Corbyn Shows his True Colors

@AssangeMrs Mrs. Christine Assange Retweeted ITV News
“Weasel words from #Corbyn! NO to UK/US extradition but YES to recycled UK/SWEDEN extradition! He knows full well Swedish (no charge) 'case' was a political fit up! Sweden/UK Bilateral Treaty allows fast track rendition to US under Temporary Surrender!”

‘UK Labour leads “rape” smears against Julian Assange demanding Swedish extradition’, Laura Tiernan, 15 April 2019, wsws.org

“Britain’s Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is spearheading a political witch-hunt, smearing WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange as a “rapist” who must be extradited to Sweden. This filthy campaign has been abetted over the weekend by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

More than 100 MPs have signed a cross-party letter to Conservative Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, demanding they “champion action that will ensure that Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden,” where politically-manufactured rape and sexual molestation allegations were made in 2010.”

[snip]

“A coordinated state campaign is now underway to shift the political narrative, smearing Assange and diverting public attention from the grave threat to democratic rights posed by US extradition proceedings. This is the purpose served by the bogus Swedish “rape” allegations. Assange’s onward extradition to the US can be fast-tracked under Temporary Surrender treaty arrangements in place between Sweden and the US. On Thursday, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecution, Eva-Marie Persson, told Reuters she is reviewing the case against Assange.

The Swedish playbook has been made clear. On Saturday, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told BBC Radio 4 she was “disgusted” US extradition proceedings had been allowed to “eclipse” sexual assault allegations made by the two Swedish women against Assange.

“I think that what should happen is that he should be extradited to Sweden and then the Americans can make a further application to have him extradited from Sweden,” she suggested.
Gender politics is being deployed for nakedly pro-imperialist objectives. On Saturday, the Guardian’s front page headline insisted, “Give priority to Assange rape victim, Javid urged” with a prominent news article headlined, “Failure to extradite Assange to Sweden would endorse ‘rape culture’, say women’s groups.”

Tierrnan then narrates the history of the rape charges in Sweden, including the fact that after having been drop, the case was reopened after 2010 for political reasons. She writes that as Home Secretary Sajid Javid had made a formal statement on Assange’s arrest in Parliament Corbyn left the room, leaving PM Abbott to speak for their party with this statement: “It is whistleblowing into illegal wars, mass murder, murder of civilians and corruption on a grand scale that has put Julian Assange in the crosshairs of the US administration. She notes that WikiLeaks lauded it, as did I, bringing the video. But apparently Abbott had later Tweeted: “Assange skipping bail in UK, or any rape charge that may be brought by Swedish authorities shouldn’t be ignored”, nor had she indicated that a future Labour government would block Assange’s extradition to the US. More True Colors showing.

She then brings in the interview on ITV, including this bombast: ‘There can be no hiding place from those kind of accusations’, as well as Christine Assange’s reaction.
She then cites Corbyn quotes from 2015 showing that he knows full well what those charges are all about.

“He knows that Assange has been targeted for courageously exposing war crimes and state conspiracies against the public, but refuses to challenge the Blairites on anything, instead echoing their threats against Assange.

Political conclusions must be drawn. Had Corbyn issued a call this week for mass demonstrations in defence of Assange, tens of thousands would have been mobilised and the Blairites and their supporters would have been exposed as an isolated cabal. It is not primarily the Blairites that Corbyn fears. His overriding concern is to prevent the independent intervention of the working class. It is to this social force that all defenders of Julian Assange and democratic rights must urgently turn.”

Don’t you love the scent of hypocrisy in the morning?

Christine’s Twitter account features a lot of solidarity actions like this one:

and this terrifying exposé of Belmarsh Gitmo:

Try as I might, I haven't been able to discover if Julian has received medical attention (apparently his lungs are especially in trouble), nor whether any of his attorneys have been allowed into see him.

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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detroitmechworks's picture

No other category of accusations are more rife with acrimony, blame shifting, and just general "He said, she said". It will last for many, many news cycles and the most likely result will be even more people very convinced that he deserves to be hung from the nearest tree and shot. Based on the "Allegations".

Because you must ALWAYS believe the victim, even if the victim is nowhere to be found, or says that the charges were politically motivated, because clearly the victim is DISTRAUGHT and doesn't know that there must always be vengeance when TPTB demand it.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxQVN8NF3ac]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

wendy davis's picture

@detroitmechworks

letter in my preceding diary, in the end i'd chosen the politico version, oly 71 signatories at the time. but the claim was that

"After his arrest [at the embassy], Swedish prosecutors said the lawyer of one of the alleged victims asked for the rape case to be re-opened. The British MPs urged full co-operation with Swedish prosecutor if they resume the case."

dunno if either are these women, the bbc link in that sure doesn't say, but it may be a total psyop, in any event.

"Swedish prosecutors dropped preliminary investigations into “rape” and “molestation” allegations as early as August 2010, concluding that “no crime at all” had been committed. The investigation was only revived for political reasons. “[I]t was the police who made up the charges” wrote one of the women in a text message. Assange’s accusers admitted they had consensual sex with him, boasting of it afterwards to friends. Anna Ardin, who arranged Assange’s “safe houses” in Sweden—one of which was her apartment—was employed by leading Social-Democratic Party politicians. It was Ardin who introduced Assange to her co-accuser, Sofia Wilen. Assange’s visit to Sweden took place amid mounting US intrigue following publication of the Iraq and Afghan war leaks."

their contention is that he couldn't be interviewed as he hiding in the ecuadorian embassy; jen robinson destroys that rubbish below).

but the larger point for me is that corbyn had rather belatedly, and not until assange was arrested, made much of a peep about what he was acing in terms of arrest and expulsion threats sine moreno, may, and the T administration; then 'no extradition to the US' and many celebrated him for doing that.

some had believed that if corbyn were to become prime minister, he'd act for assange, perhaps choose a home secretary that would be benevolently understanding of the fact that assange is NOT a criminal. the current one is a real prince of a man.

couldn't make out the meaning of the toad the wet sprocket song; comments seemed to say it was cautionary tale to believing an alleged victim? if so, good; for me it was hard to listen to.

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Roy Blakeley's picture

@wendy davis The sex apparently started as consensual, but each woman apparently wanted Assange to use a condom, which he didn't do so the unprotected nature of the sex act was not consensual. Nevertheless the women went to the police, not to charge Assange with anything, but to get him tested for STDs, because of the unprotected sex. The police initiated the investigation for rape, not the women. The initial investigator Eva Finne decided after an initial investigation not to pursue charges, but the lawyer for the two women asked that the case be reviewed. This seems odd in view of the fact that the women had not initially asked that Assange be charged with anything. The investigation was subsequently reopened. He has never been formally charged with any crime in regard to the allegations of sexual assault. All that being said (and this was a very incomplete summary), I think the allegations are serious enough that they warrant a thorough and fair investigation. My guess is that he would go free or have a fairly light sentence if found guilty. The US charges are ludicrous garbage and he should never have to face them. Also, I think the consensus is that Assange would be less likely to be extradited to the US from Sweden than the UK.

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wendy davis's picture

@Roy Blakeley

refusal to wear a condom, it was the police opened the investigation into rape charges, but now that he's in belmarsh prison...but as per politico, the guardian, etc.

"Swedish prosecutors said the lawyer of one of the alleged victims asked for the rape case to be re-opened. even though that doesn't in any way mean 'one of the alleged victims' wants the case re-opened, that's a huge difference to me.

now let's go back to jen robinson, i'd run into the consolidated sequence interviews while trying to discover his other attorney that was with him at magistrates court. turns out liam walker, and this iirc, was on his twitter account: 'On Sky News, an inconvenient fact from Julian Assange’s lawyer collapses the official narrative' april 15, the canary

there's a lot more, but:

"I’ve been working on his case since the initial Swedish request came through. We’ve been warning since then that he would face the risk of US extradition for… his work associated with WikiLeaks publications… We warned for years and that is precisely what has happened… He was granted asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy because of his concern about this risk… He has always cooperated with the Swedish investigation. He remained in Sweden to answer questions, we offered his testimony before they sought his extradition and we continue to offer his testimony. He only sought asylum inside the Ecuadorian embassy when Sweden refused to give assurances about onward extradition to the United States…

"Correspondingly, Ecuador’s former president Rafael Correa recently repeated that it was “because his human rights [were] in danger” that he “granted asylum to Julian Assange”. And the UN special rapporteur on torture has reiterated concerns that Assange could face serious human rights violations in the US."

"The extradition treaty between the US and Sweden suggests that Sweden could have offered Assange assurances on the basis that it believed the US case concerned “a political offense”, “an offense connected with a political offense” or that there was a lack of evidence."

"On Sky News, Ridge retorted:

You say that it’s all about him worrying about being extradited to the US. But at the same time, it was the extradition to Sweden which was why he went into the embassy in the first place… the US wasn’t on the table at that point.

So Robinson reiterated her point:

There was a grand jury investigation that was opened back in 2010 and we were concerned about the risk of US extradition then. That concern has been proven correct this week.

i put in more than i'd anticipated, but it's not possible for me to believe that sweden would guarantee he wouldn't be zipped onto a plane to the US, given i) they never had, ii) given it was political from the start, and iii) it's hard to imagine his attorneys would trust them now i they did. imo, of course.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@wendy davis

At least one version of the story had Mme. Ardin offering a ruptured condom to the Swedish police as "proof" of her story - but, goes the tale, no evidence was found that the condom had ever been used, by anyone.

Looks like a badger game, smells like a badger game....

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

brilliant, darlin' maven. the truth is down deep dark badger hole. gotta love it; thank you.

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wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

i just found that version, and in alex gibney's 'we steal secrets'. now i can't say i'd heard of the film, but assange had, and mother jones said he'd reacted like a 'thin-skinned prick'.

i'd been re-reading jonathan cook's april 12 'After 7 Years of Deceptions About Assange, the US Readies for Its First Media Rendition' more carefully with an eye toward sending it to an erstwhile e-friend i'd seen on ian welsh's site ranting that julian broke the law by hiding in the embassy, not facing the music in sweden, etc. this was before the news that sweden might reopen the case because 'one of the alleged victims' attorneys wants it re-opended, whatever rubbish that is).

but i'll send the canary's compilation of jen robinson's interviews as further evidence.

anyway, sorry to ramble so disjointedly, but one internal link labeled 'half-truths' goes to cook's (mild-mannered as always) 'The assassination of Julian Assange', 29 July 2013

"I have just watched We Steal Secrets, Alex Gibney’s documentary about Wikileaks and Julian Assange. One useful thing I learnt is the difference between a hatchet job and character assassination. Gibney is too clever for a hatchet job, and his propaganda is all the more effective for it."

"The first is that he grievously misrepresents the facts in the Swedish case against Assange of rape and sexual molestation to the point that his motives in making the film are brought into question."

"But the most damning evidence against Gibney is his focus on a torn condom submitted by A to the police, unquestioningly accepting its significance as proof of the assault. The film repeatedly shows a black and white image of the damaged prophylactic.

Gibney even allows a theory establishing a central personality flaw in Assange to be built around the condom. According to this view, Assange tore it because, imprisoned in his digital world, he wanted to spawn flesh-and-blood babies to give his life more concrete and permanent meaning.

The problem is that investigators have admitted that no DNA from Assange was found on the condom. In fact, A’s DNA was not found on it either. The condom, far from making A a more credible witness, suggests that she may have planted evidence to bolster a case so weak that the original prosecutors dropped it."

he has another internal link that goes to his feb 2018 'The UK’s hidden role in Assange’s detention', and doggone my crap memory i'd forgotten this; some teasers:

"It now emerges that the last four years of Julian Assange’s effective imprisonment in the Ecuadorean embassy in London have been entirely unnecessary. In fact, they depended on a legal charade. Behind the scenes, Sweden wanted to drop the extradition case against Assange back in 2013. Why was this not made public? Because Britain persuaded Sweden to pretend that they still wished to pursue the case.

"According to a new release of emails between officials, the Swedish director of public prosecutions, Marianne Ny, wrote to Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service on 18 October 2013, warning that Swedish law would not allow the case for extradition to be continued. This was, remember, after Sweden had repeatedly failed to take up an offer from Assange to interview him in London, as had happened in 44 other extradition cases between Sweden and Britain."

"These are only fragments of the email correspondence, after most of it was destroyed by the CPS against its own protocols. The deletions appear to have been carried out to avoid releasing the electronic files to a tribunal that has been considering a freedom of information request.

Other surviving emails, according to a Guardian report last year, have shown that the CPS “advised the Swedes in 2010 or 2011 not to visit London to interview Assange. An interview at that time could have prevented the long-running embassy standoff.”

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Roy Blakeley

It's pretty clear to me that these charges exist so that the Brits can prosecute Assange for evading arrest, so that they can get him into custody, so that the U.S. security state can get its filthy hands on him. Rape is, in fact, being used as a pretext for the CIA, NSA and others to pull a thorn from their side--their way. Their way is lifelong imprisonment and horrific treatment, when it isn't assassination.

Back in the reality-based world, (as opposed to the fantasy world of Langley talking points), the two "rape victims" never pressed charges. I'd say that means there should be no rape charges. Shouldn't it be the putative victims' choice whether or not to press charges?

The obvious counterargument is that these were intimidated rape victims, not wanting to go through the awful process of prosecuting someone for rape--and I'm sure that argument will be deployed all over the web, even when the guy that supposedly raped them was stuck in an embassy in a different country and 90% of the media and all of the security professionals of the Western World were baying for his blood. They would have gotten accolades, had they pressed charges, not the humiliating "why did you wear that red dress" treatment rape victims often receive in court. That's what pressing charges against the target of a hatchet job is. It's not like pressing charges against your average Joe. Had they pressed charges, they would have been a Christmas present to the CIA and their allies, and, as such, would have received red-carpet treatment, not red-dress treatment.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

EdMass's picture

when Politicians get ahold of an "issue" while ignoring the history, legal proceedings, filing and reporting of charges and challenges, and playing for the BIG WIN with ill-informed voters.

Just don't wipe feces on the walls of the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Where's the cat? That's the real story. South Americans eat cats I've heard (/s)

Sigh.

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

wendy davis's picture

@EdMass

the cat, of course, was accused by lenin moreno of spying, according to RT. and before handing the cat over to his attorneys to give to a far-away relative (?), he was starving it, and not cleaning its litter box.

but yeppers, jeremy must be playing to his base, as seems so for Boss Tweet: 'never even heard he was arrested!'

laura gave a hella lot more examples of 'the trend', including:

"Gender politics is being deployed for nakedly pro-imperialist objectives. On Saturday, the Guardian’s front page headline insisted, “Give priority to Assange rape victim, Javid urged” with a prominent news article headlined, “Failure to extradite Assange to Sweden would endorse ‘rape culture’, say women’s groups.”

Editorials in Saturday’s Guardian and Sunday’s Observer called for Assange’s extradition to Sweden, with the Observer combining vindictiveness and slander in equal measure: “It’s not difficult to despise Julian Assange. For seven years, he has attempted to evade rape and sexual assault charges in Sweden by seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London… His excuse for refusing to face trial in Sweden—that he would then face extradition to the US—has always been hogwash.”

hadn't taken the time to track down guardian via the home secretary, but i will after i get a few more home chores finished. you'd get a boot outta this, though: this morning before first light there was a fox, maybe two barking down by the compost pile. hoarse, unpleasant sound, but there've been two gorgeous large red foxes trippin' around the place lately. bush tails almost as long as their bodies; whoosh.

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Shahryar's picture

is that sending him to Sweden saves him from the U.S., right?

I've been thinking of Iceland lately. Probably too cold. New Zealand is making it difficult to emigrate there (from what I've read).

Sorry...musing on the question "is there anywhere in the world where one could go that wouldn't be under fascist control?"

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wendy davis's picture

@Shahryar

asking for hlp on when i'd brought the politico version of the 'opening rape case' on my last diary, that had ended w/ a corbyn quote: 'no extradition to the US'. but then i hadn't known (or at least remembered):

'Sweden/UK Bilateral Treaty allows fast track rendition to US under Temporary Surrender' which asange's attorneys know, and corbyn and the home secretary also know. dunno if he'll ever get to emigrate, but australia's made it clear they don't want him?

you? i used to think that costa rica sounded nice, no standing army, etc., but that's kinda changed w/ the burgeoning anti-bolivarian OAS fists crashing down because: Venezuela. heh; iceland won't be too warm much longer, yes?

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WaterLily's picture

@Shahryar For particular professions that are hard to fill from within. I forget what it's called, but a DDG inquiry should unearth it. Perhaps you have a skill set that's on it?

We've looked into it. Mine's not, but my partner's is. He's keeping his eye on that, just in case. The good news is that NZ generously allows for partners also to emigrate and potentially become citizens even if you're not legally married.

The idea of living there is more and more attractive by the day ... if it wouldn't be so far away from aging parents. Sad

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Shahryar

I hope there are other places that are better.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

and constraints of British politics (nevermind British law) are not the same as in the US, and it can be perilous to make strong statements about what various officials should or should not say or do without understanding said culture, traditions, expectations, and constraints.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

wendy davis's picture

@UntimelyRippd

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wendy davis's picture

Letters support claim Assange would not face death penalty, UK foreign secretaries wrote to assure Ecuador president over WikiLeaks founder’s extradition, april 15

“The letters go on to explain that the home secretary first must have received “adequate assurances from that country that the death penalty will not be imposed or carried out” if an extradition request is received from a country where the punishment is possible.

“There is further protection under UK law which is if the home secretary accepts an assurance as adequate, the person concerned may also seek leave to appeal to the high court, which will examine the assurance given,” the letters end.

He is charged by the US with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion with Manning. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted, though he may yet face additional charges.

Assange may be most vulnerable to a prosecution relating to the 2017 publication by WikiLeaks of a set of hacking tools used by the CIA, according to legal analysts. A former CIA contractor, Joshua Schulte, has been charged with leaking the tools to WikiLeaks.

In a third letter dated 3 April 2019, the British embassy in Quito assures the country’s foreign ministry in Spanish that Assange cannot be subjected to “inhuman or degrading punishment”, according the 1998 Human Rights Act under article three of the European convention on human rights, to which the UK adheres."

which is of course the reason he was indicted on that single charge, with more to come following his extreme rendition to the US. but i've long thought that was what really pissed off the national security apparatus, and a it turns out so does b at moon of alabama, and along the way, william arkin.

CIA's Vault 7 Files Launched New Case Against Assange - Attack Intends To Prevent Further Leaks’, b at MOA, april 13:

“It is thus likely that the case, as unsealed now, is only a pretext to extradite Assange from Britain. The real case will only get unsealed if and when Assange is in U.S. custody.
National security reporter William Arkin, who left NBC News over its warmongering, is likely right when he writes that the issue behind this is Wikileaks' publishing of the CIA's hacking tools known as Vault 7."

yep, he also thinks (thoought) that assange’s only hope is if corbyn becomes PM and offers this by now famous tweet:
Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn - 19:34 utc - 11 Apr 2019

The extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government."

Behind the Assange Saga: Radicalized by Frustration, wm arkin, april 12

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@wendy davis
Assange might be thrown into would violate this assurance:

In a third letter dated 3 April 2019, the British embassy in Quito assures the country’s foreign ministry in Spanish that Assange cannot be subjected to “inhuman or degrading punishment”, according the 1998 Human Rights Act under article three of the European convention on human rights, to which the UK adheres."

up
0 users have voted.

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

wendy davis's picture

@UntimelyRippd

but i'm having a hard time grasping why you would take any of these assurances at face value, myself. i wonder what he's experiencing right now in belmarsh gitmo?

'Julian Assange’s Nightmarish Future', April 15, 2019, elizabth vos, consortium news

"The reputation of HM Prison Belmarsh raises natural concerns about the wellbeing of the WikiLeaks publisher there.

“While many prisoners at Belmarsh say it’s difficult to see a doctor or a nurse, these services are available at the facility,” reports Bloomberg News, regarding the possibility of Assange receiving overdue medical attention.

Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh had been used to detain high-profile national security prisoners indefinitely without charge under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act of 2001, passed six weeks after 9/11, until the House of Lords ruled it violated the British Human Rights Act." [huge blood-curdling snip]

"Individual accounts from former Belmarsh inmates published by CAGE, an advocacy group against human rights abuses that occurred as a result of the “war on Terror,” described their experiences. An anonymous prisoner who was later acquitted said: “The prison system is run in such a way as to humiliate and degrade the inmate as much as possible. The process of dehumanisation starts immediately.” In the wake of Assange’s imprisonment, CAGE published a statement, saying in part: “The UK is doing the U.S.’s dirty work by persecuting a man who exposed war crimes.

and we're to believe that the UK/sweden would give a fuck what sort of treatment he gets?

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@wendy davis
i find them comically hypocritical.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

wendy davis's picture

@UntimelyRippd

then, but you might have indicated that.

on edit: and i was pinging your earlier comment:

I will note again that the culture, traditions, expectations,
and constraints of British politics (nevermind British law) are not the same as in the US, and it can be perilous to make strong statements about what various officials should or should not say or do without understanding said culture, traditions, expectations, and constraints.

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@wendy davis
significantly, that earlier comment isn't taking any kind of a stand, other than recommending caution.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

wendy davis's picture

had the medical attention that javid had advised, i'd thought this might have been it, but no, this is from march, although nasty enough a deed, for sure:

jen robinson retweeted:

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when taken into custody, it is clear he is in failing health. This is yet another example of how our authorities' value human rights. Clear as day. The man has been suffering isolation for years. Without official charges. The system of justice between US and UK sucks. Making a martyr of one exposing criminality. This is an attempt of the war makers to save face. It will not go well.

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wendy davis's picture

@QMS

the rest of the world watches...and waits, knowing it will not end well. a reminder, rastafararians call the amerikan empire and its puppet, the former british empire "Babylon".

'saving face'; that. too, especially lenin moreno's 'why assange has worn out his welcome in the ecuadorian embassy'.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@wendy davis
lying in bed with a huge plate of lobster on a table full of food in front of his obviously well-fed ass.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

wendy davis's picture

@Amanda Matthews

you've directed this comment to me, as in: did i happen to bring that photo? but he is a 1% fucker among 1% fuckers, stuffing his face with the best food for photo-ops.

sleep well if you're able; i'm so bushed i'm not even sure i'll put up a closing song when i shut down for the night.

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Bob In Portland's picture

Assange will have to answer for charges that were dropped in Sweden if Sweden refiles the charges?

Yeah, weasel words. It also shows the tenuousness of justice in the world.

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wendy davis's picture

@Bob In Portland

draggin' him outta balmasrh gitmo to head to sweden? badger holes, weasel words, UN human rights law...where does it end? guess he'll have to skype from balmarsh on may 2. how crazy can it really get?

but oh yeah, pompeo and bolton want him....baaaaad.

i keep wondering though (pinging torture at either gitmo (joe manchin: 'we own him now; we'll get the truth out of him') or balmarsh...what do they want to know? the code to wikileaks's dead man's switch?

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wendy davis's picture

and with our love and prayers for you, julian...

'some of used to dream of a better world, except we weren't better...'

~ santee sioux AIM leader john trudell

It is in the shelter of each other...that the people live.

[video:https://youtu.be/GJtq6OmD-_Y]

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

If these are his true colors, it would have been easy for him to show them right along. In fact, a whole lot easier than starting out by supporting Julian and then retracting. Why would a person take a false position that brought them no profit and angered a bunch of very powerful people?

Sounds like somebody sat down and had a conversation with him. I wonder who.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

@jeremycorbyn - 19:34 utc - 11 Apr 2019

"The extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government."

then on the ITV interview: "Jeremy Corbyn says Julian Assange 'must answer' allegations of rape and sexual assault if Sweden decides to re-open their investigation into claims made by a woman in 2010, and of course ‘There can be no hiding place from those kind of accusations’.

i'd short-handed what she'd written in the OP to "She then cites Corbyn quotes from 2015 showing that he knows full well what those charges are all about."

she'd written:
"Corbyn knows perfectly well that the Swedish allegations and extradition proceedings were only ever a step toward US extradition. In July 2015, just months before he became party leader, he explained to the New Statesman that Assange had “taken himself into the embassy because he felt that, had he been taken back to Sweden, he would be taken forcibly to the US.” He knows that Assange has been targeted for courageously exposing war crimes and state conspiracies against the public, but refuses to challenge the Blairites on anything, instead echoing their threats against Assange."

and rightfully, given corbyn would have known al of this, christine assange had tweeted:

“Weasel words from #Corbyn! NO to UK/US extradition but YES to recycled UK/SWEDEN extradition! He knows full well Swedish (no charge!) ‘case’ was a political fit-up! Sweden/UK Bilateral Treaty allows fast track rendition to US under Temporary Surrender!”

but she puts Labour front and center on isolating assange. but given all that, he, like trump, must be playing to those he thinks or knows are his base, but it sure is hideous of him. imo, of course.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

I just differ with you on what his wrongdoing was.

No, I don't think he was playing to his base with the pro-Assange statement, unless there's a bigger groundswell of support/awareness for Julian in the UK than I thought (which would be good news).

I think there is potentially a very high cost for criticizing the kidnapping of Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy, particularly for politicians and media figures. You'll note nobody here has come out for him who has, or has had, any kind of federal political career, apart from Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Gravel, and some of the security state whistleblowers (who have already burned their bridges with their former comrades). No matter who else it's a litmus test for (or not), you can damn well betcha it is for the security state, both here and in the UK. A public figure who came out against the kidnapping would immediately be on the wrong side of the fence for them. And, as Nancy Pelosi famously said "Those guys have ways of making you pay."

You don't even have to believe the payment would come in the form of an assassin's bullet. More likely it would come in the form of more hatchet jobs on Corbyn, or some kind of reputational or economic pressure on somebody he loved. Regardless, unless you can tell me this is a high-profile, very important issue for Labor's rank-and-file (which I hope you can!) I see no percentage in Corbyn bucking the powerful, who are already on his neck with charges of anti-Semitism.

Unless it would score him real points with his base to buck the powerful, the most logical hypothesis (I think) is that he took a stand and then retracted it after someone had a conversation with him. That makes him a coward and an unreliable ally, not a liar pretending to be on the right side. He buckled. That's my notion.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

from "The extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government." (esp. when anyone who cared would know that the single count against him carried an alleged five-year sentence in US would be added with other charges once he 'belonged to us'.

then even knowing what he'd known as long ago as 2015, yet saying all that dreck in the interview...makes him a hypocrite, albeit a pragmatic one. given that his and abbott's labour party has decided that's what the voters must want...there it is.

guess we just disagree, esp. how much of a rebel he was with his (to me) relatively uncontroversial tweet), now keeping n lockstop w/ the blairites in that interview, once again: politics before principle, just like tsipras in greece in the end.

if you don't stand for something...you'll fall for anything. or: it may be the devil or it may be the lord, but ya got to serve somebody'. and he ain't servin' assange, that's for certain. and thanks for the correction on the bing translation. ; )

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC10VWDTzmU]

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

Because we're being rational.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

the labour party; the Tweet, i mean. same one the deputy shadow secretary abbott made, then...did the same switcheroo corbyn had. guess we'll ee in the days ahead if they do in fact open the bogus case again and extradite him to sweden. sigh.

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lotlizard's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal  
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chuck+schumer+six+ways+sunday

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@lotlizard

statement to the effect that it was too dangerous for a politician to cross the CIA.

I may have remembered Chuckie's specific words better than Nancy's. My attention has a tendency to drift when she talks.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Yo quiero, cuando me muera,
sin patria, pero sin amo,
tener en mi tumba un ramo
de flores y una bandera.

No me pongas in el oscuro
A morir como un traidor
Yo soy bueno y como el bueno
Morire de cara sol.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

bless your heart, miz signal.

I want, when I die,
No fatherland, but no master,
To have in my grave a bouquet
Of flowers and a flag.

Don't put me in the dark
To die a traitor
I'm good and like the good
I'll Die from the sun.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

The last line is:

I will die with my face to the sun.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

add a closing song. 'it's not dark yet, but...it's gettin' there. g' night.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgBhyU4IvQ]

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SnappleBC's picture

So Assange is very, VERY loosely accused of "having sex with a half-asleep woman" and "tearing the condom" which contains no DNA on it. For this, we have three nations and the entire western MSM clamoring for his head.

With Epstein, we have pretty much rock-solid knowledge that he ran a child-prostitution ring. He served 10 months in "prison" during which time he was allowed to leave every day and travel about more or less freely.

One of these men embarrassed the elite... the other provided under-age prostitutes for them. I wonder if there's any connection between that and the reaction of the western "justice" system.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard