ah, to that's our up on the, our, and coming up and investigative journalists, chris hedges, highlights the u. s. a tradition pace of australian journalists, and wiggly founder julianna's songs. next, on modus operandi, thanks for turning in. ah, what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy. even forente should let it be an arms race move is on often very dramatic development. only personally, i'm going to resist. i don't see how that strategy will be successful, very difficult time time to sit down and talk ah

ah ah ah ah, the hello, i'm manila chan you are tuned into modus operandi. they are wanted by foreign

governments for alleged crimes that occurred away from the shores in which they are found in some 50 percent of countries around the world. if the united states demand you be found and handed over, the likely outcome is that you will be brought state side to face the american justice system. but is the same true when other countries demand americans be sent back to face their court. this week will examine the extradition imbalance based by countries who signed treaties with the us, with pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges. alright, let's get into the m o. me and australia. national has been the center of controversy for years, wanted by the united states over alleged crimes that found him hold up in

a 3rd party countries embassy in london, england now locked away at a maximum security prison awaiting extradition to the us. the prosecution of julian assange by the full weight of the u. s. government has given rise to the discussion of extradition more broadly, especially since for decades the u. k. has had a bilateral extradition treaty, a deadly car accident caused by c. i a operative, and the coolest, and the rest of the world. joining us to discuss is a man who has covered many of these extradition cases, most recently, reporting directly on the assange extradition trial. is pulitzer prize winning writer, former mideast bureau chief before the new york times, his latest book called the greatest evil is war. now host of the chris hedges report on the real news network. mr. chris hedges. chris,

thank you so much for being with us. first, chris, let's start with perhaps the highest profile extradition case in the world right now. that would be of julian assange. it would appear that his attorneys in the u. k. are running out of appeals and he will likely be brought to the us to face espionage charges that would effectively result in a life sentence. now data from the d o j shows that they have an astounding 97 percent conviction rate of those extradited to b. u. s. does it appear that the u. k. has sort of relinquished its sovereignty of jurisdiction due to decades old extradition treaties with the u. s. and that julian is a victim of that, among other things. well, from the beginning for those of us who have followed the case closely, this has been judicial farce. there are all sorts of legal

anomalies that should have invalidated this case. a long time ago we can begin with the fact that julian has not committed a crime. he didn't do anything different from what the new york times the guardian dare spiegel. and l p. s. did when they published the iraq war logs. remember that's what he's being charged with under the espionage acts. 17 count. so it's 170 years if he's convicted on all counts on another 5 years for hacking into a government computer, although he didn't hack into a government computer. chelsea manning leak the documents did not need to hack into the computer or chelsea manning had done all of the passwords security clearance to get into the computer to to pass the documents on to wiki weeks. then we have u. c global, the spanish security firm that set up cameras and recording devices throughout the ecuador and embassy in london. and turned over all of that tape to the cia

vis a rating attorney, client privilege. we have the fact that julian is not a us citizen. so there's that question of how he can even be charged under the espionage act. wiki weeks is not a u. s. based publication. so i've sat in on the trials and then during coven was getting up at 5 in the morning and getting links to follow the trials of vo video stream. and when you look at all of the details of the case, and i think that's one of the reasons why the u. k. judicial system made it so difficult to cover. it's clear that this is not the best of british jurisprudence, but the louis, aka. so i, i think all was from the beginning have assumed that he would be expedited, remember, was an extra dated under when the ruling, the expedition ruling was made by merisa. it wasn't because she found any of the

charges against julian invalid. in fact, she endorsed all of the charges against julian, but it was very clear that he was a suicide risk. there was just no way he and attempted suicide. and his psychological, physical, and psychological health is extremely precarious. there is no way to deny it. and so she blocked the extradition based on the fact that he had a high suicide. there was a high potential for suicide. that has been appealed, was appealed by the us. and now it's back in the lower court. they will challenge breach on the substantial issues the, the u. s. gave in a diplomatic note assurances that he would be taken care of any wouldn't be in florence, colorado, the superman, 80 x prison before trial,

without of course seen. nobody is held pre trial in atx florence and so i think for those of us will follow that seems pretty clear that he will be expedited probably by the end of this year to the eastern district court of new york, which has a track record as you pointed out of, of doing the governments dirty work in terms of its quote unquote, terrorism laws. so we all of us to support julian and press freedom because the consequences of this for the press are catastrophic. it means that anyone who possesses classified material or publishes them or both, can now be charged under the espionage act. that's a precedent. it would. i worked for the new york times for 15 years. i possess classified material and i published it. and it will essentially put an iron wall between us and the inner workings of governments. extremely dangerous. but yeah,

i think those of us who have been following the case closely don't have much doubt that he will be extradited yet. you mentioned how the u. k. court made it difficult to cover julian's case. does this then allude to the u. k. effectively acting as a vassal state for the us in the way of arresting people? you know, i mean, there is provision in u. k. law that says that people cannot be extradited for political offences if they are politically persecuted. and of course they have ignored the fact that this is very clear. political persecution, and done the bidding of. but you have the 5 eyes, the security networks are intertwined. they were all sorts of leak documents that were published by weekly leaks that were not flattering to the u. k. i think that it all goes back to the 2017 volt 7 leak. this was wiki weeks,

exposing the ability of the cia through back channels to hack all of our electronic devices, even our televisions and our cars and phones and everything else. and that, that is when you saw the trump administration demand the expedition prompted by the c. i a, in the intelligence community, demand the expedition of julian. remember that up until then, obama had used the espionage act quite vigorously, almost a dozen times against whistleblowers, great curiosity, o, curiosity and others who had provided information to the press. but trump ratcheted that up to another level by going after a journalist himself this case julia. but i think that was driven by the the see eyes embarrassment and anger over these revelations. and that is the driving force. now,

behind the expedition of doing an extradition case. now going in the other direction and sir cool us, the alleged us diplomat, we now know she was a u. s. spy for the cia. she was a wrong way driver, near the crown air base in england. she hit and killed a 19 year old called harry dunn, who was writing a motorbike in august of 2019. she left him to die along the side of the road and fled back to the us, claiming diplomatic immunity at the time. she has since confessed to that tragic accident but has refused to return to the u. k. to stand trial. now back in january of 2020, the u. k issued an official extradition request for her, which my palm pay. oh, who was secretary of state at the time denied that request? is this a reflection of the extradition imbalance? not only between the u. s a u. k, but it would appear that when you look at any random country, the u. s. asked for anybody for any reason that country almost always

acquiesces, but it's not true the other way around. yeah, that's exactly right. and we should also be clear that in the case of julian, as i mentioned before, he's not a us citizen. and he does not commit a crime. so the hypocrisy is not limited to this case. there are numerous cases, including the case of house on the stuff of some nasir in milan, which i can go into if you want in 2003 the u. s. has one set of rules for others. another set of rules for themselves are a more to come with chris hedges. don't go anywhere, chris. coming up next. the united states keeps extradition numbers under wraps. the mystery around just how many people the u. s. government brings from a broad and forces to stand, trial are unknown. we'll discuss it when we return. sit tight, the m o will be right back.

oh, no. hungary has been a member of the european union and nato since 1999 during the 1st post soviet wave of nato's eastwood expansion number could be sales callo. yes, the my logo, thanks, is dillion law for all 3 of us see like by law as a country. so e, so me that me if so would you pick a sure zap, bud luma? it would be sure every mia still more. gina beach ross here, but i see australia bosh roy. i'm a gucci. stano in the early ninety's hungry was a country with

a worst view of russia due to historical disagreements left over from the soviet union. you're younger in as a way in haunting you. someone like yours know what i see if you brought my simply in the gum handle political more than as what i see is great and i did it at the political those with c. i'm rick sanchez. and i'm here to play with you. whatever you do, you do not watch my your show seriously. why watch something that's so different. my little opinion that you won't get anywhere else. work of it please. if you have the state department, the c, i a weapons makers, multi 1000000000 dollar corporations, to your fax for you, go ahead, i change and whatever you do, don't watch my show stay mainstream because i'm probably going to make you uncomfortable. my show was called direct impact, but again, you probably don't want to watch it because it might just change the wayne thing

the me watching was controlled if i give you the, the shot and showed on. and i'm not trying to scare me. and when i was with me stuffy georgia session, the profile is national. shylie your get when you bought, when you get on with the the, the by the, the the welcome back to the m l. i'm manila chance pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges with his new some stack of the same name has kindly agreed to stick around.

so chris, continuing our conversation here more broadly. the u. s. has signed over a 100 extradition treaties with other countries around the world. now that's nearly half of the countries out there, but these aren't necessarily bilateral agreements. what's the tradeoff here? why would these countries agree to unilateral extradition treaties with the us? well, there are all sorts of inducements for any military assistance intelligence assistance plus retribution. if they fail to follow through in these requests and the u. s. uses is ponder and so military and economic power to make these countries bend to their will. and you've got some other examples of kind of bizarre extradition cases that you can tell us about. well, i think the most egregious occurred in milan in 2003. this was an egyptian national, who i mean, right out of peano shades chilly,

was stashed in extraordinary rendition off of the streets of milan. and it prompted investigations by in italy culminating the convictions of censure of 22 c i. c, i a operatives u. s. air force colonel and 2 italian accomplice accomplices. and we actually know because of wikileaks, that there was tremendous pressure put on the bella scone government, not to request or demand the expedition of these people already been found guilty of a crime. he was, he was taken the egypt put in prison in egypt, and very badly tortured. so there is another example

of how the united states commits a crime in another country. the crime is documented, it goes through the judicial system. all of those people are given sentences and, and none of them face justice or any kind of repercussions. i mean, that is that, that's unfortunately how the empire works globally. so true extradition numbers are nearly impossible to track and the u. s. because different agencies have different reporting standards and on top of that, according to a report by the council on foreign relations law enforcement or they say political sensitivities preclude many extradition from being reported officially on the books . so the best they could find was through the u. s. marshal service. they handle the great majority of international extradition. their estimates range wildly between $350.60 extradition annually. here to the us,

that's data coming from 2003 to 2016. what sort of political sensitivities they mean here and why can't the public know these numbers? well, because a lot of these people are charged under terrorism was we saw this after $911.00 fight hashmi would be a good example. he was us citizen, he was right after 911. there was a lot of efforts on the part of the government, the bush had ministration to shut down all organizations for holy land foundation. anyone who did any work on behalf of palestinians or fight for palestinian rights, was obviously pushed by israel. and 911 became the excuse for had harsh me was a graduate student in london, i think of the london school of economics. his roommate had been on a cell phone wanting to send non military supplies and waterproof socks or something to help in the fight. in afghanistan against us forces and

and i guess a 1.5 us, we use the phone, they use that as an excuse to extradite him. and then he was brought back and just held in isolation for 23 months under sams is a special administrative measures and the torture. and let's be clear that this is what's happening to julian as neil's mouth, or the special un special robert or torture is pointed out that he's being tortured . it's a slow motion execution. and, and i mentioned before about julian's psychological state. we know from the court. he's elucidating, seen, banging his head against the wall. they found a razor coverage confiscated in a sock, sees calling. the samaritans with about potential committing suicide at central centro is also lost. tremendous amounts of weight at a mini stroke, etc. and by the time we got into the court in manhattan, he was a zombie. i mean,

i was there, he didn't, he didn't, i was outside the court, but he didn't have any. he hardly knew where he was. so that is, i think why they are so quiet. we talked earlier about making it difficult to cover . i was in the court room with chelsea manning when she was being tried and for me for leaking the documents. and there are only $27.00 visitors allowed in the court room. the same with julia, it's so heavily restricted to get off at 4 or 5 in the morning and stand in line and hope that you can get in. and then although the problems i will say cleared up initially when we were following by video link, there was no audio. the pictures went out, people couldn't get on. so on some level they understand that this is judicial burlesque kind of dickensian, far something out. a bleak house and, and i think that's why they make it always make it very difficult to cover,

including in these extra different cases that you mentioned. and let me guess, and 5 hash me case, they probably cited socks as material support to terrorist. i think that was it, i mean, you know, and then they sent them to florence dx. i just, it was quite a, i mean, it was quite a frightening window into what had happened to our own judiciary and how, especially after 911, it just became a tool of repression for any just, i mean in the, in the trial they were playing surreptitious. recordings that had been taken of 5 me speaking quite eloquent bra, very brilliant men in at brooklyn college where he was a student on behalf of palestinian writes. and they did the same thing to samuel area and the palestinian professor out of florida, who was eventually extradited now lives in turkey. so the whole kind of quote unquote war on terror, eviscerated what little legal protections,

dissidence once once had. and of course, we are now seen this very ominous move against the press itself with the extradition request for julian. well, a number of so called western democracies have outlined their laws and policies around extradition. and they all seem to include barring extradition, that they deem political in nature. this includes the u. k. and perhaps not surprisingly, nato countries. a newer, very recent case of daniel edmund, doug in a former us marine corps pilot accused of illegally training chinese military pilots. now doug has been arrested by australian official and has been held in jail since october of 2022. his citizenship citizenship status currently is not quite clear. some say he's relinquished his american citizenship. b,

indictment though from a d. c. district court says he did this training without a proper license, and that's why they want him. but doug ins, attorneys say that this is political in nature, given the u. s. tensions with china right now that all doug has done, instructor is very neat on those bones. i mean the us china tensions the new august pack. is that all part and parcel of this extradition game? yeah, i think the united states, the binding ministration as the democratic party, even more than the republican party has made this kind of bifurcation between us and them. whether it's russia, whether it's china, these countries have been labeled as enemies potential, you know, aggressors against the united states. this has a lot to do with the substantial sums that are provided to the military

$854000000000.00, which is more than the military budget for the next 9 countries combined, including china and russia. so i go into israel and doing this kind of stuff, you know, all sorts of american citizens who worked as mercenaries for the i d. f. in essence, i the same in ukraine. uh, there is no, there are no repercussions for that. so again, it's the that kind of double standard and also any kind of collaboration with states or entities that have been demonized. we'll see you whacked by the kinds of grotesque terrorism was an extradition requests that have been visited upon julia. chris hedges, host of the chris hedges report, see his weekly columns on sheer post dot com. thank you so much, chris. i greatly appreciate it. so as you can see,

when the u. s. government or the so called american justice system has its site set on you, it's nearly inescapable. and with a 97 percent extradition to conviction rate by the d o. j, it's unlikely you will walk free. but if you are an american who admits to causing death of a civilian overseas, be it in wars as a military contractor or simply as a distracted driver. if you can make it back home, you'll likely not have to face a foreign court for your crimes. that's going to do it for this week's episode of modus operandi the show that digs deep in the foreign policy. i'm your house, manila chan. thank you so much for tuning in. we'll see you again next week to figure out the m. o. ah,

march 20th 2003, the u. s. army and its allies invaded iraq. especially here. the failure to do, let me know kind of set up. was it anybody else ever nevada? 07. out of, oh gosh. the lim dash, and the hobby made the 1st 2003 us president george bush declared victory in the iraq war. how do you the project or you know what that would put up for a funny edge and potential hired to december. the 30th 2006, saddam hussein was executed at adam. mm hm. we'll shut down from done december, the 15th 2011. a ceremony was held in baghdad to mark the end of the u. s. military mission. in reality, the u. s. army is still in iraq,

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that ukraine has a it's controlled r t follows an anti tank crew near the city of muddy in rushes. don, yes, republic that says russian forces continue. their advanced in the region despite strong fortifications built bike. yeah. over the last 8 years, the youth foreign policy chief calls on military ships the sale through the taiwan strait, maintaining a provocative approach and risking an escalation in the region.