UPDATE GREAT NEWS: Swedish prosecutors are about to announce the dropping of the investigation into Julian Assange on sexual offence allegations. There never were any charges and the allegations were always nonsense, as detailed in the below article I wrote a month ago:
A few months ago I asked Julian whether he expected that Donald Trump would end the case against him in the United States. WikiLeaks had after all published the DNC and Podesta emails, which revealed the corruption at the heart of the Clinton campaign and the way the Democratic primaries had been rigged against Bernie Sanders.
Julian replied that no, he expected the opposite to be true. Trump would feel the need to be openly active against Assange to show that there had been no relationship between him and WikiLeaks. Julian was of course right, and Trump’s Attorney-General has announced that the United States wants to extradite Assange on charges of espionage related to the Snowden revelations of mass illegal government surveillance.
It is worth noting that this is not really new. The Obama administration was sitting on sealed indictments against Assange for years. Obama prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other President in history. Having come to power promising to take action against senior CIA figures for waterboarding, the only person his Administration prosecuted – and jailed – over it was John Kiriakou for blowing the whistle on waterboarding.
Obama’s policy of not confirming or denying the charges against Assange in the States, enabled the media propagandists to pour scorn on Assange’s repeated insistence he was in the Ecuadorean Embassy to avoid extradition not to Sweden, but to the USA. That is now undeniable.
There are no rape charges against Assange in Sweden. There are espionage charges against Assange in the USA.
The evidence in the Swedish Assange allegations was originally reviewed by the chief prosecutor in Stockholm who declared there was no case to answer. It was then taken up – as allowed in the Swedish system – by a second prosecutor, Marianne NY, who has a campaigning third wave feminist agenda.
The European Arrest Warrant against Assange was signed not by any court, but by Marianne Ny. It was not on the basis that he was charged with any offence, but that he was wanted for questioning by the prosecutor. This can never happen again – UK law was subsequently changed so only a court, not a prosecutor, must sign the warrant.
Questioning is now complete. Assange has still not been charged. And yet his legal status according to the UK government is still that he is pending extradition for questioning – even though the questioning finished in the Ecuador Embassy last November.
The sexual allegations against Assange in Sweden have always been risible when considered in detail. The physical evidence against Assange is faked. The condom he allegedly wore and furtively ripped during intercourse with Anna Ardin contains none of his DNA – a physical impossibility had he worn it.
Assange’s DNA is present in another condom provided by Sofia Wilen, but there is no dispute the pair had consensual sex with that condom. What is alleged is that after drowsing off post-coitus, Assange initiated sex a second time while Wilen was still, in her own words “half asleep”, so she was not able to give fully informed consent. Assange adamantly denies this.
The women were questioned six years ago, as was Assange. All the physical evidence was collected and assessed. For five years Assange has been proclaiming his willingness to be questioned by Swedish authorities inside the Ecuadorean Embassy. Marianne Ny did nothing. The fact that there was no viable case against Assange and no genuine investigation in progress, was a determining factor in the decision of the extremely eminent international jurists of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, that Assange is being arbitrarily detained and should be freed. The UK and Swedish governments accepted the UN process and fully participated in it, and then appealed and lost again, but still refuse to accept the result. Neither the UK nor Sweden has ever failed to support any other decision of the UN Working Group.
Eventually Marianne Ny was forced by legal action by Assange to assure the Swedish Supreme Court she would move the investigation forward. Finally last November a Swedish prosecutor and Swedish policeman questioned Assange, over two days, in the Ecuadorean Embassy. Remember this was a follow up to his initial interview in Sweden six years ago. Julian also at the questioning in November gave an extremely comprehensive written statement.
The questioning was in November. It is now nearly May. The police and prosecutor had had six years to assess and analyse all the other evidence – including the testimony of the women and their text messages, which are crucial to the case. The follow up Assange questioning was the last thing Marianne Ny had to drag it out.
Yet there are still no charges. There are still no charges. Assange’s status is still that he is wanted for questioning, even though the questioning is all done. The Swedish establishment, an extremely tight knit and closed apparatus, appears unwilling to bite the bullet of admitting the whole has been nonsense. The tactic appears to be to sit it out another couple of years until the statute of limitations kicks in, and thus avoid admitting there was never a case.
You would have to be profoundly deaf not to hear the tramp of authoritarian boots currently marching all over the body politic of western societies. With racism, intolerance and the security state in the ascendant, now we need whistleblowers (and their publishers) more than ever. Those on the left who were distracted by the CIA’s “rape” dog whistle need to rediscover their critical faculties and get behind WikiLeaks.
There are no rape charges against Julian Assange in Sweden. There are espionage charges against Julian Assange in the USA.
The lies against Assange and WikiLeaks are no longer tenable.
Thank you for this.
Also, Julian has written this in WAPO.
Julian Assange: The CIA director is waging war on truth-tellers like Wikileaks
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/julian-assange-the-cia-director-is-waging-war-on-truth-tellers-like-wikileaks/2017/04/25/b8aa5cfc-29c7-11e7-a616-d7c8a68c1a66_story.html?
I also looked at Pompeo!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pompeo
A very good blog-post with which I wholeheartedly agree. The case against Assange is a non-case. Yet there have been a lot of despicable comments on the Anna Ardin thread from those so supportive of western governments that without any valid arguments have pushed the words ‘Assange’ and ‘rape’ and tried to make a case even the Swedish authorities can’t make. These, usually anonymous, creatures are the scum of society who would see good people like Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning imprisoned for speaking the truth. They are the ones who should really be charged with crimes against society.
The case against Assange is a non-case.
Indeed. He could have probably made the charges go away with an hour or two of conversation with the Swedish prosecutors. So why didn’t he?
Because the Swedish refuse to accept his offer to speak in the Ecuadorean embassy. They know he has no case to answer but they want him in Sweden so that he can be exdratited to the US.
Because Sweden has a long history of playing lackey to the US? Get real.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
Not a long history.of playing lackey to the US.
A recent history of playing lackey to the US.
Like the French.
If you’ll believe that then you’ll believe anything.
The ups and downs of Swedish/US relations are a matter of fact, not a matter of belief.
Ambassadors recalled/Position vacant.
But don’t worry, keep making it up as you wish.
You’re fooling no one but yourself.
Sweden became a fully US vassal state after the assassinations of Palme and Anna Lindh. There are reasonable grounds to suspect both were CIA backed hits. In the latter case, it bears a remarkable resemblance to the Bobby Kennedy shooting, both Sirhan Sirhan and Mijailo Mijailovic appear to have little recall of what they actually did and why.
Makes people who have been swearing blind for years that Assange was using the possibility of extradition to the USA as an excuse to escape Swedish justice, on the grounds that there were no charges against him in the USA, look rather silly, does it not?
There was, and is, an investigation against Mr. Assange in Sweden. And clearly that investigation worries him enough that he prefers hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Don’t be silly. He’s in the embassy – with proper legal asylum status – because he fears extradition to the US. With good reason, it now transpires.
Nope, no asylum status. And nope, no justified extradition concerns because if Othman can avoid being extradited to Jordan, I’m not sure a white guy with deep pockets would have anything to worry about.
So you see no real difference between Jordan’s relationship to HMG- not to mention its anxiety actually to get Othman- and that of the US?
You are just arguing for the sake of contradiction. There is no case against Assange in Sweden but a very real and justifiable suspicion that its government would do anything to curry favour with the Empire.
Reading is difficult. My point is that, at least in the UK, it’s not up to the government. For the time being, we still have courts that have the final say. And the chances that all of them will sign off on a rich guy being extradited to the US on espionage charges without some serious assurances is virtually zero.
Yep, asylum. Granted by Ecuador August 2012, reaffirmed October 2016.
Diplomatic asylum is not a thing, except in certain South American countries. Since Assange is not in South America but in the UK, he has not been granted any form of asylum known to the Crown or to the vast majority of states on earth. Therefore, the reason why he was not arrested by the UK authorities is not that he has some kind of asylum, but that he is inside an embassy which the Met may not enter pursuant to art. 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
But Diplomatic Asylum is recognised by the US.
It is? Not to my knowledge.
Hnugarian Cardinal Mindszenty, who holed up in the US Embassy for several years in the 1950s (to escape persecution by the totalitarian Communist govt of the time), did not enjoy “diplomatic asylum”. He was safe in the US Embassy for the reason Martinned gives (Vienna Convention).
“Hungarian Cardinal…”
Should all those who still argue this alleged case of rape be banned from this blog, or will this now result in multiple regurgitations of arguments for the umpteenth time?
let us explore on how to get Julian out of his Ecuadorian embassy cell, walking out not being an option, obviously, he would be apprehended by trumps poodles here and Mrs Dicks would reluctantly change her focus away from violent gun crime she knows so much about, to apprehending Julian, with a great brouhaha in the press and more regurgitations of falsehoods galore. That woman does not deserve a moment of glory after what she brought on Menezes.
So how could they get Anthony Blunt out of the UK then?
walking out not being an option
Why not?
And, incidentially, do you feel the same way about Roman Polanski travelling to the US?
I have just read the Times in a caff. One of their reports was about Lancashire police |May’s poodles) providing escorts for vehicles delivering to Cuadrilla’s fracking site near Blackpool. Cost per week £100,000. Incredible. How much is the Knightsbridge posse costing and could it be better employed in fighting crime?
Protection for fracking site ‘stops police tackling crime’
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
April 26 2017,
Lancashire constabulary is spending more than £100,000 a week on policing protests at the Cuadrilla site near Blackpool
Police are being withdrawn from fighting crime because the government is refusing to cover the cost of protecting a fracking site, a police and crime commissioner has warned.
More than 100 officers a day are being sent to Cuadrilla’s site on Preston New Road near Blackpool to ensure that lorries delivering materials can pass protesters.
Lancashire constabulary is spending more than £100,000 a week on the 24-hour operation, which Cuadrilla has praised for helping it to remain on schedule to start drilling by the end of June.
Clive Grunshaw, the county’s crime commissioner, said that the government had a moral duty to cover the policing costs because it had overruled the county council by approving the fracking site. Mr Grunshaw, a former Labour councillor, wrote…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/protection-for-fracking-site-taking-officers-off-streets-r8qd2lkq2
Good catch. Thanks.
Sharp Ears
Thanks for that heads-up.
It is a disgrace that the local fuzz is having to spend those amounts simply to ensure that protesters do not succeed in stopping a company or companies going about their lawful business.
Oh for a law that would allow protesters like that to be sued in the courts for damages equivalent to the amounts of money they have obliged the police to spend on restraining them from their illegal acts!
Protesters like that are cnuts.
Haberdasher,
Yes, miss no opportunity to piss on the common man and his desire to drink unpolluted water, or live in an un-despoiled environment or to demand sustainable devlopment. Miss no opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with the great and the bad. Miss no opportunity to make irrational decisions in the name of the dividend, the father, the son and the holy corporation. For thine is the kingdom to extract from.
I would vomit, but I don’t have anything left to retch on your account.
What are you rabbiting on about, J ?
J is daring to suggest that “companies going about their lawful business” and the rest of the human race may have aims that are not entirely compatible.
Thanks George. [hug]
As a palace insider, Anthony Blunt knew too many dark secrets about the British royal family’s treasonous activities in support of the nazis (their relatives) during the war. If Blunt had been tried this would have come out in court, therefore the queen gave im a pardon and he was allowed to go to the USSR freely.
Nevermind
“let us explore on how to get Julian out of his Ecuadorian embassy cell”
___________________
Yes, why not. I just hope you have some better practical (and non-criminal) ideas than when you advocated boosting the Labour vote by having people going along to polling stations and impersonating other electors they knew would not be turning up.
The Ecuadorian embassy has proved a far greater purpose to US intelligence agencies than any US court or prison cell. Assange’s “self imposed imprisonment” has sent a message to any would be whistleblower to think again. Tell the truth and the state will harm you, it will curtail your liberty, break your resistance and do you irreparable psychological damage.
Craig uses words to fight back, not all hollow, some penetrate but whilst good men do nothing etc etc we go from bad to worse.
Britain has done its share of harm to Assange and those involved will feel very satisfied by the results. Craig’s erstwhile colleague picked up on the use of quotations in a mini lecture which the FCO make use of on their website showing off their ability to say one thing and do another https://blogs.fco.gov.uk/ukinmacedonia/2015/09/28/speak-truth-unto-power/
Britain is a deeply sick nation where justice no longer has any real meaning. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 had a little law written into it that was specifically to crafted to prevent the truth of what happened to Dr David Kelly from emerging whilst the perverts and criminals rule our country.
We are doomed because we say stuff and do nowt. Come the June General Election anyone who votes for any Political Party (and not a truly independent candidate) will confirm their desire to live in an unjust, totalitarian, fascist, racist, terrorist state.
The David Kelly Law: A Coroner in a reopened Inquest is forbidden by law to accept any new evidence and must, whatever the facts, come to the same conclusion that Hutton did. The law now requires the Coroner to lie.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/notes/contents
“119.Paragraph 9(11) prevents the resumed senior coroner’s investigation from reaching a conclusion which is inconsistent with the outcome of the inquiry which triggered the suspension or any criminal proceedings that had to be concluded before it could be resumed. For example, if the outcome of an inquiry was a finding that a particular individual had committed suicide, a senior coroner’s investigation cannot conclude that the particular individual was unlawfully killed”
Absolutely. Except it’s worse than that. Inquiries now can legitimately replace inquests and are generally imposed when the government has something to hide, as with the Litvinenko Inquiry. A coroner can no longer question that ludicrous ruling by Robert Owen, at least in the UK.
http://www.greanvillepost.com/2016/01/23/the-litvinenko-murder-death-of-justice-in-the-united-kingdom-triumph-of-propaganda/
What happened to Assange’s pledge to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy if Chelsea Manning was released? Is he a man of his word or not?
Actually what he said was that if Manning was released, he would voluntarily go to Sweden to face any charges. But, as you may have noticed, there are no charges.
If there ever are any charges brought in Sweden, I expect Julian will keep his word.
Manning isn’t released yet, in any case.
He made it clear that he would travel to the US once it had been confirmed that Manning would be released.
“He made it clear…”
Oh, he spoke to you, did he? When was this and what else did he say? Give us chapter and verse for this and we might believe you. Why do you think that anyone should listen to your bald assertions otherwise?
No he said he would surrender to the US authorities and go to the US.
Wow, that is some next-level hair splitting!
I am not surprised you are trying to get an innocent man entrapped. People like you, and you have shown it time and again, have no conscience. You just believe in force over reason.
Entrapped? He pledged to travel to the US. He has broken his pledge.
Quite clearly he has broken no pledge. Don’t you read other comments? What do you have against a man who points out the lies of governments?
Is that what he does? Last I checked, he was mostly busy with trying to sink the campaigns of whichever politicians the Kremlin wants to get rid of.
Thanks for that last comment Martinned. It confirms us in the knowledge that you are not a serious participant in these discussions, merely an irritation.
Res ipsa loquitur.
https://www.wired.com/2016/07/wikileaks-officially-lost-moral-high-ground/
(I’d put more links in, but then my comment would end up in moderation.)
Some of us already knew that so would agree.
As Rumsfeld said
‘Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.’
PS Why are all those dreadful war criminals like Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell not forgetting Condoleeza Rice, still alive when many decent younger men and women we have known have died? No justice.
I was replying to Bevin @ 13.15
Not only that John Martinned is full on for the European Empire. E.U.
I think you’ll find that should read German empire
Those unaware of what a slimy creature Trump is regarding Assange should read this.
http://theduran.com/president-trump-says-its-ok-for-ag-sessions-to-bring-down-assange-and-wikileaks/
Of course, Trump is every bit a puppet as Obama was. The puppeteers have something on him and I notice he’s stopped bragging about how he was keeping his election promises (whch lasted about a week into his presidency).
@ John Goss April 26, 2017 at 10:55
‘…The puppeteers have something on him and I notice he’s stopped bragging about how he was keeping his election promises (whch lasted about a week into his presidency).’
Yes, indeed; notice how his ‘Pizzagate cleanup’ seems to have disappeared down the memory hole. And his claims that Clinton would face justice.
Let’s hope Jeremy does well on June 8th; coincidentally(?) also the 50th Anniversary of the treacherous attack on the USS Liberty in 1967.
Perhaps Craig can throw some light on what the right wing maniac Farage was doing meeting with Julian in the Ecuadorian Embassy a few months ago? Despite loving everything that Farage does the media seem to be strangely silent about all of that.
very good point James W. I’d like to hear what Julian had to say to this lazy weasel.
I can’t unfortunately. It was news to me, assuming its true.
Okay no worries. I did think that you might have a little more info than the rest of us. If it was true then I’m sure we’ll find out sooner or later.
it was reported in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange
I believe it is false news, if he did visit the embassy it was probably to apply for assylum.
Perhaps Farage was looking for Pamela Anderson. He seems to have an eye for the ladies.
Fortunately, there’s pictures! http://sc.www.buzzfeed.com.ydm0.rg.gy/marieleconte/wait-what?utm_term=.suMbV0byJ8#.rwOMq7MEyP
If true it could that Assange has used Farage to make a plea to Trump, Farage having limited access to Trump and all.
I’m pretty sure Assange doesn’t need Farage to talk to Trump. It looks suspiciously like they have each other on speed dial.
Martinned, generally I enjoy your observations, but on this thread you seem to have absolutely abandoned your normally serious approach. There is no contact between Julian and Trump and therefore not a single shred of evidence of any contact has ever been produced.
@CraigMurray: You mean other than the fact that Assange and Wikileaks allowed themselves to be used as a tool of Kremlin propaganda seeking to discredit Hillary Clinton and seeking to get Donald Trump elected?
It’s sad to see that something that started off with the best intentions has devolved into just another part of the worldwide illiberal alliance.
Can’t find an entry for you in the Brit Dip. Oral History Project (chu.cam.ac.uk). You might be a bit younger than most of the notables there represented but you testimony would (imho) make a very good fit
Had Lasso won the Ecuadorean Election he had said he would have Assange out of the Embassy within 30 days.
On Lasso’s losing, Julian Assange tweeted: ”I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions),’ he wrote, alluding to allegations the banker had stashed money abroad.’
For anyone within striking distance of London this Thursday who is interested in Ecuadorean politics, there is a rally:
RALLY – VIVA Lenin Moreno: Celebrate Social Progress in Ecuador & Latin America
Thursday April 27, 6.30pm, the Discus, Unite the Union, 128 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8TN (registration 6.00pm)
Register Here – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/viva-lenin-moreno-celebrate-social-progress-in-ecuador-latin-america-tickets-33424703187
Regular visits from Pamela Anderson or at least that’s what the tabloids claim, if true Id be tempted to stay put too !
All Joking aside, good post Craig. How can he be charged on espionage though ? He didn’t steal anything, he simply made available information that is in the public interest. If he goes to the USA he has no chance of anything even near a fair trial. Does the US constitution not protect journalists ? Or does it only protect chosen journalists ?
I know if he gets arrested in the UK they will deport him without hesitation, does his own country not afford him some protection ? Of course getting him out of this country undetected could be a challenge.
The whole episode is a disgrace. Let the man alone for gods sake, he’s already served the equivalent of years in jail.
No. Australia has been of no help at all.
https://justice4assange.com/Declaration-of-Abandonment.html
As it yet another Ziocon country, that is no surprise.
Sharp Ears writes, a’ propos Australia :
“As it yet another Ziocon country, that is no surprise.”
I am puzzled by that remark and seek clarification.
Let us assume for the sake of argument that Australia IS a “Ziocon” country.
What has that to do with Australia having been of no help to Mr Assange in the matter of the latter’s possible extradition to the US?
+++++++++++++++++
Habbabkuk says : Learn to suppress your inner devils.
FIVE EYES
Canada, U.S.A., U.K.,NewZealand, Australia.
Australia would extradite Assange if it could, it loves America, deeply.
Operation Silver Fern
https://www.rt.com/viral/385722-five-eyes-spying-alliance/
Five Eyes meet in New Zealand
Julian Assange and Wikileaks are owed a massive debt of gratitude. That goes, of course, for any whistle-blower.
If as seems likely, T May slimes her way back to no 10, I do fear that persecutions will get worse in authoritarian England.
Sooo, we’re just ignoring the fact that Julian Assange is also friends with Nigel Farage and a whole host of other illiberal types?
Because yes, there are no rape charges against Julian Assange in Sweden, and there never have been. There is an investigation, one that he has fled from rather than cooperating with. Res ipsa loquitur.
Codswallop. He cooperated fully with the investigation and then it was dropped. And then it was mysteriously reinstated. And he has cooperated fully with the Swedish authorities when they finally deigned to interview him within the Embassy. And nobody seems to have explained yet why no charges have subsequently been forthcoming.
No charges have been forthcoming because of some combination of:
a) The prosecutors have more questions that they are unable to ask in a satisfactory manner;
b) No one in Sweden thinks it’s worth their time to bring formal charges against someone they won’t be able to get their hands on anyway; and
c) No one in Sweden thinks fleeing justice should be rewarded by having your charges dropped.
How do you know that?
I put myself in their shoes, having some experience in similar (but not too similar, I’m not a prosecutor) government bureaucracies.
Oh – telepathy. Right.
That’s pretty rich coming from someone who thinks Assange is innocent without any evidence whatsoever.
Your last comment contained a perfect definition of Assange’s innocence : “no evidence whatsoever” having been advanced to sustain any possible charges. We are all innocent unless convicted. He cannot be convicted without being charged- he is charged with nothing.
Read the post.
I didn’t say there wasn’t any evidence, only that Mr. Spencer-Davis didn’t have any. (And certainly no evidence pointing to innocence, since wishful fever dreams don’t count.)
What a stupid comment.
“Sooo, we’re just ignoring the fact that Julian Assange is also friends with Nigel Farage and a whole host of other illiberal types?”
So, you post a link to a picture of Farage leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy and this is evidence that Assange is his friend, is it? Does no-one visit the Ecuadorian Embassy except friends of Julian Assange, then? I think “Sooo, we’re just ignoring my little fantasy that Julian Assange is also friends with Nigel Farage and a whole host of other illiberal types?” would be more accurate.
You’re right. I’m sure Farage was there to apply for a visa for his next vacation…
It may have slipped your limited notice (there’s none so blind as them that don’t want to see), but talking to someone doesn’t make them your friend. So, even if Farage did go to the Ecuadorean Embassy to see Assange, their friendship is still most likely simply to be one of your fantasies. If they are friends, why has he never been before to visit?
Martinned,
So tell me this. As a prosecutor, how would you cope with the issue of the split condom produced by Anna Ardin, which Julian Assange allegedly wore during intercourse, but which miraculously has none of his DNA on it?
I don’t have nearly enough knowledge of the case to be able to say. Like I said, I have no strong view about Mr. Assange’s guilt other than the (Bayesian) inference I draw from the fact that he fled.
If you “don’t have nearly enough knowledge of the case to be able to say”, then how comes it that you can assert that I am “someone who thinks Assange is innocent without any evidence whatsoever”, and that there is “certainly no evidence pointing to innocence”?
You really are a waste of space.
Oh dear Martinned,
You write like a state sock-puppet jockey sat behind your GCHQ provided interface making the puppet show manifest across multiple domains. I hear that the Russians also love this species of propaganda noise – it’s so cheap!
In this case you need to bone up on your narrative; it is falling very flat. Maybe you can get a copy of the new MI5 brief? I am sure a damage limitation spin sheet was worked up after the renouned UN group found against the UK at appeal.
Besides, the statements made by Assange both at the start of this CIA operation against him (and yes, there is ample evidence of the MO here, especially in use against whistleblowers and digital rights activists) and at the embassy last year – have DEMOLISHED your entire position. You have NOTHING but empty rhetoric.
I urge you to dig for that tiny flame of humanity still fluttering somewhere within you, and consider long and hard before you accept the next pay cheque from your authoritarian masters:
What will you regret when YOU fall from grace and in the fascist dictatorship your actions are now sponsoring, albeit one drip at a time, sends thugs to rendition YOU in the dark of the night? Or will it be your wife that they snatch? Or your mouthy son, who dared question the PM’s sanity on a social media page?
When you can’t even recover the bodies from the state “correctional institution” because you might see the evidence of torture, of the beatings, and the flayings, and the boilings alive, or the telltale signs of repetitious asphyxiation learned by our agents from Algeria to Tashkent… will you FINALLY wake up!!!
Each word you write has consequences. These accumulate.
The persecution of one innocent journalist today, in contempt of the UN group – will embolden actors in the fascist factions of the deep states WORLDWIDE to push for similar atrocities tomorrow, until it becomes the new “normal”.
Today they come for Assange. Tomorrow they may come for you.
Free Julian!
Free Julian!
Bless your heart…
You know that Assange can walk out of there any time right? The Met have removed the police patrol they used to have there ages ago. He could walk out any time and no one would know. But he’s a coward fleeing Swedish justice so he stays put pretending to be the victim of some vast conspiracy. (Presumably also in a desparate attempt to stay relevant and to obscure the fact that he’s descended into being a Kremlin sock puppet ages ago.)
Third hand, third rate sound bites you absorbed from clueless copy monkeys and you know it. But yes, double down. By all means, that’ll impress the audience, they haven’t seen that before.
^ Response to Martinned btw…
@J: If you don’t appreciate my comments, you’re welcome to have your money back.
(But seriously, please take a moment to think about the dangers of only reading things you agree with, particularly if you’re a British voter asked to go to the polls on June 8 to decide whether or not I should be allowed to stay in the UK.)
@ any serious reader/commenter
Martinned has said that there is no longer a police detail outside the Ecuadorian embassy.
That should be easily verifiable since policemen are generally quite large and therefore eay to see by anyone with normal vision.
Is Martinned correct or not?
@Habbakuk: Removed in October 2015:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/12/julian-assange-police-removed-from-outside-ecuadorian-embassy
Thank you.
So far you’ve advanced an attitude looking for an argument. So what’s the real beef?
I was under the impression that the UN formally found in February 2016 that Julian Assange is unlawfully detained by Sweden and the UK.
The UN ordered Sweden and UK to immediately release him and compensate him for violating his rights. On 30 November 2016, the United Nations rejected the United Kingdom’s attempt, to appeal the UN’s February ruling in favour of Julian Assange.
MrAssange will unfortunately find it much nmore difficult to dodge the Great Satan’s clutches.
No, not the UN.
“The Great Satan” – isn’t that the Iranian expression for the US?
Yes.
The US and UK have done much devilish work in Iran, all the way back to 1953, and before.
I believe the US apologised for their interference in the affairs of a sovereign state.
Hard to imagine they were genuine. They’ve been doing precisely the same thing in many other countries since.
Plunder and pillage is all these fascists know.
Herbie
“The US and UK have done much devilish work in Iran, all the way back to 1953, and before.”
____________________
Does that devilish work include them persuading the Soviet troops which were (uninivitedly) occupying Northern Iran after WW2 to withdraw from the country? 🙂
West- and US-haters would probably think so.
“William Blum
Overthrowing other people’s governments: The Master List.” https://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list
“The Great Satan”?
It’s now the great spray-tan.
No, not the UN. And no, no order.
Yes, the UN. Not an order, unfortunately.
Thank you John, I was pretty sure it was the UN.
https://justice4assange.com/assange-case-fact-checker.html
Nope, it’s the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which does not speak for the UN, or for anyone else other than its members, who are members in their personal capacities.
You mean they’re only international jurists.
International jurists which the UK and Sweden were happy to work with until they didn’t get the result they wanted.
Pretty much. Neither the UK nor Sweden (nor any other country) has agreed to submit itself to the binding jurisdiction of this panel. Strictly non-binding. And since states can’t be made to obey the jurisdiction of any international court without their consent – that’s the whole point of sovereignty – the opinions of this panel have no effect in law. They are advice only, and if the advice is of poor quality, it can be ignored.
“Neither the UK nor Sweden (nor any other country) has agreed to submit itself to the binding jurisdiction of this panel.”
Yet the UK and Sweden agreed to the arbitration, and even appealed.
Not much point doing that and then saying you don’t like it when the decision goes against you.
Much bad faith on the part of the UK and Sweden.
Nope, it’s not arbitration. Arbitration implies an agreement to abide by the arbitror’s judgement. No such agreement was present in this case.
The point of appealing is to avoid setting the awkward precedent of ignoring the opinion of a panel that usually gives opinions that the UK and Sweden agree with. Diplomacy with a view to future cases. Nothing to do with actual law.
The above exchange made fascinating reading because it confronted someone who is big on vacuous assertions but short on facts with someone who is an expert in the field and knows what he’s talking about.
It is always good to read an expert and I deplore all attempts to bully them off this blog.
Yep, it does speak for the UN. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention receives its mandate from the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council receives its mandate from the General Assembly of the United Nations, of which it is a subsidiary body. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted on 6th February 2016 that “The Opinions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention are legally-binding to the extent that they are based on binding international human rights law, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The WGAD has a mandate to investigate allegations of individuals being deprived of their liberty in an arbitrary way or inconsistently with international human rights standards, and to recommend remedies such as release from detention and compensation, when appropriate. The binding nature of its opinions derives from the collaboration by States in the procedure, the adversarial nature of its findings and also by the authority given to the WGAD by the UN Human Rights Council. The Opinions of the WGAD are also considered as authoritative by prominent international and regional judicial institutions, including the European Court of Human Rights.” (My emphasis.) The query was if the UN formally found in February 2016 that Julian Assange is unlawfully detained by Sweden and the UK. The answer is yes, it did.
Iranians had reason to call the U.S. the Great Satan. The U.S. sponsored the 1953 coup that toppled Iran’s democratically elected government and ushered in decades of brutal tyranny. There was reason to believe that the U.S. was planning a repetition in 1979.
As a matter of interest, Lysias, when did you first realise that the US – your employer – was the Great Satan? Were you still in the Great Satan’s employ at that moment, and if so, did you do the same as Craig and resign?
” There was reason to believe that the U.S. was planning a repetition in 1979.”
_________________
Links? Sources?
“Iranians had reason to call the U.S. the Great Satan.”
___________________
I note the past tense.
Do the Iranians still call the US the “Great Satan”?
If so, do you yourself think it is still justified?
” Iran’s democratically elected government”
____________________
So Iran was a democracy in 1953. Out of interest, what would you call it in in the period from 1979 to the present ?
The period after the filthy dictator, “The Shah”, which we installed you mean? That fellow who had the Savak terrorising people in Iran – you must know the agency – the one Time magazine described as having “long been Iran’s most hated and feared institution” which had “tortured and murdered thousands of the Shah’s opponents.”
I believe it’s referred to as the Islamic Republic, in this period from 1979 to the present.
Exactly that period, Glenn : 1979 up to the present.
So, while awaiting an answer fro; our Transatlantic Friend, how would you characterise it, in political terms, in that period?
““The Shah”, which we installed you mean? That fellow who had the Savak terrorising people in Iran”
Important to remember that the CIA ran Savak.
Very ruthlessly.
The better to keep the Shah in check.
His opponents were much much more numerous than his supporters.
Very similar to the situation in Bahrain.
Where HMG’s own best do the honours in the same way.
Makes a ruler very dependant.
No, I don’t mean the Shah (about whom we can probably all agree), Herbie.
I mean Iran post-Shah and up to the present.
As I asked: ” how would you characterise Iran, in political terms, in that period?”
Awaiting your thoughts, Herbie.
This is very much a post about the manner in which the media performs the only role which is of possible social utility-its conveying of information.
In this case it has, almost uniformly (I recall a particularly nasty piece in the LRB a well rewarded hatchet job which sickens me still) failed in its duty in its haste to earn kudos from the Establishment.
Media Lens today has another alert on the ‘Sarin’ attack, which even Craig took seriously, amongst other things the alert
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2017/845-an-impeachable-offence-professor-postol-and-syria.html
reports that during the last month not one single mention has been made, according to Lexis nexis, of the Postol report which dismantles the US case for its attack on Syria. In fact
“Our search of the Lexis database (April 26) finds that no UK newspaper article has mentioned the words ‘Postol’ and ‘Syria’ in the last month. In our April 12 media alert, we noted that former and current UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix, Scott Ritter and Jerry Smith, as well as former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Giraldi, had all questioned the official narrative of what happened on April 4. Lexis finds these results for UK national newspapers: ‘Blix’ and ‘Syria’ = 0 hits; ‘Ritter’ and ‘Syria’ = 0 hits; ‘Jerry Smith’ and Syria = 1 hit; ‘Giraldi’ and ‘Syria’ = 0 hits.
It is remarkable that, even after the deceptions of Iraq and Libya, journalists are so unwilling to report credible evidence challenging the US government’s version of events.”
The pattern is undeniable- the mainstream media is nothing more than a crude propaganda machine, expending the last shreds of the credibility that it had, almost despite itself, earned over centuries.
Excellent post Bevin. I hope Craig takes note and highlights the facts Re: Postol, Sarin and the Press on his blog. He’s being cited by the press quite regularly at the moment, it might actually garner some badly needed mainstream attention.
Thank you. Even more incredible than the neglect of Postol et al, will be the number of hits that “Bellingcat” and “Elliott Higgins” yields.
Higgins was of course taken under the wing of that rather spooky outfit at King’s College.
Though one expects he’d been working undercover for a while.
Postel is quite good on Higgins.
@ bevin April 26, 2017 at 13:36
Another story about Syria there is very little about in the MSM, and what there is misses out the worst of it:
‘The truth about the Aleppo bus bombing: Vanessa Beeley reports from Syria’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_529XSOaalI
The Telegraph originally called the kids ‘Government supporters’!
Yes. Re: Telegraph, groupthink. A common derangement.
Indeed the savoir-faire Craig Murray expounds serves as a lesson to the naïve that human beings who serve the people of their country rather than themselves and who denounce persecution and suppression of the truth ultimately have a strong guiding signal on the event horizon.
Vote for Jeremy on June 8th…
@ Craig
‘…Those on the left who were distracted by the CIA’s “rape” dog whistle need to rediscover their critical faculties and get behind WikiLeaks.’
Unfortunately there is very little of the REAL Left, left. The great majority of them seem to be carried away by various ‘Pied Pipers’, slavishly following their myriad party lines. They refuse to even discuss alternative narratives, for instance re Syria or the so-called ‘Arab Spring’.(like the other ‘Colour Revolutions’, a Western construct which the Arabs and other Muslims fell for – and have paid a terrible price for).
I can only hope and pray Jeremy does well on June 8th. If he were in power, I suspect he would have a completely different attitude to Assange, and would likely even compensate him as the UN group requested.
Martinned
April 26, 2017 at 12:45
“Sooo, we’re just ignoring the fact that Julian Assange is also friends with Nigel Farage and a whole host of other illiberal types?”
………………………………………………………………….
Is it a FACT Martinned that Julian Assange is “…friends with Nigel Farage…?
Can you prove that assertion?
Is it a FACT that Assange is friends with “…a whole host of other illiberal types…”?
Who are these illiberal types? Any names?
You quote the legal term “Res ipsa loquitur”; a Common Law term I deem irrelevant in the case of Julian Assange.
Perhaps I am wrong and you could elucidate (in layman’s terms of course).
Noscitur a sociis…
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/03/12/nigel-farage-julian-assange-wikileaks-meeting-donald-trump-conspiracy
Isn’t that Latin for guilt by association?
Martinned.
Say for talking sake that Farage did meet with Assange, as your latin phrase states the meeting is known but unclear.
Fox a dubious source of info to begin with states that Farage just wanted to meet Assange. It is of course difficult to glean any informarion from that.
However it is patently obvious that the US, using your latin terms, is intent on “Carthago delenda est,” when it comes to Mr Assange.
That may well be, but that goes for many other people too who nonetheless walk around unencumbered in Europe.
Martinned
April 26, 2017 at 12:52
No charges have been forthcoming because of some combination of:
a) The prosecutors have more questions that they are unable to ask in a satisfactory manner;
b) No one in Sweden thinks it’s worth their time to bring formal charges against someone they won’t be able to get their hands on anyway; and
c) No one in Sweden thinks fleeing justice should be rewarded by having your charges dropped.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
(a) How do you know that Martinned and what does “in a satisfactory manner” mean?
(b) You speak on behalf of the whole population of Sweden now?
(c) Ditto
a) In a satisfactory manner = in the manner prescribed by Swedish law.
b) Yes, you’re welcome.
c) Yes, you’re welcome.
@ Doug Scorgie April 26, 2017 at 15:46
Maybe he is a swede, or even a turnip! Writes a bit like one.
April 26, 2017 at 13:13
“That’s pretty rich coming from someone who thinks Assange is innocent without any evidence whatsoever.”
……………………………………………………………………….
And you think Assange is guilty without any evidence whatsoever?
What happened to the legal requirement that people are innocent until proved guilty?
To you Assange is guilty unless he can prove his innocence.
That sounds fascistic to me.
This reply was to Martinned
Nope, I don’t think Assange is innocent or guilty. I just think that he hasn’t made me trust his word very much by fleeing the Swedish inquiry into his alleged crimes. Sometimes innocent people flee, but usually people who flee are guilty.
Like all those guilty people fleeing from those nice, cosy Nazi concentration camps?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
That’s not anwering the question. That’s a link to something I’m not going to read.
Can I supply a link for a judge if I’m in a court of law?
Your view can simply be described as the mantra of the deluded right-wingers: If you have nothing to fear you have nothing to hide. We all know how that pans out.
There was no fleeing from Sweden.
He was free to go.
The very fact that you repeat this lie so often shows that your pretence to disinterest is simply a fraud.
To me America’s position on Assange perfectly mirrors their policy on Palestine. It suits their ends to effectively leave Assange in limbo for as long as they can.
The prospect of a trial is surely impossible. It’s clear that should he be brought to the USA his right to free speech is protected by the 14th amendment. Should the government somehow overcome that obstacle what is the value in a trial? Does the US government really want the evidence of war crimes exposed by Wikileaks to be dissected in a court room? The Iraq disaster has severely curtailed the ability of the USA to inflict mass violence abroad, reopening that wound now would take them back to square one just when it looks like the public are regaining their blood lust.
An Assange trial would be the OJ trial to the power ten. Modern funding methods would mean that he would have a huge defence fund. The risks of attempting to try him massively outweigh the rewards. If the USA felt he was a genuine threat they would go down the Arafat/Chavez route not a legal one.
Habbabkuk
April 26, 2017 at 14:27
“The Great Satan” – isn’t that the Iranian expression for the US?
……………………………………………………….
No Habbabkuk, wrong again.
That was the term used by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
I am pretty certain, that was the way the Iranian Regime talked about America.
You’re correct Michael, and in my opinion so are the Iranian’s. ?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Satan
NB:
It was occasionly used to describe Britain as well by the Iranian’s.
Isn’t the Great Satan merely a reference to the erm, spiritual inclinations of the ruling elite?
Confessions of an insider to the ‘elite.’
J,
I can’t believe I watched that bollocks! Born again Christian twaddle.
Let’s not throw morality out with the bathwater.
It’s more important now than any political party or movement.
Shatner, if he’s for real then you’re missing the point. This conversion came after a mental breakdown caused by the events described.
I understood the point, I’m just not sure why I should believe a self confessed conman who spouts a NWO theory that follows the bog standard NWO conspiracy theory that’s basically the plot of eyes wide shut(a film based very directly on a book written in the 1920s)
One of three things have happened here
1) he had a breakdown after working at a high level, with a lot of unethical stuff going on, and has since concocted a narrative that he either believes or not, that pins his guilt on some outside evil which allows him to go back to church and find his piece in Christianity
2)he’s a conman – he’s already set up some kind of charity bank that he wants us all to donate too, he is continuing to be a conman, only this time he’s suckering the public directly
3)The Christian Satan and pagan Lucifer are one and the same – the Christian religious narritive is correct at the expense of all other religious beliefs around the world – even in places where Christian beliefs are looked upon the same way we might look upon Greek oddyssies.
So to answer these
1) creating dark delusions after a break down is quite common, the mind is a strange place and I’ve seen first hand how people can be drawn into these conspiracy theories and start to believe they are actually involved in them, I lost a very good friend after he developed schizophrenia and started having those types of delusion, it lasted many years until he could no long contain his thoughts. At no time was he ever caught up with anything beyond being shut away at his parents house – these were pre internet days.
2) it’s pretty bold cheek if he is a conman but seeing as the medium is presented by a group who are big on the “crisis actor theory” (why don’t people ever ask whether the presenters of this actor narratives are indeed actors themselves? On the make from gullible superstitious folk.
3) I don’t believe in god the devil Zeus or the tooth fairy, the idea that a rich elite meet to disembowel children whilst summoning the spirited of the goat headed one is something from a Wheatley novel I seriously doubt these power brokers have enough time to do that sort of thing anyway. However it’s a great story to bleed into the collective mind to create a diversion whilst you go about your plundering, I’m sure there are those high up that would active propergate these daft stories – after all if your all blaming zionists for the lack of jobs in your village then it’s easier to sneak in and snarfle up your pensions.
I think people like this guy and David Ike and many others are conmen I think he was aware that there is a great number of people that believe this crap and that it could make him very rich, he almost definitely suffers some type of narcissism disorder and there’s a lucrative business in it. After all they do all keep leaving clues that they’re ripping you off – they DO all keep saying it’s all about money.
No that’s “Little Satan”. Always a laugh, though, to see you using the terminology of the repressive Iranian theocracy when describing free countries in the West.
“Little Satan” is Israel, a rather apt description don’t you think.
“Little Beacon” would be apt.
This “repressive Iranian theocracy” was the West’s choice.
You’re too young to remember obviously.
Anyway.
They do like to have radical transitions from secularism to theocracy.
Really fucks a country up, that.
Kinda deep shock doctrine.
The secularists kill the religious and then the religious kill the secularists.
Iran has made that transition a few times now, under British and US command.
Satanic stuff indeed.
As I mentioned above Assange is guaranteed First Amendment rights by the Fourteenth Amendment.
It’s unlikely any case could proceed to trial without this being settled by the Supreme Court.
There’s a decent chance that the Supreme Court would take an interest, yes, but it’s at best even odds that he would win, particularly now that the Court is back to 4 liberals and 5 conservatives.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13078129483334213249
Assange should flee to Russia, he would be safe there.
Anthony Kennedy is the swing vote and whilst he is conservative he is also consistent. He has sided with the liberals on many issues where the lunatic element employed twisted logic and he appears to regret being duped on campaign finance.
Sure, but I don’t necessarily see him declaring the Espionage Act unconstitutional.
For context, think about high profile cases in the UK. UK judges are typically more liberal than Justice Kennedy, yet they upheld the detention of David Miranda in Miranda v. Home Secretary: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/miranda-v-home-sec-judgment.pdf
Similarly, the UK Supreme Court deferred to the government’s judgement in the free speech case of R (on the application of Lord Carlile of Berriew QC and others) v. Home Secretary, when the Home Secretary prevented a leader of the Iranian opposition from speaking in the Houses of Parliament. https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/docs/UKSC_2013_0098_Judgment.pdf
I would expect Justice Kennedy to be at least as hawkish in the area of free speech/alleged espionage/terrorism/national security as the average UK appellate judge.
@ Stu April 26, 2017 at 17:43
He would likely get the same answer Cathy O’Brien and Mark Phillips got when trying to free her daughter:
‘Laws don’t apply in this case, for ‘Reasons of National Security’.
Martinned must be quite exhausted after his marathon on here today.
Probably correct, Martinned has posted a considerable amount, although I’ll give them it has far more content than that supplied by the other GCHQ Bunker Boy. Obviously, the UK authorities with their tongues so far up the US backside it appears out of their mouth have placed Martinned here to keep an eye on malcontents and muddy the waters – perhaps France can offer Assange political asylum once they depart NATO.
I agree with everything that Craig Murray has written here. In fact I followed the events of Julian Assange, very closely, even before he first went to Sweden, and probably before Craig Murray had ever heard of him – unless they are on the “same team”.
However, none of Assange, Snowden nor Craig Murray – can write like this – or if they can, then why don’t they??
I hardly think it is a lack of intelligence, integrity or courage – so what exactly is it???
Have they all had the “Treatment” – are they all Brainwashed???
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/04/24/911-destroyed-america/
Come on….Keep up..what’s the matter with you???
Tony
@ Tony_0pmoc April 26, 2017 at 18:42
I’m reposting your link at ‘another place’.
Two sly references to Iran by CMs captive canaries at this blog, kempe must soon follow. Does this mean shylock adelson is already demanding payback on his $200m campaign contribution from Trump – and a pound of Iranian flesh is what comes next? We are seeing distant signals via the quantum physics of the SoS here already, interesting end times ahead ! Will molioch schneerson be making an appearance soon or is the chabad lubavitz are just a fake cult – their 90 did get got trump to bomb Syria, something bibi has tried for the past five years?
OK Martinned, you’ve, played, as they say in England with a straight bat on this discussion. Now here are three questions for you.
Given the record of justice in the USA, would you if you were in Assange’s predicament, leave the Ecuadorean embassy, and so face extradition to the USA? And please go beyond a simple Yes or No, or personal honour stuff.Explain your reasoning.
Do you consider that the UK has endeavoured to protect the human rights of Assange,a citizen of the British Commonwealth?
Do you consider that the Swedish authorities have acted diligently?
People shouldn’t expect any substance from Martinned, Craig declared “enjoyment” of his Posts should tell you all you need to know; instead expect the exact same run-around that if pursued descends into inevitable absurd irrationality, which also the hall-mark of that another Craig favourite, the Habba-Clown.
Macky,
Not sure if you know but I’ve been receiving loads of spam emails forged with your email address at my squonk email recently. The emails are coming from servers in places like Russia and Vietnam
Goodness ! Is there anything I should or can do about it ?
Macky,
I shouldn’t worry about it too much. I have been using the same password for the last 22 years, and occasionaly get an email from ebay or Amazon suggesting I should change it to EHIC standard…
so I did –
Now exactly how secure is that – when I have got to remember a sequence of such obscure characters – when I want medical treatment in some foreign country where hardly anyone speaks English after being run over..or we will just leave you to die – like in the USA.
Anyway – you should apply – you might need it
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx
Tony
I don’t think there is anything you can do other then be aware that if I’m getting them then other people you have contacted before are likely getting them. They appear to be coming from compromised email servers rather than your real email server and typically I am getting several per day with your from address and they all want me to visit some random URL.
The first thing I would think of doing is changing my email password. Whether it would help or not I don’t know. It would certainly stop whoever is responsible from being able to access your email account, though I suspect they cannot do that or they would most likely steal your identity and freeze you out by changing the password.
I have similarly had messages purportedly from friends. I warn them if they do not go to my junk folder. Like Squonk says they normally have a url to click on and none or very little text.
I don’t care if this Russian intelligence asset is extradited to the US. Let him face a US court and let’s find out all about the little bastard’s links with Trump and Farage.
More re Julian Assange..
I actually followed the case in Sweden almost in real time – I saw all the Tweets – and read the news stories in Aftonblat in Swedish…
So far as I knew at the time Julian Assange was a complete unknown….but I knew from the Tweets from The Two Girls that he was completely innocent of any charges of Rape. It was all extremely well documented at the time..but no one was interested..No one had ever heard of Julian Assange – and I have never met him.
I did post what I knew and saw on a very popular UK website re Julian Assange…
I did not know – but I have a big house near London – and I said – he’s welcome to stay here..We are fairly anonymous – and I thought Julian was highly technically intelligent and he would get on well with my teenage son who runs an ISP…
And he was far better looking than Anthony John Hill – who I also didn’t know but was in Wandsworth Jail at the same time as him. I used to drive past the jail on my way to work.
At least Anthony John Hill not only told the Truth as best as he could…
The Jury found him completely innocent of all Charges and Anthony John Hill was Released.
“7/7 Ripple Effect 2”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwyzpzEgUWE
It is now time for Julian Assange to be Released.
So far as I can tell – he didn’t do anything wrong.
In fact I would like to meet him and talk to him.
I did offer him Sanctuary before any of you lot had ever heard of him.
Tony
“I actually followed the case in Sweden almost in real time – I saw all the Tweets – and read the news stories in Aftonblat in Swedish…
So far as I knew at the time Julian Assange was a complete unknown….but I knew from the Tweets from The Two Girls that he was completely innocent of any charges of Rape. It was all extremely well documented at the time..but no one was interested..No one had ever heard of Julian Assange – and I have never met him.”
Assange was a complete unknown?
He was world famous due to Wikileaks.
Stu,
10 years ago no one had heard of Julian Assange or wikileaks or crypthome for that matter – not that I was that interested…
I had never heard of Craig Murray either.
I think I was posting on Alternet at the time – before I got banned by Nick Turse when he joined them.
One of my American friends gave me a link to Craig Murray’s website..and I bought his book Murder in Samarkand..
How about you Stu?
Have a nice day,
Tony
Wikileaks published the first Manning leaks relating to Iraq in April 2010 which brought Assange massive international media attention. He was in Sweden in August 2010.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=julian+assange&safe=off&client=firefox-b&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A3%2F1%2F2010%2Ccd_max%3A7%2F31%2F2010&tbm=
As you can here he was profiled in almost every major news outlet prior to visiting Sweden.
I first heard of Craig when I was a regular buyer of newspapers – Herald, Guardian, Times – around the time of the Iraq War. I have been reading the blog for years but only ventured into the comments in the past 12 months.
Both the Julian Assange sexual assault allegations and those of the late Welsh Labour MP Greville Janner are cases of they said he did; he said he didn’t. Curiously though, far more people are prepared to give Assange the benefit of the doubt and choose to believe he is innocent, whilst far more people seemed to automatically assume that Janner was guilty. Why? Because Janner was Jewish and Assange is not and there is still a lot of anti-Semitism around which has absolutely zero to do with whether one is anti or pro-Zionist but absolutely everything to do with the profoundly ingrained and irrational hatred of Jewish people that has existed since we were first blamed for the crucifixion of Christ.
Becky Cohen,
You are way off beam. So far as I am aware, THAT was never an issue. Why are you trying to make your religious beliefs one here? I was brought up as a Catholic – so wtf – I gave it up when I was 15.
I never asked a girl her religion
Did you?
What relevance is it?
Tony
Becky,
Please don’t insinuate that Greville Janner was a Welsh MP, he represented Leicester when I was in Uni there (West I think), Keith Vaz was my MP in Leicester East. That said, Leo Abse who was my MP in Pontypool also has some bad rumours associated with him, whether they have firm foundation God only knows. With regards Janner though, afraid to say the accusation are correct, given we heard many such rumours in the late 80s, and Vaz even then was a bit of an enforcer – we did not know how depraved Vaz was, had I known, I’d probably never have canvassed on his behalf in Leicester East.
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East since the 1987 general election, is the British Parliament’s longest-serving British Asian MP.
Actually as of the disolution of Parliament
are there any M.P.’s
or are there now no M.P.’s?
You canvassed for Keith Vaz? Oh dear.
You have to remember who Vaz was standing against.
Utter rubbish, end of story.
By e-mail tonight from Red Card Israel Campaign
FIFA will make a decision on Israeli football teams based in illegal settlements at their upcoming Congress on May 11, 2017. This is our chance to ensure that Palestinian human rights are front and centre on their agenda!
More than one hundred sports and human rights associations representing millions of people across the globe have called on FIFA to demand that the Israeli Football Association immediately exclude teams based in illegal settlements, and for FIFA to suspend the association if it refuses to comply.
As the pressure mounts on FIFA to respect its statutes, the Israeli government is using its embassies to push for removing the issue of settlement clubs from the Congress’ agenda altogether. We can’t let that happen: teams based in illegal settlements and human rights violations have no place in the beautiful game.
Take action now to pressure FIFA to respect its own statutes and Palestinian human rights!
You can:
•Join the Thunderclap to FIFA ahead of its upcoming Congress!
•Join the action on social media! See our sample tweets and memes to share. Use the hashtag #RedCardIsrael
Here are some more actions you can take:
•Organize an action to deliver the letter to your national football association and FIFA Council members urging them to vote Israeli settlement teams out of FIFA. Email us to let us know of your planned action, and don’t forget to take photos and video to share on social media!
•Urge sports personalities to take a public stand against the inclusion of Israeli settlement clubs in FIFA.
•Contact sports journalists in your country and encourage them to cover the story
Let’s make sure FIFA and member federations get the message: settlement clubs and Apartheid have no place in the beautiful game.
#RedCardIsrael Campaign
I also read today that Radiohead intend to perform in Israel and thus break the BDS boycott.
Radiohead urged to cancel Israel gig ‘for their own self-respect’
Open letter suggests band are displaying double standards by performing in a country ‘where a system of apartheid is opposed on the Palestinian people’
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/radiohead-israel-concert-open-letter-palestine-ken-loach-thom-yorke-johnny-greenwood-a7700626.html
‘Radiohead are being urged to cancel their upcoming gig in Israel as part of an ongoing cultural boycott.
High profile arts figures from around the world, including Ken Loach, Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky, actors Maxine Peake and Juliet Stephenson, and Roger Waters, have signed an open letter calling on the band to reconsider their performance.
The letter was organised by Artists for Palestine UK and asks Radiohead to avoid performing in a country where “a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people”. It cites the band’s support of Tibet’s fight for independence as a sign of double standards.’
The open letter – https://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/2017/04/23/an-open-letter-to-radiohead/
Here is an open letter to Radiohead.
London, April 24th 2017
“Dear Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway,
You’re listed to play Tel Aviv in July this year.
We’d like to ask you to think again – because by playing in Israel you’ll be playing in a state where, UN rapporteurs say, ‘a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people’.
We understand you’ve been approached already by Palestinian campaigners. They’ve asked you to respect their call for a cultural boycott of Israel, and you’ve turned them down. Since Radiohead campaigns for freedom for the Tibetans, we’re wondering why you’d turn down a request to stand up for another people under foreign occupation. And since Radiohead fronted a gig for the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we’re wondering why you’d ignore a call to stand against the denial of those rights when it comes to the Palestinians. “
http://internationaltimes.it/three-reasons-why-i-support-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestinians/
Many =potential Liberal Democrat Candidates are withdrawing from the race?
@ Sharp Ears April 26, 2017 at 22:25
Here is another useful website:
‘Football Against Apartheid: A website that brings together football fans and activists campaigning against Apartheid’:
https://footballagainstapartheid.wordpress.com/
Thanks Paul Barbara.
What makes you think Tony Opmoc that ‘Palestinian kids[ will get anywhere near the Tel Aviv Yarkon Park venue or even afford to buy a ticket if they were allowed to. I have just looked up the price. £134. Less than 400 seats left.
Where has your humanity gone Tony Opmoc? It is probably impossible to convey to you what the Palestinians’ lives are like under a cruel occupier.
@ Becky Cohen
It was good that somebody finally said it. Well done!
That accounts for a lot. But I didn’t know Cliff Richard was Jewish….
that victim card’s getting somewhat dog-eared,isn’t it?