Ep 201 No Extradition and No Bail feat Mohamed Elmaazi

Ep 201 No Extradition and No Bail feat Mohamed Elmaazi

Guest: Mohamed Elmaazi. The long awaited extradition decision for Julian Assange came on Monday, January 4, 2021, followed by a bail hearing two days later. These recent days have been an emotional rollercoaster for Assange supporters and many were surprised, even shocked, by both decisions. Mohamed Elmaazi continues to be one of the foremost journalists covering the case on the ground at the Old Bailey Courthouse in a press annex or other nearby locations, attending via video link as required during the Covid lockdowns. And two weeks from now the executive power changes hands. The news from the second hearing, the bail hearing, happened on the same day that Congress held the session with the electors from the states in the presidential election and all hell broke loose, so the news about the bail hearing was drowned out. In this interview he provides us with details and analysis on what happened in those hearings.

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Ep 188 Assange Extradition Hearings Week 3-4 feat Mohamed Elmaazi

Ep 188 Assange Extradition Hearings Week 3-4 feat Mohamed Elmaazi

Guest: Mohamed Elmaazi. We talk about the Assange extradition hearings, what transpired in weeks 3 and 4 and what procedures lie ahead in this process. Mohamed has been providing continuous coverage of the extradition hearings both last year and this year from the press annex of the different court facilities or from nearby facilities via video link when in person coverage wasn’t possible. 

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Ep 184 Assange Extradition Week 2 feat Kevin Gosztola

Ep 184 Assange Extradition Week 2 feat Kevin Gosztola

Guest: Kevin Gosztola. We focus on week 2 of the Assange Extradition hearings, witness testimony from Eric Lewis, Thomas Durkin, Daniel Ellsberg, John Goetz and Carey Shenkman and Assange’s defense team. We also talked about the password leaked in a book by Luke Harding and David Leigh, the highly problematic Espionage Act and how it, like the Assange case, is political in nature. Kevin has been doing reporting and analysis on the cases of Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange and Wikileaks both on the ground (and now remotely) for the past decade. 

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Ep 183 Assange Extradition Hearings Resume feat Mohamed Elmaazi

Ep 183 Assange Extradition Hearings Resume feat Mohamed Elmaazi

Guest: Mohamed Elmaazi. We talk about the Assange extradition hearings that resumed this month in London. Mohamed gives us the highlights of the first week of proceedings with various witnesses and new charges against Assange. He has provided continuous coverage of this case and he is able to give us a sense of what it’s like on the ground in London reporting on these hearings now being conducted with Covid19 special arrangements. 

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Ep 152 Kevin Gosztola: Insights from Assange Extradition Hearing in London

Ep 152 Kevin Gosztola Insights from Assange Extradition Hearing in London

Kevin Gosztola provides an account of his experience reporting on the Julian Assange extradition hearing for four days at the court in London, plus more details and insights about the case and the people involved.

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Ep 151 Journalism on Trial feat Gordon Dimmack

Ep 151 Journalism on Trial feat Gordon Dimmack

Guest: Gordon Dimmack. We discuss the extradition hearing for Julian Assange, the failure of the mainstream media journalists and more. John Pilger has made good use of the phrase “journalism on trial” and  it As John Pilger noted today: “Should Julian #Assange be extradited, it will not only be a crime of the British state but of those quisling journalists who smeared and lied about him”. Their actions and negligence are also undermining their own press freedoms and placing their own profession in jeopardy. Gordon has repeatedly made these same arguments with strong substantiation. He has dedicated himself to both calling them out and making up for their failings. 

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Ep 104 Assange Arrest, Crucial Crossroads Feat Michael Krieger

Guest: Michael Krieger. Michael explains how the extraction of Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and subsequent arrest and request for extradition to the US was a profound turning point for investigative journalism, freedom of speech and for liberty and civilization. This event might end up being as consequential as the bailout of the “too big to fail” banks and the impact that had on the financial system and the rule of law.

Ep104 Julian Assange Arrest, Crucial Crossroads feat Michael Krieger
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Ep 97 Chelsea Manning’s Resistance feat Kevin Gosztola

Editor and journalist Kevin Gosztola joins the show to talk about the jailing of former US Army intelligence analyst and whistleblower Chelsea Manning for her resistance to a grand jury investigating Wikileaks. Kevin has been reporting on Manning’s case from the start in 2010 and has been a tireless advocate. Secret grand juries, and investigations have been used against dissidents and activists for more than a century as a political tactic of repression, isolation, intimidation and harassment. But there is also a long tradition of resistance. As Kevin wrote: “Chelsea Manning is carrying on this tradition through her bold defiance.” In Manning’s own words:

“I will not participate in a secret process that I morally object to, particularly one that has been historically used to entrap and persecute activists for protected political speech.”

We discuss what little information we have about the secret grand jury and speculate about other factors that might be affecting the timing of the Manning subpoena. We also talk about the wild political flip flops of the Left and the Right on the subject, about Julian Assange and Wikileaks publications before and after the 2016 election. We toss around some ideas on how the Trump-Russia investigation (aka Russiagate) might factor in. Finally we discuss how Manning’s well being and her health related needs, especially given the history, are the most important priorities and foremost in our minds.  

Ep97 Chelsea Manning's Resistance feat Kevin Gosztola
Continue reading “Ep 97 Chelsea Manning’s Resistance feat Kevin Gosztola”

Ep 95 Chelsea Manning Jailed, Resisting Wikileaks Grand Jury feat Ford Fischer

Today former Army intelligence analyst and whistleblower Chelsea Manning was jailed for contempt of court. She resisting testifying in front of a grand jury convened in the Eastern District of Virginia to deal with sealed charges against Wikileaks’ Julian Assange.  Manning said the matter was related to her 2010 disclosures. She has already spent 7 years in prison, before and after being convicted by a military tribunal on her leaking of material related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her sentence was commuted by President Obama before leaving office in 2017. Journalist and filmmaker Ford Fischer was at the courthouse today and is here today to tell us about it.

Ep 95 Chelsea Manning Jailed Resisting Wikileaks Grand Jury feat Ford Fischer
Continue reading “Ep 95 Chelsea Manning Jailed, Resisting Wikileaks Grand Jury feat Ford Fischer”

Ep 80 The Permanent War Complex feat Gareth Porter

Joanne Leon and investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter discuss “The Permanent War Complex” and how it developed in stages to the point where we have defense and intelligence mega-contractors helping to drive perpetual wars around the globe. Eisenhower’s nightmare has now come true. We also talk about recent machinations in the case of Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Ep80 Permanent War Complex feat Gareth Porter


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Ep 60 Assange Immunity & Disclosure Deal Scuttled by Russiagate Officials feat Elizabeth Lea Vos

Joanne talks with Elizabeth Lea Vos about the immunity deal for Wikileaks founder and editor Julian Assange — a deal that was scuttled by James Comey via Sen. Mark Warner in the Spring of 2017. We also discuss the independent analysis on the transmission of documents published by Guccifer2.

Elizabeth is the Editor-In-Chief of @DisobedientNews. Follow her at @ElizabethLeaVos and find her work at disobedientmedia.com. She also is an organizer of monthly #Unity4J vigils which advocate for the restoration of Julian Assange’s rights to communication with the outside world and ultimately for his release. The next vigil is scheduled for the weekend of July 7-8, 2018. Details at Unity4J.com and @Unity4J.

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Recorded on July 3, 2018. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

  1. How Comey intervened to kill WikiLeaks’ immunity deal, John Solomon, The Hill
  2. Did Sen. Warner and Comey ‘Collude’ on Russia-gate?, Ray McGovern, ConsortiumNews