There may be a ruling today on Julian Assange’s proposed extradition to Sweden to face some ridiculously flimsy accusations of “minor rape”. The threat to Assange, that the Swedish authorities will simply hand him over to the United States on espionage charges, is very real. Sweden was one of the tiny minority of 14 – the US and US vassal states – who on Monday voted against Palestinian membership of UNESCO.
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http://www.scribd.com/doc/71271943/Julian-Assange-Judgment-2-Nov-2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/27/wikileaks-payments-blockade-dangerous-precedent?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Poor Julian. Yet another victim of the evil USUKIsNATO empire except that he is still alive. I hope he has some good lawyers and that he succeeds on appeal.
If the Americans wanted Assange that badly surely it would have been easier for them to extradite him from the UK than Sweden. From what I have read about the case in Sweden it all seems very suspect.I wish Assange all the best and hope he gets to carry on with his work. Funny that the supposed charges that he might face in Sweden would be thrown out of a court in the UK.
Havantaclu: Seem to remember that around the same time as Tony got the extradition arrangement past three MPs on a wet Thursday evening, Prudence Brown was flogging off our gold reserves at a massive discount. I feel sure there are some interesting stories yet to emerge as to why this happened.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/71271943/Julian-Assange-Judgment-2-Nov-2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/27/wikileaks-payments-blockade-dangerous-precedent?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Tend to agree with Komodo that the Wikileaks revelations have been hum-drum. It’s therefore puzzling to see the US set out so brazenly to get him – why not let him carry on? He’s not revealing anything that we didn’t already know or confidently guess.
Funny that the supposed charges that he might face in Sweden would be thrown out of a court in the UK.
They might not get to court in Sweden either – the prosecutor undertakes investigations before such matters go to court. Haven’t you watched Wallander?
There is a poll on the Russia Today website.
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UK court’s decision to extradite Assange is:
8% : A legitimate step towards a fair trial
4% : Nothing special – Supreme Court may overrule
56% : US using UK as puppet again
32% : A conspiracy to gag internet freedom
Sweden does seem to be on the margins of some USA links. On October 25th, the UN General Assembly discussed the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. [In the General Assembly, hence non-vetoable and non-binding]
At the vote, there were:
Two against: USA; Israel
Three abstain: Marshall Islands; Micronesia; Palau
Two absent: Libya; Sweden
All the rest (all other Europe including EU and UK, all other Africa, all S America, all mainland Asia including China. India, Russia, …) for
And so … ?
I believe the poll gives us the big picture, Mary. Protect the intelligence sharing and justification for the Internet ‘kill’ switch.
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=122919
“We’re in the process of putting our finishing touches on our media plan for it,” said the Army spokeswoman, adding that the yet-to-be-scheduled hearing will be open to the press. She said it is command policy to ask the news media not to publish the the names of military personnel involved in the case.
Bradley Manning, in case you’d forgotten. They’ve probably got him bang to rights under US military law; I’m surprised they’re even bothering with spin.
I have concerns for Bradley Manning (thankyou Komodo) and other whistle-blowers. Bradley’s conditions at Quantico had been a breach of international standards for humane treatment of an untried prisoner. He had at times been left naked in a small cell and no exercise.
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Earlier this year Bradley was being moved from the maximum-security military brig at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia to a medium-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as a direct result of International pressure according to Amnesty.
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Sad, tragic and criminal that he is still in solitary confinement. Has not been charged with a crime or put on trial.
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Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture noted that the Obama administration had offered the possibility of a meeting, but only under “conditions in which they could not confirm the confidentiality of my conversations with him.”
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That says it all and confirms my own suspicions.
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http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/releases/u-n-torture-investigator-confirms-no-unmonitored-access-to-bradley-manning-condemns-solitary-confinement
Assange has done humanity an enormous service. Merely to publish these documents, regardless of the fact that some of our colleagues were lucky enough to know everything already, was a great service. And has assisted in the growing public awareness of the criminality of US Foreign Policy.
But he has now become a trophy in the 2012 US Election campaign. One in a series designed to demonstrate, to anyone foolish enough to doubt it, that Obama is as nasty and vicious as any of his predecessors in office.
If Assange is sent to Sweden the neo-con government there will do all it can to hustle him over to the USA. It may even look the other way as he is “rendered.”
Assange, in fetters and handcuffs, with a few bruises no doubt and a Jose Padilla style emptiness in his eyes, would earn Suharto’s last admirer lots of votes next year. Perhaps as many as the last video of Ghadaffi or the story of the killing of Bin Laden are worth. (And Obama is welcome to such votes).
It is saddening to read nonsense to the effect that, from a distance, Assange strikes some people as being unsympathetic, perhaps narcissistic or possibly sociopathic. Does it not occur to them that to view the very probable mistreatement of a man of whom they know nothing and who has done nobody any harm, with insouciance, is strikingly indicative of narcissism and sociopathy on their parts?
The saga of Bradley Cummings makes it perfectly clear what lies in store for Julian if he is sent to Sweden. It is bad enough that the British Government is selling out Assange, but at least it is doing is for money and the approval of the Washington mafia. The Guardian and its friends on this thread seem to be just putting the boot in for the fun of it.
Stephen
As for the real reasons why Sweden voted against Palestine’s membership or UNESC0[sic] – perhaps some might genuinely be interested in what the Swede’s[sic] actually say on the matter.
1. That’s not what “the Swedes” say – it’s what Carl Bildt says.
2. Quite predictably, he’s parroting US nonsense.
Mary
How many participated in the poll – wouldn’t be 25 by any chance – the maths work and does reflect normal figures for Russia Today audience/polls. But I daresay they are the 99%.
..as is the other guy: “”Our vote… should be seen in the perspective of how important we see it to reach a two-state solution within the timescale fixed by the Quartet on the Middle East,””
It’s the same thing – Palestine joining UNESCO will harm peace talks – because Israel will go off in a huff. Entirely Palestine’s fault for being so provocative, eh?
Silly old Brad Cummings! In solitary confinement for more than a year, the subject of dreadful mistreatment. And all so very unnecessary: the crimes he saw in Iraq and revealed to the world were, it now turns out, known and understood in every detail by Komodo.
If they have got Bradley Cummings “bang to rights” according to US military law- and I am not sure that they have- Cummings has produced evidence which gets the US chain of command “bang to rights” by the precedents set in Nuremberg and well established in International Law.
He is accused of sharing badly classified evidence of war crimes (with authorised circulation to about 3 million Federal employees).
They are accused of every war crime from the supreme crime of a war of aggression down to torture and illegal detention.
But to the authoritarian personality only the weak and subordinate can be guilty: the governments and the generals and the killers are authorised to act with impunity.
Were the releases in the public interest? And which public? Did they in fact change anything? Manning is probably in unequivocal breach of US military law (which is not the same as the civil code – when you sign up for the Army, you are knowingly signing away your right to that, and probably international law as well- and Assange was handling stolen goods.
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Yes, I am glad on a personal level that the material was (eventually) released, as it gave a verifiable insight into US (and our) machinations, but the fact remains, (allegedly; S,G&R) laws were broken. And if the US is flexible about the rule of law, I can’t claim the moral high ground if I am happy about its being broken too. Just saying.
At least I got his name right, Chris.
The footage of the good ol’boys enjoying their turkey shoot of Iraqi civilians with a Gatling from their helicopter probably did some good worldwide, I’ll give you that. But it was not exactly unknown that US troops were going well beyond their remit before that emerged. Shit, they were taking their own movies in Abu Ghraib.
Bradley Manning is subject to military justice rather than civil, it is true, but he is also a US citizen. That entitles him to a speedy and public trial, assistance for his defence and so on, under the sixth amendment to the US constitution. Clearly, this has been violated.
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It’s also worth mentioning that Awkaki was killed by a predator drone quite deliberately, without even being tried in absentia. Kamal Derwish, another US citizen, was also among those killed. Apparently assassination of US citizens by their own military and/or intelligence agencies has been taking place for years.
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Clearly all this violates the US constitution, as a constitutional law professor one might think Obama would know this.
Stephen seems to be rather obsessed by Russia Today, a site I rarely visit in spite of what he avers on the other thread. Suggests he asks them for details of the poll.
Where Manning’s conditions of confinement have violated US military law, and such civil rights as remain to him, I am of course against this. But I doubt it will make much difference. It never did when I was in the mob. What went on in Colchester (reportedly) would not have stood a lot of scrutiny by human rights lawyers…most, having done the crime, did the highly energetic time, and shut up about it.
In slightly more detail:
The pretrial hearing is a military procedure when a court-martial is the likely mode of trial. It will formally decide whether or not it will be. The charges have been drafted already, and these include charges which should lead to a general court-martial. The requirement for a speedy trial starts then, and the pretrial date will probably be within the next 30 days. “Normally” the suspect is held for no longer than 120 days before the pretrial. This has been exceeded due to the complexity of the case, and possibly because they haven’t nabbed Assange yet. I can see no requirement that the court-martial is held in public, although it looks as if the press will be admitted to the pretrial.
Wiki details on US general courts-martial here:
“Of all the legislative courts created by Congress, courts-martial have received the most deference from Article III courts. Under a standard of review known as the “separate community” or “military deference” doctrine, the courts have proclaimed the armed forces to be a distinct subculture with unique needs, “a specialized society separate from civilian society.” While some scholars have argued against the idea of a separate legal system for the military, the Article III courts continue the doctrine of deference. Where there is a conflict between the constitutional rights of the individual service member and an asserted military purpose, the courts have deferred to Congress’ ability, and duty, to balance the appropriate factors and reach a necessary compromise.
Today’s court-martial system, including command selection of jurors, would seem to pass muster under the Supreme Court’s constitutional analysis for legislative courts. The accused enjoys due process rights similar to the “fundamental rights” the Court recognized in other legislative courts. A defendant has many rights, including:
assistance of counsel at all levels of the court-martial;
information of the charges brought against the defendant, including a bill of particulars;
a speedy trial;
compulsory process of witnesses and evidence;
the privilege against self-incrimination; and
extensive appellate review.”
Someone tell me what is going on. Is the world becoming more mad than it is already? Pushing the fear factor up to High?
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UK military steps up plans for Iran attack amid fresh nuclear fears
British officials consider contingency options to back up a possible US action as fears mount over Tehran’s capability
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Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 November 2011 15.21 GMT
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Iranian nuclear technicians in protective wear. Photograph: Mehdi Ghasemi/AP
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Britain’s armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern over Tehran’s nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned.
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The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.
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In anticipation of a potential attack, British military planners are examining where best to deploy Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles over the coming months as part of what would be an air- and sea-launched campaign.
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The Guardian has spoken to a number of Whitehall and defence officials over recent weeks who said Iran was once again becoming the focus of diplomatic concern after the revolution in Libya.
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They made clear the US president, Barack Obama, has no wish to embark on a new and provocative military venture before next November’s US election. But they warned the calculus could change because of mounting anxiety over intelligence gathered by western agencies, and the more belligerent posture that Iran appears to have been taking.
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One senior Whitehall official said the regime had proved “surprisingly resilient” in the face of sanctions, and sophisticated attempts by the west to cripple its nuclear enrichment programme had been less successful than first thought.
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He said Iran appeared to be “newly aggressive – and we are not quite sure why”, citing three recent assassination plots on foreign soil that the intelligence agencies say were co-ordinated by elements in Tehran.
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On top of that, the agencies now believe Iran has restored all the capability it lost in a sophisticated cyber-attack last year.
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The Stuxnet computer worm, thought to have been engineered by the Americans and Israelis, sabotaged many of the centrifuges the Iranians were using to enrich uranium.
Up to half of Iran’s centrifuges were disabled by Stuxnet or were thought too unreliable to work, but diplomats believe this capability has now been recovered, and the International Atomic Energy Authority believes it may even be increasing.
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Ministers have also been told that the Iranians have been moving some new, more efficient centrifuges into the heavily fortified military base dug beneath a mountain at the city of Qom.
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The concern is that the centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium for use in weapons, are now so well protected within the site that missile strikes may not be able to reach them. The senior Whitehall source said the Iranians appeared to be shielding “material and capability” inside the base.
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Another Whitehall official, with knowledge of Britain’s military planning, said that within the next 12 months Iran may have hidden all the material it needs to continue a covert weapons programme inside fortified bunkers. He said this had necessitated the UK’s planning being taken to a new level.
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“Beyond [12 months], we couldn’t be sure our missiles could reach them,” the source said. “So the window is closing, and the UK needs to do some sensible forward planning. The US could do this on their own but they won’t. So we need to anticipate being asked to contribute. We had thought this would wait until after the US election next year, but now we are not so sure. President Obama has a big decision to make in the coming months because he won’t want to do anything just before an election.”
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Another source added there was “no acceleration towards military action by the US, but that could change”. Next spring could be a key decision-making period, the source said.
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The MoD has a specific team considering the military options against Iran. The Guardian has been told that planners expect any campaign to be predominantly waged from the air, with some naval involvement, using missiles such as the Tomahawks, which have a range of 800 miles. There are no plans for a ground invasion, but “a small number of special forces” may be needed on the ground, too.
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The RAF could also provide air-to-air refuelling and some surveillance capability, should it be required. British officials say any assistance would be cosmetic: the US could act on its own but would prefer not to.
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An MoD spokesman said: “The British government believes that a dual track strategy of pressure and engagement is the best approach to address the threat from Iran’s nuclear programme and avoid regional conflict. We want a
negotiated solution – but all options should be kept on the table.”
The MoD says there are no hard-and-fast blueprints for conflict but insiders concede that preparations at headquarters and at the Foreign Office have been under way for some time.
/… and yards more of it on
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/02/uk-military-iran-attack-nuclear?CMP=twt_gu
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Elsewhere Israel is carrying out some sort of anti Iranian military exercise in Italy.
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I’m in full agreement with Craig about this affair.
Though it’s surprising the number of people commenting who don’t really know very much about Sweden or its very different legal system, yet this doesn’t stop them commenting with a degree of confidence in inverse proportion to their actual knowledge.
One would have thought that commenting on the UK side of this issue was difficult enough, givent the bizarre and draconian nature of the European Arrest Warrant, which is confusing and seems to undermine the principles of over a thousand years of english common law, like the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and the right to a trial by ones peers in serious cases.
Not satisfied with pontificating about the UK, there are people here who have suddenly become experts on Swedish and European law and how it relates to this affair, strange.
According to the provisions of the European Arrest Warrant the role of the UK courts is clear, to carry out the terms of the warrant without undue delay, as mere routine. The UK courts do not have the power to revue the case, the evidence, or anything else apart from deciding if the warrant is valid and issued by a competent authority. The ‘weighing’ of the evidence has already taken place, in Sweden.
From a UK legal perspective it’s rather odd that the Swedish authorities can issue a powerful legal document like the EAW, based on the verbal testimony of two women, but they don’t believe they have enough ‘evidence’ to bring actual charges against Assange, which seems somewhat paradoxical. Essentially, as there are no charges, the Swedes want Assange extadited to Sweden only to interview him, so that he can help the police with their enquiries, which, in theory, many or may not lead to any charges being brought, let alone a trial!
It’s interesting to note that Assange will probably be held in solitary confinement on his return to Sweden, for months, this is routine in Sweden, and he probably won’t be allowed bail. He could well spend longer in prison on remand than he would if found guilty.
Also once in Swenden his powerful UK friends won’t be around to look after him, so he’ll be very lonely and vurnerable indeed.
It’s also to important to understand Swedish sexual politics. Assange risks being found guilty by the judge based solely on the verbal testimony of the two women involved. Minus witnesses to any crime, minus any physcal evidence that ‘rape’ took place. His word against theirs, and they are Swedish and he’s not, placing him at a culural and legal disadvantage, if one assumes that foreigners are always guilty?
Assange risks being found guilty and imprisonment based solely on the testimony of the two women involved, if their verbal ‘evidence’ is deemed more credible than Assange’s version of events, events that may never have happened, cannot be proved, are hotly disputed, and occured in the privacy of the bedroom during sexual relations.
If I was Assanage I’d opt for trial by fire. It might be his best bet.
Thanks for that Mary, I think that the imploding financial system will only accelerate this drive to war and nobody in this country will be able to stop it.
Unless there are some very effective and ongoing fifth dimensional attacks on the control and logistics systems this calamity will happen soon.
Time scale? not sure, within the next two to three weeks? what you say Mark G. would that be about right if Israel is doing their readying manouvres now?
What have I said now….:(
Chris wrote: “It is saddening to read nonsense to the effect that, from a distance, Assange strikes some people as being unsympathetic, perhaps narcissistic or possibly sociopathic. Does it not occur to them that to view the very probable mistreatement of a man of whom they know nothing and who has done nobody any harm, with insouciance, is strikingly indicative of narcissism and sociopathy on their parts?”
Well said Chris.
People know nothing about Assange apart from what they are fed via journalists, most of whom have never met or spent time with him.
Many of these journalists who have reason to be miffed with Assange because his championing of the free-flow of information tends to show up their corporate conformity. Also, he has cojones and independence, which corporate journalists, by definition, do not have.
Despite some people trying to talk down what Assange did – the WL cable leaks were hugely significant and highly informative for people around the globe. This is not only about Britain or the USA – countries which often exhibit narcissim by imagining they are the centre of the universe.
Many of us around the globe support Wikileaks. We will be watching Sweden and the USA – those great professors of ‘democracy’, ‘free speech’ and ‘right to opinion’ – very closely indeed during the coming months.
“We must prepare to take on the system if it does not find in favour of Assange.”
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Oh yeah?
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Assange strikes some people as a “narcissistic sociopath.”
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Assange received the Sam Adams Award for “integrity in intelligence”, from a group of retired CIA officials.
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No one seems interested in discussing what intelligence work Assange is or was engaged in, or with which intelligence service he was employed.
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Assange is presently accomodated in England by very rich friends.
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In dealing with Sweden’s demand for his extradition, Assange has the services of a Rothschild connected lawyer.
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Assange the whistle-blower, worked in close collaboration with the mainstream media, including the New York Times, in releasing secret US diplomatic cables.
There is no way of checking the authenticity of the secret cables made public by Assange, but as Zbigniev Brzezinski pointed out, the could very easily have been “salted” with disinformation.
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The silliness of the charges made against Assange in Sweden, could as well have been concocted for the purpose of gaining sympathy for Assange and painting hima victimized opponent of “the system,” than for the purpose of placing him in the hands of the US Government.
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More here
Ingo, This is a build up to the IAEA report to be released on 8th November. I have heard nothing from Hanslope Park or any talk of British Naval deployments in the Gulf.
@ Uzbek in the UK
“What is even more sinister is that nations known for their liberalism and freedom are nowadays involved in banal repression of liberties and freedom with all possible means that are at their disposal.”
Very well said and i couldn’t agree more.
Sometimes it seems more pathetically sad than sinister,althjough the sinister dimension is there as never before,be certain of that.