WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been taken to Westminster Magistrates Court after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Photos of the whistleblower defiantly gesturing in a police van have emerged in the media.
Journalist flocked to the white police van carrying the whistleblower into the courthouse. With his hair tied back and sporting a full-length white beard, Assange offered cameras a hardy thumbs up with a wink.
Assange stepped into the courtroom wearing a dark polo shirt and quietly read his Gore Vidal book while he waited for his lawyers to arrive.
Earlier, Metropolitan Police said in a statement that they arrested Assange on a warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June 2012, for failing to surrender to the court. The police were“invited into the embassy by the Ambassador,” it said.
Julian Assange is a pioneering whistleblower in the digital-age, speaking truth to power like no one before him managed on such a significant scale. As he sits in a London jail cell, here’s why we should be grateful for his work.
By setting up the international non-profit organization WikiLeaksin Iceland in 2006, Assange irrevocably shifted the balance of power in the online era.
From humble beginnings as a master coder and hacker, caught by Australian authorities in 1995 but escaping a prison term, to the foremost publisher of sensitive, embarrassing and potentially dangerous material for the world to see, Assange’s storied career as a publisher and whistleblower has captured headlines, and the global public’s attention for years.
RT takes a look back at the key moments in Assange’s career that remind us why the world owes him such a debt of gratitude.
In 2007, WikiLeaks published emails exposing the manuals for Camp Delta, a controversial US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba which was the focal point for the US war on terror and the final destination for those captured as part of its extraordinary rendition campaign.
The following year the whistleblowing site posted emails from vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s private Yahoo email account, again exposing the newfound weakness of the political class in the digital age.
‘Collateral murder’
In a move that would reverberate online and across the world for years, in April 2010 WikiLeaks published footage of US forces summarily executing 18 civilians from an Apache attack helicopter in Iraq. It was an almost unheard of revelation of the brutality of war and the low price of human life in modern conflict.
2010 was a very busy year for Assange as in July WikiLeaks published more than 90,000 classified documents and diplomatic cables relating to the Afghanistan war.
Later, in October 2010, the organization published a raft of classified documents from the Iraq War. The logs were referred to as “the largest leak of classified documents in its history” by the US Department of Defense, according to the BBC. WikiLeaks followed that up in November by publishing diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world.
The Guantánamo Files and Spy Files
In April 2011, WikiLeaks published classified US military documents detailing the behavior and treatment of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. This leak would be followed, once again, by a vast trove (250 million) of US diplomatic cables.
Throughout this sequence of widely-praised leaks, Assange invited a global audience behind the curtain of international diplomacy and warfare to expose the hidden truths of global power dynamics in a way which would forever change the power structure and landscape, affording a platform to analysts like Chelsea Manning to expose potential war crimes and misdeeds by the US military at large.
Assange and WikiLeaks would also help fellow whistleblowers like Edward Snowden to seek refuge from predatory US authorities, providing aid and comfort to those who risked everything in the pursuit of truth, exposing some of the most egregious mass surveillance programs the world has ever known.
DNC leak
As the 2016 US presidential election loomed, WikiLeaks published nearly 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee, which exposed the preferential treatment shown to then-candidate for president Hillary Clinton over her competitor Bernie Sandersin the Democratic primary. Assange boldly informed CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the release was indeed timed to coincide with the Democratic National Convention.
In October that same year, WikiLeaks began publishing emails from Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, which shed light on the inner workings of the Democratic nominee’s political machine.
These included excerpts from Clinton’s speeches to Wall Street, politically-motivated payments made to the Clinton Foundation, her consideration of choosing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates or his wife as a potential running mate, her desire to covertly intervene in Syria, her intention to ring-fence China with missile defense batteries if it did not curtail North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Legacy
Following his arrest on the morning of April 11, 2019, Assange’s future remains unclear. He likely faces extradition to the US where it was inadvertently revealed that he has been charged under seal in a US federal court. Former Assange collaborator Chelsea Manning has been imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with the court in relation to the case.
Assange’s legal battle is only just beginning, it seems, but the international following he has forged will undoubtedly grant him a place in the pantheon of history’s champions of truth.
He remains a true digital pioneer, paving the way for so many to follow in his footsteps and expose the untold misdeeds of the powerful, be they political figures or entire militaries. Assange has defiantly shown what a powerful tool digital technology can be and how easily the dynamics of power can be shifted in the 21st century by those brave enough. Unfortunately, he also showed the consequences of wielding such power in the face of such overwhelming international and political opposition.
While Facebook claims to have deleted thousands of pages to prevent meddling in the Indian elections, the American company’s selective deletions have led at least one man to ask: Who is watching the election watchers?
A little over a week ahead of the beginning of elections in India this Thursday, Facebook raised some eyebrows when it announced that it had removed a number of politically oriented pages as a part of its “election integrity” efforts.
The social media giant removed 138 pro-opposition pages that had over 200,000 followers for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”While they only removed 15 pro-government pages, as it turned out, those pages had a far wider reach with millions of likes.
Given the apparent imbalance, it is all the more concerning that the purge was conducted with assistance from the US-based Atlantic Council, a think tank that receives millions of dollars in funding from the US State Department and NATO allies.
Indian defense analyst and security expert Abhijit Iyer-Mitra is one of the people extremely concerned with the impact the American private company could have on India’s elections. He has even filed a criminal complaint with police in New Delhi, describing Facebook’s actions as an act of war, and an attack on the country’s sovereignty.
Speaking to RT, Iyer-Mitra blasted the social network for their glaring double standards: while making extensive efforts to protect American elections from foreign actors in the wake of the alleged “Russian meddling” scandal, the company seemingly had no qualms about letting a state-department-linked think tank act in place of Indian election officials.
“The point is they are an American company, this is an Indian election,” said Iyer-Mitra. “We are not willing to cede our sovereignty to other countries like this. I think they are making a big mistake and I intend to pursue this to the end.”
The Democratic lawyer failed to register as a foreign agent of Ukraine.
By Richard Moorhead
Attorneys for former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig revealed Wednesday that the longtime Democratic lawyer expects to be indicted by federal prosecutors on charges related to his work with the Ukrainian government in 2012.
Findings discovered in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into supposed Russian meddling in American politics may have contributed towards the upcoming charges against Craig. Craig performed work for Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice, and was apparently connected with the Ukrainians through Paul Manafort, the Republican operative indicted by Mueller for overseas political activity.
Craig was originally investigated by the Justice Department for failing to register as a foreign agent while working for the Ukrainian government. However, it seems statues of limitation have since expired for that crime, and his attorneys expect him to be indicted for making false statements to DOJ investigators instead.
Craig was President Obama’s White House Counsel from 2009 to 2010. He also has been a political advisor to liberal bigwigs Ted Kennedy and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
An associate of Hillary and Bill Clinton for decades, the high-society lawyer even rented an apartment to the Clintons as a Yale Law Student in the 1970’s. He would go on to lead the legal team representing President Bill Clinton in impeachment proceedings in the 1990’s.
Craig possibly represents the most high-profile elite Democrat to be indicted for foreign political activities in the past few years. Democratic kingpin Tony Podesta was investigated by Robert Mueller’s team for similarly suspect political activities in Ukraine, which may have involved lavish compensation that went unreported to the American government from pro-Russia political parties. After being investigated, Podesta ultimately wasn’t charged by the government, although the political consulting firm known as the Podesta Group he led with his brother John shut down.
An Islamic cleric who advises the British government in an official capacity supported Asia Bibi’s death by hanging for “blasphemy” against the Prophet Muhammad.
An investigation by The Daily Mail found that an Islamic Imam who serves as the British government’s “Islamophobia adviser” supported the death penalty for a woman convicted of breaking Islamic blasphemy laws.
“Qari Asim, who is part of an 11-strong panel assembled by the Communities Department, supported preacher Khadim Rizvi, who demanded the death penalty for Asia Bibi, who was falsely accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” according to the report.
Bibi spent nine years on death row in Pakistan before being acquitted in October. A group run by the Islamic preacher Rizvi called Tehreek-e-Labbaik reportedly whipped up nationwide protests against Bibi, demanding that she be hanged for her alleged crimes.
“Rizvi also endorsed the actions of Tanveer Ahmed, a British extremist who killed a shopkeeper in Glasgow, Asad Shah, because he belonged to a ‘heretical’ Muslim sect known as the Ahmadis,” the report said. “After the murder in 2016, Rizvi praised Ahmed in his preachings, hailing him as a ‘ghazi’, or ‘warrior.’”
All of this brutality is openly supported by Asim, who advises the British government in an official capacity against “Islamaphobia.”
He reportedly “issued a statement on his Facebook page in November 2017 in solidarity with [Rizvi],” when the preacher was campaigning to have Bibi hanged for her alleged blasphemy.
According to Pamela Geller and The Geller Report, the British government has refused to offer Bibi asylum.
Two Islamic extremists, both 20 years old, have been arrested by police in Paris after allegedly plotting to massacre a kindergarten full of children,Breitbartreports.
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The two men were arrested on March 25th with the Paris prosecutor charging them over plotting to kill children and police officers.
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One of the men involved is said to have been known to the General Directorate of Homeland Security (DGSI), France’s internal intelligence agency.
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The man, who investigators consider the mastermind of the plot, admitted after his arrest that he wanted to enter the kindergarten, attack the children, and then take some hostage until police arrived, at which point he would attempt to kill the police officers.
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The suspect also spoke highly of terrorist Mohamed Merah, the Islamic extremist who was behind the Toulouse and Montauban shootings that targetted French soldiers along with teachers and children at a Jewish school in 2012.
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A source close to the investigation also told broadcaster RTL that the chief suspect in the plot has “very strong psychiatric instability”, as well as signs of depression, narcissism, and suicidal tendencies.
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DGSI had been observing the man since 2015 after he had become increasingly close to the radical jihadist movement.
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Police decided to arrest him shortly after he made it known he was looking to procure weapons and adding that his plot had not reached a concrete planning stage at the time of his arrest.
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The arrest is just the latest terror plot to be foiled in France. Last October, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that authorities had managed to thwart five major terror attacks in 2018 alone.
The YouTube and Twitch star added that he wants conservatives “excised” from the United States.
By Tom Pappert
The popular Twitch and YouTube streamer Destiny, real name Steven Donnell, recently called for “real violence” against conservatives while streaming with a guest.
Donnell, who has grown a reputation for using crass language to describe his views, told his guest that he “hates” conservatives, and has moved on to the “real violence level” when it comes to how to deal with them.
“You really do hate conservatives, don’t you?” Asked his guest during the Twitch live stream, to which Donnell responded in the affirmative.
“Very much so,” he said. “I’ve moved full on to the political violence level, or the real violence level, when it comes to conservative people.”
This striking call for violence is far less vague than the alleged threat used by Big Tech platforms to ban Alex Jones, who was banned from Twitter after he simply encouraged his viewers to sleep “with their battle rifles ready” to prepare for defense.
Donnell, however, continued by saying he believes conservatives should be physically removed from the United States.
“Yeah, I think they need to be excised from my f*cking country. I think they are demonstrably f*cking evil people by any moral system that most people would use,”said Donnell, adding, “I just hate them because they tend to destroy the outcomes related to this country, which is what I’m concerned about, yeah, absolutely.”
This type of behavior would seem to directly contradict Twitch’s community guidelines, which state that “Hateful conduct is any content or activity that promotes, encourages, or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, medical condition, physical characteristics, or veteran status, and is prohibited.”
Big League Politics and others have attempted to contact Twitch to understand why Destiny is allowed to advocate violence on its platform. We have not received a response.
Donnell grew an audience streaming popular video games including Call of Duty, League of Legends, and Starcraft. He was previously banned from Twitch for using homophobic slurs and derogatory remarks about the disabled, including use of the words “faggot” and “retard.” He was eventually allowed to rejoin the platform.
He was also banned from Twitter after threatening to bomb a Cox Communications Internet node, though he maintained it was a joke.
An African migrant posing as an ‘unaccompanied minor’ turned out to be 47-years-old, according to local media.
The man told French police that he was a 16-year-old from Guinea in order to “take advantage of the procedure to welcome unaccompanied minors in France,”Sud Ouestreports.
He even provided a birth certificate stating that he was born in 2002.
However, officers discovered the man had recently applied for a visa in Spain.
“The Charente police force, faced with the exponential increase in the number of unaccompanied minors, has strengthened its control system, and in particular has approached the Spanish authorities,” Sud Ouest explains.
“Thus, Angoumoisins police discovered that the man had made a visa application in Spain, in 2017, with his passport as support. The latter indicates that he is in fact aged 47-years-old.”
The man was then detained and ordered to leave French territory immediately.
A similar case had reportedly unfolded the day before when a 21-year-old Malian told French police he was 16.
After a coordinated investigation with Spanish authorities, the Malian was also ordered to leave France.
A 2017 report by Die Welt revealed that 43% of the nearly 56,000 migrants in Germany claiming to be under the age of 18 were actually adults.
Under the name “Abbe Blattelito”, the criminal migrant had over 100,000 followers on social media.Now he has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend in a bathtub – and for crimes against other former girlfriends as well,Fria Tiderreports.
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“There were times I thought I would die”, says one of the women, 24-year-old Malin, to Crime Central (Swedish crime news show).
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Abbe Alsaadi, which is 23-year-old Blattelito’s real name, was sentenced for murder, assault, gross violation of a woman’s integrity and a long list of other crimes last week.
The so-called Influencer’s main victims were his girlfriends.
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One of them was found dead in a bathtub on April 26 last year. After being tortured, whipped and beaten by Blattelito, she drowned in her own bathtub. Shortly after Blattelito had given her an overdose of Tramadol with a syringe.
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According to the prosecution, the migrant tried to cover up the murder “with the help of among other things lit candles and strawberries”.
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The motive for the murder is said to have been Blattelito’s celebrity and his image as rich and successful – a false facade that the ex-girlfriend could easily ruin by reporting him to the police for repeated assault.
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Blattelito is also sentenced for having abused and in various ways tormented other ex-girlfriends.
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One of them, 24-year-old Malin, tells Crime Central that she was abused and strangled by him on a number of occasions. She says that on some occasions she thought she was going to die. The migrant also called her “whore” and “cunt” regularly.
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Another victim, 21-year-old Carolin Karlsson, told the newspaper Expressen that Blattelito humiliated her by pouring various liquids on her, that he filmed the humiliation and posted the video on Snapchat. Because of this she didn’t dare go out for a long time.
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“My trust in guys was completely destroyed and I still find it difficult to be around men”, she said to Expressen.
An Indian man says Facebook sent representatives to his physical home to verify whether he posted certain political content on the platform, highlighting more concerns about privacy and freedom of speech.
A man living in New Delhi, India, who says he made political posts on the platform, claims he had a representative from Facebook show up at his residence to ask questions about the post. It is believed the company took this action as part of its ongoing fight against “fake news,” and that it is the first known instance of Facebook appearing at someone’s physical address to determine the veracity of posts.
Top legal experts in India seem to consider the possible invasion of privacy unprecedented, and believe it could open Facebook to legal recourse.
“This action, if true, clearly infringes upon the privacy of a user. Sending a representative to physically verify a user is a blatant invasion of his or her privacy space. Only the state can act like this under proper laws,” Pavan Duggal, the country’s top cyber law expert and a senior Supreme Court advocate, told IANS.
Facebook, Duggal said, can at best discontinue a Page, Group or delete the post, or remove the user from its platform as it has done so in the past. When it comes to those who wants to run political ads on Facebook, the company verifies residency of advertisers either by physical verification (by sending someone to the address provided) or by sending a code in the post.
The article also notes that Duggal considers the move a “gross violation,” and “unwarranted under the ambit of the Information Technology Act, 2000,” quoting Duggal as saying “In such a scenario, the user can sue Facebook and even the government for allowing such activities under its nose that infringes on the privacy of a user.”
As Facebook attempts to stamp out fake news in India, which is the world’s largest democracy, the country quickly approaches an important election on April 11.
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