When Julian Assange does leave the embassy, it will be important to try to focus a hostile media on why it is Assange is actually wanted for extradition, Craig Murray comments.
By Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
Entirely unexpectedly, I have been down in London this last three days outside and around the Ecuadorean Embassy, following WikiLeaks’ announcement that their sources indicate Julian might be expelled within hours or days. Plainly Julian’s position within the Embassy has deteriorated fundamentally, to the extent he is now treated openly as a closely guarded prisoner. I still have not myself been granted permission to visit him and he is now very isolated.
Nothing has happened so far this weekend, though I stated from the start that if the police were going to move in, the most likely time would be 4am on Monday morning. There is a thought that the massive media presence occasioned by WikiLeaks’ announcement may have succeeded in deterring President Lenin Moreno from the expulsion. Let us hope that will prove the case.
JUST NOW: Heavily armed UK diplomatic police question driver of "free speech" truck outside of Ecuadorian embassy in London pic.twitter.com/tJan24DlbW
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 5, 2019
I am very exhausted, having been more or less on 24 hour watch for three days. It was also somewhat difficult to tell Nadira her birthday celebration had shifted without notice from a restaurant in Edinburgh to a wet pavement in London. But I was very pleased to have a very fruitful in depth conversation with Kristin Hrafnsson, editor in chief of Wikileaks. Our thoughts ran along these lines, and as this does not involve secrets but rather media handling, I see no harm in sharing these thoughts with you.
When Julian does leave the Embassy, whatever the circumstances in which he does that, it will be for a day or two the largest media story in the world and undoubtedly will lead all the news bulletins across every major country. The odds are that he will be leaving and facing a fight against extradition to the United States, on charges arising from the Chelsea Manning releases which revealed a huge amount about U.S. war crimes and other illegal acts.
It will be very important to try to focus a hostile media on why it is Julian is actually wanted for extradition. Not for the non-existent collusion with Russia to assist Trump, which is an entirely fake narrative. Not for meetings with Paul Manafort which never happened. Not for the allegations in Sweden which fell apart immediately they were subject to rational scrutiny. And not for any nonsense about whether he hacked the communications in the Embassy or cleaned up the cat litter.
This is not going to be an easy task because pretty well all of the Western media is going to want to focus on these false anti-Assange narratives, and they will be determined to give as little attention as possible to the fact he is a publisher facing trial for publishing leaked state documents which revealed state wrongdoing.
It is a classic and fundamental issue of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Drawing together a team that can get this message across in such MSM windows as are afforded, as well as through social media, is an important task. The team needs to be in readiness and to be backed by a suitable support infrastructure that can be dusted off and sprung into action. The public framing of Julian’s position will undoubtedly impact on the final outcome; that is why the MSM have put in such a consistent effort to demonise one of the most interesting figures and original thinkers of our time.
If the balloon really had gone up this weekend, we would have been woefully unprepared to deal with the task of explaining the true story. If nothing else, this weekend’s alarm has been very helpful in concentrating minds on the size of the task.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.
While the heroes of our society continue to suffer terrible injustice for exposing a blatant and pervasive corruption that permeates our governments and corporate leadership, somehow, too many supposedly well educated and liberty-extolling citizens continue to support politicians and MSM pundits who are poisoning any public discourse that threatens to reveal the depths of depravity our political parties, military, scientific and judiciary institutions have fallen to. I fear that too many of us (alas, there is no THEM, only US all to human) are terrified of discerning good and evil for ourselves, and must always follow anyone willing to relieve us of the responsibility of standing up, often alone as Mr. Assange is, for what is right regardless of consequences. Thank you Julian, for showing us the way to freedom.
Stay with Jullian! This is crap and trumped up charges from the USA. No one should ever trust anything coming out of the usa.
Tx, Mr Murray. We now have our marching orders. The photo of the armed meat-head before one of the USSA’s satellite state embassies is the face of fascism – global fascism.
I would like to help inform the MSM about the bogus charges against Julian when they come for him. I am writing a letter to our local newspaper in that regard. Thanks for the summary of the bogus charges you provided in your article.
Mike Burns
Vietnam veteran
Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are cool with war crimes, so long as their team does it.
Lol, I was just thinking of that before reading the article. So true, so f*cking true – however not limited to the USA. It’s a side of human nature that is emotional rather than rational and therefore, below the consciousness of way too many people..
the ecuadorian embassy put this out earlier that they would be expelling him from the embassy rather than later in order to put out all the personal “negative” Assange stories -like he doesn’t take showers or he is cruel tohis cat or his personal story stinks so that the press will be distracted by this nonsense rather than the fact that he is a real journalist (not a hack like the mainstream media is in the US these day) being isolated and tortured. Wikileaks has neverbeen questioned on anything they have published nor that we now know how pervasive surveillance in the US is and how awful the US is as a result of all the revelations from wikileaks. It’s all about manipulating the lamestream media to support the elite/oligarch/corporation narrative of war, death, destruction and more war, rather than the truth that is Wikileaks. The fact is that the CIA/Deep State would much rather keep Julian at the Embassy being tortured, deprived of the health care/support he needs, isolated from support and access to the world that he and the world so needs… to set an example to discourage/scare others from reporting truth that Assange and Wikileaks have done so far. I am so afraid these days and I so support people like Assange and all those who support him and a free press. They are the true heros – as are you – of the world these days.
I endorse your view, Jean. The Five Eyes, lead by the thuggish US, are a scourge to humanity, never seen anything like this in my life time.
Americans, read your Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. “
Free Assange!
Seria ens terrible tarea por que la maysoria de los Ecuadarinos no cononce quien es!!!
Ecuadorians do not, for the most part, know anything about Assange.
If there is no reaction from within, then there can be no legitimate reaction from without.
Moreno will seek to use Assange as a monetized item and get what he can out of the US.
I wish there were many more FREE SPEECH vehicles (like big trucks) standing or continually passing in front of the embassy. Not knowing what the parking regulations are, I can only wish.
Why is it that nobody is campaigning to punish the main stream media? A world wide public boycott(for one week at least) all of newspapers,magazines,radio & TV stations that are propaganda repeaters of the government, and check the impact.I think that if Wikileaks call for such a campaign,combined with the major alternative websites that supports Julian Assange cause,it will have more damaging effects on those fake journalists than just attacking them by articles and lecture.The western governments and their owned media are waging war on truth and freedom of speech,so it’s time for the other side to start opening fire.
Ah—I already do boycott them! Trying to influence friends and family however to investigate issues beyond the legacy media sources is extremely difficult. Cries of ‘conspiracy theorist’ when alternate sources are quoted.
I cannot see PM May even considering any reasonable treatment of Julian’s case, as she has no interest in truth or justice.
If Corbyn were elected, he would definitely do something.
Even thinking the deep state can or would do justice to truth is absurd.
This is now normalized reality.
It is an economic issue.
Assange is dangerous to cartels and corporations
That’s not in much doubt. But we will have to see how much Trump still loves Wikileaks, as he said he did one night, that helped him tremendously during the campaign.
T/Y !!!
Thank you for your tireless service in the interest of Julian Assange, free press, and truth and justice the world over.
I live in the deep South of the US. Tell Julian he has supporters here from a few awakened Democrats.
The U.S./British attempts to silence whistle blowers and journalists are a complete disgrace. Shameful. Julian Assange and Wikileaks represent democracy by providing the citizenry with needed facts and information being hidden by criminal elements in government. It is bad enough that we in America and Europe have to put up with perpetual “perception management” (i.e., propaganda) from the likes of CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times, BBC, and even the Guardian. But to persecute a courageous journalist like Assange must not be forgiven or forgotten. Assange is a journalist who deserves our support and thanks.
The evil of “The West” oozes out to infest any unprotected country. The colonial powers dream of reacquiring the powers they had before their enslaved colonies got their freedom. The United States dreams the illusion of world domination. Until the evil of “The West” is defeated, no one will be able to rest in any kind of comfort.
This is a TRUE JOURNALIST and the most of all the media are just puppets of there owners ,they are all YES MEN OR WOMEN. People all over the WORLD WANT TRUTH ,NOT a POLITICIAN’S or STATE VEIW OF THE TRUTH.
Some of the alternative online media are partisan fan clubs for this or that team or player. Some hate Assange because their messiah didn’t win the pennant, and someone has to be to blame.
This is another manifestation of Hillary and her flying monkeys revenge for losing 2016, yet nobody seems to be making that connection Nunes just referred criminal prosecution to the attorney general for Russia gate. Perhaps if we sipported a Republican for a change, we could “lock up” the perpetrators.
Nope
It’s time for justice to be served in the case of Julian Assange. Are the forces of evil so powerful that a courageous truth-teller can be imprisoned forever or worse? This could be the turning point for our civilization and I pray there are enough good people willing to stick their necks out as Julian has.
Assange is being monetized by Ecuador.
The now understood snow job of Edward Snowden and Glen Greenbacks is on record. Add Scahil and Poitras, other celebrity national security journalists.
Assange, though people may not agree with his pov on issues, is the temperature thermometer for how far we have come.
He is and will be, like Che, the posterboy for anti-gusanos and progressives seeking truth.
The whole Chlesea Manning story is tied to secret plans for Assange.
The corporate media are balancced to take their purchase of our era. It will be a corporate wildng.
There is no privacy anymore, for Assange or any of us. We are all monetized, all commodified and an indmennified.
This is the Digital Dark Ages of neo-feudalism.
We are in the beginnings of a new dark, dark age
Sadly, this is an obscene display of power from the U.S. and her international lap dogs . Yet another clamp down of freedom of the press, completely supported by the corrupt MSM.
I will do anything I can to help you, Craig. Most importantly, we need a robust strategy. This is a seminal moment and the battle and war for free speech must be won. Otherwise, we are all doomed to the fate we deserve (if we do not rebel against this dangerous nonsense). Kudos to those behind the free speech van!
RE: “Most importantly, we need a robust strategy.”
Yes, indeed! especially for armchair protesters and oldsters like me –
I’d like to know who to contact…..specific U.S. legislators? ; the Ecuadoran embassy in D.C? ; the British embassy in D.C? ; the Australian embassy in D.C.? ; the mouthpieces at MSNBC with their knee jerk attacks on Julian Assange the MESSENGER who dares to report the hidden wrongdoing of government officials/politicians?;
WHO, PLEASE, DO WE CONTACT?
I’ve tried to contact each of these but would much prefer to join a concerted effort to try to contact persons/institutions who might make a difference especially if many of us were, together, doing the same.
Thanks!!!!!!
Probably your best contact is Wikileaks. Anyone with a “robust strategy” will be spied upon and persecuted by the US dictatorship of gold. So they would have to constitute a highly secure cell with substantial funding. If that existed they would have sprung Mr. Assange by now using nonviolent methods, now is likely too late for that, and 99.9% of activists do not have the courage for an operation of major force, which would be harder for them to escape.
This will come down to the cowardice and isolation of principled people in the US and UK under our totalitarianism-lite dictatorship . If there are any people with guts, initiative, and principles in the UK, let them act now and be heroes worldwide.
Yes, my thoughts too.
A coordinated action in defense of Assange requires someone to do the coordinating.
Please, Craig, find a person who can coordinate a petition drive and suggested wording of letters, email, and phone calls to congresspeople.
Unfortunately the MSM is completely in the service of empire. They will permit no air time to any other narrative. Robert Parry’s “Mighty Wurlitzer” will be at full volume. There message will be that Assange and Putin are “hostile” co-conspirators. Notice that Mueller’s report still kept the lie of Russian hackers supplying Wikileaks.
I wish there was some way to get past the gatekeepers and take control of the airwaves. We can only hope that the power of the internet has grown to the point that we can make a successful challenge and get the truth out. It will take massive demonstrations and disruption of commerce to have any real impact.
The Life Instincts against the purveyors of Death – Eros vs. Thanatos – is a war of attrition polarizing societies around the world.
Freud has been proved correct in the ideas put forward in his book “Civilization and it’s Discontents”. We are in a life against the forces of civilizational death struggle.
Cheers Mr Murray! It is no surprise that following scene1, Mueller’s failure to come up with anything ‘Russia gate’ it’s time for scene 2, to capture the ‘enemy’ and demonize him. Mr Murray and those who can get air time now should show the real crimes committed and contrast them with the hero, Julian, the truth teller.
Julian Assange is a fine Australian journalist
And must be givenimmediate assistance by the Australian Government to return to Australia and freedom
Good thought Suzie, but Australia has no ‘chones’, and is too staunch an ally of the US having the same Intel/defense strategy. It would only happen if the Aussie sheeple transform into real people and protest against the government. But would the gov stop the protests if they happened?
Craig was correct as there were some multi-tasked police and, apparently, service vehicles that showed and parked almost exactly 4:00AM Monday morning. They are in no hurry to leave.