https://sputnikglobe.com/20240627/united-states-pushes-the-envelope-on-press-freedom-nuclear-threat-1119148327.html

United States Pushes the Envelope on Press Freedom, Nuclear Threat

United States Pushes the Envelope on Press Freedom, Nuclear Threat

Sputnik International

One analyst sees parallels between the deterioration of press freedoms and the crumbling of the international framework designed to prevent nuclear war.

2024-06-27T05:30+0000

2024-06-27T05:30+0000

2024-06-27T05:30+0000

analysis

julian assange

margaret flowers

caitlin johnstone

russia

united kingdom (uk)

strategic arms reduction treaty

nato

wikileaks

press freedoms

https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/02/14/1116893601_0:74:2170:1294_1920x0_80_0_0_1e4853c08d470f74340b114289f29ddd.jpg

Press freedom advocates are celebrating the release of WIkileaks founder Julian Assange from Belmarsh Prison in London. The maverick journalist spent more than five years in the notorious detention facility with little contact with the outside world following seven years of isolation in the UK’s Ecuadorian embassy. His newfound freedom grants Assange the ability to rebuild his life, spend time with his family and, perhaps one day, return to his publishing activities.But the ordeal has done significant damage to Assange’s health as well as the ability of journalists around the world to do their work without fear of state repression, said activist Dr. Margaret Flowers. Flowers offered insight on the development on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Wednesday, drawing parallels between the erosion of press freedoms and the deterioration of international norms designed to prevent the possibility of nuclear war.“But forcing him to plead to a felony when he did not commit a crime… doesn't set a positive legal precedent that we need, which is that journalists, publishers, publish classified material all the time and that the Espionage Act should not apply to them,” she added. “Caitlin Johnstone, who wrote the article in the Greanville Post, makes some really valid points that Assange was tortured. His health has deteriorated. He has lost all of these years of his life, years of life with his children and his wife, and that he should also be compensated for what has been done to him.”“So justice has definitely not been served in this, but this was not something we expected, that he would be freed. So this is a victory.”Flowers noted that activists in the United Kingdom are pressing lawmakers to pass legislation safeguarding against attempts by the United States to pursue journalists like Assange on British soil in the future.The erosion of civil liberties takes place as the world fears it could find itself in a nuclear war amid armed conflict and the reemergence of tensions between Russia and the West. The United States has worked to weaken international agreements designed to prevent a nuclear exchange, host Wilmer Leon noted, going back to the George W. Bush administration allowing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) to expire.Leon also faulted the administration of former President Bill Clinton, who escalated tensions by expanding NATO after previous assurances by the United States it would not expand east of Germany.“Russia kept saying, ‘these are our red lines. Let's talk about it. Let's work something out,’” she noted, claiming the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia could have been avoided. “It was the Western powers that prevented that from happening… We're not seeing any rational activity coming from the United States to back down and say, ‘oh yeah, you know, this is going in a bad direction. Let's do something to resolve this.’”

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240626/assange-to-speak-to-public-when-recovered---stella-assange-1119143871.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240626/pursuit-of-assange-shows-every-citizen-on-the-planet-subject-to-us-persecution-1119133030.html

russia

united kingdom (uk)

2024

News

en_EN

assange torture, assange press freedoms, assange freedom of the press, nuclear agreements, start i treaty, us nuclear agreements