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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

8 February - Quick Picks | Politics

U.S. troops in AfghanistanImage via Wikipedia
LA Times / World News
Julian Assange fights extradition to Sweden to answer sex charges

Julian Assange fights extradition to Sweden to answer sex charges

59260376-07190150-187105
Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange argued Monday that their client should not be extradited to Sweden for questioning over alleged sex crimes, saying he was the victim of unduly aggressive prosecutors and would not be guaranteed a fair trial.

Comments don't work properly sometimes. 

Odd. I would have sworn this story ran earlier.
Assange is safer in the UK than in Sweden
http://rt.com/news/assange-extradition-interview-expert/
Assange trapped in cozy Sweden-US relationship
http://rt.com/news/assange-sweden-us-extradition/
Russia Today is therefore reporting this story in similar fashion and timeline.

I'm quite sure I saw published notes from the the Swedish prosecutor's office that : He hasn't been charged with anything.
  Therefore no formal extradition request was possible or made.
This is in direct contradiction to British allegations, except to note that they too do not actually claim he is wanted on any formal charges.  What gives ?

After a bit I went back to Search and found
Swedish prosecutors seek Assange arrest Nov 18
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/18/assange_detain_sweden
The Swedish prosecutor leading an investigation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is today seeking a court order for his arrest, so she can interrogate him on allegations of rape and molestation.

Mark Stephens : On the morning of 21 August 2010, my client, Julian Assange, read in the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen that there was a warrant out for his arrest relating to allegations of “rape” involving two Swedish women.
The warrant for his arrest was rightly withdrawn within 24 hours by Chief prosecutor Eva Finne, who found that there was no “reason to suspect that he has committed rape." Yet his name had already been deliberately and unlawfully disclosed to the press by Swedish authorities

Eva Finne’s decision to drop the “rape" investigation was reversed after the intervention of a political figure, Claes Borgstrom, who is now acting for the women. The case was given to a specific prosecutor, Marianne Ny.

Over the last three months, despite numerous demands, neither Mr. Assange, nor his legal counsel has received a single word in writing from the Swedish authorities relating to the allegations; a clear contravention to Article 6 of the European Convention, which states that every accused must “be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him”. The actions by the Swedish authorities constitute a blatant and deliberate disregard for his rights under the Convention.
We are now concerned that prosecutor Marianne Ny intends to apply for an arrest warrant in an effort to have Mr. Assange forcibly taken to Sweden for preliminary questioning. ( i.e. They don't have Jack. )

Julian Assange 'would face bias in Sweden', retired judge says

Sundberg-Weitman accuses Swedish prosecutor of being 'malicious'
In caustic evidence on the first day of the two-day hearing, Brita Sundberg-Weitman, a former appeal court judge, told Belmarsh magistrates court that Sweden's chief prosecutor, Marianne Ny, who is seeking the WikiLeaks founder's extradition, "has a rather biased view against men". "I can't understand her attitude here. It looks malicious," she said.

He denies all the allegations and has not been charged.

Robertson argued that both Ny and Claes Borgström, the lawyer representing the two women, were politically motivated. Ny had illegally confirmed Assange's identity on the charges when asked by a Stockholm tabloid, he said (accused sex offenders are customarily anonymous in Sweden).

"This man Borgström", meanwhile, had vilified Assange in the press and "would be behind bars for contempt in this country," the lawyer said. The act of "minor rape" allegedly committed by Assange against the second woman would not be an extradition offence in English law, he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/07/julian-assange-prosecutor

You might note too that info is around that suggests Mr. Assange is,if not  in collusion with Turkey ( NATO black ops HQ ) and Mossad ( another tool  of AIPAC), then at least has made agreements about which documents will be released.

to target al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in the region.  

Nifty. Continue to destroy the previous government infrastructure built with U.S. support while flagging the also reported as virtually destroyed al CIA-duh ( loosely translatable as The Bullshit if the Toilet is close enough ) as justification while continuing to keep buildup of bases confidential in a time of domestic austerity. 
Join the Army and see the world...and have your eyes opened through harsh reality too...as it maims and kills you.

Al Jazeera - Josh Rushing's Spin the Art of Selling War 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulzhdxdj9cY

PEOPLE who say they read Playboy magazine for the articles might be telling the truth, after it published an account of an elaborate scam that had the CIA believing Al-Jazeera was sending coded messages for Al-Qaeda.
The con artist convinced the CIA and other US agencies that he could decode secret messages sent by al-Qaeda through Al-Jazeera broadcasts in 2003, Playboy magazine reported.

Duped by claims that "bar codes" on Al-Jazeera television contained targeting information for al-Qaeda attacks, former president George W. Bush's administration raised the terror alert and cancelled several transatlantic flights in December 2003, the report said, citing former CIA officials.
 How Al Jazeera Is Using Promoted Tweets & Trends to Get Into U.S. Markets
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_al_jazeera_is_using_promoted_tweets_trends_to.php
When protests erupted in Egypt nearly two weeks ago, the government's response was swift and all-encompassing - shut off all forms of communication. One media outlet rose from the ashes to provide consistent live coverage of the events in Egypt - Al-Jazeera. The only problem, however, is that the Qatar-based media outlet isn't available on most cable networks in the U.S. and the company wants to fix that.

Washington's Sudden Embrace of Al Jazeera
http://current.com/news/92955632_washingtons-sudden-embrace-of-al-jazeera.htm?xid=45#voteUp_92955632
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/02/01-1
For people who have followed Al Jazeera's history with the US, the fact that it is now perceived by the White House and the American public as a force for democracy and freedom is an ironic, some would say hypocritical, development. The contrast between Washington's posture toward Al Jazeera from the Bush era to the Obama presidency could not be more stark.

During the Bush administration, nothing contradicted the absurd claim that the US invaded Iraq to spread democracy throughout the Middle East more decisively than Washington's ceaseless attacks on Al Jazeera, the institution that did more than any other to break the stranglehold over information previously held by authoritarian forces, whether monarchs, military strongmen, occupiers or ayatollahs. Yet, far from calling for its journalists to be respected and freed from imprisonment and unlawful detention, the Bush administration waged war against Al Jazeera and its journalists.

The US bombed its offices in Afghanistan in 2001. In March 2003, two of its financial correspondents were kicked off the trading floor of NASDAQ and the NY Stock Exchange. "In light of Al-Jazeera's recent conduct during the war, in which they have broadcast footage of US POWs in alleged violation of the Geneva Convention, they are not welcome to broadcast from our facility at this time," said NASDAQ's spokesperson. Later NASDAQ backed off that claim and said the networks accreditation had been revoked for "security reasons."

In April 2003, US forces shelled the Basra hotel where Al Jazeera journalists were the only guests and killed Jazeera's Iraq correspondent Tareq Ayoub a few days later in Baghdad. The US also imprisoned several Al Jazeera reporters (including at Guantánamo), some of whom say they were tortured. Among these was Sami al-Haj, an Al Jazeera cameraman who spent seven years at Guantanamo and was repeatedly interrogated by US operatives attempting to falsely link Al Jazeera to al Qaeda. In addition to the military attacks, the US-backed Iraqi government periodically banned Al Jazeera from reporting in Iraq. Indeed Al Jazeera was shut down in Iraq under both Saddam Hussein and the US-backed government.

Then in late November 2005 Britain's Daily Mirror reported that during an April 2004 White House meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, George W. Bush floated the idea of bombing Al Jazeera's international headquarters in Qatar.
Al Jazeera's real transgression during the "war on terror" was a simple one: being there.

Russell Means: Welcome To The Reservation / The United States is one big reservation, and we are all in it.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979023991


Three months ago, I noted that the United States might benefit from the pain being suffered by the citizens of the United Kingdom. The reason was the new coalition government's commitment to prosperity through austerity. As predicted, this looks very much like a path to pain and stagnation, not healthy growth.


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