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Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

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Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#261

Wikileaks has a faultless record. They’ve never had to retract a publication. Assange, like him not not, was a reporter, who reported uncomfortable facts about the military and our ruling class. He is being punished, tortured really for this “crime”. He has been endlessly and baselessly slandered. All that alleged bad behaviour while he was imprisoned in the embassy ... funny how there’s been no footage of it, despit…

Agree with you on all points, except for a slight nitpick: Assange was more of a news publisher than a reporter. That is, he didn't write news stories.

We - informed internet users, not just journalists - should be very worried about his treatment and try to act to support him and Wikileaks. If you can't act yourself, do consider donating:

https://defend.wikileaks.org/donate/

(there might be other relevant avenues of donating, this is one of them)

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#262

Wikileaks has a faultless record. They’ve never had to retract a publication. Assange, like him not not, was a reporter, who reported uncomfortable facts about the military and our ruling class. He is being punished, tortured really for this “crime”. He has been endlessly and baselessly slandered. All that alleged bad behaviour while he was imprisoned in the embassy ... funny how there’s been no footage of it, despit…

The most detailed, nuanced account of Assange I've seen is this one[0] by Andrew O'Hagan (an author hired to ghostwrite Assange's autobiography who spent a year or so in and out of his orbit). And it's hard to square that account with the image of Assange as a journalist who's being persecuted for the truths he's shared. Though O'Hagan is sympathetic in many ways he doesn't sugarcoat anything, and I came away with th…

> "I’m number three."

Wow, he has a high opinion of himself! That's just terrible. Horrible. Only the humble and the meek are worthy of support when they're persecuted.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#263

Wikileaks has a faultless record. They’ve never had to retract a publication. Assange, like him not not, was a reporter, who reported uncomfortable facts about the military and our ruling class. He is being punished, tortured really for this “crime”. He has been endlessly and baselessly slandered. All that alleged bad behaviour while he was imprisoned in the embassy ... funny how there’s been no footage of it, despit…

It is possible to build a false narrative with nothing but true information. Say I put up a website that every day posted a story about a Jewish person who had been convicted of a financial crime. Say I promoted this site and built up a fan base. If every story was 100% true, nothing but real convictions. Would you say this is an honest, faultless website?

It _is_ possible. Like how you're trying to build the narrative of Wikileaks having built such false narratives - which they haven't, to the best of my knowledge. If you have evidence to suggest otherwise, please link to it.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#264

Wikileaks has a faultless record. They’ve never had to retract a publication. Assange, like him not not, was a reporter, who reported uncomfortable facts about the military and our ruling class. He is being punished, tortured really for this “crime”. He has been endlessly and baselessly slandered. All that alleged bad behaviour while he was imprisoned in the embassy ... funny how there’s been no footage of it, despit…

This is a bit esoteric but Julian did criticize the NY Times UFO story in 12/15 and then deleted the tweet-

https://imgur.com/a/1z3APkC

It’s hard to verify he deleted it because his Twitter account has been deactivated. Just found it interesting because I think his original tweet was accurate but it was strange that he backtracked.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not doing a very good job of whatever it is you are claiming to support (why not post some information?). Julian Assange is a Russian asset and is getting what he deserves via due process in a court of law.

I wish these paranoid conspiracies about Russia would die. Even if he got info from Russia, so what? Nation states publishing derogatory information on each other is great for the people so we can know what the hell our government is actually doing.

1. the information was doctored. 2. he selectively withholds information that is damaging to Russia, therefore is picking sides.

Wikileaks was a state actor, not a journalism.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#266
post #184

Wikileaks has a faultless record. They’ve never had to retract a publication. Assange, like him not not, was a reporter, who reported uncomfortable facts about the military and our ruling class. He is being punished, tortured really for this “crime”. He has been endlessly and baselessly slandered. All that alleged bad behaviour while he was imprisoned in the embassy ... funny how there’s been no footage of it, despit…

What journalist? Assange is a Russian agent. Even previously there was no doubt but since Mueller this is cemented.

> since Mueller this is cemented.

Mueller did not present evidence of Assange having acted on behalf of the Russian government; so I'm not sure what you mean.

Also, let's suppose Assange is a "Russian agent" (which he isn't). Ok, so what? A lot of journalists are state agents: BBC, RT, France 24 etc. You could say it is underhanded for him not to have declared his being a Russian agent (which, again, he isn't); fair enough. That doesn't legitimize his persecution, effective torture, extradition to the US etc. - in the slightest.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#267

Wikileaks has a faultless record. They’ve never had to retract a publication. Assange, like him not not, was a reporter, who reported uncomfortable facts about the military and our ruling class. He is being punished, tortured really for this “crime”. He has been endlessly and baselessly slandered. All that alleged bad behaviour while he was imprisoned in the embassy ... funny how there’s been no footage of it, despit…

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell Speaking truth to power is something the corporate-owned fourth estate no longer engages in, and instead discards civil discourse and individuals with integrity because reality is inconvenient compared to fanning the flames with phony-outrage clickbait, replacing it with corporate-led fascism and intolerance masquerading as liber…

All of these have had important positive contributions, but don't idolize any of them. Some of them have adopted problematic positions (IMHO) on various issues or promoted political causes of state establishments. Some are dismissive or even defamatory of people with more radical political views than theirs. Some aren't and I only have good things to say about them, but the point is - we should always judge stories and commentaries by the merit and never fully trust someone even if their record is positive and impressive.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#268
post #50

What ever happened to all that banking information that Wikileaks said they would release? "Wikileaks honcho Julian Assange told Andy Greenberg at Forbes that he was in possession of a trove of documents that "could take down a bank or two." The documents wouldn't necessarily show illegality but they would reveal an "ecosystem of corruption" at one of the biggest banks in the United States. Wikileaks would release it…

There are a bunch of documents that wikileaks has, at various times, claimed they’d release then have never mentioned again. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#Claims_of_upcoming... TBH, this bit in particular of wikileaks has always felt really scummy/sketchy to me. If you have the docs and have verified them and believe they are journalistically important then release them without delay. In every other scena…

There are legitimate reasons for delayed releases, like fact-checking and cross-referencing, leaker security, Wikileaks operatives' own security, coordinations with establishment press channels and possibly others.

Still, it's certainly better to limit such claims and it does feel a bit sketchy when they don't eventually publish something.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#269
post #57
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok but he was not sentenced to this.

Assange doesn't qualify for bail (he is a flight risk/certainty) so he stays in custody until the hearings are done. Made his bed and now has to lie in it.

Bail? For what? He has not committed any offense for which he should be held in custody under UK law. And the extradition should not have been considered, since the UK official doesn't extradite for charges of political offenses.

Re: Julian Assange “slowly dying” and “often sedated” in Belmarsh prison

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason many people turned on Wikileaks was because he clearly sided with Trump in 2016. He released the info he had on Hillary to damage her campaign, even though it didn't show anything illegal, yet he refused to publish the documents he had on Trump. People sided with him because they believed he was impartial, and turned away from him when it was clear he wasn't.

[flagged]

> Hillary's use of a private email server was extremely illegal

Ever single government entity with the power to rule on this has said otherwise. You are the one spreading "lies, propaganda and misinformation."

Tell me, if Hillary broke so many laws, why wasn't she ever charged? You do realize there were multiple investigations that concluded it did not meet a level of criminality?

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