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Attention

US wants to 'make an example' of Assange in jail, claims UN expert Nils Melzer

Nick Miller
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 16:36 UTC
assange un report
© NineVMSJulian Assange brandishes a 2016 UN report that found he was being detained unlawfully.
Assange's team are expected to argue he will not receive a fair trial if the extradition takes place, and that extradition would be dangerous to his health - arguments bolstered by the damning independent report from Melzer.

In May, after visiting Assange in Belmarsh Prison for an interview and psychological examination, Melzer concluded that the US, Britain, Sweden and Ecuador shared responsibility for the "psychological torture" of Assange.

On Sunday new details emerged of Melzer's conclusions, after the publication of letters that Melzer sent to the respective governments of those countries.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner also published two responses received from the US and Sweden which strongly rejected Melzer's claims and arguments.

Comment: RT further reports:
In the letters, made public over the weekend, Melzer appealed to the governments of the UK and Sweden not to surrender Assange to the US justice system, where the 48-year-old will likely be "tortured." At the same time, he demanded a fair trial for Assange from the US.

"Given the strongly perceptible public and official prejudice held against Mr. Assange in the United States, there are serious reasons to doubt that he would receive a fair trial before an impartial judicial body as required under human rights law," Melzer wrote.
"I underscore my most serious concern that, if Mr. Assange were to be extradited or otherwise surrendered to the United States... he would be exposed to a real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
The UN official also confirmed the deteriorating physical and mental health of the journalist, who showed "all symptoms typical for prolonged and sustained exposure to severe psychological stress, anxiety and related mental and emotional suffering in an environment highly conducive to major depressive and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD)."

Unless Assange gains access to a psychiatrist, his mental health could deteriorate further, Melzer warned, stressing that "Assange's health condition and cognitive and sensory capacity have been, and still are, significantly impaired."

From Melzer's interview with RT on May 31, 2019:



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Question

Best of the Web: If Greta Thunberg is worried about the end of the world, why does she pose with status quo politicians?

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Sun, 28 Jul 2019 21:02 UTC
Greta Thunberg France
Greta Thunberg speaks in the French parliament on Tuesday.
After nearly a year of her endless tour through parliaments and conferences, the climate activist must by now realize that she is little more than a feelgood photo op and an advert for train travel. Is Greta Thunberg OK with this?

In France on Tuesday, the 16-year-old delivered her stenciled masterclass of rhetoric presented as stark plain-spokenness.

"You say that nothing in life is black or white. But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie," she told the packed hall of deputies from a lectern adorned with the tricolor and parliamentary insignia. "Either we choose to go on as a civilization or we don't. That is as black or white as it gets."

Comment: Perhaps one ought to have compassion for the somewhat autistic Greta, who like Syrian Twitter-girl Bana before her, is a puppet of larger forces. But on no account should she be paid any mind. Her campaign of eco-fear is propaganda through and through. Al Gore has passed the torch.

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Boat

China still importing Iranian oil despite sanctions - but numbers are 60% down from last year


Yahoo News
Sat, 27 Jul 2019 16:13 UTC
Iran oil field
© Essam Al-Sudani / Reuters
China's crude oil imports from Iran sank almost 60% in June from a year earlier, Chinese customs data showed on Saturday, following the end of a waiver on U.S. sanctions at the start of May.

Crude shipment from Iran were 855,638 tonnes last month, or 208,205 barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed. That compared with 254,016 bpd in May.

According to Refinitiv Oil Research assessments, a total of 670,000 tonnes, or about 163,000 bpd, of Iranian crude oil was discharged in June at Tianjin in north China and Jinzhou in the northeast.

Refinitiv Oil Research also showed another 430,000 tonnes of Iranian crude oil was discharged in July at Jinzhou and Huizhou in south China.

All the discharged vessels are operated by National Iranian Tanker Company.

It's not clear who owns the cargoes nor if any buyer has been arranged. State oil firms have since May stopped taking Iranian crude oil, due to concerns about U.S. sanctions.

Comment: Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri is urging China and other Iranian allies to purchase more Iranian oil:
"Even though we are aware that allies such as China are facing some restrictions, we expect them to be more active in buying Iranian oil", Jahangiri told visiting senior Chinese diplomat Song Tao as quoted by the news agency.

The official noted that the US is trying to create an impression that it can bring Iranian oil sales to zero, which would lead to the collapse of the country's economy, but fortunately, despite a year under a US oil embargo the economic situation in Iran is stable.


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Sheriff

John Ratcliffe: AG William Barr will deliver justice to any Obama officials who committed crimes - 'Bill Barr has earned my trust'

Daniel Chaitin and Jerry Dunleavy
The Washington Examiner
Sun, 28 Jul 2019 16:19 UTC
William Barr swearing in
© Associated Press/Andrew HarnikAttorney General William Barr is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Mueller report, in Washington, May 1, 2019.
A top Republican investigator said accountability is coming for any of those individuals who may have committed crimes during the Trump-Russia investigation.

With the Justice Department conducting a review of that operation, Rep. John Ratcliffe said during a Fox News interview Sunday that he trusts Attorney General William Barr and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to provide answers.

And while Ratcliffe said he does not want to prematurely accuse any specific person of a crime — as Democrats have done with President Trump — he stressed that it is clear crimes were committed by people during the Obama administration, including government officials.

Comment:

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Arrow Down

Julian Assange faces 'TORTURE' if extradited to US - UN rapporteur warns


RT
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 08:45 UTC
Assange
© Ruptly and @JULIANA42636234
Julian Assange will most likely be subjected to torture if he is extradited to the US, the UN special rapporteur on torture warned, revealing Assange's current living conditions.

The UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, visited Assange at Belmarsh Prison in London with two medical experts in May to access the extent of the ill-treatment the WikiLeaks founder has been subjected to over the years. Following the examination, Melzer wrote letters to the American, British, Ecuadorian, and Swedish governments outlining his conclusions.

In the letters, made public over the weekend, Melzer appealed to the governments of the UK and Sweden not to surrender Assange to the US justice system, where the 48-year-old will likely be "tortured." At the same time, he demanded a fair trial for Assange from the US.

"Given the strongly perceptible public and official prejudice held against Mr. Assange in the United States, there are serious reasons to doubt that he would receive a fair trial before an impartial judicial body as required under human rights law," Melzer wrote.

Comment: See also: UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer has become one of Assange's most vocal advocates

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No Entry

Illegal gold miners invade indigenous village in Brazil, Senator blames Bolsanaro

Dom Phillips
The Guardian
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 06:00 UTC
Waiãpi
© AFP Contributor/AFP/Getty ImagesA Waiãpi man at the indigenous reserve in Amapá state in Brazil.
Dozens of gold miners have invaded a remote indigenous reserve in the Brazilian Amazon where a local leader was stabbed to death and have taken over a village after the community fled in fear, local politicians and indigenous leaders said. The authorities said police were on their way to investigate.

Illegal gold mining is at epidemic proportions in the Amazon and the heavily polluting activities of garimpeiros - as miners are called - devastate forests and poison rivers with mercury. About 50 garimpeiros were reported to have invaded the 600,000-hectare Waiãpi indigenous reserve in the state of Amapá on Saturday.

The men were spotted days after the murder of Emyra Waiãpi, a community leader, whose body was found near the village of Mariry early on Wednesday.

Comment: If there was any doubt about Bolsanaro's integrity or his intentions this is a good example of his plans for Brazil: Pepe Escobar: Brazilgate is turning into Russiagate 2.0

See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Trump adviser Papadopoulos was given $10K payment in Israel 'intended to entrap him'

Gregg Re
Fox News
Sun, 28 Jul 2019 12:00 UTC
Papadopoulos
© Fox NewsFormer 2016 Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos weighs in on the $10,000 payment he received in Israel.
Former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo in an exclusive interview that he is heading back to Greece to retrieve $10,000 that he suspects was dropped in his lap as part of an entrapment scheme by the CIA or FBI -- and federal investigators want to see the marked bills, which he said are now stored in a safe.

Papadopoulos said on "Sunday Morning Futures" he was "very happy" to see Devin Nunes, R-Calif., grill former Special Counsel Robert Mueller about the summer 2017 payment during last week's hearings -- even though Mueller maintained, without explanation, that the matter was outside the scope of his investigation.

"I was very happy to see that Devin Nunes brought that up," Papadopoulos said. "A man named Charles Tawil gave me this money [in Israel] under very suspicious circumstances. A simple Google search about this individual will reveal he was a CIA or State Department asset in South Africa during the '90s and 2000s. I think around the time when Bob Mueller was the director of the FBI.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal #29: What Israeli Lobby? Anti-Semitism Hysteria Hits US, UK, France

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Star of David

Israel 'up in arms' after Sanders says he's open to cutting aid to Israel


Sputnik
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 09:41 UTC
Bernie Sanders
© AP Photo / John Locher
The independent senator from Vermont, who supports Israel's right to exist and considers himself pro-Israel, has nevertheless clashed repeatedly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has accused the current Israeli government of being "racist."

Senator Bernie Sanders has riled up Israelis after saying he would "absolutely" consider using the $3.8 billion in military assistance the US gives Israel annually as leverage to force Tel Aviv to change its policy.

"I have family in Israel. I am Jewish. I am not anti-Israel," Sanders said, speaking to former Obama speechwriter John Favreau in a recent podcast. "I believe that the people of Israel absolutely have the right to live in peace, independence and security - end of discussion," he said.
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Radar

Indian Air Force rethinks buying US armed drones

Shishir Gupta
Hindustan Times
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 09:41 UTC
US predator drones
© General Atomics Aeronautical SystemsThe army and air force had plans to buy 10 Predator-B drones each and the navy, its long-distance surveillance versions.
Last month's downing of the US Global Hawk drone by Iran in the Persian Gulf has prompted a rethink within the Indian military establishment, led by the air force, over the acquisition of American-made armed drones on account of their cost and questions over their survivability.

India's three services had planned to buy 30 drones from the US at a cost of $6 billion. While the tri-services have not yet approached the defence minister for "acceptance of necessity," or AoN, to procure the drones, the plans were for the air force and the army to acquire 10 Predator-B drones each and the navy to buy long-distance surveillance versions.

According to the military brass, the IAF has internally raised questions about an armed drone surviving in a contested air space like over Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) or along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — the disputed de facto border between India and China — with both potential adversaries equipped with top of the line surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems .
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Eye 1

The CIA's "Intelligence Authorization Act" would criminalize whistleblowers and reporters


MassPrivateI
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 06:29 UTC
canon whistle
A CIA written Bill called the Intelligence Authorization Act (SB 3153) would criminalize whistleblowers and reporters.

Section 733 Sense of Congress on WikiLeaks:
"It is the sense of Congress that WikiLeaks and the senior leadership of WikiLeaks resemble a nonstate hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors and should be treated as such a service by the United States."
The Bill is also known as the Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020 (H.R. 3494).

Comment: See also:

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