Ray McGovern On Assange, Ecuador: Caesar Has Spoken
RT
August 16, 2012
‘Not even in Cold War’s darkest days’: International law scrapped in anti-Assange crusade
Ecuador’s move to grant Julian Assange political asylum has shown the true face of the current world order, highlighting more clearly than ever the line between the American Empire and the rest of the world, former CIA officer Ray McGovern told RT.
RT: One of the main reasons Ecuador cited for granting asylum was not the Swedish case against Assange, but the danger of him being persecuted and possibly even executed in the US. What reaction from Washington do you expect?
Ray McGovern: Well, this is a classic case of what has changed over the last 20 years. And that is simply that the shape of the world is now empire vs. the rest of you. What I say here now is that Caesar has spoken. Caesar is the law. Caesar is the United States and the satraps overseas – the UK in the first instance, and now Sweden in the other, do the bidding of the empire. The country that has refused to do the bidding of the empire, Ecuador, is playing a very interesting role here. Their foreign minister said this morning that “we are not a British colony, and the days of colonialism are over.
So what we see here is a playing out of the fact that there is a complete disrespect for international law. The embassy premises of all countries have heretofore been considered sacrosanct. The British Foreign Office is now saying ‘well, we may forcibly enter.’ This was unheard of even during the worst days of the Cold War. If someone sought refuge in the US embassy in Moscow or the Soviet embassy in the United States, despite the friction, despite the enmity between those two countries, international law was always honored. This is unprecedented.
RT: According to Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patina, the UK’s acts of aggression, blackmailing, and threats are in direct violation of the 1976 Council of Diplomatic Relations. Do you think that as London and Washington are in cahoots, Ecuador is considered to be meaningless, as it has a small military, and is not a significant economic power?
RM: Well, that has been the attitude. Smaller countries do not really amount to much in Washington or London’s view these days. What will be interesting is to see how much will come out in terms of the real game being played here. Nobody seems to remember that the prime accuser of Julian Assange – Anna Ardin in Sweden – used to work for extreme anti-Castro publications funded by the CIA. So there are links there, and it doesn’t require a conspiratorial attitude to see that the only way they can get at Julian Assange is by trumped-up charges of sexual indiscretions in a country that is hypersensitive to that, and they haven’t even persuaded a judge in Sweden to make those charges.
They have had ample opportunity to go to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and question Julian Assange. They said, ‘we’re not going to do that.’ Now, why is that? The reason is, there is no case against Julian Assange. In my opinion, it’s all very transparent. They want to extradite him to Sweden, and then to the United States to suffer the same indignities, the same torture of Bradley Manning – the person who allegedly gave those documents to Julian Assange – has faced. This is a violation of the First Amendment in our country and other amendments in our Bill of Rights, and I dare say that our founding fathers are rolling in their graves to see a [publisher] treated this way in violation of the right to make things known that are otherwise hidden.
Former CIA Officer McGovern. I am Captain of Army Robert Flynn Kamansky and 7 year Cold War Veteran . You might say that your opinions and heart felt and sincere comments got my attention, sir. We are both Cold War Warriors, but I believe your perspective is not my perspective ; and I believe them to be distortions of fact. The USA our beloved Nation and its present and past is not Imperial Rome like and our elected official Caesar like. I must remind you of the fact that We both participated in the winning of the not so Cold War; and its effects of making Russia and China and Cuba and all the former Communist world more free and definitely more rich. Sir, with respect for your position as CIA officer which is top of the pyrimid of respect in my small Captain’s world during the Cold War what Caesar and what Rome did as a history of the Fall of the Roman Empire was more like the USSR and Mao’s China than our beloved USA. This Mr. Assange did break some of our Nations laws and altered our Nation’s National Security; laws and National Security we two by oath held in a promise to defend with life and honor so help us our God. The distortions are many in your assessment of the Assange situation in matters this UK mess. Of course you would not want to debate me in these matters, but I offer you this option, sir. This debate option or your comments above would not have been an option should the USSR and CHINA and CUBA and NORTH KOREA have won the not so Cold War. I am Army and THIS WILL DEFEND is our MOTTO whether by debate or honorable service to Nation. This Will Defend, Duty, Honor, Country, Captain of Army , Robert Flynn Kamansky, Upland, Calif. , The USA
Captain Cold Warrior, I know that if I didn’t clear your comments for posting that I would be accused of totalitarian tendencies and “Stalinist” proclivities.
You are right about the difference between the Roman Empire and the “world’s sole military superpower” in one respect, without realizing it: Rome built roads, ports, aqueducts, libraries and amphitheaters in its provinces and brought to them not only Roman but Greek culture. Witness Greek- and Latin-language writers from the provinces like Lucian, Publilius Syrus, Plutarch, Longus, Apuleius and Terence.
The U.S. brings, first, cruise missiles, Hellfire missiles, cluster bombs, depleted uranium weapons and troops, then leaves behind its “pop” culture and neoliberal “market [black market, including narcotics] economies.”
Proud of your alleged handiwork, are you?
I wouldn’t be.
Well said.
Something else the good Captain forgot to mention is the Officer’s Oath of Allegiance which includes a direct reference to defending his/her country from enemies within and without.
Imho defending one’s country against imaginary external enemies is a rather dishonourable substitute for winkling out the numerous, and obvious, enemies within the US of A.
CAPTAIN ROBERT FLYNN KAMANSKY (in all caps) sounds like a typical brainwashed Amurican patriot (read: drone).
He refuses to question the USA’s national religion that his beloved America is some kind of “beacon of liberty” and “shining city on a hill” for all of humanity.
The terrible truth, sadly for Proud Amurikans, is much different.
America is a European colonizer nation, founded upon the White genocide of Native Indians and the theft and occupation of their land–not to mention a little thing called Black chattel slavery.
The USA tried to rationalize its crimes behind a variety of propaganda pretexts like “civilizing the savage native,” promoting Christianity, advancing its rightful Manifest Destiny, and of course the superiority of White civilization and culture.
Today, America is a global overlord that seeks to regime change, destabilize, bomb, invade, colonize, and subjugate sovereign nations around the world–ultimately to make them subservient to the USA’s rapacious brand of capitalism (e.g. the Washington Consensus).
This predatory American behavior is likewise rationalized by modern propaganda pretexts like defending freedom, human rights, democracy, fighting terrorism, and other US national lies.
That’s what you are really pledging your allegience with your oath to defend the American Rome.
http://killinghope.org/
We have all fallen prey to the misnomer of referring to the US as an “Empire”. It’s time to re-examine that definition. History re-affirms that what appears to be change is not always change but just a different way of doing business. The roots of American ascendancy to “Empire” lies in the decline of Great Britannia as a colonial power, at least so we thought. By that time, Britannia was already in control of the commanding heights of the world economy through various treaties. She was weakening in her military prowess. However, her leaders understood the psychology of power and how to wield it. The US as the new kid on the block lacked knowledge and experience in the use of power but her military challenge to Britannia allowed the power brokers of Britannia to realize that the US can be a useful tool in the maintenance of their power structure.
The US is just a tool in the global power structure of the masters of colonial power. However, it’s important to continue to stroke the ego of the US by referring to her as an “Empire”. Empire of what, when the center is decaying. The US is yet to solidify her own revolution, that is, if she can get time to focus on the type of nation that she desired to build. Instead, the US has found herself putting out fires and creating fires around the world. That has been her contribution to her own nation building for the last half a century and more.
The power brokers of Britannia knew that the world had changed and therefore a new way of wielding power had to be devised. The US in a changed world is attempting to build an “Empire” in the tradition of old Britannia in a changed world. Britannia has successfully kept the US in its place over the decades.