Live data from Hacker News

Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

theguardian.com

41–50 of 162 posts

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#42
post #12

How ... convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia. And, of course, Mr Assange had his show on RT (Russia Today). No way he is a Russian agent. No way.

> convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia How about judging the information on its merits, not its source? Why does it matter one wink if you don't like the leakers?

Selectivity of rule-enforcers is a major tool of warfare. If sneezing in public is made illegal, but only Bangladeshis are arrested for it, that's not OK.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#43
post #12

How ... convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia. And, of course, Mr Assange had his show on RT (Russia Today). No way he is a Russian agent. No way.

I don't even know where to begin with this. Is the goal of Wikileaks to be "damaging to governments"? Or is it to reveal corruption and help the people? Why do you care about corruption in Russia? If you're American you should be glad there is so much focus on your government.

It sounds like you're describing a game with two players where one is being disproportionally punished for breaking the rules.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#44
post #12

How ... convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia. And, of course, Mr Assange had his show on RT (Russia Today). No way he is a Russian agent. No way.

Aren't we getting enough Russia bashing from the MSM ?

Yes, it's tiring.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#45
post #29
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I doubt that here, on HN, most of us would go so deep with conspiracy, but rational thinking did not lead me to the conclusion that Putin is responsible this time. Putin is given far too much credit. But the Russian wetworks division, under Putin's authority, has its fingerprints all over the Salisbury attack. > shouldn't people like Assange reveal it? Largely Assange has been an anti-liberal democracy apologist fo…

> But the Russian wetworks division, under Putin's authority, has its fingerprints all over the Salisbury attack. There is strong circumstantial evidence, but proof is a slightly different game. It would be nice, for example, to have a clear motive for why Russia might have poisoned the man. According to the wiki article the Russian justice system had sentenced him to 13 years in a penal colony in 2006, and then hand…

He kept working against the Russians after the exchange. Lately, he was seeking permission to return to Russia. His phone was off for 4 hours before he was found unconscious.(can't find the sources right now, on mobile, but you can trust me ;) )

He took a meeting, hoping to be allowed back, and instead was poisoned. Sounds plausible to me, but then again its really similar to the plot of McMafia.

But it just as easily could be a false flag. I don't trust the Orwellian British anymore than I do the ruskies.

There is just too little public info to say for sure. For example, how are the Brits so sure it was a Novochik agent? Especially since they are designed to be untraceable.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#46
Doesn't Assange have a 'dead mans switch' which will trigger when he doesn't have internet access after a given amount of time? There were articles about a false alarm last year maybe along these lines. Curious if this will result in a dump of more content or something else.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#47
post #21
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I doubt that here, on HN, most of us would go so deep with conspiracy, but rational thinking did not lead me to the conclusion that Putin is responsible this time. Putin is given far too much credit. But the Russian wetworks division, under Putin's authority, has its fingerprints all over the Salisbury attack. > shouldn't people like Assange reveal it? Largely Assange has been an anti-liberal democracy apologist fo…

The two books from his earlier self, Cypherpunks and When Google Met Wikileaks, are well worth the read for anyone who comments here on HN, I think. I agree, he changed dramatically sometime around or during the Trump campaign; I hardly recognize him any longer.

When he disappeared from view for a few weeks before the election and the wikileaks twitter drastically changed tone was what did it for me. There was something really weird going on there - as an example, the twitter refused to sign anything with their public key to prove it was still controlled by the same group.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#48
post #27
post #12

How ... convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia. And, of course, Mr Assange had his show on RT (Russia Today). No way he is a Russian agent. No way.

The USA is the strongest country in the world politically, economically and militarily. Who better to criticize than the USA if the goal is to change the status quo? "Damaging" Russia makes no sense. They don't make the rules!

"Changing the status quo" is a moronic goal. You should be aiming to make life better for the most people in the world. Does increasing the relative power and status of political regimes that provide less freedom and lowering the relative power and status of regimes that provide more freedom going to accomplish that?

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#49
post #12

How ... convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia. And, of course, Mr Assange had his show on RT (Russia Today). No way he is a Russian agent. No way.

By the same logic, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein would be russian agents too.

Re: Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy

#50
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> convenient all of Wikileaks were damaging to the government of the USA and somehow never to the government of Russia How about judging the information on its merits, not its source? Why does it matter one wink if you don't like the leakers?

Intent matters. There's a difference between a whistleblower wanting to expose things that violate the constitution because they want those things to stop, and a foreign agent exposing the same actions, but with the intent to destabilize people's trust in their government. The end result might be the same. But to say it doesn't matter where a leak came from, is to also say that whistleblowers are no different from fo…

Wait, so if a foreign agent discovers corruption he should keep quiet because he has a conflict of interest and that's not fair?
Post reply on HN