Live data from Hacker News

Julian Assange arrested in London

bbc.co.uk

51–60 of 1001 posts

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#51

Julian Assange used to be hailed as a hero for exposing American hypocrisy, but with the secretive way wikileaks operated and the track record of anti-US releases, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Assange and wikileaks were used as pawns for geopolitics. Still, I'm curious when did Assange willingly start working for Russia --- was it from the very beginning, or was it after his legal troubles? I wonder wh…

> I wonder what Snowden thinks

Guess all Snowden posts is curated by KGB.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#52

> Ecuadorian embassy withdrew his asylum and UK police were invited in to arrest him. According to a journalist at Sky news https://twitter.com/NewsTMac/status/1116274082922803200

Hard to imagine how that would have ended any other way really. No benefit for the Ecuadorians in man-handling him, he wasn’t going to leave of his own accord, and the Brits (proooobably) weren’t going to storm the place. Pity whomever has to fumigate the room.

The Equadorian president Moreno didn't like Wikileaks publishing the INA papers that have lead to accusations of corruption against him. Assange could prbably have forseen that would endanger his asylum but published anyway, kudos to him.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#53
post #45

RIP. It's only a matter of time before he's extradited, and I would think the current US government would definitely push for the death penalty under the Espionage Act. I suppose it's little solace that he'll join a long list of illustrious names prosecuted under that infamous act. (Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, Victor Berger, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden)

Reading the rest of the comments, it's surprising that so many people seem to have reduced WikiLeaks & Assange to 'co-conspirators with the President'. They've been around before the 2016 election.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#54
post #20
post #12

About time. It will be good see his case brought before the courts whatever they will be in the US, UK, Sweden ... staying in the embassy for so many years is just absurd.

What case? The sexual assault charge in Sweden was dropped. Or are you talking about the USA wanting their day in court with him?

Jumping bail when in the UK is an offence.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course Ecuador can revoke asylum. It's very common practice around the world if a person's circumstances change and their original country is now safe. Likewise if Ecuador believes that there is no longer a threat to Assange they can revoke it.

> Likewise if Ecuador believes that there is no threat to Assange that can revoke it. Thats a stretch considering they invited the police to arrest him.

The police were arresting him for skipping bail - that's not a political asylum issue.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#57

I was writing a long post but I deleted it. I don't know what to say, I don't like the guy, but I have an even stronger dislike for how international politics and intelligence services work.

I also feel the same way. He may have committed some heinous crimes outside of the actual hacking/leaking but to say we all didn't benefit from what we learned regarding how our government spies on us would just be flat out wrong..

What crimes did he commit? Honest question. I heard that someone accused him of being a rapist but then dropped the charges so I guess it was false. What else is there?

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#58
post #25

This mean that the single most expensive police case in the history of UK will have an end. It will be interesting to see the final price tag in respect to the final verdict.

Which is strange as the UK had little skin in the game to begin with

I think trying to maintain the 'special relationship' is their skin in the game.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#59
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He jumped bail while accused of a serious crime. Not sure what you are looking for here.

And the crime was dropped. This reminds me of being arrested for resisting arrest.

Jumping bail is a crime in itself. Your situation is simply an oxymoron

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#60

Julian Assange used to be hailed as a hero for exposing American hypocrisy, but with the secretive way wikileaks operated and the track record of anti-US releases, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Assange and wikileaks were used as pawns for geopolitics. Still, I'm curious when did Assange willingly start working for Russia --- was it from the very beginning, or was it after his legal troubles? I wonder wh…

You'd think that after the stupid Russian collusion story was dismantled by the recent Mueller report, people would be a little more careful with such paranoid allegations, but here we go...
Post reply on HN