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March 28, 2024, 10:07:08 PM

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Assange has been arrested

Started by Fambo Number Mive, April 11, 2019, 10:40:08 AM

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fatguyranting

Has the supposed shit smearing been mentioned here yet? That strikes me as all a bit curious.


biggytitbo

That's probably just a bit of the old Jean Charles Menezes technique been used against him.


Sin Agog

Walked past a news stand this morning, saw the same photo in every paper, and thought for a second that Michael Eavis had been arrested for something heinous (probably involving farm animals).

I guess, what with the smug, rejubilant headlines from all the usual rags, Assange must be a pretty stand-up guy.

SpiderChrist

Quote from: Sin Agog on April 12, 2019, 12:43:36 PM
Walked past a news stand this morning, saw the same photo in every paper, and thought for a second that Michael Eavis had been arrested for something heinous (probably involving farm animals).

I guess, what with the smug, rejubilant headlines from all the usual rags, Assange must be a pretty stand-up guy.

Yeah, I think so. Always been a big fan of people who skip bail on a rape charge. Great bunch of lads etc.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: SpiderChrist on April 12, 2019, 01:56:49 PM
Yeah, I think so. Always been a big fan of people who skip bail on a rape charge. Great bunch of lads etc.

Hook, line and sinker.

What about all those rapists in the US military?

Sin Agog

If he's dead to rights, then I'll concede, not so nice.  Exploiting that to push imperialist rhetoric isn't nice, either.  Genuinely don't know aught about the case, but can easily imagine the big boys saying to themselves we've got the crowd who grew up playing with toy soldiers on-side; here's how we get the rest.  Either way, whistleblowing is unambiguously wonderful, and scuppering pezzonovantes' long-term war plans should be encouraged whenever possible.

Dr Sanchez

If any injustice has been done, our Tommy will sort this out.

#freetommyjulian

Buelligan

Quote from: SpiderChrist on April 12, 2019, 01:56:49 PM
Yeah, I think so. Always been a big fan of people who skip bail on a rape charge. Great bunch of lads etc.

Yep, I'm not insane about sex-criminals but I am very keen indeed on egality.  How many other people accused of a crime like this have been pursued as diligently?  Does anyone in the whole world believe he will be treated like any other person accused in this way?

biggytitbo

Assange didn't skip bail to evade a rape charge.

Press fave Jess has the same misconception, whilst using it as her regular vehicle to attack Corbyn.


Replies From View

Imagine if instead of Assange it had said Farage.  So close and yet so far.

Funcrusher

Jess Phillips should be in fucking Guantanamo.

rjd2

Tulsi has been really good on this to be fair. Interested to see how AOC and Bernie react. AOC is impressive, but a serious difference between dunking on random right wing fuckwits and calling this out.
Bernie's foreign policy has always been all over the place, tries to please everyone and fails.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Sin Agog on April 12, 2019, 12:43:36 PM
Walked past a news stand this morning, saw the same photo in every paper...... I guess, what with the smug, rejubilant headlines from all the usual rags, Assange must be a pretty stand-up guy.

I was going to say 'lock the thread', since that about sums it up, but then...


Quote from: Sin Agog on April 12, 2019, 02:15:02 PM
If he's dead to rights, then I'll concede, not so nice.  Exploiting that to push imperialist rhetoric isn't nice, either.  Genuinely don't know aught about the case, but can easily imagine the big boys saying to themselves we've got the crowd who grew up playing with toy soldiers on-side; here's how we get the rest.  Either way, whistleblowing is unambiguously wonderful, and scuppering pezzonovantes' long-term war plans should be encouraged whenever possible.

there is plenty to read from plenty of sources.

I'm slightly troubled by the symmetry of the self-appointedness of whistle-blowers vs superpowers, in the sense that both parties seek to control the distribution of information. I'm not sure what wikileaks hoped to achieve by releasing (say) that helicopter footage of the two reuters guys & a bunch of innocent iraqis. it reminded me of any number of depictions of gung-ho american military types & I didn't find it at all surprising, & now of course I can't un-see it. but what am I supposed to do with the data? are we supposed to throw bricks at the US embassy or something?

but fair play- the stuff that's come out so far hasn't in & of itself done any more harm than good, & even reasonably well-read cynics like me can feel our opinions are somewhat justifiable... that we're not imagining these evils, but that they actually happen. so for that, st julian, thanks.

the thing in sweden seems to have been largely invented by a swedish prosecutor after one or both of the women who engaged in consensual sex with assange may or may not have tried to get him to submit to STD testing after condoms may or may not have been deployed &/or tampered with.
where assange is at fault here is that he seems to have an achilles' heel in this area, that he enjoys the company of "groupies", for want of a better word. everything else about these encounters is probably hearsay, but the weakness for adoring female fans is what got him into this mess.

he would've faced charges from the US anyway, & requests for his extradition from wherever he holed up, with or without the nonsense in sweden. the way it's being played now, though, is an insult to actual rape victims. his extradition seems inevitable, because USA. I think we're right to question it, & right to try to un-conflate the other (swedish) stuff, but I'm just not sure what it is he's actually achieved.

Space ghost

yeah just 'poor sexual etiquette' from Jules it seems

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Space ghost on April 12, 2019, 08:42:10 PM
yeah just 'poor sexual etiquette' from Jules it seems

I'm pretty sure I saw the word 'honey-trap' used somewhere. definitely believable.

Hank Venture

Quote from: Urinal Cake on April 12, 2019, 08:46:18 AM
Nobody would disagree with this. The question is does Assange deserve a pass for the greater good.

«Deserve a pass»? For what - the shoddy, undercooked indictment that could be used to justify kneecapping investigative journalism?

Hank Venture

It's genuinely insane seeing media figures contorting themselves to support Donald Trump and his Department of Justice in a clear attack on the freedom of the press. The complete deference to authority boggles the mind. It was surreal enough seeing in real time the lionization of the CIA and the FBI by supposed liberals as a bulwark against DT, but now the same crowd are on ... the side of DT himself.

Donald Trump, welcome to the #Resistance.


Ferris


Twed

Quote from: Hank Venture on April 12, 2019, 09:13:47 PM
It's genuinely insane seeing media figures contorting themselves to support Donald Trump and his Department of Justice in a clear attack on the freedom of the press. The complete deference to authority boggles the mind. It was surreal enough seeing in real time the lionization of the CIA and the FBI by supposed liberals as a bulwark against DT, but now the same crowd are on ... the side of DT himself.

Donald Trump, welcome to the #Resistance.
They are all the same as him except that they have more decorum. They love it when he does war and oppression, they think that's statesmanlike.

Funcrusher

Quote from: Hank Venture on April 12, 2019, 09:13:47 PM
It's genuinely insane seeing media figures contorting themselves to support Donald Trump and his Department of Justice in a clear attack on the freedom of the press. The complete deference to authority boggles the mind. It was surreal enough seeing in real time the lionization of the CIA and the FBI by supposed liberals as a bulwark against DT, but now the same crowd are on ... the side of DT himself.

Donald Trump, welcome to the #Resistance.

Hillary's on board.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/12/hillary-clinton-julian-assange-arrest-wikileaks


Hank Venture

Additionally, the rape charge - If I had given any credence to it these past few years I'd wonder i) why they aren't extraditing him to Sweden, ii) what that says about their cynical use of a (potentially real) rape as a smear tactic and a cudgel but then dropping it totally when push comes to shove, iii) if it turns out to be false, ultimately what it says about how the press is being used as stenographers and my own naivite.

Hank Venture

Quote from: Twed on April 12, 2019, 09:20:45 PM
They are all the same as him except that they have more decorum. They love it when he does war and oppression, they think that's statesmanlike.

Yeah. Not really sure who is left as an enemy now that Trump has gone over to the good side by arresting Assange. Maybe Glenn Greenwald ?

Apropos: https://vimeo.com/329855329

His interview with NPR. I love GG despite the many valid criticisms one probably could lodge about him.

Urinal Cake

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on April 12, 2019, 08:43:56 PM
I'm pretty sure I saw the word 'honey-trap' used somewhere. definitely believable.
In the context of it seemed unlikely to be a honey-trap. It seems like an obtuse way to get Assange.

The case in Sweden maybe reopened now since he is in the custody of the UK and the statute of limitations will run out in 2020.  This is what the alleged victim wants to pursue. Assange has always said he is innocent and from memory would like to address these charges but was scared of being extradited to the USA.

Enjoying the benefits of fame and having 'groupies' is fine. Potentially putting their lives at risk through STDs is not.

The US wants revenge and to stop further whistleblowers but the best step for the UK and Australia would have Assange extradited to Sweden in the pursuit of justice.

Hank Venture

Sinec I am on a roll: how does this all fit into the narrative that i) DT and JA are pals, ii) that DT and JA have both been Russian assets for years? I've been trying to avoid the liberal take on this for my own sanity.


biggytitbo

Just note the the times the resistance democrats have downed tools and wholeheartedly supported trump - when he's commited war crimes, when he's supported Israel in their latest war crime, when he's persecuted journalists exposing US war crimes.


Its all a pantomime.