Open for Discussion

An interview with Julian Assange's U.S. attorney, Michael Ratner.

RATNER: With Julian Assange, September 27, about ten days from now, Julian Assange will have been in the Ecuadorian Embassy for 100 days. That's a long time, but I think he's prepared to stay there much longer, until some kind of agreement can be reached.

This has to be solved politically. I mean, there's all kinds of legal things going on, and we can talk about that briefly, but in the end I think the key thing to solve this is for Sweden to get over whatever is going on in terms of its pride or whatever else is going on in Sweden, and to come to London and question Julian Assange about the sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden. It's unclear to me why they haven't done that, because—.

JAY: What is their answer to that? I'm sure they've been asked it a thousand times. What's the official answer?

RATNER: Well, they have given different answers, which is what's interesting in itself. Their first answer is there's no procedure for doing it. Now they admit there's a procedure for doing it, and we even came up with a case where they've questioned an alleged murderer in Serbia recently. So there's a procedure.

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Bizarre YouTube clip ‘Innocence of Muslims’ infuriated faithful, baffled media

The episode demonstrates how easy it is for a just few extremists to spread chaos around the globe from their computers, said Lawrence Pintak, dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University and author of “The New Arab Journalist: Mission and Identity in a Time of Turmoil.”

“We’re so far beyond the CNN-effect days. We’re into this YouTube effect, where words are lethal and it’s so easy to manipulate mainstream media and social and extremist media for your own ends,” Pintak said. “. . . All it takes is a laptop and an Internet connection and you can cause people to die and you can play to the script.”

“In this case it’s quite clear these guys got what they hoped for, and that was they provoked the Islamists.”

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US warships steam towards Libya coast

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And on a lighter note...

Is our children learning?

"To be honest with you, all that really happened was the sign company made a spelling error, and in the midst of putting it up for a football game some of the other people missed it," Dimoff told Prep Rally. "As soon as we found out about it the damage had already been done. It was an honest mistake. It doesn't reflect on the quality of our sponsors or our programs. It was just an honest mistake by a sign company.

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Exactly my reaction

geomoo's picture

Daily drone strikes, trillions spent on weapons and clandestine actions, secret torture centers, and the big problem is individuals stirring up things on the internet. People need to fall in line behind the hypnotic hum of full spectrum media dominance. If only that film had not been created, we would be enjoying peace and harmony across the middle east today.

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I have no hope today, none.

Shahryar's picture

I'm just flabbergasted at how some people want to be ignorant. Feeling a bit blue about it and seeing dark days ahead. What brought this on? (you might ask). 'Bots and wingers. I wish they'd all shut up and go on a picnic....somewhere where I don't have to run into them.

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Have you ever read Kipling's poem, If

sartoris's picture

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..........maybe you don't understand the situation..........

Ok, I took a little poetic license there. Bots and wingers, eh? Those are birds of a feather on opposite ends of the spectrum. Don't let 'em get you down. Remember what Jesus said: Verily I say unto you, and the stupid shall always surround you. Ok, again, I took some license there, but I'm sure He thought that on more than one occasion.

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