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Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> It is absurd, he should be on a flight right now. For the crime of reporting information that embarrassed the US government.
At the very least, I see him now as a warning to others that powerful state actors are happy to use free-information advocates as pawns in their agenda to destabilize their opponents.
I still don't understand how a country can grant extradition of a non US citizen to the USA for "espionage". Every country is potentially spying on every other country and it doesn't even matter if they are supposed to be allies or enemies. The only limits are resources.
Arguably, the rest of the "free world" can be seen as provinces of an American Empire with their independence. From that perspective, the Assange extradition makes perfect sense. This isn't as crazy as it sounds because the Roman Empire had provinces which were technically "independent" monarchies aligned with Rome. Most famously, Egypt under Cleopatra and Judea under Herod.
Maybe we really do need a little dance with authoritarianism here to remind people what that is.
The fact that he has been imprisoned in the UK without trial or conviction for the last four years is insane (he has been imprisoned for 5 years but the first year was for a bail violation). This should simply not be possible in a modern liberal democracy.
This is the best possible outcome from the standpoint of the US national security machine -- that he remains imprisoned indefinitely while waiting on a Kafka-esque system to finally grind him to mush, and serves as a dire warning to other journalists who would defy them.
I still don't understand how a country can grant extradition of a non US citizen to the USA for "espionage". Every country is potentially spying on every other country and it doesn't even matter if they are supposed to be allies or enemies. The only limits are resources.
They're allowed to because justice is the interest of the stronger.
I don't know why this is taking so long or why he's fighting it. He will easily win this case citing New York Times Company v. United States as the precedent. A publisher is allowed to publish state secrets if they aren't the ones who originally obtained them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It is absurd, he should be on a flight right now. For the crime of reporting information that embarrassed the US government.
Wrecklessly and without simple redaction, in such a way that very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials. And highly questionable selective publishing. I think the guy is getting fucked over in this unfairly, but let's not pretend he has released information to a reasonable standard.
He then got a team of journalists together to sift through the documents to make sure things were properly disclosed. Some Guardian journalists then published the encryption keys in a book.
Russia foreign minister (Zaharova) continuously asks for Assange to be released, mentioning "freedom of speech". Assange has building size graffiti murals in Moscow.
Word to Russia: "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5, English Standard Version.)
I mean, look, the US should be judged for how it upholds its own values, and it does so less than perfectly. It justly deserves condemnation for when and where it falls short of its own stated values. But Russia... does Russia really want countries to be judged by freedom of speech?
I saw that they were considering giving him a plea deal. If the Biden admins give Assange a plea deal similar to Manning it will be a good thing because the crimes were similar and motivated similarly.
What a catastrophe. This is the ultimate evidence that there is no such thing as a free press; People are only allowed to report what their masters allow them to. The day you cross a line and in Assange's case, the day you report the crimes commited by The Empire, they crush you.
I don't know why this is taking so long or why he's fighting it. He will easily win this case citing New York Times Company v. United States as the precedent. A publisher is allowed to publish state secrets if they aren't the ones who originally obtained them.
I thought that was his problem. The US prosecution says that he instructed and assisted Manning in obtaining the documents.
As someone who wants to see Assange go free, I continue to believe the best outcome here is for him to be extradited and face trial in the US. I do not think the government's case is strong enough to convict him, and his being acquitted at trial would be by far the best outcome possible here. The fact that he has been imprisoned in the UK without trial or conviction for the last four years is insane (he has been impr…