Assange arrested

[thesoretoothsayer]

U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich (2012) on Assange's indictment:

It’s not something that the US cares about. It’s not interested in it, having been involved in it. And frankly if he is in Sweden then there is a less robust extradition relationship than there is between the US and the UK. So I think it’s one of those narratives that has been made up. There is nothing to it.

[Jezza]

Hope Trump pardons him.

[David]

I'd sooner place bets on Carlton winning the premiership, Jezza. Trump's already washed his hands of him.

U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich (2012) on Assange's indictment:

It’s not something that the US cares about. It’s not interested in it, having been involved in it. And frankly if he is in Sweden then there is a less robust extradition relationship than there is between the US and the UK. So I think it’s one of those narratives that has been made up. There is nothing to it.

The only astonishing thing is that anyone could have seriously believed that at the time.

[Wokko]

Trump's said it's up to the Attorney General. If Assange can help Trump deal with some political enemies he might have some leverage but I wouldn't be betting on it.

Some very powerful people want Assange silenced and dropped in a SuperMax hole somewhere.

[thesoretoothsayer]

Hope Trump pardons him.

Given that the lamestream media has spent the last two years claiming that both Trump and Assange are Russian agents, it would be a bad look if Trump pardoned him. The whole Trump/Russia narrative would start up again.

[stui magpie]

Bit more here to why the Ecuadorians decided to boot Assange out.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/12/uk/j ... _term=link

If this is true, he might be very intelligent but he's not very smart. The term "biting the hand that feeds you" comes to mind.

[David]

More pathetic mainstream media reporting. No mention whatsoever of the key moment when Assange’s fortunes changed, which was the election of the more conservative Moreno, his resentment about the situation he’d inherited from his predecessor and the behind-the-scenes lobbying by the US and UK governments (you have to remember that Ecuador had paid a heavy diplomatic cost for Correa’s decision to grant Assange asylum). I don’t know how much we should trust the Ecuadorean reports of his behaviour at the embassy, but if it’s true then I just see it as evidence of the mental degradation he was suffering in solitary-confinement-like conditions. It’s clear that, by the last year, they were actively trying to make his life as miserable as possible, perhaps in the hope that he would give up and leave of his own accord.

[stui magpie]

I wasn't referring to his supposed behaviour, more about how Wikileaks had been needling Ecuador.

[think positive]

Video of the arrest.

https://twitter.com/barnabynerberka/sta ... 2518898688

**** the UK

What did you expect them to do? He’s a fugitive, a hacker, because you like what he hacked doesn’t make him any less a criminal. Wether or not he gets a fair trial is a whole different thing. When he decided to take this road so long ago, he must have known this was a possible outcome.

https://www.wired.com/story/julian-assa ... king-cfaa/

Every vigilante has a cause, a reason, an excuse... where do you draw the line?

[think positive]

More pathetic mainstream media reporting. No mention whatsoever of the key moment when Assange’s fortunes changed, which was the election of the more conservative Moreno, his resentment about the situation he’d inherited from his predecessor and the behind-the-scenes lobbying by the US and UK governments (you have to remember that Ecuador had paid a heavy diplomatic cost for Correa’s decision to grant Assange asylum). I don’t know how much we should trust the Ecuadorean reports of his behaviour at the embassy, but if it’s true then I just see it as evidence of the mental degradation he was suffering in solitary-confinement-like conditions. It’s clear that, by the last year, they were actively trying to make his life as miserable as possible, perhaps in the hope that he would give up and leave of his own accord.

There is at least three sides to every story David,

[David]

Video of the arrest.

https://twitter.com/barnabynerberka/sta ... 2518898688

**** the UK

What did you expect them to do? He’s a fugitive, a hacker, because you like what he hacked doesn’t make him any less a criminal. Wether or not he gets a fair trial is a whole different thing. When he decided to take this road so long ago, he must have known this was a possible outcome.

https://www.wired.com/story/julian-assa ... king-cfaa/

Every vigilante has a cause, a reason, an excuse... where do you draw the line?

Do you realise, though, that some of the most important news stories of the last half-century have been published through similar acts of “hacking”? What Assange has done is not fundamentally different to any investigative journalist. A great deal of contemporary political journalism (and particularly investigative journalism) relies on leaks of some kind or other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden

If you agree that, in a democracy, the public has a right to know about behind-the-scenes government corruption, then you can’t throw the people who help disclose that corruption under the bus. If it wasn’t for the actions of people like Assange, this stuff would still be hidden. And that would suit the powers that be very well, wouldn’t it?

[think positive]

yeah i do realise that, and i see your point,

However i also see the point of the other side, i dont believe the Government are all just worried about negative stories coming out, i believe there are at least a few good people worried about Allied personnel who may have been put at risk by certain classified information coming out. And i certainly dont believe every Journalist or whistle blower is doing it with only goodness in their heart, and no thought of fame, money, glory.

like i said more than one side to the story.

I have no real opinions either way on the Assange case, I was merely responding to the **** the UK comment, the cops did their job, nothing more nothing less.

[David]

I didn’t take that as a comment aimed at the police but at the UK government, who I agree have acted pretty cravenly throughout this saga.

re: people being put at risk, that is probably the most legitimate critique aimed at Assange. But I note that, when pressed, nobody seems able to point to any actual cases of individuals having been endangered as a result of any of these publications.

[think positive]

I didn’t take that as a comment aimed at the police but at the UK government, who I agree have acted pretty cravenly throughout this saga.

re: people being put at risk, that is probably the most legitimate critique aimed at Assange. But I note that, when pressed, nobody seems able to point to any actual cases of individuals having been endangered as a result of any of these publications.

But with the sheer amount of information that has been leaked out you cant deny its a possibility.

Both my parents were in the RAF my grand father was a bomb disposal expert in WW2, and my Mum got shipped to Hong Kong and the South Africa, so i guess i can see the point of view of the armed forces.

And yet I also see the other side. I still dont think all of it needs to be out there, but massive secrecy is just begging for corruption.



and thankyou - its nice to be able to have a different opinion and still be able to discus things in a civilised manner! cheers

[David]