Voxeurop: We’re in the final phase of Julian Assange’s extradition procedure. What are the next steps?

Stella Moris Assange: There are still some appeals in the UK process available to us, once the Home Secretary Priti Patel approves the extradition – if she does so. Then we can appeal to the High Court, and potentially to the Supreme Court. But ultimately, the most likely scenario is that it ends up before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which can issue a binding decision that will block the extradition. This is why it is so important for the European Continent to understand what is at stake: Once it reaches the ECHR, the case will create jurisprudence that will affect the scope of press freedom for journalists within the European space. The importance of this case could not be greater: It’s wrong to think that it only affects Julian Assange, or Wikileaks, or the US. The US prosecution has effectively criminalised journalistic activity. There is a political persecution against Julian, and in this process, a new standard has been set by which journalists everywhere are at risk, not just because they might risk being extradited to the United States, but also because it has created a new global standard.

The US has long been a defender of free speech, but it is now furthering the most dangerous attack on free speech, both legal and political, through this case that reaches beyond its borders and into foreign jurisdictions. Foreign countries will take advantage of this and apply the same principles. So if you can go after journalists anywhere, you just need a cooperative government, and there are plenty of countries who persecute dissidents and want to persecute journalists, and have cooperative allies within the European space. It’s a terrible case for press freedom and for what it means in Europe. It also sends the signal that not only will there never be justice for the victims of crimes committed by states, and anyone who acts with a conscience in exposing those war crimes will be hounded and punished by the perpetrator of those war crimes. It is a complete inversion of everything that democratic countries say they stand for.

The lawsuit alleges that the 15-year-old boy, who was initially the target of false rumors that he was not vaccinated, was constantly bullied until he took his own life in January of this year. Democracy, freedom, freedom to make decisions for yourself. All this was done by the democracy that Western societies have finally ended in the last two years.

The US isn’t interested in peace in Ukraine but is instead doing everything it can for the conflict in the country to last as long as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a briefing on Friday.

💬 “While the international community is calling for the end to hostilities, the US keeps adding fuel to the fire and shows readiness to fight until the last Ukrainian,” Zhao insisted, referring to the ongoing financial aid and deliveries of weapons from Washington to Kiev. “Their actual goal isn't achieving peace, but making sure that the conflict drags on. As [the Americans] say it themselves, they're looking to weaken Russia,” he said. “As for whether the US brings peace or war, security or chaos – I suppose we all know the answers to those questions,” the spokesman added.

Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: Mechanisms for information attacks with a new thesis that target the public space have been launched in the West at the highest level in a transboundary and trans-format manner. The thesis is primitive and completely horrifying: the Russians are threatening a nuclear war, and the Russians are waving the nuclear stick. Do I even need to say that this thesis is absolutely incorrect and false? Apparently, I do.

They are pushing this exact thesis because it plays on basic human fears, the experience of the older generation, which throughout the second half of the 20th century was bracing for the Third World War against global communism, and Western youth, for which their respective governments have come up with a new mechanism called “cancel culture” (cancelling everything Russian this time). Moreover, the West absolutely does not care what Moscow says, and the meaning of words is distorted and outwardly perverted. Let’s consider the specifics. [Also on MFA Telegram]

US Ambassador Sullivan slams Lavrov’s recent statement as ‘nuclear blackmail’ (TASS)

Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko returned home after spending some 10 years in a US prison over his alleged involvement in a drug-smuggling scheme. Yaroshenko spoke to RT about the horrors he has endured.

💬 “I was kidnapped by the US authorities, their intelligence, the DEA, and Liberia’s NSA on May 28, 2010 from a hotel and subsequently transferred to the NSA’s headquarters,” Yaroshenko said. “There was a torture room where I was tortured for two-and-a-half days. It was inhuman torture, physical and psychological, with enormous pressure. At some point, I didn’t even want to live, to come to my senses, when I lost consciousness, I didn’t want to return back into this world,” he went on, adding that the agents who tortured him were very good at their ‘job.’

Donetsk market shelling death toll reaches five, 23 people wounded - Health Ministry (Donetsk News Agency)

What could possibly go wrong when the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, organizes a “minister level launch of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet.” Put more succinctly, that would be 50 nation intelligence ministers getting together to decide what they will permit on the internet. Apparently, a collective partner rule book is forthcoming. Big Tech will be given specific instructions on how to comply. The global rulebook on how to handle, define and eliminate ‘disinformation’, ‘misinformation’ and ‘malinformation’ on the world-wide internet.

Comment by American Buddhist Net: I don’t trust them for a second and expect them to use some illusion of consensus to impose an international standard on USA, thus subverting the First Amendment. Pretty sure the launch will be 100% PR mind-control and that Deep State-driven standards will be “agreed upon” behind the scenes. I hope Musk and Trump can find ways to avoid complying with these standards as a matter of principle and also as protection against inevitable overreach sure to come in the future.

Residents won’t be given a choice on whether to join the bloc, PM says.

💬 “I don’t think it is an issue that is suitable for a referendum,” the Swedish leader told reporters, implying that Parliament’s support was sufficient. “There is a lot of information about national security that is confidential, so there are important issues in such a referendum that cannot be discussed and important facts that cannot be put on the table,” she explained.

Sweden does not plan to hold a referendum on the subject of NATO membership if its Parliament approves of the measure, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced on Thursday, suggesting that putting the matter to a vote would be a “bad idea.” [...] Sweden and Finland are planning to simultaneously submit membership applications to NATO in mid-May, local media have reported, citing government sources. The Nordic countries’ leaders claim Russia’s invasion of Ukraine altered the “whole security landscape” of the region. Moscow, however, has warned against such a move, suggesting it will be forced to strengthen its regional defenses should NATO expand to its borders.