I have carefully read the entire judgements (including the dissenting ones) of the Supreme Court, dismissing Assange’s appeal against extradition. The appeal was on the narrow point of law that the Swedish Prosecutor was not a “Judicial Authority”, but rather a party to the case, and only a “judicial authority” can issue a European arrest warrant. That may sound dull. I hope to convince you it isn’t.
Eurosceptics are not the most natural supporters of Julian Assange, but they should be deeply disturbed by aspects of this judgement. So should anyone with a regard for personal liberty. Some of the points laid down by the majority judges are truly shocking.
Please read this part of Lord Kerr’s judgement. I suggest you read it several times.
117. It would be destructive of the international co-operation between states to
interpret the 2003 Act in a way that prevented prosecutors from being recognised
as legitimate issuing judicial authorities for European Arrest Warrants, simply
because of the well-entrenched principle in British law that to be judicial is to be
impartial.
So the idea of an impartial judiciary is less important than obeying EU instruments, for which “international cooperation” is in this case a euphemism.
All of the judges accept that in ordinary English “Judicial authority” means a judge and a court, and not a prosecutor.
Lord Kerr says quite specifically:
101. The expression “judicial authority”, if removed from the extradition (or,
more properly, surrender) context, would not be construed so as to include
someone who was a party to the proceedings in which the term fell to be
considered. A judicial authority must, in its ordinary meaning and in the contexts
in which the expression is encountered in this jurisdiction other than that of
surrender, be an authority whose function is to make judicial decisions.
But Kerr then goes on to say that only in the context of European surrender/extradition, “judicial authority” should be understood in a way that is absolutely contrary to its normal English meaning. In a cavalier way Kerr dispenses with a fundamental principle of English Law for centuries, that words are to be construed in their ordinary sense – which every law student in the land learns in week 1 of their course.
The majority all rested their dismissal of the appeal on the grounds that the parliamentary Act of 2003 must be interpreted in line with the EU decision or “Framework Agreement” which it was created to implement. They specifically state that where there is conflict the EU Framework Agreement must take precedence over British law.
What follows is absolutely astonishing. The Framework Agreement in its English version specifically states, in Article 1, that the European Arrest Warrant must be issued by a “judicial decision”.
That really can only mean a court – it cannot mean a prosecutor on any construction.
Lord Philips seeks to get round this by a morally disgusting piece of legal casuistry. He states in terms that the French text should be followed and not the English (para 56 of the judgement). He argues: “The French version is the original and is to be preferred”.
But that contravenes an important and long established principle of international diplomacy. I have personally negotiated in both the EU and the UN and the essential and fully stated principle is that all official language texts have an equal validity. There is no “preferred original”. Lord Philips is just getting over an insuperable obstacle to his argument.
Having argued that the French text must be used and not the english text, Philips returns to the argument on which the whole judgement rests; that the French text is to be preferred to the English and that “judiciaire” has a more “vague” meaning than “judicial” (para 18). He rests this argument on a 1996 French dictionary and a google search.
Even if we accept that judiciaire has a vaguer meaning than judicial, the principle of interpreting international agreements based on the vaguest meaning of each of the individual words between the official languages would dissolve international law into inanity. There is a strong argument that where there is a conflict between languages the more precise and narrow formulation should be taken to be the most that can fairly be said to have been agreed by all.
The truth is that Philips and his fellow judges live in the real world, and were more concerned to please both the EU and the US by getting Assange extradited on charges that would not stand any genuine judicial investigation.
Assange is to be extradited on the argument that the British Act is subordinate to the European Framework, and that the english text of that is subordinate to the French text.
It is not surprising they dismissed an independent judiciary as unimportant. They are not one.
This toady and Conservative Friend of Israel, is the instigator to rename the tower which houses Big Ben the Elizabeth Tower.
{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18305664}
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Note which countries he visits, the reasons for going and who pays.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=11437
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The John Lewis who gave him £2000 is a private individual and not the department store.
The 416th death of a member of the British army in Afghanistan is reported.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18305516
A different *unt writes total crap about Her Maj’s corgis and horses.
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Analysis
Peter Hunt
News correspondent
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A day at the races is a fitting start to a celebration of a reign in which horses have provided such pleasure.
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++Like her corgis, they’re blissfully unaware of the Queen’s status.++
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As a child, she confided in her riding instructor that but for her destiny, she would have liked to be a lady living in the country surrounded by animals.
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As an adult, they’ve been her chief relaxation and escape.
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Her lifelong enthusiasm began at the age of four when her grandfather, King George V, gave her a Shetland pony called Peggy.
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Eight decades on, and now aged 86, she still rides without a riding hat.
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The Queen’s a passionate horse breeder and racer. The breeding’s in the blood. The Royal Stud was founded in the 16th Century.
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She’s won four out of the five flat racing Classics.
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On yer bike Mr Hunt!
The Derby continues to elude her.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18298743
Mary,
Take a gander at his voting record, and you will find Tobias to be a stalwart supporter of the rich and the powerful. Tobias a twenty four carat arsehole, is sadly endowed with common features of the current bunch of busy bodies come “representatives” bent on ruining the quality of our lives.
Yes I see. Interesting connections too.
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‘Following his re-election to Parliament, Ellwood was appointed PPS to then Defence Secretary, Dr. Liam Fox, and in October 2011 was appointed PPS to the Minister for Europe The Rt. Hon David Liddington MP in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.’
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Both Fox and Liddington are Friends of Israel apart from their other allegiances.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Ellwood
Seems to be all but forgotten, thats the way some want it.
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‘Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan.’
http://www.karlgrossman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/nuclear-rubberstamp-commission.html
Nevermind: I’ve never understood why some people thinks it is more likely that he will be extradited from Sweden then from the UK. I know that the UK court didn’t se this as likely and dismissed it.
Mary: ‘Fox’
Read the first comment under the article in this link
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http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/06/news-corporation-alec-membership-foreign-corrupt-practices-act-bribery/?utm_source=politicalscrapbook.net&utm_medium=psbook_featt&utm_campaign=psbook_featt2
Thanks Guest. V interesting. Hope Komodo saw your post and Solomon Hughes’ comment. The latter is a writer on the Morning Star. I had not heard of ALEC (what a silly acronym) and have been clicking on the links under About. http://www.alec.org/about-alec/
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They have got us by the proverbials. The private public partnership features prominently.
And here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council
“The private public partnership features prominently.”
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Should be the other way round!. The public pays the money, the private puts it into offshore accounts.
Is Mr Hussain Lady Warsi’s Werritty?
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[…]
Labour said ministers should state whether Mr Hussain was security cleared. They also said his presence on the trips had parallels to the case of Liam Fox, who quit as defence secretary after he was joined abroad by an unofficial adviser, Adam Werritty.
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Michael Dugher, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “This looks like the Liam Fox-Adam Werritty case all over again. David Cameron needs to show he is prepared to make sure his ministers show the highest standards of behaviour.”
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Details also emerged of the extent of Lady Warsi’s travels. She has undertaken 17 trips since July 2010. Eight were paid for by the Government, two by Saudi Arabia and one by an Azerbaijani expatriate group. Six have taken place since January but funding details have yet to be published.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9308031/Tory-peer-Baroness-Warsi-and-her-secret-business.html
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Note the 17 foreign trips in under two years including one to Azerbaijan.
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Well dodgy.
‘Judges live in the real world’. The only time I’ve ever done jury service, Circuit Judge Phillips as was, was sorting out a case of a drunk driver pleading not guilty after plowing through several garden fences and a bit of rural sheep-sh…ing or the like. Not the same man,silly. Julian Assange is a deep-state, mind-ops programmee, false-flag law-breaker. Let the punishment fit the crime. Give him a dose of bureau-law and Viking-feminism, he’ll be happy as a pig in muck.
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On the subject of state psychological control, the process of political torture under Arab dictators, was designed to deliver extremists in the Muslim world, who will play the dirty games we are witnessing in Syria. We should not forget that Assad’s only claim to fame is that he is the son of one of those Western puppets. He has had plenty of time to offer a political message to the world about his vision for Syria. None has been forthcoming. Time’s up no 27, same as Saddam Hussein.
At least the Muslim Brother hood has a message, Islam.
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If Assad had a lick of sense he’d have got himself under the safe custody of a Swedish prosecutor, out of harm’s way for a while.
Is the Jubilee thing happening today? I’m so sorry I’ll miss it. Maybe I can try and find some British ex-pat thingy going on so I can eat cucumber sandwiches and coronation chicken or something. What are you going to do to celebrate?
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Personally, I don’t mind the monarchy. I know a lot of people do, but I just don’t. I know it’s old-fashioned, illogical, pantomimic and unjust. But it’s also unimportant, entertaining and, crucially, already there. Not liking the institution is not a good enough reason for getting rid of it. You’ve got to have a reasonable expectation that the republican alternative – probably some sort of presidency cooked up by contemporary politicians (and you know who they are) – would be an improvement. I say better the devil you know. Particularly when it isn’t a devil but a smiling old woman, albeit with a colossal sense of entitlement.
Not entitlement, sorry. Duty. Sense of duty. Excuse me while I cut my own head off.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/03/queen-diamond-jubilee-spoilsports-david-mitchell
David Mitchell who wrote the Guardian piece is a crawler and typical of the entertainment fraternity
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It’s raining, it’s pouring. HM Queen will need a sou’wester, gumboots and a brolly but later she will be safely enconsced on a red throne under a canpopy aboard The Spirit of Chartwell which has been lavishly decorated for the occasion and lent to her by the Magna Carta Steamship Company. Knighthoods and gongs for all concerned are in the post.
{http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072626/Ones-Jubilee-barge–glamorous-model-whos-making-fit-Queen.html}
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153880/Met-Office-talks-dry-spell-Jubilee-Royal-Barge-designer-taking-chances.html
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£10m could have been better spent. We are living in the past and pretending we still have an (evil) empire.
‘The £10m cost of the event has been met by private donations but the security costs will be paid for by the taxpayer.’ BBC
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We are not told the cost of the security which must be high. eg teams of police have been crawling under every bridge looking for explosives. There must be at least twenty bridges on the route.
Meanwhile… Warsi is probably not having such a nice time as more is revealed. I said before that she had been to Azerbaijan. Correction – one of these trips was paid for by an Azerbaijan expatriate group.
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Q What was she up to in Uzbekistan? Did she accompany Hammond on his begging visit in March? {http://en.hrsu.org/archives/1418 – Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan}
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‘Underfire cabinet minister Baroness Warsi spent over £14k of taxpayers cash on trips abroad – despite having no foreign role
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She made 14 visits in two years, including five to Pakistan and others to Bosnia, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, India, Rome, Uzbekistan and Malaysia.’
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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/underfire-cabinet-minister-baroness-warsi-860862
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What has she been doing?
How the militarisation of this country has seeped through to primary education. It seems that it was considered OK to teach the words of this song to young children ostensibly relating to the Ancient Olympics. The words are chilling and could easily relate to what went on in Bagram, Guantanamo, or Abu Ghraib and the rendition sites.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153186/Parents-outrage-primary-pupils-told-learn-violent-song-lyrics-Ill-break-arms-legs-going-kill-project-Ancient-Olympics.html
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The BBC version ameliorates it. {http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-18282517} Withdrawn so all OK except it is now embedded in the children’s minds. The head should be sacked. What has Gove got to say? This should not have been in the curriculum even in a school in Devon which has a gung ho reputation in supporting the Marines, the Military Wives, the Navy at Plymouth and Dartmouth etc.
Bilderberg UK ‘official’ guest list:
..and on the official UK guest list are-
Kenneth Clarke- MP & Secretary of State for Justice
Marcus Agius -Barclays
Robert Dudley- BP
Nick Boles- MP
Niall Ferguson
Douglas Flint – HSBC
John Micklethwait- Editor, The Economist
Peter Mandleson
Gideon Rachman- Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator FT
Peter Voser, CEO RD Shell
Martin Wolf- Chief Economics Editor, FT
John Kerr – H of Lords/Trilateral Commission/Shell/RioTinto/Centre for
European Reform
Plus two ‘rapporteurs’ from the Economist
Interesting how many financial journalists there are this year, plus the usual smattering of oil, politics and finance.
Thoughts ?
Hi Mary
Don’t you think that is just a bit harsh?
Seriously, he is a comedian who has a particular take on ‘events’.He does not promote anything much vigorously except tolerance. He is quite perceptive and insightful and can reveals many of the absurdities of the current world with his particular style of grounded, worm’s observations. He plays the daft laddie, who is not so daft, (always a hard position to counter) but with a peculiar twist (the view from the lower sixth of a minor, private schoolboy?). I think he can be rather funny and also seems rather humane. Of course he isn’t faultless- he seems to fall back a little too readily on the ‘can’t be arsed’ position- but then, I can relate that too.
As for the article about the queen, (one of I think three giving a supposedly balanced range of opinions in the Observer), his position, for what it is worth, is about where I would be, except that i think the monarchy is going to expire at some point from natural causes, in the not too distant future. The monarchy is terminally moribund and while many of the underlying assumptions are deeply offensive and unsatisfactory, the mayhem that might ensue from changing abruptly is simply is not worth the hassle.
I daresay the monarchy can stagger on in some way, and yes I am aware of the heave inducing sycophancy of so many figures with a public profile, especially on the BBC. The Kevin McKenna article alongside the other articles was vomit inducing drivel, vapid sycophancy that plumbed and grovelled in every purulent fissure of the subterranean depths of what passes for brain tissue, in that desperate creep.
And yet McKenna is from a tradition (irish immigrant, to Scotland) that has every reason to harbour resentments of what monarchy represents and brought to bear on genrations of Irish people. McKenna is probably a better target for your ire.
Hmmm…I take a couple of days off and the quality of the comments improves beyond recognition. There’s a message there somewhere. I can add nothing worthwhile to the discussion on Assange. However it will be interesting to see if Sweden’s justice system has also been subverted, when he gets there.
Thanks for the pointer to ALEC, Guest. Linking back to PRwatch –
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11531/rupert-murdochs-news-corp-alec-member
gives a more detailed account of what’s going on there. Rupert’s support of daft educational schemes has history.
See also: {http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11864}
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I have been more than usually depressed by the news generally but I have been cheered up somewhat by the pissing rain attending the celebrations of 60 years of progressive decline and increasing corruption. I may put on a coat and go and take pictures of the drenched and sheeplike revellers under their dripping bunting, for my future entertainment. Gaaaaah.
Mary…
“Hope Komodo saw your post”
I did; I added a couple of links, and my post disappeared. Hopefully it will return. Here is one of the links again:
http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11864
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ALEC is not unknown to me and I commented on its involvement with Atlantic Bridge some time ago.
Lest-we-forget link: {http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/08/1024211/-ALEC-scandal-goes-international-UK-Knighthood-Thatcher-and-3M-involved}
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It is also a prominent lobbyist for private education, and there is a clear link with Murdoch’s enthusiasm for Gove’s destructive activities.
David Mitchell disgraced himself on by schmoozing with Alistair Campbell on the 2nd series ’10 Oclock live’ show, and going along with the 2nd series scripts after the first series was promisingly earnest. “10 oclock live” turned out to be confused, degrading faux-prog drivel.
Hislop and Rob Nobel did better to keep Campbell quite uncomfortable with wmd jibes on hignfy last week.
Don’t you think that is just a bit harsh?
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No just sick of the sycophants and crawlers who are all over the media, especially within the audio visual output. It has been excessive to the exclusion of reality.
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I agree with your analysis on the future of the monarchy though.
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http://www.private-eye.co.uk/covers.php?showme=1315 🙂
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Let’s hope it pisses down on her parade and washes away the tawdry blood-soaked bunting of the imperialist racist fascist islamophobic british flag which is ubiquitous as swastikas at a nuremberg rally and disgracefully being placed in the hands of innocent children conditioned to form the next generation’s cadre of flag-waving fascist warmongering shills.
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ZBC has been broadcasting ‘jubilee’ (from the hebrew) propaganda since 6am this morning and yet not one mention of the plight of the Palestinians as of 9:24am, proving beyond doubt that the so-called pinko-Marxist ZBC is in actual fact the propaganda arm of the zionist entity. The masses having been prompted by the ZBC beaming breivik salutes into their living rooms 24/7 are now overtly celebrating fascism on the streets exactly as tpb intended.
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Irony is genteel types passing around seemingly innocuous cucumber sandwiches at village garden parties as a coded way of saying we don’t really want foreigners in our country whilst glorifying a head of state of german ancestry married to a man with greco-Nazi bloodlines who routinely makes racist comments about Indians despite encouraging the mass-consumption of coronation chicken, of which curried powder is a key ingredient, but wouldn’t dare say the dish looks as if it has been assembled by an Indian in the context of consuming elitist rectory garden cuisine.
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We are living in a fascist state.
Annoying and outdated though the monarchy and jubilee shenanigans are, surely someone must have some thoughts on Bilderberg?
Some but not all the usual suspects are there Ruby but surprised that Bliar is not on the list. What else can we say? It was ever thus and they are just laughing at us.
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As a diversion from the reenactment taking place on the Thames, I switched to Ch 81. Big mistake. The Obombers were hosting the war criminal Bush and his wife at the unveiling in the White House of the Bush portraits. Sickly speeches from Michele and Laura.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/obama-bush-jovial-at-portrait-unveiling-1.3754748
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This was followed by a video of Obomber giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom! to ‘The Price Is Worth It’ Madeleine Albright and to 12 others, some of them posthumous. One went to Shimon Peres. The list is here {http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/presidential-medal-of-freedom-obama-to-honor-bob-dylan-john-doar-and-more/2012/05/29/gJQAcxzUzU_blog.html}
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Obomber is adept at tasks like these. Grinning widely, cracking a few jokes and being generally the nice guy. What a Jekyll and Hyde character.
Mary: David Mitchell who wrote the Guardian piece is a crawler and typical of the entertainment fraternity.
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Oh, do cheer up love!
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I don’t really know what you would have in the place of that dreaded old Queen we serve under (I’m talking about Liz not David Cameron, ha ha ha!) but do you honestly trust any of our elected representatives to do a better job of being head of state than her? I actually tend to agree with Mitchell in the sense that while I know there is no real legitimate reason for having a monarchy you had better think of something much better before you can get rid of it. And no, nothing that you will find in the Morning Star is remotely better than the clunky constitutional arrangements we have right now. Now cheer up and have a coronation chicken sandwich already!
Ruby Smith: Annoying and outdated though the monarchy and jubilee shenanigans are, surely someone must have some thoughts on Bilderberg?
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I do! I think, “How very, very interesting!”
Jewbilee: That’s so amusing what you did with the word “jubilee”! And it is so funny about the way in which the country is being turned into a fascist state with the aid of cucumber sandwiches. It must be a dastardly Ju plan! (Did you see what I did there?)
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Anyway, I hope you’re all happy that the God of Quantum Global Conciousness has rained on Her Maj’s parade, quite literally. Perhaps next time we could have a constitution that celebrates national brotherhood (and sisterhood, natch!):
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Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Muslims,
And everybody hates the Jews.
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😉
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Just so that you know, some of you guys (and gals!) who think you’re being so out there and progressive with your Jew hatred should read your King James and realize that there’s nothing new under the sun!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgASBVMyVFI
“I’ve never understood why some people thinks it is more likely that he will be extradited from Sweden then from the UK. I know that the UK court didn’t se this as likely and dismissed it.”
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Victor, the UK courts would say this, would they not? Once Julian Assange is under Swedish jurisdiction, nobody has control over the machinations that will follow, giving the noises made by US hawks, who knows what lawyers can throw at a court to divert one case upon another, I’m no expert and don’t want to be one, ever, but I think that we had enough of the behind the scenes manipulations of our justice system in Europe by some who think the worlds owes them everything and more.
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If a Us citizen/soldiers commits a heinous sexual murder in your country and manages to get to the US embassy without being arrested by the Polis, he will be flown out within 24hrs. never to be returned to face justice. These cases are littering the court annals of wherever there is a US base.
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It is outrageous that the US is not accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction and until that changes, nobody should be extradited for piffle and fluff. 2 million people were privy to the information allegedly leaked by Bradley Manning, not secrets at all, imho, now look at what torture and deprivations had done to the poor chap.
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And Swedish courts can envisage such a scenario, whether they can prevent it under international agreements is highly questionable. My views have not changed, Swedens position is as nebulous as it was since the case occurred, if it really feels these women need justice, then they should proceed with the case in any way possible. If that means to interview him in London, then they can take that step.