Julian Assange Against the Imperium: Day Two of Extradition Hearings
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-26
The second day of extradition hearings against Julian Assange and by virtue of that, WikiLeaks, saw Mark Summers QC deliver a formidable serve for the defence at Woolwich Crown Court. "It's difficult to conceive of a clearer example of an …
globalresearch.ca/julian-assange-against-imperium-day-two-extradition-hearings/5704815

Assange's Extradition Hearing Reveals Trump's War on Free Press Is Targeting WikiLeaks Publisher
Nozomi Hayase | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
On Monday, WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange's one-week extradition hearing began at Woolwich Crown Court in SouthEast London. The judge heard the opening arguments for the prosecution and defense. The prosecution began, accusing the journalist who exposed the US government's war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan of espionage charges that would carry 175 years in jail.
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/assanges-extradition-hearing-reveals-trumps-war-on-free-press-is-targeting-wikileaks-publisher/

Julian Assange and the Imperium's Face: Day One of the Extradition Hearings
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
If we are to believe it, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, the man behind showing the ugliness of power, is the one responsible for having abused it. It is a running theme in the US case against this Australian publisher, who has been given the coating of common criminality hiding the obvious point: that the mission…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/julian-assange-and-the-imperiums-face-day-one-of-the-extradition-hearings/

With Wikileaks, Julian Assange Did What All Journalists Should Do
Patrick Cockburn | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
I was in Kabul in 2010 when Julian Assange and WikiLeaks first released a vast archive of classified US government documents, revealing what Washington really knew about what was happening in the world. I was particularly interested in one of these disclosures which came in the shape of a video that the Pentagon had refused to release despite…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/with-wikileaks-julian-assange-did-what-all-journalists-should-do/

Russiagate: The Toxic Gift That Keeps on Giving
Kollibri terre Sonnenblume | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
All smears are boomerang smears. That is why anyone worth a damn does not engage in it. That goes for the Russia-Gaters, the left/right smears on Gabbard, the years of left/right smears on Assange, the attacks on the Green Party and now the Russia narrative attacks on Sanders. Falling into line with the secret police…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/russiagate-the-toxic-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/

SEG (New Zealand) rally in Wellington demands freedom for Assange and Manning
wsws.org | 2020-02-26
Speakers denounced the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder and the whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, who are both in prison and being psychologically tortured for revealing US war crimes.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/26/sega-f26.html

Assange detention illegal under English, European and international law, defense argues
rt.com | 2020-02-26
Day three of the Julian Assange extradition hearing is focusing on whether the allegations against Assange amount to "political offenses." If so, it would likely be outside of the judge's jurisdiction to approve extradition. | Kicking off proceedings at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, defense counsel Edward Fitzgerald argued that 17 of the 18 counts with which the WikiLeaks founder has been charged fall under the US Espionage Act, which makes them political on face value. He added that the 18th count, of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, was in order to carry out the other alleged offenses. | Also on…
rt.com/news/481711-assange-protection-political-extradition-fundamental-right/

Free Julian Assange!
Charles Glass | thenation.com | 2020-02-26
Free Julian Assange!
thenation.com/article/politics/assange-wikileaks-extradition-prison/

SF Demands Free Julian Assange & Goes Into UK Consulate Building Lobby
BACFJA | indybay.org | 2020-02-26
As part of world day of action to Free Julian Assange activists rallied in San Francisco and then briefly occupied the UK building lobby.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/24/18831024.php

SEP US presidential candidate Joseph Kishore: "Free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning!"
wsws.org | 2020-02-26
The Socialist Equality Party opposes Assange's extradition to the United States. We demand immediate freedom for Assange and for whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/26/jkvi-f26.html

Persecuted journalist Assange handcuffed, stripped naked on first day of extradition trial
wsws.org | 2020-02-26
As proceedings were due to begin, a court official told WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson that he was barred from the public gallery.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/26/assa-f26.html

Vanderbilt oligarch heir Anderson Cooper worked at CIA in college
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2020-02-26
CNN and 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper, who red-baited Bernie Sanders over old comments praising Fidel Castro's literacy program, worked…
thegrayzone.com/2020/02/25/vanderbilt-anderson-cooper-cia-college/

Nonviolent Action for Peace
David Swanson | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
George Lakey's new book is called How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. On its cover is a drawing of a hand holding up two fingers in what is more often considered a peace sign than a victory sign, but I suppose it is meant as both. Perhaps nobody is better qualified…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/nonviolent-action-for-peace/

Sanctions: The Weaponization of the Global Financial System
San Jose Peace & Justice Center | indybay.org | 2020-02-26
San José Peace and Justice Center | 48 South 7th Street | San José, CA 95112 | Bus routes: 22, 522, 23, 523, 55, 64, 66, 68, 72, 73, 168, 181, 500, Hwy 17 Express, MST 55, LRT…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/25/18831060.php

BDS protest at sheet maker Brooklinen's NYC store over production in Israel
Adalah-NY | indybay.org | 2020-02-26
At a protest Sunday at Brooklinen's new Williamsburg, Brooklyn store, New York human rights advocates called for a boycott of the online sheet and linen retailer, over their Israeli production partners' involvement in Israel's apartheid rule over the Palestinian people.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/24/18831021.php

How Globalization and China's Economic Crisis Might Jeopardize Our Precarious Medical Supply Chains
F. William Engdahl | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-26
The grave risks and dangers in the process of worldwide out-sourcing and so-called globalization of the past 30 years or so are becoming starkly clear as the ongoing health emergency across China threatens vital world supply chains from China to …
globalresearch.ca/globalization-medical-supply-chains/5704794

Arguments About Bloomberg's "Electability" Overlook His Racism and Misogyny
Prof. Marjorie Cohn | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-26
As billionaire Michael Bloomberg endeavors to buy his way to the presidency, some pundits continue to speculate that he has the best chance of defeating Donald Trump, even after his abysmal debate performance in Nevada. Bloomberg's campaign says Bernie …
globalresearch.ca/arguments-bloomberg-electability-overlook-racism-misogyny/5704820

Turkey's Request for U.S. Patriot Missiles to Pressure Russia in Syria Will Not Work
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-26
Ankara's statements about an imminent military operation in Syria and the Turkish authorities' request for Washington to supply them with U.S.-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems are just Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's manoeuvres to leverage against Russia that his …
globalresearch.ca/turkey-request-u-s-patriot-missiles-pressure-russia-syria-not-work/5704787

The "Liberal" Media's Propaganda War on Bernie Sanders
Paul Street | zcomm.org | 2020-02-26
Do not be surprised if the Russia angle becomes a master narrative in coming weeks…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-liberal-medias-propaganda-war-on-bernie-sanders/

Don't Worry, Centrists. Bernie Isn't Radical
Ted Rall | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
Watching panicky corporate-owned Democrats twist on the devil's fork of Bernie Sanders' "political revolution" is almost as much fun as it must have been for my mom and her fellow villagers to watch Vichy collaborators and Nazi sympathizers being executed by the resistance at the end of World War II. (That, Chris Matthews, is how…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/dont-worry-centrists-bernie-isnt-radical/

Netanyahu's Holy Alliance with Rightwing, Ultra-Orthodox
Shlomi Eldar | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-26
Until a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign tactic was to help the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) garner enough votes to enter the Knesset and thereby ensure a 61-seat majority for his right-wing, ultra-Orthodox bloc of …
globalresearch.ca/netanyahu-holy-alliance-rightwing-ultra-orthodox/5704777

Brazil in Search for "Fake Enemies"
Lucas Leiroz de Almeida | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-26
Recently, the Brazilian Ministry of Defense published a dossier on possible threats to national security over the next two decades. The document, however, is far from showing any sign of seriousness, being full of unfounded predictions, which call into question …
globalresearch.ca/brazil-search-false-enemies/5704779

India won't hesitate to cross borders to fight terrorism, defense chief warns 1 year after strikes on Pakistan-based militants
rt.com | 2020-02-26
India's armed forces won't hesitate to cross other nations' borders to protect the country from terrorism, its defense minister declared as New Delhi celebrated last year's airstrike on a militant training camp in Pakistan. | Rajnath Singh saluted "the unmatched bravery and courage" of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in a series of emotive tweets on Wednesday

'Most significant air action by the IAF in 4+ decades': Indian air chief says Balakot airstrikes showed Delhi's 'firm resolve'
rt.com | 2020-02-26
New Delhi's pre-dawn air raid on a militant training camp in Balakot, Pakistan last year marked the country's largest air force action in 40 years, India's air chief said nearly one year to the day after the dramatic operation. | The strikes, carried out last February in retaliation for the Pulwama terrorist attack

Pakistan PM Khan calls on world to stop 'Nazi-inspired ideology' in India amid Kashmir & Citizenship Act unrest
rt.com | 2020-02-26
India has embraced racist beliefs tantamount to the views espoused by Nazi Germany, and the world must take action to stop the country's Muslim minority from being 'targeted,' Pakistan's Imran Khan has argued. | The Pakistani prime minister made the comments while tweeting about ongoing violence in Delhi between supporters and opponents of India's new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The unrest has caused the deaths of at least 20 people as of Wednesday. | "Today in India we are seeing the Nazi-inspired RSS ideology take over a nuclear-armed state of over a billion people," Khan wrote, referring to the Rashtri…
rt.com/news/481713-khan-india-nazi-pakistan-muslims/

Everything We Were Told About Bernie Sanders Was Wrong
Mehdi Hasan | zcomm.org | 2020-02-26
Can we agree, in the wake of primary contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and now Nevada, that everything we were told about Sen. Bernie Sanders was wrong?
zcomm.org/znetarticle/everything-we-were-told-about-bernie-sanders-was-wrong/

2020 began with the hottest January in recorded history
wsws.org | 2020-02-26
One of the major consequences of human-induced climate change is sea level rise, which threatens coastal flooding and the displacement of hundreds of millions of people.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/26/clim-f26.html

Climate Change and Voting 2020
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
Today, humanity faces a situation unique in the 200,000 year existence of our species Homo sapiens sapiens, and unique in the 2 million year existence of our genus, Homo: the unprecedented steady linear advance of global warming since 1970, which is making our planet irreversibly less habitable as time progresses, and which is driven entirely…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/climate-change-and-voting-2020/

Bahrain orders all schools & kindergartens SHUT DOWN for 2 weeks as coronavirus cases soar
rt.com | 2020-02-26
Bahraini students will be skipping classes due to a perfectly valid reason for the next two weeks, after the country's education ministry ordered schools and nurseries to be temporarily closed amid a surge in coronavirus cases. | State-run as well as private kindergartens and schools in Bahrain will shut their doors for two weeks starting Wednesday, the Gulf monarchy's authorities announced on Tuesday, after the 9 new cases of the deadly COVID-19 were reported, bringing the total number to 17. | All of the new cases so far have been linked to Iran. The authorities said that those infected traveled from the Isl…
rt.com/news/481687-bahrain-coronavirus-school-shutdown/

China auto sales plummet as coronavirus threatens to trigger global downturn
wsws.org | 2020-02-26
In a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, average sales dropped to a staggering 811 vehicles a day in the first week of February.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/26/auto-f26.html

Wall Street falls as coronavirus spreads
wsws.org | 2020-02-26
After reaching record highs last week, the major indexes have lost all their gains for the year, wiping out some $2.1 trillion from share values.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/26/coro-f26.html

As World Scrambles, Experts Warn Virus Is Certain to Spread in U.S
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-02-26
CDC's call for Americans to be prepared for spread of "severe illness" added new urgency to response efforts that had focused on overseas.
truthdig.com/articles/as-world-scrambles-experts-warn-virus-is-certain-to-spread-in-u-s/

Making America Unsafe Again
John Feffer | zcomm.org | 2020-02-26
Whether it's Russian hackers, deadly viruses, or unscrupulous investors, the Trump administration has made it much easier for some foreign agents to destabilize the United States…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/making-america-unsafe-again/

'You can't watch it anymore': South Koreans petition to IMPEACH President Moon for vague coronavirus response
rt.com | 2020-02-26
A petition to impeach President Moon Jae-in is gaining support in South Korea, with people accusing him of not doing enough to contain the fatal coronavirus

Heaven Protect Us From Men Who Live the Illusion of Danger: Pete Buttigieg and the US Military
Matthew Hoh | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
#CIAPete has been trending on social media this past month as stories and commentaries have emerged telling and re-telling Pete Buttigieg's role as a naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan, his duties in his assignment in Kabul as a member of the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, and his relationship to CIA colleagues. This would be all rather amusing and just another dust speck of non-sense in the vast universe of inanity that is the US presidential race, if it were not for Buttigieg's own use of his time in uniform and in Afghanistan as a cudgel to silence others from both an informed and moral perspective on issu…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/heaven-protect-us-from-men-who-live-the-illusion-of-danger-pete-buttigieg-and-the-us-military/

'Just leave': Afghanistan withdrawal is no-brainer, but 'deep state' controls US foreign policy, says ex-Virginia lawmaker
rt.com | 2020-02-26
A truce between US troops and the Taliban in Afghanistan could result in American forces finally exiting the country, but there are powerful interests that want the war to continue, former Virginia senator Richard Black told RT. | The week-long ceasefire agreement between the two foes appears to be holding, and could pave the way for further negotiations that could lead to a withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan

Pakistan paves way for trade with Russia by settling Soviet-era debt
rt.com | 2020-02-26
Islamabad has repaid Moscow the $93.5 million (Rs 1,442 billion) debt pending since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The issue was a major hurdle in boosting the country's trade ties with Russia. | The trade dispute resolution will pave the way for billions of dollars in Russian investments in Pakistan, said the country's official. | Also on rt.com | | Russia looks to invest in Pakistan in a big way | Under the agreement, the Pakistani government was bound to return $93.5 million to Russia within 90 days of the signing and clear pending Rus…
rt.com/business/481716-pakistan-russia-debt-trade/

Going Off-Script in the Age of Trump
Andrew Bacevich | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
The impeachment of the president of the United States! Surely such a mega-historic event would reverberate for weeks or months, leaving in its wake no end of consequences, large and small. Wouldn't it? Shouldn't it? Truth to tell, the word historic does get tossed around rather loosely these days. Just about anything that happens at…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/going-off-script-in-the-age-of-trump/

The Ex-Terr GooGoo Eyes "The Russkies Did it!" Plot
Ed Sanders | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
The Ex-Terr GooGoo Eyes "The Russkies Did it!" Plot The Ex-Terr saucer folk Thought they'd have fun By floating a balloon Yolk Painted with GooGoo Eyes From one of their ships To Startle the masses from the Skies Ahh, how it worked, alas! How it freaked out the Mass! Who flooded Social Media And pages…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/the-ex-terr-googoo-eyes-the-russkies-did-it-plot/

Whatever Happened to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition?
George Wuerthner | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
Recently the Greater Yellowstone Coalition announced they were working to reduce the wildlife impacts of fences. Not by removing the fences but by changing the wire on them to facilitate easier wildlife passage. Fences, as the Coalition noted, hinder wildlife migrations, and in particular, are a barrier to pronghorn, which are reluctant to jump a…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/whatever-happened-to-the-greater-yellowstone-coalition/

Meet Brad Karp, the Top Lawyer Bankrolling the Democrats
Max Moran | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
The insidious influence of the wealthy over our politics, as Alexander Sammon wrote last month, is perhaps the defining issue of the 2020 Democratic primary. It's the reason we at the Revolving Door Project have been yammering on about bundlers–the wealthy and well-connected volunteer fundraisers who almost inevitably end up receiving or influencing key jobs across the executive…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/meet-brad-karp-the-top-lawyer-bankrolling-the-democrats/

Why We Shouldn't Run Government Like a Business
George Ochenski | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
It's been popular in recent years for certain wealthy capitalists to claim they will "run government like a business" when they seek political office. While that may sound good to some, neither the state nor national Constitution ever suggests that governance and business are or should be the same

How the US Intelligence Community is Interfering in the 2020 Elections
Jefferson Morley | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
President Trump's ongoing purge of the intelligence community, along with Bernie Sanders' surge in the Democratic presidential race, has triggered an unprecedented intervention of U.S. intelligence agencies in the U.S. presidential election on factually dubious grounds. Former CIA director John Brennan sees a "full-blown national security crisis" in President Trump's latest moves against the intelligence…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/how-the-us-intelligence-community-is-interfering-in-the-2020-elections/

Democratic Socialism in the Twenty-First Century
Scott Tucker | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
In the previous century I was a regular columnist for The Humanist magazine, and I was fortunate to work for an editor, Rick Szykowny, who was committed to publishing both class conscious and explicitly socialist writers. On March 1, 1994, The Humanist published my article titled…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/democratic-socialism-in-the-twenty-first-century/

Is It as Impossible to Build Jerusalem as It is to Escape Babylon? (Part Two)
Peter Harrison | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
(Part Two of Three) An interview with Peter Harrison by GYRUS. The late French anthropologist Pierre Clastres seems to be a big influence on ‚Äãyour work, and I was interested to gather from your work that he seems to be influencing quite a bit of recent anthropology. His theories are a kind of subversion of the…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/is-it-as-impossible-to-build-jerusalem-as-it-is-to-escape-babylon-part-two/

The Call of the Wild (2020): A Cinematic Fairy Tale for the Age of Environmental Disaster
Jonah Raskin | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
The problem with Jack London has always been that while he was a compelling storyteller with a vivid imagination, he was also a racist, or at least a writer who embraced racial ideas about the superiority of Anglo Saxons and the inferiority of African Americans, Asians and Latinos. Most of the racism that's embedded in The…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/the-call-of-the-wild-2020-a-cinematic-fairy-tale-for-the-age-of-environmental-disaster/

Anti-Russian Xenophobia Reaches Ridiculous Levels
Jeremy Kuzmarov | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-26
Following his resounding defeat in Nevada in the Democratic Party Caucus, Joe Biden blamed the Russians, telling CBS News that the "Russians don't want me to be the nominee, they like Bernie." The intelligence communities a few days earlier accused Russia of favoring Bernie Sanders and Donald J. Trump. Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic Party…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/26/anti-russian-xenophobia-reaches-ridiculous-levels/

Donziguer, Not the Lawyer Depicted by Chevron-Texaco: Report
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-26
Environmental attorney Steven Donziger, known for winning the Chevron-Texaco oil spill case for Ecuador, got a 36-page recommendation letter. The letter asks for his law license back on Monday after a suspension and house arrest in a ruling that he claimed was pushed by Chevron as retaliation. | RELATED: | Canada's Indigenous Community Challenges Pipeline | "My recommendation is that his interim suspension should be ended, and that he should be allowed to resume the practice…
telesurenglish.net/news/Donziguer-Not-the-Lawyer-Depicted-by-Chevron-Texaco-Report-20200225-0018.html

Philippine Patriots Say "No" to WWIII and "Yes" to the New Silk Road
Matthew J. L. Ehret | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-02-26
The Philippines President Duterte's recent announcement that the 1998 U.S.-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) would be cancelled has renewed hope that not only would this former U.S. colony finally attain freedom from imperial manipulation, but also that a new emerging age of infrastructure development can usher in an end of poverty and war in the …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/02/philippine-patriots-say-no-to-wwiii-and-yes-to-the-new-silk-road/

A new Israeli atrocity in Gaza was carried out with the help of a multinational corporation
Tom Anderson | thecanary.co | 2020-02-26
Trigger warning: this piece contains video footage that some viewers may find distressing. | Disclosure: The author of this piece is also a researcher for Corporate Occupation, whose work this article cites. | On Monday 24 February the world woke up to a new set of gruesome images showing the terrible reality of Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip. | A young man called Mohammed al-Naem was killed by the Israeli military, close to the Israeli…
thecanary.co/global/2020/02/26/a-new-israeli-atrocity-in-gaza-was-carried-out-with-the-help-of-a-multinational-corporation/