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Julian Assange in Limbo

lrb.co.uk

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Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#171

Post by kdtsh »

chinesempire wrote: post #159
kdtsh wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He knows what he’s doing. If he’s quiet about Russia’s crimes against freedom of expression, it’s because he’ll be in serious danger if he says anything about them - and Snowden going under for saying something true doesn’t do him or anyone else any favours, considering if he did drag Russia through the mud we probably wouldn’t learn anything new. Never forget that he unveiled a domestic and international surveillanc…

> unveiled a domestic and international surveillance and spying program which is unparalleled in all of history China

We could argue about this, or we could agree to disagree and just acknowledge that the US' domestic and international spying programmes are some of the most far-reaching and intrusive in history.

Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#172

Post by chinesempire »

kdtsh wrote: post #171
chinesempire wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unveiled a domestic and international surveillance and spying program which is unparalleled in all of history China

We could argue about this, or we could agree to disagree and just acknowledge that the US' domestic and international spying programmes are some of the most far-reaching and intrusive in history.

The problem with this definitions is not that they are wrong, they aren't, the problem is consequences.

DDR was much smaller than US and his program was more limited than any actual one, given the advancements in technology of the past decades.

And yet, STASI was much more effective and disruptive than many other similar projects before and after.

At its peak STASI employed around 2% of the entire East Germany population.

With the information gathered and the prevention of external influences, they could literally convince people that they were living in the best World possible using just a tiny wall and propaganda.

Those who denied it, doubted about it, had contacts with western entities or were suspected of conspiring against the SED, were incapacitated, it doesn't imply they were killed on the spot, but they were made harmless, arrested, hospitalized, institutionalized in psychiatric wards or "disappeared" in concentration camps.

Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#173

Post by ric2b »

roenxi wrote: post #78
us0r wrote: post #4

> After long research, his team of 120 counterintelligence officers hadn’t been able to find a single person, among the thousands of American agents and secret sources in Afghanistan and Iraq, who could be shown to have died because of the disclosures. Sounds like the NSA who couldn't point to a single instance of stopping any type of terrorist attack/operation despite collecting anything they could get their hands o…

I don't see that as being a solid point because it is pretty challenging to point to an instance of a rare event not happening due to your actions. The more pressing issue is that the NSA is a group of people. Nobody knows exactly what they are doing, or why, and the only information that comes out is "trust us, we're the good guys". They have a huge budget. Odds are they are massively corrupt and doing stupid things…

> because it is pretty challenging to point to an instance of a rare event not happening due to your actions.

How is it hard? "Based on our data collection we found that these people were planning X and arrested them" doesn't sound hard... Unless it never happened.

Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#174

Post by ric2b »

chinesempire wrote: post #161
class4behavior wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You talking past my point. Besides, the US government doesn't tolerate any kind of hindrance to its operations or operatives. They will cry foul like no one else and hunt you down without any regard to any foreign or international laws. Story telling is the easiest part. As for covid, that's simply a false equivalence.

If they are keen to sentence people to lifetime jail for spreading the covid, imagine what they will do to someone who reveals the identity of their operatives and their location

> If they are keen to sentence people to lifetime jail for spreading the covid

What? This hasn't happened.

Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#175

Post by ric2b »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #137
alentist wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a victim of sexual assault as well, and what you said is not true.

You are welcome to disagree with me about what constitutes consent. But what I don't accept is randos on the internet defining consent on "were charges filed". You likely know as well as I do that the vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported, and that most which are reported either go uninvestigated or are retraumatizing for the victim. I stand by my position that having sex with someone in a way they explicitl…

> You likely know as well as I do that the vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported

But this case was reported and talked about around the world, so it's not in the same situation.

> I stand by my position that having sex with someone in a way they explicitly did not give consent to, even if they consented to other terms, is rape.

That's fine, but the alleged victims in this case don't agree.

Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#176

Post by jessaustin »

Emma_Goldman wrote: post #139
runawaybottle wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money? Grab some books on the Iraq war. There’s plenty of money involved in making and buying rockets to throw at a country (defense industry), then rebuilding said country (defense contracting), then securing that country’s resources (oil industry), all while winning re-election (Politics). In Medieval (Antiquity too? Goes pretty far back) terms, this is often called Plundering. There’s a real market for it.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the war on terror has been a calamitous waste of money. One reason for the precipitous decline in war over the last seventy year is precisely that it no longer pays: (i) it does not pay to wage war because it has become highly resource-intensive and technologically sophisticated, and often involves protracted low-intensity campaigns against asymmetric guerrillas. (ii) it does not pay…

Those are really old-fashioned justifications. In the first place, "land" hasn't been the motivating resource for over a century. USA has plenty of land. Now that we also have plenty of petroleum, it's easier to see what the real motivation for war has been for at least 70 years: transferring resources to armaments manufacturers, and thence to their puppets in politics and news media. All of our public discourse about security etc. is a manufactured farce, subordinate to the basic goal of churning blood into money.

Re: Julian Assange in Limbo

#177

Post by jessaustin »

fractallyte wrote: post #170
fractallyte wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, for the people who disagree with my comment, here is the reason we should support investigative journalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_government_censorship_... Chechnya has been essentially cut off - considering its recent history, any guesses why??

Wow, a day later, and the votes are still swinging up and down. I wonder why - some Russian apologists haunting this place? Shame on you. I'll say it plainly: Russia has no place in the Caucasus. Get the hell out, and mind your own damn country. And if this was a general rule, we'd have a lot less conflict in the world.

USA has no place in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ethiopia, Saudi, etc...
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