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BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY

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WikiLeaks has dumped even more U.S. secrets -- this time, they include a list of international businesses considered crucial assets for the country.

This report on Sky News says the list is like a go-to guide for terrorists seeking the U.S.’s Achilles’ heel.

“The cable from U.S. missions worldwide, advises the State Department the long list of international firms, including pipelines and factories, which if destroyed, disrupted or exploited, would likely have an immediate and deleterious effect on the United States. ... Included on the list is BAE in the UK which builds the F-35 fighter jet. ... And globally, oil and mining companies, such as Rio Tinto, are also named.”

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks’ very own crucial assets are also under pressure. Just last week, Amazon cut off the website's American servers, while PayPal froze its donation account. Now, a BBC report says, a Swiss bank has also taken action.

"The Swiss post office's bank, PostFinance, has frozen the accounts of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The whistle-blowing website says the freeze includes a defence fund and personal assets worth 31,000 euros. … PostFinance said Mr Assange had ‘provided false information regarding his place of residence’ during the account opening process.”

And the setbacks don’t stop there. On Monday, the AP reports, WikiLeaks’ Swedish servers had become unresponsive, and may be under cyber attacks.

Assange’s arrest may also be imminent -- according to Reuters, the U.K. has received an arrest warrant from Sweden, who wants Assange for questioning about sex-crime allegations. (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

Despite the pressures -- NBC reports, Assange remains -- quote, ‘defiant.’ If he’s arrested, he threatens to release what he calls a ‘thermonuclear device’ -- in the form of... what else, but even more uncensored government documents.

“It’s a secret cache of uncensored documents that’s been described as a ‘poison pill.’ Julian Assange is threatening to unleash the archive of documents if his website is shut down, or he’s arrested. ... The huge arrays of files is said to have documents on BP, Bank of America, and Guantanamo Bay.

“It’s a ticking time bomb with a remote fuse. So, this bomb can go off, the second that they release the key. The key will spread around the Internet in a matter of seconds...”


And finally, a CNN report focuses on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who says he has taken steps in the investigation of WikiLeaks, but does not go into details.

“[Holder] declined to comment when asked whether the actions involved search warrants, requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes wiretaps, or other means, describing them only as ‘significant.’”

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