The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

Post by bestnameever » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 6:31 AM UTC

resters wrote: post #335

cwkoss wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia airing the dirty laundry through a side channel is MUCH more benevolent than the other things (like blackmailing our world leaders) they could do with this. I don't think all of Wikileaks' revelations are from Russia, but even if they all are - and Russia had selfish motivations - it was a benevolent act toward the world. Truth is power, and revealing the truth to the powerless is never an evil act.

Exactly. As I put it in another comment, if someone leaked information that led to Jerry Sandusky being stopped several years sooner, would it matter if the leaker was affiliated with a rival football program? Because of how WL releases full, minimally redacted documents, there is really no reason to worry about the details. Failures of journalistic integrity happen because of strategic omissions or intentional misdi…

Post by stef25 » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 6:34 AM UTC

cwkoss wrote: post #239

hnmonkey wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Russia airing the dirty laundry through a side channel is MUCH more benevolent than the other things (like blackmailing our world leaders) they could do with this. I don't think all of Wikileaks' revelations are from Russia, but even if they all are - and Russia had selfish motivations - it was a benevolent act toward the world. Truth is power, and revealing the truth to the powerless is never an evil act.

Post by ako » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 6:37 AM UTC

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…

Post by hnmonkey » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 6:38 AM UTC

resters wrote: post #343

nl wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with posting "proof" here is that it's always unclear where to start. Do you accept that Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian agent? If not, then it's going to be a long post. If you do, then Guccifer 2.0 himself claimed he gave the leaks to Wikileaks[1]. Wikileaks tweeted the same information[2]. Which part is in question here exactly? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guccifer_2.0#cite_note-:5-7 [2] https://twitt…

The entire Guccifer narrative is the most speculative and least substantiated aspect of the entire drama. That doesn't mean it's false, however. But one might wonder why anyone cares about it or gives it any consideration, when there are so many far stronger data points. The Guccifer narrative supports (weakly) the idea of a link between Russia and the emails. So in order for this to matter you have to believe that R…

Post by rorykoehler » Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 6:40 AM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #390

icelancer wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, because Assange lied about something and took it back it's totally cool a federal government prosecutes him for whistleblowing.

Right, but anyone breaking the law in order to do good is aware that they're breaking the law, they just determined that that's the best thing to do in the circumstances.