GENEVA -- WikiLeaks' elusive founder, his options dwindling, has turned to Switzerland's credit, postal and Internet infrastructure to keep his online trove of U.S. State Department cables afloat..
Supporters say Julian Assange is considering seeking asylum in Switzerland. He told a Spanish newspaper that he faced "hundreds of death threats," including some targeting his lawyers and children, aside from the pressure he is getting from prosecutors in the U.S. and other countries.
After a number of web companies dropped WikiLeaks, much of the site's traffic was coming through the wikileaks.ch Web address Sunday. The address is controlled by the Swiss Pirate Party, a group that formed two years ago to campaign for freedom of information. The site's main server in France went offline but it remained reachable through a Swedish server.
The site showed Assange had begun seeking donations to an account under his name through the Swiss postal system in Bern, the Swiss capital, while also using a Swiss-Icelandic credit card processing center and other accounts in Iceland and Germany. He lost a major source of revenue when the online payment service provider PayPal cut off the WikiLeaks account over the weekend.
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In an online chat with El Pais in Spain, Assange said the hunt for him was tough. He remains free while his website spews daily embarrassment and potential diplomatic damage to the U.S.
"We have hundreds of specific death threats from U.S. military militants. That is not unusual, and we have become practiced from past experiences at ignoring such threats from Islamic extremists, African kleptocrats and so on," he said.
"Recently the situation has changed with these threats now extending out to our lawyers and my children," he added. "However, it is the specific calls from the elites of U.S. society for our assassination, kidnapping and execution that is more concerning."
Isn't it great to be a citizen of the freest, bestest country in the whole world?
Yes, in this "free country" I'm watching Bill Gates right now exclaiming the beauty of a new Chinese car maker , BYD, that he's investing in with Warren Buffett. Warren alludes to how government and business combine in China, and what a beautiful thing this is...or at least makes this company something to stand in awe of. So, these titans of industry love this totalitarian state to do business in. This company "blows their mind...." They don't mention that in China, they have imprisoned thousands of people, and probably executed Chinese for simply practicing Gulong (or whatever it's called). In China, if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person, you are never heard from again...and possibly your body parts are farmed out on the open market for body parts. They don't mention that Chinese assembly line workers have been committing suicide to protest the harsh working conditions there. No mention of these things by the great philanthropist, Bill Gates. They don't mention that with all of the off shoring of American industry, family life here in America has gone down the drain in many ways and places-leading to poor education results in our nation. And THIS is who Randi puts on the stage in Seattle, AT OUR FUCKING UNION MEETING? And THIS is who is now America's education guru? Kiddies, we are no longer as free as we used to be...
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing, all these free markerteers, who love China. Remember back in the day when they used to hate China? Now that's the society they want to bring here - starting with schools and tests.
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