Craig Murray asks you to imagine Western media reaction if a Russian opposition politician were dragged out by armed police, and within three hours convicted on a political charge by a patently biased judge.
By Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
Both Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are now in jail, both over offenses related to the publication of materials specifying U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and both charged with nothing else at all. No matter what bullshit political and MSM liars try to feed you, that is the simple truth. Manning and Assange are true heroes of our time, and are suffering for it.
If a Russian opposition politician were dragged out by armed police, and within three hours had been convicted on a political charge by a patently biased judge with no jury, with a lengthy jail sentence to follow, can you imagine the Western media reaction to that kind of kangaroo court? Yet that is exactly what just happened in London.
Westminster’s Magistrate’s Court, April 11, 2019. (Twitter)
District Judge Michael Snow is a disgrace to the bench who deserves to be infamous well beyond his death. He displayed the most plain and open prejudice against Assange in the 15 minutes it took for him to hear the case and declare Assange guilty last week, in a fashion which makes the dictators’ courts I had witnessed, in Ibrahim Babangida’s Nigeria or Isam Karimov’s Uzbekistan, look fair and reasonable, in comparison to the gross charade of justice conducted by Michael Snow.
One key fact gave away Snow’s enormous prejudice. Julian Assange said nothing during the whole brief proceedings, other than to say “Not guilty” twice, and to ask a one-sentence question about why the charges were changed midway through this sham “trial.” Yet Judge Michael Snow condemned Assange as “narcissistic.” There was nothing that happened in Snow’s brief court hearing that could conceivably have given rise to that opinion. It was plainly something he brought with him into the courtroom, and had read or heard in the mainstream media or picked up in his club. It was in short, the very definition of prejudice, and “Judge” Michael Snow and his summary judgement is a total disgrace.
Assange on way to Belmarsh Prison, April 11, 2019. (Twitter)
I am part of the Wikileaks media and legal team and the whole team, including Julian, is energized rather than downhearted. At last there is no more hiding for the pretend liberals behind ludicrous Swedish allegations or bail jumping allegations, and the true motive – revenge for the Chelsea Manning revelations – is now completely in the open.
To support the persecution of Assange in these circumstances is to support absolute state censorship of the internet. It is to support the claim that any journalist who receives and publishes official material which indicates U.S. government wrongdoing, can be punished for its publication. Furthermore, this U.S. claim involves an astonishing boost to universal jurisdiction. Assange was nowhere near the USA when he published the documents, but nonetheless U.S. courts are willing to claim jurisdiction. This is a threat to press and internet freedom everywhere.
These are scary times. But those may also be the most inspiring of times.
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. This article first appeared on his website.
One thing that was created by the Jesuits in their attempt to blow-up parliament and return government to the King alone was a new noun ‘equivocation’ and new verb ‘to equivocate.’ The instructions on how to equivocate were provided in writing to the Catholic faithful instructing them to say ambiguous words that hid their real meaning. Its something that has become popular amongst the political classes. This authoritative approval of lying is the reason we still celebrate the 5th November – to remind us all that some people are committed to cheating to get their way.
I am mentioning this because Magistrate Snow’s collapse of integrity should assure that he promotes no higher and can be early retired. Protecting the reputation of the Judiciary is more important than concern for Snow if indeed we should feel any for an anonymous lawyer with Daily Mail opinions. To assure that the Judiciary maintains its high standards we might let Guy Fawkes off the hook now and instead devote the fireworks and bonfires on 5th November to Snow’s Day.
Yep, It’s a universal disgrace.
And the western media in the countries openly involved in the illegal attack on Iraq are the most spiteful of them all. In Australia the AGE had two vicious attacks including the demented raving of the Sean Hannity theory that Seth Rich was the person who got the Clinton emails to WikiLeaks, and claimed falsely that Mueller said Assange created the ”conspiracy”, the moron gossip columnist even dragged out Mr Rich who we all know threatened to sue Fox and Hannity over spreading it.
The Guardian for example has known since last February that there is no Swedish case, that it was Britain who help Julian captive all these years and only Britain, but they still claim day in and day out he was wanted in Sweden for rape.
Disgusting cowards.
England dishonors by this its past, present and future.
Has anyone seen the appallingly offensive drivel written by Hadley Freeman in The Guardian regarding Julian Assange?
This is an all-time low for that US right-wing rag which was once a great British publication.
Boycott The Guardian and drivel “journalists” who spew their ignorance and hatred to influence the morons and the wilfully uninformed.
Craig Murray and others who speak the truth are so important now – we must defend Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning for exposing the crimes of those who are controlling governments in US and UK, who are responsible for destroying our world.
Has anyone seen the appallingly offensive drivel written by Hadley Freeman in The Guardian regarding Julian Assange?
This is an all-time low for that US right-wing rag which was once a great British publication.
Boycott The Guardian and drivel “journalists” who spew their ignorance and hatred to influence the morons and the wilfully uninformed.
Craig Murray and others who speak the truth are so important now – we must defend Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning for exposing the crimes of those who are controlling governments in US and UK, who are responsible for destroying our world.
Yes, and yet the Guardian know very well he was only in the embassy since 2013 because the government kept lying and claiming he was wanted on a Swedish warrant, one they knew very well was cancelled.
Such a judge is not fit to sit on the bench, much less a toilet.
The travesty against Assange has already begun, not to mention
a giant step further towards western totalitarianism.
I do so appreciate articulate countermeasures. Thank You for caring everyone.
I hope good people win.
We live in Australia and think that Julian is the gratest Australian of our time.
Not everyone here is a whimp, although it may seem that way.
There are protests here, but not reported by the MSM.
Thank you for the excellent article.
Thank you DW Barto. I would like to send your words to friends who still haven’t clicked with what’s happening. I hope this event will help catalyze people to come together, as you imagine. We all need to claim our birthright of peace and justice in this world, even if it seems like only a dream. Thank you, Craig Murray, for supporting Julian Assange and having been vocal on his arbitrary imprisonment all these years.
Paulette,
Please do with those words as you will, riddled with spelling and grammatical errors as they are.
Frankly, I am amazed that they have met such appreciation as has been expressed on this thread, for which I am most grateful.
I find this site to attract deep thinking and very articulate commenters,
Indeed, the comment section here is quite as educational and informative as the article which elicits such well considered, well-researched, and well-turned response.
Further, this is clearly a community of genuine moral compass, patient compassion, and engaged humanity.
A convivial “location” where many may well feel more at “home” than in the actual places and spaces where their bodies reside, welcoming to the spirit and amenable to conscience, and open engagement, free of petty oppression and frowning disapproval.
A good, invigorating, and most necessary place.
Good work Craig—and carry on. Thank you.
Nobody could have said it any better…
The old Steely Dan line about show business kids making movies of themselves come to mind. Never mind the facts, just stir up the outrage.
Fact: The British court was dealing with a breach of bail offence. There is no doubt that Mr Assange is guilty of that offence. It is not a political offence.
Fact: Mr Assange was on bail relating to sex offence allegations from Sweden. These are not “ridiculous” allegations. Again, not a political offence.
Fact: The American charge against Mr Assange does not relate to the publication of material, but to the method by which the material was obtained.
The Swedish details are political. Assange was on bail from an Interpol subpoena relating to sexual assault.
Interpol never before in it’s history served a sexual assault subpoena, not even for human sex trafficking.
And politically speaking Interpol refused to serve the subpoena issued by the Spanish Judge Garcon against the Baby Bush war criminal and torturing cabal.
So the subpoena resulting in the bail was politically motivated.
Assange was totally exonerated by the first interviewing Swedish prosecutor and freely left Sweden for England.
Not until a new Prime Minister of Sweden was installed with Karl Roves assistance (political) was Assange requested to return to Sweden for a do over with a more fascist Swedish prosecutor.
Again the need for an second investigation and then the bail on the unique Interpol subpoena is political.
Plus Sweden refusing to interview Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy was again a political ploy to set him up for extradition to the USA ( again political).
The initial allegations may have come from a honeytrap or two since it involved two women who claimed not to know each other, but did , one whom immediately left for israel (Mossad?).
All this for not using a condom the second time Assange had sex with her and her concern for STD and her desire to afterwards not pursue the allegations.
7 years avoiding extradition for the extremely political act of revealing war crimes.
It is all extremely Political.
I do so appreciate articulate countermeasures Thank You for caring.
Behind the scenes any offence may easily be political if it serves political ends. At face value things may seem legitimate when indeed they are not. It is easy to follow rules that may be contrived or manipulated to justify an action. Things are not always as they seem. Your line of logic needs careful scrutiny. Please define explicitly your claim
that the Swedish sexual allegations are neither ridiculous nor political.
Good one, there Cicero – a list of partially informed half-truths. Keep speaking the “truth” to power, brother.
I’ll address just the sex offence as not “political”: One of the women was a Gringa who had been involved in anti-Cuban activities; to me that reeks CIA.
The only thing Assange is guilty of is lack of good tradecraft; that is he got caught in a situation that was highly suspicious two women no less-smells like a honey trap.
Speaking of tradecraft; since the US government plays brutal hardball with whistleblowers-what ever happened to the Whistleblower Protection Act?- budding whistleblowers should brush up on the field. Chelsea , for example, violated the ‘need to know’ concept by telling a so called friend who ratted on her. .
The misunderstandings in this blurb are addressed by others.
Cicero-
Please read the earlier article by Mr. Murray linked below in response to Tom Fox for an accurate description of what transpired in Sweden.
They were in fact “ridiculous” allegations.
You have picked an extremely unsuitable name for your unpleasant and snide comments. Check again to get the facts-you have been reading the usual MSM lies. Luke Harding must be delighted.
1. there was no bail jumping, he claimed asylum from persecution by the USA and was found to have a well founded fear of such persecution.
2. there was no rape case in Sweden.
3. Chelsea got the data by sitting at her computer day in and day out listening to her walk man and downloading it, that is well known.
This whole thing is trumped up bullshit fed by morons like you.
Assange was NOT convicted of a political crime.
What utter garbage Murray has published here. Assange was convicted on April 1th, of jumping bail seven years ago and hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He had been arrested in the first place some seven years ago over allegations from Sweden of two women who accused him of what amounts to rape there. The Swedes asked for him to be extradited and a legal process underway in London allowed Assange to leave custody as long as he returned to the court which he did not do.
Now he will be held in custody until May 2nd when the extradition case will be heard.
Murray has published a completely MAD account of what happened. The USA has also requested his extradition. Whether that will be granted or put on hold until after the Swedes get their case dealt with will be decided at the beginning of May.
Wake up and shut off the tube, Tom. None of your assertions are correct. No honest judge would convict a man for skipping bail on foreign charges that were dropped. You are ignoring the invalidity of the US charges, which violate your rights. You can free yourself from your tribal group.
The Swedes never uttered the word rape.
In Sweden not using a condom without a women’s consent may be considered sexual assault, of which Assange was cleared a first time.
Assange is not liable for failure to appear for court if all the extradition requests are corrupt.
Please read this earlier article from Craig Murray to understand what really happened in Sweden. You are entirely misinformed.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/assange-allegation-stitch-up/5674521
Tom Fox News!
You don’t get ‘convicted’ of jumping bail. It’s a procedural hearing where the abscondee’s bail is formally sequestered and they are remanded in custody until the substantive matter is brought up for mention. I am surprised however that there was no habeus corpus application given that the Swedish prosecutor publically stated that they weren’t persuing their case. Arguably it is an abuse of process not to cancel the European Arrest Warrant in such circumstances. The US extradition request is clearly political and would fail given that the UK Extradition Act 2003 is tied to the Human Rights Act 1998 (Section 87), which is in turn tied to the European Convention on Human Rights. The US has not consistently honoured any conventions on human rights, including the Geneva Convention.
There is no Swedish case, he was wanted on a fake red notice merely for questioning that he had already done. The whole thing is political but still some live in fairy tales.
The UK stopped Sweden talking to Julian in the UK in 2011, the Swedes wanted to drop the whole thing in 2013 so the last 6 yrs has been a UK charade.
Great post. Particularly DW Bartoo’s rhythmic clarity.
Good Reporting. Check in the mail in memory of Robert Parry.
I was shocked when I read the comment made by the judge that Assange appeared before. Now I’ve learned thanks to Mr. Murray, that Assange made no statements in the courtroom, outrageous or otherwise. This was much as I suspected but now I know with certainty.
Clearly Judge Snow had been selected long before the news leaked that Assange would be arrested within days or hours and his comments and decision were scripted by persons at great distance and totally anonymous to all but those orchestrating this charade.
Re Mr Murray’s remark regarding the MSM’s reportage on this whole issue, that they will lie rather than mention the real reasons behind the US extradition warrant for Mr Assange. Yup. If NPR is any guide – and given that it (and its twin PBS) is the crossover MSM, being *both* corporately (via “foundations” and big and small business) *and* state funded – then they’ve already begun. This a.m. the report was – once again – Red-baiting, or perhaps Bear-baiting is more appropriate these post Soviet days. You know of course that it is all about – so far as they and the Demrats and the rest of Kool Aid drinking bourgeoise, petit a haute – “Russian Meddling in the 2016” election via “Russian hacking” into the DNC for those emails. Zero mention of the true reason, the revelatory video, the Vault 7, and NSA listening in on everyone and so on. NO.
They – the Demrats and their supporters (the Killary groupies) – just cannot let it go, admit that they accepted this yarn because it fits in with their prejudices. If they do, their whole house of cards falls and they have egg (or worse) on their faces. For the MSM in total the hope is that this will vindicate their and Killary’s long-standing Russophobia and the lies they have accepted from HRC et al.
Craig Murray is NOT above throwing dirt at people himself. I used to post to his site years ago. I supported him, but he turned around one day and attacked me for NOT saying how wonderful life in England is. He was waxing lyrical about summer in England, and the sound of leather on willow and other nonsense, romanticizing the country, clearly having come from privilege, with no idea what life is like for others. After he attacked me, I called him a hypocrite for having suffered from severe depression himself, but then, when things were fine for him, attacking others going through a difficult time.
This is for you, Craig: ENGLAND IS THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. LET’S GET OUT OF THE EU AND PUT THE GREAT BACK INTO “GREAT BRITAIN”. RULE BRITANNIA!
I trust Craig as much as I trust Mrs May – he’s a former British ambassador – i.e. he did the dirty work of those in power.
Let us not forget that Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, revealed the systematic torture carried out in that country, and the British government’s reaction was to fire him.
Thank you Craig Murray for your total commitment now and in the past.
You said, “At last there is no more hiding for the pretend liberals behind ludicrous Swedish allegations or bail jumping allegations, and the true motive – revenge for the Chelsea Manning revelations – is now completely in the open.” So True, and now we have a new insight as voters as to who has the courage to stand against TPTB as you have…
And so Assange is continuing to do good work even in captivity, exposing the sorry creeps of empire; causing them to expose themselves, in more ways than one.
Indeed Anarcissie…
Agreed. And it ain’t over yet. The man is a real life hero.
I am very far away from Britain and Assange, so my views are also very far away and perhaps utterly inappropriate, because it is Assange who is suffering
But I do agree with Murray, that this seizure and summary judgment and, in a sense, execution of Assange brings the ugliness out into the open, a huge gangrenous thing that is growing and killing its host. It is a direct challenge to everyone to take sides and either apply disinfectant now, or suffer the egregious consequences to our polity. That means also MSM “journalists.”
I challenge MSM journalists to report on these events with straight faces—just the “news,” just the “facts.” Without betraying the understanding that this affects them and is a comment on them.
And then, the politicians. Pelosi, Sanders, et al.: Where do you stand? Are you capable of taking a stand?
I have run out of words to express my horror and disgust, but one must keep on protesting this travesty and doing what else one can.
What’s going on, IMO, is in witch hunt mass hysteria territory. A political climate has been carefully seeded and manufactured in which speaking out and standing up for our courageous whistleblower Chelsea Manning (who could not abide the murderous horror against civilians in Iraq and felt it her duty to inform us all) and her courageous publisher Julian Assange – both taking great risks to share wrongdoing done in our name and with our tax dollars -and supporting them as heroes, brings down on our heads cries of NATIONAL SECURITY; TRAITOR; DISLOYAL, blah blah blah…..
It’s so transparent but fear is a powerful tool in the hands of those who wish to distract from their wrongdoing.
The hysteria reaches into the nooks and crannies of powerful American institutions including some of our Ivy League Schools.
As I’ve said here before more than once. When I emailed about 200 academics at the JFK School of government at Harvard, chastising them for buckling to Pompeo and shamefully withdrawing Chelsea Manning’s honorary degree the only response I got back was from a woman who cried “shhhh” “how dare you” “National Security”. One lovely man did respond to her and suggested that perhaps we should delve a little deeper into our foreign policies…….No one else made a peep probably fearing their careers would be jeopardized like Norman Finkelstein’s was at DePaul for daring to criticize Israel’s vicious policy against Palestinians.
On the one hand it’s as amusing as the witch hunt conjured up in the Rossini opera/Pierre Beaumarchais play The Barber of Seville in which “…… a plan [is hatched] to spread malicious gossip about the Count [in order to influence one character against another character]……” (see wikipedia for this reference).
And terrifying at the same time because this hysteria has reached a fever pitch against Assange and Manning and the unintended consequences to honest/open journalism and free speech hang in the balance.
People working for powerful institutions have allowed themselves to be caught in the vortex of this hysteria and repeat ad nauseum the knee jerk attacks without any thought or proof….
Arthur Miller – we need you!!!!
What we need is Australia! Where is effing Australia? Isn’t he a citizen of Australia? Don’t they stand up for their citizens, like New Zealand did just recently? Maybe it’s because they are “subjects” of the Queen and like most “subjects”, they have no spine.
Australia is currently leaving orphan Australian children to die in a Kurdish run slum in Syria rather than bring them home, they are orphans because the USA drone murdered their fathers and two older brothers.
Australia is totally subservient to Israel and the US.
Free Assange
Talk about a kangaroo court. The truth is what matters.
The people dragging Julian Assange from the embassy looked like plain clothed police officers, who were the armed officers present?
As I understand it, Assange was taken before a magistrates court in which case there would be no judge present. It sounds as if the magistrate was a stipendiary magistrate and whilst his role is quasi judicial, this type of magistrate is not a judge. As far as sending Assange to prison for the offence of jumping bail, there was no dispute from his defense about his crime so any sentence would be a fore gone conclusion. Whilst I hold no brief for the magistrate concerned, its worth pointing out that judges everywhere make damning comments about an accused who has been found guilty and whom he is about to sentence. Of course, in view of Assange’s high profile, the magistrate would have been wise to keep his mouth shut as he had no reason to say anything at all.
TO ALL THE BRITISH MPs who cheered at the arrest of Julian Assange
Thirty pieces of silver was the going price
Two thousand years ago.
So when you go to church on Sunday
As many of you surely do
Just remember that the day will come
When YOU TOO will be sold.
YOU SPINELESS SKINS –
Lacking all conscience & humanity –
YOU WILL NOT WIN THE NEXT ELECTION
SO DOWN THE THAMES YOU’LL HAVE TO FLOAT
SANS PADDLE AND SANS BOAT
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY SANS VOTE!
Wish Corbyn was in power. Things would go differently.
Great article, but Snow is not the only judge who is a disgrace to the bench. There are many such sitting judges in the U.S., and of these Leonie Brinkema, presiding over Assange’s case, is one of the most biased and vindictive. I more than expect her to conspire with the prosecution to abuse the CIPA rules and deny the defense access to documents or other information relevant to the case if they are deemed ‘classified’, and thereby abridge Assange’s 5th and 6th Amendment rights to a fair trial She has done it before and one expects she’ll do it again. She is one of the worst and should have been impeached a long time age.
Have steps been taken to try to have her removed? Can the public do anything to help? What an outrage!
We can hope that Geoffrey Robertson, Assange’s lawyer, and the rest of the team will convince the judge, whoever is deciding, of the true situation. On no account is there any reason “extraordinary rendition”, which is what is would be, should apply to Julian. The UK is such a poodle to the USA but surely real law does apply, and even international law.
Yes, this pompous English Judge was a ridiculous joke,straight out of Monty Python film? England is “Faulty Towers”, on steroids, a silly, unimportant, little Island Country that still thinks its a Empire! In a perverted inversion of law, the Governments of the US & UK & it’s sick demonic Leaders & immoral criminal Military personal, get to enjoy their freedom & liberty, after committing mass murder confirmed by the “Collateral Murder Video” ! These criminals who instigated these illegal Military invasions in places like Iraq, based on nothing but lies that have killed millions & created failed states, get away scot free & facing no consequences for their crimes! Contrast that with Heroes like Snowden, forced into exile & martyrs such as Julian Assange & Chelsea manning having had their freedom snuffed out & are thrown in jail for revealing these heinous War crimes committed by these evil people? Why isn’t Tony Blair; Sakozy; George W Bush; Dick Cheney; Condelleza Rice; Bolton; Pompeo & Obama & Theresa May, hauled out of their Houses & dragged away to prison & the Hague Court for their War crimes against Humanity? These World Leaders are Cowards, crooks & killers & are rewarded in this sick World for their demented conduct while courageous individuals like Assange pay the price for exposing the truth & holding corrupt power to account!
mMegadittooes!!,Kiwiants,your rant should be seen everywhere.!
When important people are unjustly “done in”, the judge, hangman, conspirators, etc, always vanish into abject obscurity despised eventually by all humanity. – The judges, hangmen, and murderers of Jesus, Ned Kelly, Sadam Hussein, Kadaffi, the Romanoffs, to name just some. Even the name of that dubious character with the 30 pieces of silver escapes me.
What we are observing is the use of the empty form of the law to destroy the rule of law.
Should there ever be a Nuremberg level consequence for such behavior, then it will and should be judged, as it was at Nuremberg, to be a most heinous perversion of legal process in the depraved service of a brutal and violent regime holding itself as “exceptionally” above reason, intrinsically beyond conscience, and divinely absolved of any need of foundational principle.
Judge Snow is merely the house-broken pet lizard of the pipsqueak U. K. crocodilian sidekick to the really nasty tyrannosaur, stomping around and calling the shots.
Snow has performed his required tricks and puffed himself up to hiss about narcissism, totally and blissfully bereft of any personal substance or conscious awareness of his turpitude or the pitiful meagerness of his stature as a human being.
He is a cheap bit actor playing a preplanned and pitiful role.
Compared to the heroic actions of Assange and Manning, as human beings of substance and courage, Snow is all too typical of the small little minds and oversized ambitions that we shall be seeing ranting and raving, in what they imagine will be thundering voices but really will be merely the mewlings of uncouth and thuggish brats who have bullied their way onto the world’s stage, not as actors of merit but as freak shows of overweening pretense.
True, they may unleash great and destructive violence and harm, but they will never win or command true respect from those who value real courage and the genuine humanity of consideration and compassion.
They may plunder and kill, they may destroy and tear down, but none of them can build genuine trust or command honest respect.
By their actions we will know them and by their words they will betray, not us, but themselves.
Those who exercise power only through harm, through diminishment, or through despotic domination live in fear and suspicion, they may imagine that they and they alone are free to act as they will, but they are all trapped in the pathological whims of their own demise.
They may imagine that they are all powerful, but that is true only so long as they’ve minions to order about, as they have a cowed populace to manipulate.
When their orders are no longer obeyed and their Machiavellian deceits no longer succeed in frightening the many, then they will be powerless, for they have no real energy of their own, only what they can suck out of others.
The long reign of the few over the many, what, for thousands of years, we have called “civilization” but which has really, most always, been what we now term “the one percent, lording it over the ninety-nine percent, and that pattern has run its course.
If the human species is to survive, for the existential limit has been reached, then two things must end, warfare and the destruction of the web of life that permits our very existence.
And one thing must flourish.
That one thing must be full participatory democracy.
Assange and Manning have laid bare the truth of war, have shown the destructive depravity of the few, simply by enticing the few to act out, blatantly, in full view of all humanity,their “games” of manipulation and domination.
Those games may go on for some time, but they will daily become more obvious and desperate, sufficiently so that even the most befuddled will understand.
Soon it will be time to begin to consider what sort of society humanity will have to fashion to meet the needs of all, even of species beyond our own, part of that may be about doing less harm, or even none at all.
Have we the imagination and the vision to fashion, first the narrative that will permit us to consider what that world might need to look like?
More importantly, have we the courage to embrace what such a world might feel like?
Suppose we were to develop a genuine sense of community with a shared and experienced social contract of cooperation rather than competition and service to our fellow beings rather than “ambitions” of accumulating obscene wealth or seeking to have total domination over others.
Human nature is really whatever we choose to manifest it as.
We all have had the brief opportunity of corporeal existence, and it is brief and fleeting.
Should we not all wish that to go on, even after we each return to the void from which each of us has sprung?
Does life have sufficient value that we might all agree that it is worth sharing with all other beings on this planet with is not only our only home in the emmensity of universe, but also, for our reasonable intents and purposes, nothing less than paradise?
Ought we be in as rush or a huff to destroy it or to refuse to share it, even with generations of being not yet here?
Or, is that simply too much to consider?
Should we just continue as we are?
Seemingly oblivious to the great and good fortune that existence has presented us?
What do you think?
Very well put DW.
Here’s something for you
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GbWMw249xY8
Joe
What do I think? I think that you add much to this conversation DW Bartoo and I for one really appreciate it. Thank you…
Hear, Hear!
Lovely comment, DW and it is fascinating that in his last interview before Assange’s communications were cut he pondered the very same choices facing mankind that you express. (see REFEED:Assange last interview before communications cut on Youtube)
He examined the forces of competition driving the behavior of “higher” life forms (and possibly that of other planetary civilizations in the universe – where are they, he asks) possibly driven into oblivion by their own relentless competitive nature…
And he agrees with you, of course, that only self reflection and awareness and above all an abundance of accurate information (wikileaks?) may be our only way out of self destruction.
Thanks for writing this. From my perspective the totalitarian world-state started bearing fruit some time in 2017. Some will say perhaps, earlier than that.
It is very dangerous times for Assange from a personal safety perspective. I hope somewhere in this corrupt system he has a guardian angel that will intervene from the inside.
Now awakened – I think a guardian angel is present for Julian. Speaking of this judge Michael Snow, his using the description “narcissistic” comes from the ol’ CIA manual. Just like the 1967 phrase “conspiracy theory” for all who opposed the findings of the Warren Commission. Perhaps he was scared going into the court that day and asked his handler “what do I say, how do I rule”? After all, that judge was up against a Herculean mind is Assange. A person with ten times Snow’s intellect. That MI6 handler must have told him, “just call him a narcissist”.
I hope you are correct and that this ridiculous “name calling” by a representative of the “justice system” is too embarrassing for any self respecting, but generally compliant, journalist or politician to let slide by as the “justification’ for this nastiness.
Well said.
Readers may enjoy these observations made in response to another article:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/john-chuckman-comment-cheap-effort-at-soft-attack-on-assange-pathetic-but-consider-the-source-from-a-canadian-propaganda-mill-much-like-american-think-tanks-assange-is-a-journalist-and-he-d/
Thank you, Craig Murray. I am glad to hear that “the whole team, including Julian, is energized rather than downhearted.” In fact you are all immortalized by steadfast opposition to the tyranny of our former democracies, by the extremity of the very corruption you have exposed.
Nearly all judges choose that office solely to aggrandize themselves by abuse of public office. Far less than one percent care at all for Constitution, laws, or precedents, except to construct lies. These are our present inquisitors, the psychopathic witch hunters for the dictatorship of the rich. Fake UK judge Snow has sentenced himself to infamy, as has fake US judge Brinkema who awaits. That is an eternal sentence indeed, inescapable, which admits no bargaining of pleas.
Well stated.
Like Sam i was pleased to hear that the whole team felt energized. I think i never felt so sad in my whole life as i did when i saw Assange unlawfully dragged out of his sanctum, a scene that still makes my hart ache. During his time in the embassy Assange mußt have felt week and kind of useless if not helpless. To be able to speak up, even to this joke of a judge, must have given him energy and made him feel like the exceptionally great man again he has been before and obviously still is regardless to what they did to him. And he is going to fight. I am pretty sure he has a guardian angel. Otherwise he would not have lasted so long. Outside there might even be one or two guardians as well. There must be some insiders with a grudge to the system who will try to help Assange. Thank you, Craig Murray! And consortiumsnews. I like ro read this site but am unable to contribute which makes me feel rather sorry.
You are contributing in the best way, and those who see your participation may well donate some more to help out. Participation shows the strength of journalism to educate the people, and to rescue democracy from the mass media controlled by economic power.
You are very kind.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XRXK8DZJs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8W9DqF6K7Pk