VIDEO: Senator Ludlam asks Minister Carr about Wikileaks and Bradley Manning
Assange no concern of ours, says Carr, The Age, 7 June 13
- The Australian government has washed its hands of Julian Assange as prosecutors at the trial of US soldier Bradley Manning have openly targeted the WikiLeaks publisher as a conspirator engaged in espionage.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr has told a Senate budget estimates committee that the government would make no more representations to the US on Assange’s circumstances because his case “doesn’t affect Australian interests”.
Senator Carr’s declaration that he would not “over-service” Assange’s consular needs came after US military prosecutors left no doubt that they regard the WikiLeaks chief not as a journalist dealing with sources but as a conspirator in the theft of classified information.
US prosecutors made repeated references to Assange this week, alleging at the opening of Private Manning’s trial that the WikiLeaks publisher had directly encouraged and aided the soldier’s massive leaks of classified documents.
Fairfax Media has also learnt that Assange has been prevented by one of the largest banks in the US from making a donation to his own political party…….
Ms Ono honoured Assange with her annual Courage Award for the Arts in New York in February for his “courageous step” in “returning what belongs to the public domain”.
Assange asked that the $25,000 award be sent to the WikiLeaks Party, a separate legal entity to WikiLeaks. However, in April Ms Ono’s office said the Bank of America had refused to wire the money to the party’s account. Her office then paid the award to the US-based Freedom of the Press Foundation, which in turn passed it on to WikiLeaks.
The Bank of America is one of a number of major financial institutions including Visa, American Express, Mastercard and Western Union that since December 2010 have refused to transfer funds to WikiLeaks. Transfers have been allowed to WikiLeaks-related entities, including Assange’s legal defence fund.
WikiLeaks Party president John Shipton said the party had not experienced problems with other financial institutions.
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of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
congrats!! you are officially a video posting newbie! 10 out of 10
could have added the description though…. 🙂
AustralianGreens
Published on 5 Jun 2013
Senator Ludlam asks Minister Carr about Wikileaks, Bradley Manning and his role as a US informant at Senate Budget Estimates 5 June 2013
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