Eric Besson demande que le site WikiLeaks ne soit plus hébergé en France
Le ministre de l'industrie, de l'énergie et de l'économie numérique, Eric Besson. Photo : LeMonde.fr
LE MONDE: Faire interdire la présence de WikiLeaks sur les serveurs français : tel est le souhait du ministre de l'industrie, de l'énergie et de l'économie numérique, Eric Besson, qui a demandé, vendredi 3 décembre, aux autorités compétentes "quelles actions peuvent être entreprises afin que ce site Internet ne soit plus hébergé en France". Eric Besson justifie cette décision en indiquant que le site a "violé" le secret diplomatique en publiant, depuis le 28 novembre, des centaines de documents confidentiels américains en collaboration avec Le Monde et d'autres grands titres de la presse mondiale. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Vendredi 03 Décembre 2010

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'Very Difficult' to Prosecute WikiLeaks Chief
NATIONAL POST: U.S. authorities could face insurmountable legal hurdles if they try to bring criminal charges against Julian Assange, the elusive WikiLeaks chief, even if he sets foot on U.S. soil.

The Justice Department is investigating leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents provided by the whistleblower website to news media and made public on its website.

But three specialists in espionage law said prosecuting someone like Mr. Assange on those charges would require evidence he was not only in contact with representatives of a foreign power but also intended to provide them with secrets.

No such evidence has surfaced, or has even been alleged, in the case of WikiLeaks or Mr. Assange, an Australianborn [sic] former computer hacker who has become an international celebrity.

Mr. Assange, who leads a nomadic existence and cultivates an aura of mystery, left Sweden last month after authorities there said they wanted to interrogate him about allegations of sexual misconduct made by two female acquaintances.

The U.K. newspaper The Independent said on Thursday that British police know his whereabouts but have refrained so far from acting on his arrest warrant. >>> Reuters | Thursday, December 02, 2010

WikiLeaks Goes Off-line After 'Multiple' Attacks
MSNBC: U.S. firm says denial of service attacks on site threatened its nearly 500,000 other clients

WikiLeaks went off-line late Thursday after a U.S. firm providing its domain name system said the controversial website had come under mass denial-of-service attacks.

EveryDNS.net said it had "terminated" its services to WikiLeaks as the attacks and ones expected in the future would "threaten the stability" of the company's services to nearly 500,000 other websites.

WikiLeaks has been continuing to release classified cables sent by U.S. officials, causing huge embarrassment to diplomats and world leaders amid growing outrage and calls for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be prosecuted under the U.S. Espionage Act.

A warrant for his arrest has been issued in Sweden in connection with alleged sexual offenses, which he denies. His lawyers have refuted reports he is hiding from the law at an unknown location in the U.K., saying he is lying low because of threats made against him.

The EveryDNS.net statement came as Amazon.com said such denial of service attacks or political pressure from U.S. officials had not led it to stop hosting WikiLeaks.

Amazon said WikiLeaks had violated its terms of service by publishing the leaked documents as it did not "own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content."

In response to the website going off-line, WikiLeaks sent out a message on social media site Twitter appealing for financial support. >>> msnbc.com staff and news service reports | Friday, December 03, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: WikiLeaks fights to stay online after US company withdraws domain name: Everydns.net says attack against leaks site endangered other customers' service – effectively pushing site off the web >>> Charles Arthur and Josh Halliday | Friday, December 03, 2010

WikiLeaks is back online from Switzerland >>>

Révélations de WikiLeaks: «Les actes d'Assange relèvent de l’espionnage»
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: WASHINGTON | Des sénateurs américains républicains et indépendants ont déposé une proposition de loi pour faciliter les recours juridiques. Ils veulent «rendre illégale la publication des noms d’informateurs des services de renseignement américains».

Dans un communiqué publié jeudi, les auteurs de cette proposition, les républicains John Ensign et Scott Brown et l’indépendant Joe Liebermann, n’ont pas précisé si la nouvelle règle s’appliquerait également aux médias américains traditionnels qui relaient les révélations faites par le site WikiLeaks.

«Julian Assange et ses complices créent pour nos ennemis une liste de coups à porter», a estimé M. Ensign. «WikiLeaks n’est pas un site d’information et Assange n’est pas un journaliste», a-t-il ajouté.

«Nos alliés et sources de renseignement doivent savoir que leurs vies ne seront pas mises en danger par leurs opposants, notre administration doit très clairement dire que révéler leurs identités ne sera pas toléré», a renchéri M. Liebermann, ancien élu démocrate.

Intitulée «bouclier», la nouvelle loi doit ajouter un paragraphe sur la protection de l’identité des informateurs à la loi punissant l’espionnage. >>> AFP | Vendredi 03 Décembre 2010

Pour Jean-Claude Trichet, il n'y a pas de crise de l'euro
LE MONDE: Le président de la Banque centrale européenne, Jean-Claude Trichet, affirme, vendredi 3 décembre, sur RTL, que l'euro est "crédible" et n'est pas "en crise en tant que monnaie", au lendemain du conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE qui a prolongé ses mesures exceptionnelles.

"On a des problèmes d'instabilité financière qui sont dus à une crise budgétaire dans certains pays européens", a-t-il ajouté, en expliquant que la BCE avait décidé jeudi de "continuer à alimenter en liquidités, sur des durées d'une semaine, un mois et trois mois, de manière illimitée, l'économie européenne". >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Vendredi 03 Décembre 2010

WikiLeaks Cables: Gordon Brown an 'Abysmal' Prime Minister
THE GUARDIAN: US wrote off Brown after first year as PM and blamed him for 'post-Blair rudderlessness' which had Labour figures in despair

Gordon Brown at his first press conference as prime minister. WikiLeaks cables reveal the US embassy said he lurched from political disaster to disaster in the role. Photograph: The Guardian
The US embassy in London wrote off Gordon Brown within a year of his arrival in No 10 after concluding that an "abysmal track record" had left him lurching from "political disaster to disaster", according to cables released by WikiLeaks.

In a scathing assessment of the former prime minister, George Bush's last ambassador to London blamed Brown for presiding over a "post-Blair rudderlessness" which prompted senior Labour figures to complain of their despair to the embassy.

The diplomatic cables confirm that Barack Obama's allies were irritated by Brown's intense manner: he interrupted a Thanksgiving call to the current president's ambassador to lobby for a Tobin tax on financial transactions in the face of US opposition. "Prime minister Brown continues to press hard … despite being fully aware of US opposition to the tax," Louis Susman wrote in December last year.

US diplomats monitored the troubled premiership in detail and told Washington about the rules for replacing a Labour leader and Brown's likely successors. Read on and comment >>> Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Britain’s Most Hated Politician – Nick Clegg – Is a Man of Judgment and Courage
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Three decades ago, Norman Tebbit was the most hated man in Britain. In the eyes of his opponents, Tebbit was held to represent everything that was brutal, vicious and disgusting about the Thatcher government.

Thirty years on, British politics has at last produced a comparable villain. It is not David Cameron. Nor, astonishingly, has George Osborne been singled out for special opprobrium, despite his patrician sneer and trust fund. Local government minister Eric Pickles more or less put in a written application for the post of Coalition bully-boy, but remains a nationally popular figure.

Instead nice, gentle Nick Clegg has secured the position of Britain’s most hated man. He has been burnt in effigy by student rioters. Police have told him that he must no longer cycle to work for fear of physical attack. Excrement has been shoved through the letter box of his Sheffield constituency home, from which his family may now have to move for safety reasons.

Nor is that all. Clegg’s decision last May to join forces with Cameron is starting to look to some like an historic mistake. Inside the House of Commons, a division is beginning to open between Coalition Lib Dems and the back benches. To those with a sense of history this is very dangerous indeed – because this is exactly what happened the last time the Conservative Party and the Liberals entered a grand coalition, at the end of the First World War. By 1922, David Lloyd George had become a leader without a party, and the Liberals were fatally split.

History may be repeating itself. Lib Dem ministers love being in office, but appear remote as a result. On the back benches there is deep unhappiness and everywhere a chronic lack of conviction, epitomised by the astonishing inability of Vince Cable to state which way he will vote on government proposals to raise tuition fees to £9,000, a measure for which he is personally responsible. >>> Peter Oborne | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Firms Should Make Workplaces ‘Gay Friendly’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A raft of new schemes will be aimed at promoting equality for homosexuals, such as recruiting more openly gay candidates to become MPs and making workplaces “gay-friendly”.

The Coalition's Equailty Strategy said many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) people still faced discrimination and even violence.

“Attitudes are changing,” the strategy said. “But the sad reality remains that too many people are victims of discrimination and hate crime in the UK today.”

Ministers are in talks with campaigners and faith leaders over plans to allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnerships in churches, and other places of worship. >>> Tim Ross, Social Affairs Editor | Thursday, December 02, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain embraces 'positive action' to abolish workplace discrimination: Employers will be able to reject male job applicants in favour of women who are no better qualified under new laws to promote equality at work. >>> Christopher Hope and Tim Ross | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Image: Google Images
Birds Becoming Gay Because Of Mercury
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Birds are being turned gay because there is too much mercury in their diet, scientists have revealed.

Researchers in Florida and Sri Lanka studied the effect of the metal in white ibises' diets to find out why breeding was down.

They found the higher the dose of mercury in the wading birds' food pellets, the more likely a male bird was to pair with another male.

Dr Peter Frederick from the University of Florida, who led the study, said: "We knew mercury could depress their testosterone levels but we didn't expect this.

"We're seeing very large reproductive effects at very low concentrations of mercury so we really need to be paying more attention to this." >>> | Thursday, December 01, 2010

Berlusconi, l'ambassadeur de Poutine
Vladimir Poutine et Silvio Berlusconi le 18 avril 2008. Photo : LeMonde.fr
LE MONDE: Entre Vladimir Poutine et Silvio Berlusconi, amitié et intérêts commerciaux se confondent pour former un mélange explosif, qui perturbe l'agenda américain. Tel est le fil directeur de plusieurs télégrammes diplomatiques, obtenus par WikiLeaks et étudiés par Le Monde, consacrés aux liens entre l'Italie et la Russie. Des télégrammes qui trahissent une profonde irritation envers le chef du gouvernement italien, suspecté à demi-mots et sans preuve claire de favoriser ses propres intérêts dans les contrats gaziers passés entre les deux pays.

La relation personnelle entre les deux hommes a notamment frappé les Américains au moment de la guerre éclair d'août 2008 entre la Géorgie et la Russie. "Berlusconi a parlé à Poutine chaque jour, pendant une semaine", souligne l'ambassade à Rome, le 26 janvier 2009. Résultat : M. Berlusconi a justifié la poussée militaire russe sur le territoire géorgien par la nécessité d'éviter un bain de sang par Tbilissi, présenté comme l'agresseur. "Berlusconi admire le style de gouvernement macho, décidé et autoritaire de Poutine, qu'il croit correspondre au sien", écrit l'ambassade. Selon une source dans le cabinet du premier ministre italien, leurs rencontres fréquentes sont égayées par "des échanges de cadeaux fastueux".

La famille Poutine passe aussi de longs séjours dans la villa de Silvio Berlusconi en Sardaigne, aux frais de ce dernier, rappelle l'ambassade à Moscou, le 20 mai 2009. "Sur les sujets majeurs, il semble que les relations économiques russo-italiennes soient dirigées par les premiers ministres qui disposent d'un lien direct l'un vers l'autre ainsi que du contrôle de certaines des plus grandes ressources de leurs économies respectives, souligne l'ambassade à Moscou, le 5 février 2010. Quelles que soient les façons dont ils utilisent ces ressources, il est probable qu'ils ne le font pas uniquement sur la base de calculs de rentabilité et de commerce." >>> Piotr Smolar | Jeudi 02 Décembre 2010

Wikileaks-Enthüllungen: Westerwelles Büroleiter war Informant
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Die FDP hat ihren Mitarbeiter ausfindig gemacht, der die amerikanische Botschaft während der Koalitionsverhandlungen mit vertraulichen Informationen versorgt hat. Nach F.A.Z.-Informationen handelt es sich um den Büroleiter Guido Westerwelles, Helmut Metzner.

Fünf Tage immerhin hat die Suche in der FDP-Parteizentrale gedauert, dann war nach hausinternen Befragungen der Mitarbeiter ausfindig gemacht worden, der die amerikanische Botschaft während der Koalitionsverhandlungen mit Dokumenten und vertraulichen Informationen versorgt haben soll. Es handelt sich um den derzeitigen Leiter des Büros des FDP-Bundesvorsitzenden Guido Westerwelle, Helmut Metzner.

Der 41 Jahre alte Geschichtswissenschaftler arbeitete seit 2004 als Abteilungsleiter Strategie und Kampagnen in der Bundesgeschäftsstelle der FDP. Als solcher hatte er Zugang zu vertraulichen Sitzungen und vertraulichen Unterlagen der FDP-Führung.

Nach der Bundestagswahl beförderte Westerwelle seinen bisherigen Büroleiter Martin Biesel zum Staatssekretär im Auswärtigen Amt. Metzner wurde nach einer Übergangszeit Büroleiter des Parteivorsitzenden Westerwelle in der FDP-Zentrale. In dieser Funktion nahm er bis jetzt auch weiterhin an Sitzungen des FDP-Präsidiums teil. >>> Von Peter Carstens, Berlin | Donnerstag, 02. Dezember 2010

Nigeria vs. Dick Cheney
Korruptionsvorwürfe gegen früheren US-Vizepräsidenten
Dick Cheney, Aufnahme vom Mai 2009. Bild: NZZ Online
NZZ ONLINE: Wegen Korruption will Nigeria Anklage gegen den früheren US-Vizepräsidenten Dick Cheney erheben. Als Chef des Erdölkonzerns Halliburton soll er selbst in die Bestechung nigerianischer Beamter involviert gewesen sein.

Wie ein Sprecher der nigerianischen Anti-Korruptionsbehörde, Femi Babafemi, am Donnerstag mitteilte, soll die offizielle Anklageschrift Anfang nächster Woche vorliegen. Die Vorwürfe beträfen Schmiergeldzahlungen im Zusammenhang mit dem Bau einer Flüssiggasanlage durch den US-Energiekonzern Halliburton im Süden Nigerias. Insgesamt sollen zwischen 1995 und 2005 Schiergelder [sic] von 182 Millionen Dollar geflossen sein. >>> afp | Donnerstag, 02. Dezember 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nigeria 'to charge Dick Cheney': Nigeria is to charge Dick Cheney, the former US Vice-President, over a bribery scandal that involves a former subsidiary of energy firm Halliburton. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Thursday, December 02, 2010

'A Funny Little Guy' Accused of Leaking U.S. Documents
NATIONAL POST: Son of a broken marriage between American father and a Welsh mother, the young Bradley Manning was teased for being a geek and gay.

In light of this, his choice of the U.S. military as a career seems unlikely but it appears he was attracted by the chance to expand his computer expertise. It was also a way of getting the army to pay for college.

Today, he's accused of being the man behind the WikiLeaks furor, a disgruntled squaddie in Iraq who downloaded thousands of sensitive U.S. documents and handed them over to the whistleblowing website.

"He was a funny little character, really on the ball, a really bright kid. [He] loved computers, absolutely loved them," said James Kirkpatrick, who knew him at school in Harverfordwest [sic], Wales, his mother's hometown to which she returned after her divorce.

"Obviously the Army there has got very good technology and good training for computers so I can see why he may have joined it but you never would have expected him to do so," he told the BBC.

But Private First Class Manning, now 23, had a trigger-hair temper and would slam books on the desk in rage if fellow students didn't pay attention.

"It was probably the worst experience anyone could go through," said Rowan John, a former classmate who was openly gay, according to The New York Times. "Being different like me, or Bradley, in the middle of nowhere is like going back in time to the Dark Ages." >>> Araminta Wordsworth, National Post news services | Thursday, December 02, 2010

WikiLeaks: 'Brilliant' Duke of York Is Defended by Amanda Staveley
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Duke of York is defended by Amanda Staveley, his former girlfriend, after his private conversations were reported by WikiLeaks.

Few, if any, of the Duke of York's inner circle were more appalled to see a report of his private conversation, witnessed by an American diplomat, splashed all over the WikiLeaks website than Amanda Staveley.

Of the remarks he allegedly made, as Britain's special representative for trade and industry, Miss Staveley, once touted as a future wife for the Duke, says they don't ring true.

"Publishing classified documents is irresponsible at the best of times," says Miss Staveley, the boss of PCP Capital Partners in the UAE. "To do so during a time of global financial frailty and heightened unrest in certain parts of the world is the height of folly. >>> Tim Walker | Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Related:

Chelsea Barracks: The Deal-maker >>>

Amanda Staveley Finds that Islam Moves Closer to Her Heart >>>

WikiLeaks: France Has Not Integrated Its Minorities
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France has not done enough to integrate its ethnic and religious minorities and needs to give Muslims a place in mainstream society, U.S. diplomats said in leaked cables published on Wednesday by a French newspaper.

Vehicles and buildings were torched in 2005 by youths in largely immigrant areas who began rampaging after two of their peers were electrocuted at a power substation while hiding from police they feared were chasing them. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Comments in diplomatic cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks and published by the daily Le Monde show frustration over France's record in assimilating minority groups and highlight concerns the problem could be deepening.

"France not only has a problem with integration or immigration; it also needs to act to give Muslims a sense of French identity," the U.S. embassy in Paris said in a secret diplomatic cable to Washington dated Aug. 17, 2005.

The comments foreshadowed a wave of violent clashes in December that year between youths, many of them second-generation immigrants, and police in the gritty suburban housing projects that ring major French cities.

Television footage of burning cars and rioting youths was beamed around the world, casting a spotlight on tension between the French government and descendants of immigrant groups, many of whom belonged to France's 5-million-strong Muslim community.

"The real problem is the failure of white Christian France to view its dark-skinned and Muslim compatriots as citizens in their own right," the U.S. embassy told Washington in a cable dated Nov. 9, 2005. Craig Stapleton was U.S. ambassador to France under the administration of President George W. Bush. >>> | Wednesday, December 01, 2010

One estimate puts Putin's personal fortune at £25 billion. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
WikiLeaks: Putin's 'Secret Billions'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, has secret “illicit” assets hidden outside his country, according to allegations contained in reports from Condoleezza Rice, the former US secretary of state, disclosed in the latest batch of Wikileaks cables.

Ms Rice said she had been told by opposition figures in Russia that Mr Putin had attempted to engineer a safe transition when he stepped down as president in 2008 because he wanted to avoid “law enforcement investigations”.

The cable recorded a conversation between David Kramar, then the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Eurasian affairs, and an unidentified opposition leader during a visit to Washington.

Mr Kramar was told that Mr Putin was “nervously seeking to secure his future immunity from potential law enforcement investigations into his alleged illicit proceeds”.

The most likely candidate to take over from him was Sergei Ivanov, a charming, polyglot former KGB officer, who had experience of dealing with the west.

However, the eventual successor, and incumbent, was Dmitry Medvedev, who was described in other leaked cables as the “Robin to Putin’s Batman”.

Cables linked Mr Putin’s wealth to a “secretive Swiss-based oil trading firm” called Gunvor. >>> Andy Bloxham | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Introduction to Gunvor >>>

Wiki >>>

Wikileaks cables reveal allegations of corrupt financial links between Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Photograph: The Guardian
WikiLeaks Cables: Berlusconi 'Profited from Secret Deals' with Putin
THE GUARDIAN: Russian PM allegedly promised Italian leader a cut of energy contracts, leaked US dispatches say

US diplomats have reported startling suspicions that Silvio Berlusconi could be "profiting personally and handsomely" from secret deals with the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, according to cables released by WikiLeaks.

Exasperated by Berlusconi's pro-Russian behaviour, American embassy staff detail allegations circulating in Rome that the Italian leader has been promised a cut of huge energy contracts.

The two men are known to be personally close, but this is the first time allegations of a financial link have surfaced.

Hillary Clinton's state department in Washington sent a special request to the Rome embassy this year, asking for extra intelligence-gathering on the allegations about the men: "What personal investments, if any, do they have that might drive their foreign or economic policies?".

References to Berlusconi's "financially enriching relationship" originated both from members of his own political party and from the hostile government of Georgia, according to the leaked cables. >>> Rob Evans, Luke Harding and John Hooper | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Muslim Brotherhood Withdraws from Egyptian Elections
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Muslim Brotherhood and a secular party both withdrew on Wednesday from Egypt's election after a crushing first-round defeat by the president's ruling party in a poll marred by alleged fraud and violence.

The move left barely any opposition contesting the second round of the parliamentary poll and dealt another blow to the credibility of the vote after Egypt came in for heavy criticism from its US ally and human rights groups.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which won 20 per cent of seats at the last election in 2005 but failed to secure a single one in last Sunday's ballot, said it will boycott a run-off on December 5.

An official announcement was expected later in the day. >>> | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Steigende Nervosität in Italien
Risikoprämien auf Rekordhöhe
Demonstranten gehen gegen die Sparpläne der Regierung auf die Strasse. Bild: NZZ Online
NZZ ONLINE: In Rom wird befürchtet, dass auch noch Italien ins Visier der Spekulation geraten könnte, obschon es besser als Portugal, Irland, Griechenland und Spanien dastehe. Die Risikoprämien für Italiens Staatsanleihen haben neue Rekordhöhen erreicht.

In italienischen Regierungskreisen wird zunehmend befürchtet, dass auch Italien vom Virus der Euro-Krise infiziert und von der internationalen Spekulation attackiert werden könnte. Mit Sorge werden etwa neuste Berichte registriert, laut denen der Wirtschaftsnobelpreisträger Krugman wie auch der Goldman-Sachs-Präsident O'Neill ausdrücklich auf dieses Risiko hingewiesen haben sollen. >>> Nikos Tzermias, Rom | Donnerstag, 02. Dezember 2010

Assange's Mother Doesn't Want Son to Be 'Hunted Down and Jailed'
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says she doesn't want her son to be "hunted down and jailed", after international police organisation Interpol issued an arrest request this morning.

The Australian was added to the organisation's "wanted" list for alleged sex crimes committed in Sweden this year as his activist website continued its US diplomatic cables leaks.

Christine Assange, who lives on the Sunshine Coast, told ABC Radio she was "very distressed" about the news.

"He's my son and I love him and obviously I don't want him hunted down and jailed.

"I'm reacting as any mother would - I'm distressed," she said, adding that "a lot of stuff that's written about me and Julian is untrue" when asked about whether she had moved to Queensland from Melbourne to escape media attention.

Mr Assange is suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion, after an investigation by Swedish prosecutors into his encounters with two women in Sweden in August.

The arrest request, called a "Red Notice", is "not an international arrest warrant" but means Mr Assange could be arrested and extradited to Sweden from any country if local authorities act on it.

"Many of Interpol's member countries consider a Red Notice to be a valid request for provisional arrest," Interpol said on its website.

Mr Assange, 39, is contesting the warrant in a Swedish appeals court.

He has denied the accusations, with his British lawyer Mark Stephens saying last month that they were "false and without basis". >>> Glenda Kwek | Wednesday, December 01, 2010

lePARISIEN.fr: WikiLeaks : la mère de Julian Assange prend la défense de son fils – Le fondateur de WikiLeaks ne cause pas seulement des tracas aux dirigeants et diplomates de la plupart des pays du monde. Son sort inquiète aussi sa maman. La mère de l'Australien Julian Assange, sous le coup d'un ordre d'arrestation émis par la Suède, a en effet imploré mercredi qu'on ne «pourchasse» pas son fils. >>> | Mercredi 01 Decembre 2010

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange's Mum Defends Her Son
HERALD SUN: WIKILEAKS editor-in-chief Julian Assange might be unpopular with the US and its allies, but he's still mummy's little boy.

Mr Assange's mother, Christine, who doesn't even own a computer and has been keeping up with her son's exploits through the media, said her son was a "seeker of truth".

Ms Assange, who bought Julian his first computer at age 13, said her son had been a curious child, raised to believe evil flourished when good men did nothing.

"Whether you agree with what Julian does or not, living by what you believe in and standing up for something is a good thing," she said.

"He sees what he's doing as doing a good thing in the world, fighting baddies, if you like."

But she conceded she feared her 39-year-old son had "gotten too smart for himself".

"Of course, I'm his mother, he's my little boy," she said.

"I'm just a normal mother. Whatever a normal mother would feel is what I would feel about all of it.

"I'm concerned it's gotten too big and the forces that he's challenging are too big." >>> Kristen Shorten | Thursday, December 02, 2010