Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 2194 web sites:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27007.htm
- - -
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/biden-no-substantive-damage-wikileaks/
No 'substantive' damage from Wikileaks, Biden admits
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, December 16th, 2010 -- 7:54 pm
WASHINGTON - US Vice President Joe Biden says there has been no
"substantive" damage to US foreign policy from the WikiLeaks drama, despite
embarrassment caused by thousands of leaked diplomatic cables.
Biden commented on the fallout from the WikiLeaks campaign in an MSNBC
interview broadcast on Thursday and recorded a day earlier at the United
Nations, where he chaired a Security Council meeting on Iraq.
"I don't think there is any substantive damage, no," Biden said, when asked
about the WikiLeaks revelations.
"Some of the cables that are coming out here and around the world are
embarrassing," Biden said.
"But nothing that I am aware of that goes to the essence of the relationship
that will allow another nation to say 'they lied to me, we don't trust them,
they really are not dealing fairly with us'."
Last Saturday, President Barack Obama offered his strongest condemnation yet
of that he called a "deplorable" WikiLeaks document dump, in a call to
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Biden's interview was broadcast as WikLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed to
clear his name of allegations of sexual assault after he was freed on bail
by a London court.
Top Obama administration officials have declined to comment on the court's
decision.
- - -
From: "Joseph Maizlish" <goodwork@igc.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: Naomi Wolf gets it right..., Red Cross Report
Ed,
Excellent to give us Wolf's piece.
It is easy to imagine that the U.S. manipulations attempting to increase
Assange's woes right now involve exactly the threats and pressures the
revealed cables show the U.S. has been using in its imperial diplomacy
(or thuggery, to be more accurate).
-- Joe
***
http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2010/000338.html
Corporate and Congressional Disasters
By Robert Weissman
Corp-Focus: December 14, 2010
Corporate crime and wrongdoing is an everyday fact of life in the United
States and around the world. Still, the last year has been remarkable for a
series of high-profile, deadly corporate disasters: the BP Deepwater Horizon
catastrophe that killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of oil
into the Gulf of Mexico, the deadly explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch
mine, and unintended acceleration of Toyota cars.
You might think that these disasters, singly and together, would impel
desperately needed legislative reform. You might think that, but if you did,
you would be wrong.
Despite blanket TV and newspaper coverage of the corporate wrongdoing in
each case, despite deep public outrage and fear, despite public clamor for
action to prevent the same things from happening, Congress has done .
exactly nothing.
And the situation is about to get worse.
To be fair, the House of Representatives in each instance took at least some
action, and might have done more if things looked better in the Senate. But
Senate Republicans -- sometimes with Democratic allies -- acting on behalf
of corporate patrons have blocked reform efforts. There's still a small
chance of overcoming the corporate blockade, but with the lame duck session
winding down, the window of opportunity is closing fast.
* For much of the summer, the nation was transfixed by underwater video
feeds of the BP oil gusher. Less visually grabbing was the gusher of
evidence of the recklessness of BP and its corporate partners. This was not
a disaster that could reasonably be considered an "accident."
The House of Representatives responded by passing legislation that would
remove the $75 million liability cap for oil damages -- an invitation to
corporate irresponsibility -- remove an exemption from environmental
analysis for projects like Deepwater Horizon, and bar companies with poor
safety and environmental records from receiving new offshore drilling
leases. But oil industry-allied Senators prevented passage of the bill.
(Take action: http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3946 )
* The explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 miners, and served as
yet another reminder of the failure of existing law to protect America's
workers. It also introduced the country to a caricature of a heartless CEO,
Massey Energy's Don Blankenship.
If ever there was a moment for forward progress on workplace health and
safety, it was in the wake of the Massey tragedy. The Robert C. Byrd Mine
Safety and Health Act would modestly increase the size of fines for
endangering workers, make it a felony to cause the death of a worker by
knowingly violating safety rules, protect whistleblowers who call attention
to workplace hazards, and deter employers from delaying resolution of
citations for violations of workplace health and safety rules. But the
business lobby has prevented the bill from moving ahead. A House committee
approved it, but the full House, shamefully, voted down even a stripped down
version of the legislation; and the bill never even received a Senate
committee vote. (Take action: http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3681 )
* Reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota cars broke through in the major
media over a year ago. They were followed by ever more revelations of
problems with Toyota vehicles, disclosures that the car giant had suppressed
consumer complaints, major vehicle recalls, public apologies from Toyota,
and damning indictments of inaction by the National Highway Traffic and
Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 would upgrade NHTSA safety standards,
make more safety information public, and get more funding to the
resource-starved federal auto safety agency. Yet thanks to the auto lobby --
amazingly, including lobbying from the very General Motors in which the U.S.
government (i.e., the public) remains the primary shareholder -- Congress
has failed to make these common-sense responses to the Toyota debacle into
law. (Take action: http://www.citizen.org/motor-vehicle-safety-act )
There's no mystery as to the Congressional failure. It is simply a
reflection of the same corporate power that led to the under-regulation and
under-enforcement that made each of the corporate disasters possible.
Yet the ability of corporations and industries to block remedial regulatory
efforts at the very moment when they are most vulnerable -- due to adverse
publicity and an outraged public's call for action -- speaks to the
extraordinary political power of Big Business.
That power is certain to be enhanced in the incoming Congress.
Most remarkable of all, with evidence all around of the need for stronger
rules to control corporations and protect Americans, the business lobby is
gearing up for a campaign to roll back existing regulations.
Led by the Chamber of Commerce, corporations are ramping up a campaign
claiming that the way to jumpstart the economy is by rolling back
regulations.
Yes, corporations have earned record profits in the past quarter -- U.S.
corporations raked in profits at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion in the
third quarter of 2010.
Yes, it was the failure to regulate Wall Street that cost 8 million jobs and
plunged us into the current recession.
In a world ruled by power not logic, however, facts are not enough to defeat
corporate propaganda and destructive policy agendas.
Doing that will require overcoming public disgust with Washington's
failures. It will also require moving beyond mere outrage with corporate
wrongdoing to organized outrage. As deeply flawed as the policy making
process is, an organized citizenry can still make change for good. It's not
going to come any other way.
Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen, <www.citizen.org>.
(c) Robert Weissman
_______________________________________________
Focus on the Corporation is a regular column by Robert Weissman. Please feel
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outlets. (For-profit outlets, please contact rweissman@citizen.org).
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