'All of us are in danger’
Pilger defends Assange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhjLKzmzmTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhjLKzmzmTg
This video comes from RT, which is these days often denounced as an organ of Russian propaganda, being funded by the Russian government. The fact that the BBC, PBS and NPR are funded, to a significant extent, by their home governments is left unmentioned.
But the important point is that the Western media are so strait-jacketed that Western dissidents are forced to turn to RT to get any hearing at all. Where is the video of John Pilger's speech from Western media? Why did not the Western media do more to cover the Roger Waters concert? Why in fact are Western media so shy about defending Assange's rights of free press?
Their complicity in his persecution brings a high potential for disaster for press freedom in America, which could easily become the land of the blinded and muzzled. And as Pilger points out, the get-Assange group is sending a message to reporters, editors and publishers worldwide that they can be arbitrarily arrested outside the United States and brought there to face harsh penalties if they defy the U.S. government by revealing "national security" information.
For example, El Pais journalists could, under the get-Assange precedent, face rendition to the United States for revealing that the CIA had been eavesdropping on Assange and his lawyers and visitors while he was an asylum guest at the Ecuadoran embassy in London. Glenn Greenwald, who visited Assange at the embassy, could be prosecuted for publishing Edward Snowden's revelation of the NSA's massive domestic and global spying operations.
Meanwhile, President Trump complains of "fake news" but permits his Justice Department to pursue Assange, who most definitely was not publishing fake news. In fact, that is why U.S. authorities are going after Assange. His news was not fake.
But the important point is that the Western media are so strait-jacketed that Western dissidents are forced to turn to RT to get any hearing at all. Where is the video of John Pilger's speech from Western media? Why did not the Western media do more to cover the Roger Waters concert? Why in fact are Western media so shy about defending Assange's rights of free press?
Their complicity in his persecution brings a high potential for disaster for press freedom in America, which could easily become the land of the blinded and muzzled. And as Pilger points out, the get-Assange group is sending a message to reporters, editors and publishers worldwide that they can be arbitrarily arrested outside the United States and brought there to face harsh penalties if they defy the U.S. government by revealing "national security" information.
For example, El Pais journalists could, under the get-Assange precedent, face rendition to the United States for revealing that the CIA had been eavesdropping on Assange and his lawyers and visitors while he was an asylum guest at the Ecuadoran embassy in London. Glenn Greenwald, who visited Assange at the embassy, could be prosecuted for publishing Edward Snowden's revelation of the NSA's massive domestic and global spying operations.
Meanwhile, President Trump complains of "fake news" but permits his Justice Department to pursue Assange, who most definitely was not publishing fake news. In fact, that is why U.S. authorities are going after Assange. His news was not fake.
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