On Saturday a small, socially distanced vigil of 18 people for Julian Assange at Piccadilly Circus was broken up by twice that number of police and one elderly man arrested and taken into custody. The little group of activists have been holding the vigil every week. I had just arrived to thank them and was astonished to see eight police vans and this utterly unnecessary police action. There could not be a clearer example of “Covid legislation” being used to crack down on unrelated, entirely peaceful political dissent.
I was myself questioned by a policeman who asked me where I lived, how long I had been in London and why, what I had been doing at the Assange trial and when I was going back to Edinburgh. (You can see me very briefly at 10mins 30 secs trying to reason with a policeman who was entirely needlessly engaging in macho harassment of a nice older lady).
Later in the evening I had dinner with Kristin Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks. I returned to my hotel about 11pm, did my ablutions and went to bed. Just after midnight I was awoken by an insistent and extremely loud pounding at the door of my room. I got naked out of bed and groped my way to open the door a chink. A man dressed like the hotel staff (black trousers, white shirt) asked me when I was checking out. I replied in the morning, and pointed out the hotel knew I was leaving the next day. Why was he asking in the middle of the night? The man said “I was asked to find out”. I closed the door and went back to bed.
The next morning I complained in the strongest possible terms, the hotel refunded me one night’s accommodation. The duty manager who did this added “It was not our fault” but said they could not tell me any more about why this had happened.
The person at my door had a native English accent. I had been staying in the hotel over four weeks and I think I know all of the customer facing staff – not a single one of them has a native English accent. I had never seen that man before. This was a four star hotel from a major chain. I suspect “do not get sleeping guests out of bed after midnight to ask them what time they are checking out” is pretty high on their staff training list. I cannot help but in my mind put it together with my encounter with the police earlier that day, and their interest in when I was returning to Edinburgh, but there seems no obvious purpose other than harassment.
The hotel incident may just be in the strange but unexplained category. The busting of the Assange vigil earlier is of a piece with the extraordinary blanking of the hearing by corporate media and the suppression of its reporting on social media. These are dangerous times.
I am now safely back home in Edinburgh.
sadly craig , this is not how it starts, only how it progresses you have joined the targets for sticking your head up but it has been the way for a very long time, ask any colored teen in any major uk city for the last hundred years.
Iagree A2, its also been the case for Heathrow protesters, some years back and is now obvious at XR demonstrations? socially distanced ot not. Add to that the perceived need for us to police ourself, as sp many are enthralled by the idea of getting one over on their neighbour, or shout at someone striding into a supermarket without a mask on their ears.
I have experienced dirty policing in Twyford Down during the 1980’s, anything that goes against massive vested interests such as building roads, running heavily subsidised airlines and or the continuing environmental destruction, will face the real aim and objectives of the police, to protect the status quo establishment and themselve.
Glad you are back home. check your house for bugs, sleeping or live, and get yourself a few one way phones, and leave them with friends until needed.
And let us know if you need some more financial help for your case coming up.
How could anyone hate Julian Assange so much they would do that to you in the dead of night? Sounds like an escapee from Broadmoor.
It’s not really hatred – although hired brutes required to do violence may work themselves up to a state of hatred to make their work easier. Just as the pirates of old used to swill rum before boarding ships, throwing people overboard, raping women and eventually killing everyone.
Blackbeard used to exhort his crew, “Get hot, men! Get damned hot”. They had to suppress their humanity to do what they were told to do.
The decision-makers don’t feel hate, or compassion, or anything at all. To them, as to Al Capone, it’s just business.
Let us call a spade a spade. The reason the mainstream media do not report the Assange extradition trial is because they now work for the other side, the side of the powers that be, against press freedom, due process and yes, democracy. The treatment of peaceful protesters by the fascist police palookas, the Assange trial, and the police state’s knock on the door of Craig Murray in the middle of the night, should be a warning knock on all our doors of something evil afoot requiring our urgent and immediate collective action.
The feeling is one of intimidation by the police. What if someone had a heart attack from being hounded like this?
What was the reason the police gave for disbanding the protest? Why did they handcuff that gentleman and drive him away? What was the upshot of this?
BTW Craig, thank you for all your coverage these weeks and months. And thank you for posting this and the video.
Nice to see you there for a few moments. Enjoy Edinburgh!
Y’all may like to prepare yourselves, with a shift of the main explosive paramilitary action to the English mainland and towering City targets, for decades of further clones* of what was simply known and accepted and trialed in Ulster as “The Troubles”.
The System/Establishment/Parliament/Politically Incorrect Oligarchy/Magic Circle/Round Table Knights/call it and they what you will, [and that be only some of the home team players, for there are bound to be more too, and don’t forget all of those foreigners having their own mirroring counterparts, also pulling at event laden strings] certainly appears determined to ignite that very particular and extremely effective Guy Fawkes firework which never ever goes away you know, for it always leaves behind its masterminds to reinvent it again and again and again ad infinitum, and mightily improved each and every time reviewed and renewed.
Did the lessons of The Troubles, as taught to you by a motley crew of Ulster Volunteer Forces and Irish Republican Armies over an expansive half a century, not teach you anything at all about the result of oppression and suppression and how to avoid the painful consequences that accompany the suffering of the inevitable penalties in untimely gruesome death and catastrophic collateral damage.
If you truthfully have to answer, …… hmmm, we seem to appear to have actually learnt practically next to nothing …….. then one has to accept one is a retard with severe learning difficulties, destined and fated to be disabled/unenabled/unable to safely and securely function alone and unaided in any setting of one’s choosing……… which is surely quite a horrendously hellish situation to choose if one makes that choice.
Methinks that might confirm a certifiable madness and full metal jacket insanity, don’t you?
* ……. further clones being much more sophisticated phorms of almighty attack against which establishment forces have neither the 0day knowledge intelligence nor any effective defence capability. Things aint like they used to be, and to imagine that everything/anything can go back to way it was before all of these series of globally connected market meltdowns is risible, and puts one in grave danger because of all of the above.
Take care out there. IT’s an absolutely crazy jungle with all manner of phantom matter and virtually invincible foe to be comprehensively defeated by, if one is not inclined to be universally friendly and refreshingly accommodating nowadays.
Further comment re the video. The protesters were silly in not wearing masks, which was the excuse needed by the police to break up the protest. What are the rules in the UK presently, I see everyone else in the area not wearing any masks. So were the protesters deliberately not wearing masks and standing close together , trying to combine an Assange protest with a Covid response protest? If so they’ve not done themselves or Julian Assange any great favours, unfortunately.
As far as I know the wearing of masks outdoors is not compulsory under the new rules for England – only inside public buildings and on public transport etc. Whilst, personally, I would choose to wear one it does not seem to be a legitimate reason for the police to arrest someone for not wearing one outdoors. If you are Boris Johnson’s father it appears you don’t have to wear one at all.
Female police officer to protester: ” You’ve got 10 seconds to leave the area”
Where is that in the legislation I wonder …?
Didn’t Robocop say something similar…”you have 20 seconds to comply” ?
You seem to think that token obedience to nonsensical rules makes a difference. When the highest authorities in the land have marked a person or a group as an “enemy” they don’t call off the hounds if the target’s supporters stand a bit a further apart or don paper masks.
Think about what happened to Jeremy Corbyn after he took the bogus accusations of anti-Semitism at face value and attempted to engage earnestly with his accusers. Did the pressure relent, did they accept his good faith gesture? Of course not. They redoubled their efforts to destroy him.
You can’t appease people who are out to get you.
There is no law requiring wearing of masks outdoors in England. In fact the official guidance states specifically that wearing masks outdoors serves no useful purpose.
Sticks head above parapet again.
Would you just stop calling for the Rule of Law, the rabble might get a hint!
The passers by weren’t wearing masks (even though some must have arrived by public transport) and the police ignored them.
If protesters feel the need to wear masks in order to avoid being attacked by the police, should they take it a step further and wear balaclavas? That would severely impede facial identification.
I haven’t seen any official statement that the required masks should cover only the nose and mouth.
Maybe one day we will see an army of citizens, all dressed identically and all wearing complete face coverings, marching together with a common purpose.
That is frightening and needs to be widely known. Glad to hear you’re safely home.
I’ve been trying to get more of the left to adopt the Fediverse but with no avail. It is a place of decentralised social media so no single company can blanket ban anyone.
Certainly Mastodon is worth looking at. It’s not too difficult to get used to. https://kevq.uk/how-does-mastodon-work/
You can even start you own ‘Instance’ for full control of content.
The Fediverse, for anyone curious, is explained here: https://newatlas.com/what-is-the-fediverse/56385/
Craig, glad you got back safely. If anyone had banged on my hotel door in the middle of the night I would have set off the fire alarm, making sure whatever happened was not going to re-occur without everyone knowing about it.
We’re living in… interesting times. Where the veil of ‘bourgeois, liberal democracy’ is slipping to reveal something far more unpleasant lurking underneath; the strong state, which is agressive and warlike overseas and, of necessity, increasingly repressive at home. These are big, historic, cultural ,paradigm shifts linked to changes and challenges within the wider economy. The old economic model in the West is falling apart rapidly. It’s challenged by the rise of China as the ‘workshop of the world’ and the growth in wealth and influence that goes with that role, and the massive environmental changes that are happening around us.
Linked to this is the obvious falling apart of the old political structures. Vast swathes of people are totally alienated from politics, and rightly so. The emergence of what amounts to a one-party state model in most western countries is linked to this, paradoxically. The state feels threatened by dissent and criticism. Julian Assange would have been tolerated years ago, but today the reaction is different. One could have seen Wikileaks as a necessary ‘safety valve’ and embraced it, thereby controling it, as the Guardian attempted to do. Yet, today the state is abandoning the idea of a ‘controlled opposition’ because that’s a ‘luxury’ it can no longer afford or tolerate, because even a controlled opposition is perceived as potentially dangerous and a threat to the established order.
This is why the liberals and soft left, typified by the Guardian and their ilk, have lurched to the political right and abandoned ‘radicals’ like Assange, who represents the dangerous, uncontrolled opposition with his shocking Wikileaks model of unfiltered and direct journalism bypassing the officially sanctioned mainstream media.
The emerging ‘strong state’, which, paradoxically, is morally and intellectually, rather weak; needs a complicit and docile mass media to maintain power over what the public are allowed to think and know. Too much knowledge in times like these is perceived as a danger to the state. Hence the efforts to destroy heretics like Assange and persecute his followers. Ignore them and what’s happening in the Old Bailey for as long as possible, but if that doesn’t work more open oppression will be the next steps towards an openly totalitarian society.
writeon,
Carrying on with your thesis about a ‘strong state’, I think we are seeing the emergence of a ‘super-state’ that overarches the sovereignty of national states. We no longer live in a world of individual, independent, sovereign states. Since 9-11 we have witnessed the emergence of a ruthless super-state, which exercises its power over almost all individual, sovereign states (both East and West). Russia and China are possible exceptions, although the super-state is doing its best to undermine those too.
The ruthless, relentless attack on Julian, and the outrageous travesties of justice we ‘witnessed’ during his trial are evidence of the super-state in action. I don’t believe Julian would have been subjected to this even 10 years ago, when there was still some semblance of independent, sovereign states (and when there was still some semblance of independent, international bodies).
It is not the British state gone rogue. Or the Canadian state gone rogue over the kidnapping of the CFO of Huawei. It is the super-state in action. Don’t finger Trump, Boris, or Trudeau for any of this. The only part they played was to roll over to the dictates of the super-state.
It suits the super-state to have us scrabbling around in the mud over the likes of Baraitser, Harding, Leigh, Morales (God knows I have been guilty of this), but if we are to have any hope of changing this, we need to see past the Kabuki theatre and identify who sits behind the curtain.
nothing different, masses have been victims of the elite since dawn of time, with social media we have now a rare privilege of observing it. creating fear maintains control of the herd,
I think your point is well made, and true Ann. The Atlantacist nations; the US, Europe, plus Australia and NZ, have experienced repression and increasingly authoritarian control, over these past 8 months, never seen before in their lifetimes. The urging of MP Tobias Elwood, to allow the Army to take a more active role in Policing, and helping in the fight against the virus, presages darker times ahead.
I do think that it’s impossible to underestimate the colossal harm that the ‘rape’ allegations did to Assange and Wikileaks and why support for him shrunk away almost overnight. Having one’s name linked to something like rape is incredibly damaging for one’s reputation and crediblity, especially with educated liberals and leftists, precisely the layers who were his closest allies. The Swedish ‘rape charges’ were a masterstroke of state propaganda designed to destroy Assange.
Sweden has always been a kind of utopia for many on the liberal left, regardless of the more prosaic realities. Assange, unfortunately for him, didn’t know Sweden properly and went there in the wrong decade, when things had changed radically and the country lurched to the right politically and the government was intent on ingratiating itself with the newly aggressive United Sates.
One also has to focus on the extraordinary rise and spread of ‘gender’ and ‘identity’ politics on the left, which has been so damaging because it turns attention and understanding away from economics and the imporance of social class analysis. If one didn’t know better, one would think that ‘gender’ and ‘identity’ had been planted in left/liberal education specifically to avoid the really hard subjects of economics and social class, thereby undermining the intellectual capacity of the left.
Assanged was widely seen as having broken a whole string of gender and identity norms during his stay in Sweden and this was regardless of the fact that he was never formally charged, let alone convicted of any criminal activity. The allegations alone were enough by themselves and to hell with the legal process and the right to a fair trial! That huge swathes of the left/liberals allowed themselves to be swept up into a screaming mob hunting down witches in Salem is an indictement of the left, but a terrible sign of the times we live in, which are grim.
I believe the allegations (actually initially only questions) of the two women in Sweden were seized upon by the CIA. If it had not been Sweden, it would have been in some other country.
I think it is very possible the actual aim of the investigation in Sweden was to keep Assange in the UK and he was “brilliantly” played by the intelligence services. I think it is very unlikely that Sweden would ever have extradited him to the USA. At least not on the indictments that he currently faces, which are almost by definition political. Perhaps other “crimes” might have been found. But who knows? However, the UK is probably among the worst countries for him to be defending himself from extradition. Sweden would not have been worse and would in all likelihood have been much better. It is doubtful whether the “sexual assault” accusations would ever have stuck, although Assange may have spent some time in prison while under investigation.
he was never formally charged
This is a misunderstanding of the European civil law system. A person is arrested “on suspicion” and remains a “suspect” until the actual trial. The “charges” (accusations) are only declared when the case moves to trial. It should be noted, however, that a suspect can be held in prison while “under suspicion” and the investigation is proceeding. This is subject to the orders of a judge and the prosecution must present a reasonable case as to why provisional detention is necessary.
“I believe the allegations (actually initially only questions) of the two women in Sweden were seized upon by the CIA”.
I believe the allegations were procured by the CIA. As Mr Murray informed us in 2012, Anna Ardin seems to have worked for the CIA previously; and she certainly took the initiative in inviting Assange to her flat and then showing up unexpectedly to sleep there, although there was only one bed.
One of the women was definitely a CIA honeytrap
No. I don’t believe I’ve ‘misunderstood’ the law in Sweden at all, though it is different to UK practice. Assange was never charged with a criminal offence in Sweden. That’s it. The reason Assange was never charged and the case didn’t move to trial was because the case against him was so transparently weak, but one needed an excuse to pursue, or persecute, him, and the allegations served that purpose for the Swedes and the UK. It’s pedantry to argue otherwise.
Sweden’s richest family wanted to launch their name and brands on the US stock exchange, become a member of NASDAQ, Julian was a pawn that enabled them to do so. The only reason for Julians case to become soft. They would have extradited him for that privilege alone. If it is a privilege really
“If one didn’t know better, one would think that ‘gender’ and ‘identity’ had been planted in left/liberal education specifically to avoid the really hard subjects of economics and social class, thereby undermining the intellectual capacity of the left.”
No, it was specifically done to turn attention away from the problems of class and power structure, splitting whatever is left of of the LEFT into smaller and smaller factions, fighting each other instead those whose class is winning. And made it very clear for all to hear:
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
― Warren Buffett
Arguably anyone who allows their intellectual capacity to be “undermined” never had much intellectual capacity in the first place.
Fully agree. There’s nothing coincidental about the emergence of ‘identity politics’ in academia and its subsequent spread into societies around the world. The neoliberalcons are a cunning bunch of nihilistic fascists, very much used to the long-term planning game (unlike regular Joe, who can only plan as far as the wallet allows). Their downfall (and most of ours along with them) will eventually be the truly idiotic misconception, that life is nothing but a game.
writeon
There is feminism, I come from a feminist family , and there is pseudo feminism which is pure gangsterism and daylight robbery. If the Britishcorrupt Tory and Red Tory state wanted, it could use any of the -isms fascism, communism Islamism as a slogan for their dirty work. They are simply greasy pole money/ land / power /pussy grabbers and they are capable of abusing anything of importance against its meaning into something criminal, like sleazy advertising copy.
I wonder if President Xi sent Trump the synthetic antibodies along with some free panda sperm. A panda after all would make a better Potus. I really don’t believe his catching covid was anything more than a desperate campaign fake victim ploy. What did the MOD call Julian, a malingerer? or some other such slanderous psycho-bollocks put-down?
I was always accused of being a ‘feminist’ too, before it became so fashionable. But my feminism was based on the desire for full economic and social equality for everyone, including women, who seemed to suffer more than others under the unecessary yoke of descrimination. It’s surely no coincidence that society has become massively more unequal over the last fifty years, economically and socially; yet huge swathes of opinion, especially in the media, have become increasingly obsessed with gender and identity compared to interest in massive chasm that’s opened up in power and wealth between the rich and the rest of society?
Much like the charges against Alex Salmond which were dismissed compelling him to recover his reputation much to the annoyance of the British establishment. Julian Assange has not been given the opportunity to repair his respectabilty. To deny truth, honesty and reputation Julian is incarcerated in a place closely associated to an asylum where he is clearly subjected to mental asphyxia and facilitated to self-destruct.
Yes, whenever I mention the Assange case to a varied assortment of acquaintances, the non-political bring up the rape smears as where the story was left, and the ones with more political ‘naus’talk about his endangering lives with the leaks. None comment on the trial or the big political picture.
Stay safe Craig. Thank you for putting yourself front and centre in the current struggle for free speech in the UK.
Stuart Campbell
100% agree
Cowards who target old men and women, pensioners, so much easier than a young person that is physically objecting to being manhandled. kakackistan indeed, maybe they had enough of policing servile non violent people, should one oblige by organising something more effective?
ALL True Brits must now plead ‘GUILTY’.
To telling truths in U$/UK/OZ – Land$ of LIE$!!!
Safely back home in Edinburgh to face harassment from Polis Scotland on an unrelated matter.
Thank you Craig Murray for all you are doing in the defense of Julian Assange. I feel so much gratitude.
Yes indeed, « these are dangerous times« . It can be observed everywhere… when the police is at the service of the state instead of protecting people.
Unexplained knock on the door.
The secret police (of various names) did this sort of thing in Apartheid South Africa. The aim was expressly to harass and cause stress as in “we are watching you”.
I have read that the Stasi did similar in the DDR. Apparently, one of the things they liked to do was to rearrange someone’s furniture while they were out.
OnlyHalfALooney-yes, have personal experience of SA special branch, in apartheid SouthAfrica, calling round and telling of all breaches of banning they knew about. Just to let you know you’re being watched.
Reminds me of coins being throw at Assange’s room window at 2am.
Only creatures of poor character and low intelligence seem to be recruited for such degrading work. Unfortunately Britain has an abundance of such brainwashed serfs who have lost the ability to think for themselves. Heading for Hitlerite FASCISM.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” Voltaire.
Well we have a majority in the UK now thoroughly believing absurdities – roll on the atrocities.
Bless you
Hi Craig,
You could politely request the hotel to provide you with their cctv footage for the night in question.
If they refuse you file a private harassment case with the court and insist the hotel provide you with evidence. Even if nothing is proven, it will create a paper trail and strengthen your position in the event of future harassment.
You might want to consider putting hidden cctv up at the entrances to your home. Maybe even consider purchasing a body camera to wear out and about.
Best of luck with things.
According to https://www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself
“You have the right to request CCTV footage of yourself.
You need to make a request to the owner of the CCTV system. You can do this either in writing or verbally…
The CCTV owner must usually provide the footage free of charge within 1 calendar month.”
This just looks at harassment and disruption of someone deemed a threat to US/UK bilateral relations and to the success of the Assange extradition bid, Craig’s coverage of the hearing is unsurpassed and carries the weight of an educated and articulate and credible man.
The hotel knew you were leaving next day, security services could have confirmed that with the hotel if that was truly needed, GDPR wouldn’t be a consideration.
What will you next face Craig, I’m trying to think of that German word used by Russian security services for moving objects in people’s homes when they’re out with the express objective of unsettling the resident “why is the shampoo bottle on the kitchen counter, has someone been in here, am I losing my mind”. Maybe Craig’s midnight encounter is the equivalent of that.
Zersetzung!
“literally corrosion or undermining…agents move around personal items [in the homes of targets which are broken into when the occupants are out], open windows and set alarms in an attempt to demoralise and intimidate their targets.”
“If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear”, yeah right ! But just look at who is defining what is right and wrong. We have an awful lot to fear in this country with the way things are already going.
I’m sure you are aware these days it’s easy to get hold of small cameras to detect people poking around where they shouldn’t be (for example shop at Amazon for game and trail cameras). Also, Go Pro and similar cams can be set up to do motion detect (not using IR, but by comparing 2 successive video frames); they can be set up to cover the door of hotel rooms and positioned to look over your shoulder and get a good, high-res image of the face of the suspect.
If it’s not imaginary and you get some images, it would at least let you know how many people or if it’s always the same person (and if a crime is ever committed you will have a set of images to go on the PNC file – a bit annoying if they are off-duty police!)
Craig, it has been creeping incrementally over us for a few years. Policing in Scotland is no better and has been increasingly suffering from ‘power creep’. I think it is accelerating. It is not just the police. The majority of the population, who have little if any contact with authorities, seem not to notice. Our lives are being tied in knots from all authorities, no matter the hue of their political badge.
Maybe the police were checking that you were actually in the hotel you reported as your address.
If the Met has the manpower for such pointless checks it urgently needs to be defunded.
They could ask reception for that – they don’t need to wake Craig at midnight. The hotel obviously know something and are embarrassed. They probably have an arrangement with the police for the security of their guests, and either this was their internal security at the ask of the special branch, or more likely a special branch officer asked which room Craig was in and then harassed him.
Craig should stay on the case:
– ask the hotel for the CC video (it will be politely refused)
– ask if the person involved was an hotel employee (they will probably say no, or at least refuse to say he was)
– ask what security arrangements they then have that strange men can knock on the guests doors at midnight.
…that is: there is a serious security breach when an unidentifiable man
– knows which room a particular guest is in
– can tramp the corridors at midnight
– bang loudly on the door
Any VIP – say an actress or a pop star – would have very reasonable cause to be fearful: a stalker? an assassin à la John Lennon?
add to that
would the Hotel like to own this issue by having this weird incident publicized? or would they like your lawyer asking for their CCTV to be ‘safeguarded until it can be inspected? before you publicize this Stasi measure to the red top ignorant ‘s.
But is this the rabbit hole an harassing security service wants Craig to go down, which will distract from his coverage of Julian Assange? I’d be half interested though if you were to write to the hotel operator about the matter whether you might do better than a complimentary one-night stay. Craig hasn’t named the 4-star hotel but I’d guess they’d like to avoid publicity to suggest they conspired to harass a guest peacefully staying at their facility.
Police have no business doing that. Craig did nothing wrong. It qualifies as targeted harassment. I fear craig has been put on a TH list. Mi5 were known to do it in the 80s. The purpose of which was to make the subject paranoid and anxious. Other TH methods include phoning and hanging up. Constant roadworks, following. phone tapping. the list goes on to be honest!
Were the protestors in breach of any recent local coronavirus restrictions? I’m not talking about masks, but rather gatherings outside one’s ‘social bubble’.
It’s a fair assumption that, in the current climate, if you stick your head above the parapet then the state security forces will take an interest in your activities. Protesting, deviating from the state narrative, spreading alternative theories, membership of non proscribed organisations will all be used to judge you a ‘threat’ to the state.
I would suggest that MI5/MI6/GCHQ/77th Brigade will be on Craig’s case – as such, I would suggest it is commonsense, and not paranoia, to assume you may be watched, followed and have your communications and contacts monitored. Craig needs to act appropriately to protect himself.
Maybe I’m wrong, but coincidences, like Google shopping hints, are a sure sign that something is not as it seems…
Your presence here, Stevie Boy, sharing your views, may very well also have you as a MI5/MI6/GCHQ/77th Brigade target for monitoring and further investigation. Very soon though, and very quickly does that sort of hysterical paranoia cause all manner of crazy problems which tend to have zero effective solutions. Indeed, they actually tend to become extremely self-defeatingly destructive.
And that has one again pondering on the validity of the oxymoron, Military Intelligence.
Not at all surprised given that this Party has been in Government and has spent years harrassing Mr. Assange then psychologically torturing him once he was in custody. Noted that they even now they stretching the hearing further by not giving a judgement on the extradition until January when we know that the Judas
Judge Barrister will conform with her master’s and find for extradiction. I am only amazed that the judiciary in this country does not halt the disgraceful continuation of a judge who clearly is a poodle to those hell-bent on eliminating all against them and rherebye creating a police State. Where, oh where, are the Dennings of this world???
Would that be the same Denning who expressed incredulity at the thought of police officers lying under oath in court or fabricating evidence?
Assange’s problems in Sweden were always rather strange, fuzzy and mired in ‘grey’ areas of Sweden’s laws regarding what actually is deemed a sexual offence at that particular time. According to which way the political wind is blowing, this also has an unfortunate habit of changing. Sexual politics in Sweden is a minefield. A platform where one can score political points and advance one’s career or political agenda.
There are literally hundreds of cases in Sweden where the state hasn’t proceeded with charges or a trial because of lack of evidence, where compared to the Assange affair, the real and substantial evidence of rape involving physical violence seemed overwhelming. So why, one wonders did the case against Assange receive so much attention from the state in contrast to so many other cases? Because Assange was a celebrity and the US and the UK were after him for his political views and actions. Of course the Swedish media massively exaggerated the actual events and the UK media followed this lurid lead. Journalists love drama and storytelling before anything else, including the truth.
For example, from my own experience, I know the woman involved, a recent Swedish media case. There was a frontpage story about a man who alleged, during a messy divorce, that women, in general, had a tendency to fabricate stories about sexual violence in order to gain custody of the children. In his case he was an innocent victim. Unfortunately, the stupid journalist didn’t bother to do any research in his actual background. That he had been found guilty of violence against his partner, leading to her hospitalisation and the judge at the trial thought he was probably a psychopath and dangerous. He’s now only allowed to see the child under strict supervision, because they are afraid he might harm the child in order to exact revenge on his former partner! The woman journalist was completely taken in my his Blair-like smiling charm and did no research into his past at all, just taking it all at face value.