The most controversial activist organisation of the 21st century, WikiLeaks has attracted strong, divergent opinions from across the political spectrum. Lauded by its supporters for its indispensable role in holding governments, corporations, and human rights abusers to account, its advocates and journalists have been excoriated by opponents as traitors, threats to legitimate governments, and misogynists. Yet so much media attention is focused upon founder Julian Assange, and his ongoing confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, that the broader dimensions of WikiLeaks are rarely aired. Especially critical in these omissions is the role of women, both in the organisation and the more general struggle for information freedom.

The protagonists of the new book:Women, Whistleblowing, WikiLeaks will be in conversation to discuss the themes of their new book and show the various ways they’ve been at the forefront of such activity: acclaimed journalist and human rights advocate Sarah Harrison, Croatian-German theatre director, activist and author Angela Richter, and Renata Avila, a celebrated Guatemalan human rights lawyer and digital rights expert. Ranging widely, from the dishonesty of the mainstream media and its contrasting treatment of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning to the terrifying monopolisation of personal data under tech behemoths such as Facebook and Google, join us for an ongoing debate around digital activism.

Link to book can be found here.

Chair

Pamela Anderson has a portfolio of work that encompasses entertainment and activism. She is a supporter of the Courage Foundation, that supports whistleblowers including Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. She is a board member of both PETA and The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The Pamela Anderson Foundation  supports organisations and individuals that stand on the front lines, in the protection of human, animal, and environmental rights

Speakers

Renata Avila is a Guatemalan human rights lawyer and digital rights expert. She has played a central role in the international team of lawyers representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his staff. An access to knowledge activist, she is on the Board of Creative Commons and is a trustee of the Courage Foundation.

Sarah Harrison is a renowned British journalist and human rights defender. A former researcher with the London-based Centre for Investigative Journalism and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Harrison left to work at WikiLeaks during the height of its groundbreaking publication of US military and State Department documents in 2010. She is also a co-founder of the Courage Foundation.

Angela Richter is an acclaimed Croatian-German theatre director, activist and author. She founded the Fleet Street Theatre in Hamburg in 2001, and was house director at the Cologne National Theatre Schauspiel Köln from 2013 to 2016. Her interest in WikiLeaks led to the 2012 theatre piece “Assassinate Assange.” In 2015, Richter staged the large scale transmedia-project “Supernerds” in co-production with German national TV WDR, dealing with mass surveillance. The text was based on conversations with digital dissidents and whistleblowers, such as Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg and Julian Assange. “Supernerds” received the Eyes & Ears Media Award, was nominated for the SXSW Innovation Award in Texas, and is nominated for the BANFF Award in Canada.

This evening of tributes, talks, film, food and drinks is open to all. It coincides with a simultaneous celebration at Shakespeare and Company Books, 7 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris to be linked by video and live-streamed.

The purpose of this occasion is to show gratitude to Manning, Assange and Snowden for their revelations and the risks they took to bring them to public notice.

Come, bring friends and say thanks.

More about “Anything to say?”:

Speakers:

Vaughan Smith, founder of London’s Frontline Club, award-winning independent cameraman and member of the board of representatives for the Frontline Freelance Register (FFR).

Norman Solomon, the coordinator of ExposeFacts.org, a new organisation for whistleblowing and independent journalism and author of many books on media, war and public policy.

Gavin MacFadyen, director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism and visiting professor at City University London.

David Dormino, a sculptor and visual artist, he works in Rome and teaches sculpture at Rome University of Fine Arts (RUFA).

In Paris, at Shakespeare and Company linked by video, the speakers are William Bourdon, distinguished French human rights advocate and lawyer for Edward Snowden; and Jean Michel Boissier of Reporters Sans Frontieres. Chaired by writer, Adam Biles.

The project is supported by the president of the Human Rights Committee of the Italian parliament, Mario Marazziti and Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF).

On Friday 28 June there was a palpable sense of anticipation among the Frontline Club audience, ahead of the preview screening of Alex Gibney’s most recent documentary We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks. The film chronicles the history of WikiLeaks and looks at the roles Bradley Manning and Julian Assange played in what was referred to as the biggest leak of state secrets in the history of the United States.

Documentary filmaker Alex Gibney and moderator Owen Bennett Jones listen to questions from the audience. Photo: Alex Glynn

Before moderator and freelance journalist Owen Bennett Jones opened the floor for audience questions, Gibney explained that he was approached to make the film and “jumped at the opportunity”. The winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Taxi to the Dark Side pointed out he has ‘done a number of films about events that were prominently featured in the mass media and had gone into those stories after they had occurred in order to “try to understand better what had actually happened”. On his decision to make a film about the well-known story of WikiLeaks he said:

“It seemed to me it was a very important story, a story I was very interested in. And I was interested in Julian Assange as a tremendously powerful figure – a man with a computer and a laptop setting out to expose abuses of power.”

Despite a one-year period of negotiations, Assange did not agree to be interviewed.

“When I first met Julian, I told him frankly that I was going to do the film whether he agreed to participate or not, so he didn’t like that very much. I told him I hoped he would participate. He felt that somehow he should have more control over the process.”

After the world premiere of the film, WikiLeaks released an annotated transcript of the film. Gibney explained:

“Someone had a tape recorder at a screening of the film at Sundance, tape-recorded the film and transcribed it. Unfortunately that meant that one quarter of the film was left out of the annotated transcript because, as you know from having seen the film, all of Bradley Manning’s chats are written, but not spoken.”

The annotated transcript has been updated in the meantime:

“I have read the annotations and there is not one in there that makes me feel that we were factually incorrect in any way.”

A vocal part of the audience perceived the representation of Assange in the film as unflattering, but Gibney defended his portrayal:

“I believe that we’re all entitled to an opportunity to look at the whole truth. Just because somebody tries to right a wrong, or tries to hold powerful people to account, it doesn’t mean that person is above the law, or is entitled to speak lies to power instead of truth to power. I believe this film tried to disentangle these issues.

 

“I believe there were a number of people who were giving Assange too much of a break and allowing us to believe that it’s ok to endorse the vilification of two Swedish women because we stand for transparency.”

One audience member voiced a counterweight to some of the criticism of Gibney’s portrayal of Assange, striking a cord with others in the room:

“I just wanted to say – because there have been such extremes of opinions expressed – that I came to this film with an open mind about Julian Assange and I leave with an open mind. The film just makes me want to read some more – so thank you.”

With regards to Bradley Manning, the film not only looked at his role in releasing the classified files, but also his personal background. Some in the audience felt that this may have been an unnecessary dramatic tool, but Gibney defended its inclusion as crucial to the story, saying that it’s terribly important that we do not regard whistleblowers and people of conscience – such as Manning – as superhuman, but as human beings.

“I don’t believe what the military said about Manning, that he leaked because he was troubled. I believe he leaked because he had a political conscience and he felt this material should be seen, and that he was doing a larger good. But I also think he’s a human being with flaws and in some ways deeply inspiring. I think for us to ignore that would be to end up playing into the hand of those who attempt to silence people. The idea that we need to be Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King in order to do something great [is incorrect]. I think average people can do extra ordinary things, no matter what their flaws.”

You can find further information about the film’s release dates here.

In 2010, WikiLeaks and its sources used the power of the internet to usher in what was for some a new era of transparency, and for others the beginnings of a new information war. Julian Assange. Bradley Manning. Collateral murder. Cablegate. WikiLeaks. These people and terms exploded into the public consciousness by fundamentally changing the way democratic societies deal with privacy, secrecy, and the right to information, perhaps for generations to come.

Academy Award winner Alex Gibney tells the story of what happens when an incredibly small group of people decide to break open the intelligence vaults of the most powerful nations on the planet. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks explores how this enormous trove of classified US data was leaked and the impact the documents have had on international events.

Directed by Alex Gibney
Duration: 130′
Year: 2012

In 2010 U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning committed the largest security breach in US history, handing the classified Afghan War Diary, Iraq War Logs, and 250,000 State Department cables to Wikileaks. Imagery like that of an American helicopter team gunning down citizens and journalists on a Baghdad street in 2007 has been lodged in the global consciousness.

With Manning standing trial before a military court in June, the Frontline Club engaged an expert panel on Monday 15 May to ask what lies ahead for the whistleblower, along with what his experience might mean to governments and the media.

(L-R): Naomi Colvin, Chase Madar, Richard Gizbert and David Leigh. Photo credit: Jim Treadway

Naomi Colvin, a writer, activist and founder of UK Friends of Bradley Manning, declared him a “touchstone for people involved in social justice movements.”

“2011 is one of those years that will go down in history, like 1989, or 1968, or 1848,” she said.  “Political action was on a worldwide scale. . . . That spark of enthusiasm started in the Middle East, and the [documents that Manning released] are at least a contributing factor to that.”

Chase Madar, a New York attorney who has written a book detailing Manning’s experience, agreed:

“The State Department cables [were] just a very brutal and candid assessment of corruption in the Ben Ali government . . . Tunisian intellectuals I’ve spoken with have said you really can’t tell the story of the uprising there without at least mentioning Bradley Manning and his leaks.”

The panel rang of frustration with the American media’s failure to cover the Manning story in fairness or depth. Americans “know very little” about his case, Madar observed.

“The New York Times fails to send a journalist to cover the first public hearing with Manning,” lamented Richard Gizbert, Presenter for al Jazeera’s Listening Post, “which even the Times’ own ombudsman said was ridiculous.”

“I got adopted by the staff of a fish restaurant in Glasgow [recently],” Madar recounted. “The bartender and the waiter knew all about [Manning’s case], and it’s because The Guardian’s coverage [has been] much better than anything in the United States.”

David Leigh, the Guardian‘s investigations editor until 2013 and co-author of a book on Julian Assange and Wikileaks, reduced Manning’s trial to “a piece of theatre by the American military to expose, dramatise, penalise and terrorise whistleblowers.”

Even still, Madar harbored optimism for what Manning will ultimately represent:

“He delivered a 35-page statement of intent in court a couple of months ago…  it was very impressive… poised, very self-possessed, very thoughtful and reflective, as opposed to the way he’d been demonised as some naricissistic little punk… The more people hear from Bradley Manning in his own words and in his own voice – because someone smuggled a recorder into the courtroom, you can hear him with his own voice – the more they’re going to realise that Bradley Manning is the responsible, ethical citizen; that it’s his detractors in government and the media who are the narcissistic, little, punks.”

You can watch a recording of the event or listen to the audio podcast below:

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/the-case-of-the-us-vs-bradley

In February this year Private First Class Bradley Manning pleaded guilty to sending restricted documents to Wikileaks in violation of military regulations, making him the source of the largest intelligence leak in US history. Ahead of his trial in June we will be examining the charges he faces and the implications if he is found guilty.

In his statement to the court he talked about “revealing the true costs of war” and how he “believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information… this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general”.

Manning has denied some of the most serious charges such as “aiding the enemy” which would see him face a life sentence, but has pleaded guilty to 10 out of 22 charges, which could carry a sentence of up to 20 years.

We will be discussing the questions raised by this case about the fate of whistleblowers and the future of relationships between journalists and their sources.

Chaired by Richard Gizbert, presenter of The Listening Post on Al Jazeera English.

The panel:

Naomi Colvin is a London-based writer and activist. In late 2010 she founded UK Friends of Bradley Manning, which successfully lobbied the UK government to recognise Bradley Manning’s dual citizenship status.

Professor David Leigh was the Guardian‘s investigations editor until 2013 and is a professor of journalism at City University. He is one of Britain’s leading investigative journalists, and winner of the 2007 Paul Foot Award for Campaigning Journalism. He is co-author of WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy.

Chase Madar is a human rights attorney in New York, where he specializes in youth law, LGBT law and disability law. He reports and reviews for the London Review of Books, Le Monde diplomatique, CounterPunch, Al Jazeera, and the TLS. He is author of The Passion of Bradley Manning: The Story Behind the Wikileaks Whistleblower.

A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.

Monday 17 December

Monday marks two years since Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation, an act of protest that that inspired millions to challenge the status quo across the Middle East. Two years on, despite regime change in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, the continuing unrest in countries such as Syria, Egypt and Bahrain suggests the region’s upheaval has some time to run yet.

In North Korea, they will be marking the first anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-Il. The successful satellite launch last week means there is considerably less pressure on his son Kim Jong-un as he completes his first year at the helm of the secretive communist state.

Meanwhile, a hearing is due to take place in Milan in Silvio Berlusconi’s trial over his alleged sexual exploits with Moroccan dancer Karima el Mahroug. Ruby, as she is also known, was supposed to be testifying at the hearing but is in Mexico with no plans to return until next month.

Gujarat in Western India holds the second and final phase of its assembly elections. The state is led by Narendra Modi of the BJP and his expected re-election would bolster his case for one day becoming India’s Prime Minister. Counting takes place on 20 December.

Finally, in Washington DC,  the IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde is due to submit a report to member’s of the fund’s board on actions taken by Argentina to address serious concerns about the reliability of its official growth and inflation data. The fund has warned Kristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s government that failure to adequately address concerns could result in ‘additional measures’ being taken by the fund.

Tuesday 18 December

On Tuesday, imprisoned former Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is due back in court facing charges of embezzlement dating back to the 1990s. Convicted of abuse of power in October last year, she is currently awaiting the judgement of an appeal lodged with the European Court of Human Rights, which may be handed down as early as this month.

In The Hague, the International Criminal Court is scheduled to hand down its judgement in the case of Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, who stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Lastly, in the United States, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is due to speak at the National Press Club about challenges facing America’s military.

Wednesday 19 December

Wednesday is election day in South Korea. Leading candidates to replace Lee Myung-bak are Park Geun-hye of the incumbent New Frontier party, and Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic United party. Whether North Korea’s successful launch has an impact on the presidential poll remains to be seen; both figures have vowed to take a more conciliatory approach with Pyongyang than that taken under President Lee.

In France, an appeal court is due to decide whether or not pursue its investigation into suggestions that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF head and one-time French presidential contender, was involved in a prostitution ring. This follows last week’s settlement in New York of the civil case brought against Strauss-Kahn by Sofitel employee Nafissatou Diallo.

French President Francois Holland is due to begin an official a two-day visit to Algeria, where he is to meet his counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

In New York, the UN Security Council will have plenty to talk about at its regular monthly meeting on the Middle East.

Finally, there are further protests planned in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires against Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s policies.

Thursday 20 December

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to hold an annual press conference where is likely to face questions on a raft of issues, not least his position on Syria as Russia appears to be distancing itself from Bashar al Assad’s regime.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, is due to speak to supporters.

Friday 21 December

On Friday, US President Barack Obama is scheduled to head to Hawaii, where he plans to spend the holidays with the First Family. However, it remains to be seen whether the impasse over fiscal cliff negotiations ends up forcing the president to stay in DC. As the New Year deadline looms, partisanship in the US capital shows no sign of abating.

In Italy, Mario Monti is due to hold his end of year press conference. He has vowed to step down as Prime Minister once he has pushed through next year’s budget, with elections now expected in February. It remains to be seen whether Silvio Berlusconi’s announcement that he plans to seek to lead Italy once more is enough to change Mr Monti’s mind.

Finally, Vladimir Putin is due to travel to Brussels for the EU-Russia summit.

Saturday 22 December

On Saturday, Egyptians are due to vote in the second phase of a referendum on the country’s new constitution, with opponents of President Mohamed Morsi urging people to reject the new constitution. Regardless of the result, more unrest seems certain.

Sunday 23 December

Finally, Japan’s Emperor Akihito turns 79 on Sunday. He traditionally meets with reporters on his birthday, and may be asked about regional tensions.

Some images courtesy of fotostory / Shutterstock.com.

Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to address the court today. I have been asked by the eight other sureties to speak on their behalf as well as my own.

We appreciate that the court wants to know what the sureties may have privately or publicly done to encourage Mr. Assange to submit to the British police since he entered the Ecuadorian Embassy on 19th June.

As we know, this hearing descends from a lengthy extradition challenge in highly controversial circumstances that include attacks by senior U.S officials on Mr. Assange personally and the organization WikiLeaks. People throughout the country, indeed throughout the world, are divided about Mr. Assange’s work as a journalist and publisher and the various legal claims against him. This has stimulated valuable public debate and a very great deal of critical media attention – including from professional rivals of Mr. Assange.

Should I, or other sureties, publicly urge Mr. Assange to abandon the Ecuadorian Embassy it would undoubtedly be reported by the press in a manner either to discredit him, or to discredit us. It would undermine Mr. Assange but we don’t believe it would do anything to extract him from the Ecuadorian Embassy. It would certainly be a very public betrayal and in our view, importantly, it would also betray the public.

Yesterday, mindful of our responsibilities as sureties and concerned to establish the extent to which we truly are able to influence this matter, we visited Mr. Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Mr. Assange explained that the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had investigated and found that his fears of persecution by the United States and others were not unreasonable, granted him political asylum and formally found him to be a political refugee under Ecuadorian law and international conventions. He explained that as a result the Ecuadorian government had assumed its legal obligations to protect him and was not able to abandon these obligations.

Mr. Assange explained too that even since he was granted political asylum on August 19, the Pentagon had continued to make threats against him and his organisation. Only last Friday Pentagon spokesman George Little demanded through the U.S. based ABC News that WikiLeaks destroy its publications (1), including the Iraq War logs, which revealed the killings of over 100,000 civilians (2). Little said “continued possession by WikiLeaks of classified information belonging to the United States government represents a continuing violation of law” and was a “law enforcement matter”. The Pentagon also again “warned Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks” against “soliciting” material from U.S. military whistleblowers.

Mr. Assange told us that on the 30th June the U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd told AFP that its investigation into his organisation continues (3) and I have seen many media reports from the U.S. press this year which speak about litigation Mr. Assange and others have taken in relation to it. I have seen extracts of court records from earlier this year show that the FBI investigation against Mr. Assange’s organisation has reached at least 42,135 pages. (4)

I have examined both original press stories at ABC News and AFP and they agree with Mr. Assange’s statements.

Mr. Assange is convinced that he faces serious risks in U.S. custody and that it was necessary to apply for political asylum to a country that was not in a military relationship with the United States. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez has found that Mr. Assange’s alleged source, the young soldier Bradley Manning, has been kept in conditions formally amounting to torture (5).

We cannot know what the future holds for Mr. Assange with certainty, but we cannot disregard the risk to Mr. Assange should he leave the embassy; the risk that he may end up in the United States prison system under unjust conditions as a result. In the United States many senior figures have called for his assassination and demonized him as a terrorist or traitor. This question has been looked at by the Ecuadorian government whom have consequently awarded him asylum.

It was clear to us that the Ecuadorian government is negotiating with the Swedish and British authorities, looking for a solution. Only last Thursday William Hague and his Ecuadorian counterpart Mr. Ricardo Patiño formally met to discuss Mr. Assange’s situation at the United Nations General Assembly. The proposals being made seek to satisfy British legal requirements, by having Sweden finally agree to interviewing Mr. Assange outside of Sweden or by protecting Mr. Assange from extradition to the United States.

We are hopeful that these discussions will be fruitful. Mr. Assange expressed concern about the risk of forfeiture that the sureties face, however it was clear from our visit that sureties do not have the power to meaningfully intervene in this matter. This has become a matter between the Ecuadorian, British, Swedish, U.S. and Australian governments.

The sureties have put a huge amount of effort over an unexpectedly long period to support the legal process.

Mr. Assange stayed with my family for 13 months. Along with my parents we worked tirelessly to ensure that Mr. Assange was able to comply with his bail conditions and attended court as required.

Mr. Assange does not have a UK driving license but had to report to a local police station daily as part of his bail conditions, for over 550 days. During the almost 400 days that he that he stayed with us the burden of complying with the court’s rigorous conditions of driving him to the police station to comply fell on my family and two other sureties, Joseph Farrell and Sarah Harrison.

My experience is similar to that of Ms. Saunders, who hosted Mr. Assange after my family did. We cannot believe that this does not argue against forfeiture. We worked very hard indeed to make this work.

It is very difficult to see how we could have prevented Mr. Assange from seeking political asylum in London. Mr. Assange says he did not tell us of his decision because to do so would have placed us in legal difficulty. We could not have expected it. Such a thing is unprecedented for a surety.

We understand that this court wants to focus on the Swedish extradition against Mr. Assange, but we as sureties, who have acted out of principle to release Mr. Assange from prison, cannot honestly ignore the wider aspects of Mr. Assange’s position, including his status as a political refugee.

The British government decided not to enter the Ecuadorian embassy after 19 June to apprehend Mr. Assange, though he informed them immediately that he was there. British law cannot, or chooses not to, reach Julian Assange and there are very many in the world, and this country, who think that it shouldn’t be able to.

The fact is that Mr. Assange has secured sanctuary as a political refugee in a country with which Great Britain has an established and normal diplomatic relationship.

How can this fact have no legal standing? Britain appears to recognize many U.N. and E.U. rights concerning asylum, refugees, political persecution and diplomacy. Everyone has the right to apply for asylum. What flows from these rights, in relation to Mr. Assange is still being discussed at a diplomatic level and may end up in the international courts. As sureties we can’t understand all this, but we do understand the situation is complex and there are risks to Mr. Assange’s welfare.

We believe that everybody in this court and indeed all of the sureties who may not be here today, are all convinced that they have done and are doing the right thing. We don’t see how justice is served by punishing us for having done our best to serve the public interest in this complex and challenging case.

We submit that the sureties are wholly blameless, that we have worked assiduously to help Mr. Assange to meet the requirements of the court.

We all want Mr. Assange to be able can clear his name and have done everything with our diminishing influence to see the current impasse resolved and justice served.

We never envisaged when we agreed to become sureties that the matter would become a diplomatic argument and it is clear that this needs to be resolved at a governmental level.

We request that sureties in this case be treated gracefully, in a manner that reflects the impossible position that we are in.

In this unique, this quite exceptional case, complying with what this court seems to expect from us; to all publicly urge Mr. Assange to abandon the sanctuary that he has found in the Ecuadorian Embassy, would see us acting against a man whom we and others judge to have understandable fears about his ultimate treatment in the United States if he abandons his asylum.

That would render us mercenary and contemptible individuals of great weakness of character. It cannot be the right thing for us to do.

END

1 http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/are-troops-talking-to-assange-communicating-with-the-enemy/

2 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/true-civilian-body-count-iraq

3 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hKgeAFt-Jvt45zkBjEpqF4DWDS-A

4 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/29/julian-assange-ecuadorean-embassy-statement

5 http://www.eurasiareview.com/18032012-bradley-mannings-detention-treatment-or-torture-interview/

 "Thursday 5 July 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing the Syria Files – more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies, dating from August 2006 to March 2012. This extraordinary data set derives from 680 Syria-related entities or domain names, including those of the Ministries of Presidential Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information, Transport and Culture. At this time Syria is undergoing a violent internal conflict that has killed between 6,000 and 15,000 people in the last 18 months. The Syria Files shine a light on the inner workings of the Syrian government and economy, but they also reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another."

By Nicole Hunt

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Israel on Monday, where he’s scheduled to attend the unveiling of a national memorial to Red Army soldiers killed during World War II. Putin is also due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is likely to raise concerns over Russia’s relationship with Syria. Putin also visits the West Bank and Jordan on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton will be hosting a joint ministerial council of the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council in Luxembourg, with talks focusing, once again, on Syria and Iran.

Monday may or may not be a momentous day in the US. The Supreme Court is due to sit for the final time this term, which means it should issue judgements on the cases it’s currently considering – namely, the two cases challenging Arizona’s controversial immigration law and President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill. However, if the Court has too many remaining cases to wrap up, it could opt to extend the sitting to later in the week (likely Wednesday or Thursday), with the health care judgement likely to be the last one issued.

The African National Congress opens its National Policy Congress on Tuesday, a conference held every five years ahead of its December electoral conference. Controversial proposals for the nationalisation of mines are due to be discussed, but following the expulsion of ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema, a major proponent of nationalisation, the proposals have lost a bit of their momentum. Of greater interest will be how President Jacob Zuma fares at the conference, with his reception seen as an indicator of whether he’ll be selected to run for a second term at the December conference.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publishes its annual World Drug Report, looking at consumption, production and trafficking across the world. The 2011 report found that cannabis remained by far the most widely-consumed drug.

The OECD has several high-profile reports on the agenda this week, beginning with the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020, a joint publication with the Food and Agriculture Organization looking at the market forces driving volatility in commodity prices. The Economic Survey of the United States, the OECD’s regular assessment of the US economy, is launched in Washington on Tuesday, followed by the OECD International Migration Outlook in Brussels on Wednesday.

The District Court of Assen in the Netherlands is scheduled to rule on an application by the Public Prosecutor on Wednesday to dissolve and ban the Martijn organisation, which lobbies for the social acceptance of paedophilia and sexual relationships between adults and children.

The UN Human Rights Council receives an update from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria in Geneva. The COI was set up following the Council’s emergency session on 1 June specifically to look into the 25 May Houla massacre.

The report comes the day before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a three-day visit to Russia on Thursday. While the trip has been scheduled for some time around the APEC Women and The Economy Forum, Clinton also has the opportunity to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss Syria. The meeting will be the first since Clinton publicly accused Syria of sending helicopters to the Assad regime, which Lavrov countered by accusing Washington of arming the opposition rebels.

Mongolians go to the polls to elect members to the State Great Khural, in an election which has been most notable for who’s not running. Former President Mambaryn Enkhabyar had been planning to head up a new party, but he was instead arrested, charged with corruption, and banned from standing for parliament. His 25-year-old son Batshugar Enkhbayar was also ruled inelgibile because he hasn’t yet served his two years of compulsory military service.

US financial sanctions on the Iranian oil trade, which were introduced as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in December, come into effect, meaning that banks in countries which have failed to ‘significantly reduce’ the volume of purchases of crude Iranian oil can be barred from doing business in the US financial market. The US has granted waivers to several countries, including India, Turkey, and South Korea, allowing them to continue imports for another six months because they’ve already reduced the amount of crude they’re importing.

Thursday also marks the deadline for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to apply to the European Court of Human Rights for an interim order to halt his extradition from the UK to Sweden to face questioning for alleged sexual assaults. If Assange has not applied by Thursday, his extradition window in the UK opens, giving authorities 10 days to arrange extradition. Of course, the whole matter is further complicated by Assange’s current residency at the Ecuadorian embassy, where he’s asked for asylum.

Keeping with the legal theme, Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is expected to find out on Friday whether she’s been found guilty or acquitted on charges of association with a terrorist group, propagating genocide ideology, revisionism, and ethnic division, for which prosecutors have requested a life sentence. Ingabire’s supporters say the charges, which she denies, are politically motivated.

George Zimmerman, the man accused of second degree murder in the 26 February shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, appears for a bail hearing in Sanford. Zimmerman had his bail revoked earlier this month when it emerged that he was in possession of a passport and had access to more funds than had been established at his initial bond hearing.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s five-year term expires on Saturday. Holding with the tradition that usually sees an American head the Bank while a European leads the IMF, Korean-American doctor and former Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim assumes the role on Sunday.

Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson is looking to win a fifth term in presidential elections, though the vote will not be as comfortable as he’s accustomed to – incumbents traditionally run unopposed, but six other candidates have put their hats in the ring this time around. His toughest competition is journalist Thora Arnorsdottir, whose popularity in the polls slipped after she took some time off from the campaign to give birth to her third child.

Saturday has also been bandied about as the favoured date for a meeting of the Syria Contact Group – if the members of the group can actually agree on its existence. The UN (per its Special Envoy Kofi Annan), the UK, the US, Russia and France have all been generally supportive of the idea of a meeting, but have failed to agree on the sticking point of Iranian participation. Russia insists that Iran must be present and part of any international solution, while the UK and the US have said Iranian involvement is ‘unworkable’ due to Tehran’s support for the Syrian regime.

Traditionally quiet Sunday is anything but this week, with presidential and legislative elections in Mexico, parliamentary polls in Senegal, and the introduction of Australia’s landmark carbon tax just the beginning.

Sunday is the deadline for Israel to demolish five apartment blocks in Givat Ulpana, which the Supreme Court ruled on 7 May had been built illegally on private Palestinian land. While the residents and the government came to an agreement last week that should see them leave voluntarily, reports that some settlers have been barricading the area mean a peaceful departure is not guaranteed.

The EU’s embargo on Iranian oil, which was approved by Foreign Ministers in January, comes into effect. The sanctions prohibit the import, purchase and transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, and come just days before technical teams are due to resume discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme in Istanbul.