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

The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

471–480 of 577 posts

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#471

Post by makomk »

rtpg wrote: post #387
jacobush wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was made a big deal in Sweden how ridiculous any fears were that Assange could be extradited from Sweden to the US if he would go to Sweden for hearings. And now...

it's still "ridiculous" insofar as an extradition from Sweden would not just involve Sweden US relations but US UK relations (so two relations instead of just one). This isn't rocket science, there are more moving parts to the "get him from Sweden" from the simpler "Get him from the UK" plan.

An extradition from Sweden would involve both Sweden and the UK government, which is likely to co-operate. Extraditing him from the UK would involve both the government and the courts, which are a less certain thing. I mean, it's still a bit of a conspiracy theory, but it could've made the US's life easier.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#472

Post by raverbashing »

codedokode wrote: post #420

As I understand, Assange is not an US citizen. How can they prosecute him? Wikipedia page [1] says: > Opinions of Assange at this time [2010] were divided. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard described his activities as "illegal," but the police said that he had broken no Australian law. United States Vice President Joe Biden and others called him a "terrorist". Some called for his assassination or execution. Tha…

> Assange is not an US citizen. How can they prosecute him?

So if I go to any country I'm not a citizen of I'm free to commit crimes?

That's obviously not how it works. Not being a citizen is a nonissue

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#473

Post by metildaa »

hnmonkey wrote: post #438
metildaa wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The only comments you're leaving on my comments are calling me out and attacking me... I've cited multiple things in this post and each time they seem to be ignored or blown off.

Both the comments I made asked you for citations, yet you have not provided any.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#474

Post by krrrh »

roywiggins wrote: post #141
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…

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 m…

Let's recall the time that Wikileaks promoted unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the Panama Papers which contained loads of damaging information about Putin (along with plenty of well-known westerners), in a blatant attempt to redirect the spotlight off of Russian corruption. The official Wikileaks twitter account essentially providing the outline for a propaganda piece on RT within hours.

https://www.rt.com/news/338683-wikileaks-usaid-putin-attack/

And of course he did produce a TV show for Russian state television.

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

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#475

Post by CryptoPunk »

onetimemanytime wrote: post #418
CryptoPunk wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this claim a lot, yet no evidence to substantiate it. What evidence do you have that he is/was a Russian asset? And what does it matter if it's a Russian asset doing the leaking, instead of a selfless journalist? Is the leaking illegal or not? This "Russian asset" angle seems like ad hominem to make people acquiesce to violating freedom of speech.

CIA Director: 'It's time to call out Wikileaks for what it really is, a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.' It's normal for us not to have any direct evidence, but to see the results of their behavior. CIA on the other hand might have recordings, communication etc. They have been digging for years.

An organization dedicated to publishing leaked documented can be "abetted" by any number of intelligence agencies by the nature of its function. That doesn't make it an asset of any intelligence agency.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#476

Post by DoctorOetker »

narag wrote: post #463
codedokode wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bad. Because other countries might take the same approach. What if China, Iran or Russia will start prosecuting US citizens for posts on the Internet that are against their laws? Like critisizing Communist Party? I don't see the difference between US prosecuting Assange and China prosecuting those who, being infinitely malignant, publish illegal, misleading information about Communist Party or Tiananmen squar…

Most countries will prosecute you if you are from that country or if the crime is commited in their jurisdiction.

at least comparatively in this thread, yours is one of the most down to earth replies, and it got downvoted?

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#477

Post by mtarnovan »

raverbashing wrote: post #472
codedokode wrote: post #420

As I understand, Assange is not an US citizen. How can they prosecute him? Wikipedia page [1] says: > Opinions of Assange at this time [2010] were divided. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard described his activities as "illegal," but the police said that he had broken no Australian law. United States Vice President Joe Biden and others called him a "terrorist". Some called for his assassination or execution. Tha…

> Assange is not an US citizen. How can they prosecute him? So if I go to any country I'm not a citizen of I'm free to commit crimes? That's obviously not how it works. Not being a citizen is a nonissue

> So if I go to any country I'm not a citizen of I'm free to commit crimes?

Read the entire comment of OP. This is the important part: "the police said that he had broken no Australian law."

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#478

Post by chupasaurus »

dragonwriter wrote: post #443
codedokode wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bad. Because other countries might take the same approach. What if China, Iran or Russia will start prosecuting US citizens for posts on the Internet that are against their laws? Like critisizing Communist Party? I don't see the difference between US prosecuting Assange and China prosecuting those who, being infinitely malignant, publish illegal, misleading information about Communist Party or Tiananmen squar…

> Because other countries might take the same approach They do. > What if China, Iran or Russia will start prosecuting US citizens for posts on the Internet that are against their laws? They...do. Well, not necessarily posts on the internet specifically, but... And, in some cases, not just the “appear before a court with counsel to answer charges with some simulation of due process” way of addressing crimes against t…

> “appear before a court with counsel to answer charges with some simulation of due process”

In Russia, more likely "being held in custody up to court's decision" because of the rules in criminal case processing code.

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#479

Post by yesenadam »

resters wrote: post #449
nl wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(To preempt: I'm not complaining, I have lots of imaginary HN points) The voting on this is amazing. It's gone from +3 to -2 to 0 and back up and down a few times in just a couple of hours. It'd be really, really interesting to see the patterns of what else voters are voting for. I don't think this comment is particularly controversial (it's a direct response, doesn't attempt to interprete the evidence, made it clear…

Supporting Assange or expressing skepticism about the Russia narrative on HN is a good way to get shadow banned, but it depends a lot in which mod gets involved.

What evidence do you have for that?

Re: The US Is Preparing to Prosecute Julian Assange

#480

Post by codedokode »

narag wrote: post #463
codedokode wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bad. Because other countries might take the same approach. What if China, Iran or Russia will start prosecuting US citizens for posts on the Internet that are against their laws? Like critisizing Communist Party? I don't see the difference between US prosecuting Assange and China prosecuting those who, being infinitely malignant, publish illegal, misleading information about Communist Party or Tiananmen squar…

Most countries will prosecute you if you are from that country or if the crime is commited in their jurisdiction.

But Assange is not from US and he published information on Wikileaks not from US. Australia and other countries are not in US jurisidiction yet.
Post reply on HN