By locking up Assange, the U.S, its allies and corporate media have inadvertently exposed themselves for what they are, and we’re now able to point that out for everyone to see, writes Caitlin Johnstone.
Assange at the “New Media Days 09” in Copenhagen, November 2009. (New Media Days / Peter Erichsen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
Consortium News has launched a new series titled “The Revelations of WikiLeaks”, geared toward helping readers come to a full appreciation of just how much useful information the outlet has made available to the world with its publications. Which is good, because there’s a whole lot of it. Understanding everything that WikiLeaks has done to shine light in areas that powerful people wish to keep dark makes it abundantly clear why powerful people would want to dedicate immense amounts of energy toward sabotaging it.
What’s even more interesting to me right now, though, is that if you think about it, the completely fraudulent arrest and imprisonment of Julian Assange arguably exposes more malfeasance by government and media powers than than what has been revealed in all WikiLeaks publications combined since its inception. And we can use that as a weapon in waking the world up to the dystopian manipulations of the powerful, in the same way we can use WikiLeaks publications.
Really, think about it. Thanks to WikiLeaks we know about a military cultural environment in the Iraq war that was toxic enough to give rise to U.S. servicemen merrily gunning down civilians, including two Reuters war correspondents, while whooping and exchanging verbal high-fives. We know that the CIA cultivated a massive cyber-arsenal which enables them to spy through smartphones and smart TVs, remotely hijack vehicles, and forge digital fingerprints on cyber-intrusions to make it look to forensic investigators as though hackers from another nation was responsible, and that they lost control of this arsenal.
We know about the DNC’s agenda to undermine Bernie Sanders during the primary in violation of its charter, that Hillary Clinton told a group of Goldman Sachs executives that she understood the need to have “a public position and a private position,” and that Obama’s cabinet was basically selected for him by a Citigroup executive. We know that and a whole lot more, information which mainstream and alternative media reports use to this very day when constructing analyses of what’s going on in the world.
All of these things are of course hugely significant. But are they anywhere near as significant as the earth-shakingly scandalous revelation that the U.S. government and its allies conspired to imprison a journalist for reporting facts about the powerful? That the governments of America, Ecuador, the UK and Australia all worked in concert to arrange a series of bureaucratic technicalities which all aligned perfectly to create a situation that just so happens to look exactly the same as imprisoning a journalist for telling the truth?
The only thing which keeps this scandalous revelation from registering in the minds of the greater public with the magnitude it deserves is the fact that the mass media doesn’t treat it like the scandal that it so clearly is. If, for example, the mass media were treating this open act of tyranny with the same enthusiasm they treated the Democratic Party emails as they were published drop by drop in the lead-up to the presidential election, or the same enthusiasm they regarded the diplomatic cables or the “Collateral Murder” video, everyone would be up in arms at the fact that their government was acting in a way that is functionally indistinguishable from what’s done to journalists by the most totalitarian dictatorships in the world.
And that refusal of the mainstream media to run virtually anything but smear pieces is, in and of itself, a part of why this scandal is so breathtaking in its audacity. The legal precedent that they are attempting to set with the extradition, persecution and prosecution of Julian Assange for everyday acts of journalism will affect every journalist on the planet, working or retired, professional or citizen. This literally endangers the lives and freedom of every single person working in every single one of those outlets, and they are all either ignorantly cheering it on, or too scared to care. The CIA and Pentagon have weaponized public opinion by using the most advanced psychological weapons known to man, and although the main barrier to fighting his persecution is simply the social shame of going against the tribe, it’s effectively turned the press upon itself. The free press is gaslighting itself into total and absolute submission.
And we can see that this is happening. And we can point to it.
Let's go on a graphic tour of some of WikiLeaks biggest exposures of wrongdoing and criminality from our corrupt elites. This is why they want Julian Assange silenced (and anyone else daring to do expose them).
#1 GITMO files: torture and lies #FreeAssange #WikiLeaks pic.twitter.com/myzW6omNma
— Bean? (@SomersetBean) April 13, 2019
What I’m getting at with all this is that it’s important to keep in mind that the U.S.-centralized empire has given us information that can be used against it in devastating fashion if we’re clever. Even while Assange is locked behind bars, even while whistleblowers are being intimidated away from whistleblowing and journalists are being intimidated away from publishing leaks, we are being given information that we can circulate and attack the propaganda machine that’s keeping humanity docile and enslaved.
By locking up Assange, they’ve inadvertently exposed themselves for what they are, and we are now able to point at it for everyone to see. They reached too far out into the light and exposed their true face.
Never stop using this information to attack the promulgators and beneficiaries of disinformation. Never stop referring to the U.S. and UK as “a government which imprisons journalists for publishing inconvenient facts”. Never stop calling out the hypocrisy when westerners criticize other governments for locking up journalists. Never stop reminding people who pretend to care about the free press when Trump makes mean tweets about a CNN reporter that they are willfully ignoring a threat to the free press that is infinitely greater in this administration’s prosecution of Assange. This is what they are. If anyone denies it, engage them in debate and show everyone why they’re wrong.
We are still very much in this fight. Whenever they reach into the light to silence the truth, the light shines upon their face and burns them. They reach their arms into the light of truth, and their arms turn to dust. Whenever they try to fight truth head-on, they cannot help but show the world what they really are.
Never, ever stop reminding everyone of what has undeniably been revealed in the imprisonment of Julian Assange.
Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium. Follow her work on Facebook, Twitter, or her website. She has a podcast and a new book “Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.” This article was re-published with permission.
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AN Important article made moreso when I followed up Caitlin’s referrals?2 her past content as underlined& shown in red… Tnx CN4 runnin CJ’s stuff…
So I’m puzzled as2 Timing4 GB’s arrest of Julian…
Is May’s power run endangered by Corbyn?
Does U$ need Red adm2 pull egregious fasc
power play?
Think about it “no diff” Blu haters…
(& btw i was a Jill voter)
Find out more about this “judge.”
“Forget Russia, The Real Threat to America comes from Israel and the Israel Lobby”
Some scribes are of that opinion whilst some practitioners would likely edit the title to read “The real threat to “The United States of America” is “The United States of America”.
Once upon a time a patient had spots on her/his skin and went to the doctor.
The doctor did not have the relevant skills in analysis/diagnosis and so prescribed skin cream.
The patient however had smallpox.
The patient died.
Happy Mayday.
Comrade “OlyaPola”, a Hasbara “practitioner” by design or default, deflects and obfuscates when Israel and the pro-Israel Lobby are mentioned.
Hilarity ensues.
“a Hasbara “practitioner”
Thank you for your confirmation of the re-enforcement of your “presumptions” and continuing resort to strategies of guesses in emulation of the opponents.
Comrade “OlyaPola” is re-confirmed as a Hasbara “practitioner” based on the behavior: continuing resort to strategies of deflection and obfuscation when Israel and the pro-Israel Lobby are mentioned.
No “guesses” are involved.
No “identity” is presumed.
Whether re-enforced by design or default, Hasbara hilarity by ensues.
What do yo do when someone has no respect for human values and international law? What do you do when someone terrorizes others for not obeying orders? What do you do when someone bullies other people for not agreeing with what they do? What do you do when that someone is not a person, but a state? What do you do when that state is the USA? What do you doo when the press has submitted it’s loyalty to that state?
“What do you do when that someone is not a person, but a state?”
Like a growing number in the world demystify and transcend the state ( a word with a connotation of stasis) in myriad lateral ways based upon the efforts of demystification, continue in coercive attempts in emulation of the state thereby increasing the growing number in the world transcending the state in myriad ways, or engage in self-absorption like Mr. Hamlet with forecastable outcomes and “collateral damages”. There are other options since agency is never sole and rarely primary.
The self-described “United States of America” and their associates world-wide realise that this process is in train and reacts through projections of their own coercive systems “informed” by projections of their expectations/wishes.
Transcending a state requires time which can be minimised through rendering “The United States of America” and its associates complicit in their own transcendence, as was/is the lateral process of transcendence of “The Soviet Union” and its associates by the Russian Federation and its associates.
During the earlier trajectories of that lateral process of transcendence some attempted to reform “The Soviet Union” failing to understand that systemic design and practice precluded that outcome whilst facilitating lateral outcomes, a process now being engaged in by some in “The United States of America” and its associates where systemic design includes but is not limited to “We the people hold these truths to be self-evident.”
This process of transcendence includes but is not limited to the transcendence of your present “self”.
The previous comment in purgatory may subsequently resurrect for some although for other broadcasts are made on transmission.
“We the people hold these truths to be self-evident.”
“T his process of transcendence includes but is not
limited to the transcendence of your present “self”.”
Immigrants often have a need to analyse and practice tactics based upon these often quite perceptive analyses of the “host” society to “progress” .
A quite productive tactic is based on repackaging the assumptions of the “host” society and “selling” them back to them.
This practice has been followed by many including but not restricted to Mr. Berlin, Mr. Diamond, Ms. Rand and Mr. Strauss.
An example of Mr. Diamond’s practice is linked below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePXck9H1pI
Settler colonialism often eradicates previous hosts thereby misrepresenting the immigrant society as “host” society.
Being an immigrant society where some immigrants and/or their ancestors got off the boat earlier than some others, to some degree most in “The United States of America” engage in such practice rendering them susceptible to such practice.
Included in those susceptible are Mr. Bolton and Mr. Pompeo, to whom this song is dedicated since some deem it ill mannered to make efforts to have them awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Happy Mayday.
Assange Before Pilate
Good Friday 2019:
Julian Assange was arrested a few days ago,
Dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London,
His seven-year Gethsemane,
To be presented before a judge, who called him
A Narcissist. No question: what is truth?
Pontius Pilate was a philosopher,
An open-minded seeker after knowledge,
Compared to this English judge, a vile functionary
Of the American Empire, bringing his bigotry
With him to the bench, spewing the latest poison
Of the lackey press, the treasonous collaborators
With the new Nazi world order. And the English parliament
Having just earned the contempt of the whole world,
Cackled like hyenas at the announcement
Of his arrest by the smirking chief Pharisee.
O Democracy,
What crimes are committed in your name! O Demosthenes,
O Pericles, what has become of the idea
You gave the world? We have made a tyranny
That arrests the most courageous voices of truth
Speaking to power, and throws them into dungeons,
Worse than any totalitarian gulag.
While the liberal press, bought by the secret services,
And the English parliament itself, packed with quislings,
Howl: Crucify him! Crucify him now!
We have no God but the Military Industrial Complex
And its puppet governments. Oh, God of wrath,
Why stay your hand?
And Notre Dame has been consumed by fire,
Which all the tears of Paris could not quench,
That dignified old lady burned at the stake —
Is it not a symbol of what they have done
To truth itself?
Michael Antony
Let’s fight for the freedom of Julian Assange a hero of our time
Thank you for all your good work, Caitlin.
Having watched the “60 Minutes” interview with John Shipton, I’d like to know your thoughts about Jim Molan and his remarks, from the following brief excerpt:
Excerpt:
“But the WikiLeaks founder was damned by conservative senator and former soldier Jim Molan.
“Senator Molan, who led coalition forces in Iraq, brands Assange “a villain” for publishing almost 400,000 US Army field reports from the Iraq War.
““In my opinion he is a villain because he gave away what we call tactics, techniques and procedures,” Senator Molan told 60 Minutes.
“What he released is how we operate and for an enemy that is working against you that is absolute gold.” [end of excerpt]
I’m afraid that many people will take Molan’s remarks at face value and join the ranks of those who would like to see Julian crucified. There was no pushback by the woman who did the interview.
Well, there it is, right from the horse’s mouth. The U.S. military considers war crimes to be among its repertoire of “tactics, techniques and procedures.” I take this jackass’s words to mean that droning journalists and double-tapping medics who respond to the first hit are standard operating procedures in this man’s army. Why is he not in the dock at the Hague? Along with his former commander-in-chief? Instead of him being prosecuted the individuals who exposed these sins are the ones being persecuted.
Here is the clip:
https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1122462281462239232/video/1
I would agree that the wrong people are being persecuted…and prosecuted.
Yes, the truth of the Assange affair is there now for all to see – if they have clear eyes to see it, eyes not clouded by government propaganda. Too few have such eyes, I am afraid. We are sleepwalking to our extinction, led by the deeply deluded among us.
“What’s even more interesting to me right now, though, is that if you think about it, the completely fraudulent arrest and imprisonment of Julian Assange arguably exposes more malfeasance by government and media powers than than what has been revealed in all WikiLeaks publications combined since its inception”
The author is right.
But the entire set of ongoing American activities abroad is exactly of the same nature.
Utterly dishonest and destructive and controlling, from Syria to Venezuela.
It is hard to understand why there isn’t more opposition and criticism of all of the dirty work.
But there isn’t all that much.
The lesson to be learned is about what a herd of cattle Americans and Western Europeans have been reduced to.
Why wasn’t there a crowd of a 100,000 or at least 10,000 at the embassy, making his arrest difficult?
We live in a pretty sad world.
Those with power do pretty much as they please.
And the rule of law is given only lip service.
No mention of the tens of millions of Christian Zionists, I see. They are source Israel’s clout.
Thanks to Caitlin for pointing out that the prosecution of Mr. Assange will show the world the degree of corruption of US government, even better than Wikileaks could. He has certainly done a great service to the world, and his prosecution does a great further service. Mr. Assange deserves a major turnout in his defense, and letters to your Congress critters:
https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC
https://www.house.gov/representatives
The US government acts exposed are far greater offenses against democracy than any hacking:
1. Conducting secret wars that exceed the federal powers limit of “repelling invasions” and are not authorized by any defensive treaty, in violation of the Constitution;
2. Violations of international law;
3. Promiscuous surveillance of the People of the United States;
4. Allowing private economic powers to completely subvert democracy by monopolizing US mass media: it is they who must be abolished, by amendments to the US Constitution to restrict funding of mass media and elections to limited personal donations or government funding.
Those are the only treasons of the Assange affair, the result of economic war by the rich against the United States.
Hi there,
The reason for my comment is I am wondering if there are any files and or documents about the guy that was born that matched Nostradamus prediction and the cruel things and acts that they have done. It is hard to find as the United States and Great Britain stole intellectual property from him and never paid him not even a penny or dime. They kept all profits to themselves and nobody has been charged for some of their abuse.
The government has got a lot of ways in doing wrong and most people dont even know. The government has killed his friends, made sure he is not allowed any social programs and made sure to cut him off from obtaining any compensation. It would be nice to reveal the truth about the churches and how they don’t give a damn about the Second Coming.
When the “Christian” Secretary of State who headed CIA prior, tells Texas A&M students, “…we lied, we cheated, we stole” last week, that tells you why Julian Assange is now in prison. Makes me think of “We came, we saw, he died”. And the students in Texas clapped and laughed! We are in serious trouble! And Saudi Arabia beheaded 37 mostly Shia last week, including a teen who was sending out e-messages about a protest against the repressive government. Then Maria Butina gets 18 month sentence (9 served already) for “being a Russian agent” while Jared Kushner is thick with Netanyahu and KSA! We’re at Red Alert Plus-Plus -Plus.
trump’s one state solution would help. as osgood fielding lll said: nobody’s perfect.
Not all the students in Texas applauded, but we do remember who actually said those words. We remember who said (regarding Assange) “Can’t we just drone this guy?” : Democratic Party queen, Hillary Clinton.
Trump tweets an insult about CNN and you’re calling that an attempt to shut down journalism??
CNN and the rest of the MSM have not been shut down, they’ve turned coat!
It’s not just Trump and his administration that’s a threat to a free press and the first amendment, although he truly is a walking parody of the emperor with no clothes. He’s never subtle. Everyone gets it. He’s as much the enlightened philosopher king as was Mussolini or the current Mohammed bin Sultan. He’s a classic case of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, if there ever was one. However, let’s never forget that it was that spectacular con-artist Barack Obama who gave the initial go-ahead to the Justice Department and the Military Courts Martial to prosecute Bradley Manning for being a whistle-blower and leaking blatant war crimes to Wikileaks, Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian, and the NYT. WikiLeaks and Greenwald remained honorable actors, those self-aggrandizing newspapers have since shown even less character than Trump or Obama (or pick any recent sleazy president fronting for the Deep State’s hegemonic agenda). Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama pulled the same stunt in his “legal” but immoral prosecution of John Kiriakou. As you see, I hold a special place in my heart for traitors and deceivers.
But clearly the most bellicose warhawk within the American leadership has been her royal highness, the Empress Hillary. In a classic example of psychological “projection,” her idea of getting off on the right foot in a “reset” with Putin was to call him the “New Hitler.” Had the newly acclaimed Fuerher been more conversant with modern American intellectuals, he would have immediately quoted Pee Wee Herman and queried our latter day Bloody Mary with “I know what you are, but what am I?” Hillary grew up precisely contemporaneous with me just a few blocks north of me along Milwaukee Avenue in Chi-town. Even she would have understand the meaning had Vlad treated her in a manner appropriate to her laughable arrogance. But she fancies herself to be the Lagertha of Viking legend, and she wants to do to Assange what that character did to Einer (for those who haven’t watched the show, Google those two names and be prepared to cringe when you view the clip). Her lust for that sort of thing was perfectly demonstrated in her infamous words directed at Moamar Gaddaffi’s hideous torture and murder. Where she picked up her rabid Russophrenia (I look for a better word than “Russophobia” to describe the mental pathology because these people don’t so much “fear” Russians as “hate” them) is clear to me from the same Chicago politics that she and I were exposed to in our formative years. Chicago has (or had) very large populations of Russia-loathing ethnics who reflexively voted their prejudices. The Poles may be the most notable but the sickness is just as pervasive amongst the troublesome Ukrainians, the Lithuanians, the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Croatians and the Jews. Bagging the Soviet Union back in the day was de-rigor if you wanted to get elected to a local office, and Hillary was not that obtuse not to notice. She, like John McCain, simply learned a political trick that they could never unlearn even if it meant the survival of civilisation and perhaps the whole human race.
Caitlin is absolutely correct in that dangerous anachronisms like Hillary, McCain, Biden, etc. and the whole monolithic Deep State they serve and protect need to be challenged at every turn, especially since they have so many built-in advantages in the war of deception that they constantly wage to strip U.S. citizens of their constitutional rights, all in the supposed name of vanquishing evil wherever it is convenient for them to see it or imagine it around the world. Most of the time the evil is actually the very thing they perpetrate in all our names as Americans. First they instigate genocide in Syria, resulting in half a million dead and millions driven into exile, with a side order of societal instability imposed upon our European “allies.” Then, when they can’t win on the battlefield, they refuse to participate in rebuilding the country they destroyed and impose onerous sanctions on trade, creating crucial energy shortages and mass starvation. That is clearly some really sick shit being done in our names, people. They call it “hybrid” war–or maybe just “sanctions” to distract from the “w” word, as if all the deaths are no big deal because bullets or missiles weren’t used to inflict the casualties. Besides, those savages can only blame themselves for forcing us to commit inhuman acts.
Of course, Syria is just one small nation with a target placed on its back by your Uncle Sam. People who read this blog are well aware of the countries already ravaged by American “beneficence,” as well as the names of the countries soon to be targeted in wars that may easily trigger Armageddon. I sincerely hope that Iran, Venezuela and North Korea do not easily roll over to American assaults on their sovereignty and attempted theft of resources. Washington is cocky enough already. For those countries to collapse for no reason other than American bullying will pretty much be an open invitation for the idiots running the Deep State to up the ante and attempt first strikes against Russia and China. They endlessly drill, recruit, plan, manufacture and mobilize for such an event. They force their “allies” to participate and stand in harm’s way with no benefit to themselves. How barbaric for Russia to point second strike missiles at our vassals, they say, when we strong arm those countries into hosting our first strike batteries only a few hundred miles from St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Of course it is entirely illogical, makes no damned sense, and is transparently untrue. They brazenly lie to their enemies, their allies and to the American people in whose name these acts of madness are committed. Obviously, they must believe that it is no big deal for them to also crush any free press that might try to bring these troubled realities to the attention of the public. Hence they will continue to campaign against the release of any truths that reveal them to be the amoral warmongers they really are and will gladly demolish the Bill of Rights as collateral damage. (Since such damage inevitably accompanies any and all of the wars they bless the world with, clearly it is a “necessary evil,” no make that a serendipitous blessing.) Sad to say but Assange will probably be recognised for the hero that he is only long after his era on earth has passed. He will probably be celebrated elsewhere in the world rather before his own Western culture relents and gives him his due.
Wake up folks!!! GOVERNMENTS NEED TO BE ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE. RULE OF LAW MUST APPLY TO EVERYONE. Otherwise ANARCHY will take over. Dust off the GUILLETINE, we’re going to need it very soon!!!
sixty four years since emmett till died. vigilante justice, as institutional justice, has its limitations. on balance i’d prefer the return the sort of rule of law we had between say the assassination of the kennedy brothers and 9-11. i sense a pattern.
Assange has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. This alleged crime isn’t addressed here. I wonder what is the relevance of the whistleblowing described here to the crimes Assange has been indicted for?
When are the NSA et al going to be hauled before the courts? Perhaps you should wonder more about that.
Ector, wake up! Manning had ACCESS, there was NO hacking, it’s weasel words to pretend he committed a crime. What he did was publishing, not hacking, if he were hacking he wouldn’t need Manning. Here’s a question for you: Do you think it is legal to classify war crimes?
May 1st Worldwide Spread the word. Free Assange (and Manning)
Caitlin is totally correct.
Official corruption is pervasive and ubiquitous.
Perhaps though, there is an even deeper and far more dangerous social pathology.
I have found myself, of late, but for many years as well, thinking about times and places in the tapestry of human existence, primarily what we would broadly consider to be in the times after the rise, I almost typed “ruse”, of “civilization”. The notion of such “civilization” is somewhat akin to the notion that we are much evolved, as “modern” human beings, from our “primitive” ancestors who, we imagine eked a bare, dangerous, subsistence from a hostile and incomprehensible “nature”.
The latter notion of modernity permits us an easy sense of superiority over our feeble-brained forebears, a superior which requires no effort on our e part, most especially to demonstrate that we do, indeed, possess a far superior grasp, intellct, ability to shape nature to our own ends, no pun intended.
The earlier notion, that we are “civilized” permits all sorts and manners of deceits, assumptions, and prerogatives, individually but also on a grander scale, justifying doctrines of “might is right”, often disguised as “manifest destiny” or a “covenant”, an “understanding” of divine license or “choseness”. Mostly, be considering ourselves to be civilized we have the great benefit of not having any compelling sense of needing to examine our own behaviors or attitudes.
As I have observed the lengthy character assassination of Julian Assange, I have been, throughout the years of the embassy seclusion, been recalling how Socrates was maligned by Athenian playwrights, and the power theater had, in those days, to shape public perceptions and harden assumptions, prejudices, and what passes as “understanding”.
Socrates most infuriated Athens, not by his physical appearance, his lack of outward beauty, his unwashed person, or his shabby attire, but by reminding that city-state of its moral crisis, as he perceived it, correctly so in consider, of a failure of empathy as guiding moral precept. Socrates enraged a public that was in moral crisis to the point where the majority desired nothing more than to silence him, for he had made them feel ashamed. He asked them to think and to consider, to step away from ambitions of power and wealth, to cease corrupting a fledgling democracy with ignorance and the emotions, we would call them “ambitions” of greed and domination, with the fixation of narcissistic pursuits of possessions and empty public esteem, built not on real knowledge but the pretense of knowing.
Clearly, Socrates had to be silenced.
He could, of course escaped death,
He could have asked to be banished or fined.
Instead, he said he had offered Athens, over many years, valuable service and ought be rewarded,
He suggested that the city give him free supper for the rest of his life.
That condemned him, in the final vote.
Are not we, we proud U$ians, we members of the most exceptional, most powerful, and most indispensable nation ever to grace the planet not also suffering, not just among the elite, but among the theater-instructed many, from that same lack of empathy?
That same more crisis of conscience?
That same lack of foundational principle that arises from life and assumption un-examined?
Socrates was silenced.
Those who silenced him are mostly long forgotten or held as timid, self righteous lemmings, too willing to go along with the easy solution of ridding themselves of a gadfly who too easily pierced their comfortable notions.
Yes, the elite and their hangers-on, their lesser thugs and enforcers along with them. However, the easily swayed, and all here have witnessed the easy suasion and its consequences, again and again, are also Scheer hung for punishment.
Were Assange charged with a capital offense, which despite all assurances from the corrupt towers of power, cannot be ruled out of the realm of actually becoming possible, do we dare imagine that the opinion-shaped and emotion-controlled many would object?
Our times are perilous beyond any existential threat faced by any tribe or city-state of the past, for it is the whole of humanity, even isolated tribal groups never blessed with “modern” convenience or weapons of mass destruction, to the meritorious brightest and best(est), ALL of us, even dear reader, you and I who face extinction by one of two, but really three ways.
We face collective demise from the skies with the use of nuclear de-vices, we are experiencing a collapse of the capacity of the web of life, through the human caused destruction of the environment which nurtured all of life, and we witness the deliberate destruction of democracy, of the only possible means by which a truly informed and responsible many may take and maintain control of their own destiny.
Julian Assange has done something very similar to what Socrates did,
He has brought, into clear and vivid view, an opportunity for all of us to see ourselves, not as we might like, comfortably and complacently, to perceive ourselves, our society, and our philosophy.
Thus, he shatters long held precious myths and attitudes, as well as hidden behaviors and vicious truths.
Shall we meekly agree in our many to shut the rapey, “narcissistic”, cowardly little bastard up?
Shall we lock him up and throw away they key?
Should we kill him?
What will the many be led, by the media which are owned by the very same “interests” that profit from the endless wars that their greed requires, to “believe” that it is Assange who is their enemy, who must be silenced at all costs, even to the harm of their own humanity?
Socrates held that harming others harms not the souls or spirits of the harmed, but rather the souls and spirits of those who do the harm.
That is the essence of moral crisis.
Are we there yet?
What do you think
My fingers were obviously in business for themselves, this morning.
The many, in Athens, were not Scheer, but surely wanting Socrates to be silenced.
Gah!
Typing on a phone, with meager finger skills is fraught with creeping error and frustration.
My apologies for the mangled results.
DW
“That condemned him, in the final vote.”
The jury voted but Socrates decided.
The jury and Mr. G.W. Bush and associates were/are convinced they were/are the jury, but Socrates was.
Likely Socrates decision was based on whether to drink the hemlock and live for a short-time in the way he always had or deny his life.
Presently many are immersed in the choice of Socrates as many have been throughout history, not all of whom are self-absorbed like Mr. Hamlet.
The opponents’ social arrangements depend on others not emulating Socrates choice but Mr. Hamlets, and that quantity trumps quality, with the admixture of exceptionalism in notions of prime/sole agency enhancing their hopes.
Some of the audience may see a Greek tragedy whilst some recognise a Greek comedy.
When a society, intent upon total domination of other societies, permits, in fact encourages insanity to rule, Olya Pola, when all moral conscience is dissolved into a manufactured belief of cultural infallibility, of moral supremacy where no moral scruple remains, then such a society cannot, will not, of its own accord back away from madness.
Of the other actors, on the world stage, then is required a stark reaction, call it a dire necessity, a lesson of history if you wish, but a response (collective or otherwise) must, and will result.
To that extent, it ultimately matters little what the viewers, the play goers, imagine as tragedy or farce, for the next act is never anticipated, and can run very contrary to those who cannot imagine tomorrow as ever being much different from today.
When chickens come home to roost and turnabout is fair play.
Crux points missed accumulate, and comfortable assumptions of conquest and domination turn to dust.
The Bard himself could not ever have imagined the composition of the radio-active dust to which all actors, bad, indifferent, or sublime, may yet return.
Perhaps, even the most obtuse ought have some acute awareness of that ever more likely scenario?
“Some of the audience may see a Greek tragedy whilst some recognise a Greek comedy.”
“it ultimately matters little what the viewers, the play goers, imagine as tragedy or farce, for the next act is never anticipated”
To conflate/restrict audience with/to viewers, restict acting or performance to “play”, and recognising to imagining is to facilitate the belief that the next act is never anticipated.
Some of the audience had/have agency and hence formulated/formulate and implemented/implement strategies facilitated by farces such as “Full Spectrum Dominance” and “The end of history”.
For some “The United States of America” is a Greek farce not a Greek tragedy, thereby informing questions such as – How to drown a drowning man with the minimum of blowback.
“The Bard himself could not ever have imagined the composition of the radio-active dust to which all actors, bad, indifferent, or sublime, may yet return.”
The Bard himself lived in his time and his experience, whilst others lived in their time and their evaluated experience and for practical purposes can approximate the probabilities and composition of the radio-active dust, and like Socrates can decide, whilst not being constrained by binary thinking or definitions of life.
To conflate obtuseness with resolve is always a strategic error.
“Assange’s Imprisonment Arguably Reveals Even More Corruption Than WikiLeaks Did”
Portals are facilitators of lateral processes and sources catalysts.
Assigning significance/frame and/or engaging in conflation can deflect purpose.
“Portals are facilitators of lateral processes and sources catalysts.”
Assigning significance/frame and/or engaging in conflation can deflect purpose.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/whats-really-behind-julian-assanges-arrest/
Some seek to assign a level of significance to themselves and/or their associates thereby decreasing the significance that others may assign to them, there by limiting opportunities of interaction.
In societies of the spectacle such assignment of significance is encouraged, often limiting perception to projected frames deemed to be of significance, increasing the opportunities for conflation of an answer with the answers.
An interesting pathway to explore would likely be the following:
1. Have the number of sources increased in the last ten years ?
2. Have the incidences of sources increased in the last ten years?
3. Have the quality of sources increased in the last ten years?
4. What significances can be assigned to the perceived outcomes of 1, 2 and 3 above separately and in interaction?
5. What opportunities are afforded by the perceived outcomes of 4 above ?
Abe, I never saw that Assange press conference statement about Israeli influence over the US before. I would say it goes a long way in explaining how the media and the entertainment industry is treating this journalist. Many of us may say the same thing and be left alone, but an Assange cannot be allowed to be nor can any public figure.
ditto. and glad you linked. i have underestimated assange (although holding him in high regard). when oh when will something on 9-11 make it out of somewhere to join the library of evidence convicting bush and netanyahu (et. al., a great many others)? bust 9-11 and change the world. trump says bombs brought down the wtc so that’s a start.
There appears to be some nervousness in alternative media about anti-zionist articles, perhaps due to the zionist Facebook/Twitter/MSM blacklistings last year that appear to have sharply cut CN readership, judging from the numbers of comments. Perhaps that is due to larger alternative sites taking fewer articles linked to CN, in fear of being blacklisted. Just speculation.
Abe
April 26, 2019 at 17:16
PLEASE REPLACE THE TEXT WITH MY COMPLETED COMMENT AS APPEARS BELOW:
A December 14, 2016 memorandum of understanding between the Psy-Group, an Israeli company owned by Israeli entrepreneur Joel Zamel, and British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica LLC, outlined a joint bid to win business from the U.S. government, provide “intelligence”, and deliver social-media services.
In August 2016, Zamel met with Donald Trump at Trump Tower, Zamel and an emissary to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss how PSY Group could help Trump win, according to a May 2018 New York Times report.
During the 2016 US presidential elections, Cambridge Analytica worked both for the primary campaign of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Trump’s general-election campaign. The firm helped propel Trump to the presidency.
On 25 October 2017, Julian Assange said on Twitter that he had been approached by Cambridge Analytica, but that he had rejected its proposal.
Assange’s tweet followed a story in The Daily Beast alleging that Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix had proposed a collaboration with Wikileaks to find the 33,000 emails that had been deleted from Clinton’s private server. CNN said it had been told by several unnamed sources that Nix intended to turn the Clinton email archive released to the public by the State Department into a searchable database for the campaign or a pro-Trump political action committee.
On 14 December 2017, it was revealed that Robert Mueller had requested during the fall of 2017 that Cambridge Analytica turn over the emails of any of its employees who worked on the Trump campaign
In March 2018, following disclosures that Cambridge Analytica had improperly used the personal information of over 50 million Facebook users while working on Trump’s presidential campaign, the Times of Israel reported that the company had used what Nix had called “intelligence gathering” from British and Israeli companies as part of their efforts to influence the election results in Trump’s favor.
In May 2018, Bloomberg reported that Robert Mueller had investigated money flows to Psy-Group. The article noted the firm’s close ties to the Israeli Army’s psychological warfare unit:
“FBI agents working with Mueller’s team interviewed people associated with PSY Group’s U.S. operations in February, and Mueller subpoenaed bank records for payments made to the firm’s Cyprus bank accounts, according to a person who has seen one of the subpoenas. Though PSY Group is based in Israel, it’s technically headquartered in Cyprus, the small Mediterranean island famous for its banking secrecy.
“Shortly after those interviews, on Feb. 25, PSY Group Chief Executive Officer Royi Burstien informed employees in Tel Aviv that the company was closing down. Burstien is a former commander of an Israeli psychological warfare unit, according to two people familiar with the company. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-22/mueller-targeted-flows-of-money-to-israeli-social-media-company
Okay, we retaliate. Here’s an example. Lets use Collateral Murder as the “document” that’s been classified to hide a crime. Yes, the only reason that video was classified is because of what it revealed–evidence of a Capital Crime–and the act of hiding such evidence is the definition of the Obstruction of Justice. In other words, classifying evidence to hide it from being revealed is a crime–a felony. And given the thousands of such documents, the USG has committed a similar number of counts of Obstruction of Justice. That no legal challenge to the USG on these grounds has been attempted is puzzling to say the least. Then there’re the various non-NGOs that perform acts of government destabilization/meddling contrary to the UN Charter AND the US Constitution. A suit needs to be launched to have those agencies declared unconstitutional at minimum and criminal if they’ve classified documents that hide their crimes/unconstitutional behavior. IMO, the CIA, NSA and others can all be challenged in a similar manner–their conduct is unconstitutional.
So, where’s the ACLU folk reading this? Let’s get busy!
I was thinking the same thing after Caitlin mentioned the exposure of unconstitutional government activity. Although not a lawyer, I have done several prosecutions of the US government for plainly unconstitutional acts, and expect several more such cases.
The idea is sound except for the assumption that the judiciary cares about corruption. They are the carefully vetted defenders of corruption, appointed by corrupt politicians; it is their career. So are the mass media, which never report government corruption. The elections, mass media, and judiciary are the tools of democracy, all controlled absolutely by money power. We do not have those tools for reform.
Still such cases should be filed and followed by alternative media. I will have my hands full with government corruption cases for some time. I know that prosecuting a corrupt government is hopeless; even the news of corruption is never heard. But I applaud those who fight corruption and the alternative media that cover their efforts.
The Collateral Murder video was not classified.
neither was the hoax new zealand shooter video but they are still hard to find. the latter is said to get you ten years in prison if you look at it in australia or new zealand. but it is not classified. got them to change the gun laws in new zealand though.
David G-
I have searched for the security classification of the Collateral Murder video, and although there are many links saying it was classified, I have not been able to find the level of classification, ie. “secret”, “top secret”, “confidential”.
Do you have any links showing that it was unclassified?
“Classified” = Divine Right of Kings Redux
It should not be a legal defense to obstruct justice in capital offenses or war crimes.
It IS not a valid moral defense against same.
Basically, they just classify everything to evade accountability. It is the hallmark of a corrupt tyrannical regime.
If it were justifiable, Hitler and all his henchmen should have walked, and we should shut our mouths about every other dictator whose word was or is self-declared law.
Amen Realist. As Bill Binney has pointed out, it is in fact illegal to classify documents to hide crimes. The DoJ is just another corrupt branch of government.
Why not just prosecute the War Crimes, which may include all USA presidents straight back to FDR or further.
I believe Malaysia did prosecute George W. Bush et AL. for war crimes after the Second Gulf War. Convicted them, too. But there were no consequences. Malaysia could not enforce the convictions.
The war crimes tribunal in Malaysia convicted W and his band of henchmen guilty of war crimes in 2012. Then in 2014 we had the MH370 and MH17 disasters. I’ve got my tin-foil hat on!
The exposure of what’s hidden in plain sight in the Wikileaks documents should be shouted from the highest rooftops. Most people, myself included don’t know what’s all inside that whistleblower website. I also know of those afraid to go in search of even any Wikileaks related information for fear of government retribution. What information Wikileaks posted that Caitlin Johnstone refers to here is a fine example of letting us in the peanut gallery know about is getting out Assange’s mission….if that makes any sense.
Great article Caitlin…. great work Joe & Consortium Staff
In a segment of Democracy Now, it was related that the Journalist and Photographer were at the location to continue their documentation of USA atrocities.
The location was the site of a previous USA atrocity and the Journalists were meeting witnesses to the prior USA atrocity.
A USA squad of stormtroopers were approaching the site by foot before the USA helicopter occupants murdered everyone in sight.
From this I surmise this was premeditated cover up murders.
“WikiLeaks emerged out of the creation of a mass surveillance dragnet that extended the repression of Black and radical organizations to the entire U.S. and global population. Assange and his team used their online platform against the U.S. military industrial complex. The ideology of American exceptionalism was at the time suffering from two terms of the George W. Bush presidency.Endless war and surveillance had proven widely unpopular with a large portion of the United States. The global capitalist crisis of 2007-2008 only added insult to injury. The election of Barack Obama was engineered to save American exceptionalism; not by eradicating the policies that so many opposed, but rather by conducting these policies in a ‘smarter’ way. WikiLeaks’ journalism ensured that the truth about the U.S. warfare state was not buried under the myths of American exceptionalism during the Obama era. […]
“There are two sides on the question of Assange: the side of truth and solidarity with the oppressed and the side of the U.S. empire. The line in the sand has been drawn by the declining U.S. empire itself. Assange has burst asunder any illusion that the U.S. protects ‘free speech’ or dissent within its own borders or around the world. […] Assange must be defended as a truth-teller and the U.S. state condemned as a perpetual liar in service of mass murder and profit. American exceptionalism is dead, but the empire continues to live on with the hopes that it can destroy all legitimate challenges to its rule. Which side are you on?”
The War on WikiLeaks: Which Side Are You On?
By Danny Haiphong
https://www.blackagendareport.com/war-wikileaks-which-side-are-you
test
Unless understanding is shared, that there is common interest in maintaining social viability, one that can be articulated and agreed upon, postulating that continued sentient existence is preferable to non existence, then facile cleverness, compassionate wisdom, and even bloody barbarism will of no moment.
To be or not to be.
That is the question.
To decide that for ourselves, individually, is one thing.
To unwittingly facilitate the end of all beingness, or even to consciously initiate that end, Olya Pola, however righteously predicated, it may be pretended to be, is pathetic.
You may argue that existence and nonexistence is a “binary”.
You may even say the whole thing but but a dream.
That all is illusion.
I do not claim such comfort in mere words, however much I may bandy them about.
Yet I do feel the warmth of Sunshine.
And miss the presence of those I love.
I cherish this world, however real or unreal it may seem.
Perhaps it is foolish of me, perhaps a privileged conceit, but I should like to imagine that it will go on, even after I am long gone.
With my admittedly meager sensibilities and capacity, I nonetheless have come to consider (putting stars together) that this paradise, this temporary abode which I have but too small a familiarity with, after but 73 circuits around old Sol, is at dire risk in terms of the possibility of experiencing it, for though I well realize that the planet, the Earth as we term it, will abide, I am far less sanguine in any conviction that eyes like yours and mine, that thoughts like yours and mine may comfortably continue to inhabit it.
That seems to me, a waste, a loss.
A failure on our part.
Perhaps, you are more hopeful of better outcome, or perhaps, you are absolved of any sense of responsibility for that outcome whatever it may turn out to be?
I can only leave you with a question.
Whereas you seemed blessed with certainty.
This comment is addressed to Olya Pola, above.
“To be or not to be.”
Hamlet is a demonstration of some consequences of self-absorption including “collateral damage” which may include:
“To unwittingly facilitate the end of all beingness, or even to consciously initiate that end, Olya Pola, however righteously predicated, it may be pretended to be, is pathetic.”
Some are immersed in the self-absorption of pathos and perception of Greek tragedy derived from perceived lack of agency and facility , whilst some informed by perception of Greek comedy and opportunities contingent there upon have agency, facility, and resolve in formulating, implementing, monitoring and modulating strategies informed by “How to drown a drowning man with the minimum of blowback” realising that blowback cannot be completely avoided.
” I am far less sanguine in any conviction that eyes like yours and mine may comfortably continue to inhabit it”
A component part of minimising blowback is to maximise opportunities for the continuance of the life through transcendence to facilitate ” that thoughts like yours and mine” may comfortably cohabit – the lateral process of the transcendence of equal but different where “but” precludes equal through asserting that difference “deserves” different benefits precluding co-operation (sometimes described as The American Way rendered as The American Dream), by equal and different where “and” does not assert that difference “deserves” different benefits, but facilitates equal through mutual acceptance and cooperation.
That is a component of why temporary social relations such as those presently self-described as “The United States of America” perceive others, including their (possessive case) population, as existential threats, seeking like Mr. Louis Bourbon 16th to assert “Apres nous le deluge” requiring deflection/preclusion through illusions of the strategic utility of “wonderful weapons”.
“Whereas you seemed blessed with certainty.”
Some realise that doubt is a pre-requisite of agency and that agency is a function of implementation.
Some realise that notions of “blessings” are tools of deflection seeking to assign agency to others including dieties.
Thank you for your illustration of some ingredients in the petri-dish of the opponents “culture” including self-absorption, a component of why some perceive the self-designated “The United States of America” as a Greek comedy to be transcended.
The US has much to be proud of, and is indeed exceptional among nations in the world. Our government is the biggest Mafia in history, unrivaled in thugery, torture, genocide and crime of every evil description. Quite an impressive record, which we have worked hard over the years to accomplish. Three cheers for the USA!
Yes, none should be denied distinctions for which they have so long labored.
israel has compiled a pretty impressive record as well, especially for a country the size of new jersey with the population of riyadh. of course they are willing to delegate the dirty work at times.
israel laughs at its u.s. prostitute.
The comment is addressed to Olya Pola, above.
Even more levels of corruption:
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1058595292243607552