Julian Assange arrested in London • Hacker News Board

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#311

Post by Sacho » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:42 AM UTC

bjourne wrote: post #234

lazyjones wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Yes, but this twitter convo between WikiLeaks and Donald Trump Jr. is pretty damning. https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/930228239494209536

What's so damning about that convo? Try reading that conversation with the assumption that WL is a neutral party that wants to advance its own interests:

- leak more documents(Trump tax returns)

- get more publicity(asking Trump Jr to retweet/push their stories and lead viewers to their site)

- fight allegations of partisanship(publish anti-Trump documents)

How else would you approach Donald Trump Jr in this conversation? You need to give him some reason to help you.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#312

Post by erk__ » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:42 AM UTC

garmaine wrote: post #193

foldr wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extraterritoriality of embassies is a myth. Assange was in the UK when he was in the Ecuadorian embassy. However, the UK authorities could not have removed him from the embassy without violating the Vienna Convention.

Semantics. The host country is prevented from entering, searching, seizing people or persons, or otherwise enforcing its laws in any way. The soil is technically still British, but so long as he had Ecuador's cooperation, he was entirely outside the reach of UK law. So by the dictionary definition of sovereignty -- "supreme power or authority" the sovereign inside the walls of the embassy is Ecuador, not the UK, sinc…

Yeah it is pretty much De Jure vs. De Facto. they may have De Jure access, but De Facto they do not.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#313

Post by Stuckinsofa » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:43 AM UTC

bluehatbrit wrote: post #159

Stuckinsofa wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will refer you to reading TFA. Also: rape.

The rape charges were dropped and incredibly suspicious as well.

Because he ran away.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#314

Post by decoyworker » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:44 AM UTC

dandare wrote: post #250

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 beca…

There is a lot of appeal to emotion in your post.

Can we both agree that war is bad and things are always more complex than they seem? In the grand scheme of things these events rank pretty low on the list of priorities when you are fighting a war.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#315

Post by roenxi » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:44 AM UTC

billfruit wrote: post #308

empath75 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Obama and Bush really badly mishandled both Snowden and Assange. Heavy handed responses to both of them drove them into the arms of Russia. I don’t think either of them were Russian assets when they started.

And also Julia Gillard, she was very unsympathetic, even hostile to him.

Julia Gillard [then PM of Australia, 0]. The Australian governments mild condemnation of Assange as the situation unfolded was as disappointing as it was predictable. US lap-dogs and all that.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#316

Post by fixermark » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:46 AM UTC

shrewduser wrote: post #286

I just want to know, from the people who seemed to have turned against Assange, how do you know it's not a concerted disinformation / propaganda campaign to remove all his credibility and reduce public support? By my reckoning It's really hard to know what to even believe about a guy who might credibly be targeted by that.

If it was, WikiLeaks would have leaked the details by now.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#317

Post by _Codemonkeyism » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:47 AM UTC

mezod wrote: post #72

I'm simply so disappointed about 90% of the comments in this thread. I really thought you people had some f. values.

Yes, I guess most have, one of them being "rule of law".

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#318

Post by Theodores » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:48 AM UTC

lazyjones wrote: post #88

He looked very ill on the Daily Mail photos, I hope he'll survive the next couple of weeks... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6911187/Wikileaks-f...

I think he is in disguise! The difference the beard makes, he used to have stature on the balcony with his hairdo of a year ago, now he physically looks little.

Interesting how the UK laid siege to the embassy at vast expense. Had they not done that and just snitched silently with someone watching the normal CCTV that the UK is famous for then they would have had him getting used to nipping outdoors. But no, they made an example of him, and at considerable taxpayer expense.

It would only be a matter of time before the government of Ecuador would change to an American rather than a Bolivarian one, so even if they could not coax him out by having the absence of police then he would get himself having 'new landlords'.

Regarding Sweden, women are not 'mere chattel' in Sweden. To claim that the original allegations were just trumped up US bullshit is nonsense and a failing to understand that Swedish law is serious about equality. I don't think that the English speaking nations are anywhere near Sweden when it comes to treating everyone equally in law.

The law is a double edged sword, Assange could have understood Swedish law a bit better and respected it. That would have served him better than British law.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#319

Post by zrth » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:48 AM UTC

decoyworker wrote: post #314

dandare wrote: post #250

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 beca…

There is a lot of appeal to emotion in your post. Can we both agree that war is bad and things are always more complex than they seem? In the grand scheme of things these events rank pretty low on the list of priorities when you are fighting a war.

Torture is and stays torture. What is there to agreed upon?

The fact that some regime decided to invade a foreign country out of self-interested changes nothing at all.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#320

Post by fixermark » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 11:49 AM UTC

I honestly don't know what assange or wikileaks thought was going to happen when they leaked information that was politically embarrassing to an Ecuadorian ally.

On the plus side, I'm now far more convinced of WikiLeaks' non-partisanship (or naivete), since they threw their own founder under the bus.