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The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

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Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#141

Post by roywiggins »

hnmonkey wrote: post #112
resters wrote: post #64

By doing this the US is coming to the aid of the many dictators and despots whose crimes Assange has helped reveal. Also, by ignoring the crimes revealed by the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, the US makes it very clear that war-making cronies rule both parties and would never hold each other accountable for anything. To be clear, the war logs revealed that the US classified information solely because it revealed that…

While some of the things that were exposed were certainly illegal and should be handled as such, it's hard to feel any empathy for a guy who is essentially a Russian asset. If you think of him as an extension of Russian military intelligence conducting propaganda wars against its adversaries then it becomes a lot easier to understand why prosecuting him is a genuinely good thing. Russia airing the dirty laundry of ot…

It might be accurate to model his operations in two phases. The first, when he was exposing secrets on his own. The second, when (it seems) Russia used him as a deniable way to launder secrets they had stolen into the American press. Exactly when one phase begins and the other ends, whether he knew it was happening at the time, and whether he committed any crimes against the United States during the second phase is murky. Maybe he really should be in trouble for things he did in his second phase; his first phase doesn't mean he didn't commit several crimes later.

(this same argument works for Snowden. There are some who argue- without much evidence- that he was always a Russian asset, because he ended up there; but his eventual landing in Russia doesn't retroactively prove he was a Russian agent all along)

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#142

Post by tw04 »

busterarm wrote: post #76
jsutton wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Believed' is a loose term, you'd have to be deluded to believe something like that.

Would you though? The State Dept under Clinton played fast and loose with it's own procedures and regulations and I have a friend who died in the Benghazi attack if you want to fight with me on this point. More than 5% of the Section 702 wiretaps conducted under the last President's administration were performed illegally by their own admission. False flag operations are part of our history and three-letter agencies…

So... Because Clinton was "in charge" when the unfortunate events in Benghazi occurred, you think she would've authorized a drone strike in London? That's well past the point of crazy conspiracy theory territory.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#143

Post by consumer451 »

darawk wrote: post #124
StavrosK wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that excuse the war crimes that were committed?

No, but do the war crimes the US committed mean that Assange is not guilty of being a Russian asset?

You are responding to textbook whataboutism, aka “tu quoque logical fallacy.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#144

Post by kevinh »

busterarm wrote: post #76
jsutton wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Believed' is a loose term, you'd have to be deluded to believe something like that.

Would you though? The State Dept under Clinton played fast and loose with it's own procedures and regulations and I have a friend who died in the Benghazi attack if you want to fight with me on this point. More than 5% of the Section 702 wiretaps conducted under the last President's administration were performed illegally by their own admission. False flag operations are part of our history and three-letter agencies…

> I have a friend who died in the Benghazi attack if you want to fight with me on this point.

I'm sorry about that, but losing someone in an attack doesn't make your point any more valid.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#145

Post by kjksf »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #68
shostack wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "This is untrue. There is nothing suggesting that Wikileaks has knowingly coordinated with Russia." Really? Nothing at all? Big fat nothingburger? https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-the-latest-mue...

An indictment is not proof for a start, this is a fundamental part of the US justice system. That indictment does not actually mention Wikileaks at all, let alone suggest that Wikileaks knew the source was the Russian government.

Can we agree that an indictment is much more than "nothing" and indicate a strong belief on the part of prosecution that they have a winnable case?

Your reading of the indictment (https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2018/07/Mueller...) is severely lacking.

It specifically mentions that 12 russians conspired "with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury" to "stage releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 US election".

You don't have to be a genius to infer that one of those "persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury" is Assange.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#146

Post by monocasa »

allemagne wrote: post #104
busterarm wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you though? The State Dept under Clinton played fast and loose with it's own procedures and regulations and I have a friend who died in the Benghazi attack if you want to fight with me on this point. More than 5% of the Section 702 wiretaps conducted under the last President's administration were performed illegally by their own admission. False flag operations are part of our history and three-letter agencies…

Yes. None of that (even if you buy into all of it) adds up to "Clinton would literally order a drone strike on Julian Assange", let alone if he happened to be in the Ecuadorian embassy in London at the time.

https://truepundit.com/under-intense-pressure-to-silence-wik...

It was from before he was in the embassy, after the CableGate thing.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#147

Post by whatshisface »

hnmonkey wrote: post #112
resters wrote: post #64

By doing this the US is coming to the aid of the many dictators and despots whose crimes Assange has helped reveal. Also, by ignoring the crimes revealed by the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, the US makes it very clear that war-making cronies rule both parties and would never hold each other accountable for anything. To be clear, the war logs revealed that the US classified information solely because it revealed that…

While some of the things that were exposed were certainly illegal and should be handled as such, it's hard to feel any empathy for a guy who is essentially a Russian asset. If you think of him as an extension of Russian military intelligence conducting propaganda wars against its adversaries then it becomes a lot easier to understand why prosecuting him is a genuinely good thing. Russia airing the dirty laundry of ot…

Why would you believe that he was a Russian asset? Is there any indication that he would not publish information critical of Putin if it was sent to him?

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#148

Post by foxylad »

resters wrote: post #64

By doing this the US is coming to the aid of the many dictators and despots whose crimes Assange has helped reveal. Also, by ignoring the crimes revealed by the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, the US makes it very clear that war-making cronies rule both parties and would never hold each other accountable for anything. To be clear, the war logs revealed that the US classified information solely because it revealed that…

Assange != Wikileaks.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#149

Post by hnmonkey »

monocasa wrote: post #131
aglavine wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize he may be a Russian spy, don't you?

Has literally any evidence of this been presented other than the extremely specious "a Russian station picked up distribution rights to his show after he had made the episodes"?

Yes, including literally in this thread (copied this link from another comment): https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-the-latest-mue...

And many others, including former CIA director Pompeo too: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/us/politics/mike-pompeo-c... Google 'pompeo wikileaks' and you'll get a ton.

You seem to be ignoring the evidence people are putting in this post and continually defending WikiLeaks. They're not an altruistic organization.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#150

Post by monocasa »

jacobush wrote: post #140
Alex3917 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've apparently forgotten all about that whole Osama Bin Laden thing. You know, the person who Clinton sent a team to kill even though he was never charged with any crime. There's even a video of Clinton watching his illegal assassination.

Clinton?

Yep. She certainly appears to be there.

https://businessinsider.com/situation-room-bin-laden-2016-5

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