I am going to hold the celebrations until we are sure there isn't anything else on the horizon. He isn't getting a pardon and being declared free and clear of charges in the US is very difficult. Who knows what state prosecutor might want to bring new state charges. He may also be wanted as a material witness. If I were him I wouldn't set foot outside Australia ever again.
My understanding is that a pardon cannot be granted without a conviction.
Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
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Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#762As a fellow aussie I'm proud of Assange. I am kind of surprised other Australians feel the same because we're kind of a nation of bootlickers. I'm curious what happens now though. If he returns to Australia. Is he actually going to have real freedom and privacy? Or is this going to be kind of superficial where everything he does is monitored by like 5 different agencies and he can't even use the Internet. Like, I've…
we arent bootlickers, thats just our politicians and business leaders.
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#763JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK. This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators…
1901 days in prison, after all that time since 2012 holed up in a room in the Ecuadorian embassy first.
I think the UK and US should abstain from criticising any countries' courts and justice system after that...
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#764Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#765The 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.
Played into the hands? Didn't Assange personally hate the Clinton's, that seems less played into the hands of and more intentional?
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#766https://web.archive.org/web/20110901064746/https://wikileaks...
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#767Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really don't want my government acting like my ex-girlfriend. When presented with evidence of her infidelity, her first and only reaction, "Who sent you those screenshots?! It was Sarah, wasn't it? You know she hates me. Why are you talking to her?!"
A better analogy would be if one of your friends had dirt on your whole friend group. One of those people then (allegedly) threatens your friend, and as a result they release information to harm everyone BUT the one who threatened them. "Sarah's" information might be accurate, but her choosing what information to reveal makes her actions suspicious.
IDGAF if Russia and China do the same things. I ASSUME they do them.
The west enjoys the "free world" moniker and the distinction it implies. It should be held to an accordingly higher standard.
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#768I'd encourage people to read this excellent piece in the London Review of Books by someone who was contracted to ghostwrite Assange's autobiography, and who initially felt very sympathetic towards the aims of Assange and Wikileaks: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n05/andrew-o-hagan/ghost... I found it very insightful and nuanced when it comes to Assange and his motivations, presenting him as neither hero nor vill…
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#769I am going to hold the celebrations until we are sure there isn't anything else on the horizon. He isn't getting a pardon and being declared free and clear of charges in the US is very difficult. Who knows what state prosecutor might want to bring new state charges. He may also be wanted as a material witness. If I were him I wouldn't set foot outside Australia ever again.
My understanding is that a pardon cannot be granted without a conviction.
Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
#770The 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.
Clinton is not democracy. Anti-Clinton is not anti democracy. Being anti the US government is not anti democratic. And no, letting USA or any other nation for that matter commit war crimes quietly does not support democracy.