WikiLeaks Is Being 'Attacked' By Banks: Founder Assange

[sabra]

Source: CNBC

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told CNBC Friday that he’s being “attacked” by banks in Dubai, Switzerland, the US and the UK.

Assange did not specify what he meant by "attacked."

WikiLeaks reiterated its plans to release information about banks in January, although Assange didn’t specify which "leaks" the website would address. Friday's statement to CNBC marks the first time Assange has mentioned banks in Dubai.

Assange added that it is the "normal business" of WikiLeaks to publish information about banks. He also said that WikiLeaks has a cache of some 250,000 documents and that the site has released fewer than 2,000.

“We have been attacked, primarily, not by government, primarily, in fact, not by the US government, but by banks—banks from Dubai, banks from Switzerland, banks from the United States, banks from the UK, so, yes, of course, we are continuing to release material about banks,” said Assange, who is out on bail from a Swedish court in relation to sexual assault charges.

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/40717933

[fascisthunter]

1. Banks have Commited Coup to America

the bankers are the ones who should be arrested. Talk about irony.

[bobthedrummer]

2. I've heard that WikiLeaks has a lot about Bank of America, I heard that before the heat hit Assange.

Almighty dollar must be defended. K&R

[Poll_Blind]

4. Allegedly 5GB from a Bank of America executive's work computer.

Naming names, describing games.

WikiLeaks had this, IIRC, before they received the diplomatic cables. They do a great deal of vetting of the information and also some information has a "do not use before XXX" request from the leaker. You can dig up more on Google. I think it's likely they have much more and varied information by now.

PB

[Stargazer99]

3. Do Americans give a damn about how banks are

screwing them? I don't hear the anger.

[Poll_Blind]

6. Well, one point worth making is that Americans elect representatives to...

...help protect them. I think the integrity of the Representative institutions in America are in some pretty poor shape. Do Americans give a damn about how the banks are screwing them? I dunno but on this end it comes up in conversations quite a bit- from a teenager I know who was having their first screw-over experience with a bank all the way on up.

PB

[davidthegnome]

7. We probably would

under normal circumstances. Maybe. But then we've been getting screwed by the government and various financial institutions for so long that we're kind of numb to it now.

[benEzra]

12. The media, regulatory authorities, and the Federal Reserve are doing their damndest

to make sure the American people don't know how banks are screwing them.

The Fed---STILL headed by Bush appointee Ben Bernanke---appears to think that its primary purpose is to protect the big banks from the consequences of their illegal actions, even if it requires destroying the dollar to do so. For its part, the media appears to think that its primary purpose is to prop up government and Federal Reserve authority and prestige. And the government is studiously ignoring the outright black-letter mortgage and securities fraud and insider trading.

Personally, I think the primary impetus behind the crusade against Wikileaks isn't the diplomatic cables, it's the stuff they have on the banks. Wikileaks has been leaking stuff about Iraq, Afghanistan, and international diplomacy for years, but Assange announces he has evidence of crimes by a big U.S. bank and suddenly he's arrested and everyone is trying to shut him down.

[IScreamSundays]

5. That will get him killed faster than anything.

All I want for Christmas is The Goldman Sack, and JP Morgan to crash and burn.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Agreed. At least that's what I believe. As corrupt as governments are/can be, nothing...

...can hold a candle to the worldwide banking and credit system. The most disturbing evidence of this is the public bailout of the banks after their toxic derivatives scheme went kablooey.

But back to banks for a quick thought: Governments may deal with shady/criminal organizations but the world wide banking system is an indispensable organelle of any international criminal organization. Obvious disclaimer, not all banks, blah blah blah.

PB

[BOG PERSON]

9. very true

Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.

This will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said.

Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims

[alturn]

10. Banks control society

The financial industry has put its tentacles into every facet of life and extracts a price for doing so. A wild card which could undermine their dark, cancerous control of course is going to attacked when marginalization fails.

"It is not only large financial institutions which are tumbling into bankruptcy, the whole world is becoming bankrupt — mentally and spiritually, said Maitreya’s associate. The world is going through a huge crisis and all the medicines have been tried and failed. Maitreya says that the tumour has got to burst open before the healing can begin, he said."
- World Teacher Maitreya through an associate and as reported by Share International magazine July 1992

[tex-wyo-dem]

14. Excellent post, and welcome to DU!

I agree, the world is in a very bad state right now...largely a result of out-of-control unregulated capitalism. All indications are that big changes are coming in the form of economic and environmental collapse...and it won't be pleasant. The question is: in what direction will socirty and humans turn after it happens?

[glinda]

11. K & R n/t

[defendandprotect]

13. Wondering why they haven't released all they have on banks up to now?

Obviously this pressure is aimed at STOPPING Assange and the leaks --

And it is all despicable -- especially this thing I used to call my government --!!