Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 162 posts

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

#51

Post by robotrout »

s2g wrote: post #36
colordrops wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find most sources of information trustworthy. I just want to get info from opposing sources with conflicting goals, which helps put together the whole picture. I full support Russia Today (RT) despite being obviously backed by the Russian government because they are willing to talk about things that no US media outlet will touch. It's despicable that Google publicly and vocally denounces them and de-rates the…

You fully support a propaganda agency?

Sure, I support BBC which has a very strong propaganda to news ratio. I also support RT and Al Jazeera. I do not support CNN, because it's ratio is so high it's offensive to me.

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

#52

Post by toss1 »

vondur wrote: post #19
chx wrote: 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.

Do you really need something like Wikileaks to expose how corrupt Russia’s government is? I’m pretty sure it’s common knowledge now.

The point is that Assange/Wikileaks, while he/it may not have (and is unlikely to have, IMO) started out as a Russian asset, he was clearly compromised and has behaved as one for the last 6 years or so.

He was getting low on funds, and then was cutoff from the credit card system for contributions. shortly after that, he started getting RU appearances. RUS influence likely a combination of providing critical funding and also developing Kompromat - compromising, coercing information, whether true or not.

In short, he's not a free, independent agent working to strengthen democratic principles and institutions.

(note that 'asset' does not mean necessarily the classic willing spy, could be merely duped or coerced)

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

#53

Post by ucaetano »

burger_moon wrote: post #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.

> Curious if this will result in a dump of more content or something else.

Given how many times he has promised leaks and not delivered, most likely it won't.

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

#54

Post by pnathan »

roenxi wrote: post #29
pnathan wrote: 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…

> proof is a slightly different game.

this is the dicey bit with spy games. part of the goal is to ensure courtroom proof isn't available.

> why Russia might have poisoned the man

Kill double agents as warnings? disloyal spies aren't exactly popular.

My impression is Russia is moving to an execution phase for a plan of action.

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

#55

Post by gorbachev »

pnathan wrote: post #13
drinchev wrote: post #9

> The move came after Assange tweeted on Monday challenging Britain’s accusation that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury earlier this month. So it's actually not so wrong to think that Russia is not >proven I doubt that here, on HN, most of us would go so deep with conspiracy, but rational thinking did not lead me to…

> 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…

It's not even about anti-US intelligence, but intelligence against parties Assange feels personally slighted in some capacity.

He's turned Wikileaks into his own personal vendetta machine.

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

#56

Post by musage »

atonse wrote: post #18
tway923423 wrote: post #16

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…

> One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.

-- Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism"

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

#57

Post by wang_li »

colordrops wrote: post #35
atonse wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Intent doesn't matter. It's information. Judge it on evidence and truth and take it or leave it. No amount of twisted logic will make intent relevant.

Intent is how we judge the veracity of the information and whether it's slanted or not. I could tell you that Argentina sank a Chinese fishing vessel. Or I could tell you that Argentina sank a Chinese fishing vessel that was fishing in Argentine territorial waters. Both are true statements. One of them is incomplete and can lead you to judging the event differently. And unfortunately you, like most of us, aren't in a position to have personally witnessed the event. Thus you cannot objectively validate the veracity of what I have stated. So we have to rely on various heuristics, things like reputation of the speaker and what we understand about that speaker's biases and intention as well as historical context of the information presented.

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

#58

Post by prolepunk »

ceejayoz wrote: post #2

The key bit: > The Ecuadorian government said in statement that it had acted because Assange had breached “a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states”.

I imagine if this keeps up, the Ecuadorian government will follow other articles in the written commitment and will take away his cell phone, impose a two week curfew and will not give him any pocket money in foreseeable future.

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

#59

Post by ows_vs_obama »

FireBeyond wrote: post #7

> I have already fully served any theoretical (I haven’t been charged) ‘bail violation’ whilst in prison and under house arrest. So why is there a warrant for my arrest?” Not in the least bit arrogant. "Well, I hid out here because I feared extradition. That should basically count as my sentence for violating bail, right?"

Julian and Snowden are both trying to avoid the same fate. Both know they will not receive a fair trial in the USA.

There's no justification for his extradition to Sweden as they no longer have a warrant for his arrest. The UK has him under arbitrary detention.

Julian is being unfairly persecuted because his method of journalism is effective and seeks to shed light on corrupt systems of power.

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

#60

Post by [deleted] »

ows_vs_obama wrote: post #59
FireBeyond wrote: post #7

> I have already fully served any theoretical (I haven’t been charged) ‘bail violation’ whilst in prison and under house arrest. So why is there a warrant for my arrest?” Not in the least bit arrogant. "Well, I hid out here because I feared extradition. That should basically count as my sentence for violating bail, right?"

Julian and Snowden are both trying to avoid the same fate. Both know they will not receive a fair trial in the USA. There's no justification for his extradition to Sweden as they no longer have a warrant for his arrest. The UK has him under arbitrary detention. Julian is being unfairly persecuted because his method of journalism is effective and seeks to shed light on corrupt systems of power.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN