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"The Assange extradition case is like if the mafia was demanding a snitch be extradited to Italy and multiple nations collaborated with them to help make this happen, except in this case the snitch is a journalist who told the truth, and the mob happens to run a global superpower."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

Assange Extradition Case Moves Forward While The CIA Covers Its Tracks

So they’re really doing it. The Biden administration is really ignoring Australia’s request to end the case against Julian Assange, and they’re proceeding with their campaign to extradite a journalist for telling the truth about US war crimes.

In order to move the extradition case forward, per a British high court ruling US prosecutors needed to provide “assurances” that the US would not seek the death penalty and would not deprive Assange of his human right to free speech because of his nationality. The US provided the assurance against the death penalty (which they’d previously opposed doing), and for the free speech assurance they said only that Assange will be able to “raise and seek to rely upon” US First Amendment rights, adding, “A decision as to the applicability of the First Amendment is exclusively within the purview of the U.S. Courts.”

Which is basically just saying “I mean, you’re welcome to TRY to have free speech protections?”

At the same time, CIA Director William Burns has filed a State Secrets Privilege demand to withhold information in a lawsuit against the agency by four American journalists and attorneys who were spied on during their visits to Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. State secrets privilege is a US evidentiary rule designed to prevent courts from revealing state secrets during civil litigation; the CIA began invoking it with the Assange lawsuit earlier this year.

Burns argues:

“I am asserting the state secrets and statutory privileges in this case as I have determined that either admitting or denying that CIA has information implicated by the remaining allegations in the Amended Complaint reasonably could be expected to cause serious — and in some cases, exceptionally grave — damage to the national security of the United States. After deliberation and personal consideration, I have determined that the complete factual bases for my privilege assertions cannot be set forth on the public record without confirming or denying whether CIA has information relating to this matter and therefore risking the very harm to U.S. national security that I seek to protect.”

Which is obviously a load of horse shit. As Assange himself tweeted in 2017, “The overwhelming majority of information is classified to protect political security, not national security.” Burns isn’t worried about damaging “the national security of the United States,” he’s worried about the potential political fallout from information about the CIA spying on American lawyers and journalists while visiting a journalist who was being actively targeted by the legal arm of the US government.

Political security is also why the US is working to punish Julian Assange for publishing inconvenient facts about US war crimes. The Pentagon already acknowledged years ago that the Chelsea Manning leaks for which Assange is being prosecuted didn’t get anyone killed and had no strategic impact on US war efforts, so plainly this isn’t about national security. It’s just politically damaging for the criminality of the US government to be made public for all to see.

They’re just squeezing and squeezing this man as hard as they can for as long as they can get away with to keep him silent and make an example of him to show what happens when journalists reveal unauthorized information about the empire. Just like Gaza, the persecution of Julian Assange makes a lie of everything the US and its western allies claim to stand for, and reveals the cruel face of tyranny beneath the mask of liberal democracy.

Non Assurances for Assange - Turmoil in the Middle East - with Craig Murray & Cathy Vogan

Aaron Maté : Biden Fuels Regional Carnage

Israel reportedly deploys extra weapons for assumed Rafah offensive

Israel has reportedly deployed extra artillery and armoured personnel carriers to the Gaza Strip periphery, suggesting that the military is preparing for its long-threatened ground offensive on Rafah, the only place of relative safety for at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinian civilians.

Israeli daily Ma’ariv also said on Wednesday that troops had been put on alert and “the governing principle of the operation” had been approved by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general staff and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister. The IDF declined to comment on the reports.

The IDF confirmed on Tuesday it was buying 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians who have sought shelter in Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip, which is only major urban area in the territory that Israeli ground forces have not yet entered.

The new operation in the six-month war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas will reportedly focus first on securing northern and central Gaza, particularly the string of refugee camps around the town of Deir al-Balah, Ma’ariv said. It comes 10 days after Israel withdrew the bulk of its ground forces from the strip, leaving one division to man the Netzarim Corridor, the Israeli-built buffer that now divides the coastal territory.

But Palestinians on the ground said there had been a renewed presence of Israeli ground troops in northern Gaza this week, including in Beit Hanoun, where tanks surrounded school buildings where displaced people were sheltering. Overnight, Israeli airstrikes hit Rafah and several other urban areas.

Biden SANCTIONS Iranian Drone Makers As Israel POSTPONES Retaliatory Strike

1. Deny bombing the consulate
2. Say the consulate wasn't really a consulate
3. Say Iran better not retaliate against you for that time you bombed the consulate
4. Say you had no idea that Iran would make such a big deal about you bombing their consulate https://t.co/86cA0QK453

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 18, 2024

Israel Considers Attacking Iran and Invading Rafah as Netanyahu Seeks Lifelines to Stay in Power

Israel ‘making decision to act’ after Iran attack, says Cameron on Jerusalem visit

David Cameron has said it is clear Israel is “making a decision to act” in response to last weekend’s Iranian mass drone and ballistic missile attack, as Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off calls for restraint and said his country would make its own decisions about how to defend itself.

Lord Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, speaking on a visit to Jerusalem, said he hoped the Israeli response would be carried out in a way that minimised escalation.

“It’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next, but it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act,” he said after meeting the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible,” he added, becoming the first non-Israeli politician to openly admit that some kind of military reprisal is inevitable.

Cameron later met Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who made it clear Israel would reach its own decisions on its security.

Speaking at the beginning of his cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Netanyahu said: “I thank our friends for their support for the defence of Israel … They also have all kinds of suggestions and advice, I appreciate it, but I want to make it clear: we will make our own decisions, and the state of Israel will do everything necessary to protect itself.”

Yah, sure Genocide Joe Biden wants a "two state solution."

Leaked Cables Show Biden Pressuring Nations to Oppose Palestine's UN Membership

As the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote Thursday on Palestine's bid to become a full U.N. member, the Biden administration—which claims to support Palestinian statehood—is lobbying UNSC nations in an effort to wrangle enough "no" votes so that the United States can avoid resorting to a veto.

Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.

While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors."

"We therefore urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of 'Palestine' as a U.N. member state, should such a resolution be presented to the Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks," the document advises.

Biden admin is quietly pressuring countries to vote against Palestinian statehood at the UN, according to diplomatic cables leaked to me:https://t.co/XWxz7kddPK

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) April 17, 2024

The U.S. argument essentially is that the U.N. should not create an independent Palestinian state by fiat—even though that's precisely how the world body voted in 1947 to establish the modern state of Israel.

The renewed push for Palestine's U.N. membership comes as Israel wages a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, which hasn't controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, rejected the Biden administration's requests to hold off on seeking full membership.

"We wanted the U.S. to provide a substantive alternative to U.N. recognition. They didn't," one unnamed Palestinian official told Axios on Wednesday. "We believe full membership in the U.N. for Palestine is way overdue. We have waited more than 12 years since our initial request."

As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:

Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.

Along with the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the UNSC, so they also have veto power.

Ahead of Thursday's planned vote, Spain has been doing its own lobbying in Europe to build greater support for Palestinian statehood. At a joint Tuesday press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said the question is "when, not if, but when is the best moment to recognize Palestine."

Belgium—which is seeking economic sanctions against Israel in response to its genocidal war on Gaza—is expected to join Spain's push for Palestinian statehood after the country's European Union presidency expires in June.

Currently, 139 of the U.N.'s 193 member states recognize Palestine as an independent state.

Countries recognizing Palestinian statehood. https://t.co/7EQQFaOaUt

— GenXDutchess (@GenXDutchess) April 10, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.

Critics pointed to the leaked cables as more proof of U.S. duplicity and double standards on the Israel-Palestine issue.

"This is the evidence that President Biden's talk about a two-state solution is nothing but idle talk," Massoud Maalouf, a former Lebanese ambassador to Canada, Chile, and Poland, said on social media.

US CAUGHT HIDING Proof Israel Torture, War Crimes

UN Rights Office Says Israel Still Imposing ‘Unlawful’ Restrictions on Gaza Aid

The UN’s Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that Israel is still imposing “unlawful” restrictions on aid entering Gaza despite US and Israeli claims that there’s been an increase in deliveries, Reuters reported on Tuesday. ...

“Israel continues to impose unlawful restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance and to carry out widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office.

Shamdasani added that “those delivering or trying to access humanitarian assistance must never be attacked.” Last week, UNICEF workers reported that a vehicle they were traveling in was hit by Israeli gunfire, but nobody was hurt.

Israel has sped up settlement-building in East Jerusalem since Gaza war began

Israel’s government has accelerated the construction of settlements across East Jerusalem, with more than 20 projects totalling thousands of housing units having been approved or advanced since the start of the war in Gaza six months ago, planning documents show.

Ministries and offices within the Israeli government are behind all the largest and most contentious of the projects, sometimes in association with rightwing nationalist groups with a history of trying to evict Palestinians from their homes in parts of the city.

The rapid approval or construction of settlements that are illegal under international law is likely to further damage Israel’s relationship with the Biden administration. ...

“The fast-tracking of these plans has been unparalleled in the last six months,” said Sari Kronish, from the Israeli human rights organisation Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights. “While many government bodies were shuttered or had limited operation following 7 October, the planning authorities continued to plough forward, advancing these plans at unprecedented speed.”

The new settlements will offer homes for Israel’s majority Jewish population in parts of Jerusalem that were unilaterally annexed by Israel in 1980, and are likely to be an obstacle to any attempt to create a viable Palestinian state with the east of the city as its capital.

Ukr Collapse: Rus Holds 40% Krasnogorovka, Storms Ocheretino, Ukr Mutinies; Israel Prepares Strike

UK insurers refuse to pay Nord Stream because blasts were ‘government’ backed

British insurers are arguing that they have no obligation to honor their coverage of the Nord Stream pipelines, which were blown up in September 2022, because the unprecedented act of industrial sabotage was likely carried out by a national government.

The insurers’ filing contradicts reports the Washington Post and other legacy media publications asserting that a private Ukrainian team was responsible for the massive act of industrial sabotage.

A legal brief filed on behalf of UK-based firms Lloyd’s Insurance Company and Arch Insurance states that the “defendants will rely on, inter alia, the fact that tiger explosion Damage could only have (or, at least, was more likely than not to have) been inflicted by or under the order of a government.”

As a result, they argue, “the Explosion Damage was “directly or indirectly occasioned by, happening through, or in consequence of” the conflict between Russia and Ukraine” and falls under an exclusion relating to military conflicts.

Prof. John Mearsheimer: Russia Smashes NATO

Biden to triple taxes on Chinese steel and block Japanese takeover of US Steel

Joe Biden announced plans to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum and promised to block the acquisition of US Steel by a Japanese company during a speech to steelworkers on Wednesday in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where union support could prove crucial in the November general election.

Biden touted the plan during a visit to the United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh, the heart of the American steel industry, where he said “the backbone of America has a steel spine” and promised to keep US Steel as a “totally American-owned, American-operated” company.

The Biden administration is reviewing a proposed $14.9bn acquisition of US Steel, once the world’s largest company and which played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, by Japan’s Nippon Steel. Biden said last month he would oppose the deal.

As he was greeted by a small group of steelworkers upon his arrival in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, one shouted: “Keep US Steel in America!” Biden responded: “Guaranteed.” A large group of protesters gathered across the street, one group chanting “Bidenomics has got to go” and another yelling “Ceasefire now!”

During his speech, the president called on his trade representative to consider tripling the existing 7.5% tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum imports, a move the White House said was aimed at protecting American jobs against “unfair” competition.

Speaker Johnson BETRAYS GOP On Ukraine Funding, MAGA Members Are FURIOUS

Consolation prize - allows some congressworms to pretend that they give a rat's ass about your constitutional rights.

Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act

While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.

The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.

"The privacy violations that flow from law enforcement entities circumventing the Fourth Amendment undermine civil liberties, free expression, and our ability to control what happens to our data," said Free Press Action policy counsel Jenna Ruddock. "These impacts affect everyone who uses digital platforms that extract our personal information any time we open a browser or visit social media and other websites—even when we go to events like demonstrations and other places with our phones revealing our locations."

"We're grateful that the House passed these vital and popular protections," she added. "The bill would prevent flagrant abuses of our privacy by government authorities in league with unscrupulous third-party data brokers. Making this legislation into law with Senate passage too would be a decisive and long-overdue action against government misuse of this clandestine business sector that traffics in our personal data for profit."

Telegram Founder Pavel DurovTells Tucker Carlson The FBI Tried SPYING On Users Via The Messenger

Arizona Republicans again block effort to repeal 1864 near-total abortion ban

After days of nationwide debate over the Arizona supreme court’s recent decision to uphold a near-total abortion ban from the 19th century, Arizona’s Republican-controlled statehouse has again quashed an effort to repeal the ban.

Republicans, who hold a one-seat majority in both the Arizona house and senate, on Wednesday shot down a procedural measure in the statehouse that would have enabled the chamber to vote on a bill to repeal the ban. Just one Republican, the representative Matt Gress, voted with the house’s 29 Democrats, but the 30-30 split was not enough to move forward.

Wednesday marked the second time that state legislators have tried to repeal the ban, which was first passed in 1864, since the state supreme court ruling. Last week, Gress tried to bring forth a vote on the repeal bill. However, he then voted with other Republicans to recess until Wednesday.

The ban, passed before Arizona became a state, only permits abortions in cases to save a woman’s life. It does not have exceptions for rape or incest. Due to legal delays, it is not yet in effect; instead, Arizona currently bans abortion past 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Former St Louis undercover officer gets $23m after beating by police colleagues

A Missouri judge awarded more than $23m to a former St Louis police officer who was beaten by other officers while working undercover at a protest in 2017.

On Monday Luther Hall was awarded the significant sum in a default judgment by Joseph Whyte, the St Louis circuit judge, after one of the defendants failed to respond to a lawsuit over the 2017 attack. “Mr Hall had to endure this severe beating and while that was happening, he knew it was being administered by his colleagues who were sworn to serve and protect,” Whyte said.

Hall was severely injured by his own colleagues while undercover at a protest following the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white police officer who shot and killed 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man. Hall was pinned to the ground by officers and beaten with a baton, suffering permanent injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, Buzzfeed News reported. ...

In a 2022 interview with KMOV, Hall said that officers at the 2017 demonstration were simply out to hurt protesters. “I could have been anybody, but being Black definitely didn’t help,” Hall said. Officers also lied on an incident report about Hall’s assault, writing that “Hall was knocked to the ground striking the concrete” as officers were making arrests.

Los Angeles police officer who killed girl, 14, in department store will not face charges

A Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot a 14-year-old girl inside a clothing store in 2021 will not face charges, the California attorney general announced on Wednesday.

Valentina Orellana-Peralta was shopping with her mother at a north Hollywood Burlington Coat Factory on 23 December 2021 when the LAPD entered to apprehend a man suspected of attacking customers in the store. When officer William Dorsey Jones Jr fired three rounds at the man, Valentina was in a nearby dressing room with her mother praying and was killed by Jones’s gunfire. The killing just before Christmas sparked national outrage, and the California justice department has been investigating it for years, following state law requiring inquiries into all fatal police shootings of unarmed victims.

The California department of justice said on Wednesday that there was “insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution” of the officer. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, released a report on the investigation, which recommended that the LAPD “consider updating their communication training bulletin and any related training to account for the type of situation presented during this event”.

The lack of charges comes despite an LA police commission ruling in 2022 that Jones had violated policy during the shooting, a rare rebuke from the civilian oversight group. The commission said Jones’s second and third shots were not justified. Michel Moore, the police chief at the time, concluded that Jones should not have fired any of the shots and said it did not appear deadly force was “objectively reasonable or necessary”.

Body-camera footage of the shooting immediately raised concerns when it was released in 2021. The video showed that as soon as Jones saw Daniel Elena Lopez, the 24-year-old who had assaulted customers, Jones fired three rounds in rapid succession. It did not appear that Jones shouted commands at Elena Lopez or attempt to de-escalate before firing. Elena Lopez was also killed.

Trump Juror DROPS OUT As Impartiality Questions Swirl

Climate crisis: average world incomes to drop by nearly a fifth by 2050

Average incomes will fall by almost a fifth within the next 26 years as a result of the climate crisis, according to a study that predicts the costs of damage will be six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C.

Rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and more frequent and intense extreme weather are projected to cause $38tn (£30tn) of destruction each year by mid-century, according to the research, which is the most comprehensive analysis of its type ever undertaken, and whose findings are published in the journal Nature.

The hefty toll – which is far higher than previous estimates – is already locked into the world economy over the coming decades as a result of the enormous emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere through the burning of gas, oil, coal and trees. This will inflict crippling losses on almost every country, with a disproportionately severe impact on those least responsible for climate disruption, further worsening inequality.

The paper says the permanent average loss of income worldwide will be 19% by 2049. In the United States and Europe the reduction will be about 11%, while in Africa and south Asia it will be 22%, with some individual countries much higher than this.

Billions more in overseas aid needed to avert climate disaster, say economists

Governments of wealthy countries must pledge hundreds of billions more in overseas aid payments channelled through the World Bank to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis, civil society experts and economists have said.

The International Development Association fund, the arm of the World Bank that disburses loans and grants to poor countries, is worth about $93bn (£b75n) but that figure must be roughly tripled by 2030, according to economic experts.

Governments are expected to discuss new aid pledges this week at the World Bank’s annual spring meetings in Washington DC. The World Bank, its fellow publicly funded development banks around the world and the International Monetary Fund are under pressure to show they can lead the world to the low-carbon transition needed.

Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank, told journalists the climate crisis would be a priority. “The world is facing a set of intertwined challenges: the climate crisis, debt, food insecurity, pandemics, fragility, and there is clearly a need to accelerate access to clean air, water and energy,” he said. “The [World Bank] needs a fit-for-purpose mission and vision, and that is to create a world free from poverty on a livable planet.”

Work by the economists Nicholas Stern and Vera Songwe suggests $2.4tn a year is needed by 2030 to shift developing countries, excluding China, to a low-carbon economy. About $1.4tn of that is expected to come through these countries’ investments and the remainder from publicly funded assistance from wealthy countries as well as private sector investment.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

“Rules-Based Order” Means Rules For Thee But Not For We

Craig Murray: The Farce of US Diplomatic Assurances

Speaker Johnson Unveils $95 Billion Foreign Military Aid Bills

‘Brutal’ Is a Word Mostly Reserved for Palestinian Violence

Middle East Escalation: Financial Times’ Revealing Account of Israel Risk of Ukraine-Style Air Defense Attrition; Helmer on Possible Electrical Grid Campaign

Palestinian boy who survived airstrike dies during food aid drop

Iran And Saudi Arabia - A Common Future Looking East

Dmitry Medvedev's Speech On Russia's Strategic Borders

Can a New German Party Steer the European Left in a More Effective Direction?

Armenia Asks World Court to Pursue Ethnic Cleansing Case Against Azerbaijan

Supreme Court to Decide on Criminalizing Outdoor Sleeping

China Builds A Temporary Bridge In Seven Days: Baltimore Will Take Years To Rebuild Theirs

California cracks down on water pumping: ‘The ground is collapsing’

Scientists Warn Gulf Stream Slowdown Could Begin as Early as 2025

The New McCarthyism: Congress Grills Columbia Univ. President Amid Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Speech

Columbia Students Risk Arrest, Suspension to Maintain Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Campus

GOOGLE Fires Tech Workers Who Protested Against Firms Israeli Partnership

Thomas Massie & MTG Unite To OUST House Speaker!

A Little Night Music

Otis Spann - Spann's Blues

Otis Spann - Good Morning Mr. Blues

Otis Spann – Mule Kicking In My Stall

Otis Spann – I Wonder Why

Otis Spann w/Fleetwood Mac - Dig You

Otis Spann – Home To Mississippi

Otis Spann – Country Boy

Otis Spann - Sellin' My Thing

Otis Spann - No More Doggin'