And sally you take. While we get lost in all of the pomp and circumstance of u. S. President ial elections and fears of a virus pandemic i want to solve remember that one of the most important aspects of these 2 major stories is the reporting that has brought them to our doorsteps and newsfeeds. Its journalism the 4th the state that gives us the ability to question candidates seeking Public Office and hold officials accountable for their actions in times of crisis and that for the state has been under attack for quite some time not only from its own internal greedy thirst for higher readerships and the advertising dollars but also externally by governments individuals and corporations seeking to control the narrative and this external threat was on full display recently in southeast London England at the war its crown court where the extradition hearings of wiki leaks founder and publisher Julian Assange have been under way accused of conspiring with former Us Army Intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain and disclose classified information and charges 17 counts of violating the 1917 u. S. Espionage act assad has not only facing down the possibility of 175 years in prison but also the full wrath of the u. S. Government in its history of torture and abuse of Political Prisoners if the United Kingdom courts grant this extradition professor of journalism Roy Greenslade sums up the threat of assads persecution writing in the guardian the quote these offensives may relate specifically to one mans activities but should they succeed they would set a terrible precedent the aim is to prevent whistleblowers from telling the truth and journalists from giving them a platform. So at this 1st round of extradition hearings coming to a close and more on the way i think its time to get the who the what the where and the why why we still can as we start watching the honks if you wanted was going on a city the streets. There so youd like to see the crisis joyce just state and see rolls royce great city displays systemic deception as the late show with a with some things of guilt as. Well go of on the watching the entire world until and i dont mean. To bring us on the ground the insight into the assads extradition hearings we were joined earlier by journalist rico deed in london would ben inside the courtroom following the cases that when we started by asking him what he feels after witnessing the hearings firsthand what is the biggest story coming out of the court. I think the big. Perspective i didnt want to take personally but kind of having sat through the hearings this week or this past week it became very apparent to me that it seems to me this seems to be that the result is already set in stone regardless of the lawyers arguments so some sort of very clear signs of corruption and. Kind of lack of following of the jew process you know i can give you some examples of this but i guess one very telling case im sure everyone sort of read or write about in the newspapers in the media we had this incident where julian stood up in the courtroom. To kind of complain about the lack of confidential time he was getting with his lawyer is you know there was reports say it didnt you know strip searched multiple times and he held in 5 different Holding Cells and his legal papers taped taken away from him so we had an afternoon in the courtroom where you know the lawyers were made a petition for him to come and sit in the next you know next to the lawyers in in the benches to remove him out of this glass stock that hes been sitting in the back in the back of the courtroom you know where hes not able to hear the proceedings not you not able to take part. In you know we had about 2 or 3 hours of legal discussion about this where the lawyers present the evidence in precedence for other cases where defendants were able to sit with their lawyers. And despite all these arguments despite the prosecution saying they had no problems with Julian Assange sitting with his lawyers. The judges of district judge nessa braced she essentially read off of a piece of paper that was already with her prior to that evenings arguments it was like. Her decision had already been made so it was a very clear sign to those in the courtroom that you know this is you know nor case where due process is being followed unfortunately while and the crux of this case worth on does depend stand is proving that astonished me as being persecuted by the United States for political reasons and not criminal with us because according to the ignition treaty between the u. K. And the u. S. Extradition rules out political bent how about that that hasnt found is it depends in making that case. Well this again its a very similar situation where this is precisely the the argument that the defense relied on and discussed in court they said that this is clearly a political offense numerous examples of this. The judge didnt you know didnt seem to be moved by these arguments despite the extradition treaty as this political. Political safeguard in for you know Political Prisoners which in this case clearly is you know we can discuss some of the things going on with. Former congressman rohrbacher her in the new director of National Intelligence rick grenell donald trump all these people these figures are involved in this but. Nonetheless the lawyers didnt know the story the judge didnt seem to be able to move by those arguments whereas on the other hand the u. S. Prosecution is arguing. You know the political system Political Prisoners safeguards that are in place in the treaty should not apply in this case even though almost every u. S. Extradition treaty in the world has this political safeguard its in the u. N. You know model treaty example of what you know what treaty should look like. Its in the in supposed conventions on treaties. And you know the judge seem to be fairly happy with this with this all given where as you know is all those completely nonsensical to have a extradition request that is trying to ignore the actual extradition treaty that its based upon the judge gave the prosecution very little pushback on this but you know gave a lot of resistance to the defense lawyers for saying a very basic legal all human stuff the extradition should follow the rules of the extradition treaty or should follow the rules of the European Court of human rights which you know makes similar a similar arguments against political extraditions you know im not a warrior and im definitely not a solicitor in the u. K. But to me its a kind of obvious i mean to anyone looking at this case that this is a Political Base case thats not really about crime its about going after assad for his political inspired actions at the end of the day i mean its kind of ridiculous to me is that not i mean just from someone outside looking in that the way it was proceeding here and for those of us not familiar with u. K. Courts and how they operate you know is this kind of is the operations inside the courtroom true typical of what you normally see in these kind of cases. I mean i have a kind of attended to many extradition hearings other than this one but i think its very clear to say that what is going on is ridiculous you know i was speaking to lots of journalists in and around the court room and you know theyre all discussing how they were you know bringing up the case with that taxi drivers or you know as theyre making their way to court and you know sort of just your basic person of the street was able to say that whats going on with Julian Assange is ridiculous i dont think theres any controversy about that but i think its a clear sign of whats going on. In the u. K. And in the west in general that we seem to be youll all. Kind of ruling society lists for so lack of a better word is to be very happy to kind of disregard due process and basic rule of law just to kind of secure this prosecution. Is setting a very very dangerous precedent i believe. And to rick where do you where do you think these hearings go from here what is the consensus so far on whether or not assad will be extradited to the u. S. Well its still very difficult to say its going to be a very long process which i think thats something a lot of people need to be aware of so were going to have 3 more weeks of evidence in may and the thats going to be the bulk of the evidence. Regardless of the outcome of what happens in may this will be appealed you know if if the prosecution wins its case the you know julians lawyers will be appealing and if the u. S. Government you know loses extradition requests they will be appealing i think its going to be a 2 or 3 year process. But you know i think personally i think the only solution to this is going to be a political solution we need pressure from the outside to kind of say this is clearly a political case this is clearly someone whos not ever committed any crimes they are journalist and if if we kind of pretend that all countries are based on these principles of democracy in open access to information that is absolutely no reason for him to be in prison the way he is. Going to a Court Watchers dont forget to let us know what you think of the topics weve covered our social media and be sure to sign up for our exclusive newsletter at bit dot lease slash watching or you can also start watching those arcs on the mail through the brand new portable t. V. Out available on smartphones through google play at the Apple App Store by searching portable t b. Trade and investment to become magic spells to economic development. Most people think about trade they think about goods and services being exchanged between countries and the investment chapter of a trade agreement is about something very different but what when investment leads to toxic manufacturing that destroys sacred sites all ruins the environment. That means if local communities that are being poisoned if they object if they do anything that the company feels is interrupting their profits they can basically no multinationals are taking on the whole nations Philip Morris is trying to use i guess d. S. To stop tour of the way from implementing new tobacco regulations aimed at cutting domestic smoking rates a French Company sued egypt because egypt raise its minimum wage to democratic choice of a trump called rich. Joins us as we try to find dont want to. The washington consensus led by the United States says the liberal world order must be defended at almost all costs said differently the Foreign Policy blog demands the post cold war you know polar moment be preserved but alas it would seem a multiple world has already arrived. As a nation established to us and thus the. I think shes come out for free you got bored of the trip to improve your nature my peace you have to try to get from the well. It was because of global what was going to have simple truth needs it in your voice your odds of us have plenty of us moving is full of love for you the feeling youre fighting with the folks up looking up. A little less fortunate enough photos of multiplication to sound. Each simulating civilization would be able to run using a tiny fraction of its resources. Hundreds of thousands millions of around store all of Human History almost all. Beings with our kinds of experiences with them to simulated ones rather than simulated ones and conditional that are good we should think were probably one of the simulated ones. Industry comes to life in los angeles every night. Dozens of women sells the bodies on the streets many of them underage. Los Angeles Police reveal a taste of the daily challenge now if youre going to exploit a child here in los angeles were going to come out of your busy office is going undercover as 6 workers and customers to fight 6 trade. Whistleblowers are a vital part of our democracy they can serve as a check the power uncover wrongdoing and bring to light some of the dark behaviors a powerful people as much as were taught about protecting these breaks the rules and the integrity of the information they bring forward what the wars are where we think of heroes in fact they are suffering from great losses just for telling the truth and making our democracy live up to its creed case in point former cia agent jeffrey Sterling Sterling joined the guy in 1903 and just 2 years later was promoted to Operations Officer in the cias near east and south Asia Division focusing his efforts on iraq he later recruited iranian nationals as agents for the cia as part of a secret operation involving irans weapons capacity being a full story but committed to his job of protecting democracy sterling did what we were all expected when. We see wrongdoing he raised concerns in march 2003 he communicated with the Senate Intelligence committee about a poorly executed and dangerous operation merlin a cia led covert operation that was supposed to slow down Irans Nuclear program he blew the whistle. Sterling had been in contact with journalist james risen and was thought to be a key source for his book the state of war detailing americas botched covert operation to disarm Irans Nuclear capacity through a series of traced phone calls and intercepted communications sterling was pegged as the inside source for bribes and book in december of 22 in the u. S. Government biled an indictment against sterling with charges ranging from obstruction of justice to an otherwise disclosure of National Defense of permission without supporting evidence sterling was charged under the espionage act citing key evidence that persuaded a jury to convict sterling on 911. 00 counts as intercepted records and emails but this communication only showed sterling and drive and had talked with each other the record did not disclose anything about the content of their conversations sterling pled not guilty but was convicted on january 26th 2015. He was sentenced to 3 and a half years with a judge arguing that he deserved a much harsher penalty while serving time sterling was denied medical attention for heart conditions placed in solitary confinement and threatened by officers jeffrey sterling author of the book unwanted spot the persecution of an american whistleblower joins us now to share more about his story and the stain legacy of operation berlin welcome jeffrey. Thank you for having me on jeffery and its a great honor having you on and before we get started do want to thank you for standing up and speaking and speaking the truth that you knew i think is very honorable blown the whistle and things like that thank you so much for what you did and what you sacrificed for all of us. I want to start by saying you know why was operation merlin a complete failure and to what and do you think your role in whistleblowing served to kind of solidify it as one of the cias biggest biggest blunders at the end of the day. That well when i came into operation merlin and it had been going for some time before my involvement i was assured of all the safeguards and that it was approved by the highest levels of government. And background on the operation as had been said it was designed to slow down the Iranian Program to gain a Nuclear Weapon well during the process all of the safeguards that i was told about turned out to be false. And so i felt that it was going to be actually something that would enhance or speed up the iranian efforts to gain a Nuclear Weapon as opposed to hamper them so i made the appropriate reach out to individuals within the organization within the cia and i was basically told to shut up then i did eventually go to actually both the senate and house intelligence committees while. Mr sterling your book that i wanted to spy has everything that tale of a career Civil Servant and minority rising through the ranks at a time where it was almost unbelievable that someone who looked like you could be in the position that you were in establishing yourself and really taking control. Also shedding light on something that you felt was your duty in a highly controversial and dangerous american Foreign Policy project can you tell us more about what inspired you to write this book you dealt with a lot in your book there are details of chapters of your like like being a child without a village and a man without a country how do you think impacted you. Well to me youre writing a book it was just about the journey that ive taken and for me theres always been that racial aspect of the despite my trying to avoid that or trying to combat it theres been racial aspects and racial hinderances throughout my life just because of the color of my skin so i was facing that growing up in a segregated town in missouri i faced it in social aspects of just growing up because i chose to do things that were not expected of me because i was black but i was determined to just be myself through everything and i stayed to that mantra through growing up in a small town through college through law school and certainly in absolutely while i was with the cia so the book is about a journey and i think there are some things about it i think theres a lot of things about it that maybe americans dont know about their country and things that go on and particularly with regard to whistleblowers as ive said before whistleblowers are people and citizens just like everybody else and they love and have concern for their country and decide to stand up for their country and take a step that tremendous risk to disclose and uncover wrongdoing by our government officials you know you took huge risks and i think youre going were tragically really punished harshly harshly when anyone looking at your case at least a mile per year would feel like you know this is this is some place where you know the government and the powers that be really kind of sudden oh we want to punish this man and i think it would not. Only for blowing the whistle but i think also if you mention youre also with a few people to bring up some of the issues of race that were taken place at the agency itself what were some of those issues and what advice do you have for whistleblowers and future whistleblowers in stepping forward you know looking at your old life and giving them the best advice you can. Yeah for me i mean there there is certainly the aspect of the merlin operation mirlande point that i whistle blow against but there is also as you said the racial issues that i was facing at the cia while i was there and trying to and finking that im raising in the ranks in handling my career i didnt realize in that you know i did realize that i was not receiving the same treatment as other officers not the same opportunities the same tools to do my job i asked my supervisors why and they point blank told me the cia having no compunction in saying what is tony whats on its mind told me that i kind of stood out as a big black guy speaking farsi. I mean that was a shock to me as an organization that i had established myself as a good a very good clandestine case officer but as i tried to move up in my career they didnt notice the color of my skin and thats when i my response to that was when when did you notice i was black and why does it matter. I took the step to fight against that discrimination because i had had enough that was not me i wasnt going to stand by and be treated that way i mean i went to law school i know what laws are there and just leave in the history of this country equal treatment and i decided to fight knowing that there may be a risk but i felt i had the law on my side and of course my discrimination case was dismissed because as the court agreed with the prosecution that it posed a threat to the National Security of the United States and i still find out just a. Raising just to say that that an africanamerican standing up for civil rights in this country is a threat to our National Security. But thats all within my character that im not going to stand by and see something especially happening to me or something that im involved in and say nothing when i can see wrongdoing going on that was the same for me with regard to operation merlin and with regard to any other whistleblowers i think if you stay true to yourself you stay true to the integrity that you have. There may be tremendous risk with regard to whistle blowing but or choosing to stand up but to me as if with going to trial i knew i wasnt going to plead to something i didnt do i wouldnt be able to face myself in the mirror and like who i saw staring back at me if i had pled to something i didnt do and it was the same for me through operation merlin and the racial. Discrimination that i was facing at the agency i couldnt stand by in the face of wrongdoing and do nothing i think if you stay true anyone who knows there is wrongdoing going on and is wavering on whether to make that choice to whistle blow i think stay true to yourself stay true to the integrity that got you to where you are and that lets you see that something is wrong there there may be risk and maybe im not the poster child for who will go as but. At the end of the day you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and know you at least tried to do the right thing well i would say i would say mr sterling i would say that you are definitely a post trial danced a poster child for strength and in my opinion doing the right thing i want to thank you so much for what you did and also for writing this book definitely everyone check it out on want to spy the persecution of american whistleblower jeffrey sterling thank you so much for joining us today to thank you for having me on. Wow everybody well that at the end of the day thats our show man thats. Powerful stuff were jeffery so deep so fresh dating at the same time on the right well everybody that is our show remember everyone in this world its important always remember in this world were not told were loved so i tell you all i love you i am tired of interest and im in chicago keep on watching all those hawks out there and have a great day and night everybody. Blushes and. More snow he cut a hole close to each seam youll set its. Always shifting against. Beautifully because you know i said it it. Was a bit over my skull but im going to have to be a scheme to show. That you believe you should at least. In the us but to the south korean is just tell them not to be some corn summed up. The money which of the british mr west demolition of. The washington consensus led by the United States says the liberal world order must be defended at almost all costs said differently the Foreign Policy blog demands the post cold war you know polar moment to be preserved but alas it would seem a motel whole lot has already arrived. Is your media a reflection of reality. In the world transformed. What will make you feel safe. Isolation community. Are you going the right way or are you being that. Direct. What is true was his fate. In the world corrupted you need to descend. To join us in the depths. For a mate in the shallowness. Of freddy supercool portia look at all the little track. And News New York at the sun shining the star look and sure of the cheetah look you feel and ive missed these full well for you for them not only i do it is made for push me i will push the issue going to get us no. Mistakes and. Yes. I. 19 vaccine trials promising to get results by the end of the year countries are also rolling out a number of measures to curb the spread of the virus we visit a moscow airport to see whats being put in place that. There are 3 layers of good will control the arriving passengers have to pass through theres the infrared camera theres a thermal camera and the passengers temperatures if they could a brew were played. Britains National Health Service Starts the crazing medical students and staff in a drive to build an n. H. S. But his staff face increasing pressure and in the coronavirus. Theres a lot of
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