While I've listened to Julian Assenge speak, I really have not read
much about him personally. Certainly the face he presents to the
public does not earn him the title of "Mister Excitement". But I've
been lulled to sleep by some pretty bright people. And, not ranking
myself among the bright, but I've been told that I can wander a long
way from my subject, and beat around the barn when it would make my
point if I were a teeny bit more direct.
What we need to understand about this whole witch hunt is that there
can never be a fair, impartial trial of Julian Assenge. His character
has been attacked and his morals have been dragged through the press
without a fair hearing. An unspoken attitude about who Julian Assenge
is, will prejudice any judge or jury. And that is exactly what the US
government wants. But the good news for Julian Assenge is that
attention will be turned from him to an even better sex scandal, that
of our once beloved funny man Bill Cosby. I'll make a little wager.
After the media finishes with Bill Cosby, who do you think will be
more vilified, Australians, or Black American Men?
Carl Jarvis
On 5/20/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The thing about Julian Assenge is that like the business with Trump and
Russia, I think that the issues about Julian get confused because of his
personality. I gather from stuff I've read and from things said and unsaid,
that he's actually not a very nice person, in terms of his personality and
relationships with others. So what happens is, that people's negative
feelings about him as a person, tend to confuse the issues that you mention
like how can he be tried for treason when he's not a US citizen and doesn't
WikkiLeaks have the same rights of freedom of the press as those Mexican
reporters who were assassinated by drug cartels and probably Mexican
government officials or trussian reporters? The other thing is that Assenge
is really smart and knowledgeable. I heard a talk that he gave on a WBAI
program which was repeated in a Flashpoints podcast yesterday. He was
describing history of Sweden from the 1920's up to the 80's and 90's, and it
was stuff I hadn't heard before, but which rang a bell, given that wonderful
suspense trilogy that was so popular a few years ago, written by the Swedish
author who died. Anyway, one thing Julian said was there is a very wealthy
right wing elite in Sweden and that Sweden is not exactly this lovely
Social Democratic country that we have been led to believe that it is. They
had a Nazi party back in the 20's and it still exists. Is he telling the
truth? I surely don't know. I do know that he overstated the case a bit
recently on Democracy Now when he stated that there was no difference in the
effect on the country and the world between Trump and Clinton's having
become President. Alan Nearn was on that same program and he got really
upset over Assenge's statement. I understand Julian's rage at Clinton, given
what she said about him when she was Secretary of State, and I certainly
think her foreign policy would have been a disaster. But no difference?
Maybe he doesn't understand why having Jeff Sessions as an Attorney General
is a problem.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2017 12:51 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Sweden Drops Rape Inquiry Against Julian
Assange
Just to get it out of my way, because it is really a non issue, but still I
have to wonder why a man would risk impregnating a woman, or contacting any
of a number of sexually transmitted diseases by not wearing a condom.
But as I said, this was never a real issue. The USA wanted Julian Assange
to be held up as an example to those journalists who might dig out and
publish more undemocratic international affairs.
By going after Julian Assange, the US government is drawing public attention
away from the serious question over how much secrecy can a nation involve
itself in and still be held accountable to its People?
In other words, is the USA still a Republic, with elected officials carrying
out the will of the citizens? Or has it become a phony front shielding an
Industrial/Military Oligarchy. What a strange place for the United States
government to find itself in. Back around 1776 people like Julian Assange
were given hero status when they publicly reported the secret activities of
the British Rulers. And by the way, those brave Souls were British
Subjects, just as were all Freemen of that day. Julian Assange is *Not an
American citizen. Julian Paul Assange is an Australian Citizen. Just when
did our US Attorney General become the Earth's top legal official? Isn't it
bad enough that jolly old Jeff Sessions has reopened our War on Drugs, with
its implications to all Black and Brown people, especially those living in
near poverty or worse.
I wondered when I first heard Donald Trump proclaim that he would "Drain the
Swamp", just who all that included. Some naive folk believed that this
meant the Wall Street Lobbyists, while others were certain he meant
"trimming the fat" from government departments. But from early indications,
it appears that Donald Trump meant to flush out Muslims, Mexicans, and
members of the Press. And to make a much safer nation, Donald Trump's
attorney general will clean out the Ghettos and inner cities of all those
dangerous Black Druggies. Of course Donald Trump's job will have just
begun. There are still all those Chinese and Japanese who might be
harboring Terrorists, too.
It's going to be a bigger job than Donald Trump believed it would be.
Returning America to her White Might is getting messy. People just refuse
to quietly go home. Really.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/20/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Some thoughts: The actual rape assertion was that he didn't use a
condom when having intercourse with the woman, if I remember
correctly. Sweden has unusual definitions of rape. The prosecutor was
invited to interview Assenge in the Ecuadorian embassy, but refused.
So they could not clear him of the charges.
Miriam
Truthdig
Sweden Drops Rape Inquiry Against Julian Assange
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/sweden_drops_rape_inquiry_against
_julia
n_assange_20170519/
Posted on May 19, 2017
By Donald Kaufman
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking from London's Ecuadorean
Embassy in 2016. (Frank Augstein / AP)
Swedish prosecutors have dropped their seven-year-long investigation
of rape allegations against Julian Assange, but the WikiLeaks founder
and publisher still faces legal uncertainty in Britain and the United
States.
Sweden's director of public prosecution, Marianne Ny, made the
announcement
(https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/may/19/swedish-prosecutors-dro
p-juli
an-assange-investigation) Friday, saying she "has decided to
discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape" because "at
this point, all possibilities to conduct the investigation are
exhausted."
"In order to proceed with the case, Julian Assange would have to be
formally notified of the criminal suspicions against him," Ny
explained. "We cannot expect to receive assistance from Ecuador
regarding this. Therefore, the investigation is discontinued. If he,
at a later date, makes himself available, I will be able to decide to
resume the investigation immediately."
Ny added it was "regrettable we have not been able to carry out the
investigation" but said "we are not making any pronouncement about
guilt."
The New York Times wrote Friday, "The investigation could be reopened,
[Ny] said, if Mr. Assange returned to Sweden before August 2020, the
time limit for prosecution specified by the statute of limitations."
Ecuador granted political asylum to Assange in 2012. He has been
living at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since then.
The investigation started in 2010. After a massive WikiLeaks dump of
secret U.S. military reports, two women accused Assange of rape and
sexual assault.
According to The Guardian, Swedish authorities dropped the sexual
assault allegations by one of the women in 2015 "after the statute of
limitations expired."
Assange has always maintained that the rape allegations were false and
that he would go to Sweden to face the charges directly if Sweden
would guarantee he would not be extradited to the United States.
After Sweden's decision to end the rape investigation was announced,
Assange tweeted
(https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/865553683387367425) :
"Detained for 7 years without charge by while my children grew up and
my name was slandered. I do not forgive or forget."
A lawyer representing a woman who claimed Assange raped her said "it
is a scandal that a suspected rapist can escape justice and thereby
avoid the courts. . My client is shocked, and a decision to drop the
case won't make her change [her assertion] that Assange exposed her to
rape," The Local reported
(https://www.thelocal.se/20170519/assange-accuser-calls-swedish-decisi
on-a-s
candal-maintains-accusations-lawyer) .
Police in London said Assange still faces arrest for failing to meet
bail conditions. The Guardian reported that an arrest warrant was
issued for Assange after he entered the Ecuadorean Embassy and did not
surrender to a court. The BBC reports that punishment for the offense
can be up to a year in prison or a fine.
"The Metropolitan police service [MPS] is obliged to execute that
warrant should he leave the embassy," a statement said. "Whilst Mr
Assange was wanted on a European arrest warrant (EAW) for an extremely
serious offence, the MPS response reflected the serious nature of that
crime. Now that the situation has changed and the Swedish authorities
have discontinued their investigation into that matter, Mr Assange
remains wanted for a much less serious offence. The MPS will provide a
level of resourcing which is proportionate to that offence."
Assange wants to start a dialogue with British authorities to
determine his legal status in the United Kingdom and in the United
States, another place where authorities want to arrest him
(http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/press_freedoms_us_seeks_arrest_w
ikilea
ks_founder_julian_assange_20170421) .
The Ecuadorean government wants Britain to promise not to arrest
Assange and to guarantee his safety.
The BBC reports (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39979343) :
[Ecuadorean] Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said that the UK should
now grant Mr Assange safe passage, as the European arrest warrant
against him "no longer holds".
"Ecuador welcomes the decision to drop the charges," Mr Long added,
quoted by AFP [Agence France-Presse], while criticizing the time it
took Sweden to send an investigator to London to interview Mr Assange.
"Ecuador regrets that it took Swedish prosecutor more than four years
to carry out this interview. This was a wholly unnecessary delay."
Earlier a source at the ministry told the Press Association that
Ecuador had "fully co-operated with the Swedish justice system".
The source added that Ecuador would now intensify its diplomatic
efforts with the UK so that Julian Assange could "enjoy his asylum in
Ecuador".
Leaving the Ecuadorean Embassy remains unsafe for Assange until the U.K.
provides assurances that he won't be extradited to the U.S. In April,
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that arresting Assange was a
priority
(https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/21/arresting-julian-assang
e-is-a
-priority-says-us-attorney-general-jeff-sessions) for the U.S.
government, even though Donald Trump said "I love WikiLeaks" at a
rally during the presidential campaign.
The CIA also considers Assange a threat
(https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/2017-speeches
-testi
mony/pompeo-delivers-remarks-at-csis.html) . "It's time to call out
WikiLeaks for what it really is: a non-state hostile intelligence
service often abetted by state actors like Russia," CIA Director Mike
Pompeo said during an April 13 public talk
(https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/2017-speeches
-testi
mony/pompeo-delivers-remarks-at-csis.html) at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies.
VOTE: Is WikiLeaks an Ethical News Source or 'Hostile Intelligence
Service'?
(http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/is_wikileaks_an_ethical_news_sou
rce_or
_hostile_intelligence_service_2017041)
Through WikiLeaks, Assange has released hundreds of thousands of
classified U.S. documents. The materials have exposed possible U.S.
war crimes, CIA spying techniques, and corruption of politicians
(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_the_wikileaks_revelations_re
veal_a
bout_donna_brazile_and_the_dnc_20161) and institutions including the
Democratic Party
(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/wikileaks_podesta_emails_reveal_t
he_pow
er_behind_the_clinton_campaign_) , along with making other disclosures.
WATCH: Julian Assange Accuses Democrats of McCarthyism, Maintains
Russia Was Not WikiLeaks' Source
(http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/assange_maintains_russia_was_not
_wikil
eaks_source_20170410)
In February 2016, a United Nations panel found that Assange had been
"arbitrarily detained
(http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/europe/julian-assange-ruling/index.html) "
by
the Swedish and U.K. governments since 2010. The U.N. Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention at the time recommended "remedies such as release
from detention and compensation."
Assange made a public statement
(https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2017/may/19/julian-assange-rap
e-inqu
iry-dropped-live) from the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy on Friday.
"The proper war is just commencing," he said. "The U.K. says it will
arrest me regardless."
</p><p>
Below is a video from a 2016 panel with Democracy Now! anchor Amy
Goodman (pictured at left), Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges, WikiLeaks
lawyer Margaret Ratner, Assange lawyer Carey Shenkman and journalist
Jeremy Scahill. The discussion dealt with Assange and the importance
of whistleblowing, and the WikiLeaks founder made an appearance at the
end through a video feed.
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