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Hissyspit's JournalKevin Gosztola: "Assange’s Fears About Extradition to the United States Affirmed"
Kevin Gosztola:
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/08/17/julian-assanges-fears-about-extradition-to-the-united-states-affirmed/
Julian Assange’s Fears About Extradition to the United States Affirmed
By: Kevin Gosztola Friday August 17, 2012 12:14 pm
- snip -
Another bigger question is why Assange continues to claim the US has plans or intentions to “persecute” or, to use a term that is more neutral, prosecute him. Snide commentators, sneering correspondents, and elite-minded former government officials discount any suggestion that the US might extradite Assange from Sweden. They do not even bother to take into account the existence of an empaneled grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, in the Eastern District that is investigating anyone who can be connected to the WikiLeaks organization.
Now, The Saturday Age, based in Australia, has published a report that features some critical details on the United States government’s plans for Assange. It describes Australian Foreign Affairs Department documents that were obtained under freedom of information laws and show the Australian diplomatic service “takes seriously the likelihood that Assange will eventually be extradited to the US on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.” Australia’s ambassador to the US Kim Beazley sought “high-level US advice on ‘the direction and likely outcome of the investigation’ and “reiterated’ an Australian government request for “early advice of any decision to indict or seek extradition” of Assange.
The diplomatic cables identify “a wide range of criminal charges the US could bring against Assange, including espionage, conspiracy, unlawful access to classified information and computer fraud.” They indicate “Australian diplomats expect that any charges against Assange would be carefully drawn in an effort to avoid conflict with the First Amendment free speech provisions of the US constitution.”
- snip -
Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Michael Ratner, who is a member of the WikiLeaks legal team, considers the details to be “pretty extraordinary revelations.” It shows Australian government officials to be “hypocrites if not liars” because they have claimed “they don’t know anything about a US prosecution or extradition.”
MORE[p]
U.S. in Pursuit of Assange, Cables Reveal
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
US in pursuit of Assange, cables reveal
August 18, 2012
EXCLUSIVE
AUSTRALIAN diplomats have no doubt the United States is still gunning for Julian Assange, according to Foreign Affairs Department documents obtained by The Saturday Age.
The Australian embassy in Washington has been tracking a US espionage investigation targeting the WikiLeaks publisher for more than 18 months.
The declassified diplomatic cables, released under freedom of information laws, show Australia's diplomatic service takes seriously the likelihood that Assange will eventually be extradited to the US on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.
- snip -
The cables also show that the Australian government considers the prospect of extradition sufficiently likely that, on direction from Canberra, Mr Beazley sought high-level US advice on "the direction and likely outcome of the investigation" and "reiterated our request for early advice of any decision to indict or seek extradition of Mr Assange".
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-in-pursuit-of-assange-cables-reveal-20120817-24e8u.html#ixzz23pUkDi00
From Kevin Gosztola:
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/08/17/julian-assanges-fears-about-extradition-to-the-united-states-affirmed/
Julian Assange’s Fears About Extradition to the United States Affirmed
By: Kevin Gosztola Friday August 17, 2012 12:14 pm
- snip -
Another bigger question is why Assange continues to claim the US has plans or intentions to “persecute” or, to use a term that is more neutral, prosecute him. Snide commentators, sneering correspondents, and elite-minded former government officials discount any suggestion that the US might extradite Assange from Sweden. They do not even bother to take into account the existence of an empaneled grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, in the Eastern District that is investigating anyone who can be connected to the WikiLeaks organization.
Now, The Saturday Age, based in Australia, has published a report that features some critical details on the United States government’s plans for Assange. It describes Australian Foreign Affairs Department documents that were obtained under freedom of information laws and show the Australian diplomatic service “takes seriously the likelihood that Assange will eventually be extradited to the US on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.” Australia’s ambassador to the US Kim Beazley sought “high-level US advice on ‘the direction and likely outcome of the investigation’ and “reiterated’ an Australian government request for “early advice of any decision to indict or seek extradition” of Assange.
The diplomatic cables identify “a wide range of criminal charges the US could bring against Assange, including espionage, conspiracy, unlawful access to classified information and computer fraud.” They indicate “Australian diplomats expect that any charges against Assange would be carefully drawn in an effort to avoid conflict with the First Amendment free speech provisions of the US constitution.”
- snip -
Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Michael Ratner, who is a member of the WikiLeaks legal team, considers the details to be “pretty extraordinary revelations.” It shows Australian government officials to be “hypocrites if not liars” because they have claimed “they don’t know anything about a US prosecution or extradition.”
MORE[p]
In UK Threat to Ecuador, Experts See Mistake
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/uk-threat-ecuador-experts-mistake-17028638In UK Threat to Ecuador, Experts See Mistake
By RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press
LONDON August 17, 2012 (AP)
- snip -
Experts and ex-diplomats say Britain's Foreign Office, which warned Ecuador of a little known law that would allow it to side-step usual diplomatic protocols, messed up by issuing a threat it couldn't back up.
"It was a big mistake," said former British ambassador Oliver Miles. "It puts the British government in the position of asking for something illegitimate."
- snip -
The Ecuadoreans were outraged by the notes, accusing Britain of threatening to assault their embassy and calling a crisis meeting of the Union of South American Nations. The ripples from the controversy continued to spread Friday, with Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying in a brief message posted to Twitter that the issue raised questions about diplomatic protections.
Britain's Foreign Office insists its missive was "not a threat," something that Miles dismissed with a laugh. "If I tell you, 'I'm not threatening you but I DO have a very large stick here,' it's a question of semantics," he said.
MORE AT LINK[p]
FT Poll: Obama Better for World Economy
Source: Reuters
Obama better for world economy: poll
Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:36am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - Twice as many business executives around the world say the global economy will prosper better if incumbent U.S. president Barack Obama wins the next election than if his Republican challenger Mitt Romney does, a poll showed on Friday.
Democrat Obama was chosen by 42.7 percent in the 1,700 respondent poll, compared with 20.5 percent for Romney. The rest said "neither".
The result was different among respondents in the United States, where a slim majority thought Romney would be better for their businesses than Obama.
The FT poll was conducted before Romney picked Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate at the weekend, a move that could dramatically shift the election debate between two sharply contrasting views of government spending and debt.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87G07D20120817
Tampa Abandons Efforts to Evict "Romneyville" Protesters
Source: Reuters
Tampa abandons efforts to evict "Romneyville" protesters
Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:52pm EDT
By Saundra Amrhein TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Protesters who have set up a camp dubbed "Romneyville" in a restricted area near the site where the Republican National Convention will be held later this month in Tampa can stop worrying about being evicted.
City council members agreed on Thursday to abandon their efforts to look into potential violations of land-use laws or other ordinances with a view to evicting the protesters from the restricted so-called event zone near the convention site.
City officials told the council that they had issued zoning violation notices to some property owners two days earlier, warning that camping and tents on the site were not permitted. But the property owners have 21 days to act, meaning that any actual evictions would not occur before the August 27-30 Republican presidential nominating convention is over.
- snip -
Occupy Tampa member Heidi Halsworth told the council the park would only be used as a base for protesters to get water, food or information, however, and that only several hundred demonstrators would be there at any one time.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87G00X20120817?irpc=932
Time, CNN Reinstate Zakaria After Plagiarism Review
Source: Reuters
Time, CNN reinstate Zakaria after plagiarism review
Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:40pm EDT
(Reuters) - Time magazine and CNN said on Thursday they were reinstating journalist Fareed Zakaria after suspending him last week for plagiarism.
Time said in a statement that it believed Zakaria made an "unintentional error" in what was an "isolated incident" in a recent column on gun control for the magazine that he took from another writer.
"We look forward to having Fareed's thoughtful and important voice back in the magazine with his next column in the issue that comes out on September 7," Time said in a statement.
Cable news channel CNN said that after a thorough internal review of Zakaria's work on his Sunday TV shows, blogs and documentaries, "we found nothing that merited continuing the suspension."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87F1GM20120816
Breivik Report Forces Norway Police Chief to Quit
Source: Reuters
Breivik report forces Norway police chief to quit
Aug 16, 2012 5:18pm EDT
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's police chief resigned on Thursday, days after an independent commission found that police could have prevented all or part of a bombing and shooting spree by far-right militant Anders Behring Breivik that killed 77 people.
The bombing of central Oslo and shooting spree at the ruling Labour party's youth camp shook the tiny nation of 5 million people, raising questions about the prevalence of far-right views in Norway and the efficiency of the security services.
Police Chief Oeystein Maeland, who became the head of the police directorate weeks before Breivik's attack on July 22, 2011, has been criticized for his failure to face up to police shortcomings in the aftermath of Norway's worst peacetime violence.
Maeland, a long-time Labour Party politician and the best man at Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's wedding, quit after losing the confidence of Justice Minister Grete Faremo and other politicians, he told news agency NTB.
Read more: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87F1AG20120816
Daily Beast: Meet The Man Who Wrongly Accused Fareed Zakaria of Plagiarism
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/16/clyde-prestowitz.htmlMeet The Man Who Wrongly Accused Fareed Zakaria of Plagiarism
by David Frum Aug 16, 2012 10:45 AM EDT
- snip -
Yesterday, the Washington Post retracted its story accusing Fareed Zakaria of scalping quoted material from a book by Clyde Prestowitz.
The quoted material was in fact properly attributed in all editions of Fareed's The Post-American World. See below for the details.
- snip -
Fareed responded with a general defense of his work methods, but in print, that read very much like what it was not: a confession of the validity of Prestowitz's specific claim.
The rest unfolded as we saw.
Prestowitz has since apologized for his actions: but what was he originally thinking? In his own statement, Prestowitz claims that "I had overlooked this reference earlier because the note was attached to Tom’s book title". How was it he didn't notice his own, very easy to resolve mistake for so long? And why did he decide to recklessly launch a damaging accusation on such a casual basis—starting a controversy that damaged not only Fareed's reputation, but that of the reporter, Paul Farhi, who incautiously trusted Prestowitz's word?
MORE[p]
It's Official: Ecuador Grants Wikileaks Founder Assange Asylum
@MMFlint
Ecuador has just announced that it has granted asylum to Jullian Assange! UK gov't ready now to raid Ecuadorian embassy and seize him.
BREAKING NEWS: Ecuador Grants Asylum to Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange
Source: BBC News / Ecuador FM Press Conference
16 August 2012 Last updated at 08:38 ET Share this pageEmailPrint
Julian Assange: Ecuador grants Wikileaks founder asylum
Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK.
Its foreign minister accused the UK of making an "open threat" to enter its embassy to arrest Mr Assange.
Ricardo Patino said there were fears Mr Assange's human rights may be violated.
Mr Assange took refuge at the embassy in June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over assault and rape claims, which he denies.
He made the move after the UK's Supreme Court dismissed Mr Assange's bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19281492
@ggreenwald KEY FACT HERE: Ecuador FM: we tried to get Sweden to agree to no extradition to US in exchange for Assange going to Sweden - they said NO
Ecuador Foreign Minister: The asylum process is not an abandonment of the rule of law; it is the rule of law, and long has been.
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