from Hacker News

Julian Assange arrested in London

by kragniz on 4/11/19, 9:37 AM with 1119 comments

by Mvandenbergh on 4/11/19, 10:09 AM
It will be interesting to see if the US tries to extradite him. It's actually not 100% clear that he's broken any US laws in any ways that they aren't also routinely broken by newspapers.
There's a few avenues: 1) Publishing classified information. Easy to show that he did this but a very difficult path to go down when American newspapers do this all the time.
2) Conspiracy to commit espionage. Probably the most likely, this would require showing that he was actively working with someone to extract classified information. Just openly soliciting leaks to an email address wouldn't be enough, he'd really have to be talking to a leaker before/during the extraction of the data. Depending on the nature of his communications with Guccifer (The GRU hackers from 2016) they may be able to make a case on this basis.
3) Al Capone style / collateral attack. The US made it very hard for Wikileaks to operate financially. Maybe he did something that falls under the US' capacious money laundering rules?
Note that this case is fundamentally different from Manning / Snowden / Winner who all had access to classified information legally and misused that access. Due to the first amendment, American espionage laws are quite narrowly written compared to those of many other countries and while it is easy to prosecute people on the "inside" for leaking classified material to the "outside", it is much harder to prosecute someone for what they do with it when it's out.
(Edit: Well that was fast! Interested to see what's in the indictment)
by overkalix on 4/11/19, 9:48 AM
I was writing a long post but I deleted it. I don't know what to say, I don't like the guy, but I have an even stronger dislike for how international politics and intelligence services work.
by belorn on 4/11/19, 12:43 PM
I would like to locate all HN comments which said he never would get arrested on behalf of the US, and that Assange objections was all just pretense for trying to escape justice from the UK/Swedish legal system.
by _iyig on 4/11/19, 10:32 AM
In the Afghan War Documents leak, Julian Assange refused to redact the names of Afghans who informed on the Taliban. He referred to them as “spies and traitors” in comments to the media. A reporter for the Guardian claims he said, “Well, they're informants. So, if they get killed, they've got it coming to them. They deserve it.”
Nasty way to diss on fellow leakers, in my opinion. I wonder if Mr. Assange feels he himself deserves what’s now coming to him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_War_documents_leak#Info...
by skilled on 4/11/19, 9:42 AM
> URGENT: Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago.
Source: https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1116273826621480960
Holy moly, this will be interesting!
EDIT:
If you're interested, here's a video of him being escorted out of the embassy --
https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1116281098747568128
EDIT2:
Comments from Snowden advising journalists to cover the story with authentic facts:
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1116285397284290560
by Salamat on 4/11/19, 12:41 PM
Any possible relation to the arrest of Assange? IMF board approves $4.2 bln financing deal with Ecuador March 11 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund’s executive board approved the $4.2 billion financing deal with Ecuador https://www.reuters.com/article/ecuador-imf/imf-board-approv...
by shrewduser on 4/11/19, 11:28 AM
I just want to know, from the people who seemed to have turned against Assange, how do you know it's not a concerted disinformation / propaganda campaign to remove all his credibility and reduce public support?
By my reckoning It's really hard to know what to even believe about a guy who might credibly be targeted by that.
by antocv on 4/11/19, 10:15 AM
My introduction to bitcoin was due to this https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2010/12/07/visa-m...
2010, about November, when Wikileaks was loved by everyone here on HackerNews. When donations were piling up by PayPal, Visa, Mastercard. When Assange was the postgresql security hacker turned whistlblower-enabler and journalist.
Then suddenly all donations, globaly, halted to Wikileaks. Bitcoin was the only way, and its only real use still possible - censorship resistant transfer of value.
by discordance on 4/11/19, 11:14 AM
Despite Julian's character or the surrounding controversies, let's not forget the positive impact Wikileaks made with contributions like Collateral murder [0].
0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007,_Baghdad_airst...
by neverminder on 4/11/19, 11:42 AM
> Extradition request from US confirmed
> Scotland Yard has confirmed that Assange was arrested on behalf of the US after receiving a request for his extradition.
> In a statement it said:
> Julian Assange, 47, (03.07.71) has today, Thursday 11 April, been further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities, at 10:53hrs after his arrival at a central London police station. This is an extradition warrant under Section 73 of the Extradition Act. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as soon as possible.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2019/apr/11/wikileaks...
by rudiv on 4/11/19, 9:57 AM
RIP. It's only a matter of time before he's extradited, and I would think the current US government would definitely push for the death penalty under the Espionage Act. I suppose it's little solace that he'll join a long list of illustrious names prosecuted under that infamous act. (Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, Victor Berger, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden)
by mikeq101101 on 4/11/19, 10:22 AM
The comments here disgust me. People here used to have some principles, now there's so many people just repeating establishment talking points.
by dandare on 4/11/19, 11:14 AM
As a parent I will always remember that WikiLeaks (Assange) helped to stop the torture of children in Iraq. The war cables revealed that the US government knew about the routine torture of prisoners and opponents including women and children by the Iraqi authorities, a de facto puppet regime of the US. The US government knew about this from the alarmed reports of its own personnel and decided to turn a blind eye because... I have no idea why.
If not for Assange and Manning, more parent's would have to watch while their child is brutally tortured and mutilated by the psychopathic enforcers of the US puppet regime.
This is where every rational discussion about WikiLeaks and Assange should always start. Now we can talk about Assange's abrasive personality and dumb political views.
by checkyoursudo on 4/11/19, 3:48 PM
Being reported in The Guardian:
> Elisabeth Massi Fritz, lawyer for the Swedish woman whose case against Assange remains outstanding, has given the Guardian a longer statement:
> "My client and I have today received the news that Assange has been arrested in London. It did understandably come as a shock to my client that what we have been waiting and hoping for since 2012 has now finally happened. We are going to do everything we possibly can to get the Swedish police investigation re-opened so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape. No rape victim should have to wait nine years to see justice be served.
> I have requested an urgent procedure [from the prosecutor to extradite Assange]."
https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2019/apr/11/wikileaks...
by no1youknowz on 4/11/19, 9:46 AM
I wonder if the WikiLeaks "Dead Man's Switch" will be triggered this time?
I know there were some news articles in the last couple of years of this being the case...
by Traster on 4/11/19, 9:46 AM
Well, this certainly makes some of us look a bit stupid after criticizing him for crying wolf a few days ago.
by lazyjones on 4/11/19, 10:08 AM
He looked very ill on the Daily Mail photos, I hope he'll survive the next couple of weeks...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6911187/Wikileaks-f...
by tabs_masterrace on 4/11/19, 11:50 AM
Very sad day. Remember this all started with the leak of the "Collateral murder" video. That's when the Interpol notice went out, and he had to seek asylum at the embassy. It was already quite disgusting how powerful entities were able to seemingly fabricate sexual charges as needed.
Later on he made very influential enemies by exposing corruption in the democratic political party. Instead of any follow up on that front, the pressure on Assange increased and the whole Russian scaremongering narrative was pushed. Probably to distract from own potential repercussions.
For me that looks a lot like government oppression. Something like that wouldn't fly in Germany for example. We had recently had an popular elected political removed from office for something quite insignificant - it was found out, he copy & pasted a few paragraphs in his decade old (and unrelated) doctoral work.
It doesn't look much different then the cases where Chinese or Russian governments going after journalists
by dschuler on 4/11/19, 10:22 AM
Well, they _did_ warn him about the cat litter issue.
All jest aside, I wonder what he could have done differently (not taking sides here, just speculating).
One option would have been to live among the public in the UK, and let himself be extradited to Sweden, then the US. This act alone would have drawn attention to the fact that people in the EU can - under some circumstances - be extradited to the US, which would have been alarming to the general populace in Europe since the US still has the death penalty. The possibility that he would have been imprisoned in Sweden instead would have been weighed against indefinite house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy - for 7 years in this case.
In any event, I think we'll learn quite a bit about international relations work in practice.
by dmIequals on 4/11/19, 10:56 AM
Today my friends, I think we can all agree is a sad day, I know JA has been accused of some bad things and it would seem they may be true, but it's what he stands for, this is a loss for liberty all around the world.
by Myrmornis on 4/11/19, 4:45 PM
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1153481...
So basically the allegations are primarily that Manning provided Assange with a hashed password, and Assange tried, and failed, to determine the corresponding plain text password. This somehow involved Manning using a Linux OS (off a CD). I'm not clear how a fresh Linux OS would help bypass admin privileges and access a hashed password.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Manning did not have administrative-level privileges and used special software, namely a Linux operating system, to access the computer file and obtain the portion of the password provided to Assange.
...
ACTS IN FURTHERANCE OF THE CONSPIRACY
23. ... Manning copied a Linux operating system to a CD...
by ascendantlogic on 4/11/19, 2:35 PM
I feel conflicted over this. I was a strong believer in the original mission of transparency and showing us what the world's elite and powerful were doing. But once they started playing favorites with information disclosure during the 2016 election their entire existence became tainted in my mind. Obviously I don't want to see the man burn for showing the world some of the terrible things that happen behind closed doors but I also don't trust him or his organization anymore to be impartial arbiters of transparency.
by geofft on 4/11/19, 11:10 AM
Chelsea Manning, who actually leaked things, is still in prison because of it. Apparently nobody cares.
by idlewords on 4/11/19, 1:48 PM
This thread is all over the map with speculation. There is a press release from the Department of Justice that lays out what Assange is being extradited for, and it may help to read it first.
Apparently Assange helped Manning try to get into a classified computer system with a password that was not hers, and that is the basis of the extradition case: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/wikileaks-founder-charg...
Related HN thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19634137
by tareqak on 4/11/19, 12:04 PM
Looks like he was arrested on two counts: skipping bail in the UK, and an extradition request to the US soon after [0][1].
[0] http://news.met.police.uk/news/arrest-update-sw1-365526
[1] http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-arrest-of-julian-assan...
by chvid on 4/11/19, 9:47 AM
About time. It will be good see his case brought before the courts whatever they will be in the US, UK, Sweden ... staying in the embassy for so many years is just absurd.
by jackweirdy on 4/11/19, 9:40 AM
> Ecuadorian embassy withdrew his asylum and UK police were invited in to arrest him.
According to a journalist at Sky news https://twitter.com/NewsTMac/status/1116274082922803200
by lolc on 4/11/19, 9:47 AM
So basically he's been arrested for not complying with UK court orders, right? And the question now is whether the U.S. will seek extradition. Or did they already?
by throw1Away2378 on 4/11/19, 2:24 PM
What would someone that lives in London and believes that what it's happening to Assange is criminal and would like to help somehow or help it not happening with the next 'Assange' or 'Snowden' do? I have tried to reach out to Sarah Harrison in the past but got nowhere, I'm not an activist or know anyone, just a normal bloke that would like to get involved.
What would be my options? Volunteer at Amnesty International? Doesn't seem like they did anything to help.
I'm a member of this forum, hence asking it here, I don't even know which other online communities I should be asking this, but I feel like doing something is the right thing to do and feel frustrated I haven't been able to find a way to get involved with the people helping out.
by mickael-kerjean on 4/11/19, 1:12 PM
Considering Assange is not a US citizen, how could their be ground for an extradition to the US? This doesn't sound right
by citilife on 4/11/19, 1:21 PM
I still don't understand how he is subject to U.S. rule of law if he:
a) Isn't a U.S. citizen
b) Not residing in the U.S.
by rndgermandude on 4/11/19, 12:08 PM
http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-arrest-of-julian-assan...
"Julian Assange, 47, (03.07.71) has today, Thursday 11 April, been further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities, at 10:53hrs after his arrival at a central London police station. This is an extradition warrant under Section 73 of the Extradition Act. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as possible."
by akerro on 4/11/19, 11:04 AM
So now we're waiting for encryption keys to be released to 100s Gbs of archives that we host on torrents?
by belorn on 4/11/19, 9:52 AM
This mean that the single most expensive police case in the history of UK will have an end. It will be interesting to see the final price tag in respect to the final verdict.
by fenomas on 4/11/19, 11:34 AM
For anyone interested in understanding Assange, check out this excellent article by Andrew O'Hagan from a few years ago:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n05/andrew-ohagan/ghosting
O'Hagan was hired to ghost-write Assange's autobiography and wound up spending some months in his inner circle, and his account is very detailed and balanced.
by objektif on 4/11/19, 1:41 PM
It is mind blowing to see commenters here that claim Assange is a Russian asset.
by narrator on 4/11/19, 9:50 AM
I wonder if this has to do with the upcoming DECLAS. Seems that would be coming up soon given what Barr has just testified.
by YeGoblynQueenne on 4/11/19, 11:32 AM
Regarding the allegations against Assange:
Assange visited Sweden in August 2010. During his visit, he became the subject of sexual assault allegations from two women with whom he had sex. He was questioned, the case was initially closed, and he was told he could leave the country. In November 2010, however, the case was re-opened by a special prosecutor who said that she wanted to question Assange over two counts of sexual molestation, one count of unlawful coercion and one count of "lesser-degree rape" (mindre grov våldtäkt). Assange denied the allegations and said he was happy to face questions in Britain.[7][166]
In 2010, the prosecutor said Swedish law prevented her from questioning anyone by video link or in the London embassy. In March 2015, after public criticism from other Swedish law practitioners, she changed her mind and agreed to interrogate Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with interviews finally beginning on 14 November 2016.[167] These interviews involved police, Swedish prosecutors and Ecuadorian officials and were eventually published online.[168] By this time, the statute of limitations had expired on all three of the less serious allegations. Since the Swedish prosecutor had not interviewed Assange by 18 August 2015, the questioning pertained only to the open investigation of "lesser degree rape", whose statute of limitations is due to expire in 2020.[169][170][171][172]
On 19 May 2017, the Swedish authorities dropped their investigation against Assange, claiming they could not expect the Ecuadorian Embassy to communicate reliably with Assange with respect to the case. Chief prosecutor Marianne Ny officially revoked his arrest warrant, but said the investigation could still be resumed if Assange visited Sweden before August 2020. "We are not making any pronouncement about guilt", she said.[173][174][17]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Swedish_sexual_...
by nimbius on 4/11/19, 3:08 PM
Im sure this is unrelated, but I wonder how the Julian Assange "nuclear" insurance file plays into all of this? will it be released?
by clouddrover on 4/11/19, 3:02 PM
> Finding him guilty, District Judge Michael Snow said Mr Assange's behaviour was "the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest".
Seems a bit personal for a ruling on a breach of bail conditions.
by antocv on 4/11/19, 10:09 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007,_Baghdad_airstri...
"Apache pilots watched people run into a building and engaged that building with several AGM-114 Hellfire missiles."
"controversy following the release of 39 minutes of gunsight footage by leaks website WikiLeaks."
"Press reports of the number killed vary from 12[1][2] to "over 18".[3][4] 2 journalists were killed, and 2 children were wounded."
The murderers of those 2 journalists and wounding 2 children are free, they had been laughing while killing them.
Here we see whom the state hunts for "justice", Assange, for letting us know above.
by cparsons3000 on 4/11/19, 4:37 PM
Looks like Assange was attempting to destabilize Ecuador's govt while in the embassy (at least that's what they claim).
“Ecuador’s Interior Minister María Paula Romo says Julian Assange's asylum was revoked because there was sufficient evidence that he was meddling in Ecuador's internal affairs in an effort to destabilize the government.
Romo also reiterated President Lenin Moreno's remarks that Assange was consistently violating embassy residency rules, and specifically called out how he would put feces on the walls.”
by chx on 4/11/19, 4:01 PM
There are a number of things connecting Assange to Russia.
https://www.salon.com/2017/01/07/donald-trump-julian-assange... this lists six such things.
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/303172-pus... is particularly damaging because one of the arguments of the "Wikileaks is not a Russian org" is that it sympathetizes and works with Pussy Riot...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/wikileaks-inside-the-farage-as...
https://gizmodo.com/assange-turned-down-dirt-on-russia-stron...
by jammygit on 4/11/19, 6:08 PM
My understanding, which may be inaccurate, was that manning was tortured via not letting him/her sleep for more than a few minutes at a time for several months on the grounds of suicide prevention. I'm quite worried about assange: BBC suggested a 6 month jail sentence, but I don't think anyone believes that is how he will get off if the USA gets him.
Please correct my story about manning if I am misinformed.
by localhostdotdev on 4/11/19, 11:50 AM
it's going to be interesting to see what is in all those insurance files https://legalinsurrection.com/2013/08/whats-behind-wikileaks...
by fixermark on 4/11/19, 11:49 AM
I honestly don't know what assange or wikileaks thought was going to happen when they leaked information that was politically embarrassing to an Ecuadorian ally.
On the plus side, I'm now far more convinced of WikiLeaks' non-partisanship (or naivete), since they threw their own founder under the bus.
by MrZongle2 on 4/11/19, 4:39 PM
This was inevitable as soon as Ecuador started making uncomfortable noises about Assange camping out in the embassy.
He's made too many enemies. If there's any truth to the charges, that just made things easier for the authorities.
by dmitryminkovsky on 4/11/19, 2:00 PM
I can’t imagine the mix of emotions you must feel when simultaneously emerging from seven years of house arrest and being arrested and facing more time of arrest elsewhere. Must be a mix of “wow I’m outside” and awful dread.
by throw2016 on 4/11/19, 12:41 PM
Hey look we have democracy, freedom, free speech but if you actually try to use any of these seriously beyond ranting about some politician to actually exposing the rot we will demonize and come after you.
This is a nice arrangement, the vast majority will never offer organized dissent and can keep on posturing about 'freedom' and 'democracy' while those who put their head above are swiftly cut down to size.
Isn't it curious that the bare basic actions of whistle blowing and dissent are not able to operate freely in the west?
by mcguire on 4/11/19, 2:28 PM
"Mr Assange, 47, [appeared] at Westminster Magistrates' Court. He pleaded "not guilty" to the 2012 charge of failing to surrender to the court. [...] Finding him guilty, District Judge Michael Snow said Mr Assange's behaviour was "the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest"."
How does the English justice system work? He was arrested, and almost immediately taken to court and convicted?
by huxflux on 4/11/19, 12:31 PM
"on behalf of the US after receiving a request for his extradition". Déjà Vu on what Canada just recently did for the US as well. Despicable.
by dorfsmay on 4/11/19, 1:07 PM
Was his so called dead man switch ever confirmed, or was it just a rumour?
Assuming he has no internet access in jail, I suspect we will find out soon...
by okket on 4/11/19, 1:12 PM
FYI: "WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy"
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/wikileaks-founder-charg...
by highdesertmuse on 4/11/19, 9:44 PM
Perhaps this is the beginning of the investigation into Hillary Clinton et al. Assange has a lot of bargaining chips if he does get extradited to the US. Maybe he'll get immunity like the raft of Obama cronies, in exchange for producing 33,000 mis-placed emails.
by daveheq on 4/11/19, 12:18 PM
I love the idea of WikiLeaks exposing corruption, however I think Assange got mad with a power lust and released things that put innocent people in danger unnecesaarily, and then become overly-biased by releasing only anti-DNC/Hillary stuff while sitting on RNC/Trump dirt that they were also rumored to have.
by nprateem on 4/11/19, 12:28 PM
I wonder if we'll finally get so see what's in the "insurance" archive he put on torrent sites all those years ago, if anyone still has a copy...
by quotz on 4/11/19, 12:32 PM
Democracy dies right in front of our eyes. I say we protest
by nikolay on 4/11/19, 6:18 PM
Bastards! If they do anything to this global hero, many unpredictable today things will happen and none good for those who don't like the Truth!
by mc32 on 4/11/19, 10:36 AM
Assange is a flawed personality. That said, over the years there was a transformation. People defended him despite his issues when his whistleblower endeavors aligned. Once they no longer aligned, many many of his supporters turned around and called out his peccadilloes and transgressions.
People still defend Snowden but if he ever releases information seen as politically damaging to one side, all that adulation is out the window.
That’s to say all this support isn’t actually principled support but rather political.
by nimbius on 4/11/19, 3:10 PM
im curious to see how this plays out in the context of the julian assange "insurance" file? will it be released?
by kevinguay on 4/11/19, 1:26 PM
I'm surprised it took them this long to kick him out of the Embassy. Talk about overstaying your welcome.
by sirinath on 4/11/19, 12:24 PM
WikiLeaks help trasparancy. Hence, why has no privacy groups made any protests regarding the arrests.
by ct520 on 4/11/19, 2:16 PM
Love it. So we finally get to see if assange is really working with Russian government.
by norin on 4/11/19, 12:47 PM
Snowden is the real hero.
by eternalban on 4/11/19, 10:19 AM
That's a rather sanitized picture that the British establishment mouthpiece (that's BBC News to you) has on its article.
Doesn't BBC news have reporters on scene in London to give us the pretty picture to go with the articles?
by wolfgke on 4/11/19, 11:58 AM
3 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19599699
(sorry for this shameless promotion of my HN submission)
by sneak on 4/11/19, 5:48 PM
This article tiptoes around it carefully, but let’s be clear here: he was never charged in Sweden. There were no charges brought against him for sexual assault.
by draugadrotten on 4/11/19, 10:13 AM
Assange was arrested just 1 day after Russian president Putin met with Swedish PM Löfven.
https://www.thelocal.se/20190410/heres-what-stefan-lfven-and...
by huxflux on 4/11/19, 12:27 PM
No one is above the law!
by eruci on 4/11/19, 1:27 PM
Wikileak Plugged.
by objektif on 4/11/19, 10:44 PM
Assange is not just a hero but he will go down in history as a Legend. So called liberals who turned on him are hypocrites. I hope they realize their mistake soon.
by auntienomen on 4/11/19, 12:02 PM
Play espionage games, win espionage prizes.
by AnnoyingSwede on 4/11/19, 2:47 PM
The word in media now is that if Obama was the president still Assange would have a better chance of getting fair treatment. This seems wrong to me. Julian served Trumps purpose by releasing the Clinton emails, making me think that Trump might actually swing on his harsh words (like he does with many other things) and grant amnesty to Julian? Takers?
by MrXOR on 4/11/19, 3:50 PM
Free Julian Assange
by jokoon on 4/11/19, 4:23 PM
Wouldn't the Trump administration be kind with Assange as it was showed that wikileaks helped hurting the Clinton campaign?
by antocv on 4/11/19, 10:02 AM
Do you guys remember when the airplane of president Morales, was forced down in Vienna when he was on a flight home? Breaking diplomatic immunity, hospitality etc.
Just because CIA believed Assange was in that flight, that Morales would help him escape.
EDIT: My mistake, that was for Snowden, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales_grounding_incident
by DyslexicAtheist on 4/11/19, 11:23 AM
and considering the public mood after a several year campaign to demonize Wikileaks and Assange by the US media, chances are pretty high that he will rot in a US prison for life or have his ashes thrown into the sea the same way as they did with Osama bin Laden. The US is a terror state that uses torture and secret prisons. I hope that EU countries will stop extradition asap.
by OrgNet on 4/11/19, 12:54 PM
A comment by Rafael Correa, the former president of Ecuador:
> The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin Moreno, allowed the British police to enter our embassy in London to arrest Assange. Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget.
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1116295734712766464
by papermill on 4/11/19, 12:24 PM
So now Trump has both assange and manning in prison?
Funny how the entire media has been soft on Trump on this matter. You would think "journalists" at CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes, WaPo, etc would be going crazy over Trump's attack on free press, leakers and people holding power to account. Who has done more to try and hold power to account than assange and manning?
Wonder what the economist is going to write? After all he won their "New Media Award" in 2008 along with Amnesty International UK Media Awards and a few Free Speech awards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Honours_and_awa...
Let me guess what's going to happen next. The media is going to start pushing "sweden sex abuse" and anti-assange and anti-manning stories.
by wallace_f on 4/11/19, 1:14 PM
It shouldn't matter if you think Assange is good or bad with respect to arresting a publisher for publishing when news media has been doing the same thing... Because freedom of the press is our constitutional right in America.
by antt on 4/11/19, 12:56 PM
And be prepared for the 180 degree turn in the liberal circles when the Republicans try to get him executed.
With friends like the Democrats do progressives really need enemies?
by skekaeeeww on 4/11/19, 10:16 AM
About time.
by ggm on 4/11/19, 10:05 AM
Did the people who stood bail for him get their money back when he went awol?
by brbrodude on 4/11/19, 1:29 PM
Is it just me or each day the more it seems the western world is viciously cycling on a downward spiral?
by bitL on 4/11/19, 12:21 PM
Is there any manual on how to behave in a totalitarian society, how to "blend" with "normal" people not questioning authorities and "looking the other way", "doing the right thing"; what are efficient ways to dissent etc.?
by AnaniasAnanas on 4/11/19, 9:58 AM
The "moral" course of events would be for him to receive a fair trial in the UK or Sweden concerning the rape and possibly the contempt of court charges.
The "immoral" course of evens would be if he was extradited to the US or some other country, receive an unfair trial, or having to defend against other charges.
by NoblePublius on 4/11/19, 11:53 AM
Civil disobedience means accepting the consequences of one’s actions. Mr Assange is a narcissist, probably a pasty, and deserves to be prosecuted for his crimes. For it is in the state’s treatment of him can the public find the truth, if any, in his claims. Stop being such a pussy, Jules, and own up to your actions.
by vectorEQ on 4/11/19, 9:52 AM
rip. at least he's already used to being confined to a small space.. don't expect any judge to feel sorry for him. no lawyer will get him out of this one.
by paulcarroty on 4/11/19, 9:55 AM
I think Wikileaks affiliated/sponsored from Russia 'cause Assange rejected documents about russian corruption: https://www.businessinsider.com/assange-turned-down-document...
Anyway, "democracy dies in darkness", so every dirty shit must be highlighted sooner or later.
by purpleslurple on 4/11/19, 9:55 AM
Julian Assange used to be hailed as a hero for exposing American hypocrisy, but with the secretive way wikileaks operated and the track record of anti-US releases, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Assange and wikileaks were used as pawns for geopolitics. Still, I'm curious when did Assange willingly start working for Russia --- was it from the very beginning, or was it after his legal troubles?
I wonder what Snowden thinks of the whole situation, as Assange did help him get to Russia. Has Snowden been actively involved in US politics (the way Assange and wikileaks substantially affected the last US presidential election)?