Julian Assange & Wikileaks

Sweden has dropped their investigation of Assange for two (weak) rape assertions, but the U.S. government is stepping up its plans to prosecute him for espionage.  A new book about him sounds worth a read.

Quote :

The Secret Life is timely now, as WikiLeaks and Assange — essentially one and the same thing — are prominent in the headlines. This week, Assange tweeted support of an alleged NSA whistleblower who leaked documents to the Intercept. And Assange himself could be charged by the US government for publishing leaked documents.

And then there are the sexual assault charges that Assange has been facing since 2010: Sweden recently announced that it is dropping its investigation. “I can conclude, based on the evidence, that probable cause for this crime still exists,” Marianne Ny, the lead prosecutor in Sweden, told reporters. But because Assange has refused to cooperate with the investigation for seven years — and continues to hide in the Ecuadorian Embassy — they can’t continue investigating.

https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/6/6/15729360/julian-assange-andrew-ohagan-secret-life

Well now, after SIX YEARS of living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Ecuador is talking about allowing Assange to be extradicted.

Although the bogus rape charges were dismissed in absentia Assange still faces Swedish charges for skipping bail.

And of course, if London wants to curry favor with Washington, they'll turn him over to the Republicans so Assange can take all the heat in Mueller's Russia probe.  Instant villain!

But wait.  If they admit that Wikileaks published classified documents and e-mails stolen by the Russians, won't that be admitting that the Russians stole documents????  Hmmm.   This could get interesting. The alternate facts narrative is about to collide with reality.

That is an interesting Catch 22 for them.

The WikiLeaks saga has been strangely silent in the past year.  Probably because it does not put DJT in the starring role, which he cannot abide.

I guess Julian Assange is still being held in solitary confinement and tortured in Britain.

Meanwhile, a list of what WikiLeaks actually released is extremely interesting.

Interesting turn-of-events in the Julian Assange extradition trial, which has gotten exactly zero coverage outside of Democracy Now, to my knowledge.

Hopefully, justice will prevail. One of the other persons charged with releasing classified documents has already been released.

Julian Assange can be extradited to US to face espionage charges, court rules

Quote :

Nils Muižnieks, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said: “By allowing this appeal, the high court has chosen to accept the deeply flawed diplomatic assurances given by the US that Assange would not be held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison.”

“If extradited to the US, Julian Assange could not only face trial on charges under the Espionage Act but also a real risk of serious human rights violations due to detention conditions that could amount to torture or other ill-treatment. The US government’s indictment poses a grave threat to press freedom both in the United States and abroad.”

"Punished For Exposing War Crimes"? Indeed.
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/6/17/uk_approves_julian_assange_us_extradition

Movement on the Assange case?  Could Trump's theft of classified government documents be taking some of the heat off Julian for stealing classified government documents?

Would dropping charges against Wikileaks pave the way for dropping all charges against Trump?

Every few months the Assange story pops back into the news but nothing ever changes. Shameful. His own private Guantanemo, file away and forget.

In the news again, though not with good news.  

The irony positively drips. Assange is accused of publishing classified documents.  Trump is credibly accused of SELLING them.

Assange's extradition hearing is tomorrow.

It'll be interesting news, either way it goes. For all of the reasons already mentioned.

Assange wins a temporary reprieve

The news was kinda buried underneath everything else that happened overnight

Biden is "considering" dropping all charges.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68784298

'Bout frickin' time. Exposing US war crimes is protected under the whistleblower act.

Biden has carried through!!!

On Wednesday Julian Assange will plead guilty to one count of illegally possessing classified documents, be sentenced to time served, and will FINALLY head home to Australia.

His court date is in the Northern Marianas Islands, a US territory, because he would not be safe touching US soil.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/julian-assange-plea-wikileaks_n_6679ff99e4b0604360affe32?7nm

Julian Assange has been under a legal cloud since November 2010. That is [checking] 13 years and 8 months.