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assange

If reports are to be believed, and the Ecuadorian government is preparing to evict Julian Assange from their embassy in London, where the editor-in-chief of Wikileaks has been holed up since 2012, fighting for the right to political asylum, then his legal and political crucifixion may well now be approaching completion.

 

by John Wight

It is a development that once again reminds us of the plight of a man who, in acting as a metaphorical canary down the coal mine of Western democracy, is living proof that a marked difference exists between believing that you live in a free society and behaving as if you do.

For in daring to remove the mask of civility and moral rectitude behind which Western governments have carried out their malign deeds at home and around the world in the cause of hegemony, Assange has since 2012 sat pride of place in the crosshairs of their considerable wrath.

READ MORE: Ecuador to Withdraw Asylum For Assange — Reports

It bears repeating: if the Australian whistleblower had been confined to a foreign embassy in Moscow or Beijing since 2012, in the same or similar circumstances, his plight would have been a cause celebre, sparking calls for boycotts, sanctions, and action at the UN on the part of free speech and prisoner of conscience liberals who’re never done excoriating Russia and China on those very grounds.

If the Ecuadorians do evict Assange from their embassy in London, thereby exposing him to the tender mercies of the British and, most probably thereafter, US justice systems, the small Latin American country’s reputation will be dragged through the mud, descending from one of esteem in the eyes of peoples and nations of conscience and consciousness, to one of opprobrium.

Perhaps, in the eyes of the country’s current president, Lenin Moreno, this is a small price to pay for bending to the will of ‘Rome’, but in the court of history, it is those who defy empires, not those who serve them, whose legacies are celebrated and revered.

 

The Swedish authorities dropped their investigation into the original charges of rape and sexual molestation – made against Assange in 2010 and which he has always denied and claimed were politically motivated – in May 2017. However, regardless, the outstanding UK arrest warrant in his case, issued against him for breaching the bail conditions of his initial appearance in a UK court relating to those charges back in 2012; this arrest warrant remains in force.

It means that if the Ecuadorians do evict Julian Assange from their embassy in central London, he will immediately find himself under arrest, facing not only a period in prison in the UK but, as mentioned, extradition to the US in relation to his role as editor-in-chief of Wikileaks. This is not speculation this is fact, given that Assange’s lawyers have tested it in court and had it confirmed.

READ MORE: Lawyers Concerned About Ecuadorian Government Silence Over Assange's Future

As if to compound his current woes, not only does the threat of extradition to the US continue to hang over Assange, if anything it is even greater — what with the part Wikileaks played in disseminating damning facts about Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and the leadership of the DNC in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election; and what with the Washington liberal establishment rage that ensued as a result of Clinton losing that election to Donald Trump, rage which evinces no evidence of dissipating anytime soon.

Clinton, her supporters, and elements of this Washington establishment continue to claim that the information Wikileaks published came by way of Russian hacking, while Assange and groups such as Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), made up of former US intelligence operatives and officials, maintain that it came by way of a leak within Washington itself. Meanwhile, at time of writing, the Mueller investigation into alleged Russian hacking – colloquially known as Russiagate — is yet to produce a shred of concrete evidence that any such hacking on the part of the Russian state took place.

The real crime Julian Assange committed was not a breach of his bail conditions but instead his actions in daring to speak truth to power. Wikileaks under his stewardship became the bête noire of governments, particularly Western governments, revealing the ugly truth of crimes committed by US forces in Iraq, the West’s role in the destabilization of Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of Libya – and this is without, as mentioned, the part the whistleblowing outfit played in exposing Hillary Clinton as a politician whose record is a monument to mendacity.

 

Julian Assange — as was the case with Chelsea Manning, and as will be the fate of Edward Snowden if he ever dares set foot outside Russia — is being punished for removing the veil of freedom, human rights, and civil liberties from the face of an empire of hypocrisy and lies. They lied about Iraq, they lied about Libya, they lied about Syria, and they lie every day about the murky relationships that exist between governments, corporations, and the rich that negates their oft-made claims to be governing in the interests of the people.

Assange’s fate is our fate, make no mistake, and thus: ‘Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.’

The views and opinion expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.

The views and opinion expressed in this article are those supported by Gus leonisky and do necessarily reflect his position.

they are afraid of what he'll expose next...

 

The duplicitous Western powers are very afraid of what Assange might expose next.

He has the ability to penetrate through the strongest firewalls to the deepest secret rubbish of state, where the deceitful invasions and the next wars for profits are being prepared. They are afraid that a growing number of their employees, sworn to secrecy, yet ashamed of the behaviour of the state, will give assange the keys to the empire's secret cabinet, as they should. 

As a friend of mine reminded me of my oft expressed views, there is no morals in these affairs of states, just the desire to enrich the empire at the expense of enslaving and/or killing others, while claiming "self-protection" or "national interest" which is no more than a moralized front to the self-righteous sadism and greed of the empire — and its people, us.

Assange should not be prosecuted for "jumping bail". If he had not done this, he would have died in a US prison, long ago...

It it time to let Assange free. It's time for our Australian government to come clean and act with decency. Governments should remember that "crucifying Assange" is only going to turn him into a cult — a cult far more truthful and far more powerful than you-know, whatisname from 2000 years ago.... 

 

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/31389

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/26238

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/20269

 

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/32971

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33372

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/35092

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/9586

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/32954

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33804

human rights abuse...

Julian Assange, who has spent more than 2,230 days in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, is expected to leave the building soon with his health deteriorating, sources say.

This latest information about the WikiLeaks founder, who was already expected to leave the embassy “in the coming weeks,” was broken Wednesday by Bloomberg which cited “two people with knowledge of the matter.”The news agency reported that the whistleblower’s health “has declined recently.”

READ MORE: Assange will eventually have to leave our embassy in London – Ecuador President

The news comes days after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno announced that Assange must "eventually"leave the embassy. “Yes, indeed yes, but his departure should come about through dialogue,” the Ecuadorian president said in answer to a reporter’s question on whether he will eventually have to leave.

“For a person to stay confined like that for so long is tantamount to a human rights violation,” Moreno said, stressing that Ecuador wants to make sure that nothing “poses a danger” to the whistleblower's life.

The whistleblower’s health is deteriorating, according to the Courage Foundation, a group that fundraises for the legal defense of whistleblowers. Assange is in “a small space” and has “no access to sunlight,” the group says, adding that this has a serious impact “on his physical and mental health.” 

Rape allegations, stemming from Assange’s visit to Sweden in August 2010, were the main reason that he sought refuge in London’s Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Assange maintained that he could be extradited from Sweden to the US, where he would be prosecuted for his whistleblowing and would not receive a fair trial. Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2017, but a British warrant for violating bail conditions still stands.

Washington simply “wants revenge” for the “embarrassment” WikiLeaks caused it, and wants it to serve “as a deterrent to others,” human rights activist Peter Tatchell told RT earlier in July. “Someone who’s published that information in the same way that the New York Times or the Guardian publish information, I don’t think they should face risk 30 or 40 years in jail in the United States,” Tatchell added.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/434795-assange-may-leave-embassy/

the truth could be painful... for the democrats...

QUITO (Sputnik) - An attorney for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Sputnik the whistleblower was considering a call by a US Senate panel to testify in its probe into Russia’s alleged 2016 election tampering.

"I confirm that he has been notified about the offer. Mr. Assange is now considering it in consultation with his lawyers in the US," Carlos Poveda Moreno said.

US authorities are conducting a multi-pronged inquiry into Russia’s perceived attempts to tilt the election in Donald Trump’s favor, a claim rejected as unfounded by the Kremlin.

Assange, whose website leaked evidence of Democratic bosses conspiring to sideline Bernie Sanders during 2016 primaries, bashed the Senate Intelligence Committee last October for not hearing him out.

This month the panel handed him an invitation to testify via US embassy in London. Assange has been living at Ecuador’s UK embassy for six years for fears of being extradited to the United States where he is wanted for exposing US war crimes in Iraq.

 

 

Read more

https://sputniknews.com/us/201808091067062046-assange-mulls-testifying-u...

Though Assange wowed to never to reveal "his" (Wikileaks') sources, he still can give pointers as to were the information he had came from, by denial of where they did not come from.

Who knows, we even could get surprised and admit we were wrong about the Russians not having interfered...

 

Read from top...

serving wikileaks...


The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has officially served its lawsuit to WikiLeaks through the unconventional means of Twitter.

The suit, which alleges that the Russian government, the Trump campaign, and WikiLeaks conspired to influence the 2016 presidential election in favour of Donald Trump was filed last April. However, due to the group’s elusive nature, lawyers were unable to officially serve the whistleblowing organization.

READ MORE: Last chance for Russiagate? Democrats file lawsuit against Trump campaign, Russia and WikiLeaks

On Friday, the law firm representing the DNC, Cohen Milstein, served the suit in a single tweet. The account, which appears to have been set up specifically for this purpose, links to a number of legal documents related to the case.

Last month, the DNC filed a motion in a federal court in Manhattan requesting permission to serve the lawsuit through Twitter after its attempts to reach WikiLeaks via email failed, reported CBS News.

The Democrats argued that Twitter was an appropriate platform in this instance because of WikiLeaks’ prolific tweeting.“WikiLeaks seems to tweet daily,” the DNC contended, drawing on a legal precedent set in a US District Court in 2016

The DNC also pointed out that WikiLeaks previously claimed on Twitter that it had already read the lawsuit.

At the time of writing, WikiLeaks had yet to respond to the official notice of the summons.

Earlier this week, its founder Julian Assange was called to testify before the US Senate Intelligence Committee - an offer that WikiLeaks say is being considered.The letter was delivered to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Assange has been living since he was granted asylum six years ago.

READ MORE: US Senate Intelligence Committee calls Julian Assange to testify - WikiLeaks

 

https://www.rt.com/news/435724-democrats-lawsuit-wikileaks-twitter/

truth is treason in an empire of lies...

 

Ron Paul on Julian Assange: "Truth Is Treason In An Empire Of Lies"

Posted By Tim Hains 
On Date August 30, 2018


Former Congressman Ron Paul speaks out about the horrible treatment WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has received at the hands of the U.S. and U.K. governments. 

RON PAUL: I want to talk today about a friend of ours, I wish we could do more for him. Hopefully talking about him might help --that's Julian Assange, who has been viciously mistreated by various governments -- particularly by our government. And if you're looking for justice, don't go to our Justice Department. Sessions won't help him, Pompeo isn't going to help him. In fact, they detest Assange because he is telling the truth about what is happening...

The old saying goes, Truth is Treason in an Empire of Lies, because you can't tell the truth about what the government is doing... We've visited with so many people who have been persecuted because they wanted to tell the truth about government or wars or whatever.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/08/30/

 

Read from top.

 

russia had absolutely nothing to do with it...

Julian Assange's lawyer has said that the US government must guarantee her client's security if he agrees to testify in a Senate inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. Speaking to Sputnik, renowned journalist John Pilger, a personal friend of Assange, said it isn't clear exactly what US lawmakers are hoping to find out.

Sputnik: What is the ultimate motive behind the request by the US Senate Intelligence Committee for Julian Assange to testify in its probe into Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election?

John Pilger: It's not known whether Julian is going to appear before the committee; they have certainly been in touch. But Julian and WikiLeaks have made it very clear that Russia has had absolutely nothing to do with the Podesta-Hillary Clinton email release of [2016]. Julian Assange has said that the source was not a state player in Russia [and that] it didn't come from Russia at all. That's what he would say before the Committee.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201808101067109167-australia-treatment-...

 

Read from top.

 

Meanwhile:

Norwegian police have opened an investigation into the disappearance of Arjen Kamphuis, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's associate, who was last seen in the northern Norwegian town of Bodo on August 20.

The investigators don't know the whereabouts of Kamphuis, police spokesman Tommy Bech said, as cited by AFP. He refused to speculate on what may have happened to the missing Dutchman.

This comes after a woman, who claims to be the cybersecurity expert's best friend, tweeted about his disappearance on Friday. According to her, he checked out of a hotel in Bodo and hasn't been heard from since.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809031067700048-assange-associate-diap...

missing


new zealand or ...

A petition with thousands of signatures supporting Julian Assange’s political asylum is set to be presented to New Zealand’s parliament.

Labour Party politician Greg O’Connor said that, while he personally does not support Assange obtaining asylum in New Zealand, he will present the petition to parliament after more than 2,000 people signed their names in support of the WikiLeaks founder, reports Newstalk ZB.

The parliamentary petition, launched in July 2018, will now be delivered to the clerk of the house for allocation to a select committee for formal consideration.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/438022-assange-asylum-petition-new-zealand/