Another Half a Year Gone...

Time's fun when you're having flies...or something like that. No doubt time seemingly passes faster and faster as the years click by. I bet Julian's time is about to speed up...spending time with his family instead of sitting in a maximum security prison...for committing journalism and truth telling. The conflicts around the world continue with US provocation. The USD continues to be at risk, and many banks are on the verge of bankruptcy. Let's dive into these stories and more below the fold.

I'm wishing Julian and his family peace and restoration!

Julian Assange: free at last, but guilty of practicing journalism (Pepe Escobar)

The United States Government (USG) – under the “rules-based international order” – has de facto ruled that Julian Assange is guilty of practicing journalism. ...
Julian was forced to suffer an unspeakably vicious Via Crucis because he dared to expose USG war crimes; the inner workings of the U.S. military in their rolling thunder War Of Terror (italics mine) in Afghanistan and Iraq; and – Holy of Holies – he dared to release emails showing the Democratic National Committee (DNC) colluded with the notorious warmongering Harpy Hillary Clinton.
Julian was subjected to relentless psychological torture, and nearly crucified for publishing facts that should always remain invisible to public opinion. That’s what top-notch journalism is all about.
The whole drama teaches the whole planet everything one needs to know about the absolute control of the Hegemon over pathetic UK and EU.

I hope Julian can rest and recover without being hassled.

You Saved Julian Assange (Chris Hedges)

The dark machinery of empire, whose mendacity and savagery Julian Assange exposed to the world, spent 14 years trying to destroy him. They cut him off from his funding, canceling his bank accounts and credit cards. They invented bogus allegations of sexual assault to get him extradited to Sweden, where he would then be shipped to the U.S. They trapped him in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for seven years after he was given political asylum and Ecuadorian citizenship by refusing him safe passage to Heathrow Airport. They orchestrated a change of government in Ecuador that saw him stripped of his asylum, harassed and humiliated by a pliant embassy staff. They contracted the Spanish security firm UC global in the embassy to record all his conversations, including those with his attorneys. The CIA discussed kidnapping or assassinating him. They arranged for London’s Metropolitan Police to raid the embassy – sovereign territory of Ecuador – and seize him.
They held him for five years in the high security HM Prison Belmarsh, often in solitary confinement. And all the while they carried out a judicial farce in the British courts where due process was ignored so an Australian citizen, whose publication was not based in the U.S. and who, like all journalists, received documents from whistleblowers, could be charged under the Espionage Act. They tried over and over and over to destroy him. They failed. But Julian was not released because the courts defended the rule of law and exonerated a man who had not committed a crime. He was not released because the Biden White House and the intelligence community have a conscience. He was not released because the news organizations that published his revelations and then threw him under the bus, carrying out a vicious smear campaign, pressured the U.S. government.
He was released — granted a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department, according to court documents — in spite of these institutions. He was released because day after day, week after week, year after year, hundreds of thousands of people around the globe mobilized to decry the imprisonment of the most important journalist of our generation. Without this mobilization, Julian would not be free.

The US is blind to it's own hypocrisy.

Assange Agreed to Destroy Unpublished Classified Material (Lauria)
The 23-page plea deal between Julian Assange and the United States government that freed Assange this week contains a provision that he agree to return or destroy all unpublished U.S. material still in WikiLeaks‘ possession. The agreement says on Page 29: “Before his plea is entered in Court, the Defendant shall take all action within his control to cause the return to the United States or the destruction of any such unpublished information in his possession, custody, or control, or that of WikiLeaks or any affiliate of WikiLeaks. The Defendant further agrees that, if the forgoing obligation requires him to instruct the editor(s) of WikiLeaks to destroy any such information or otherwise cause it to be destroyed, he shall provide the United States (or cause to be provided to the United States) a sworn affidavit confirming the instruction he provided and that, he will, in good faith, seek to facilitate compliance with that instruction prior to sentencing.”
Asked about it at a press conference in Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday, Barry Pollack, Assange’s U.S. lawyer who negotiated the plea deal, dismissed the significance of the agreement to destroy the materials. He said: “You’d have to ask the United States government why they insisted on including that clause. The materials we are talking about are now more than a decade old. I don’t know to what extent any still existed or what possible value they might have, certainly no national security value. In fact, the United States court in Saipan yesterday conceded, and the judge found that there is no evidence that any harm has befallen any individual anywhere in the world as a result of Mr. Assange’s publications. That being said, they did insist that he issue an instruction to the editor of WikiLeaks to destroy any materials they might have that were not published and Julian has complied with that provision and issued that instruction.”

What the Assange saga says about the state of the American empire
Nice summary of Julian's case.

Tucker Carlson Exposes ‘Monstrous’ Injustice in Julian Assange Case
"Anybody who knows anything about that case and believes that Assange should still be in prison is your enemy, by the way, and the enemy of human freedom and flourishing."
Carlson didn't hold back, calling it "monstrous" that Assange spent twelve years locked away for exposing other people's crimes.
"Typically, the guy who discovers the crime doesn’t go to jail. It's the guy who commits the crime that goes to jail, and that's been inverted in his case."
Assange was never charged with a crime in Great Britain, yet he was nearly tortured to death in Belmarsh prison for over five years.
"In the free world, we don’t hold people who haven’t been charged with a crime," which Carlson described as a glaring "abuse of human rights."
"I kept thinking, like, when is Australia gonna send a warship up the Thames to get their guy back?" he wondered. "I mean, what is that?"
Now, the world is anxiously awaiting Julian Assange's first interview. I have a strong feeling it's going to be with Tucker Carlson. What do you think?

Pepe had several interviews this week...
most focusing on Russia's response to the Crimean beach bombing.
He was on with the Judge: Pepe Escobar : Putin’s Next Moves (31 min)
and Nima's Dialogue Works: Russia is Losing its Patience and it could be Devastating for NATO (54 min)
But perhaps most interesting was Pepe's conversation with Alexander Dugin (57 min)

Alexander Dugin and Pepe Escobar join 24 June 2024

The Judge and Nima are two of the busiest YouTubers around...
The Judge's interviews, other than Pepe's, this week (each about 30 min):
Alastair Crooke: Putin Reshaping the American Mood
Ray McGovern : Mossad in the Pentagon?
Larry Johnson : US Wasting Its Missiles
Kyle Anzalone : Anti-War Wrap
Scott Ritter : Putin Outfoxes Blinken
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Netanyahu’s Troubles

Lt Col. Karen Kwiatkowski #Assange is FREE! - Mossad in the Pentagon
Matt Hoh : Assange To Be Set FREE!
Aaron Maté: Who Sabotaged the Istanbul Deal?
Anya Parampil : Julian Assange and Truth
Amb. Craig Murray : Stop the Genocide!
Dr. Gilbert Doctorow : Russian Retaliation!

Phil Giraldi : Boots On The Ground Fraud.....
COL. Douglas Macgregor : #Ukraine Nearing the End! #Netanyahu Desperate!
MAX Blumenthal : Israeli Meddling in US Politics.
Prof. John Mearsheimer : Israel’s Deep Troubles
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Israel/Ukraine Wrap
INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern : Weekly Intel Wrap

Nima on Dialogue Works interviews many of the same people in a longer (typically one hour) format:
He had three interviews with Ray this week on various topics...
Is Peace in Ukraine in Sight? - Is Netanyahu Destroying Israel? | Ray McGovern
Middle East is Undergoing Major Changes as Netanyahu's Significant Failures Emerge | Ray McGovern
Heading Towards Devastating Escalations Between Russia and NATO? | Ray McGovern
Russia Humiliates NATO in Conventional War | Andrei Martyanov
Putin and China Ready to Crush NATO - Israel is Facing Colossal Failure | Jeff J. Brown
Russia is Not Bluffing, and NATO's Gamble Would Blow Up the Bases in the EU | Col. Daniel L. Davis
Russia's Next Move - Israel Has Lost Hands Down | Chas Freeman
How deep is the cooperation between Russia and China to destroy NATO strategy | Dmitry Orlov
Why the West Hates Russia - Netanyahu is Furious | MIT Prof. Ted Postol
Julian Assange is FREE- NATO Lost its Mind - Who's in Control? Biden or Netanyahu | Matthew Hoh
Is Russia Going to Crush Ukraine? - This Could Put an End to Israel | Col. Jacques Baud
Putin's Response to Terrorist Attacks - Israel's Growing Problems | Col. Larry Wilkerson
Israel is Losing Significantly, and It's Only Getting Worse | Richard D. Wolff
Russia is Fully Prepared for the Worst-Case Scenario to Crush NATO | Mark Sleboda
Blowing Up Peace Plans Can Get Us All KILLED | Jeffrey Sachs
and two with Larry Johnson-
Putin's Devastating Horizontal Escalation - Israel Will Lose If Fights Hezbollah
Russia is Ready to Respond to NATO with Crushing Force

Between the Judge and Nima it is almost more than you can absorb in a week.

Biden's Disastrous Debate
No surprise here. Did anyone expect otherwise?
Trump's new 95 second ad...

(1.5 painful minutes)

My favorite response comes from Glenn Greenwald, and though I disagree with his rejection of Biden's replacement, I found his analysis very good.

DEBATE REACTION: Biden's Undeniable Decline on Display; Dems in Panic (31 mins)

Tucker had an interesting take too...

(8 min)

None the less, the delusion apparently continues...
US President Joe Biden will not drop out of the 2024 election race despite his poor performance during Thursday’s first presidential debate with Donald Trump, campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster has announced. Following the debate, in which Biden was largely panned, even by fellow Democrats, many in the party suggested that the president should be replaced on the November 5 ballot. In a text message seen by The Hill, Schuster is apparently attempting to reassure the president’s supporters that he will continue his efforts to be reelected. “Of course he’s not dropping out,” the campaign spokesperson wrote. Another member of the president’s team told Politico that Biden will stay in the race because he is “the only person who has ever beaten Donald Trump. He will do it again.”
My comment is, We'll see.

Democrats must admit that US President Joe Biden is no longer capable of resoundingly defeating Donald Trump on Election Day in November and that is why they must find a more suitable candidate to replace him, The New York Times editorial board wrote on Friday. The appeal came a day after Biden delivered what many described as a disastrous performance against Trump during the live presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia.

Kamala to Be ‘Leapfrogged’ in Quest to Find Biden Replacement
“President Biden had a very bad night. The worst part was that he reinforced the narrative about him, of being kind of this doddering old man who didn’t know where he was, couldn’t complete a sentence, kind of got lost midway through sentences, those sorts of things.” The post-debate analysis, even on left-leaning MSNBC, focused heavily on finding a potential replacement for Biden, with the choices of Harris and California Governor Gavin Newsom being floated on the air. Patillo described Biden’s performance as “Just an old man dying in front of us,” saying that “It got uncomfortable for people watching.”
There's still talk of the $hill replacing Biden. Talk about disaster waiting to happen.

MoA claims the replacement strategy has failed...
The DNC Campaign To Oust Biden Has Failed

The debate about Joe's candidacy continues. However, some are calling for his removal from office...
Biden Should Be Removed As President – US House Speaker (RT)
“It’s not just political. It’s not just the Democratic Party. It’s the entire country. We have a serious problem here, because we have a president who, by all appearances, is not up to the task,” he said. Johnson said Biden’s administration could force him to step down by invoking the 25th Amendment – which states that the vice president and cabinet members can vote to declare the president “unable to discharge the powers and the duties of his office,” making the VP the acting head of state. If the commander-in-chief refuses to comply, the final decision on the issue would be made by Congress. The amendment has never been used in US history. “There are a lot of people asking about the 25th Amendment, invoking the 25th Amendment right now because this is an alarming situation,” the House speaker stressed.

Another Failed Coup...in Bolivia

The Duran discusses the Bolivia coup failure (13 min)

... of the BRICS and to establish relations with Russia. In addition, Bolivia has almost a quarter of the world's lithium reserves - a very valuable fossil that the US wants to seize, Lidovskoy noted.
"There has already been an attempted coup in Bolivia in 2019. It was successful, unfortunately quite bloody, when fascists came to power. However, the elections were won by the socialists and they began to build a policy that would put Bolivia on the path of development towards a multipolar world," the expert noted.
The US attempt to stage a coup failed not only because of the lessons Bolivia learned from the past. Arce was able to rally the population around him when he came out to the demonstrators, he explained.

Israel, the Gaza Genocide, and possible Lebanon Invasion....
(see nima's and the Judge's clps above for more discussion)
Israeli Plan To Prevent A Palestinian State (Sahiounie)
While the world watches the genocide in Gaza, there is another war on the Palestinian people in the Occupied West Bank. On June 9, the New York Times (NYT) reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich outlined, in a speech to Jewish extremists, a plan by the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to annex the Occupied Territories of the West Bank.
...
Not every Jew is a Zionist, and not every Zionist is a Jew. For example, after October 7, U.S. President Joe Biden said he was a Zionist, while being a Christian. Zionism is a political movement, hiding behind a religion. Similarly, Al Qaeda and ISIS are political movements, hiding behind a religion. Using the word Zionist as a label of identification is not antisemitic, because Zionism is not limited only to Jews. The modern movement of Zionism began in the late 1800s, and refers to Zion as an acronym for Jerusalem. Jewish settlers in the West Bank see their illegal occupation there as a demonstration of Zionism. Those who oppose Zionism are not being anti-Semitic. They simply oppose a political position of the Israeli government, just as they may oppose a political position of the Japanese government on an issue.
The official name of Israel is “The Jewish State of Israel”. Some have offered that there is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and also similarly of Iran. So why do people complain about the religious nature of Israel? Israel denies the human rights and civil rights of non-Jewish people in Israel and Palestine, and has been classified as an Apartheid state by the UN and human rights groups. Tallie Ben Daniel, the managing director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which sees Zionism as a movement whose aim “is to deny the rights of Palestinians and the humanity of Palestinians.” “For us, we want to be clear: the form of Zionism that has survived and has power now is an expansionist, right-wing, genocidal form,” Ben Daniel said. “The people in power in Israel right now … want to annihilate the Palestinians and get all the land for Jews, and there is no thought there could be coexistence,” said Ben Daniel.

Iran Threatens Israel With ‘Obliterating War’ If It Attacks Lebanon (ZH)
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has put Israel and the world on notice, saying that if Israel launches an all-out war against Hezbollah in Lebanon the whole region will burn. A Friday statement from Iran’s ambassador warned the UN that any “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon against Hezbollah will mean that “an obliterating war will ensue.” The Iranian statement continued by emphasizing that “all options, including the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table” in a statement posted to X. By “resistance fronts” Tehran means the militias it supports in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen will also ramp up their military activities. On a few occasions, Iraqi Shia militias have launched missiles and drones against southern Israel, as have the Houthis, with limited effect.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged this week that a “seven front war” could open up, in reference to all of Iran’s proxies across the region.

Over 80 UK War Planes Deployed From Cyprus To Lebanon Since 7 Oct
The UK has sent over 80 military transport planes to the Lebanese capital of Beirut since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza nine months ago, Declassified UK reported on 28 June. All the flights have gone from the UK’s massive Akrotiri airbase on the nearby island of Cyprus, long a staging post for UK bombing missions in West Asia. Declassified UK notes that the number of UK military flights to Beirut has risen dramatically in recent months. The group tracked 25 flights in April and May and 14 so far in June. Flights from the UK base take around 45 minutes to reach Beirut, which Israel has increasingly threatened to bomb in a possible full-scale war with the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah. The Ministry of Defense declined to disclose the number of UK military flights to Lebanon since the start of the war on 7 October or their purpose. A defense source told Declassified UK that the flights “have been primarily for the purpose of facilitating senior military engagement” with the Lebanese army.
But it is widely assumed the planes are carrying weapons to Beirut to arm anti-Hezbollah militias. The US, UK, and Israel would presumably use these militias to attack Hezbollah from within the country in the case of an Israeli invasion from the south.

NATO's War with Russia...
(again check out the Judge's and Nima's interviews above for more discussion)

The big news this week is speculation of Russia's response to the recent attack on beach going civilians

US and NATO Accomplices Play Terror Card Against Russia (Van den Ende)
(worth the read)
Recently, two U.S. senators, Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, introduced a bill to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. “We will push for a vote, and the best thing we can do, I think, to shape the future is to label Putin as a terrorist leader, because that’s what he is,” said Graham. Graham can be compared to a (rather stupid) criminal cowboy. There are many senators with the same criminal mentality in the U.S. government. Graham is Republican, Blumenthal is a Democrat. It doesn’t matter who rules the U.S., both political parties are on the warpath and both are under the influence of the U.S. deep state (lobbies like the arms industry, military complex, etc.). Elections are a farce, just like in Europe. The U.S. together with its partners in the European Union and NATO, have instigated and prolonged all kinds of illegal wars for many years, with the reckless supply of weapons and money.

She Eats Russians For Breakfast’ (RT)
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has been nominated by the leaders of EU member states to become the next high representative for security and foreign policy. The politician – selected to speak for Brussels internationally and balance conflicting interests in the EU – has a reputation as an uncompromising hawk on Russia.

The EU leadership is pushing the bloc towards war with Russia, while neglecting the interests of their own people, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed.

Did you hear about the Russians pranking the UK's Cameron? (3.5 min)
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron became a victim of a hoax video call. The video of David Cameron getting tricked by Russian pranksters has been released. Cameron was tricked into thinking he was speaking to a former Ukrainian president. Cameron thought he held a video call with ex-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Cameron was dressed casually in the call that lasted around 15 minutes. In the video, Cameron was seen talking about sensitive Ukraine-related topics.

And to wrap it up today, how about a pub crawl...really a pub trot.
Jack Hargreaves Goes on a Pub Crawl for his last TV programme. (24 min)
Embedding wasn't allowed. Worth the click for a peaceful excursion.

I hope you're all having a good weekend. I look forward to your stories, insights, and comments below.