“News is what powerful people don’t want you to know. Everything else is just PR”
George Orwell.
42
Sunshine's the best disinfectant - triply so in the age of Trump
16
Whatever....but the fellow wouldn't clean up after his own cat? Really? What would one expect Equadorean official to do?
23
Julian Assange was charged today with conspiracy to hack into a Pentagon computer network in 2010 not journalism. Big difference.
Also we’re still standing by for the Mueller Report release. This is just the current headline of the hour along with Barr’s spying remark.
15
Assange is in the unfortunate position of being between Russians and the trump campaign folks. It’s a bit odd that he gets booted out of his embassy hideout just as Muellers report is heating up. I wouldn’t think that he would be able to get a good deal on life insurance anytime soon.
12
Looking forward to a plea deal whereby Assange identifies and proves who provided all the Hillary Clinton emails and the like. Could have been the Russians; a free lancer; Guccifer, almost anyone.
14
The Nixon tattoo on Roger Stone's back is sporting a frown right about now as Roger tosses and turns in his sleep. I hope the feds offer Assange a deal to finally tell us what really happened in 2016.
10
Has Trump, the Trump Campaign, or any Trump associations, et al, paid or funded Assange, WikiLeak, et al, in any way or manner?
In a manner that resembles a Russian Nesting Doll?
5
It is said Assagne wants to take away all emotional service dogs... Never mind the hacking and political corruption. How am I going to shop at Whole Foods without my service dog?
5
" He sued in October ..."
Now that is really smart.
Sue those on whom you depend for your freedom.
20
Trump said today: "I know nothing about WikiLeaks". That’s not what he has said in the past. Therefore, he’s using doublethink and double-talk.
TRUMP: "It's been amazing what's coming out on WikiLeaks."
October 13, 2016 in Cincinnati, Oh.
TRUMP: "Another one came in today.
This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove."
October 31, 2016 in Warren, Mi.
TRUMP: "Getting off the plane, they were just announcing new WikiLeaks, and I wanted to stay there, but I didn't want to keep you waiting.
Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks."
November 4, 2016 in Wilmington, Oh.
30
If you are so proud of what you have done then walk out of the embassy as a real man would, proud of your accomplishment, not as a small child afraid of what awaits him. Don’t emulate trump, he always chooses to play the whiny brat who blames everyone for his mess.
19
He served Trump, and that's the fact of the matter. Isn't it ironic now that he didn't get arrested until after the Mueller Report came out.
17
If I was a judge in Britain weighing his extradition, I would consider defence arguments that the candidate for president and the current president advocated for Wikileaks over 100 times, actively encouraging them (him) to release "stolen" or confidential files that would assist him.
If the president had no problem with the acts, then why would a British judge submit him to such arbitrary treatment?
Exposing illegal acts by any government is the role of journalists.
8
So just because Assange is not a likeable person and may have contributed in some way to Hillary Clinton's loss to Donald Trump, let's cheer while the Trump Administration does the bidding of the national security state bureaucrats and attempts to use Assange to close down the journalists and whistleblowers who try to let us know what's really going on in our name. First words out of the mouth of the head briefer at the President's next national security briefing: "Thanks Mr. President. All is forgiven."
4
I would appreciate a Times article comparing the acts of Snowden and Assange, a concern which surfaces in some of the posts below. I find Assange a most unlikeable character while Snowden seems a serious man. But this may be one woman's prejudice. I would like to think more deeply about the
differences between their actions.
13
It's one thing for WikiLeaks to publish whistle-blower material. It's quite another when one abets the access and collection of data. If one is apolitical in this kind of endeavor, one does not meet with (overtly) political people (i.e. Roger Stone).
Snowden's revelations were astonishing. WikiLeaks was the "publisher" (although I'm not naive enough to think Asange wasn't giddy about receiving the information).
Receiving data illegally hacked by foreign agents (especially one requested by a candidate of a political party) is being a very pro-active agent in a foreign election and affairs. Snowden is a US citizen exposing his own country. Gucifer is a foreign advesary hacking the materials of a foreign country.
I have no love of Asange. His morals and ethics are too fungible to be the arbiter and disseminator whistle-blower's material. He has succumbed to the axiom of "absolute power corrupts absolutely".
11
Like all human beings, Mr. Assange. But we must never forget that he provided hacked emails that were intended to harm one candidate in the presidential election and help the other.
9
The timing on his arrest makes me wonder whether this is all part of a preemptive effort to prevent him from leaking the full Mueller Report. Hmmm.
17
I'm a dissident with good cause. I write comments here, the last vestige of freedom of speech. Trump knows me. I know him. But I draw the line of dissent at the keyboard of public discourse and democracy. I never did and never will be the likes of Snowden who went to Russia, Manning who changed gender or Assange, a man said to be an anarchist. They give me and millions of others practicing our Constitutionally protected act of democratic discourse and criticism of an out-of-control government that claims "National Security" when in fact it is "Government Security" to protect and enable their clearly unconstitutional abuse of power.
I'm intensely considering the differences of Journalism and spying as stated by this article and follows;
"“While the indictment against Julian Assange disclosed today charges a conspiracy to commit computer crimes, the factual allegations against Mr. Assange boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source,” Mr. Pollack said. “Journalists around the world should be deeply troubled by these unprecedented criminal charges.”"
My summarized initial analysis is that we have to tolerate the deliberately propagandized actions of those I mentioned earlier in the interests of remaining free from our tyrannical government ever so much now under Trump and his crew. I don't like it but I understand the rationale used by the government in their deliberate propaganda cases. As seenon Tv
1
Because if Julian is charged because of publishing true information or because of the way he sources a story, imagine what Trump, or any future President like Trump, could use that precedent to do.
3
If anyone should be arrested it's people like Bolton, Cheney, Bush, Pompeo, Abrams etc. The day is soon coming when I'll be afraid to even comment here. It's not hyperbole nor paranoia, but an honest appreciation of where we are quickly headed in this country, or perhaps we have already arrived there.
14
I guess I’m having an off day. My first reaction was what happens to his cat?
17
Why are we punishing people who expose truths? Better be a pretty good reason.
6
So he was arrested in London because he "jumped bail" years ago on charges that have long been dismissed? That says a lot about this affair!
4
I'm just confused as to why Assange would subject himself to what was apparently, based on his personal appearance today, a 7-year sentence far harsher than federal prison by locking himself up in an embassy. Now he faces 10+ years of "real" prison time...not too smart if you ask me.
7
This man alone was able to change American history. He has shown particular disdain for Democrats in the United States of America. Let’s see what happens when Assange is transferred into USA ‘s custody. Trump will remain loving/liking him?
2
How pathetic our President is. Before- I love Wikileaks!
Today- It’s not my thing.
Add another lie to the total count. It will not be difficult to expose this POTUS as a liar in chief. Just roll the tape.
It gives me no comfort in stating. “Mr. President, you are correct. There is a disgrace in America and sir it is you.”
21
I would tell the President of Ecuador that humiliating someone does not make you bigger, stronger or more powerful, it makes you a bad person, it makes you a miserable and hypocritical person.
7
Apparently, it's okay to lie us into a stupid war that destroys Iraq, creates ISIS, kills and wounds thousands, and costs $trillions. But to leak some of the truth about that stupid evil war, that's the real crime!
We should put Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld in prison and leave Assange alone.
36
There’s a pattern with Donald, when he is faced with the crimes of those he was in cahoots with he suddenly doesn’t know them or of them! Today, after repeatedly saying that “he loves Wikileak” during his 2016 campaign....now he doesn’t know of Wikileaks! Smells!
Assange may know some secrets!
9
He looks awfully smug and pious. Bet the Ecuadorians in the embassy were glad to see him go, along with his cat.
13
And, in the end, shouldn't he be given the treatment of Chelsea Manning?
3
There's a lot of sloppy thinking, fueled by ignorance and a thirst for revenge, going on around here. Here's a brief, cold shower of common sense:
“Any prosecution by the United States of Mr. Assange for Wikileaks’ publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional, and would open the door to criminal investigations of other news organizations. Moreover, prosecuting a foreign publisher for violating U.S. secrecy laws would set an especially dangerous precedent for U.S. journalists, who routinely violate foreign secrecy laws to deliver information vital to the public's interest."
~Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-comment-julian-assange-arrest
15
I will never understand how this man has hidden behind the mantle of journalist for as long as he has. Journalists employ ethics. I see none here. I see a thief and attention black hole.
14
I called Amnesty International and demanded they take back the award they gave Assange. I told them they will never get another dime from me until they do. No one should support AI if they think this partisan hack (no pun intended) is worthy of any accolades. He helped sway the election in Trump's favor. Now he claims he's a journalist? Okay, when he gets out of prison, he can go work for Fox. I watch the news every day and I think, Aunt Becky, horrible what you did but I hope you don't have to go to prison. Chelsea Manning shouldn't be in jail?? That woman/former felon in FL in jail for 5 years for trying to vote? Oh God, let her out! But not this one. I blame him 100% for helping Trump steal our election. "Hey, Legal System, if you're listening DON'T release Julian Assange!"
9
I'm not sure how the United States has personal jurisdiction or subject matter jurisdiction over a foreign citizen operating in a foreign country to commit essentially political acts of speech, to arguably harm some vague national interest of the United States. At most, one could argue that Assange committed a remote burglary of private property (hacking to steal information).
6
@Paco
How fortunate that that's basically what he's charged with.
5
However one feels about Assange let's be clear on one thing: HE IS A POLITICAL PRISONER. I don't like him but seeing him dragged out of there as if they were apprehending a serial killer, or war criminal or terrorist when he has not committed any violent crimes but is instead a political opponent who exposes state secrets and abuses, is very unsettling to me. When the Ecuadorian President said he is tired of Assange "interfering into the affairs of other nations" as a reason to go after him I cringed because that looks awful lot like a political hitjob to me. I mean if interfering in the affairs of others carried this sentence, then most politicians - US or otherwise, and the CIA and NSA etc would have to be jailed or disbanded by now. If they are going for him re the 2010 leak then they are going for him AS A WHISTLEBLOWER. A someone who exposed the crimes of those who have sworn to protect us, such as US soldiers shooting at iraqi civilians from a helicopter.
I dont understand people cheering and applauding this without any thought, whateseover, about its implications for whistleblowers or anyone who exposes the crimes of the state. I can guarantee that the State will now use Assange as an example to deliver a massive blow to whistleblowers everywhere and crack down on political dissent. Mark my words and be careful what you wish for peeps...
14
@Judy
He jumped bail after being accused of sex crimes in Sweden rather than standing up for himself in court. He's a criminal by multiple standards and we don't need to stand up for him. He's not a journalist, he's not a political prisoner, he's a coward.
24
The guy sure knows how to shoot himself in the foot.
7
Yay!
8
Assange can share a cell with Manafort now.
7
@Evan Egal
Assange would likely prefer to jail with Roget Stone: they have much more in common.
4
So many people here cheering Assange's arrest over providing information this very paper found to be newsworthy and itself published.
And here is a journalist from this very paper today making a blatant call for someone to commit the exact same action he is being charged over: https://twitter.com/susannecraig/status/1116149986847285248
Will you still cheer when NY Times editors start getting arrested after the precedent is set?
14
Assange is an enemy to both democracies and republics. He is my enemy and if you love America he should be yours. This profile from 2017 in The New Yorker will tell you all you need to know: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/julian-assange-a-man-without-a-country
9
You are all hypocrites. Assange is a hero, doesnt matter what you think of him. You would rather see millions of people on Middle east get blown up to pieces than face the truth.
9
The real issue seems, do journalists, certified info scavengers have a right to excavate hidden truths. US ‘Law Club ‘ says “While the Supreme Court has upheld the right of journalists to publish illegally obtained information, they cannot participate in, or conspire to, break the law themselves.” Pl. define what ”participation in” Any info heard by a human is receptive participation; actively using that info, is that person’s sovereign, right; if an info transmitted is used against any country, irrespective of origin, is the fate of that any country affected by consequent action to deal with; conspire against whom? You need a partner to conspire with within your territory. Today, if the partner is outside your fence, how is he your conspirator, unless he invades you and takes power; Thirdly who breaks Laws?- National laws can only be broken from people within your borders, and not from people outside. United States can only accuse Assange, if he had operated within American borders to do the so-called info stealing (most governments on our planet do, including the U.S. government to topple foreign governments.
It is a sovereign duty of a cyber victim to take care of its security. Blaming foreigners, is admission you bungled. Moral laws are absent in Assange case. U.K. is a boot-licker of U.S. interests. No principles, Evil Money reigns. Asocial Billionaire Empire flowers.
George Chakko, former U.N. correspondent, now retiree in Vienna, Austria.
11.04.'19 23:15 CET
2
LOCK HIM UP.
6
What’s with the new beard and deranged look? Next he’ll be showing up to court in a wheelchair ala his buddy...Manafort.
4
@DMurphy
I wonder if Trump will offer Julian Assange a pardon, he loved Wikileaks.
4
David Letterman wants his beard back.
13
It is time Assange answered to his crimes against the state but more importantly he needs to answer to his crimes against women. Honestly I find it offensive that the focus is on his leaking of information when he is also accused or rape and assault which are crimes against humanity. #metoo #ibelievewomen
7
All the liberals loved him before the HRC dump..
4
Pancho was a bandit boys
His horse was fast as polished steel
Wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel
Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in Ecuador
Nobody heard his dying words
That's the way it goes
All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him hang around
Out of kindness I suppose
I actually don't begrudge Assange for leaking the video footage of the drone attack on innocents. That should have been made public, given how badly U.S. forces screwed up. Though I cannot say the same for Manning, who took an oath to obey military orders. But where I do have to draw the line is Assange's decision to release (and possibly conspire to hack) confidential information that significantly impacted a U.S. presidential election. Assange is not God (despite what he may think) and it was not his place to wield that kind of influence over a democracy.
20
All this bickering over his methods and his politics does nothing but help those responsible gloss over the gratuitous slaughter that is the Iraq war. Mr Assange helped expose our crimes and bringing him to trial is merely an expiation for our sins.
20
I read the comments from people obsessed with Russian phantoms and cringe. The press is too craven, as a rule, to admit this guy did the job much, much better than most of them do it.
20
I agree/witness the cowardly,/hannitee.
3
It remains to be seen what kind of case can be brought against him. One observation though, by seeming to serve as a stooge for the 2016 Trump Election campaign, Assage has aliened most of the American left, the very group that would otherwise be most likely to defend his actions.
13
While Assange is a Russian tool, and he never, ever disseminated Russian secrets, this arrest warrant will set a legal precedent.
Mark my words, the publishers of The New York Times and the Washington Post are next.
US Department of Justice will show that they trafficked in confidential US secrets.
Trump and his lackey Barr will definitely see to that.
4
Assange is being charged with hacking. It is alleged he helped Chelsey Manning hack a government account. Is this a common practice for journalists?
3
LOL. I have a feeling the Democrats are not going to like what Assange says about whop gave him the information he released.
6
If Assange had targeted Republicans exclusively, he'd be a hero on the left as a whistleblower.
We should also wonder whether Hillary, who Comey characterized as being "extremely careless in [her] handling of very sensitive, highly classified information" did not cause much greater overall harm to the nation's security than did Assange and Bradley Manning.
14
Q. What do Jeff Sessions and Julian Assange have in common?
A. They both got kicked under the bus after befriending Donald Trump.
18
Now we can finally find out which DNC staffer handed him the DNC server contents in the runup to the 2016 election.
Hint?
It wasn't the Russians.
10
@Erica Smythe
Dear Reynolds Wrap,
I require more foil for the hat that I am currently wearing.
Thank you.
7
Trump said today: "I know nothing about WikiLeaks". That’s not what he has said in the past. Therefore, he’s using doublethink and double-talk.
TRUMP: "This just came out.
WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks!"
October 10, 2016 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
TRUMP: "This WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable!
It tells you the inner heart, you gotta read it!"
October 12, 2016 in Ocala, Fl.
TRUMP: "It's been amazing what's coming out on WikiLeaks."
October 13, 2016 in Cincinnati, Oh.
20
@I Gadfly It's a testimony to his intent when he tries to gaslight the country like that. Yet, somehow, he hasn't been dragged out of the WH yet.
4
If I were Assange I would start worrying about Novichok and Polonium.
10
All the fallen lefty hero’s? Assange has stuff hidden away on the Clintons. Now that Trump is proven clean he is going after the ones that went after him. Trump had two and a half years of figuring out what he is up against.He is still here. Look out.
2
@ Jim: Trump is nowhere “proven” clean or anything close to it, by Barr’s redacted four page opinion on the Mueller report. Given the political machinations currently in play with respect to the tiny drops of sifted information currently released, there’s good deal more to see the light of day.
4
Assange is in jail.
He won't get bail.
What happens with the cat?
PS: He looks great. 7 years in the attic suits him. An hour in the prison yard will add some color to his complexion.
8
At a time when the Trump administration is in desparate need of a major distraction, this is their play.
7
Actually no, May is probably more thrilled....Brexit
1
Whistle blowers can only blow the whistle when there is something to reveal. If not for Assange and Wikileaks there would not be near the transparency that we are JUST beginning to have in this country and others. In my book , he is a hero and always will be no matter how many times he is incarcerated or " silenced". Little do most people know his reach and propensity for retaliation for unjust deeds. It will be interesting to see what new fun stuff gets leaked now. He did not " get Donald Trump elected " , Hillary Clintons analog lazy old school campaign with poor choice of VP candidate did... and I voted for her.
14
@danish dabreau Pence ain't no saint
Transparency? He had a vendetta. He purposefully released certain Clinton Campaign and DNC emails to Hurt Hillary Clinton. It was strategic.
5
"I love WikiLeaks,"
"I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing. ... I don't really have any opinion"
Trump has gone from love to a *know-nothing* on this issue...perhaps he is warming up his next pardon.
It is great to know our fearless leader is just as random as ever...long term I am sure it will work out.
4
Hypocracy 101;
7 years ago Julian Assange released troves of info,
including hillary's emails, and the liberal populas *LOVED*
him. absolutely.
then the election of hillary rolls around, trumps 'picks' up
just a snit bit of that info, turns it into a political ambition,
the election is lost and the democrats
scream TREASON, and are willing to hang julian along the
way
you tell me, wind that clock back before the presidential
run and ambition 2016.
you would see a different vast populous of favoritism here.
at least i have a spine that i can see and are *honest*
on how flexible it can be!
~peace
thomas :)
3
THE TYRANNY OF INJUSTICE....!
2
Wow!
It only took 1 day for Americans to forget Trump and froth at the mouth over Assange! Meanwhile the Mueller report release or lack thereof has been scheduled to the back-shelves.
Ah yes my Chick-a-Dee, there's a sucker born every second!
6
Assange is no journalist. He is simply a freeloading attention seeker. Hopefully he will never see the light of day again.
11
@PKoo: because you don’t like what he released, or who it helped or hurt? What about an inductor even a trial?
1
Good. It's too bad Russia won't turn Snowden back to us.
6
I can’t wait to finally hear who killed Seth Rich.
The capital of the United States. A murder of a young Democrat. Police unable to solve a murder in 2016. I do no buy it.
4
Re Photo_Caption: "...Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was arrested Thursday at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he had sheltered since 2012..."
As an (accidental) 'survivor, by outsourcing' of the late great 1 W.T.C., I admired Mr. Assange's exposing the crimes committed by G.W. 'Plausible, Deniability' Bush / Tony, 'Collateral's, Damaged' Blair!
As a U.S. citizen_voter, I DIDN'T / DON'T authorize 'Ops. Desert Storm / Shield', NOR 'Ops. Enduring Freedom'...both of which should be relabeled 'Ops.Corporate_Profiteering#1, 2, 3, x, x', etc.!!
I'm MUCH reminded of Orwell's 'permanent war' concept, expressed, in these examples by Republican Pro_Life Jihadists!
That, noted...
The Russia_Gate scandal includes Mr. Assange in an especially, troubling light! Exposing war_crimes IS heroic; interfering with any country's election...as Mr. Assange is accused, of, is a crime!
Mr. Trump is quite, likely to have legal troubles for the rest of his life!! Do to his bizarre alleged connection(s) to the Trump administration's war_crimes...Mr. Assange is also likely to have a lifetime full of court appearances;
...Deservedly, in BOTH examples!!
2
Too bad Assange was not more likable, but his being charged with espionage must have US mainstream press exhaling in relief. When this moves to press freedom instead of the Espionage Act, I wonder if the Times will come to his defense or just report all that is fit?
4
This guy is such a SAD case. He placed himself in self-imposed exile, locked in a room in an embassy for 7 years of his life. Who does that??? What a waste. Though it's delayed, it's nice seeing someone so terrified of facing reality, much less his crime, being made to do just that...7 years removed.
10
'...Julian Assange of conspiring to hack a computer as part of the 2010 release of reams of secret American documents' ... which incidentally contained evidence of u.s. war crimes and and human rights violations but it seems NYT is content to let that be swept under the rug at this point.
9
“Publishing the truth is not a crime. The US and international courts should be prosecuting those who committed the crimes exposed in the documents published by Wikileaks, not the media outlet who exposed such crimes.“
14
What about the Cat?
I don't care what happens to Assange.
Likely, he will be in Court fighting extradition for two years.
14
A travesty of justice, but let's keep the "Russian connection"fantasy going. And why not? As long as the attention is deflected from the many acts of corruption by some career bureaucrats in the FBI and many politicians in the previous administration, they will have the time to hide and muddle their tracks. And look who is claiming for Assange's public crucifixion, the very media and liberals who used to praise his courage. He's not more a Russian agent than Pelosi, Schumer or Trump. As a Nation, we love to be kept in the dark about the nefarious acts of our own government.
14
If Assange believes he did nothing wrong let him return to the US and stand trial and make his case in a court of law.
But he knows he did wrong so he is fighting extradition.
7
Return to the US? He’s not a US citizen.
1
If by “wrong” you mean whatever we say is wrong, I’m sure he’s not sure he’s done nothing wrong. What did he do? He published secret information, all of it true and nearly all of it of substantial public interest.
3
@david Return? He wasn't in the United States when this happened. He should be deported to his home country Australia and face court there.
3
The myth of the Information Age Robin Hood has come crashing down. He did not steel form the rich and did not give to the poor. He stole from Democrats and gave to Trump.
7
I will not be surprised if Julian Assange ends up in the US Guantanamo Bay detention camp keeping him and any embarrassing information locked away until it no longer matters.
8
In complex matters, there is a lot more than what meets the eye and this one is no exception.
Here is a possibility...
Julian returns to Maggie Island via US!
He has enough bargaining chips and intelligence to find his way home by Jan 2025!
1
@VP I wonder where he would consider home, Townsville would absolutely crucify his skin. Melbourne's a bit close to the cult his mum was in.
2
It would be interesting to see whether District Judge Michael Snow's verdict would inevitably lead the legal system to enforce greater judicial/legal/litigation measures to help protect society from pathological narcissistic people as Assange. Inferred that Assange threatening the Ecuadorian embassy staff is behavior consistent with a narcissistic personality breakdown. The guy is insane.
6
I wonder if he’s held back something for a rainy day?
2
Trump just needed to bang a drum elsewhere- between his sister( the whole Trump family) and the Barr/ Mueller report they were having a bad week.
2
The real question is: Will Assange cut a deal with the FBI and turn in the evidence necessary to implicate the president as a Russian traitor?
I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact the IMF just gave Ecuador $4.2 billion dollars.
19
It appears the Dems have different standards of considering what constitutes a conspiracy if the conspiracy fits their narrative.
Read the comment section, so many Dems hope persecuting Assange will lead to a grand conspiracy that can take down Trump and have Hillary "restored" to the Whitehouse. It this any different from nutcase on the internet believing "the government" are out to get them?
5
Sadly, Assnage is a fraud. His claims to noble actions are betrayed by his mostly ignoble actions. He is a man who discovered that he had a little bit of power and he used it to satisfy petty instincts. At first, I thought he did good things, but I no longer believe that. A man who doesn't take care of his cat, belongs alone in prison. Seriously, Assange is a bad actor and belongs in prison for the rest of his life---I am not a Republican and you can't label me as a conservative.
12
Assange helped make sure the voters were aware of the truth about Hillary.
7
I’m a Democrat but this guy is anything but a journalist...He cares about only manipulating the freedom of the press to expose his own political beliefs and should be tried and if found guilty sentenced to the fullest extent of the law for all claims against him especially the Sweden accusations... he’s nothing but a freak trying to act the hero via abuse of freedom of the press and first amendment rights. 50 yrs ago he’d been sent away to prison for life for the theft of government records. Times have changed but I hope right minded people understand the USA has a right to protect its top secret documents... if you don’t understand those basic laws then you e no business being in this debate.
11
ISIS defeated. Netanyahu re-elected. No Russian collusion. Trump is exonerated. Assange is finally facing justice.
I'm getting tired of all this winning!
6
I’d love to see David Letterman interview Assange as he appears presently.
5
I have mixed feelings about the arrest of Julian Assange. On the one hand, when Wikileaks began, its goals — and arguably Assange’s goals — were ostensibly simple and noble: pushing for transparency and accountability in powerful governments.
On the other hand, as time went on, it appears that Wikileaks increasingly became a tool for carrying out Assange’s personal vendettas. Moreover, Wikileaks demonstrated little concern about damages and risks to ancillary players, like agents, soldiers, reporters and civilians, who were inadvertently caught up in Wikileaks’ indiscriminate “dumps” of stolen or received information.
I don’t see Assange as a journalist, per se. Journalism involves vetting and analyzing information, showing discretion about sources, writing stories that convey facts effectively and objectively, and above all being scrupulously honest. By contrast, Wikileaks is a cyber-cracking organization. I don’t say that to be judgmental; it’s simply not journalism.
Wikileaks has done some great work collecting information. They have also done some criminal work collecting information. What especially gives me pause though are the ways and motivations by which they have chosen to disseminate much of that information.
16
Julian Assange’s all-but-obvious personal agenda, thinly vailed as public service, does not qualify him as a hero of the people. One does however ponder whether he would have embarked on this adventure and would have maintained it, had he not kept a …Trump card, just in case. I wonder what might come to light at one second to midnight.
Looking at this mess one must point out that Freedom of the Press must be absolute, as must be Freedom of Speech. Even whistleblowers cannot and should not in most cases be prosecuted. However that does not cover theft or espionage. Those are punishable crimes. Mr. Assange may not be prosecuted for publishing the material he published. But he can be prosecuted if he aided in espionage, break-ins and theft, electronic or otherwise, to procure what he published.
12
True and classic killing the messenger. These days Americans blithely engage in war crimes and call out other nations for the equivalent of littering. Anyone with the temerity to call out the true face of US plutocracy's military-industrial complex driven foreign policy and its repercussions in human suffering thus cannot be tolerated. It was another world when Assange was hailed as a hero. It took some time, but yeoman efforts of US media channeling America's foreign policy establishment has rewritten that narrative. The American public now know this man they instinctually responded to as a hero working with Manning and others to reveal gross wrongdoing and abuse of power was no such thing. Why? Because he revealed what the powers that be do not want revealed. These same powers were thus relentless in seeking him out and reframing his story because they will not tolerate replications of his revelations. He must be punished to flag what will happen to others. Even more important the major media have lined up swearing fidelity to the concept that never again will such information be shared with the public. Loyalty above exposure of wrongdoing of the powerful is now the mantra of the media courtiers of our plutocracy and everyone just wanting to get back to watching "Game of Thrones," finding out what the latest hot restaurant or gallery show and generally just not wanting to think too hard is cool with that.
14
Exactly why were any of the Wiki documents secret and hidden from the public? Why do we need to hide our activities from the public?
It is because we have things to hide (or we think we do).
I say we should not have these hidden activities, if we want a really decent country. We should not have thing we must hide from the public and the world.
Please ... do not lie and tell me we cannot handle the truth.
6
Please. If it was anything like you want it Osama bin Laden would still be alive as would al-Quada killing thousands of innocent Americans. Every detail of any operation has to be kept secret. It's called intelligence for a reason.
8
@Feldman Before Assange was confronted with a trove of DNC papers, he held this view: secret documents are symbolic of the shamelessness of the secret state. He helped disclose them. That makes him a hero -- for any true patriot. After Russia sent him teh DNC papers, he erred. He stumbled, and thought those were secret US papers that needed exposure. They were actually zilch, but they gave an edge to Trump, through Fox, mainly.
So Assange now finds himself totally under the Trump thumb. The only difference between Assange's situation and ours is perception.
There is zero doubt: you (and I) were better off under a Clinton authority. Assange notwithstanding.
2
@Glenn S. All of our secrecy did not help prevent 9/11 did it? The secrecy that 'operations' require does extend to 1/100 of the stuff that is kept out of our -- the people's -- awareness. Much of our secrecy is maintained to protect bad judgement and the people at fault for it. Not all -- but much of it.
3
Julian and Chelsea and others in the Wikileaks/Snowden world exposed the crimes of Empire.
Empire tries to kill, torture and silence whistleblowers.
The people exposed as likely war criminals in the data that Julian and Chelsea gave the world go completely unpunished.
Only the journalists, whistleblowers, truth tellers get imprisoned and thrown into solitary confinement.
John Bolton and other GOP operatives have been calling for Julian to be executed.
But the people who knowingly lied us into the Iraq War and illegally tortured people and spied on us are living large.
Our country is totally corrupted, and a good portion of the electorate are too.
14
Snowden is responsible for the deaths of many of our brave kids fighting over there. He showed al-Qaida and the Taliban how not to be detected by our intelligence. Greenwald is responsible as well. He was the guy that published everything. Kinda like the guy driving the get-away car for the bank robber.
2
@Steve Davies Yes, including the majority of those who are writing comments here.
1
So leave.
We could all do with less hand-scrubbing.
1
If I remember correctly it was Manning who acquired the info, by whatever means, and provided it to WikiLeaks. Assange then made it public. I thought Manning was the only hacker.
7
Assange was asked if he could help with the hack. He said yes but didn’t do it. This may be nothing more than hubris.
1
@Greg
"Conspiracy" is be a crime under US law. There are requirements: 2 or more people must actively plan to commit a crime. They must take one active step in their plan. Assange helped Manning to find a password that would allow Manning to access a classified computer. Apparently, they were not able to Hack that computer successfully. Manning had previously given WikiLeaks top secret government files.
3
Oh come on. There was nothing of blown-secret earth-shaking proportions in wikileaks. I sez it was a scam meant to cause a heckuva lotta of wasted man hours within the not-friendly intelligence services who grabbed it like it was candy. That, and as a result of the wasted hours, to cause upheaval in those same intelligence service's command structural hierarchy... after they discovered there wasn't anything in wikileaks they didn't know, or maybe more importantly should have already known. So now who takes the blame for the wasted effort and who takes the blame for not having gathered the info they should have easily had? Surprisingly (or not), a lot of those services run that way, somewhat by totalitarian machinations. The damage it was intended to do was to ruin careers among the not-friendly intelligence services.
Precedent: during the Cold War, the western interests discovered in Berlin the close proximity underground of an old telephone cable. They dug under the border to it, bugged and sat back and listened. Later, the eastern interests discovered the bug... but left it in place. Henceforth, all phone traffic routed through that cable was just scripted fiction. Just enough real information, but five to ten percent of the content was just bunk meant to keep western analysts scratching their heads over why things they got in the bug didn't match what they thought they knew from other sources.
Snowden, Hill'ry's email... same game plan.
The years have been cruel to Julian Assange. When he took asylum in London at the Ecuadorean Embassy, Mr. Assange was the subject of banter and jokes about what a good-looking, 40-year old would ever find to occupy his time in London with his South American companions.
At 47, Assange could now easily pass for 70, but the world outside the Embassy doors has changed even more than he. Pfc. Mannin is now a woman and out of custody. Roger Stone has been arrested and is facing charges. The Mueller Report has been turned in. But the one thing that has not changed is this: Assange continues to play all sides against one another and deny he has ever personally done anything wrong. Yet somehow, this man is the lynchpin of so many conspiracies.
Assange's may actually be the single most interesting story of the early 21st century, if only there were ever an honest telling of it.
5
No collusion perhaps, but Assange may be the route to establishing cooperation and conspiracies between Russia and the Trump campaign.
3
If Assange was considered a Russian asset, one would think that the exit from the London embassy to a diplomatic post in the Russian federation would have been a deal that the Russians would not pass on. If Assange is valuable to Trump either as a loyal ally or a mouth that Trump needs to make sure stays shut, one would think Assange might be eager to get to America while Trump is in charge vs fighting extradition for say, ah, 2 years. The only problem for Assange on that second count is that the Eastern District of Virginia does not seem to care one whit about what Trump wants. Let's see if any tension erupts there.
4
But can Mr Assange be successfully extradited? It will end up in the ECJ. Could easily go Mr Assange's way.
1
NPR just reported that the Russian government is criticizing the way that Assange was treated when he was arrested.
Why would the Kremlin care about Julian Assange unless he's one of their assets? Or is Russia just trolling us?
16
Yeah, right. Why would anyone care about shameful behavior if it didn't hurt them directly?
I'm more ashamed of my fellow Americans every day. No, today, it's with every passing hour.
2
@L Assange works for Russia. Period.
4
The issue at hand is not your opinion in the context of trump. It is whether or not you think that the 2010 afginastan war log leak was in the public interest. Where an apache gunship vaporized a journalist (among other things). That is why he is being targeted. Anything that happened after is immaterial. The whole affair started in 2010 and you are exercising cognarice dissonance by telling yourself that it's more than that or somehow related to 2016.
10
@Patriot: It's worse than cognitive dissonance; it's an avalanche of defiant ignorance and unrestrained fantasy.
The masses, here, are simply lost in their collective, vengeful imagination.
4
Assange is no hero. He intentionally broke the law but wasn't man enough to stand up and be prosecuted for it.
13
I wonder if, no matter what the circumstances, we see Trump bodily dragged out of the White House?
7
@Ponsobny Britt -- After all the help he got from Boris and Natasha to get there it would only be appropriate.
3
All this is telling me is that Assange was the love of Trump’s life so long as the leaks were about Hillary. Now that Trump has his eyes on 2020 he realizes that all kinds of unforeseen unsavory leaks could come out about him. Eliminate (read as muzzle) Assange as a possible threat is a chess move in the broader political grand plan.
11
It seems he has only been charged with helping Manning break a computer code because thats all he might have done to break the law. He has not broken the Espionage Act. Manning, Snowden did that, not Assange who has acted as a publisher in the eyes of the outdated law. The alleged helping of Manning to break the code still must be proved. If not he has acted merely as a irresponsible journalist or publisher who published too much without hiding the parts that might harm free world interests. The free world governments knows we must protect the free press and the rule of law or we are no better than China or Russia. It does however need to be said Assange is, and always has been since his university math and hacker days in Australia, a far left irrational hater of the US since the Vietnam War hysteria--he is not non-partisan. This shows Mrs Clinton, whom he hates, is not of the left at all.
Both Assange and Snowden are owed a debt of gratitude from the American people - if for nothing else than exposing the total ineptitude of our "intelligence " agencies (17 of them!) to keep secrets!
7
I'm so glad they arrested this Russian tool. I blame him in part for the loss of our democracy in 2016 and the rise of Trumpism. And Assange is in no way a journalist, any more than Trump is a journalist for "publishing" tweets.
16
Diplomacy version of "The Man Who Came to Dinner."
1
It will be interesting to see if Putin allows Trump to bring Assange to trial and convict him.
2
Like him or not, Mr. Assange’s organization has garnered numerous awards from the free press in many countries world-wide, as well as 6 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Likely most of the commenters expressing their unbridled hatred for the man and his organization have never fully understood the intent of his work, which is to open up information which likely explains the underlying reasons for hostilities between many nations and may present the actors in those countries with insights into those potentially dangerous situations so they may try to defuse them / deal with them in public forum.
They can try him in court to explain his potential crimes against the state, but recommend we all listen to what he has to say very carefully, as in many respects, his work may deserve protection under the First Amendment.
16
@JH
I see only bridled hatred, if any. I wish everyone would read the indictment and then our First Amendment. And consider whether his party line is self-serving and self-aggrandizing, at best. He has nothing else to say. If he has done something good for the world, then good for him. He certainly did something bad for the world.
4
Assange makes his living as a "fence" for stolen property. Throw the book at him... pb
15
@P2L1
The New York Times published that stolen property. Is it guilty of fencing too?
3
@God only knows :(
I wish someone could explain to me why Assange was so anti-Hillary, and pro Trump. Because the Russians were so anti-Hillary, and pro-Trump?
23
@Howard Chernick
Was Assange really pro-Trump, or just plain anti-Hillary?
2
Amazing how Russiagate (ignoring the Clinton collusion with the DNC and blaming the messenger) can transform those who praised Ausange for revealing US war crimes in Iraq into today's haters who support Trump's extradition and prosecution.
6
Julian Assange has only achieved infamy. His arrogance, narcissism and seeking to divide - is not one who seeks to improve or build on values that unites. He’s been shown to highly manipulate others, borders and go beyond the law. He dersrrves what he gets - including a muzzle... He’s from the burbs of Fitzroy that, before all this, lived with his mother into his adult years and refused to pay rent or make any effort to do anything but defy others... Assange is simply a spoilt brat.
21
5 years is good for him. Loughlin too. Both conspiracy criminals.
1
Not a journalist, but a hacker.
18
High officials, including at least the V-P, were aware of murder and torture of prisoners, in fact got transcripts, and approved of it. They maintained a "kill list."
Someone told on them. That someone is not the criminal.
High officials as policy were slaughtering civilians, including groups of children. They covered it up and lied about it.
Then someone told on them. That someone is not the criminal.
The applicable principle comes from Germany. Some people tried to blow up Hitler. They were convicted and executed for that, but they were not the criminals.
There are some things so bad, that action against them is a public good. At the very least, telling someone about what is going on is a public good.
16
Condemning this man based on partisan emotion, and without having done any personal research on the subject, reflects a great many of these comments. Julian Assange is a journalistic hero - just perhaps not in the vein that you are familiar with. He is assuredly not a Russian tool. He does indeed have a friend in Edward Snowden - both geeks, and both share the same idealism for exposing injustice. The fact that Snowden has had to resort to Russia for protection should tell you a very great deal about freedom of the press and of information. In his own words: "Every time we witness and injustice and do not act, we train our character to be impassive in its presence, and thereby lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love."
14
@carol murray. He’s not a journalist and he’s certainly not a hero. Snowden has been pleading to come back but nobody wants him.
4
Though I'm no fan of conspiracy theories, the fact that the Assange arrest comes immediately after the Special Counsel has closed up shop seems a strange coincidence.
It's clear that Mueller was looking for a tie between the Trump campaign and the release of the Clinton emails by Wikileaks, as dictated by Assange. Absent firm evidence of that tie, Mueller couldn't prove a criminally actionable conspiracy. Now, the one man who represents the definitive link is available and, for the right deal, might square the circle.
Curious.
4
@daytonddog. No, the leadership in Ecuador changed.
6
Agree.
@daytonddog
Homework assignment: find five conspiracy theories that would have had Assange arrested immediately before that, rather than after.
It was funny seeing popular opinion in the more liberal spaces shift against Assange over the years. When he was revealing secrets that benefited the platform, he was a hero against oppressive. After helping the other side, he is now a creepy ego-driven deviant that richly deserves his fate according to some of the comments here.
It's the same thing with Zuckerberg. For a time it was a company promoting the cause, and then the tone soon shifted once it came to light that Facebook helped the orange fellow in some regard.
Hypocrisy all the way down.
11
It’s not hypocrisy to change one’s opinion based on new or emerging facts. It’s just something that thoughtful, reasonable, (dare I say intelligent) people do habitually. Only in the US would that habit be viewed as a bug, not the feature it is.
8
@Quincy
That's not what is happening though, so I feel the sarcasm is misplaced. Here we have the same behavior suddenly being labeled as unethical only because the group doing it is found to be part of the other team.
4
BBC has written a very nice article on his arrest - as usual the media outside the country is more objective than the partisan one within the country. The gist is this: Assange has offended Congress, intelligence community, the political party, and the media - all are powerful foes and so he will not be given any "hero" status or even a "proper" hearing if brought to US court. They will charge him with something trivial of stolen password and give him a light punishment - that way he will not be seen as a "hero", but simply as a petty thief. The media will play that card well and of course most of the people will buy it as you can see in this forum. It is easy to create whatever history and perception you want by simple manipulations.
9
@Sri. No, they will charge him with revealing stolen classified material - not quite a password.
4
Yes, killing civilians and other US atrocities are classified. Lets protect it from being brought out in the open......LEZZ GOOO DEMOCRACY!!!!
3
@Sri
We give so much credit to the deep state.
Assange like, Pompeo stated, is a enemy of the US for publishing US secrets or dirt. He will get same treatment that Iran gets in US courts namely a kangaroo court. Read recently that some litigants sued Iran for the 9-11 attacks and won some 2 Billion bucks because Iran with no relations with the US are a easy mark. They should have sued for 20 Billion since Iran and now Assange I strongly believe have 'ZERO' chance for justice here.
2
I feel Assagne initially had noble intentions; then imprisoned in an embassy, did whatever he could to avoid a real prison. Including, aiding Putin in his quest to make America the world’s laughing stock, by promoting Trump’s candidacy. You make a deal with the devil you pay the price.
10
So many want to hang Assange up to dry - especially trumplicans. Which begs the question: will trump pardon Assange for helping him steal the presidency or slaughter Assange to get a few more votes and to satisfy his base's thirst for blood?
One thing is for sure, in spite working with our enemies to sabotage Hillary's candidacy on behalf of trump, Assange will find no assistance coming from his accomplice, trump.
Outing the government killing of the Reuters reporters in Afghanistan that was covered up by our military, was probably the only good thing that Assange ever did. The rest was simply dangerously sloppy, outright irresponsible and dangerous to so many innocent lives and lives on the side of good.
The only spying, Mr. Barr, is the one the Russians did on behalf of your boss with the direct assistance of Assange in the 2016 campaign. Will you investigate that? No, of course not. Mueller already has and you are covering up the real espionage of the 2016 election.
6
Every single reader who despises Assange always blames him for Hillary’s defeat/Trump’s win.
Talk about convenient moral compasses.
If Assange’s DNC dump was fake and Trump won, I’d concur. But the fact is Assange revealed our “enlightened” and “progressive” party’s dirty laundry.
Truth hurts, doesn’t it? And for the record, I’ve always been a registered Dem and voted for Clinton, despite a) wanting Sanders and b) living in NY(C) which she was in no danger of losing.
But my fellow readers fall back onto timeless tropes - Russia/Communist tool and unproven sexual assault allegations.
Wake up already.
12
@SM You should have voted forJill Stein.
1
There’s a big difference between revealing our dirty laundry and their dirty laundry. A big difference.
2
Only if you're on "our" side rather than "their" side.
Assange is an Australian. There's no reason he should be on either side.
2
Let me guess.
The secret government password was
123.
8
IM-Hash is simply password-cracking software. If this is all the government's got, and if Manning doesn't start composing from her jail cell, Assange should be able to beat this rap.
2
My guess is while Assange probably protected e-mail at his end, Private Manning did not. The government does not have to have access to both systems, just Private Manning’s. That stuff never goes away. I expect DOJ has all it needs.
He would be a great Candidate for Guantanamo.
3
Perhaps Assange has dirt on Trump. Could be part of the arrangement.
Only charging him with such a low ball infraction suggests to me that he may have an ace in the hole and that this entire court case is a sham that will end with him getting an understanding that if he leaks anything on Trump, the other charges will be coming down on him.
Because, come on, they could have charged him with a list of crimes so long, it would reach from London to Timbuktu.
No, he has something on Trump!
6
Actually, he is going to solve the Seth Rich murder mystery.
1
Only when Trump stops lying to the American public, recognize that Fox News is not really News but tabloid TV, apologize to all the women he assaulted, apologize to his previous 2 wives and current wife, and acknowledge that hate is not a synonym for love. Until then no.
No, charging him as a thief is the smart play. No mention will occur about what he did with the stolen property. He will be a convicted thief, get a few years in a Federal prison and then taken back to Australia. Convicted thieves typically cannot go anywhere but home country. Nobody wants that kind of low life from another country.
Troubling to see two New York Times authors state their personal opinion, as fact: "The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election interference did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and did not find that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia."
To be clear, this is false.
The fact is that no one outside the special counsel's office/management yet knows what the special counsel found, regarding trump's collusion with Russia. Nor do we know if he recommended filing of charges on this charge, or on an obstruction of justice charge, or on any other charge. We only know what partisan trump supporter William Barr claimed was his 4 page "summary" of the special counsel's voluminous report (400 pages of the report, with several hundred additional pages of exhibits). It is believed Mr. Barr's summary did not represent factual basis behind the special counsel's report. This was alluded to in recent leaks by the office of the Special Counsel.
We do know that trump and his many of his associates behaved in strange ways that suggest at a minimum collusion with Russia, and we know that trump's organization during the 2016 election discussed a deal with Russia to get their help for a "trump tower Moscow". We also know that several trump associates were jailed from the special counsel's investigations.
I hope in the future, editors at the NY Times stop columnists from citing their own opinions as "fact".
Also, Mr. Assange should be punished.
6
Julian Assange has provided a valuable service to the world as a whole by publishing information regarding public events that should be made known to the public.
He is the victim of corrupt governmental practices and should rewarded rather than punished for the valuable services he provided.
The POTUS should make him his Press Secretary.
16
Tell us(without an internet search; off the top of your head), of ONE; article, publication, broadcast UNRELATED to W'leaks which Assange worked at/on, or is in some way affiliated/associated with.
What revelatory thing did Assange/Leaks say about ANY ONE of these; the dispearance of the UAE princess, the abduction, killing of Khassogi, Chinese hackers? As a 'journalist', esp. one who works in today's world, it's of utmost importance to be fast. All these stories happened within the past few months, some have been in the works much longer, but, what've you heard from camp Assange?
Did you know Assange has repeatedly faced sexual harassment charges?
Assange's very reticent about himself, but, as a person, not just in the public eye, but one who craves attention with pathological narcissistic intensity, one must wonder. If you reply, 'he doesn't need share his life with the public', why put yourself in such a spot? Have someone who's the media relations person?
There was a commercial years ago; a man's wearing a white, doctor's-type jacket, and says, 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV'.
Some people got angy. Point? Just because someone appears as/says something, doesn't mean anything without proof.
Assange and W'leaks have done what, about anything affecting anywhere else in the world?
I'm old-school; I don't take one's word at face value. In this case, being a reporter of unvarnished 'truth', the person/organisation be able to show (in legal jargon), 'clean hands'.
If he keeps his mouth shut, he will get a pardon.
Our intelligence agency believes that Assange was a tool for the Russians. Assange despised Clinton and was used as a conduit for releasing stolen E-mails that would damage her in the 2016 Presidential election. The major beneficiary of his actions was Donald Trump.
Those E mails made him famous. He wanted the notoriety. Let the legal system have at him. Perhaps this development will help to clarify Roger Stones involvement in this whole unsavory mess.
889
@Babel I'm guessing that Trump's Justice Department will develop a sudden case of fidelity to the First Amendment if he is extradited here.
65
@Babel But it's of course ok that Hillary and the DNC - Debbie Wasserman Shultz illegally sabotaged Berni Sanders in 2016 to make sure Hillary won.
52
@Greg
It is 2019. Perhaps it is time to look to the common good of this country, rather than refight a 2016 contest.You may also have forgotten that Bernie Sanders was NOT Democrat until he wanted to be president. Why the DNC should have rolled over to support him when he did not support the party for decades is not clear to me. the DNC is nt the RNC.
106
Some have commented support for Assange's publication of the documents stolen from the USG by Manning. That was OK because it exposed the evil of the Bush/Cheney regime. I will agree with that. I was not a fan of W. However, they oppose his publication of documents and emails belonging to Clinton, Podesta, and the DNC. I support both acts, as they revealed information that the people needed to know. If Assange were able to publish the Mueller Report would welcome that too because the liberal opposition needs to read the truth about President Trump, that he and his campaign did nothing wrong. Even if the truth were laid before them, the liberals still would remained closed to thr truth. Let his arrest serve as a chilling reminder to those who value free speech that the truth must remain secret until the Deep State approves it's release.
17
I will bet that you cannot specifically name a single piece of information that THE RUSSIANS—not Assange, THE RUSSIANS—hacked from the DNC, let alone explain why stealing PRIVATE PARTY POLITICAL INFO is the same as whistleblowing about what the government’s been sneaking around and doing.
And I gurantee that your support for releasing the Mueller report is precisely like Trump’s: lip service, just something you tell the suckers.
15
Well it may sound simple minded but the US government has smart people working on technology. We just have a government that refuses to believe that cyber security needs to be enhanced and supported. An election is coming up and we are no safer now than we were before.
Julián is the tip of the iceberg, there are thousands like him in the cyber world. He will be replaced by another individual who this time won’t get caught.
4
Commentators have NOT read the US Indictment!
This indictment in NO way impacts the freedom of the press.
Computer Hacking (or the attempt) is the SINGLE charge in the indictment: One count of CONSPIRACY (2010) along with (then) Bradley Manning to HACK into government computers such that Manning could download government top secret files. Feds have communication between Assange and Manning documenting their efforts.
The indictment in Eastern District Virginia federal court was filed in March 2018 under seal. How ironic that Assange helped Drumpf get elected in 2016 and yet the Trump administration successfully pried him out of the Ecuadorean Embassy for extradition to the US. Journalists in the US are allowed to publish "stolen" information from Hackers without being criminally charged.
5
The fact (apparently) that Ecuador offered Assange a diplomatic post in (of all places!!) Russia says absolutely everything. Russia, of course, would be the only country willing to take one of it's own agents in.
8
I guess when an unbiased assessment of the actual report and not Barr's summary or redacted version is handed over then statements may be able to be made.
6
Assange is not going anywhere.
Britain doesn't send people to countries who may impose the death penalty.
5
He is not facing the death penalty. It is just a criminal conspiracy charge involving a theft of property. He will get five years. He won’t get a death sentence. Commenters should read the indictment. DOJ is playing this just right to get a conviction, have him spend time in a real prison and then send him back to Australia as a convicted thief.
6
@Joe B...He has not been charged with a death penalty crime.
5
Assange gets the chance to have his day in court in the US. If he had done this to Russia, or China, or even North Korea, I think taking refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy would not have helped. His fate would have been dealt with years ago.
5
You cannot have a democracy without a completely transparent government as you cannot have a government by and of the people if the people are not aware of all actions of government. Though at this point, few could successfully argue the United States is a democracy, if we ever want to move in that direction again, this point of fact is necessary. This case against Assange is obviously politically motivated though, again, I doubt that will matter since the UK isn't much of a democracy at this point either. I long for the day when people would rather rule than be ruled, perhaps then we will be able to save the planet from our endless pursuit of consumption and war on its behalf. Considering our psychology, this is likely only a dream.
9
@MJ Governments require secrecy to make sound decisions. How else can legislators make decisions without being subject to the angry whims of the populace or the greedy demands of the wealthy?
3
How do you feel about AG Barr refusing to turn over the Mueller Report?! Transparency is crucial.
2
Julian Assange's actions interfered with the outcome of
an election in the USA. He deserves to tried and convicted of
espionage against the United States.
8
@Irene Cantu
Revealing the dirty laundry of politicians isn’t espionage.
13
@God.....Hacking e-mail is a crime and so is receiving stolen property.
7
DOJ has no intention of charging him with anything than being a thief.
4
Liberals who cheers this will be responsible when Trump goes after the editors and publishers of their favourite media next. It’s really unbelievable how childish much of liberal discourse has become right when we need it to be clear-headed and strategic.
13
Julian Assange is not a journalist!
1
Upon conviction, please have Julian Assange share a cell with Paul Manafort to facilitate communication. If Roger Stone is convicted, put in a three tiered bunk bed and have all three of them together. If Paul is to shy to speak directly with Julian, then Roger can be their intermediary. By all means put Mr. Assange's cat into the cell with the others.
If Sweden decides to reopen the rape charges against Julian, please make Assange available for interrogation and eventually trial. It is my understanding that Sweden will send prosecutors to foreign countries to question Mr. Assange.
Thank you very much.
3
I bet Trump pardons him since he did him the favor of leaking Hillary's emails.
6
What! He wouldn’t take care of his cat? So he was arrested. Good riddance!
5
The USSA should send its latest political prisoner straight to Gulagtanamo where he belongs.
It will be interesting to see how Trump's vanity, greed, dishonesty, and self-interest frames this.
Anyone interested in Assange's history will find a fascinating report here. It's a long read, but the way this twisted sister found his way to hell is well presented.
"Julian Assange, a Man Without a Country: From his tiny sanctum in London, the founder of WikiLeaks has interfered with the world’s most powerful institutions."
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/julian-assange-a-man-without-a-country
Interesting how much of our slang shows bias. As I wrote "twisted sister" I felt I should find another phrase, but it means exactly what I want to say ...
5
Ecuador's patience with Assange's endless and costly (misbehavior ran out: "'Rude, ungrateful and meddling': why Ecuador turned on Assange: Minister lists reasons for Assange’s eviction from London embassy, including threats, skateboarding and health concerns"
"Ecuador had spent more $5.8m on its guest’s security between 2012 and 2018 and nearly $400,000 on his medical costs, food and laundry"
I'm sure Assange has a mind above mundane things like laundry and clean toilets.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/julian-assange-ecuador-president-lenin-moreno-evict-from-embassy
With friends like this, who needs enemies!
4
And here's a "thumbs up" back!
3
Does anyone take time to think about the bigger picture here and the arc of the story? Think of when he exposed emails and documents related to Bush and Cheney and the Iraq war, the left considered him a hero and Obama even pardoned Manning and Manning‘s role in this. Snowden was seen as a sympathetic character and there was even talk of bringing him back. Assange had all the sympathy in the world from the left about being muzzled and wrongly accused in Sweden of rape. Now that the left realizes the damage that can be done by this type of unfettered nihilism and were burned by the Hillary emails and the 2016 election, Assange has become a criminal. If I were him I would be very confused and say “I thought I was a hero”? Looks like Assange is suffering the same revisionist history as Facebook.
7
So all of a sudden, Trump no longer sees him as a hero but now wants to treat him as a criminal.
Conclusion: Assange must have been on the verge of releasing the Mueller report? Or other documents that would have damaged the current government?
6
Good!
Transparency is - generally-speaking - a good thing, but, Mr Assange, and Wiki leaks has never been poor in this area.
Mr Assange has an agenda, and much about the man is (by HIS doing) 'off-limits', which is all the more bizarre when one considers exactly what this site's supposed to be.
This wouldn't be so terrible, if - I-F - Mr Assange didn't have the overriding need to be the focus of attention. the, thereby making he and the website interchangable
If more people knew, for example, that Mr Assange has had repeated allegations of sexual harassment.
That's not a 'secret', but, as the gentleman's so adverse to having any information regarding himself out there, one may ask, 'why?'
Unless someone can be as brutally honest about themselves, as they are about (what they consider to be) countries hiding stuff, there's a big problem.
One other thing, aside from Assange/Leaks repeated haranguing against the US, how come there's little - if any revealing leaks about ANY other nation, ANY one in the public eye?
Just today, there's a story on Sudan's corrupt leader. How come Assange/Leaks has never reported anything about the reported crooked elections there, or anything about the disappearance of the middle Eastern Princess, recently?
I know one day all of Assange's laundry will come tumbling out; the thing is, people will then act shocked - suprised.
How about walking up NOW, because it's a 'dirty' world, which NEEDS a lot of cleaning.
6
This is convenient. If Julian Assange ever testifies about interactions with the Trump campaign, he will now be a "criminal" who can't be trusted.
2
Arrested just in time to come back to the U.S. and get a pardon, freeing him in the United States, because Trump loves Wikileaks and owes Assange a debt of gratitude.
Be careful what you wish for. If Assange is crowned a hero, what will stop another journalist from, say, hacking into the IRS database and releasing the tax returns of Trump for the last 10 years?
1
The Assange case shows how the modern world treats someone who is intelligent, independent, effective, and brave. The U.S. government could never forgive his exposure of the realities of the senseless Iraq War. The UK and Sweden cooperated with the U.S., due to its power. Of course Assange does have his faults. Everyone does.
One voice silenced brings us closer to serfdom, humiliation, and massive violence in the onrushing global dystopia.
13
Do you suppose it was any coincidence that he was arrested after the Muller Report was finished?
10
@Martha
Can you venture precisely a connection?
Two things are clear: (a) The most extensive journalist of our time has been arrested (by powers exposed by his methods) and (b) Do not seek refuge in an Ecuadorian Embassy.
10
Journalist? You might want to do some independent research.
6
@Pablo Fischer
How is JA the most extensive journalist of our time?
Ecuador requested for the British to remove Assange due to his aggressive behaviour. They have the right to do that under the Vienna convention.
JA is nothing but the master of his own demise. That's all.
5
First lock up Bush and Cheney, the biggest war criminals of the 21st century. WikiLeaks began by exposing the cruel and illegal actions committed during their invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq.
17
trump: I love wik... whatever it is, even though I don't know anything about it; never heard of it.
And my AG Barr will blame it all, whatever it is, on Obama.
9
all the bernie libs loved assange for the hillary stuff but never seem to wonder why nothing came out on trump.
let him dissappear.
btw...wonder how snowden enjoys russia - dont hear anything from him anymore. then again, when you make a deal with the devil...
8
Should have gone to Sweden. A lot better prisons.
4
After 9 years, all for nothing.
@drotars
Nope.
All for Trump.
All for the Republicans
All for the Russians
All for the people who want a feudal world, run for the wealthy.
5
The other part of the British police entrance to the -supposedly sovereign embassy is sadder still. Ecuador and its president Lenin Moreno remind me of the treacherous character that some have in América Latina when in Las-Higueras the Bolivian government delivered El Che Guevara to the CIA to be killed on the spot.
4
For the record, I agree wholeheartedly with those who point out that Julian Assange is no hero. There's a big difference between government transparency, and disclosing private emails and conversations by heads of state unredacted--not to mention influencing the fate of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Oddly, however, I found the most troubling sentence in this article to be the following: "The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election interference did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and did not find that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia." Perhaps this is overly harsh, but seeing this phrase in the New York Times somehow feels as if the William Barr four page summary has now been officially anointed as fact. I'm still waiting to see the actual Mueller report.
420
@Susan Powell
Didn't Mueller's summary mention that Mueller concluded there was no collusion with Russia? I thought the only ambiguous part from Mueller's statement was about the obstruction of justice.
11
It was Barr’s summary.
34
@Shawn
We never saw Mueller's summary, until now we only got access to Attorney General Barr's 4-page summary of a 400-page document.
All that we know for the moment is that the Mueller report neither charges the Trump campaign of nor exonerates it from obstruction of justice ... CONTRARY to what Trump claims.
Obviously, however, as Trump fired Sessions because he appointed an independent, Republican special counsel, and now accepts to work with Barr, the main conclusion about Barr should be, as Pelosi said, that we cannot trust him at all.
40
To try to give him the benefit of the doubt, whether for good or egotistical reasons, he appears to elevate freedom of information to an absolute and unfettered right, regardless of the consequences for governmental processes and potential harm to individual rights of privacy or even lives. This is quite different from the kind of responsible limits and judgments that the New York Times, for example, seeks to make. Single cause absolutists, whether in the name of a "right," a cause, or a religion, place ends above means. This obviously presents difficult issues for courts to weigh, but they do belong in court.
7
Good news!! This could not happen to a more deserving person!!! This con man deserves the prosecution of full extent of the law.
12
Assange has long offered to provide proof that WikiLeaks did not get Democratic National Committee email from Russia or any other government agency in exchange for the same type of immunity afforded mainstream news media outlets like the Washington Post when they published stolen or leaked documents. Now that he has been arrested and faces extradition to the United States, Assange might offer to reveal WikiLeaks’ source as part of a plea bargain agreement. The Justice Department should take Assange up on his offer.
The Muller indictments allege Russian intelligence operatives hacked DNC email and gave it to WikiLeaks, but Assange could substantiate or disprove the Muller allegations.
The primary beneficiary of the WikiLeaks publication of DNC email was Bernie Sanders. WikiLeaks publication of DNC email revealed that the DNC had been stacking the deck against Sanders to ensure Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination. The revelation if dirty dealing within the DNC force DNC cochair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign. It energized Sanders supporters, helping him win some of the final primaries. But it has virtually no impact on the presidential election.
6
@William Case
Uh ... except that Assange released the DNC emails AFTER Bernie lost the primaries, remember? So how did he benefit from this, more precisely ... ?
And all that those emails showed is that the DNC actively supported the Democrats' candidate and gave her priority, rather than treating their own candidate and an Independent equally. Since when is that something "dirty" ... ?
8
@Ana Luisa
WikiLeaks selective leaks was to create Bernie as a martyr, and further cripple the Democratic party with infighting. And it worked.
4
@Ana Luisa
DC Leaks first published the DNC email in early June. WikiLeaks published it in July, before the Democratic National Convention. The only email that factored in the presidential email was the classified State Department email the FBI found on Hillary's home server,
2
This is what comes from not cleaning your cat's litter box. He's been on his way out and long since worn out his welcome!
6
The whistleblowers do time and the torturers, war criminals, and fake intelligence spinners get Medals of Freedom.
So it goes.
6
@God It's Trump's DOJ that will prosecute Assange.
Why is he doing a thumbs up? He was effectively in jail for years hiked up in the embassy and now he is going to a real jail.
He should have just went to real jail directly.
4
The negativity toward Julian Assange is xenophobia, fear that foreigners will learn our darkest secrets. While a wholescale dump of email may have been a bit much, considering that diplomacy rests on privacy, the attack video from the helicopter gunship is beyond horrifying. Those guys on the ground were just hanging around, one of them clearly a journalist.
And the Clintons were to the right of Reagan on every issue you can muster. Punitive three-strike laws that exploded the prison population, mostly for persons of color? Bill and Hill. Handing over the digital airwaves to corporations in '96, without even mentioning the Fairness Doctrine? B&H. Sanctions that killed half a million Iraqi kids? B&H. Dismantling Glass Steagall? B&H. And executing a mentally-challenged prisoner, incapable of distinguishing right from wrong and therefore ignorant as to why he is being executed? Bill Clinton did that during the '92 campaign, to prove he was tough on crime.
With friends like the Clintons or Wall Street lackey Barack Obama, I do not require enemies. Free Julian Assange.
12
@Mark Buckley
Connection between all this and the indictment is too deep for me.
It's about time! Assange is a thief and a troublemaker, pure and simple. He has been happy to create chaos but is unwilling to pay the price for his misdeeds in Sweden and in the United States.
5
So the president who as a candidate treated Assange as a MAGA hero and urged him to use his skills to attack America's Democrats, now became the US president who wants his extradition ... ?
What happened in between?
There's only one possible answer here: Assange was about to release very damaging, classified information about Donald Trump.
4
Good!
Transparency is - Generally-speaking - a good thing, but, Mr Assange, and Wiki leaks has never been poorly about this.
Mr Assange has an agenda, and much about the man is - by HIS doing - 'off-limits', which is all the more bizarre when one considers exactly what this site's supposed to be.
This wouldn't be so terrible, if - I-F - Mr Assange didn't have the overriding need to be the focus of attention. the, thereby making he and the website interchangable
I'd more people knew, for example, that Mr Assange has had repeated allegations of sexual harassment.
That's not a 'secret', but, as the gentleman's so adverse to having any information regarding himself out our there, one may ask, 'why?'
Unless someone can be as brutally honest about themselves, as they are about (what they consider to be countries hiding stuff,. Them there's a big problem.
One other thing, aside from Assange/Leaks repeated haranguing against the US, how come there's little - if any revealing leaks about ANY other nation, ANY own in the public eye?
Just today, got run a story on Sudan's corrupt leader. How come Assange/Leaks had never some anything about the reported crooked elections there, or anything about the disappearance of the middle Eastern Princess, recently?
I know one day all of me Assange's laundry will come tumbling out; the thing is, people will then act shocked - suprised.
How about walking up NOW, because itys a 'dirty' world, which NEEDS a lot of cleaning.
2
It's amusing to read some of the comments about Julian Assange's arrest. People are quite sure that whereas Robert Mueller couldn't uncover any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, Mr. Assange has such evidence and will either reveal it or be sent to solitary confinement to stop him from doing so.
I've never seen any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, and when I read a few weeks ago that President Trump told Chancellor Merkel not to buy gas from Russia and thereby help out President Putin, my doubts were confirmed.
I wonder how much longer people will continue to flog the Russia-Trump-collusion dead horse and what it will take for them to stop. But there are people who are sure the 1969 Apollo moon landing was faked, so I guess there won't be an end to it.
6
@Cyclist congress can subpoena Assange for questioning.
1
What did you think when you read the Mueller report?
7
@Badger — True, and Congress ought to, though Mr. Assange probably will invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself.
@Sean — I take your point (we don't know the report's full contents), but the report seems to have been unequivocal that Mr. Mueller couldn't find any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. Also, I rely on other evidence of a lack of collusion, as I described in my original post.
1
What a wonderful and welcome surprise.
4
The charges that led to Julian Assange’s arrest have nothing to do with the 2016 presidential election or the Mueller investigation into Trump’s Russian ties.
But if Assange does eventually appear in court in the US, his case is likely to become a new focus in the never-ending battle over the legitimacy of Trump’s 2016 win.
No wonder Trump lied: “I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,” when asked by reporters about his reaction Assange’s arrest.
That is not what he said on the campaign, when he frequently praised WikiLeaks. In October 2016 at a rally in Pennsylvania, he was totally ecstatic: “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks”.
The organisation played an important role in getting him elected, by publishing stolen emails hacked by the Russian intelligence that aimed at destroying Hillary Clinton’s prospect of winning.
9
He appears to be eating well. What is the source of the money he uses to live on? And pay for attorneys?
5
It is offensive to journalism to classify Wikileaks as journalism. It has always been a hacking group, used to act as whistle blower for public good, but had since degenerated into privacy stealing thief and propaganda stooge for authoritarian actors like Putin.
Moreover, the right to free speech should always come with the wisdom to wield it responsibly, which Assange certainly did not show to possess.
Supporters of Assange should be mindful that their absolutist stance with freedom of speech does not end up making speech irrelevant all together, or worst, make speech another weapon against themselves. For example, how does it serve the public to reveal that CIA had change the online bomb recipes posted by terrorists to make the recipe ineffective? Would they make the same argument to protect Trump's right to blatantly lie to the American people?
Rights and responsibility always go together. It is unfortunate that we always only clamor for rights and forget the responsibility that come with them. Assange had shown he was not responsible with the power of being able to unveil other people's information. Intentional or not, he helped Russia harmed our democracy. He should answer for that.
10
Assange is nothing more than a self proclaimed arbiter of a nation's classified information. It is worth noting that his efforts focused on the US. For all his high handedness, why did he single out the US? Why not Russia, China or North Korea? Where was his concern about publicizing wrongdoings about some of the most ruthless regimes in the world? Why did he care about John Podesta's emails? He's no hero, just a Putin front man pretending to care about someone else's transparency.
385
>>> "For all his high handedness, why did he single out the US?"
He didn't. If you had been following WikiLeaks you would know that.
13
@Michael because those other countries don't propagandize to the rest of the world that they're "exceptional" or the "beacon of freedom" or boast any similar mythic nonsense to their people like this one does.
11
@Michael A nations classified information may be hiding war crimes. Remember Abu Ghraib?...
10
Mr. Assange has not been charged with publishing anything. His charge is conspiracy, specifically charged with conspiring with Private Manning to steal government info and providing the tools for Private Manning to do it. No First Amendment issues are here. His citizenship does not matter. It is simple theft, no different or important than somebody that showed a common jewel thief how to bypass a burglar alarm at a pawn shop. Simple cases do make for serious jail time. I doubt the judge will allow any info about the nature of leaks or where he spent the last seven years. He and Private Manning were just common thieves and the case will proceed that way.
8
@Michael Blazin
'steal government info' - related to a dirty, illegal war or two. That's commendable, not punishable.
2
"No First Amendment issues are here."
Exactly. Assuming that the government can prove in court that Assange was attempting to crack passwords, Assange will not be able to claim that he is just a journalist.
2
Julian Assange's illegal arrest in London is a clear indication of the bullying and erosion of the freedom of press by the USA and the UK. What WikiLeaks did was to expose the war crimes committed by the US and the UK, the plots against nations which refuse to be the puppets of the US, the UK, and other western powers, the deliberate illegal plot by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton's camp to derail Bernie Sanders bid for the Office of the Presidency of the US, and the bribes paid by the Saudi Arabian and UAE officials to influence the US, and the UK's foreign policies. What WikiLeaks did was to expose the crimes, deceit, and sinister plots know to many outside the UK and the UK because in the matters of foreign policies, the UK and the US major media not only do not report the facts, but also become the propaganda outlets for their governments.
Finally, those who care about free speech and the freedom of press, should protest Mr. Assange's arrest and demand his immediate release. Not only that, if the media and journalists keep quiet, they could be the next victims.
9
JA is nothing if not consistent. Just because he leaked against Liberals - for a change. many turned on him.
And to think he is arrested when Murdoch Zuckerberg and , the propagandist and the propagandizer, walk free - is sickening.
6
@scientella Trump's DOJ will prosecute Assange.
1
This a warning to whistle blowers and journalists, that you disclose crimes or dirty linen of the USA government at your own peril. It also suggests that the first amendment may be as dead as a door nail.
8
@Manuel Suarez....I don't remember that theft was one of the freedoms conferred by the first amendment.
2
@Manuel Suarez
He's not been charged with speaking or publishing.
"... or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ..."
From the First Amendment.
The guy may have gotten good people killed.
@W.A. Spitzer
Wikileaks did no steal anything, they just published information from a whistle blower. Doe's Watergate mean anything to you?...I guess not, you'd rather keep the sewers of government secret and classified.
1
There are some strange norms at operation here. Ecuador may be well within its rights to no longer support Assange's asylum in its Embassy. However, they also granted him Ecuadorean citizenship. The Embassy could have simply escorted him outside the doors and put him into public to be arrested.
Instead they smudged the sanctify of the Embassy by allowing London police inside to make the arrest of a kicking and screaming Assange.
Assange in a way is the author of his own arrest. He had violated the terms of his sanctuary multiple times and when they took away his internet toy, Assange sued Ecuador. Pugnacity and pride overcame gratitude He bit the hand that fed him and now he is in the grip of claws from which he cannot escape.
His arrest and inevitable deportation to a trial in the US also raise the specter of what will happen to his political collaborator Chelsea Manning who is back in jail pending the outcome of a grand jury proceeding.
9
What do you do with an unwanted guest that refuses to leave? You call the police and they take him to jail. It is surprising how pedestrian and common has become this guy’s story. He is a nobody.
3
For heroism, let's find the American who will release the Mueller report in full, unredacted.
11
I'm no legal expert but I fail to understand how the U.S. has jurisdiction to extradite him. He is not a U.S. citizen and his actions, or crimes, depending your opinion, did not take place in the U.S.
5
@Roberta Weren’t some mid east criminals brought back to the US for trial? Several countries do allow extradtion of people unless they face a potential death sentence.
2
@Roberta
How about Mrs. Meng, CFO of Huawei held in Canada on trumped up charges, waiting for extradition to the US, nothing to do with leaking anything, but conveniently being a pawn in Trumps' anti-China trade vendetta?
3
He allegedly conspired with Private Manning and provided the tools for Private Manning to steal Federal Government property. You can extradite someone for abetting a theft.
1
Hey, how come the Wikileaks loving Trump is so silent about Assange's arrest. I did hear that Trump did say today, 'Wikileaks is not my thing'. Can't imagine why.
2
I wonder why after all this time he was evicted from the embassy. That is the key to him being arrested at all.
2
The moral outrage expressed by hosts of politicians and journalists toward those who would influence U.S. elections is breathtaking for its hypocrisy since no one is more guilty of such behavior than we are. Our history is a tale of broken agreements, bought elections (both foreign and domestic), assassinations (both foreign and domestic) and the full panoply of dark flag operations that we employ the talents of out best and brightest to invent, often sitting back and chuckling at the consequences of our efforts ("We came; we saw; he died.") But many reserve their deepest moral outrage for the few brave men and women who have risked everything to bring to light our own crimes and misdemeanors.
164
@Vincent Amato I think the question is, not what the US is guilty of but, why is Mr. Assange focused on only hacking US computers? Don't you see some sort of chess game going on here?
17
@Vincent Amato
Yes, but I suspect most of us are appalled by what our country has done to undermine democracy in other places. It's not as if we cheer on what our CIA does and then condemn interference in our own democracy.
12
@Vincent Amato, under this reasoning the United States would never be able to speak out against Russian cyberwarfare against any country (and they've attacked many European countries.) Assange did not care about putting the lives of innocent people at risk when he made his releases without curating--he considered ordinary people to be collateral damage. I don't believe he cared about crimes against humanity. He was pursuing his own agenda.
9
I'm continually amazed by the unquestioning defenders of outfits like Wikileaks. They see only the potential for whistleblowing but none of the downside. But any power without a check on its accountability can and will be abused.
Wikileaks is the perfect example of this. Whether you think the publication of Chelsea Manning's leaks were all to the good, consider what happened with the DNC and Podesta thefts. Both the RNC and the DNC were hacked but only one of them was leaked. And those leaks were quite selective, strategically timed and, quite likely, edited for maximum impact. Podesta's emails were private. Are we all okay with the theft and publication of private emails? (Don't like Podesta? Okay, how about your emails?) Are we all cool with a foreign power using Wikileaks as a conduit to undermine our democratic institutions?
However much Assange tries to cleave to his brand as a fighter against unaccountable powers, for seven years he's holed up in an embassy insisting that his power should not be held accountable. Sorry, but it's time to face the music, Julian.
10
>>> "Are we all okay with the theft and publication of private emails? (Don't like Podesta? Okay, how about your emails?)"
If you don't understand the difference between the private email of private citizens and the political email of partisan operatives, trying to explain it to you -- and the many hundreds of others demonstrating the same confusion -- probably wouldn't do any good.
"The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election interference did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and did not find that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia."
- Since the Meuller report has not been made public how can you state that the report "did not find that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia." ???
Do better reporting already!
5
You can bet that Trump will give him a pardon if he produces all of Hillary's emails.
1
@BTO Assange has played all the cards in his hand full of emails. He has nothing more to offer Trump, and now Trump's DOJ will put him under the bus.
trump might pardon Assange in a flash if Assange has anything else that could help trump, or if Assange has something that can hurt trump unless Assange gets a pardon.
Other countries should lodge their deportation requests now.
3
A US jail is gonna make the Ecuadorian embassy seem like heaven to this guy, and the specter or decades more in a US prison just might make him amenable to letting some facts of Trump loose.
5
The truth hurts. We should have had a national conversation about how not to repeat the ugly crimes committed in Iraq, but we did not - and have continued to repeat the behavior elsewhere. As to the inner workings of the DNC in the 2016 election, I'm sure the information caused many already skeptical Americans to be even more cynical and disengaged.
Are we intent on punishing the messenger because we didn't like having to face the message?
11
The predictability of the age of Trump. Mr. Assange will create panic in the current Administration by threatening to reveal everything he knows about contacts with Russia during the 2016 election. Mr. Barr's JD will then negotiate a benevolent prosecution with the possibility of a second term pardon. As Trump's campaign begins to fall apart, Mr. Assange will then suggest a consulting gig, based on prior experiences, for a whole lot of money stashed in some shady account in a Caribbean island. The President will send instructions by hand signals and in code to Mr. Mulvaney who will then pass the info to a couple of rogue NSA officials who will.. You get the idea, the possibilities of the age of Trump..
1
Analyze the situation from a very clinical perspective:
- anyone who has so much drama, arrests, violence, sexual molestation cases, major international hacking history
- narcissistic and very self centered and this by people who’re his friends
- look at his entire life path
- listen to things he said to his friends about women (don’t listen to detractors yet)
- an exceedingly high IQ but unable to utilize it without running into law
- unable to sustain or maintain jobs
- no responsibility to family
- repeatedly mentions of lack of personal hygiene
He is a strange mix of exceptionally intelligent, socially awkward, narcissistic with deviousness and cunning, trying to channel the crime of hacking into a justice-vigilante’s need to uncover the elite governments, etc.
I’ve known and worked with folks who were exceptionally gifted scientists, mathematicians and researchers— many socially awkward but majority are private people and humble.
But when you see this level of personal grandiosity and need for constant media exposure, one is reminded are we dealing with several grades of narcissistic psychopathy?
Give him a fair trial- that’s all one can wish for even a man like him.
7
For the sake of completenesss...
Yes, uncovering US army behaviour in Iraq which equates to war crimes was an amazing piece of work.
But at the same time, he jeopardized so many espionage and military personnel in the field.
However, Mr Assange has an agenda and it is directed more towards US.
How come Russia’a nefarious behaviour in Crimea, Iran’s interference in Yemen, rights wing Hinduism -Modi’s hiding almost genocide like policies agaisnt kashmiris- his purging policies focusing on muslims and Dalits, the financial and social Crimes of people like Orban, Nawal Sharif, Benazir Bhutto... how is it nothing has come forward on that?
Selective bias? Why?
If inductive journalism is the ideal- then don’t do stuff that supports people like Putin and Trump.
His moral compass of right and wrong is off. Hiding behind the banner of journalism won’t last long.
Anyone watching this even without taking sides would notice one thing- this need for attention. It has lead him down a warren of darkness from which there’s no running.
3
@Ash.:
You list what you believe to be Julian Assange's behaviors, and then claim he is narcissistic. Yet most of your vague list has nothing to do with narcissism.
Your speculation will confuse the public and may cause people to wrongly believe someone is "narcissistic" when they are not. Please consult a psychiatrist (medical doctor) for a true definition. Don't rely on unreliable web sources, or your friends.
If you want a "textbook" example of a narcissist, observe donnie trump.
A question hangs in the air: what did Assange think would come of his decision to compromise Clinton's election chances?
Or did he do it due to a threat the Russians made on Snowden?
Who exactly is the pawn in all this?
1
Trump was asked by a member of the press if he still loves Wikileaks. He replied that he knew nothing about Wikileaks, an outright lie given the fact that he screeched numerous times during his campaign that he "loves Wikileaks." Why does the press not ask a follow-up question about this lie or at least state what he said and then ask a question if he still believes this. Al Franken, a major loss to our country, wrote a book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell them." It could be a biography of Trump and his administration.
3
One of the jobs of journalists is to shine light on our governments. Will any American journalists now speak out about the core issues with Assange instead of collaborate with government in pursuing Assange as a criminal. The crimes he exposed that our government pursed in our name is vitally more important then Wiikileaks publishing of them. Yet so far we hear a chorus of Assange's methods of gaining information on the illegal activities of our government and no one speaking up about the crimes exposed.
Gaining information on our government acting in secret when in name they say we are an open society , is not done simply by a journalist filing a Freedom of information form. You would be naive to believe you would get it that easily.
Compare the crimes, please. A journalist (and Assange is a journalist and a good one) is given important information about the U.S. acting criminally. He let's the people know what is being done in their name. Is that worse than your government acting as a bully in this world and believing they have the right to torture and kill whom they please.
To me there is no contest. The U.S. government is the real criminal.
7
I think it is a mistake to put Assange, Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg on the same moral plain.
Ellsberg saw the protracted effort by the McNamara Pentagon to hide the fact that the Viet Nam war was an unwinnable disaster. His actions helped uncover the truth and ultimately put an end to the war.
Ed Snowden revealed a pervasive and extra legal system of surveillance that prompted "The Snowden Effect" that ultimately led to disclosures about the selling of personal information by social media companies.
Assange provides the infrastructure for the leaks without any attempt to filter the data being leaked. Hence, Wikileaks is just as available for political dirty tricks as it is for important disclosures.
In the interest of full disclosure and to prompt a thorough discussion of the matter, Assange should be charged with espionage and tried.
652
@Scott
And yet both Snowden and Ellsberg support Assange (with a few criticisms by Snowden).
28
@Scott -- nonsense! How many of his releases have been credibly refuted?
25
@Scott
I agree with you. Assange lost any claim to a higher moral ground when he sided with political parties against other political parties to push his own political agenda. I also think his absurd and irrational behavior toward his host embassy, Ecuador, reveals him to be ungrateful, thoughtless, and indifference to the claims and rights of others.
74
Julian Assange is no hero. He's no freedom fighter. He is an opportunist who displays no sense of moral right and wrong. He ended up in that embassy because he was fleeing sexual assault charges. He sued the country giving him asylum because they made him clean his own bathroom and tend to his own cat and cut off his internet access when he refused to abide by their house rules. Aside from Trump, I can't think of a more entitled and unethical human being. I truly hope he finally faces justice.
1051
@Caroline...I agree. This guy is no hero, no freedom fighter, no friend of the people. He was in this for the money and for his ego.
67
@Caroline
I hope the cat finds a nice home. The cat didn't disrupt democracy.
55
@Caroline. Thank you, well said.
18
A Russian propaganda tool, that's all he is, and Wikileaks as well.
Assange has severely harmed the United States and other western democracies at the bidding of Russia.
Read Wikileaks if you don't believe me, try to find anything other than information harmful to the west.
Wikileaks may have started as a legitimate sunlight tool, but was early on compromised and subverted to Russian interests.
1929
@OnKilter As Bob Marley said "The truth is an offence, but not a sin".
46
@OnKilter-That's what it sounds like to me ie started noble but turned into a hacking service to the highest bidder.
111
@Paul
I watched the hearings, and looked at the Russiagate allegations.
Claims that Manafort and Stone met with Assange fell apart. The dates were off, Wikileaks publication of the Whistleblowers emails from the Clinton campaign were announced month before Stone's story. The world saw them before the Trump campaign did.
There is no evidence Wikileaks were or are "hackers". They have a clean track record for publishing documents by whistleblowers, and vetted them well. It's easy to look up for yourself.
68
Assange is a lose end for Trump (and Putin) that needs to be “tied up.”
5
This is persecution, pure and simple. Neither Mr. Assange, nor Chelsea Manning, should be in custody for their efforts to expose the lies of our goverment regarding the Iraq War, illegal government surveillance, etc. On the contrary, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, et al are the ones who should be in jail for lying us into war. And as for the DNC emails, they were not damaging to Hillary Clinton because they were false -- they were damaging because they were true, and proved that the DNC had their finger on the scale to ensure she won the nomination over Bernie Sanders. Nevertheless, while I am quite certain that Russia hacked the emails, it is unlikely that Assange knew for a fact they were his source, since any intelligence operation worth its salt would have used a cutout to transmit the documents. The bottom line is, if there is any justice in this world, Julian Assange should be released from custody and be allowed to live in peace.
9
@Radicalnormal if you were paying attention you should know that nothing the DNC did had any bearing on the outcome of the primaries. Most voters saw through Bernie Sanders and didn’t want any part of him. I’m sick of hearing how supposedly horrible that was when Bernie lost all on his own.
4
These comments are depressing. How in the world could you celebrate the jailing of a jouranlist? You all act as if he is some kind of villian. He's imperfect. That is all. Stop reaching. He did the world a great service and now everyone wants to come down on him because they can't maturely deal with their frustrations with the current administration. Noam Chomsky is a leftist intellectual. Maybe listen to him on this matter. He is fully aware that this Trump stuff was a witchhunt. He is fully aware that Snowden and Assange are heroes. If he can see it, why can't you?
7
@Jon. I stopped paying attention to Noam Chomsky a while back. Assange is no more a journalist than I am. He may have qualified for that designation in the beginning, but once he started siding with one party over another, he lost that status. If his goal really were to enlighten the world, why is his sole focus the US?
2
Among many things, what would have happened if there was no Wikileaks' exposure of our secretive information? Mr. Assange is not a US citizen. When Wikileaks hacked our NSA or CIA, the used computers were in foreign land. This could provide a challenging ground to extradite Mr. Assange in Britain back to US soil.
1
What is RT going to do without their lead anchor?
Remember Trump repeatedly saying during his campang " Wiki Leaks,I love Wiki Leaks" rejoicing at the damage done to Hillary's campaing? Just watched him on TV stating "I know nothing about Wiki Leaks" (with a straight face). What a bold faced liar we have for a President1
8
Wonderful. May he and his buddy Snowden in Moscow be locked up. Together. In a dingy cell. For a long time.
5
Were it not for Assange and WikiLeaks,the world would not have known about numerous crimes by individuals and governments. They should be applauded.Let's hope the NYT remembers its own delight and considerable trumpeting when it ( and the UK Guardian) joined with Assange to publish such items for the people to read.
10
@Lord Snooty: Yup. Case in point:
The War Logs -- WikiLeaks Documents
The Iraq Documents
The archive is the second cache obtained by the independent organization WikiLeaks and made available to several news organizations. The Iraq documents shed new light on the war.
From the New York Times: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/war-logs.html
2
@Lord Snooty and we wouldn’t have Donald in the White House.
1
Just like our “free country” has laws, some laws should apply to the “free press” as well, like espionage and dealing in stolen property.
It’s ludicrous that someone can call himself a journalist and expect to operate outside the law.
3
Julian Assange and Bradley Manning indiscriminately released classified and sensitive info specifically to hurt the U.S. and, later, targeted Hilary Clinton. Assange's leaks revealed no specific, intentional wrongdoing by anyone. What he *did* do was get sources killed and undercut sensitive diplomatic negotiations that by tradition, are done in secrecy to allow diplomacy to occur in good faith.
More importantly, by electing Trump with Putin's help, Assange all but assured the collapse of the Paris Climate Accords and may literally have doomed our ecosystem to a heat death.
He's not a journalist in any sense of the word. He's a criminal.
8
Donald Trump, who frequently praised WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign, whose son exchanged messages with the organization on Twitter, and whose associate Robert Stone communicated with Assange about material WikiLeaks planned to publish, has just told US reporters that WikiLeaks is “not my thing.”
“I know nothing about WikiLeaks,” Trump said in the Oval Office, according to a White House pool report. “It’s not my thing.”
4
Can Trump pardon him and offer an asylum in the USA? Or may be he become Trump's campaign manager.
3
"The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election interference did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and did not find that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia."
If the reporter has read the Mueller report, that's more than Congress can say.
3
I don't see anywhere in this article any indications that Assange helped Chelsea Manning crack a password, just that he asked her to try to get more information. That is common journalistic practice and not illegal. The information found by Ms. Manning and published by Assange was the only time that the truth of what the US military was doing (torture, murder) came out when all the media paid attention to was promoting the troops as heros and ignoring the actual war. The US and the military learned from Vietnam that if you make it about the troops and paint them a certain way you can literally get away with torture and murder, which is exactly what they did.
8
I'll never forget when Donald Trump called on Wikileaps to release the emails. The fact that his campaign was working with Russian intelligence to release those emails—even though what the DNC did was wrong and unethical—was, is, and always will be treasonous. It's also why Assange is not a publisher, but a conspirator—and he lost any claim to being a journalist.
6
Looks like the United States will be torturing another person very soon. Publishing leaked information is not illegal and there is no evidence that he orchestrated any type of hacking. Nobody who has leaked classified information (which is illegal) has said he had orchestrated any of it. These are trumped up charges. Nobody cared when Wikileaks publishes leaks such as 'Spy Files: Russia,' CIA espionage' (in regards to France election), 'NSA World Spying,' 'AKP Email Archive,' 'Saudi Cables,' or the 'Brennan Emails,' but when he publishes DNC emails that show bias and borderline corruption.. everyone loses their minds.
Only until that moment did people push this narrative that we is a 'tool for the Russians.' He doesn't need 'notoriety,' he publishes documents that expose politicians, companies, and countries for what they have done.
5
Under what theory of law can an Australian / Ecuadorian citizen be tried in the USA for violating United States law? This is extremely scary! Can a gay person who has never been to the Middle East now be indicted and extradited to Iran? I get Sweden's claim, Assange lived there and allegedly violated Swedish law while there. Yup. That's to be expected. If someone on a tourist visa to the USA hacks our computers while here, I expect the trial to be held in the USA. But this?! It's beyond frightening to me to think about the implications. Can I be extradited to China now if I violate Chinese law by posting something the Chinese government doesn't like? Where does this end??
6
It is real simple. The United States has reciprocal extradition treaties with many countries, including the U.K. There will be an extradition hearing in the U.K. and a judge will hear both sides of the case and decide whether the merits of the allegations presented by the U.S. merit extradition.
The alternative is that criminals all over the world could commit crimes and evade justice simply by crossing borders. Hardly a sane alternative.
3
Why is Assange not being charged with interfering in an American election? Were it not for him Hillary Clinton would have been president today and we wouldn't be living under a would-be dictator. Assange apparently hated Clinton but as an Australian, he has no right to interfere in American elections.
5
@Pajaritomt
Tell that to Rupert M
Never fear. Trump will probably pardon Assange.
Assange is a hero? Maybe to the Kremlin.
8
The New York Times should immediately hire Assange as a reporter to protect journalists everywhere.
3
Pamela Anderson visiting Assange is like Dennis Rodman visiting Kim Jong-un.
6
So, the seven year hold up at the Embassy Suite of Ecuador in London was all for nothing? It is too bad that Ecuador could not have found a way diplomatic or other to spirit Assange to South America.
1
@Purple Spain
He should be made to reimburse the Ecuadorean government for the hotel stay of 7 years. He should be extradited and serve time for betraying his country and democracies around the world.
4
Some many ostensible liberals vocalizing their contempt for Assange and his actions, “throw away the key” they say. What about Daniel Ellsberg leaking The Pentagon Papers? Not quite sure how one person can be a hero and the other a villain for doing essentially the same thing.
10
Ellsberg didn’t commit a crime to obtain the papers.
4
Because they didn't do the same thing.
2
>>> "Ellsberg didn’t commit a crime to obtain the papers."
Ellsberg was charged with theft, conspiracy and violations of the Espionage Act. However, when the court learned that the FBI and CIA had illegally tapped his phone and broken into his therapist's office, to obtain material to use in blackmailing him, the charges were dismissed.
Accuracy counts.
I am thrilled to learn that our beloved President does not know anything about Assange, and has no knowledge and has nothing to do with WikiLeaks. His purity and honesty are a model for all Americans. His truthfullness about all matters is only rivaled by George Washington in American History.
6
Assange brought the truth to the surface of america's wrong doing abroad. It's treason because its citizen will know the truth of their leaders criminal behavior?
America lost war in Afghanistan because of its very few criminal behavior on the ground - Afghan population has turned against America that Wiki Leaks has exposed and that Taliban has exploited shrewdly for their own good. And you want to imprison him?
6
@Alpha thanks to Pakistan for helping us nab Bin Laden...oh...right...
2
Alpha, hmmm, coming from the way Benazir Bhutto was treated? Those that live in a “glass” government should not throw stones.
2
@Dudesworth by all means live in your wawa land disconnected from ground realities. Just to give you an idea how your national security people operate: fly in in helicopter with heavy security, set up a table, let local people line up to collect so called"classified" information and pack bags and fly out 3 hours before sunset. As it turns out, all such information cllected was meant to settle local score/feuds and info has no consequence to US. While in US you were busy creating war heroes out of this comedy. The second stage of war has begun: war being handed over to contractors i.e American mercenaries and Russians are also enriching themselves to get the share of the pie. counter this in Afghanistan. The local knows this and are volunteering/recruiting to take on the enemies of the State. So by default local have no choice to join forces and work with Taliban. In the least common denominator these are NOT Taliban but desperate people to better their lives. Do you get this ..... likely not. Kindly stay in Afghanistan as long as you like, Pakistan know how to protect its interest and country.
Mr. Assange is no Sunday School boy, but then neither are the subterranean skunks who played him: the Russians; Trump; and, yes, folks, some sharp players in Israel. I doubt that the world will ever know the full depth of all of this. Meanwhile, how convenient of our President to dump the man after Mr. Assange did Mr. Trump's dirty work.
6
I think Clinton lost the 2016 election because she was immensely dislikeable and media outlets like the Times said she was a 97% sure bet, so people didn't bother or threw away their votes on Trump. Assange just strikes me as a disturbed dude with low-normal intelligence who got in way, way over his head and has no coherent strategy behind anything he does, just like Bradley Manning
1
It’s Chelsea now.
1
@Ben L.
Actually Hilary Clinton was well liked among the American electorate and won 3 million more votes than our current president. She also had a long career as an attorney, First Lady, and Secretary of State speaking truth to power and helping catapult women's human rights around the world.
13
So, let me get this straight. You irritate a powerful American politician and expose happenings that would wind you up as the main course in a war crimes trial, assuming America didn’t act like a spoiled brat and call it exceptionalism, and you will be charged with trumped up charges be hounded into oblivion. Okay, got it. We live in an oligarchy. The powerful make all the rules and we go along or are made to disappear ─ literally or merely out of touch.
Thank God I live in a “free country” where a man can speak his mind and protest and politicians will actually listen. Oh, sorry, I was day-dreaming.
6
Wow. Julian Assange just lost 7 years of his life for nothing. He’ll be trading in one prison (embassy) for another, with time done in the former not discounted from his sentence.
4
Assange should not be judge, jury and executioner on what is secret and not secret.
8
The case has some very complex statute of limations issues.
See page 120 for the crimes alleged.
Folks, we got him.
3
Julian assange is not on the same level as Daniel Ellsberg ; neither is Chelsea Manning nor Edward Snowden . They are plain and simple spies who thrive on creating chaos the world over not for the good of all but rather for their own twisted reasons . To those that consider them heros , I say what good have they done thru their exposure , except set country against country . Has their exposures bettered the world , our Country ? Chelsea Manning rode high when all the media people were celebrating her with a cover and article on Vanity Fair trying to show how magnanimous they were towards the LGBT community ; Edward Snowden is still in Russia and probably still hacking for them , Julian Assange has finally been ejected from his spider hole looking unkempt , mad , and malicious . These are your heros ??? There is no honor in these men , (Chelsea Manning included) their so called journalistic intent highly suspect , hiding under the first amendment of our constitution . More like the witches over their cauldron stirring double bubble toil and trouble .
10
This could be painful for Mr Obama. As this prosecution moves forward and reveals the serious nature of Assange’s crimes, questions will be asked about what motivated Obama to grant clemency to the American citizen/military man (at that time) who betrayed this country by stealing the documents Assange published. If Manning only deserved 7 years, then what is the big deal with Assange—who already has spent 7 years effectively under house arrest?
2
You don’t get to hide out from prosecution and then count it towards your jail sentence. Imagine if you could!
2
Why do people keep saying Assange is a journalist.
1. If crimes are committed to gain content for distribution, that is not journalism.
2. His organization was once known for being impartial and letting its readers be judge of the content but has since become a conservative institution working with the right.
There are plenty of journalist who expose governments and corporations legally. Some of which are then murdered. Why can't we praise them properly?
We all know the US government is corrupt in some form like all other governments. To think otherwise is to consider the US a utopia realized.
Assange and Snowden are considered heros by many. They both broke the law and should face charges just like anyone else. Otherwise what is the point of having a justice system?
6
They also exposed law breaking by others. What does it mean if you break the law to expose the criminal acts of others.
2
@Mindfulness. Well said.
Thank you.
1
I have a hunch this will backfire. Assange, like Snowden, is a smart and articulate guy with a high profile. He may be a dollar short on moral compass but when has that ever stopped anyone? Be careful what you wish for.
3
If the knowing and willful distribution of stolen classified information isn't a crime, then it should be, just as distribution of stolen medical records is. There are, and must be, limits to free speech. Claims of special journalistic privilege should carry no weight.
3
Did our Democracy need a group like WikiLeaks to exploit our conscientious-America internationally any more than we did ourselves about our Iraq war mistake and blunder? Did any Democracy, fully capable of speaking against the ways of their governments, ever need Assange, let alone his collecting information on their government’s ‘illegally’?
Imagine, if Assange’s organization had instead exploited Russia for their consciously plotting to undermine American Democracy through Democratic Campaign organizations, member leaders and groups? Would Trump have even been the president, otherwise?
1
The notion that Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate ever for president is entirely specious. She served 1 1/3 terms as a Senator (2001-2009) and one term as Secretary of State. She held no other elected office. Her term as Senator was unremarkable and her term as Secretary of State produced no major successes and some key failures, most of all the destabilizing of North and West Africa due to the ill-planned toppling of Muammar Qaddafi. Her tenure as first Lady in Arkansas was accompanied by numerous scandals, some of them real; her advocacy of universal health care as her husband's surrogate made no traction in Congress; her association with big money Wall Street interests suggested corruption and certainly an unwillingness to take on entrenched interests; and her comments on the coming "super predators" supported mass incarceration. Better than Trump, yes, virtually anyone would be better than Trump. But the most qualified candidate ever? That is absurd.
10
@Josh
At least we wouldn't be paying more taxes now because big corporations and billionaires got tax cuts.
At least we wouldn't be paying millions in attorney fees and vacation weekends in Florida for this president.
At least we wouldn't have dealt with immigration in a compassionate and bipartisan way instead of total chaos and this president's "emergency declaration".
At least we wouldn't have spent the last 2 years watching Russians and this president's campaign associates being indicted for felonies.
At least we would have a more diverse cabinet in the White House.
At least we would have someone that actually cared about the American people and not just this president's rich billionaire corrupt friends
6
Why now, when the Mueller bomb is going to drop? When a new AG is starting an investigation of the genesis of the Mueller investigation? Now, because if Assange had the goods on Clinton, he likely has the same on Trump. This seems like a play to neutralize and isolate him.
1
“I love Wikileaks”! - Donald Trump 2016
“I don’t know what Wikileaks is. It’s not really my thing.” - Donald Trump, April 11, 2019
14
Assange exposed US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. For this he should not be punished. The persons responsible for the crimes should be punished.
12
We just heard from the President. Trump mentioned and praised Wikileaks 145 times in the last month of the 2016 election.
Today Trump tells the American people that he knows nothing about Wikileaks.
12
@John Adams
that is so funny! notice how dumb this president gets when it gets too close to his corrupt activities.
3
Nevertheless, I'm sure the current White House occupant still "(loves) WikiLeaks" for its important contribution to his capture of the Electoral College.
1
So how is it that the Mueller's investigation is already over when Julian Assange has just been caught? So how can Julian Assange make a Plea Deal with Mueller at this point? Seems pretty clear that Barr is conducting a cover-up!
3
>>> "So how can Julian Assange make a Plea Deal with Mueller at this point?"
Mueller's investigation has nothing to do with the charges against Assange.
1
I want the truth in all its ugliness. Assange is no hero because we now have a wanna-be-dictator-in-chief, but if there are facts that Americans need to know (even if it reveals the ugly side of people we think we like and trust) then sing like a free bird Mr. Assange.
2
We need more people like him to expose corrupt governments
13
The whole thing of him being pulled out of the embassy yelling looked very staged and phony to me...There will probably be some sort of deal cut, which will provide some more fodder for those following this story to chew on as snack...Nothing makes sense about this story, and I bet this latest chapter is just as phony...Wake up people...Nothing we are being told is true anymore...
2
The arrest of Julian Assange is an OUTRAGE! How will anyone ever be able to trust ANY country again when offered asylum, regardless of the reason for that asylum? Trust has been broken here. This is a dark day not only for Ecuador, but also for the UK, the US, and the free world!
11
@Mark Alexander
It may be dark day for Australia also if they don't protect Assange's legal rights.
4
@Greg Quite right! It is to be hoped that the Australian government will do the right thing. Don't hold your breath though.
2
Assange broke the terms of his asylum with aggressive behaviour. Ecuador asked the British police to come in. It was a request which is allowed under the Vienna convention.
He stayed there for seven years. He broke the rules. They have the right to throw him out.
2
Assange is on his way to witness protection. This is going to be interesting. Trump must be extremely agitated worried today. I suppose his first inclination will be to start tweeting away, denigrating Assange and trying to destroy his credibility. That would amusing to see because Assange hasn't said anything yet.
4
Barr will prosecute Assange for the Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning leaks. But that's all.
Don't expect him to prosecute Assange for his role in the Russian election meddling, even though WikiLeaks was the conduit for Hillary's E mails. Those actions benefited his boss. Barr was hired by Trump to whitewash Russian meddling, not to investigate it.
9
Just like Putin, Assange ‘counted-on’ Clinton’s opponents and critics among her own party ‘seeking out’ trumped-up accusations amidst the hundreds of emails they ‘both’ illegally obtained, published and exploited. Anybody, any group, or country willing to take the public illegal consequences can do that to a political candidate; there is no special brains that Assange shares with Putin, or that Putin shares with Assange. (However, we now know part of how Putin exploits opposition members in Russia.)
1
Well Julian you will now face justice for your crimes of dealing in stolen information. Personally I would like to see you locked up for the rest of your life but these charges wont grant such a long sentence.
6
Will Trump “fall in love” with this guy too?
7
Assange was in de facto house arrest for 7 years. That should qualify as time served.
4
I would hope Australia is going to assure Assange's rights and play a puppet on US strings.
As far as I know Assange only posted information that hackers provided him with. So what is the problem? Jail the hackers. There has been more harm done by the MSM with their fake “Russian collusion” narrative that was pushed 24/7 for two years while knowing there was no real evidence. Will anyone
be punished?
3
@MariaMagdalena Shouldn't we be jailing U.S. war criminals, starting from the top down?
3
Apparently the charge is he provided the tools that allowed Private Manning to retrieve the restricted info. Assuming the Feds can prove the connection, that abetting is a lot more serious than just publishing whatever someone threw over the digital transom.
"The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election interference did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and did not find that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia." "Did not find" is a very narrow phrase here. There's still every possibility (and substantial probability) that the facts documented in the report DO support the conclusion that collusion or coordination took place. Frankly, the report would have to ignore what's already known publicly for that not to follow.
3
This is the world's #1 self-righteous anarchist. But nobody benefits from anarchy. It's good he's going to jail.
13
Good. Obama was elected in a free and fair election. Assange had no right to overrule the former president and release national security secrets.
6
Assange did a courageous and moral thing, exposing the truth. If in the process, he broke a law, he should be punished with a $1 fine and jail time levied then annulled. In the mean time there needs to a law to protect whistleblowers.
15
@Greg Assange is a tool of the Russian Government; working to destabilize democracies around the World. Screaming "I am a Journalist" to protect himself from crimes. Where were all you concerned citizens when Khashoggi was killed? KGB uses Assange as their weapon of choice; very effectively. Low cost; maximum effectiveness with cultists around the World backing him. Ray Sipe
8
This would be a great point and valid moral opinion if not for the fact that Assange has repeatedly been accused (and escaped) charges of felonious behavior including rape. You are defending a noble institution but Assange does not represent that ideal. I find Assange to be a self-aggrandizing shady peddler of any classified or damaging information that can benefit his relationships with other power brokers. This man leaked classified information with operational intelligence in 2010 that exposed the identities of covert operators and may have cost American’s their lives. He is an amorphous creature deserving of prosecution.
6
@Ray Sipe
If exposing truth "destabilizes democracies around the world" then we are in a really bad situation.
To date I am unaware of the lies or deceptions that Assange may have promoted. I admit that maybe I missed a lot. Help me fill in the gaps. Thanks
3
Hand gestures courtesy of Roger Stone.
4
If we defend pornographic content under freedom of speech, then this jerk deserves defense too. The fact that press is often coopted by foreign powers or corporate powers is not new. Voice of America is an example as is Fox News or the Washington Post for that matter.
7
Can we put this on hold until after we get the full Mueller Report? Then we can begin to connect all the dots. Who's the bigger fish--Assange or Trumpty?
6
@Citizen 0809 Assange has always had a get out of jail card.
All he has to do is to admit his role in colluding with the Trump campaign.
5
The Times has a problem on its hands. How to appear sympathetic to the plight of a reporter with a universal conscience, while at the same time remaining true to its position as flagship in the US propaganda apparatus.
Conscience is always anti-authoritative for the simple reason that authority has no place for it, no use for it. Authority has armed police and jails.
How will The Times resolve its problem? By finessing both sides?
10
@James Rothenberg: Hear, hear!
5
@James Rothenberg
Julian Assange is not now and never has been a reporter or any sort of journalist.
2
He is no hero!....Lock him up and throw away the key!
6
I fail to comprehend how Julian Assange is a journalist. The dumping of documents is not journalism. It is simply that, the dumping of documents.
A journalist would have reviewed the documents and then written stories about them. Selective documents may have formed part of the story but not an entire dump of documents. This is nothing like the Pentagon Papers. The journalists at the Washington Post spent a lot of time reviewing those documents and writing numerous stories about them. They did not simply dump copies of all the Pentagon Papers on the street for anyone to see.
Julian's experiment with Wikileaks is its downfall. In today's world of computer hackers thousands and thousands of documents can be hacked given to Wikileaks and then posted on its website. This is exactly what happened during your last presidential election. Oddly enough only documents hacked from the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign ever made onto Wikileaks. Your intelligence agencies have already uncovered the reason why. Because Wikileaks has become a clearing house for documents hacked by the Russians.
At best Julian Assange and Wikileaks are dupes used by the Russians. At worst, and I suspect this is true, they are gladly working with the Russians.
20
@Trento Cloz
Further to what you've written, we know that even if Mr. Assange didn't present an analysis of the material he received, he did review it sufficiently to make a determination about whether it should be published. However, that determination was based not on an effort to help the public make informed decisions but rather on an intention to skew public opinion in favor of his personal agenda. That's not journalism and it doesn't serve democracy, no matter how much he might appear like David in the face of Goliath.
1
Like so many in history, Julian showed people the truth of their rulers and the people he hope to protect and inform have been manipulated, propagandized into thinking he is their enemy and now call for his head.
While the criminals that rule us, once again laugh at us all.
Truth is Hard(ly) found when the rulers control the press.
6
Should've holed up in the Comfort Inn Moscow. I've no sympathy for the dude, although I do pity his beard.
7
We give war criminals like Kissinger and Obama (or those who advocate war crimes like Liu Xiaobo) prestigious "Peace Prizes" and lavish them in money and praise. Those who expose war crimes are tortured and imprisoned for committing what actions the Supreme Court has ruled to be protected by the First Amendment.
This isn't a War on Terrorism it's a War on Truth.
6
Assange is neither a traitor nor a criminal (because he is not a US citizen). Nevertheless, I hope he will be extradited to the US and will be punished for harming the US interests.
4
Assange, like Snowden and the pardoned Manning, stands accused of revealing to citizens some of the crimes that their governments have committed in their names. Democracy, it appears, is as determined to punish such transgressions against power as any dictatorship or any totalitarian system is.
Hillary Clinton on Assange: "can't we just drone this guy?"
The final nail in the mythology coffin of a Free Press.
8
At last! Who can subpoena him on 2016 perfectly timed Wikileaks interventions?
I sure hope he has good protection, as some powerful people must be anxious he does not talk.
I am not so concerned for his person, he deserves all and more, but I would really appreciate that he finally rightfully leak what he knows and does not keep it a secret like all the bad governments he denounces. Come on Julian you want to look good, not another big mouth hypocrite.
1
And now Ecuador is stuck with Assange’s cat.
12
"The government also imposed other restrictions, limiting his visitors and requiring him to clean his bathroom and look after his cat."
As Benjamin Franklin observed "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days."
8
Assange released information that was from stolen documents and emails from the DNC, at the bidding of Putin, and it is thought with the assistance of Roger Stone, to advance the election of Trump who has openly said he likes Wikileaks. As Trump said one day "Russia if you are listening I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."
Assange was charged in 2010 with conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a US army intelligence analyst to illegally obtain secret US military and diplomatic documents.
Assange had a role in the American election which made a substantial impact to benefit the election of Trump. His leaks have been to the disadvantage of America and the world and furthered Russian objectives of diminishing the Western Alliances. How will the DOJ deal with him if and when he is extradited to the US?
4
>>> " His leaks have been to the disadvantage of America and the world . . ."
That's a pretty broad statement, in a paragraph that addresses the leaks of the Clinton emails. Do you really think that publishing those messages disadvantages our nation and the world, as opposed to, oh, let's say Clinton and her campaign?
And have you considered that it might be the contents of the messages that caused the damage?
Would you prefer that voters *not* know about, e.g., Hillary's "public and private" positions? How about her telling Goldman Sachs that she would like to secretly intervene in Syria? What understanding of democracy would permit you to prefer that those and many other secrets of a presidential candidate be kept secret?
2
Assange used his spotlight to selectively harm anything other than Putin's interests, including help elect Trump. But the blame for Nov 2016's results squarely lies with those who voted for Trump and those 100 million Americans who did not vote at all on Election Day. Assange and Putin could only affect the outcome because the margins were so very narrow, especially in the Midwest.
4
Difficult though it is for me to say it, at last the Trump administration has done something good. Assange has declared himself to be an enemy of the United States, and has acted in that capacity for a long time. it is incumbent upon the United States to defend itself from its enemies. and here we see what just about all of us have known, Assange worked in conspiracy with Bradley Manning, whose pardon was the worst decision President Obama made during his eight years in office -- and perhaps this is a new opportunity to return him to jail, where belongs. Hopefully we can soon bring Edward Snowden home to face justice.
Assange is no journalist. He selectively buys information and releases whatever fits his agenda. Assange's business is the nature of the internet age. That some of the stuff he released did some good is besides the point - a lot of which he released hurt others. Also "heroes" don't run and hide and annoy their hosts. He should look to Trump for a pardon since his shenanigans helped elect him - figure Assange will be waiting for a long time for that.
6
Yes, Assange did a service by exposing what the US was doing in Iraq. But with the turn he has taken in recent years, no one can legitimately call what he does journalism. Assange helped the Russians and helped unleash Trump on this country and the world by leaking the Democratic party's emails and biasing people. If he was a true journalist instead of being purely politically motivated, he would have leaked Trump's tax returns. That would have been equal exposure on both sides.
5
This is how Dems see Assange - since he harmed them in 2016, he deserves no sympathy, is this and that, you name it. The other people in similar line of business (Snowden, Manning) receive much more lenient treatment although they are actual leakers and Assange is the distributor.
And on top of that, Assange did publish truthful information, as far the elections. Leaking military secrets and details is, of course, a very different ballgame.
He should not be extradited but that is a legal matter in which it will be very hard for any other country to resist enormous pressure by USA.
2
For me Julian Assange is a hero. He is an independent investigative journalist, we can not take that away. The most relevant comparison - Bellingcat's activity right now that Russia seems like conspiracy. Hopefully, US prosecutor charges him with only one count (up tp 20 years in prison). Arguments that he was a tool in the russian hands are meaningless. Even Obama saw it and gave Chelsey a pass.
In the end, imagine US holding journalist in prison. Are we really another China?
4
@Rebecca
A journalist writes stories based on documents and interviews and after confirming the documents and interviews are credible. Please send me some of the stories he has written? All he does is selectively dump documents given to him by the Russians. You can thank Julian for Trump.
4
Julian Assange gave private information from corporations and governments to the public for free.
Mark Zuckerberg gave private information from the public to corporations and governments for money.
6
@Jane B.
And both Assange/Wikileaks and Zuckerberg/Facebook parked themselves next to Putin/Russia.
Julian Assange is "guilty" of having exposed "illegal wars, mass murder, murder of civilians and corruption on a grand scale by US administrations and their military forces." (Diane Abbott, MP, UK)
The quasi unanimous condemnation of Julian Assange expressed in the comments below demonstrates the remarkable and insidious efficiency of the American propaganda machine and the amnesia of the American public.
Assange is a courageous and brilliant journalist.
7
Some have commented that the indictment seems minimal. This is just the beginning.
My guess is that U.S. and British intelligence have intercepted and logged every conversation and keystroke Assange has made since he escaped into the Embassy years ago.
I suspect more indictments will drop in due time. The document that was unsealed accidentally by the court some time ago is a pretty good indication of that.
2
An important point for the many very confused commenters who argue that "Assange is not a journalist." Our Constitution does not protect "journalists," it protects "journalism."
The 1st Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press are not limited in their application to particular professions or occupations. Speech and publication are protected regardless of the identity of the speaker or publisher.
10
@Douglas Agreed. So strange to see many voices against recognising Julian Assange as journalist!
5
Ist doesn’t protect theft of private property, does it?
1
I'm not clear on how he was legally extracted from the Ecuadorean Embassy....?
2
@Jeffrey Gillespie
He refused to clean up his cat's litterbox. Staff had enough of 7 years house cleaning.
2
Equador took away his asylum protection. Therefore the British police were able to enter the embassy and arrest him.
1
@Jeffrey Gillespie, If the report I heard is correct, the Ecuadorians got sick of him and WikiLeaks, withdrew their offer of asylum, basically inviting the British police to come and arrest him on charges of skipping bail.
I am not going to take the time to tally up the the haters and supporters - I am at least glad to see that there are "some" who understand that the man is not a criminal. I am deeply ashamed of my country for their blatant political persecution of Julian Assange, and I am deeply dissapointed even in some of my friends, who despite generally sharing my political views, still hate Assange so much, that they could care less if he is persecuted. It should NEVER matter if someone is hated, or does something that bothers people, or aids a political foe, all should be equal under the law and the right to reveal the truth should be among our most cherished rights in a civil society.
14
He wasn’t charge with dissemination of information (legal even if the documents were obtained illegally), he was charged with hacking (not legal).
Regardless of the information he disseminated, he was involved in obtaining it illegally and should be held to account.
What we do with his information is another matter altogether.
8
He brought to the light of day war crimes of our government. Our history can be defined by acts of press freedom and press suppression. The same can be said about the right to vote.
7
@Moses. Assange has nothing to do with a free press. He hacked ( or helped to hack) into Gov computers and stole classified information.
Trump and his campaign received and used these emails knowing that they had been stolen from Hillary's campaign. He publicly asked for more of them. Why is that not receiving and using for his personal benefit stolen property. Is receiving and benefiting from stolen property no longer a crime?
9
@John
Gee, too bad Hillary didn’t delete more than those 33,000 emails about yoga and wedding plans and then bleach bit her hard drive, huh...
1
It's about time Assange has been arrested. Bring him back to the US where he will get justice for what he did.
6
@Greg -- The problem is that he won't "get justice." He'll get the outraged exercise of power and privilege by those whose lies and crimes were exposed.
3
Only one charge, conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, carrying a maximum penalty of just five years in prison? No espionage charge?
What, did his pal Trump tell federal prosecutors "He's a good guy"? Did he say he hoped they could "see their way clear" to letting Assange go?
One hopes that once Assange is extradited and in US custody, the next president will have the stomach for something more than a wrist-slap.
For now, at least we can enjoy the exquisite Schadenfreude of the most humiliating perp walk (make that "perp carry") in modern history.
5
The last sentence of this article sums up the entire moral vacuum that is Assange: apparently, he refuses to clean up his own bathroom, and even more despicably does not take care of his cat. Maybe I could let the bathroom slide; after all many teenagers the world over are not so good about maintaining bathroom hygiene. However, having a cat and not caring for it is a criminal act for which there can never be forgiveness.
9
A lot of black and white thinking here in the comments section. Assange arguably served truth and justice exposing war crimes, but that shouldn't accord him "Hero for Life" status and make him above the law. US intelligence apparently regards his operation as a Russian cut-out, and his labors for Putin contributed to the soiled 2016 US presidential election which gave us Trump. Nothing about Trump serves truth or justice. Let Assange answer for his actions.
4
@Beverly Brewster -- So this is about Trump?
Assange was a hero of Democrats, until their own lies were exposed.
6
This puts Trump in an awkward position: he now has to come up with an excuse to pardon Assange before Assange releases information on Trump.
7
Assange is a hero. He published the truth about misguided US policies that did more to harm the US than any revelation of "secrets" could do.
6
I smell Brexit. The UK is lonely and wants to strengthen her relationship with the US thus Assange is likely to be handed over soon.
1
The information that was leaked was important, very much so and Americans needed to know what our armed forces were doing overseas, as we are supposed to abide by international law. Some pretty horrible things were exposed and needed to be. That said, Julian Assange is an awful man. Like the coward he is, he holed up for seven years -- good grief, seven years -- in an embassy and then on top of it was a lousy guest. Meanwhile, the brave one, Chelsea Manning, faced the music and went to prison. I am glad she was released. Commuting Manning's sentence was probably one of the best things Obama did.
3
Assange revealed among other things that we murder (at least) tens of thousands of innocent people in a place where we have no business other than our selfish "national interests" (never specified). And HE'S the criminal???
This arrest also sets a dangerous precedent, namely, that one can no longer be guaranteed asylum or sanctuary; a government can get you whenever it wants, and for whatever reason. I hope you are all happy with that...
6
So Vegas should take odds on whether Assange will sing or cut a deal with Trump.
1
This situation shows how the spoiled state is the USA.
With democracy on banners and a knife behind your back.
Democracy for simple people, lawlessness and freedom for the rich.
8
What I never got nor still don’t is why Ecuador of all places would let this wanted outlaw Swede hide out there? What has Assange got on them?
2
>>> ". . . this wanted outlaw Swede . . ."
Where to start . . .?
1
@Douglas, I’ve got it! Ecuador is running an AirB&B out of its embassy. That makes perfect sense. Every nation should for all the world’s international outlaws to escape justice at home. There really should be an app for that. Same for instant money laundering in the Caymans. The right apps can render all laws obsolete, just ask Facebook.
1:08
So Assange was right all along. The UK is not going to send him to Sweden but to the US.
The US justice system is not worthy of the name. 5 years for help on breaking a password? How despicable.
6
Assange is the reason we have a treasonous criminal sitting in the White House, busy destroying what is left of our democracy. aka trump.
So I am not feeling a whole lot of sympathy at the moment.
6
Time to face the truth Assange.
6
There is a difference between releasing information, and hacking into Gov computers and stealing classified information.
9
I strongly dislike Assange and hope and am confident he will receive a fair trial.
Unlike what he and his Russian troll farm buddies would want us to think, America is a home for justice.
Assange should be thanking his lucky stars he's not being tried in a country like Russia, where he'd "mysteriously" end up shot or just disappeared.
6
Please stop calling Julian Assange a journalist. He, very publicly, labeled himself an "activist first" in the documentary "Page One: Inside the New York Times," and to his credit, I would agree that it is a much more accurate moniker.
Yes, journalists are driven by the desire to separate fact from fiction. But if Assange had been concerned with revealing the "truth" behind the American candidates for president in the 2016 election, no doubt he could've dug up a mountain of damning evidence about Trump--actually, his tax returns alone would've sufficed. That didn't happen.
He abides by his own "ethical" barometer, whereas real journalists must submit their work to the scrutiny of their industry peers and their readership. Dumping edited video on the internet is not journalism. For most journalists, coming across such a video would be just the beginning of a very long process of telling the story and examining its implications for a democratic society.
There's nothing fair-minded or remotely objective about what Assange does, and certainly nothing courageous about his actions. To suggest otherwise disrespects the sacrifices of real journalists who've lost their lives telling stories and defending their work in the field, under constant threat of violence. Rather, Assange is a coward, pontificating while safely tucked behind the walls of the Ecuadorean consulate--the latter country renowned for its imprisonment of journalists in its effort to suppress free speech.
9
How can one be a hero and a coward in the same breath? At the very least, Assange cancels out Assange.
1
I have noticed the "share information" like the Times has offered in the recent past. How is this significantly different than Wikileaks? Is it a set-up to entrap leakers or is it an attempt at journalism? Should someone leak the Mueller report, would you turn them in or publish a redacted version?
Again, should Assange be found guilty of any crime, all journalism in this country is then shackled by the national security state. Be careful what you wish for.
4
HE is the one who conspired with the Russians to subvert the election. Trump was just a greedy stooge.
If Assange is quickly expedited to the U.S., it could mean Manning is composing now. If he sits in a Brit jail for a year, it could mean s/her hasn't started composing yet, Mueller-style
Assange is a phony who hates the USA and all the Western democracies. He's shown time and time again that this "bold crusader" never takes up revealing information about his patron, Russia, nor China or any other dictatorships.
He HATES Hillary Clinton so much he didn't care that Trump is the epitome of everything he claims he is fighting. And he doesn't care about the damage he's done to the USA, to the global economy, to international relations. Ecuador really put itself out for him, and in return, he violated his agreements with them for sanctuary, and embarrassed them. He's the dog biting the hand the feeds him.
I hope he spends the rest of his life in jail.
10
A tale of two useful idiots. Assange was with either an unwitting dupe or active collaborator with Russia and Manning was too easily manipulated and encouraged by Assange.
This is not a freedom of the press issue. You don’t get to assist in stealing information and then claim it as a “scoop”! No journalist worth their salt would engage in that behavior or condone the misguided and naive notion that any and all information should be made public simply because someone handed it to you.
4
He helped bring fascism to America.
Lock him up.
7
Assange didn’t release the DNC & RNC hacks @ the same time thus ensuring Trump would win. Sorry guys zero sympathy here. He got Trump elected. Even Russia, who is screaming about Assange’s 1A Rights, knows it. Trump threw the entire world off- moving a lot of the world towards alt-right- most recently getting Israel’s PM re-elected. Roger Stone, Edward Snowden, & Bradley Manning must all be shaking in their boots. Assange has long feared coming here..... guess where his next stop will be? He’ll be lucky not to face the firing squad & if he doesn’t he can thank Ecuador for saving his life.... nobody negotiated to keep him out of isolation tho. Tonight I will sit down @ dinner & discuss this with my kids.
15
So glad we finally got him. A fair trial will bring out all the facts.
8
Julian Assange may not be a perfect human being, but he is being persecuted for telling the truth. No one--including the US Government--has ever successfully challenged this fact. He's done the world a favor by publishing what he has, and showing that the US Empire has no "clothes."
This is going to place the NY Times and the Washington Post in a bind: who do they support--journalism and the ability to expose lies and terrible actions (which they each do, every now and then), or the US Empire, which they both support?
And for those folks who see Russia behind everything Wikileaks has done, please seek empirical evidence of this before running your mouth. He's been the target of a vicious character assassination project--didn't take care of his cat????--and I'm quite confident many more lies will be told of him, just to distract people from what he did or did not do. Let's require empirical evidence--hard proof, not the usual "some intelligence agency said" baloney, or worse, something that Trump said or did--before forming opinions. And for newspaper editors, please adhere to the same standards when discussing Assange and/or Wikileaks.
And at least let's enjoy the irony: the arrest of a truth-teller, when one of the greatest liars in the world sits in the White House. Let's apply the same standards to Trump that his administration is trying to apply to Assange, and then we should all cry at Assange's persecution.
10
@Kim Scipes
His arrest does not constitute being persecuted for telling the truth. His arrest constitutes being prosecuted for breaking the law.
8
As I.F. Stone pointed out, “letting ‘confidential’ information leak out” is “the favorite Washington pastime. If this is a crime, all but a hopelessly inefficient minority of Washington officials and newspapermen ought to be put in jail.”
6
Super villains don't walk around in masks and costumes, throwing fire from their hands anymore. They live in human costumes looking just like us.
Some Red Flags:
They're terribly arrogant and often charming.
They abhor paying taxes. They get a demented thrill out of being worshipped.
They pick on women (even if they are a woman.)
They seem to have it in for children, teachers, the LGBTQ community, people who depend on health care and the environment, restaurant staff, and anyone who drives too slowly.
They yearn for positions of power.
Don't give it to them.
One More Super Villain Down: Julian Assange
7
Assange personifies one of the most vile traits gaining a foothold around the world. That of self-righteous assurance, the idea that the self knows what the problem is and how to solve it, and if these mere mortals would get out of my way the world would be better (“I, and I alone”).
The absolutists are left and right, young and old, educated and not educated, etc. Empathy is not apparent, and nuance is a dirty word.
The rise of this trait is breeding chaos.
12
Assange is a Russian asset who peddled stolen classified information to serve Russian interests. It's that simple.
17
Wish Assange would leak the Mueller investigation. Now that he is out of circulation, that's not going to happen. Maybe someone else will be a hero, like Daniel Ellsberg and make the Special Counsel's report public unredacted.
1
Seems straightforward to me. Assange clearly cherry-picked those he wanted to expose, leaving aside virtually all of the most brutal, repressive and undemocratic regimes around the world. The behavior of the US deserves scrutiny, and gets it, from its citizens, through the media, and in the check-and-balances of the three branches of government. My guess is that Assange is one of the many who have wholeheartedly bought into the old narrative that the US is the 'Great Satan,' when that is very far from the truth, even under Trump, who will be gone in 2-5 years.
14
A huge win for "obstruction of justice", in the sense one can never dare reveal the crimes of the Last Empire.
Those who are dancing on the grave of the "man who elected" Trump may suffer a change of tune should the leaker of the DNC hacks decide to step forward.
Indeed, given the bad odor around the Last Empire these days this whole game to get Assange may have unexpected consequence, EU wise and world wide.
4
Obviously, this is part of the FBIs attempts to oust Trump through a coup.
After all, his campaign was in touch with Assange, who was working with Putin, to ensure a fair and free election in the US.
Such a shame that this hero is so misunderstood.
1
He can't be repatriated back to the U.S. soon enough.
Julian Assange is no national hero. It's time for him to face the music.
9
@N. Smith
"Repatriated?" He is not nor has he been a US citizen. What you are supporting is international kidnapping by an aggressive power. Do you support the Saudis or the Russians for clamping down on uncomfortable truth-tellers. And yes, we do target and murder journalists -- as Assange helped reveal.
3
@Al M
"Repatriated" as in he should be sent back to the U.S. -- it's already a well known fact that he's an Aussie.
And NO. I don't support the Saudis or Russians for"clamping down on uncomfortable truth tellers" -- because they basically KILL THEM.
Big difference.
1
Assange is not an American and so would not be repatriated here. Neither is he being kidnapped. He is being extradited from the country where he resides to the country where the crime he is accused of was committed.
I'm fine with Assange and Wikileaks having released evidence of what could be construed as war crimes. I'm less fine with him releasing information intended to embarrass and disrupt the election when there is no evidence of anything either illegal or immoral, but that may say more about my politics than what is right or wrong.
4
Some comments treat Assange as a hero, someone who exposed the US government.
Assange is not searching for truth, he is all about supporting Putin’s version of the truth.
I personally think he’s a despicable man. His association with despots tells me more about who he is than anything he has said and done.
Let’s not forget that Ecuador gave Assange refuge and until recently Ecuador was governed by a Hugo Chavez puppet. Let’s not forget about the attempt to leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London and join Snowden in Putin’s Russia.
10
This narcissist as called by the British judge who sent him back to prison for bail violations, prided himself as a hacker, even proving to Bill Maher vis a live patch just before the elections that he can hack the comedian’s bank accounts. He also promised Maher that he will also leak GOP mails in the interest of fair play. Turns out that is just another Russian stooge — see Russian diplomats in the UK slinging words like “press freedom”’and “transparency.”
Now that this alleged serial rapist is suddenly in custody, he becomes a journalist.
Pray, where is your press card? Name one news report that you have researched, written, and published in a news journal?
It’s in the name. It’s WikiLeaks. Not WikiJourn.
All this alleged serial rapist can do is leak information gathered by Russia and other dubious sources.
8
Who paid for rent and upkeep during his six years of residence in the embassy?
3
Didn't Hillary Clinton do the same thing with her repeated willful violations of the Espionage Act? The laws of the United States have become a farce ..
3
@Bombastic
Those same things that Colin Powell before her, and Javanka after her did?
Sure.
@Bombastic
meaning what exactly? what are you talking about?
And why are you worrying about Hillary when we have trump the russian collaborator in the WH>
2
@Carla because no one deserves to be extradicted from foreign country on phony charges.
1
Is this the British Government doing the dirty work for the Trump Administration ?
3
So Trump will now boast about getting Assange. Obama got Bin Laden. Who caught the bigger fish?
Buddies with the murderous Putin (and apparently Roger Stone), a man without morals and a crook.
He should burn in Hell.
2
Assange has was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy for inerfering with the politics of soverign states. That seems to be the MO of wikileaks. It destroys his protections and credibility as a journalist.
My guess is that he never would have embarrassed the US had he approved of its leaders at the time.
1
Hard to picture the kind of leader he would approve of. He strikes me as a bit of an anarchist.
Wikileaks is a political tool that trashes the US. My country. This guy is not a hero or journalistic muckraker. A criminal rebel without a good cause.
8
What Snowden, Assange and Manning did was treason. And they should be held responsible for their criminal actions to the full extent of the law. No Country can survive traitors that have access to this information and are sworn to secrecy but release the most damaging secrets the Country has.
6
Assange hid out in an embassy for nearly 7 years.
I laugh at people that think he's a hero.
He's a coward and I hope his life is forever ruined.
And remember this gem of a request? "I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
That was the current President of the United States of America.
If you think there was no conspiracy between Russian agents and the Trump campaign, you are utterly delusional and dead wrong.
8
If I broke into someones house, stole multitudes of personal information from them, and proceeded to post it to the world and get away with it because it's "technically truthful information", then how would anyone be able to clarify a line in the sand when it comes to private information?
I'm not sure I understand how/why its okay for Snowden or Assange to do so but a catastrophic international violation when the Russians do so. Is there a double standard for releasing secretive information depending on my occupation? I should become a journalist or a computer programmer in that case...
Assange, absolutely, to a severe extent, violated international law of releasing secretive information to the public, even if that information was damning. Those calling for his freedom should better appreciate the law and order maintained via informational boundaries. I don't ask a nuclear physicist to see what a piece of raw plutonium looks like to the eye because it might be too dangerous to look at in-person.
4
In contravention of Vienna convention, a van leaving an embassy again is chilling. Clearly Sajid Bin Javid has learned much from MBS. The charges are bogus. Whistle blowers need to be protected especially in these times when we know that the power of governments, Big Tech is undermining liberty and individual freedom.
3
If documents or information is obtained illegally, then the
“end justifies the means” mentality goes out the window.
Rationalizing one’s illegal behavior while using other people as mere means to one’s ends is comparable to assuming two wrongs make a right.
Julian Assange and his pals are out to destroy this country rather than helping "Make America Great Again".
4
Mostly for good but sometimes for evil, the US Gov’t must be able to keep secrets. Those entrusted with those secrets sometimes decide to break their oath and place secrets on the way to public release. A question that ought to be asked before charges are bought is whether the publisher should be tried in addition to the oath breaker. Several administrations that could not be more different have said yes. So let’s have a trial and see what is what.
2
I doubt he’ll really face justice. Lawyers among readers here may have a more informed view. I can’t imagine Trump letting the guy who helped elect him, and whom he publicly asked to do so, take that hit—particularly with a pliant DOJ under Barr.
The indictment is a single count of conspiring to reveal classified information. Expect from Trump/Barr a lot of double talk about Hillary’s emails, Obama releasing Manning, etc. Then maybe a prisoner swap with Russia?
3
It’s about time. You want to play now it’s time to pay.
4
While Briton argues about all the ways it can and must and must not and might and might not and should and could and can't and will leave stay may but who knows what in relationship to the rest of Europe maybe it can show some courage and independence and God help us decency in standing up the United States and not comply with any extradition request.
4
Here is why Julian Assange is a hero to many on the left. Without him we would never have known that the Democratic Party is anything but democratic. We learned that from the start, Hillary Clinton, with the assistance of the party apparatchik, and the superdelegates, along with the editorial pages of this paper, completely rigged the Democratic Primary, to become the most unappealing candidate ever put forth by the party. To call her a viable liberal candidate when in fact her platform was actually to the right of Richard Nixon's 1968 platform is a joke of monstrous proportions. Her closeness to Wall Street was never going to be seen as a plus, and the very fact that most of the current candidates running are calling for the very things that Bernie Sanders called for last go round indicate more than anything she was behind the times, and living in a bubble, as she has for most of her life. Without Julian Assange and Wikileaks, we would have known none of this. Hillary Clinton is a corporate democrat, which translates to "republican" in many, maybe most progressive minds. And who would have thought that a new Red Scare would be initiated by the Democratic Party, 65 years after the shameful example of McCarthyism.
6
"The government also imposed other restrictions, limiting his visitors and requiring him to clean his bathroom and look after his cat."
Assange's supporters should expose this tactic for what it is. Say that the emperor is naked, and they will say your clothes are dirty; criticize the powerful, and they will call you crazy.
If someone opposes the world's most powerful government by publishing information about his doings, they will go after him in any way they can. In a totalitarian world order, psychology replaces political judgment or argument as the support of law, especially when the latter is used to secure the impunity of power. This means that even if they are not content to put him away as a crazy, portraying him as such in the media is an opportunity not to pass up. He looks disheveled and has been accused of maintaining an unclean bathroom. The character assassination commences.
The real issue is of course whether the US government can do anything it wants, untrammeled by public knowledge or scrutiny even among its own citizens. This is not the case in a republic with some measure of democracy; it is the case in societies with authoritarian governance operating under a broad and floating state of emergency as our has since 9/11, totalitarian societies of control. Note that Trump is not the cause of this, though he is one of its names, as it would have been little different under his opponent.
Anyone remember the idea of limited government?
3
We just keep hunting witches.
Sadly, this is a legacy not of Trump or the evangelical right or any other authoritarian bogeyman, but the democratic centrists: Obama, Clinton and the millions who can't contain their disappointment at their own failure to craft a meaningful narrative that supports their aspiration to rule.
Instead, Assange, who did the world an immeasurable service by, among other things, exposing the (more contemporary) atrocities committed by the US military, is vilified for his putative conspiracy with Putin (the witch in chief) and the damage he did to Ms. Clinton.
The opposition to authoritarian rule be it Trump or someone else, because there will be others. cannot coexist politically, intellectually or morally with the satisfaction and even glee expressed in these comments over Assange's arrest.
5
Who really knows who ultimately benefits from Julian Assange's WikiLeaks organisation ?
All I know is that I hope Great Britain pays greatly for its failure to respect the rule of law. Let us implore Emmanuel Macron and other true democrats to impose a hard, no-deal Brexit upon the United Kingdom IMMEDIATELY to teach the British a lesson in being blindingly slavish to their ultimate masters in Washington DC. This is a disgraceful episode in British history, as much as I do not believe that Assange is a benign character, either.
2
WikiLeaks is a state-sponsored tool of information warfare.
Like yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, surely there are limits as to what constitutes "journalism".
4
I am on record from day 1 that my money is on a Sanders Bro working for Clinton campaign, directly of via outsourcing, in an IT support role to be a source of the purloined emails.
To those in Collusiondia:
Trump admin did not pressure Ecuador and for extradition to implicate themselves, did they?
"Britain Acts on U.S. Warrant Against WikiLeaks Founder"
Bravo!!
Thanks Britain for once again having our backs.
7
So AG Barr is concerned about so-called "spying" on the Trump campaign (that is, surveillance of Carter Page, the guy with a number of connections to the Russian government) and IGNORES the Trump campaign's connections to Wikileaks which has committed actual treason against the US?!?
And Trump thought he no longer had to fear impeachment....
4
This Man saved us from Hillary, should be a National Hero. Trump should pardon him.
3
@MiguelM
Sorry, Miguel, the US isn't a banana republic where the chief executive is the law.
Whatever your political bent, the ends do not justify the means.
4
In this corrupt and money saturated world, Julian Assange is a hero without comparison. Every one of us entered that prison with Julian this morning, and we will all remain there until he is released because whatever they do to him, will be our fate as well.
6
@just say no
His Russia episode changed everything. Would you think Putin let him go without first making him his asset?
4
assange and wikileaks definitely work together with trump
3
I'd like to remind all you Democrats that Obama DoJ reviewed the Wikileaks 2010 releases and found no crime had been broken. The current DoJ disagrees.
Do you feel good about allying with Trump, Barr and his DoJ?
5
His alternative was what.. stay in the embassy the rest of his life?
I hope Mr. Assange gets a very warm welcome in a US penitentiary.
5
This is a sad day. "Liberals" who are cheering this as somehow a notch against Trump are fools.
5
Can you hear me now?
Hope he spends the rest of his life in the Leavenworth Embassy.
4
He should have emptied the cats' litter box. No wonder the Ecuadorian ambassador booted him.
2
Julian is no hero. And, he cannot hide behind any claim of journalistic free speech argument. WikiLeaks is not journalism. Imagine the outrage if the publisher of The Times were behind efforts to hack into the nation's most secure vault of national secrets and then published them. Like it or not, America has a long tradition and practice of a "need to know" basis.
For those who find that practice abhorrent, then pursue changing it legally. But, as the Chinese proverb states; "Be careful what you wish for......"
265
@Tom Q You have already decided he is guilty of this charge then? Without due process?
13
@Tom Q You mean releasing something like The Pentagon Papers is not journalism? They were essentially hacked, stolen from someone who didn't want them out there. The technology may differ, but it's all to the same purpose, exposing governmental chicanery and lies in time of war.
26
The legal basis for charging Assange for espionage is tenuous (1917 Espionage Act?), hence the limited scope of the single charge. If anything, we should be discussing changing laws to protect our nation against state-sponsored tools of information warfare.
How that can or should be done is a matter for serious debate.
8
Mr Assange created havoc with our elections and has put us all through misery. He must be extradited and made to face the charges against him , and bear the consequences of his actions. That is the universal law of karma.
6
I feel very uncomfortable with the revisionist journalism of calling Manning “she” when he was still living as a man. I think s/he would be much more appropriate.
4
If Julian Assange was really the Robin Hood of transparency that he pretended to be, instead of a preening Putinist lackey and hack, he would long ago have leaked Trump's tax returns. But he could redeem himself in the world's esteem in one fell swoop: leak the unredacted Mueller report. I'm not holding my breath.
5
>>> ". . . he would long ago have leaked Trump's tax returns."
Why do you imagine he has Trump's tax returns?
We have a lot of commenters, today, who can't be bothered with reality.
4
Julian Assange is a hero. He is a reporter of the inconvenient truths who exposed the unethical, evil actions and corruption of governments, politicians and their allies.
Sadly, there are those who preferred their personal favorite cause and politicians to be victorious regardless of their crimes.
So now they want to kill the messenger: Human nature never changes.
7
@nvr So conspiring to leak classified data in conjunction with the traitor Manning should have no consequences? Do tell us what inconvenient truths he exposed.
4
@nvr A reporter is objective. Assange was the furthest thing from being objective.
3
@Jackson
Just read the released emails and that will answer your question Jackson.
1
These activities remain unabated and flourishing
beware
1
Assange helped Trump and now will pay the price of being on the wrong side of history, probably with his life. Like Comey and Putin, he will discover that there was nothing to be gained by propping up a malignant narcissist like Trump. Unless, of course, the ultimate objective was the destruction of American democracy, in which case all three were highly successful.
3
Thought Trump “loves Wikileaks”. Maybe he’ll pardon Julian and make him his Campaign Chairperson.
2
The confusion on the left and right is due in part to the fact that behind the electoral charade American government is by and large unaccountable. The right thinks it's a shadowy liberal deep state; the left see corporate donors pulling strings. The culprit is systemic. Lacking a personal bad guy we can blame the mess on either side our sports-drunk minds decide to back. We embrace whistleblowers. This is our fascination with Assange. In a way, it's spot on. Calling him treasonous sounds ridiculous, as you can't be treasonous to a government out of control. But he may also not be all that heroic either. I support whistleblowers with the same enthusiasm (very little) I used to support the kid in school who threw spitballs when the mean teacher turned away. Any act of freedom. Anything.
@jim guerin Well, then I guess the government out of control was Obama's since Assange has sought refuge for seven years.
@Jackson Only if you think a system is controlled by whoever is President.
I'm so old I can remember when Donald Trump repeatedly cheered at 2016 campaign rallies "I love Wikileaks!".
5
In the beginning Assange was a hero who exposed wrong doings by the United States government but lo an behold all of that came crashing down when Assange decided to become a political partisan hack who gave the world Donald Trump. No way does Trump get elected without wiki leaks dumping Clinton/DNC emails and he targeted only the democrats because of his disdain for Hillary Clinton. I hope they lock this guy up for life along with all the other people who cheated America and gave the world Trump. Assange is every bit as guilty as Russia in the hacking of Americas electoral system and conning millions of people. I am extremely curious how Trump is going to handle the hack who is responsible for electing him. #sad
4
I see that Julian Assange is a hero, heroically releasing info that No Man Knew.
Really. You’re telling me that by the time Wikileaks went to town, No Man Knew that the invasion of Iraq was a bogus exercise resting on ginned-up “intelligence,” brought to us by Dick Cheney and the neocon Right? That tens of thousands of Iraquis were being killed for nothing, and worse than nothing? That the Mideast had been destabilized, precisely as another Bush told us it would be...back in 1991?
Nobody knew this?
And here’s another thing that gets under my saddle: Daniel Ellsberg.
Daniel Ellsberg did several things that Assange never got close to doing. For one thing, having spent time in Vietnam, he earned his knowledge and opposition at the risk of his own life.
For another, after the Papers came out...he didn’t run. He didn’t hide. He went to court. He stood up for what he did, and he argued his case for why he did it. And not from the basement of the Ecuadorian embassy while he was under a couple of rape indictments, and not from a plush hotel in Moscow.
Know what else he didn’t do? He didn’t use info that this country’s enemies got for him. He swiped it himself. And he didn’t hack into a political party’s mail, either.
Assange is a disgrace to everything the Left stands for.
4
Whether or not one cares for Assange - and I personally do not - digital technology has altered and enlarged the media's watchdog capacity. The likes of Wikileaks has made it possible for the public to know about expanded secret intelligence operations. Such activities have led to a massive expansion of government surveillance of the communications of American citizens. Using secrecy and its institutional incarnation - "national security" - to deceive people violates a key value of democracy which is a little something called openness.
Recall former national security adviser Clapper telling the Senate that the government collected no data of any kind on millions of Americans. A few months later, Snowden's leaks put Clapper's claim to the lie in confirming that the NSA routinely and without court order collected in bulk phone logs, emails. and online user data of citizens.
1
Can we not address the painfully obvious--right or wrong, hero or gadfly-criminal--Assange has been hiding out from these charges in the Ecuadorian embassy for seven years? Why? Those who say that Americans don't care about the truth should stifle themselves until the judicial process plays itself out. I'm sure that Assange will present a public and vigorous defense of his actions. Whether he succeeds in court remains to be seen.
2
Time to clean up all the tracks of an election that had no outside help. The Trump administration will let Assange sing like a bird. Yeah right.
Wikileaks should be called wi-kill-us-leaks.
They only published confidential documents of the US, that treat citizens reasonably rather than, say assassinate them. Wikileaks publishes NO documents from Russia, Iran, Turkey, Qatar or Saudi Arabia.
This is a right-wing man, running a right-wing organization. It has nothing to do with journalistic freedom.
5
At last, this guy is in custody. A major dupe of the lunatic 'Deep State' paranoids and a hacker icon who helped a traitor in the Defense Department to give out damaging information that could expose our informants and undercover agents across the Globe, who were helping the US fight terrorism and threats from bloody handed dictator governments like the Chinese Communists and Putin's poisoners and paid assassins.
And No, it was no coincidence that Assange was finally taken into custody only 3 weeks after Mueller's investigation was finally concluded-Our brave men and women in our nation's security agencies obviously have a long memory.
4
@Birddog Yes, he must be punished for revealing that, among other things, US helicopter air crews in Iraq machine gunned a civilian crowd, Such a bad man.
3
Conspiracy to commit hacking. What a joke. Everything is a conspiracy according to the U.S.
6
Oh man, so many conspiracy theories are being created again surrounding Trump. Who knew such blind hatred can exist? The motto is, if you dont like someone, just come up with endless theories regarding their guilt, create a witch hunt. This is only going to hurt the Democrats when NONE of the conspiracies will ever be proven true. Sad.
3
interesting that they could be making this up beings how they can make any false charge and make it look legit, just because he had info
Politics aside, looks like he was rescued from the Equadorean Embassy. Apparently they don't have proper bathing facilities, razors or reasonable standards of living.
2
@James
They were tired of caring for his cat....
1
An age old story: Idealism corrupted. Assange began as a crusader for truth. But his evangelism became perverted through zealous self aggrandizement.
6
He shouldn't worry, Trump is a fan. Trump will just pardon him.
2
Who really believes the Assange could get a fair trial in the US today? is there anyone who trusts the Justice department's reassurance of a maximum 5 year sentence? Who thinks that freedom of the press, the Constitution, or the rule of law mean anything to the Trump administration? Is it even thinkable that Assange could be tried and found innocent? The sad truth is that in the US today, only might makes right. And everybody knows it.
8
@Libero
The United States is a rogue state just like the United Kingdom is today. Both of them wallowed in the filth of iniquity in 2003 with the illegal invasion of sovereign Iraq.
Afterwards, anything is possible with these two countries.
4
Imagine if it were Russia extraditing Assange? We would have probably declared war on that country. The hypocrisy & double-standard of Americans is truly revolting.
3
@Michael Sorensen
Being a lawless state in which assassination is practiced as a form of political intimidation, Russia quite wisely does not have extradition treaties with either the United Kingdom or the United States.
Why now? Brexit? US/Brit trade 'deals'? Trump? It's always about 'Him'. One thing is fer shur: nuthin' is what it appears to be.
Recall that when Assange released the Afghan war documents in 2010, he failed to redact the names of Afghan informants, putting their lives in immediate jeopardy.
Even when asked to redact the names retroactively, he refused, making excuses. A Wikileaks spokesman claimed the volume of documents made it impossible ... to protect the lives of civilians.
Immediately afterward, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman said "We knew about the spies and people who collaborate with U.S. forces. We will investigate through our own secret service whether the people mentioned are really spies working for the U.S. If they are U.S. spies, then we know how to punish them."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_War_documents_leak#Informants_named
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/10/afghanistan-war-logs-wikileaks-human-rights-groups
Who cares about a few "little people" when you're on a mission to catapult yourself into fame and glory?
9
Assange is a mixed bag. Like Nixon, he started off on the right foot, and then lost his way as he got mired down in petty revenge.
Perhaps Assange will draw Judge Ellis - The one who gave Manafort a slap on the wrist, "Tsk, Tsk, Mr. Manafort! Now have a nice day!", will treat Mr. Assange like the meth user that went before his court, whom he gave 40 years to for being a "truly bad actor" - Not like poor, misunderstood Mr. Manafort.
That decision still makes me sick to my stomach.
4
He is charged with conspiring to hack into US Government computers. That is not journalism.
4
If the charge is that he helped hack into a US government computer, how is that NOT espionage? This is not a 1st Amendment issue. Freedom of speech relates to the release of the information, not its procurement. If the publishers did not engage in the original incursion, either directly or by proxy, then they're in the clear. This lesser charge seems to be a way to lighten the threat to Assange so that he won't flip under prosecutorial pressure. Yet more obstruction.
6
@Charlie
Charlie, it's not espionage because his motives were pure -- that is, to help the Russians elect Trump.
1
To my knowledge this indictment is the first time the Federal Government has deliberately targeted the Linux operating system through the use of disinformation. Linux is a general purpose operating system that does not contain any special code breaking tools. However, unlike Microsoft Windows and Apple OS-X, it is open source software, meaning that anyone can inspect their code for malware. Open source methods are used to discourage the incorporation of state-sponsored and other malware into the operating system and application programs.
The term 'disinformation' is warranted in this case because the indictment contains specific references to the Linux operating system that are not relevant to the charges. For this reason, its presence in the indictment can only be interpreted as a smear tactic.
According to the indictment:
"9. [...] Manning did not have administrative-level privileges, and used special software, namely a Linux operating system, to access the computer file and obtain the portion of the password provided to Assange."
"23. On or about March 2, 2010, Manning copied a Linux operating system to a CD, to allow Manning to access a United States Department of Defense computer file that was accessible only to users with administrative-level privileges."
4
"Linux is a general purpose operating system that does not contain any special code breaking tools."
The indictment is extremely vague on that point, because it doesn't identify the specific Linux distribution. However, password-testing tools are available for Linux distributions.
Anyway, it sounds like Manning used the Linux CD to boot a government computer, which would have made the password file on the computer accessible without root access.
Manning then delivered the password file to Assange, who attempted to crack passwords in the password file. See paragraph 25 of the indictment.
1
@CRG
Any information in the indictment that is not relevant (immaterial) to the charge was put there for a reason. Nothing written in that indictment is there by accident.
Mentioning the Linux operating system is tantamount to saying that Julian Assange drove a Ranger Rover to work that day. The only reason to include this type of information is to smear someone. In this case the Government can use duplicity and blame it all on the Grand Jury
W: "The only reason to include this type of information is to smear someone."
Unless you are an expert on federal criminal indictments, you need to cite a reliable legal source supporting that claim.
True and independent journalists everywhere should be standing up for him. Sadly. too many are captured by the entrenched power elite.
8
@Munda Squire
Assange and Wikileaks are about as related to journalism as Russia Times (RT) is.
5
Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were and maybe still are significant Trump and Russian assets. A fuller description of Assange's links to Russia and the Trump organizations and presidency that could come from Assange’s interrogation by an FBI doing its job could open up a whole of line of new problems for Trump either in or out of office. So, for Assange, if he was ever going to have to face retribution for his crimes against the United States or our citizens (e.g., Clinton campaign members), with Trump facing the possibility of defeat in 2020 and the accompanying reduced probability of a Trump-allowed light or forgiven sentence, now would be the time arrange for his arrest with whatever covering story, perhaps a dirty cat litter box, he and the Ecuadorians could concoct.
Thus, there’s a reasonable probability that Assange will, at some time before Trump leaves office, be extradited to the U.S., stand trial and be given a “manageable” sentence or, that lacking, receive a commutation or reduced sentence by Trump before he leaves office. Should that occur, Trump, being the specialist in contorted rationalizations, could be expected to present one of his best efforts.
4
@Max from MassAre you sing that Trump would have preferred to not have assange apprehended at this time?
Interesting.
I normally avoid expressions of satisfaction in someone’s downfall but in this case I will make an exception.
10
The Brits won't extradite Assange to a country where he could face the death penalty.
U.S. prosecutors should remove that possibility from the Assange prosecution.
The U.S. and Brits should then expeditiously send Assange to the U.S. to face trial. If the facts and law are on his side he could be a free man.
But encouraging and assisting someone to hack and steal classified materials is a very serious matter.
Let's let the courts sift this out.
2
There is a difference between putting out the truth in order to inform and putting out the truth in in a biased manner to fulfill a personal agenda. Assange crossed the line.
9
People keep conflating the series of hacks motivated by WikiLeaks with other news worthy revelations of classified material, such is the Pentagon Papers. Unlike the Pentagon Papers situation, Snowden and Manning made massive dumps of highly sensitive material available to global actors of a highly suspicious nature. It is reasonable to argue that some of this information placed the US at direct risk. We were all asked to rely on the so-called “integrity” of WikiLeaks not to release massive amounts of extremely sensitive material that went far beyond merely demonstrating perceived government malfeasance. Who actually got their hands on sensitive data that publications like the Times redacted for purposes of national security, we may never know. If you are going to steal classified information for some alleged greater purpose, then you also need to be prepared to face and defend the consequences of your actions. Hiding in embassies or cowering in a Putin provided hotel room doesn’t bode well for your personal integrity. When your actions place Americans in direct peril, you also may be risking a future Supreme Court overturning some of the important press protections solidified by the earlier Pentagon Papers rulings.
7
The timing is a tad odd. I suspect Assange has worked out a deal to be tried in the U.S. and offer testimony about the trump campaign in return for immunity.
@Mjxs
The US put pressure on their lap dogs in London in order to accelerate hard no deal Brexit proceedings on the part of justifiably outraged Europeans.
I suspect he is just one more bitter, pompous middle aged man that wore out his welcome. The Ecuadoreans are tired of him and the British are tired of him. Both are happy to send him off to the US for trial. If guilty, he goes into a cage with other criminals for five years. If not, he can wander the earth. Very quickly people will forget who he was. He will be a nobody. That seems a fitting fate for this person.
1
I initially considered Assange a hero, after he released documents about US abuses. After he helped Trump win, I stopped supporting him.
6
Me, too.
1
this was long overdue..and what about the assault accusations?
Honor and decency? I am still looking..
The Hollywood escape in the laundry cart never materialized, perhaps because the might of a state was not behind this man of ideas, who delivered the ugly truth about ourselves. Separate the value of the ideas from the arrogance and other shortcomings of the man; set aside criticism welling from envy for his intellectual gifts; recollect the forces behind the election of Trump, including our Values and where education ranks; consider that the people entrusted with the reins, pulling the strings, machinating behind closed doors are there with a step up, and wear the mask of diplomacy while flaunting democracy with their secrets, diminishing our privacy; the contempt with which the weak are treated by the officious, the Government. Then, one begins to question the rough treatment of Assange at the doors of that Embassy, to see it symbolically, to wish perhaps to watch and wonder at the likes of Assange and to wish him to be Free.
2
Consider the messenger shot. Assange didn't generate the information he passed along.
I anxiously await the stampede of journalists who will, by their silence or otherwise, offer up the soul of their profession as a political sacrifice.
10
It looks as though he is losing his grip on reality. I am not being coy, he just doesn't look well and seems to be coming unhinged. Maybe that is why this action is being taken. It will be interesting to see what happens. Anyone takes risks who exposes the truth. But I always wondered about the rape allegations. I guess the truth about him will come out also.
2
I fear for Julian Assange's life. I hope the U.S does not torture or disappear him.
7
The comments here are often sad commentary on why the US can't have nice things, still the Russia conspiracy, Assange as a jerk, this seems to Trump press freedom and a healthy skepticism towards government
2
The journalism profession refuses to defend Assange's rights as a colleague, becoming complicit in his hounding. See James C. Goodale, once this paper's General Counsel, Harper's April 11.
Then, the US cracks the whip, and Ecuador and Britain act like clients.
Thus, they join Sweden, former transit point for 9/11 Black Sites, which dogged Assange for a humbug rape charge for seven years, beginning in 2010.
The charge involved the morning sexual penetration of two sleeping women who had cavorted with him most of the night. It is an immense stretch to think this calls for rape charges instead of a simple "hey, don't do that again." Doesn't Swedish law have better things to do?
One suspects that this atypical behavior by a paragon-state reflects US string-pulling.
The Swedish charges drove him to Britain, and then were dropped.
Recalling the ignominy of its providing WMD lies to the US for the Iraq War, Britain arrested Assange. When the latter managed to secure refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy, London staked him out.
Now, the new president of Ecuador has revoked asylum for Assange, and even submitted his country to the shame of allowing British police onto its sovereign territory to arrest him. It might have just thrown him out the door, back into Britain.
What changed Ecuador's mind? Well, last June US Veep Pence and President Moreno agreed to be friendlier, and Ecuador then purchased a big load of heavy weapons, plus setting up CIA-type joint operations.
9
Sad day.
At least what he published will now be legal record.
Just hoping legal cases are opened on the Obama administration for the crimes he reported.
Sad day. We should all wear duct tape in the shape of a cross in our mouths, freedom of press and freedom of speech have been deleted today.
6
"The [Ecuadorean] government also imposed other restrictions, limiting his visitors and requiring him to clean his bathroom and look after his cat."
Once again, Assange's narcissism comes shining through.
3
We ll one thing for sure if he didn't work for Russia he would be
glowing radioactive material by now.
1
Photo does not look like the Assange they keep showing on TV. Has he gained that much weight & lost his hair? Really?
Hope he spills the beans on Roger Stone & trump.
2
It's about time. What an odious human being.
2
After throwing Chelsea Manning under the bus you still call this egomaniac a hero. The poor kid got 35 years for him. He felt sorry.
2
While Assange is certainly no saint I think our country needs to focus on the assault by Trump and his mob on our system of government. I think Assange needs to be brought to justice. I think compared to an Attorney General who is acting as Donald Trump's personal lawyer with no apparent regard for the rule of law that Assange is a small fish.
15
@Javaforce Just because MegaDon is "HUGE", doesn't mean that Assnge isn't a shark worth going after.
2
Hopefully, Democratic Congressional Chairmen will subpoena him to give testimony under oath about Roger Stone, Trump campaign officials, Russian sources, Russian cyberwarfare, Guccifer, the Steele dosier, and the 2016 election. and whether "collusion" or "conspiracy" occurred and who "Individual One" might be.
Act quickly before Donald Trump makes a deal and gives a pardon.
12
Julian Assange feels a moral compunction to "disrupt democracies", but feels no similar compunction when it comes to autocracies or kleptocracies? Trump is sure to pardon him. They share the same philosophy.
10
Trump’s bringing Assange to the US so he can get his help in 2020. You have to assume that all of the Democrats running are being subject to coordinated attacks.
It’s a forgone conclusion that Republicans will do whatever it takes to win in 2020 and beyond. The all white Southern fried GOP sees a diverse country on the horizons and it terrifies them to the bone. While the party professes loyalty to the Constitution, in the end all it cares about is maintaining white supremacy.
7
If he couldn’t look after his cat then I’d say ousting him was definitely in order.
I’ll bet that was the proverbial straw. Ever lived with someone who didn’t keep the litter box clean?
7
If Julian Assange is guilty of heinous crimes against the state, let’s put George W. Bush and Tony Blair on trial with him and then compare relative guilt. Assange reported, whether or not the Russians egged him on, on the vile atrocity of the Iraq war, based on mendacious claims of weapons of mass destruction. For his alleged omissions, Assange was accused of sexual assault. Tony Blair, co-conspirator with Bush in a murderous plot, in a derisive slap to humanity, was appointed as Middle East peace envoy to the EU in a direct demonstration of how fragile are democracy and moral rectitude.
While I am not a particular advocate of Assange - I see him as another actor in a loathsome farce that modern polity has become - his work is of vital importance to revealing what the rest of us need to know about who governs us and how we are governed. He revealed that democracy is subject to facile manipulation and is infinitely manipulative in cynical hands.
His show trial should be a spectacle. How much evidence has he retained for such a day? The British and Americans are caught in a bind: now, they are forced to prosecute someone who could prosecute them right back.
8
Interesting that Assange is taken down the day that the New York Times launches its series on pros and cons of privacy.
I don't know if his leaks of diplomats' e-mails and U.S. actions in the Middle East were a good or bad thing, given that I don't know their content. But if the leaks stopped unnecessary collateral damage or torture, I would think that laudable. If they were embarrassing, they must be judged case by case, to determine injury to the authors' careers.
The leaks did not reveal and demolish crucial military strategy against ISIS or Al Kaida, as he's not being charged with treason or espionage, just hacking.
Using hacked information to take down a presidential candidate who he didn't like, that's another story, mostly because of the enormous amount of material and the huge amount of press attention given to it. Assange's leaks about Hillary Clinton further damaged her already questionable credibility, and led to Trump's famous "lock her up" chant.
That one man, with the aid of other hackers and the press, could take out a presidential candidate with leaked private information, deemed not to be a security threat, concentrates too much power in one person, or in one data set.
Hacking and data collection will continue. The law must catch up, to block and penalize unauthorized dissemination of innocuous personal information, with exceptions for hackers who reveal U.S. government lawbreaking or other heinous crimes.
4
Maybe when Sarah Huckabee-Sanders wears out her welcome in his administration, DT could appoint Assange WH Spokesperson in recognition for helping him win the election.
4
"The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election meddling did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and found no evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia."
We don't know that. We only know that Wm. Barr SAYS there was no evidence the Trump team colluded with the Russian *govt* (without specifically addressing collusion with Russians having direct links to Putin), an assertion that has apparently been challenged by members of Mueller's team.
5
@Jomo No evidence? We know that there's plenty of circumstantial evidence, which will become apparent when the results of the investigation are released. Apparently, however, not enough to indict a "sitting President."
This is a single charge. The ACLU, plus every great lawyer in America who wants a name for himself, will be fighting to be an associate in this case. Julian Assange already has attorneys with brilliant minds defending him.
Additionally, regardless of what you think Mr. Assange may or may not have done, including any and all consequences and/or collateral damage) of his actions, he told the truth.
Please know "the truth" instills fear in many a politician in Washington, DC.
6
Two days ago, I saw a Facebook post suggesting that hopefully Wikileaks will publish the Mueller report. This arrest after all these years is very timely and suspicious.
3
The Assange case doesn't fall into the simplistic binary hero or traitor argument. His exposure of the lies being told about the Iraq War, regardless of the tactics used to do it, allowed the world to have a more accurate version of how and why we got into that mess. At the time I viewed this as a painful but brave act of journalism. His subsequent journey into using his digital platform for rabid partisan attack ruined his journalistic cred and his connection to Putin and his slavish defense of this tyrant ended any admiration I held for him.
8
@KJ Peters Will somebody please explain how a foreign national can be a traitor to our country.
4
@Antoine
I never claimed that he was a traitor. Whatever good he did by exposing the fraud of the Iraq war he has ruined,IMHO, his reputation with his defense of Putin and his part in the hack of the DNC.
Assange is not a journalist. Real journalists do not just dump information to suit their own agendas. They vet it, put it in context, and make sure their sources are protected. They don't recklessly use innocent people collateral damage to suit their enormous egos. Remember when he doxed millions of ordinary Turkish citizens by releasing the Erdogan emails? Even Greenwald and Snowden criticized him for endangering innocent lives. If you read what his former employees have to say, Assange is very like Trump: a misogynistic, malignant narcissist who loves to play the victim and thrives on attention and chaos. A darling of the left, he is now a shill for the right--siding with Trump, the neofaschist National Front, and people like Milo Yiannopolous. The pro-Assange comments here read like they were written 20 years ago by people who have him enshrined and refuse to see what he's become. I guess it's much easier to see him as a hero, a speaker of truth to power, and a great champion of "the press" than to look at the present-day man. But to see his actions as admirable or anything but flawed is naive at best, cult-like at worst.
19
@ajbown Good to contrast Assange and Snowden. Assange may not be a "journalist," but he certainly is a whistle blower. Snowden, on the other hand, is certainly a "traitor."
The US is on a tear demanding extradition of political enemies. Canada was muscled into arresting a Hauwei executive in transit through a Canadian airport (she is still in custody awaiting extradition hearing), sparking an ongoing international incident between China and Canada; now the UK has acceded to US pressure to extradite Assange. This is not OK, but redolent of Stalinism or McCarthyism -- the absolute antithesis of rule of law and natural justice. It also smacks of old style imperialist assertions of extra-territoriality. Assange is his own worst enemy. Arrogant, nasty, entitled, misogynist, but he also was the vector for release of information critical to the free operation of the free world. It's for that the US administration wants to punish him. And that needs to be resisted, just as the Canadian courts hopefully will rule the extradition of Chinese business executives to America is wholly and solely politically motivated. US lawlessness must be halted, at least outside of its own borders.
4
@Cephalus
"now the UK has acceded to US pressure to extradite Assange."
No such thing has happened (yet).
Assange has been arrested on a charge of breaking a British law.
4
@Cephalus For the most part I agree with you. But like Donald Trump you are very good at name calling. And I don't think Pamela Anderson thinks he was a "misogynist." Is Assange another victim of the #me too" movement.
2
@Cephalus
The US is a massive bloc of self-righteous hypocrisy. It is now like the old Soviet Union, only capable of brute force to exert any kind of influence in foreign affairs today.
2
It's about time he got arrested. Living under the blanket of democracy and freedom and yet helped disrupting the democratic election in the most disgusting and illegal way.
Indeed, some dirty deeds need to be exposed. However, while exposing dark side in free countries why not go after the dictators in countries like Russia, China and North Korea. Digging up dirt in a free country is very easy because you are FREE TO DO ANYTHING until you get caught.
To those supporters of Assange, I would suggest them to go to those three countries mentioned above and voice support for the jailed dissidents.
10
@HT Assange was attacking the abject hypocrisy of our "democracy."
4
@Antoine I can't deny your statement but if anyone wants to do it, make it a fair game, i.e. expose everything or nothing.
The principal charge the US should bring against Mr. Assange isn't the Manning case. Assange should be charged with conspiring with Russia as a de facto Russian agent in order to undermine our democratic elections, on behalf of Mr. Trump. The treasonous Trump and his rightwing Republican bootlickers like Mr. Pompeo will never bring that charge, just as they will never adequately take on the challenge of protecting our elections from ongoing and future Russian interference presumably once again on Trump's behalf. In light of that, it is laughable that some folks still claim Assange is a journalist. It was almost possible to make that argument in the past (despite Assange never publishing Russia or China leaks), but making that argument now is an intellectual embarrassment. Mr. Sanders--it isn't irrelevant that Russia also aimed to help him--is still among those making this silly claim.
5
Are we really going to have people posting again that Hillary lost because of Assange and Russia? She had a huge war chest, the DNC rigging the primary and sympathetic members of the media feeding her questions and responses.
How soon people forger the corruption at the DNC and the shenanigans of hacking tied to Wasserman Schultz and her Pakistani pals. Hillary lost because she was incompetent, corrupt and not the lesser of two evils. She just got beat at a corrupt game she willingly participated in. If the truth is really revealed, both parties were colluding with foreign agents and compromising security.
7
I think the Guardian's opinion piece is worth sharing: https://tinyurl.com/y2qrhkun
The last paragraph:
From first to last, the Assange case is a morally tangled web. He believes in publishing things that should not always be published – this has long been a difficult divide between the Guardian and him. But he has also shone a light on things that should never have been hidden. When he first entered the Ecuadorian embassy he was trying to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape and molestation. That was wrong. But those cases have now been closed. He still faces the English courts for skipping bail. If he leaves the embassy, and is arrested, he should answer for that, perhaps in ways that might result in deportation to his own country, Australia. Nothing about this is easy, least of all Mr Assange himself. But when the call comes from Washington, it requires a firm and principled no. It would neither be safe nor right for the UK to extradite Mr Assange to Mr Trump’s America.
6
Hacked a computer and exposed crimes and corruption?
He should get a reward!
4
For the love of all things good could you please release Trump's tax returns for about 20 years?
6
Wanzhou Meng in Vancouver last december. Now Assange in London. America has so many foes i wonder what could possibly go wrong in the most efficient idiocracy where the top paid public servants in 37 states are sport coachs.
4
I have no sympathy for Assange. Had he learned from Ghandi's civil disobedience and stood firm, there is no question Assange would be an international folk hero. Instead he is a coward who hid in a basement and curated leaks to suit his own interests.
5
How fascinating to see all the commentators on this thread who claim to support the work done by Daniel Ellsberg in making public the secret documents of those who rule the United States (as far as I know, Mr Ellsberg didn't release anything about the Soviet leaders), but who in no uncertain terms condemn Mr Assange's actions in doing the same. In doing so, they conveniently ignore Mr Ellsberg's own views on Mr Assange and his organisation, as expressed less than a week ago in this video clip : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PenS3lfJ9gY ....
All whistleblowers are equal, but some are more equal than others ?....
Henri
3
As far as I know there is no obligation by a reporter to have an equal quota on releasing information about countries. Anti Assange people keep saying he only releases secret information about the U.S., and not Russia.
As though he should on Monday release 10 secrets about the U.S. and Tuesday release 10 secrets about Russia. And since he doesn’t do that he is an enemy of the U.S.
Well, maybe all the good stuff he has is just about the U.S.
And Chelsea Manning is now sitting in federal prison because she won’t help the U.S. prosecute Assange. What a disgrace.
1
In practice, its not actually illegal to publish leaks, as long as you didn't do or participate in, the hacking yourself. The NYTimes does it all the time.
The difference here is that Wikileaks published the derogatory characterizations of other world leaders made by the Washington elite. And you embarrass that elite at your own risk. Laws no longer apply.
5
@dsbarclay This might be a good time to examine the legal aspects and definitions of" hacking."
He doesn't clean his bathroom or look after his cat. He's a libertarian/anarchist. All he needed was a part-time job delivering pizza to fit the profile of everybody's worst ever housemate.
4
"The government also imposed other restrictions, limiting his visitors and requiring him to clean his bathroom and look after his cat."
My mentor in grad school is the most wise person I have known in my 50 years, and I consider myself wise only in that I could recognize it in him, otherwise I'm a dolt by comparison.
He said: "You can tell everything you need to know about a person by looking into their car."
1
I am sure Donald will take all the credit for it even though during his campaign he claimed how he loved him and his organization Birds of a feather seem to flock together I guess
The only thing worse than the political persecution of Assange for practicing journalism and free speech are the reactionary attacks and criticisms of Assange in these comments by good liberals and bitter Clinton Democrats.
Unbelievably short sighted and twisted.
Was Assange a Russian propagandist back in 2010 when he revealed US murders and war crimes?
2
Russia, if you're listening, it's time to throw Donald Trump under the bus (metaphorically speaking).
Julian Assange will flip (probably sooner, rather than later).
Russia can help itself now by turning on Trump and attempting to distance itself from Assange and Trump. Trump is becoming less and less useful to Russia as its most famous idiot.
What was Assange's role in communications between Trump and Russia? We're about to find out.
Did he receive Hillary's emails from Russia, then leak them at Trump's direction?
What else did he do, what else does he know, what other documents , recordings, emails, texts, photos, video recordings does he possess and would he release them preemptively to the public just to make a bigger splash?
He seems like that kind of person.
More trouble for Trump and his accomplices.
@S Butler Trump is useful to Russia because he is destroying American democracy.
I hope you enjoyed your vacation in the embassy. Now you'll have something to compare to it in our Supermax. Have a great day!
2
Hillary supporters love blaming everyone else but Hillary
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Good lord people, according to the photos, they've arrested the wrong man. Free David Letterman now!!!
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He is a hacker not a journalist.
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@Robert When I was in journalism school many years ago I was told to learn to read upside down when standing across from someone's desk. Was this a form of "hacking"?
1
Americans can expect rapid losses of civil liberties, more surveillance...fascism rising still.
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The sentence in this story - "The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election meddling did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and found no evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia" - cannot be verified at this time. All we have is the AG's letter attesting that there was no coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Collusion is a different matter. Moreover, it is very premature to say categorically that no evidence of collusion was found. The Times should revise this sentence to reflect what is publicly known about the special counsel's report, as of April 11.
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Assange is as much a journalist as David Pecker. Or Rupert Murdoch. Or Bannon/Breitbart. All should be arrested for conspiracy; all run political operation and are fronts for active measures, propaganda, not journalism.
16
Let me just add something to this complex situation. Assange is a libertarian at heart. He hates regulations and rules and this may be his downfall but WikiLeaks as a concept was just. Apart from Chelsea Manning and Snowden that get attention from some quarters. I want you all to do a search "WkikiLeaks financial scandals.". Look at the number of hits. To those of who are skeptical of corporate cronyism and the 1% consolidating their power at times through national intelligence agencies( Boeing being an example, African despots being another) as well as to news media both left and right WikiLeaks is a good idea. It just needs a good redactor when it comes to collateral damage on innocents.
6
His eviction from the Ecuadorian Embasy was inevitable and it's surprising that Ecuador could resist U.S. pressure to do so so long. The question now is extradition which will be another big headache for PM Mays. And very problematic given that British public opinion will be overwhelmingly sympathetic to Assange.
And even if he is finally extradited, Obama's pardon of Ms. Manning plus the precedent of the Pentagon Papers case may make it difficult for the government to convict him. Or would if we had a law-abiding Supreme Court, which, unfortunately, we do not have.
3
"In December 2017, Ecuador gave Mr. Assange citizenship, and was preparing to appoint him to a diplomatic post in Russia, but the British government made clear that if he left the embassy, he would not have diplomatic immunity."
If there is a "hero" in this story, it's the British government. I shudder to think of the damage Assange could have done if his diplomatic post in Russia had been approved.
There is something terrifying and creepy about this person. He has loyalty only to himself. PERIOD. Anyone who lives by the code, “curious eyes never run dry in my experience" is meant to do the most harm - regardless of the person or country targeted.
His apparent need for glory, power and control is the flip side of the trumpery ruble.
11
Assange stopped being a hero when he decided to help elect Trump, and, make no mistake, that was exactly his intention. It had nothing to do with truth-telling, but rather his hatred of and contempt for Hillary Clinton.
He'll get to see how much better his candidate will treat him.
13
Imagine if WikiLeaks existed in the 1960's. We would know the assassination of John F. Kennedy wasn't by a lone mad man. The Kennedy files would no longer be under lock and key. We would know why Bobby Kennedy was with Marilyn Monroe on the day of her death. WikiLeaks could of possibly prevented the assassination of the beloved Martin Luther King...
Maybe I'm a dreamer but freedom only exists in a society where truth and transparency of government is kept in check by its people.
13
There is something seriously wrong with a system of government that can be so easily brought to peril by one random guy with a computer. Anybody else disturbed by this? I mean really, this guy? And we have Trump? Now we have kakistocracy? It was that simple? This was like shooting Galapagos Turtles, our government simply could not move fast enough to avoid destruction. This is off the rails folks. Where are the sharp knives in our drawer?
6
>>> "There is something seriously wrong with a system of government that can be so easily brought to peril by one random guy with a computer."
There is no evidence -- none -- that Julian Assange "imperiled" our system of government.
And just for your information, WikiLeaks is nothing like "one random guy with a computer" -- which, given your apparent views, should probably terrify you.
1
@Douglas Trump is president and yes it does.
I don't think Assange is a journalist. He was the 'CEO' of Wikileaks.
He published 'stolen' documents online. There was no journalism there. While we can argue the value of doing such a thing where some good transparency and some damaging facts (such as putting someone's life in danger) can both be simultaneously correct.
The problem is that Assange went from being the 'CEO' of Wikileaks supporting its mission statement and turned into a very partisan and selective editor for pay of documents only he wanted to release for HIS agenda.
The other problem with Assange is that he actively sought to hole up in the embassy because he wanted to avoid a possible rape indictment. It has always looked like he was so afraid that the charge of rape would be found true and provable in a Swedish court. Come on, who does this?
No Assange has allowed his personality and personal fears and prejudices to warp whatever greater good he originally intended for Wikileaks. And it looks like being self exiled in an embassy has not done him any good.
7
@Elizabeth — Fortunately, you don't get to define journalism. And Wikileaks is, by any legal definition under the law, the premiere journalism outlet in the 21st Century.
Nor are First Amendment protections limited to mainstream journalists or the press.
And there's no such thing as "stolen" documents. The documents were digitally copied. The word stolen means the original master file document no longer exists, which is not the case.
1
It's truly amazing how there are so many American "patriots" looking for blood from Mr. Assange, when you have such a dignified and honest president running the USA.
I would opine that this arrest at this time is very coincidental to the release of the Mueller report. I'm sure there will be so much play in the news about Mr. Assange, that all the "patriots" will forget what's going on with Trump's policies and the Mueller report!
4
For many, Assange is where the commitment to journalistic freedom will be tested. It's easy when you like the journalist, approve of how she works, or when it's the New York Times. But press freedom is bunk if it's just for the easy cases.
-Zephyr Teachout
Also, I wonder how much money we gave Ecuador to cough up Assange?
4
@Gina Fox
Dumping unvetted, unredacted documents isn't journalism.
And dumping unvetted, unredacted documents obtained by government intelligence agencies is far more akin to espionage than to journalism.
2
I would like Assange to testify against Trump. However, if there is serious dirt, Assange will be killed before trial, or given a secret military trial. I predict he never speaks in public.
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@Thomas T
If you love creating spy thrillers in your head you must have been breathless every night when Rachel Maddow detailed the latest burp in "Russiagate" that never went anywhere.
1
@RAC
I'm non-partisan. I don't watch Rachel Maddow. I am a conservative and liberal, both. But I strongly believe in transparency and accountability. Barr is a hack. I want to read the Mueller report. It's not conspiracy. It's patriotism.
2
Full disclosure: the NYT gained awards and prestige for publishing this journalists findings. The NYT’s lack of support for a fellow journalist and source, whose courage is an example of the highest order of freedom of speech, simply shows your interests to be less than stellar.
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@laurie Dobson
It's easier to blame Assange than to admit that the Clinton campaign was a disaster that brought us a vile clown.
2
Many people seem to have a short memory when it comes to wikileaks. I remember much more clearly the exposure of the Iraq war as a fraud. Iraqi WMDs were known to be a lie not because politicians suddenly became honest, but because of Wikileaks obtained documents that forced transparency. Bush was the first victim and Assange was hailed as a hero by the left, spy by the right.
Fast forward to 2008 and he leaks documents from the DNC exposing the favoritism shown to HRC vs Sanders and suddenly whatever favortism he remained from the left after the Snowden leaks was gone. Now hailed as a hero by many on the right, and a spy by the left.
6
Your statement might have some validity if Assange was an equal opportunity leaker; He is not. From what we know, there were an incredible amount of questionable activities surrounding the Trump campaign, some of which will be disclosed in the Mueller report, but much of which will remain unavailable to the general public. Was any of the information that would've sullied the Trump campaign published by Wikileaks? No. Nada. Not a peep. He frames himself as a champion of truth, but the truths he reveals are curated to coincide with his personal biases, that and to protect his own precious butt. It's common knowledge that he despises Hillary Clinton and it's quite clear that he did everything in his power to mess with her campaign. But why not Trump? Because Assange is not the champion of Truth he would like his followers to believe. He is in the parlance of our times, biased AF.
7
Hacking is and should be a crime. Let the facts come out and if malfeasance is found, Congress needs to regulate cyberscurity to protect the country and public.
2
The comment section reflect the uncertainty of how to process and ultimately judge what this man has done.
Reveal atrocities and unlawful behavior via unlawful behavior? Philosophy of ethics 101.
4
This is all legally watertight.
Assange was arrested on the basis of a warrant issued by a British court for the offence of 'Failing to surrender to bail'. That's hardly the crime of the century - you'd normally expect a fine of about $100 - $750 or if you were very unlucky, or were very bad, a prison sentence of 4 weeks or less.
As predicted, the bail violation is just the conduit through which America's revenge intends to operate.
The NYT article DOES understand this - unlike the people who are claiming that it was a US arrest warrant that operated here in London. That, legally, makes no sense. Such a warrant wouldn't be valid in the UK.
Assange painted himself into this particular corner when he chose, unwisely, to skip bail. This fate has always awaited him. There can be no question of accusations that the British 'poodle' bowed uncritically to Washington - what played out today was just due legal process.
I await the extradition hearings with interest. There's a general perception, currently, that British courts are not particularly well disposed to US extradition requests. Couple that with the fact that the UK is still subject to rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and Assange's extradition could be much more problematic than the case of Huawei's Meng Wanzhou.
5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namir_Noor-Eldeen
For more than two years after the shooting, Reuters and other organizations sought probes into the deaths of Noor-Eldeen and other journalists killed in Iraq, but the U.S. military withheld key information on the grounds that it was classified. The military also refused to release a video taken from one of the gunships that captured the complete sequence and radio communication during the shootings.[11] On April 5, 2010, part of the military video was released on the website WikiLeaks, which said it acquired the video from military whistle-blowers and viewed it after breaking the encryption code.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is9sxRfU-ik
6
Please treat trans-gender subjects with respect. The line in question should read: "An Army private, Chelsea Manning-- known at that time as Bradley Manning-- was convicted..."
7
So, Assange was kicked out, a "guest" who overstayed his welcome, didn't bathe or clean his bathroom, and didn't change the cat's litter box. A comic end to a comic episode.
7
Yes I find it funny too. Despite his very important ideas, at the end of the day he was a pain in the neck for the staff of the Ecuadorian embassy. I imagine the unsung joy of the cleaning and security staff.
3
The truth is more important than how he embarrassed the United States for the war crimes committed in Iraq. The vast majority of NYT commenters in this forum seem to care more about American exceptionalism and anything anti-Trump rather than the truth. Without the truth, we are no better than the Russians or the Chinese. The truth is so low on the scale nowadays for Democrats that they are willing to nominate Joe Biden, another person who voted for the Iraq war built on lies. We Democrats can do a lot better than him. We need a new generation that values truth over American exceptionalism. It appears I will withhold my vote again in 2020 just like I did in 2016.
But now 2020 Democrats on a whole are an embarrassment who don't value truth anymore like Fox News viewers. I'm embarrassed to be associated with Democrats almost as much as I dislike Trump.
8
@FrankM
So true. What did two years of breathless Russiagate coverage on MSNBC get us? All that time they could have presented Trump's real crimes and laid the groundwork for 2020.
1
I've lost all faith in New York Times readers after reading these comments. Wikileaks does not spy and does not hack. Wikileaks simply publishes information provided by others after such information has been vetted. Wikileaks has NEVER published documents that were false in any sense. Assange was a hero when he embarrassed Bush, but now all these so called progressives are calling to hang him from the highest tree since he exposed some TRUE inconvenient information about Hillary Clinton. Assange, Snowden and Chelsea Manning are all heroes. Daniel Ellsberg who is respected for releasing the Pentagon papers is firmly on Assanges side. This is a major blow to the free media and government transparency.
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Please be more considerate of people's preferred names and gender politics in general. Your introduction to Ms. Manning should read CHELSEA MANNING, known as Bradley at the time, not the other way around.
5
Point 1: When politicians found that evidence of their personal malfeasance could be classified as SECRET and thus buried amid the plethora of genuinely sensitive material, the chances of their being discovered dropped markedly.
Point 2: Had it not been for Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers I, (for one) might still be supportive of U.S. policy in S.E. Asia during the 1970s.
Point 3: It would be helpful to know whether those condemning Assange’s leaks already knew of “black sites,” waterboarding, etc. or whether after learning of these practices they still support those U.S. policies and would like to have them reinstated?
6
Why would Trump go after Assange if Assange had info to damage Trump?
Because Trump wants the truth out that there is no collusion.
2
While I always will appreciate WikiLeaks and Manning shining a bright light on the bad acts, war crimes and atrocities of Governments across the world. Assange is no journalist and his hiding behind the title in an Embassy while releasing individuals personal and private information to spin for Putin and Trump deserves no respect - I hope this coward is punished accordingly.
2
How is Assange any different than Trump? They’ve both exposed US government “secrets”.
2
When did the NYT get a copy of the report to be able to say this: "The special counsel appointed to investigate Russia’s election meddling did not file any charges against Mr. Assange and found no evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia."
The biased letter about the report created by AG Barr might have said that, but we don't know what the report actually said.
2
I hope the cat is okay.
6
He wouldn't clean up his bathroom and look after his cat? What kind of a guest is he? Sounds like the Ecuadorean government went out of its way for him.
3
A single non-espionage charge is a softball from US. Maybe POTUS thank-you gift.
1
@Sean
I don't think so..
The single non-espionage charge is to ensure the maximum possible chance that Assange is successfully extradited to the US. Once you guys have him, you can charge him with whatever you like.
You call that a 'curveball', right? Over here, it's known a 'googlie'.
1
Assange is a self-promoter, hero, anarchist, and greedy capitalist. In the end, the information that he "acquired" provided valuable disclosure. But is hardly the equivalent of the WashPo or Nytimes. His sourcing, editing of content, motivations, and personal behavior taint the good. They US gov't has a legitimate beef on the source of the materials especially if it was sourced by foreign espionage. So, while "good" may have come from disclosure, allowing a rogue, indiscriminate player become a tool of a foreign power would only encourage this as a method of espionage. For US employees in possession of important but classified information, the quality American Press remains open for business, reliable and trust worthy and the method that should be used for dissemination of this kind of information
3
What a tale Julian Assange might tell. And that might push Roger Stone to cooperate with the Feds. I suspect he’ll sing like a bird once threatened with US prison. That is, unless Trump starts talking about how ‘unfair’ his prosecution is, links it to his complaints about angry Democrats in the Justice Department, and then hints at a pardon. Barr might also play a role in shaping Assange’s prosecution, and the Russians might make a move on his friends or family to bring pressure.
The Mueller investigation is over. It’s Trump’s Justice Department now. It remains to be seen how much Julian Assange’s role in the 2016 US election is fleshed out and publicly revealed.
3
Be chareful what you pubish, publishers...
3
I think many in America harbor a romantic view of Assange. Today, at least, he is not a hero but an enemy of the United States.
6
This could be an especially bad 24 hours for Democrats. First we learn that the AG will investigate the reasons for the Russian conspiracy hoax and may in fact find out that deep into the Obama Whitehouse there was an active spying operation. Now with Assange we may learn that the Russians did NOT provide the docs from the DNC server.
8
By the United States,do you mean the bloviated, biased Barr was the one who charged Assange with this paltry penalty??As far as I can tell, this lying AG has given the DOJ to the imbecile in the WH.I think it's Mueller time .We can't wait till 2020.
3
The only issue the media is frothing about is Assange - Trump-Russia.
Then in the end if it turns out there was no involvement.
Like the Mueller report, Democrats-Liberals won't believe it.
And another sad day for the Trump Haters.
6
If the free press doesn't step up to defend their rights to a free press they will lose that right. The free press has always been political and always will, but that is still guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The way I read the indictment he is being charged with conspiracy to receive newsworthy information after it was given to him. If he goes to jail for that then our precious right to a free press is going to be smothered by government interference.
6