Julian Assange of WikiLeaks soon to be expelled from Ecuador Embassy

[unfilteredJW]

Sure. I hope that Assange is allowed a platform in whatever prosecution takes place to burn as many people as possible.

What's the purpose of your post, btw?

Just pointing out shit on the sidewalk so others don't track it in.

[Sloppynacho]

What can I say? I like seeing wrongdoing brought to justice.

As for Assange, I'll just let a former associate speak as to that:

You like wrongdoing brought to justice? What?! Then why are you defending your shithole 3th world country and blame Edward Snowden and Greenwald for damaging the reputation of America. While infact and America admitted themselves they illegaly steal and store data globally? And you want Assange to be in jail for the exact same thing? A true American hypocrite.

[unfilteredJW]

You like wrongdoing brought to justice? What?! Then why are you defending your shithole 3th world country and blame Edward Snowden and Greenwald for damaging the reputation of America. While infact and America admitted themselves they illegaly steal and store data globally? And you want Assange to be in jail for the exact same thing? A true American hypocrite.

Thirdf is a funny word.

[thilicen]

Heh. Good luck to him.

[roboscorcher]

You like wrongdoing brought to justice? What?! Then why are you defending your shithole 3th world country and blame Edward Snowden and Greenwald for damaging the reputation of America. While infact and America admitted themselves they illegaly steal and store data globally? And you want Assange to be in jail for the exact same thing? A true American hypocrite.

How is life in glorious mother russia?

[Skroe]

You like wrongdoing brought to justice? What?! Then why are you defending your shithole 3th world country and blame Edward Snowden and Greenwald for damaging the reputation of America. While infact and America admitted themselves they illegaly steal and store data globally? And you want Assange to be in jail for the exact same thing? A true American hypocrite.

Edward Snowden severely damaged America's national security. The reputation thing is ancillary.

Glenn Greenwald is a journalist. His story was Snowden. He's a massive asshole with a chip on his shoulder. But he was doing his job. He did not go to Snowden and tell him to steal the data. Snowden came to him. That matters. America is a big boy nation and can take "bad press" from the likes of Glenn Greenwald. Nothing should ever happen to Greenwald. I just avoid consuming his product, after reading it for years in the Guardian and coming away with "this dude is a really angry guy".

America's global spying activities are perfectly legitimate. The Snowden affair brought notworthy reforms to domestic spying and spying on allies that were good for the country. But the vast majority of the Snowden dump related to spying on our adversaries. The US has the right to spy on its adversaries, wherever they are, whoever they are.

Assange is going to jail because he facilitated a crime. More broadly, he is an intelligence asset of Russia. Yes, country's try to nail each other's "spies", so to speak (though I use that term very loosely with regards to Assange... the more appropriate way of looking at the Wikileaks/Russian Intelligence relationship seems to be more like "birds of a feather flock together").

[Sloppynacho]

What can I say? I like seeing wrongdoing brought to justice.

As for Assange, I'll just let a former associate speak as to that:


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Almost everything exposed by the three big leaks (State Department Cables, NSA Leaks, DNC leaks) facilitated by Wikileaks were perfectly legal and consistent with US national security interests.

The State Department Cables made the US look really good actually. The DNC leaks showed nothing other than the DNC favoring Clinton over Sanders. The NSA leaks were about 5% shady shit and 95% perfectly legitimate shit.

The US has every right to use every means at its diposal to gather intelligence on the world, particularly Russia and China. That is not a crime.

So no, there is no similarity between Assange and the US.

Lastly, on the notion of "hypocrisy", folks usually work out that when their teenagers. Yes, the United States of America is periodically a massive hypocrite. What's your point? *Bites apple*.

My point is that you are cherry picking. Isnt it illegal to see my personal facebook messages without my authorisation? Isnt it illegal to wiretap somebodies phone without the authorisation of the person itself? Don't you need a warrant for that? yet you claim its national security and perfectly legal. Fool.

[Strangebrew]

The US has every right to use every means at its diposal to gather intelligence on the world, particularly Russia and China. That is not a crime.

Lmao imagine unironically believing this horseshit, yikes.

[Prawnapple]

Can you prove his a rapist? I'm fairly certain you're a rapist.

[Skroe]

Lmao imagine unironically believing this horseshit, yikes.

Why don't we? The US has agreements with certain allies with respect to rights to privacy. But it is absolutely in the national interest to find our every secret Russia and China has, and turn as many of their people to our side as possible.

What do you think this is? Some kind of friendly community of nations? America and Russia and China are adversaries, not friends.

[Strangebrew]

Why don't we? The US has agreements with certain allies with respect to rights to privacy. But it is absolutely in the national interest to find our every secret Russia and China has, and turn as many of their people to our side as possible.

What do you think this is? Some kind of friendly community of nations? America and Russia and China are adversaries, not friends.

You have as much right to spy on them as north korea as the right to spy on you, you're not the good guys you delude yourself into thinking you are.

[Elba]

I don't respect Bradley Manning. He's a scumbag. Why would I respect that aspect of them as well? Have we missed the part where we weaponize everything we can against people? You think identity is off limits? It's not. Being a dick IS the point. You think I don't know what I'm doing when I call them a him and Bradley? Of course I do.

You also call black people you don't respect n*gger?

Bradley Manning ceased being someone worthy of respect and compassion the second they committed their crime and conspired with a US adversary. He's not some goddamn dumb kid who robbed a 7-Eleven or sold some weed.

This person shouldn't be wearing heals and dresses. They can call themselves whatever they like. The only thing they should be wearing is an orange jump suit.

No. He did not.

But she did. Like the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike and the Granai massacre.

But hey, you'd probably also justified the My Lai Massacre back in the day.

I had forgotten how much I missed the ol "War for Oil" line. Hit me with some Haliburton slams, my dude. Let's replay all the greatest hits of last decade.

Man, what are folks going to come up with now that the main US conflict for decades to come is going to be mostly a high-tech air and naval confrontation between the US and China. "No War for Fish"? "The US is going to War to protect US fishing?"

What else do you think the wars were about but making US weapon's manufacturers and contractors rich?

I know you don't give a shit about non Americans being slaughtered, but at least be honest. You're not that stupid to believe in the nationalistic bullshit muh "war on terror" (although, not being American is probably and act of terror in your eyes). You're just lying.

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His name is Bradley... His momma named him Bradley... just because you have your dick removed doesn't make you a woman... it makes you a man without a dick.

Thanks for your uncalled for bigotry, I guess? You also call married people by their maiden names?

[Doctor Amadeus]

Great hope Snowden is next.

[Elba]

You have as much right to spy on them as north korea as the right to spy on you, you're not the good guys you delude yourself into thinking you are.

I mean, North Korea spying on the US can be justified as self defense. Same with China and Russia, really. The US wants to destroy them.

What do you think this is? Some kind of friendly community of nations? America and Russia and China are adversaries, not friends.

America started it.

[Aggrophobic]

Well, I bet he regrets not actually facing the original charges. He was way less likely to be handed over to the US by Sweden and no matter if he got convicted or not, he would be a free man today.

[downnola]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Assange get dragged out of that embassy like a crazy homeless person.

[Sloppynacho]

Edward Snowden severely damaged America's national security. The reputation thing is ancillary.

Glenn Greenwald is a journalist. His story was Snowden. He's a massive asshole with a chip on his shoulder. But he was doing his job. He did not go to Snowden and tell him to steal the data. Snowden came to him. That matters. America is a big boy nation and can take "bad press" from the likes of Glenn Greenwald. Nothing should ever happen to Greenwald. I just avoid consuming his product, after reading it for years in the Guardian and coming away with "this dude is a really angry guy".

America's global spying activities are perfectly legitimate. The Snowden affair brought notworthy reforms to domestic spying and spying on allies that were good for the country. But the vast majority of the Snowden dump related to spying on our adversaries. The US has the right to spy on its adversaries, wherever they are, whoever they are.

Assange is going to jail because he facilitated a crime. More broadly, he is an intelligence asset of Russia. Yes, country's try to nail each other's "spies", so to speak (though I use that term very loosely with regards to Assange... the more appropriate way of looking at the Wikileaks/Russian Intelligence relationship seems to be more like "birds of a feather flock together").

Edward Snowden didnt damage national security. You can't blame the witness for a crime he didnt commit. Spying is illegal, just because everybody is doing it, doesnt make it legal. Thats why you need a warrant to wiretap somebodies phone. Oh wait? But its national security and we make our own laws. America is a big boy nation that is about the be a 3th world county that can't even take care of it's own citizen with basic (mental) health care, Is in political chaos and is in extreme unpayable debts. Be proud of the fake american wet dream. You live in a big boy bubble. America is affraid of Russia and China and always has been and it's noticable through the actions.

[Doctor Amadeus]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Assange get dragged out of that embassy like a crazy homeless person.

Yeah he was looking a little rough. Kind of like Saddam when they found him hidden in a spider like hole. Well it’s a good thing Pamela Anderson will always be there for him

[roboscorcher]

Just came out. The indictment.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr...ing-conspiracy
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr...53481/download



And let's be clear. This is just the 2010 indictment for the Manning stuff. The five years he gets is just for the initial round, probably to make it palatable to the British. Once he is in our custody, if prior experience is any indication, he'll get hit with a hell of a lot more charges.

I was about to say, max 5 years? He did more time self-imposed in the embassy haha. At least he won't be able to coordinate with outsiders anymore...

[ringpriest]

Silly me, I think "Signals Intelligence", the biggest advantage the free world has had over the un-free for over 80 years, should remain an advantage. And those who seek to undermine it brought to justice.

You do realize with regards to the Snowden Affair in particular, the "questionable and illicit stuff" was a mere cracker with a slice of cheese, compared to the veritable feast of things that were targeted at Russia and China right? Assange and Snowden used stuff like "spying on Merkel" and "spying on Americans" as a cover for the much larger theft, which was a treasure trove of then-current major techniques the NSA used to spy on Russia and China. We're talking 5% questionable versus 95% not-questionable.

I'll just repeat what I said back then: the US should disband the NSA and reform it under a new name and keep it in the black. Our modern, paranoid, weirdly voyeuristic society is incompatible with a public electronic-spying agency. All the NSA has become is a magnet.

Kill the magnet, but have a successor agency do the job in whispers.

There is another, arguably hypocritical but still very real point to keeping illegal or unethical operations completely under wraps (aside from operational security): legitimacy and respect are artifacts of perception more than anything else; there is an immense difference between "we probably do illegal and shady stuff that you don't know about" and "we publicly break our own laws and defecate on our proclaimed principles" - the first is deniable and does not directly erode the rule of law or legitimacy of institutions (and is only of concern to a tiny minority), while the second is toxic to the appropriate functions of public government (and affects everyone). This is true regardless of what position you hold on what a government should be doing.

In this respect, Obama was far worse than George W. Bush; Bush did a number of things that were damaging to America when they were revealed, Obama then normalized them - it should come as no surprise that Trump now wallows and revels in lawbreaking and abuse of power while a large segment of the American population cheering him, because his performance is just following the course set by his predecessors (which doesn't change that it is a shameful disgrace that is in turn even more damaging to American power, effectiveness, and legitimacy than anything his predecessors did, and events are likely continue on a similar worsening course for the near future or longer).