The Two Freedoms: Julian Assange III

From The Desk Of Jakob Musıck: Secretary-General of Nothing

Orlando, Florida, United States of America
June 2 2017 (Fenian Victory In Quebec)
14 Prairial an 225 de la Révolution
Year Juche 106

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The Two Freedoms II

Julian Assange III

We continue in our tale, reaching the point where, as the saying goes, ‘the shit hit the fan.’ As the Western governments plotted to ‘take him down’ Julian Assange and Wikileaks were still hard at work, releasing the batch of documents known as “Guantanamo Bay Files Leak,” which was a group of 779 files revealing that the United States, in their operations in pacifying the Middle East, were detaining Middle Eastern men without charge and on an indefinite basis. The documents relate 150 individuals affected by this policy from the US-ally Pakistan, and the client state Afghanistan. The victims included peasants, urban professionals, and also taxi drivers-- quite indiscriminate. Even though the documents list 150 people, the actual number is much higher, and Afghans and Pakistanis all know a family member or neighbour who had been detained by the ‘occupier,’ or even worse (killed by drone aircraft.) Out of the 150 listed in the documents, the youngest detainee was 14, and the oldest was 89 year-old Mohammad Sadiq. In the midst of this, with Wikileaks being one of the biggest news stories of 2010-2011, Julian Assange visited US-ally Sweden.  While in Sweden, the authorities questioned him with regards to what he was told was sexual assault allegations from 2 women. They gathered information, and then told him he was fine “to leave the country.” Therefore, he did just that. Late in 2010, the case was re-opened by a special prosecutor, and she stated that she wanted the opportunity to question Assange with regard to charges of “unlawful coercion” and “lesser rape.” Assange, who was in the another US ally, the United Kingdom, said he would participate in the investigation and would accept questions in the United Kingdom. The Special prosecutor in Sweden said she would not accept video link or any sort of telephone and must see Assange in person. That is where associates and on-lookers around the world started to get even more suspicious (from the beginning, the charges were seen as the plot by the United States-led clique to nab Assange legally.) It took 6 years of legal-stalling until the Swedish Special Prosecutor said that she would accept a testimony from where he was seeking refuge at the time, in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, UK. The statute of limitations on the cases expired a year before questioning by the Special Prosecutor even began, making this case extraordinary and quite bizarre. For these reasons, even more have now seen this legal proceedings as akin to ‘show trials.’ Sweden, just last month finally stopped what was no-doubt a failure for their handlers, and said that, while Assange could be questioned if he visited the nordic nation before the year of 2020, they were ending active investigations of him, and they would no longer seek his arrest.

The 12 Million UK Pounds At Work

So how did Julian Assange evade the Western governments? United States, UK, and Sweden all extradite individuals to and fro among each other, and the UK, from 2012, took an active (some would say suspiciously-high) level of interest in nabbing him. With this amount of interest and worry that he might be sent to the United States to face his ultimate fate after being simply quickly found not guilty in Sweden, Assange fled to a non-US ally, Bolivarian Ecuador. He sought asylum in the embassy of that nation in London, UK, and the Quito government announced it had accepted Assange’s request in June 2012. The big question, among supporters and detractors, at this time and since were never really focused much on the ‘rape charges,’ but instead were focused on what would happen to Assange when Sweden was done with him. It was likely Sweden would heed to inevitable American requests to send Assange to Guantanamo or Washington at the behest of the Obama Administration, or even secretly to one of various ‘rendition sites.’ Many people thought (and still do) that the United States wishes to see Assange dead, whether through a judicial or extra-legal proceeding. On 16 August, 2012, Ecuador officially granted asylum to Julian Assange, based on the “threat” to his life that the United States posed. President Correa of Ecuador proclaimed that Assange could stay indefinitely, but whom would think that this affair would still be dragging on? That he would still be confined 5 whole years later? Before Ecuador had granted asylum, Britain had let embassy staff know that they would not hesitate to enter the embassy and detain Assange, breaching Bourgeois norms of diplomacy which Britain (usually) almost always followed. This was clearly an extraordinary case for many reasons. If only the United Kingdom and Sweden chased every ‘rapist’ as doggedly as this! Surely the UK and Sweden are heavens for the victim if they are willing to employ police full-time to wait out the accused victimizer and station police and surveillers on buildings, on every possible escape route, on every door, waiting for the alleged rapist to come out.

I say the above, because it is quite obvious that there is no rapist that has been pursued as doggedly as Julian Assange has. And, considering who was behind the charges, the political situation, and watching the collapse of the legal proceedings since 2010, it is reasonable to conclude that *this* was what President Obama and the allied leaders had worked out as the way to ‘deal’ with Assange in 2010, while still technically doing everything legally. This arrangement had failed, as of 2016. Assange is still safe, though confined in the embassy, and with the dropping of active pursuing by the Swedish Special Prosecutor, I think it could be just a matter of weeks before the United Kingdom gives up as well. That is why this series is “the Two Freedoms.” Chelsea Manning has achieved her freedom early, and I believe that Assange will follow. The commanding heights of American leadership right now are in a terribly confused state. The Reality Star may very well find himself ‘fired.’ The reaches of Empire, in foreign policy, special forces, and the normal activities of subversion, domination, and manipulation are all thrown into a tizzy. This weakening, the new administration, and the lack of cuing by Washington may have led to Sweden’s giving up the ghost in this instance. This next question is whether the United Kingdom will. They have been the most overtly dogged, much more so than Sweden was, in militantly attempting to make sure that Assange were to be arrested if he even made one step outside of Ecuador’s diplomatic headquarters. For a remarkable 40 months, Metropolitan police of London were ready, at the hare-trigger, to arrest assange for extradition and “for breach of bail,” which indicates that the West is really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Again, what other bail delinquent would be targeted so vehemently and systematically? It is not about the alleged ‘crime.’ The Liberal Democracies are just limited by their own norms -- the way in which people are deprived of their autonomy is through the rule of law- and so the rule of law was deployed, but it failed. If law is not authoritarian, prosecutory efforts could, of course, fail. The United Kingdom spent 12.6 million UKP during these 40 months on the policing and monitoring of Julian Assange.

During these same 40 months, the Conservative government itself addressed what was the country’s growing debts by cutting back public services to UK citizens. The United Kingdom was still participating in the United States’ pacification attempts in Afghanistan, which surely were not cheap. During this time the Value-Added tax had to be raised to raise funds. The UK participated in the couping of Libya which led to the horrific, televised execution and torture of the leader of a sovereign nation. Massive riots occurred in 2011. In 2012, the city of London hosted the Olympic Games (Again, *not* cheap.) The UK narrowly avoided Scotland seceding, the ‘democracy’ of the United Kingdom led to a one-candidate race for Prime Minister (What ‘Freedom’!), and the Civil Service of the Kingdom revealed that their former leader Cameron had told them *not* to prepare for their eventual exit from the European Union. While the United Kingdom ranks high on many life-quality metrics and is generally a wonderful place to live, it is not without its problems. That is what makes the constant 40-month dogged surveillance of Julian Assange all the more outrageous for British people. It shows that, despite years and years of attempted independent development, Britain’s government still serves Washington as its lackey!

The up-and-down ascent-descent of United Kingdom Independence Party was but one of many manifestation of this attempt at trying to reclaim full sovereignty, instead of being the United States’ semi-European servant.

The whole affair shows much about the essential character of the British government and elite, the character of Julian Assange, his bravery, and the ingenuousness of the Wikileaks structure and organization. It is remarkable that it, like the Boers in the early 1900’s, went up against the largest power in the world, and were able to retain their autonomy and independence and continue on.

The example of Wikileaks and Julian Assange are inspiration to all of us, no matter whether we think the disclosures harmed ‘people’ or ‘their nation.’ When somebody, anybody, takes actions (without hiding) that they know will bring such a tough response, that is commendable. Even the stooges of Empire have been wowed by his ‘cajones’ as they say in the United States.

Long Live!

& May We All Look Forward To The Fine Day, Coming Soon, Where Julian Assange Will Be Able To Walk Out A Free Man!

&

That Britain Will Proclaim Its Independence and Sovereignty Once Again, Instead of Having To Exist In Peonage To Big Brother

Long Live Bolivarian Ecuador, The Harbour Of Freedom & Beacon Of Light For The World!

Truth Heeds No Borders (The Two Freedoms II: Julian Assange II)

From The Desk Of Jakob Musıck: Secretary-General of Nothing

Orlando, Florida, United States of America
June 1 2017 (Execution of Mary Dyer)
13 Prairial an 225 de la Révolution
Year Juche 106

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The Two Freedoms II: Julian Assange II

Let us continue where we left off. Julian Assange and his organization Wikileaks began to gain the attention of the Empire through generally shaking up the world rulers, by releasing information they wished to shield from the world. Kenya, People’s Republic of China, and the United Kingdom were targeted, among others, and the United States started to be the target of more and more of the ‘leaked’ information around 2010. In 2010, the infamous ‘collateral damage’ video, provided from the stash of Chelsea Manning, was released onto the web. It detailed the vicious American attack on Reuters journalists and the children they had attempted to aid after the bullets began to fly. This came at the same time as an extremely slow dawning, in ‘progressive’ circles first, that the United States was engaged in a new type of war, as vicious as it was impersonal -- assassination of personages by drone.  The ‘collateral damage’ video was part of what led to Chelsea Manning’s detention, and the Obama administration approached several allies on how to nab Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks. By this point, he and his organization were becoming hindrances in the foreign policy programme of the Empire, as it was exposing the side that embedded television journalism did not; it was not co-opted by the military, and so it showed unvarnished glimpses of what happens under American military occupation. The slow trickle opened into a ravine.

2010 (cont.): At this point, as Western leaders worked behind the scenes to attempt to stem the tide of information on their activities in the Third World, Wikileaks kept on releasing thousands of documents regarding American military operation in Afghanistan, including the names of American collaborators. Former leaders of the country, the Islamist Taleban cited Wikileaks as a source as to which they would use to extract justice on the informants. This drew criticism from groups like Amnesty International, which has previously condemned the United States based on Wikileaks information. As written in the last post, Wikileaks had asked the United States government to help it redact names, and it had declined. Wikileaks also approached NGOs to similar reaction. In response to this criticism, which included that of prominent western governments now branding Wikileaks a ‘threat’ to their associates and as a ‘Islamist-collaborator,’ Wikileaks said it had actually withheld about 15,000 documents for the very reason of protecting the identity of certain individuals. Again, Wikileaks reached out to the White House, asking for a list of whom it had endangered. It received no response. This is perhaps as the White House could have reasonably believed it was about to, along with its Western European allies, contrive a basis for the arrest of Julian Assange, and as such wouldn’t have to deal with it for much longer. They were very wrong, as Wikileaks continues to discharge its duties up until 2017. In October 2010, Wikileaks provided several outlets with access to 400,000 documents related to the Iraq War. When Al-Jazeera, Qatar’s external news service, released their coverage of the documents 30 minutes before Wikileaks had asked of them, Wikileaks tweeted that the embargo was lifted, and a torrent of publications revealed what they had been provided. BBC News quoted American intelligence apparatus as saying that these documents were “the largest leak of classified information in history.” Again, a main theme of the documents was that the United States continued to remain involved in torture, this time not acting to stop client state Iraq from torturing its citizens. In September, Wikileaks also began to release the telegrams exchanged between the various American embassies and Washington. A shadow culture was revealed, shining a light upon the underbelly of the American Imperial infrastructure, and how their officials viewed their outposts. The United States government sent ‘cease and desist’ orders to UK newspapers, but they had no obligation to heed this order. Assange reached out again to the United States, asking for it to provide who could be harmed by the release of the cables, before it released this batch of leaked documents. The State Department announced the United States government would not “engage” with Wikileaks at all. The Wikileaks website was then the subject of a massive ‘Denial of Service attack’ before the diplomatic cables, as they are called, were released. This was possibly the first major volley against Wikileaks by the Western governments, if they were behind this. Certainly, they were the ones with the most face to lose if more information came out. Wikileaks vowed that major publication would release their upcoming cables, and the Guardian revealed that President-In-Waiting Hilary Clinton had ordered diplomats at the United Nations to obtain the credit card numbers of security council officials of both allies and enemy. It also became public that the scheming arab monarchies had persistently tried to get the United States to ‘pre-emptively’ attack the Islamic Republic of Iran. This was suspected, but not known for sure until the leaks of the diplomatic cables. The American diplomats also, it was revealed, looked at their host leaders in rather unflattering, almost condescending lights, as befit an Empire looking down on its fiefdoms. Hilary Clinton, at the time Secretary of State (Essentially the FM equivalent in other countries), said that the disclosure of her order for American diplomats to collect credit card numbers of foreigners working at the United Nations “is an attack on the international community…”

In the next installment, we will continue to follow this Freedom Fighter as the Western governments unleashed their plan to de-fang Assange, and how he escaped their grasp, to this day.

Long Live Freedom Of Information!

Long Live Wikileaks!

Long Live the Creative Commons & The Un-ending Freedom of The World Wide Web!

Long Live Julian Assange!

May Freedom Ring All Around the World!

Truth heeds no border.