2020-10-02: News Headlines

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-10-02). Truth Is The First Casualty In Cold War: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com ~ | No institutional changes were made to ensure that the evils of the Iraq invasion wouldn't be repeated. It's one of those big, glaring problems people just decided to pretend is resolved, like racism. | ~ | Whenever someone says "I oppose Assange's extradition, but," everything before the "but" is a lie, and it's a safe bet that everything after it will be too. | ~ | Truth is the first casualty in war. This adage is especially true of cold war, where the absence of hot firepower makes an emphasis on mass-scale psychological operations necessary. | ~ | People who tell you that now is not the time for truthful c…

Binoy Kampmark (2020-10-02). Assange's Eighteenth Day at the Old Bailey: Abuse of Power, Breaching Attorney-Client Privilege and Adjournment. dissidentvoice.org October 1, 2020. Central Criminal Court, London. The Old Bailey has been the venue for a trial that should never have taken place. But during the course of these extradition proceedings against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder accused by the US Department of Justice for violating the US Espionage Act (17 charges) and one under …

pip.hinman (2020-10-02). Andrew Wilkie on Julian Assange extradition trial: 'It should put all Australians on notice'. greenleft.org.au

David Penner (2020-10-02). The Hysteria of Identity Politics is Devolving Into Violence. dissidentvoice.org If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. — Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6th, 1816 As the tech monopolies, the military industrial complex, the medical industrial complex, and other powerful corporate entities accumulate unprecedented …

WSWS (2020-10-01). Evidence of war crimes, torture, surveillance and assassination plots: Assange hearing nears final day. wsws.org The CIA's surveillance was targeted against Assange's communication with his legal representatives, considered "priority targets."

Dr. Binoy Kampmark (2020-10-01). Assange's Seventeenth Day at the Old Bailey: Embassy Espionage, Contemplated Poisoning and Proposed Kidnapping. globalresearch.ca Today will be remembered as a grand expose. It was a direct, pointed accusation at the intentions of the US imperium which long for the scalp of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. For WikiLeaks, it was a smouldering triumph, …

Binoy Kampmark (2020-10-01). Assange on Trial: Embassy Espionage, Contemplated Poisoning and Proposed Kidnapping. counterpunch.org September 30. Central Criminal Court, London. Today will be remembered as a grand expose. It was a direct, pointed accusation at the intentions of the US imperium which long for the scalp of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. For WikiLeaks, it was a smouldering triumph, showing that the entire mission against Assange, from the start,

Peoples Dispatch (2020-10-01). Extradition trial concludes, Assange to remain in prison until verdict in January. peoplesdispatch.org The trial concluded after 18 days of extensive submissions from experts and witnesses over a range of aspects concerning the persecution of Wikileaks in the US…

Alexander Mercouris (2020-10-01). Letter from London: The Surreal US Case Against Assange. globalresearch.ca The fox is guarding the henhouse and Washington is prosecuting a publisher for exposing its own war crimes. Alexander Mercouris diagnoses the incoherence of the U.S. case for extradition. | *** | Following the Julian Assange case as it has progressed through …

Stephen Lendman (2020-10-01). Lawyers, Politicians and Diplomats for Assange. globalresearch.ca Since brutally dragged from Ecuador's London embassy in April last year, confined to maximum security imprisonment, and subjected to guilt by accusation extradition hearings, establishment media have been largely silent about his state-sponsored crucifixion for the "crime" of truth-telling journalism….

_____ (2020-10-01). National Security Journalism Is On Trial. popularresistance.org Few American media organizations seem to have noticed, but the U.S. Justice Department has spent the past few weeks trying to persuade the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales to extradite Julian Assange to the United States to face charges under the 1917 Espionage Act. The hearing is scheduled to wind down at the end of this week. At this point Assange has alienated pretty much everyone, including many erstwhile supporters, and few people on this side of the Atlantic seem troubled by his indictment or by the possibility that he will be extradited, tried, convicted, and imprisoned.

_____ (2020-10-01). Reportback: Julian Assange Hearing On Tuesday September 29. popularresistance.org Tuesday has been another day on which the testimony focused on the extreme inhumane conditions in which Julian Assange would be kept imprisoned in the USA if extradited. The prosecution's continued tactic of extraordinary aggression towards witnesses who are patently well informed played less well, and there were distinct signs that Judge Baraitser was becoming irritated by this approach. The totality of defence witnesses and the sheer extent of mutual corroboration they provided could not simply be dismissed by the prosecution attempting to characterise all of them as uninformed on a particular detail, still les…

_____ (2020-10-01). UC Global Employee Thwarted Plan To Spy On Assange. popularresistance.org An IT expert who worked for UC Global, the Spanish security company which engaged in an espionage operation against Julian Assange while he was in the Ecuador embassy, refused to install numerous microphones and camera systems with "streaming capabilities" because they believed it was illegal. | UC Global director David Morales was told Assange would discover the cameras were streaming in order to "restrain Morales." | "I did not want to collaborate in an illegal act of this magnitude," the IT expert referred to as "Witness #2" told a British magistrates' court during Assange's extradition trial.

sputniknews (2020-10-01). Assange Update; California Wildfires Rage On. sputniknews.com Does America need a civility check-up?

teleSUR (2020-10-01). Judge To Rule on January Whether Assange Should Be Extradited. telesurenglish.net British judge Vanessa Baraitser will rule on January 4, 2021, whether she authorizes the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, where the Australian journalist is accused of 18 crimes of espionage that could sentence him up to 175 years in prison. | RELATED: | The magistrate set the date for her ruling at the end of a four-week trial in the London Old Bailey court, in which numerous witnesses for the Wik…

RT (2020-10-01). Nagorno-Karabakh fighting spreads: Yerevan says it shot down Azeri drone near CAPITAL after airstrike kills man in Armenia. rt.com Fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia spilled over from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as the government in Yerevan claimed to have shot down four Azeri drones after an airstrike killed a man inside Armenia proper. | Armenian authorities said that four drones operated by Azerbaijan appeared on Thursday in the sky over the Kotayk province bordering the nation's capital city, as well as the Gegharkunik province across the border from Nagorno-Karabakh. | Three of them had been destroyed earlier in the day, and the fourth was shot down near Yerevan later in the evening, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a…

RT (2020-10-01). Nagorno-Karabakh fighting spreads: Yerevan says it shot down Azeri drone near CAPITAL as airstrike kills man inside Armenia. rt.com Fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia has spilled over from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as the government in Yerevan claimed to have shot down four Azeri drones after an airstrike killed a man inside Armenia proper. | Armenian authorities said that four drones operated by Azerbaijan appeared on Thursday in the sky over the Kotayk province bordering the nation's capital city, as well as the Gegharkunik province across the border from Nagorno-Karabakh. | Three of them had been destroyed earlier in the day, and the fourth was shot down near Yerevan later in the evening, Prime Minister Nikol Pashiny…

MEE and agencies (2020-10-01). UAE police chief accused of torture 'frontrunner for top Interpol job'. middleeasteye.net UAE police chief accused of torture 'frontrunner for top Interpol job' | Nasser Ahmed al-Raisi, accused of serious human rights abuses, could be named Interpol president in December | Thu, 10/01/2020 – 14: 26 | UAE police chief Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi (L), pictured in 2018 (Wikicommons) | A United Arab Emirates security chief accused of presiding over the "torture" of a British student is at…

_____ (2020-10-01). Fortress On A Hill: Understanding The War Industry. popularresistance.org Christian Sorenson stops by the podcast to discuss his new book "Understanding the War Industry", a detailed look at contracting within the U.S. military industrial complex and how its giant war chest gets funneled to an endless list of contractors, without question to its necessity or what could have been purchased in its place. | Everyone from libertarians to mainstream liberals to anarchists utters the words "military-industrial complex," often as a catchall for murky forces that press the U.S. government into war. But what is this complex?

sputniknews (2020-10-01). Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan Says Four Drones Shot Down Near Yerevan. sputniknews.com Earlier in the day, Yerevan said it had destroyed three drones the area close the country's capital and was trying to locate the fourth one.

Binoy Kampmark (2020-09-30). Assange's Sixteenth Day at the Old Bailey: Special Administrative Measures, Unreliable Assurances and Espionage. dissidentvoice.org September 29. Central Criminal Court, London. Julian Assange's defence team spent the day going over, reemphasising and sharpening the focus on what awaited their client should he, with the blessing of Her Majesty's Government, make his way to the United States. Not only will he confront 17 charges under the US Espionage Act and one …

Binoy Kampmark (2020-09-30). Assange on Trial: Special Administrative Measures, Unreliable Assurances and Espionage. counterpunch.org September 29. Central Criminal Court, London. Julian Assange's defence team spent the day going over, reemphasising and sharpening the focus on what awaited their client should he, with the blessing of Her Majesty's Government, make his way to the United States. Not only will he confront 17 charges under the US Espionage Act and one

Craig Murray (2020-09-30). Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 20. globalresearch.ca Tuesday has been another day on which the testimony focused on the extreme inhumane conditions in which Julian Assange would be kept imprisoned in the USA if extradited. The prosecution's continued tactic of extraordinary aggression towards witnesses who are patently …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-30). Witnesses in Assange trial say complete isolation very likely in US. peoplesdispatch.org As the final week of the extradition trial of Julian Assange continues, expert witnesses presented by the witness have focused on the treatment Assange is likely to get once extradited. Maureen Baird, who worked in the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for two decades, and Lindsay Lewis, a lawyer who represented Abu Hamza, told the court on September 29, that Assange is very likely to be put under effective solitary confinement, once he is extradited. | Baird's and Lewis' testimonies challenge the claims made by the prosecution witness, US attorney Gordon Kromberg. In a submission made to the court yesterday, Kromberg a…

sputniknews (2020-09-30). Assange Performed Enormous Service to World by Revealing US Government Secrets, Witness Says. sputniknews.com LONDON (Sputnik) – US linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky on Wednesday told the UK court deciding on the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States that the whistleblower has performed an enormous service to the people by revealing information the US government wanted to keep secret.

Steve Topple (2020-09-30). A damning fact about the BBC's Assange coverage just emerged. thecanary.co If you regularly rely on BBC News, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the extradition hearing of publisher Julian Assange wasn't happening. Because the public service broadcaster has been doing a distinctly unpublic service by But a revelation by another journalist has exposed a damning fact about the BBC's lack of stories on Assange. And moreover, it's home affairs correspondent has also admitted why he thinks his employer is ignoring the case. | Assange: the trial of the century?:…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2020-09-30). Life in Supermax for the Crime of 'Merely Doing Journalism'? UK Court Told Assange Likely to Be Sent to Notorious US Prison. commondreams.org A former warden at ADX Florence has described doing time in the Colorado prison as "a fate worse than death." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/getty-assange_protestors_0.jpg

John McEvoy (2020-09-30). Julian Assange versus Washington's boot — the hearing so far. thecanary.co To write about the greatest press freedom case in recent history, it has been necessary to rely almost exclusively on the work of

_____ (2020-09-30). Azerbaijani-Armenian War: Turkish F-16S Enter the Game. Armenia Threatens to Use Iskander Missiles. strategic-culture.org The Armenian-Azerbaijani war continues raging in the South Caucasus. | As of September 29, the Azerbaijani advance in the Nagorno-Karabakh region struck the Armenian defense and Azerbaijani forces were not able to achieve any military breakthroughs. Armenian troops withdrew from several positions in the Talish area and east of Fuzuli. | The Azerbaijani military has been successfully employing combat drones and artillery to destroy positions and military equipment of Armenia, but Azerbaijani mechanized infantry was unable to develop its momentum any further. | While both sides claim that they eliminated multiple e…

yenisafak (2020-09-30). Outrage over Indian rape victims' cremation by police. yenisafak.com The covert cremation by police of the body of a 19-year-old gang-rape victim early Wednesday triggered protests and condemnations by citizens and activists in India.The Dalit (lower caste) woman was tortured and gang-raped by four men from an upper caste at her village in Hathras in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Sept. 14. She battled for her life for two weeks before succumbing to her injuries on Tuesday.In a video going viral on social media, the victim's mother is seen pleading with police to allow her to see her daughter one last time, and bring her body home, as the police cremated the body amid tigh…

John Kendall Hawkins (2020-09-29). History, the Assange Happening: An Interview with Nozomi Hayase. counterpunch.org Nozomi Hayase is the author of WikiLeaks, the Global Fourth Estate: History Is Happening (2018). At her website, she describes herself: Nozomi Hayase, Ph.D is a liberation psychologist whose writing and activism is dedicated to the empowerment of people. Through her journalistic work, she applies psychological lenses to social and political issues and engages the

WSWS (2020-09-29). Assange faces a fate "worse than death" in US prisons, witnesses tell court. wsws.org No amount of lame denials can hide the fact that if Assange is put in the clutches of these people, he will be disappeared into the darkest corner of the US prison system.

Craig Murray (2020-09-29). Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 19. globalresearch.ca Today was the worst day for the defence since the start of the trial, as their expert witnesses failed to cope with the sheer aggression of cross-examination by the US Government and found themselves backing away from maintaining propositions they …

Max Blumenthal (2020-09-29). Exclusive: Spanish judge seeks Sheldon Adelson security chief in Assange spying case. thegrayzone.com A Spanish judge's request to probe a Las Vegas Sands staffer's apparent role in a criminal spying operation against Julian Assange indicates the investigation is homing in on US intelligence. Tellingly, the Department of Justice is stonewalling the application. By Max Blumenthal The Spanish judge presiding over the trial of a security firm owner apparently hired to spy on jailed Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange has sent a request to the US Department of Justice for an interview with Zohar Lahav, …

Binoy Kampmark (2020-09-29). Assange on Trial: Solitary Confinement and Parlous Health Care. counterpunch.org September 28. Central Criminal Court, London. Throughout the sham process formally known as the Julian Assange extradition trial, prosecutors representing the United States have been adamant: the carceral conditions awaiting him in freedom's land will be pleasant, accommodating and appropriate. Confronting 17 charges under the US Espionage Act and one under the Computer Fraud and

_____ (2020-09-29). Assange Faces 'Torturous' Months In Tiny Cell If Extradited. popularresistance.org The 49-year-old is fighting extradition to the US on charges related to leaks of classified documents allegedly exposing war crimes. | Assange's defence have claimed he is a "high" suicide risk, having already spent 16 months in top security Belmarsh jail in south London. | On Monday, the Old Bailey heard from witnesses with experience of the Alexandria Detention Centre in Virginia, Assange's likely pre-trial destination if he was extradited. | The court heard that due to his high profile and his perceived national security risk, he could be placed in an administrative segregation (ad seg) unit.

WSWS (2020-09-29). Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis: Assange is a "highly principled individual with enormous courage" wsws.org "This war on journalism is an element of the rise in authoritarianism in countries that in the past championed press freedom, but can no longer claim to do so."

Jonathan Cook (2020-09-29). The Guardian's deceit-riddled new statement betrays both Julian Assange and journalism. mronline.org In my recent post on the current hearings at the Old Bailey over Julian Assange's extradition to the United States, where he would almost certainly be locked away for the rest of his life for the crime of doing journalism, I made two main criticisms of the Guardian. A decade ago, remember, the newspaper worked …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-29). The trial of Julian Assange: Week 3. peoplesdispatch.org We take a look at the developments during the third week of the trial portion of the extradition hearings of Julian Assange that is taking place in the United Kingdom…

commondreams (2020-09-29). Appeals Court Rules GTMO Torture Victim Should Be Seen by Independent Medical Experts. commondreams.org ______________________________…