| Julian Assange 11:28 - Jun 26 with 5070 views | blueasfook |
Good to see him finally walk free. Has been a long ordeal for him. Hope he can now enjoy the rest of his life a free man. |  |
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| Julian Assange on 11:39 - Jun 26 with 4471 views | Ewan_Oozami |
Not sure he saw the irony in his comments there... |  |
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| Julian Assange on 11:46 - Jun 26 with 4419 views | Linners |
This is a very sensitive and nuanced issue which depends on your view of a variety of sophisticated factors, life-experiences and the role of individuals v the role of the state.
I however, just thought he was a bit of a nob. |  | | |
| Julian Assange on 11:56 - Jun 26 with 4390 views | blueasfook |
If he did actually say that. I am always weary of taking the word of a journalist that something was "said at a dinner table". In the end he didn't publish those identities so you're wrong to state that he did.
Besides, that isn't why the Americans wanted him. They wanted him because he exposed the grubby things that they were up to in Afghanistan such as the Apache helicopter video showing the killing of innocent civilians and the stuff given to him by whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Also, it's two fingers to the US administration who expect us to willingly hand over people they want but won't reciprocate by sending over Anne Sacoolas who killed an innocent young motorcyclist and then fled under the cover of "diplomatic immunity". | |
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| Julian Assange on 12:20 - Jun 26 with 4289 views | Kievthegreat |
Wikileaks also collaborated with the Belarusian government, giving them names of opposition supporters.
Assange was a great believer in 'free speech', but only when it suited him and his organisation. It's very much targeted information. On one hand I think it's right that some of the things came out such as war crime footage. It's important to uncover things like this. On the other hand, the organisation he founded seemed determined to target America and potential geopolitical allies and getting hundreds, possibly thousands of people killed, arrested or disappeared by violent governments. Meanwhile he would make a TV series produced and paid for by Russia Today. |  | | |
| Julian Assange on 13:08 - Jun 26 with 4181 views | Steve_M |
| Julian Assange on 12:20 - Jun 26 by Kievthegreat |
Wikileaks also collaborated with the Belarusian government, giving them names of opposition supporters.
Assange was a great believer in 'free speech', but only when it suited him and his organisation. It's very much targeted information. On one hand I think it's right that some of the things came out such as war crime footage. It's important to uncover things like this. On the other hand, the organisation he founded seemed determined to target America and potential geopolitical allies and getting hundreds, possibly thousands of people killed, arrested or disappeared by violent governments. Meanwhile he would make a TV series produced and paid for by Russia Today. |
Yes, whistle-blowing might be a noble aim but Assange was anything but noble and, as you say, highly selective in what, and about whom, he released. |  |
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| Julian Assange on 13:30 - Jun 26 with 4107 views | Europablue |
| Julian Assange on 11:46 - Jun 26 by Linners |
This is a very sensitive and nuanced issue which depends on your view of a variety of sophisticated factors, life-experiences and the role of individuals v the role of the state.
I however, just thought he was a bit of a nob. |
Generally you can get a sense of a man's character, and I tend to agree with you. I think people get Edward Snowdon and Assange mixed up in their minds. There is legitimate whistleblowing that agencies will try to cover up with vague statements on national security, but there are also cases where leaks are dangerous to people on the ground who are risking their lives to stop some very evil people. |  | | |
| Julian Assange on 13:39 - Jun 26 with 4078 views | baxterbasics |
| Julian Assange on 13:30 - Jun 26 by Europablue |
Generally you can get a sense of a man's character, and I tend to agree with you. I think people get Edward Snowdon and Assange mixed up in their minds. There is legitimate whistleblowing that agencies will try to cover up with vague statements on national security, but there are also cases where leaks are dangerous to people on the ground who are risking their lives to stop some very evil people. |
People who are team Assange seem to forget there are often very good reasons information is classified. It's not just to protect politicians from embarrassment/scandal.
I'm on the fence as to whether Assange should be considered a proper journalist, or simply an effective 'hacktivist' |  |
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| Julian Assange on 21:12 - Jun 26 with 3907 views | DJR |
According to Sky News, the American judge yesterday stated that there was no evidence that anyone was harmed as a result of the information Assange disclosed.
As it is, I agree with these comments from Alan Rusbridger who co-operated with Assange when the Guardian published the leaked information and so could himself ended up in the dock.
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/67016/julian-assange-free-snowden-jo
"That Assange is free is, in my view, very good news. The downside is that he won that freedom by having to admit one offence under the 1917 US Espionage Act.
Whatever Assange was, he was not a spy. Publisher, journalist, activist, information anarchist, whistleblower, impresario—he is all those things. But no one, not even the US government, seriously alleged that whatever he did in 2010/11 amounted to espionage.
So a line has been crossed in using the blunt instrument of the Espionage Act—to which there is no permitted defence—against someone behaving with journalistic intent to disclose information for which a serious public interest argument was comfortably made.
That precedent is what should alarm journalists—or, as they would regard themselves, “proper journalists”—as they ponder what’s happened to Assange. He had to be made an example of, five years in the modern equivalent of the medieval stocks, in order to discourage others. Whether the others quite appreciated what was going on is a moot point: some were too hung up on whether or not Assange qualified as one of them. They’ll find out in due course.
His treatment—along with more draconian laws in countries such as the UK and Australia—will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on genuine and legitimate reporting on national security issues. A result for government and the secret state. For the rest of us, not so much.
The national security beat in any conventional news organisation is one of the hardest. Your job is to shine a light on an area of quasi-governmental activity which, by definition, prefers to act in the dark. Some reporters manage to strike only a dimly flickering flame; others wield a fierce searchlight. But the brave ones do so at some risk to themselves and to the institutions they represent.
We need the bright-light wielders in an age when the state has the technological potential to pry into every individual’s deepest secrets. The National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, Edward Snowden, disclosed how security agencies have powers that make Orwell’s 1984 read like a fairy tale.
Snowden, via a handful of journalists in the UK and US, showed how any government could exploit the power of modern computing to destroy a concept of privacy that began to be established in the English courts in the 18th century. It was 250 years ago that judges started to develop the idea that your home was, in effect, a castle against state intrusion. How quaint.
Several courts have subsequently found that Snowden’s concerns were justified. But Snowden himself, like Assange, was threatened with the Espionage Act, and could well spend the rest of his life in exile. A British editor who collaborated with such a whistleblower in future could well face years in prison.
The grandfather of modern whistleblowers, Daniel Ellsberg, died last year aged 92. It was he who risked everything to show the world—via the New York Times and Washington Post—the secret truth about Vietnam. President Nixon denounced him as a traitor and he, like Assange and Snowden, was threatened with the Espionage Act.
Long before he died, he had become widely treasured as something of a hero. More importantly, he was central to the Pentagon Papers case, in which two editors, backed by two resilient publishers, established the principle that no government could, except in the most exceptional circumstances, use prior restraint to prevent the publication of material for which there was an arguable public interest.
The Supreme Court, by a majority of 6-3, denied the continued injunction against the papers. Justice Hugo Black said that, “in revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam war, the newspapers did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do”.
The press had a duty, he added, “to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fever and foreign shot and shell. I believe that every moment’s continuance of the injunctions against these newspapers amounts to a flagrant, indefensible and continuing violation of the First Amendment”.
For more than 50 years, journalists have benefitted from that robust celebration of their role—even when, or perhaps especially when, revealing truths about national security. The cases of Assange and Snowden establish a different kind of precedent. And it’s not a good one." [Post edited 26 Jun 2024 21:28]
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| Julian Assange on 07:41 - Jun 27 with 3679 views | TractorWood |
Imagine how much post he will have at home. |  |
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| Julian Assange on 07:54 - Jun 27 with 3651 views | BloomBlue |
| Julian Assange on 07:41 - Jun 27 by TractorWood |
Imagine how much post he will have at home. |
Probably have a lot from the Sweden legal system about a rape case and attending court.
Although maybe he had a postal redirect setup to the Ecuador embassy during that period. |  | | |
| Julian Assange on 09:11 - Jun 27 with 3564 views | baxterbasics |
| Julian Assange on 07:41 - Jun 27 by TractorWood |
Imagine how much post he will have at home. |
His Outlook inbox is going to be rammed. Mines bad enough when I get back from a week long holiday. | |
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| Julian Assange on 09:19 - Jun 27 with 3524 views | blueasfook |
| Julian Assange on 09:11 - Jun 27 by baxterbasics |
His Outlook inbox is going to be rammed. Mines bad enough when I get back from a week long holiday. |
My google one - which i've had for 10 years+ is full. Now my phone is complaining it cant do cloud backups cos my gmail account is full up and they want me to pay some monthly fee for more space. Get fooked, I'll clear it down! | |
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| Julian Assange on 13:58 - Jun 27 with 3353 views | Leaky |
Was that a private jet he arrived in Australia on
Not bad life style if so. Great won't be happy |  | | |
| Julian Assange on 14:01 - Jun 27 with 3345 views | blueasfook |
| Julian Assange on 13:58 - Jun 27 by Leaky |
Was that a private jet he arrived in Australia on
Not bad life style if so. Great won't be happy |
Great won't be happy? Oh well, that's just greta. | |
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| Julian Assange on 21:10 - Jun 27 with 3212 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| Julian Assange on 13:58 - Jun 27 by Leaky |
Was that a private jet he arrived in Australia on
Not bad life style if so. Great won't be happy |
Wasn’t exactly Ryanair was it…having Putin as your biggest fan has got to have some benefits… | | | |
| Julian Assange on 21:25 - Jun 27 with 3187 views | BLUEBEAT |
How long before he’s involved in a terrible fatal 100% accident, I wonder…? |  |
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| Julian Assange on 21:35 - Jun 28 with 2989 views | DJR |
| Julian Assange on 13:58 - Jun 27 by Leaky |
Was that a private jet he arrived in Australia on
Not bad life style if so. Great won't be happy |
URGENT: Emergency appeal for donations to cover massive USD 520,000 debt for jet.
Julian’s travel to freedom comes at a massive cost: Julian will owe USD 520,000 which he is obligated to pay back to the Australian government for charter Flight VJ199. He was not permitted to fly commercial airlines or routes to Saipan and onward to Australia. Any contribution big or small is much appreciated.
[Post edited 28 Jun 2024 21:37]
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| Julian Assange on 21:45 - Jun 28 with 2965 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Julian Assange on 21:35 - Jun 28 by DJR |
URGENT: Emergency appeal for donations to cover massive USD 520,000 debt for jet.
Julian’s travel to freedom comes at a massive cost: Julian will owe USD 520,000 which he is obligated to pay back to the Australian government for charter Flight VJ199. He was not permitted to fly commercial airlines or routes to Saipan and onward to Australia. Any contribution big or small is much appreciated.
[Post edited 28 Jun 2024 21:37]
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Grifter's gonna grift. |  |
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| Julian Assange on 00:30 - Jun 29 with 2880 views | HatStand |
Whoever said nothing rhymes with orange, is wrong | |
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| Julian Assange on 08:55 - Jun 29 with 2742 views | DJR |
| Julian Assange on 21:45 - Jun 28 by GlasgowBlue |
Grifter's gonna grift. |
They're will certainly be no shortage of people (but not me) willing to chip in.
The interesting thing with Assange is that he was unpopular with many on both the left and right, but from my point of view, whatever he has done, and whatever defects in this character, should not detract from the point of principle that Alan Rushbridger outlined in my earlier post: indeed Rushbridger even described Assange as a difficult character.
In my view, many issues these days focus not on the issues themselves or policy but what I would regard as peripheral or personality issues. Indeed, this is true of the entire general election campaign where policy discussion has been largely absent. Gamblegate springs to mind but there have been many others.
EDIT: Here are two opinions on the issues at stake from different sides of the political spectrum, although sadly there were very few media outlets who seemed to care about the press freedom issues involved.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/25/the-guardian-view-
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/press-freedom-means-protecting-julian-assang
[Post edited 29 Jun 2024 10:48]
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| Lozenge? (n/t) on 09:04 - Jun 29 with 2696 views | Bloots |
| Julian Assange on 00:30 - Jun 29 by HatStand |
Whoever said nothing rhymes with orange, is wrong |
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| "The sooner he comes back the better, this place has been a disaster without him" - TWTD User (July 2025) |
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| Lozenge? (n/t) on 09:12 - Jun 29 with 2659 views | PhilTWTD |
| Lozenge? (n/t) on 09:04 - Jun 29 by Bloots |
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Rich Hall cites 'door hinge' in a southern US accent. |  | | |
| Julian Assange on 09:12 - Jun 29 with 2656 views | DJR |
Reports such as this undoubtedly led to his unpopularity on the left but the charges brought against him by the US had nothing to do with the DNC emails. | | | |
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