Julian Assange is a prick.

[idarkphoenixi]

Julian Assange is a prick. First of all, the guy sexually assaults two women, then he says some bullshit conspiracy theory about being charged in the us, and fucks off to Britain. He isn?t some kind vigilante freedom fighter, the guy just did something illegal and seems to think he?s above the law. Sweden has said explicitly that if he gets taken there they won?t send him to the US. If he?s innocent of sexual assault, then he should fucking go in a court and prove it.

Now all of you may agree with me (probably not?). But the guy gets celebrity endorsements, supporters in anonymous masks outside the embassy, and the help of Ecuador (who are fucking idiots by the way.) I don?t understand at all.

So yeah. Wikileaks is great. Julian Assange is a prick.

First of all, can we all stop with this 'sexual assault' nonsense, I've even heard people calling him a rapist. His 'crime' was not wearing a bloody condom during sex, which may or may not be even be true. He didn't do anything illegal, he isn't even being charged with a crime! He's wanted for "questioning".

Sweden has NOT said explicitly they wouldn't send him to America, in fact that was the entire reason he seeked assylum.
They wanted him for questioning which he was more than up for. He told Sweden he would only come over on the condition they promised not to send him to America, guess what? Sweden refused to make that promise.
He asked if they could just do the questioning over the internet, using a webcam. Guess what? Sweden refused that as well.
He told them to send officials over to him in London to do the questioning there instead. Guess what? Sweden refused.

Now, if it really is just questioning they want, it seems awful weird that they A.)Won't make the promise not to extradite him to America B.)Can't do the "questioning" anywhere else but over in Sweden

You can't extradite someone over a mere accusation! You need proof, and strangely enough there is none. What he's being accused of isn't even a bloody crime. Yet there are people out there who are calling him a rapist and a terrorist. America calls him one of the most dangerous terrorist in the world and Fox News is calling for his death!! I'd be seeking assylum too if I were Assange.


EDIT: Just to put this into perspective, the whole thing was so freaking ridiculous that Sweden even dropped the charges. He then releases some stuff on wikileaks and whaddya know!! Sweden suddenly wants him for "questioning" on the dropped charges

 

[Signa]

Never heard of him, but looking at it he hasn't assaulted shit. [if were given all the facts on the case]

Personally, I'm fucking sick of my government's "Team America, FUCK YEAH!" mantra. I'm glad for Julian. Yeah, he conducts himself in a dickish way, but the government's outrage at him just showed how awful the people I'm living under are. There is no justice in them, just revenge.

Death Penalty in a nutshell, really stupid revenge. The best revenge for would be for him to rot in prison.

Which is ironically what is happening to him. He has to stay in disguise and hiding if he doesn't want to die.


I read a ton of the cables when they came out. Nothing I ever read was even close to that big of a deal. What was the big deal was hearing the things our "enlightened" government thought about the leak. Hillary Clinton said something that grated on me (I can't remember details anymore), and I remember some governor, I think it was Delaware, or in that zone, saying that he wants Julian's head. So barbaric.

Bradley Manning's case is a sad one too. Last I heard, he was in solitary for no real reason, and they took away anything they could from him, even his glasses. He wasn't even tried or convicted yet, and still they were punishing him to the best of their abilities.

 

[TheNarrator]

To all the people saying that leaking government information is a crime: yes, it's a crime, but it was in many cases not immoral. What your government did was nothing short of war crimes. I mean, did you even watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0? I'm not saying that everything he did was justified, but it actually is kind of heroic to risk your freedom to fight injustice. You can call him an asshole, I don't know enough about him to confirm or deny that, but it's ridiculous to call him a coward or an ordinary criminal.

 

[Ledan]

He should go to court to face the allegations, no matter if he believes that he is innocent or guilty. He has been accused, so lets sort this thing out.
As for the whole extradition thing, pretty much all European countries have an extradition policy with the US. He is no more in danger in Sweden than he is in the UK or anywhere else in Europe.

 

[matrix3509]

I love how people here call Assange a coward when they themselves would do the EXACT same things in his position.

Given the choice of going to court in Sweden and having them buckle to pressure from the U.S. government to be tried in a U.S. military court, or fleeing, I am sure as hell fleeing. Might I point out, that pretty much every 1st world country has buckled to American pressure at one point or another. The U.S. government doesn't play by the rules, they change the rules whenever it suits them. The whole Megaupload thing should have fucking clued you people in.

 

[Therumancer]

Julian Assange is a prick. First of all, the guy sexually assaults two women, then he says some bullshit conspiracy theory about being charged in the us, and fucks off to Britain. He isn?t some kind vigilante freedom fighter, the guy just did something illegal and seems to think he?s above the law. Sweden has said explicitly that if he gets taken there they won?t send him to the US. If he?s innocent of sexual assault, then he should fucking go in a court and prove it.

Now all of you may agree with me (probably not?). But the guy gets celebrity endorsements, supporters in anonymous masks outside the embassy, and the help of Ecuador (who are fucking idiots by the way.) I don?t understand at all.

So yeah. Wikileaks is great. Julian Assange is a prick.

Well, my basic opinion is that Wikileaks and Julian are both problems. My big issue with them is that they tend to release classified data, things like the personal notes and covert opinions of diplomats. What's more the site seems to be pretty much biased against the major Western powers in terms of what information it releases and when. I don't mind crusading journalists and such, but when it comes to some of the information he's obtained and put up I think he's crossed too many lines. Honestly a lot of what he's done borders on treason against a number of nations, and I suppose I can see why he's avoiding prosecution, while I doubt it would happen some of the stuff he's released could arguably get him a death penelty (though this is a long debate I won't get into, there are things that freedom of the press and freedom of speech do not cover). That's before you get into the sexual assault charges that I figure go with him feeling untouchable, I mean if you can release some of the stuff he has the way he has, and potentially put millions of lives in danger, what's a bit of sexual assault?

I'm increasingly of the opinion that the US needs to stop respecting a lot of these territorial agreements for asylum given how they are being used, to be honest I don't much care about damaging relations with nations that might shield someone like this, because a nation willing to do that isn't worthwhile anyway.

I'll also say that having looked at cases like this, and Kim Dotcom (which someone else mentioned) I think a big part of the problem is that very wealthy individuals, or those with something to trade, can buy politicians outright, and use them to pretty much screw with the extradition process. Sure the US might give a lot to some of these nations, but politicians who are being directly given thousands or millions of dollars to use their authority can be a big obstacle. From the way it looked to me Kim Dotcom for example was pretty much paying New Zealand under the table for shelter, leading to the need to concoct reasons to justify getting him that went beyond belief, when we should have just kicked the door down. If Sweden provides Assange asylum (I've heard mixed things about them doing so) I don't think we should even play that game this time and just do what we need to do.

.. and again, yes I know many will disagree with all, or most of this.

 

[EHKOS]

Please, the US pinned the sexual assault on him, I have no doubt he's innocent, it came out of nowhere. America is just butt hurt and wants to make an example of him.

 

[chadachada123]

Julian Assange is a prick. First of all, the guy sexually assaults two women, then he says some bullshit conspiracy theory about being charged in the us, and fucks off to Britain. He isn?t some kind vigilante freedom fighter, the guy just did something illegal and seems to think he?s above the law. Sweden has said explicitly that if he gets taken there they won?t send him to the US. If he?s innocent of sexual assault, then he should fucking go in a court and prove it.

Now all of you may agree with me (probably not?). But the guy gets celebrity endorsements, supporters in anonymous masks outside the embassy, and the help of Ecuador (who are fucking idiots by the way.) I don?t understand at all.

So yeah. Wikileaks is great. Julian Assange is a prick.

He hasn't even been formally charged. He's being extradited just for them to INTERVIEW HIM. If it was any other random person, this would be a gross civil rights abuse. But because he's a celebrity, it's okay to extradite someone on the possibility of sexual assault?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

The case was dropped because the alleged victims withdrew their claim. He only fled because Sweden will send him to America. If the Swedes were at all interested in figuring out exactly what happened, and nothing else, they would accept the offer to interview him in the embassy.

 

[Spitfire]

I'm increasingly of the opinion that the US needs to stop respecting a lot of these territorial agreements for asylum given how they are being used, to be honest I don't much care about damaging relations with nations that might shield someone like this, because a nation willing to do that isn't worthwhile anyway.

From the way it looked to me Kim Dotcom for example was pretty much paying New Zealand under the table for shelter, leading to the need to concoct reasons to justify getting him that went beyond belief, when we should have just kicked the door down. If Sweden provides Assange asylum (I've heard mixed things about them doing so) I don't think we should even play that game this time and just do what we need to do.

I sincerely hope you're being sarcastic about all of this.

 

[loa]

Don't you think that the high ups in the U.S. could convict him of rape whether he did it or not if it is in their interest (spoiler: it is)?
Did that never occur to you?

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I can't stand the bloke... and it is good to see that others feel the same way...

I also massively disagreed with Wikileaks... I don't care if it was corperate stuff, but government stuff is kept out of the public eye for a reason... a lot of stuff that was on the Wikileaks site gave a lot of details about troops and capabilities that could put lives in danger...

Any one who puts people who he hasn't mets lives in danger, for his own agenda, deserves all he can get...

Also, he has the right to a fair trial before anything can happen... if he has been accused of something then he should face the music and go to court... He is now skipping bail, which is ilegal, and is proven, so needs to pay the price!

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!

Oh right because America is the ONLY country with spy networks.

China, Russia, and practically everyone else knows everything Assange leaked. Every. Damn. Thing.

If the information was thrown around like it wasn't important, found, and leaked, you bet other countries would already know.

If you don't hide it, its obviously not a secret.

I am not from the US, I am British, and I never for once presumed that the US was the only one with Inteligence Agencies. When did I imply that...?
And yes, they were secrets! Secret information is at that level because of the people who could get hurt if they were widely known... the reason they were leaked is because of individuals playing the 'vigilante' card from the inside, downloading the docs and sending them on!

 

[Saulkar]

I can see I am the unpopular one when I say that I like what Julian Assange has done and would not doubt that there are people politically motivated to do him in. While I do not know him, I feel that prick or not he deserves to keep doing what he is doing. No one is perfect, no one is devoid of hypocrisy or dickishness so I do not understand why this makes him any less sympathetic. We all have darkness in us, it just tends to spill into one corner for some people.

Additionally several anomalies over the course of these international legal shenanigans make me question how legit this all is in the end. I might not be getting the whole story but from what it seems is that both Julian and the Ecuadorian embassy offered to allow Swedish police to question him on the premise but they repeatedly refused. In the end I am going to play it by ear and hope for the best.

One of the major problems is that all News and Journalistic outlets are completely polarised over this whole issue and thus getting a clear picture of what is going on is seemingly impossible. One side blindly supports while another blindly condemns him. Urgh!

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

No he is not. The case of the supposed sexual assault was dropped because of lack of evidence against him. I'm also fairly sure that one of the women involved came out and said she was railroaded by police. Swedish police also repeatedly refused to question him while he was in the UK.

As for Sweden saying they won't extradite him, they've illegally helped the CIA with renditions [http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition] before, why stop now?

In addition to this, the Australian Federal Police commission has previously stated that he hasn't broken any Australian laws.

Assange fears for his life right now, many US public figures have threatened him with assassinations and death penalties. He's only doing what any sane person would do. To think that the US wouldn't interfere with international judiciary processes to get someone who they see as a "traitor" is just naive.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I can't stand the bloke... and it is good to see that others feel the same way...

I also massively disagreed with Wikileaks... I don't care if it was corperate stuff, but government stuff is kept out of the public eye for a reason... a lot of stuff that was on the Wikileaks site gave a lot of details about troops and capabilities that could put lives in danger...

Any one who puts people who he hasn't mets lives in danger, for his own agenda, deserves all he can get...

Also, he has the right to a fair trial before anything can happen... if he has been accused of something then he should face the music and go to court... He is now skipping bail, which is ilegal, and is proven, so needs to pay the price!

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!

No one has died from the things Assange has leaked.

Also, America is bought and paid for by corporations. So I guess you could say that government stuff IS corporate stuff.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

If a country can't protect its secrets. They are not worth protecting.

If Obama posts the schematics for an M1 abrams, then obviously they are not a secret.

America KNOWS whats a secret, and they don't mess around with important stuff. America's war machines are constructed by MULTIPLE teams of engineers so no one engineer knows everything about what they are building. They cover everything with tarps when not being constructed. Even parts being wheeled in.

THAT is a secret.

Something that is seen easily, and easily leaked? Not an actual secret. Nothing actually important gets leaked by an internet crusader.

Internet Crusader? It was an Inteligence Analyst with access to Secret networks...

And there are many different levels of Secret, with varying ranges of repurcussions if it is comprimised. Top Secret and above, yes, are kept a lot more protected...

Also, most of the stuff on Wikileaks wasn't really secret at all, it was just notes and emails written on a Secret network... but there was stuff on there that allowed enemy to know capability, which can lead to loss of life... that is what is wrong...

Seriously, if you are going to talk in a weird conspiricy theory tone with me, then just save yourself the effort... I am in the military, I don't do your crazy 'Truths'!

 

[MiskWisk]

While I do feel Assange's concerns are valid, I also agree with the statement he is a prick. I personally compare him to a tabloid journalist stereotype of not caring about anyone other than himself and no secret is too damning to be released. I feel he should be charged since his actions have directly put soldiers, international relations, civilians and people who have aided the efforts of NATO in Afghanistan and other areas. To me, he is a man with no concept of why a secret is not spread about. I understand leaking brutality of soldiers and that it should be done and not hidden, but most of what he leaked should not be common knowledge.

As to whether the case about him being a rapist or not, well I go for innocent until proven guilty but I will say he isn't helping himself.

 

[Henkie36]

Julian Assange is a prick. First of all, the guy sexually assaults two women

You should probably know that something counts as sexual assault in Sweden when it's unprotected sex without informing her prior to it, which was probably the case here.

Also, you'd be wise to take a milder tone. We have a justice system here in Europe where you are innocent until proven guilty. He hasn't been proven guilty yet, and the only reason he is still in the media is because he released something the US government would ruther have he didn't.

 

[Uncle Comrade]

I'm just going to leave this here, even though I doubt it'll change anyone's opinion. Just think it's worth bearing in mind.

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2012/08/legal-myths-about-assange-extradition
"Assange has been afforded more opportunities to challenge the warrant for his arrest than almost any other defendant in English legal history. This is hardly "persecution" or a "witch-hunt"

Also I may be wrong, but I heard that he had sex with the woman while she was unconcious, which while it may or may not be rape, is definitely a bit creepy. Again, I don't know if this is true or not, but if "the English courts ruled clearly that the allegation would also constitute rape under English law" as the article says, I think there's probably a bit more to it than a broken condom.

As I said, I doubt this will change anyone's mind, since Assange's supporters are just going to keep repeating the "It's a set up/Courts = The Establishment and, therefore, The Enemy" line. One thing I will say is that Assange knows he's onto a good thing with his 'The US is out to get me' trump card. He's certainly playing it a lot.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

If a country can't protect its secrets. They are not worth protecting.

If Obama posts the schematics for an M1 abrams, then obviously they are not a secret.

America KNOWS whats a secret, and they don't mess around with important stuff. America's war machines are constructed by MULTIPLE teams of engineers so no one engineer knows everything about what they are building. They cover everything with tarps when not being constructed. Even parts being wheeled in.

THAT is a secret.

Something that is seen easily, and easily leaked? Not an actual secret. Nothing actually important gets leaked by an internet crusader.

Internet Crusader? It was an Inteligence Analyst with access to Secret networks...

And there are many different levels of Secret, with varying ranges of repurcussions if it is comprimised. Top Secret and above, yes, are kept a lot more protected...

Also, most of the stuff on Wikileaks wasn't really secret at all, it was just notes and emails written on a Secret network... but there was stuff on there that allowed enemy to know capability, which can lead to loss of life... that is what is wrong...

Seriously, if you are going to talk in a weird conspiricy theory tone with me, then just save yourself the effort... I am in the military, I don't do your crazy 'Truths'!

Crazy truths? I haven't said anything about aliens, government conspiracies, and the like.

I said that America knows how to keep a secret, and keep it well. It wouldn't allow anything actually important to be leaked.

And as I see you agree with me that nothing on wikileaks was ever a secret, looks like my job is done.

And lastly, capability? An ability to make a network, which isn't that impressive since even NASA has one, isn't capability. Its basic digital knowledge.

Capability, as in hardware limitations of other kit... not networks... and not something that NASA has...

Also, stop generalising... I didn't say nothing was secret on Wikileaks, I said most wasn't! :/