mintpressnews--2020-02-21--Indian Minister: We Made a Mistake Not Committing Genocide Against Muslims

A government minister has sparked controversy after expressing his regret that India did not sufficiently ethnically cleanse itself of Muslims during the countries ’ creation in 1947 .
At a public event in his native Bihar state , Giriraj Singh , Minister of Animal Husbandry , Dairying and Fisheries under Prime Minister Narendra Modi , rallied his supporters , claiming , “ It is time to commit ourselves ” to building the Indian nation properly .
“ It was a big lapse by our ancestors that we ’ re paying the price for now .
If at that time Muslim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brought here , we wouldn ’ t be in this situation , ” he said .
This is not the first time Singh has called for retribution against the country ’ s 138 million Muslims .
In 2016 he called for controls on Muslim procreation to limit their numbers relative to Hindus .
Article Two of the United Nations Convention on Genocide ( which India has signed and ratified ) explicitly prohibits “ imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group ” as genocidal behavior , while its definition of the synonymous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group.
” Just four days ago Singh was reprimanded by his own Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) for comments he made describing Muslims as a terrorist scourge and a famous Islamic seminary as the “ fountainhead of terrorism ” in India .
The “ situation ” that the minister references India currently finding itself in is the nationwide resistance against the BJP government ’ s attempts to marginalize and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minority .
The most controversial steps towards this end have been the Citizenship Amendment Act ( CAA ) and the National Registration Council ( NRC ) .
The CAA makes it easier for people from neighboring Muslim-majority countries to apply for Indian citizenship– if they are Hindu , Christian , Buddhist , Sikh or Jain .
But it explicitly rejects certain classes of people it deems as undesirable , especially Muslims .
The NRC demands all Indians provide extensive documentation of their ancestors ’ births and nationalities –something hundreds of millions will surely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therefore , gives the government the authority to strip citizenship away from virtually anyone it wishes to , effectively rendering them stateless and without rights .
This policy has already been applied to the northeastern state of Assam , where 1.9 million people were declared illegal – most of them Muslim .
Modi ’ s government is building a network of huge detention camps to house the population , sometimes using the disenfranchised population itself to build them .
Since December , major cities across the country have seen large and ongoing protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is taking the country .
In Delhi , people of all backgrounds have set up an occupy-style encampment in the Muslim majority Shaheen Bagh neighborhood .
In response , Modi effectively placed the city under martial law in January .
The Shaheen Bagh has become a metaphor for the resistance against Modi ’ s attempts to move India away from its secular tradition towards a Hindu nationalist state .
As one writer put it , “ It ’ s not just about saving Indian Muslims .
It ’ s about saving India.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the BJP telling voters to “ press the button [ of the electronic voting machine ] …with such anger that the current reaches Shaheen Bagh.
” However , they managed to win only eight of 70 seats , with the Aam Aadmi Party led by popular figure Arvind Kejriwal sweeping the vote .
However , this should not be mistaken for a repudiation of the BJP .
Indeed , Kejriwal made pains to present himself as Hindu and disassociate from being perceived as a pro-Muslim candidate .
The BJP also scored an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year , winning 303 of the 545 seats in the lower house of parliament , a remarkable achievement in a federated , multi-party subcontinent where nearly forty parties won seats .
Meanwhile , Prime Minister Modi continues to retain high approval rates .
Thus , Kejriwal ’ s reluctance to be seen as pro-Muslim and Singh ’ s comments serve as examples of how far the spectrum of acceptable public discourse has moved .
The growing resentment towards the Muslim population comes in the context of three decades of neoliberal economics , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic growth , it has also brought greatly increased inequality and limited benefits for the country ’ s poor .
Despite changing the definition of poverty to exclude people making just 26 rupees ( 36 U.S. cents ) or more per day , over 400 million Indians remain below the poverty line .
In January an estimated quarter-billion people conducted the largest strike in world history , demanding comprehensive new legislation to improve worker rights across the country .
While Modi ’ s government has given little to the country ’ s working-class @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide the large Hindu majority with a Muslim enemy and an outlet to express their frustration .
Singh ’ s latest comments serve as an example of this – and as a worrying harbinger for what could be to come .
Feature photo | An Indian man paints a portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump on a wall in Agra , India , Feb. 21 , 2020 .
Pawan Sharma | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

A government minister has sparked controversy after expressing his regret that India did not sufficiently ethnically cleanse itself of Muslims during the countries’ creation in 1947. At a public event in his native Bihar state, Giriraj Singh, Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rallied his supporters, claiming, “It is time to commit ourselves” to building the Indian nation properly.
“It was a big lapse by our ancestors that we’re paying the price for now. If at that time Muslim brothers had been sent there and Hindus brought here, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he said.
Muslims should have been sent to Pakistan in 1947, says Union Minister Giriraj Singh. https://t.co/V2H6MVliYC pic.twitter.com/JchBgfHL8r — NDTV (@ndtv) February 21, 2020
This is not the first time Singh has called for retribution against the country’s 138 million Muslims. In 2016 he called for controls on Muslim procreation to limit their numbers relative to Hindus. Article Two of the United Nations Convention on Genocide (which India has signed and ratified) explicitly prohibits “imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group” as genocidal behavior, while its definition of the synonymous crime of ethnic cleansing includes “rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group.”
Just four days ago Singh was reprimanded by his own Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for comments he made describing Muslims as a terrorist scourge and a famous Islamic seminary as the “fountainhead of terrorism” in India.
The “situation” that the minister references India currently finding itself in is the nationwide resistance against the BJP government’s attempts to marginalize and criminalize the country’s largest religious minority. The most controversial steps towards this end have been the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Registration Council (NRC). The CAA makes it easier for people from neighboring Muslim-majority countries to apply for Indian citizenship– if they are Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain. But it explicitly rejects certain classes of people it deems as undesirable, especially Muslims.
The NRC demands all Indians provide extensive documentation of their ancestors’ births and nationalities –something hundreds of millions will surely be unable to do. It, therefore, gives the government the authority to strip citizenship away from virtually anyone it wishes to, effectively rendering them stateless and without rights. This policy has already been applied to the northeastern state of Assam, where 1.9 million people were declared illegal – most of them Muslim. Modi’s government is building a network of huge detention camps to house the population, sometimes using the disenfranchised population itself to build them.
Since December, major cities across the country have seen large and ongoing protests aimed at opposing the direction the BJP is taking the country. In Delhi, people of all backgrounds have set up an occupy-style encampment in the Muslim majority Shaheen Bagh neighborhood. In response, Modi effectively placed the city under martial law in January.
The Shaheen Bagh has become a metaphor for the resistance against Modi’s attempts to move India away from its secular tradition towards a Hindu nationalist state. As one writer put it, “It’s not just about saving Indian Muslims. It’s about saving India.”
Earlier this month Delhi conducted elections, with the BJP telling voters to “press the button [of the electronic voting machine] …with such anger that the current reaches Shaheen Bagh.” However, they managed to win only eight of 70 seats, with the Aam Aadmi Party led by popular figure Arvind Kejriwal sweeping the vote. However, this should not be mistaken for a repudiation of the BJP. Indeed, Kejriwal made pains to present himself as Hindu and disassociate from being perceived as a pro-Muslim candidate.
The BJP also scored an overwhelming victory in the April/May elections last year, winning 303 of the 545 seats in the lower house of parliament, a remarkable achievement in a federated, multi-party subcontinent where nearly forty parties won seats. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi continues to retain high approval rates. Thus, Kejriwal’s reluctance to be seen as pro-Muslim and Singh’s comments serve as examples of how far the spectrum of acceptable public discourse has moved.
The growing resentment towards the Muslim population comes in the context of three decades of neoliberal economics, which has transformed society. While generating substantial economic growth, it has also brought greatly increased inequality and limited benefits for the country’s poor. Despite changing the definition of poverty to exclude people making just 26 rupees (36 U.S. cents) or more per day, over 400 million Indians remain below the poverty line. In January an estimated quarter-billion people conducted the largest strike in world history, demanding comprehensive new legislation to improve worker rights across the country.
While Modi’s government has given little to the country’s working-class economically, it has been able to provide the large Hindu majority with a Muslim enemy and an outlet to express their frustration. Singh’s latest comments serve as an example of this – and as a worrying harbinger for what could be to come.
Feature photo | An Indian man paints a portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump on a wall in Agra, India, Feb. 21, 2020. Pawan Sharma | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-02-21--The Government of Israel Has A Very Serious Antisemitism Problem

Jerusalem , Palestine — As Zionist organizations around the world weaponize antisemitism and use it as a tool to bring down politicians and other public figures with whom they disagree , the state of Israel is engaged in what is perhaps the worst example of antisemitism in the world today .
According to Halakhah , strict Jewish law , the Jewish people have been in exile as a result of a heavenly decree for sinning against the Almighty .
According to the Talmud , the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish law – exiled Jews @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in exile : • Not to rebel against the nations • To avoid a mass return to the Holy Land • To avoid any actions that will hasten the end of the exile Orthodox Jews , therefore , consider Zionism to be a rebellion against the Almighty and a severe violation of Jewish law .
As early as the year 1900 , some of the best-known Rabbis from Jewish communities around the world published a book they called “ Or Layesharim , ” or “ Light Unto the Righteous.
” Published in Warsaw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ condemning Zionism .
From then on , even and to this very day , their opposition and total condemnation of Zionism continues .
During the Nazi occupation of Europe and as a result of the Holocaust , Ultra-Orthodox communities in Europe were wiped out .
Those who survived moved to the U.S. , the UK and other places , including the Holy Land where they picked up their struggle against Zionism , rejecting the state of Israel .
The most vocal and well known among these was Rabbi Joel Yoel Teitelbaum better known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to build and lead an enormous anti-Zionist Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community .
The Ultra-Orthodox community uses education and protests in its struggle against Zionism and has never once taken up arms or even threatened to do so .
Israel , on the other hand , utilizes all of the power it possesses , including enormous amounts of violence , against this community .
On the night of July 1 , 1924 , a Zionist terror gang commanded by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi , ( who later became the president of the state of Israel ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in cold blood .
Dr. De Haan was a Dutch-Jewish journalist and lawyer who moved to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem in order to live the life of an observant Ultra-Orthodox Jew .
He was deeply involved in the struggle against Zionism and gained the respect of both the Jewish and Arab communities in the Holy Land .
Yaakov De Haan was working in close contact with elements of the British government to get the Balfour Declaration rescinded .
Furthermore , he succeeded in bringing the communities of Jews and Arabs who were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to push back against Zionism .
The Zionists , whose efforts to take over Palestine redoubled after the British occupation in 1917 , worked to undermine the Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis and established their own official Rabbinate and religious Jewish institutions that were loyal to their cause but were never recognized by the original Ultra-Orthodox community .
Recognizing that Dr. De Haan was a serious threat to the Zionist takeover in Palestine , and particularly worried about the collaboration between Jewish and Arab leaders against them , the Zionist militia assassinated De Haan .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Zionists in Palestine was Jewish .
Opposed to the Jewish state and prevented by their faith from bearing arms , the Ultra-Orthodox community wanted no part in the Israeli Army .
When the state of Israel was established , an agreement was reached between the government and the leaders of this community that their young men and women would receive a deferment which meant that in practice , unless they wished to do so , they were exempt from serving in the army .
Israel ’ s military , for all intents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ religiously observant and any observant Jew who enters is almost guaranteed to come out secular .
In recent years , there have been attempts to change the draft law in Israel in an effort to force the Ultra-Orthodox community to serve .
The army calls on Israeli boys and girls to come to an initial interview and selection process at the age of 16 .
Then , there is a second interview at around 17 , and at 18 , the boys and girls are drafted .
Due to changes in the draft @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stands .
Now , every Ultra-Orthodox boy and girl over the age of 16 is considered a deserter because they refuse to enlist .
Israel does not recognize conscientious objectors , so in instances where the boy or girl does go to the first interview to try to get an exemption , the process is painful and punitive and often ends in arrest .
This , in return , brings the community together in mass protests which leads to even more arrests .
The Israeli police treat this community with a cruelty that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ process , including the arrests , the interrogations , and the treatment they endure while they are processed by the system , is a clear violation of their human and religious rights and is tantamount to torture .
While little or no information regarding Israeli police violence is reported in the media , inside or outside of Israel , the community has documented evidence and has even taken legal action against the police .
As the following video clips show , one can hardly imagine that any other country would get away with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zionist organizations accuse people who reject Zionism and Israel of antisemitism , they should be made to view these images of real antisemitism .
Feature photo | Ultra-Orthodox Jews block a main road during a protest against Israeli army conscription , in Jerusalem .
Ariel Schalit | AP Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem .
He is the author of “ The General ’ s Son .
Journey of an Israeli in Palestine , ” and “ Injustice , the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five @ @

Jerusalem, Palestine — As Zionist organizations around the world weaponize antisemitism and use it as a tool to bring down politicians and other public figures with whom they disagree, the state of Israel is engaged in what is perhaps the worst example of antisemitism in the world today.
A rebellion against the Almighty
According to Halakhah, strict Jewish law, the Jewish people have been in exile as a result of a heavenly decree for sinning against the Almighty. According to the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish law – exiled Jews took three vows they must observe while in exile:
Not to rebel against the nations To avoid a mass return to the Holy Land To avoid any actions that will hasten the end of the exile
Orthodox Jews, therefore, consider Zionism to be a rebellion against the Almighty and a severe violation of Jewish law. As early as the year 1900, some of the best-known Rabbis from Jewish communities around the world published a book they called “Or Layesharim,” or
“Light Unto the Righteous.” Published in Warsaw, it is a collection of letters condemning Zionism. From then on, even and to this very day, their opposition and total condemnation of Zionism continues.
During the Nazi occupation of Europe and as a result of the Holocaust, Ultra-Orthodox communities in Europe were wiped out. Those who survived moved to the U.S., the UK and other places, including the Holy Land where they picked up their struggle against Zionism, rejecting the state of Israel. The most vocal and well known among these was Rabbi Joel Yoel Teitelbaum better known as the Satmar Rebbe. Teitelbaum managed to build and lead an enormous anti-Zionist Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
Dr. Yaakov De Haan
The Ultra-Orthodox community uses education and protests in its struggle against Zionism and has never once taken up arms or even threatened to do so. Israel, on the other hand, utilizes all of the power it possesses, including enormous amounts of violence, against this community.
On the night of July 1, 1924, a Zionist terror gang commanded by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, (who later became the president of the state of Israel), shot and killed Dr. Yaakov De Haan in cold blood. Dr. De Haan was a Dutch-Jewish journalist and lawyer who moved to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem in order to live the life of an observant Ultra-Orthodox Jew. He was deeply involved in the struggle against Zionism and gained the respect of both the Jewish and Arab communities in the Holy Land.
Yaakov De Haan was working in close contact with elements of the British government to get the Balfour Declaration rescinded. Furthermore, he succeeded in bringing the communities of Jews and Arabs who were native to Jerusalem together in an effort to push back against Zionism. The Zionists, whose efforts to take over Palestine redoubled after the British occupation in 1917, worked to undermine the Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis and established their own official Rabbinate and religious Jewish institutions that were loyal to their cause but were never recognized by the original Ultra-Orthodox community.
Recognizing that Dr. De Haan was a serious threat to the Zionist takeover in Palestine, and particularly worried about the collaboration between Jewish and Arab leaders against them, the Zionist militia assassinated De Haan. The first victim of political assassination executed by the Zionists in Palestine was Jewish.
Forced Draft
Opposed to the Jewish state and prevented by their faith from bearing arms, the Ultra-Orthodox community wanted no part in the Israeli Army. When the state of Israel was established, an agreement was reached between the government and the leaders of this community that their young men and women would receive a deferment which meant that in practice, unless they wished to do so, they were exempt from serving in the army. Israel’s military, for all intents and purposes, could not be less religiously observant and any observant Jew who enters is almost guaranteed to come out secular.
In recent years, there have been attempts to change the draft law in Israel in an effort to force the Ultra-Orthodox community to serve. The army calls on Israeli boys and girls to come to an initial interview and selection process at the age of 16. Then, there is a second interview at around 17, and at 18, the boys and girls are drafted. Due to changes in the draft law, the initial agreement no longer stands. Now, every Ultra-Orthodox boy and girl over the age of 16 is considered a deserter because they refuse to enlist.
Israel does not recognize conscientious objectors, so in instances where the boy or girl does go to the first interview to try to get an exemption, the process is painful and punitive and often ends in arrest. This, in return, brings the community together in mass protests which leads to even more arrests. The Israeli police treat this community with a cruelty that is hard to understand. The entire process, including the arrests, the interrogations, and the treatment they endure while they are processed by the system, is a clear violation of their human and religious rights and is tantamount to torture.
Police Violence
While little or no information regarding Israeli police violence is reported in the media, inside or outside of Israel, the community has documented evidence and has even taken legal action against the police. As the following video clips show, one can hardly imagine that any other country would get away with treating Jews in this manner:
When Zionist organizations accuse people who reject Zionism and Israel of antisemitism, they should be made to view these images of real antisemitism.
Feature photo | Ultra-Orthodox Jews block a main road during a protest against Israeli army conscription, in Jerusalem. Ariel Schalit | AP
Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem. He is the author of “The General’s Son. Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”


mintpressnews--2020-02-21--Yemen’s Houthis Launch Fresh Missile and Drone Attacks on Saudi State Oil Facilities

Al-JAWF , YEMEN — Yemen ’ s Houthi-allied armed forces launched an attack on vital facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco inside the Kingdom ’ s western province of Madinah , situated about 165 kilometers west of the city of Medina .
The attack took place on Friday and involved the launching of both missiles ballistic missiles and drones .
It came in retaliation for deadly Saudi attacks against the al-Jawf Province in Yemen last Friday .
Yemeni Army spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a press conference on Friday that the Yemeni Army struck energy facilities in addition to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Yanbu as part of the freshly-launched operation “ The Third Balance of Deterrence.
” Saree revealed that Yemeni forces used a squadron of 12 Sammad-3 ( Invincible-3 ) combat drones as well as a volley of winged and long-range ballistic missiles to carry out the attacks .
He added that they came as revenge for Saudi attacks , including last Friday ’ s attack on al-Jawf Province , and confirmed that Saudi Arabia will suffer painful strikes if it continues its onslaught against Yemen .
On September 18 , 2019 , Yemen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Second Balance of Deterrence Operation and hit Saudi Aramco petroleum and gas processing plants at Abqaiq and Khurais in the Kingdom ’ s oil-rich eastern provinces .
The United States and some of its allies would later blame Iran for that attack .
Saudi Arabia for its part claims that it “ downed missiles fired from Yemen.
” Saudi Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said , “ The missiles were fired by the Iran-aligned Houthi militant group , ” adding , “ they were launched in a systematic , deliberate manner to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a flagrant defiance of international humanitarian law.
” There has been no official comment from Saudi Arabia yet about the attacks on its oil facilities and casualty number have also not yet been revealed .
Last weekend , an estimated 35 people were killed and 23 others injured when the Saudi-led coalition hit the al-Hayjah area in al-Jawf with five airstrikes , including double-tap attacks , which caused huge damage to the district .
Double-tap attacks , practiced heavily by Saudi Arabia , are when military jets return to the scene of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that gather on the scene .
At least 10 civilians were killed in the al-Hayjah double-tap attacks as they gathered near the wreckage of a Saudi warplane that was shot down during the onslaught , witnesses at the scene told MintPress .
Yemen ’ s Sana ’ a-based Ministry of Health said in a statement that the Saudi airstrikes killed 35 civilians in total , including 26 children and that 23 civilians were wounded , including 18 children .
The office of the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen out the number lower , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reports indicate that on 15 February as many as 31 civilians were killed and 12 others injured in strikes that hit an area in Al-Jawf governorate.
” Lise Grande , the UN coordinator , denounced the strikes , saying , “ Under international humanitarian law , parties which resort to force are obligated to protect civilians .
Five years into this conflict and belligerents are still failing to uphold this responsibility .
It ’ s shocking.
” International aid group Save the Children , which is very active in Yemen , said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and independently investigated , and perpetrators held to account.
” Xavier Joubert , the group ’ s country director in Yemen , added , “ Those who continue to sell arms to the warring parties must realize that by supplying weapons for this war , they contribute to making atrocities like [ this ] all too common.
” Large rallies also took place in many Yemen ’ s districts to denounce the attacks , including in Sana ’ a , Ibb , Reimah , Dhamar , Hajjah , and Hodeida .
Demonstrators carried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promises to challenge the Saudi-led Coalition , and pledges of resistance against foreign forces in Yemen .
The demonstrators also called on Western governments to respect human rights and stop providing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with weapons .
Coalition countries , led by Saudi Arabia , have been waging a deadly war on Yemen since March 2015 , using weapons and intelligence supplied by Western countries , most notably the United States , France , Britain , and Canada .
Last month alone , at least 30 civilians were killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Coalition airstrikes in Yemen according to the Yemeni government center on Human Rights .
A new report from the center shows that coalition fighter jets launched 164 airstrikes and dropped 1,258 shells and missiles at 18 residential buildings , 71 residential areas , seven farms , an airport , a school , and a university .
The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project ( ACLED ) , a nonprofit conflict-research organization , estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past five years .
Moreover , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medicine hasro plagued the country with an unprecedented famine and has triggered a deadly outbreak of preventable diseases that have cost thousands of people their lives .
The spark that lit the fuse Late last week , Houthi air defense units managed to target and shoot down a multi-role Tornado fighter jet over the skies of al-Jawf with an advanced surface-to-air missile , marking a setback for a military alliance known for its air supremacy and signaling new levels of advancement in the Houthis increasingly potent military arsenal .
The Yemeni army , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the launch of their advanced surface-to-air missile and the moment it struck the jet in the night sky , sending it crashing down in a ball of flames .
Last Saturday , the Saudi Coalition released a statement confirming the crash saying that ” two officers ejected from the plane before it crashed , ” and claiming that the Houthis fired at them in “ violation of the international humanitarian law.
” “ The lives and wellbeing of the crew is the responsibility of Houthis , ” the statement added .
A Houthi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was not authorized to speak on the subject , told MintPress that after the fighter jet went down , Saudi Coalition warplanes launched airstrikes hoping to kill the crew of the jet before they could be captured , he added that captured crew were , in fact , not Saudi nationals , but he refused to say where they were from , saying only that it was a “ western country.
” The Houthis were eventually able to capture the crew and move them to a secure location .
One of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Houthi source , who said the attacks reveal that other countries are directly involved in the war not only by providing Saudi Arabia with internationally-prohibited weapons but also with military pilots .
The latest developments come amid fierce fighting in al-Jawf , where Houthi forces advanced on several fronts towards Al-Hazm , the regional capital of the province .
Al-Jawf is now mostly controlled by Houthi forces , but its capital remains in the hands of Saudi- led coalition forces .
Earlier , Brigadier General Yahya Saree , the spokesman for Yemen ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 would be the year of air and that Yemeni forces would work to develop their military industries and enhance their inventory of various types of air defense capabilities .
The Houthis , the main force battling the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen , called on the Saudi regime to stop the war and siege on their country , warning that there would be risks and consequences for the Kingdom should they continue their attacks .
The war ostensibly began on March 26 , 2015 , when Saudi Arabia , backed by the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large-scale attack on Yemen under the pretext of reinstating ousted former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi .
The war ’ s real purpose was to defeat the Houthis , which gained popular support following the Arab Spring and have grown even more powerful since the Saudi war began .
In the wake of the capturing of the Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado , the UN said that the Saudi Coalition and the Houthis have reached an agreement on the first large-scale prisoner exchange since the war began .
Thousands of prisoners , including Saudi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be released per an agreement brokered in Sweden in 2018 .
Feature photo | Houthi rebel fighters display their weapons during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters for the in Sana ’ a , Yemen , Feb. 20 , 2020 .
Hani Mohammed | AP Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist .
He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media .

Al-JAWF, YEMEN — Yemen’s Houthi-allied armed forces launched an attack on vital facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco inside the Kingdom’s western province of Madinah, situated about 165 kilometers west of the city of Medina. The attack took place on Friday and involved the launching of both missiles ballistic missiles and drones. It came in retaliation for deadly Saudi attacks against the al-Jawf Province in Yemen last Friday.
Yemeni Army spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a press conference on Friday that the Yemeni Army struck energy facilities in addition to sensitive sites in the Saudi port city of Yanbu as part of the freshly-launched operation “The Third Balance of Deterrence.” Saree revealed that Yemeni forces used a squadron of 12 Sammad-3 (Invincible-3) combat drones as well as a volley of winged and long-range ballistic missiles to carry out the attacks. He added that they came as revenge for Saudi attacks, including last Friday’s attack on al-Jawf Province, and confirmed that Saudi Arabia will suffer painful strikes if it continues its onslaught against Yemen.
On September 18, 2019, Yemen’s Houthi-allied Army announced the onset of the Second Balance of Deterrence Operation and hit Saudi Aramco petroleum and gas processing plants at Abqaiq and Khurais in the Kingdom’s oil-rich eastern provinces. The United States and some of its allies would later blame Iran for that attack.
Saudi Arabia for its part claims that it “downed missiles fired from Yemen.” Saudi Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said, “The missiles were fired by the Iran-aligned Houthi militant group,” adding, “they were launched in a systematic, deliberate manner to target cities and civilians, which is a flagrant defiance of international humanitarian law.” There has been no official comment from Saudi Arabia yet about the attacks on its oil facilities and casualty number have also not yet been revealed.
Last weekend, an estimated 35 people were killed and 23 others injured when the Saudi-led coalition hit the al-Hayjah area in al-Jawf with five airstrikes, including double-tap attacks, which caused huge damage to the district. Double-tap attacks, practiced heavily by Saudi Arabia, are when military jets return to the scene of an airstrike to target first responders and civilians that gather on the scene. At least 10 civilians were killed in the al-Hayjah double-tap attacks as they gathered near the wreckage of a Saudi warplane that was shot down during the onslaught, witnesses at the scene told MintPress.
Yemen’s Sana’a-based Ministry of Health said in a statement that the Saudi airstrikes killed 35 civilians in total, including 26 children and that 23 civilians were wounded, including 18 children. The office of the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen out the number lower, saying in a statement that “field reports indicate that on 15 February as many as 31 civilians were killed and 12 others injured in strikes that hit an area in Al-Jawf governorate.”
Lise Grande, the UN coordinator, denounced the strikes, saying, “Under international humanitarian law, parties which resort to force are obligated to protect civilians. Five years into this conflict and belligerents are still failing to uphold this responsibility. It’s shocking.”
International aid group Save the Children, which is very active in Yemen, said, “This latest attack must be urgently and independently investigated, and perpetrators held to account.” Xavier Joubert, the group’s country director in Yemen, added, “Those who continue to sell arms to the warring parties must realize that by supplying weapons for this war, they contribute to making atrocities like [this] all too common.”
Large rallies also took place in many Yemen’s districts to denounce the attacks, including in Sana’a, Ibb, Reimah, Dhamar, Hajjah, and Hodeida. Demonstrators carried banners emblazoned with messages of revenge, promises to challenge the Saudi-led Coalition, and pledges of resistance against foreign forces in Yemen. The demonstrators also called on Western governments to respect human rights and stop providing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with weapons. Coalition countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have been waging a deadly war on Yemen since March 2015, using weapons and intelligence supplied by Western countries, most notably the United States, France, Britain, and Canada.
Last month alone, at least 30 civilians were killed and wounded as a result of Saudi Coalition airstrikes in Yemen according to the Yemeni government center on Human Rights. A new report from the center shows that coalition fighter jets launched 164 airstrikes and dropped 1,258 shells and missiles at 18 residential buildings, 71 residential areas, seven farms, an airport, a school, and a university.
The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past five years. Moreover, the coalition’s blockade of food and medicine hasro plagued the country with an unprecedented famine and has triggered a deadly outbreak of preventable diseases that have cost thousands of people their lives.
The spark that lit the fuse
Late last week, Houthi air defense units managed to target and shoot down a multi-role Tornado fighter jet over the skies of al-Jawf with an advanced surface-to-air missile, marking a setback for a military alliance known for its air supremacy and signaling new levels of advancement in the Houthis increasingly potent military arsenal.
The Yemeni army, loyal to Houthis, released footage of the launch of their advanced surface-to-air missile and the moment it struck the jet in the night sky, sending it crashing down in a ball of flames.
Last Saturday, the Saudi Coalition released a statement confirming the crash saying that” two officers ejected from the plane before it crashed,” and claiming that the Houthis fired at them in “violation of the international humanitarian law.” “The lives and wellbeing of the crew is the responsibility of Houthis,” the statement added.
A Houthi source who wished to remain anonymous as he was not authorized to speak on the subject, told MintPress that after the fighter jet went down, Saudi Coalition warplanes launched airstrikes hoping to kill the crew of the jet before they could be captured, he added that captured crew were, in fact, not Saudi nationals, but he refused to say where they were from, saying only that it was a “western country.” The Houthis were eventually able to capture the crew and move them to a secure location. One of them is seriously injured, according to the Houthi source, who said the attacks reveal that other countries are directly involved in the war not only by providing Saudi Arabia with internationally-prohibited weapons but also with military pilots.
The latest developments come amid fierce fighting in al-Jawf, where Houthi forces advanced on several fronts towards Al-Hazm, the regional capital of the province. Al-Jawf is now mostly controlled by Houthi forces, but its capital remains in the hands of Saudi- led coalition forces.
Earlier, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi-allied armed forces, announced that 2020 would be the year of air and that Yemeni forces would work to develop their military industries and enhance their inventory of various types of air defense capabilities.
The Houthis, the main force battling the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen, called on the Saudi regime to stop the war and siege on their country, warning that there would be risks and consequences for the Kingdom should they continue their attacks.
The war ostensibly began on March 26, 2015, when Saudi Arabia, backed by the U.S. and other regional allies, launched a large-scale attack on Yemen under the pretext of reinstating ousted former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. The war’s real purpose was to defeat the Houthis, which gained popular support following the Arab Spring and have grown even more powerful since the Saudi war began.
In the wake of the capturing of the Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado, the UN said that the Saudi Coalition and the Houthis have reached an agreement on the first large-scale prisoner exchange since the war began. Thousands of prisoners, including Saudi and Sudanese nationals, are expected to be released per an agreement brokered in Sweden in 2018.
Feature photo | Houthi rebel fighters display their weapons during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters for the in Sana’a, Yemen, Feb. 20, 2020. Hani Mohammed | AP
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.


mintpressnews--2020-02-21--The Donald Trump I Know: Abbas’ UN Speech and the Breakdown of Palestinian Politics

A precious moment has been squandered , as Palestinian Authority President , Mahmoud Abbas , had the chance to right a historical wrong , by reinstating Palestinian national priorities at the United Nations Security Council on February 11 , through a political discourse that is completely independent from Washington and its allies .
For a long time , Abbas has been a hostage to the very language that designated him and his Authority as ‘ moderates ’ in the eyes of Israel and the West .
Despite the Palestinian leader ’ s outward rejection of the US ‘ Deal of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Palestinian national aspirations null and void – Abbas is keen to maintain his ‘ moderate ’ credentials for as long as possible .
Certainly , Abbas has given many speeches at the UN in the past and , every single time , he has failed to impress Palestinians .
This time , however , things were meant to be different .
Not only did Washington disown Abbas and the PA , but it also scrapped its own political discourse on peace and the two-state solution altogether .
More , the Trump administration has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to annex nearly a third of the West Bank , taking Jerusalem ‘ off the table ’ and discarding the right of return for Palestinian refugees .
Instead of directly meeting with leaders of the various Palestinian political parties and taking tangible steps to reactivate dormant but central political institutions such as the Palestinian National Council ( PNC ) and the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) , Abbas preferred to meet with former Israeli right-wing Prime Minister , Ehud Olmert , in New York , and to carry on regurgitating his commitment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UN speech , Abbas said nothing new which , in this instance , is worse than not saying anything at all .
“ This is the outcome of the project that has been introduced to us , ” Abbas said , while holding a map of what a Palestinian state would look like under Donald Trump ’ s ‘ Deal of the Century ’ .
“ And this is the state that they are giving to us , ” Abbas added , referring to that future state as a ‘ Swiss cheese ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ settlements , bypass-roads and Israeli military zones .
Even the term ‘ Swiss cheese ’ , which was reported in some media as if a new phrase in this ever-redundant discourse , is actually an old coinage that has been referenced repeatedly by the Palestinian leadership itself , starting with the onset of the so-called peace process , a quarter of a century ago .
Abbas labored to appear exceptionally resolute as he emphasized certain words , like when he equated the Israeli occupation with the system of apartheid .
His delivery , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at times , pointless .
Abbas spoke of his great ‘ surprise ’ when Washington declared Jerusalem as Israel ’ s undivided capital , subsequently relocating its embassy to the occupied city , as if the writing was not already on the wall and that , in fact , the embassy move was one of Trump ’ s main pledges to Israel even before his inauguration in January 2017 .
“ And then they cut off financial aid that was given to us , ” Abbas said in a lamenting voice with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its aid to the PA in August 2018 .
“ $ 840 million are held from us , ” he said .
“ I don ’ t know who is giving Trump such horrid advice .
Trump is not like this .
Trump that I know is not like this , ” Abbas exclaimed in a strange interjection as if to send a message to the Trump administration that the PA still has faith in the US President ’ s judgement .
“ I would like to remind everyone that we have participated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington negotiations and the Oslo agreement and the Annapolis summit on the basis of international law , ” Abbas recounted , signaling that he remains committed to the very political agenda that reaped the Palestinian people no political rewards whatsoever .
Abbas then went on to paint an imagined reality , where his Authority is supposedly building the “ national institutions of a law-abiding , modern and democratic state that is constructed on the basis of international values ; one that is predicated on transparency , accountability and fighting corruption.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he looked at his audience with theatrical seriousness , “ We are one of the most important countries ( in the world ) that is fighting corruption.
” The PA leader , then , called on the Security Council to send a commission to investigate allegations of corruption within the PA , a bewildering and unnecessary invitation , considering that it is the Palestinian leadership that should be making demands on the international community to help enforce international law and end the Israeli occupation .
It went on like this , where Abbas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no new ideas or strategies and unnecessary rants that reflect the PA ’ s political bankruptcy and Abbas ’ own lack of imagination .
The PA President , of course , made sure to offer his habitual condemnation of Palestinian ‘ terrorism ’ by promising that Palestinians would not “ resort to violence and terrorism regardless of the act of aggression against us.
” He assured his audience that his Authority believes in “ peace and fighting violence.
” Without elaborating , Abbas declared his intention of continuing on the path of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in fact , does not exist in any shape or form .
This time around , Abbas ’ speech at the UN was particularly inappropriate .
Indeed , it was a failure in every possible way .
The least , the Palestinian leader could have done is to articulate a powerful and collective Palestinian political discourse .
Instead , his statement was merely a sad homage to his own legacy , one that is riddled with disappointments and ineptitude .
Expectedly , Abbas returned to Ramallah to greet his cheering supporters once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waiting to raise posters of the aging leader , as if his UN speech had succeeded in fundamentally shifting international political momentum in favor of Palestinians .
It has to be said that the real danger in the ‘ Deal of the Century ’ is not the actual stipulations of that sinister plan , but the fact that the Palestinian leadership is likely to find a way to co-exist with it , at the expense of the oppressed Palestinian people , as long as donors ’ money continues to flow and as long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president .
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle .
He is the author of five books .
His latest is “ These Chains Will Be Broken : Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons ” ( Clarity Press , Atlanta ) .
Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs ( CIGA ) , Istanbul Zaim University ( IZU ) .
His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

A precious moment has been squandered, as Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, had the chance to right a historical wrong, by reinstating Palestinian national priorities at the United Nations Security Council on February 11, through a political discourse that is completely independent from Washington and its allies.
For a long time, Abbas has been a hostage to the very language that designated him and his Authority as ‘moderates’ in the eyes of Israel and the West. Despite the Palestinian leader’s outward rejection of the US ‘Deal of the Century’ – which practically renders Palestinian national aspirations null and void – Abbas is keen to maintain his ‘moderate’ credentials for as long as possible.
Certainly, Abbas has given many speeches at the UN in the past and, every single time, he has failed to impress Palestinians. This time, however, things were meant to be different. Not only did Washington disown Abbas and the PA, but it also scrapped its own political discourse on peace and the two-state solution altogether. More, the Trump administration has now officially given its blessing to Israel to annex nearly a third of the West Bank, taking Jerusalem ‘off the table’ and discarding the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Instead of directly meeting with leaders of the various Palestinian political parties and taking tangible steps to reactivate dormant but central political institutions such as the Palestinian National Council (PNC) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Abbas preferred to meet with former Israeli right-wing Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, in New York, and to carry on regurgitating his commitment to a by-gone era.
In his UN speech, Abbas said nothing new which, in this instance, is worse than not saying anything at all.
“This is the outcome of the project that has been introduced to us,” Abbas said, while holding a map of what a Palestinian state would look like under Donald Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’. “And this is the state that they are giving to us,” Abbas added, referring to that future state as a ‘Swiss cheese’, meaning a state fragmented by Jewish settlements, bypass-roads and Israeli military zones.
Even the term ‘Swiss cheese’, which was reported in some media as if a new phrase in this ever-redundant discourse, is actually an old coinage that has been referenced repeatedly by the Palestinian leadership itself, starting with the onset of the so-called peace process, a quarter of a century ago.
Abbas labored to appear exceptionally resolute as he emphasized certain words, like when he equated the Israeli occupation with the system of apartheid. His delivery, however, appeared unconvincing, lacking and, at times, pointless.
Abbas spoke of his great ‘surprise’ when Washington declared Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital, subsequently relocating its embassy to the occupied city, as if the writing was not already on the wall and that, in fact, the embassy move was one of Trump’s main pledges to Israel even before his inauguration in January 2017.
“And then they cut off financial aid that was given to us,” Abbas said in a lamenting voice with reference to the US decision to withhold its aid to the PA in August 2018. “$840 million are held from us,” he said. “I don’t know who is giving Trump such horrid advice. Trump is not like this. Trump that I know is not like this,” Abbas exclaimed in a strange interjection as if to send a message to the Trump administration that the PA still has faith in the US President’s judgement.
“I would like to remind everyone that we have participated in the Madrid peace conference, and the Washington negotiations and the Oslo agreement and the Annapolis summit on the basis of international law,” Abbas recounted, signaling that he remains committed to the very political agenda that reaped the Palestinian people no political rewards whatsoever.
Abbas then went on to paint an imagined reality, where his Authority is supposedly building the “national institutions of a law-abiding, modern and democratic state that is constructed on the basis of international values; one that is predicated on transparency, accountability and fighting corruption.”
“Yes,” Abbas emphasized, as he looked at his audience with theatrical seriousness, “We are one of the most important countries (in the world) that is fighting corruption.” The PA leader, then, called on the Security Council to send a commission to investigate allegations of corruption within the PA, a bewildering and unnecessary invitation, considering that it is the Palestinian leadership that should be making demands on the international community to help enforce international law and end the Israeli occupation.
It went on like this, where Abbas vacillated between reading pre-written remarks that introduce no new ideas or strategies and unnecessary rants that reflect the PA’s political bankruptcy and Abbas’ own lack of imagination.
The PA President, of course, made sure to offer his habitual condemnation of Palestinian ‘terrorism’ by promising that Palestinians would not “resort to violence and terrorism regardless of the act of aggression against us.” He assured his audience that his Authority believes in “peace and fighting violence.” Without elaborating, Abbas declared his intention of continuing on the path of “popular and peaceful resistance,” which, in fact, does not exist in any shape or form.
This time around, Abbas’ speech at the UN was particularly inappropriate. Indeed, it was a failure in every possible way. The least, the Palestinian leader could have done is to articulate a powerful and collective Palestinian political discourse. Instead, his statement was merely a sad homage to his own legacy, one that is riddled with disappointments and ineptitude.
Expectedly, Abbas returned to Ramallah to greet his cheering supporters once more, who are always ready and waiting to raise posters of the aging leader, as if his UN speech had succeeded in fundamentally shifting international political momentum in favor of Palestinians.
It has to be said that the real danger in the ‘Deal of the Century’ is not the actual stipulations of that sinister plan, but the fact that the Palestinian leadership is likely to find a way to co-exist with it, at the expense of the oppressed Palestinian people, as long as donors’ money continues to flow and as long as Abbas continues to call himself a president.
Feature photo | Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Feb. 11, 2020. Seth Wenig | AP
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net


mintpressnews--2020-02-21--John Pilger: Julian Assange Must be Freed, Not Betrayed

On Saturday , there will be a march from Australia House in London to Parliament Square , the centre of British democracy .
People will carry pictures of the Australian publisher and journalist Julian Assange who , on 24 February , faces a court that will decide whether or not he is to be extradited to the United States and a living death .
I know Australia House well .
As an Australian myself , I used to go there in my early days in London to read the newspapers from home .
Opened by King George V over a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and stone , chandeliers and solemn portraits , imported from Australia when Australian soldiers were dying in the slaughter of the First World War , have ensured its landmark as an imperial pile of monumental servility .
As one of the oldest “ diplomatic missions ” in the United Kingdom , this relic of empire provides a pleasurable sinecure for Antipodean politicians : a “ mate ” rewarded or a troublemaker exiled .
Known as High Commissioner , the equivalent of an ambassador , the current beneficiary is George Brandis , who as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Race Discrimination Act and approved raids on whistleblowers who had revealed the truth about Australia ’ s illegal spying on East Timor during negotiations for the carve-up of that impoverished country ’ s oil and gas .
This led to the prosecution of whistleblowers Bernard Collaery and “ Witness K ” , on bogus charges .
Like Julian Assange , they are to be silenced in a Kafkaesque trial and put away .
Australia House is the ideal starting point for Saturday ’ s march .
“ I confess , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in 1898 , “ that countries are pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a great game for the domination of the world.
” ” We Australians have been in the service of the Great Game for a very long time .
Having devastated our Indigenous people in an invasion and a war of attrition that continues to this day , we have spilt blood for our imperial masters in China , Africa , Russia , the Middle East , Europe and Asia .
No imperial adventure against those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ escaped our dedication .
Deception has been a feature .
When Prime Minister Robert Menzies sent Australian soldiers to Vietnam in the 1960s , he described them as a training team , requested by a beleaguered government in Saigon .
It was a lie .
A senior official of the Department of External Affairs wrote secretly that “ although we have stressed the fact publicly that our assistance was given in response to an invitation by the government of South Vietnam ” , the order came from Washington.
” Two versions .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them .
As many as four million people died in the Vietnam war .
When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 , the Australian Ambassador , Richard Woolcott , secretly urged the government in Canberra to “ act in a way which would be designed to minimise the public impact in Australia and show private understanding to Indonesia.
” In other words , to lie .
He alluded to the beckoning spoils of oil and gas in the Timor Sea which , boasted Foreign Minister Gareth Evans , were worth “ zillions ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 200,000 East Timorese died .
Australia recognised , almost alone , the legitimacy of the occupation .
When Prime Minister John Howard sent Australian special forces to invade Iraq with America and Britain in 2003 , he — like George W. Bush and Tony Blair — lied that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction .
More than a million people died in Iraq .
WikiLeaks was not the first to call out the pattern of criminal lying in democracies that remain every bit as rapacious as in Lord Curzon ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remarkable publishing organisation founded by Julian Assange has been to provide the proof .
WikiLeaks has informed us how illegal wars are fabricated , how governments are overthrown and violence is used in our name , how we are spied upon through our phones and screens .
The true lies of presidents , ambassadors , political candidates , generals , proxies , political fraudsters have been exposed .
One by one , these would-be emperors have realised they have no clothes .
It has been an unprecedented public service ; above all , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be judged by the degree of apoplexy of the corrupt and their apologists .
For example , in 2016 , WikiLeaks published the leaked emails of Hillary Clinton ’ s campaign manager John Podesta , which revealed a direct connection between Clinton , the foundation she shares with her husband and the funding of organised jihadism in the Middle East — terrorism .
One email disclosed that Islamic State ( ISIS ) was bankrolled by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar , from which Clinton accepted huge “ donations ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she approved the world ’ s biggest ever arms sale to her Saudi benefactors , worth more than $ 80 billion .
Thanks to her , US arms sales to the world — for use in stricken countries like Yemen — doubled .
Revealed by WikiLeaks and published in The New York Times , the Podesta emails triggered a vituperative campaign against editor-in-chief Julian Assange , bereft of evidence .
He was an “ agent of Russia working to elect Trump ” ; the nonsensical “ Russiagate ” followed .
That WikiLeaks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ damning documents from Russia was ignored .
On an Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme , Four Corners , in 2017 , Clinton was interviewed by Sarah Ferguson , who began : “ No one could fail to be moved by the pain on your face at [ the moment of Donald Trump ’ s inauguration ] … Do you remember how visceral it was for you ?
” Having established Clinton ’ s visceral suffering , the fawning Ferguson described “ Russia ’ s role ” and the “ damage done personally to you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ He [ Assange ] is very clearly a tool of Russian intelligence .
And he has done their bidding.
” Ferguson said to Clinton , “ Lots of people , including in Australia , think that Assange is a martyr of free speech and freedom of information .
How would you describe him ?
” Again , Clinton was allowed to defame Assange — a “ nihilist ” in the service of “ dictators ” — while Ferguson assured her interviewee she was “ the icon of your generation ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ document , revealed by WikiLeaks , called Libya Tick Tock , prepared for Hillary Clinton , which described her as the central figure driving the destruction of the Libyan state in 2011 .
This resulted in 40,000 deaths , the arrival of ISIS in North Africa and the European refugee and migrant crisis .
For me , this episode of Clinton ’ s interview — and there are many others – vividly illustrates the division between false and true journalism .
On 24 February , when Julian Assange steps into Woolwich Crown Court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crime on trial .
I am sometimes asked why I have championed Assange .
For one thing , I like and I admire him .
He is a friend with astonishing courage ; and he has a finely honed , wicked sense of humour .
He is the diametric opposite of the character invented then assassinated by his enemies .
As a reporter in places of upheaval all over the world , I have learned to compare the evidence I have witnessed with the words and actions of those with power .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get a sense of how our world is controlled and divided and manipulated , how language and debate are distorted to produce the propaganda of false consciousness .
When we speak about dictatorships , we call this brainwashing : the conquest of minds .
It is a truth we rarely apply to our own societies , regardless of the trail of blood that leads back to us and which never dries .
WikiLeaks has exposed this .
That is why Assange is in a maximum security prison in London facing concocted political charges @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shamed so many of those paid to keep the record straight .
Watch these journalists now look for cover as it dawns on them that the American fascists who have come for Assange may come for them , not least those on the Guardian who collaborated with WikiLeaks and won prizes and secured lucrative book and Hollywood deals based on his work , before turning on him .
In 2011 , David Leigh , the Guardian ’ s “ investigations editor ” , told journalism students at City University in London that Assange @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a puzzled student asked why , Leigh replied , “ Because he doesn ’ t understand the parameters of conventional journalism ” .
But it ’ s precisely because he did understand that the “ parameters ” of the media often shielded vested and political interests and had nothing to do with transparency that the idea of WikiLeaks was so appealing to many people , especially the young , rightly cynical about the so-called “ mainstream ” .
Leigh mocked the very idea that , once extradited , Assange would end up “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were things , he said , “ that he and his lawyer are saying in order to feed his paranoia ” .
The current US charges against Assange centre on the Afghan Logs and Iraq Logs , which the Guardian published and Leigh worked on , and on the Collateral Murder video showing an American helicopter crew gunning down civilians and celebrating the crime .
For this journalism , Assange faces 17 charges of “ espionage ” which carry prison sentences totalling 175 years .
Whether or not his prison uniform will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court files seen by Assange ’ s lawyers reveal that , once extradited , Assange will be subject to Special Administrative Measures , known as SAMS .
A 2017 report by Yale University Law School and the Center for Constitutional Rights described SAMS as “ the darkest corner of the US federal prison system ” combining “ the brutality and isolation of maximum security units with additional restrictions that deny individuals almost any connection to the human world … The net effect is to shield this form of torture from any real public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all along , and getting him to Sweden was a fraud to cover an American plan to “ render ” him , is finally becoming clear to many who swallowed the incessant scuttlebutt of character assassination .
“ I speak fluent Swedish and was able to read all the original documents , ” Nils Melzer , the United Nations Rapporteur on Torture , said recently , “ I could hardly believe my eyes .
According to the testimony of the woman in question , a rape had never taken place at all .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s testimony was later changed by the Stockholm Police without her involvement in order to somehow make it sound like a possible rape .
I have all the documents in my possession , the emails , the text messages.
” Keir Starmer is currently running for election as leader of the Labour Party in Britain .
Between 2008 and 2013 , he was Director of Public Prosecutions and responsible for the Crown Prosecution Service .
According to Freedom of Information searches by the Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi , Sweden tried to drop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a CPS official in London told the Swedish prosecutor not to treat it as “ just another extradition ” .
In 2012 , she received an email from the CPS : “ Don ’ t you dare get cold feet !
!
!
” Other CPS emails were either deleted or redacted .
Why ?
Keir Starmer needs to say why .
At the forefront of Saturday ’ s march will be John Shipton , Julian ’ s father , whose indefatigable support for his son is the antithesis of the collusion and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our homeland .
The roll call of shame begins with Julia Gillard , the Australian Labor prime minister who , in 2010 , wanted to criminalise WikiLeaks , arrest Assange and cancel his passport– until the Australian Federal Police pointed out that no law allowed this and that Assange had committed no crime .
While falsely claiming to give him consular assistance in London , it was the Gillard government ’ s shocking abandonment of its citizen that led to Ecuador granting political asylum to Assange in its London embassy .
In a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gillard , a favourite of the US embassy in Canberra , broke records for sycophancy ( according to the website Honest History ) as she declared , over and again , the fidelity of America ’ s “ mates Down Under ” .
Today , while Assange waits in his cell , Gillard travels the world , promoting herself as a feminist concerned about “ human rights ” , often in tandem with that other right-on feminist Hillary Clinton .
The truth is that Australia could have rescued Julian Assange and can still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arranged to meet a prominent Liberal ( Conservative ) Member of Parliament , Malcolm Turnbull .
As a young barrister in the 1980s , Turnbull had successfully fought the British Government ’ s attempts to prevent the publication of the book , Spycatcher , whose author Peter Wright , a spy , had exposed Britain ’ s “ deep state ” .
We talked about his famous victory for free speech and publishing and I described the miscarriage of justice awaiting Assange — the fraud of his arrest in Sweden and its connection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US Constitution and the rule of international law .
Turnbull appeared to show genuine interest and an aide took extensive notes .
I asked him to deliver a letter to the Australian government from Gareth Peirce , the renowned British human rights lawyer who represents Assange .
In the letter , Peirce wrote , “ Given the extent of the public discussion , frequently on the basis of entirely false assumptions… it is very hard to attempt to preserve for [ Julian Assange ] any presumption of innocence .
Mr. Assange has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two Damocles swords , of potential extradition to two different jurisdictions in turn for two different alleged crimes , neither of which are crimes in his own country , and that his personal safety has become at risk in circumstances that are highly politically charged.
” Turnbull promised to deliver the letter , follow it through and let me know .
I subsequently wrote to him several times , waited and heard nothing .
In 2018 , John Shipton wrote a deeply moving letter to the then prime minister of Australia asking him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government ’ s disposal and bring Julian home .
He wrote that he feared that if Julian was not rescued , there would be a tragedy and his son would die in prison .
He received no reply .
The prime minister was Malcolm Turnbull .
Last year , when the current prime minister , Scott Morrison , a former public relations man , was asked about Assange , he replied in his customary way , “ He should face the music !
” When Saturday ’ s march reaches the Houses of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mother of Parliaments ” , Morrison and Gillard and Turnbull and all those who have betrayed Julian Assange should be called out ; history and decency will not forget them or those who remain silent now .
And if there is any sense of justice left in the land of Magna Carta , the travesty that is the case against this heroic Australian must be thrown out .
Or beware , all of us .
The march on Saturday , 22 February begins at Australia House in Aldwych , London WC2B 4LA , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ photo | Badges worn by a demonstrator outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London , Feb. 19 , 2020 .
Kirsty Wigglesworth | AP John Pilger is an award-winning journalist .
His articles appear worldwide in newspapers such as the Guardian , the Independent , the New York Times , the Los Angeles Times , the Mail & Guardian ( South Africa ) , Aftonbladet ( Sweden ) , Il Manifesto ( Italy ) .

On Saturday, there will be a march from Australia House in London to Parliament Square, the centre of British democracy. People will carry pictures of the Australian publisher and journalist Julian Assange who, on 24 February, faces a court that will decide whether or not he is to be extradited to the United States and a living death.
I know Australia House well. As an Australian myself, I used to go there in my early days in London to read the newspapers from home. Opened by King George V over a century ago, its vastness of marble and stone, chandeliers and solemn portraits, imported from Australia when Australian soldiers were dying in the slaughter of the First World War, have ensured its landmark as an imperial pile of monumental servility.
As one of the oldest “diplomatic missions” in the United Kingdom, this relic of empire provides a pleasurable sinecure for Antipodean politicians: a “mate” rewarded or a troublemaker exiled.
Known as High Commissioner, the equivalent of an ambassador, the current beneficiary is George Brandis, who as Attorney General tried to water down Australia’s Race Discrimination Act and approved raids on whistleblowers who had revealed the truth about Australia’s illegal spying on East Timor during negotiations for the carve-up of that impoverished country’s oil and gas.
This led to the prosecution of whistleblowers Bernard Collaery and “Witness K”, on bogus charges. Like Julian Assange, they are to be silenced in a Kafkaesque trial and put away.
Australia House is the ideal starting point for Saturday’s march.
“I confess,” wrote Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, in 1898, “that countries are pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a great game for the domination of the world.””
We Australians have been in the service of the Great Game for a very long time. Having devastated our Indigenous people in an invasion and a war of attrition that continues to this day, we have spilt blood for our imperial masters in China, Africa, Russia, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. No imperial adventure against those with whom we have no quarrel has escaped our dedication.
Deception has been a feature. When Prime Minister Robert Menzies sent Australian soldiers to Vietnam in the 1960s, he described them as a training team, requested by a beleaguered government in Saigon. It was a lie. A senior official of the Department of External Affairs wrote secretly that “although we have stressed the fact publicly that our assistance was given in response to an invitation by the government of South Vietnam”, the order came from Washington.”
Two versions. The lie for us, the truth for them. As many as four million people died in the Vietnam war.
When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, the Australian Ambassador, Richard Woolcott, secretly urged the government in Canberra to “act in a way which would be designed to minimise the public impact in Australia and show private understanding to Indonesia.” In other words, to lie. He alluded to the beckoning spoils of oil and gas in the Timor Sea which, boasted Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, were worth “zillions”.
In the genocide that followed, at least 200,000 East Timorese died. Australia recognised, almost alone, the legitimacy of the occupation.
When Prime Minister John Howard sent Australian special forces to invade Iraq with America and Britain in 2003, he — like George W. Bush and Tony Blair — lied that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. More than a million people died in Iraq.
WikiLeaks was not the first to call out the pattern of criminal lying in democracies that remain every bit as rapacious as in Lord Curzon’s day. The achievement of the remarkable publishing organisation founded by Julian Assange has been to provide the proof.
WikiLeaks has informed us how illegal wars are fabricated, how governments are overthrown and violence is used in our name, how we are spied upon through our phones and screens. The true lies of presidents, ambassadors, political candidates, generals, proxies, political fraudsters have been exposed. One by one, these would-be emperors have realised they have no clothes.
It has been an unprecedented public service; above all, it is authentic journalism, whose value can be judged by the degree of apoplexy of the corrupt and their apologists.
For example, in 2016, WikiLeaks published the leaked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, which revealed a direct connection between Clinton, the foundation she shares with her husband and the funding of organised jihadism in the Middle East — terrorism.
One email disclosed that Islamic State (ISIS) was bankrolled by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, from which Clinton accepted huge “donations”. Moreover, as US Secretary of State, she approved the world’s biggest ever arms sale to her Saudi benefactors, worth more than $80 billion. Thanks to her, US arms sales to the world — for use in stricken countries like Yemen — doubled.
Revealed by WikiLeaks and published in The New York Times, the Podesta emails triggered a vituperative campaign against editor-in-chief Julian Assange, bereft of evidence. He was an “agent of Russia working to elect Trump”; the nonsensical “Russiagate” followed. That WikiLeaks had also published more than 800,000 frequently damning documents from Russia was ignored.
On an Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme, Four Corners, in 2017, Clinton was interviewed by Sarah Ferguson, who began: “No one could fail to be moved by the pain on your face at [the moment of Donald Trump’s inauguration] … Do you remember how visceral it was for you?”
Having established Clinton’s visceral suffering, the fawning Ferguson described “Russia’s role” and the “damage done personally to you” by Julian Assange.
Clinton replied, “He [Assange] is very clearly a tool of Russian intelligence. And he has done their bidding.”
Ferguson said to Clinton, “Lots of people, including in Australia, think that Assange is a martyr of free speech and freedom of information. How would you describe him?”
Again, Clinton was allowed to defame Assange — a “nihilist” in the service of “dictators” — while Ferguson assured her interviewee she was “the icon of your generation”.
There was no mention of a leaked document, revealed by WikiLeaks, called Libya Tick Tock, prepared for Hillary Clinton, which described her as the central figure driving the destruction of the Libyan state in 2011. This resulted in 40,000 deaths, the arrival of ISIS in North Africa and the European refugee and migrant crisis.
For me, this episode of Clinton’s interview — and there are many others – vividly illustrates the division between false and true journalism. On 24 February, when Julian Assange steps into Woolwich Crown Court, true journalism will be the only crime on trial.
I am sometimes asked why I have championed Assange. For one thing, I like and I admire him. He is a friend with astonishing courage; and he has a finely honed, wicked sense of humour. He is the diametric opposite of the character invented then assassinated by his enemies.
As a reporter in places of upheaval all over the world, I have learned to compare the evidence I have witnessed with the words and actions of those with power. In this way, it is possible to get a sense of how our world is controlled and divided and manipulated, how language and debate are distorted to produce the propaganda of false consciousness.
When we speak about dictatorships, we call this brainwashing: the conquest of minds. It is a truth we rarely apply to our own societies, regardless of the trail of blood that leads back to us and which never dries.
WikiLeaks has exposed this. That is why Assange is in a maximum security prison in London facing concocted political charges in America, and why he has shamed so many of those paid to keep the record straight. Watch these journalists now look for cover as it dawns on them that the American fascists who have come for Assange may come for them, not least those on the Guardian who collaborated with WikiLeaks and won prizes and secured lucrative book and Hollywood deals based on his work, before turning on him.
In 2011, David Leigh, the Guardian’s “investigations editor”, told journalism students at City University in London that Assange was “quite deranged”. When a puzzled student asked why, Leigh replied, “Because he doesn’t understand the parameters of conventional journalism”.
But it’s precisely because he did understand that the “parameters” of the media often shielded vested and political interests and had nothing to do with transparency that the idea of WikiLeaks was so appealing to many people, especially the young, rightly cynical about the so-called “mainstream”.
Leigh mocked the very idea that, once extradited, Assange would end up “wearing an orange jumpsuit”. These were things, he said, “that he and his lawyer are saying in order to feed his paranoia”.
The current US charges against Assange centre on the Afghan Logs and Iraq Logs, which the Guardian published and Leigh worked on, and on the Collateral Murder video showing an American helicopter crew gunning down civilians and celebrating the crime. For this journalism, Assange faces 17 charges of “espionage” which carry prison sentences totalling 175 years.
Whether or not his prison uniform will be an “orange jumpsuit”, US court files seen by Assange’s lawyers reveal that, once extradited, Assange will be subject to Special Administrative Measures, known as SAMS. A 2017 report by Yale University Law School and the Center for Constitutional Rights described SAMS as “the darkest corner of the US federal prison system” combining “the brutality and isolation of maximum security units with additional restrictions that deny individuals almost any connection to the human world … The net effect is to shield this form of torture from any real public scrutiny.”
That Assange has been right all along, and getting him to Sweden was a fraud to cover an American plan to “render” him, is finally becoming clear to many who swallowed the incessant scuttlebutt of character assassination. “I speak fluent Swedish and was able to read all the original documents,” Nils Melzer, the United Nations Rapporteur on Torture, said recently, “I could hardly believe my eyes. According to the testimony of the woman in question, a rape had never taken place at all. And not only that: the woman’s testimony was later changed by the Stockholm Police without her involvement in order to somehow make it sound like a possible rape. I have all the documents in my possession, the emails, the text messages.”
Keir Starmer is currently running for election as leader of the Labour Party in Britain. Between 2008 and 2013, he was Director of Public Prosecutions and responsible for the Crown Prosecution Service. According to Freedom of Information searches by the Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi, Sweden tried to drop the Assange case in 2011, but a CPS official in London told the Swedish prosecutor not to treat it as “just another extradition”.
In 2012, she received an email from the CPS: “Don’t you dare get cold feet!!!” Other CPS emails were either deleted or redacted. Why? Keir Starmer needs to say why.
At the forefront of Saturday’s march will be John Shipton, Julian’s father, whose indefatigable support for his son is the antithesis of the collusion and cruelty of the governments of Australia, our homeland.
The roll call of shame begins with Julia Gillard, the Australian Labor prime minister who, in 2010, wanted to criminalise WikiLeaks, arrest Assange and cancel his passport– until the Australian Federal Police pointed out that no law allowed this and that Assange had committed no crime.
While falsely claiming to give him consular assistance in London, it was the Gillard government’s shocking abandonment of its citizen that led to Ecuador granting political asylum to Assange in its London embassy.
In a subsequent speech before the US Congress, Gillard, a favourite of the US embassy in Canberra, broke records for sycophancy (according to the website Honest History) as she declared, over and again, the fidelity of America’s “mates Down Under”.
Today, while Assange waits in his cell, Gillard travels the world, promoting herself as a feminist concerned about “human rights”, often in tandem with that other right-on feminist Hillary Clinton.
The truth is that Australia could have rescued Julian Assange and can still rescue him.
In 2010, I arranged to meet a prominent Liberal (Conservative) Member of Parliament, Malcolm Turnbull. As a young barrister in the 1980s, Turnbull had successfully fought the British Government’s attempts to prevent the publication of the book, Spycatcher, whose author Peter Wright, a spy, had exposed Britain’s “deep state”.
We talked about his famous victory for free speech and publishing and I described the miscarriage of justice awaiting Assange — the fraud of his arrest in Sweden and its connection with an American indictment that tore up the US Constitution and the rule of international law.
Turnbull appeared to show genuine interest and an aide took extensive notes. I asked him to deliver a letter to the Australian government from Gareth Peirce, the renowned British human rights lawyer who represents Assange.
In the letter, Peirce wrote, “Given the extent of the public discussion, frequently on the basis of entirely false assumptions… it is very hard to attempt to preserve for [Julian Assange] any presumption of innocence. Mr. Assange has now hanging over him not one but two Damocles swords, of potential extradition to two different jurisdictions in turn for two different alleged crimes, neither of which are crimes in his own country, and that his personal safety has become at risk in circumstances that are highly politically charged.”
Turnbull promised to deliver the letter, follow it through and let me know. I subsequently wrote to him several times, waited and heard nothing.
In 2018, John Shipton wrote a deeply moving letter to the then prime minister of Australia asking him to exercise the diplomatic power at his government’s disposal and bring Julian home. He wrote that he feared that if Julian was not rescued, there would be a tragedy and his son would die in prison. He received no reply. The prime minister was Malcolm Turnbull.
Last year, when the current prime minister, Scott Morrison, a former public relations man, was asked about Assange, he replied in his customary way, “He should face the music!”
When Saturday’s march reaches the Houses of Parliament, said to be “the Mother of Parliaments”, Morrison and Gillard and Turnbull and all those who have betrayed Julian Assange should be called out; history and decency will not forget them or those who remain silent now.
And if there is any sense of justice left in the land of Magna Carta, the travesty that is the case against this heroic Australian must be thrown out. Or beware, all of us.
The march on Saturday, 22 February begins at Australia House in Aldwych, London WC2B 4LA, at 12.30pm: assemble at 11.30pm
Feature photo | Badges worn by a demonstrator outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Feb. 19, 2020. Kirsty Wigglesworth | AP
John Pilger is an award-winning journalist. His articles appear worldwide in newspapers such as the Guardian, the Independent, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Mail & Guardian (South Africa), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Il Manifesto (Italy).


mintpressnews--2020-02-24--Assange Extradition Hearing Opens with Scathing Condemnation by Mainstream Media

The extradition trial of Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange got underway at Woolwich Crown Court in London today .
Assange , 48 , is wanted by the U.S. government on 18 charges of hacking and breaches of the Espionage Act , specifically for the publication of evidence leaked by Pvt .
Chelsea Manning that detailed evidence of American war crimes in the Middle East .
If found guilty he faces up to 175 years in prison .
The prosecution , led by James Lewis , Q.C.
, began by reading out a damning statement from five leading media organizations , The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ El País , Der Spiegel and Le Monde , all of whom had partnered with Wikileaks , gratefully publishing the group ’ s revelations but now condemned them , helping his prosecution .
“ We deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted state department cables , which may put sources at risk , ” they said .
The prosecution is alleging that Assange recklessly published a huge trove of documents containing the names of American agents and informants , putting their lives in danger , and that he solicited information from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law .
That neither were in the United States when this took place , Lewis said , was irrelevant , as Manning was still a member of the U.S. armed forces .
Therefore , he told the court , the case was one of “ straightforward criminality.
” Many mainstream outlets like the BBC and The Guardian also framed Assange as having “ put lives at risk ” – echoing the attack from the prosecution in their headlines .
Media were also strongly supportive of his arrest from the Ecuadorian embassy last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ childish narcissist ” poisoning America with his “ vile spite ” was finally about to “ face justice.
” Former Newsweek journalist Tareq Haddad noted that the press room was packed for the U.S. government prosecution team ’ s statements but was half empty by the time the defense began .
A crowd of supporters gathered outside the court , with only a few of those who showed up able to attend the events in person .
Assange ’ s father , John Shipton , told those assembled that , “ all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accusations fail on accuracy and fact ” and that sending his son to the United States would be a “ death sentence.
” The crowd kept up a constant stream of noise and chants were audible in the courtroom throughout the day .
Eventually , the defense , including Assange himself , asked for them to keep quiet as it was interfering with proceedings .
The prosecution finished much earlier than expected and by the afternoon the defense was presenting its case .
Assange ’ s lawyer , Edward Fitzgerald , Q.C.
, @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal justice , it ’ s about making an example ” of his client , adding that the charges were “ grossly inflated.
” Kristinn Hrafnsson , Icelandic investigative journalist and current editor-in-chief of Wikileaks , demanded to know “ why aren ’ t we here talking in court about the war crimes , the assassination of innocent civilians ?
” The defense also argued that the defendant suffers from long term mental health problems , including clinical depression , which would no doubt be exacerbated by extradition .
They noted that in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extradition request for British-Finnish hacker Lauri Love on mental health grounds .
The defense also revealed that they intend to call American linguist and political activist Professor Noam Chomsky as an expert witness and confirmed the story circulating that the Trump administration offered Assange a full pardon in exchange for a statement that Russia was not involved in hacking related to the 2016 elections .
They did not accept the offer from former congressman Dana Rohrbacher as they felt it amounted to political extortion .
Rohrbacher denies certain parts of the story .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the progressive Ecuadorian administration of Rafael Correa , but could not leave the country ’ s embassy in London for almost seven years .
However , after Correa was replaced by the right-wing , pro-U.S. Lenin Moreno , his welcome ran out and he was dragged out the building last year .
Since then , he has been held at Belmarsh Prison , London .
The most infamous leak Wikileaks revealed was the “ Collateral Murder ” video , that showed American forces massacring civilians , including Reuters journalists , in cold blood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by many international groups , including the Council of Europe and the United Nations .
On Friday , Amnesty International ’ s Deputy Europe Director Massimo Moratti said : The US government ’ s unrelenting pursuit of Julian Assange for having published disclosed documents that included possible war crimes committed by the US military is nothing short of a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression…The potential chilling effect on journalists and others who expose official wrongdoing by publishing information disclosed to them by credible sources could have a profound impact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know what their government is up to .
All charges against Assange for such activities must be dropped.
” The court finished at around 4 p.m. local time and will resume at 10 a.m. tomorrow .
The hearing is expected to last several weeks .
Featured photo | Supporters hold placards and banners during a protest against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange outside Belmarsh Magistrates Court in London , Feb. 24 , 2020 .
Matt Dunham | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

The extradition trial of Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange got underway at Woolwich Crown Court in London today. Assange, 48, is wanted by the U.S. government on 18 charges of hacking and breaches of the Espionage Act, specifically for the publication of evidence leaked by Pvt. Chelsea Manning that detailed evidence of American war crimes in the Middle East. If found guilty he faces up to 175 years in prison.
The prosecution, led by James Lewis, Q.C., began by reading out a damning statement from five leading media organizations, The Guardian, The New York Times, El País, Der Spiegel and Le Monde, all of whom had partnered with Wikileaks, gratefully publishing the group’s revelations but now condemned them, helping his prosecution.
“We deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted state department cables, which may put sources at risk,” they said. The prosecution is alleging that Assange recklessly published a huge trove of documents containing the names of American agents and informants, putting their lives in danger, and that he solicited information from Manning, encouraging her to break the law. That neither were in the United States when this took place, Lewis said, was irrelevant, as Manning was still a member of the U.S. armed forces. Therefore, he told the court, the case was one of “straightforward criminality.”
Many mainstream outlets like the BBC and The Guardian also framed Assange as having “put lives at risk” – echoing the attack from the prosecution in their headlines. Media were also strongly supportive of his arrest from the Ecuadorian embassy last year, celebrating that the “delusional, childish narcissist” poisoning America with his “vile spite” was finally about to “face justice.” Former Newsweek journalist Tareq Haddad noted that the press room was packed for the U.S. government prosecution team’s statements but was half empty by the time the defense began.
Breaking: @khrafnsson leaves courtroom and asks "why aren't we here talking in court about the war crimes, the assassination of innocent civilians?" #assange@TheCanaryUK pic.twitter.com/zXCRjqq5db — John McEvoy (@jmcevoy_2) February 24, 2020
A crowd of supporters gathered outside the court, with only a few of those who showed up able to attend the events in person. Assange’s father, John Shipton, told those assembled that, “all of the bases for the prosecution’s accusations fail on accuracy and fact” and that sending his son to the United States would be a “death sentence.” The crowd kept up a constant stream of noise and chants were audible in the courtroom throughout the day. Eventually, the defense, including Assange himself, asked for them to keep quiet as it was interfering with proceedings.
The Trump administration's single most severe attack on press freedom (by far) is underway in London – the attempt to extradite & prosecute Julian Assange for working with his source to help her avoid detection, something all major media outlets do – and few US journalists care. — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 24, 2020
The prosecution finished much earlier than expected and by the afternoon the defense was presenting its case. Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, Q.C., stated that “This is not about criminal justice, it’s about making an example” of his client, adding that the charges were “grossly inflated.” Kristinn Hrafnsson, Icelandic investigative journalist and current editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, demanded to know “why aren’t we here talking in court about the war crimes, the assassination of innocent civilians?” The defense also argued that the defendant suffers from long term mental health problems, including clinical depression, which would no doubt be exacerbated by extradition. They noted that in 2013, U.K courts denied an American extradition request for British-Finnish hacker Lauri Love on mental health grounds.
The defense also revealed that they intend to call American linguist and political activist Professor Noam Chomsky as an expert witness and confirmed the story circulating that the Trump administration offered Assange a full pardon in exchange for a statement that Russia was not involved in hacking related to the 2016 elections. They did not accept the offer from former congressman Dana Rohrbacher as they felt it amounted to political extortion. Rohrbacher denies certain parts of the story.
Assange had been granted political asylum by the progressive Ecuadorian administration of Rafael Correa, but could not leave the country’s embassy in London for almost seven years. However, after Correa was replaced by the right-wing, pro-U.S. Lenin Moreno, his welcome ran out and he was dragged out the building last year. Since then, he has been held at Belmarsh Prison, London. The most infamous leak Wikileaks revealed was the “Collateral Murder” video, that showed American forces massacring civilians, including Reuters journalists, in cold blood.
The extradition hearing has been condemned by many international groups, including the Council of Europe and the United Nations. On Friday, Amnesty International’s Deputy Europe Director Massimo Moratti said:
The US government’s unrelenting pursuit of Julian Assange for having published disclosed documents that included possible war crimes committed by the US military is nothing short of a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression…The potential chilling effect on journalists and others who expose official wrongdoing by publishing information disclosed to them by credible sources could have a profound impact on the public’s right to know what their government is up to. All charges against Assange for such activities must be dropped.”
The court finished at around 4 p.m. local time and will resume at 10 a.m. tomorrow. The hearing is expected to last several weeks.
Featured photo | Supporters hold placards and banners during a protest against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange outside Belmarsh Magistrates Court in London, Feb. 24, 2020. Matt Dunham | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.