[Peace-discuss] NfN #417 notes

Fri Apr 12 22:40:03 UTC 2019

News from Neptune #417
A "Martyrdom of Julian Assange and Press Freedom" edition
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA38eP6Y9GM

A list of links to references made on the show.

Recent WikiLeaks activities relating to Ecuadorian Pres. Moreno

https://defend.wikileaks.org/2019/04/03/ecuador-twists-embarrassing-ina-papers-into-pretext-to-oust-assange/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/wikileaks-assange-repeatedly-violated-asylum-terms-moreno-190402183841403.html 
-- contains a claim of "hack[ing] private accounts or phones" which comes 
without evidence.

Gore Vidal on his book "History of the National Security State" with Paul 
Jay (7-part interview, transcripts & links to videos within)
https://therealnews.com/series/gore-vidal-history-of-the-national-security-state

Daniel Ellsberg On Assange Arrest: The Beginning of the End For Press Freedom
https://therealnews.com/stories/daniel-ellsberg-on-assange-arrest-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-press-freedom

Jonathan Cook on "After 7 Years of Deceptions About Assange, the US Readies 
for Its First Media Rendition"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/after-7-years-of-deceptions-about-assange-the-us-readies-for-its-first-media-rendition/

Michelle Goldberg on "Is Assange’s Arrest a Threat to the Free Press?"
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/opinion/julian-assange-wikileaks-first-amendment.html

Related:
RT: "Mainstream media celebrates Julian Assange's arrest"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6qC9j7zDZM

National Public Radio, like Michelle Goldberg and unlike RT, also relayed 
comparable unproven allegations of Russian involvement in getting the DNC 
emails to WikiLeaks in its programming on 2019-04-11.

John Pilger on "The Assange Arrest is a Warning From History"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/the-assange-arrest-is-a-warning-from-history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xo8gcN6b_4 -- RT interview with Pilger

Matt Taibbi's "Hate Inc." book (first 3 chapters can be read gratis on 
Taibbi's blog)
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-fairway-is-now-hate-inc

List of Aaron Maté's work with The Real News
https://therealnews.com/bios/aaron-mate

Aaron Maté on New Knowledge's work
https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1078299620281892864

Related:
'Moderate Rebels' on New Knowledge's work in Russiagate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud0ngMFq0rM

Rania Khalek's site
https://raniakhalek.com/

Khalek's "In the NOW" show
https://www.youtube.com/user/InTheNowRT/videos

Democracy Now/Amy Goodman interview with Noam Chomsky -- Goodman's part of 
this is edited out, only Chomsky's talk remains listed in the transcript.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/12/chomsky_arrest_of_assange_is_scandalous
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/12/noam_chomsky_we_must_confront_the
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/12/chomsky_nuclear_weapons_climate_change_the

Laura Poitras on Julian Assange
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/29/laura-poitras-wikileaks-film-risk-julian-assange
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/20/laura-poitras-on-her-new-julian-assange-film-few-people-could-stand-the-pressure-he-is-under-
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/director-laura-poitras-julian-assange-is-an-equal-opportunity-leaker-audio-2/ 
-- includes audio & transcript of conversation between Robert Scheer & Poitras

Laura Poitras' "Citizenfour" (2014) movie featuring Poitras, Edward 
Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, et al.
Full movie: 
https://archive.org/download/Citizen.Four2014/citizen.four%282014%29.mp4

Laura Poitras and others on The Intercept shutting down the Snowden archive 
amidst layoffs, barring Poitras from attending an Intercept meeting
https://www.rt.com/news/453842-snowden-archive-shut-intercept/
https://medium.com/@barrettbrown/why-the-intercept-really-closed-the-snowden-archive-e99f46bbfbbc
https://www.thedailybeast.com/laura-poitras-co-founder-of-the-intercept-barred-from-company-meeting-after-snowden-archive-shutdown

O Society on "The Martyrdom of Julian Assange"
https://opensociet.org/2019/04/11/the-martyrdom-of-julian-assange/

Jeffrey St. Clair on "Roaming Charges: Tongue-Tied and Twisted"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/roaming-charges-tongue-tied-and-twisted/

Binoy Kampmark on "Shredding Asylum: the Arrest of Julian Assange"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/shredding-asylum-the-arrest-of-julian-assange/

Jaclyn Friedman and Naomi Wolf debate Julian Assange's alleged sex crimes
Part 1 of 2: 
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/20/naomi_wolf_vs_jaclyn_friedman_a
Part 2 of 2: 
https://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/21/part_iifeminists_debate_sexual_allegations_against

Interesting in light of how any substance driving these sexual misconduct 
or rape allegations fell apart both from the ostensible victims of the 
allegations (those said to have been sexually abused), the deceptive 
practices of the Swedish government working at the behest of the US 
government (which aimed to prejudice people's view of Assange via character 
assassination), the lack of charges (charges were never made), and 
ultimately dropping the allegations. This puts the entire discussion in a 
whole new frame as does any rhetoric now years later when the US is eager 
to pitch Assange as some kind of rogue agent instead of a publisher 
deserving the same results as the Washington Post, Der Spiegel, and the New 
York Times (3 of many international news organizations that published 
WikiLeaks leaks and even worked with WikiLeaks on material when it was 
profitable for them to do so). It's also telling that no feminist 
organizations have made note of how these allegations were used, seemingly 
falsely, which only help make real sexual misconduct of various degrees 
come into greater suspicion (ala the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story where 
repeated lying drives people to dismiss by default even when there's a real 
need for help).

Patrick Lawrence on "A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year’s 
DNC Hack"
https://www.thenation.com/article/a-new-report-raises-big-questions-about-last-years-dnc-hack/

Related:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/08/14/former-nsa-tech-director-bill-binney-outlines-dnc-emails-were-a-leak-not-a-russian-hack/
https://www.naturalnewsblogs.com/seth-rich-leaked-the-dnc-emails-they-were-not-hacked/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjHs-E2e2V4 -- a very recent episode of 
"Empire Files" featuring an interview with Bill Binney who explains that 
the DNC emails could not have been copied remotely by Russians as 
Democratic Party and corporate-friendly media maintain (without evidence) 
because Binney's group tested the international Internet connections 
involved and couldn't download data anywhere near the speed needed to have 
the same timestamps as shown in the DNC email data (the download speed was 
around a quarter of the speed needed to qualify for a network-based 
so-called "hack"). But the speed observed is perfectly consistent with a 
local copy to a portable drive such as a USB thumb drive which are readily 
available, easy to use, and inexpensive. Something Seth Rich (who had 
hardware access and enough know-how to use) could have done. Rich's alleged 
"robbery gone bad" is alleged to be the act which caused his death, and not 
a hit carried out by the DNC corporation as punishment for leaking the 
sensitive emails, despite that no robbery of Rich's dead body occurred.

-J