GENEVA: The Swiss Post Office's banking arm said on Monday that it had closed an account set up by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after he gave false information.
"PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement.
"The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Assange had given an undisclosed address in the Swiss city of Geneva as his residence, it added.
WikiLeaks had advertised the Post Finance account details online to "donate directly to the Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks Staff Defence Fund," giving an account name of "Assange Julian Paul, Geneve."
Monday, December 6, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
WikiLeaks gets a new address after being left homeless
نئے ڈومین پر
اب وکی لیکس ڈاٹ سی ایچ
It now has a Swiss domain name, wikileaks.ch, after the American company EveryDNS stopped hosting the website wikileaks.org late Thursday. EveryDNS said cyber attacks on the site threatened the rest of its network.
The new Swiss domain name does not mean that the WikiLeaks website itself has moved to Switzerland. The domain name points to servers based in Sweden, France, and elsewhere.
WikiLeaks uses sites in multiple countries to distribute information and its Swedish server host, Bahnhof, confirmed that the website had been hit by a cyber attack just before it leaked the classified US diplomatic cables.
Since it began releasing the information on Nov 28, WikiLeaks has been the subject of so-called denial of service attacks, where hackers attempt to overwhelm a website with repeated requests for data.
Amazon.com, the Seattle-based online retailer, dropped the site earlier this week from its web hosting platform, according to WikiLeaks. Amazon said that by hosting content for which it does not own or control the rights, WikiLeaks was in breach of its terms of service.
Meanwhile, Britain's four-year military stewardship of the troubled Afghan province of Helmand has been scorned by President Hamid Karzai, top Afghan officials and the United States commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops, according to the latest batch of leaked cables.
The British operation was also criticised for its failure to establish security in the town of Sangin and connect with ordinary Afghans.
The cables further revealed widespread suspicion of high-level corruption in the Afghan government and Iran's growing influence in Afghanistan. Tehran reportedly finances senior politicians and even allegedly trains Taliban militants.
The cables also highlighted the anger among America's allies when they discovered that the US military was charging a 15 per cent handling fee on hundreds of millions of dollars being raised internationally to build up the Afghan army. Agencies
Thursday, December 2, 2010
US ready to work with Nawaz if he wins elections: WikiLeaks
LAHORE: A WikiLeaks cable revealed that the US said it could work with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif provided he won the elections, a private TV channel reported on Thursday. A cable about Pak-US relations said that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani no longer consider India a major threat, as according to them the terrorists straddling the Pak-Afghan border form the main part of threat to the country. The cable said that Pakistan should be stopped from exploiting terrorism and tribesmen as a tool in its foreign policy. “To make the Afghan war a success, the Pakistan government will have to be asked as to the sort of the government acceptable to Islamabad. The militants will exploit either a weak civilian government or a return to military rule that lacks popular legitimacy, so we should help government to complete its full five-year tenure,” the cables quoted the US government. “We can work with Nawaz Sharif only if he wins the next election, but Zardari is our best ally right now, and US interests are best served by preventing another cycle of military rule.” daily times monitor.
US will desert Islamabad after it gets Osama: WikiLeaks
Pakistan has concerns that US will again desert Islamabad after they get Osama Bin Laden due to which Pakistan feels hesitation to fully cooperate with its key ally, WikiLeaks reveals quoting Anne W Patterson.
Anne W Patterson said that the relationship between the two countrues is one of co-dependency they grudgingly admit--Pakistan knows the U.S. cannot afford to walk away; the U.S. knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support.
She said that militants will exploit either weak civilian government or a return to military rule that lacks popular legitimacy, so we should help the Zardari/Gilani government complete its full five-year term in office. We can work with Nawaz Sharif if he wins the next election, but Zardari is our best ally in Pakistan right now, and U.S. interests are best served by preventing another cycle of military rule.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Official Says Wikileaks Greatest Danger: 'Loss of Trust'
By JIM SCIUTTO and LEE FERRAN
Nov. 29, 2010
From unflattering, flippant remarks about foreign leaders to deadly serious security concerns, the massive publication of U.S. diplomatic correspondence by Wikileaks could have one collective and potentially disastrous effect, according to policy officials: the loss of trust in the U.S. government.
"I think the greatest harm ... is the loss of trust that other governments will have in dealing with the United States of America," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told "Good Morning America" today. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange "is putting into danger our foreign policy and perhaps the lives of certain Americans around the world."
Officials in the Obama administration echoed Hoekstra's worries, citing one correspondence in particular that revealed what appeared to be an attempt by Yemeni leaders to mislead their own people -- potentially damaging U.S. relations with a country that has proved a dangerous front in the war on terror.
More than 250,000 documents, some of which were posted online by The New York Times, the U.K.'s Guardian and France's Le Monde Sunday, cover more than 40 years in American diplomacy and are expected to be posted online in full on the Wikileaks website over the next few days, Wikileaks said.
"Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington could not tell a lie," Assange said today. "This document release reveals the contradictions between the U.S.'s public persona, and what it says behind closed doors."
Some of those behind-closed-doors comments were personal slights against foreign leaders. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is mockingly referred to as the "alpha dog" and the Batman to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's Robin. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is called "the emperor with no clothes," and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, a "flabby old chap."
Nov. 29, 2010
From unflattering, flippant remarks about foreign leaders to deadly serious security concerns, the massive publication of U.S. diplomatic correspondence by Wikileaks could have one collective and potentially disastrous effect, according to policy officials: the loss of trust in the U.S. government.
"I think the greatest harm ... is the loss of trust that other governments will have in dealing with the United States of America," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told "Good Morning America" today. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange "is putting into danger our foreign policy and perhaps the lives of certain Americans around the world."
Officials in the Obama administration echoed Hoekstra's worries, citing one correspondence in particular that revealed what appeared to be an attempt by Yemeni leaders to mislead their own people -- potentially damaging U.S. relations with a country that has proved a dangerous front in the war on terror.
More than 250,000 documents, some of which were posted online by The New York Times, the U.K.'s Guardian and France's Le Monde Sunday, cover more than 40 years in American diplomacy and are expected to be posted online in full on the Wikileaks website over the next few days, Wikileaks said.
"Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington could not tell a lie," Assange said today. "This document release reveals the contradictions between the U.S.'s public persona, and what it says behind closed doors."
Some of those behind-closed-doors comments were personal slights against foreign leaders. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is mockingly referred to as the "alpha dog" and the Batman to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's Robin. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is called "the emperor with no clothes," and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, a "flabby old chap."
Pakistan defends nuclear stance revealed by WikiLeaks
ISLAMABAD |
(Reuters) - Pakistan on Monday defended its decision to deny the United States access to a nuclear research reactor after leaked diplomatic cables revealed a U.S. attempt to remove enriched uranium from the facility.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told Reuters that the nuclear reactor in question had been provided by the United States in the 1960s. The Americans, he said, wanted the fuel back because they said it was their property.
"We said no, because it's now our property and we will not return it," Basit said. "This only shows that Pakistan is very sensitive about its nuclear program and would not allow any direct or indirect foreign intrusion."
The United States has been secretly trying to convince Pakistan to allow it to remove the uranium because of fears the nuclear material might be stolen or diverted for use in a nuclear device, the New York Times reported in its coverage of the WikiLeaks release of U.S. embassy cables.
But Pakistan has refused visits from American experts, according to a May 2009 report by former U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson, because "If the local media got word of the fuel removal, 'they would certainly portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons,'" a Pakistani official told her.
Pakistan's nuclear program has been under suspicion since 2004 in part because of leading scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's illegal smuggling ring stretching to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
The revelation is part of a massive dump of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables by the Website WikiLeaks and given to five newspapers: The New York Times, the Guardian in London, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El Pais.
The cables provide candid and at times critical views of foreign leaders as well as sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by U.S. diplomats, according to The New York Times.
Some 220 cables were posted by WikiLeaks on a dedicated page, cablegate.wikileaks.org.
In addition to Washington's concerns over Pakistan's nuclear material, other cables regarding Pakistan revealed:
* Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah speaking scathingly about President Asif Ali Zardari, calling him the greatest obstacle to that country's progress. "When the head is rotten," it quoted the him as saying, ?it affects the whole body."
Zardari's office responded by saying the president regards the king as an "elder brother." "The so-called leaks are no more than an attempt to create misperceptions between two important and brotherly Muslim countries," his spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Reuters.
* In July 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and de facto defense chief, said Zardari was "dirty but not dangerous." Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was "dangerous but not dirty -- this is Pakistan." He said Sharif, who heads the main opposition party to Zardari, could not be trusted to honor his promises.
* A rail link between Iran and Pakistan would be delayed for the foreseeable future because of unrest from Baluch militants in both countries. "The current rail connection, running between Quetta, Pakistan and Zahedan, Iran is in poor condition and has low freight-carrying capacity. Moreover, according to reports it has recently been repeatedly subject to rocket attacks and other disruption by Baluchi tribes."
* Likewise, a natural gas pipeline agreement between Iran and Pakistan, signed with great fanfare earlier this year, is unlikely to bear fruit anytime soon because "the Pakistanis don't have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas."
Sunday, November 28, 2010
US in touch with Pakistan on WikiLeaks
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reaching out to world leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, as part of a damage-control exercise ahead of an imminent release of millions of secret diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks.
US officials warned that the most sensitive of these documents were instructions from Washington to 297 US diplomatic missions about negotiations on issues such as the START treaty or about next steps in Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, Secretary Clinton is calling both President Zardari and the country’s military leaders as the expected leaks concern both.
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