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Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

nbcnews.com

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Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#411

Post by Symbiote »

r24y wrote: post #200
cypherpunks01 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The case is federal, it's not confined in jurisdiction. But the plea deal is being entered there because of "defendant’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States to enter his guilty plea and the proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to the defendant’s country of citizenship, Australia, to which we expect he will return at the conclusion of the proceeding" https://storage.courtlistener.com/reca…

> proximity of this federal U.S. District Court to the defendant’s country of citizenship, Australia This is a little disingenuous, and made me chuckle. It's faster and cheaper to get to Australia from the US mainland than it is from Saipan. Yes, it's physically closer as stated, but does not confer the claimed benefits.

It's a chartered flight, so it will be faster and cheaper (assuming it continues to Australia).

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#412

Post by gklitz »

largbae wrote: post #309
yawnxyz wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. When I was in Sydney I was surprised at how many protests around there were about Julian Assange... didn't really understand why they cared about him or the US. Guess that worked?

He is Australian right?

[flagged]

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#413

Post by omnimus »

IshKebab wrote: post #374
tetris11 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Have you actually read their policies? There are plenty of big changes. Maybe you are referring to them not stating that they will change taxes significantly? Well, yeah no shit. a) they can't, taxes are at their highest level since WW2, and b) they don't want to destabilise things like Truss did. I think his biggest issue is that his voice sounds a bit wet and that makes people think he is wet.

He is Tony Blair / New Left all over again. Labour bleached from left wing policies. Nothing will change as they are on board to keep status quo. This (just like the New Left) will pave way for even more populist right candidates get in to power. Namely it paves way for Farage to be PM.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#414

Post by cortic »

doubloon wrote: post #269
chaoskitty wrote: post #110

It amazes me that so many people care more about the act of whistleblowing, which informs us, the citizens, about what our governments are doing that's illegal, than about the illegal activities themselves. What does that say about those people? Are they easily led by emotion? They certainly don't care about the rule of law, if breaking the law by others can so easily be ignored. They aren't particularly patriotic, i…

when your whistle blowing only reveals secrets of one side, then i am very skeptical of motivations. where are the dumps from north korea. where is kim jong un's private communications with Xi Jinping. Where is Putin's communications with Lukashenko. Where are internal memos from the people's liberation army. Where are the leaks from the Ayatollahs. Also yes the targets were western governments. What about western co…

The motivations of a person who disproportionately helps western governments is troubling to you? Or is it that you don't consider exposing criminal conduct helpful?

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#416

Post by bryanrasmussen »

noahlt wrote: post #406
DaoVeles wrote: post #351

All around my neighborhood is the graffiti of "Free Assange, Oz hero". Just this morning I saw a large amount of it in a new place. Was thinking "I really hope one day it happens but I am doubtful". 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!

What part of the world is your neighborhood in?

I'm thinking OZ hero implies Australia.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#417

Post by simonjgreen »

IshKebab wrote: post #374
tetris11 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Have you actually read their policies? There are plenty of big changes. Maybe you are referring to them not stating that they will change taxes significantly? Well, yeah no shit. a) they can't, taxes are at their highest level since WW2, and b) they don't want to destabilise things like Truss did. I think his biggest issue is that his voice sounds a bit wet and that makes people think he is wet.

The phrase 'do not mistake my kindness for weakness' springs to mind

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#418

Post by budududuroiu »

I'm happy that he's been freed from Belmarsh because being locked up for 5 years without a conviction is madness.

However, I won't cheer for Assange, the person. He's using the guise of impartial journalism to be anything but impartial.

His selective disclosure of leaks, with a heavy bias towards NOT disclosing Russian caches, is pretty damning. Assange was shouting from the rooftops that WikiLeaks "doesn't have targets", but at the same time chose to focus on the DNC campaign leaks and decline to publish 2016 caches showing Russian involvement in Ukraine, and Wikileaks declined to publish documents revealing a 2 billion euro transaction between Syrian regime and a Russian bank. WikiLeaks also handed information on Belarusian dissidents to the Lukashenko regime.

Not to mention the infamous leaks of Taliban informants details, to which Assange was quoted saying: "Well, they're informants, so if they get killed, they've got it coming to them. They deserve it.", as well as the 2015 Saudi leaks which revealed the virginity status of multiple Saudi women, several Saudis suffering from HIV as well as being arrested for being gay.

The level of care and privileges he's had while being imprisoned weren't afforded to the many Afghan informants, Belarusian dissidents and the LGBTQ members in Saudi that he's exposed.

(TL;DR - if Assange was on modern Twitter, I bet he'd be a Assad-loving, anime-pfp-displaying, Putin-bootlicking tankie)

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#419

Post by bigstrat2003 »

DaSexiestAlive wrote: post #358

whatever happened to the r--- allegations from Sweden, I understand that Sweden has dropped the charges but.. can we get some closure about that as interested followers of this entire saga? Hope that's not too much to ask..

You can say "rape". It's not a dirty word.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#420

Post by londons_explore »

threeseed wrote: post #341
AlexCoventry wrote: post #329

Is there any risk that he could face further charges in Australia?

He broke no laws in Australia. But the fact he is pleading guilty to a serious crime will have further implications for his life e.g. preventing travel, not allowed to apply for certain jobs etc.

The fact his name is assange already makes him ineligible for a bunch of things, and his connections and popularity already open lots of doors for him that aren't open for you and I.

I think he'll be fine.

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