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Julian Assange to face US extradition hearing in UK next year

free Assange protest posters
© Reuters / Hannah Mckay
Julian Assange will face a five-day US extradition hearing in February next year, a judge has ruled.

The WikiLeaks founder faces an 18-count indictment, issued by the US Department of Justice, that includes charges under the Espionage Act.

At Westminster magistrates court on Friday, the chief magistrate, Emma Arbuthnot, ordered that a full extradition hearing should begin on 25 February.

Ben Brandon, representing the US, formally opened the case, a day after an extradition request was signed off by the home secretary, Sajid Javid.

Comment: Meanwhile Ecuador has taken the UK at its word that Assange won't be executed, but will 'merely' spend the rest of his life in prison for publishing the news. RT reports:
Julian Assange will not be executed if he's extradited to the US, Ecuador has reassured the world. This is good news for Assange, who will have a full life to live after completing his 175-year prison term.

The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry announced that no matter what happens to Assange, the UK has promised that it would not extradite him to a country that will kill him. The soothing statement was issued ahead of the first London court hearing to decide if the Wikileaks co-founder will be shipped off to the US in shackles.

Amid so much doom over Assange's fate, it's refreshing to have a bit of optimism coming from Ecuador's conscientious diplomats. After revoking Assange's political asylum and allowing UK authorities to frog-march him out of their embassy, Ecuador is obviously deeply concerned about the journalist's well-being.

Instead of being executed for exposing war crimes, Assange currently faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing factual information that embarrassed powerful people.
Also see:


Bad Guys

Senators switched key votes on Gulf arms ban hours after tanker attacks

Rand Paul
© Getty
Sen. Rand Paul has led the fight to ban US weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies.
A brief report from AntiWar.com's Eric Garris suggests Thursday's tanker attack incident in the Gulf of Oman which the United States promptly blamed on Iran has directly impacted bills placed before the Senate which would ban US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar.

Garris wrote of the vote which came hours after the Gulf tankers incident: "Both votes were considered highly likely to pass up until they were rushed to the floor today. The timing appears almost certainly to have been related to Thursday tanker bombings in the Gulf of Oman, and shifted a number of Senators' votes in favor of continuing the arms sales." He noted that "some senators switched sides to kill the bills" following news of the tanker attacks.

The vote, according to Defense News, indeed came very close:

Comment: From blaming Iran and endangering the Eurasian projects to empowering the US and Israel, the attacks on the tankers appear to have primarily benefited the war mongers and their allies: 7 Reasons to be Highly Skeptical of the Gulf of Oman Incident

See also:


Pocket Knife

'Intimidation attempt... against defenseless states': US Marines put on a show of air power

US Marine Corps helicopters 1
© YouTube / Ultimate Military Channel
The recent 'elephant walk' of US Marine Corps helicopters and Osprey tilt-rotors is an impressive display of air power, but will likely intimidate only small countries without air defenses, a military expert tells RT.

In what the USMC called a "dynamic display of strength," aircraft from the Marine Aircraft Group 16 in Miramar, California staged a mass take-off last week. Video of two dozen MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotors and 16 CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters shows them in "elephant walk" formation on the tarmac before they take to the skies.

Light Saber

EU and Russia reportedly agree to ditch dollar in Bilateral Transactions

US dollar bundle
© CC0
The decision comes a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the US dollar as a tool of pressure while speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission for the Energy Union, have agreed to set up a working group that will deal with a transition to using the rouble and euro in bilateral payments, Russian media outlets reported, citing Siluanov's spokesman, Andrei Lavrov.

Both sides have reportedly emphasised that the use of national currencies will be mutually beneficial, as it reduces certain risks for entrepreneurs in Russia and the EU.

Comment: See also:


Propaganda

Media hysteria over Trump comments on opposition research from foreigners is totally silly and disingenuous

Trump speech
© Reuters / Jim Bourg
Relentless Russiagaters and media pundits are working themselves into a tizzy over Donald Trump's admission that he would take information on his 2020 opponent from a foreign citizen - but the outrage is fake and disingenuous.

Trump told ABC News reporter George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday that he would want to hear information offered to him by a foreigner about his election opponent and said that gathering opposition research is common practice.

"Somebody comes up and says hey, I have information on your opponent. Do you call the FBI?" Trump asked Stephanopoulos, who predictably responded: "If it's coming from Russia, you do."

Bad Guys

Propaganda is the root of all our problems

George Kurtz
A new article by Forbes reports that the CEO of Crowdstrike, the extremely shady cybersecurity corporation which was foundational in the construction of the official CIA/CNN Russian hacking narrative, is now a billionaire.

George Kurtz ascended to the billionaire rankings on the back of soaring stocks immediately after the company went public, carried no doubt on the winds of the international fame it gained from its central protagonistic role in the most well-known hacking news story of all time. A loyal servant of empire well-rewarded.

Never mind that US government insiders like Hillary Clinton had been prepping for escalations against Russia well in advance of the 2016 elections, and that their preexisting agendas to shove a geostrategic obstacle off the world stage benefited from the hacking narrative as much as George Kurtz did.

Never mind that Crowdstrike is tied to the NATO narrative management firm known as the Atlantic Council, which receives funding from the US government, the EU, NATO, Gulf states and powerful international oligarchs. Never mind either that Crowdstrike was financed with a whopping $100 million from Google, which has had a cozy relationship with US intelligence agencies since its very inception.

Never mind that to this day the DNC servers have not been examined by the FBI, nor indeed were they examined by the Special Counsel of Robert "Iraq has WMD" Mueller, preferring instead to go with the analyses of this extremely shady outfit with extensive and well-documented ties with the oligarchic leaders of the US-centralized empire. Also never mind that the Crowdstrike analyst who led forensics on those DNC servers had in fact worked for and was promoted by Robert Mueller while the two were in the FBI.

Laptop

Microsoft and the Pentagon are quietly hijacking U.S. elections

military intelligence voting
© Composite image: Shutterstock
Good news, folks! We have found the answer to the American election system!

Why do we need an answer? Well, our election system is ... how do you say ... a festering rancid corrupt needlessly complex rigged rotten infected putrid pus-covered diseased dog pile of stinking, dying cockroach-filled rat shit smelling like Mitch McConnell under a vat of pig farts. And that's a quote from The Lancet medical journal (I think).

But have no fear: The most trustworthy of corporations recently announced it is going to selflessly and patriotically secure our elections. It's a small company run by vegans and powered by love. It goes by the name "Microsoft." (You're forgiven for never having heard of it.)

The recent headlines were grandiose and thrilling:

"Microsoft offers software tools to secure elections."

"Microsoft aims to modernize and secure voting with ElectionGuard."

Penis Pump

US general: 'NATO surrounds Serbia... but Russia is the problem'

Wesley Clark
© Facebook / Wes Clark
FILE PHOTO: Retired General of the United States Army, Wesley Clark, in Kosovo
Retired US General Wesley Clark, NATO commander during the 1999 Kosovo War, has accused Russia of keeping the Balkans as a 'crisis in waiting,' raising an alarm over one humanitarian base entirely surrounded by NATO countries.

Clark was in Kosovo this week along with other leading figures from the conflict, to mark the 20th anniversary of NATO troops occupying the Serbian province on behalf of the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army." While he did not get a medal, like former US President Bill Clinton, or a statue like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the retired general was interviewed by the government TV station RTK about his vision for the region.

Speaking with RTK's Evliana Berani, Clark described NATO's presence in Kosovo as an "important continuing commitment" that's helping peace and stability in the Balkans - but warned that a threat from Russia was looming over the region.

Comment: It's notable that while Clark claims US presence is bringing 'peace and stability' to the region, tensions are actually rising: Serbian troops on high alert after Kosovo's forces raid Serb-populated regions

See also:


Chess

US Office of Special Counsel charges Trump aide Kellyanne Conway with violating Hatch Act and recommends her removal

Kellyanne Conway
© Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Kellyanne Conway
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act on "numerous occasions" and should be removed from the government, a United States federal office announced Thursday.

The recommendation was made by Henry Kerner, head of the Office of Special Counsel, in a letter and report sent to President Trump recommending she be removed from federal service.

Federal employees are prohibited by the Hatch Act from using their jobs to campaign for or against political candidates. The president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act, but employees of the White House are not.

The Office of Special Counsel, led by Kerner, whom Trump nominated to the post, is charged with enforcing the Hatch Act and is not connected to now-former special counsel Robert S. Mueller's Russia investigation.

Dominoes

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is leaving White House - Trump

Sarah Sanders
© Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Sarah Sanders
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave the White House at the end of June, President Donald Trump has announced.

"After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas," Trump tweeted on Thursday. "She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas."

Sanders herself had not yet announced her departure at time of writing, nor are the circumstances of her apparent resignation known.

Named as Deputy Press Secretary after Trump's election, Sanders was promoted to her most recent position in July 2017, replacing Sean Spicer. In her post, she sparred regularly with an often vicious Washington press corps, and was subjected to scathing media criticism, along with her boss.