Part 7: GaslightingAssange Series, Don’t Be Silly, the US Doesn’t have a Sealed Charges or a Grand Jury
If Britain could wag its finger in Assange’s face and chide him for being unreasonably paranoid, it would say, “It’s not all about you Mr. Assange. Don’t be silly, the US doesn’t have sealed charges or a Grand Jury against you. Sheesh, get over yourself, you narcissist.” Lady Judge Arbuthnot put it this way:
I accept that Mr Assange had expressed fears of being returned to the United States from a very early stage in the Swedish extradition proceedings but, absent any evidence from Mr Assange on oath, I do not find that Mr Assange’s fears were reasonable.
Over and over the UK has denied knowledge of a plot to detain and extradite Julian Assange to the US for espionage charges. British judges, prosecution lawyers, British Members of Parliament, British journalists, British articles, British interviews and British emails all denied the possibility that he would cross the pond for doing journalism and doing it digitially. Well, turns out, Methinks thou dost protest too much, Britain.
Within a half hour of Assange being abducted from Ecuador’s embassy in the equivalent of a perp walk (humiliating arrest caught on camera), he was indicted on behalf of the US for computer intrusion which was later embellished to include 17 espionage charges.
The initial arrest for bail infraction was a ruse for the chunkier charges on behalf of the US. It was all done in a day, with a significant degree of confusion. The headlines were all about his arrest for bail infraction and being an unwelcome occupant in Ecuador’s diplomatic premises. The headlines barely registered that Assange was doubly arrested and faced double defence issues while still in capture shock in front of Judge Michael Snow on April 11, 2019. The headlines were a megaphone for insults, name calling and potty-mouthed gossip. The fact that Assange was granted asylum at the embassy precisely to avoid extradition to the US on political grounds for journalism seemed to evaporate. The very thing he most feared was what unfolded in an ace-up-the-sleeve card dealer move in a casino. I wrote about it here The Day of Betrayal.
Judge Michael Snow did not squander his soap-box court opportunity to eviscerate Assange then amplify his fear of US extradition. According to Reuters:
He said Assange’s behavior was that of “a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests” and he had “not come close to establishing reasonable excuse”.
The judge said Assange could at a later date consent to be extradited to the United States.
The benefit of this, he said with a hint of irony, was that Assange would be able to “get there faster and get on with your life.”
The Telegraph’s report stated:
Judge Michael Snow at Westminster Magistrates Court found Assange guilty of failing to surrender, calling him a “narcissist” and suggesting his representations in court have been “shameful” and that the claim he has not had a fair hearing was “laughable”.
The crux of the GaslightingAssange talking point regurgitated by The Mob (Britain, the US, Australia, Ecuador and Sweden) was always to neither confirm or deny the existence of a sealed indictment or Grand Jury in the United States. It was literally ignoring the elephant in the room, which was the clear and present danger of Assange being extradited to the US to face political charges, an unfair trial and the death penalty or life imprisonment. That is what gaslighting does. Gaslighting minimises a person’s legitimate fears and paints the person as delusional, paranoid, psychotic or attention seeking. US media outlets participated in this with conspiratorial relish in much the same way that a producer of a reality TV series might. In a Reality-TV producer’s mind, April 11, 2019 was not the Day of Betrayal, it was The big “Reveal”.
In the week leading up to the illegal kidnapping, arrest and detention of Assange Ecuador lied about having colluded with Britain to do just that.
Over and over again whenever Assange and his lawyers broke news about imminent events politicians allied with US interests accused them of “fake news” or “misrepresenting reality”. This is textbook gaslighting. The political talking points were outright lies.
In a statement Friday, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry called the rumors about the termination of Assange’s asylum “fake news,” adding that the claim of a possible agreement with the UK “misrepresents reality.”
“The Ecuadorian government notices that these falsehoods are also an attempt to tarnish the dignity of the country,” the ministry said in the statement. “When they issue falsehoods, the asylee and his associates express once more their ingratitude and disrespect towards Ecuador, […]
And Britain too added to the lies (per CNN)
When asked about the speculation on Friday, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters that Assange “is a free man” and “can leave the embassy whenever he wants to.” “We want the situation resolved as quickly as possible,” he added.
CNN asked the London UK police about the imminent arrest:
London’s Metropolitan Police refused to comment when asked if police were aware of any extradition arrangement.
According to the Telegraph, following the arrest,
[UK] Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said President Moreno made a “courageous decision”, adding: “it’s not so much that Julian Assange was being held hostage in the Ecuadorian Embassy, it was actually Julian Assange holding the Ecuadorian Embassy hostage.
“It was a situation that was absolutely intolerable to them.”
See what he did there? He flipped the truth in a diabolical dance of perverted diplomacy.
The sole purpose of the upcoming US Extradition trial (May 18, 2020) is to bounce Assange straight from Belmarsh onto the trampoline which will bounce him into US custody — like a rubber stamp. There is no rational excuse for plowing ahead with the fixed date (days away) for the US extradition before a UK court without: legal access prior to the hearing, in person witnesses who will offer important pieces of his defence or even Assange himself present. His lawyers will have to teleport via video link, along with Assange and any defence witnesses. It is almost as if his defence is extraneous to the proceedings of the case. It’s almost as if it doesn’t matter who or if anyone shows up to defend him. It’s almost as if the entire court process is a waste of time. It’s almost as if the UK courts should just save time, tax money and bother by just rubber stamping the US Extradition hearing as decided (not in Assange’s favour) and carry on. Keep COVID-calm and carry on.
The US prosecution has not been able to have their psychiatric evaluation completed due to the COVID10 prison lockdown. Assange has not seen his family in over 5 weeks, nor his doctors, nor any visitors. It’s almost like he’s disappeared behind the COVID walls of Belmarsh. It’s not that far from him being transferred to a body bag and hauled out of Belmarsh, dead.
