351–360 of 1001 posts
And then I just saw this... wow! I am so glad to be wrong, to see my pessimistic side be completely wrong. Julian is free!
Good, this was getting majorly embarrassing for all countries still involved with this legal mess. The man dying in prison stuck in legal limbo without any conviction whatsoever (innocent until proven guilty and all that) would have been a PR disaster for the UK. And of course there's also the issue that the UK is very likely to get a new government that would have likely been leaning to just letting the man go in an…
> At least the current Labour leader strikes me as a decent man with some actual principles and backbone and this would fundamentally be a decent thing to do. (massive sidetrack, but I can't let this sentence go unpunished) The current labour leader is the lamest duck in a group of wet blankets. His policies revolve around not being as corrupt as the Tories whilst doing virtually nothing else to better his constituen…
The whole saga is an interesting lesson in how a noble cause can end up helping anti-democratic forces. Assange gave the public invaluable information that would not have been know otherwise, but he ended up playing right into the hands of the people who wanted to discredit Clinton. Politics is complicated.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Journalists generally avoid asking for classified information. The belief is that (in the US) a journalist that passively receives classified information & publishes it isn't committing a crime due to the First Amendment. The actual crime itself was committed by the person leaking the information. Julian Assange actively solicited leaks of information. That's where the espionage claim comes from. There's not much pre…
Hopefully the next Wikileaks will have better OPSEC and will be completely out of reach from ALL governments
Congratulations! I share in the popular jubilation and sense of epoch-making reconciliation, that aligns with the stars, even tho I think Assange acted like an egotistical fool who squandered the great lens of transparency and accountability he had created through misjudged self-importance and vulnerability to manipulation by his sources for their own ends. Hopefully his Second Act brings good fruits without the thor…
He was an Australia citizen left out to dry.
Disgraceful.
I think the pressure from the Australian government had to do a lot with this good news[0][1]. 0. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansar... 1. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/10/politics/biden-assange-au...
Why though? There locking up their own whistleblowers, Daniel McBride.
More than happy to locked them up unless it creates an image problem.
Unfortunately in this country, a whistle blower is a fast track to being punished.