New details about how the National Security agency targeted wikileaks and its supporters walk placing the sites founder Julian Assange on the main hunting target list together with al qaeda. We will speak with Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in london where he is and political asylum. Then interrogated at the airport. Who is Edward Snowden . Why have you gone to russia twice in three months . Those are some of the questions jesselyn raddack was forced to answer when she flew into london on sunday. She will join us today. New york times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse in a big defeat for organized labor in the south. Workers at a volkswagen plant in tennessee reject the United Auto Workers after a costly antiunion campaign. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A new report based on topsecret documents from Edward Snowden has revealed how the United States and britain targeted the whistleblowing website wikileaks after it published documents on the u. S. Led war in afghanistan. According to report coauthored by Glenn Greenwald and published intercept. Org, britains top spy agencies eagerly monitored visitors to wikileaks site by collecting their ip addresses in real time. The National Security agency added wikileaks founder julian hunting target list alongside al qaeda suspects. The documents also show the u. S. Urged its allies to file criminal charges against assange over the afghan war logs. We will be joined by Julian Assange and his attorney Michael Ratner after the headlines. In iraq, a series of deadly car bombings has rocked baghdad and the area south of it today, one day after another wave of explosions killed at least 24 people. Mondays blast in the iraqi capital included attacks targeting shiite mosques in the explosion of a bombladen minibus. Police in thailand have launched an effort to oust demonstrators from protest sites in the capital bangkok. At least three people have died in the resulting clashes. The government of Yingluck Shinawat has been embroiled in the political crisis since november with opponents wanting her to resign or be replaced by an unelected council. Ofukraine, tens of thousands antigovernment protesters have attended a march on the parliament, sparking clashes with police. Opposition lawmakers are pushing for changes to the constitution that would curb the power of president yanukovych following months of protests over his decision to accept strengthen ties with russia instead of europe. Protesters recently ended a nearly threemonth occupation of city hall and the capital kiev as part of an amnesty deal with the government, but that continued calls for yanukovych to resign. In venezuela, president underwrote has accused his opponents of mounting a coup amidst violent antigovernment protest that left at least three people dead last week. Claiming the United States sided with the opposition, president maduro ordered the expulsion of three u. S. Consular officials. I have ordered the foreign minister of the republic to declare persona non grata and expel the three consulate functionaries at the embassy of the unites states of america in venezuela. That they leave venezuela alone. President maduro accused u. S. Officials the meeting was stirred in students in a bid to stir up unrest. The white house has denied involvement in the protest. The Opposition Leader lopez has outed himself in after holding a final rally today. The government issued an arrest warrant for lopez last week, accusing him of inciting violence. President maduro has called on his supporters to rally today. United nations panel has issued a wideranging report accusing north korea of crimes that shock the conscience of humanity. Following a yearlong investigation, you investigators warned north Korean Leader kim jong than he could face responsibility in International Criminal court. The human rights abuses detailed by the panel include extermination, enslavement, sexual violence, religious persecution, torture, and the kidnapping of foreign citizens. The panel chair described the findings. The capacity of north korea to sail under the radar to avoid international scrutiny, to avoid examination of its record over such a long time, effectively, 60 years of very much wrongs , againsthe population christians, minorities, women. [indiscernible] in south korea, meanwhile, Court Sentenced in Opposition Leader to 12 years in prison monday, accusing him of plotting against the government in favor of north korea. Thesoekki has rejected charges against him, saying his trial was part of a government bid to muzzle progressives. Talks aimed at solidifying a deal over irans disputed Nuclear Program are opening today in vienna, austria. Iran, the u. S. , and five other world powers reached a temporary deal in november requiring iran to curb uranium enrichment in return for using crippling economic sanctions. The renewed talks are aimed at establishing a more longterm deal. On monday, irans Supreme Leader accused the United States of hostility toward iran. Issue is excuse for their hostility and even if the Nuclear Issue is resolved to the satisfaction of the americans one day, which is extremely unlikely, another issue will follow again. Just observe the u. S. Government speakers are raising human rights issues, this missile issues, weapons issues, and so on. Im surprised the americans are not ashamed to even talk about human rights. Two members of the russian protest group pussy riot who recently returned from a trip to the United States have been attained in sochi, russia, where the olympics are underway. Nearly twoen spent years in prison for protesting russian leader Vladimir Putin inside an orthodox cathedral. They planned to stage a protest against putin in sochi. Meanwhile, transgender activist and former member of italys parliament has staged backtoback actions in support of lgbt right at the olympics in sochi. Wasunday, Vladimir Luxuria detained after disbanding displaying a banner read gay is ok annual of the heart. The next day she attempted to enter the olympic hockey arena wearing elaborate amo headdress entering a gay pride flag and was probably escorted away. She said she was protesting russias socalled gay propaganda law. Stop wearing the colors of the rainbow just because someone took away a flack from me, that means these people when and i dont want to be guided in my life by fear. I want to be guided in my life by courage, the courage that ive always had in my life. Back in the u. S. , an arkansas man is behind bars for allegedly opening fire on a car full of teenagers over the weekend, killing a 15yearold girl. Police in little rock say willie noble shot at the teenagers after they dumped eggs and leaves on his sons car as part of a prank. 15yearold Adrian Broadway was shot in the head and died. Noble has been charged with firstdegree murder. The oilrich city of williston, dakota now has the highest average rent in the u. S. , surpassing both San Francisco and new york city. It is the center of a boom in Domestic Oil Production filled by these are fracking in the bakken shale. Websiteg to the apartment guide, a onebedroom apartment now costs nearly 2400 a month almost 900 more than the average in new york. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Topsecret documents leaked by Edward Snowden have revealed new details about how the u. S. And britain targeted the whistleblowing website wikileaks after it published leaked documents about the afghan war. According to new article cowritten by Glenn Greenwald published this morning, britains top spy agency, the Government Communications headquarters or gc hq, secretly monitored as it is to wikileaks site by collecting their ip addresses in real time as well as the search terms used to reach the site. Shows thent from 2010 National Security agency added wikileaks publisher Julian Assange to a man hunting target list, together with suspected members of al qaeda. Another document reveals the nsa considered designating wikileaks as a Malicious Foreign actor. According to the intercept, such a designation would have allowed the group to be targeted with extensive electronic surveillance without the need to exclude u. S. Persons from the surveillance searches. In addition, the documents reveal the United States urged its foreign allies to file criminal charges against assange over the groups publication of the Afghanistan War logs. Joining us now from london is wikileaks founder and editor Julian Assange. He is talking to us by phone from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he has been holed up since 2012 with political asylum. In new york were joined by Michael Ratner, an attorney for Julian Assange. When you read this, julian welcome back to democracy now what were your thoughts on being put on this man hunting list together with al qaeda . Good morning, amy. Was, well,ought finally, we have some proof we can present to the public for what we have long suspected for a variety of reasons. Strange to see your name in that context with people who are suspected of serious criminal acts of terrorism. Clearly, that is a massive overstep. We have heard a lot of propaganda pushed on this issue in u. S. Er and Others National secure to complex that said the surveillance was justified by the need to stop u. S. Or the terrorist attacks being conducted on the United States and the allies. The were seeing example after example the last few months showing the National Security agency and its partner gchq have engaged in economic espionage. Here we have an example where the type of espionage engaging meing on the publisher personally and the other material that came out in relation to gchq was from 2012. And that shows gchq was spying on our service and our readers. Not just the publisher as an organization or a person, but also the readers of the publisher and that is, clearly, i believe, not something the United States population agrees with, let alone other people. Atwere you surprised anything that came out in these latest documents . I was surprised about how someone is added to the foreign bullishness act list foreign malicious act list. The Security Agency with your process to try a high level, the office of legal director, to designate us as a foreign elusive actor, which means our u. S. Personnel can be spied on or our associates or the human without can be targeted going through any of the checks the National Security agency might normally engage in. The details, you can see it is quite a lot quite a cavalier approach to going to a very serious decision to spy on a publisher and all its u. S. Personnel. We must assume News Agencies like reuters or others that have foreign correspondents in the United States, american citizens or american citizens working overseas, could be similarly affected. Julian assange, the intercept article quote from the document you are referencing is from july 2011 and showed how to have nsa officers considered designating wikileaks a Malicious Foreign actor. I want to read from the exchange between the nsas agency general counsel and an arm of its Threat Operations CenterJulian Assange, your response and what the documents reveal about the process of the nsa or gchq to designate someone a Malicious Foreign actor . What they mean by no defeats, it is sort of no protections for any form of perception of content of u. S. Citizens communicating with that anization or through that the particular document this came out in was actually not a document that was formally looking at this issue in relation to us, rather, it was from thattion consideration that happen sometime in the past and was put into one of their current if you like, sort of frequently asked questions internally in the nsa. We are quite lucky to have found this reference. We were used as an example of how you could infect target these Services Even when they were used by people in the United States. The answer is, yes, that can be done. We dont know what the answer was in our particular case, but given the general example is, yes, then we must assume that it was. Now general alexander needs to , wasclean and say, in fact in the case of wikileaks and the National Security agency proceed in spying on our u. S. Personnel or our lawyers, for example, like Michael Ratner who is based in new york. We have michael here. I want to ask you, then in the embassy and having had natural daylight, semifor 608 days for how are you having not had natural daylight for some 608 days, does this change in any way what your thoughts are about your future . I find it helpful that in comparing the files of course, we looked into many details like this. It is a big puzzle with many pieces, which some organization like a foreign officer has the time to assess come up and it is harder for the public to understand that documents like this show very readily sort of the scale of the u. S. Response to our publications and why, unfortunately, it is necessary for me to apply and receive and other personnel like sarah harris who is a british ,itizen to be legally advised exiled in germany. And will be information about whether there is a sealed indictment, which seems to indicate there isnt, to you have any further information about that, and indictment against you in the United States . The District Attorney of virginia gave the last information on that issue and stated publicly the investigation continues. Julian assange, thank you for being with us, founder and editorinchief of wikileaks. Will this change anything you do inside the embassy when you see how further information about your being monitored and people even going to the website, what , collecting the ip addresses in real time of people who even access the wikileaks site . Wikileaks Security Model has always been predicated under the basis that we are dealing with very powerful organizations that do not obey the rule of law. Are powerful to criminal organizations or corrupt governments in africa or whether there spy agencies allied with the west or russia or china. We haveoesnt always been prepared to defend against that sort of scrutiny. Upa government has said they spent 6 Million Pounds the u. K. Government said they have spent 6 Million Pounds surveilling to the Police Forces alone. We must assume gchq is also monitoring the situation. I suppose that is part of the said state of the rules of law and the west where these organizations gave that way. I think the days are clearly numbered that they can get away with it without being exposed. But i will leave you to Michael Ratner now. Thank you so much, Julian Assange, founder and editorinchief of wikileaks. When we come back, we will be with Michael Ratner and also from london, not in exile in the ecuadoran embassy, but in a studio in london, by jesselyn raddack, the Legal Advisor to Edward Snowden who was stopped at Heathrow Airport on sunday, asked, who is Edward Snowden . Where is Bradley Manning . Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Topsecret documents leaked by Edward Snowden have revealed new details about how the United States and britain targeted the whistleblowing website wikileaks after he published documents about the afghan war. According to a new article written by Ryan Gallagher and