Yanis Varoufakis and Julian Assange On DiEM25’s advisory panel is Julian Assange, an Australian who fled European law by entering the Ecuadorian embassy. Is he a fit person to advise on Europe? Varoufakis: I’m very proud to count Julian as one of my friends. You will have noticed that the Swedish prosecutor has dropped any intention of charging him. It seems absurd that someone is deemed guilty even though no charge have been laid upon him. Julian Assange is being persecuted for a very simple reason: he embarrassed the US and the surveillance establishment. Wikileaks is a brilliant attempt to turn the mirror on Big Brother. This is why Julian is effectively incarcerated in the Ecuadorian embassy. Are we to believe his accusers were part of a conspiracy to extradite him to the US? Varoufakis: I have no interest in speculation. What I do know is that the Swedish prosecutor never charged Julian with anything. Now the US government has explicitly stated that there is a grand jury convening in secret, all ready to request his extradition on charges of espionage. The court case will be a sham. His lawyers will not be given the charges or evidence. It will … Continue reading
Category Archives: English
Lawrence Davidson: Julian Assange and the Fate of Journalism Julian Assange is the Australian founder of Wikileaks—a website dedicated to the public’s right to know what governments and other powerful organizations are doing. Wikileaks pursues this goal by posting revelatory documents, often acquired unofficially, that bring to light the criminal behavior that results in wars and other man-made disasters. Because Wikileaks’ very existence encourages “leaks,” government officials fear the website, and particularly dislike Julian Assange. Essentially, Wikileaks functions as a wholesale supplier of evidence. Having identified alleged official misconduct, Wikileaks seeks to acquire and make public overwhelming amounts of evidence—sometimes hundreds of thousands of documents at a time—which journalists and other interested parties can draw upon. And since the individuals and organizations being investigated are ones ultimately responsible to the public, such a role as wholesale supplier of evidence can be seen as a public service. (link to read rest of article) Comment by Ilargi: This starts out all right, albeit with all things that 1000 others have said before, but at the end goes completely off the rails by singling out FOX as a source of ‘confirmation bias’. But we all know what FOX wants. Its the others that … Continue reading
Bannon is moving to Europe to set up The Movement, a populist foundation to rival George Soros and spark a right-wing revolt across the continent. SOURCE LONDON—Steve Bannon plans to go toe-to-toe with George Soros and spark a right-wing revolution in Europe. Trump’s former White House chief advisor told The Daily Beast that he is setting up a foundation in Europe called The Movement which he hopes will lead a right-wing populist revolt across the continent starting with the European Parliament elections next spring. The non-profit will be a central source of polling, advice on messaging, data targeting, and think-tank research for a ragtag band of right-wingers who are surging all over Europe, in many cases without professional political structures or significant budgets. Bannon’s ambition is for his organization ultimately to rival the impact of Soros’s Open Society, which has given away $32 billion to largely liberal causes since it was established in 1984. Over the past year, Bannon has held talks with right-wing groups across the continent from Nigel Farage and members of Marine Le Pen’s Front National (recently renamed Rassemblement National) in the West, to Hungary’s Viktor Orban and the Polish populists in the East. He envisions a … Continue reading
For the second consecutive year on 1st May a function of commemoration and tribute was organized by the local SYRIZA group of Aegina and held in the naval base at Tourlos, honouring the political prisoners executed during the German occupation and the subsequent civil war. Participating in the function were the Alternate Minister for Social Solidarity Theano Fotiou, the SYRIZA Europarliamentarian Stelios Kouloglou, the SYRIZA national parliamentarians for Piraeus 1st District and for the Islands Thodoros Dritsas and Eleni Stamataki and the SYRIZA parliamentarian for Athens 2nd District Christoforos Papadopoulos. On behalf of the SYRIZA chapter in Aegina the municipal councilor Antonis Delis explained the reasons why the function is being held. A text on the history of the day was read by the medical doctor Mr. Giorgos Bogris In the course of the function a number of the participants laid wreaths and flowers on the monument. The co-ordinators of the local group Mr. Panagiotis Patsakios laid a wreath and flowers were presented by Mesdames Fotiou and Stamatakis, Messrs Dritsas, Kouloglou and Papadopoulos, the mayor of Aegina Dimitrios Mourtzis and the granddaughter of “Captain Moria” Georgakopoulos. The function was also attended by the president of the social organization of the … Continue reading