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Julian Assange has information that could 'destroy Russian hoax': Jerome Corsi
Fox Business - Published on Apr 12, 2019
Conservative author Jerome Corsi reacts to the arrest of Julian Assange saying the Wikileaks founder is being unjustly prosecuted.
Category - News & Politics

Julian Assange's Lawyer: -The British Government could end his detention TODAY
goingundergroundRT - Published on Jun 18, 2018  
We ask Julian Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson if Australia will rescue its citizen - as this week marks six years of his incarceration in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. LIKE Going Underground http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT FOLLOW Going Underground http://twitter.com/Underground_RT FOLLOW Afshin Rattansi http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi FOLLOW on Instagram http://instagram.com/officialgoingund...
Category - News & Politics

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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, CBS Pt. 2
CBS News - Published on Jan 30, 2011
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, speaks to Steve Kroft about
 the U.S. attempt to indict him on criminal charges and the torrent of criticism aimed at him for publishing classified documents.
Category - News & Politics

Chelsea Manning on Wikileaks, trans politics & data privacy | ANTIDOTE 2018

After Chelsea Manning’s 2017 release from military prison, she became one of the world’s most prominent activists around areas of data privacy, surveillance, and trans politics. Meet one of the truly extraordinary changemakers at the height of her powers. Chelsea Manning appeared via satellite at ANTIDOTE Festival for a conversation with journalist Peter Greste. They were introduced by Sydney Opera House Head of Talks & Ideas, Edwina Throsby.

Julian Assange addresses the Oxford Union Society from the Ecuadorian Embassy in January 2013.

Julian Assange speaks during a panel discussion at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2014.

Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail in UK
13 May, 2019

https://www.rt.com/uk/458038-julian-assange-court-sentencing/

“.. Julian Assange’s sentence, for seeking and receiving asylum, is twice as much as the sentencing guidelines. The so-called speedboat killer, convicted of manslaughter, was only sentences to six months imprisonment for failing to appear in court …”…Wikileaks..
Reporter outside the court: ..“ Julian Assange had been in the Ecuadorian Embassy for almost seven years and sought asylum to stop himself being extradited to Sweden where there where he was wanted for questioning there … well hisa defence attorney Mark Summers …. presented a letter that Julian Assange had written explaining the extraordinary circumstances and stating that he apologized  unreserveably for not handing himself into the authorities … where he feared of being extradited to the US where he would live in fear of being of death row … or even ending up in Guantamio Bay ..”
“ I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done…” …. Julian Assange …

Kristinn Hrafnsson stated: “ it was my impression that the judge had written the judgement out before hearing the mitigating circumstances .. there wa sno consideration goiven to the very convincing mitigating factor sin this case … so it was an outrage and we are shocked …
Reporter:
“ .. but there are other legal issues for Assange to deal with .. the first one being tomorrow … Thursday .. that’s in Westminister Magistrates Court
Julian Assange’s indictment states   “.. knowingly and intentionally conspire …. to commit an offense against the United States …
 And that’s an extradition hearing .. as part of Julian Assange’s arrest on the 1th April, 2019 was also on behalf of the United States … who want for what the United States sees as a conspiracy to access a computer without authorization …to download and distribute what the United States sees at classified material …”
Julian Assange’s Lawyer outside court:
“ This case is and has always been about the risk of extradition to the United States and we now have an official extradition from the United States .. the focus of our energies will now be on fighting that extradition request … and that fight starts tomorrow … “

Reporter:
“ the court case on Thursday is expected to be extremely short and brief … Julian Assange is expected to attend the court via video link …  then the US prosecutors are expected to provide more details, more evidence or more charges against Julian Assange later on in June, 2019…”


A British court sentenced WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail. Assange also faces a court hearing on extradition to the US where he is wanted for “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.”

The Southwark Crown Court in London on Wednesday sentenced Assange to almost a year for “violating bail conditions.”Last month, he was formally convicted of skipping bail in the UK in 2012 when he was wanted over a rape allegation in Sweden (the case was later dropped).
Assange was brought to court in a police van, with dark tinted windows, which was immediately swarmed by reporters who tried to snatch a picture of the high-profile detainee.
Judge Deborah Taylor said the whistleblower had used bail to escape the law and expressed disdain for British justice.
But in a letter to the court, Assange explained that he was “struggling with circumstances” when he did so.

I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done.

The whistleblower also apologized to all who “consider I’ve disrespected them.”

WikiLeaks slammed the sentence as “shocking” and “vindictive,” adding that they have “grave concerns” as to whether Assange will get a fair extradition hearing, scheduled for Thursday.


WikiLeaks✔@wikileaks
Julian Assange's sentence is as shocking as it is vindictive. We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.
May 1, 2019


Assange was arrested on April 11 after, resisting and yelling, he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He had claimed asylum there for several years out of fear that the British authorities would hand him over to Washington.
In the US, he is charged with “conspiracy” after working with Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who obtained classified documents that were subsequently published through WikiLeaks.
Over the years, WikiLeaks published material on the conduct of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well American diplomatic correspondence. This included a video from Baghdad showing US troops killing civilians.
Assange’s supporters hail him for championing free speech and exposing what they call abuse of power by various governments. Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, blasted Assange’s arrest, commending the journalist for “bringing to light… human rights violations” by the US.
The executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Trevor Timm, called the charges levelled against the whistleblower in the US “a serious press freedom threat” that “should be vigorously protested.” The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also weighed in, saying it was “deeply concerned” with the prosecution and warning that the conspiracy charges against Assange “could set a dangerous precedent.”
US officials, meanwhile, blasted Assange for revealing classified information. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks “a non-state hostile intelligence service” in 2017 when he was the head of the CIA.

Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson comments on the court's decision not to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a news conference Monday in Uppsala, Sweden. Fredrik Sandberg/AFP/Getty Images

Julian Assange appears with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino on the balcony of the embassy in June 2013.

Julian Assange scores legal victory as Swedish court denies detention request
By Per Nyberg and Ivana Kottasová, CNN   June 4, 2019

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/03/world/julian-assange-sweden-detention-intl/index.html

Uppsala, Sweden (CNN)Julian Assange won a major legal victory on Monday, when a Swedish court denied a request to detain the WikiLeaks founder over a sexual assault investigation dating back to 2010.
The ruling by the Uppsala District Court is a setback for prosecutors who were hoping to issue a European Arrest Warrant for Assange and request his extradition from the United Kingdom to Sweden.

The court agreed with prosecutors that Assange could pose a flight risk, but said detention would not be proportionate.
The Swedish rape investigation was the reason Assange spent almost seven years in self-imposed exile in London's Ecuadorian Embassy. The WikiLeaks founder walked into the building in June 2012, shortly after losing a years-long extradition battle in the UK's Supreme Court.

He remained there until April this year, when hisdramatic arrest prompted Swedish prosecutors to reopen the investigation last month.

Assange's lawyer, Per E Samuelson, said Monday that his client denied the accusations and also argued that detention would be disproportionate. He added that Assange "has always wanted to cooperate" with the investigation.
The rape allegation was one of four sexual assault accusations that Assange faced after his visit to Sweden in August 2010. The case has never moved beyond the investigation stage and Assange has not been charged with any crimes in the country.
In August 2015, the statute of limitations on three of the four allegations lapsed. Under Swedish law, any charges related to the fourth allegation of rape must be made by August 2020.
The probe into the alleged rape was suspended in 2017 as a result of Assange's continued residence in the embassy.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the media from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in May 2017. Assange, founder of the website WikiLeaks, has been a key figure in major leaks of classified government documents, cables and videos.

On Monday the judge said that in order to finish the investigation, the prosecutors could issue a European Investigation Order, which would make it possible for them to interview Assange and conclude the inquiry.

The prosecutor said the investigation will continue but didn't give any details about the next steps.

Since his arrest in April, Assange has been sentenced to nearly a year in a UK prison over bail violations stemming from when he first entered the Ecuadorian embassy.
He is also facing a US extradition request.
Assange was indicted in the United States on one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. He was then charged with 17 counts under the Espionage Act for his role in receiving and publishing national defense information in concert with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning
The Swedish court's decision means the US will not have to compete with Sweden over which extradition request is given priority.

Julian Assange shows symptoms of psychological torture, UN expert says

EUROPE
Swedish Court Refuses Prosecutors' Request To Detain Julian Assange
June 3, 2019
https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2019/06/03/729263930/swedish-court-wont-seek-to-detain-julian-assange-prosecutor-says-case-continues


Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson comments on the court's decision not to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a news conference Monday in Uppsala, Sweden.
Fredrik Sandberg/AFP/Getty Images

A Swedish court has denied a request from prosectors to have WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange detained in absentia over allegations of rape. Prosecutors had sought the detention order as Assange sits in a British prison, and they say even though that effort was thwarted Monday, the case will continue.
Sweden's deputy director of public prosecution, Eva-Marie Persson, said the district court had agreed with her on key points: that there is "still probable cause for the suspicions regarding rape" and that there are grounds for pretrial detention, due to the risk that Assange might try to flee rather than face a trial.

Persson said she and her team are still deciding whether to file formal charges against Assange. For now, he is the subject of a preliminary investigation that will continue despite Monday's ruling. He's also the target of more than a dozen criminal charges in the U.S. related to the exposure of classified information.
"I have the upmost respect" for the court's decision, Persson said at a news conference after the session in Uppsala District Court.

She said the court had ruled it is "not proportionate" to grant the detention request because the investigation can continue without that step — "by the use of, for example, a European investigation order."
Despite the apparent setback, Persson cast the ruling in a positive light, saying it provided a chance to sharpen her inquiry and that "it's not a defeat at all." She also noted that while the ruling applies to the current situation, the circumstances might change as the inquiry continues.
Persson said her next move will be to request a European investigation order — a step she expects to take sometime this month.
Her office reopened its investigation of Assange three weeks ago, after he was arrested by British police and dragged out of Ecuador's Embassy in London, where he had holed up for years to skirt legal troubles. Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence as punishment for jumping bail.

On the day of his arrest, U.S. authorities announced one federal charge against him, of conspiracy to engage in computer hacking. But the Justice Department later added 17 more criminal charges, including violations of the Espionage Act.
The new indictment accuses Assange of working to obtain and disclose secret U.S. government information. The charges include an allegation that Assange agreed to help Chelsea Manning crack a password to gain access to state secrets in a federal database.

The U.S. is asking Britain to extradite Assange, but he missed a court hearing about that request last Thursday. WikiLeaks and Assange's attorney said he was too ill to participate, even through a video link. That hearing was rescheduled for June 12.
It remains to be seen how Britain's legal system might respond to multiple extradition requests for Assange. As a criminal law expert told NPR last month, that could actually help the controversial WikiLeaks founder fight extradition to the U.S. — where his lawyers say Assange could never receive a fair trial.
"If Sweden were to make a competing extradition request, then the home secretary [in the U.K.] might choose to give that priority and that could mean that there is at best a delay to the U.S. extradition request," said European Union criminal law expert Anna Bradshaw of Peters & Peters.

Sweden won't appeal decision not to arrest Assange
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS- STOCKHOLM — Jun 20, 2019
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sweden-appeal-decision-arrest-assange-63832767
A Swedish prosecutor won't appeal a decision not to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is now jailed in Britain and suspected of rape in Sweden.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson said Thursday she planned to carry out "certain supplementary questioning," but didn't elaborate.
Earlier this month, a Swedish court ruled that Assange should not be detained, meaning that while a preliminary investigation in Sweden shouldn't be abandoned, he wouldn't be extradited and could be questioned in Britain.
In April, Assange was evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he had been holed up since 2012. He was immediately arrested and is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.He is also fighting extradition to the U.S., which accuses him of publishing secret documents.

JulianAssange #WikiLeaks
How Julian Assange Disrupted Politics With WikiLeaks
Just The FAQs | USA TODAY - Published on Apr 12, 2019
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a hero or criminal, depending on who you ask. We explain.
As purveyor of secret U.S. government information, Julian Assange has few rivals. The release of a stunning trove of sensitive diplomatic cables and entire Pentagon databases nearly a decade ago made Assange and his anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks a household names and an enemy of the American government. 
Six years later, WikiLeaks published thousands of private emails involving members of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign that investigators said were stolen and passed to Assange's organization working for the Russian government.
That episode and others so infuriated U.S. authorities that then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo called Assange's organization a "hostile intelligence service."  But none of those things prompted the government to call Assange a criminal. #JulianAssange #WikiLeaks 
To read more: https://bit.ly/2KF3JDY When news breaks, we break it down for you. Just the FAQs cuts through the clutter and helps you with your daily news fix.
Watch more: http://bit.ly/2Dw3Wnh 
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 How Julian Assange Disrupted Politics With WikiLeaks | Just The FAQs | USA TODAY
Category - News & Politics

Extended Interview with Julian Assange

Pamela Anderson Explains Why She Supports Julian Assange | 2DayFM Breakfast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCc__T0brCI 
Hit Network
Published on May 30, 2019 
Grant, Ed and Ash chat with Pamela Anderson about why she supports controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange!

Today, DiEM25 has every reason to celebrate. Tomorrow we get down to work, again – message to our magnificent activists 
Yanis Varoufakis
Wed 05, 2019, European Spring Program

Dear DiEM25 members, dear European Spring activists, dear fellow progressive Europeanists,

Today is a day to celebrate, while taking stock of our remarkable achievement.
Today is also a day to lament Europe’s downward spiral, while planning the next phase of our paneuropean effort to bring hope back to the hundreds of millions who have lost it.

When in late 2017 we decided to take our Green New Deal for Europe to a ballot box across Europe, friends feared for us and cynics laughed at us. What neither our worried friends nor the cynics understood was the nature of our collective endeavour.
Our task was not to maximise our seats in this European election. Our task was not to demonstrate that another Europe is possible. No, our task was to show that another Europe is already here – inside a single paneuropean movement dedicated to a single progressive policy agenda for all Europeans.

DiEM25 was born of a radical idea: We are not simply Greeks or Germans or Italians or whatever nationality, ethnicity we carry with us. We are all that but we are also Europeans determined to oppose the internationalism of the bankers and its mirror image: the internationalism of the racists. And to do so with a single, internationalist, European agenda that is realistic, immediately implementable and radical.
We worked long and hard to put together that progressive agenda. We are proud of our Green New Deal for Europe that is the only antidote to the logic that, in this EU, there is no alternative to socialism for the bankers, austerity for the many and catastrophe for the environment. Our Green New Deal for Europe can uniquely bind together Europe’s progressives, as a counterpoint of the nasty xenophobia that binds together the nationalists.

From the outset, we had a choice: We could form coalitions of convenience. For instance, we could have easily gained many seats in these European elections provided we were prepared to run together with existing political actors who were committed to not having an agenda for Europe or who disagreed with our radical Europeanism. Or we could stick to our principles, to our fascinating Green New Deal for Europe, and run on our own – with no funding or institutional backing. We chose the second option not simply because it was hard but because it was the only way we could continue our struggle happily, in good conscience, true to our principles and goals.

Our strategy and our tactic coincided: Stand behind DiEM25’s agenda, nurture our political ethos, do justice to it — and never betray the future generations whose future depends on the implementation of our Green New Deal across Europe, indeed even beyond Europe.

This decision came with a cost — but not an unpredictable one. We always knew that our road would be long and stony. But we also knew that this European Parliament election was about so much more than seats won and lost. It was about putting forward a new vision for Europe, about demanding a Green New Deal, about inspiring people across the continent to think beyond the narrow confines of their nation. It was about demonstrating in practice what another Europe would look like.

And on this, my friends, we have won: We showed Europeans how a common agenda can be put together collaboratively by many political actors coalescing from all over Europe. How a common list of candidates, in support of this common agenda, can emerge. How we can campaign across Europe, together, under the banner of this agenda.

In the months and weeks leading to 26th May, I have had the distinct privilege of campaigning with all of you in Paris, in Brussels, across Italy and the UK, in Denmark, in Portugal and, of course, in Greece and in Germany. In every one of these places I saw the way in which you brought the best out of each other and out of your communities. You led with brilliant ideas, you demonstrated what principled, transnational, humanist politics looks like. You worked tirelessly without optimism but with bundles of hope. You were a joy to behold and to treasure. Your dedication, sense of fun, friendship, wisdom and kindness made everyone around you feel hopeful again about our Europe, its politics, its civilisation.

In the end, the quantity of votes we received fell short of our expectations – even though about 1 million Europeans honoured us at the ballot box and in Greece, the Ground Zero of Europe’s economic and democratic crisis, MeRA25 rose from zero into parliamentary contention – a result that augurs well for the soon-to-come national elections.

Comrades, friends, DiEMers,

We have planted a beautiful, radical idea in the minds of Europeans. Our task is now to help this seed of hope grow. Feel proud for what you have achieved. Rest for a day or two. After that, we shall all get back to work, planning for the next steps that must surely include a paneuropean DiEM25 get-together where we shall spend days and nights mapping out the road ahead.

Carpe DiEM25!

Yanis Varoufakis

Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here.
https://internal.diem25.org/en/newsletter/ 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the media from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in May 2017. Assange, founder of the website WikiLeaks, has been a key figure in major leaks of classified government documents, cables and videos.

Extended Interview with Julian Assange
SBS Dateline - Published on Apr 11, 2011
The full version of Mark Davis's exclusive interview with Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in February 2011,
where he talks about his relationship with the Australian government and his extradition hearing over sexual assault allegations in Sweden.
 For more on Mark's interview, go to the SBS

Riz Khan - Jesse Ventura: Clandestine US missions

"Rosa Parks was essentially a criminal":
Chelsea Manning responds to being labelled a criminal- ABC News (Australia)

No fair trial awaits Assange at US ‘Espionage Court,’ only more charges – CIA whistleblower Kiriakou
12 Apr, 2019 

https://www.rt.com/usa/456274-kiriakou-assange-arrest-trial/

FILE PHOTO. A protest in support of Julian Assange. © Reuters / Peter Nicholls

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange is facing extradition and a trial at a US court infamous for sending whistleblowers to jail. CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, whose case was tried there says there won’t be a fair trial for Assange.
Kiriakou was the first person to be sentenced in the US for leaking classified material to a journalist as part of President Barack Obama’s crackdown on whistleblowers. His case was heard by the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He took a plea bargain in October 2012 and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
The same court is handling the case against Julian Assange, who is alleged to have conspired with WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning as part of her leaking the damning classified materials. Assange was arrested by the UK authorities on Thursday after Ecuador allowed British police into its embassy in London to drag the whistleblower out.
Kiriakou believes that once in US custody, Assange would face additional charges and may spend the rest of his life in jail.

“I think that there are many more charges to be considered for Julian. I would expect a superseding indictment, possibly to include espionage charges,” he told RT.
I don’t think Julian is looking at five years in prison. He is probably looking at 50 years in prison.
The US court that would try Assange will not give him a fair trial, Kiriakou believes. “They don't call EDVA the ‘Espionage Court’ for nothing,” he tweeted earlier in the day. He told RT he was speaking from his personal experience.

John Kiriakou✔@JohnKiriakou

A fair trial in the Eastern District of Virginia, under Judge Leonie Brinkema, is utterly impossible. They don't call EDVA the "Espionage Court" for nothing.
John Devitt@jkdevitt

I haven't always agreed with Assange or his methods but it's impossible to imagine him receiving a fair trial in the US after the treatment of @xychelsea, #realitywinner and many others @Thomas_Drake1 @Snowden @JohnKiriakou @WendyMeer11. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/09/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-it-would-be-wrong-to-extradite-him …
2:13 PM - Apr 11, 2019

“Judge Leonie Brinkema is a Reagan appointee to the federal bench and she was promoted to District Court bench by Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s. She reserves all national security cases for herself. She handled my case, the Jeffrey Sterling case [over leaking details of a CIA op to journalist James Risen], she is Julian’s judge, she has reserved the [NSA whistleblower] Ed Snowden case for herself,” he said.

“No national security defendant has ever won a case in the EDVA. In my case, I asked Judge Brinkema to declassify 70 documents that I needed to defend myself. She denied all 70 documents. And so I had literally no defense for myself and was forced to take a plea.”
Kiriakou said he hopes that the way Assange is being treated by the US justice will galvanize the US public and result in more documents being leaked to expose the misdeeds of the US government.
“[The prosecution of Assange] was only theoretical until this morning. Now it is a reality that we have to face. This is an assault on our civil liberties here in the United States. It’s an assault on our constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of the press and freedom of speech.”

Critics of the US case against Assange, like Kiriakou, say all he has been doing was publishing material of public interest, which was also embarrassing to the US government. This is exactly what journalists in the US have been doing before him when they reported major scandals in cases like Watergate, Pentagon Papers or Iran-Contra.
“If Julian Assange as publisher and journalist is prosecuted, then there is literally nothing to stop the government from prosecuting journalists at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and anywhere else,”he warned.

‘Shocking & vindictive’: WikiLeaks slams UK prison sentence for Assange over skipped bail
 13 May, 2019 
https://www.rt.com/news/458050-wikileaks-assange-sentencing-vindictive/

People protest outside the court, where Julian Assange was sentenced, in London. May 1, 2019. © Reuters / Henry Nicholls

WikiLeaks has slammed a UK court’s sentencing of its co-founder Julian Assange as “vindictive.” It also raised major concerns about whether Assange will be treated fairly during an upcoming extradition hearing.
The sentence “is as shocking as it is vindictive,” WikiLeaks said on Twitter on Wednesday, shortly after Assange received almost a year in prison for violating bail conditions.
WikiLeaks✔@wikileaks

Julian Assange's sentence is as shocking as it is vindictive.

We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.
 - May 1, 2019
We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.
Julian Assange skipped bail in 2012 while wanted in Sweden over rape allegations (the case was later dropped). The journalist then spent the next several years living under asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, out of fear Britain would hand him over to the US. He was forcibly dragged out of the building last month after the South American nation decided to evict him.
The arrest drew the ire of activists, journalists, and politicians who slammed it as a major threat to freedom of the press.
In the US, Assange was charged with “conspiracy” while working with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who obtained classified data from a Pentagon computer, which was subsequently published by WikiLeaks. Among the leaked files was footage of US troops killing civilians in Baghdad.

RIDGE ON SUNDAY S2 • E139
Lawyer: Assange doesn't fear justice, he fears extradition

Edward Snowden Rips into Julian Assange's Arrest

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange,
CBS Pt. 1 - CBS News
Published on Jan 30, 2011
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, speaks to Steve Kroft about
the U.S. attempt to indict him on criminal charges and the torrent of criticism aimed at him for publishing classified documents.
Category - News & Politics

Assange, on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, holds up a United Nations report in February 2016. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that Assange was being arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Yousef al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the United States, attends the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 6, 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho.

UAE ENLISTED BUSINESSMAN TO SPY ON TRUMP WHITE HOUSE
Alex Emmons, Matthew Cole  June 10 2019

https://theintercept.com/2019/06/10/trump-uae-businessman-spy/

IN JANUARY 2017, three days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates was invited to a lavish dinner planned by Trump’s longtime ally Thomas J. Barrack Jr., who was chair of the president’s inaugural committee. The guest list placed Rashid al-Malik, a onetime business associate of Barrack’s, amid more than 100 foreign diplomats and top members of the incoming administration. The president-elect himself made a surprise appearance at the gathering.

Al-Malik’s name later surfaced in connection with a federal probe into potential illegal donations to Trump’s inaugural fund and a pro-Trump Super PAC by Middle Eastern donors. Al-Malik was interviewed by members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and was “cooperating” with prosecutors, his lawyer told The Intercept last year. The New York Times recently reported that investigators are looking into “whether Mr. al-Malik was part of an illegal influence scheme,” although no details of that potential scheme have been made public.

In fact, the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that al-Malik served as a paid intelligence source for the UAE throughout 2017, The Intercept has learned.

Al-Malik reported to UAE intelligence about aspects of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy, according to a former U.S. official and documents viewed by The Intercept. The National Intelligence Service of the UAE gave al-Malik a code name and paid him tens of thousands of dollars a month to gather information, a role for which his investment business would have provided a convenient cover.
After he was interviewed as part of the Mueller investigation, al-Malik left Los Angeles, where he’d been based for several years, and went back to the UAE.

A former Dubai aerospace executive and chair of the investment firm Hayah Holdings, al-Malik was tasked to report to his Emirati intelligence handlers on topics of consequence to the UAE, such as attitudes within the Trump administration toward the Muslim Brotherhood; U.S. efforts to mediate the ongoing feud between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar; and meetings between senior U.S. officials and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose rise to power has been loudly championed by the UAE and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed.
Al-Malik also told his handlers that he had approached unnamed U.S. individuals about a possible business venture that was indirectly associated with Trump. It is not clear what the undertaking was, who al-Malik was talking to, or whether any deal was made.
Al-Malik “is not an intelligence operative,” his attorney, Bill Coffield, of Berliner Corcoran & Rowe, told The Intercept. “Mr. al-Malik is a businessman involved in many business projects, and he is regularly paid for business consulting,” Coffield wrote in an email. “He has NEVER been paid to report on the Trump Administration. He has never been ‘tasked’ to deliver information about the inner workings of the Trump administration.”

U.S. counterintelligence officials regularly monitor foreign governments’ efforts to influence U.S. policy, but an operation by the UAE would be particularly sensitive for the Trump administration, and would underscore the hazards posed by a president whose ongoing business ties expose him to potential conflicts of interest. The Trump Organization has made millions per year off a Trump-branded golf course in Dubai. Shortly after he was elected, Trump bragged that he turned down a $2 billion deal from his Dubai-based business partner, Hussain Sajwani.
It is against the law for anyone other than a diplomatic or consular official to operate inside the United States on behalf of a foreign government without first notifying the Justice Department, though the law includes exceptions for “officially and publicly acknowledged and sponsored” foreign government representatives and those “engaged in a legal commercial transaction.” Earlier this year, Russian national Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to form “backchannel” connections between conservative U.S. officials and the Kremlin as an undisclosed agent of the Russian government. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and will be deported when she has completed her sentence.

The White House declined to comment, referring questions to the CIA and the Justice Department, both of which also declined to comment. The UAE Embassy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Among the Emirati government officials overseeing al-Malik was Ali al-Shamsi, director of the Emirati National Intelligence Service, according to The Intercept’s sources. A source who knows al-Shamsi described him as “more than just a spy. He’s also a discreet messenger” for Mohammed bin Zayed, known as MBZ, and his brother Tahnoun bin Zayed, the UAE’s national security adviser.

“Al-Shamsi and the Emirati government clearly think they can influence Trump by doing business with him,” said a person with direct knowledge of UAE intelligence operations who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Al-Malik, “to his knowledge, has never discussed any business deal with ‘UAE intelligence,’” Coffield wrote in his email to The Intercept, noting that al-Malik’s “thoughts about U.S. policy and relations with the UAE are broadly shared with all his contacts.” Coffield declined to respond to questions about whether al-Malik has communicated with al-Shamsi or other UAE intelligence officials or whether he was paid a monthly stipend by Emirati intelligence.

“Mr. al-Malik is a businessman who loves the UAE and the U.S.,” Coffield wrote. “He is always looking to build a stronger relationship between the two. He has openly shared his beliefs that the best way to forge a stronger bond is through economic prosperity.”

Al-Malik “has, on numerous occasions, discussed various business ideas for UAE projects in the U.S.,” Coffield continued. “He has consistently discussed highlighting the economic benefits of UAE investment in the U.S., with an emphasis on job creation, as a way to foster a better relationship between the citizens of both countries. His discussions also included the benefits for both countries’ leadership.”

A tiny country of fewer than 10 million people, the UAE does not have a robust intelligence service, but has used businesspeople and wealthy citizens with personal relationships with its royal families as assets to carry out secret intelligence-gathering missions for the government, according to former U.S. intelligence officials.

Al-Malik was likely enlisted as a spy “because he has pre-existing access, a natural role,” said the person with knowledge of UAE intelligence operations.

Coffield did not respond to The Intercept’s request to interview al-Malik.
Whether or not al-Malik’s efforts succeeded, the small, oil-rich Gulf nation has indisputably triumphed during the Trump presidency, as its top foreign policy goals have repeatedly won Trump’s personal backing. In 2017, Trump tweeted in support of Saudi and UAE efforts to isolate their Gulf rival Qatar, publicly contradicting his own cabinet. With Congressional opposition holding up arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE after Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered by a hit team in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Trump administration invoked an obscure emergency provision to allow the deals to go forward. Trump also vetoed a resolution that would have ended U.S. military support for the Saudi- and UAE-led intervention in Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians; his White House has pushed to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, a move that has long been sought by the UAE and its Gulf allies.
LITTLE IS PUBLICLY known about al-Malik, who began his career as a pilot for Emirates, Dubai’s government-owned airline. He came to the U.S. in 1998 to study aviation at Western Michigan University and was honored by the UAE Embassy in Washington for scholastic achievement in the program, according to a profile on an industry website. But he left the university in 2000 without receiving a degree, according to the Western Michigan registrar’s office.
Al-Malik worked as an Emirates pilot from 2000 to 2006, according to his LinkedIn page, before becoming an executive at Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, a government-funded company that leases aircraft. Al-Malik left that job in 2008, and now runs Hayah Holdings.
It is unclear when and how al-Malik met Barrack, a billionaire investor who was one of Trump’s top fundraisers during the 2016 campaign. But in 2013, al-Malik and Barrack, who is executive chair of Colony Capital, Inc., tried to partner on a real estate deal to revitalize downtown Oakland and possibly build new sports stadiums and hotels. Colony Capital and Hayah Holdings formed a joint investment venture called Bay Investment Group LLC, but the deal ultimately fell through.
The grandson of an immigrant from what is now Lebanon, Barrack speaks Arabic and is known for his extensive business ties to Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. The Times reported last summer that Barrack’s company has raised more than $7 billion in new investments since Trump won the Republican nomination, with roughly a quarter of the money coming from Gulf states.
Barrack has also cultivated a friendly relationship with Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s powerful ambassador to the United States. In April 2016, months after then-candidate Trump proposed a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” al-Otaiba wrote to Barrack saying that “confusion about your friend Donald Trump is VERY high” and “has many people extremely worried,” according to email correspondence published by the Times and other outlets.
Barrack sought to reassure al-Otaiba, saying that Trump “also has joint ventures in the U.A.E.!” He added, “We can turn him to prudence – he needs a few really smart Arab minds to whom he can confe

 – u r at the top of that list!”
Al-Otaiba was also on the guest list for the Chairman’s Global Dinner, the extravagant inaugural event to which al-Malik was invited. The dinner was unusual not just because of its opulence but because it seated so many foreign businesspeople and diplomats alongside future cabinet-level officials, providing direct access to members of the incoming administration.
A week after Trump won the election, al-Otaiba sought insider information from Barrack. “If you have any insights about postings to places like state, DOD, CIA and national security adviser, I would be grateful,” al-Otaiba emailed Barrack on November 16, 2016, according to Middle East Eye. “I would only brief my bosses. Any indicators would be highly appreciated.”
Barrack responded, “I do, and we’re working through them in real time and I have our regional interest in high profile. When you get a chance let’s talk by phone.”
Barrack told the Washington Post that he was offered a job in the Trump administration. Instead, he stayed with his investment firm, which contemplated a plan to channel his foreign connections into lucrative deals that would support Trump administration policy.
Earlier this year, ProPublica published a February 2017 memo from Barrack’s firm, Colony Capital, then known as Colony Northstar, outlining the scheme to leverage connections to the Trump administration and foreign VIPs for profit. The plan was reportedly written by Rick Gates, Paul Manafort’s longtime associate, who served as deputy chair of the inaugural committee and then as a Colony consultant. Gates was fired by Colony after being indicted in the Mueller probe; he ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
“The purpose of the Washington DC office is to expand Colony Northstar’s global footprint and build a bridge to where government and business intersect globally,” the memo says. “The key is to strategically cultivate domestic and international relations while avoiding any appearance of lobbying.” The memo notes that no other company “can currently match the relationships and resources that we possess.” A Colony spokesperson told ProPublica that the plan was “never acted upon or implemented.”
A source close to Barrack told The Intercept that al-Malik and Barrack spoke several times in 2018, but that Barrack did not have any current business deals with al-Malik.
There is no indication that Barrack knew about al-Malik’s intelligence role. But Tommy Davis, a former chief of staff to Barrack who represents him as a spokesperson, was aware that al-Malik had connections to the UAE government.
“I know for a fact that Rashid has been on retainer since the day I met him, and he’s always been clear about that,” Davis told The Intercept. “That’s who pays for his car, that’s who pays for where he lives. And his job is to be on retainer and to find and consummate real estate deals in the United States.”
Hayah Holdings does not appear to have a website or a physical address in Dubai, but documents from the city of Oakland described it as a “a private investment company based in Dubai with strong financial ties in the Gulf region.”
“Mr. Malik formed Hayah Holdings to help identify investment and development opportunities in established markets such as the United States and Europe,” according to a 2013 document from the Oakland city administrator’s office. “Their focus has primarily been on large mixed-use real estate developments, especially those of a transformational nature and with a significant sport, entertainment content and infrastructure related opportunities [sic].”
Jean Quan, who was mayor of Oakland when the deal was being considered, said she was told that the financing came from Emirati royals. “What was conveyed to me at the time was that the money for the deal was going to come from the Dubai royal family,” Quan told The Intercept.

‘I spent seven years fighting to survive’: Chelsea Manning on whistleblowing and WikiLeaks
@carolecadwalla
Sun 7 Oct 2018 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/07/chelsea-manning-wikileaks-whistleblowing-interview-carole-cadwalladr
 ‘I don’t re-litigate my decisions’: Chelsea Manning at the ICA London. Photograph: David Vintiner for the Observer New Review

 Manning is escorted from a Maryland court hearing in February 2012. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Seen as both hero and traitor, the US army analyst turned data activist talks about fitting into the world since her prison release
Perhaps the most revealing part of my conversation with Chelsea Manning is what she doesn’t say. What she can’t or won’t talk about. It’s not that she doesn’t have a whole lot to say – she does, particularly about technology and how it can be used against us. Her job as an intelligence analyst for the US army, using data to profile enemy combatants – to be targeted and maybe killed – gave her an acute understanding of its potential uses and abuses. She understood the power of Facebook to profile and target long before the Cambridge Analytica scandalerupted. “Marketing or death by drone, it’s the same math,” she says. There’s no difference between the private sector and the military. “You could easily turn Facebook into that. You don’t have to change the programming, just the purpose of why you have the system.”
Going to WikiLeaks was “instinctual”, she says. “I had this problem reaching out to the Washington Post. There was this lack of understanding about the dangers of [unencrypted] plain text communications at the time.” And she can’t or won’t reflect on what the organisation has become, if or how it’s changed over time and what role she played in ushering in an era of weaponised leaks that has led us to where we are now with Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump-Russian collusion, an investigation that encompasses WikiLeaks’ pivotal role in the US election.
Manning can’t talk about a lot of what happened in detail. She says the US army has reclassified many of the documents that were previously public – and she’s also writing a book – so there’s a hesitancy to give things away ahead of time. But it also seems to run deeper than that. She doesn’t try to second guess the choices she made.
“I don’t re-litigate my decisions,” she says. She can’t entertain the idea of history – or herself – taking another path. She resists reflection. “What I really try to tell people is [that if] I had done anything differently I would have been a completely different person; I can’t go back through this analysis.” But then there are whole swaths of Chelsea Manning’s history that she hasn’t quite worked out how to tell. “I don’t have a story in my head,” she says in an off-the-cuff moment when I ask her why she’s batted off my personal questions in our formal interview. “Some of it I haven’t been able to talk about. Solitary confinement, I just can’t talk about. I’ve not been ready to talk about it. I’ve blocked it out. I just can’t…”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I just remember breakfast, lunch, dinner, sleep, breakfast, lunch. I keep going back to that because what I remember is that the routine was my centrepiece to staying grounded.”
At her trial in 2013, the judge officially recognised the abuse she’d been subjected to in pretrial detention and took time off her sentence to reflect it. She spent months at a time in solitary confinement, on suicide watch, at times stripped naked. “It’s there every time I wake up,” she says. “There’s not a day that I don’t wake up and have memories of my experience [of prison] driving me to be talking about this.”
It seems unlikely that Manning’s trip to London last week will have made any of this any clearer. Stefan Kalmár, the ICA’s newish, politically minded director, had invited her to London to give a talk and be the guest of honour at a fundraising dinner hosted by Vivienne Westwood. It’s another jump cut for Manning. From a cage in the Kuwaiti desert, where she was exfiltrated after being caught while serving in Iraq, to the ICA’s Nash-designed villa a few hundred yards from Buckingham Palace. Westwood shocks the audience, a well-heeled, gender-fluid art crowd, by referring a number of times – sincerely, but forgetfully – to Chelsea by her previous name. “He was my hero,” she says as hostility ripples through the audience and people shout: “It’s Chelsea!”
There’s been so many of these cuts in her story. Manning has lived more lives than most and she’s still only 30. Her aunt painted a brutal picture of childhood isolation and neglect at her trial – her parents had problems with alcohol, her mother with a history of psychiatric problems. Later, she plunged herself into one of the most hyper-macho environments imaginable – an army unit in a war zone – just as her discomfort at her outward appearance as a man was becoming unbearable. She changed her name to Chelsea and decided to live outwardly as a woman the day after she was sentenced to 35 years in another hyper-macho environment – a male prison. Another rupture.

WikiLeaks editor denied entry to Ecuadorian Embassy to retrieve Assange’s belongings
3 May, 2019

WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson addresses the media outside of Westminster Magistrates Court, in London, the UK, on May 2, 2019. © Reuters / Henry Nicholls
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson has failed to retrieve Julian Assange’s belongings from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He was denied entry in a development which he called “outrageous.”

Hrafnsson sought to collect Assange’s belongings which were left behind in the embassy after he was arrested on April 11. However, the Icelandic investigative journalist failed to even enter the premises of the diplomatic mission, as, according to him, the Ecuadorian diplomats simply refused to open the door and let him in.
“I sent them an email and told them I would be there at 3 o’clock with a full mandate from Julian Assange, his family and friends and that I am the editor-in-chief of the WikiLeaks. They did not open the door. It is disgraceful,” Hrafnsson told a crowd of around 50 Assange supporters that had gathered in front of the embassy following the publisher’s extradition hearing.

A crowd which staged an improvised rally in front of the mission chanted: “respect the law”, “free Assange” and “open the door.” Some of the demonstrators were also holding placards that read: “Free Assange” and “Free Speech.”

Hrafnsson told the gathering that the actions of the embassy staff amount to nothing less than a “theft”. He said that he called the police in an attempt to secure their help in retrieving property belonging to the WikiLeak’s co-founder. “But they declined to do so as they said it was not theft because those were not MY belongings,” he said.

Eventually, Hrafnsson managed to grab the attention of a police patrol walking down the street near the embassy and convinced them to enter the embassy to sort it out. However, police did not have any luck either and returned empty-handed while telling Hrafnsson that he should have arranged a formal meeting with the Ecuadorian diplomats.

“The police are going to take the matter further and I hope they will establish a channel so that we can retrieve the belongings that are illegally held here,” he said.

RT UK✔@RTUKnews
"It's a crime, it's sordid and petty"
Former @UKLabour MP @georgegalloway reacts after @wikileaks editor @khrafnsson is refused entry to Embassy of Ecuador, London to collect Julian Assange's belongings.
17:40 - 2 мая 2019 г.

Информация о рекламе в Твиттере и конфиденциальность
Embassy staff were not that scrupulous back in April when they allowed British police to detain Assange. He was dragged out of the diplomatic mission as he shouted: “UK… must resist!”
Assange spent about seven years in the embassy. Last month, he was formally convicted of skipping bail in the UK in 2012 when he was wanted over a rape allegation in Sweden – a the case that was later dropped.

On Wednesday, a British court sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail. Hearings on Assange’s extradition to the US, where he is wanted on a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in relation to his work with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, were adjourned until May 30. During Thursday’s hearing Assange refused to consent to extradition by saying that he refuses to “surrender” for “doing journalism.”

Julian Assange: - 'Orwellian horror' of Google Glass, & in bed with state dept (FULL INTERVIEW)

Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal
Published time: 12 Apr, 2019 
https://www.rt.com/news/456212-julian-assange-embassy-eviction/
John Pilger’s interview with Julian Assange at the Ecuador Embassy in 2016.
https://youtu.be/_sbT3_9dJY4
“... Wikileaks has published 30,000 secret emails from or about Hillary Clinton, the Domocratic candidate for President of the United States. Hillary Clinton is now being investigated by the FBI. ..”
The Guardian:
Newly discovered email relating to Hillary Clinton case under review by the FBI
Clinton is ‘confident’ that the emails will not change the FBI’s decision, alluding to the finding of ‘extremely careless’ practices but not criminal wrongdoing…
The SECRET WORLD OF US ELECTION: Julian Assange
Question by John Pilger:
What’s the significance of the FBI’s intervention in the last week of the US Election Campaign in the case against Hillary Clinton?
Answer by Julian Assange:
The FBI have effectively become America’s political police …. the FBI were responsible for taking down the former head of the CIA for giving information to his mistress … almost no one was untouchable .. the FBI is always trying to demonstrate that … none can resist us  …but Hillary Clinton very cospictuously resisted the FIB’s investigation … so there’s anger within the FBI … because it made the FBI look week … we’ve published about 30 sets of emails .. about 30,000 emails … of Hillary Clinton’s emails when she was secretary of state … they have come from a batch of around 60,000 emails .. of those 60,000 emails .. Hillary Clinton has kept around about half … 30,000 to herself and we have published about half … then there’s the Pedestra emails that we have been publishing .. Pedestra was Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager … so there’s thread that runs between all these emails … there is quite a lot of pay for play … as they call it .. giving access in exchange for money …from many different states, individuals and corporations .. combines with the coverup of the Hillary Clinton emails while she was secretary of state …. has lead to the environment where the pressure on the FBI increases …

Question by John Pilger:
The Clinton Campaign has said that Russia is behind all this.. has said that Russia has manipuated the campaign and is the source for Wikileaks email releases …

Answer by Julian Assange:
The Clinton Campaign has been able to project the NEO McCarthy Hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything… Hillary Clinton stated multible times falsely that 17 US Intelligency Agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications ….that’s false … we can say that the Russian Government was not the source … Wikileaks have been publishing for 10 years .. in that 10 years … Wikileaks have published 10 million documents …several thousand individual publications …. from several thousand different sources and we have never got it wrong …

Question by John Pilger:
All the emails that that give evidence of access for money and how Hillary Clinton benefited herself … from this and how Hillary Clinton is benefiting politically form this .. are quite extraordinary .. I am thinking about where the Catari representative … was given five minutes with Bill Clinton for a one million dollar cheque and many other examples .. can you $12 million for Morocco to attend …. the foreign policy for the United States … for me for most revealing … where they show the direct connection between Hillary Clinton and the foundation of Jahardism  of ISIL in the Middle East .. can you talk a bit about how the emails that demonstrate  this connection.. between those who are meant to be fighting the Jahardist ISIL are actually those who have helped create it …

Answer by Julian Assange:
There’s an early 2007 email from Hillary Clinton … not so long after she left secretary of state … to her campaign manager from Pedestra …that email … it states that.. ISIL is funded by Saudia Arabia and Qatar .. the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar ….
“ government of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region …”
I think actually this is the most significant email in the whole collection …and perhaps the Qatar and Saudia Arabia Money is spread all over the place including into many media institutions … all serious analysts know and agree with that some senior Saudi Figures have been supporting and funding ISIS … but the dodge has always been that it has been some rogue princes … using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like but actually the government disapproves … but that email says it is the government of Saudi and the government of Qatar that that have been funding ISIS …

Question by John Pilger:
The Saudis .. the Qataries .. the Morrocans .. the Barainies …. paricularily the Qataries and the Saudies are giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton is US Secretary of State and the US State Department is approving massive arms sales … particularly to Saudi Arabia … ?

Answer by Julian Assange:
Under Hillary Clinton … there was a discussion about it .. the largest arms deal in the world was made with Saudi Arabia … more than $80 billion dollars … in fact during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as US Secretary of State the total arms exports from the United States in terms of dollar value doubled…
Question by John Pilger:
Doubled?
And the consequence of that this notorious terrorist Jahardist Group called ISIS or ISIL … created largely by the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation …  
Answer by Julian Assange:
Yes…
Question by John Pilger:
That’s extraordinary …?
Answer by Julian Assange:
Look Hillary Clinton is just a person … I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions … tormented … literally to the point where they become sick … they faint as a result of going on and going on with their ambitions … but Hillary Clinton represents a whole network of people and a network of relationships with particular states … the question is … how does Hillary Clinton fit into this broader network .. she is a centralizing cog … so you have a lot of different gears in operation …. from the big banks like Goldman Sacks … major elements of Wall Street and Intelligence …  people in the State Department and the Saudis and so on .. Hillary Clinton is the centraliser that connects all these different cogs … she is the smooth centralisation of all that … and all that is more or less … the what is in power now in the United States … its what we call the establishment … the DCC consensus …. and its influences … in fact one of the more significant Pedestra emails that we released was about how the Obama Cabinet was formed … and about half of the Obama Cabinet was bassically nominated by representatives of representatives from Citibank … which is quite amazing ..
Question by John Pilger:
Didn’t Citibank provide the list of people which turned out to be most of the Obama Cabinet? So Wall Street decides the Cabinet for the United States of America?
Answer by Julian Assange:
Yes….
If you were following the Obama Campaign back then .. you could see that it had become very close to Banking Interests … it wasn’t so close to oil interests .. but very close to baking interests 
So I don’t think you can properly understand Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy without understanding Saudi Arabia  …. the connections with Saudi Arabia were so intimate …
Question by John Pilger:
Why was Hillary Clinton demonstrably enthusiastic about the destruction of Libia?
Can you talk a little about what happened there …?
Because Libia is such a source for much of thew Mayhem now in Syria …. the ISIL Jahardism and so on … and it was almost Hillary Clinton’s invasion of Libia .. what do the emails tell us about that?
Answer by Julian Assange:
Libia more than anyone else’s war was Hillary Clinton’s.
Barack Obama initially opposed it … it was Hillary Clinton that championed it …that’s documented through the emails … she put her favoured agent in effect .. Sydney Bloomendale onto that .. there are about 17,000 email just about Libia …its not about Libia has cheap oil .. Hillary Clinton perceived the removal of Gadaffi … and the overthrow of the Libian State … as something that she would use to run in the General Election …for president .. so late 2011 as an internal document … called the Libia Tick Tock that is produced for Hillary Clinton and its a chronlogical description of how Hillary Clinton was the central figure … in the destruction of the Libian State … as a result there was around 40,000 deaths in Libia … Jahardists moved in .. ISIS moved in … that lead to the European refugee and migrant crisis … because no only did not have people fleeing Libia … people then fleeing Seria … destablisation of other African countries as a result of Arms Flows … the Libian State itself was no longer able to control the movement of people through it … so the Mediterranean .. Libia is on the Mediterranean .. so Libia had been effectively the bottle of cork in the middle of Africa …  so all problems .. economic .. people fleeing Africa .. people didn’t end up in Europe … because Libia Policed the Mediterranean …. and that was said explicitly at the time  by Gaddaffi …. what do these Eurpeans think they are doing by trying to bomb and destroy the Libian State .. there’s going to be floods of migrants out of Africa … and Jahdists into Europe and that is exactly what happened …


“March 19- HRC (Hillary Rodan Clinton) travels to Paris to meet with European and Arab leaders to prepare for military action  ..”

Question by John Pilger:
You get a lot of complaints from people saying … what is Wikleaks doing .. are they trying to put Trump in the White House?
Answer by Julian Assange:
My answer is that Trump would not be permitted to win … why do I say that? … because Trump has had every establishment off side… Trump doesn’t have one establishment on side … maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals  … if you call them the establishment … banks .. intelligence … arms companies … big foreign money etc … is all united behind Hillary Clinton … and the media as well … media owners and even journalist as well …
Question by John Pilger:
The accusation that Wikileaks in league with the Russians … you hear people say .. well why doesn’t Wikileaks investigate and publish emails on Russia …
Answer by Julian Assange:
We have published about 800,000 documents of various kinds that relate to Russia … most of those a critical of Russia … and a great many books have come out of our publications about Russia .. most of which are critical …. and out documents have been used in quite a number of court cases … such as refugee cases of people fleeing some kind of political persecution of another … in Russia which they use our documents to back them up …
Question by John Pilger:
Do you … yourself a view of the US Election … do you have preference of Clinton of Trump?
 Answer by Julian Assange:
What does Trump represent in the American Mind and the European Mind?
Trump represents American White Trash … deplorable and irredeemable .. basically represents the same thing … means from a cosmopolitan - educated - urbane prospective … these people are like the red necks  and you can’t .. you just can never deal wit them … and because he so clearly through his words and actions .. even the people who turn up at his political rallies and not the middle class educated … there’s fear of seeing to be in anyway associated with that … there’s a social fear that lowers the class status … of anyone who could be accused of in any way assisting Donald Trump .. including critisizing Hillary Clinton … and if you look at how the middle class gains its economic and social power … it makes absolute sense ..
Question by John Pilger:
I’d like to talk about Ecuador .. a small country that has given you refuge and given you asylum in this embassy in London … now …  Ecuador cut off the Internet from here … where we are doing this interview in the embassy … for fairly obvious reasons … that they were concerned about appearing to intervene in the US Election campaign … can you talk about why they would take that action and you’re own views on  Ecuador’s support for you ?

 Answer by Julian Assange:
Let’s go back four years ago …  made an asylum application to Equador in this Embassy because of the US Extradition Case … and the result after a month I was successful … and then the Equadorian Embassy has been surrounded by police … quite and expensive operation that the British Government have admitted spending over £12.6 million pounds … they admitted that over a year ago … and now there are undercover police and robot serveylance cameras of various kinds .. so there has been a quite a serious conflict right in the heart of London … between Ecuador and the United Kingdom   …. the Americans have been helping on the side … so that was a brave and principle thing for Equador to do  … now we have the US Election on foot … the Ecuadorian Election is in February, 2017  next year ..… you have the White House feeling the political heat … as a result of the true information that we have been publishing … Wikileaks does not publish from the jurisdiction of Ecuador ..
and have become effectively America’s political police … from this Embassy .. or from a Territory of Ecuador … we publish from France …we publish from Germany … we publish from the Netherlands … and another of other countries … so the attempted squeeze …on Wikileaks is through my rufugee status … and this is really intolerable …  if you try and get at a publishing organization and try and prevent it from publishing true information that is intense interest to the American people and others about an election …

Question by John Pilger:
Tell us what would happen if you walked out of this embassy …

 Answer by Julian Assange:
So I would be immediately arrested … by the British Police … and I would then be extradited …either immediately to the United States or to Sweden …  in Sweden I am not charged .. I have been previously cleared … etc. … so we’re not certain what would happen there … so we know that the Swedish Government has refused to say that they will not extradite me to the United States  … and they have extradited 100% of people requested by the United States since about the year 2000 ….. so for the last 15 year Sweden have extradited every single person that the United States has requested to be extradited .. about 100 people … yep …
Question by John Pilger:
People often ask how you cope … with the isolation here?
 Answer by Julian Assange:
Look … one of the best tributes of Human Beings is that they are adaptable … one of the worst attributes of human beings is that they are adaptable … they adapt and start to tolerate abuses … they adapt to being involved themselves in abuses … they adpat to adversity and can continue on … so in my situation … frankly I am a bit institutionalized …  this is  the world … visually … this is  the world in this one room in the Ecuadorian Embassy …
Question by John Pilger:
Its a world without sunlight ..?
 Answer by Julian Assange:
Its a world without sunlight …. but I have not seen sunlight for so long … then I don’t remember it … yeh so … you adapt … the one irritant is that my young children can adapt  .. they also adapt … they adapt to being without their father … that’s a hard adaption which they didn’t ask for …
Question by John Pilger:
You worry about them ….
 Answer by Julian Assange:
I worry about them and I worry about their mother ..
Question by John Pilger:
Some people would say … well why don’t you end it and simply walk out of the door of the Ecuadorian Embassy and allow yourself to be extradited … to Sweden …
 Answer by Julian Assange:
.. the UN has looked into this whole situation .. and they spent 18 months is a formal adversarial litigation … me at the UN … v Sweden and the UK … as to who is right … the UN concluded that I have been arbitarally detained illegally…. that I have been deprived of my freedom .. and what has occurred has not occurred within the laws .. that the United Kingdom and Sweden must obey … it is an illegal abuse …
The United Nations formally asking .. what is going on here?  … what’s your legal explanation for this …. the UN says that you should recognise his asylum …Sweden formally writing back and and says … no … there’re not going to … so leaving open their ability to extradite me … I just find it absolutely amazing that the narrative about this situation is not put out there publicly in the press … because it doesn’t suit the Western Establishment Narrative … yes the West has political prisoners ….  its a reality .. its not just me … its a bunch of other people as well … the West has political prisoners .. no state excepts to call the people they are detaining for political reasons .. political prisoners … they don’t call them political prisoners in China … they don’t call them political prisoners in ASUBiChina … and they don’t call them political prisoners in the USA, Uk or Sweden … its absolutely intolerable to have that kind of self perception … here was have a case … I am talking about the Swedish case .. where I have never been charged with a crime …  where I have already been cleared and found to the innocent … where to woman herself said the police made it up … where the United Nations said that the whole  thing is illegal ….. where to state of Ecuador also investigated found that I should be given asylum  … those are the facts … and but what is the retoric …
 Question by John Pilger:
Different?
 Answer by Julian Assange:
The retoric is pretending … constantly pretending that I have been charged with a crime … never mentioning that I have already been previously cleared … never mentioning that the woman herself said the police made it up …. never mentioning that the UN formally found that the whole thing is illegal …. never even mentioning that Ecuador made a formal assessment through its  formal processes and yes found that I was subject to persecution … by the United States …
Edited and produced by John Pilger
Editor Joe Frost
https://youtu.be/_sbT3_9dJY4
….………………………………….
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last seven years. That's after Ecuador's president Moreno withdrew asylum.
That's only a day after WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed that an extensive spying operation was conducted against Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy. During an explosive media conference Hrafnsson alleged that the operation was designed to get Assange extradited. 
WATCH: Moment Julian Assange is CARRIED out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in L10:49 AM - Apr 11, 2019
Assange's relationship with Ecuadorian officials appeared increasingly strained since the current president came to power in the Latin American country in 2017. His internet connection was cut off in March of last year, with officials saying the move was to stop Assange from "interfering in the affairs of other sovereign states."
WikiLeaks✔@wikileaks
URGENT: Ecuador has illigally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago.https://defend.wikileaks.org/2019/03/18/the-assange-precedent-the-threat-to-the-media-posed-by-trumps-prosecution-of-julian-assange/ …
10:36 AM - Apr 11, 2019
The "Assange Precedent": The threat to the media posed by Trump's prosecution of Julian Assange -...
THE “ASSANGE PRECEDENT”: THE THREAT TO THE MEDIA POSED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PROSECUTION OF JULIAN ASSANGE March 2019 Read the PDF version here. A precedent with profound implications for...
defend.wikileaks.org
The whistleblower garnered massive international attention in 2010 when WikiLeaks released classified US military footage, entitled 'Collateral Murder', of a US Apache helicopter gunship opening fire on a number of people, killing 12 including two Reuters staff, and injuring two children.
The footage, as well as US war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 200,000 diplomatic cables, were leaked to the site by US Army soldier Chelsea Manning. She was tried by a US tribunal and sentenced to 35 years in jail for disclosing the materials.
Manning was pardoned by outgoing President Barack Obama in 2017 after spending seven years in US custody. She is currently being held again in a US jail for refusing to testify before a secret grand jury in a case apparently related to WikiLeaks.
Assange's seven-year stay at the Ecuadorian Embassy was motivated by his concern that he may face similarly harsh and arguably unfair prosecution by the US for his role in publishing troves of classified US documents over the years.
His legal troubles stem from an accusation by two women in Sweden, with both claiming they had a sexual encounter with Assange that was not fully consensual. The whistleblower said the allegations were false. Nevertheless, they yielded to the Swedish authorities who sought his extradition from the UK on "suspicion of rape, three cases of sexual abuse and unlawful compulsion."
In December 2010, he was arrested in the UK under a European Arrest Warrant and spent time in Wandsworth Prison before being released on bail and put under house arrest.
During that time, Assange hosted a show on RT known as 'World Tomorrow or The Julian Assange Show', in which he interviewed several world influencers in controversial and thought-provoking episodes.
His attempt to fight extradition ultimately failed. In 2012, he skipped bail and fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy, which extended him protection from arrest by the British authorities. Quito gave him political asylum and later Ecuadorian citizenship.
Assange spent the following years stranded at the diplomatic compound, only making sporadic appearances at the embassy window and in interviews conducted inside. His health has reportedly deteriorated over the years, while treatment options are limited due to his inability to leave the Knightsbridge building.
In 2016, a UN expert panel ruled that what was happening to Assange amounted to arbitrary detention by the British authorities. London nevertheless refused to revoke his arrest warrant for skipping bail. Sweden dropped the investigation against Assange in 2017, although Swedish prosecutors indicated it may be resumed if Assange "makes himself available."
Assange argued that his avoidance of European law enforcement was necessary to protect him from extradition to the US, where then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that arresting him is a "priority." WikiLeaks was branded a "non-state hostile intelligence service" by then-CIA head Mike Pompeo in 2017.
The US government has been tight-lipped on whether Assange would face indictment over the dissemination of classified material. In November 2018, the existence of a secret indictment targeting Assange was seemingly unintentionally confirmed in a US court filing for an unrelated case.

WikiLeaks editor denied entry to Ecuadorian Embassy to retrieve Assange’s belongings
 2 May, 2019 
https://www.rt.com/news/458215-wikileaks-editor-entry-ecuadorian-embassy/
WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson addresses the media outside of Westminster Magistrates Court, in London, the UK, on May 2, 2019. © Reuters / Henry Nicholls
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson has failed to retrieve Julian Assange’s belongings from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He was denied entry in a development which he called “outrageous.”
Hrafnsson sought to collect Assange’s belongings which were left behind in the embassy after he was arrested on April 11. However, the Icelandic investigative journalist failed to even enter the premises of the diplomatic mission, as, according to him, the Ecuadorian diplomats simply refused to open the door and let him in.
Hrafnsson told the gathering that the actions of the embassy staff amount to nothing less than a “theft”. He said that he called the police in an attempt to secure their help in retrieving property belonging to the WikiLeak’s co-founder. “But they declined to do so as they said it was not theft because those were not MY belongings,” he said.
Eventually, Hrafnsson managed to grab the attention of a police patrol walking down the street near the embassy and convinced them to enter the embassy to sort it out. However, police did not have any luck either and returned empty-handed while telling Hrafnsson that he should have arranged a formal meeting with the Ecuadorian diplomats.
“The police are going to take the matter further and I hope they will establish a channel so that we can retrieve the belongings that are illegally held here,” he said.
Embassy staff were not that scrupulous back in April when they allowed British police to detain Assange. He was dragged out of the diplomatic mission as he shouted: “UK… must resist!”
Assange spent about seven years in the embassy. Last month, he was formally convicted of skipping bail in the UK in 2012 when he was wanted over a rape allegation in Sweden – a the case that was later dropped.
On Wednesday, a British court sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail. Hearings on Assange’s extradition to the US, where he is wanted on a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in relation to his work with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, were adjourned until May 30. During Thursday’s hearing Assange refused to consent to extradition by saying that he refuses to “surrender” for “doing journalism.”

Assange: Google has revolving doors with State Dept (EXCLUSIVE)

 Ex-prisoner Pepsi Watson on how Julian Assange is likely to be treated in Belmarsh prison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh6v1Q_C5B4 

Belmarsh prison London
RT UK
Published on May 29, 2019 
"They've got the resources to bug his cell." Ex-prisoner Pepsi Watson (Crime & Justice TV) discusses the conditions Julian Assange could be facing. Former HMP Belmarsh detainees have include Charles Bronson and Lee Rigby's killer, Michael Adebolajo. Like what you see? Please subscribe http://youtube.com/RTUKnews FOLLOW ON TWITTER: http://twitter.com/RTUKnews FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK: http://fb.com/RTUKnews READ MORE http://rt.com/uk/ WATCH LIVE: http://rt.com/on-air/rt-uk-air/  

Don't Extradite Assange to the USA 

‘Shocking & vindictive’: WikiLeaks slams UK prison sentence for Assange over skipped bail

 13 May, 2019 16:11

https://www.rt.com/news/458050-wikileaks-assange-sentencing-vindictive/


People protest outside the court, where Julian Assange was sentenced, in London. May 1, 2019. © Reuters / Henry Nicholls

WikiLeaks has slammed a UK court’s sentencing of its co-founder Julian Assange as “vindictive.” It also raised major concerns about whether Assange will be treated fairly during an upcoming extradition hearing.

The sentence “is as shocking as it is vindictive,” WikiLeaks said on Twitter on Wednesday, shortly after Assange received almost a year in prison for violating bail conditions.

WikiLeaks✔@wikileaks
Julian Assange's sentence is as shocking as it is vindictive. We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.
12:25 PM - May 1, 2019

We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.
Julian Assange skipped bail in 2012 while wanted in Sweden over rape allegations (the case was later dropped). The journalist then spent the next several years living under asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, out of fear Britain would hand him over to the US. He was forcibly dragged out of the building last month after the South American nation decided to evict him.

The arrest drew the ire of activists, journalists, and politicians who slammed it as a major threat to freedom of the press.

In the US, Assange was charged with “conspiracy” while working with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who obtained classified data from a Pentagon computer, which was subsequently published by WikiLeaks. Among the leaked files was footage of US troops killing civilians in Baghdad.

Unsealed Assange indictment proves Chelsea Manning's imprisonment is 'purely punitive' – legal team
12 Apr, 2019
https://www.rt.com/usa/456293-manning-demands-release-punitive-assange
Reuters / Ford Fischer
Chelsea Manning's team has demanded her release in light of the revelation that US charges against Julian Assange were filed over a year before her arrest on contempt charges – proving her prosecution has been "purely punitive."
"The fact that this indictment has existed for over a year underscores what Chelsea's legal team and Chelsea herself have been saying… that compelling Chelsea to testify would have been duplicative of evidence already in the possession of the grand jury, and was not needed in order for US attorneys to obtain an indictment of Mr Assange," a statement from Manning's "support team" on the Sparrow Project website read.
Chelsea E. Manning✔@xychelsea
** STATEMENT: Chelsea's legal team responds to today's unsealed indictment. This is further evidence that the government's continued imprisonment of Chelsea for her principled stance against grand jury secrecy is punitive, cruel and unnecessary https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2019/04/statement-from-chelsea-mannings-support-team-regarding-todays-unsealed-indictment-and-the-purely-punitive-nature-of-chelseas-continued-detention/ …
Apr 11, 2019
STATEMENT: Chelsea Manning’s team on Assange indictment.
Statement from Chelsea Manning’s team regarding today’s unsealed indictment against Julian Assange and the punitive nature of Chelsea's detention.
sparrowmedia.net
"Since her testimony can no longer contribute to a grand jury investigation, Chelsea's ongoing detention can no longer be seriously alleged to constitute an attempt to coerce her testimony," the statement continued.
"As continued detention would be purely punitive, we demand Chelsea be released."
Assange's indictment dates from March 6, 2018 – a year and two days before Manning was jailed on contempt of court charges for refusing to respond to a secret grand jury's questioning regarding her 2010 leak of classified military documents. Manning stated that she had already answered the questions during her 2013 court martial and refused to testify further, citing the First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution.​

Greg Palast: If You've Arrested Julian Assange...ARREST ME TOO!
goingundergroundRT
Published on Apr 15, 2019
We speak to Greg Palast on the arrest of Julian Assange and possible extradition to the US,
 some of the biggest Wikileaks revelations ever, ‘apartheid’ in US elections, the US’ on-going attempts at regime change in Venezuela to overthrow Nicolas Maduro, the Koch Brothers actions in US elections and more! LIKE Going Underground http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT 

Assange extradition process is ‘life & death’ for him and for journalism itself – WikiLeaks' editor
 2 May, 2019
https://www.rt.com/uk/458114-assange-extradition-life-death/
WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson and lawyer Jennifer Robinson face reporters in London, Britain on May 1, 2019. ©  Reuters / Henry Nicholls
The lengthy sentence incurred by Julian Assange for skipping bail has caused “shock and outrage,” WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson has said, adding that the real fight for him and journalism as a whole lies ahead.
The founder of WikiLeaks was slapped with a 50-week jail term –over his having skipped bail– by a UK court on Wednesday. The unusually long term for such an offence has caused “shock and outrage” and it “doesn’t increase our faith in the UK justice system,” Hrafnsson told reporters after the hearings.
The “real battle,” however is still ahead of them; that’s the extradition hearings for Julian Assange, he added.
As for now, Assange is accused by the US of “conspiracy” over working with Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who obtained classified military documents that were subsequently published through WikiLeaks. Additional charges, however, are expected and the WikiLeaks founder might ultimately even face the death penalty in the US, Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson warned.
While the prospect of extradition endangers Assange’s very life, it also threatens the freedom-of-speech principle and journalism as a whole, Hrafnsson stated, and the whole case should be perceived as quite a global battle.
“ …Tomorrow is the first step in a long battle, so the fight will certainly continue. This is the fight for press freedom, primarily, as we’ve always stated… “
“That is a real battle, it’s not just for Julian Assange – even though for him it’s a question of life and death – it is most certainly a question of perseverance [over] a major journalistic principle,” Hrafnsson stressed, adding that, if extradition succeeds, it would set a very dangerous precedent and after that no journalist would be safe.

Julian Assange Interview 2013 On Edward Snowden on 'This Week': "Asylum is a Right We All Have"337,323 views

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Media freedom is almost over. Only one thing can save Julian Assange from dying in prison.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2019/06/22/media-freedom-is-almost-over-only-one-thing-can-save-julian-assange-from-dying-in-prison/
James Wright    22nd June 2019
Media freedom is on its last legs. Julian Assange now faces an extradition hearing that beginson 25 February 2020 in the magistrates’ court. That’s under chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, who has previously thrown Assange and the United Nations’ version of events out the window.
The opinion of UK judges like Arbuthnot is crucial. Because there will be no jury at any stage of Assange’s UK extradition process. Supposedly, he’ll receive his right to a fair trial in the requesting state. In this case – the US. But in the words of UN official Professor Nils Melzer, he has“no chance” of that. Once extradited, it could be all over for the WikiLeaks co-founder.
The truth is there’s only one thing that can stop Assange dying in prison and media freedomalong with him. And that’s if public opinion doesn’t stand for it.
No fair trial in the USb In the US, the authorities can simply invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), which means Assange would face a secret trial with no jury. This closed trial would take place in what’s known as the ‘Espionage court’ under national security judge Leonie Brinkema, who Bill Clinton appointed. According to CIA torture whistleblower John Kiriakou, who was tried in the East District of Virginia court under Brinkema, no national security defendant has ever won a case there. And as Kiriako explains, it’s even worse than that:
“My attorney told me, very angrily, near the end of the case. You know what your problem is? Your problem is that you think this is about justice. And it’s not about justice. It’s about mitigating damage. He said in the Eastern District of Virgina they would convict a baloney sandwich if the government asked them to. He said ‘take the deal, if you were my own brother I would beg you to take the deal’. And so I took the deal….”
No fair trial in the UK
That leaves the UK extradition process, where there’s also no jury at any stage. And Arbuthnot – who prominent Conservative Elizabeth Truss appointed – has previously upheld the official version of events. In a ruling on 13 February 2018, Arbuthnot said that she gives “little weight” to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which found that Assange was being ‘arbitrarily detained’ in the Ecuadorian embassy. The UN group demanded the authorities allowAssange to walk free in 2015. Dismissing this, Arbuthnot argued there was no evidence “that Mr Assange’s fears” of extradition to the US “were reasonable”. Arbuthnot, therefore, referred to Assange’s asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, which began in 2012, as “his decision”.
But there are major problems with this characterisation. Because the chief magistrate ignored the fact that the US Grand Jury had opened an investigation into WikiLeaks, calling witnesses as early as 2011. And now, of course, the US indictment has vindicated Assange and his supporters’ fears of US extradition. The former WikiLeaks editor faces 175 years in prison for basic journalistic activity relating to story hunting, source protection and publishing.
Despite the grand jury investigation and the clear risk of US persecution, Sweden refused to guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to the US. That left Assange with no choice but to seek asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, as the UN ruling found. And contrary to what some have argued, Sweden could have guaranteed not to extradite the WikiLeaks co-founder. The extradition treaty between the US and Sweden states that Sweden could refuse to extradite if it believed the US case concerned “a political offense” or a lack of evidence.
Nonetheless, the UK’s chief magistrate dismissed the UN and Assange’s account, favouring the official narrative.
Assange’s supporters also question the impartiality of the chief magistrate. She is married to prominent Conservative peer James Arbuthnot, who has links to the intelligence services.
Not the be all and end all Following the magistrates’ court ruling, Assange will be able to appeal the process in the High Court and then perhaps the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. The decision on his fate will then lie with the opinions of the judges there.
“Not binding on this court”  On 1 May 2019, Assange received a 50-week prison sentence for seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy while on bail. The former WikiLeaks editor received double the sentence than Jack Shepherd, who in the same month, skipped bail after actually killing someone with a speedboat. Since February 2018, the US has indicted Assange and called for his extradition – vindicating his decision to obtain asylum in the embassy. Nonetheless, judge Deborah Taylor upheld Arbuthnot’s ruling:
As far as the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinion is concerned, this is not binding on this court, and, as is apparent from the ruling of the Chief Magistrate, with some personal knowledge of the matters relied upon, it was underpinned by misconceptions of fact and law.
With the UK court action in mind, WikiLeaks has questioned whether Assange – a high profile enemy of the US and UK establishments – can receive a fair hearing in Britain.
It’s down to us
Anyone who wants to uphold the right for journalists to expose the worst excesses of governments should be very concerned. The only way to uphold this right is if the public do not stand for the criminalisation of journalism. In order to do this, we must separate the man from the issue of press freedom. The US indictments are not about allegations of sexual assault in Sweden, which Assange should face separate proceedings for. They are specifically concerned with WikiLeaks publishing documents exposing war crimes that the US would have preferred to remain under wraps. Such as the US indiscriminately gunning down journalists in Iraq and tens of thousands of unreported civilian deaths. Whatever you think of Assange, what’s at stake is our ability to hold governments to account. In the US and the UK, Assange will not receive a fair trial. If he’s convicted, it will set a precedent that puts journalists at risk worldwide. So it’s down to us. We cannot simply sit by and watch crony capitalist neocons take away such a fundamental freedom. We must fight back immediately.
Featured image via Cancillería del Ecuador/ Flickr
Get involved
Uphold freedom of the press with the Justice for Assange campaign. Defend human rights with the Unity4J campaign.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W9DqF6K7Pk 

goingundergroundRT
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a police van after was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in LondonCredit: PA:Press Association

President Donald Trump welcomes Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the White House on May 15, 2017.

Assange addressing media and supporters from the balcony of Ecuador's embassy in February 2016Credit: Getty Images

Every charge against Julian Assange, explained
 12 Apr, 2019 09:28
https://www.rt.com/news/456268-julian-assange-all-charges/

Julian Assange's cat is seen in the window of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, January 2018. ©  Reuters / Toby Melville
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested by British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and faces jail time in the UK, extradition to the US, and possibly even charges in Sweden. For what? RT explains.
The pretext for Assange’s arrest was skipping bail in 2012, when he sought asylum in Ecuador over the prospect of being extradited to the US. He was found guilty of failing to surrender to bail by a Westminster magistrate judge on Thursday, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2 by video link. He faces up to 12 months in prison.
However, as the UK police made abundantly clear, he was “further arrested” on an extradition warrant from the US.

US charges
Though Assange’s name has been dragged through the US press for the past three years over the WikiLeaks’ publication of Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta’s private emails in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, charges against him in the US have nothing to do with that.
Instead, according to the indictment made public on Thursday by the US Department of Justice, Assange “engaged in a conspiracy” with US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a US government computer network storing classified material, back in March 2010. There is no allegation in the indictment that the purported hack was successful, however, and Assange is charged only with “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.”
As the aggravating circumstance, the indictment brings up that Assange and WikiLeaks have already obtained thousands of classified documents from Manning – including State Department cables and Iraq and Afghanistan “war diaries,” which contained the notorious “collateral murder” video showing US forces killing civilians.

The Swedish pretext
Though the US indictment was kept secret for almost a decade, Assange came to believe its existence was behind the Swedish government’s demand to have him arrested on charges of “sexual assault” in 2012, prompting him to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy.
While in Sweden in 2010, Assange had sexual relations with two women, known only as ‘AA’ and ‘SW.' Since the relations were unprotected, the women went to the police to see if they could force the journalist to get an STI test.
Assange repeatedly offered to be questioned by Swedish authorities, but they refused to do so until November 2016, when Chief Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren interviewed the WikiLeaks founder inside the embassy. The inquiry was closed in 2017.
Swedish prosecutors reportedly considered dropping the charges back in 2013, but were urged by British authorities not to do so. Following Assange’s arrest on Thursday, the attorney for the two plaintiffs urged Isgren to reopen the case.

Arbitrary detention
Between August 2012 and his arrest on Thursday, Assange has spent nearly seven years inside Ecuador’s embassy in London – the last two years in increasingly restricted conditions, without internet access and for a while without any visits allowed, courtesy of the government of President Lenin Moreno.
Back in February 2016, a UN human rights panel described Assange’s situation as “arbitrary detention,” blaming the UK and Sweden for his predicament.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange hit with 17 new criminal charges by US
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/23/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-hit-17-new-criminal-charges/
 Ben Riley-Smith, us editor 23 MAY 2019 
Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, was hit with 17 new criminal charges by the US Justice Department on Thursday over his role in obtaining and releasing classified information in 2010. 
Assange was accused of “aiding, abetting, and causing” Chelsea Manning, then an intelligence analyst in the US Army, to access and leak secret documents belonging to the US government. 
The 47-year-old Australian was also accused of endangering the lives of US sources in Iran, China, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan by not redacting names when publishing the documents. 
The alleged violations of the Espionage Act will trigger a battle over press freedom, given Assange argues he is a journalist and acted no differently from other reporters. US officials dispute that defence.
The case could end up with the courts determining whether Assange is protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which enshrines freedom of the press. 
The charges also escalate an extradition battle playing out in Britain, with both America and Sweden attempting to have Assange sent to their respective countries first to face prosecution. He is wanted by Swedish prosecutors because of sexual assault claims. 
Wikileaks said Home Secretary Sajid Javid was under "enormous pressure to protect the rights of the free press in the UK and elsewhere".
In a statement after the latest charges, WikiLeaks said: "The final decision on Assange's extraditions rests with the UK Home Secretary, who is now under enormous pressure to protect the rights of the free press in the UK an elsewhere.
"Press rights advocates have unanimously argued that Assange's prosecution under the (US) Espionage Act is compatible with basic democratic principles. This is the gravest attack on press freedom of the century."
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, labelled the new charges facing Assange as "the evil of lawlessness in its purest form".
He added: "With the indictment, the 'leader of the free world' dismisses the First Amendment - hailed as a model of press freedom around the world - and launches a blatant extraterritorial assault outside its border, attacking basic principles of democracy in Europe and the rest of the world."
Justice Department officials sought to make clear that they believed Assange's actions weren't those of a journalist, though they declined to discuss the policy discussions that led to the indictment.
"Julian Assange is no journalist," said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department's top national security official. "No responsible actor - journalist or otherwise - would purposely publish the names of individuals he or she knew to be confidential human sources in war zones, exposing them to the gravest of dangers."
Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence in British prison for skipping bail. He had been seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 but was released earlier this year. 
The new charges go well beyond the single count of computer hacking which the US announced in April. He now faces a total of 18 counts, most carrying a 10-year maximum jail term. 
They relate to Assange’s role in what US officials called “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”, which took place in 2009 and 2010. 
Manning, who had become disillusioned with the US government's role in foreign wars, proceeded to leak a string of documents – many given “secret” classification - to Assange, which were then published on Wikileaks. 
They included around 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and 250,000 US State Department cables. 
US officials allege that Assange played an active role in getting the documents by encouraging Manning to look for more information, discussing ways she could avoid detection and working out how to pass on what she found.
Assange is accused of putting human sources helping America in “grave and imminent risk of serious physical harm and/or arbitrary detention” by refusing to redact names contained in the documents. 
US officials said local Afghans and Iraqis, journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents from repressive regime were all among those put at risk. People in Iran, China, Syria named in the leaked State Department cables were also said to have been endangered.  
To underscore the point, the indictment revealed that when US forces stormed Osama bin Laden’s hideout they found the jihadist had once directed another member of al-Qaeda to grab US defence department documents that had been released on Wikileaks. 
They included around 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and 250,000 US State Department cables. 
US officials allege that Assange played an active role in getting the documents by encouraging Manning to look for more information, discussing ways she could avoid detection and working out how to pass on what she found.
Assange is accused of putting human sources helping America in “grave and imminent risk of serious physical harm and/or arbitrary detention” by refusing to redact names contained in the documents. 
US officials said local Afghans and Iraqis, journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents from repressive regime were all among those put at risk. People in Iran, China, Syria named in the leaked State Department cables were also said to have been endangered.  
To underscore the point, the indictment revealed that when US forces stormed Osama bin Laden’s hideout they found the jihadist had once directed another member of al-Qaeda to grab US defence department documents that had been released on Wikileaks. 
Central to the legal battle to come will be whether Assange can convince the courts that he was acting like any other journalist by releasing information which the US government did not want in the public domain. 
Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer for Assange, told The Telegraph that the new indictment charges her client with "encouraging sources to provide him truthful information and for publishing that information". 
She said: "These unprecedented charges demonstrate the gravity of the threat the criminal prosecution of Julian Assange poses to all journalists in their endeavor to inform the public about actions that have been taken by the US government."
Julian Assange | Timeline
April 2010
WikiLeaks publishes a classified U.S. military video in which their firing from a helicopter – on what they say are armed fighters – kills 18 people, including two journalists.

In July, a further 75,000 classified documents are posted by the site, detailing Afghan civilian casualties that had previously not been disclosed, the pursuit of Osama bin Laden, and more.
The next month, Julian Assange faces arrest in London concerning allegations of rape and molestation while visiting Sweden; in December, he is granted conditional bail thanks to his supporters raising £240,000 on his behalf.
March 2012
After months of court battles, the Supreme Court upholds its decision to extradite Assange to Sweden.
June 2012
Assange visits the Ecuadorean embassy in London and requests asylum, which is granted two months later. Scotland Yard issues a warrant over his breached bail.
May 2017
Sweden’s director of public prosecutions drops the investigation into Assange, but he chooses to remain in the embassy.
December 2017
The US quietly makes a request for the provisional arrest of Assange to British police, with accusations of conspiring to disclose classified documents, a move he has long seen coming. He is granted Ecuadorean citizenship.
April 2019
The embassy loses patience and invites Scotland Yard to arrest Assange after his asylum is formally terminated. He is later arrested on behalf of US authorities.
May 2019
Assange is  jailed for 50 weeks over his nearly seven-year stay in the Ecuadorian embassy which defied his bail conditions and cost the taxpayer £16m. The WikiLeaks founder was handed close to the maximum sentence for skipping bail in 2012, when an extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations loomed.
Weeks later, he is hit with 17 new criminal charges by the US Justice Department over his role in obtaining and releasing classified information in 2010. The alleged violations of the Espionage Act will trigger a battle over press freedom, given Assange argues he is a journalist and acted no differently from other reporters. US officials dispute that defence.

The war of Wikileaks, Assange and other outlets exposing the inner workings of power
RT America - Published on Aug 4, 2018 
Barrett Brown, publisher and journalist talks to Chris Hedges about the US government’s war on
Wikileaks, Assange and other outlets exposing the inner workings of power.

Riz Khan - Jesse Ventura: Clandestine US missions
Al Jazeera English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULUYRtnJicI 

Published on Apr 8, 2011 
Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Has the US secretly started wars and assassinated leaders? We talk to Jesse Ventura, the former governor of the US state of Minnesota, about his controversial new book, '63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read'. In the book, Ventura has published dozens of previously classified US government papers that seem to suggest Washington may have secretly provoked the Vietnam War, lied to the American people about the actual threat of terrorism and experimented on its own soldiers. At Al Jazeera English, we focus on people and events that affect people's lives. We bring topics to light that often go under-reported, listening to all sides of the story and giving a 'voice to the voiceless.' Reaching more than 270 million households in over 140 countries across the globe, our viewers trust Al Jazeera English to keep them informed, inspired, and entertained. Our impartial, fact-based reporting wins worldwide praise and respect. It is our unique brand of journalism that the world has come to rely on. We are reshaping global media and constantly working to strengthen our reputation as one of the world's most respected news and current affairs channels. Social Media links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Instagram: https://instagram.com/aljazeera/?ref=... Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajenglish Website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ google+: https://plus.google.com/+aljazeera/posts

Riz Khan - Jesse Ventura: Clandestine US missions

".. We need to save Julan Assange's life..." ... Pamela Anderson 

Weekend Update: Julian Assange Arrested - SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKpiRliQePY
Saturday Night Live - Published on Apr 13, 2019

‘I spent seven years fighting to survive’: Chelsea Manning on whistleblowing and WikiLeaks 

Chealsea Manning and Julian Assange are the People's Heros standing up for the right to publish the truth

 Chelsea Manning Former Army intelligence analyst ordered to jail  for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks

 Mar 8, 2019    Evan Greer✔@evan_greer

 ​The judge said Chelsea Manning will remain jailed until she testifies or until the grand jury concludes its work.
The US government tortured Chelsea Manning for YEARS for the “crime” of exposing human rights violations. Now they’ve thrown her in jail again for resisting a Grand Jury dragnet. If you care one iota about free speech or basic rights, start fighting for her release right now.. ​The judge said Chelsea Manning will remain jailed until she testifies or until the grand jury concludes its work.

The former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.
US district judge Claude Hilton held Manning in contempt of court and ordered her jailed on Friday after a brief hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, where Manning confirmed she has no intention of testifying. She told the judge she “will accept whatever you bring upon me”.
Manning says she is refusing to testify because she objects to the secrecy of the grand jury process, and already revealed everything she knows at her court martial.
Manning turned over a vast trove of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, an anti-secrecy website which made them public in 2010. She served seven years of a 35-year military sentence, and was freed after former president Barack Obama commuted her sentence.

Manning’s lawyers had asked that she be placed under home confinement instead of jail, because of medical and safety complications she faces as a transgender woman. Her lawyer, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, called jailing Manning an act of cruelty. She argued Manning’s one-bedroom apartment would be sufficient confinement. “Obviously prison is a terrible place,” Meltzer-Cohen said. “I don’t see the purpose to incarcerate people.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/08/chelsea-manning-judge-jails-wikileaks-case

Richard on the arrest of Julian Paul Assange
The Australian Greens - Published on April-2019

Roger Waters from Pink Floyd 

US unseals Assange affidavit, revealing probable cause for extradition & arrest for ‘conspiracy’
16 Apr, 2019 

https://www.rt.com/news/456650-us-unseals-assange-affidavit-fbi/

US prosecutors have unsealed an affidavit against Julian Assange that outlines their case against the WikiLeaks co-founder on a single count of “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion” that may or may not have succeeded.

As FBI special agent Megan Brown admits in the affidavit, “it remains unknown whether Manning and Assange were successful in cracking the password” to the Department of Defense computer they allegedly conspired to hack, meaning the sole charge against Assange remains his alleged attempt to assist Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning in accessing the documents that were eventually leaked in 2010.
The “probable cause” for Assange’s extradition to the US is described as hundreds of messages sent between Manning and Assange on the Jabber platform. The two “conspirators” should have known that releasing the documents “would cause injury to the United States,” Brown declares, since it contained information about US allies in Afghanistan who were assisting coalition forces.
The affidavit dramatically refers to “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States,” but fails to even ascertain whether the “illegal agreement that Assange and Manning reached” was what ultimately unleashed the trove of documents. Brown can only speculate as to how the computer was eventually breached.
In an effort to present the leaks in as damaging a light as possible, Brown reproduces one almost cartoonish exchange, claiming “after the release of the Afghanistan War Reports, a member of the Taliban contacted the New York Times” and stated: “We are studying the report… If they are US spies, then we will know how to punish them.” Osama bin Laden is also said to be a WikiLeaks fan, with letters found during the raid on his Abbottabad compound instructing an al-Qaeda member to “gather” the material leaked by Manning.

Having been assigned to the case in 2017 - less than a year before filing the affidavit – Brown admits her understanding of the seven-year-old “criminal conspiracy” is based on “testimony of a forensic examiner in Manning’s court martial, my conversations with FBI forensic examiners, and research on the internet.” The internet was quick to pick apart her timing – and the rest of the document.

Micah Lee✔@micahflee
Replying to @micahflee
The alleged crime was in 2010, but Brown wasn't assigned to the case until 2017. I think this adds weight to the argument that Obama DOJ decided they couldn't move forward for press freedom reasons, but Trump DOJ decided to just go for it, because screw the free press
10:40 PM - Apr 15, 2019

Andrew Blake✔@apblake
 · Apr 15, 2019
Replying to @apblake
The US affidavit against Julian Assange was signed two days after Ecuador unsuccessfully attempted to grant him diplomatic status, per The Guardian's reporting (left).
Andrew Blake✔@apblake

The affidavit in US v Julian Assange was signed the *same* day that the UK rejected Ecuador's attempt to grant him diplomatic status, per Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-assange-exclusive/exclusive-ecuador-attempted-to-give-assange-diplomat-post-in-russia-document-idUSKCN1M12R5 … pic.twitter.com/jYuFSq6KUo

7:46 PM - Apr 15, 2019

Frederik Obermaier✔@f_obermaier

„Would“ ... „would“... „remains unknown“ ... „no other evidence“ #Assange (https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.384245/gov.uscourts.vaed.384245.2.0.pdf …)

8:49 PM - Apr 15, 2019

Micah Lee✔@micahflee
 · Apr 15, 2019

Replying to @micahflee

Manning allegedly booted to a Linux CD on two DoD Windows computers, which apparently didn't use disk encryption and allowed booting from CDs, to dump password hashes.

The password Assange allegedly agreed to help crack was for the FTP user, which didn't belong to a human

Micah Lee✔@micahflee

Contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe, the password in question was for a local computer-only account on two Windows computers that Manning had legit access to. It wouldn't have given her access to new databases or documents that she didn't already have access to
10:41 PM - Apr 15, 2019

Raffi Khatchadourian✔@raffiwriter
Assange affidavit speculates on motivation for hash cracking.
8:41 PM - Apr 15, 2019

Assange was arrested by UK police last week on a bail-jumping charge after Ecuador revoked his asylum and evicted him from its London embassy, where he had lived for over seven years. He faces extradition to the US and a maximum five years in prison – assuming US authorities don’t pile on further charges once they have him in their clutches.

In The United States District Court For

The Eastern District of Virginia Alexander Division - United States of America V Julian Paul Assange Defedant 

No Extradition - Free Julian Assange 

Craig Murray on Julian Assange:
"This is a very important fight, one we absolutely must win"=
RT UK - Published on Apr 12, 2019
"This is a very important fight and it's a fight we absolutely must win" says former British ambassador Craig Murray
who believes a 'dishonest game is being played with the courts' over Julian Assange's arrest.

Pamela Anderson supports democracy in Europe – DiEM25
Judith Meyer
Tue 05, 2019, 

https://diem25.org/pamela-anderson-supports-democracy-in-europe-diem25/

Together with Srećko Horvat, the Croatian philosopher in third place on the transnational list of democracy in Europe – DiEM25, Pamela Anderson presented her election poster last week in Berlin. Nationwide there will be about 1000 posters on which Pamela Anderson advertises for the Green New Deal.

Pamela Anderson and Srećko Horvat for the New Green Deal of Democracy in Europe DiEM25 for the European Election 2019
++ on 08.05.2019 in Berlin (Berlin).
(c) Andi Weiland | Democracy in Europe DiEM25

The Green New Deal stipulates that 500 billion euros will be invested annually in climate protection over 5 years via the European Investment Bank. It will change Europe’s infrastructure and economy in such a way that the ambitious climate targets can still be met. It will support the development of renewable energy, the transformation of the transport sector, research into green technologies and the creation of sustainable jobs across Europe.

Green, social, and provocative: Pamela Anderson has been an activist for social and ecological issues for years and fights for animal rights, freedom of the press and against the clearing of the rain-forest. She supports the yellow vests – protests in France and above all she supports climate protection. She supports the pan-European movement (DiEM25) of Yanis Varoufakis, who himself is the leading candidate for democracy in Europe – DiEM25 – in the European elections.

Quote Pamela Anderson:

“I am committed to DiEM25 because these European elections are crucial and this movement, with its various national parties, is the only one to put forward a comprehensive and inspiring Green New Deal for Europe. And I also support this peaceful, progressive and effective movement because it consists of real grassroots activists. I trust people who have given up everything for the good of others.

I know this election poster is a little unusual. But it’s time to go out and do whatever it takes to get people’s attention. Your own voice can make a difference. For me this is a living democracy. The Green New Deal has to be implemented globally, we have to recapture the planet! Let’s rethink many things and have fun!”

Demokratie in Europa – DiEM25
presse@deineuropa.jetzt

Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here.

https://internal.diem25.org/en/newsletter/

Press Room

https://diem25.org/press/


DiEM25's Communications Office will provide timely and accurate information about the movement's events, campaigns, public statements and announcements. Here you will find photos, videos, as well as press releases, media advisories and schedules for upcoming events.
Press Credentials
All members of the media that wish to attend events, including press conferences, must complete the proper press credentialing process. Additional information will be provided.
Media Requests
Requests for interviews should be directed to press@diem25.org, with the email subject PRESS REQUEST. The e-mail request should include the following information:
- Name of publication/outlet
- Brief background on your interview request
- Proposed publication date
- Your deadline

https://diem25.org/press/


Green New Deal gathers more than 1.4 million votes across Europe!

More than 1.4 million citizens backed our Green New Deal in the countries where we were contesting elections.

DiEM25 Communications
Wed 05, 2019, Articles European Spring Program

https://diem25.org/green-new-deal-gathers-more-than-1-4-million-votes-across-europe/

More than 1.4 million citizens backed our Green New Deal with their votes in the European Parliament elections.
While this wasn’t enough to elect candidates in the countries where we were contesting elections, it has set a historic precedent for a new, transformative way of doing politics!

This was achieved without the machinery that the establishment forces boast, powered by volunteers, and funded only with small donations.

We showed Europeans how a common agenda can be put together collaboratively by many political actors from all over Europe. How a common list of candidates, supporting this agenda, can emerge and how we can campaign across Europe, together, under the banner of this agenda.

In Greece, we brought hope back to a country left despondent by the Syriza government after their U-turn following the referendum result in 2015. Our party in Greece, MeRA25 — a political startup — is now firmly established as a force in Greek politics. Even if it missed the threshold to enter the European Parliament by just 0.01% of the vote (!).

And now with the Greek national election coming up on July 7, our activists will be back on the streets campaigning to bring our message of a progressive alternative to the failed policies of the establishment and those of the racist far-right. Stay tuned!

Join us!

Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here.
https://internal.diem25.org/en/newsletter/

 

Chris Matthews Says Julian Assange Was Trump’s ‘Best Sidekick’ In 2016 | Hardball | MSNBC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiJ8TRgO8GA


“... Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been charged with conspiracy … Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuador Embassy today by London Police where Julian Assange had been living for seven years … when Julian Assange’s Asylum with Ecuador was recinded .Julian Assange was arrested by British Authorities for skipping bail … but Julian Assange was arrested on a second charge from American Prosecutors … an unsealed inditement alledges that Julian Assange had conspired with former intelligence analyst Chealsea Manning to commit computer intrusion in leaking classified military files back in 2010 … US Prosecutors now want Julian Assange extradited to the USA ….. which Julian Assange’s attorneys say that they will fight … Julian Assange has not been charged with anything to do with Wikileaks publication of hacked democratic emails of the 2016 Presidential Campaign  .. remember Wikileaks was also  a major part of Donald Trump’s closing argument Hillary Clinton in 2016 ….

.… Donald Trump stated…”… did you see another one  … another one came into today … this Wikileaks is like a Treasure Trove ….. the Wikileaks is unbelieveable … what we’ver learned about her ( Hillary Clinton) and her people … by that Wikleaks has done a job on her ( Hillary Clinton) … we love Wikileaks ….  I tell you this Wikileaks is unbelieveable .. it tells you the inner heart … you’ver gotta read it … this just came out … Wikileaks .. I love Wikileaks  ….. “…. Donald Trump..

Chris Mathews responds:

“... well Donald Trump was asked about Julian Assange this morning … and Donald Trump fained ignorance …. “

Donald Trump … “… I know nothing about Wikileaks …. its not my thing … I know there is something that has to do with Julian Assange … I have being seeing whaat has been happening with Assange and that will be a determination .. I imagine by the Attorney General … who is doing an excellent job …” ….Donald Trump

Chris Mathews responds:

“... How Dainty … however, Donald Trump  weighted in on William Barr’s comments that spying did occur by the US Government in 2016 Presidential Elections Campaign …”…Chris Mathews

Reporter asks: Mr. President, are you pleased that your Attorney General yesterday said that there was spying into your campaign in 2016?

Donald Trump  “…. yes I am … I think what he said was absolutely true … there was absolutely spying into my Presidential Campaign … and I will go a step further .. in my opinion it was Hillary Clinton’s illegal spying … unprecedented spying … and something that should never have been allowed to happen into my country again … and I think his attitude was an extremely accurate one ….  …”

Ben Rose who was deputy National Security Advisor in the Obama Administration  … is asked by Chris Mathews…

 “.. I notice a chain in

TV Panel consists of

Caroline Frederickson …. the President of the American Constitution Society …
David Corn Washington Bureau Chief of Mother Jones
Ben Rose who was deputy National Security Advisor in the Obama Administration
And
Rohit Khanna -Democratic congressman- California

Rohit Khanna is an American academic, lawyer, and politician serving as the U.S. Representative from California's 17th congressional district, since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated eight-term incumbent .…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ro_Khanna

Rohit Khanna (/ˈroʊ ˈkɑːnə/; born September 13, 1976) is an American academic, lawyer, and politician serving as the U.S. Representative from California's 17th congressional district, since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated eight-term incumbent Democratic Representative Mike Honda in the general election on November 8, 2016, after first running for the same seat in 2014. Khanna also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the United States Department of Commerce under PresidentBarack Obama from August 8, 2009, to August 2011.

Khanna accepts donations only from individuals and is one of only six members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and ten total members of Congress, who do not take campaign contributions from political action committees (PACs) or corporations. Khanna is articulating a new economic philosophy of progressive capitalism to meet the challenges of the 21st century technology revolution.

On February 21, 2019, Khanna was named a national co-chair of Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign. He is considered to be a potential member of the Cabinet should Sanders win the presidency.

Ben Rose who was deputy National Security Advisor in the Obama Administration  … is asked by Chris Mathews…

 “.. I notice a change of attitude by the president Mr Trump on Julian Assange .. who was mr Trump’s best side kick back in 2016 when Trump was going after Hillary …. and not this time around Trump does not like to talk about his Russian involvement in our US Election in 2016 … Trump like Wikileaks played the role in publicizing all that hacking stuff … when the DEC especially and all that stuff… what do you think that Donald Trump is afraid of …. Assange coming to the USA under an extradition …?


Answer from Ben Rose: … “ … well look Chris ,, it was a determination of our US Intelligence Community   united .. that Julian Assange was a partner is an operation in with Russian Intelligence to publicize those very same emails that constituted Trump’s closing argument in his 2016 Presidential Election …this wasn’t like some random rally in the middle of Primaries …. this was what Trump was closing in in October 2016 … we know that Russian Intelligence found a way … through a cut out .. found a way of getting these emails … to Julian Assange to then publicize them to help elect Donald Trump as President of the USA …. and so that if American justice officials were able to ask Julian Assange questions … it quite likely that they could learn more about how and why that happened … “

 David Corn is asked by Chris Mathews…

“.. now who is nervous? … that Assange is coming to America ….. I think Roger Stone is one person who is worried … “

David Corn …. “ well the question is whether Julian Assange will co-operate or say anything … if he gets here … they have to go though the extradition hearings … anyway … he is in several of the indictments … we have Roger Stone .. remember this .. in Roger Stone’s indictment says that someone directed a senior campaign official to instruct Stone to make contact with Likileaks … we don’t who did that directing? … was it Trump or was it somebody else … there are things about the connection between Wikileaks and people related to trump that have not been determined .. and maybe …. and a big maybe … it will be in the Muller Report .. if not redacted … “..

 Chris Mathews…. “ do far  special council Robert Mueller did reveal a link between the Trump campaign and Roger Stone … in Stone’s indictment in January … quote

“.… around June and July 2016, STONE informed senior Trump Campaign officials that he had information indicating (Wikileaks) had documents whose release would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign ….”

Then after the first bath of the DNC emails were released in late July 2016 … quote:

“ … A senior Trump Campaign Official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information (Wikileaks) had … STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future released of damaging material by (Wikileaks) …”

What a relationship …. in his congressional testimony Michael Cohen alleged that Roger Stone gave candidate Trump advanced notice that Wikileaks would release hacked DNC emails … here we go …

“,,, I was in Mr Trump’s office when Mr Trump’s secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone …  Mr Trump put Mr Stone on the speaker phone … Mr Stone told Mr Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange … and that Mr Assange told mr Stone that within a couple of days there will be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hilllary Clinton’s Campaign …. Mr Trump responded by stating to the effect … ‘.. wouldn’t that be great …’ …

Chris Mathews…. “ .. congressman … I just want to take a minute …to explain why I think that there was collusion  … and why I think that these earlier reports from the Mueller Report … hopefully will get confirmed next week .. that the Special Counsel’s Operation believes that Russian Intelligence people manipulated Trump’s Presidential Campaign …. and I believe that here is the example of how they did it … they gave Trump dirt of Hillary …. they sucked him in … like any intelligence operation operates … give him something … get him in the habit of using it .. establishing a means of working together ….  and all of a sudden you’ve got a team ….now whether that is collusion or not … it dam well is being manipulated by the Russians …  “
 Rohit Khanna -Democratic congressman- California replies:…. “ .. as was pointed out there is evidence that Assange was co-operaating with the Russians to help Trump … I have never a politician have the amnesia and inconsistency and get away with it …. it would end any person in congress’s career … and of course the’re concerned about what Assange is going to say … that said I do think that journalists should also be concerned … because the indictment is over broad … the indictment goes after Assange ..even for sharing information with any source .. if they share information with a journalist … it criminalizes that …. and I think that does raise First Amendment concerns …

Caroline Frederickson …. the President of the American Constitution Society …

Replies…. “ well that does raise concerns but I would like to go back to ….. whether or not he (Assange) might want to talk about Donald  Trump now … well .. if your sitting in a different place … all of a sudden your the defendant and you can change the terms of what your prosecution is going to look like if you talk a little bit more ….  you might me more inclined to talk so you know I think that’s a piece of all this that David alluded to  .. is that what Donald Trump does not like about what he now calls …’Wiki Who?’ …. ‘Wiki What?’ … is that its changing Donald Trump’s story , .. it was great to praise Wikileaks when they were putting out information that helped Donald Trump win the election …. now he wants the story to be …. ‘ Donald Trump won the election fair and square  …’ …. so that so that’s a story Donald Trump does not want to hear about anymore….”

MSNBC Daily  Newsletter ….

Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman Calls Assange’s Arrest A Blow to Transparency ….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0J6mMfGDdc

Tulsi Gabbard Calls Assange’s Arrest A Blow To Transparency And Free Press | Hardball | MSNBC

MSNBC

Published on Apr 11, 2019

Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard joins Hardball to talk about 2020, Julian Assange's arrest, and more. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, Hardball, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and more. Connect with MSNBC Online Visit msnbc.com: http://on.msnbc.com/Readmsnbc Subscribe to MSNBC Newsletter: MSNBC.com/NewslettersYouTube Find MSNBC on Facebook: http://on.msnbc.com/Likemsnbc Follow MSNBC on Twitter: http://on.msnbc.com/Followmsnbc Follow MSNBC on Instagram: http://on.msnbc.com/Instamsnbc Tulsi Gabbard Calls Assange’s Arrest A Blow To Transparency And Free Press | Hardball | MSNBC

Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman of Hawaii . thank you for coming on the show…. what to you make of the arrest of Julian Assange and the attempts to extradite Julian Assange to the the USA and indicted and punish Julian Assange ?…

Reply from Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman of Hawaii…

 “... I am deeply concerned by what has happened today …. we look back at the Obama’s Administration’s decision during his time .. not to do this .. not to try to extradite Assange and charge him  .. because of his concern about such government action would impinge on freedom of the press …. this is a blow to transparency and a blow to a fee press … when you have a situation where our government is is a position where they can basically create this climate of fear against somebody or those that are publishing things that they don’t like …. or saying things that they don’t like … and that’s the concern here .. this is threat to journalism … but it is also a threat to every American because the message that we are getting  and the American people are getting as to what is happening today is .. be quiet .. tow the line  … otherwise there will be consequences …”

Chris Mathews…. “ … what happens if the Mueller Report .. if we get a good look at it next week and it is not too heavily redacted … and we get a good look at it and it shows that Wikileaks … Assange himself .. worked with the Russians to put out their attacks on the Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton … in 2016 … is that journalism?…”

Reply from Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman of Hawaii…

“... well I don’t think that its helpful for anyone to deal with hypotheticals …. I think it is important that .. and I have called from the very beginning for the Mueller report to be released so that we in Congress and the American people can take a look at it and see what’s in there ..”

Chris Mathews…. “ … by that way in an interview today … Vice President Mike Pence said that embattled Venezuelaian President Nicolas Maduro must go … lets what the Vice President….”

Vice President on the record “... well the president over the last six years … the people of Venezuela  have been suffering … through the deprivation and dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro …. from the early days of this administration Donald Trump has made it clear … Nicolas Maduro had no legitimate claim to power and that Nicolas Maduro  must go ….. “

Chris Mathews…. “ …  I wonder about the Neo Concept coming back and whether they see that they see an opportunity in Latin America .. and they the Wag The Dog situation with Donald Trump … ‘here’s another one you you to knock of… I mean do you think they are up to something? … you hear the Vice President saying that everything is on the table .. everything …. the United States Army going into Venezuela .. what do you think of it ..?…”

Reply from Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman of Hawaii…

“ … well this administration are the Neo Con Warhocs that surround President Trump have made no secret about what their intentions are … to further this regime chance effort .. both in Venezuela .. as well as is Iran … so we hear these war drums beating …. President Trump is acting .. not with our interests in mind … not with the American peoples’ interests in mind  … and moving forward with what will prove to be very … very .. costly …  ..”

Chris Mathews…. “ … I am so hot to trot on this one … how can a president run against stupid wars I’m against stupid wars ,,,  and hire John Bolton … Shelton Adelson’s guy … his pick … and why didn’t he let me bring Elliot Abraham’s back in

he line up  … he brought the Neos in to do thee stuff… how do you explain that switch?

Reply from Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman of Hawaii…

“.. that’s a good question … the reality is that we do have a situation with a cabinet full of Neocon Warhocks who’s history is very well known in leading our country into one regime change after another … and to great expense in American loves to trillions of dollars coming out of out taxpayer’s pockets … as well as  the lives, devastation and suffering in the countries were we have waged these wars …. ..”

Chris Mathews…. “ …how can you explain that every Demcocrat Senator in the United States in Congress … the people who I would generally like … Joe Biden … Hillary Clinton … John Kerry … they all supported the Iraq War … they all did it .. they haven’t apologized as far as I know about it .. they all started to back that stupid war …Why? … why do smart people back a stupid war .. and they did …”



Reply from Tulsi Gabbard Congress woman of Hawaii…

“ .. well it is unfortunate to see how the influence of the foreign policy of the establishment in Washington, the Military Industrial Complex … so often goes and wages these regime change wars under the guise of humanitarianism … saying ..’ we’re going into try to help people in these countries when if fact every single time is what we see is these regime change wars in these countries ends up increasing the suffering of the people in those countries … increasing the devastation ..a s we’ve seen in the Middle East in counties like Iraq and Seria .. these regime change wars have made our country less safe …. by strengthening terrorists groups like ISIS and Al Quada … the real threat that we are facing right now Chris is that  .. this existential threat with this heightening of tensions between the United States and countries like Russia and China …  nuclear armed countries that have propelled us into this new Cold War…”


Document: Indictment of Roger Stone By Quinta Jurecic

 Friday, January 25, 2019

https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-indictment-roger-stone

An indictment of Trump associate Roger Stone has been unsealed in connection with the Mueller investigation. Stone is indicted on one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering. The document is available here and below.

….……………………

Oh my god Republican Rep. Chip Roy just referred to us as a "known conservative news magazine." #namedropitical action committees: Phil Roe (R-TN), Francis Rooney …

Education‎: ‎University of Chicago‎ (‎BA‎); ‎Yale University

https://twitter.com/motherjones/status/1100845375521320962?lang=en

David Corn Hangs Up On Hugh Hewitt After 45-Minute Grilling on Bill O'Reilly

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/02/23/david_corn_hangs_up_on_hugh_hewitt_after_45-minute_grilling_on_bill_oreilly.html

Chip Roy Calls Mother Jones a "Known Conservative News Magazine"

LOL.

Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt grills David Corn of Mother Jones on his claim that then-CBS News correspondent Bill O'Reilly exaggerated the capacity of his involvement in covering the Falklands War.

DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: As Joe Walsh said, do the show, go play it straight, he’ll play fair. But you’re asking me questions you didn’t ask Bill O’Reilly.

HUGH HEWITT, HOST: If you…

DC: So you know, I’m given you one more…

HH: Here’s Eric Engberg…

DC: If you want to talk about the article or not, Hugh, because I’ve got better things to do than help you fill time on the radio.

HH: Eric Engberg said yesterday, “We saw what was a moderate-sized riot, what was a couple of thousand people attacking the Casa de Rosada.” But he also said nobody attacked the soldiers, nobody attacked the police. That account is now contradicted by a CNN story quoting CNN from the time saying, “A squad of teargas-armed troops and a crowd hurling coins, rocks and even bricks at police and journalists.” Is it not possible that we’ve got a different perspective thing going on here, David, just possible that some people saw different things?

DC: The issue, okay, Hugh, now that’s a good question.

HH: Oh, David…

DC: Let’s stick to the facts of the issue.

HH: David, all of my questions are good questions. You don’t want to go where your credibility gets damaged. I understand that. It’s not very courageous, and it’s not very intrepid. You’re not willing to take tough questions that expose it, but go ahead to this.

DC: Well, no, no, if you’re going to start berating and insulting, then I’m not wasting any more time.

HH: I’m not berating and insulting. You’re trying to steer the interview.

DC: Listen to me, you asked me to come on the show. You owe me a measure of courtesy and let me have my say as well. If you want to just, you know, keep firing off things that are irrelevant, then there’s no point to go on. But I will answer your question. There’s always a question of perspective and of interpretation almost in any human event that happens. But there are sometimes, there still are facts that can be established and not established. When Bill O’Reilly says, as he has said the last few days, I never said I was in the Falklands, and there’s video from two years of Bill O’Reilly saying I was in the war zone in Argentina in the Falklands, in the Falklands, not in Buenos Aires, that is an incontrovertible fact. Now to the point that you talk about with Eric Engberg, you know, he describes the protest the way he saw it. Bill O’Reilly maybe saw it in a different way, but what Bill O’Reilly has said, repeated times, is at this protest, many people were killed, his words, many people were killed when Argentine soldiers gunned down civilians. There is no account of that that shows that. There is videotape that he shot himself, and other CBS people shot that same day, that don’t show Argentine soldiers shooting down people. All the press reporting that we have found that Erik Wemple in the Washington Post and other people have looked at, all say nothing about fatalities. And in fact, yesterday on Howie Kurtz’ show, O’Reilly read an article in which he said, this backs up my claim, backs up my claim, and he starts reading it, and he says one policeman pulled a pistol firing five shots. He ended the sentence there. In the New York Times, it continues, firing five shots over the heads of fleeing demonstrators. That’s not gunning people down. It may be bad. It may be worrisome. You may be fearful of it when you see it, but it’s not what he claimed happened. And today, just hours ago, Rich Meislin, the author, the reporter of the New York Times story that Bill O’Reilly claims backs up his story, put up a Facebook post, and he said no such thing. Bill O’Reilly cut out an important phrase when he read excerpts of my report. And then when he goes on to say as far as I know, no demonstrators were shot or killed by police in Buenos Aires that night. And he goes on to say what I saw in the streets that night was a demonstration – passionate, chaotic, and memorable. But it would be hard to confuse it with being in a war zone. Numerous, and this is me talking now, that was him. Numerous correspondents who were in Buenos Aires for the protests have said over and over again it was not a war zone. Maybe it was worrisome, maybe it was a riot that out of control, but if you covered a protest in Washington during the Vietnam War, in which there was scuffling and bottles thrown and fires set, are you allowed to say that you were a correspondent in the Vietnam War zone?

The full transcript is available here.

https://www.hughhewitt.com/mother-jones-david-corn-on-his-bill-oreilly-reporting-and-himself/


TAMRON HALL
Mother Jones: Russian operative spent years ‘assisting Trump’

https://www.msnbc.com/tamron-hall/watch/mother-jones-report-on-trump-russia-connection-798249539764

A new report from Mother Jones claims a Russian operation has been working for years to cultivate and assist Donald Trump. Washington Bureau Chief for the Mother Jones, David Corn, and the Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio discuss.

MSNBC

Published on Apr 11, 2019

The U.S. Justice Department is charging Wikileaks founder Julian Assange with conspiracy. After Assange’s arrest, President Trump said he knew nothing about Wikileaks despite campaigning on material the organization leaked during the 2016 campaign. » Subscribe to when MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, Hardball, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and more. Connect with MSNBC Online

¡ESTRENO! Cuando ya no esté: Julian Assange, el enemigo Nº 1 (Parte 1/2) | #0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOmGg72_Vds

Published on May 11, 2017

Julian Assange habla por primera vez ante las cámaras de Movistar+ tras conocerse que la administración que preside Donald Trump le ha declarado enemigo público número uno. Una entrevista exclusiva concedida a Iñaki Gabilondo para su programa 'Cuando ya no esté'. Assange ha afirmado que "la CIA es básicamente inútil. Son extremadamente incompetentes como organización". "Solamente hemos publicado el 1% de todo lo que tenemos", ha asegurado el fundador de Wikileaks desde la embajada de Ecuador en Londres, en donde se refugia. Suscríbete a /cerotube para tener lo mejor de #0, HAZ CLICK AQUÍ: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPgvC...

John Pilger- Julian Assange's Arrest an Assault on Journalism 

Media freedom is almost over. Only one thing can save Julian Assange from dying in prison.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2019/06/22/media-freedom-is-almost-over-only-one-thing-can-save-julian-assange-from-dying-in-prison/
James Wright    22nd June 2019

Media freedom is on its last legs. Julian Assange now faces an extradition hearing that beginson 25 February 2020 in the magistrates’ court. That’s under chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, who has previously thrown Assange and the United Nations’ version of events out the window.

The opinion of UK judges like Arbuthnot is crucial. Because there will be no jury at any stage of Assange’s UK extradition process. Supposedly, he’ll receive his right to a fair trial in the requesting state. In this case – the US. But in the words of UN official Professor Nils Melzer, he has“no chance” of that. Once extradited, it could be all over for the WikiLeaks co-founder.
The truth is there’s only one thing that can stop Assange dying in prison and media freedomalong with him. And that’s if public opinion doesn’t stand for it.
No fair trial in the US
In the US, the authorities can simply invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), which means Assange would face a secret trial with no jury. This closed trial would take place in what’s known as the ‘Espionage court’ under national security judge Leonie Brinkema, who Bill Clinton appointed. According to CIA torture whistleblower John Kiriakou, who was tried in the East District of Virginia court under Brinkema, no national security defendant has ever won a case there.
And as Kiriako explains, it’s even worse than that:
“My attorney told me, very angrily, near the end of the case. You know what your problem is? Your problem is that you think this is about justice. And it’s not about justice. It’s about mitigating damage. He said in the Eastern District of Virgina they would convict a baloney sandwich if the government asked them to. He said ‘take the deal, if you were my own brother I would beg you to take the deal’. And so I took the deal….”
No fair trial in the UK
That leaves the UK extradition process, where there’s also no jury at any stage. And Arbuthnot – who prominent Conservative Elizabeth Truss appointed – has previously upheld the official version of events. In a ruling on 13 February 2018, Arbuthnot said that she gives “little weight” to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which found that Assange was being ‘arbitrarily detained’ in the Ecuadorian embassy. The UN group demanded the authorities allowAssange to walk free in 2015. Dismissing this, Arbuthnot argued there was no evidence “that Mr Assange’s fears” of extradition to the US “were reasonable”. Arbuthnot, therefore, referred to Assange’s asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, which began in 2012, as “his decision”.
But there are major problems with this characterisation. Because the chief magistrate ignored the fact that the US Grand Jury had opened an investigation into WikiLeaks, calling witnesses as early as 2011. And now, of course, the US indictment has vindicated Assange and his supporters’ fears of US extradition. The former WikiLeaks editor faces 175 years in prison for basic journalistic activity relating to story hunting, source protection and publishing.
Despite the grand jury investigation and the clear risk of US persecution, Sweden refused to guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to the US. That left Assange with no choice but to seek asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, as the UN ruling found. And contrary to what some have argued, Sweden could have guaranteed not to extradite the WikiLeaks co-founder. The extradition treaty between the US and Sweden states that Sweden could refuse to extradite if it believed the US case concerned “a political offense” or a lack of evidence.
Nonetheless, the UK’s chief magistrate dismissed the UN and Assange’s account, favouring the official narrative.
Assange’s supporters also question the impartiality of the chief magistrate. She is married to prominent Conservative peer James Arbuthnot, who has links to the intelligence services.
Not the be all and end all
Following the magistrates’ court ruling, Assange will be able to appeal the process in the High Court and then perhaps the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. The decision on his fate will then lie with the opinions of the judges there.
“Not binding on this court”
On 1 May 2019, Assange received a 50-week prison sentence for seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy while on bail. The former WikiLeaks editor received double the sentence than Jack Shepherd, who in the same month, skipped bail after actually killing someone with a speedboat. Since February 2018, the US has indicted Assange and called for his extradition – vindicating his decision to obtain asylum in the embassy. Nonetheless, judge Deborah Taylor upheld Arbuthnot’s ruling:
As far as the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinion is concerned, this is not binding on this court, and, as is apparent from the ruling of the Chief Magistrate, with some personal knowledge of the matters relied upon, it was underpinned by misconceptions of fact and law.
With the UK court action in mind, WikiLeaks has questioned whether Assange – a high profile enemy of the US and UK establishments – can receive a fair hearing in Britain.
It’s down to us
Anyone who wants to uphold the right for journalists to expose the worst excesses of governments should be very concerned. The only way to uphold this right is if the public do not stand for the criminalisation of journalism.
In order to do this, we must separate the man from the issue of press freedom. The US indictments are not about allegations of sexual assault in Sweden, which Assange should face separate proceedings for. They are specifically concerned with WikiLeaks publishing documents exposing war crimes that the US would have preferred to remain under wraps. Such as the US indiscriminately gunning down journalists in Iraq and tens of thousands of unreported civilian deaths. Whatever you think of Assange, what’s at stake is our ability to hold governments to account.
In the US and the UK, Assange will not receive a fair trial. If he’s convicted, it will set a precedent that puts journalists at risk worldwide. So it’s down to us. We cannot simply sit by and watch crony capitalist neocons take away such a fundamental freedom. We must fight back immediately.
Featured image via Cancillería del Ecuador/ Flickr

Get involved
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The Heat: The arrest of Julian Assange Pt 2
CGTN America - Published on Apr 11, 2019
Our panel discusses the latest: Jefferson Morley, a former reporter at the Washington Post and the author of three books on the CIA. Lester Munson, a principal at BGR Group, a leading government relations firm in Washington.Michael Daugherty, CEO of The Cyber Education Foundation and author of “The Devil Inside the Beltway”.
Category- News & Politics

Assange’s jail term ‘excessive, extreme, unjustified’ – analysts
2 May, 2019
https://www.rt.com/uk/458079-tatchell-rivet-assange-jail/
Protester outside Southwark Crown Court © Reuters / Henry Nicholls

The 50-week prison sentence handed down to WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange by a British court is both “excessive and disproportionate,” but “small beer” to what the Americans have in store for him, analysts told RT.
Human rights activist Peter Tatchell says the 47-year-old journalist should face some form of punishment for skipping bail, as it’s a criminal offence, but that a near maximum sentence of “50 weeks is excessive and disproportionate.”
Tatchell claimed that Assange’s case does not meet the necessary ‘maximum sentence’ criteria and the lengthy jail term is “unjustified.”
“According to law and sentencing guidelines, a maximum sentence should only be applied if a person poses a risk to the public or has a history of previous serious convictions – he does not fall into either of those categories.”
On reports that the Swedish authorities could revive allegations of sexual assault against Assange, Tatchell believes the journalist should face the justice system, but that the “point is he’s been willing to do so.”

Independent journalist Luс Rivet believes the prison sentence is “severe” for the crime Assange committed, but in comparison to what Washington is after him for, it’s “small beer.”

Rivet thinks London will be wary of extraditing him to the US because “there will be an outcry in the world.” This is in part due to the fact that Assange is seen by many people, including the press, as a hero for revealing “things that the Americans wanted to keep hidden,” Rivet told RT.

WikiLeaks slammed the sentence, calling it “as shocking as it is vindictive.” In a tweet shortly after sentencing, they raised concerns about whether Assange will be treated fairly during the extradition hearing on Thursday.

Question: Do you think that 50 weeks prison for a breach of bail is too severe?

Answer by Independent journalist Luс Rivet: Well the 50 weeks imprisonment was severe for what he did .. that is escape to the Ecuadorian Embassy…but it is small beer compared to what the Americans are after Julian Assange for … the Americasns of course have accused Julian Assange of having c-conspired with Chealsea Manning to get into the Pentagon secret documents .. it was just mentioned earlier … that Wikileaks in 2010 revealed nearly one million documents …. 500,000 secret documents about the war in Iraq and Afghanastan .. and in there was could see … it revealed to the press and the world that the Americans had committed serious military abuses … and then of course there was the famous 2016 presidential campaign in the US where what Wikileaks about the staff of Hillary Clinton was very detrimental to Hillary Clinton’s campaign .. so the Americans .. the Deep State in Washington hate Julian Assange’s gutz … and want Julian Assange extradited over to the United States … “

Question: “So how does that work then Luke because it is a big 24 hours for Julian Assange?
You say Thursday we are going to see a US Extradition Hearing to take place in London … how so you expect that to play out?”
Answer by Independent journalist Luс Rivet:
“Well it was fast and of course the British might ill at ease wit the fact that if they extradite Julian Assange to the United States … there will be an outcry in the world because Assange is a hero for man people … for the press for the independent press .. Julian Assange is what we call the Whistleblower .. a person who revealed things that the Americans wanted to keep hidden and so Julian Assange is a hero for many .. but the law say that this guy should be extradited to the US if the US asks it to the UK .. so his lawyers (he has good lawyers of course) will defend him … which could take months or even years before Julian Assange is extradited to the United States .. where Julian Assange will be judged for serious things … but it seems that being an Australian … and not an American Citizen and not a military person like Bradley Manning … who has become since Chealea Manning … got 35 years in prison … it was transformed into a seven years penalty by Obama … but in the case of Assange it would only be 5 years in prison for hacking … “
Question:   “ The thing is now though Luke … Julian Assange has been sentenced and is under the control of British Authorities … that opens up … a whole lot of different avenues here …we haven’t even spoken about … we are talking about Sweden … we know that Stockholm is talking about reopening its sexual assault case against Julian … will Sweden also want to make a move now … and is that in turn double Julian Assange’s chanced of extradition to the US  … which was always the fear …”
Answer by Independent journalist Luс Rivet:
“.. I don’t know about the Swedish case … it had been dropped … that’s what we heard earlier  .. so it was the American resolute attack against Assange … the Swedes of course might bring it up again … this accusation of rape and misconduct in Sweden with two women .. if have no idea really if the Swedes will do it but …. the worst for Assange is the US …. is what Julian Assange is afraid of and that is what his lawyers are going to fight against … “
Question: …. “ .. Pretty shocking pictures when Julian Assange was dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London … it would have been the first time people would have seen Julian Assange for such a length of time … a medical assessment of Julian Assange had both psychological and physical ailments … could Julian Assanges’ health impact of how lengthy this case could get you think ? “
Answer by Independent journalist Luс Rivet:
“.. it make Julian Assange more of a hero for the people that see his as such …. but the fact that Julian Assange is probably mentally ill after having staying is a few square metres for seven years there at the Ecuadorian Embassy … with cameras in every corner … there were cameras everywhere … there was not one place where he could hide to talk to one of his visitors without being on camera … so it was a terrible life for seven years and I am sure Julian Assange is depressed and following the medical report Julian Assange is in bad psychological health .. but of course this will not be an important matter by the court in the UK .. I don’t think so … “
Julian Assange’s indictment states   “.. knowingly and intentionally conspire …. to commit an offense against the United States …
Thank you  Independent journalist Luс Rivet,  Independent journalist  
Speaking from Alacante Spain this hour..

I will not comply with this, or any other grand jury, Imprisoning me for refusal to answer questions only subjects me to additional punishmens for my repeatedly- stated eethical objections to the grand jury system. The grand jury's questions pertained to disclosures from nine yeards ago, and tgook place six years after an in-depth computer forensics case, in which I testified for almost a full day about these events. I stand by my previous  public testimony, I will not participate in a secret process that I morally objext to, particularily one that has been historically used to entrap and persecute activists for protected political speech. 

Chelsea Manning jailed for refusing to testify to grand jury in WikiLeaks case
Erin Durkin in New York and agencies
Fri 8 Mar 2019 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/08/chelsea-manning-judge-jails-wikileaks-case 

Judge Claude Hilton orders Manning to jail after brief hearing
Manning says she objects to secrecy of grand jury process
Chelsea Manning told the judge she ‘will accept whatever you bring upon me’. Photograph: Suzanne Cordeiro/Reuters  
The former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. 
US district judge Claude Hilton held Manning in contempt of court and ordered her jailed on Friday after a brief hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, where Manning confirmed she has no intention of testifying. She told the judge she “will accept whatever you bring upon me”.
Manning says she is refusing to testify because she objects to the secrecy of the grand jury process, and already revealed everything she knows at her court martial.
The judge said she will remain jailed until she testifies or until the grand jury concludes its work.
Manning turned over a vast trove of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, an anti-secrecy website which made them public in 2010. She served seven years of a 35-year military sentence, and was freed after former president Barack Obama commuted her sentence.

Manning’s lawyers had asked that she be placed under home confinement instead of jail, because of medical and safety complications she faces as a transgender woman.

Her lawyer, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, called jailing Manning an act of cruelty. She argued Manning’s one-bedroom apartment would be sufficient confinement.

“Obviously prison is a terrible place,” Meltzer-Cohen said. “I don’t see the purpose to incarcerate people.”
The judge said US marshals can handle Manning’s medical care.
In a statement before Friday’s hearing, she said she invoked her first, fourth and sixth amendment protections when she appeared before the grand jury in Alexandria on Wednesday. She said she already answered every substantive question during her 2013 court-martial, and was prepared to face the consequences of refusing to answer again.
“In solidarity with many activists facing the odds, I will stand by my principles. I will exhaust every legal remedy available,” she said. “My legal team continues to challenge the secrecy of these proceedings, and I am prepared to face the consequences of my refusal.”
Prosecutor Tracy McCormick said Manning could easily end her incarceration by simply following the law and testifying.

“We hope she changes her mind now,” McCormick said.

Outside the courthouse, about 10 protesters rallied in support of a figure they call a brave whistleblower.

The justice department has been investigating WikiLeaks for some time. Last year, prosecutors in Alexandria inadvertently disclosed that the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing unspecified, sealed criminal charges in the district.
Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid arrest on contempt of court charges in the UK.

WikiLeaks is an important part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian meddling into the 2016 presidential election. Investigators are probing whether Donald Trump’s campaign knew Russian hackers were going to give WikiLeaks emails stolen from Democratic organizations, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“This is America, 2019: A secret trial against a source for refusing to testify against a journalist,” WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday in response to news of that Manning was facing a contempt hearing. Most of the hearing was held behind closed doors, but the court was open to the public for the ruling.

Associated Press contributed to this report

Chelsea Manning off to jail: Mainstream media would care if this was Russia
11 Mar, 2019 

https://www.rt.com/usa/453426-chelsea-manning-prison-media-manafort/

Chelsea Manning speaks to reporters outside a federal court in Virginia © Reuters / Ford Fischer
Her silence saw her thrown back in jail, where she will remain until she either changes her mind and testifies, or until “the end of the life of the grand jury,” Judge Claude M. Hilton ruled.
Chelsea E. Manning✔@xychelsea

** Chelsea was taken into custody today for resisting a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia
Chelsea provided the following statement:

7:58 PM - Mar 8, 2019

Manning is constitutionally protected against double jeopardy – being charged for the same crime twice – and has been granted immunity for her testimony. However, this immunity removes her constitutional right to remain silent. Furthermore, jurors in a grand jury are not screened for personal biases, no defense attorneys are present, and indictments can be issued without evidence.
In a story raising questions of press freedom, government secrecy, and whistleblowers’ rights, one would expect the media to at least have an interest. Not in this case. Manning’s imprisonment was briefly mentioned by most media outlets as a passing news story, and none questioned the problems the grand jury system could cause for other activists and whistleblowers.
Some independent and alternative journalists did, however, question the lack of coverage.
“If Chelsea Manning changed her name to ‘Pussy Riot’ and her location to ‘Russia,’ we might hear some outrage from official Washington and the Beltway press corps that claims to care so much about press freedom,” independent journalist Max Blumenthal raged on Twitter.

Max Blumenthal✔@MaxBlumenthal

If Chelsea Manning changed her name to "Pussy Riot" and her location to "Russia," we might hear some outrage from official Washington and the Beltway press corps that claims to care so much about press freedom https://apnews.com/569631f2b11c400cac05a29e0853624b?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow …

3,125

8:24 PM - Mar 8, 2019

“If a pundit complains that Trump sending mean tweets about cable news anchors is an existential threat to press freedom, but then says nothing about Chelsea Manning being re-incarcerated (she's one of the most important journalistic sources in US history) you know they are frauds,” pundit Michael Tracey chimed in

Michael Tracey✔@mtracey

If a pundit complains that Trump sending mean tweets about cable news anchors is an existential threat to press freedom, but then says nothing about Chelsea Manning being re-incarcerated (she's one of the most important journalistic sources in US history) you know they are frauds

4:59 PM - Mar 8, 2019
Glenn Greenwald✔@ggreenwald

Mar 8, 2019
This is disgusting, and all due to the efforts of the DOJ to criminalize the publication of classified information in order to prosecute WikiLeaks and Assange: something all press freedom groups, major newspapers & even the Obama DOJ said would be a major threat to press freedom:

he Associated Press✔@AP
BREAKING: Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning ordered to jail for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks. http://apne.ws/l5TdAnp
Glenn Greenwald✔@ggreenwald

I continue to find it astounding that media stars have spent 2 years prancing around proclaiming Trump poses a grave threat to press freedom because he tweets insults at Chuck Todd, while they ignore by far the greatest press freedom threat: their attempt to prosecute WikiLeaks.
 Mar 8, 2019

Evan Greer✔@evan_greer


The US government tortured Chelsea Manning for YEARS for the “crime” of exposing human rights violations. Now they’ve thrown her in jail again for resisting a Grand Jury dragnet. If you care one iota about free speech or basic rights, start fighting for her release right now.
5:47 PM - Mar 8, 2019

Blumenthal’s ‘Pussy Riot’ comparison is apt. When three members of the feminist punk group were arrested and charged with ‘hooliganism’ in 2012 after breaking into a church with a ‘performance’, the American media proclaimed Pussy Riot “the future of civil disobedience.” The New Yorker called their trial “an unapologetic demonstration of force by the state” and saluted their “spiritual and moral strength,” while the Washington Post said the case “put the Kremlin in a dangerous position.” The more liberal Huffington Post knighted the punk rock agitators as “poster children for free speech on a global scale.”Even outlets that avoided comment dedicated paragraph after paragraph to critics of the Russian government.

But when the civil disobedience is happening at home, then it’s crickets from the US media. The Washington Post kept its reporting concise and dry, as did the New York Times, CNN, and the cable news crew. HuffPost and the New Yorker didn’t even look at the story.

Of course, the media has other priorities. One day before Manning’s closed-door hearing, news crews were camped outside the same US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, breathlessly awaiting the sentence handed down to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Although Manafort was charged by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, none of his crimes involved ‘Russian collusion.’ Instead, Manafort was convicted for tax and bank fraud offenses dating back over a decade and related to Ukraine, and sentenced to nearly four years in prison.

Despite failing to turn up any evidence of collusion thus far, the Mueller investigation has captured the attention of the American media like nothing else. CNN got a front row seat to the pre-dawn FBI raid that bagged former Trump associate and Republican operative Roger Stone, and a whole host of former intelligence officials have made viable careers of spouting Russia-related conspiracies on cable news networks.

In the day since Manafort’s sentencing and Manning’s refusal to testify, CNN ran seven stories on the former campaign chairman, including two opinion pieces accusing Manafort of lying and the Judge of undue leniency. The network ran only one piece on Manning’s return to jail. The Washington Post ran five articles on Manafort, offering similar opinions, and one on Manning.

With a narrative to sell, bothersome questions of press freedom, whistleblowers’ rights, and an overbearing justice system just don’t grab attention like Russia does.

 
Russiagate won’t die: Moscow will ‘shank’ Paul Manafort in prison, MSNBC analyst predicts
 11 Mar, 2019

https://www.rt.com/usa/453355-nance-manafort-russia-murder-prison/


MSNBC analyst Malcolm Nance © AFP / Rich Polk

Paul Manafort’s 4-year prison sentence will allow Moscow to more easily murder him, MSNBC’s favorite Russia expert has declared – never mind that the presiding judge said the case had nothing to do with “Russian collusion.”
The former Trump campaign manager received 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud – a punishment far less severe than the 24 years recommended by prosecutors. During sentencing, US District Judge T.S. Ellis said that locking Manafort up for two decades would be “excessive,” noting that “he is not before the court for anything having to do with colluding with the Russian government.”

Shimon Prokupecz✔@ShimonPro

Judge tells the courtroom that Manafort is not being sentenced for anything related to the Special Counsel's investigation into Russian interference.

Ellis said "He is not beforethe court for anything having to do with colluding with the Russian government”

10:15 PM - Mar 7, 2019

This can only mean one thing, according to MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance, a former Navy cryptologist who served in the Middle East but then transitioned to styling himself as a knowledgeable Russia expert: “Manafort may be headed to white collar jail but that just means Russia can more easily get a shank in him,” Nance tweeted, using highly sophisticated cryptologist lingo for ‘assassination’.

Malcolm USS John McCain Nance✔@MalcolmNance

Manafort may be headed to white collar jail but that just means Russia can more easily get a shank in him.

Chris Hayes✔@chrislhayes

I don't actually have any investment in Paul Manafort spending more than 4 years in prison. He's 69 and that's going to be brutal.

In fact, downward sentencing departures THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM would be great!

2:36 AM - Mar 8, 2019

Clarifying his hot take for those who can’t keep up, Nance said Manafort won’t be poisoned by the FSB, but instead will likely meet his end at the hands of “subcontractors” working for the Russian mafia or “anbillionaire (sic) he owes money to.”

Manafort is aware of the jagged Russian daggers awaiting him, which is why he won’t confess to Mueller of his supposed Russian links, according to Nance.

Malcolm USS John McCain Nance✔@MalcolmNance

The question is been asked should Manafort actually fear for his life from Russia? The threat is not from the FSB using exotic poisons but subcontractor Russia Mafia & an billionaire whom he owes money. The physical threat to his life is real. That’s why he won’t talk.

Malcolm USS John McCain Nance✔@MalcolmNance

Manafort may be headed to white collar jail but that just means Russia can more easily get a shank in him. https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1103809551600635904 …
3:25 AM - Mar 8, 2019


Still, Nance’s expertise failed to convince the naïve doubters that Moscow would want to murder someone who was sent to prison for crimes unrelated to Russia
Aaron Maté✔@aaronjmate

Which is more crazy here: the suggestion that Russia will now try to "get a shank in" Paul Manafort while he serves his prison term, or the fact that @MalcolmNance is an "intelligence analyst" for a major cable news network, MSNBC? https://twitter.com/MalcolmNance/status/1103831730522341381 …

6:20 AM - Mar 8, 2019

Marquis West@FrederickLittl3

Replying to @Black_Greg @MalcolmNance
There's no evidence of that.
2:40 AM - Mar 8, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

See Marquis West's other Tweets
As Glenn Greenwald inconveniently pointed out, Manafort’s sentencing is in keeping with the growing list of Trump associates charged with unrelated crimes but presented as Russian collusion co-conspirators by the media.

Glenn Greenwald✔@ggreenwald

Though numerous outlets have reported he's close to being done, Mueller's work isn't officially over so this could change. But the *fact* remains that the number of Americans he has indicted or charged (let alone convicted) for election-conspiring with Russians is .... zero:
Undercover Huber@JohnWHuber

MANAFORT: No Collusion
FLYNN: No Collusion
GATES: No Collusion
COHEN: No Collusion
PINEDO: No Collusion
STONE: No Collusion
ZWANN: No Collusion
BUTINA: No Collusion
PAGE: No Collusion
GRU hackers: No Collusion
FB Russians: No Collusion
PAPADOPOULOS: No Collusion

Media: Collusion

2:27 AM - Mar 8, 2019

Malcolm Nance isn’t the only blue-checkmarked wise man to suggest that Moscow wants Manafort dead – though some believe he better stay behind bars and weather the shankings as opposed to getting ‘Novichoked’.
Virginia Heffernan✔@page88
The sooner Manafort is out the sooner the Novichok threatens for his role exposing Kilimnik. Maybe this joke of a sentence is his worst nightmare.
5:52 AM - Mar 8, 2019

Ranking among the most celebrated Russiagate disciples, Nance counts meme-filled Russian “cruise missiles” as one of the many anti-American tactics he has uncovered.

MSNBC’s Russia 'expert': Moscow terrorizing US with meme-filled ‘cruise missiles’ (VIDEO)

Published time: 19 Dec, 2018 15:39Edited time: 20 Dec, 2018 
https://www.rt.com/usa/446872-malcolm-nance-missile-russia-memes/#

Millions of impressionable American minds are being corrupted by Russian-linked memes, “the cruise missiles of fake news”, according to MSNBC’s self-anointed Russia expert. Everyone agrees that this is a reasonable observation.

Malcolm Nance, a former Navy cryptologist who studied Arabic and served in the Middle East, makes regular appearances on MSNBC, where he is given generous amounts of airtime to share his thoughts on all things Russia related. In his latest appearance on the network, Nance described how the destructive power of Russian-linked internet memes have apparently devastated America.

Ryan Saavedra✔@RealSaavedra

MSNBC's Malcolm Nance compares "memes" that Russia used to interfere in the 2016 election to "cruise missiles" being fired at the U.S.

6:36 AM - Dec 19, 2018


“The Internet Research agency built all these memes and tropes which became the cruise missiles of fake news and disinformation,” Nance said. He claimed that these nefarious meme-bombs have ravaged the mental faculties of “one third of the United States population,” leaving them unable to “believe what they see before their very eyes.” And of course, these JPEG-rockets “may have elected a president in the process.”

Photographs of these ghastly cruise missiles have been floating around on the internet in recent days, with many noting their astonishing level of sophistication.
Aaron Maté✔@aaronjmate
Replying to @aaronjmate

This one about Jesus "garnered the most likes of any [Russian] Instagram post before the election." Maybe all of those 87,000 likes gave Trump the victory in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania?

129

3:24 PM - Dec 18, 2018
Chris Hayes✔@chrislhayes
This is an actual meme from the Russian troll farm, in which Jesus counsels someone addicted to masturbation:
“Reach out to me and we will beat it together.”
29.2K

11:44 PM - Dec 17, 2018


Yasha Levine✔@yashalevine

I admit. I was gonna vote HRC all the way. And then I saw this...
Aaron Maté✔@aaronjmate
Replying to @aaronjmate
This one got 640,390 ‘Shares’:

3:24 PM - Dec 18, 201

This is not the first time that Nance has deployed terrifying images of Russian meme missiles to warn Americans about the new Moscow menace: In a July interview he declared that, “As an information war, the payloads in the information cruise missiles that Russia launched at this country were propaganda products which had their origins in 1917, in the Bolshevik revolution.”

Months before that outburst, in March, Nance was quoted by the Washington Post as thoughtfully asking: “What happens if 100s of millions of progressives worldwide abandon Facebook because they think it’s a tool of Trump, Russia authoritarians and neo-Nazis? Facebook needs to own up and do damage control to ensure they are not 2018’s information cruise missile of choice.”

Nance really has a knack for inventive Russia commentary. He previously demonstrated his vast knowledge about the country by falsely claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “former director of the KGB.”

Aaron Maté✔@aaronjmate
Speaking to @billmaher, @MalcolmNance falsely called Putin "a former director of the KGB." Putin was actually a mid-level KGB officer. Nance is an MSNBC analyst & one of the most cited "experts" in US media on Trump-Russia:

The “intelligence analyst” is also a savvy media observer, describing journalist Glenn Greenwald as “an agent of Trump & Moscow” after the Intercept editor attended a conference in Moscow.
When it comes to comparing GIFs to airstrikes, the MSNBC talking head keeps good company: Guardian writer Carole Cadwalladr once famously suggested that the UK was now at “war” with Russia. The reason? Russia’s Foreign Ministry changed its Twitter profile picture to a photograph of Maria Butina.

Wir Sind Alle Julian Assange

WesternTruthTV #WTTV #TVNovosti
Edward Snowden Israel Interview - Mossad & NSA - November 2018
WesternTruthTV - Published on Nov 13, 2018
Western Truth TV Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/westerntruthtv Edward Snowden, the American intelligence officer who broke into world awareness after being responsible for leaking the largest and most sensitive information in history, spoke to an Israeli audience on November 6, 18, as part of an event sponsored by the media consulting firm "Oh! Orenstein Choshen". "Said former deputy head of the Mossad Ram Ben-Barak. Snoden said this through visual meetings (VC), as part of a closed event. The conversation was led by technology journalist Dror Globerman.
The military censor was informed of the details of the incident. Sponsored by SYNC – Secure Cloud Storage –
Free with an extra 1GB when you Use the Link Below http://www.sync.com/get-started?_sync... 
Main Site: TV-Novosti.com Western Truth TV Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/westerntruthtv 
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Category - News & Politics

Pamela Anderson supports the Julian Assange and the Green New Deal for Europe 

Top 5 WikiLeaks scandals
#WikiLeaks #Assange #JulianAssange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caIm-jCcE_U
TRT World: Published on Apr 12, 2019
WikiLeaks, founded by Julian Assange in 2006, is known for publishing sensitive and secret information on its website. Here are some of the biggest stories that WikiLeaks has exposed. #WikiLeaks #Assange #JulianAssange
https://www.trtworld.com/video/the-newsmakers/who-is-julian-assange/5cb0ad4f88a00461c7d32eac
BIG SALUTE TO BRAVE Julian Assange
Sajid Khan: Julian, a hero for exposing war crimes of the US.
Mohammad Saifi: Just Arrested for Revealing war Crimes of US & NATO Armed Forces.
Sufyan Zafar: Truth has no Agenda.
uAozzie: Assange is a HERO he should be awarded a Nobel Peace prize not arrested!
Thomas Bux
Long live Assange . A true hero, someone who has sacrificed his liberty to hold these oppressive regimes to account. Justice will prevail Assange ... remain patient and steadfast
Nahian Ramesis666: A hero
Mohammed Al
Is exposing the truth criminal? If that's criminal then almost all politicians and government administrative and military officials in the US, NATO, israehell and some other western countries are murderous bandits and robbers for concealing the truth, lying under oath, warmongering, killing and stealing.
๖Rainforce: Hero, period.
Arije Mithun: Absolutely he is a hero..... I admire him. Love you boss…
burhan Colorado
Whether they arrest him or not the truth will not change
Communist International & Co.
Julian is a Hero. I want him to go to where he belongs. Where people respect him. I respect him and his work. He should go to countries like Russia or Iran or Qatar. People will treat him properly there.
Unsuspecting Suspect: No wonder all US veteran contacted PTSD cause of trauma killing innocent civilian. You know, innocent civilian who dont even speaks english
Shirley Butler: Yes and each 'kill' was a murder in the illegal invasion and occupation in peace time. All American international tourists are now potential targets without them realising it epic bruh oment: Shirley Butler I'm 12 and a target.
Ibn Abbas Alturabi
JULIAN ( the tiger ) ********* thank you brother, thanks for disclose these secrets to the world. May ALMIGHTY show you straight path and give you strength , gratitude and patience
NASASAWA
The name “Assange” must be synonymous to the word “ The Truth”. He’s a real great hero of the 21st century. All new borns must be named after his legacy name.
Darlene Sjostrom
A hero, none of us have ever looked at the US the same again!!! Those war torn countries of the ME, VietNam, Cambodia, Korea, Japan, Latin America, even Yugoslavia all know this first hand! But now, thanks to Julian Assange, we all know it!!!
takethisyousob: American war crimes are top secret. Revealing them is treason. Because America is the Good Guy.
Cappy McCappy
I CAN SEE WHY EVERYONE IS PISSED AT US AMERICANS, BUT WE'VE BEEN LIED TO ABOUT EVERYTHING FROM THE INCEPTION OF THIS COUNTRY TILL NOW. BUNCH OF LIES WE'VE BEEN FED.
In Love With James Dean
This scene, him being dragged out for exposing US's mentality of "Kill them all", just breaks my heart.
Erdinc Yedikat
This man stands up and tells the whole world the TRUTH and he is labeled as a traitor...people need to see the real face of the USA. They are the real terrorists.
Erdinc Yedikat
This man stands up and tells the whole world the TRUTH and he is labeled as a traitor...people need to see the real face of the USA. They are the real terrorists.
ADRIAN OLYMPIA: You are big hero. Gad bless you brother .
findj: In time exposing terorrist act was a crime.
Amir sandhu: Certainly a hero, a brave human being
ARSHAD SHEIKH: It's investigative journalism
H.\; The US govt and the US army, who approve these excesses/those who carry these crimes out; of killing and torturing people from around the world must rot in hell for ever. Sad to hear Assange arrested.
Omar Ahmed Omar: He is definitely a hero
Rizwan Irfan: There is no doubt that Julian Assange is a hero Love you, Julian Assange
ALAM ALAM: A real hero
BEEPBAI: No doubt....a great hero
Aslam Mhmd: One of the great hero according to my knowledge
Zubair Ahmed: Absolutely he's a hero.
Mary: Hero of course,

Julian Assange speaks about
AI controlled Facebook propaganda
TheNordland22
Published on Jun 12, 2017
Julian Assange speaks about AI controlled Facebook propaganda Wikileaks [Sun 11 June 2017]

WikiLeaks founder and DiEM25 member Julian Assange arrested!
DiEM25 Communications
Thu 04, 2019

https://diem25.org/wikileaks-founder-and-diem25-member-julian-assange-arrested/
Last year, a UK tribunal refused to release key details on communications between British and Swedish authorities that could have revealed any dealings between the UK, Sweden, the US, and Ecuador in the long-running Assange debacle. La Repubblica journalist Stefania Maurizi had her appeal to obtain documents held by the Crown Prosecution Service dismissed on December 12.
WikiLeaks is responsible for publishing thousands of documents with sensitive information from many countries. Those include the 2003 Standard Operating Procedures manual for Guantanamo Bay, the controversial detention center in Cuba. The agency has also released documents on Scientology, one tranche referred to as "secret bibles" from the religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard.
Today’s arrest of WikiLeaks founder and DiEM25 Advisory Panel member Julian Assange is a chilling demonstration of the current disregard for Human Rights and freedom of speech by establishment powers and the rising far-right. The message is clear: persecute voices of dissent and create an atmosphere of fear.
The illegal termination of Assange’s asylum at Ecuador’s London embassy shows that there are no boundaries in the coordinated crackdown on journalists and activists who are critical of the authoritarian shift that is taking place world-wide – from the US to Turkey, from Hungary to Brazil, and now from Ecuador to… the UK.
“Julian is in custody for breaching bail conditions imposed over a warrant that was… rescinded. Anyone else would be fined and released. Except that Julian Assange’s persecution is all about challenging our right to know about the crimes governments commit in our name,” said DiEM25 founder and European Parliament candidate, Yanis Varoufakis.
We as DieM25 demand that UK authorities do not become accomplices of those whose only intention is to manufacture legal fabrications, narratives and create false enemies among the people. The UK government must to defend people’s rights to freedom of expression and protect those who fight for transparency. This can be the only antidote to preventing the continued rise of the extremists.
We further call on the EU to condemn this atrocious action which undermines the core values of our Union, and reiterate our support for our dear friend and founding member Julian Assange.

Sign the petition against Julian Assange’s extradition to the US: https://i.diem25.org/petitions/1
Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here.
​https://internal.diem25.org/en/newsletter/

Pamela Anderson and Kristinn Hrafnsson speak after visiting Julian Assange in prison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-9sYdzNwlI&app=desktop
 
Pamela Anderson Defends Julian Assange After Prison Visit: 'I Love Him'
She visited the WikiLeaks founder at a high-security London lockup.
By Amy Russo, HuffPost US

Pamela Anderson on Tuesday became the first person to pay a social visit to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who was thrown out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and arrested last month.
In a statement delivered outside Belmarsh, the high-security lockup in southeast London where Assange is being held, Anderson delivered a statement in which she called Assange “an innocent person.” She told the press “he is really cut off from everybody” and hasn’t been able to communicate with his children.
“Obviously, it’s been very difficult to see Julian here, and to make our way through the prison to get to him was quite shocking and difficult,” she said. “He’s a good man. He’s an incredible person. I love him and I can’t imagine what he’s been going through.”
The actress has become one of Assange’s most prominent advocates, and she visited him repeatedly while he was at the embassy.
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, who visited Assange with Anderson, called the founder’s incarceration “an abomination.”
“This must end,” he said. “This will be a fight. I can say that Julian Assange is bent but not broken. He’s an extremely resilient person and I want you to think about the fact that such resilience usually comes from the fact that he knows that he is innocent.”
Assange was arrested in the U.K. in 2012 for alleged sex crimes committed in Sweden, but he then jumped bail and fled to the embassy. He stayed there for nearly seven years, claiming asylum until being kicked out on April 11.
He’s currently serving out a 50-week sentence for breaching his bail conditions, even though the charges in Sweden have since been dropped. 
Assange also faces potential extradition to the United States over his 2010 leak of a trove of sensitive government documents concerning the Iraq War. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion with the help of former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. Manning has been jailed in Alexandria, Virginia, for two months because of her refusal to testify in a probe of WikiLeaks.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/pamela-anderson-julian-assange-prison-wikileaks_n_5cd1afa9e4b0e4d7573903fc?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGF4DSTGC7cZ4wfB6T1Xdi677Pkhk8u-YkjIX-5rFD2K_6OCp17SU-4GOQHX3A3T6_ePH_N5d7upGxWA_wNe1kBKbT96pzBZJAnPGlYOUbZGsj4SQOgOXE-ztbYLMDmvmDRY4ns_jvZEporeeIJcTNYCCpigoPTkDZWFmm9Xm6zV

'We need to save his life': Pamela Anderson speaks of emotional visit to Assange prison
 7 May, 2019
https://www.rt.com/uk/458572-assange-prison-pamela-anderson/

An emotional Pamela Anderson and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson opened up to reporters following the first ‘social’ visit to Julian Assange since the whistleblower was imprisoned last month.
Anderson and Hrafnsson were the first people allowed to visit Assange, aside from his lawyer, since the 47-year-old was sentenced to 50 weeks imprisonment for violating bail conditions.
The pair looked solemn following the visit on Tuesday, and spoke to reporters outside of the prison about the “shocking” conditions the WikiLeaks founder is being held in. Friend and public advocate Anderson spoke of her love for the Australian and said he has not been able to speak to his children or access a computer or library since his incarceration.
“Justice will depend on public support,” said a “sick” Anderson as she faced the media.  “He’s a good man. I love him I can’t imagine what he’s been going through,” she added.
“I have to say from my heart that this visit did not reflect well on society here,” Hrafnsson added. “This is not justice this is an abomination.”
Both condemned the decision to house Assange in a high security prison, in which he spends 23 hours per day in his cell, with 30 minutes allotted to go outside – weather permitting – and 30 minutes to “do anything else.”
“I can say Julian Assange is bent but not broken,” said Hrafnsson. “He is an extremely resilient person. Such reliance comes from the fact that he knows he is innocent. He knows he has done nothing wrong, he knows he is being persecuted for the simple fact of doing journalistic work.”

READ MORE: Assange’s father slams US pursuit of Wikileaks founder as ‘revenge’ for exposing war destruction
"We need to save his life. That's how serious it is," Anderson said, with Hrafnsonn adding that "it is a question of life and death."
Assange was arrested on April 11 and sentenced to 50 weeks imprisonment for violating bail conditions on May 1. He now faces the possibility of extradition to the US, where he is wanted for “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.” An extradition hearing has been adjourned until May 30.

The Threat To The Media Posed by Trump's Prosecution of Julian Assange

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters:-WHOLE WORLD Must Focus on Julian Assange Arrest! 
goingundergroundRT
Published on Apr 17, 2019 
 We speak to Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters on the arrest of Julian Assange.
He calls on the UK to rise up to oppose Assange’s extradition, labels the UK a satellite state of US empire for arresting Assange and attacks the government of Lenin Moreno for revoking his asylum LIKE Going Underground http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT
 FOLLOW Going Underground http://twitter.com/Underground_RT
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FOLLOW on Instagram http://instagram.com/officialgoingund...  

Tom Barrack, founder of Colony Capital LLC and chair of then-President-Elect Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, speaks to members of the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 10, 2017.

WikiLeaks founder Assange denied delay to extradition hearing by London judge - The full extradition hearing of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will go ahead in February 2020 after London judge Vanessa Baraitser declined a request by his lawyers to delay proceedings by three months. Assange appeared in a London court on Monday (October 21) for a hearing on whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. He was dressed in a navy suit and light blue jumper, and raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery. He was cleanly shaven in contrast to the long beard he had grown while holed up in Ecuador's embassy. Wkileaks Editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said he was "disappointed " with the judge's decision while speaking to journalists after the court hearing. Assange, 48, faces 18 counts in the U.S. including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

Chelsea Manning off to jail: Mainstream media would care if this was Russia
11 Mar, 2019 
https://www.rt.com/usa/453426-chelsea-manning-prison-media-manafort/
Chelsea Manning speaks to reporters outside a federal court in Virginia © Reuters / Ford Fischer
Her silence saw her thrown back in jail, where she will remain until she either changes her mind and testifies, or until “the end of the life of the grand jury,” Judge Claude M. Hilton ruled.
Chelsea E. Manning✔@xychelsea
** Chelsea was taken into custody today for resisting a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia
Chelsea provided the following statement:

Mar 8, 2019
Manning is constitutionally protected against double jeopardy – being charged for the same crime twice – and has been granted immunity for her testimony. However, this immunity removes her constitutional right to remain silent. Furthermore, jurors in a grand jury are not screened for personal biases, no defense attorneys are present, and indictments can be issued without evidence.
In a story raising questions of press freedom, government secrecy, and whistleblowers’ rights, one would expect the media to at least have an interest. Not in this case. Manning’s imprisonment was briefly mentioned by most media outlets as a passing news story, and none questioned the problems the grand jury system could cause for other activists and whistleblowers.
Some independent and alternative journalists did, however, question the lack of coverage.
“If Chelsea Manning changed her name to ‘Pussy Riot’ and her location to ‘Russia,’ we might hear some outrage from official Washington and the Beltway press corps that claims to care so much about press freedom,” independent journalist Max Blumenthal raged on Twitter.
Max Blumenthal✔@MaxBlumenthal
If Chelsea Manning changed her name to "Pussy Riot" and her location to "Russia," we might hear some outrage from official Washington and the Beltway press corps that claims to care so much about press freedom https://apnews.com/569631f2b11c400cac05a29e0853624b?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow …

 Mar 8, 2019
“If a pundit complains that Trump sending mean tweets about cable news anchors is an existential threat to press freedom, but then says nothing about Chelsea Manning being re-incarcerated (she's one of the most important journalistic sources in US history) you know they are frauds,” pundit Michael Tracey chimed in.
Michael Tracey✔@mtrace
If a pundit complains that Trump sending mean tweets about cable news anchors is an existential threat to press freedom, but then says nothing about Chelsea Manning being re-incarcerated (she's one of the most important journalistic sources in US history) you know they are frauds
 Mar 8, 2019
Glenn Greenwald✔@ggreenwald
Mar 8, 2019
This is disgusting, and all due to the efforts of the DOJ to criminalize the publication of classified information in order to prosecute WikiLeaks and Assange: something all press freedom groups, major newspapers & even the Obama DOJ said would be a major threat to press freedom:
he Associated Press✔@AP

BREAKING: Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning ordered to jail for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks. http://apne.ws/l5TdAn
Glenn Greenwald✔@ggreenwald
I continue to find it astounding that media stars have spent 2 years prancing around proclaiming Trump poses a grave threat to press freedom because he tweets insults at Chuck Todd, while they ignore by far the greatest press freedom threat: their attempt to prosecute WikiLeaks.
 Mar 8, 2019
Evan Greer✔@evan_greer

The US government tortured Chelsea Manning for YEARS for the “crime” of exposing human rights violations. Now they’ve thrown her in jail again for resisting a Grand Jury dragnet. If you care one iota about free speech or basic rights, start fighting for her release right now.

Mar 8, 2019

Blumenthal’s ‘Pussy Riot’ comparison is apt. When three members of the feminist punk group were arrested and charged with ‘hooliganism’ in 2012 after breaking into a church with a ‘performance’, the American media proclaimed Pussy Riot “the future of civil disobedience.” The New Yorker called their trial “an unapologetic demonstration of force by the state” and saluted their “spiritual and moral strength,” while the Washington Post said the case “put the Kremlin in a dangerous position.” The more liberal Huffington Post knighted the punk rock agitators as “poster children for free speech on a global scale.”Even outlets that avoided comment dedicated paragraph after paragraph to critics of the Russian government.
But when the civil disobedience is happening at home, then it’s crickets from the US media. The Washington Post kept its reporting concise and dry, as did the New York Times, CNN, and the cable news crew. HuffPost and the New Yorker didn’t even look at the story.
Of course, the media has other priorities. One day before Manning’s closed-door hearing, news crews were camped outside the same US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, breathlessly awaiting the sentence handed down to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Although Manafort was charged by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, none of his crimes involved ‘Russian collusion.’ Instead, Manafort was convicted for tax and bank fraud offenses dating back over a decade and related to Ukraine, and sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
Despite failing to turn up any evidence of collusion thus far, the Mueller investigation has captured the attention of the American media like nothing else. CNN got a front row seat to the pre-dawn FBI raid that bagged former Trump associate and Republican operative Roger Stone, and a whole host of former intelligence officials have made viable careers of spouting Russia-related conspiracies on cable news networks.
In the day since Manafort’s sentencing and Manning’s refusal to testify, CNN ran seven stories on the former campaign chairman, including two opinion pieces accusing Manafort of lying and the Judge of undue leniency. The network ran only one piece on Manning’s return to jail. The Washington Post ran five articles on Manafort, offering similar opinions, and one on Manning.
With a narrative to sell, bothersome questions of press freedom, whistleblowers’ rights, and an overbearing justice system just don’t grab attention like Russia does.

The Heat: The arrest of Julian Assange Pt 1
CGTN America
Published on Apr 11, 2019
After taking political asylum for seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange was removed by British police. Assange was shackled and taken into custody. There was a warrant in the U.K. for skipping bail in 2012, but the United States had also charged the Wikileaks founder with conspiring to hack a classified government computer, back in 2010. He faces extradition, and if convicted, could be sentenced to five years in prison. Anand Naidoo interviewed former technical director of the U.S. National Security Agency William Benny about Assange's arrest.
Category - News & Politics

How long is Julian Assange going to prison for, why was he arrested, and did the WikiLeaks founder have a panic button at the Ecuador embassy?
By Paul Harper - 3rd June 2019, 
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2188164/julian-assange-arrest-wikileaks-jailed-prison/
JULIAN Assange won't be extradited to Sweden after he has served his prison term for jumping bail.
But the controversial fonder of Wikileaks could be questioned in the UK - here's what you need to know.
Julian Assange has been living in London's Ecuadorian embassy for four years after he was granted asylum

Who is Julian Assange?
The 47-year-old is an Australian who spearheaded the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks to expose the inner workings of governments, military and trade deals around the world.
Assange is a hacker, freedom of information advocate and considers himself a political refugee.
He was born in Queensland in 1971 and attended the city's Central university where he studied programming, mathematics and physics.
Assange has a software designer son named Daniel with his ex-wife Teresa.

Why was Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy?
Assange was visiting Sweden in August 2010 to speak at a conference when he met two women and had sex with them.
They accused him of rape and molestation and Assange was questionedbut never charged over the allegations.
He was initially told he could leave the country, but in November of that year, Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest.
Assange has always denied the claims.
He gave himself up a week later and appeared before a judge in Westminster, where his supporters stumped up £240,000 for his bail.
In June 2012, Swedish prosecutors called for him to be extradited - a measure his lawyers opposed in case he was sent to the US.
On June 19, 2012, he fled bail and applied for asylum in Ecuador, through the embassy in Knightsbridge, London.
Swedish prosecutors said on May 13, 2019, they will seek the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder Assange after he has served his prison term for jumping bail.
Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden's deputy director of public prosecutions, told a news conference that "in order to execute the arrest warrant, the prosecutor will issue a so-called European arrest warrant."
The Swedish move would leave Britain to decide whether to extradite Assange to Sweden or to the United States, where he is wanted for allegedly hacking into a Pentagon computer.
 
Why was Julian Assange arrested?
Assange was charged with 17 new counts of espionage for publishing classified documents.
The charge read: “Assange, WikiLeaks affiliates and Manning shared the common objective to subvert lawful restrictions on classified information and to publicly disseminate it.”
Prosecutors allege that Assange and WikiLeaks “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal it.”
The disclosures, prosecutors claim, contained the names of local Afghans and Iraqis who had given information to the US, as well as other confidential sources for the US government.
They said the releases “put innocent people in grave danger simply because they provided information to the United States.”
Each of the alleged 17 violations of the Espionage Act carries a potential ten-year prison sentence, the Washington Post reported.
It's the first time in US history that anyone operating in a journalistic capacity has been charged under the act.
The Ecuadorian authorities stated that Assange could remain in their embassy as long as he wished.
In 2018, Ecuador closed off Assange's communications with the outside world after the Australian breached an agreement he had made with the South American country a year earlier.
Its government said Assange's behaviour online risked jeopardising the nation's relationship with the UK.
On July 27, it was reported that Ecuador's president said Assange must eventually leave the embassy.
Then in April 2019, Ecuador's new president Lenin Moreno said the country was withdrawing Assange's diplomatic immunity, meaning police were free to enter the embassy and arrest him.
On April 11, he was arrested by Met Police for "failing to surrender to the court".
Since his arrest, Moreno has accused Assange of hosting numerous hackers at the embassy to give them directions on how to propagate information on topics important to him, and his financiers.
Ecuador has also revealed that it spent £5million keeping him holed up in London for seven years.

WikiLeaks✔@wikileaks
WIKILEAKS RESPONDS TO ESPIONAGE ACT INDICTMENT AGAINST ASSANGE: UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK ON FREE PRESS
 24 May 2019

How long was he jailed for?
The raft of new charges are in addition to an initial indictment accusing him of conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
This latest charge says Assange conspired with Manning to obtain and disclose classified national defence documents in 2010.
On May 1, 2019, Assange was jailed for 50 weeks for hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy and jumping bail.
The 47-year-old "apologised unreservedly" claiming he feared he would be "kidnapped" by the US because of his works with the whistle-blower website.
But Assange was jailed for close to the maximum one-year sentence as the judge told him he still "had a choice" and put himself deliberately out of reach of the law.
Assange's lawyers today told Southwark Crown Court that he had been consumed by fears he would be kidnapped and "forcibly taken" to the US, which had indicted him over leaking of information with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
Assange’s defence lawyer Mark Summers QC, said: "As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned.
"They dominated his thoughts. They were not invented by him, they were gripping him throughout."
Mr Summers said Assange's fears that he could face extradition from Sweden to the US were well founded and "not a figment of his imagination".
Sweden at the time, he said, had a "well documented and unfortunate history" of sending "people to states where they were at significant risk of ill treatment including torture and death".

Will Assange be extradited?
Swedish prosecutors are  seeking Assange's extradition to Sweden, and he also faces a battle against extradition to America where he was recently charged in his absence with "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the US".
District Judge Michael Snow described Assange's claim he's never had a fair hearing as "laughable" before ruling the US must produce an extradition case by June 12.
Earlier the US Department of Justice called for his return to the country and warned he could face up to five years in prison over the government leak allegations.
But a British court ruled on June 3, 2019 Assange cannot be extradited to Sweden to face rape charges.
The ruling doesn't mean a preliminary investigation in Sweden is to be abandoned, only that the 47-year-old Assange shouldn't be extradited and could be questioned in Britain.
Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden's deputy director of public prosecutions, said she still wants to speak to him, though she hasn't picked a possible date for the questioning in the UK.
"I will also issue a European Investigation Order in order to interview Julian Assange," said Persson said.
But Assange's lawyer Per Samuelson argued that Assange's imprisonment in Britain meant there was no flight risk.
"He is in prison for half a year at least, and he is detained on behalf of the United States," he told the court.
"So there is no point detaining him in Sweden, too."

In April, Assange was evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in Londonwhere he had been holed up claiming political asylum since 2012.
Assange was then immediately arrested by British police on April 11 and is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.
He is also fighting extradition to the US but missed a court hearing last week, reportedly due to ill health.

Did the WikiLeaks founder have a panic button at the Ecuador Embassy?

Assange was arrested in a way that ensured he wouldn't be able to press a mysterious panic button he claimed would have “devastating consequences” to the Ecuadorean embassy.
It has been revealed that his swift arrest was designed to stop him pressing an emergency panic button.
Ecuador's foreign minister Jose Valencia said audio recordings from a few months ago captured Assange threatening ambassador Jaime Merchan with pressing the button which would have "devastating consequences" for the embassy if he was arrested.
British authorities were told about the threat — which cops acted on by not allowing Assange to return to his room in the embassy during his arrest to carry out any secret plans.
But it's not yet clear what was meant by the panic button threat.
A previous version of this story said that Assange had sex with two men who later accused him of rape. In actual fact they were women. The story was corrected on March 10, 2016.
Swedish prosecutor announces that they are reopening an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange

Assange's  Freedom Is Our Freedom - Free Assange Right Now .!!!!!

Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Decision not to arrest Assange over rape claim won't be appealed
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/decision-not-to-arrest-assange-over-rape-claim-wont-be-appealed-38239766.html
Decision not to arrest Assange over rape claim won't be appealed
Dean Gray June 21 2019
Sweden's prosecution authority said yesterday it would not appeal a court ruling rejecting a formal request that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be detained while an allegation of rape is investigated.Assange, an Australian national, is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for skipping bail after spending seven years holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden. He denies the rape accusation. Sweden wants to question Assange, but cannot request his extradition from Britain without a detention order and a European Arrest Warrant. "Work is now focused on assessing the evidence," Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Eva-Marie Persson said in a statement.