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Assange: An Unholy Masquerade of Tyranny Disguised as Justice June 15, 2023: - There has never existed any government so evil and repugnant that it has been unable to find lawyers, and particularly judges, to do its bidding. Hitler did not need to manufacture lawyers and judges. A very significant number, indeed the majority, of established and reputable German lawyers were prepared to participate actively in Nazi law, both its development and implementation. That of course includes Roland Freisler, a Doctor of Law from the University of Jena, who was a practising solicitor before his elevation. This was prosecutor Telford Taylor, opening the trial of Nazi lawyers at Nuremberg: This case is unusual,… Dangers of AI Revealed as Israeli Bullet Decides to Kill Somebody June 9, 2023: - The Guardian has revealed some of the extraordinary danger of artificial intelligence in a headline that reveals an Israeli bullet decided all by itself to kill somebody. Despite having no electronic components, the heavy baton round managed to slam itself straight into the face of a 22 year old Palestinian news photographer. This use of the passive in describing Israeli crimes is absolutely typical of the Guardian, and of the entire mainstream media. A more naturally expressed and honest headline would have been "Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinian journalist in the head for filming demolition of Ramallah homes". Note that the…
The Framing of Jeremy Corbyn June 6, 2023: - On Sunday I spoke alongside Jeremy Corbyn and others at a packed meeting in Oslo to discuss freedom in the modern world, with particular reference to Julian Assange and to Guantanamo. It was a truly inspirational event. It finished at 6.30 pm local time. The speakers were then mobbed by well-wishers and those wanting to give contact details or request campaigning help. Books were given and signed, and a great many selfies were taken. I saw Jeremy pose literally for dozens of selfies with beaming supporters. Finally making it out of the hall and into the street, Jeremy was approached…
The Twilight of Freedom May 31, 2023: - Three British journalists I know personally - Johanna Ross, Vanessa Beeley and Kit Klarenberg - have each in the last two years been detained at immigration for hours on re-entering their own country, and questioned by police under anti-terrorist legislation. This is plainly an abuse of the power to detain at port of entry, because in each case they could have been questioned at any time in the UK were there legitimate cause, and the questioning was not focused on their travels. They were in fact detained and interrogated simply for holding and publishing dissident opinion on foreign policy, and… 
Missing the Soprano May 29, 2023: - I had the chance to catch up over a few drinks with an old friend just retired from the diplomatic service. I guess I too would have been doing that around now, had I not stumbled upon extraordinary rendition and torture and quixotically attempted to stop it. My friend wished to impress upon me how much less fun the job is now than when we were young. That is certainly true in many ways. Even before I retired, the job had become much more about form-filling and accounting than it had about actually doing anything useful. Diplomats were becoming ever… 
Lawyers For Israel Oppose Conscience May 20, 2023: - Two months ago I wrote an article entitled "Fascist judges" about the concerted move by judges in England to outlaw jury nullification. Despite the long and established history of juries refusing to convict for laws they view as an abuse of power by the state, climate protestors have been jailed for contempt simply for trying to tell juries why they acted. Four out of five defendants have now been found guilty of intent to cause criminal damage in the "Shenstone 5" trial over the blockade of an Elbit factory. Judge Chambers had ruled similarly that the defendants could not put… 
Trial By Jury May 16, 2023: - When I started this blog I never envisaged I would be forced to write a defence of the use of juries in Scotland. We live in troubling times indeed. A jury is an essential protection against the power of the state. It is a randomly selected group of citizens who decide on the facts of an accusation - crucially removing that power from officers of the state. It is therefore a much needed safeguard against a state official just banging up people the state wishes to bang up, without just cause. It has been viewed that way for centuries. The… 
Now Protest Is a Moral Duty May 12, 2023: - The torrential rain was shed from the policeman's flat hat via its curved plastic peak, forming a curtain of water that flowed down in front of him, obscuring his face. His name was Martin. A female colleague stood in solidarity beside him. Two other female policemen were filming with a large video camera from three metres away. Thirty yards down the road were large groups of burly policemen in fluorescent jackets, and beyond them the Tactical Support Group sat behind the dark windows of their mesh covered minibuses, fingering their shields and batons. Facing Martin were the protestors. There were… 
Freedom of Speech: Elbit and Fascist Policing May 10, 2023: - Update: Back protesting again today. I learn that 46 protestors who have been arrested have been released on the bail condition that they leave Leicestershire. Yes, the entire county. People arrested for doing absolutely nothing but exercise the democratic right to protest, are thus prevented from exercising that right further, without a long period in jail on remand. What is happening here is sickening. Original post: Monday was day eight of the protest at the Elbit Israeli weapons factory in Leicester. After seven days and over 60 arrests, fewer than 20 protestors remained. The protestors are confined to a designated… 
Julian’s Voice is Heard Once More May 7, 2023: - Though convicted of nothing, and merely in "administrative detention" entitled to the presumption of innocence, for five years Julian Assange's voice has been effectively silenced. The dreadful place of harsh incarceration that is Belmarsh prison, where terrorists are kept, has not allowed his voice to be heard by the world. Journalists are not permitted to visit him - even NGOs have been prevented from visiting on the false basis they are journalists, and may communicate his thoughts to the outside world. I don't know how, but somehow Julian has managed to send out some thoughts in the pretext of an… 
The USA – What Democracy? May 3, 2023: - Joe Biden will very probably be re-elected. No incumbent President has ever lost a primary (though it should be remembered the current primary system is younger than me). Only one sitting President has ever not been selected by their party to stand again, and that was knocking on two hundred years ago. Both Biden's main primary challenger, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and his likely Republican opponent, Donald Trump, are less than enthusiastic about promoting massive war in Europe and risking nuclear obliteration. (I hope everyone in the UK enjoyed the nationwide new alert test the other day and spent a… 
Defence Fund Appeal – United Nations Human Rights Committee April 24, 2023: - Now that precisely the same individuals who organised the conspiracy to frame Alex Salmond are under heavy police investigation for financial fraud, many people are now prepared to listen who refused to do so before. I am going forward with a case to the UN Human Rights Committee over my substantial imprisonment for journalism. This will set out what really happened in Scotland - to Alex Salmond, to me, to Clive Thomson, to Mark Hirst and others - on the international stage. It will highlight that it remains illegal to publish almost any of the truth about the conspiracy led… 
It Is The Union That Is Collapsing April 20, 2023: - The collapse of the governing party of the Scottish colonial administration is a direct consequence of the Union. It shows the need for Independence. Devolution infantilises Scottish politics. The Scottish Government budget is a massive £60 billion. But that all comes through London. The Scottish Government has no effective control on the productivity of its economy. It has extremely limited, essentially cosmetic, powers to vary fiscal policy, excluding indirect and corporate taxation. It has no power whatsoever over monetary policy. The "Scottish government" is in essence very little more than a distribution mechanism for government revenue channelled through London. The… 
Snowden and Texeira: Ten Years of Disaster April 16, 2023: - Ten years ago Edward Snowden was helped to escape by Wikileaks and to publish his revelations by The Intercept, Guardian, New York Times and others. In 2023 Jack Texeira is tracked down by UK secret service front Bellingcat in conjunction with the New York Times and in parallel with the Washington Post, not to help him escape or help him publish or tell people his motives, but to help the state arrest him. Those outlets have accessed a cache of at least 300 additional secret documents in doing so - and have kept them secret, with the exception of a… 
Bearing Witness for Julian April 13, 2023: - I was standing on the street in the rain, speaking to a few dozen people, without a sound system. Remarkably this is captured brilliantly just on an inexpensive phone camera, and my words have already reached several thousand. Good people cannot just give up and do nothing. We have to continue to try to do what is right. I was touched to see again unacknowledged campaigners I have witnessed pounding the streets for Julian for over a decade. We will never give up the struggle to free him. ------------------------------------------------ Forgive me for pointing out that my ability to provide this… 
So Now Who Do We Vote For? April 10, 2023: - I can't recall such utter hopelessness in UK politics, with every political party in the grip of a self-serving cabal of the political class interested purely in personal interest. The Labour Party is entirely taken over by the Wes Streeting tendency. Its method is to find the most right wing racist in Hartlepool who ever once voted Labour for reasons he is unsure of, and give him everything he wants that might lead him to vote Labour again. Attack on liberal judges and left wing lawyers? Tick, Labour policy. Hard Brexit? Tick, Labour policy. Lock up disruptive climate protestors? Tick.… High Level Corruption in Scotland Continues April 5, 2023: - The threat of imprisonment for contempt of court again looms over me if I tell you (again) too much of the truth about the arrest of Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell. But I can make a few observations. As I stated on twitter on March 19 (I am not going to repeat all my tweets here but you can go searching down my twitter thread), Police Scotland delayed their investigation into SNP corruption for the duration of the SNP Leadership election campaign. That campaign was triggered by Sturgeon's sudden resignation, which was itself precipitated by her being told by Police…
Evan Gershkovich and the Perils of Journalism Post Assange Persecution April 4, 2023: - Russia should release Evan Gershkovich; if as part of a prisoner swap it should be speedily concluded. Gershkovich was arrested in Ekaterinburg while investigating the Wagner Group. Ekaterinburg is one of Russia's grimmest, most mafia dominated and least open cities, which I have myself visited specifically to investigate the murders of local Russian journalists. That was dangerous enough without the complications of a war and the fact Gershkovich was planning to visit the location of a nearby tank factory (it is unclear whether he got to carry out this plan). I am not in the least surprised he was arrested,… 
Scotland April 3, 2023: - I have waited for anger to subside before writing about Humza Yousaf as First Minister. The obvious unfairness of the election created a lot of anger. The SNP party machine did everything to get Humza elected, with the now huge payroll vote swinging into action from the start with coordinated endorsements and messages. Central party staff, the SNP's Westminster spin doctor and even Sturgeon's "fixer" Liz Lloyd were seconded to the Humza campaign. The hundreds of paid staff of MPs and MSPs campaigned relentlessly for Humza, self-describing as "activists". The numerous SNP HQ troll accounts swung into action. Banners and… 
The So Far Non-Existent Vulkan Leaks March 31, 2023: - The Guardian, Washington Post and Der Spiegel have today published "bombshell" revelations about Russian cyber warfare based on leaked documents, but have produced only one single, rather innocuous leaked document between them (in the Washington Post), with zero links to any. Where are these documents and what do they actually say? Der Spiegel tells us: This is all chronicled in 1,000 secret documents that include 5,299 pages full of project plans, instructions and internal emails from Vulkan from the years 2016 to 2021. Despite being all in Russian and extremely technical in nature, they provide unique insight into the depths… More News
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