Archive
Steve Bell on the diplomatic row between the UK and Ecuador over Julian Assange – cartoon.
- The Guardian, Thursday 16thAugust 2012.
Don’t lose sight of why the US is out to get Julian Assange.
Hello, Followers,
Just a heads up, regarding Ecuador’s newest citizen…
This is well worth a watch, the link is below and what follows is well worth a read.
Very Best Wishes,
Neil
Four Corners, an investigative journalism website, has released a video about how the Swedish case against Julian Assange came to be.
Four Corners is Australia’s premier television current affairs program, and has released a video telling the story about Julian Assange‘s visit to Sweden, and the alleged rape charges against him.
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Also separately, this is a very good article, worth a read,
Don’t lose sight of why the US is out to get Julian Assange.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/21/why-us-is-out-to-get-assange
Ecuador is pressing for a deal that offers justice to Assange’s accusers – and essential protection for whistle-blowers.
Below are some comments about the piece:-
The problem for the Swedes is that the US holds an enormous number of incriminating documents whose release would utterly dispel the myth of Swedish non-alignment going back more than 50 years and expose the country as a full-fledged member and supporter of the Western alliance and a rather effective US puppet.
Could the current Swedish political and economic elite survive the volcano of outrage that would follow revelations concerning the real roles and fates of Raoul Wallenberg and Olof Palme and the crude machinations, covert manipulations and overt hypocrisy of the supposedly benign Stockholm-based Nobel committees? Hardly.
The whole basis of post-WWII Swedish society and culture would be exposed as one gigantic and sordid fallacy. Even Andrew Brown would be compelled to reassess his past.
The US has Sweden over the barrel.
(The irony of the present situation is that the US might very well attempt to release these incriminating documents via Wikileaks!)
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Why have you shied way from stating factually & clearly that the US has not only kidnapped, tortured and illegally incarcerated its enemies, real or imagined, on a global scale – and continues to do so under the corrupt war criminal Obama – but has also murdered and assassinated such enemies (real or imagined) along with thousands of innocent by-standers without any recourse to due process of national or international law? Obama has violated and put asunder every tenet of the First, Second, Fourth & Fifth Amendments of the US Constitution. This US administration has turned the US into nothing more than a despicable, cowardly, uncivilised bully and a terrorist nation. The hypocrisy of its attorney general, Eric Holder, and that bitch Hillary Clinton stinks to high heaven but these shameless creatures have become whores of Obama (as Blair was/is to Bush) and mindlessly support/perpetuate his lies and barbarity. You are correct though that we should not lose sight of why Obama is out to get Julian Assange [and Bradley Manning]. Not only press freedom and freedom of information but all our freedoms (of which freedom of expression is but one) are at stake.
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Far too little, and far too late. I fear this article is just lip service – coming as it does days after the main event and after the media storm has passed – to give the impression that the Guardian is an objective organ when the reality is that its anti-Assange agenda is set in stone. This article should have been your editorial.
Are the authorities pursuing Assange so vigorously – threats have been made to storm an embassy, 50 cops on guard round the clock, helicopters buzzing overhead – because of the alleged crime he has committed or because of who he is?
How many extradition requests have been requested and granted in cases of suspected rape where the suspect has not even been charged with any crime? I would bet not many, because unfortunately the normal stance of the authorities to instances of alleged rape is indifference.
Does anyone honestly think he would put himself through years of legal wrangling and confinement to avoid a case – which in all likelihood would have been dismissed in a shorter time period or would have seen him complete the jail sentence – if he didn’t have legitimate grounds to fear rendition to the USA?? This is a case that the original Swedish prosecutor dismissed, but after there was a change in staff to someone with more accommodating in-tune political views, was re-opened.
Once Assange is on Swedish soil, branded and incarcerated as a criminal, an extradition to the US would be far more likely and less time consuming – not to mention more politically palatable for the British government – to achieve than if he remains on UK soil. Even with the UK being happy to extradite its citizens to the US, I find it extraordinarily hard to believe that the UK would extradite someone who had simply published information, but extraditing a convicted criminal from Swedish soil would be a much simpler task. And Sweden and the US have just such an extradition treaty in place that allows for the ‘temporary’ extradition of criminals wanted in the US!
Knowing the recent history of the US and witnessing how vengeful, paranoid and power hungry its government is, I really do fear for anyone facing the possibility of extradition to the US to face US ‘justice’ and with this in mind I feel that Assange is right to fear the worst and he is right to claim asylum. Both Sweden and UK have been complicit in illegal torture and rendition of people the USA doesn’t like. Sweden has had to pay out compensation to the victims of those it helped torture and rendition. These states can’t be trusted.
In the eyes of the USA, Assange is no different than Osama Bin Laden.
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This is nothing new, from the Guardian December 18 2010
On the other side, Republican US senators have lined up behind the Democrat secretary of state Hillary Clinton to condemn him. Sarah Palin claims that he is “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands” that America should pursue “with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.” George Packer of the New Yorker magazine, called Assange “megalomaniacal” and Vanity Fair’s Christopher Hitchens called him “a middle man and peddler who resents the civilisation that nurtured him”. There have been disturbing calls from both Republicans and Democrats for him to be assassinated. But after Assange’s period in jail last week, the focus was switching. In today’s Guardian editorial, the newspaper explained why it had chosen to publish the sexual misconduct allegations in detail: “It is unusual for a sex-offence case to be presented outside of the judicial process in such a manner, but then it is unheard of for a defendant, his legal team and supporters to so vehemently and publicly attack women at the heart of a rape case.” The paper is reflecting a growing discomfort among many, in both camps, at the widespread vilification – and naming – of the two alleged victims on websites and blogs, and also of the kind of language being used by people including Assange’s own lawyer Mark Stephens who referred to the allegation as a “honeytrap” .
UK Disability hate crime is at its highest level since records began in England & Wales.
Posted by John Burn-Murdoch Tuesday 14th August 2012 . Find Full Article Here:-
The number of recorded incidents of disability hate crime in England and Wales rose in 2011 to almost 2,000, its highest total since records began. In the same year there were just 523 convictions for the offence.
There were 1,942 recorded incidents of disability hate crime in England and Wales in 2011, an increase of more than 25% on the total for 2010 and the highest since this data was first recorded in April 2010.
Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows the number of recorded incidents grew by 60% between 2009 and 2011.
While almost 2,000 reports were made to the police last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) made just 523 convictions for disability hate crime over the same period.
169 crimes were reported in Hertfordshire, more than in any other police force area in 2011. Suffolk had the second largest total, 152. South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire had the lowest, with seven reports each.
Iran’s Words Mistranslated Again by Americans Trying to Start a War.
Most Americans confuse zionism and Judaism.
While many assume that zionism simply means allowing the Israeli nation to exist, many zionists in high positions within the Netanyahu and Sharon administrations advocate for very different policies altogether, including the use of offensive wars throughout the Middle East. See this, and read the section entitled “Securing the Realm” here.
In reality, many devout Jews are against zionism as being antithetical to traditional Jewish values. As such, many Jews say that criticizing zionism is not anti-semitism. … and some zionists themselves admit that even non-Jews have the right to criticize Israel.
Zionists can be also be Christian. Indeed, millions of fundamentalist Christians – including many in the American military – want to start WWIII to speed the “second coming” of Jesus Christ.
As such, the common practice of American politicians and media of interchanging Iran’s words about the “zionist regime” with the word “Israel” is disingenuous. For example, AP reported today:
Criticizing a particular “regime” in Israel is akin to criticizing the “Bush administration” or the “Obama administration”. For example, saying that Bush should have been impeached is not calling for the American government to be overthrown.
Similarly, the AP story repeated the old canard:
Tensions between Iran and Israel have intensified since 2005, when Ahmadinejad said in a speech that Israel will one day be “wiped off the map.”
In reality:
As a New York Times translation notes, Ahmadinejad wasn’t referring to Israel at all, but to the “regime” – i.e. the current political administration – in Israel.
Moreover, it was not Ahmadinejad himself speaking. He was quoting Ayatollah Khomeini, who died in 1989 (and who looked exactly like Sean Connery’s long-lost twin).
People can debate whether zionism is helpful or counter-productive, or which form of zionism is best. But interchanging zionism and Israel without explanation is misleading.
And anti-semitism is wholly unacceptable, as is prosecution of Christians, Muslims or anyone else for their religion or race.
But whatever Iran’s faults, the fact is that:
- The U.S. has been looking for an excuse to bomb Iran again for many decades
- The U.S. funds terrorist groups within Iran
- Iran protects Jews, and it’s constitution officially recognizes their rights (scroll to bottom; on the other hand, our close ally Saudi Arabia is virulently anti-semitic, and is the main backer of terrorism in the Middle East and abroad)
- The American media is always pro-war, and happily trumpets disinformation about supposed enemies to drum up support for new wars
The Privatization of the World’s Water Resources.
By Susanne Posel Global Research, August 14th, 2012. occupycorporatism.com
A study published by McGill University in Montreal and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, analyzed data from global ground water use against computer generated models of underwater aquifers and concluded that the “groundwater footprint” of reliable resources above ground is 3.5 times larger than the known aquifers.
UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Program (HIP) estimates that there is 366 million, trillion gallon of water on Earth.
The IPCC document HS 15332 Climate Change Impacts: Securitization of Water, Food, Soil, Health, Energy and Migration explains how the UN plans to secure resources to use at their disposal. Through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under-developed countries are forced to sell their resources to the global Elite as “full cost recovery” to the global central bankers. Once those resources are under the complete control of the creditors, they become assets to be reallocated back to the enslaved nations for a price.
This scheme makes water sources under central privatization cost more and become less accessible to those who desperately need it. Water prices rise while the quality of it diminishes. This forces people in places like South Africa and India to collect water from polluted streams and rivers, which compromises their health. The cycle in complete when those who had their water stolen from them through coercion die from contaminated water that they were forced to use.
With over-population factored into the algorithms, underground water reserves and their native ecosystems are under the growing threat of human necessity.
Geophysicists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research states that only 282 billion people could be “packed onto the planet”. With the current number at nearly 7 billion, alarmists are pointing out that water will become a highly sought after commodity.
As exampled in South-east Asia, because of the 1.7 billion people using water reserves, the “sobering” fact concluded is that people are over-using groundwater in regions like Asia and North America.
With proper management, Tom Gleeson, lead researcher from McGill University, believes that underground water sources that make up 99% of the world’s fresh and unfrozen water will become crucial to the growing human population.
Now That We Know Who Killed the Honey Bees, Will They Replace Them?
By Dan Eden View Zone 7th August 2012. Find Full article Here:-
The Missing Bees: Now that we know who did it… Will BAYER Replace Them?
Honey bees are dying all over the globe. Here’s why!
Since 2007, the media has been reporting about the dramatic loss of bees in Europe and North America. As many as 50% to 90% of the bee populations have simply vanished, leaving their hives empty and forcing farmers to demand investigations to determine the cause.
At first it was only the honeybees that were decimated — then the bumblebee populations began to disappear. Bumblebees are responsible for pollinating an estimated 15 percent of all the crops grown in the U.S., worth $3 billion, particularly those raised in greenhouses. Those include tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. The crisis was eventually given a name: Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD.
CCD is a “fake disease!”
The most popular theory, aside from the varroa mite [right] and cellphone RF radiation, has been the belief that a virus — similar to AIDS — has infected the bees. A team led by scientists from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Pennsylvania State University, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of Arizona, and 454 Life Sciences found a significant connection between the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) and colony collapse disorder (CCD) in honey bees.
A team of scientists from Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and University of California San Francisco identified both a virus and a parasite that are likely behind the recent sudden die-off of honey-bee colonies. Using a new technology called the Integrated Virus Detection System (IVDS), which was designed for military use to rapidly screen samples for pathogens, ECBC scientists last week isolated the presence of viral and parasitic pathogens that may be contributing to the honeybee loss.
But it now appears that a much more basic culprit has killed the bees — Bayer Corporation. Colony Collapse Disorder is poisoning with a known insect neurotoxin called Clothianidin, a pesticide manufactured by Bayer, which has been clearly linked to massive bee die offs in Germany and France.
In the end, all Israel and her Western allies want to do is to break Iran – via Syria .
By Monday 13th August 2012. Find Full Article Here:-
In just seven minutes, Michel Samaha got my book un-banned after seven years on Lebanon’s blacklist. Even Rafiq Hariri, when he was Prime Minister couldn’t get Pity The Nation into Beirut’s book shops. “There is a sentence about a Syrian tank guarding a hashish field in the Bekaa Valley,” he told me. “This is not the time for me to take this up.”
But the moment that Samaha was appointed Hariri’s Information Minister in the 1990s, he called up his chum Brigadier Jamil Sayyed, the immensely pro-Syrian head of the Lebanese General Security, and Sayyed unbanned my history of the Lebanese civil war with a flick of his signature. Sayyed, I should add, is a rather sinister figure who looks like the sort of chap who ties ladies to railway lines in silent movies. The academic and journalist Samir Kassir, no friend of the Assad regime, claimed Sayyed threatened him. Shortly thereafter, Kassir was murdered by car bomb. The UN also believed Sayyed was involved in Hariri’s murder – President Bashar al-Assad was said to be very, very angry with Hariri for wanting to free Lebanon from Syria’s loving embrace – but then, after four years’ imprisonment without trial, the UN released Sayyed because the “witness” upon whom it based its evidence turned out to have given false testimony. And the old UN donkey admitted, privately of course, that Assad may not have been involved.
France Prepares For An Evacuation Of Its Nationals Living In Israel.
Posted 9th August 2012. LA TRIBUNE Find Article Here:-
JERUSALEM – France has prepared a contingency plan to evacuate its citizens from Israel, La Tribune has learned.
According to diplomatic sources, a plan to evacuate the 200,000 French nationals living in Israel has been drafted to prepare for the enventuality of conflict between Iran and Israel. The objective, says the French financial newspaper, is not to be caught off guard should a barrage of missiles equipped with conventional or non-conventional weapons be fired by Iran or Hezbollah on Israeli territory.
One of the scenarios prepared by French diplomats calls for the evacuation of French citizens using an armada of small boats who would then join French warships off the port of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv. A few dozen Frenchmen and women have been designated as coordinators to relay information to Israel’s French community.
Smartphone apps warning after 16 hill walkers get lost.
By Severin Carrell Tuesday 14th August 2012. Find Full article Here:-
Police had to rescue 16 people who got lost in the Scottish Cairngorms after they had relied on smartphone apps to plot their routes.
Hill walkers have been warned not to use smartphone apps to navigate in the Scottish mountains after the police had to rescue 16 people who got lost in the Cairngorms.
Northern constabulary said the 16 climbers, including one party of 14 people who became lost in fog on Ben Macdui on Monday, had to be taken down by rescuers because they had relied solely on smartphone apps to plot their routes.
The group of 14 were finally taken off the mountain in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after officers from Grampian police, volunteers from the Braemar and Aberdeen mountain rescue teams and search and rescue helicopter from HMS Gannet were also called into action.
Nuclear fears over French Polynesia atoll collapse.
Posted 10th August 2012. Find Full article Here:-
A leaked report has raised new fears that Murorua Atoll, the site of French nuclear testing in the Pacific, is in danger of collapsing.
A mushroom cloud rises above Mururoa Atoll, French Polynesia, after a French nuclear test there in 1970. (Credit: AFP)
Murorua e Tatou says the issue was detailed in a leaked report from the Ministry of Defence to the French government dated March 2010.
The Nuclear Association’s president, Roland Oldham, told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat program that radioactive material could be released into the Pacific Ocean if the atoll were to collapse.
“Just in that little area there is over maybe twelve underground tests in that area and we have to remember that France have done altogether 193 nuclear test explosions in Murorua,” he said.
“In the soil of Muroroa, if something happens there is about 150 holes containing very dangerous radioactivity.”
The association says if the atoll were to collapse it could also trigger a 15 metre tsunami.
The Truth is Where? 