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Assange Confirms Wikileaks Holds 'Bank of America' Documents
LONDON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday the Swedish women who have accused him of sexual assault had got into a "tizzy" about the possibility they had caught a sexually transmitted disease from him.
Assange told the BBC that one account of what happened in August -- the month at the centre of allegations against him -- was that the two women had panicked when they found out they had both slept with him and went to police who "bamboozled" them.
He insisted he was fighting a Swedish extradition warrant because he believes "no natural justice" would occur in Sweden.
"There are some serious problems with the Swedish prosecution," he said in an interview from the mansion of a wealthy supporter in eastern England where he must stay as part of his bail conditions.
Sweden wants Britain to extradite the 39-year-old Australian to face questioning over allegations from two women that he raped one of them and sexually assaulted the other in Stockholm in August.
Assange claimed that the Swedish authorities had asked that his Swedish lawyer be "gagged", adding that his offers to be interviewed by video link or by Swedish officials in Britain had been rejected.
"I don't need to be at the beck and call of people making allegations," he said.
"I don't need to go back to Sweden. The law says I... have certain rights, and these rights mean that I do not need to speak to random prosecutors around the world who simply want to have a chat, and won't do it in any other standard way."
He said that one account of what occurred in August was that after having discovered they had each had sex with him, they had got into a "tizzy", or a panic, about the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases.
As a result, he said, the women had gone to the police for advice "and then the police jumped in on this and bamboozled the women".
WikiLeaks has enraged Washington by releasing thousands of US diplomatic cables and US Vice President Joe Biden described Assange as a "hi-tech terrorist".
US officials are believed to be considering how to indict Assange for espionage.
In an interview with The Times on Tuesday, Assange compared WikiLeaks' "persecution" to that endured by Jews in the US in the 1950s.
Assange also confirmed that WikiLeaks was holding a vast amount of material about Bank of America which it intends to release early next year.
"We don't want the bank to suffer unless it's called for," Assange told The Times. "But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations," he said, without giving details about the material.
Shares in Bank of America have fallen amid speculation that it was a WikiLeaks target.
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Show AllIn our last Presidential election we were promised TRANSPARENCY. WikiLeaks helps deliver it.
Team Obama has been transparent only after being sued for not being transparent by ACLU and others.
shach said, "In our last Presidential election we were promised TRANSPARENCY. WikiLeaks helps deliver it.'
You mean as in a latex rubber?
Does WikiLeaks deliver docs via latex rubbers? I have been lead to believe they do it via the Internet. In the US that will probably continue to be the medium until the US government starts blocking messages as China does today.
lube? or no lube?
In our last Presidential election we were promised TRANSPARENCY. WikiLeaks helps deliver it.
Wikileaks is a big and dangerous US intelligence Con Job. Its objective is to control all facets of the internet!
Without proof you are either a con artist or provocature or both.
The CIA uses this kind of tool like you are doing... attacking the messenger.
Let' see Assange supports the governments 911 story and he thinks the Bilderberg group is nothing more than a social group of Billionnaries. He is laying the groundwork for the government's justification to take over the internet. He is another Trojan Horse like Obama.
You sound like one who judges everyone on whether or not they believe Loose Change.
I am also annoyed like many progressives by folks who claim I back the "official story" when the documents and whistle blowers show that the Bush Gang not only let it happen but helped it get by before it happened. This is very much an inside job, not the "official story".
But this is ignored by those who just have prewired demolition implanted in the brain, and can't prove one thing about it
because the real truth is the simplest... Bush let it happen and was told it would happen.
Now of course wikileaks will be used and is being used now like we all are.
It is easy for you to judge everyone on the Truther's theories, but there is more to how the world works than that.
Sorry we got off topic a bit here, but at least now you can know that there is more to the story than what you believe.
i like turtles
all the way
While I can well appreciate your paranoia, you won´t get very far in your efforts if you aren´t going to bother to provide some form of substantive support for your statements.
If you WERE a provocateur, then surely your organization can grow brains enough to understand how easy it is to...fake documentation.
At the least, I mean show some effort, anybody can make statements but, as an example, Wikileaks actually provides substance which in and of itself provides all the proof needed.
Whether or not one believes Wikileaks is a con job and Julian Assange either an innocent dupe or part of the con, you have to admit the U.S. now has a way to demonize the information they do not like as " high tech terrorism " and censor and control the net.
Sic em, Julian!
Ever wondered why there is NO PRESS INTERVIEW from any corporate criminal mouthpiece with the women who pretend that Assange raped them while they were having consenual sex?
Gee, with all the hubbub about how important womens rights are, how is it that when Clinton gets a blow job that his happy little on the make for a career sucker deliberately keeps proof of in a closet for months, there is a global feeding frenzy about "that poor woman who willingly blew off the prez" (notice no rape here) but when these sluts for hire claim foul play by an individual that the corporate criminals claim to be a "hi tech terrorist", there is ZERO coverage?
Wise up. Just shoot the enemy wherever found, and be done with it. While you still can, that is.
There aren´t any impartial courts. They are whores to corporate criminals and that is how they got their fake jobs in the first place.
So let me get this straight. The one woman had a STD and possibly gave it to Assange. Then the other woman had sex with him and possibly got it from him. So the second woman possibly got the STD from the first woman. If that's what happened, then Assange is just the middleman (he,he,he!).
Kind of a metaphor for the politics surrounding all this, eh?
Who has proof that any of the three ever tumbled in the sheets with each other ?
The Swedish premier (or whatever he is called) owes Karl Rove favors for helping him get elected and the rape allegations are the story needed to keep Karl happy and help the premier get re-elected.
Has Assange ever denied having sex with both of them?
You mean 'Reinfeldt.' I'm pretty sure Assange would deny having had sex with either Reinfeldt or Rove...
Where did you get it from that one woman had an STD? I didn't get that from anything I heard or read.
I am grateful to Assange and his team for helping to wake up the world's citizens as to what their governments and large corporations are doing! Of course we're only getting the bottom end of what's classified; just imagine what they are doing in their more secretive enterprizes. If we knew this we would be in possession of the knowledge of absolute 'human' evil.
Agence France-Presse sez: "... US Vice President Joe Biden described Assange as a 'hi-tech terrorist'."
***
Hey, Joe, where ya goin' with that propaganda in your hand?
Release of the military and diplomatic documents could be dealt with. But you do NOT go after the banks.
Definitely not! Is the man mad?!
That's getting just a little too close to "The Fed" and other incestuous underpinings of the whole global capitalist monetary and financial system.
I like it "Shares of Bank Amerika have fallen"
If only they and all those 'Banks to big to fail would actually fail', would actually fall.
Call it a Julian's fallout! Ah the dreams the dreams. Keep them dreams a streaming.
Peter, "Call it a Julian's fallout!"
I think you have come up with a name for a new cocktail. Now, what should the ingredients be?
I like my truth 'neat'.
"We don't want the bank to suffer unless it's called for," Assange told The Times.But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations," he said, without giving details about the material.
CALLED FOR?!!!
Responsive way?!
What part of global depression do you not understand, man?
What part of global Ponzi scheme that ripped off ordinary citizens to the tune of TRILLIONS of dollars/euros do you not get, Mr. Assange?
Mr. Assange, do us all a long overdue favor and give us something that we can use to help bring down the thieves that have stolen the livelihoods of millions of people around the world.
Apparently, you already know about the documents' contents so freaking release them already.
These banksters strike the first blow by bringing down all the economies of the Western world catalyzing global austerity programs and you are hesitant over releasing damaging documents about them?!!
In addition, call me crazy for not having high hopes as to any accountability for said banksters.
For example, after Goldman execs were caught red-handed selling "crap" to their clients and then betting against it, nobody even lost their job, so unless the documents are pictures of the CEO with little boys, I'm highly skeptical as to the "real world" consequences of a "responsive" corporate board.
But most importantly, just release the documents.
Another day lost is another day the banksters can use to hide their crimes and continue to steal.
If they're hiding their crimes, they're doing a very poor job of it. Looks quite open and totally indifferent to public wrath to me. What more do you want or need to know about the ongoing theft?
The Fed's obscene funding of Wall Street has already been revealed to the tune of about $9 trillion so far. And that's without even disclosing any specifics of lending from its discount window, around which it continues to draw a dark curtain.
Perhaps the latter is what BoA and others are worried about. Personally, however, I think their concerns are vastly overblown given the lack of any really effective public response to what's already very well known and has been for some time.
It'll be like all the other WikiLeaks revelations, I'm afraid. Yeah. That's horrible! But there's nothing we can do about it. Pass the remote, please.
You must have read Pam Martin's latest at counterpunch.
Guilty as charged.
Didn't BofA stop payments to wikileaks? This would seem to be a threat from Assange to BofA. If he really wanted justice, he'd simply release those documents.
I think the same thing what is the hold up and I don't like the way Assange is using it as a threat...bad move, now he has his personal motives mixed up in what was a political act....I know the personal is political but still this is not a good thing. Second he is releasing all of this to the press first and the press has made him the story-there is not much to these wikileaks or is there? Assange needs to keep out of the story as much as possible-Even though he is not the one making it "personal" He should release it to sites like this and Democracy Now and Real News Network and MotherJones or the Monthly Review or someplace sympathetic at least.
RR
"We don't want the bank to suffer unless it's called for," Assange told The Times.But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations,"
B of A needs to suffer. The Attorney General of Arizona is suing B of A for mortgage fraud as of today. (from CNN)
Mr. Mastecard is nothing but a stooge for Wall Street and banks like BOA that we are told " are too big to fail ". Yeah, just like the Titanic was " unsinklable"! The epitome of hypocrisy! By calling Assange a " high tech terrorist " when he condones high tech terror and killing innocents every day! Hey Biden why don't you tell the truth for once: THE REAL HIGH TECH TERRORISTS ARE CALLED DRONES!
As the new world order and its global stasi try to strangle the world with fear and character assassinations using its suspicious activity regiments,, all for the purpose of acting the hero and saving us from terrorism,,,
Its Wikileaks and the freedom of speech that will end up the world hero as we realize how desperate the New World Order wants to control every aspect of freedom from warrant less surveillance , finance, and freedom of speech.
Its ok for the stasi to fuck with your life, and act like terrorists, but when the people fight back and expose them for the criminals that they are, they run screaming like little babies about to be taken of the teat.
WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF, IF THEY ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG THEY HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.
SOUNDS HAUNTINGLY FAMILIAR , AND I LOVE USING IT ON THE ELITE.
That's just ridiculous! Now pee in this cup to get a job.
all we the people want for christmas is more leak!
wait, keep the criminals hanging high and dry in anticipation of looming exposure. that's another way to make the scrooge class' holiday nice and cozy.
The rape charges are, I suspect, the only way the feds could smear him enough to make people doubt his honesty. I've seen the results, here, even, amongst some of the posters, who INSIST that he MUST be guilty, because women NEVER make false claims. So much for innocent UNTIL PROVEN guilty.
Secondly, why, when it's clear that laws have been broken by those exposed by these leaks, are the actual perpetrators of those crimes NEVER the focus of things, it's always the leaks themselves? We now have evidence of illegalities, but no one is demanding justice, here. They just want the man who gave them the info to be jailed, raped, or killed. What about the ACTUAL CRIMES INVOLVED??? Why NO prosecutions over that?
Thirdly, you can't go around jailing those who tell you what rotten, illegal, immoral or unethical things that your gov't is doing in YOUR name, and with YOU money. You don't jail the accuser, you jail the ones who COMMITTED THE FREAKING CRIMES.
Fourth, it is NOT a crime to publish these leaks, it's ONLY a crime to have stolen them in the first place. And since Julian Assange didn't do that, they have NO case against him under ANY law that has actually passed constitutional muster. You can't have a free press if you go around jailing every reporter or publisher who pisses you off by showing you to be the crook you are.
Fifth, the press should be embarrassed as hell, the man is doing THEIR job, and wiping the floor with them. They want to complain about it? Then maybe THEY should get their heads out of the Corporate ass and go back to doing what they USED to do, keeping gov't HONEST and the people INFORMED. We haven't had an honest press for nearly 30 years, now, and it's no wonder that papers are losing their asses, they are REFUSING to do actual journalism. Now that someone steps up and DOES their job, they should be shamed into doing the job again. But they won't. Their corporate masters won't LET them.
Finally, the BoA docs NEED to be released. BoA is one of the most crooked, greedy, selfish piece of corporate corruption in the country. I don't want JUST resignations, I want CONVICTIONS. I want to see corporate America go to jail where they DESERVE TO BE. And take Goldman Sachs with them, too. They have been behind EVERY financial problem this country has had for the last 60 years. it's time they get what is REALLY coming to them, and it's NOT another multimillion dollar bonus. Release the docs, and do so NOW.
Perhaps.
But, his guilt or innocence has done nothing to convince anyone about the veracity of the stuff wikileaks has released. Pretty much everyone accepts that the stuff wikileaks releases is real.
And I see little evidence that the rape accusation has done anything to convince people wither way about whether the leaking is acceptable or not. Regardless of the rape allegations, pretty much everyone has made up their mind either way.
I didn't say that their attempted slander WORKED, but it's definitely what they are up to. I think that so many of us EXPECTED there to be a move by those in power that when this came up, we weren't surprised in the least. In fact, I think we would have been really surprised if something HADN'T happened. Which is all the more reason why I am sure it's a fake, planned by those in power to take down the mosquito showing everyone what they are REALLY up to.
The tough talk from biden, clinton, obama and others is their way of preparing a cell for Julian Assange if they ever get their bloody hands on him. We all know what happens to accused terrorists. He will rot in prison, drugged, tortured and broken.
I saw Biden on TV discussing Assange--he makes me sick.
Wikileaks/Assange are now attacking the right target, the corporate/financial Empire --- and its crimes, which have been among bank corporations, the pivotal crime of "looting via negative externality cost dumping schemes of dumping debt bombs" in the past several years.
Economist are the key to dissecting these hidden crimes, and if they don't help expose the banksters with Wikileaks info, then the economists themselves are abiding the criminals:
Modern, that is 'corporate-captured', economics is a fraud.
Just as corporate law is a fraud.
All principled economists need to force the issue of fraudulent negative externality cost dumping on society into public and political conscientiousness --- else they are abetting fraud themselves.
The financial fraud of 2007 to 2009 (often referred to deceitfully by the MSM as the 'financial crisis') was actually a massive new case of looting by means of negative externality cost pumping and dumping.
The minimum negative externality costs of that fraud within only the US during a two year period was over $17 trillion (although some estimates of US plus global negative externality costs are as high as $196 trillion).
During that two year period the GDP of the US was approximately $28 trillion.
That means that the faux profits captured by US banksters caused minimally a US negative externality cost of $17 T, while the US GDP was only $28T --- and of course, even if the entire (much lower) fraudulent profits of the banks were 'clawed back' they would not cover the externality costs imposed by their scam.
Principled economists have an obligation to society to construct and report a GNEP Index (Gross Negative Externality cost Product) to compare with the GDP.
Naturally, the GNEP would contain not only the negative externality costs produced through hidden corporate 'negative externality taxes' on our country by this banking externality scam ($17T), but also including the massive negative externality taxes imposed by weapons merchant corporations in the costs of wars, and by coal/oil/gas corporations in terms of the well understood negative externality cost taxes of global warming.
[Note, since 2007, as shown in the attached link, the 'big play' in negative externality scams have turned from real, traceable products like cigarettes and oil to the more ethereal products like CDOs CDSs and derivatives --- which Warren Buffett aptly called “financial WNDs”
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/print.cgi?sfArticleId=2237 ]
Within any credible definition of defensible political-economics negative externality costs should be taxed on the corporate mal-producers by the political structure (our democratic government) to account for these real, but oft hidden costs. But today, because of the failure of economists to be candid, honest, and integrate negative externality costs into the supposed modern (corporate-dominated) faux science of economics, the private corporate thieves and destroyers are actually applying the greatest tax of all, a 'hidden corporate negative externality tax', on our public government and global society.
It is the prime responsibility of economists themselves to push forward this truth, knowledge, and required solution to the current "Fraud of Modern/Corporate Economics"
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
The only good economists are economists who turn on this Empire and help de-fang it.
"Principled economists have an obligation to society ..."
Unfortunately, principled economists seldom, if ever, last long enough to acknowledge any such obligation, let alone fulfil it. In that respect, they're very much akin to principled legal advisers in the Justice (sic) Department and elsewhere.
RV, I'm afraid you're right.
Best, Alan
Alan,
It is the greatest heist in United States history. The perpetrators knew the majority of the public would never buy it because to them it is inconceivable. Matt Taibi has it completely right - it is not only the banksters and their fellow criminals who are the great vampire squid sucking the life out of the middle and lower classes, but also the government as accomplices allowing this to happen. One only needs to listen to the tacit admission by Senator Dick Durbin that the banks own the Senate. Perhaps that statement ought to be recorded in the history books as a rare admission of guilt. Shock and awe came home.
Since BofA's papers are not "state" papers, there cannot be any use of the "we must have secrecy in government" argument to keep them from the public. So, there's no need to spend time editing and redacting.
Related to the litigation aimed at BofA is the furtherance of a suit against Goldman Sachs which has just allowed RICO charges to be leveled, http://www.benzinga.com/life/politics/10/12/709367/overstock-adds-rico-claim-to-goldman-sachsmerrill
-lynch-suit-ostk
Enron and its accounting was just the tip of a huge iceberg of fraud and mass illegalities swept under the rug by federal government executive branch "regulators" and abetted by the congressional "oversight" committees. The rot and corruption within the executive branch expanded greatly with Bush/Reagan and has continued to a degree that makes what occured during Grant's presidency penny-ante child's play.
Someone asked if a Class Action Suit could be mounted against the federal government regarding its sponsorship of corruption. I think an easier and better approach is to sue all the prime brokers for fraud related to all the illegalities allowed/pushed in order to inflate the housing bubble that invokes RICO, with the Class consisting of all US citizens NOT employed by any of the firms targeted by the suit, with damages sought beginning at $4Trillion, which RICO would triple. Yes, a successful verdict would put the fraudster banksters out-of-business once and for all.
The article mentions "two women had panicked when they found out they had both slept with him" and later, that the women "discovered" they had each had sex with him.
Maybe I've lived a sheltered life, but when I've had sex, it was always quite obvious that I was doing so. There was never any need for "discovery". What's the point of the odd phrasing used in this article?
Dear Bank of America:
it appears that you are actually the SKANK of America and have passed on to the world STDs of epidemic proportions! ( also know as derivatives, robo signings, etc.) and these STDs apparently inflict DEAFNESS onto a lot of your employees and onto your board, along with Giethner, Summers and Bernake.
How will you repsond B of A? By cutting jobs you are also cutting your own throat!
"Honesty is the best policy," is a quaint but forgotten phrase in the world. yet it's so simple and yes, so honest.
In this holiday season, I see a spectre arising and its name is "Marley" and yes, he is walking in chains, but in this story the nations of the world are walking in chains right behind him. Scrooge had an epihany, and so should you.
COME CLEAN B of A, as Wikileaks in all fairness, has given you the opportunity. If you do, come clean, then perhaps Tiny Tim can TRUTHFULLY say, "God bless us everyone."
"Scrooge had an epihany, and so should you."
That only happens in fictional representations of the "True Spirit of Christmas" amongst the community of business interests, and rather quaint representations at that.
The reality is somewhat more faithfully portrayed by Dickens in his narrative of the reaction to Scrooge's death on the floor of The Exchange. They may be persuaded reluctantly to attend the funeral, but they must be fed.