The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange • Hacker News Board

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#281

Post by metildaa » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 1:58 AM UTC

hnmonkey wrote: post #172

wallace_f wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Russia used him as a deniable way to launder secrets they had stolen into the American press. I have never seen proof of this accusation? Can you link me to it? Not the accusation, but proof? What is it: was he "used" like you said, or mislead, or intentionally aiding Russia? To be fair the DWS scandal is a real problem, a big deal, and a threat to our democracy... and nobody was seriously punished for that. DWS is…

There's literal proof throughout this post. In fact, I posted some too. There are definitely levels of threats to American democracy. If DWS refers to Wasserman-Schultz then it pales in comparison to an enemy foreign state's military intelligence corrupting the American government.

Please cite proof to back up the accusation leveled wrt Assange. That was all OP asked for, and instead you deflected.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#282

Post by metildaa » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 1:59 AM UTC

hnmonkey wrote: post #266

wallace_f wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See you keep saying you can convince me, but still wont show me the proot that will. Do you really believe the Iraq Warlogs revealing death, torture, war crimes, and lying is somehow worse than literally subverting American democracy in a presidential primary? Now, I don't want to defend Assange's every single motive, but the DWS scandal was pure corruption, while for whatever bad Assange has done that you keep promi…

> Do you really believe the Iraq Warlogs revealing death, torture, war crimes, and lying is somehow worse than literally subverting American democracy in a presidential primary? It's interesting... you're asking me if I really believe something that I didn't ever say and implying I did. I actually compared the Wasserman-Schultz situation (which I think is incredibly overblown) to a sovereign foreign government's mili…

Citations please? We should deal in fact, not allegations.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#283

Post by tootie » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:03 AM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #256

tootie wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has successfully alienated anyone who ever supported him at this point.

Not me. I still think that his efforts have cast very important light on the recent history of US Foreign Policy.

Assange is simply not an honest broker which is his one job. Even if you think the Chelsea Manning leak was valuable, what exactly was Assange's value add?

The leaker was not protected. She was caught and prosecuted. The data was not protected. WikiLeaks was hacked and leaked all the raw data. The content was not shared in an objective way. Assange editorialized the content with his own opinions (ie Collateral Murder). His only contribution was to raise money to pay for hosting.

There's a reason why Ed Snowden didn't give his leaks to Assange.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#284

Post by metildaa » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:03 AM UTC

cwkoss wrote: post #255

paulie_a wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he is too dumb to realize he was used as a Russian asset. The attention whoring he is known for blinded him. While dumb, I don't think he has specifically kept secrets about Trump. His actions show a definite agenda. Act two, he just doesn't realize that it is someone else's agenda.

If the New York Times gets an anonymous tip from a Russian spy (which is fact checked and found to be true), would you consider the New York Times as a Russian asset? Where is the line? When is transmitting factual information to the public journalism and when is it not?

It seems this line is usually drawn based on political leanings by commenters, which is a poor way of drawing said line.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#285

Post by AnaniasAnanas » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:05 AM UTC

ixtli wrote: post #43

minikites wrote: post #10

I would be genuinely surprised if the current administration decided to prosecute one of their most useful Russian agents.

Again sarcasm as a way to convey a legitimate point is downvoted on HN so I'll translate: I would be surprised if he was prosecuted harshly given his important role in the election of the current president of the US. (Edit: to be clear, I personally dislike seeing all these jokes about russian agents re: the 2016 election. There was clearly meddling but its beginning to bother me that a vocal strain of vocal American…

> they are themselves bad actors and should be treated as such How is leaking some provably true secrets about a political party to the public bad in any way in a democracy?

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#286

Post by cronix » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:06 AM UTC

nl wrote: post #273

londons_explore wrote: post #14

If true, this suggests that previous articles about assange being 'practically free to go', and 'just staying in the embassy for attention' were misinformed.

He's always been free to go, just that he'd likely to be arrested. Unclear what article you are referring to in the 'staying for attention' reference.

Yes, but the UN effectively say he's being detained, which I tend to agree with. It's like me standing there with a gun to your head saying if you take one more step, I'll shoot. Technically, you're "free to leave at any time," but that's not really the effective reality.

> February 2016 - A UN panel rules that Mr Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" by UK and Swedish authorities since 2010

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11949341

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#287

Post by throwawaythekey » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:07 AM UTC

ixtli wrote: post #79

vallesmarineris wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People like Assange aren't pawns of some dark and evil power Citation needed. The rest of the world seems to agree that he was in fact a pawn to a "dark and evil power", as you put it. Here's my citation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/0... "Assange behaved as an instrument of the Kremlin operation which, in an excruciatingly close election, may have made just enough of a difference to s…

That's totally fair and, not to be dismissive, I don't think it's productive to try to have this conversation here. I just want to say I'm not trying to defend or downplay what WikiLeaks got up to under Assange's oversight. I'm simply saying that while his interests may have lined up with Putin/Russian oligarchs he is himself an ideologue and a bad actor who comes from a community of the same and he should be treated…

Why is he a bad actor? Why should he be treated differently from other whistleblowers. AFAIK his leaks have had many good outcomes. I think there was a case or two where sensitive information could've been vetted better but to me he definitely looks like a net positive.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#288

Post by nl » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:09 AM UTC

monocasa wrote: post #279

nl wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's always been free to go, just that he'd likely to be arrested. Unclear what article you are referring to in the 'staying for attention' reference.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julia...

That link is broken - I think you mean this one, posted below: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julia...

If a WP headline from 2013 saying "Julian Assange unlikely to face U.S. charges over publishing classified documents" is the limits of that argument, then I think it's fair to say that is much weaker then any claim that "he is practically free to go". In addition, maybe he was free to go in 2013, but a lot has happened since then which may have led to more charges being possible.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#289

Post by throwawaythekey » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:10 AM UTC

krapp wrote: post #56

boomboomsubban wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The emails were newsworthy, disliking what you consider their ulterior motive doesn't change that.

What emails, specifically, were newsworthy?

How about the ones that show the HC camp intended to actively support trump because they thought he would be the easiest candidate to beat?

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clin...

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#290

Post by onetimemanytime » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 2:10 AM UTC

anon007 wrote: post #202

komali2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an obviously absurd belief given he's in an embassy. The USA has done a lot of insane shit but that would be a ridiculous line to cross to eliminate a single "criminal."

US/NATO bombed the Chinese embassy [0] in former Yoguslavia so nothing is out of the question. Though this is UK. But still it shows embassies are not outside of US target zone. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/17/balkans

Yeah but that was a "mistake". Just as it was a "mistake" when NATO thought that the embassy was used as Serbia's military comm center. China stopped complaining after shown what NATO had on them.