Reuters Investigates

China’s U.S. debt holdings make it a powerful negotiator

Worrying about the power China has over the U.S. as America’s largest foreign creditor has become a national pastime. It’s a bipartisan issue in Congress and a favorite subject among pundits lamenting the decline in U.S. influence around the world. But could China really use its Treasury purchases to shape U.S. policy? Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and obtained by Reuters suggest that has already happened.

Emily Flitter’s special report outlines a diplomatic flare-up between the two superpowers following the U.S. financial crisis. Chinese officials said they were worried about the safety of their U.S. investments. U.S. diplomats worked hard to ease the tensions, but the conflict ultimately led to the request of a personal favor by a top Chinese money manager in a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

WikiLeaks, OpenLeaks, GreenLeaks and more leaks

A Reuters exclusive details the emergence of two anti-corporate, WikiLeaks-style websites in Europe, both called GreenLeaks. The sites promise to leak confidential documents regarding environmental abuses by a host of industries.

The report by Mark Hosenball also reveals the rise of other possible WikiLeaks copycats that would focus on specialized topics or regions — from Russia and the European Union bureaucracy to international trade, the pharmaceutical industry and the Balkans.

The two rival GreenLeaks sites were set up by Mads Bjerg (left) in Copenhagen (greenleaks.org) and Scott Millwood (below) in Berlin (greenleaks.com) — and neither is happy about the competition.

Over lunch in a Berlin sushi bar, Millwood told Reuters his group acquired the domain name GreenLeaks in 36 countries where it also has registered GreenLeaks internet addresses under the “.com” and “.biz” designators. Millwood said he also has applied to the European Union to register “GreenLeaks” as a trademark, but recently learned that Bjerg’s Denmark-based group had made a similar move within days of Millwood making his own application.

Millwood acknowledged that there was “one inactive domain name that we don’t own” –  Bjerg’s URL, “GreenLeaks.org.” By the same token he said, one of the URLs Millwood says he registered himself is “GreenLeaks.dk” — a domain name specifically related to Denmark. Millwood acknowledged the rivalry between the two groups could escalate into a “legal dispute.” 

The most closely watched rollout in the leak-hosting world was the launch on Thursday of OpenLeaks.org, a site whose principal creator, German transparency activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg, was once Julian Assange’s closest collaborator on WikiLeaks.

How Mendax made WikiLeaks a sensation

By Mark Hosenball

On Tuesday, Julian Assange, the controversial Australian-born founder and frontman of the WikiLeaks website is scheduled to appear in a London courtroom for the latest hearing on a request by Swedish authorities that he be extradited to Sweden for questioning in a sexual misconduct investigation.

Assange has denied any wrongdoing in Sweden, and some of his supporters have dropped dark hints that the Swedish investigation could be part of some sinister conspiracy by the CIA or other WikiLeaks enemies to shut down both Assange and the website, which has lately roiled the world of international diplomacy by disclosing a cache of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

Swedish prosecutors and the lawyer for two women who complained to the authorities about Assange’s behavior deny the sex investigation has anything to do with spy plots or politics. People who know the mercurial and sometimes imperious Assange say that even on best behavior, he can be a difficult person to deal with.

In this special report last week, we took you behind the Swedish investigation into the sex allegations against Assange, and explained how Assange himself might have avoided any investigation if he had been more accessible to two women who were anxious that he undergo medical tests which he apparently wanted to avoid.

In this new special report, “Julian Assange versus the world,” we look into the strange and colorful background that helped to shape Assange’s intellect and character. Also we report on his increasingly fractious dealings with both collaborators and journalists who helped him build WikiLeaks into a worldwide brand-name.

Some original source material might be of additional interest to readers who find Assange fascinating, compelling or repellent. One seminal article on the 39-year old former hacker and self-proclaimed “scientific journalist” is this profile, which the New Yorker magazine published shortly before the reputations of Assange and WikiLeaks became an international sensation.

WikiLeaks: What really happened in Sweden

Some supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange see a conspiracy behind Swedish prosecutors’ efforts to question him there on sexual misconduct charges. The prosecutors deny their move is political.

Mark Hosenball’s special report “Fear of STDs sparked case against WikiLeaks boss” tells the story of what happened in August when Assange was visiting Sweden.