tagged w/ Julian Assange
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
John Pilger
On May 30, Britain's Supreme Court turned down the final appeal of Julian Assange against his extradition to Sweden. In an unprecedented move, the court gave the defence team of the WikiLeaks editor permission to “re-apply” to the court in two weeks' time.
On the eve of the judgement, Sweden's leading morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter interviewed investigative journalist John Pilger, who has closely followed the Assange case. The following is the complete text of the interview, of which only a fraction was published in Sweden.
-Julian Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden at a number of British courts. Why do you think it is important he wins?
Because the attempt to extradite Assange is unjust and political. I have read almost every scrap of evidence in this case and it's clear, in terms of natural justice, that no crime was committed. The case would not have got this far had it not been for the intervention of Claes Borgstrom, a politician who saw an opportunity when the Stockholm prosecutor threw out almost all the police allegations.
Borgstrom was then in the middle of an election campaign. When asked why the case was proceeding when both women had said that the sex had been consensual with Assange, he replied, "Ah, but they're not lawyers." If the Supreme Court in London rejects Assange's appeal, the one hope is the independence of the Swedish courts.
However, as the London Independent has revealed, Sweden and the US have already begun talks on Assange's "temporary surrender" to the US — where he faces concocted charges and the prospect of unlimited solitary confinement. And for what? For telling epic truths. Every Swede who cares about justice and the reputation of his or her society should care deeply about this.
-You have said that Julian Assange's human rights have been breached. In what way?
One of the most fundamental human rights — that of the presumption of innocence — has been been breached over and over again in Assange's case. Convicted of no crime, he has been the object of character assassination — perfidious and inhuman — and highly political smear, of which the evidence is voluminous.
This is what Britain's most distinguished and experienced human rights lawyer, Gareth Peirce, has written: “Given the extent of the public discussion, frequently on the basis of entirely false assumptions ... it is very hard to preserve for [Assange] any presumption of innocence.
“He has now hanging over him not one but two Damocles swords of potential extradition to two different jurisdictions in turn for two different alleged crimes, neither of which are crimes in his own country. [And] his personal safety has become at risk in circumstances that are highly politically charged.”
-You, as well as Julian Assange, don't seem to have confidence in the Swedish judicial system. Why not?
It's difficult to have confidence in a prosecutorial system that is so contradictory and flagrantly uses the media to achieve its aims. Whether or not the Supreme Court in London find for or against Assange, the fact that this case has reached the highest court in this country is itself a condemnation of the competence and motivation of those so eager to incarcerate him, having already had plenty of opportunity to to question him properly. What a waste all this is.
-If Julian Assange is innocent, as he says, would it not have been better if he had gone to Stockholm to sort things out?
Assange tried to "sort things out", as you put it. Right from the beginning, he offered repeatedly to be questioned — first in Sweden, then in Britain. He sought and received permission to leave Sweden, which makes a nonsense of the claim that he has avoided questioning.
The prosecutor who has since pursued him has refused to give any explanation about why she will not use standard procedures, which Sweden and the UK have signed up to.
-If the Supreme Court decides that Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden, what consequences/risks do you see for him?
First, I would draw on my regard for ordinary Swedes' sense of fairness and justice. Alas, overshadowing that is a Swedish elite that has forged sinister and obsequious links with Washington. These powerful people have every reason to see Julian Assange as a threat.
For one thing, their vaunted reputation for neutrality has been repeatedly exposed as a sham in US cables leaked by WikiLeaks.
One cable revealed that "the extent of [Sweden's military and intelligence] co-operation [with Nato] is not widely known" and unless kept secret "would open up the government to domestic criticism". Another was entitled "WikiLeaks puts neutrality in the dustbin of history".
Don't the Swedish public have a right to know what the powerful say in private in their name?Thursday, May 31, 2012
John Pilger
On May 30, Britain's Supreme Court turned... more
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Judge orders Manson Family tapes turned over to police
Folk musician Doc Watson dies at age 89
Britain’s Supreme Court backs extradition of Julian Assange to SwedenJudge orders Manson Family tapes turned over to police
Folk musician Doc Watson dies... more
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Until recently, leaking confidential information was perceived as disloyal and irresponsible and not only was it rare but involved a moral dilemma. Yet now, it is secrecy, confidentiality and privacy that are stigmatised and Wikileaks is lauded for enabling individuals to spill the beans. Is this development a triumph for transparency or a blow to moral integrity? This debate is superb and speakers include Mick Hume, editor-at-large, spiked; writer, The Times; Joyce McMillan, theatre critic, Scotsman, Henry Porter, political columnist, Observer; UK editor, Vanity Fair; Gwyn Prins, research professor, LSE; Richard Sexton, partner, PwC.Until recently, leaking confidential information was perceived as disloyal and... more
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Julian Assange's debut as a TV interviewer on RT was bound to face criticism and praise from around the globe - and it's done just that. The world's most famous whistleblower attracted controversy mainly due to his choice of guest and the channel chosen to broadcast the show. American journalist and anti-war activist Don DeBar says there's nothing suprising in the wave of criticism against Assange's show in the U.S., given how whistleblowers are treated there.
http://youtu.be/MMO5SxkizFMJulian Assange's debut as a TV interviewer on RT was bound to face criticism and... more
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RT correspondent reports on Julian Assange’s new show that will be broadcast on RT towards the end of April.RT correspondent reports on Julian Assange’s new show that will be broadcast on... more
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– Site’s founder tells Leveson inquiry he faced inaccuracies ‘possibly on a scale not seen since the abuse of the McCanns’– Site’s founder tells Leveson inquiry he faced inaccuracies... more
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Patriot Act, Extraordinary Rendition (Disappearance), Summary Execution, Indefinite Detention, Torture, Warrant-less Wiretapping, Spying on American Citizens, Counter Insurgency (Counter Occupy Movement), Homegrown Terrorist Act, Protesting Made Illegal...the list goes on and on. The United States has turned its back on the lessons from the Nuremberg trials and the Geneva conventions. It has rejected true liberty and true democracy for oligarchy and fascism. The world is a more dangerous and terrifying place, not because of Islam or Communism or Socialism....NO SIR...it's the way it is because of American Exceptionalism, Neo-Liberal Economic Policies, Empire Building and Global Domination. What Hawks call terrorism, is in actuality freedom-fighting and liberation, it's desperation in the face of huge gargantuan monster of fascist capitalism and the terrible machine of war it wields.
http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer103.html Instead of hailing Bradley Manning as a national hero, he is being portrayed as a traitor, a whistleblower of the the worst kind who betrayed the oligarchy war hungry ravenous fascist hawks....his defense is portraying him as a troubled homosexual, instead of the noble intelligent and true patriot that he is...for exposing the war crimes of the people in our government and the traitorous diplomats and CIA agents who do their bidding.
From William Blum's website "The killing of hope":
Here are Manning's own words from an online chat: "If you had free reign over classified networks ... and you saw incredible things, awful things ... things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC ... what would you do? ... God knows what happens now. Hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms. ... I want people to see the truth ... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public."
Is the world to believe that these are the words of a disturbed and irrational person? Do not the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Geneva Conventions speak of a higher duty than blind loyalty to one's government, a duty to report the war crimes of that government?
At the link you will read many, many of the startling revelations from what WikiLeaks has revealed. There is much, much more to come, more serious things. That is why there is such a concerted effort being directed at Julian Assange and Bradley Manning. The old timers with their tried and true propaganda are using double speak to push the buttons of their brainwashed millions in the United States to blindly follow their leaders in their churches and in their caucuses. Truly America has forgotten the lessons from the Nuremberg Trials, they have forgotten how fascism wielded its power in Europe and that is why they fail to see fascism rearing its ugly head with its fangs and claws here in the United States. Truly a tragedy to behold.
Do you believe that there is higher duty than your own church or your own country? Do you feel that crimes should be reported and truth revealed, even though it may lead to the failure of entire institutions? Should these institutions be allowed to continue if the foundations upon which they are built are lies and insubordination of the constitution of the United States?Patriot Act, Extraordinary Rendition (Disappearance), Summary Execution, Indefinite... more
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jubal
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Despite being under house arrest in England and facing sex-crime charges in Sweden that could see him extradited in the months ahead, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will seek a seat in the Australian Senate in an upcoming election.
Australian political scientist John Wanna predicted that Assange would lose the race because he lacks the backing of a major political party, but his high profile could win him as much as 4 percent of the vote in his nominated state. —ARK
The Huffington Post:
“We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained. Julian has decided to run,” WikiLeaks announced on Twitter.
Assange has criticized Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s center-left government for not standing up for him against the potential threat of his extradition to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks’ release of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents.
Australian police have concluded that WikiLeaks and Assange have not broken any Australian laws by publishing the U.S. cables, although Gillard has condemned the action as “grossly irresponsible.”
- I sure would vote for Julian Assange would you? Now if only he were American...Despite being under house arrest in England and facing sex-crime charges in Sweden... more
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WikiLeaks founder hopes to enter politics in home country after discovering his ongoing extradition battle would be no bar
The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in Australia’s senate next year despite being under virtual house arrest in the UK and facing sex crime allegations in Sweden.WikiLeaks founder hopes to enter politics in home country after discovering his... more
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in Australia's senate next year despite being under virtual house arrest in the UK and facing sex crime allegations in Sweden.
The 40-year-old Australian citizen has taken his legal battle against extradition all the way to Britain's supreme court, which is expected to rule on his case soon.
"We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian senate while detained. Julian has decided to run," WikiLeaks announced on Twitter.
Assange has criticised Australian prime minister Julia Gillard's centre-left government for not standing up for him in the wake of WikiLeaks' release of hundreds of thousands of classified US embassy cables in 2010.
Australian police have concluded that WikiLeaks and Assange did not break any Australian laws by publishing the cables, although Gillard has condemned the action as "grossly irresponsible".
John Wanna, a policical scientist at Australian National University, said it was possible for Assange to run for a senate seat if he remained on the Australian electoral roll, despite living overseas for several years.
"If he gets on the roll, then he can stand as long as he's solvent and not in jail and not insane," Wanna said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/17/julian-assange-australian-senate-bidWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in Australia's senate... more
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Needless to say, this will set off conspiracy theories galore…
In an email exchange between Stratfor’s Vice President of Intelligence, Fred Burton, and someone named George Friedman, there is an inference that the body of Osama bin Laden was not dumped at sea, but was instead returned to the U.S....
http://veracitystew.com/?p=31593Needless to say, this will set off conspiracy theories galore…
In an email... more
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WikiLeaks’s latest release of confidential emails obtained from the US private intelligence firm Stratfor indicate the US Department of Justice has issued a secret, sealed indictment against Julian Assange. While the Department of Justice has refused to confirm the existence of the Assange indictmentWikiLeaks’s latest release of confidential emails obtained from the US private... more
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Michael Ratner: Army is trying to pressure Manning into implicating Julian Assange so that he too can be charged and extradited to US.
Michael Ratner is President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York and Chair of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. He is currently a legal adviser to Wikileaks and Julian Assange. He and CCR brought the first case challenging the Guantanamo detentions and continue in their efforts to close Guantanamo. He taught at Yale Law School, and Columbia Law School, and was President of the National Lawyers Guild. His current books include "Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in the Twenty-First Century America," and “ Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away With Murder.” NOTE: Mr. Ratner speaks on his own behalf and not for any organization with which he is affiliated.Michael Ratner: Army is trying to pressure Manning into implicating Julian Assange so... more
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On January 26, 2011, Fred Burton, the vice president of Stratfor, a leading private intelligence firm which bills itself as a kind of shadow CIA, sent an excited email to his colleagues. "Text Not for Pub," he wrote. "We" – meaning the U.S. government – "have a sealed indictment on Assange. Pls protect."
(lots more at link)On January 26, 2011, Fred Burton, the vice president of Stratfor, a leading private... more
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-WikiLeaks is back in the news with the release of millions of e-mails from Stratfor, a global security firm.
The latest trawl — 167 of more than 5.5 million corporate e-mails — was obtained after the hacktivist collective Anonymous hacked into Stratfor servers in December 2011-WikiLeaks is back in the news with the release of millions of e-mails from Stratfor,... more
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The Campaign Against Whistleblowers in Washington
How telling the truth could leave you unemployed, bankrupt, and even jailed.
—By Peter Van Buren
This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.
On January 23rd, the Obama administration charged former CIA officer John Kiriakou under the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information to journalists about the waterboarding of al-Qaeda suspects. His is just the latest prosecution in an unprecedented assault on government whistleblowers and leakers of every sort.
Kiriakou's plight will clearly be but one more battle in a broader war to ensure that government actions and sunshine policies don't go together. By now, there can be little doubt that government retaliation against whistleblowers is not an isolated event, nor even an agency-by-agency practice. The number of cases in play suggests an organized strategy to deprive Americans of knowledge of the more disreputable things that their government does. How it plays out in court and elsewhere will significantly affect our democracy.
Punish the Whistleblowers
The Obama administration has already charged more people—six—under the Espionage Act for alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. (Prior to Obama, there were only three such cases in American history.)
Kiriakou, in particular, is accused of giving information about the CIA's torture programs to reporters two years ago. Like the other five whistleblowers, he has been charged under the draconian World War I-era Espionage Act.
That Act has a sordid history, having once been used against the government's political opponents. Targets included labor leaders and radicals like Eugene V. Debs, Bill Haywood, Philip Randolph, Victor Berger, John Reed, Max Eastman, and Emma Goldman. Debs, a union leader and socialist candidate for the presidency, was, in fact, sentenced to 10 years in jail for a speech attacking the Espionage Act itself. The Nixon administration infamously (and unsuccessfully) invoked the Act to bar the New York Times from continuing to publish the classified Pentagon Papers.
Yet, extreme as use of the Espionage Act against government insiders and whistleblowers may be, it's only one part of the Obama administration's attempt to sideline, if not always put away, those it wants to silence. Increasingly, federal agencies or departments intent on punishing a whistleblower are also resorting to extra-legal means. They are, for instance, manipulating personnel rules that cannot be easily challenged and do not require the production of evidence. And sometimes, they are moving beyond traditional notions of "punishment" and simply seeking to destroy the lives of those who dissent.
The well-reported case of Thomas Drake is an example. As an employee, Drake revealed to the press that the National Security Agency (NSA) spent $1.2 billion on a contract for a data collection program called Trailblazer when the work could have been done in-house for $3 million. The NSA's response? Drake's home was raided at gunpoint and the agency forced him out of his job.
"The government convinced themselves I was a bad guy, an enemy of the state, and went after me with everything they had seeking to destroy my life, my livelihood, and my person—the politics of personal destruction, while also engaging in abject, cutthroat character assassination, and complete fabrication and frame up," Drake told Antiwar.com. "Marriages are strained, and spouses' professional lives suffer as much as their personal lives. Too often, whistleblowers end up broken, blacklisted, and bankrupted," said the attorney who represents Drake.
In Kiriakou's case, the CIA found an excuse to fire his wife, also employed by the Agency, while she was on maternity leave. Whistleblower Bradley Manning, accused of leaking Army and State Department documents to the website WikiLeaks, spent more than a year in the worst of punitive conditions in a US Marine prison and was denied the chance even to appear in court to defend himself until almost two years after his arrest. Former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Morris Davis lost his career as a researcher at the Library of Congress for writing a critical op-ed for the Wall Street Journal and a letter to the editor at the Washington Post on double standards at the infamous prison, as did Robert MacClean for blowing the whistle on the Transportation Security Administration.
Four employees of the Air Force Mortuary in Dover, Delaware, attempted to address shortcomings at the facility, which handles the remains of all American service members who die overseas. Retaliation against them included firings, the placing of employees on indefinite administrative leave, and the imposition of five-day suspensions. The story repeats itself in the context of whistleblowers now suing the Food and Drug Administration for electronically spying on them when they tried to alert Congress about misconduct at the agency. We are waiting to see the Army's reaction to whistleblower Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, who documented publicly this week that senior leaders of the Department of Defense intentionally and consistently misled the American people and Congress on the conduct and progress of the Afghan War.
And this remains the most partial of lists, when it comes to recent examples of non-judicial government retaliation against whistleblowers.
Government bureaucrats know that this sort of slow-drip intimidation keeps people in line. It may, in the end, be less about disciplining a troublemaker than offering visible warning to other employees. They are meant to see what's happening and say, "Not me, not my mortgage, not my family!"—and remain silent. Of course, creative, thoughtful people also see this and simply avoid government service.
In this way, such a system can become a self-fulfilling mechanism in which ever more of the "right kind" of people chose government service, while future "troublemakers" self-select out—a system in which the punishment of leakers becomes the pre-censorship of potential leakers. At the moment, in fact, the Obama administration might as well translate the famed aphorism "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to remain silent" into Latin and carve it into the stone walls of the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, or NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, or the main office of the State Department at Foggy Bottom where I still fight to keep my job.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/campaign-against-whistleblowers-washington-john-kiriakou-espionageThe Campaign Against Whistleblowers in Washington
How telling the truth could leave... more
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to star as himself in the 500th episode of The Simpsons, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Assange – currently under house arrest while he appeals against his extradition to Sweden to face sex offence charges – recorded his lines from the UK to be included in the new episode, which airs in the US on February 19th.
His appearance is reported to be part of a light-hearted storyline involving the Simpson family fleeing Springfield when residents hold a secret meeting to have them kicked out: “There’s nothing we did that has anything to do with the legal situation he’s in,” says Simpsons exec producer Al Jean, “We wanted to make sure it was satirical, and he was willing to do that.”
The Simpsons is not the only show Assange is due to appear in this year: he’s also hosting a talk show on Russian channel RT from March.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/01/30/simpsons-wikileaks-julian-assange/WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to star as himself in the 500th episode of The... more
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Basically we knew that Assange wanted to write and host his own interview show and we made it happen.
The show is going to be broadcast exclusively on RT. It is going to focus of course on Assange’s favorite topic, controversy.Basically we knew that Assange wanted to write and host his own interview show and we... more
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RT's getting a new talk show - and world media's already in a spin over its host. It's the man who's exposed wrongs at the highest levels of government and military - the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.RT's getting a new talk show - and world media's already in a spin over its... more
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Maryland: With his small frame draped in the digitised fatigues of the US Army and his eyes blinking slowly behind thick glasses, the man accused of the largest intelligence leak in American history has appeared in court for the first time.Maryland: With his small frame draped in the digitised fatigues of the US Army and his... more
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