April 20, he does not know Chavez and was delighted that the U.S. Ambassador was in fact the first caller to congratulate him and to offer support for his government. One party in Lugo’s coalition, the P-MAS (Paraguayan Movement towards Socialism), receives Venezuelan financial support.

And here’s an excerpt from another cable, a SECRET/NOFORN 18 June 2007 dispatch from Ambassador Craig Kelly in Santiago, Chile:

Our growing economic relationship with the pragmatic leftist government in Uruguay puts the lie to the claim that greater trade and investment with the U.S. is tantamount to betrayal of local populations. This is critical because poor countries, like Uruguay, are vulnerable not so much to Chavez’s ideology but to his petrobolivars. We need to draw attention to and build on these success stories borne out of engagement with the U.S., as alternatives to Chavez’ vision of a region cut off from the U.S. Even Paraguay’s leftist priest-turned presidential candidate Fernando Lugo has stated he is closer to Bachelet or Lula than to Chavez.

Now let’s add another ingredient to the mix: Genetically modified soybeans peddled by American companies, as noted in an 18 June 2008 cable from Economics/Political Chief James Story at the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo: and titled U.S. SCIENTISTS VISIT BRAZIL FOR MOU ON BIOFUELS:

With peasant farmers threatening land invasions to demand land reform and end perceived environmental abuses, Paraguay’s soybean producers last month staged a two-day demonstration intended to call the government’s attention to rural turmoil. Hundreds of medium- and large-scale soy producers parked their tractors on Dec. 15 and 16 along the sides of the roads in 13 departments, creating a so-called “tractorazo”, underscoring the importance of peasant labor to agricultural production. The protest by soy producers comes after months of marches on Asuncisn and threats of land invasion by thousands of small and landless peasants, or campesinos, demanding agrarian reform and an end to the spraying of toxic agro-chemicals. Handling the tensions that fueled it marks a key test for President Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop who took office Aug.15.

Incidentally, the same cable also mention Amyris, the UC Berkeley-spawned and Bill Gates-enabled genetic engineering company that hopes to make a fortune off of using GM bugs to harvest fuel from plants.

A final bit of context

The so-called constitutional coup that led to Lugo’s ouster followed a bloody confrontation between peasants and police at the site of a massive agricultural plantation the peasants claimed had been illegally seized by a leading supporter of the opposition Colorado party.

So we’re getting the picture of a nominally leftist leader with uncomfortable relations with both an ambitious American military and the peasants’ demand for land reform and their deep dislike of American agribusiness and its monopoly on seeds.

Forgive us if we suspect some deep politics at work, favoring both the Pentagon and global corporations like Monsanto which provide the patented seeds to the latifundistas.

Foreign Minister: Assange seeks Ecuador asylum

UPDATE: Assange is now inside the Ecuadorian embassy, awaiting a decision from the government on his extradition request.

From The Guardian’s Beatrice Woolf:

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has sought political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, sparking a new crisis in the tortured history of his extradition to Sweden.

Assange walked into the embassy in Knightsbridge and asked for asylum under the UN human rights declaration. He said: “I can confirm I arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy and sought diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum.

“This application has been passed to the ministry of foreign affairs in the capital Quito. I am grateful to the Ecuadorian ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application.”

The dramatic move follows a long-running legal bid by the whistleblower to halt his extradition to Sweden, where he faces sex crime allegations. Assange is currently on £240,000 police bail, and had been living with friends, a number of whom put together the bail payment.

Read the rest.

The case of the WikiLeaks founder, who faces imminent extradition from Great Britain to Sweden for questioning in allegations of sexual misconduct, took a new twist today with an announcement by the Ecuadorian government/

From Reuters:

WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has asked for political asylum in Ecuador and officials in the South American nation are considering his request, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

“Ecuador is studying and analyzing the request,” Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Quito.

Assange faces extradition to Sweden for questioning over alleged sex crimes after Britain’s top court said last week that it had rejected a legal request to reconsider his case.

Today’s development follows a report that Assange would be imprisoned immediately on arrival in Sweden.

From Juha Saarinen of Wired’s Threat Level blog:

Julian Assange will be imprisoned after he is handed over to Swedish authorities when he is extradited and will have a court hearing four days after extradition from the United Kingdom to decide if he will stay in custody, the Swedish government announced Friday.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom decided not to reopen Assange’s appeal and upheld the decision that the WikiLeaks founder should be extradited to face sex crime proceedings in Sweden.

The UK Supreme Court has ordered that Assange won’t be handed over to the Swedes until June 28. After that date Assange will be brought to Sweden within 10 days, according to European Arrest Warrant rules, Sweden’s Office of Public Prosecutions said.

Within four days of his arrival in Sweden, a court hearing will decide whether or not Assange should be remanded in custody for questioning by prosecution. Any decision by court can be appealed, according to the Swedish prosecutors.

Assange will be brought to Sweden by the country’s Department of Corrections, which will also take him into custody. Since Assange is considered to be a flight risk, he will be kept in prison while waiting for the remand hearing.

Read the rest.

The allegations against Assange involved sexual encounters with two women, one of who has retracted the allegations and fled to Palestine, after sending a cryptic Tweet hinting at connections with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Assange also fears, probably correctly, that the U.S. would force Sweden to extradite him to the U.S. for trial on the same charges as PFC Bradley Manning, who currently being court-martialed by the military on charges of espionage.

The World Tomorrow: Assange and Cypherpunks II

Here’s the second part [first part here] of The World Tomorrow featuring a discussion between Julian Assange and Cypherpunk movement activists Andy Müller-Maguhn, Jeremie Zimmermann, and Jacob Appelbaum.

Assange loses extradition appeal, Sweden awaits

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lost his appeal to Britain’s highest court and was ordered extradited to Sweden to face police questioning about those very curious allegations of sexual misconduct.

Sweden has no bail system, which would leave the activist behind bars until the case investigation is resolved.

No criminal charges have ever been filed in the case, and Assange left Sweden only after making himself available for questioning in claims made by two women [one who has since left Sweden and withdrawn her claims] that Assange had acted improperly in sexual encounters which had begun willingly.

One of the largest questions still unanswered is whether Sweden, which has drawn extremely close to the U.S., might allow his extradition to America in connected with the U.S. Department of Justice investigations of the massive dumped of State and Defense Department files to Wikileaks.

Britain’s Supreme Court rules

Here’s a response to the ruling from one of Assange’s legal advisers, human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson, in an interview with the Australian Broacasting Corporation:

John F. Burns and Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times report on the decision:

Britain’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, should be deported to Sweden to face allegations of sexual abuse there, but Mr. Assange’s lawyers won an immediate stay of at least two weeks before British officials can initiate the final steps to hand him over to Swedish authorities for questioning in Stockholm.

In what had been billed as the culmination of an 18-month legal battle, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-2 vote to reject Mr. Assange’s appeal against extradition. The decision was delivered in a court hearing lasting barely 10 minutes by Nicholas Phillips, the 74-year-old president of the court, in one of his last major decisions before retirement this fall.

The ruling turned on whether the Swedish prosecutor who made the extradition request was a competent “judicial authority” under the terms of the European extradition treaty. Judge Phillips, who voted with the majority, said the question “has not been easy to resolve,” but that the court majority’s finding that the Swedish prosecutor was a competent authority had resulted in the decision that the extradition request “has been lawfully made.”

Read the rest.

More from the BBC:

Lord Phillips said five of the justices agreed the warrant had been lawful because the Swedish prosecutor behind the warrant could be considered a proper “judicial authority” even if they were not specifically mentioned in legislation or international agreements.

This point of law had not been simple to resolve, said Lord Phillips, and two of the justices, Lady Hale and Lord Mance, had disagreed with the decision.

But [Assange attorney Dinah] Rose immediately indicated she could challenge the judgement saying that it relied on a 1969 convention relating to how treaties should be implemented. She said this convention had not been raised during the hearing.

Read the rest.

Here’s a video from the London Telegraph of Lord Phillips reading the key part of the decision:

And a telling detail from The Guardian’s Owen Bowcott and Esther Addley:

The obscure but potentially pivotal issue raised by Dinah Rose QC, Assange’s barrister, relates to Article 31.3 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. It states that treaties can be interpreted bearing in mind the “subsequent practice” of their application.

Assange’s lawyers believe that several of the justices on the seven-judge panel relied on that principle of subsequent practice in deciding that a public prosecutor had become accepted across Europe as a judicial authority.

Significantly, the court appears prepared to consider whether arguments about the Vienna Convention were raised sufficiently during the hearing. Because of security concerns the judgment was not circulated beforehand, so Assange’s lawyers did not receive it in time to make representations at an earlier stage.

His lawyers may also, concurrently, begin the process of appealing against the judgment to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. According to the supreme court, the Crown Prosecution Service cannot start extraditing Assange until 13 June at the earliest.

“The majority of the judges believe that parliament was seriously misled when it approved the European arrest warrant system,” said [Assange’s solicitor Gareth] Peirce.

Read the rest.

What’s next?

WL Central gives us a summary:

Julian Assange will remain under house arrest for 14 days while his legal team prepares a submission. The submission regards the ruling being based on the Vienna Convention, something which was not considered in the February hearing.

After the 14 day period, the judges will consider the submission and re-rule on the case.

Julian Assange then has 7 days to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. This would not prevent his extradition, but it could possibly overturn the ruling at a later date.

If the Supreme Court upholds the ruling today to extradite Mr Assange, he will be sent to Sweden within 10 days. Once there, he will be immediately placed in prison, in solitary confinement, incommunicado. Sweden does not have a bail system, and he is likely to spend up to a year in custody.

The court’s public statement on the decision

Here is the court’s news release [PDF]on the decision, and the full text of the ruling [PDF]. Numbers in brackets refer to paragraphs in the decision.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

PRESS SUMMARY

Assange (Appellant) v The Swedish Prosecution Authority (Respondent) [2011] UKSC 22
On appeal from [2012] EWHC Admin 2849
JUSTICES: Lord Phillips (President), Lord Walker, Lady Hale, Lord Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr,
Lord Dyson

BACKGROUND TO THE APPEALS

The appellant, Mr Assange, is the subject of a request for extradition by the Swedish Prosecuting Authority for the purposes of an investigation into alleged offences of sexual molestation and rape.

Mr Assange is in England. A domestic detention order was made by the Stockholm District Court in Mr Assange’s absence, and was upheld by the Svea Court of Appeal. A prosecutor in Sweden thereafter issued a European Arrest Warrant (‘EAW’) on 2 December

EuroRacism: A response, and bad news

We’ll begin with a video of an amazing performance in Oslo yesterday, where 40,000 Norwegians braved the rain and cold to sing the Pete Seeger song so deeply despised by mass murdered Anders Behring Breivik:

From the Norwegian Culture vlog:

Oslo, April 26 2012: What started out as an initiative to gather a few dozens of people to sing the song Anders Behring Breivik told in court that he disliked the most, turned out to become a gathering of 40 000 people.

The song is the Norwegian version of Pete Seeger’s “My Rainbow Race,” rewritten in Norwegian and released in the early 1970s by singer/songwriter Lillebjørn Nilsen who is the lead in this recording from the Norwegian Broadcasting corporation (NRK).

This extremely well known and popular song was sung by the crowd at the Youngstorget square before they all walked to the court building, still singing, laying down roses outside while court was still in session.

You can hear Seeger’s 1971 recording of the song here. The lyrics are here.

More on the event from Deutsche Presse-Agentur’s Lennart Simonsson:

The “rose rally” in central Oslo was a private initiative by two women who used social media to organize the event.

Lill Hjonnevag told NRK television it was necessary to “reclaim the song,” which is well-known among Norwegian children, and which Breivik had attacked in his testimony as an example of “Marxist indoctrination.”

The crowd then walked from Oslo’s central Youngstorget square to the court, where they placed roses around the building.

>snip<

Christine Bar, another organizer of the Oslo gathering, told NRK she had been left “speechless” by the turnout, which was far higher than the 5,000 that had been expected to attend.

Musician Lillebjorn Nilsen, who translated Seeger’s text into Norwegian, led the 40,000-strong crowd and conveyed a greeting from 93-year-old Seeger.

Labor Party youth wing leader Eskil Pedersen its members had often sang Seeger’s song at Utoya island. When survivors returned to the island in August, they sang “My Rainbow Race” once more as they walked from the quay.

Read the rest.

So much for the good news. Now for the latest from the dark side, including some xenophobic pandering by the French Socialist [sic] presidential candidate.

Rise of French right worries eurocrats:

The third place finish of the National Front’s Marine Le Pen in the first round of the French presidential election has the European Union rightly worried.

From EurActiv:

European Union ministers meeting 23 April in Luxembourg said they were concerned over the rise of French nationalist party in Sunday’s presidential elections.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn blamed incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the success of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in France‘s elections.

“If I were the president of the [French] Republic, I would ask myself why one out of five people in France are now voting for the National Front,” Asselborn said before the start of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.

Socialist candidate François Hollande pipped Sarkozy in Sunday’s 10-candidate first round by 28.6% to 27.2%, but National Front leader Le Pen stole the show, surging to 17.9%, the biggest tally a far-right candidate has ever managed.

Her performance mirrored advances across the continent by anti-establishment Eurosceptic populists from Amsterdam and Vienna to Helsinki as the eurozone’s grinding debt crisis deepens anger over government spending cuts and unemployment.

>snip<

The unpopular Sarkozy now faces a difficult balancing act to attract both the far-right and centrist voters he needs to stay in office.

Returning to the campaign trail yesterday (23 April), Sarkozy hammered home promises to toughen border controls, tighten security on the streets and keep industrial jobs in France – signature issues for Le Pen at a time of anger over immigration, violent crime and unemployment running at a 12-year high.

“National Front voters must be respected,” Sarkozy told reporters as he left his campaign headquarters in Paris. “They voiced their view. It was a vote of suffering, a crisis vote. Why insult them? I have heard Mr Hollande criticising them.”

Read the rest.

EU Council chief joins the warning chorus

The fight to keep Europe’s borders open is meeting strong resistance from both Germany and France, which are seeking changes to the Schengen Treaty to allow them to close their borders for 30-day periods.

And both Sarkozy and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi mounted ethnic cleansing operations against Roma [“gypsies”] and Sarko has expelled members of the Travelers community as well.

From Valentina Pop of EUobserver:

EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy has spoken out against the “winds of populism” threatening freedom of movement in the Union – a swipe at anti-immigrant discourse in French elections and on the Dutch political scene.

“It is the duty of each government to make sure that no-one – no member of any group or any minority – is treated as a second-class citizen. Regrettably, the winds of populism are affecting a key achievement of European integration: the free movement of persons within our borders,” he said in a speech in the Romanian parliament on Wednesday (25 April).

Keeping the EU’s inner borders open was a “sign of civilisation,” the EU official noted.

“In that space, there is no room for stigmatisation of foreigners, as happens in certain countries nowadays,” he added.

Read the rest.

Sarko licks Le Pen’s boots

The metaphor’s not ours, but comes from a blog of telecaster France 24:

Under pressure, and desperate to renew his lease for the Elysee Presidential palace, Sarkozy has chosen one clear, it must seem the only, way forward: Start licking the boots of National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen.

Yes, Le Pen and the glorious 18% support she won in the first round of the presidential race. Yes, the National Front, France’s far-right party, which despite its new blonde window dressing, remains a shop run by Nazi collaboration apologists, royalists and unabashed xenophobes.

In the widely viewed television program “Words and Actions” on French public television on Thursday, Sarkozy denied any marriage with Marine Le Pen. “I will forge no alliance with Mrs. Le Pen. No National Front minister [in a future cabinet]. It’s crystal clear.”

And he’s right! Why take on a National Front minister in your future government if you are already taking your campaign cues directly from FN headquarters?

Read the rest.

The “socialist” pays Le Pen tribute

Hollande, the Socialist-in-name-only who seems likely to beat Sarko in next week’s runoff, is paying Le Pen homage, as reported by Chinese news agency Xinhua:

French Socialist Party presidential candidate Francois Hollande vowed on Friday to cut flows of immigrants seeking for jobs in France.

Speaking to RTL radio, the presidential election frontrunner said limiting economic immigration was “indispensable” and indicated

State Dept fires officer over blog link to Wikileaks

From The Alyona Show:

That’s just one of eight reasons Hillary Clinton’s bureaucrats cited in sending a termination letter to 24-year veteran Peter Van Buren for his blog and a just-published book critical of the government’s Iraq reconstruction effort. Also cited were his personal blog posts critical of Clinton and Rep. Michelle Bachmann [R-Minnesota]. Also interviewed is Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project.

Assange indicted in U.S.? Stratfor says yes

One of the most interesting of the emails of the private intelligence agency and contractor to various U.S. spook shops claims that federal prosecutors have already obtained a sealed indictment of the founder of the website that released the emails.

And they did it more than a year ago.

The declaration comes Stratfor Vice President of intelligence operations Fred Burton in the form of a note atop an email forwarded by Burton to other Stratfor employees 26 January 2011 . The text is short and to the point:

Not for Pub –

We have a sealed indictment on Assange.

Pls protect

The body of the email is a CBS news report on the military criminal case against Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, who faces court martial for providing army helicopter gunship footage and hundreds of thousands of cables to Wikileaks.

Sydney Morning Herald reporter Philip Dorling notes that

Mr Burton is well known as an expert on security and counterterrorism with close ties to the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He is the former deputy chief of the counter-terrorism division of the US State Department’s diplomatic security service.

Stratfor, whose headquarters are in Austin, Texas, provides intelligence and analysis to corporate and government subscribers.

Read the rest.

Wikileaks has begun publishing a collection of millions of the corporations emails, obtained by hacker collective Anonymous. They are posted on a web page titled The Global Intelligence Files.

Headline of the day: Out of sight, not mind

From Common Dreams, a headline that reminds us of this one:

Wikileaks Banned From UN Conference on Wikileaks

WikiCables: Berkeley-grown firm gets noticed

In light of our previous post, we bring you three State Department cables from the WikiLeaks stash, each featuring a UC-Berkeley spawned agrofuel firm, launched sand perpetuated with a hefty cash infusion from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

The company is Amyris [previously], and while it’s currently based in nearby Emeryville, the company began in West Berkeley, the creation of Cal “bioengineer” Jay Keasling, the bitter foe of the California’s now-overturned Low Carbon Fuel Standard, discussed in the earlier post.

While ostensibly launched to create a cheap antimalarial drug from genetically engineered microbe, the company has offloaded the drug-creating microbe to a European pharmaceutical giant and shifted focus to the agrofuel game.

Keasling has departed the company, which is now headed by a former BP executive who knocks down a million a year. That’s the same BP which funds the UC Berkeley-based Energy Biosciences Institute so beloved of Keasling and his fellow Berkeley gene-tweakers.

Amyris hasn’t been doing so well of late, at least as far as the stock market goes. The company’s shares last sold Friday at $11.54, down 65.92 percent from their record high of $33.86 on 20 May.

And now for the cables. For convenience sake, we’re excerpted all the relevant parts in our introductory notes for each cable.

WikiCable I: John Melo pays a visit to Brazil

First up, an 18 June 2008 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED dispatch from Econ/Pol [Economics/Political] Chief James Story at the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil, describing the visit earlier in the month of eight U.S. agrofuel scientists, ibncluding that former BP VP who’s now CEO of Amyris.

The relevant excerpt:

John Melo, CEO of U.S. company Amyris, outlined its recently signed joint venture with two Brazilian companies to develop a business model to produce biodiesel and jet fuel. Amyris has been developing the technology since 2001 and the Gates Foundation put money behind the idea in 2004. Amyris chose to build its business in Brazil to tap into existing scale and business know-how and because sugarcane is the cheapest feedstock. Melo projected that the first sugar mill would be converted and capable of producing diesel by June 2010 followed by a two year period of scale-up to full production. Melo said that Amyris estimated that it would cost USD 20 to 30 million to convert the mills to diesel production.

The document is posted online here.

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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
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FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8324
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 9456
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 4139
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 8760
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 3183
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 3431
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2729
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2431
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 3842
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 3114
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC 0733
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 SAO PAULO 000314
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STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC FOR FCORNEILLE, E FOR GMANUEL,
EEB/ESC/IEC FOR BHAENDLER
STATE PASS USTR FOR KDUCKWORTH
STATE PASS DOE/NREL FOR HCHUM
DEPT OF TREASURY FOR JHOEK, BONEILL
DEPT OF ENERGY FOR AMIRANDA, GWARD, CGILLESPIE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG EAGR ECON EINV TRGY BR

SUBJECT: U.S. SCIENTISTS VISIT BRAZIL FOR MOU ON BIOFUELS

REF: BRASILIA 0126; BRASILIA 097; 07 BRASILIA 1826; 07 BRASILIA 905.
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED–PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

Summary
——-

1. (SBU) As part of the U.S.-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding to Advance Cooperation on Biofuels, a U.S. delegation of eight scientists and engineers from the Departments of Energy and Agriculture visited Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states from May 30 to June 6. Their visit follows a similar one by a delegation of Brazilian scientists to U.S. renewable energy laboratories in September 2007. The U.S. delegation accomplished its mission to get a greater appreciation for Brazilian research and development in biofuels and use lessons learned to promote U.S.-Brazil collaboration on advanced biofuels research, particularly on cellulosic ethanol production. The group explored several areas for joint cooperation including the possibility of sharing biomass samples to unify bilateral research opportunities and facilitating scientific exchanges to strengthen Brazilian analytical methodologies.

2. (SBU) Despite the opportunities for joint research collaboration, the U.S. delegation also witnessed several short-term challenges to furthering our bilateral relationship on biofuels. In particular these challenges include the high costs of financing research and development in Brazil, an industry focus on producing bioelectricity which would reduce feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production, and the persistent view by Brazilian industry that consistent efficiencies in production utilizing existing technologies will continue. Even with these challenges, both sides agreed to work on the joint challenge of getting a positive biofuels message out via better education about the advantages of biofuels. The U.S. delegation appeared satisfied with their visit to Brazil and left with several tools to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead. End Summary.

Visiting University Laboratories
——————————–

3. (U) The U.S. delegation visited several of Brazil’s top research universities that have been studying biofuels since Brazil’s ethanol program began in the 1970s. Brazil’s largest university, the University of Sao Paulo (USP), is widely viewed as among Brazil’s best universities. Professors from the Polytechnic Department outlined the four major research areas in Brazil: pre-treatment of bagasse (USP-Lorena campus), enzyme production (UFRJ, USP, Goiania), fermentation (USP-Lorena and UFRJ), and the energy balance for new mills (UNICAMP/NIPE). The USP professors told the U.S. delegation they need more collaboration on enzyme production and protein engineering of enzymes. The U.S. side suggested sharing biomass pretreated samples would be a good way to collaborate on research and corroborate results. The group also suggested an exchange of doctoral candidates or post-doctorate researchers with advanced training in analytical techniques to a U.S. laboratory to collaborate on methodology and learn U.S. methodology. Likewise, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the U.S. delegation met with professors from the Chemistry Department and toured some biofuels research laboratories. They discussed the University’s chemical and microbiological research on biofuels, and similarly raised the issue of sharing bagasse and lignin cake samples as a way to collaborate on research.

4. (U) The U.S. delegation met with University of Campinas (UNICAMP) professor Marcelo Mendessi, who runs the Agency for Innovation (INOVA). UNICAMP is one of the few Brazilian examples of university collaboration with the private sector. Mendessi explained that INOVA’s role is to encourage technology transfer of developing technologies by facilitating the patent and development processes. Although UNICAMP is Brazil’s largest patent holder, the

SAO PAULO 00000314 002 OF 005

number it holds is about the same as research universities outside Brazil. Mendessi explained to the U.S. delegation the lack of private sector innovation and the low preponderance of Brazilian companies seeking patents.

Government Sponsored Research
—————————–

5. (U) The U.S. delegation toured Sao Paulo state’s Institute of Technological Research (IPT), a think tank primarily focused on

WikiCables: Documenting violence against Roma

Following up on our two recent posts on the rise of European racism, we bring you a collection of five diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks documenting violent Eastern European attacks on the Sinti, Roma, and other traveling peoples often grouped together as Gypsies.

A collection of earlier posts on the growing tide of violence against Europe’s wandering peoples may be found here.

WikiCable I: Sterilizing the Slovakian Roma

Earlier this month we reported on the persistence of the deplorable doctrine of eugenics, a practice largely born in the United States as the fruit of the noxious pseudoscience called Social Darwinism, in which human beings were treated as livestock —a herd to be culled of “bad stock” by a self-appointed elite of physicians and parlor philosophers.

The term, first popularized in England by Herbert Spencer, wasn’t reflective of the thinking of Charles Darwin, himself a passionate egalitarian and bitter foe of slavery, gave a scientific veneer to prejudice.

It was in the United States that eugenics first found roots as official practice, leading to mass sterilizations of those deemed unfit to reproduce, with California in the lead.

America’s eugenics laws were envied by a rising fringe German politician in the 1920s, and after he took office in 1933, Adolf Hitler quickly acted to created a sterilization program first targeting the children born to women of French African occupation troops in the Rhineland after the German defeat in World War I.

During the Soviet era, the government of Czechoslovakia adopted the practice to eliminate the nation’s Roma population, and the practice continued there into the 21st Century in Slovakia after breakup of the former Soviet satellite state.

Our first cable, an UNCLASSIFIED/FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 4 February 2004 dispatch from Ambassador Ronald Weiser at the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava, is a partial extract of an unavailable longer cable on the U.S. response to revelations of the Slovakia sterilization program.

An excerpt:

According to [Minister of Health Rudolf] Zajac, the MOH [ Ministry of Health] investigation found violations of the previous sterilization regulation that affected two minors. The Ministry was not able to find fault with hospitals or doctors, but admitted that laws in this area were ill-defined. He added that investigators lacked data on ethnicity. However, Health Ministry specialists believe that more non-Romany women underwent sterilizations than Roma. Zajac added the ministry had already responded to nearly 400 out of 1000 letters from concerned individuals and organizations about the allegations of coerced sterilizations and the subsequent investigation. He indicated that they intended to respond to all of them. He also said that specialists from the ministry participated in discussions with the Government Office for Human Rights and attended several conferences on the topic.

The document is posted online here.

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000144
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SMIG EIND ETRD LO

SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR URGES HEALTH MINISTER TO IMPROVE STERILIZATION REGULATIONS

Sensitive but Unclassified – protect accordingly.

1. (SBU) Summary. On January 29, Ambassador Weiser met with Health Minister [Rudolf] Zajac to discuss the new draft regulation on sterilization and overarching reforms in health care, particularly pertaining to the Roma minority. The Ambassador pressed Zajac to incorporate recommendations from international and domestic specialists into the sterilization law. The Health Ministry had been in the center of controversy after the January 2003 publication of “Body and Soul,” a report that alleged over one hundred Roma women were victims of coerced sterilizations. Zajac said the GOS [Government of Slovakia] had done its best to investigate allegations of coerced sterilization, find violations, and seek solutions. Discussions also included health care programs for returned victims of trafficking and the donation of medical supplies that had been arranged by the Ambassador. End Summary.

New Sterilization Regulations: Concrete Suggestions
—————————————————

2. (SBU) On January 29, Ambassador Weiser met Health Minister Zajac to discuss newly proposed regulations governing sterilization. The Health Ministry had been in the center of controversy after the January 2003 publication of “Body and Soul,” a report that alleged over one hundred Roma women were victims of coerced sterilizations. The Ambassador noted the ensuing investigation had revealed problems in the health care system that could be resolved to the benefit of everyone. Minister Zajac admitted mistakes had been made in minority policy. He said the GOS had done its best to investigate the allegations, find violations, and seek solutions. With regard to recent health reform and legal proposals, the ambassador expressed appreciation for GOS attention to international concerns.

3. (SBU) The Ambassador urged Zajac to include recommendations from numerous human rights and medical specialists in the new regulations on sterilization. (The Ambassador in a letter also encouraged Justice Minister Lipsic, as Chairman of the Legislative Council, to support the suggestions.) Specifically, the Ambassador asked that the new regulations:

– Incorporate a clear definition of “informed consent.” The absence of such a definition may result in the continuation of the very practices which have recently come under criticism.
– Institute a mandatory waiting period between the time the patient gives consent and the surgical procedure. This would allow a more cautious approach to sterilization, especially after repeat caesarians and for minors.
– Eliminate the list of medical indicators for sterilization. There is no internationally accepted norm, and such lists do not clearly define the procedure as elective.
– Elimination of sterilization committees. The committees are obstacles to better communication between practitioners and patients about reproductive health and do not ensure quality service to the patients.

4. (SBU) Zajac stated that these concerns would be addressed in the next ethics committee meeting, with due consideration given to the comments submitted by the Ambassador.

Aftermath of the MOH [Ministry of Health] Investigation
———————————-

5. (SBU) According to Zajac, the MOH investigation found violations of the previous sterilization regulation that affected two minors. The Ministry was not able to find fault with hospitals or doctors, but admitted that laws in this area were ill-defined. He added that investigators lacked data on ethnicity. However, Health Ministry specialists believe that more non-Romany women underwent sterilizations than Roma. Zajac added the ministry had already responded to nearly 400 out of 1000 letters from concerned individuals and organizations about the allegations of coerced sterilizations and the subsequent investigation. He indicated that they intended to respond to all of them. He also said that specialists from the ministry participated in discussions with the Government Office for Human Rights and attended several conferences on the topic.

6. (SBU) Zajac noted Roma settlements have severe health concerns and reform is just beginning down a long road. Significant structural changes were needed to improve preventive health care and educational opportunities for marginalized groups. Specifically, he wants to encourage the insurance industry to support preventive health care and pressure practitioners to protect patients’ rights. He discussed current proposals for Roma health projects, which included two mobile emergency units and a possiblespecialized office for minority affairs. He promised that his ministry will continue to confront problems instead of avoiding them as in the past.

Health Care Reform and American Assistance
——————————————

7. (U) Zajac gave the Ambassador a brief explanation of the health care reform package, loosely modeled on Oregon health care, and stated he intended to move these reforms through quickly while political will exists. The Ambassador suggested the Minister and his staff might visit the U.S. to discuss minority outreach programs and indigent care with American counterparts and to strengthen relationships between American and Slovak hospitals. Zajac stated this was a high priority. The Ambassador mentioned that he had arranged with the University of Michigan hospitals for the shipment of two pallets of medical supplies to the children’s hospital in Kosice. Two American corporations, U.S. Steel and Plastipak, were paying the cost of shipping. Zajac indicated his appreciation for the donations.

Trafficking in Persons
———————-

8. (U) The Ambassador urged the minister to develop assistance programs for victims of trafficking. He stated that while numbers of returned victims are not high compared to other countries in the region, the treatment of transmittable or life threatening diseases and psychological counseling should be provided for returning victims. He added that victim protection and prosecution of traffickers are not the only aspects to battle this global problem, and Slovakia could serve as a future model for other nations in providing medical treatment and health counseling. Zajac responded that this was an area that they were already examining and that he would look at ways to establish a program to meet the health needs of trafficking victims.

Policy on Pharmaceuticals
————————-

9. (U) Minister Zajac also mentioned concerns from the pharmaceutical industry about Slovakia’s recently adopted policy on medicines. He stated that while multi-national companies are concerned about limited access to non-generics, the ministry is battling serious corruption problems and the high cost of drugs. The Ambassador replied he believed there were some misconceptions and suggested Zajac meet with the companies for further discussion. Zajac said he planned to address drug companies at an American Chamber of Commerce event in the near future, which the Ambassador could attend.

WEISER

NNNN

WikiCable II: Fanning the flames of hatred in Bulgaria

Our second cable comes from another former Soviet ally, Bulgaria, which sustained — like other former satellite states — severe economic disruption in the wake of the Soviet collapse.

With the introduction of neoliberal policies pushed by Washington, the ensuing economic chaos brought a resurgence of scapegoating as Bulgarians sought to place blame for new hardships, and the nation’s Roma population was an easy target.

Our second cable, a 26 August 2005 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY missive from Charge d’Affaires Jeffrey D. Levine at the U.S. embassy in Sofia, describes the role played by media and politicians in fanning the flames of hatred.

An excerpt:

Recent clashes between Roma and Bulgarians led members of Ataka and more moderate nationalists from the ethnic-Macedonian party VMRO to draft two separate laws providing for the creation of “self-defense groups” designed to take punitive action against “Roma criminals.” The MPs involved explain that the goal of the legislation is to find and punish “Roma criminals who are terrorizing the population but are beyond the reach of law enforcement and the judiciary.” It is unlikely the laws will pass, but the fact that such vigilante groups are being proposed is cause for concern.

The document, another partial extract, is posted online here.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 001504
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KTIA BU

SUBJECT: BULGARIA: MEDIA AND POLITICIANS FAN ANTI-ROMA SENTIMENT

REF: SOFIA 01134

1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The emergence of the extreme nationalist party Ataka has paralleled a surge in anti-Roma reporting that is adding to a troubling increase in ethnic tension. Ataka won a surprisingly high nine percent of the national vote in June and continues to fan negative attitudes towards Roma and other minorities. The group’s success has coincided with a series of sometimes violent clashes involving Roma and ethnic Bulgarians. Sensational media coverage and inflammatory comments by

WikiLeaks in court: Two developments

First, today’s the first day alleged WikiLeaker Bradley Manning formally confronted the military justice system outside his high security jail cell.

The second development took place in Britain, where WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange received word he’d been granted an appeal on his challenge of a Swedish extradition request.

Bradley Manning’s first day in court

Manning was brought to Ft. Meade, Maryland, home of the super-secret National Security Agency, for the first round of a legal process that could place him behind bars for life.

The occasion was an Article 32 hearing, the equivalent of a preliminary hearing in a California criminal proceeding, where the defense can challenge evidence to be presented by the prosecution in the subsequent court martial.

From The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington and Matt Williams:

Security was exceptionally – some say bizarrely – tight at the opening on Friday of Manning’s pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade in Maryland. Though a small number of seats in the military courtroom were reserved for members of the public, rigid reporting restrictions remained in place that prevent any live coverage of the proceedings.

The full charge sheet against Manning was released for the first time. It includes a total of 23 counts against the soldier, the most serious of which is that Manning knowingly gave “intelligence to the enemy, though indirect means”.

The idea that WikiLeaks constituted an “enemy”, or a conduit to an enemy of the US state, will in itself be subject of much debate and legal argument. A second charge follows a similar theme, and accuses of Manning of causing information to be published “having knowledge that intelligence published on the internet is accessible to the enemy”.

Read the rest.

The hearing opened with a challenge to the military’s investigative officer by defense attorney David Combs, calling for Lt. Col. Paul Almanza to recuse himself on the grounds that he was blocking the defense from presenting witnesses challenging the military’s claim that the leak of State Department and military documents had caused irreparable harm to national security.

Scott Shane reports for the New York Times:

“All this stuff has been leaked,” Mr. Coombs said. “A year and a half later, where’s the danger? Where’s the harm?”

Colonel Paul Almanza said he did not believe he was biased because he does not currently supervise criminal cases in his job at the Justice Department and his work involves child abuse and obscenity, not national security. But he noted that military rules require him to recuse himself if a “reasonable person” might perceive bias, and he broke off the hearing at midday to consider the matter, with a decision possible Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the crowd of about 50 people in the unadorned courtroom, including reporters and relatives of Private Manning, caught their first glimpse of the soldier, who turns 24 on Saturday and faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

Private Manning, a slight figure in black-rimmed glasses, a crew cut and camouflage uniform, answered routine questions from the investigating officer in a quiet but steady voice. “Yes, sir,” he said, when asked whether he was satisfied with his lawyers.

He is accused of aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act by providing WikiLeaks diplomatic cables, military field reports and war videos. His supporters, who planned demonstrate Friday outside Fort Meade, hail him as a whistleblower who sought to expose wrongdoing.

Read the rest.

Julian Assange wins a round in British court

From Agence France-Presse:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted permission to appeal against extradition from Britain to Sweden over rape allegations and a hearing will start on February 1, a court said Friday.

“The Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal and a hearing has been scheduled for two days, beginning on 1 February 2012,” said a statement from the Supreme Court, the highest court in England.

The decision means Assange will spend a second Christmas at the country mansion of a wealthy supporter in Norfolk, eastern England.

Read the rest.

WikiCable: Military/industrial complex at work

Today, a fascinating cable from Prague laying out a political scandal that involves the U.S. embassy, one of America’s largest defense contractors [General Dynamics], and allegations of corrupt Czech legislators and officials.

In short, it’s a classic illustration of that military/industrial complex Eisenhower warned the nation about in his famous farewell address.

Sent 24 February 2010 and classified SECRET/NOFORN, the dispatch was sent by Charge d’Affaires Mary Thompson-Jones and centers around the sale to the Czech military of armored personnel carriers manufactured by an Austrian subsidiary of General Dynamics.

An excerpt:

Because the Pandur contract was launched by CSSD-led governments in 2003-2006, then canceled and renegotiated by an ODS-led government in 2007-2009, both parties are vulnerable to accusations. Both have firmly denied wrongdoing while trying to shift blame to the other side. Concern about May election fallout was evident in Jiri Paroubek’s initial reaction: “We expect…a prompt investigation with a preliminary report before the elections in May.” Before meeting with Prime Minister Fischer about the case, Paroubek declared in a press release partially entitled, “Corruption is the cancer of this society,” that the investigation should “let the chips fall where they may.”

The document is posted online here.

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ZNY SSSSS ZZH
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INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 PRAGUE 000117
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2020
TAGS: KCOR PGOV EINV EZ AU

SUBJECT: PANDURA’S BOX: CORRUPTION SCANDAL LIFTS THE LID ON CZECH DEFENSE PROCUREMENT

REF: A. PRAGUE 91
B. PRAGUE 57
C. 09 PRAGUE 147
D. 05 PRAGUE 815
E. 04 PRAGUE 747
F. 04 PRAGUE 698

Classified By: Charge d’Affaires Mary Thompson-Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1. (C) Summary: Widespread Czech press reporting of alleged corruption by Czech politicians involved in a billion-dollar contract between General Dynamics’ Austrian subsidiary Steyr and the Czech MoD [Ministry of Defense] for Pandur armored personnel carriers (APCs) is shaking the political scene. One newspaper’s series of front-page stories about the contract and its course from 2003-2009 has now expanded to coverage by most media. With Social Democrats (center-left CSSD) and Civic Democrats (center-right ODS) implicated in the scandal and elections scheduled for May 2010, both major parties are trading accusations while trying to manage the fallout. Party leaders Jiri Paroubek (CSSD) and Mirek Topolanek (ODS) have called for a swift investigation and accused their opponents of the greater responsibility in the affair. Prime Minister Fischer pledged to carefully look into any “dirty dealings”, and the police and state prosecutor’s office have started an investigation. The main focus of the investigation is on the role of Steyr, its lobbyists, and Czech officials; there have been no accusations of malfeasance by General Dynamics. While the details are still unfolding, the episode highlights the susceptibility of Czech government procurement procedures to corruption due to a lack of transparency. End Summary.

————————–
Background of the Contract
————————–

2. (SBU) A CSSD Government Approves the Concept: In late 2003, a center-left CSSD-led government approved a plan to replace Soviet-era vehicles with 240 new APCs. In 2004, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was hired to organize a tender for the contract, a signal that the MoD was seeking greater assurance of transparency (reftel F). A tender for 199 APCs was let in 2005 under the new CSSD-led government of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross. General Dynamic’s Austrian subsidiary, Steyr, entered the APC competition, while its other subsidiary, Swiss firm Mowag, stayed out, allowing General Dynamics and the USG [U.S. government] to advocate for Steyr (reftel E).

3. (U) Another CSSD Government Makes the Deal: Early in 2006, the government of yet another CSSD Prime Minister, Jiri Paroubek, selected Steyr as the winner of the contract for 23.6 billion crowns (USD [dollars] 1B in early 2006). In June 2006, days after national elections, ODS announced it would cancel the tender once it formed the new government. Just before leaving office, then-Minister of Defense Karel Kuehnl (Freedom Union party) drew criticism from ODS for signing the contract with Steyr for 199 APCs, with an option for 35 more.

4. (U) ODS Cancels the Deal and Remakes It: Through the course of 2007, however, the Ministry of Defense under the ODS-led government of PM Mirek Topolanek disputed the quality and timeliness of Steyr’s Pandur deliveries. The government first eliminated the 35-vehicle “option” in May, and then unilaterally canceled the entire contract in December of 2007. General Dynamics lawyers responded by preparing to take the case to international arbitration. Intense negotiation (including USG advocacy for Steyr) followed into early 2008, and the Topolanek government agreed in April 2008 to purchase 107 Pandurs, subject to successful field testing. Finally, in March, 2009, shortly before the fall of the Topolanek government, then-Deputy Minister of Defense Martin Bartak (ODS) signed a revised contract with Steyr for 107 Pandurs at a cost of 14.4 billion crowns (USD 692M at March 2009 rates). The Czech Army received the first 17 Pandurs in September of 2009.

——————-
The Current Scandal
——————-

5. (U) For most of the week of February 14, leading daily Mlada Fronta Dnes’s (MFD) front pages and lead inside coverage have alleged a major bribery scandal in which six percent of Steyr’s Pandur contract was supposedly parceled out as payoffs to CSSD