Ruling due tomorrow on US appeal to Assange extradition refusal

For earlier context, Oscar Grenfell had a lengthy column at wsws.org on Dec. 2, including:

"At the [late Oct.] appeal hearings, the defence spotlighted a recently-published Yahoo News report [by Michael Isikoff], which documented plans by the Trump administration and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to kidnap Assange or assassinate him when he was a political refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2017.

Based on the anonymous statements of more than thirty former US officials, the article made clear the murderous plans were hatched in retaliation for Assange’s exposure of mass CIA spying and hacking operations. [Vault 7 and part of Vault 8] Officials explained that the US Justice Department cobbled together its indictment of Assange, over separate WikiLeaks publications, so that there would be a pseudo-legal cover if the CIA proceeded with its kidnap plan.

Based on the anonymous statements of more than thirty former US officials, the article made clear the murderous plans were hatched in retaliation for Assange’s exposure of mass CIA spying and hacking operations. Officials explained that the US Justice Department cobbled together its indictment of Assange, over separate WikiLeaks publications, so that there would be a pseudo-legal cover if the CIA proceeded with its kidnap plan.

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Dawn's Meta's picture

depth; no objective too wide. In our names?

Bigger and bigger Pentagon budget, with less and less for the people who fund it.

I don't know how the most powerful think they will survive if the rest of us can't afford the things they have. Maybe that's the key: they don't care if we are there anymore. Not much to take out of our pockets.

Hope you are doing well.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

wendy davis's picture

@Dawn's Meta

and add criminal slow-mo murderous. not in my name, nor yours, nor in the name of countless
good and brave people (including journalists) around the world.

thanks for asking, i'm not doing so well, but i do hope you are doing well in france (judy collins: my father always promised us that we would live in france...'). we spent the a.m. putting up some christmas decorations, but not even our oil-based tree. although john shipton, setlla an the boys put one in hopes that julian might be home by christmas

i may have read biden's 2022 military budget is $788 billion, but that's simply the publicly stated one, the actual one is buried in other related programs. but biden's selling weapon to the saudis, hoping to recoup some losses?/s fuck him, and i say that in the most polite way i can.

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zed2's picture

They want to make an example out of this nice guy who was never even remotely close to what they are making him out to be. Who never even was part of their secrecy establishment. zmy gut feelig is that they are angry at him for bringing people's attention to TISA which is a plan to steal all the unenumerated shared property of all the people on the world and make everything including all policy space for future changes formally the property of corporations, not people. Locking in everything thatcan be done so that it requires corporations be compensated for the costs to them of any changes, which is calculated by lost potential future values. So doing something that could decrease potential profits in the future, calculated in the most generous manner, even if that actually happening is literally impossible because the cost is unbearable is mandated to happen in that situation, setting countries up to be pinned down under unpayable debts in a framework that also sets them up to have their natural resources stolen even if they are needed for life. Eventually, it leads to everything, even perhaps air and water being taken, costing money and being owned by the powerful. Imagine a "Brazil"-like world where even the most mundane necessities must be paid for. Even if that was regulating some important thing, the governments are regulated so they cannot do what most of us consider their jobs. (Thats the point to prevent democracy from being there for people.)

For the concept in depth look up the meaning of the term "indirect expropriation"

This is not our America any more (literally) if this vindictive thing is what our once great country and ideals has sunk to.

Edit: changed the assertion to be more specific to what I felt

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wendy davis's picture

@zed2

'they are angry with him'. read the post: it's about publishing vault 7, and that's why pompeo the stink-bomb wants to prosecute those:

Based on the anonymous statements of more than thirty former US officials, the article made clear the murderous plans were hatched in retaliation for Assange’s exposure of mass CIA spying and hacking operations. [Vault 7 and part of Vault 8] Officials explained that the US Justice Department cobbled together its indictment of Assange, over separate WikiLeaks publications, so that there would be a pseudo-legal cover if the CIA proceeded with its kidnap plan.

who'd spoken to michael isikoff. please reread the diary, watch the brief videos in the tweets.

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The CIA wants Julian dead. It's hard to see how Julian will be okay.

No matter what the ruling is---will he be able to live his life as a free man anytime, if not soon, ever?

Hoping, praying, to be wrong on this.

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NYCVG

mimi's picture

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

hypocritical, aren't they? but the Empire exports Democracy™, not Terrorism.

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mimi's picture

@wendy davis

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

which is now a totally loose cannon as it can't accedw/consent to shared power/multilateralism.

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wendy davis's picture

No matter what the ruling is---will he be able to live his life as a free man anytime, if not soon, ever?

even if he isn't extradited to florence supermax, will he be kept in belmarsh gitmo? he's so ill, drugged, and has tried to commit suicide many times...breathtaking punishments for being a journalist and publisher.

hoping praying...me, too.

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wendy davis's picture

had some java.

thanks to those here who've cared enough to be worried.

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gets the opportunity to get married.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10239593/Julian-Assange-fianc-e...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and his partner have formally registered to get married in the London prison where he is being held.

Mr Assange's fiancee Stella Moris visited him on Wednesday in Belmarsh Prison, in south-east London, where he is being held while the United States continues legal moves to extradite him.

The couple have previously accused the prison governor and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab of working to prevent the ceremony going ahead.

Ms Moris told the media she hoped there would be no further 'interference' in their wedding plans.

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wendy davis's picture

'US wins Assange extradition appeal',10 Dec, 2021, RT.com

The UK High Court has granted the US government’s appeal over the refusal to extradite WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, opening the door for his eventual trial on American soil on espionage charges.

In January, a district court denied the US extradition request, citing the vulnerable mental state of the publisher and the possibility that he would take his own life if subjected to brutal prison conditions in the US.

The High Court’s ruling is not final since it can be appealed. Assange’s fiancee, Stella Moris, called the decision “a grave miscarriage of justice.” The case has been remitted to the Westminster Magistrates Court.

The High Court said it was satisfied with the US lawyer’s assurances that the so-called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) would not be applied to Assange when in US custody. An earlier refusal to extradite him was partially justified by the fact that he could be subjected to SAMs. The US team argued during appeal hearings that if the American side knew it was an issue, they would have offered assurances to the contrary during the original process.

i'll fill in the blanks after i drink my coffee.

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Dawn's Meta's picture

@wendy davis believe the US to be true to its word? Whether a treaty, agreement, handshake, nod, or wink.

The US can be trusted. You betcha.

Hell meet handbasket.

Thanks Wendy. You take care.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

wendy davis's picture

@Dawn's Meta

but do some pretend to (NATO members? some OAS members? israel, saudi arabia, and bahrain (home of the U fifth fleet) do.

you take care, to, Ms. Dawn.

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wendy davis's picture

@wikileaks
·4h
Julian Assange fiancee @StellaMoris1

“How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?” #FreeAssangeNOW #AssangeCase

most assuredly...

birds of a feather...F both of them.

i'll check back for more between RL obligations and chores. sigh.

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snoopydawg's picture

Gawd damn the United States! Anyone who still supports this country’s values is complicit in its actions.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

with metaphorical smoke coming out of my ears.

i'll add some bits from chris marsden at wsws.org:

Lord Burnett, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde, did his duty to US and British imperialism, declaring Friday that there was no risk of suicide as the US had given “assurances” that Assange would not be held under highly oppressive prison conditions.

Assange is being sent to the country whose government and security services have been plotting to murder him.

US diplomatic reassurances cited by the Justices in their ruling today are a cynical fraud. Their very wording offered the caveat that if Assange does something, at some future point, warranting solitary confinement in a maximum security facility, then all bets will be off.

Four assurances sent in a Diplomatic Note dated February 5, 2021, claimed that Assange would not be submitted to special administrative measures (SAMs) and detained at the ADX Florence Supermax jail, that while in custody in the US he would receive “appropriate clinical and psychological treatment,” and that the US would consent to Assange being transferred to Australia to serve any prison sentence he may be given.

Against all medical evidence, the US also insisted that Assange’s mental illness “does not even come close” to being severe enough to rule out extradition.

To this pack of lies, Burnett just as solemnly intoned, “That risk [of suicide] is in our judgment excluded by the assurances which are offered. It follows that we are satisfied that, if the assurances had been before the judge [Baraitser], she would have answered the relevant question differently.”

Assange’s lawyers accurately described the US assurances as “meaningless” and “vague”, explaining they did not remove the risk of “conditions of administrative isolation”. His lawyers insisted Baraitser had acted in accordance with expert medical evidence regarding Assange’s mental state when she ruled that the “special administrative measures” in which Assange would most likely be held would have a severe negative impact on his mental health.

The two senior judges ordered the case should be returned to Westminster Magistrates’ Court, with a pro-forma direction that a district judge send the case to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, a vicious right-winger who will deliver the coup de grace against Assange’s head.

It is as yet unclear whether Assange’s likely appeal to the Supreme Court will be allowed, but it is more than doubtful.

This was the intended outcome of Baraitser’s earlier ruling, which upheld the US case for extradition in its entirety, while accepting a “real” risk of suicide and blocking extradition solely on medical grounds.

Holroyde even rapped Baraitser across the knuckles for not notifying the US authorities of her “provisional” decision, thereby hampering their ability to give the assurances now provided.

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wendy davis's picture

Mafia Man:

yes, this is an almost-Godly Nation, Mike, you fuquewad.

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snoopydawg's picture

"And so the American juggernaut once again crushes justice in virtual silence. That’s the thing about breaking a butterfly on the wheel. No one can hear it scream."

Link

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3 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

good on george; what verve! this, too, ahead of your quote, almost made me cry:

However, the printing presses are not rolling for Assange, being quietly killed in Belmarsh prison.

The air-hostess-style Western ‘journalists’ being paid handsomely for their skills at reading autocues are silent as to his fate and the fate of their “profession”. They know that if this is happening to Assange it could happen to them, but, like the arrow that flies in the night, they long ago killed that possibility themselves. There will be no glad confident morning for them. Only servitude and pieces of silver.

i can't watch even 33 min video, but...not rachel madcow?

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zed2's picture

Soory, I dont buy that.

Suppose YOU were scheming for 30 years to dissolve democracy all around the world. With treaties to do so. Exactloy what our founding fathers knew would happen because of corporations. And somebody ratted you out. And provided written proof.

TThey were exposed. Maybe you are convincing yourself thats not true, but that doesn't make it so. Do you know what TISA iis? ( Do you know what its "negative list" means?)

Democracy cant exist when corporations own policy as a property right. It means that goivernment cant fix any problem if doing that reduces their profits. So for example, healthcare can never be fixed, unless we literally BUY our freedom at the cost in "expected lost profits" It means that there can never be a government thats democratic because that would likely regulate many services and they have been promised we wouldnt in a way which would require our buying our freedom in a way that could cost us millions of jobs. Or some other form of compensation, like opening up our services to competition, all roads lead there. If we lower our wages to third world levels we'll still be unable to win them because of the LDC Services Waiver . SO people just will have to accept wages that are competitive. Remember wages are based on the value of the work. If your work is only worth $1/hour thats what you'll earn. Thats free trade. Regulating many things any more is under a freeze which they dont advertise but if you investigate the facts, you'll find this is true. more regs have been forbidden since early 1998. Sorry!

What we already have and will get miore of is a government that lies about all this, and more, because the truth would eliminate hope for people. And people would stop spending on useless junk. One might even argue that for them to tell the truth violated GATS regulations. Or to nioinate any real progressive would violate the laws of our new masters.
in Geneva.OLigarchs want uniform rules pegged to the lowest common denominators. No more pesky hope and expectations that are too high THis is why US labor standards and wages are seen as a threat. What would the world be like for oligarchs if everybody had a decent standard of living. They feel their way of life would be threatened. Oligarchs are rich because millions of other people are dirt poor and literally getting treated like shit. After all they are poor and we have been raised on the idea hat poor peoples lives are not worth anything . Really.

Many of our rules, like the rules that limit foreign businesses from setting up massive operations in nthe US to do practically everything thats done here. Probably violate this GATS treaty. (Signed by Bill Clinto on December 8, 1994) are disliked by many. In fact America's existence of wages are higher here is problematic for the world's oligarchs, which is why we got GATS. GATS has market access provisions that you should read. (Article XVI)

Do you understand what this is about? Wages and working conditions "are supposed to be plummeting now", the trade deals are intended to make sure they do.

We dont have a democracy and have not had one in a long time, because of the FTAs. Have you read the debate on their lack of legitimacy? How can you have democracy if it cannot change anything?

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wendy davis's picture

@zed2

...................

and i will not answer your PMs to try to edjumicate me.

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who reported that the CIA plotted to assassinate Assange should turn themselves in. They should March to court with arms outstretched anticipating handcuffs. They published a report of a CIA crime. Therefore they have committed the same offense Assange is being prosecuted for.

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zed2's picture

Can anybody fill me in on what in the world Assange is supposed to have done to deserve that. Hillary is the most annoying person and the one I am the most certain is evil, we've ever had run for President.

Why? She is SOOOOO dishonest, about so many important things.
And she has gotten away with it.

Its right there in black and white that a plot was hatched 15-20 September 1986 in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, whose intent was to redistribuite wealth from Global North to the global south countries so they could pay off an illegitimate odious debt that was money being stolen by the corrupt the most corrupt madmen and strongmen and warlords, of the world and stashed in the UK's Spiders Web orf tax deception documented by Nicholas Shaxson. (Author of the book Treasure Islands). Its even in a UN declaration. "Trends in the transfer of resources to and from the developing countries and their impact on the economic growth and sustained development of those countries" : (resolution / adopted by the General Assembly.
UN. General Assembly (44th sess. : 1989-1990)
1990)

Read about the WTO's shameless hijacking of human rights in Sarah Joseph's ebook.

Guess what was actually being done to healthcare in 1992-1994, the period where she claims to have been working to rig healthcare?

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zed2's picture

That is a bottle shaped dungeon whose only entrance/egress is a circular hole in the center of the roof.

Usually people would be thrown in and not emerge until hundreds of years later in dehydrated, decayed bones only form.

The French.. Remember how they treated Toissant L'Overture..

"Liberty, Equality and Fraternite, for themselves only. Slavery for others.

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