What Does the Future Hold for US-Bolivia Ties?

Mark Weisbrot. CEPR. February 8, 2020

The Trump administration’s current and future behavior in Bolivia can best be forecast by its strong support for the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Evo Morales on November 10. And no one disputes that Morales was democratically elected to his term that began in 2015.

The OAS is lying and cannot defend its accusations.
But there’s more: the Organization of American States (OAS), whose leadership under Secretary General Luis Almagro is strongly influenced by Trump and Senator Marco Rubio, played a leading role in the coup that brought this violent, repressive, racist, anti-indigenous government to power. The OAS did this by repeatedly claiming, falsely, or implying, that the Morales government committed fraud in the October 20 election.

One hundred and thirty-six economists and statisticians said the OAS charges were false. Members of the US Congress demanded answers from the OAS for their false accusations. Journalists have also tried to ask questions. All have gone unanswered for more than three months. Why? Because the OAS is lying and cannot defend its accusations.

The treatment of these transparent falsehoods—only eighth-grade arithmetic is necessary to understand them—by many US-based NGOs that claim to support “human rights” and “democracy,” is disgraceful. The same goes for most of the US media, including the editorial board of The New York Times, which for the first time in 17 years supported a military coup—provoking an angry response from more than 300 academic experts. The truth will come out.

To Survive, Venezuela’s Leader Gives Up Decades of Control Over Oil

Anatoly Kurmanaev and Clifford Krauss. New York Times, February 9, 2020

CARACAS, Venezuela — After decades of dominating its oil industry, the Venezuelan government is quietly surrendering control to foreign companies in a desperate bid to keep the economy afloat and hold on to power.

The opening is a startling reversal for Venezuela, breaking decades of state command over its crude reserves, the world’s biggest.

The government’s power and legitimacy have always rested on its ability to control its oil fields — the backbone of the country’s economy — and use their profits for the benefit of its people.

But the nation’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, in his struggle to retain his grip over a country in its seventh year of a crippling economic crisis, is giving up policies that once were central to its socialist-inspired revolution.

Under Venezuelan law, the state-run oil company must be the principal stakeholder in all major oil projects. But as that company, Petróleos de Venezuela, or Pdvsa, unravels — under the weight of American sanctions, years of gross mismanagement and corruption — the work is unofficially being picked up by its foreign partners.

Private companies are pumping crude, arranging exports, paying workers, buying equipment and even hiring security squads to protect their operations in a collapsing countryside, according to managers and oil consultants working on the country’s energy projects.

In effect, a stealth privatization is taking place, said Rafael Ramírez, who ran Venezuela’s oil industry for more than a decade before breaking with Mr. Maduro in 2017, in a video address this week.

“Today, Pdvsa doesn’t manage our oil industry, Venezuelans don’t manage it,” said Mr. Ramírez. “In the middle of the chaos generated by the worst economic crisis suffered by the country in its history, Maduro is taking actions to cede, transfer and hand over oil operations to private capital.”

The haphazard changes to the oil sector, which have accelerated in recent months, are remaking the oil industry in a nation whose assertive energy policies had, since the 1950s, served as an example to developing countries of how to take control of natural resources.

And they are a stark retreat from the vision of Hugo Chávez, who was Mr. Maduro’s mentor and predecessor. Mr. Chávez nationalized in 2007 the giant holdings of Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips and packed Pdvsa’s leadership ranks with political allies dedicated to his socialist-inspired “Bolivarian revolution.”

But Mr. Maduro’s transformation of Venezuela’s oil industry has stemmed the collapse triggered by an American embargo. Sanctions imposed in January 2019 had wiped out about a third of Venezuela’s oil production, bringing it down at one point to the lowest level since the 1940s, according to data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Oil production now is still less than a third of the total in 1998, when Mr. Chávez took power. By late 2019, Venezuela had stabilized exports at about a million barrels per day, according to Bloomberg’s tanker tracking data.

The dribble of oil exports has provided Mr. Maduro with foreign revenue at the most critical moment of the country’s economic crisis, allowing him to adjust to sanctions and consolidate his rule.

In the country’s main oil export hub, José, key processing plants and piers are slowly coming to life after near total paralysis in the summer, when Pdvsa was cut off from the global financial system and struggling to cope without its biggest market, the United States, according to shipping agents and oil managers.

The unofficial, partial privatizations of the past year have been led by an unlikely reformer: Manuel Quevedo, a National Guard general with no known oil experience who was appointed by Mr. Maduro to head Pdvsa.

General Quevedo broke with the nationalist rhetoric of his predecessors to hand over operational control of joint oil projects to partners that include Chevron, Russia’s state-run company, Rosneft, some European and Chinese companies and groups of Venezuelan magnates.

“With Pdvsa in crisis mode, they are increasingly handing operational responsibilities and decisions over to the partners,” said Lisa Viscidi, a specialist in Latin American energy issues at Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based research group.

The concessions are gradually reducing Pdvsa to little more than a holding company collecting the state’s share of oil field revenues, with most of financial and strategic decisions taken by private partners.

This is a startling decline from just a decade ago, when Pdvsa was the pride of Venezuela and the cornerstone of its economy.

Until the start of the economic crisis in 2013, the company was the source of virtually all of Venezuela’s hard currency. It was also its biggest employer and penetrated all aspects of life in the country, running everything from supermarkets to parks.

Today, oil fields wholly owned by Pdvsa account for less than half of the nation’s remaining oil production, and their output continues to plummet.

Chevron has become the single largest foreign producer of oil in Venezuela, and a crucial part of the country’s stabilization over the past few months.

Its four joint ventures in the country are pumping a gross total of about 160,000 barrels per day, according to two industry sources familiar with the company’s projects, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Chevron quickly responded to the impact of American sanctions — such as the loss of American light oil that was used to blend with heavy Venezuelan crude to help it move through pipelines — by switching to Venezuelan light oil. By September, the company was able to restart its Petropiar heavy oil processing plant, which has formed the backbone of Venezuela’s oil export recovery.

A senior official with the Trump administration said the activities of Chevron and other foreign oil companies in Venezuela “are clearly of concern.”

But the U.S. government has given Chevron exemptions from sanctions, as recently as last month. “If Chevron is forced to leave Venezuela, non-United States companies will fill the void and oil production will continue,” said Ray Fohr, a company spokesman.

On the export side, Pdvsa’s biggest ally has been Russia’s Rosneft, which over the past year has grown to sell about two-thirds of Venezuela’s oil. Rosneft has quickly replaced Pdvsa’s American sales routes by diverting its oil to Asia, often obscuring the cargo’s source and destination to bypass sanctions, according to companies that monitor tanker traffic.

Barred from the global financial system, Pdvsa has also been forced to cede control to foreign partners in organizing exports, which goes against the country’s energy laws. Over the past few months, Chevron, Rosneft and Italy’s Eni have all directly exported Venezuelan crude.

Pdvsa’s opening of exports — oil cargoes worth millions of dollars — to anyone who can bypass sanctions to line up a vessel, insurance and a customer for the crude has even created a small cottage industry among Venezuela’s elite.

Now, the only thing that matters is that oil continues to flow, said one partner at a joint oil venture, as he scanned his phone, viewing the state company’s cargo offers.

“The historical struggle for resource sovereignty is being sacrificed for operational expediency,” said Antero Alvarado, an energy consultant in Caracas.

Venezuela’s new oil production has allowed the country to import essentials like food, medicine and fuel to keep the country running.

And there are indications that Mr. Maduro’s government wants to take the underhand liberalization further, even rolling back the watershed nationalization of the oil industry that took place in the 1970s.

A group of lawmakers installed at the head of the National Assembly by Mr. Maduro in January — amid an international outcry — has proposed changing energy laws to allow greater private investment.

“In these times of declining output, we have to give space to a national proposal that, first of all, shall give private capital greater participation in exploration, production and marketing of oil,” Leandro Domínguez, a lawmaker, said in a statement.

Mr. Domínguez’s proposal is not recognized by the United States and most European and Latin American countries, who continue to support a rival, opposition-led congressional leadership. The opposition lawmakers oppose any changes to energy laws under Mr. Maduro, creating a legal limbo for foreign oil companies.

Despite the recent changes, there are many reasons to believe Venezuela’s best days as an oil superpower are over, according to Amy Myers Jaffe, an oil expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, and other experts.

Venezuela could gradually recover production to 2.6 million barrels a day over 10 years, but only with investments of over $200 billion, according to projections by IPD Latin America, a consulting firm.

At a time when many oil companies are struggling with declining profits, executives are looking for cheaper and cleaner sources of oil. Even if a political settlement eventually lifts sanctions, Venezuela’s dirty oil, laden with sulfur and other impurities, may find far fewer investors.

Clifford Krauss is a national energy business correspondent based in Houston. He joined The Times in 1990 and has been the bureau chief in Buenos Aires and Toronto. He is the author of “Inside Central America: Its People, Politics, and History.”

Argentina won't repay IMF debt till recession over, VP Fernandez says

Reuters. February 9, 2020

HAVANA (Reuters) - Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said on Saturday that the government will not pay “even half a cent” of its debt back to the International Monetary Fund before the country has exited recession.

“The first thing we have to do in order to be able to pay is to exit the recession,” Fernandez de Kirchner said at a presentation of her book “Sinceramente” (Sincerely) at Havana’s international book fair.

“If there is a recession no-one will pay even half a cent and the way you exit recession is through a lot of state investment.”

Argentina needs to restructure $100 billion in sovereign debt with creditors, including part of a $57 billion credit facility that the IMF extended the country in 2018.

Dealings with the IMF are key as Argentina hopes to avoid a default amid a currency crash, steep inflation and a contracting economy. An IMF technical mission is expected in Buenos Aires next week to discuss obligations owed to the fund.

Fernandez de Kirchner said Argentina should get a “substantial haircut” on its IMF debt.

A leftist and militant Peronist, she has traveled frequently to Communist-run Cuba over the past year to visit her daughter Florencia Kirchner who is undergoing medical treatment there.

Her book presentation was attended by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and a raft of other officials.

The Argentine ex-president launched Sincerely, a compilation of personal anecdotes and reflections, in Argentina last year.

His master's voice? Jair Bolsonaro posts video of himself watching Trump rant

Tom Phillips. The Guardian. February 8, 2020

But in recent weeks Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has taken his fixation with the US leader to new heights, livestreaming himself on Facebook as he watched his political idol in action.

The latest such appearance came on Thursday as Trump celebrated his acquittal by the Senate in his impeachment trial with a vitriolic and vulgar address to the nation.

More than 4,000 miles to the south, at the heart of Brazil’s very own political swamp, Bolsonaro sat down to watch – filming himself viewing Trump’s entire hour-long address and offering the occasional aside to the camera, hailing his North American hero or berating foes in politics and the press.

“We’re not the only ones with backstabbers in politics,” Bolsonaro sniped of Mitt Romney’s decision to vote against Trump in the impeachment trial. “They’ve found a Republican rat too.”

Critics have derided Bolsonaro’s Trumpian transmissions – the latest of which lasted 73 minutes – as an obsequious waste of presidential time.

“It’s pitiful,” complained Lobão, a Brazilian rock star who voted for Bolsonaro in 2018 but has since become one of his harshest critics.

Lobão said he was perplexed by Bolsonaro’s “amorous incontinence” towards Trump. How, the musician wondered, could Brazil’s president express such “snivelling, doormat like adoration” of a US leader while simultaneously being a hardline nationalist?

The leftwing senator Humberto Costa warned Brazilians would pay a high price for Bolsonaro’s fandom. “It’s not enough to be a doormat. One must show oneself to be a doormat,” Costa tweeted.

But Brian Winter, the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, saw method in what many call kowtowing.

“I actually think this is serious and effective political messaging. Listening to Trump sends a strong symbolic message to Bolsonaro’s base that he is also leading the country away from socialism.

“A lot of Brazilians look at it and see boot-licking and betrayal of national sovereignty. But at least a third of the country looks at it and understands what he means and is pretty happy with it,” Winter added.

“In the minds of Bolsonaro followers, the US means capitalism, prosperity and public safety – the ability to have a gun, a growing economy. I think it’s really effective with his base.”

In Thursday’s broadcast, Bolsonaro berated those who accuse him of brown-nosing.

“Some people criticize me: ‘Look at him, licking Trump’s boots,’” he said, adding: “Look, you idiot, when they were sucking up to Maduro, Chávez and Fidel Castro you didn’t say anything, did you?

“I’m not worried about this,” the rightwing populist added. “If people want to criticize, that’s their right. But make it thoughtful, constructive criticism. Don’t just try to do the US president and me down.”

Winter said many senior military figures were uncomfortable with Bolsonaro’s courtship of Trump.

“I know for a fact the armed forces don’t like this symbolism because they are loyal to Brazil first, and Bolsonaro second. I’ve spoken with many generals who hate the fact that he’s out there saluting the American flag.”

But Winter suspected the live streams – which many believe are the brainchild of Bolsonaro’s politician son Eduardo, Steve Bannon’s representative in South America – would continue and that Trump would approve.

“I know … from people in the administration that Trump loves having an acolyte in any part of the world – but especially in a large, relevant country like Brazil. It appeals to his ego – and we know how important that is.”

Hitman linked to Marielle Franco's murder killed by police

Dom Phillips and Sam Cowie. The Guardian. February 9, 2020

Friends and relatives of the murdered Brazilian politician Marielle Franco are demanding answers after Adriano da Nóbrega – a notorious hitman, whose gang of contract killers is suspected of involvement in her assassination – was gunned down by police in the north-east of the country.

Nóbrega, an ex-special forces police captain, also had close links to the family of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Nóbrega was killed by police on Sunday in Bahia state where he had been on the run.

“Who gained from the death of ex-special forces captain Adriano Nóbrega,” tweeted Franco’s widow, Monica Benicio.

Franco’s leftist PSOL party said Nóbrega was a “key piece” in discovering who ordered Franco’s killing and called for a full investigation. “Witness elimination? Another attempt at obstruction of justice? Who ordered our companion killed? We demand answers,” tweeted Sâmia Bonfim, a PSOL congresswoman.

Police insisted that was not the case, claiming Nóbrega had opened fire on officers when they attempted to apprehend him in Esplanada – a small town 1,700km north of Rio.

Maurício Teles Barbosa, the security chief in Bahia state, said: “We attempted to carry out the arrest but the target preferred to respond by shooting.”

Nóbrega was hiding in a country property owned by a local councillor for the PSL party for which Bolsonaro was elected, but has since left. Gilsinho de Dedé told the G1 news site he had no idea Nóbrega was hiding there, had never met him, and suspected the fugitive had broken in.

Franco was killed in March 2018 and paramilitary gangs – mafias made up of serving and former police officers who control vast swathes of Rio state – are widely believed to have been involved in her murder.

Two former police officers are imprisoned, accused of killing her but deny the accusations. The suspected shooter, Ronny Lessa, lived in the same Rio condominium as Bolsonaro and his son Carlos – both have denied the accusations. Lessa had allegedly been a member of Nóbrega’s gang, called the Crime Bureau. As well as contract killings, it ran construction rackets in west Rio.

“The question we have to ask is: in whose interest does it serve that Adriano has been killed?” said José Alves, a professor of social science at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro who has studied the state’s paramilitary gangs. “He could have taken the investigation of the death of Marielle to a new level.”

Marcelo Friexo, a leftist congressman who was very close to Franco, said: “Adriano was a very violent person and it is possible he did not want to give himself up alive, just as it is also possible he was executed… He had a lot of involvement with the Bolsonaro family.”

Nóbrega, his wife and his mother are named in a criminal investigation into allegations of embezzlement, money laundering and racketeering involving Bolsonaro’s son Flávio, ex-police officer Fabrício Queiroz and others. Nóbrega and Queiroz had previously served in the same police battalion.

Prosecutors believe that Queiroz collected some of the salaries of staff employed in Flávio Bolsonaro’s cabinet when he was a representative at Rio’s state legislature and paid the money back to him which he laundered through a chocolate shop and properties.

Flávio Bolsonaro and Queiroz have denied the allegations. “I always did everything correctly within the law,” Flávio said in December, arguing he is being persecuted. In written testimony last year, Queiroz said he chose cabinet aides and “managed” their salaries to “intensify political performance” without telling his superiors, the O Globo newspaper reported.

Nóbrega’s wife, Danielle Costa, and mother, Raimunda Magalhães, were both employed in Flávio Bolsonaro’s office. Prosecutors described them as “‘ghost employees’… who transferred resources back to the operator Fabrício Queiroz.” Nóbrega “was also benefited by some of the resources,” prosecutors said in court documents seen by the Guardian.

In December a Rio court authorised searches of properties – including the chocolate shop. But this month, a separate investigation by federal police concluded there was no evidence of money laundering in Flávio Bolsonaro’s property deals.

As a state deputy, the president’s son was instrumental in Nóbrega being given a medal by the assembly while he was imprisoned under suspicion of homicide. Nóbrega was later cleared.

The Myth Of Incompetence: DNC Scandals Are A Feature, Not A Bug

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/02/06/the-myth-of-incompetence-dnc-scandals-are-a-feature-not-a-bug/




The system for Democratic Party elites isn’t broken, says Caitlin Johnstone. It’s working exactly the way it’s intended to work. It ain’t a bug, it’s a feature.


By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com

The Iowa caucus scandal has continued to get more egregious by the hour, with new revelations routinely pouring in about extremely suspicious manipulations taking place which all just so happen to disadvantage the campaign of Bernie Sanders in the first Democratic electoral contest of 2020. By the time you read this article, there will likely have been more.

Following the failure of an extremely shady app developed by vocally anti-Sanders establishment insiders which reportedly was literally altering vote count numbers after they were entered, Black Hawk County supervisor Chris Schwartz shared the election results in his county on Facebook so the public could have some idea of what’s going on as the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) slowly trickles out the results of the caucuses.


Sanders supporters quickly highlighted the fact that the IDP’s reported numbers for Black Hawk County were wildly different from those reported by Schwartz, with votes taken from Sanders and given to minor fringe candidates Deval Patrick and Tom Steyer. The IDP then announced that it would be making “a minor correction to the last batch of results”, which just so happened to be in Black Hawk County and just so happened to give Sanders back some votes (but still remains different from that reported by Schwartz).

It’s probable that this only happened as a result of one Black Hawk County supervisor taking to social media to report the vote tallies for this one particular county. What about all the Iowa locations where this did not happen and local Democratic Party officials didn’t report their numbers on social media? Does anyone actually believe that the one instance where the IDP got caught is the one instance in which such vote tampering occurred?

That would be a very silly belief to hold, in my opinion. It would be like a store clerk discovering that a can of beans is completely rotten, then going ahead and putting the rest of the pallet on the shelf under the assumption that the other cans are fine.

Another of the countless revelations hemorrhaging from this fustercluck is a report from CNN and The New York Post that the DNC, not the IDP, is “running the show” in managing the Iowa caucus scandal. This means that this Democratic presidential primary scandal is being managed by the same committee which orchestrated the last Democratic presidential primary scandal, and that the campaign being victimized by this scandal, that of Bernie Sanders, is the same in both cases.

This would be the same DNC whose chairperson, Tom Perez, recently stacked its nominating committee with dozens of odious alt-centrist establishment insiders who are ideologically opposed to Sanders in every meaningful way.

“Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez has nominated dozens of lobbyists, corporate consultants, think tank board members, and former officials linked to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton to serve on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) nominating committee this July,” Kevin Gosztola reported for Grayzone last month. “Many of Perez’s nominees are vocal opponents of Senator Bernie Sanders and spoke out against his campaign when he challenged Hillary Clinton for the nomination in 2016.”


As these scandalous revelations continue to emerge I don’t see anyone online expressing surprise that the Democratic establishment is once again stacking the deck against Sanders, but I do see some people expressing surprise that they are being so brazen about it. Which is perfectly understandable; if this party wants to screw over progressive voters, you’d expect that they’d at least try to hide it a little bit so they don’t alienate their progressive base before November.

The flaw in this expectation is its premise that Democratic Party elites care if their party wins in November. They do not.

Put yourself in the shoes of one of the leading movers and shakers within the Democratic Party for a minute. Pretend you’re getting a nice paycheck, pretend you’re getting great healthcare benefits, pretend you get plenty of prestige and exclusive access and invitations to classy parties. And pretend you’re the type of person who’s willing to manipulate and deceive and kiss up and kick down and do whatever it takes to get to the top of such a structure.

Now ask yourself, if you were such a person in such a situation, would you care if voters pick Donald Trump or Pete Buttigeig in November? Would it affect your cushy lifestyle in any way whatsoever? Would you lose your job, your prestige or your influence? No party elites lost those things in 2016. Why would you expect this time to be any different?

But you might be at risk of losing your cushy lifestyle if a forcefully anti-elitist progressive movement gets off the ground and takes control of your party. So you’d stand everything to gain by doing everything you can to prevent that from happening, and, because you don’t care if Trump gets re-elected, you’d stand absolutely nothing to lose.

These people do not care if Trump gets re-elected, because they lose nothing if he does. The only people who stand anything to lose are the ordinary citizens who are suffering under a corrupt status quo of soul-crushing neoliberalism and increasing authoritarianism, many of whom currently support Sanders. Democratic Party elites are perfectly happy to keep shrieking about Russia for another four years while making sure that the status quo which rewards their manipulative behavior remains intact, and ensuring that they never wind up like those poor suckers out there who are suffering from poverty and lack of healthcare.

And everything I just said is equally true of the media class who are currently working in conjunction with the DNC’s shenanigans to spin Buttigeig as the clear winner of the party’s first presidential electoral contest. They enjoy all the same perks, and move in many of the same circles, as Democratic Party elites, and it’s all conditioned on their protection of the status quo.


I keep seeing the word “incompetence” thrown around. “Gosh these Democratic Party leaders are so incompetent!”, they say. “How can anyone be so bad at their job?”

Well, they are not bad at their job. They are very, very good at their job. It’s just that their job isn’t what most people assume it is.

Their job is not to win elections and garner public support, their job is to ensure the perpetuation of the status quo which rewards them so handsomely for their malignant behavior. Toward this end they are not incompetent at all. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re doing it well.

They are extremely competent. Depraved, certainly. Sociopathic, possibly. But not incompetent.

They’re happy to make their nefariousness look like incompetence though, whenever they can get away with it. Any manipulator worth their salt always will be. If they can make their planned, deliberate acts of sabotage look like innocent little oopsies, they’ll gladly do so. But you learn in life that whenever you see someone making a lot of “mistakes” which just so happen to benefit them every time, you’re dealing with manipulation, not incompetence.

What do the bad guys say in the movies when they order someone’s murder? They say “Make it look like an accident.” If it’s an accident you’ve got no trouble. You won’t be seen for what you are.

But of course it’s no accident, and anyone with clear eyes and good intentions sees this. If you see someone working hard to make you believe that it’s incompetence, you are dealing with someone who is invested in maintaining the status quo in some way. You are being manipulated.

The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly the way it’s intended to work. It ain’t a bug, it’s a feature. And that feature will remain in operation until the entire sick system is torn down and replaced with something healthy.

German TV Exposes the Lies That Entrapped Julian Assange

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/02/06/ray-mcgovern-german-tv-exposes-the-lies-that-entrapped-julian-assange/




A major German TV network has aired an interview with the UN rapporteur on torture that reveals the invention of the Swedish “rape” case against Julian Assange.


By Ray McGovern
Special to Consortium News

Truth has broken through for those confused about how a publisher ended up in a maximum security prison in London with a one-way extradition ticket to court in the U.S. and the rest of his life behind bars.

One of the main German TV channels (ZDF) ran two prime-time segments on Wednesday night exposing authorities in Sweden for having “made up” the story about Julian Assange being a rapist.

Until last night most Germans, as well as other consumers of “major media” in Europe, had no idea of the trickery that enmeshed Assange in a spider-web almost certainly designed by the U.S. and woven by accomplices in vassal states like Sweden, Britain and, eventually, Ecuador.

ZDF punctured that web by interviewing UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer. One ZDF “Heute Sendung” segment (in German) is especially telling from minute 13:00 to 15:30 . The second is ZDF “Heute Journal” (minute 25:49 to 30:19.)

Both ZDF programs show Melzer being interviewed, with minimal interruption or commentary, letting his findings speak for themselves about how allegations against Assange were “made up” and manipulated to hold him captive.

The particularly scurrilous allegation that led many, including initially Melzer, to believe Assange was a rapist — a tried and tested smear technique of covert action — was especially effective. The Swedes never formally charged him with rape — or with any crime, for that matter. ZDF exhibited some of the documents Melzer uncovered that show the sexual allegations were just as “invented” as the evidence for WMD before the attack on Iraq.

Melzer had previously admitted to having been so misled by media portrayals of Assange that he was initially reluctant to investigate Assange’s case. Here is what Melzer wrote last year in an op-ed marking the International Day in Support of Torture Victims, June 26.

No major media would print or post it. Medium.com posted it under the title “Demasking the Torture of Julian Assange.”

Excerpts:


“But surely, I found myself pleading, Assange must be a selfish narcissist, skateboarding through the Ecuadorian Embassy and smearing feces on the walls? Well, all I heard from Embassy staff is that the inevitable inconveniences of his accommodation at their offices were handled with mutual respect and consideration.

This changed only after the election of President Moreno, when they were suddenly instructed to find smears against Assange and, when they didn’t, they were soon replaced. The President even took it upon himself to bless the world with his gossip, and to personally strip Assange of his asylum and citizenship without any due process of law.

In the end it finally dawned on me that I had been blinded by propaganda, and that Assange had been systematically slandered to divert attention from the crimes he exposed.” (Emphasis added.)

Melzer ended his op-ed with this somber warning:


“… This is not only about protecting Assange, but about preventing a precedent likely to seal the fate of Western democracy. For once telling the truth has become a crime, while the powerful enjoy impunity, it will be too late to correct the course. We will have surrendered our voice to censorship and our fate to unrestrained tyranny.” (Emphasis added.)

Melzer’s indefatigable efforts to expose what Assange has gone through, including “psychological torture,” met with some modest success in the days before the German ZDF aired their stories. Embedded in the linked article is by far the best interview of Melzer on Assange.

Opposition to extraditing Assange to the U.S. is becoming more widespread. Another straw in an Assange-favorable wind came last week when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called for Assange’s immediate release, ending years of silence by such European institutions.

It remains, nonetheless, an uphill struggle to prompt the British to think back 800 years to the courage of the nobles who wrested the Magna Carta from King John.