The unexpected decision by Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny a US demand to extradite Julian Assange, foiling efforts to send him to a US super-max jail for the rest of his life, is a welcome legal victory, but one swamped by larger lessons that should disturb us deeply.
Guccifer 2.0, the Russian account said to have hacked Democratic emails in 2016, was registered with an Israeli phone number, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reported last month, just one of many instances that Israelis appeared to help Russia interfere in U.S. election. But the new cold war is with Russia, so US media ignore the Israeli connection.
Russiagate is an excuse to ramp up a new Cold War. That’s why so many national security types love it. Antiwar types should see this as an internecine fight between different factions of warmongers, a jingoistic and xenophobic way to blame our country’s pathetic political culture on evil foreigners. McCarthyism 2.0 The more demented liberals online blame every criticism of the Democrats on Putin.
US media critical of Russian interference in the 2016 election should be reporting an FBI affidavit suggesting Israeli effort to interfere at the highest level.
Journalists have relied on Wikileaks for years to show readers in riveting detail the extent of the State Department and the Democratic Party’s catering to Israel, for instance to undermine the Iran deal. Whatever you think of him personally, Julian Assange has been a critical journalistic source, allowing news organizations to show the public how our government makes policy.
Former Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak (Photo: Getty Images…