The Week: Most Recent foreign-relations

Are Julian Assange and WikiLeaks really the victims of a witch hunt?

The Week — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 09:50:00 -0400

On Sunday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made his first public appearance since seeking refuge — and subsequently scoring asylum — in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Appearing at an open window on the embassy's ground floor, Assange thanked "courageous" Ecuador, accused Britain of wanting to trample the Vienna Convention, and asked President Obama to "do the right thing" — by which Assange meant renouncing the U.S. "witch hunt against WikiLeaks," dissolving "its FBI investigation" of him and his secret-sharing site, and vowing that the U.S. "will not seek to prosecute our...

5 reasons Ecuador is protecting WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

The Week — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 11:34:00 -0400

On Thursday, Ecuador formally granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who's been holed up in Ecuador's London embassy for two months to avoid being extradited to Sweden where he faces sexual assault charges. The decision by Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, angered Sweden, Interpol, and the U.S. — Ecuador's rationale for asylum is Assange's claim that Sweden will send him to the U.S., where he supposedly wouldn't get a fair trial for leaking state secrets. Correa's call also led to a tense standoff between Ecuador and Britain, which says it won't let Assange...

Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum: What will Britain do?

The Week — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:25:00 -0400

Defying British pressure, Ecuador on Thursday granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been hiding in Ecuador's London embassy for two months to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning on sexual assault charges. Britain says it won't allow Assange safe passage out of the country, and made a thinly veiled threat to revoke the Ecuadorean embassy's diplomatic status so the building would no longer be considered foreign territory, allowing British police to storm in and arrest Assange. Ecuador says it would consider such a move a "hostile and intolerable" violation...

Should Ecuador give Julian Assange political asylum?

The Week — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:25:00 -0400

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, seeking asylum in a last-ditch effort to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces charges of rape and sexual molestation. The world-famous secret-spiller is relatively chummy with Ecuador's leftist, anti-U.S. president Rafael Correa, and the South American government is reportedly considering Assange's request. (The Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio reported Wednesday that Assange would be granted asylum within hours.) But Assange's future remains uncertain, as Britain plans to arrest him ...

Julian Assange's talk show debut: A major letdown?

The Week — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:50:00 -0400

Julian Assange, once labeled "the world's most famous whistleblower," is now an aspiring talk-show star. On Tuesday, the founder of WikiLeaks debuted his new talk show The World Tomorrow on RT, Russia's state-controlled news network and website. (Watch the video below.) Because Assange is under house arrest and facing extradition to Sweden on rape and molestation charges, he conducted the interview with his first guest, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, from his British countryside estate via video chat. (Nasrallah spoke from an undisclosed location in Lebanon.) In a press release, Assange...

Wikileaks: Does Bradley Manning deserve a Nobel Peace Prize?

The Week — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:10:00 -0500

Three members of the Icelandic parliament have nominated accused WikiLeaks informant Army Pfc. Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Manning allegedly put 250,000 Department of State diplomatic cables, Department of Defense gun camera videos, and other classified documents onto CD-RWs, and sent them to WikiLeaks, which posted them online for all to see. The Icelandic politicians say Manning, who is being court-martialed for aiding the enemy, did the world a favor by exposing America's "long history of corruption, war crimes, and imperialism." Does Manning really deserve a medal?

Manning...

WikiLeaks: Will a 'gay soldier' defense help Bradley Manning?

The Week — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:05:00 -0500

After 18 months of controversial pre-trial incarceration, alleged WikiLeaker Pfc. Bradley Manning is finally getting to defend himself. A grand jury–like military hearing will determine whether Manning will be court-martialed on 22 counts of aiding the enemy, illegally sharing tens of thousands of classified government secrets, and other alleged crimes. Over the weekend, prosecutors presented evidence, including copies of the leaked files on Manning's laptop, CDs, and memory cards. Manning's defense team argues that the leaks didn't do any real harm. Plus, his lawyers say, the Army should...

Is the 'broke' WikiLeaks worth saving?

The Week — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:30:00 -0400

The video: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is holding a pledge drive of sorts, saying that his trailblazing secret-sharing website will suspend operations by the end of the year if it doesn't get more cash. (Watch Assange's fundraising pitch below.) Assange says WikiLeaks has been living off of its cash reserves since December 2010, when an "arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade" by Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union, and Bank of America cut off 95 percent of its donations. The blocking of online donations through these services, which followed the controversial leak of 250...

Irony alert: Julian Assange's 'draconian' confidentiality demands

The Week — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:00:00 -0400

The story: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made his name exposing U.S. government secrets provided by whistleblowers, but despite his commitment to the free flow of information, he forces his own employees to sign a brutally strict confidentiality agreement. The document, obtained by the British magazine New Statesman, imposes a $20 million penalty on any staffer who leaks his secret-spilling website's unpublished material. The rationale: Anyone who does so without authorization owes WikiLeaks the millions it could have made selling the material to broadcasters and publishers.
The reaction: What...

Is the military 'abusing' Bradley Manning?

The Week — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:43:00 -0400

The Defense Department's treatment of accused WikiLeaks secret-spiller Pfc. Bradley Manning has caused outrage, mostly among liberals, and led to the forced resignation of State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. Now, in an editorial, The New York Times accuses the Obama Pentagon of "treating [Manning] abusively." In fact, his "abuse" at the Marine brig "conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects," The Times says. But are the reports of his detention accurate? And if so, do they really amount to prisoner abuse?

Yes, this is abuse: "Kudos to The New York...

Should the U.S. military be keeping Pfc. Bradley Manning naked?

The Week — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:50:00 -0500

The conditions under which alleged WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning is being jailed have triggered a new outcry, after the former intelligence analyst's lawyer said his client was being forced to sleep nude in his cell. A spokesman at the Marine brig that's holding Manning said the move was "not punitive." Authorities reportedly decided to take away Manning's clothes at night after he joked that he could hang himself with his underwear waistband. Is he being mistreated, or is the military just trying to keep him safe?

What appalling abuse: If Manning is such a danger to himself, says...

Does Bradley Manning deserve the death penalty?

The Week — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:28:00 -0500

The U.S. military has charged alleged WikiLeaks collaborator Pfc. Bradley Manning with 22 new crimes, including one — "aiding the enemy" — that could earn him the death penalty. Though prosecutors are not recommending execution for Manning, a former intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified U.S. documents to the WikiLeaks website, the military judge presiding over the case will make the final decision. Manning is already being held in what some call inhumane conditions (he was reportedly stripped and left naked in his cell for seven hours earlier this week). If Manning...

WikiLeaks: The Movie?

The Week — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:35:00 -0500

Steven Spielberg's studio Dreamworks has bought the screen rights to two books on the notorious WikiLeaks site and its eccentric founder Julian Assange. DreamWorks reportedly wants to make an "investigative thriller" modeled after All The President's Men, recounting the extraordinary leaking of confidential documents on Afghanistan, Iraq, and U.S. diplomatic relations. Here, a quick guide to what could be next year's The Social Network:

Which books will the movie be based on?
Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, written by journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding, and Inside WikiLeaks by Daniel...

Does WikiLeaks deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

The Week — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:52:00 -0500

A Norwegian lawmaker has nominated WikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its release of classified U.S. government documents. "WikiLeaks wants to make governments accountable for their actions and that contributes to peace," says Snorre Valen, the 26-year-old legislator from Norway's Socialist Left Party who nominated the whistleblower website. One leading Nobel-watcher, Kristian Harpsviken of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, says Wikileaks probably isn't a strong candidate for the $1.6 million award. Should it be? (Watch an AP report about the controversy)

WikiLeaks absolutely...

How the NYT dealt with Julian Assange: 6 key takeaways

The Week — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:49:00 -0500

Bill Keller, the editor of The New York Times, has published a detailed account of his newspaper's dealings with WikiLeaks in the past six months. In it, Keller describes his and his reporters' relationship with the website's "elusive, manipulative and volatile" founder, Julian Assange, and how the newspaper's various exclusives came together. Here, the key takeaways from Keller's piece:

1. Assange: From Peter Pan to Stieg Larsson character
At first, says Keller, Assange seemed a little like the boy who never grew up. Once, when walking with a group of Times and Guardian journalists, Assange "suddenly...

WikiLeaks' next target: Income-tax cheaters?

The Week — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:44:00 -0500

At a press conference Monday, former Swiss bank executive Rudolf Elmer handed WikiLeaks' Julian Assange two discs that he says contain details on more than 2,000 people who evaded income taxes, legally or otherwise, through offshore banking. The list includes about 40 politicians and "pillars of society" from Europe, Asia, and the U.S., says Elmer, who ran the Cayman Islands operations of Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years before being fired. Elmer says the leak should help "educate" non-bankers about how stacked the system is toward the wealthy. Is that a good use of WikiLeaks? (Watch an AP...