Shell invests in Mina West gas development in Egyptian Mediterranean Sea    Egypt's FM highlights 'soft power' in Mali meeting with alumni    Egypt's foreign minister opens business forum in Niger, targets new partnerships    Egypt's FM delivers Al-Sisi message to Niger's leader, seeks deeper security ties    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    Egypt will keep pushing for Gaza peace, aid: PM    Remittances from Egyptians abroad surge 70% YoY in July–May: CBE    Sudan's ambassador to Egypt holds reconstruction talks on with Arab League    Egypt's current account gap narrows, but overall BoP records deficit    Al-Sisi urges accelerated oil, gas discoveries, lower import bill    Egypt hosts international neurosurgery conference to drive medical innovation    Egypt's EDA discusses Johnson & Johnson's plans to expand investment in local pharmaceutical sector    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi calls for boosting oil & gas investment to ease import burden    EGX to close Thursday for July 23 Revolution holiday    Egypt, Senegal sign pharma MoU to unify regulatory standards    Egyptian Drug Authority discusses plans for joint pharmaceutical plant in Zambia    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt foils terrorist plot, kills two militants linked to Hasm group    Giza Pyramids' interior lighting updated with new LED system    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Assange portrayed as 'emperor' in insider book
Published in Daily News Egypt on 18 - 02 - 2011

A tell-all book entitled "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website" by a former WikiLeaks insider casts founder Julian Assange as an "emperor" who has become just the kind of public figure he is trying to expose.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the former WikiLeaks spokesman who left the secret-spilling website after a bitter dispute with Assange, writes about his euphoria at the website's spectacular rise as well as his disillusionment with a leader he describes as delusional and power-crazed.
He said one of his motives for writing the book was that he wanted to clarify the events that led to the falling-out.
"We need to set the record straight before Assange turns into a cult, a pop phenomenon," Domscheit-Berg told reporters in Berlin on Thursday at the launch of his book.
"WikiLeaks turned pale computer geeks, whose cleverness otherwise would not have been noticed by anybody, into public figures, who put fear into politicians, CEOS and military chiefs around the world," he writes in the book.
But Domscheit-Berg, who last month launched a rival website called OpenLeaks, also traces the arc of an increasingly fraught relationship that eventually erupts into conflict.
WikiLeaks' original mission to "control the power executed behind closed doors and to create transparency, where it was being denied" deteriorated into a situation in which the group was "gradually corrupted by power and secrecy itself," he writes.
Disputes sprang up over money, lack of transparency and Assange's belief in conspiracy theories, he claims. Assange was certain "we wouldn't be safe walking down the street, that our mail and suitcases were being X-rayed, that we had to go underground ... and needed bulletproof vests," the book says.
The breakup came in September after Domscheit-Berg challenged Assange's leadership qualities. The former spokesman — who then went by the alias Daniel Schmitt — claims his rebellion got him kicked out of WikiLeaks, something Assange has publicly denied.
"A leader communicates and cultivates trust in himself. You are doing the exact opposite. You behave like some kind of emperor or slave trader," Domscheit-Berg recounts telling Assange in their final computer chat. WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said he had no immediate comment.
Domscheit-Berg, a 32-year-old German computer scientist, told the AP in an interview that "Assange became exactly the kind of person he despised and wanted to fight."
"It is therefore very important that it is made clear how everything went down and why, in the end, we decided to leave the project — and that is something that Mr. Assange has described the wrong way," Domscheit-Berg said.
Domscheit-Berg's book will be released in Germany, Australia, South Korea, Britain and 12 other European countries on Friday. In the United States, it will be published four days later, on Feb. 15. Other countries including Japan, Brazil, and Russia plan publication soon.
WikiLeaks touched off an international uproar in April 2010 when it released a classified helicopter video showing a US attack that killed two Reuters journalists in Iraq. It later began publishing tens of thousands of US military documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and classified US diplomatic cables whose revelations angered and embarrassed the US and its allies.
Assange told a London audience in September that the German had been suspended — although he declined to go into details. He denied there had been a dispute over his management. "It was about a different issue," Assange said. He refused to elaborate.
Several reporters from The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel, who were involved in their news outlets' publication of leaked WikiLeaks documents, have also written books on their dealings with the group and Assange that will be published soon or are already available.
Assange, who is currently fighting an extradition trial in London over rape allegations in Sweden, is also planning to publish his own version of events in April.
Domscheit-Berg has not publicly commented on the rape allegations against Assange, but in the book he describes the Australian's attraction to women as "very simple: 22. They should be young. And it was important to him that they did not challenge him."
In launching OpenLeaks, Domscheit-Berg said he planned to give whistleblowers more control over the secrets they spill. He has criticized WikiLeaks for both receiving documents and aggressively vetting how they are presented to the public.
"At OpenLeaks, we want to learn from the mistakes that we made during the last three years at WikiLeaks," he said.


Clic here to read the story from its source.