Stella Assange speaking to the Luxembourg Parliament on the persecution of Julian Assange

  • joneskind@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Well, he did help Trump being elected by releasing Clinton’s emails, in exchange of a pardon he didn’t obtain.

    • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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      1 year ago

      Remember the indictment of Julian relates to 2010-2011 publications only: the Afghanistan War Logs, Iraq War Logs, Diplomatic Cables, Guantanamo Bay Detainee Briefs. The charges have nothing to do with the 2016 release of Clinton’s emails, or with WL allegedly helping Hillary loose the election to Trump.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      So he publicised that Clinton was illegally managing her emails while in public office (while simultaneously exonerating her of the accusations that Trump actually made) and that means he’s politically aligned with Trump? The guy’s a journalist, he pisses off everyone, that’s how you know he’s good.

        • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Can you give some examples please? Genuinely looking to refresh my memory and fill in any gaps.

            • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago
              1. The main source for this is a guy who seems bitter that WikiLeaks didn’t publish his story - while other places did. Wikileaks even responded to this (my emphasis):

                “As far as we recall these are already public,” WikiLeaks wrote at the time.

                “WikiLeaks rejects all submissions that it cannot verify. WikiLeaks rejects submissions that have already been published elsewhere or which are likely to be considered insignificant. WikiLeaks has never rejected a submission due to its country of origin,”

                The article immediately goes on to say how the BBC and others reported on it, which would mean WikiLeaks did not need to. No one was reporting on Hillary’s emails, however, in part because it was WikiLeaks’ that got them. Furthermore, they said:

                We’re not doing anything until after the election unless its [sic] fast or election related,” WikiLeaks wrote. “We don’t have the resources.”

                Anything not connected to the election would be “diversionary,” WikiLeaks wrote.

                “WikiLeaks schedules publications to maximize readership and reader engagement,” WikiLeaks wrote in a Twitter message to FP. “During distracting media events such as the Olympics or a high profile election, unrelated publications are sometimes delayed until the distraction passes but never are rejected for this reason.”

                They were focusing on news relating to the US election on the run up to the election. If they’d had things to publish about Trump they would have, but Trump already makes so much controversial news about himself its nigh on impossible to come up with anything significant enough, especially that isn’t already being covered elsewhere. But it wasn’t really the time to be reporting on events in Russia.

              2. I really don’t like this article. It makes some pretty damning generalised claims, but when you go into the evidence of the actual transcripts they aren’t as bad as they’re made out to be. Eg, talking about trans things and Chelsea Manning was mostly about trying to keep the story about her imprisonment for releasing secrets, rather than have it devolve into trans issues. Most of it is Assange having an edgy take on topical issues.

                The anti-semite-esque stuff about the ((())), hot damn, he seems like an ass. But it’s all very much skirting the bounds of anything explicitly wrong, beyond shit talking in a private chat room.

              3. Timing the release to hurt Clinton and the Democrats fits well enough with Assange’s efforts to target them, there is no suggestion of Russian involvement in timing of this. Russia most likely provided the material (albeit anonymously using WikiLeaks’ drop box system), and could have made suggestions, but WikiLeaks more likely had the say in when it was published.

              4. Most of this reads like them trying to tease information out of Donald Trump Jr. It’s sleazy as hell, but not pro-Russia.


              In general, it seems like you wouldn’t naturally take the position of thinking WikiLeaks is pro-Russia without having that idea suggested to you first. You have to follow a pre-established narrative and framing of the evidence to reach that conclusion. Every time you read their publications and their responses to criticism they have a very reasoned reply as to why they published one thing and not something else. They didn’t exist to publish everything in an equal manner, they existed to report on things that were a) not getting coverage, and b) relevant to their primarily English-speaking audience, and then later c) stood the best chance of getting the US off Assange’s back.

              It’s definitely important to question his biases, particularly after he started associating with Russia and appearing on RT. However this must also be framed in the reality that the US was really trying to get Assange and WikiLeaks, making Russia just about the only place they could turn to. Furthermore, the US has been after Assange hard since 2010 or earlier, well before most of this happened.

              Assange is definitely an ass, and obviously his focus in recent years has been on Clinton and the US - no surprise since they’ve been after him for so long. This, of course, aligned with Russia’s interests in the 2016 election. Russia facilitated and exploited WikiLeaks, while Assange had apparently devolved and got a little more desperate after 4 years stuck in an Ecuadorian embassey. This does not mean he’s pro-Russia, however, just that their interests aligned at one point. Either way, one thing you can say for certain is that WikiLeaks isn’t as active as it once was, 13 years ago.

      • Peaty@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Right after they moved servers to Russia he started echoing Kremlin talking points. He’s likely an asset at this point.

        • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Just like you know billionaires’ wealth will trickle down to you eventually? Both ideas came from the same source.

        • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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          1 year ago

          Did Vladimir come visit his buddy Julian in the embassy then? Hang on I’ve gotta look up those visitor logs UC Global kept.

          • chaogomu@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Is everyone forgetting how Assange had a TV show on RT, the Russian state propaganda network?

            And how every single leak about Russia was either heavily redacted, or just not released, when leaks about the US or US allies were not? Even when some of those US ally leaks put people in danger?

            Wikileaks showed clear favoritism to Russia, because Russia was footing the bills.

            • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              TL;DL? At least, a little bit more detail, ie what they did and what they claimed the policy was.

              • MataVatnik@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Essentially their policy of leaking everything and anything tended to mostly apply to the US and allies of the US. This would then expose collaborators in places like Belarus and place their lives in danger. Wikileaks would say this was in the name of transparency. However in cases where they were dealing with information being leaked from Russia they would be more careful to editorialize the leaks and protect identities.

                Then, aside from that, Assange partook in activities that completely deviated from journalistic protocol and entered the territory of espionage. In particular dealing with the case of chealsea manning, in her communications with Assange, Assange actively aided Chelsea in ways to access restricted information in a way that broke the law. Russian asset or not, that’s a big nono.

                • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  Manning’s account should reasonably be called into question, not least because she refused to testify against Assange in 2019 (and was subsequently jailed for 10 months and fined a quarter million).

                  WikiLeaks’ audience has always been primarily English-speaking, as such their focus is going to be on news related to English-speaking countries. While you’re drawing a difference between two different countries, that could just as easily be explained by a difference in time - people criticised them for their releases in Belarus as being careless and putting lives at risk, so with their later releases around Russia they were more careful.

                  I just feel like you never would have this impression if you’d just read WikiLeaks’ publications, press releases and social media posts, as well as any other sources on the topics they cover, rather than reading articles about WikiLeaks itself. You would only think WikiLeaks is pro-Russia if you follow a pre-constructed narrative and frame the evidence in a particular way. It’s very murky overall, but I don’t think that viewpoint lines up objectively.

                • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  Lol that’s BS, they literally started by leaking mostly secrets of post Soviet states, but nobody gave a shit and editors of news paper there were instructed by their higher ups in Washington not to publish it.

                  Source: Mediastan (2013)

                  And yes he probably did have a bias against Hillary, I wonder if that could be because SHE WAS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN HIS PERSECUTION.

            • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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              1 year ago

              yea those large troves of archives sure do look cherry picked… (not) In any case, even if you’re right, editorial bias is not a crime. Every major (and minor) news outlet has editorial bias.

                • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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                  1 year ago

                  So an organisation (WikiLeaks) that collects primary documents from anonymous inside sources whose identity it protects, verifies the authenticity of the documents, analyses them, collaborates with major news outlets around the world in publishing them for maximum journalistic impact, is what, “not a news outlet”, just a “site”? Please.

                  The fact is, if not for WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning would likely not have released those documents because every news outlet she contacted first had no secure communication and didn’t take her calls seriously. It was the secure dropbox WikiLeak pioneered that revolutionised journalism. Many of the legacy media have since adopted similar tech.

                  Julian has won numerous journalism awards. His publications helped end the Iraq war and enabled torture victims to get justice.

                  “The aim is justice, the method is transparancy.” - Julian Assange

        • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Editorial policy is a blatant excuse. Have you scrutinized Fox News, CNN, DW and RT editorial policies? Want them tortured to death too? Nah, that’s just the USA state giving us a lesson to keep our heads down, nothing more, nothing less.

          • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            We want them all held responsible. That some aren’t isn’t a reason none should be. We have to start somewhere. We shouldn’t stop there.

            • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Use the right words, to “held him responsible” means to potentially murder him in the name of democracy. Add to this that the USA state is not going after all these people, nevertheless, they are crossing borders for Assange. They want to show him to the world as an example. Their efforts resemble those they took to get to Osama.

              • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                First. No realistically it doesn’t. Second, they should. I never said they shouldn’t. Specifically I said they should hold them all responsible. So I don’t know what you’re getting at. You’re not even addressing what I said.

          • Peaty@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Are those organizations accused of directly being involved on an individual level in hacks against the USA? Because the allegations against Assange are that he directly was involved in the hack.

              • Peaty@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                "The superseding indictment alleges that Assange was complicit with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, in unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defense. Specifically, the superseding indictment alleges that Assange conspired with Manning; obtained from Manning and aided and abetted her in obtaining classified information with reason to believe that the information was to be used to the injury of the United States or the advantage of a foreign nation; received and attempted to receive classified information having reason to believe that such materials would be obtained, taken, made, and disposed of by a person contrary to law; and aided and abetted Manning in communicating classified documents to Assange. "

                https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-charged-18-count-superseding-indictment

                Sounds like this is exactly what he is charged with.

                • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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                  1 year ago

                  Doesn’t sound like a hack at all. Sounds like they’re saying she gave him docs.

            • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              You are missing the point. I’m not using the editorial bias as an excuse to put the man in a death row.

        • fishos@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          And who exactly do you expect to talk about the crimes the US commits? Their allies? Just because the information comes from a biased source doesn’t change the fact that all of the information is accurate. Doesn’t change the extrajudicial killings, illegal detentions, torture…

          Like, I’ll give you that he is biased. So what? Are you proud of the things he revealed the US is doing? We commit crimes and then hide behind “national security” when the only “security” being threatened is that of those on top commiting these henious acts and hoping to get away with it.

          The source doesn’t change the facts that were presented.

  • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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    1 year ago

    Remember: the indictment of Julian relates to 2010-2011 publications only: the Afghanistan War Logs, Iraq War Logs, Diplomatic Cables, Guantanamo Bay Detainee Briefs. The charges have nothing to do with the 2016 release of Podesta/Clinton’s emails, or with Russia.

  • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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    1 year ago

    Remember Julian Assange is in a high security prison without conviction awaiting extradition to the US where the conditions he will be incarcerated in will be even worse. He will be burried in the prison with no contact to his friends or family while being tried in the ‘espionage court’ where he is charged. The long-term threat of these conditions have amounted to psychological torture, resulting in a medical state that could end his life at any moment. Julian is literally hanging by a thread. His limited contact with his wife and 2 young children are literally his life line. He won’t have that in US prison. This is a matter of life and death. Torturers torture to intimidate. In Julian’s case it is to intimidate everyone else and in particular the press, so they won’t do what he did and expose serious state criminality to the world. The purpose is to avoid accountability and avoid facing justice.

  • fishos@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I always love that people go on and on about “he shared government secrets!” and always convientantly leave out that those “secrets” included that we were “double tapping” targets and killing aid workers and reporters arriving on the scene after the first strike. Or the video of the Apache gunning down a reporter and laughing about it.

    But Julian is the evil one. Right…

      • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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        1 year ago

        A young and talented photo-journalist, Namir Noor-Eldeen, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, both Reuters employees, were gunned down by a US Apache on 12 July 2007 in the Al-Amin neighbourhood of eastern Baghdad, along with a number of other people on the street. Saeed was wounded and tried to crawl away, only to be shot dead along with the passer-by who stopped his van to help him. Two children in the vehicle were severely wounded. WikiLeaks revealed what really happened that day when they published the Apache footage in 2010 under the name of Collateral Murder, along with the Rules of Engagement in use at the time. Julian is charged with publishing the Iraq RoE (count 14) but not the video. This means the video won’t be shown in court as evidence. It would presumably be too embarassing to the US government to show the footage in court.

    • SLfgb@feddit.nlOP
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      A young and talented photo-journalist, Namir Noor-Eldeen, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, both Reuters employees, were gunned down by a US Apache on 12 July 2007 in the Al-Amin neighbourhood of eastern Baghdad, along with a number of other people on the street. Saeed was wounded and tried to crawl away, only to be shot dead along with the passer-by who stopped his van to help him. Two children in the vehicle were severely wounded. WikiLeaks revealed what really happened that day when they published the Apache footage in 2010 under the name of Collateral Murder, along with the Rules of Engagement in use at the time. Julian is charged with publishing the Iraq RoE (count 14) but not the video. This means the video won’t be shown in court as evidence. It would presumably be too embarassing to the US government to show the footage in court.

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s tragic but it doesn’t excuse what he did. The us was wrong to do that. Julian is a criminal as well for what he did. Exposing USA crimes does not absolve Julian of his own crimes.

      • fishos@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Please keep posting this stuff. I haven’t seen the video in years, but I can still clearly remember it. We need to not let the world forget about the atrocities committed and stop turning the issue into something else. The entire Assange saga has all been over someone embarrassing us and not about the crimes we happily committed. It’s crazy that we pay more attention to him than WAR CRIMES(oh right, it’s not an official “war” 🙄…)