The Age has now released some of its clutch of US embassy cables after harvesting them for exclusives and is to be applauded for conforming to the Wikileaks “scientific journalism” process. Today, the Australian Federal Police confirm Wikileaks has not breached the Australian criminal code.
The Australian Wikileaks cables reveal a disturbing pattern of snitching by politicians and union leaders, a disgusting collaboration between right wing elements from Australia and the US.
AWU union boss and zionist Paul Howes surfaces as a confidant of the American Embassy [6/13/2008 2:13 08CANBERRA609 Embassy Canberra].
‘When we reminded Paul Howes (protect), head of the right-wing Australian Workers Union, that ALP politicians from the Left, no matter how capable, do not become party leader, he said immediately: “but she votes with the Right.”‘
Gillard is given gold stars by the US for her pro-Israel sycophancy. This cable [6/10/2009 22:19 09CANBERRA545 Embassy Canberra] makes it explicit that Australian leader’s support for the brutal Israeli occupier is of paramount importance to the US.
PRO-ISRAEL
7. (C/NF) Gillard has thrown off the baggage of being from what one analyst called the “notoriously anti-Israel faction” of the ALP. As Acting Prime Minister in late December 2008, Gillard was responsible for negotiating the Government’s position on Israel’s incursion into Gaza. Left-wing ALP MPs, a group to which Gillard used to belong, wanted her to take a harder line against Israel. Instead, she said Hamas had broken the ceasefire first by attacking Israel – a stance welcomed by Israel’s supporters in Australia. MP Michael Danby, one of two Jewish members of Parliament and a strong supporter of Israel, told us that after the Gaza statement he had a new appreciation of Gillard’s leadership within the ALP (ref B). Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem told us that Gillard has gone out of her way to build a relationship with Israel and that she asked him to arrange an early opportunity to visit. He will accompany Gillard and a delegation of Australian officials (including newly-appointed Minister Mark Arbib and Liberal Party heavyweights former Treasurer Peter Costello and Chris Pyne, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) to a meeting of the Australia-Israel Leadership Forum later this month.
The Australian comments on Gillard’s plans for a leadership coup, with Senator Farrell ‘telling US embassy staff in June last year Ms Gillard was trying to knock off Mr Rudd’.
“Don Farrell, the right-wing union powerbroker from South Australia, told us Gillard is ‘campaigning for the leadership’ and at this point is the frontrunner to succeed Rudd, conceding that the Right did not yet have an alternative,” the cable states.
If correct, this means Ms Gillard was eyeing off Mr Rudd’s job before Tony Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as Coalition leader, and before the international climate change talks at Copenhagen had failed and Labor’s carbon pollution reduction scheme was shelved.
At that time, Newspoll had the government ahead by a 10-point two-party-preferred lead over the opposition, and Mr Rudd had a 32-point lead over Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull as preferred prime minister.
…
The cable says several Rudd “confidants have told us that Rudd appreciates Gillard and sees her as a possible PM, but that he wants to avoid anointing her to head off a possible leadership challenge when his poll numbers inevitably sag”.
They said Mark Arbib, the right-wing powerbroker behind the coup, “once told us a similar story, though he stressed Rudd appreciates Gillard’s strengths. However, another Rudd adviser told us that while the PM respects Gillard, his reluctance to share power will lead to a falling out, while Gillard will not want to acquiesce in creating potential rivals.”
The leaked US embassy briefings show Washington took a keen interest in the rise of Ms Gillard, and her migration from Labor’s Socialist Left faction to the party’s centre. The cables note that after the ALP won government in 2007, Ms Gillard sought to alter her left-wing image, particularly in asserting her credentials as a supporter of Israel and the US alliance.
Australian Ex Secretary of Defence, Primary Industries and Energy, Paul Barratt confirms there are two sine qua nons for being in office in Oz – being pro-ANZUS and pro-Israel. To hold Australia’s top job, one must be pro-imperialism, pro-neoliberalism, and pro-apartheid. No left-wingers or humanists need apply! Remember the lesson the US gave Australia when Gough Whitlam, the last left wing ALP leader, who ended conscription for the appalling US war on the people of Vietnam, was summarily dismissed.
Michael Hand helped forge documents used by the media to discredit the Whirtlam government, while his partner Frank Nugan was the conduit for CIA money to the Liberal Party. Millions of dollars flowed to the conservative parties via Nugan Hand.
Shackley played a key role in the security crisis of November 1975, which revolved around the US military base at Pine Gap. Whitlam had threatened that if the US tried to “bounce” his government, he would look at the presence of US bases in Australia.
The lease for Pine Gap was due for renewal in December 1975. On 10 November 1975, the day before Whitlam was sacked, Shackley sent an extraordinary cable from the CIA to ASIO’s director general, threatening to remove ASIO from the British-US intelligence agreement because he considered Whitlam a security threat.
The cable was published by the Financial Review in 1977 and has been widely reprinted. It shows Shackley’s involvement in the security crisis.
Shackley was furious that Whitlam had accused the CIA of funding the opposition conservative parties and had claimed CIA money was being used to influence domestic Australian politics. In particular, Whitlam was asking questions about the close relationship between Richard Stallings, who ran the so-called joint facility at Pine Gap, and National Party leader Doug Anthony.
“The CIA has grave concerns as to where this type of public discussion may lead”, Shackley’s cable said.
In his 1977 speech calling for a royal commission into the activities of the CIA in Australia, Whitlam called Shackley’s cable “a clear example of the attempted deception of the Australian Government by the American intelligence community … The message was offensive in tone, deceitful in intent and sinister in its implications.”
Australia’s lack of integrity is laid bare by Wikileaks. Another cable, 08CANBERRA609 sent on June 13, 2008, reveals Julia Gillard’s speechwriter, Michael Cooney has been a confidential source of information for United States embassy officials in Australia.
All Australian political snitches and sycophants who have dragged Australia through the mud by asserting a prior allegiance for apartheid Israel and US imperialism should resign NOW!
UPDATE
Arbib claims Fairfax got its facts wrong reporting from WikiLeaks cable :
Senator Arbib told The Weekend Australian yesterday that “the unedited cables show that there are serious factual errors in the original story, which is very disappointing”. The Weekend Australian cross-checked the WikiLeaks cable against the Fairfax report and discovered a comment attributed to Senator Arbib in one report was in fact made by Kevin Rudd’s brother, Greg Rudd.
Several other errors have emerged, including misquoting former US ambassador Robert McCallum and claiming former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation was a “blessing in disguise” when the WikiLeaks cable quoted US officials saying it was a “blessing for the government”.
…
The Australian also established from the cables that Ms Gillard’s speechwriter, Michael Cooney, was designated as a “protected source” by the US embassy, just like Senator Arbib and Mr Howes.Mr Howes yesterday said he had “no idea what being a protected source means”.
“I have met with the embassy a few times; I know colleagues have as well. The fact that moderates in the ALP support the US alliance is hardly news,” he said.
OTHER NOTABLE POINTS RE THE AUSTRALIAN/US/ISRAEL ALLIANCE
06CANBERRA1366 9/8/2006 :
Beazley: “The Labor Party, for its part, could be counted on to continue to support the alliance’s core elements of ship visits, the joint facilities, and joint exercises.”
“the Howard government had had full knowledge of the Australian Wheat Board’s violations of the Iraq sanctions regime”
“Rudd had also provided a candid description of where Labor differed from the U.S. approach on certain issues, while reaffirming the leadership’s ironclad commitment to the overall alliance.”
“Australians remained obsessed with the United States, and followed Washington,s every move, perhaps to a fault.”
“In the meantime, the Ambassador told Beazley that he was committed to ensuring Washington had a comprehensive picture of Australian views, which meant those of the Opposition and well as those of the Government.”
“The government, and Foreign Minister Downer in particular, had badly misstated the facts, Beazley charged, when Downer claimed in August of 2004 in Beijing that a conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would not necessarily trigger Australia,s ANZUS obligations to aid the U.S. In the event of a war between the United States and China, Australia would have absolutely no alternative but to line up militarily beside the U.S., Beazley said.”
“Labor supported Australia,s military contributions in Afghanistan, and would continue to do so until Hell freezes over, since Australia,s actions clearly fell under its ANZUS obligations to respond to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Iraq was different, he maintained, and was a terrible mistake because it damaged, rather than strengthened, the overall war on terror. Labor would not commit an act of vandalism, however, if it came to power.”
“David Hicks was a ratbag who had almost certainly been up to nefarious things, and should probably spend a long time in jail, Beazley said.”
“Although the reasons for Mark Latham’s loss to John Howard in 2004 are legion, Labor recognizes that his multiple, embarrassing pronouncements on issues affecting the alliance represented blunders of the first order”
06CANBERRA1574 10/5/2006 :
(Ongoing as I trawl through the Australian cables)
Today’s Wikilinks
HRW – US: Don’t Prosecute WikiLeaks Founder
WikiLeaker Bradley Manning’s Brutal Detention
Julian Assange bail decision made by UK authorities, not Sweden
State Department Bars Employees From Reading Wikileaks on ‘Personal Time’
The evolving Wikileaks website (and its attackers) – Watch Washington try and find something, anything, to get Julian Assange and how many Western states are keen to help them.
The Media Gets It Wrong on WikiLeaks: It’s About Broken Trust, Not Broken Condoms
WikiLeaks cables: Thai leaders doubt suitability of prince to become king
Misuse of the European arrest warrant
Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 2194 sites
U.S. Air Force blocks NYT, Guardian over WikiLeaks
Afghan civilian killed and children hurt in NATO strike
The Costs of War: Afghan Civilian Casualties Spike, says ICRC
Protect Assange, Don’t Abuse Him
2010-12-16: German newspapers call for WikiLeaks protection
How the US could charge Assange
Helping US spy on Fiji in the name of democracy
2010-12-16: Sweden case updates: Bail appeal hearing [Update 1]
TIME picks ‘wrong person’ this year
WikiLeaks’s Assange walks free on bail in London
Congress Hears WikiLeaks Is ‘Fundamentally Different’ From Media
Angry Wikileaks founder Julian Assange back online
Angry Assange back online
Rundle: Assange, the wikikids, a soldier, mum, an Icelandic ice-god … then it starts again
United States Antarctic Program Responds to Wikileaks: You Are Not Allowed to Look at the Classified Information That’s All Over the Internet.
Wikileaks’ Julian Assange tells of ‘smear campaign’
WikiLeaks: Anonymous hierarchy emerges
WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir
India: Official Spokesperson on allegations by Red Cross as per Wikileaks
WikiLeaks: US fears bioweapons from India labs
Sir Tim Berners-Lee on WikiLeaks Vs. Open Government
WikiLeaks cables: Mervyn King plotted banks bailout by four cash-rich nations
US embassy cables: Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya received many death threats, said embassy contact
US embassy cables: Pirate party rides an electoral wave in Sweden
WikiLeaks: CIA torture flights through Shannon
Today’s Australian Wikilinks
WikiLeaks: Fruit of an unhealthy tree (shill for imperialism)
Australian Documentary Makers Sign Petition in Support of Julian Assange and Wikileaks
Let’s start counting; how many Aussie politicians or advisers are leaking to US?
Australia and Canada working together to kill Afghans (and private firms keen to help out)
Greens demand Murdoch hack get a clue and fired
Julia Gillard ‘after top job a year before coup’: WikiLeaks
India and Sri Lanka are our mates (and they cause violence)
I am not a fan of WikiLeaks says Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard
PM must retract “illegal” WikiLeaks claim
Julia Gillard : Australia – Transcript of press conference, 17 december 2010
Balibo five: our secret blacklist
Leaked Cable: Hike Food Prices To Boost GM Crop Approval In Europe
Today’s Palestine / Israel Links
‘The Palestine Cables’: WikiLeaks dox expose Netanyahu’s vision of Palestinian bantustan (I already spotted this from the outset)
Apartheid Israel-style : Law to keep Jews and Arabs apart
GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCLUDES TWO-DAY DEBATE, ADOPTING SIX RESOLUTIONS : ON QUESTION OF PALESTINE, SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST All Texts Adopted by Recorded Vote; Speakers Say Israel’s Intransigence
Harms Peace Effort, United States’ Delegation ‘Disheartened’ by One-Sided Focus (Australia crawls to US and Israel and votes with them and for racism) 30th Nov, 2010
Inside the moral corruption of Israeli society
BDS update: ‘Besiege your siege!’
After protest by Jordan, Israel denies plans to expand East Jerusalem hotel
Muslims criticize handling of Israelis’ stay at D.C. hotel
#BDS: Marrickville Council supports BDS
Adidas, Don’t Help Running Apartheid: Cancel Sponsorship of Jerusalem Marathon!
ISRAEL: Jerusalem Marathon runs into politics
Dissolve The Palestinian Authority
Israel never really wanted peace
The rabbis’ racist letter: many words, little action
The problem with Israel’s Jewish ‘refugee’ initiative
In A Letter Send To Turkish PM; Likud MK Says Israel Should Have Killed All Marmara Passengers
Israeli Military demolishes water wells and cisterns in the South Hebron Hills
Bon Jovi to perform in Israel for first time
Israeli towns continue to rewrite bylaws to keep Arabs out
Israel’s Ayalon: No intention to apologize to Turkey
Open letter from the Jerusalem Palestinian Legislative Council members
Israeli police ravaged Palestinian store in Jerusalem
NGO Monitor’s smear campaign against the Electronic Intifada
The farce of a secular and democratic Jewish state
Blair blasts isolation of Gaza, says doesn’t weaken Hamas
To Motorola: We Don’t Want Your Dirty Phones
The Return of “Plan B” and the Death of the Peace Process
Linkage and its discontents: What WikiLeaks reveals about Israel-Palestine
Israel, anti-Semitism and the black humour of hypocrisy
Israel Doesn’t Need the West Bank To Be Secure – Martin van Creveld misses the point
Despite court ruling, IDF took Arab land for train line
Arab students get harsh lesson in racism from holy city
Free the Children of Palestine! Petition
Village is under attack in nabi saleh! One wounded badly
Other Links
Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid
FOXLEAKS: Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science
Do supporters of Nobel winner Liu Xiaobo really know what he stands for?
Security Concil’s Big Five send senior-level naval delegations to Colombo – utterly vomitous
Get your act together or risk losing US ally, EU foreign policy chief tells leaders
Berlusconi-bashing tweets shut down EU summit experiment
Public Money May Fund European Arms
Let Us Pay: John Lanchester on the future of the newspaper industry
‘Supervision’ is not enough; the IPCC must handle this investigation themselves