| “Australia is a glaring absence in this case. They’re just not around, as if Assange was not an Australian citizen” - UN Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Nils Melzer. The Australian political and media establishments' attitudes toward Julian Assange is summed up by no other than one of Australia’s most despicable corporate journalists. In early May 2019, The Melbourne Age newspaper published an article by the Zionist propagandist Chris Zappone entitled: “Why Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are so divisive”. In the article Zappone writes: “If you accept that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks once exposed the [dirty] secrets of the West of interest to the public, you also have to accept that they both spread disinformation and conspiracy rumours that attacked Western democracy for the benefit of the Kremlin.” (The Age). Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Unlike Zappone and his ilk of Zionist shills, Assange is a modern age (digital) independent and multi-award-winning investigative journalist and publisher. Assange’s real “crime” is that he exposed American and British war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of this legitimate action, Assange is punished and used to remind journalists and reporters of the consequences if anyone dares to follow in his path, exposing Western regimes’ war crimes and crimes against humanity. Despite Assange’s award-winning journalism and truth-telling, the Western corporate mainstream media have shown utter disregard for his plight. Indeed, such media have tended to bolster the vilification and character assassination piled on Assange by the American and British governments. The above quote by Zappone is a fabricated lie which forms part of Western mainstream corporate media campaign designed to smear Mr Assange, demonise Russia, and mislead the public. Zappone is a well-known Russophobe and has no credibility whatsoever. He is an expert liar. There is no obvious evidence to substantiate Russia’s interfering in U.S. election. In fact, Robert Mueller (Robert Mueller’s Report) said that, he found “insufficient evidence” that Donald Trump conspired with the Russians. The Mueller report shows no evidence linking the election of President Trump to Russian interference. Even if the Report claims (without evidence) Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, a federal judge has issued a rebuke to the core of Mueller’s claim. U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich pointed out that, “half of Mueller’s case doesn’t make any sense; it has no evidence to back it up”. Judge Friedrich ordered the government to “refrain from making or authorising any public statement that links the alleged conspiracy in the indictment to the Russian government or its agencies”. On 30th July 2019, a Federal U.S. District Judge in New York, Judge John Koeltl ruled on a case brought against WikiLeaks and other parties in regard to the alleged hacking of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails and concluded that: “If WikiLeaks could be held liable for publishing documents concerning the DNC’s political, financial, and voter-engagement strategies simply because the DNC labels them ‘secret’ and trade secrets, then so could any newspaper or other media outlet”. The judge argued that: “[T]he First Amendment prevents such liability in the same way it would preclude liability for press outlets that publish materials of public interest despite defects in the way the materials were obtained so long as the disseminator did not participate in any wrongdoing in obtaining the materials in the first place.” Significantly, the judge added that, it’s not criminal to solicit or “welcome” stolen documents, and how: “A person is entitled to publish stolen documents that the publisher requested from a source so long as the publisher did not participate in the theft”. In short, the judge found arguments by the DNC against Russia, WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign over the 2016 election are “entirely divorced” from facts. Indeed, Assange received no (none) materials related to the 2016 U.S. elections at the Ecuadorian Embassy, much less “potentially” hacked materials. Furthermore, veteran reporter Seymour Hersh, revealed in a recent interview that, the “Russiagate” hoax was started by C.I.A. Director John Brennan as an anti-Russia disinformation operation and pushed by the Democrats and the U.S. Zionist media, controlled by a handful of corporations with deep investments in the U.S. military industrial complex. What is called, “Russiagate” should have really been called Israelgate as it was Israel that interfered in all U.S. elections, not Russia. Indeed, the only regime that succeeded in interfering with the U.S. elections was that of Israel, but no one dares to mention that or even look into it. As American author Noam Chomsky elaborated recently, “…if you’re interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support. Israeli intervention in U.S. elections “vastly overwhelms” anything the Russians may have done, I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to U.S. Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies…” According to Philip Giraldi, “This is how Jewish power works on behalf of the Jewish state. It is done right out in the open, at least if one knows where to look, and it operates by what the intelligence community would refer to as misdirection. That means that you never talk about Israel itself, except in a positive, laudatory fashion, you never mention Jewish power in America, and, finally, you have in reserve some fabricated threats that can be surfaced to dominate discussion and render Israel’s malign activity invisible”. When it comes to condemning Israel’s terror and war crimes, there is no “free speech” (more later). If you dare, you will be accused of “anti-semitism”. The overwhelming evidence points to a shameless Western media and the U.S. regime’s agencies, including the C.I.A. and the FBI, plotting to incite anti-Russian sentiment in the U.S. and drum up social discontent and societal divisions in Russia. It is the U.S. which continues its attempts to intervene in Russia's affairs, providing the pro-Western anti-Russian forces "with extensive political, organizational, methodological and informational support", according to the annual report of the commission of the Federation Council on the protection of state sovereignty. For decades, U.S. dirty hands have been orchestrating and manipulating pro-Western agitators and terrorists against legitimate governments around the world, including Russia, with tacit endorsement of Western media. Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election is a manufactured story. It is a good story to divert public attention away from important issues, including the economy and U.S. wars of aggression in the Middle East. On his part, Mr Assange has made it clear that Russia was not behind the leaked emails published by WikiLeaks. However, Russia (the “enemy”) is used as a fearmongering tool to manipulate and pacify the general public. One only has to glance at Western media disinformation campaign aimed at Russia to feel the level of utter racist demonization of Russia and Russians in general. What is astonishing though is that Zappone, who is a Zionist Jew, accuses Donald Trump of being “anti-Semite.” Since moving into the White House, Trump has shown that he is far more Zionist than all his predecessors. He is surrounded himself by Israeli Jews and pro-Israel Zionists. Indeed, Zionist Jews are vastly overrepresented in all government agencies. Furthermore, the Trump regime is the most anti-Muslim and pro-Israel Fascist regime. Trump’s entire foreign policy (U.S. foreign policy) is in the hands of a few wealthy Jews and Zionists (Philip Giraldi). Trump’s entire foreign policy (U.S. foreign policy) is in the hands of a few wealthy Zionist Jews and Zionists (see: here, here and here). In fact, pro-Israel Zionists control all branches of the U.S. regime and have the ears of Trump. The American President is surrounded by extremist Jews and pro-Israel Zionists, including, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner (Ivanka Trump’s husband) who is an ardent Zionist Jew and Trump’s senior advisor. He is the son of Charles Kushner, an extremist Zionist who in 2005 was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. Kushner is assisted by Jason Dov Greenblatt, another ardent Zionist Jew, who is Trump’s lawyer and advisor on Israel and assistant for international negotiations. Together, they concocted the “Deal of the Century” for the Middle East depriving the Palestinians of their homeland and human rights. Trump’s Deputy National Security Advisor is Charles Kupperman, an Islamophobic racist Jew who openly advocates war on Iran and has made the claim that “nuclear war with Russia is winnable”. Kupperman was on the board of the Centre for Security Policy (CSP), an anti-Muslim racist organization headed by the Judeo-Fascist Islamophobe Frank Gaffney. Trump’s Secretary of State, the thuggish Mike Pompeo is a new breed of religio-fascist defenders of Fascist Israel. Pompeo has recently said that, “Israel should not be constrained by international borders or laws if it feels under threat and can always rely on U.S. support”. In Pompeo’s sick mind, Israel has the “fundamental right” to bomb any nation anywhere with impunity, but no nation has the right to self-defence if attacked by Israel. Another U.S. servant of Israel is the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Melech Friedman, who is a well-known Zionist Jew. Friedman is the son of a rabbi at Temple Hillel in North Woodmere, New York. All espouse a Nazi-like ideology, ardently support Israel’s’ colonisation of Palestine, and all three have contributed funds to Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian land. The Israeli Fascist regime is the key driver of the U.S. war of aggression in the Middle East. To prove this point, one needs to look no further than the ongoing U.S.-Zionist war on Iran. “This level of obfuscation and dishonesty, when related to such grave matters of national security, is treachery of the highest order,” writes Moses Apostaticus. Trump is serving Zionism and Israel’s interests – the Yinon Plan for the Middle East – with distinction. What Zappone and his ilk of corporate journalists call “Western democracy” is in reality a plutocracy coupled with “authoritarian populism” – the opposite of direct participatory democracy – and enforced by an authoritarian police state beneath a veneer of “Western democracy”. It is called “democracy” to deceive the general public for the benefits of the privileged few, and corrupt politicians. Zappone and his ilk were raised on a steady diet of state propaganda extolling the wonders of “Western democracy” and they have learned nothing in their adult life to give them cause to think and, more importantly, to revise this fraudulent and dangerous judgement. Western corporate journalists see the world in black and white and in terms of a “with us or against us” mindset. “They are overwhelmingly white, middle-class, privileged, complacent and career-oriented. They care little for truth outside the narrow parameters set for them by corporate culture they operate within”, writes award-winning journalist Jonathan Cook. Zappone and his ilk of corporate journalists have the gall to call the seven-decade long racist and Nazi-like regime in Israel (as described by many former Israeli officials) the “only democracy” in the Middle East. The Jewish entity prides itself on its ‘Nation-State’ Law that declares only Jews have a right to self-determination and only Jews are humans. However, Israel is not alone. Australia and the U.S. are built by ex-pat Brits who exterminated the Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans and poor convicts, and broke treaties. They are built on authoritarian and punitive laws. British colonialism is replete with the genocide of Indigenous peoples to maintain the myth of terra nullis [empty land - prh, ed.] that justified and normalised invasion and occupation. Australia, U.S., Britain, France (complicit in war crimes) among many other regimes are the leading enemies of democracy. These regimes are among the most militarised nations and governed not by the façades of wealthy “politicians”, men paraded on TV screens who pretend to be “elected to govern”. They are governed by shadowy (covert) networks of military, intelligence officials and big corporations who operate independently in pursuit of their own interests. These regimes are exemplified in their support of the most undemocratic and murderous militarised regimes in the world. The people (the citizens) are the enemy and have to be surveilled and controlled by force and repression. Egypt, Israel, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia among others are good examples. By imposing their narrow Anglo-Zionist rules on other nations, the U.S.-led Anglo-Zionist regimes – including, Israel, Britain and Australia – prevent these nations to develop and prosper. While they preach “democracy” and “human rights”, their evil actions, policies, and premeditated aggression (endorsed by their Western media) are effectively destroying what they preach, which by default make them the enemy of all law-abiding and responsible nations. Last month, the U.S. and its vassal state allies (23 countries), including Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand condemned China at the United Nations over its alleged mistreatment of the Uighur Muslims minority in Xinjiang province – a group of 54 nations, including Muslim-majority nations, praised China’s remarkable contributions in the field human rights. Nowhere in the world is the treatment of Muslims as abhorrent and racist as in those same countries who shamelessly condemned China. They are among the world’s most anti-Muslim and Islamophobic regimes. Thousands of Muslim men are languishing in “Super-Max” prisons on racially and politically motivated trumped-up charges in Australia, Britain, Israel (men, women and children), Europe and the U.S. These U.S.-led regimes who pretend to “defend” human rights have shown no serious concern about the welfare of hundreds of millions of innocent people, including destroying the lives of millions of Iraqis, Syrians, Libyans, Yemenis, Afghans, Palestinians, North Koreans (in 2018 alone, at least 3,193 children died as a result of U.S.-enforced sanctions) among millions of other innocent civilian populations suffering terribly due to U.S.-led policies, perpetual violent aggression, and inhumane actions. The U.S.-led “war on terror” is nothing more than a manufactured false propaganda to justify U.S.-led aggression against civilised nations that refuse to submit to Anglo-Zionist demand. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq was a barbaric act of aggression against a defenceless – a must qualification for U.S. aggression – nation which has been destroyed by decade-long genocidal sanctions and daily U.S.-Britain saturated bombings that “destroyed the infrastructure necessary to support human life in Iraq”. It was “not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”. It was premeditated aggression that had no basis in law, and which killed at least three million innocent Iraqi civilians, overwhelmingly women, children and the elderly. Iraq has endured more unimaginable suffering than any other nation on Earth. The long U.S.-led barbarism against Iraq would not have been possible without the full complicity of the UN (supported by the acquiescence of Russia and China) and Western media disinformation war, and anti-Muslim false propaganda to justify U.S.-led barbaric terrorism. All driven by Israel’s Zionist interests and its ongoing terrorism in Palestine. Where is the outrage? Why are the war criminals still unindicted and free? In neighbouring Syria, more than eight years of U.S.-enforced genocidal sanctions and U.S.-instigated war have caused the death of more than 600,000 civilians, created over 10 million external and internal refugees, displaced one-third of the population, ripped Syria apart and laid waste most of this once relatively prosperous, developing nation. The U.S.-led regimes used international terrorists to invade Syria in another attempt at “humanitarian invasion” for regime change – similar to that of the West-instigated “humanitarian invasion” for regime change in Libya – on behalf of the U.S. and Israel regimes. Under the fraudulent pretext of “humanitarian intervention” and “fighting terrorism”, the U.S.-led “International Coalition” – namely, Israel, Britain, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Qatar, just to name a few – were in fact caught defending training, arming and funding the very terrorists they were claiming to be “fighting” (For more, see report by Max Blumenthal). These international gangs of terrorists and gangsters did not appear out of thin air. They were created, trained, armed, funded and transported from one country to another as Western proxy terrorists. They were redeployed, labelled and relabelled with Arabic and Islamic labels (IS or ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, White Helmets, moderate rebels, etc. etc.) to disguise their affiliations with their Western sponsors and demonise Islam. It is safe to say that, the U.S.-led regimes have always created, armed, funded and defended every major terrorist organisation in the world. The U.S. regime used the terrorists not only to divide and destroy Syria but also as a pretext to annex large parts of Syrian territory, especially the very rich in oil and gas fields, and water-abundant agricultural north-eastern regions. This illegal criminal action is not new. Since 2014, Turkey and the U.S. have been financing the terrorists (al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, IS/ ISIS and their affiliates) from the illicit sale of stolen Syrian oil. It is designed to defy and intimidate Russia, and more importantly to deny the Syrian people to live and rebuild their terror-devastated nation, Syrian oil is extracted by U.S. contractors and smuggled outside Syria. Russia said the U.S. steals $30 million worth of Syrian oil out of Syria every month. The Russian Defence Ministry rightly called Trump’s action a criminal U.S. occupation of Syrian territory “an international state banditism". It added, the U.S. "masks its criminal activity by some pretexts of a struggle against the Islamic State." The Israeli regime and its Zionist supporters (the powerful Jewish Lobby) love it, because oil deflects attention away from Israel which is the main reason behind U.S.-led war in the region. Trump’s criminal and unwise action is against U.S. interests. It is evident that the powerful Jewish Lobby controlled the U.S. regime Middle East policy and that Trump is just another U.S. president who represents the interests of lobbies at the expense of the American people. Moreover, there is nothing new about the theft and exploitation of oil reserves and other natural resources of defenceless nations by criminal imperialist regimes like the U.S., Britain Australia, France among other imperialist regimes. The U.S.-led regimes have been doing these criminal acts for centuries and still do all kinds of banditry, criminal exploitation, and pillaging. All this is committed in flagrant violations of international law and civilised norms that are far below the bottom line of any civilised society and without the flimsiest of justification. U.S.-led terrorism has brought nothing but misery and chaos to that region’s peoples. The premeditated U.S.-led aggression and terror against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria are clear evidence of the West’s malicious and insidious state-sponsor of global terrorism using “human rights” and “democracy” as pretexts to get away with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The U.S.-led regimes, including Israel, Britain and Australia are among the world’s leading violators of human rights, freedom of expression and democratic principles. They are cloned from the same racist and violent imperialist stock. They see the world through a racist imperialist lens. Australia is alone in the world without a bill of rights to protect the religious and press freedoms for its citizens. Indigenous Australians are still dying in police custody at an alarming rate. When it comes to democracy, there is no democracy in Australia. The New York Times rightly calls Australia “the world’s most secretive democracy”. It’s all deep dark secrecy in most instances, and there is no pre-selection contest. The so-called “multicultural” Australia is run by exclusively white middle-class (“Liberal”) males who are tasked with protecting “White Australia” in an increasingly ghettoized Australia. What is misleadingly described as “democracy” in Australia is a corporate democracy. It is a once-every-three-years election ritual which has nothing to do with direct democracy. Elections rituals are a façade designed to deceive the public, because more often the ruling party selects a leader without the façade of an election ritual. Public participation ceases immediately at the end of the election ritual. After that, Australians must be “quiet”, keep their heads down and move on. Anyone who dares to make “noise” will face the “full force of the law” and expects dire consequences. For instance, hundreds of protesters would be shot dead by Australian riot police in a Hong Kong-like violent protest in Australia. Of course, Australian political and media establishments have the audacity to criticise China on democracy and “human rights”. Australians are expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent them, the wealthy and corrupt. It is after all, the world’s most obedient society. The people were effectively unrepresented in the political system. They exercise no power in a fully-fledged police state, “authoritarian populism”. In every election, Australians are told how they must vote. The Liberal-National Coalition (the current Government) called on Australians to preference neo-Fascist parties (e.g., One Nation and United Australia) instead of voting for the environmentally friendly Greens Party. The “social” media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were used by neo-Fascist parties, to spread anti-Muslim messages, pro-coal mining, and climate change denial. Moreover, conspiracy theories were mixed into memes urging people to support anyone but Labor or the Greens parties. In a “multicultural” and “secular” Australia, all candidates (except Penny Wong) are exclusively white Anglo-Europeans. The winner is the pro-Israel Presbyterian Evangelical, the oafish Mr Scott “ScoMo” Morrison, Australia’s Donald Trump in body and mind. It was one of the lowest voter turnouts since the mid-1920s when young Australians turned their back on a fraudulent form of democracy. Mr Morrison was fully endorsed by the neo-Fascist Murdoch Press, the right-wing media, the Jewish Lobby and foreign Mining corporations. They got what they wanted, subtle Trumpism, the politics of neo-Fascism, bigotry and ignorance. Australia remains under the same clique of neo-Fascist Liberal-National Coalition and their anti-Muslim collaborators. It is the most thuggish and racist regime in Australia for a long time. From the beginning to the end, anti-Muslim, anti-marginalised and neo-Fascist rhetoric dominated the election campaign. Election candidates who showed sympathy toward the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israeli Fascism were forced to stand down and make room for pro-Israel neo-Fascist candidates. Morrison, of course, can’t wait to get the blessing of his U.S. masters and suck up to Trump. As he bowed and knelt before Trump in the White House, Morrison was ecstatic when Trump described him as a “man of titanium” in a humiliating press conference at the White House. In return, Trump got what he wanted from an ignorant and subservient Prime Minister. Morrison’s “pot shots” at China and his capitulation to join the U.S.-Israel aggression against Iran show the degree of Australia’s submissiveness to the U.S. As if Morrison couldn’t ingratiate himself – and humiliate Australians – any further, he then went on to grossly misrepresent Australia’s climate action in his address to the UN, including a sideswipe at the formidable 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Sadly, Morrison has proven to be a naïve and poorly informed politician. Back to Julian Assange. Mr Assange has not committed any crimes and has never been charged with any crime in Sweden or anywhere else, because he has never committed one. Journalism is not a crime; it is a democratic principle. Assange was smeared by the corrupt Swedish media as a “rapist” – he was not – in flagrant violation of the Swedish laws that protect suspects under preliminary investigation. In fact, Assange faces no charges in Sweden, never. Indeed, on Monday, 03 June 2019, the Swedish District Court in Uppsala rejected a request to detain Assange over alleged (withdrawn) “rape” of two Swedish prostitutes used as honey trap. This decision means Assange will not be extradited to Sweden for a reopened rape investigation. There is no evidence that Assange committed sexual offences. The Swedish Police’s fabricated “rape” allegation was designed to demonise Assange and justify his illegal persecution and destruction. As Australian psychologist Lissa Johnson writes: “Just as Islam has been paired with terrorism [and demonised], so has WikiLeaks, inciting some in Western populations to look the other way while Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained and persecuted.” (For more: see Dr Lissa Johnson series of articles here). Indeed, “[T]he authorities [including the Swedish Police] care so little about violence against women that they manipulate rape allegations at will… this time to facilitate Assange’s extradition or even rendition to the U.S.”, write Katrin Axelsson & Lisa Longstaff. For almost seven years, Assange was incarcerated in a confined space – without natural light – inside the Ecuadorian Embassy – “sitting on a rubber boat in a shark pool” – for fear of extradition to the U.S. by the British authorities where he will face political persecution, a lengthy jail sentence or even death. “Inside the Embassy, Assange was spied on and all his communications, including with his lawyers, were being intercepted by a Spanish security company hired by the C.I.A. There apparently was also a C.I.A. plan to kidnap Assange. In a normal court in a civilised country, the government case would have been thrown out on constitutional and legal grounds, but that was not the case in this instance”. From the first day, Assange faced political persecution for exposing heinous Western (in this case that of the U.S.) war crimes and crimes against humanity that are supposed to be “classified” – anything the government wants to withhold from the public. His extradition and prosecution by the U.S. “would set a disturbing global precedent for the suppression of press freedom," according to Paul Murphy and Marcus Storm of Media Entertainment and Arts (MEAA). As Ted Carpenter observes, “[Assange] symbolizes a crucial fight over freedom of the press and the ability of journalists to expose government misconduct without fear of prosecution. Unfortunately, a disturbing number of ‘establishment’ journalists in [Australia, Britain and] the U.S. seem willing – indeed, eager – to throw him to the government wolves.” (The American Conservative). Assange should not be extradited to the U.S. because political offences are specifically excluded by the U.S.-Britain extradition treaty. The overwhelming majority of the world’s public are rightly believing that WikiLeaks is doing a great service exposing Western-Zionist war crimes, crimes against humanity and wanton destruction in defenceless nations. It is people’s absolute right to know about U.S. war crimes and crimes against humanity. The most shocking exposé by WikiLeaks was the video ‘Collateral Murder’ (2010) which showed mass, and indiscriminate deadly shootings by U.S. troops in Iraq. Similar war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan were also released by WikiLeaks (more on this later). The so-called U.S. and NATO “war on terror” was exposed as a fraud and gargantuan war crime and crime against humanity, including the torture of prisoners of war and murder of civilians – overwhelmingly women and children. President Trump has recently admitted U.S. guilt of war crimes. He tweeted: “The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE ... IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! We went to war under a false & now disproven premise, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.” Of course, the U.S. is not alone, Australia is another regime that is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. And just like their American counterparts, Australian leaders who misled the public and committed war crimes remain at large, unindicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Australia is a world leader in secrecy. In June 2019, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were conducting police raids in Canberra and Sydney on journalists and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC, the Australian State Broadcaster) for exposing – publishing dirty secrets or “classified materials” – war crimes, including the killing of unarmed men, women and children by Australian forces in Afghanistan – that the Australian government wanted kept “secret”. It is now revealed – by Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) – that in 2010, Australian forces fired on and killed at least five Afghan civilians and injured many more during a peaceful demonstration near the Australian base in Uruzgan province. Of course, it is not the kind of “democracy” sold to Australians at home. The chilling and blatant attacks on the freedom of the press, aimed at intimidating journalists and whistle-blowers – for the public good – who report on government misconduct and war crimes. The raids are supported by the current Government which can terrorise (mostly Muslim) Australians using more than 60 draconian laws related to secrecy, spying and terrorism. Obviously, it is creating a “culture of secrecy” wherein freedom of information (FI) requests relating to even the most trivial government affairs are being denied. The AFP raid on the ABC‘s headquarters in Sydney over a series of stories related to “The Afghan Files” – published in July 2017 and April 2018 from leaks by former military lawyer David William McBride – which detailed war crimes by Australian forces killing unarmed men, women and children. McBride is facing charges over his revelations. With Assange in prison, it is a good time to bully and intimidate (remind) those who dare to expose the Government’s dirty secrets, crimes, and corruption. Australia’s new broad and vague encryption law, enacted in Parliament in December 2018, allows the government to compel companies such as “social” media platforms, and even Wi-Fi providers, to cooperate in secret surveillance of their users, the public. The government does not care about democracy, because this goes against democracy and the democratic process. The public will not know the full story from the ABC or from any other Australian media outlet. The full extent of Australia’s war crimes against Muslims remains buried. The ABC is not an independent and impartial media outlet. To the contrary: It is just like everything else here. The ABC is an anti-Muslim racist propaganda outlet specialising in spreading anti-Muslim false propaganda, a mouthpiece for Zionism and U.S.-led terror. While it is publicly funded (so is British propaganda organ, the BBC), the ABC is just like any racist Western “mainstream” media outlet. It is very deceptive when it comes to world news and Anglo-Zionist war in the Middle East and elsewhere. The ABC “mission” to promote itself as an “independent” media platform is a misleading fraud. While the AFP raids on the ABC have been described as an attack on “the public's right to know”, the information is already out there (leaked in filtered form in 2017) by the Australian Government and its agencies by careful selection of “facts” to be passed to the public, controlling the leaks. Furthermore, the AFP has openly accessed the metadata of journalists to identify a journalists’ source of information. According to Edward Snowden, author of Permanent Record (Macmillan 2019): “Australia, a member of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence Network (the USA, Britain, New Zealand, Canada and, ex officio, Israel), was not only sharing but contributing to the XKEYSCORE search engine – the system used by the NSA [State Security] which enables almost unlimited surveillance of anyone anywhere in the world – including meta-data vacuumed up by the listening station at Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility in Northern Territory.” The Home Affairs minister responsible for the AFP, the above the law Islamophobe neo-Fascist Peter Dutton, has threatened to persecute journalists if they dare to expose dirty government “secrets”. If Australia can call itself a “liberal democracy” why not Egypt of Sisi and Fascist Israel of Netanyahu? Governments “feel enraged by any revelation of what they really know, or by any alternative source of information, i.e., whistle-blowers. Such threats to their control of the news agenda must be suppressed where possible and, where not, those responsible must be pursued and punished”, Patrick Cockburn observes in the Independent. In other words, the government designed a regime (a wall of secrecy) that seeks to stamp out challenges (by whistle-blowers) to its policy, and it can be used against all Australians. That is why the public will benefit from better government if “free press” and whistle-blowers are well protected. However, the Australian government refuses to provide adequate protection and insists on keeping the public in the dark. Mr Assange is now in London’s Belmarsh Prison, best known as the “British Guantánamo” Prison for its notoriety. He is inhumanly locked up in solitary confinement deprived of access to a computer, the prison library and gym, and all meaningful contact with the outside world solely on the fact that he committed a minor infringement (breaching his police bail). Anyone else committing such a violation never incurs prosecution, let alone a lengthy jail sentence. In an article in The Pen on 26 April 2019, the head of Swedish Bar Association, Anne Ramberg, condemns the handling of the Assange’s case in Britain and Sweden as deplorable. It is ultimately about the right and the moral obligation to expose war crimes. WikiLeaks’ revelations about the U.S. regime abuses were necessary and particularly important. In fact, Assange has never been served with an arrest warrant from a judge. Hence, he is illegally imprisoned in Britain. According to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, “Mr. Assange should be able to exercise his right to freedom of movement in an unhindered manner, in accordance with the human rights conventions the UK has ratified.” Assange's continuing imprisonment is a miscarriage of justice. He is arbitrary imprisoned on behalf of Washington’s Mafia, and is being denied the resources to prepare his defence against his extradition (rendition) to the U.S. The UN has consistently condemned the actions of the U.S., Britain and the Swedish governments, and called for Assange’s immediate release. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Nils Melzer, visited Assange in May 2019, declaring: “[Assange has been] deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively [more] severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture…The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and now!.” He added recently: “In my view, this case has never been about Mr. Assange’s guilt or innocence, but about making him pay the price for exposing serious governmental misconduct, including alleged war crimes and corruption”. In his recent appearance in Westminster Magistrates Court in London, “Assange exhibited exactly the symptoms of a tortured victim” (Craig Murray). He is being slowly tortured to death and might not live to the end of the extradition process. The sham process is completely controlled by five U.S. Embassy officials (C.I.A. agents) in a truly Kangaroo court. When asked on 21 October 2019, if he had understood the proceedings, Assange told the Court: “I don’t understand how this is equitable. This superpower had 10 years to prepare for this case and I can’t access my writings. It’s very difficult where I am to do anything, but these people have unlimited resources…They are saying journalists and whistle-blowers are enemies of the people. They have unfair advantages dealing with documents. They [know] the interior of my life with my psychologist. They steal my children’s DNA. This is not equitable what is happening here.” According to Professor Melzer, who is Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow, and also holds the Human Rights Chair at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Switzerland, Assange has been subjected to intense psychological torture – coordinated by Australia, Britain, the U.S., Sweden and Ecuador – comparable to some of the gravest cases from ‘interrogation prisons’ around the world. “Britain, Sweden and Ecuador have violated the convention against torture”, said Professor Melzer. In a grave conclusion, Professor Melzer who visited Assange in prison advised, “Assange should be released”. He told RT’s Afshin Rattansi: “The evidence is overwhelming and clear. Mr Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture. I condemn, in the strongest terms, the deliberate, concerted and sustained nature of the abuse inflicted on Mr Assange and seriously deplore the consistent failure of all involved governments to take measures for the protection of his most fundamental human rights and dignity.” Professor Melzer said: “In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law”. Assange has been singled out and unfairly punished as an example of state terror on freethinking, free speech and free journalism. Assange is used by Western regimes to bully and intimidate anyone anywhere who dares to follow in his steps. In other words, Assange is used to send a clear and threatening warning to journalists and whistle-blowers (e.g., Edward Snowden) who deviate from the official line, telling them: “If you tell the truth we will get you”. It could happen to anyone Western regimes can reach and arrest. It is a war on honest and impartial journalism. According to Professor Melzer: “Since 2010, when WikiLeaks started publishing evidence of war crimes and torture committed by U.S. forces, we have seen a sustained and concerted effort by several states towards getting Mr Assange extradited to the United States by prosecution, raising serious concern over the criminalisation of investigative journalism in violation of both the U.S. Constitution and International Human Rights Law.” Professor Melzer condemned the relentless abuse of Assange and concerted efforts to extradite him to the U.S. under the fraudulent Espionage Act. Assange is charged with 17 violations of the Espionage Act for leaking 750,000 confidential military and diplomatic documents (evidence of war crimes and acts of terrorism), including revealing important information about U.S. complicity in the war on Yemen, where at least 80,000 Yemeni civilians have been killed. “It is the first time in US history the Espionage Act is being used against a journalist and publisher and, as The New York Times and Washington Post have made clear (and as we have warned since 2010), his indictment criminalises journalistic practices used by those newspapers to report in the public interest”, writes Australian human rights lawyer and barrister Jennifer Robinson. On 16 October 2019 at press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York, Professor Melzer reiterated: “We came to the conclusion that he had been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time. That's a medical assessment.” Professor Melzer condemned what he calls, “a relentless and unrestrained campaign of public mobbing, intimidation and defamation against Mr. Assange, not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, Sweden and, more recently, Ecuador.” It is possible, this misguided smear campaign peddled by Western mainstream corporate media is designed to normalise the killing of Assange. If Assange is not freed soon, he will most likely die in the same way journalists Gary Webb and Michael Hastings paid for their lives for exposing the NSA crimes. Assange is taken hostage until he dies. Assange’s father, John Shipton, rightly said: “They’re murdering my son in jail over a nine-year persecution for revealing the truth of war crimes. It is beyond obscene.” His mother Christine Assange added that her son is being “slowly, cruelly and unlawfully assassinated” by the British and U.S. regimes. The U.S. regime’s fabricated charges against Assange, including espionage, are trumped charges designed to send a threatening message to every journalist, every publisher everywhere. It is an outrageous claim of a universal jurisdiction over every person by a rogue regime. Unfortunately, despite that the persecution of Mr Assange is setting a precedent for the criminalisation of journalism, only a few journalists have spoken out against the relentless persecution of Mr Assange. Even the Paris-based U.S.-Zionist propaganda arm, “Reporters without Borders”, turned a blind eye to the persecution of Assange, campaigning instead for the release of U.S.-Israel spies and fake journalists. As an independent self-employed journalist and reporter, Assange received news and reports from on the ground witnesses and sources. Mr Assange has a duty to protect his sources. Unlike most journalists and reporters, Assange refused to kowtow and succumb to the “mainstream” narrative of pro-Western-Zionist propaganda journalism and fake news. Mr Assange “revolutionised [news] publishing by bringing the public direct access to massive amounts of raw material showing [dirty] secrets the government wished to hide. In fact, the role of journalism in a democracy is to publish information that holds the powerful ruling class to account — the kind of information that empowers the public to become more engaged citizens in their communities so that we can vote in representatives that work in the interest of ‘we the people.’ By giving the public this direct access, he "cut out the filtering and mediating role of the journalistic and political classes”, writes Craig Murray. WikiLeaks is the only news outlet that is trying to eradicate propaganda and open public eyes to see and understand what’s going on in the world today. Because without it, the public will never be able to live in a free world. Unlike all media outlets (e.g., newspapers, tabloids, magazines, TVs and radio stations) that rely entirely on Reuters, AFP and AP manufactured news, WikiLeaks acquired its news from sources (individuals and whistle-blowers) on the ground. One can only imagine the hysterical outrage among Western governments (Australia, Britain, U.S.) and media establishment if somehow Assange was being detained in a Russian or Chinese prison, tortured and denied his human rights. Australia, Britain and the U.S. would be jumping up and down, condemning Russia or China for the inhumane treatment of heroic Assange. Australia, of course, is very selective when it comes to defending Australian citizens abroad. In Assange’s case, there is abject silence. As an obedient U.S. lapdog, Australia is willing to play only a submissive role, as demanded by the U.S. and British regimes. Unaware that by defending Assange, Australia defends Australians’ most sacred rights. However, when Chinese-Australian “novelist” and former Atlantic Council employee Yang Hengjun was arrested in China on suspicion of spying, China was demonised and the Chinese justice system was under attack by the Australian corporate media and political establishments. Unlike Assange, Mr Yang has been visited by Australian consular officials seven times since his arrest in January 2019. Mr Assange who is innocent and has never been charged with any crime is often attacked and treated with scorn and ridicule by the Australian political and media establishments. “This nonchalant response to the arrest of perhaps the most consequential journalist and whistle-blower of our time was exactly the one British and U.S. authorities relied upon — and they were not disappointed”, writes Irish writer Danielle Ryan. Assange is not a “fugitive”, as despicable Australian “journalists” like to call him. Unlike today’s corporate journalists, Assange is a journalist with integrity. He changed journalism as we know it. By exposing U.S. systematic war crimes of killing civilians and journalists in Iraq (watch Collateral Murder), and other places, Assange provided the public with unmatched services. Assange has also exposed huge crimes of illegal spying around the world by U.S. agencies, as well as countless other violations of human rights law, international law by Washington and its NATO allies. Assange “laid the path for the future of journalism, where journalists would be expected to produce primary source documents, wherever possible, and horror of all horrors, share them with the public,” writes Andrew Fowler, a former ABC reporter and now a writer. In fact, Assange was doing what every journalist ought to do. He helped wake people up to the true face behind the smiling mask of free press we’ve all been told to believe in since early childhood. Assange’s crime is that, he received news reports – from reliable sources – and passed them to the main propaganda organs of Western governments to publish in collaboration with WikiLeaks. As mentioned earlier, WikiLeaks released the Afghanistan and Iraq “War Logs”, as they were titled for publication in 2010, in collaboration with a range of Western mainstream media (propaganda organs), including: Der Spiegel in Germany, The New York Times, Le Monde, and The Guardian, Britain’s purveyors of Fascist propaganda. Moreover, WikiLeaks published evidence of U.S. war crimes in collaboration with other mainstream corporate media outlets such as: Al Jazeera, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Channel 4’s “Dispatches” in London, the Iraq Body Count project, RUV in Iceland, SVT in Sweden, El Pais in Spain, the Sydney Morning Herald, among many other propaganda outlets. For that, Assange lost his freedom, and possibly his life. If Assange could be persecuted for publishing classified documents (exposing war crimes), why couldn’t journalists from The Guardian and The New York Times? They are guilty first. These propaganda organs have taken part in a conspiracy to calumniate and defame Assange. In fact, The Guardian – the most despicable of all of them – used Assange as its “sacrificial lamb” and have benefited enormously from Assange’s work. “The entire searchable Afghan War Logs interface was the sole creation of The Guardian [most corrupt journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding] promoted it on their website and in the paper, but then they turned around and said, ‘we didn't publish this, Julian did’. They set him up from the start. They should be in jail too.” according to award-wining journalist Mark Davis. There is no evidence to substantiate that Assange has committed crimes anywhere. What WikiLeaks did and continues to do, is shading light on war crimes, violations of international laws and human rights abuses committed by the U.S. regime and its vassal-state allies. For decades, we have witnessed the slow criminalisation of investigative journalism and the rise of steady diet of pro-Western propaganda. What is often called “freedom of speech is freedom for those who think like us.” In reality, racism, violence, Islamophobia, classic hypocrisy, rampant corruption, objectification of women are the daily Western rituals that formed what Westerners called “Western values”. If it is free press, why Western journalists and Western media are turning blind eye to daily Israel’s and Jewish genocidal atrocities and war crimes in Palestine? Instead of exposing Israel’s and Jewish genocidal war crimes in Palestine, there have been media distortions of Palestinian lives and Israel’s terror (see for example here). As Malcolm X once observed: “If you are not careful, the media will have you hating the people who are oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing”. Unfortunately, most people fall into the trap of brainwashing. The Israeli Fascist regime is seen by Western states as the victim and its Palestinian victims as terrorist occupiers who have been denied their human rights and blamed by the U.S. and European regimes for Israel’s terror against them. “Free speech” means-controlled speech that favoured the ruling class, i.e., the state has to agree with what is said. As the Russian leader and literary theorist Vladimir Lenin once said: “In reality it is not freedom of the press, but freedom for the rich, for the bourgeoisie, to deceive the oppressed and exploited mass of the people”. Western corporate journalists “are little for truth outside the narrow parameters set for them by the corporate culture they operate within”, writes Jonathan Cook. Any journalist or academic can build a lucrative career in the media or in academia if he or she is prepared to demonise Muslims and Arabs and disseminate false and racist propaganda against them. In contrast, one will be committing suicide if he or she dares to legitimately criticise the current U.S.-led AngloZionist war of terror. The excellent U.S.-born journalist Serena Shim whose suspicious death was the latest example of those who crossed the “official line”. Shim was truly a courageous journalist involved in a serious investigation, including documenting the collusion between Turkish Intelligence (MIT) and the terrorists to smuggle terrorist recruits and weapons into Syria. Sadly, Shim paid dearly for not following the strict guideline. “Western Journalists have to follow a strict framework, because as Chomsky writes: “If you leave the official line, if you produce dissenting reports, then you will soon feel this. There are many ways to get you back in line quickly. If you don’t follow the guidelines, you will not keep your job long. This system works pretty well, and it reflects established power structures.” In Australia, this system nurtures propagandists (corporate journalists) and they tend to pop-up in Australia like wild mushrooms in springtime. They pretend to defend what they call, “freedom of speech”, “human rights” and “democracy”, but they have been the main contributors to their suppression by the government. Attacking China’s human rights record (to please the U.S.) serves its purpose to cover-up Australia’s systemic and racists human rights abuses. For example, Jaqueline Malley of The Sydney Morning Herald observes: “For years the conversation about freedoms in Australia has been dominated by the freedom to be a bigot (the debate over changes to 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act) and more recently, freedom of religion ... Meanwhile, freedom of the press, reproductive freedom, and even, in the case of asylum seekers, freedom of movement and freedom from detention without trial, are dismissed as the concerns of the elites.” Moreover, unlike most nations, Australia has no constitutional charter of rights protecting press freedom and journalist. When Sally Neighbour, the executive producer of “Australia's most “highly rated” current affairs program Four Corners retweeted that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was "Putin's bitch", and former embedded journalist Peter Greste calling Assange not a journalist, it said much about the state of a corrupt and racist journalism in Australia. The persecution of Assange “is testimony to the rank hypocrisy of British, [Australian] and American governments who lecture others around the world about democracy, human rights and international law.” Australia’s treatment of Assange is an embarrassment to all Australians. From the outset, Australia’s submissiveness to its Anglo-American masters has been on full display. Australia has consistently refused to help Assange during his long incarceration. Australia’s complicity in Assange torture and abuses were on full display. The U.S. most obedient vassal state – who loves to dance to Washington’ diktats –, Australia has been and remains complicit in all U.S.-led war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world. In addition to the preposterous demonization of Assange, the U.S. stooge and opportunist former Prime Minister Julia Gillard shamelessly threatened to strip Assange of his Australian citizenship. The ill-informed Gillard was unaware that it would be illegal. However, credit was owed to Australia's former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, who had gone to great lengths to ensure that Assange's rights as an Australian citizen were upheld by being granted a new Australian passport. “The Australian Government does have a role to play in the resolution of Julian Assange's case,” said Australian barrister and Assange’s legal adviser Greg Barns. Assange is punished for exposing misconduct, corruption and more importantly war crimes committed by the U.S.-led Western regimes. After a long and vicious campaign of demonization by the U.S. regime and the corporate mass media, it is hard to believe that Assange would get a fair trial in the U.S. where the justice system is one of the most unjust, corrupt and racist in the world. The persecution of Julian Assange sends a very frightening message that free speech does not include exposing states’ war crimes. All Australians have a moral responsibility to stand up against injustice and put serious public pressure on the Morrison’s Government to free Assange. It is time to put an end to Assange’s illegal and torturous persecution. On its part, the Australian Government has a duty to protect Australian citizens from rogue regimes like the U.S. and Britain. As John Pilger – Assange’s all-weather friend and ardent defender – rightly argues: “Australia is part of the problem, and it could bring Assange home” by calling on President Trump to drop the extradition attempts and all charges against Julian Assange and set him free. Ghali Hassan is a researcher and an independent political analyst. He lives in Australia. |