Don't get me wrong, I have never thought that the Americans are the embodiment of everything good in the world. In many ways they are absolutely crazy, especially on gun controls, and under Trump they seemed like a totally dysfunctional democracy. But, and I have argued this for decades, we would be in a terrible place without them. Imagine a world in which America did not exist or the isolationists before WW2 had had their way. It doesn’t bear thinking about does it?
Britain still lives under the mistaken belief that ‘we’ won the war. We were on the winning side but let’s be honest we would not have succeeded without the US’s ability to quickly put their massive industrial capacity onto a war footing. And we have lived under the NATO umbrella, generously funded by American taxpayers, ever since.
So, I am afraid I think Julian Assange should be extradited to the US to face charges as set out in the indictment published in May 2019. Read it HERE.
One paragraph (No 43) in the eighteen count indictment says:
"ASSANGE also knew that his publication of the State Department cables endangered sources whom he named as having provided information to the State Department. In a letter dated November 27,2010 from the State Department's legal adviser to ASSANGE and his counsel, ASSANGE was informed, among other things, that publication of the State Department cables would "[place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals—from journalists to human rights activists and bloggers to soldiers to individuals providing information to further peace and security."
"Prior to his publication of the unredacted State Department cables, ASSANGE claimed that he intended "to gradually roll [the cables] out in a safe way" by partnering with mainstream media outlets and "reading through every single cable and redacting identities accordingly." Nonetheless, while ASSANGE and WikiLeaks published some of the cables in redacted form beginning in November 2010, they published over 250,000 cables in September 2011, in unredacted form, that is, without redacting the names of the human sources."
How many have been arrested or killed we don’t know.
And if that wasn't enough, I don’t see in the 37 page indictment any mention at all of Wikileaks role in releasing leaked information on Hilary Clinton and the Democrat National Committee (DNC) prior to the 2016 presidential election that saw Donald Trump elected. This information was hacked by the Russians under Putin, who is even now waging a terrible war in Ukraine costing thousands of lives, both military and civilian.
Hacking the DNC was presumably not a national security issue.
But let's not forget the report by the US Senate Intelligence Committee (page 170 volume 5) found..
"... that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed the hack-and leak campaign targeting the DNC, DCCC, and the Clinton Campaign. Moscow's intent was to damage the Clinton Campaign and tarnish what it expected might be a Clinton presidential administration, help the Trump Campaign after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and generally undermine the U.S. democratic process. The Committee's findings are based on a variety of information, including raw intelligence reporting."
And...
"Wikileaks actively sought, and played, a key role in the Russian campaign and very likely knew it was assisting a Russian intelligence influence effort. The Committee found significant indications that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have benefited from Russian government support."
The DNC was hacked in order to pave the way for Russian expansionism in Europe and Assange played a part in it. If Trump was still in the White House you can be sure Ukraine would have been overrun by now. The idea that any US military equipment would have been sent by Trump to help Ukrainians defend themselves is ridiculous.
China is rising in the east and is threatening its neighbours, particularly Taiwan, which everyone expects to come under attack sooner or later. The Chinese leader Xi Jinping has recently restated his support for Putin - both effectively dictators and leaders for life.
If China and Russia - repressive, authoritarian regimes with no regard for human rights - join forces the world will be in real trouble. Seventy five years of relative peace, basically my entire life, will be at risk. Who could or would we turn to if that happened?
The Americans used to spend as much on defence as the next 15 countries put together. Only they stand between us and subjugation under men like Putin and Xi. The US have made plenty of foreign policy mistakes, Iraq and Afghanistan simply being the latest, but when, for example, it comes to getting grain held in Ukraine to millions in Africa to avoid mass starvation, it’s to Washington we look because no one else could or would do it.
And more often than not, they are criticised for doing it!
Carrie Johnson
There are claims coming out that the government has somehow persuaded The Times and The Daily Mail to take down stories of Johnson, whilst foreign secretary in 2018, trying to get his now wife into a senior £100,000 a year position at the FCDO. At the time the two of them were apparently having an affair and he was still married to his second wife Marina Wheeler. The story appeared in The Times yesterday and was followed by The Mail. Both have now removed the articles from print and online editions.
This is hardly news since it comes from a book by Lord Ashcroft published three months ago in March 2022. According to James Hanning, co-author of a biography of David Cameron:
"Boris Johnson was not universally admired in the Foreign Office, when he headed it. In late 2017, his allies there suggested he would benefit from having a chief of staff. 'This suggestion seemed to fall on deaf ears', writes Michael Ashcroft in his latest political biography. Then, in early 2018, Johnson became keener on the plan, saying he had just the right candidate in mind. But his allies were 'aghast'; Johnson’s choice was quite unsuitable, lacking the heft for the role. 'Everyone advised him not to do it. They told him she had been over-promoted and that making her his chief of staff was ridiculous', says a source close to the episode.
"The candidate was Carrie Symonds. Unknown to his advisers, Johnson had become close to her, and around this time, one friendly MP walked in on the pair in 'a compromising situation' in his House of Commons office. Undaunted and unembarrassed, Johnson persisted with the idea of making Carrie head of staff, calling in Zac Goldsmith to offer support. Only after a (named) aide threatened to resign did Johnson drop it."
It's hardly a secret but what is odd is why the government wanted it spiked and how easily they were able to do it. You can see now removed The Times report HERE.
I’m not sure why Johnson bothered to get the story pulled anyway. We all know this is exactly how he operates. In August last year, his former senior adviser Dominic Cummings claimed that in 2020 when he and Johnson were close to breaking up, he said the prime minister had told him Carrie was driving him “crackers” and wanted to get her a job “with lots of foreign travel”.
The state is there to help Johnson manage his private life.
