The FBI has added former Black Panther and former member of the Black Liberation Army, Assata Shakur, to its “most wanted terrorist” list. The decision is political and clearly aimed at the Cuban government, which granted political asylum to her after she escaped from prison in 1979. It also is an escalation of the government’s demonization of her for continuing to openly espouse radical political views, while in exile outside of the United States.

Across Europe, the economic crisis is driving communities to deep desperation, and the people who were always at the margins are getting pushed straight off the edge.

Under misguided austerity policies, unemployment has reached devastating levels in the euro zone–reaching 12 percent across the region and topping 50 percent for youth in Spain and Greece. But some communities are sinking faster than others. Struggling migrant communities–both economic immigrants and refugees–are more neglected by the state’s social infrastructure than ever, while their native-born neighbors turn against them in a rash of xenophobic scapegoating.

Lawyers for WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, have sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting further information on the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Assange and WikiLeaks.

Former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, counsel to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) write, “In light of recent reports suggesting the possibility of an ongoing criminal investigation of Mr. Assange and/or WikiLeaks—and the existence of secret grand jury proceedings in the Eastern District of Virginia—we write to assess whether Mr. Assange in fact faces any criminal jeopardy in the United States and to protect his interests in the face of an investigation and/or trial.”

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange addressed members of the United Nations at an event with Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and Center for Constitutional Rights legal director Baher Azmy. He spoke to members on the current status of his asylum case and how the United States currently is engaged in a wide investigation into members of WikiLeaks and others, who the US believes to be connected.

Scott Lemieux has a good piece in The American Prospect about the federal court ruling blocking the indefinite detention provisions of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While Lemieux expressed a lack of confidence that the injunction would be upheld by the appeals courts, he praised the action because of the potential for abuse.

n an interview by Jorge Gestoso for Telesur, a pan-Latin American news station based in Venezuela, Julian Assange addresses the political persecution he faces from the United States, why Ecuador was right to grant asylum, the Swedish case against him and the efforts to marginalize the WikiLeaks organization by refusing to consider it a journalistic organization or by accusing it of having “blood on its hands” for releasing documents.

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief who was granted asylum by Ecuador, delivered a speech from a balcony on the embassy building on August 19. It was a speech where he expressed immense gratitude to Ecuador, Latin American countries, the Ecuador embassy staff, supporters who had demonstrated outside the embassy, his supporters all over the world, WikiLeaks staff and his family. The speech also called out the US government for waging a war on whistleblowers, which Assange urged the government to end now.

I appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live last night to discuss the speech and why Ecuador granted Assange asylum. The host was Dotun Adebayo, a Nigerian-born British radio host who hosts the show, “Up All Night.”

Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a whistleblower, delivered a speech in support of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange just before Assange gave his speech from the balcony of the Ecuador embassy in London.

“We should not forget what this is about,” he began. “This is about the persecution of an individual who has made life much more simple and more productive for whistleblowers in the Information Age and in an age where, as Western governments become increasingly authoritarian and civil liberties are diminished, we need whistleblowers now more than ever to protect the rights of others.”

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief who was granted asylum earlier on August 16, delivered a speech from the balcony of the Ecuador embassy in London, where he has been holed up for two months. The speech was an opportunity for Assange to show gratitude toward his supporters while also reminding the world of what he sees the United States doing to not only go after whistleblowers but also target dissent.

How do supporters of WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange make the leap that he is more likely to be extradited to the United States from Sweden than the United Kingdom? That is a common question and, certainly, a key question for anyone who remains skeptical of whether Assange should have been granted asylum by Ecuador.