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Julian Assange arrested in London

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#241

Post by Traster »

mc32 wrote: post #179

Assange is a flawed personality. That said, over the years there was a transformation. People defended him despite his issues when his whistleblower endeavors aligned. Once they no longer aligned, many many of his supporters turned around and called out his peccadilloes and transgressions. People still defend Snowden but if he ever releases information seen as politically damaging to one side, all that adulation is o…

On the flip side over the years Assange has very much moved from a proponent of openness and protection for leakers to being a political campaigner. His choice to deliberately release material during the US election campaign in a way that was designed to politically damage the candidate he opposed goes way beyond the mission statement of wikileaks and also brings into question whether wikileaks is operating independent of Russian influence.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#242

Post by rorykoehler »

djsumdog wrote: post #210
Mvandenbergh wrote: post #91

It will be interesting to see if the US tries to extradite him. It's actually not 100% clear that he's broken any US laws in any ways that they aren't also routinely broken by newspapers. There's a few avenues: 1) Publishing classified information. Easy to show that he did this but a very difficult path to go down when American newspapers do this all the time. 2) Conspiracy to commit espionage. Probably the most like…

I wish Australia would step up and actually defend one of their citizens.

Australia is part of 5 eyes. Very unlikely they will do anything.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#243

Post by unreal37 »

chki wrote: post #167
Reason077 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK does not permit extradition where there is a risk of the death penalty being applied. It would require an assurance against the death penalty as a condition of extradition.

Yes, if he were to be extradited facing the death penalty this would actually violate the European Convention on Human Rights as decided in Soering v UK.

Does European law apply after Oct 31? #brexit

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#244

Post by coldtea »

peteretep wrote: post #184
overkalix wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They believed Snowden was on-board, and to make the plane go to Wien, the Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian governments were pressured to deny Morales right of passage and pressured him to allow the plane to be searched. The governments of half of Europe fold like a cheap suit to the interests of the US intelligence services.

> The governments of half of Europe fold like a cheap suit to the interests of the US intelligence services The governments of most of Western Europe have geopolitical interests strongly allied to the US. > Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian So, all members of SIGINT Seniors Europe except Portugal.

>The governments of most of Western Europe have geopolitical interests strongly allied to the US

The governments of most of Western Europe have a long history of selling out their national interests (especially the weak bureaucrats and career politicians put in place past the 80s, not someone like De Gaulle). In exchange they get US support for their campaigns, handouts, and some trinkets for their peoples. In lesser countries, e.g. Balkans, periphery, etc, stability guarantees are also given ("you wouldn't want something bad to happen between you and your neighbors now, would you?", or "You'd like to have those investments keep coming in, right?").

And when some larger countries try to get out of this stronghold, e.g. trying to buy the cheapest oil from where they want (even if the US doesn't like it), or pay in Euros as opposed to dollars, they are quickly shown their place...

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#245

Post by stefanfisk »

the_duke wrote: post #208
DavidVoid wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you've heard is false. The investigation was dropped simply because there was no way to proceed with the investigation with him still hiding away in the embassy. The investigation will be reopened if he returns to Sweden before August 2020 when the statute of limitations expires for the minor rape allegation. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39973864

That's ridiculous reasoning, if there was evidence he could be convicted without ever being interviewed or being present.

They can’t convict without a trial, and they can’t get a trial until they have Assange in custody or if he agrees to a trial via an intermediary.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#247

Post by StavrosK »

overkalix wrote: post #194
peteretep wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The governments of half of Europe fold like a cheap suit to the interests of the US intelligence services The governments of most of Western Europe have geopolitical interests strongly allied to the US. > Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian So, all members of SIGINT Seniors Europe except Portugal.

Is it in the interests of European governments for the US government to spy on European governments and citizens? Cool-cool-cool.

It's in the interests of European governments to continue a good relationship with the US government, obviously. That's what "allied" means.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#248

Post by black_puppydog »

overkalix wrote: post #14

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.

Yeah, really interesting to see how there was some sort of slow-motion character assassination over the years. Put him under pressure, wait for him to lash out, portray him as a raging lunatic and generally bad person. He went from an unsympathetic yet credible figure to one that's hard to side with for virtually anyone.

It's weird that for the most part, all his "crazy talk" has pretty much held up so far. I hope he's wrong about the extradition that's supposed to follow now, but honestly I doubt it. This is gonna go down in history as one of the more random biographies, and a pretty damning one at that.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#249

Post by coldtea »

peteretep wrote: post #203
overkalix wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it in the interests of European governments for the US government to spy on European governments and citizens? Cool-cool-cool.

I mean, I don't want to go all _Tu quoque_ here, but if you think that's a one-way street then I think you're being a little naive. Examples (in English) from two German news sources: https://www.dw.com/en/austria-angry-at-germany-over-enormous... https://www.thelocal.de/20170622/germany-spied-on-the-white-...

Yeah, just one is a superpower, with the budget for this of 10 western states combined, and the others are not. Also one side has bases in all of the others, the others do not have their bases at that side, and so on...

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#250

Post by dandare »

As a parent I will always remember that WikiLeaks (Assange) helped to stop the torture of children in Iraq. The war cables revealed that the US government knew about the routine torture of prisoners and opponents including women and children by the Iraqi authorities, a de facto puppet regime of the US. The US government knew about this from the alarmed reports of its own personnel and decided to turn a blind eye because... I have no idea why.

If not for Assange and Manning, more parent's would have to watch while their child is brutally tortured and mutilated by the psychopathic enforcers of the US puppet regime.

This is where every rational discussion about WikiLeaks and Assange should always start. Now we can talk about Assange's abrasive personality and dumb political views.

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