Reality sucks like nothing else
Putin leads backlash over WikiLeaks boss detention
Putin railed against the detention of the 39-year-old Assange, the Australian founder of the website which has been releasing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables as well as Pentagon communiques
Moscow: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin led growing support Thursday from some world leaders for the beleaguered WikiLeaks founder, describing his detention in Britain as "undemocratic".
The wave of support for Julian Assange, who sat in a British jail Friday as Sweden sought his extradition on rape charges, came as hackers - dubbed "hack-tivists" - stepped up cyber attacks on those opposed to WikiLeaks.
After taking down the websites of Visa, Mastercard, Sweden and others, supporters of the whistleblower website tried but failed to knock online retail giant Amazon.com offline.
The loose-knit group of hackers known as "Anonymous" said they would attack the Amazon website as part of what they are calling "Operation Payback".
Putin railed against the detention of the 39-year-old Assange, the Australian founder of the website which has been releasing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables as well as Pentagon communiques.
"Why was Mr. Assange hidden in jail? Is that democracy? As we say in the village: the pot is calling the kettle black," Putin said.
Despite his defence of Assange, Putin was portrayed in an embarrassing light by some of the leaked cables. In one, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called him a "behind the scenes puppeteer" dissatisfied with his role.
His comments echoed Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who expressed "solidarity" with Assange, blasting the Australian activist's arrest as a blow against "freedom of expression".
Assange has "exposed a diplomacy that had appeared unreachable," said Lula.
"They have arrested him and I don't hear so much as a single protest for freedom of expression," he said.
Meanwhile, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, hit out at pressure being exerted on "private companies, banks and credit card companies" to cut commercial ties to WikiLeaks.
"They could be interpreted as an attempt to censor the publication of information, thus potentially violating WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression," she told a press conference in Geneva.
Anonymous told AFP in an online chat they would attack anyone they perceive as having an "anti-WikiLeaks agenda".
The Swedish government's website was forced offline as was the office of the Swedish prosecutor.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said in the statement: We lieve they are a reflection of public opinion on the actions of the targets".
Assange's supporters have vowed the arrest will not halt the flow of secrets, with the latest revelations causing more embarrassment for Washington and their European puupets like UK and Sweden
The americans seem to be going the way of China, North korea and the other despots they took a great pleasure in accusing and blaming and now they have to face the music themselves
i hope next year rest of the world will not get lesson for freedom of press
Is innocent of all charges and should be released.
and i thought that my ex was the best at sucking ;)
agree with u
what to do?
Those US,British and German companies that went out of their way to achieve their aims by bribes and threats dont matter to those guys who claim corruption is not tolerated in the west.