Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for October 8, 2012
Newsline: Assange attempts to sue Australian PM from Ecuador embassy
Mr Assange has hired lawyers to find a way of suing Prime Minister Julia Gillard for defamation over the claim that WikiLeaks acted illegally in releasing a quarter of a million US diplomatic cables. In an interview from Ecuador’s embassy in London, Assange said Ms Gillard’s comment, made in late 2010, influenced MasterCard Australia to join an online financial blockade of the organisation. Since November 2010, WikiLeaks has released more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables. The White House and the Gillard government denounced the release. ”I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website,” Ms Gillard said several days after WikiLeaks began releasing the cables. ”It’s a grossly irresponsible thing to do, and an illegal thing to do.” Australian activist group GetUp! recently interviewed Assange in his makeshift home inside Ecuador’s embassy. He told GetUp! that WikiLeaks’ work had been stymied by Ms Gillard’s comments. ”MasterCard Australia, in justifying why it has made a blockade preventing any Australian MasterCard holder from donating to WikiLeaks, used that statement by Julia Gillard as justification,” he said. ”We are considering suing for defamation. So I have hired lawyers in Sydney and they are investigating the different ways in which we can sue Gillard over that statement.” GetUp! national director Sam McLean said the interview was the first step in a campaign calling on the Australian government to seek a commitment from American authorities that they will not attempt to extradite Assange over WikiLeaks. ”For too long the Prime Minister and the foreign ministers have put the interests of the US government ahead of Australian citizens. That is not good enough,” Mr McLean said. ”Our government must demand a binding agreement from the US that they will not seek the extradition of this Australian citizen for his work as a journalist and publisher.”
Newsline: US embassy issues alert for Americans in Pakistan
The US embassy in Islamabad has issued a threat alert for Americans in Pakistan, especially in the capital, and asked them to keep a low profile. Xinhua said the embassy drew attention of Americans that the Pakistani interior ministry Sunday issued a general threat alert on possible terrorist attacks in Islamabad. It said the attacks will be against key government installations in Islamabad’s “Red Zone” and on five-star hotels in the city. “The US embassy in Islamabad advises all US citizens to avoid these areas, remain vigilant, keep a low profile, and continue to exercise caution while in Pakistan,” said the message posted on the US embassy website. It was the second alert message issued to Americans in Pakistan in a month. US citizens were earlier warned of possible attacks during protests against an anti-Islam movie made in the US.
http://twocircles.net/2012oct08/us_embassy_issues_alert_americans_pakistan.html
Newsline: Rangoon monks protest in front of Bangladesh embassy
More than 100 Buddhist monks demonstrated in front of the Bangladesh embassy in Rangoon to protest the recent destruction of Buddhist temples and homes in the Cox’s Bazar area. Carrying signs with slogans including “The Earth Is for Everyone, Not Only for Muslims” and “Stop Insulting Buddhism,” the monks were protesting against attacks by Muslim mobs targeting Buddhist temples and homes in neighbouring Bangladesh on Sept. 30. Sectarian tensions flared in Bangladesh between Buddhist and Muslims along the border of Rakhine State and nearly 300 people were arrested following widespread destruction of around one dozen Buddhist temples and around 40 homes in the area of Cox’s Bazar. Buddhists make up less than 1 percent of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, and the two religions usually coexist peacefully, officials said. Some of the Buddhist families displaced by the attacks took shelter at the homes of Muslim neighbors, and on Monday, many Muslim families offered food to the victims, said reports. The violence was apparently set off by anger over a photo of a burned Quran posted on Facebook, allegedly by a Buddhist who lived in the area. About 300 Buddhist monks in Bangkok staged a similar protest on Wednesday outside the regional office of the United Nations.
Newsline: German embassy expects response to Azerbaijan’s protest
German embassy in Baku expects the reaction of the German Foreign Ministry to the note of protest from Azerbaijan over the statement of German ambassador in Armenia. The statement came from sources in the German embassy in Azerbaijan. “As soon as the German Foreign Ministry voices official position, we will inform about it”, sources in the German diplomatic mission said. Earlier, the Azerbaijani embassy in Germany sent a request note to the German Foreign Ministry following the statement of German ambassador Reiner Morel in Yerevan, seen as detrimental to Azerbaijan.
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