Michael Ratner, American attorney for Julian Assange, reports he was in the courtroom and witnessed Manning speak with confidence and intelligence as he detailed the outrages that drove him to upload the documents to Wikileaks:

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Baltimore. And welcome to this week's edition of The Ratner Report with Michael Ratner, who now joins us from New York City.

Michael is president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. He's chair of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. He's also the U.S. attorney for Julian Assange. And he's also a board member of The Real News Network.

Thanks very much for joining us.

MICHAEL RATNER, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: Good to be with you, Paul.

JAY: So you spent a hell of a emotional day at a remarkable trial of Bradley Manning today. What happened?

RATNER: I went down to Fort Meade, and it was an all-day affair. Bradley Manning was in the courtroom. Most of the press goes to a theater room, but a few of us—I'm not press—go into the room with Bradley Manning. And it was a special day because it was a day in which Bradley Manning's lawyer and Bradley had decided to plead guilty to certain of the charges, but really lesser included charges, not the top charges of espionage and aiding the enemy and all of that.

But I was devastated by the day emotionally. I was devastated by it. But at the same time, you really saw who Bradley Manning was, what a hero he was, and how when he saw wrong, he basically acted.

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US Media Double Standard--on Uprisings In Syria And Uprisings In...the US
By Russ Baker on Feb 11, 2013
Why is torching a police kiosk an admirable thing in Syria but cause for consternation in the United States? Why is protest again corrupt central power in one country a good thing-and something to be dismissed in another? WhoWhatWhy asks....WhyWhyWhy

Thee "Blood" Items You Probably Have In Your House Right Now
By Our Roving Correspondent on Feb 9, 2013
A few things to unsettle you. Hey! No need to thank us. (Oh, and a few things you can do to settle right back.)

Radioactive Eye Glasses...Silverware...Zippers...Hip Joints...Anyone?
By Karen Charman on Feb 7, 2013
Every ten years or so, the nuclear establishment trots out a proposal to offload some of its so-called low-level waste-radioactive metals, concrete, soil, plastics, and other materials-onto the public. In the past, this idea was met with outrage and was stopped. But as the nation's nuclear garbage pile continues to grow, the pressure to release some of it into commerce-and thus our daily lives-mounts.

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This judge is a Bush appointee and a George Mason law school grad. Surprised? Nah, me neither:

Should the government be able to collect information related to your Internet use without a warrant? According to a U.S. District Court opinion in the case of three WikiLeaks associates, it should.

Judge Liam O’Grady ruled Thursday that the associates had no reasonable expectation of privacy when they used Twitter services, even if the information in question was known only to Twitter and not publicly disclosed. The government is seeking data from their accounts including their devices’ Internet protocol (IP) addresses, which can reveal information about location, and data on people with whom they communicated.

The WikiLeaks associates – Jacob Appelbaum, Birgitta Jonsdottir and Rop Gonggrijp – “voluntarily chose to use Internet technology to communicate with Twitter and thereby consented to whatever disclosures would be necessary to complete their communications,” Judge O’Grady wrote.

Judge O’Grady also denied the trio’s petition to unseal the parts of the government’s secret requests to Twitter and other service providers.

The ruling represents a setback for the WikiLeaks associates, who have not been charged with wrongdoing. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that the government also has made requests to other Internet companies for information on Mr. Appelbaum, a computer developer for a nonprofit that provides free tools that help people maintain their anonymity online.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has failed in his appeal against extradition from the UK to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Two judges at the High Court in London said that a ruling in favor of extradition must be upheld.

Swedish authorities want him to answer accusations of raping one woman and sexually molesting another in Stockholm last year.

Mr. Assange has staunchly denied the allegations and says they are politically motivated.

Once in Sweden, Assange could be extradited to the United States where he would likely face charges that he published classified documents. If convicted, he would likely face the death penalty.

The Guardian reports:

"The decision means Assange could be removed to Sweden within 10 days, though it is more likely that the earliest time he would find himself on Swedish soil would be around 26 November."

"Assange has 14 days to seek leave to appeal to the supreme court if he believes there is a wider issue of "public importance" at stake in the decision. If he is successful in persuading the high court of that, he is likely to remain on conditional bail until a hearing, which is unlikely to take place until next year."

"If he is denied the right to appeal then British law enforcement officers will be responsible for arranging his removal to Sweden within 10 days."

Last month, Assange, an Australian citizen, said WikiLeaks would stop publishing secret cables and devote itself instead to fund-raising because of a financial blockade on payments to the site by U.S. firms Bank of America. Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union.

The blockade began within ten days of the launch of publication of classified diplomatic cables that has been blamed on a "concerted US-based, political attack that included vitriol by senior right wing politicians, including assassination calls against WikiLeaks staff."

In a public statement, Wikileaks said that “The blockade is outside of any accountable, public process. It is without democratic oversight or transparency.”

Assange was nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian parliamentarian who entered the nomination said that "His publication of thousands of secret government documents has helped to promote human rights, democracy and freedom of speech."

"Wikileaks have contributed to the struggle for those very values globally, by exposing (among many other things) corruption, war crimes and torture -- sometimes even conducted by allies of Norway," he said.

Read the court's full judgement here.

Imagine if, for instance, credit card companies decided not to accept payment for books or music they considered treasonous. Do we support those kind of judgments by these monopolies? It's quite a can of worms:

More than six months have passed since Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and others cut WikiLeaks’ purse strings. And if that blockade lasts six more days, the secret-spilling group plans to take its financial fight to the courtroom.

If Visa Europe and MasterCard Europe haven’t re-opened payment WikiLeaks by next Thursday, the group and its payment provider DataCell plan to file a complaint with the E.U. Commission against the two companies as well as the Danish payment processor Teller, according to Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, the Icelandic lawyer for WikiLeaks and DataCell.

“They’re boycotting Datacell and Wikileaks without any objective justification,” says Sveinsson. “This is clearly an abuse of their market dominance.”

[...] The complaint argues that the three payment firms have violated Articles 101 and 102 of the E.U. Treaty, which deal with competition among businesses and forbid the creation of anti-competitive cartels. Article 101 prevents firms from creating partnerships for the purposes of price fixing, and Article 102 forbids firms in a “dominant position” from abusing that position.

Both Visa and MasterCard have claimed that payments to WikiLeaks and DataCell were suspended because they potentially violate the companies’ terms of service. MasterCard has gone as far explaining that it prohibits “customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal.” Visa has stated that it is investigating “the nature of [WikiLeaks] business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules.”

[...] Teller has already completed an investigation into WikiLeaks’ legality, and in January stated in a report to Visa that it could find no proof that WikiLeaks had broken any laws.

To me, the real story on HBGary Federal is the ease with which the security consultancy was hacked and exposed. The company's sinister proposals -- using fake documents to attack enemies of the Chamber of Commerce, outing members of Anonymous, and targeting Glenn Greenwald's career -- seem all the more craven and stark against the incredible incompetence of HBGary executive staff. Peter Bright interviewed members of Anonymous, the hacktivist social network behind WikiLeaks, for Ars Technica:

When Barr told one of those he believed to be an Anonymous ringleader about his forthcoming exposé, the Anonymous response was swift and humiliating. HBGary's servers were broken into, its e-mails pillaged and published to the world, its data destroyed, and its website defaced. As an added bonus, a second site owned and operated by Greg Hoglund, owner of HBGary, was taken offline and the user registration database published.

[...]

Alas, two HBGary Federal employees—CEO Aaron Barr and COO Ted Vera—used passwords that were very simple; each was just six lower case letters and two numbers. Such simple combinations are likely to be found in any respectable rainbow table, and so it was that their passwords were trivially compromised. (Emphasis mine)

That's an Alabama ass-whoopin', and it means we can stop paying hyper-attention to Julian Assange and Bradley Manning. Both are less important, interesting, or consequential than Anonymous. WikiLeaks is not a person; it is a network, and one whose members see themselves as the Alderaan Death Legion of internet freedom. Much more after the jump...

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An attack on WikiLeaks and its supporters (singling out Glenn Greenwald), proposed by data intelligence firms that were recommended to Bank of America by the Department of Justice. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, so far, Anonymous took over the HBGary company site, and released 50,000 of their private emails. I can't wait to see what happens next!

The proposal starts with an overview of WikiLeaks, including some history and employee statistics. From there it moves into a profile of Julian Assange and an organizational chart. The chart lists several people, including volunteers and actual staff.

One of those listed as a volunteer, Salon.com columnist, Glenn Greenwald, was singled out by the proposal. Greenwald, previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York, has been a vocal supporter of Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have given diplomatic cables and other government information to WikiLeaks. He has yet to be charged in the matter.

Greenwald became a household name in December when he reported on the “inhumane conditions” of Bradley Manning’s confinement at the Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia. Since that report, Greenwald has reported on WikiLeaks and Manning several times.

“Glenn was critical in the Amazon to OVH transition,” the proposal says, referencing the hosting switch WikiLeaks was forced to make after political pressure caused Amazon to drop their domain.

Isn't that a hoot? Glenn Greenwald, careerist? (Marcy has more.)

But look at the lengths to which these interests are willing to go. I've said before that the average American, much to his disadvantage, is oblivious to the amount of coercive misinformation that's put out there to mislead us. Even people like us, who pay a lot of attention, are still naive when it comes to the sophistication and range of those methods.

We're a wholly-owned subsidiary of the banksters and their friends. That's why I can't wait to see WikiLeaks unleash the banking documents they have.

From most accounts, Julian Assange as a human being leaves something to be desired. But despite what you hear from most of the U.S. press establishment, as an example of democratic journalism, he's doing just fine:

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has said that the 'hue and cry' caused by revelations of secret US diplomatic cables is a challenge for the internet generation, and added that he would continue to expose "abusive organisations".

Speaking in a recorded message to a public meeting in Melbourne on Friday, Assange said that he is desperately longing to go back to his hometown and urged his Australian supporters to take relevant action.

He further compared WikiLeaks' push for more transparent governance to the civil rights movement of the 1950s, the peace movement of the 1960s, feminism movements and the environmental movement, The Age reports.

"For the internet generation this is our challenge and this is our time. We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state," the paper quoted Assange, as saying.

"The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness. Surely it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and we asserted our rights," he told the free speech rally.

While pro-democracy protesters in Egypt are fighting it out in the streets against armed government thugs, there's another battle taking place in the court of public opinion. For those with a bent toward assuming everything this country does is evil and the same regardless of administration, President Obama has not done enough to support the pro-democracy forces.

But as today's Wikileaks document release shows, the Obama administration's approach to diplomacy and human rights is completely different than the Bush administration. Of course, you should always take these cables with a grain of salt, since they represent the point of view of the writer, but they're still enlightening.

In 2004, Yemen's President Saleh reached out to President Bush via diplomatic channels. This was shortly after Bush's re-election in 2004, the Iraq war was raging away, Afghanistan was languishing, and the term "Islamic extremists" was on the tip of everyone's tongue.

From Embassy Sanaa, December 6, 2004:

President Saleh emphasized his desire to be among the first foreign leaders to personally congratulate President Bush on his reelection, and said he needed to meet with Secretary of State designate Dr. Rice and other newly appointed senior officials to raise new regional developments that can only be discussed "face to face."

[...]

True to form, Saleh launched into a list of what he believes the U.S. owes him. "Where is the money for the Army, and what about my spare (F-5) parts?" Saleh demanded. Ambassador promise to follow up on this matter. (Note: OMC reports difficulties in getting MOD to follow through with the necessary paperwork on parts and equipment in order to spend the 17 million USD in Yemen's FMF account. End Note.)

You might wonder why Yemen's president felt as though he could be so petulant and demanding? I certainly did. The answer seems to be farther down in the cable.

Saleh raised the 28 security detainees, meant to be released in the Ramadan amnesty, who the ROYG has agreed to continue to hold based on USG objections. Saleh told Ambassador that the 28 were arrested under suspicion of AQ membership, having returned to Yemen from Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, but that after investigation there was no evidence they were involved in terrorist acts. "We are waiting for information from you," said Saleh. Ambassador replied that we had already provided all the information currently available. The problem, said Ambassador, is continued ROYG refusal to exchange information. Ambassador reiterated that we have asked repeatedly for the evidence that led the ROYG to conclude these 28 should be released. Surely there must be case files, transcripts of interviews, investigation notes, pressed Ambassador, yet the ROYG maintains it has no information on these suspects.

There's more in there about grey market weapons transactions and the like, but these exchanges seem key. Clearly the Bush administration was trading aid, military funding, and weapons for Yemeni agreement to hold hostages on trumped-up, unprovable charges.

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In this 60 Minutes interview, Steve Kroft was no Stephen Colbert. (The Business Insider said, "Steve Kroft came across like a severe scolding parent, who needs help programming the VCR.") Julian Assange came across as the knowledgeable one:

Kroft: One bank, Bank of America, had its stock go down three to five percent based on a rumor, maybe it's a rumor, maybe you know more about it, that you had the contents of a five gigabyte hard drive belonging to one of its executives. Do you have a five gigabyte hard drive?

Assange: I won't make any comment in relation to that upcoming publication.

Kroft: You're certainly not denying it.

Assange: You know, there'll be a process of elimination if we denied some and admitted others.

Kroft: So it might not be Bank of America and you're just gonna let them squirm until you get ready to…

Assange: I think it's great. We have all these banks squirming, thinking maybe it's them.

Kroft: You seem to enjoy stirring things up.

Assange: When you see abusive organizations suffer the consequences as a result of their abuse, and you see victims elevated, it's, yes, that's a very pleasurable activity to be involved in.

Kroft: I mean you see yourself as a check on the power of the United States and other big countries in the world. And in the process of doing that, you have now become powerful yourself. Who is the check on you?

Assange: It is our sources who choose to provide us with information or not, depending on how they see our actions. It is our donors who choose to give us money or not. This organization cannot survive for even a few months without the ongoing support of the public.