Julian Assange arrested by British police at Ecuadorean embassy

[heybruce]

Here's a nice summary:

 

" WikiLeaks’ willingness to serve as an uncritical and enthusiastic laundromat for Russian intelligence reflects the group’s longer history of publishing material with little or no newsworthiness, but calculated to undermine American interests..... In contrast, WikiLeaks almost never publishes leaks that might undermine America’s autocratic rivals. Mr Assange may not be an enemy agent, but he has at least been a useful idiot." https://www.economist.com/britain/2019/04/12/julian-assange-journalistic-hero-or-enemy-agent

 

I'd like to post more, but the moderator's can be really strict about the three sentence fair-use rule.  It is within these limits to state that The Economist does not consider Assange to be a journalist.  It has better words to describe him.  I encourage others to read the article.

[dick dasterdly]

47 minutes ago, losworld said:

At this point it's all about using the mainstream media to smear Assange and do everything underhanded from trumped up rape charges to ridiculous claims from dating sites.  It does not take a rocket scientist to see he has pissed off the rulers.  He is not permitted to leak the truth.

 

14 minutes ago, heybruce said:

Here's a nice summary:

 

" WikiLeaks’ willingness to serve as an uncritical and enthusiastic laundromat for Russian intelligence reflects the group’s longer history of publishing material with little or no newsworthiness, but calculated to undermine American interests..... In contrast, WikiLeaks almost never publishes leaks that might undermine America’s autocratic rivals. Mr Assange may not be an enemy agent, but he has at least been a useful idiot." https://www.economist.com/britain/2019/04/12/julian-assange-journalistic-hero-or-enemy-agent

 

I'd like to post more, but the moderator's can be really strict about the three sentence fair-use rule.  It is within these limits to state that The Economist does not consider Assange to be a journalist.  It has better words to describe him.  I encourage others to read the article.

Which pretty much validates losworld's post.....

 

"WikiLeaks’ willingness to serve as an uncritical and enthusiastic laundromat for Russian intelligence reflects the group’s longer history of publishing material with little or no newsworthiness, but calculated to undermine American interests...."

 

REALLY????  It's just sad that some people believe this type of rhetoric ☹️.

[Chomper Higgot]

8 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

 

Which pretty much validates losworld's post.....

 

"WikiLeaks’ willingness to serve as an uncritical and enthusiastic laundromat for Russian intelligence reflects the group’s longer history of publishing material with little or no newsworthiness, but calculated to undermine American interests...."

 

REALLY????  It's just sad that some people believe this type of rhetoric ☹️.

Assange is now going to face the justice he has been evading.

 

Let’s see what his jury believes.

[blazes]

"The idea that Assange is a front for the Russians is absurd"

"“#Wikileaks has released 800,000 documents about Russia..."

 - John Pilger

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0ejp6pKQ44

 

3 hours ago, heybruce said:

A YouTube video from Russia Today?  Seriously?

 

You have just destroyed your credibility.

 

John Pilger is one of the most respected (albeit very left-wing) journalists of the last 40 years or so.

 

[Basil B]

On 4/12/2019 at 2:54 AM, RickBradford said:

I'm surprised they didn't pull a cosh on him, giving the racket he was making, never mind the eggi.....

Pepper spray and zap... is the modern British way.

[dick dasterdly]

17 minutes ago, blazes said:

"The idea that Assange is a front for the Russians is absurd"

"“#Wikileaks has released 800,000 documents about Russia..."

 - John Pilger

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0ejp6pKQ44

 

 

John Pilger is one of the most respected (albeit very left-wing) journalists of the last 40 years or so.

 

RT is far from a respected source, and watching the video reveals it to be RT.

[dick dasterdly]

Not that it matters, as this thread is about Wikilinks - good or bad.

 

Some of us think we should know the truth when our govts. behave badly - others think differently.

[Chomper Higgot]

39 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Not that it matters, as this thread is about Wikilinks - good or bad.

 

Some of us think we should know the truth when our govts. behave badly - others think differently.

I’m particular interested in foreign governments interfering in elections/referendums and those who assist and/or conspire with those foreign governments.

[heybruce]

3 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

 

Which pretty much validates losworld's post.....

 

"WikiLeaks’ willingness to serve as an uncritical and enthusiastic laundromat for Russian intelligence reflects the group’s longer history of publishing material with little or no newsworthiness, but calculated to undermine American interests...."

 

REALLY????  It's just sad that some people believe this type of rhetoric ☹️.

"The AP went through a sampling of the tens of thousands of documents WikiLeaks released in the last year, and found many personal details about private citizens, Social Security numbers, medical files, sensitive family and financial information.

In what the AP calls particularly egregious, WikiLeaks published the names of two teenage rape victims, as well as the name of a Saudi citizen who'd been arrested for being gay. That revelation could endanger the man's life because, in Saudi Arabia, being gay is punishable by death."   https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/wikileaks-publishing-private-individuals-personal-information

 

Journalists sift through information to publish what matters and to protect the innocent and uninvolved.  The above is not the work of journalists.  It is the work of a troll group that steals vast quantities of private information and publishes it just to attract notoriety.

[OJAS]

23 hours ago, losworld said:

Ridiculous assertion.  Why should he not expose the western governments that influence the world around him.   Are you a Russian conspiracy theorist?

So answer me this, then. Why does Assange not also expose totalitarian governments that also influence the world around him? He is living in cloud cuckoo land if he really does seriously believe that these governments are squeaky clean and, indeed, should be praised to the highest heavens as being the best thing since sliced bread.

Edited April 13, 2019 by OJAS

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, dick dasterdly said:

Not that it matters, as this thread is about Wikilinks - good or bad.

 

Some of us think we should know the truth when our govts. behave badly - others think differently.

But of course there is absolutely no need to know the truth when non-Western govenrments behave badly, is there? That certainly appears to be what Wikilinks thinks.

[CGW]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I’m particular interested in foreign governments interfering in elections/referendums and those who assist and/or conspire with those foreign governments.

Tip - Look no further than the USA - ????

[Basil B]

Julian Assange 'must face Swedish justice' if country asks, say MPs

Quote

More than 70 MPs have signed a letter urging the home secretary to ensure Julian Assange faces authorities in Sweden if they request his extradition.

Labour's Stella Creasy tweeted a copy of the note sent to Sajid Javid.

WikiLeaks co-founder Assange was arrested on Thursday in relation to an extradition request from the US, where he is facing computer hacking charges.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47917325

 

I do hope that if the Swedes do request his extradition it will be done quickly, as the statute of limitations on the first alleged rape prevents him being tried for that so let's not see him escape justice on the second case, the Americans can wait.  

[canuckamuck]

4 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

RT is far from a respected source, and watching the video reveals it to be RT.

Well, it has a bias towards Russian interests, which makes it excellent for the other side of the story in most cases.

It is no better or worse than the Western mass media which generally only reports things that advance their narrative and they do so in lockstep. With a few outliers like Fox who have their own narrative and bias. 

[losworld]

3 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Well, it has a bias towards Russian interests, which makes it excellent for the other side of the story in most cases.

It is no better or worse than the Western mass media which generally only reports things that advance their narrative and they do so in lockstep. With a few outliers like Fox who have their own narrative and bias. 

All the outlets are biased CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS and your CBC.  Trick is to find your own answers.

[heybruce]

6 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Well, it has a bias towards Russian interests, which makes it excellent for the other side of the story in most cases.

It is no better or worse than the Western mass media which generally only reports things that advance their narrative and they do so in lockstep. With a few outliers like Fox who have their own narrative and bias. 

There is a difference between media bias and media being controlled by its government.  RT is controlled by its government.  Trump rages against most western media because is not controlled by the government.

[nontabury]

On 4/12/2019 at 6:47 AM, SpaceKadet said:

Spot on. There is also a strong possibility of thick brown envelopes changing hands in Ecuador.

US has a long history meddling in other countries affairs for its own benefit.

 

Maybe so. Also you have to take into account, that the Ecuadorian Embassy needs his room to accommodate someone who has deceived the British people.

[Basil B]

May not extradite him...

 

If he claims to be off his rocker, I would not dispute that.

[Shaunduhpostman]

Julian Assange exposed  war crimes, blew the whistle on the sinister totalitarian globalist agenda written into the TPP trade agreement when it was virtually secret among many other things. He did and his organization Wikileaks may continue to do what the corporate controlled media is obliged to do and has failed to do: keep govts and other power brokers in check. And he is not done yet, in fact the most damning indictments of the globalist military industrial complex could very well be yet  to come. There is much talk about a deadman's switch ie,  a data dump done in response to Assange's arrest. Assange is no idiot and of course knew he would likely end up where he is now, so it would seem an obvious course of action to hold the best stuff for when the US and allies had arrested and perhaps even ended his life. It is being speculated that it may be they have arrested him to try and somehow put an end to that situation, now doubt the US authorities and others have a sword of Damoclese poised over their heads with that prospect that Assange is holding out on the most damning facts. Other interesting aspects emerging and being discussed around the net are that Lenin Moreno seems to have been rewarded for cooperating with the arrest of Assange. He was up for off shore funds corruption charges, money laundering and so on and these have been dropped in the last month. There may be some connection there as well as to the fact that Ecuador was recently granted 4 billion from the IMF. The US often uses payoffs to get their way in Latin America, so it wouldn't be unusual if it were true. People comment on how terrible Assange looks, I think anyone would if living for months in close quarters with a Moreno regime embassy that was hostile to Assange and maybe paid to be that way by US elements that want his scalp. It is sad that too many people focus on Assange and his faults which pale in comparison to the crimes against humanity in the strict sense of the word that his accusers commit on an untold scale and will do so even more if someone doesn't call them out and confront them with the truth and show them that we know what they are doing and that what they purport to be, decent democratic nations that uphold human rights and decency,  could not be anything further from the truth.

[heybruce]

"Notably absent from Mr. Assange’s analysis, however, was criticism of another world power, Russia, or its president, Vladimir V. Putin, who has hardly lived up to WikiLeaks’ ideal of transparency. Mr. Putin’s government has cracked down hard on dissent — spying on, jailing, and, critics charge, sometimes assassinating opponents while consolidating control over the news media and internet. If Mr. Assange appreciated the irony of the moment — denouncing censorship in an interview on Russia Today, the Kremlin-controlled English-language propaganda channel — it was not readily apparent."    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html

 

Maintaining the it is acceptable to deny democracies secrets and allow autocracy secrets is akin to saying it is acceptable to deny one side in a war weapons while the other side is allowed weapons.

 

Of course if you are on the side of the autocrats this is perfectly acceptable.

Edited April 13, 2019 by heybruce

[Tayaout]

 

 

[SheungWan]

9 hours ago, nontabury said:

Maybe so. Also you have to take into account, that the Ecuadorian Embassy needs his room to accommodate someone who has deceived the British people.

Ecuador not exactly top-rank exile choice. Can't see Boris going there.

[bristolboy]

4 hours ago, heybruce said:

"Notably absent from Mr. Assange’s analysis, however, was criticism of another world power, Russia, or its president, Vladimir V. Putin, who has hardly lived up to WikiLeaks’ ideal of transparency. Mr. Putin’s government has cracked down hard on dissent — spying on, jailing, and, critics charge, sometimes assassinating opponents while consolidating control over the news media and internet. If Mr. Assange appreciated the irony of the moment — denouncing censorship in an interview on Russia Today, the Kremlin-controlled English-language propaganda channel — it was not readily apparent."    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html

 

Maintaining the it is acceptable to deny democracies secrets and allow autocracy secrets is akin to saying it is acceptable to deny one side in a war weapons while the other side is allowed weapons.

 

Of course if you are on the side of the autocrats this is perfectly acceptable.

You might want to consider this argument from Alan Rushbridge. No one knows better than he how loathsome is Assange's character but nonetheless"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/12/partnering-with-assange-was-unpleasant-work-like-his-is-crucial/?utm_term=.ea23688944ca

[dick dasterdly]

5 hours ago, heybruce said:

"Notably absent from Mr. Assange’s analysis, however, was criticism of another world power, Russia, or its president, Vladimir V. Putin, who has hardly lived up to WikiLeaks’ ideal of transparency. Mr. Putin’s government has cracked down hard on dissent — spying on, jailing, and, critics charge, sometimes assassinating opponents while consolidating control over the news media and internet. If Mr. Assange appreciated the irony of the moment — denouncing censorship in an interview on Russia Today, the Kremlin-controlled English-language propaganda channel — it was not readily apparent."    https://www.nytimes.Rcom/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html

 

Maintaining the it is acceptable to deny democracies secrets and allow autocracy secrets is akin to saying it is acceptable to deny one side in a war weapons while the other side is allowed weapons.

 

Of course if you are on the side of the autocrats this is perfectly acceptable.

Rubbish of course, as has been pointed out previously.....

 

Wikileaks started out by publishing damning information on regimes.  Nobody paid any attention to this ☹️.

 

When they posted damning info. on US war atrocities, it suddenly became extremely important to shut this guy/organisation down....

[dick dasterdly]

20 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

You might want to consider this argument from Alan Rushbridge. No one knows better than he how loathsome is Assange's character but nonetheless"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/12/partnering-with-assange-was-unpleasant-work-like-his-is-crucial/?utm_term=.ea23688944ca

You managed to miss the point of the article! ????

 

But I do agree that it is an article worth reading.

[cleopatra2]

25 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

You might want to consider this argument from Alan Rushbridge. No one knows better than he how loathsome is Assange's character but nonetheless"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/12/partnering-with-assange-was-unpleasant-work-like-his-is-crucial/?utm_term=.ea23688944ca

The question would be , where does the First Amendment protection for publishers/journalist end. Does it provide complete immunity from criminal acts in pursuance of an objective.

 

For a hypothetical example , would it provide protection from Breaking and entering, physical assualt, or say even murder if the purpose is to protect source.

 

The above examples are the extreme, and commonsense would dictate in these circumstances , one would hope not.

 

 

[gk10002000]

On 4/12/2019 at 2:58 PM, JimmyJ said:

There are extremely important and vital issues involved here -  of Free Speech/First Amendment/Journalism/(State) Censorship.

 

 

It is not your Strawman issue of armchair psychological analysis and the cult of personality, which is totally irrelevant and off topic.

Who the heck are you to make such judgements and criticize?  There are not issues here except he broke the law.  The courts have ruled many times what the bounds of free speech are and what US laws are valid and necessary to protect classified information.  Assange went on his mission and has led by most accounts a miserable life and will continue in that fashion.  He is an egotist that relished the attention.  Just do some research, read his own writings, personal accounts etc.

[dick dasterdly]

12 minutes ago, cleopatra2 said:

The question would be , where does the First Amendment protection for publishers/journalist end. Does it provide complete immunity from criminal acts in pursuance of an objective.

 

For a hypothetical example , would it provide protection from Breaking and entering, physical assualt, or say even murder if the purpose is to protect source.

 

The above examples are the extreme, and commonsense would dictate in these circumstances , one would hope not.

 

 

Talk about deflection!

 

This thread is about Assange being arrested by brit. police for breaking bail - and then, suprise suprise there was a US extradition request ????!

[cleopatra2]

15 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Talk about deflection!

 

This thread is about Assange being arrested by brit. police for breaking bail - and then, suprise suprise there was a US extradition request ????!

The WP article specifically stated that Assange should be protected due to Free Speech.

Assange is indicted on a criminal act. If the right to free speech protects him from this criminal activity , where if any does this protection halt.

[dick dasterdly]

22 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

Not that it matters, as this thread is about Wikilinks - good or bad.

 

Some of us think we should know the truth when our govts. behave badly - others think differently.

 

21 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I’m particular interested in foreign governments interfering in elections/referendums and those who assist and/or conspire with those foreign governments.

Everyone to their own....

 

Do you seriously think that the US has never interfered with other countries?? ????