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Extradition of Julian Assange undermines freedom of speech

Jean-s

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (former president of Brazil) champions the cause of Julian Assange.

"The British courts will soon be deciding the fate of the Australian journalist Julian Assange, a man who has been unjustly charged as a criminal. Assange committed no crime. He is a champion of the cause of freedom. The UK will say whether it will accept or deny the request for the extradition of Assange to the US, where he will face 18 charges brought against him by the government of that country. If he is extradited, Assange, 49, could be tried and sentenced to up to 175 years in prison, the equivalent of a life sentence. We must keep this outrage from happening. I call on all those committed to the cause of freedom of speech in every corner of the world to join me in an international effort to defend the innocence of Assange and demand his immediate release."
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...lian-assange-wikileaks-democracy-not-criminal

Assange is being scapegoated for providing evidence of American war crimes to various newspapers who carried the story yet no editors or reporters from El País, Le Monde, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and The New York Times is wanted by the Trump administration. These publications should be among the first to be defending Assange and not just reporting on what the English court is doing.
 
Assange acquisition of documents is not protected
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (former president of Brazil) champions the cause of Julian Assange.

"The British courts will soon be deciding the fate of the Australian journalist Julian Assange, a man who has been unjustly charged as a criminal. Assange committed no crime. He is a champion of the cause of freedom. The UK will say whether it will accept or deny the request for the extradition of Assange to the US, where he will face 18 charges brought against him by the government of that country. If he is extradited, Assange, 49, could be tried and sentenced to up to 175 years in prison, the equivalent of a life sentence. We must keep this outrage from happening. I call on all those committed to the cause of freedom of speech in every corner of the world to join me in an international effort to defend the innocence of Assange and demand his immediate release."
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...lian-assange-wikileaks-democracy-not-criminal

Assange is being scapegoated for providing evidence of American war crimes to various newspapers who carried the story yet no editors or reporters from El País, Le Monde, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and The New York Times is wanted by the Trump administration. These publications should be among the first to be defending Assange and not just reporting on what the English court is doing.

Illegal acquisition of documents, particularly those that are classified, by a foreign national is generally considered to be espionage. What specifically do you think Assange did that is protected by the First Amendment?
 
Assange acquisition of documents is not protected


Illegal acquisition of documents, particularly those that are classified, by a foreign national is generally considered to be espionage. What specifically do you think Assange did that is protected by the First Amendment?
The acquisition of documents which prove war crimes cannot be protected. Keeping such secrets makes people complicit in the crimes.
 
The freedoms we have are under threat as never before.

The various long term strategies of the KGB/communists have come to bear fruit. We face a new 1984 for real.

Yes the inevitable extradition of Assange is a blow against free speech.
 
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (former president of Brazil) champions the cause of Julian Assange.

"The British courts will soon be deciding the fate of the Australian journalist Julian Assange, a man who has been unjustly charged as a criminal. Assange committed no crime. He is a champion of the cause of freedom. The UK will say whether it will accept or deny the request for the extradition of Assange to the US, where he will face 18 charges brought against him by the government of that country. If he is extradited, Assange, 49, could be tried and sentenced to up to 175 years in prison, the equivalent of a life sentence. We must keep this outrage from happening. I call on all those committed to the cause of freedom of speech in every corner of the world to join me in an international effort to defend the innocence of Assange and demand his immediate release."
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...lian-assange-wikileaks-democracy-not-criminal

Assange is being scapegoated for providing evidence of American war crimes to various newspapers who carried the story yet no editors or reporters from El País, Le Monde, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and The New York Times is wanted by the Trump administration. These publications should be among the first to be defending Assange and not just reporting on what the English court is doing.

Julian Assange happily put informants within the rants of the Taliban at risk and screamed that his “rights were being violated” when the Ecuadorians asked him to clean up after his cat.

He’s a scumbag, pure and simple.
 
Julian Assange happily put informants within the rants of the Taliban at risk and screamed that his “rights were being violated” when the Ecuadorians asked him to clean up after his cat.

He’s a scumbag, pure and simple.
Julian Assange is a whistleblower who exposed criminal actions of the U.S. government which, in turn, hired a Spanish outfit to spy on him at the Ecuadorean embassy in London to further malign him so that American simpletons will be willing to call him names. When the American government comes after you, watch out for every dirty trick and illegal actions that they will pull while the gullible population at home are easily manipulated.
 
The acquisition of documents which prove war crimes cannot be protected. Keeping such secrets makes people complicit in the crimes.
And if that was all that he did, he wouldn't be in the mess he now is. He didn't only seek out material that evidenced (alleged) war crimes though, he sought as much data as he could possibly get and looked to publish it all regardless of any consequences on anyone else.

Imagine if someone was using your bank to launder stolen money and it was being covered up by bank officials. It would be perfectly legitimate for someone to leak the details of that specific account to reveal the crime. It wouldn't be legitimate for someone to leak details of all accounts (including yours) just because one account is being used to commit crime.
 
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Julian Assange is a whistleblower who exposed criminal actions of the U.S. government which, in turn, hired a Spanish outfit to spy on him at the Ecuadorean embassy in London to further malign him so that American simpletons will be willing to call him names. When the American government comes after you, watch out for every dirty trick and illegal actions that they will pull while the gullible population at home are easily manipulated.

Julian Assange is a deluded narcissist with delusions of grandeur, and it’s hard to “malign” yourself any further when you start throwing a tantrum and accusing your host embassy of “violating your rights” because they ask you to clean up after your cat.

Amusingly, his devoted followers are even more clueless than he is.
 
And if that was all that he did, he wouldn't be in the mess he now is. He didn't only seek out material that evidenced (alleged) war crimes though, he sought as much data as he could possibly get and looked to publish it all regardless of any consequences on anyone else.

Imagine if someone was using your bank to launder stolen money and it was being covered up by bank officials. It would be perfectly legitimate for someone to leak the details of that specific account to reveal the crime. It wouldn't be legitimate for someone to leak details of all accounts (including yours) just because one account is being used to commit crime.
Your comparison to a personal bank account does not make sense.
 
Julian Assange is a deluded narcissist with delusions of grandeur, and it’s hard to “malign” yourself any further when you start throwing a tantrum and accusing your host embassy of “violating your rights” because they ask you to clean up after your cat.

Amusingly, his devoted followers are even more clueless than he is.
And how do you know about this piece of trivial gossip if not because of dirty tricks.
 
And how do you know about this piece of trivial gossip if not because of dirty tricks.

Because the Ecuadorians were very open about what a colossal scumbag he is.

“Foreign Minister José Valencia and Interior Minister María Paula Romo accused Assange of riding scooters around the cramped embassy hallways, insulting staff and smearing feces on the walls.”

“WikiLeaks had already been needling the Ecuadorian authorities in other ways. For months, Assange had been pursuing a legal action against the Ecuadorian government, accusing it of violating his rights by introducing strict new house rules for living at the embassy. An Ecuadorian judge rejected the assertions last October.”


The Ecuadorians were under no obligation to protect your hero. He was a guest, and quite literally, proved himself to be a shitty one.
 
Because the Ecuadorians were very open about what a colossal scumbag he is.

“Foreign Minister José Valencia and Interior Minister María Paula Romo accused Assange of riding scooters around the cramped embassy hallways, insulting staff and smearing feces on the walls.”

“WikiLeaks had already been needling the Ecuadorian authorities in other ways. For months, Assange had been pursuing a legal action against the Ecuadorian government, accusing it of violating his rights by introducing strict new house rules for living at the embassy. An Ecuadorian judge rejected the assertions last October.”


The Ecuadorians were under no obligation to protect your hero. He was a guest, and quite literally, proved himself to be a shitty one.
Trivial gossip designed to distract from the American government's persecution of whistleblowers.
 
Trivial gossip designed to distract from the American government's persecution of whistleblowers.

So “trivial“ the Ecuadorians refused to have anything more to do with him. You making excuses for his narcissistic and abusive behavior is pretty pathetic.

Like I said before......Assange‘s devoted fans are even more clueless than he is.
 
So “trivial“ the Ecuadorians refused to have anything more to do with him. You making excuses for his narcissistic and abusive behavior is pretty pathetic.

Like I said before......Assange‘s devoted fans are even more clueless than he is.
The only narcissist people know about these days is Donald Trump.
 

It’s pretty damn narcissistic to accuse the people who sheltered you of “violating your rights” because they want to you take care of your cat.
 
Your comparison to a personal bank account does not make sense.
Although this puts me in an uncomfortable position, the bank analogy is perfectly clear and relevant. Because, normally, I sympathize with whistle blowers. Assange, though, is not one. He's a muckraking narcissist with no moral compass, and a "useful idiot" of Russian intelligence (if not an actual asset). I'm not even confident that Wikileaks is not an actual Russian intelligence operation.

I'm afraid, Jean, that in this instance you're just a gullible purveyor of disinformation.
 
It’s pretty damn narcissistic to accuse the people who sheltered you of “violating your rights” because they want to you take care of your cat.
Petty gossip.
 
Although this puts me in an uncomfortable position, the bank analogy is perfectly clear and relevant. Because, normally, I sympathize with whistle blowers. Assange, though, is not one. He's a muckraking narcissist with no moral compass, and a "useful idiot" of Russian intelligence (if not an actual asset). I'm not even confident that Wikileaks is not an actual Russian intelligence operation.

I'm afraid, Jean, that in this instance you're just a gullible purveyor of disinformation.
The U.S. government says the same as you.
 
Petty gossip.

Factual statements from members of the Ecuadorian government.

You not liking what they say because they show what a narcissistic piece of garbage your hero is doesn’t change the facts.
 
Factual statements from members of the Ecuadorian government.

You not liking what they say because they show what a narcissistic piece of garbage your hero is doesn’t change the facts.
Maligning whistle blowers is what governments do when war crimes are brought into the open. Lots of people think as their governments tell them.
 
Maligning whistle blowers is what governments do when war crimes are brought into the open. Lots of people think as their governments tell them.

Mindlessly celebrating a man who directly and deliberately placed the lives of Afghans working against the Taliban at risk and then babbling about “maligning“ and “gossip” when third parties point out what a scumbag he is.....is very similar to what Donald Trump’s supporters do.
 
Mindlessly celebrating a man who directly and deliberately placed the lives of Afghans working against the Taliban at risk and then babbling about “maligning“ and “gossip” when third parties point out what a scumbag he is.....is very similar to what Donald Trump’s supporters do.
What is mindless is believing whatever the government tells you.
 
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