I'll get to Julian Assange in a minute, but first I want to say that I am sure that many of my readers will have seen the recent stories in the mainstream, legacy news media about the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, by Russian security forces on espionage charges.
While I don't know the man or the precise circumstances of his arrest, on its face the Russian charge that he is an espionage agent ought not to be reflexively dismissed. It is a known fact that many journalists have worked for the CIA. There's ample proof of it.
Please see, for example:
Subverting Journalism: Reporters and the CIA
"In its investigation of U.S. foreign and military intelligence operations, the committee – the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1976), chaired by Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho) – found that more than 50 American journalists had worked clandestinely as CIA agents during the Cold War era."
That's clear enough. The Church Committee found that there was clear historical evidence for the CIA use of journalists as espionage agents during the Cold War with Russia. If I am aware of this information, and now you are too, there can be no question that the Kremlin also knows these facts.
Not to forget German journalist, Udo Ulfkotte’s best-selling book, Gekaufte Journalisten (Bought Journalists) in which he forthrightly spills the beans on the CIA's use of journalists and payments to them. According to Ulfkotte:
“Non-official cover occurs when a journalist is essentially working for the CIA, but it’s not in an official capacity .....This allows both parties to reap the rewards of the partnership, while at the same time giving both sides plausible deniability. The CIA will find young journalists and mentor them. Suddenly doors will open up, rewards will be given, and before you know it, you owe your entire career to them. That’s essentially how it works.”
“Non-official cover occurs when a journalist is essentially working for the CIA, but it’s not in an official capacity .....This allows both parties to reap the rewards of the partnership, while at the same time giving both sides plausible deniability. The CIA will find young journalists and mentor them. Suddenly doors will open up, rewards will be given, and before you know it, you owe your entire career to them. That’s essentially how it works.”
Which brings me back to Evan Gershkovich. Are the Russians right? Is he an espionage agent operating under journalistic cover for the Wall Street Journal?
Well, based on the revelations of the Church Committee in 1976, and of German journalist, Udo Ulfkotte, yeah, he probably is. The CIA has been using journalists for decades. The evidence is on the public record.
U$$A Howls of Indignation
Now that the Russians have formally brought criminal charges of espionage against Gershkovich, the self-righteous wailing from the legacy news media and political figures has commenced. USA Today provided the following, notable quotes:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, condemned Gershkovich’s “wrongful detention” and demanded his “immediate” release in a joint statement Friday. They maintained that: “Since his arrest, Russian authorities have failed to present any credible evidence to justify their fabricated charges.”
The Wall Street Journal also called for his release, "vehemently" denied the charge, and proclaimed:
“We know what’s going on in the world because of the fearless reporting of journalists like Evan. Evan’s case is a vicious affront to a free press, and should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world."
All of which had me thinking: "Yes, but ..."
What About Julian Assange?
For many years, the Wikileaks journalist, Julian Assange, has been confined to: 1) the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, England; and now 2) the high-security Belmarsh Prison in London, England, all for being a fearless reporter, a fearless journalist.
That's it. That's the heart of the case against him. In brief, he has been charged with treason by the U$$A, Inc. for releasing damning information about massive, brutal Pentagon war crimes in Iraq, held in prison for years on that basis, and threatened with extradition from London to the U$$A -- all without being brought to trial.
But get this: Julian Assange is not a citizen of the U$$A, Inc. and consequently cannot be charged by the U$$A, Inc. with treason against it. It is a juridical impossibility. The charge against him is beyond stupid.
Moreover, the only evidence against him is that he revealed the truth! He simply laid out in the daily news cycle the tens of thousands of civilian murders committed by the Pentagon in Iraq (murder is an extremely serious crime, correct?), using their own internal documents and evidence. The Pentagon and Justice (sic) Department thereupon became enraged and demanded his arrest.
But who is/are the criminal(s)? Julian Assange or the Pentagon murderers? In reality, who should be in jail for unpardonable crimes?
In what <legitimate> court is journalistic integrity and honesty a crime? Julian Assange told the truth about the monstrous crimes of the Pentagon and for that they want to lock him away for the rest of his life.
For shame.
In A Just World
In a just world, U$$A, Inc. politicians would be outraged by the travesty of Julian Assange's long ordeal and mistreatment, and a corrupt, slimy, CIA pisser like Evan Gershkovich would not even get the time of day. In a just world the USA Today news article would read something like this:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, strongly condemned Assange’s “wrongful detention” and demanded his “immediate” release in a joint statement Friday. They maintained that: “Since his arrest, British and U$$A authorities have failed to present any credible evidence to justify their fabricated charges.”
The Wall Street Journal also called for his release, "vehemently" denied the charge against him, and proclaimed:
“We know what’s going on in the world because of the fearless reporting of journalists like Julian Assange. Julian Assange’s false imprisonment case is a vicious affront to a free press, and should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world."
See what I did there?
I flipped their public statements to the press today to reveal them for the shallow, insipid, stupid, ignorant, cowardly, criminally corrupt, braying jackasses that they are.
If they had any integrity, any manhood at all, they would all have been loudly, publicly calling for Julian Assange's release from prison years ago.
But they haven't done that. They have no integrity. By their silence they are condemned.
Donald Trump could have had Julian Assange released from prison. It was within his power to do that. A sitting President of the U$$A, Inc. does have a large degree of clout, and can pull the levers of the Federal bureaucracy to make things happen -- if he wants to.
Donald Trump's MAGA rabble have spent years whining about how the Deep State hemmed in Donald Trump and kept him from being able to carry out his political agenda. Be that as it may, Julian Assange and Wikileaks published many thousands of pages of incriminating evidence, documenting the myriad crimes of the CIA, Pentagon, FBI, NSA, the Clintons and their "Foundation"; thereby, substantially materially aiding Donald Trump in his alleged crusade to Drain the Swamp, i.e., to clean house in Washington-DC and rein in the criminal excesses of the Deep State.
Julian Assange and Wikileaks presented Donald Trump and his millions of MAGA supporters with an unprecedented, unparalleled political gift. And what have Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd done for Julian Assange in return?
Not a thing. They have turned their backs on him. Donald Trump went from saying that he "loved" Wikileaks during the presidential campaign in 2016, to giving Julian Assange the cold shoulder just three years later. In remarks to the press in 2019 Trump said:
“I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It’s not my thing and I know there is something having to do with Julian Assange. I’ve been seeing what’s happened with Assange, and that will be a determination, I would imagine mostly by the attorney general, who is doing an excellent job. So he’ll be making a determination. I know nothing really about him. That’s not my deal in life. I don’t really have an opinion.”
With those disparaging words he off handedly threw Julian Assange to the dogs. It is now four years later, and Assange is still rotting in prison in London.
The U$$A, Inc. has callously destroyed the lives of teeming millions of innocent people -- by prison, by torture, by carpet bombing, with napalm, by machine guns, rifles, artillery and white phosphorus, by grinding poverty and human trafficking, by narcotics trafficking and more. By the millions, for more than two centuries, the heartless, soulless, red-white-and-blue meat grinder has been gruesomely chewing up its victims and spitting out their bones, even as it claims to be a "Christian" nation.
Julian Assange is one of those unfortunate victims, and the more is the pity. The list of major, felony crimes laid against the account of the U$$A, Inc. is hundreds of millions of items long, centuries long, and growing by the day.
Jesus Christ is not fooled in the slightest. As the years pass, I have a lower and lower opinion of the U$$A, Inc., and a higher and higher opinion of Jesus. He's the bee's knees, as they say. Magnificent.
My growing understanding is that, believe it or not, we all have a scrupulously detailed, end-of-life, one on one, face to face interview with him, in which nothing is left unexamined.
I don't know about you, but that scenario is increasingly focusing my mind.
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