This is a panel I moderated on Monday evening with Stella Assange, attorney Jennifer Robinson and Kristinn Hrafnsson, Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, at The Frontline Club in London.
This is a panel I moderated on Monday evening with Stella Assange, attorney Jennifer Robinson and Kristinn Hrafnsson, Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, at The Frontline Club in London.
The feeling of powerlessness is palpable. And sickening to me. No such system should ever be allowed to exist. The very fact they are doing this is evidence of how wrong and vile it is.
The court is setting a bad precedent but it cares not about setting precedent, it is about stifling free speech and shutting it down at all costs. We the people should shut down the courts at all costs because of this transgression.
Well said, Edward. I have seen a lot in my long life. All I can say is: if UK and USA are doing this, where we can find a safe and fair place? South Africa?
The public cannot assume that there is one iota of merit to what has been done to Julian Assange. The Lawyers are swept to the side as is the law, and evil, satanic forces are behind this insanity. I say this because how can a caring human being ignore the law like that?
There is no moral law or rule-based system left in most of the world, but especially in the United States and its Western slave-puppets. This is 100% fascism and utter mindless absurdity. Prayers for Julian.
I especially want to express my gratitude to each of you in this panel for the tremendous courage and love it takes - for Julian and for our world, our children and ages to come - and at possible risk to your own freedom, to speak Truth to Power publicly against the nightmarish Kafkaesque, sweeping, malevolent and fundamentally irrational forces that have organized across the Western world and beyond into an inhuman System, Entity, in which all personal responsibility is smothered.
As Edward expresses, It is sickening to hear what they have done to Julian as it is sickening to watch so powerlessly what they are doing to Gaza. No difference. I see them sewing the seeds of their own destruction under the weight of their lies. But for right now, may all of us millions who care become the growing force for Life, true freedom and safety on our Earth and for Julian Assange.
Nearly the whole world is with Julian except for the US and Britain. If he is illegally extradited there should be a global uprising against these two shameful allies of injustice who are the real criminals against freedom!
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Navalny was killed by Putin. There was plenty of evidence that he was conspiring with MI6 against the Russian state. There are also mountains of evidence that U.S. ‘journalists’ have acted as spies on behalf of the U.S. government over many, many decades. For anyone to simply assume that any Wall Street Journal reporter accused of being a spy is obviously innocent is really naive. And, no, this isn’t about ‘journalism’ any more. Twelve years of torture of Julian Assange has finished off any possibility of any significant whistleblower leaks, or, if somehow one occurs, any publication in the mainstream media. This is about Julian Assange, his wife, Stella, their two children and their families. He needs to be freed from this Kafkaesque nightmare simply because what has been done to him is an atrocity. This is about that, and that alone. What Chris has in other contexts correctly labeled the inverted totalitarian US empire, which obviously includes the UK, is beyond any hope of redemption.
Alexander Litvinenko pointed out in the days before he died from a poison manufactured only in a secure Russian state facility that only one person in Russia is permitted by law to order assassinations, the President, a position held by Putin. Navalny was sent to Siberia for the crime of extremism. The proximate cause of his death is his opposition to Putin. Are you going to get access to do a criminal investigation into who dunnit when they won’t even release his body to his mother?
This is why we need leaks. So that people don’t tell us we’re naive when an assertion that the “security” state killed someone is laughed at in the grounds of having no evidence. Of course there is no “evidence”. The “evidence” is all controlled by the state. You are here accepting their standard of evidence: that the public will never have any. This is exactly Mike Pompeo’s complaint against Assange, that he found another route to real evidence, that he was a one man intelligence agency. And that Pompeo had thus lost his control of the evidence. Which is used to make the Narrative. If Assange does die will you also exonerate Pompeo on grounds of lack of evidence? At least the Spanish police gathered and have released evidence that he spied on Assange’s embassy-held conversations with his lawyers.
Sorry, Roland. I do not believe one damned thing that the west says about Navalny. It lies about everything all of the time. Everything I DO know about Navalny is 180 degrees opposite from the west’s narrative. None of what you say makes any sense given the context: Navalny’s almost total lack of importance in Russia’s political scene; the almost magical appearance of his (not very) grieving widow at a conference in Europe within hours of his demise; his obviously being a western intelligence asset whose value had already dropped to zero when he was incarcerated. I just do not buy it.
I really don’t have information about the specifics of what happened to cause Navalny’s death. My only information relates to the context of the narrative that he was killed by a deliberate act of the Russian state, i.e. Putin, at the particular moment that his death occurred. Russia is clearly winning the war in Ukraine. Navalny is an unimportant figure in Russian politics. Republicans are not going along with Biden’s plan for a new aid package. Why would Putin, or the Russian state, at this moment give the U.S. any ammunition to use against it, either by justifying new sanctions or putting pressure on the U.S. Congress, by killing Navalny? The theory that seemed most likely to me was that Navalny had medical issues that were incompatible with lousy or nonexistent health care in Russian prisons (one area in which Russian and U.S. practices are very similar) especially in a Siberian prison in the dead of winter. However, his widow’s presence in the city where a NATO military conference was taking place at the precise moment of his demise, allowing her to appear there and be christened the new face of the Russian opposition by Biden, seems just a tad suspicious. Is it possible for the U.S. Empire to kill someone inside a Russian prison? I would think so. But, I obviously have no evidence of that, either. Just a suspicion of strange coincidences. By the way, the Russian Federation had a far more ‘pluralistic’ political scene than has ever existed in the U.S. The number of parties contesting elections there is a lot more than two.
Thanks for that, Andrew. Few do have importance in Russia’s non-pluralistic political scene, and those who do seem likely to gain importance seem to be more at risk. Maybe Putin just doesn’t like to be called corrupt by someone you have identified as a western intelligence asset who is, or was, portraying himself as very nationalistic by refusing to stay in the west- where a dose of Novichok could reach him anyway. Maybe Putin doesn’t like bungled hits. Putin avenges perceived betrayal by Russian public figures from whom he may demand complete loyalty, and he might consider failure to complete a hit a betrayal. But I would be interested to know how your information diverges from this view of Navalny’s fate.
i agree with all these comments, and to hold energy and prayer for Julian and Stella. Hold for the unexpected to happen. If Biden cares about the presidency, I hope he cancels the extradition. With the horror he supports in Gaza, this act, at least would show he has some heart and courage
Navalny just died of Sudden Death Syndrome brought on by disagreement with Vladimir Putin. While Julian risks expiring from Living Death Syndrome brought on by protracted disagreement with Mike Pompeo. And the institutionalised people who offer us all the security the arts of deception can bring.
Julian Assange invented a new route to public truth and the authorities just aren’t having it. Today, Alexei Navalny who challenged political power. Tomorrow, Julian Assange.
Same shit, different day. I wrote to the FO to point out to David Cameron that the “consequences” for the death of Navalny of which he spoke of should be the release of Assange, otherwise Cameron would look bad, that is, would look indistinguishable from a person who was not in a position to criticise Putin. Please note that I concede that there are few commonalities between Navalny and Assange other than their both being critics of powers that be.
And yes, I have prayed for Assange, for Stella and for Nils Melzer’s work, when it was my turn to read a prayer in church.
Julian’s not dead yet, the show trial notwithstanding. If released perhaps he could recover.
The feeling of powerlessness is palpable. And sickening to me. No such system should ever be allowed to exist. The very fact they are doing this is evidence of how wrong and vile it is.
I can only hope that the hell they think they are creating for others, is far less of a burden that the one that awaits them.
The court is setting a bad precedent but it cares not about setting precedent, it is about stifling free speech and shutting it down at all costs. We the people should shut down the courts at all costs because of this transgression.
Well said, Edward. I have seen a lot in my long life. All I can say is: if UK and USA are doing this, where we can find a safe and fair place? South Africa?
The public cannot assume that there is one iota of merit to what has been done to Julian Assange. The Lawyers are swept to the side as is the law, and evil, satanic forces are behind this insanity. I say this because how can a caring human being ignore the law like that?
There is no moral law or rule-based system left in most of the world, but especially in the United States and its Western slave-puppets. This is 100% fascism and utter mindless absurdity. Prayers for Julian.
I especially want to express my gratitude to each of you in this panel for the tremendous courage and love it takes - for Julian and for our world, our children and ages to come - and at possible risk to your own freedom, to speak Truth to Power publicly against the nightmarish Kafkaesque, sweeping, malevolent and fundamentally irrational forces that have organized across the Western world and beyond into an inhuman System, Entity, in which all personal responsibility is smothered.
As Edward expresses, It is sickening to hear what they have done to Julian as it is sickening to watch so powerlessly what they are doing to Gaza. No difference. I see them sewing the seeds of their own destruction under the weight of their lies. But for right now, may all of us millions who care become the growing force for Life, true freedom and safety on our Earth and for Julian Assange.
Pray for a miracle. Pray for Julian, family and friends/supporters. Pray for justice.
The courts worldwide that support this are direct evidence of Fascist Corruption run rampant, and a system that has far out lived its time.
They sew the seeds to their own demise, and every step of the way the lies they perptrate add to the Fraud that they are.
There is no arguable point of law that the court is corrupt and should be terminated post-haste.
Nearly the whole world is with Julian except for the US and Britain. If he is illegally extradited there should be a global uprising against these two shameful allies of injustice who are the real criminals against freedom!
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Navalny was killed by Putin. There was plenty of evidence that he was conspiring with MI6 against the Russian state. There are also mountains of evidence that U.S. ‘journalists’ have acted as spies on behalf of the U.S. government over many, many decades. For anyone to simply assume that any Wall Street Journal reporter accused of being a spy is obviously innocent is really naive. And, no, this isn’t about ‘journalism’ any more. Twelve years of torture of Julian Assange has finished off any possibility of any significant whistleblower leaks, or, if somehow one occurs, any publication in the mainstream media. This is about Julian Assange, his wife, Stella, their two children and their families. He needs to be freed from this Kafkaesque nightmare simply because what has been done to him is an atrocity. This is about that, and that alone. What Chris has in other contexts correctly labeled the inverted totalitarian US empire, which obviously includes the UK, is beyond any hope of redemption.
Alexander Litvinenko pointed out in the days before he died from a poison manufactured only in a secure Russian state facility that only one person in Russia is permitted by law to order assassinations, the President, a position held by Putin. Navalny was sent to Siberia for the crime of extremism. The proximate cause of his death is his opposition to Putin. Are you going to get access to do a criminal investigation into who dunnit when they won’t even release his body to his mother?
This is why we need leaks. So that people don’t tell us we’re naive when an assertion that the “security” state killed someone is laughed at in the grounds of having no evidence. Of course there is no “evidence”. The “evidence” is all controlled by the state. You are here accepting their standard of evidence: that the public will never have any. This is exactly Mike Pompeo’s complaint against Assange, that he found another route to real evidence, that he was a one man intelligence agency. And that Pompeo had thus lost his control of the evidence. Which is used to make the Narrative. If Assange does die will you also exonerate Pompeo on grounds of lack of evidence? At least the Spanish police gathered and have released evidence that he spied on Assange’s embassy-held conversations with his lawyers.
Sorry, Roland. I do not believe one damned thing that the west says about Navalny. It lies about everything all of the time. Everything I DO know about Navalny is 180 degrees opposite from the west’s narrative. None of what you say makes any sense given the context: Navalny’s almost total lack of importance in Russia’s political scene; the almost magical appearance of his (not very) grieving widow at a conference in Europe within hours of his demise; his obviously being a western intelligence asset whose value had already dropped to zero when he was incarcerated. I just do not buy it.
I really don’t have information about the specifics of what happened to cause Navalny’s death. My only information relates to the context of the narrative that he was killed by a deliberate act of the Russian state, i.e. Putin, at the particular moment that his death occurred. Russia is clearly winning the war in Ukraine. Navalny is an unimportant figure in Russian politics. Republicans are not going along with Biden’s plan for a new aid package. Why would Putin, or the Russian state, at this moment give the U.S. any ammunition to use against it, either by justifying new sanctions or putting pressure on the U.S. Congress, by killing Navalny? The theory that seemed most likely to me was that Navalny had medical issues that were incompatible with lousy or nonexistent health care in Russian prisons (one area in which Russian and U.S. practices are very similar) especially in a Siberian prison in the dead of winter. However, his widow’s presence in the city where a NATO military conference was taking place at the precise moment of his demise, allowing her to appear there and be christened the new face of the Russian opposition by Biden, seems just a tad suspicious. Is it possible for the U.S. Empire to kill someone inside a Russian prison? I would think so. But, I obviously have no evidence of that, either. Just a suspicion of strange coincidences. By the way, the Russian Federation had a far more ‘pluralistic’ political scene than has ever existed in the U.S. The number of parties contesting elections there is a lot more than two.
Thanks for that, Andrew. Few do have importance in Russia’s non-pluralistic political scene, and those who do seem likely to gain importance seem to be more at risk. Maybe Putin just doesn’t like to be called corrupt by someone you have identified as a western intelligence asset who is, or was, portraying himself as very nationalistic by refusing to stay in the west- where a dose of Novichok could reach him anyway. Maybe Putin doesn’t like bungled hits. Putin avenges perceived betrayal by Russian public figures from whom he may demand complete loyalty, and he might consider failure to complete a hit a betrayal. But I would be interested to know how your information diverges from this view of Navalny’s fate.
i agree with all these comments, and to hold energy and prayer for Julian and Stella. Hold for the unexpected to happen. If Biden cares about the presidency, I hope he cancels the extradition. With the horror he supports in Gaza, this act, at least would show he has some heart and courage
Navalny just died of Sudden Death Syndrome brought on by disagreement with Vladimir Putin. While Julian risks expiring from Living Death Syndrome brought on by protracted disagreement with Mike Pompeo. And the institutionalised people who offer us all the security the arts of deception can bring.
Julian Assange invented a new route to public truth and the authorities just aren’t having it. Today, Alexei Navalny who challenged political power. Tomorrow, Julian Assange.
Same shit, different day. I wrote to the FO to point out to David Cameron that the “consequences” for the death of Navalny of which he spoke of should be the release of Assange, otherwise Cameron would look bad, that is, would look indistinguishable from a person who was not in a position to criticise Putin. Please note that I concede that there are few commonalities between Navalny and Assange other than their both being critics of powers that be.
And yes, I have prayed for Assange, for Stella and for Nils Melzer’s work, when it was my turn to read a prayer in church.
Julian’s not dead yet, the show trial notwithstanding. If released perhaps he could recover.