Yves here. The intensity of the legal and information campaign against Julian Assange demonstrates the fragility of our soi-disant leaders. Even though he exposed war crimes and dirty election dealings, they did not represent threat to security. But you’d never know that if you listened to the calls for him to be drawn and quartered.
This post seeks to clear up some of the cultivated misinformation about Assange.
By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at God’s Spies
An enemy of the state is a person accused of political crimes such as treason. In designating persons as enemies of the state, the government can realize the political repression of political opponents, such as dissidents. A government can justify political repression as protecting the national security of the country and the nation.
— Wikipedia here
It’s time to talk about Julian Assange, again. A decision on his extradition from the torture of his UK imprisonment to the torture of a U.S. imprisonment — where I believe he will be killed — could come any day.
From a legal standpoint, his crimes are none.
Misconception: Julian Assange is a “traitor” who should be brought to trial in the United States. Correction: Assange is not an American citizen, he has never lived in the US, and he does not have any significant ties to the US. He is an Australian citizen who was living and working in London when the US government opened its case against him. The charges against him are connected to WikiLeaks’ publication of materials in the public interest. Assange’s extradition would set a dangerous precedent that could put other publishers and journalists around the world at risk, regardless of citizenship. Worryingly, the US government has also stated that First Amendment protections will not apply to Assange as a non-citizen.
Misconception: Julian Assange is a whistleblower who leaked classified information. Correction: Assange played a different role to that of whistleblower; he did not leak classified information himself, but he published information that was leaked to him. The leaker, former Army analyst Chelsea Manning, already served more than seven years in prison before President Obama commuted her 35-year sentence, stating it was “very disproportionate relative to what other leakers have received”. If extradited to the US, Assange would be the first publisher tried under the Espionage Act, which lacks a public interest defence, meaning anyone accused in this way cannot sufficiently defend themselves. He faces the possibility of a staggering 175-year prison sentence.
But from the standpoint of the State, Assange is an enemy. The most notable of these crimes are listed below. (For others, like the diplomatic cables leaks, see this excellent piece by Lee Fang.)
1. Many, even self-identified liberals, hate him for publishing leaked information about Hillary Clinton and the DNC during the 2016 election.
Here’s Hillary Clinton in May 2023. Note the phrase “Russian Wikileaks” below.
Clinton said she was confident that she was on track to winning the election until two things reversed her momentum: the release of campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails, which were allegedly stolen by Russian hackers, and Comey’s Oct. 28 letter to Congress that he had reopened the bureau’s investigation into her use of a private email server. “I was on the way to winning until the combination of Jim Comey’s letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off[.]
It is a widely held but factually baseless belief, that Russia worked with Wikileaks to hack and publish DNC data. When challenged, the Justice Department declined to present evidence of its truth.
2. Those who run the State hate him for exposing how the U.S. makes war.
Watch the Wikileaks-made film, Collateral Murder, embedded at the top. (If the embed won’t play, click here.)
It’s brutal to watch, but I challenge you to do it anyway. It shows not just murder, but a special kind of murder — murder from the safety of the air, murder by men with machine guns circling their targets like hunters with shotguns who walk the edges of a trout pond, shooting at will, waiting, walking, then shooting again, till all the fish are dead.
The film also shows war crimes, apparently par for the course, that implicate the entire structure of the U.S. military, as everyone involved was acting under orders. They sought permission to fire, waited, then got it before once more blasting away. The publication of this video, plus all the Wikileaks publications that followed, comprise the whole reason everyone in the U.S. who matters, everyone with power, wants Julian Assange dead.
The Heavy Hand of the State
Everyone with power also want him hated. Generating that hate is the process we’re watching today.
“Everyone” in this case includes every major newspaper that published and received awards for publishing Wikileaks material; all major U.S. televised media outlets; and all “respectable” U.S. politicians — including, of course, Hillary Clinton, who was rumored (though unverifiably) to have said, “Can’t we just drone this guy?”
It was revealed by Michael Isikoff that the CIA and the Trump administration contemplated his murder:
Some senior officials inside the CIA and the Trump administration even discussed killing Assange, going so far as to request “sketches” or “options” for how to assassinate him. Discussions over kidnapping or killing Assange occurred “at the highest levels” of the Trump administration, said a former senior counterintelligence official. “There seemed to be no boundaries.” The conversations were part of an unprecedented CIA campaign directed against WikiLeaks and its founder. The agency’s multipronged plans also included extensive spying on WikiLeaks associates, sowing discord among the group’s members, and stealing their electronic devices.
So please watch the film, though it may break your heart. The footage shows not only murder, but bloodlust and conscienceless brutality, so much of it in fact that this became one of the main reasons Chelsea Manning leaked it in the first place. As she said at her court-martial:
“The most alarming aspect of the video for me, was the seemingly delight of bloodlust they [the pilots] appeared to have. They dehumanized the individuals they were engaging with, and seemed to not value human life in referring to them as ‘dead bastards,’ and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers.”
Bodies Pile on Bodies
This is done in our name, to “keep us safe.” This continues to be done every day that we and our allies are at “war” in the Middle East.
Bodies pile on bodies as this continues. The least we can do, literally the least, is to witness and acknowledge their deaths. And prevent the murder of Julian Assange for the crime of exposing these murderers for who they are. It’s still not too late. For the latest as of this writing, please watch this.
(This is an expanded version of a previously published article.)
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George Galloway has won the by-election in Rochdale. Perhaps Assange will now also become an issue in the British parliament.
A remarkable (and rare) political come back for Galloway, indeed. Yay!
For this relief (of Assange and so much more), much thanks. May it be in time. Get ready for the mother of all Question Times!
Good. Now what?
Any mention of Azaria should include a picture of his supporters demonstrating for his release. The video has vanished from the internet, but I did manage to save an image. His supporters are waving an Israeli flag, with a Hebrew slogan that translates to “Meine Ehre heißt Treue”.
Meine Ehre heißt Treue (pronounced [ˌmaɪnə ˈʔeːʁə haɪst ˈtʁɔʏə]; “My honor means loyalty”) was the motto of the Schutzstaffel (SS) under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meine_Ehre_hei%C3%9Ft_Treue
I read this article and see a parallel with the zionists laying a food trap for Palestinians, killing about 100 people and wounding several hundred more.
Manning and Assange tried to warn us.
To me, the most damning part of the collateral murder episode was that, after the actual event, someone (Reuters?) cried foul and the military said they would review the incident. Some time later (a year?) they released their finding. No crime had been commited. Everything had been done properly. That said It all.
Assange has spent more time without liberty than if he had consented to the Swedish and the USA extradition …
Who ever could have advised him to run, costing supporters a large sum of bail money and immense amounts of overtime for the Metro Police guarding the embassy for so long?
An example ‘in terrorem’ to prevent other whistles being blown, all genuine journalism and criticism and a neat way to avoid the issue being decided in a USA court?
The traitor was his informant, who was brave and punished and has had far more liberty than JA.
Asking for a friend, as they say …
Incorrect assumption. The US will put him in solitary for the rest of his life. He faces up to 175 years in prison. The US intends to engage in what amounts to torture. Look at how in the UK court he was given the Hannibal Lecter treatment, put in a box as if he might jump from the defendant’s table and rip the judge’s throat out.
https://shadowproof.com/2020/02/27/judge-julian-assange-must-remain-in-glass-box-during-extradition-proceedings/
I suggest you listen to the Tucker Carlson video on his interview with Assange, as in the hurdles to getting a meeting and then the extreme, multiple-stage screening process when the visit finally took place.
Adolf Eichmann was held in a glass booth during his trial to protect him from assassination attempts. A curious echo — a bent rhyme.
I can’t help but think that Assange is doomed to be sent to the US. The Deep State wants his hide too bad in order to make an example of him for other journalist and whistleblowers. Expect a celebratory tweet from Hillary Clinton when his plane lands in the US. The law in the US and the UK means nothing as they will twist it in any way that they want in order to get the result that they want. We have seen that5 with that London “trial.” Consider this exercise in legal doublethink. Julian Assange is a “traitor”, even though he is not and has never been a citizen of the US which means that that tag is not possible. And at the same time, they acknowledge that he is not an American citizen so that they can say that he is not entitled to the legal protections of the First Amendment. And because of this, any trial of Assange will not be a public one on the grounds of “national security.” I am actually surprised that because of his legal status that they do not want to send him to Guantanamo Bay but I guess that this would be too much on the nose, even for the Biden administration. So what can Assange expect in a US prison? Going by other political prisoners, denial of any medical treatment or medicines, lights on in his cell 24/7 and being woken and forced to stand by guards every 15 minutes or so.
Of course. I have said it before that international law is basically Calvinball, overseen by a thug.
Increasingly, that description doesn’t just apply to international law.
I almost completely agree with Neuburger. The one place I disagree is relying too much on the “enemy of the state“ label rather than the one person who is actually responsible; Joe Biden.
Supposedly, the intelligence agencies like the CIA and NSA are part of the executive branch and they report to the president. Thus, Julian Assange’s fate, the existence of a free press, and the democratic process is in Joe Biden’s hands.
Unfortunately, if Biden is comfortable committing genocide, I doubt he’ll do anything about Assange. Still, he must be held to account.
On X, RFK Jr., wrote, “I’ll pardon brave truth-tellers like Julian Assange and investigate the corruption and crimes they exposed.” He added, “The America I love doesn’t imprison dissidents.”
“Supposedly”
Even “pardon” is the wrong term. Pardon for what? He hasn’t committed any crime.
The whole case is a vindictive travesty of justice – murder by process.
#FreeAssange
Kinda forgot Vault 7. In my estimation that’s why he is really the enemy of the state. The CIA could electronically hack anyone anywhere and leave bogus digital footprints…no final chapter in any ‘who-done-it’ ever again. Pompeo’s panties will forever remain bunched by this great reveal.
Between that and ever improving image/video generation, who needs a private island to produce compromat any more…
The great fear of the Deep State is losing control of the narrative. It’s similar to the Israeli, or Hollywood model that if you control the narrative, that’s the only thing that counts. It is a sign they have nothing left but the narrative, and are terrified at losing that.
Unfortunately, they have already lost control. It doesn’t matter now, so the persecution of Assange is simply evil.
USA, the shallowest nation. Tint your windows, cover your bottles, and you can get as drunk as you like.
Just look at how Disney freaked when their best selling star revealed herself to be human after all, with all the flaw that includes.
I think that fear of losing control of the narrative is precisely why internet searches have become so crapified. Google et al censoring information to the point where you can no longer find recent history that isn’t propaganda.
His extradition, if it happens, may well be the spark that sets everything alight.
The whole world is watching to see if the West is going to send the signal that so-called democracy, freedom and human rights are dead.
1. public complicity is necessary for state crimes, including war
2. complicity is gained by media, via willing journalists and media manipulators who conceal their real agendas and source material
3. media is the head of the snake. decapitate it and state crimes will begin to fail
4. Assange, via Wikileaks, provided a completely new kind of news, one that was verifiable by the public
5. The Wikileaks model is a mortal threat to faith in media, and therefore has to be destroyed.
Everyone who works in media these days makes a choice. They can choose to be like Julius Streicher, or like Julian Assange.
“Are you Julius, or Julian?” — It’s obvious which choice most of them have made.