Yesterday was a rough day for Wikileaks. Their webhost AMAZON closed down their website, without prior warning.
The days before, some politicians were contemplating legal steps, called for hunting down Julian Assange as a terrorist, or did an outright call to kill him.
So what triggered Amazon to close down Wikileaks so abruptly? Apparently it was Senator Joseph (Joe) Lieberman who was the driving force:
Monday, 29 Nov 2010
Sen. Joe Lieberman is calling on the United States and other governments to shut down Wikileaks by “all legal means” after the website’s latest dump of classified U.S. documents, the New York Times reports.
Then, on 1 December the legal means were no more…
Staffers then, according to the spokeswoman, Leslie Phillips, called Amazon to ask about it, and left questions with a press secretary including, “Are there plans to take the site down?”
The rest is history. Amazon bowed down and closed Wikileaks.
So, what did Wikileaks publish on 29 November that possibly angered Lieberman up to a point where he went beyond legal means, and had his staffers pressure Amazon in closing down Wikileaks?
Perhaps this?
Wikileaks: Viewing cable 06BUCHAREST576, ADOPTIONS: ROMANIA OFFICIALLY REJECTS ALL PENDING [ADOPTIONS]
Date: 2010-11-30
Source: http://cablegate.wikileaks.org or on ACT website
Wikileaks leaked the first of the 852 cables of the US Embassy in Bucharest. And not to my surprise it was about the hottest issue in US-Romanian diplomatic relations: INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION.
(A personal note: several persons contacted me and asked if the ‘POST’ mentioned was ‘MRoelie POST’ – NOT. Post = Embassy Post, diplomatic language.)
What has this to do with Lieberman and Wikileaks closure? Very likely nothing, but it could have been – maybe maybe – the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Lieberman was heavily involved in the Romanian adoption battle. He is a stanch supporter of the worldwide representative of the adoptive parents and fighter for the ‘pipeline cases’: LINDA ROBAK.
Here you can hear her proudly reporting her activities:
Search A Child, Pay Cash: VIDEO
Linda Robak set up For the Children SOS, a non registered ‘organisation’, together with the adoption goldies Deb Murphy-Scheumann and Lynn Wetterberg (owners US adoption agencies – see Blog Archive ‘Untangling the Adoption Industry). Soon, however, it was only Linda remaining as spokesperson and activist – presenting herself as adoptive mother without any adoption business interests.
However, The 990 Tax Form of Romania Reborn shows that in 2007, For the Children SOS received 10.241 $ in cash from this pro-adoption charity.
Purpose of the money: Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy; Save the children SOS advocates for adoption reform in Romania (100 waiting adoptive parents).
I well remember the meeting in the European Parliament in 2004, announced as a big event. However, it was not. Just a handful. Organised by Linda Robak. Part of the continuous pressure of the well organised adoption lobby.
Senator Lieberman is a fervent fan of Linda Robak and proposed her as Angel in Adoption, the CCAI’s yearly award.
He also signed, as recent as May 2009 the CCAI’s lobby letter that was handed over to the Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister by nobody less than Hillary Clinton herself (interesting reading!) link: HERE
Robak herself was among those running around at Capitol Hill to get as many signatures as possible.
Is Senator Lieberman afraid for more US cables from Bucharest related to intercountry adoption? We might never know for sure, but I don’t think the adoption lobby will be amused when more on this comes out. You may think this is nothing compared to wikileaks about wars, but believe me there must be many many cables with this subject. When it gets to children & adoptions, the sky is the limit when it comes to diplomatic pressure.
‘Romania for Export Only’ reveils a lot, but perhaps not all?
But no, that would be to crazy: Wikileaks removed from Amazon server because of this! Still, it did cross my mind this morning for just a second.
About Amazon, I’ll join the Amazon Boycot. I will take my book from their shelves and sell it through this website instead. Proceeds go to ACT (Against Child Trafficking), so you’ll not only have some interesting time in reading the ins and outs of the adoption lobby machinery, you support a good cause at the same time!