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WikiLeaks Founder 'Free To Leave Sweden'
An anonymous reader writes "AFP reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is free to leave Sweden, after prosecutors said there was no arrest warrant against him for an alleged case of rape. Assange said the charges against him were part of 'a clear set-up,' and that he had 'two reliable intelligence sources that state that Swedish intelligence was approached last month by the United States and told that Sweden must not be a safe haven for WikiLeaks.' The news comes just one day before the Swedish national election."
I'm an American but why the fuck is our govt telling Sweden "what they're allowed to do."
Listen up US Military: you're the ones who fucked up, you're supposed to keep this shit secret and you failed it.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
I fully expect this guy to have an 'accident' of some sort in the near future...
I thought we used our military intelligence on the enemy. I don't remember voting for our president and current government to use its powers to harm those who value liberty over secrecy. It would be interesting to hear more details about Julian's tipsters' info.
But still has his reputation scarred for life. I wouldn't take a private plane out of town, if i was him.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Is the documentation for this claim posted on wikileaks yet?
Or is he just asking us to trust him, at the same time he's telling us to not trust anyone else?
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
might it be that 'safe to leave' means 'go away'?
FCKGW 09F9 42
The Swedes never had anything on him, the entire case was, in fact, a load of crap, pretty much like most people here had said all along. If they had anything, they wouldn't be letting him walk. The fact that they are "permitting" (read: want) Assange to leave the country means they've done the PR damage and want him to be a target somewhere else. Short of an actual leak, I think this is the closest we'll come to proof that the US government really did set him up.
This is better than most of the rubbish that is on tv. Besides with a tv series most tv viewers will think any wiki leaks will just be a viral marketing stunt or made up for the show.
Assange's timing of this announcement is impeccable. Looks like he's learned a thing or two from the people he investigates.
In the United States, we are supposedly treated as innocent until proven guilty. But the early comments I see here seem to indicate that, despite the government of Sweden saying he is not charged with any sex crime, he should be treated as guilty until (an impossibility) proven innocent.
I hope those of you who feel that way understand that whatever values you claim to support, they are not what were traditionally considered "American".
Well, I would consider the hospital analogy incorrect.
IMO, WikiLeaks is doing something more on the lines of "releasing evidence that your father died of side effects caused by some medicine than by the heart attack you were told".
Actually there's no way to gauge consequences. Those seven bucks (yes, let's pretend Windows is that cheap) that Microsoft missed times one million customers might make them want to raise their prices to compensate, which in turn may cause a company to lose money and be "forced" to raise their prices. And if that company happens to be a food distributor (I can't imagine why they'd use enough copies of Windows as to come to that, but bear with me) in a country where people are poor, then by allowing people to pirate software, you may have put hundreds of even thousands through suffering, and maybe killed a few people. So if you're going to think about how everything you do might affect everyone, good luck. I think it's valid to release information that the military was trying to keep from the public, yes. Accoutability is very important for governmental organizations and even more so for the guys with guns.
I would fix that for you as:
"Don't trust an organization with $400 billion/year military budget? Smart. Don't trust some guy who's antagonizing the most powerful military organization on earth? Troll."
"Assange leaked information that caused real-world consequences. Big consequences, like death and torture"
Citation needed. Even the Pentagon had to attach a "might possibly" to that claim. If you can actually back up that assertion, you'll be doing better than them.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
That information was leaked by the US military, not by Assange. He merely published the leaked information. If Assange got that information, it could just as easily have been obtained by the Taliban or any other organization.
When you have information that could cause death and torture, it's your sacred duty to make sure no one will be able to get that information.
Demonizing the guy who got the information you shouldn't have let escape is like killing the messenger.
Wow. I think I can tell when someone is bullshitting me. Or else the western intelligence community has gotten ridiculously porous lately.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I partially agree with you. Manning violated US law, he violated his oath to protect and defend, he broke a myriad of orders from superior officers - burn him at the stake. Julian? Well - he's not subject to US law. He broke no oath, he disobeyed no orders, he was under no obligation to defend the US from anything at all. Say some harsh words to him, maybe even say a few bad things about him - but let the man go his way. Concentrate on Manning, and any other little freaks like him.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Here is one of many motives - the Swedish artillery system 'Archer'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbrEBMVEDU4
.
No, it's more along the lines of releasing thousands of people's medical histories and letting everyone sort through the data to try and find something wrong.
-John
Why does Assange necessarily need to be present physically anywhere? Why wouldn't he adopt a new identity, change his name, face and papillary lines? All what he needs to do is to maintain the work of the online service, and he could do that from any place in the world where ISPs exist. Period.
By the way, what's the big deal about WikiLeaks servers? WikiLeaks could be redesigned as a distributed P2P network, where each usual user would therefore voluntarily take a small part of responsibility by providing HDD space and CPU capacity. Each participant of "Distributed P2P Wikileaks" would act like a gate into the Wikileaks for every interested outside person. There must be some system of distributed information storage, like Read-Solomon codes or open-key cryptography, so the contents of each single PC in that network would prove to be just some random information if taken over by the police, etc.
Your government uses your military intelligence
ON YOU
Assange leaked information that caused real-world consequences. Big consequences, like death and torture
[CITATION NEEDED]
But don't spend too long looking, because you're repeating a lie.
You can't take the sky from me...
But it's OUR lies.
Or, rather more correctly, YOUR lies, since I'm fortunately living in another country.
I fail to see why releasing facts and truth should threaten anybody, unless they've got something to hide..
Did you become an American yesterday (as in "born yesterday"), or is it that you have never once watched an episode of any TV show or any movie that makes our Government's position perfectly clear?
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Assange leaked information that caused real-world consequences. Big consequences, like death and torture, not small consequences like Microsoft missing out on seven bucks because you pirated Windows 2000.
- you little piece of shit, how about the actual truth: USA government + military caused death and torture in Iraq and Afghanistan and also other places by proxy.
Wikileaks may actually help to stop this insanity that USA is descending upon the world.
You can't handle the truth.
I thought the real motive was to steal money from Iraq!
What a fool I was. It's now evident that the plan was -- and always was -- to steal money from the United States.
But with Iraq it's resources. The more USD-denominated fuel that flows out of Iraq, the more dollars can be printed for bankers over here (esp. if those dollars will be seeking out foreign goods and labor). (See: petrodollars.)
It is no accident that we threatened Iraq with invasion just weeks after they stopped accepting USD for oil (switching to Euros instead and prompting a slew of oil producing countries to investigate a similar currency switch). Iraq had be made into an example: You do not shift your resources away from the dollar!
The summary seems to indicate that this has anything to do with the Swedish election. I can safely say that Wikileaks and the Assange case have had absolutely no impact on the Swedish election.
- Henrik
- when the Shadows descend -
Good investigative reporters always draw the ire of the authorities, who would much rather their shameful behavior go unreported. Funnily enough it never seems to occur to them to not behave in a manner of which they're ashamed. I guess that would probably mean less gold for them to dip their balls in, or something.
There may be some truth to the pentagon's assertion that operatives' lives may be put in danger by the release of these documents, but I bet there's a lot of juicy stuff in there that they'd just rather not have the rest of the world learning about. I'm pretty sure the American public is a lost cause, but the rest of the world still has some weight behind their opinion.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Two words for you Shirley Sherrod.
Video evidence can be edited to presenting misleading versions of the facts, quotes out of context, essential details left out,etc,etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Shirley_Sherrod
Then there also people like Commodore_64_love, make up crap to embellish the story
btw: Im watching the actual unedited video.
Also the "brat" quote was FAKE go actually listen to the actual video.
When the gunner found out the
the actual quote "Well its their fault for bringing kids to a battle" no laughing when they said that.
Plus the kid WASNT DEAD! Another FAKE claim, the kid was wounded in the belly and the gunner said "damn" and called for
a medical evac of the child at minute 18 of the unedited video.
runaway was telling the truth and got smeared as a flamebait.
Go look at the video yourself instead of making up phony quotes.
http://collateralmurder.com/ even the website doesnt claim the kid was killed
While I don't agree with Julian on everything (as in his opinion on 9/11), I certainly recognize that he exists among the group of the top 10 or 20 hackers in existence --- in other words, I've been (and others in the real hax community) familiar with his background for years. Assange is the real deal, as real /.ers are aware.
And your comment should be rated "ignorant" not funny.
Libertarians believe liberty should be the guiding principle to all law making because liberty allows an individual to pursue happiness. You can't pursue happiness if all your actions and behaviors are "recommended" by bosses and other people who view you as property.
Also among libertarians you have the cryptofascists who aren't libertarians at all who want to give all authority to corporations. Just as you have authoritarians who claim to be Democrat or Republican but what they all have in common is how they view us. They view you and I as either "consumers" or "taxpayers" and neither view us as individuals.
A true libertarian values individual liberty above all other principles, because only individual liberty allows for happiness. The other principles allow for security in the form of a prison without walls. You don't have to make any difficult decisions becomes you don't have to make any decisions at all because you are too stupid. Not making decisions at all combined with technology leads to robotization.
Well I do like the fact that there IS something wrong in the files, otherwise he wouldn't be getting this much attention. I'll give him extra kudos for staying clear of the vicious circle of violence everyone else is happily jumping into.
Whether or not he is doing the right thing is a different matter, personally, I'll take him over FOX News any day, but clearly that's just me.
You think we are the only Government to do that or currently doing that? When it comes to war you are going to have people that will break the law and be trigger happy. There is going to be the need for information to WIN the war. I am sorry that for some of you that the war is not all about roses and daisies with puppy dogs and rainbows. The cold hard fact is that if you are attacking the US then regardless if you shot first or were thinking of shooting you did wrong.
I take it you would prefer we just not be over there and not attack and use words to fix the issue correct? Hello Mr. Taliban I need you to leave power because your extremist attitudes, lack of humanitarian rights for people lacks, and your support of attacking someone else in another country is wrong. Come on you know that won't work.
We would have just as many people crying if our armed forces were not doing anything to fight what these people did. We tried to be nice and it got us no where. Look at Iran we are using words and sanctions there but no change. Eventually it will have to change and if the words are not working punishment will be needed.
Has anyone noticed how most of the mainstream: CNN, BBC, etc. have not picked up on this yet?
GO BLUE!
Good post, man. a lot of us are hip to what has happened and what will be going down. Like you said, when you do your own research, it becomes a lot easier to connect the dots.
A lot of people today are just..afraid..afraid of the future. They can see the same stuff, but choose to *not* believe it, or to extrapolate eventual outcomes, because it is just too scary for them to contemplate, so they just ignore it, or ridicule it, or claim it is "conspiracy theory" or some such. The psych term for that is cognitive dissonance. So they go whole hog into ignoring it, get immersed in amusements, video games, pro sports, fixation on the latest fad or craze...anything but look at reality.
The US has been raped, destroyed, "corporate raided" on a national scale, it is going down and we will be damn lucky to escape the worst of "interesting times".
What I wonder is why our government wants to cover it up.
To protect their 600+ billion dollar cash flow. Let's not beat around the bush. At the top of the pyramid, the more cash passing through your hands, the more you stand to gain by exploiting that cash flow. You didn't think the war was about killing, defeating, and destroying, did you? It's about making money, business as usual.
The news comes just one day before the Swedish national election.
Which of course means that Assange is hopeful for gains by the Piratpartiet in this coming election. It's a rather rapid turnaround. Wasn't it a week ago that he was emphatically denying U.S. government involvement?
This is pure politics. It will be interesting to see how the elections turn out, as I think those returns will indicate how "true" his story will become.
--
Toro
bullshit, a huge load of bullshit.
We would have just as many people crying if our armed forces were not doing anything to fight what these people did
- I know who'd be crying - USA military industrial complex.
SS money is gone and it's not a consequence of the war, it's the goal.
You can't handle the truth.
your opinion is not ok, please be aware i would not die to protect it. in fact, as an american, I may very well kill to extinguish it.
I partially agree with you. Manning violated US law, he violated his oath to protect and defend, he broke a myriad of orders from superior officers - burn him at the stake.
It is an illegal act to follow an illegal order. Murder of non-combatant civilians is illegal. Coverup of murder of non-combatant civilians is an illegal act as well. No one could possibly release this information without violating some type of nondisclosure agreement, but releasing this information was critical to the uncovering of crimes committed in the name of the people of the United States of America, who have a right to know.
Julian? Well - he's not subject to US law. He broke no oath, he disobeyed no orders, he was under no obligation to defend the US from anything at all. Say some harsh words to him, maybe even say a few bad things about him - but let the man go his way.
"Let" him go his way?
Concentrate on Manning, and any other little freaks like him.
Freaks? For delivering us information that we wouldn't have any other way? The man is a hero.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
this has been as such in my country for decades. i dont guess it is any different in sweden.
Read radical news here
this is a honest and serious question. do you want me to link you 12 puppet dictators u.s. installed in various countries around the world, and the genocides they committed ? or are you unaware that the government you speak of, is one that employs that as a state policy for 60 years now, and you are coming up and talking about 'credibility' of u.s. government.
,BR. really. are you a moron, or just unaware of near history of the planet you are living in ?
Read radical news here
You just don't get it. The reporter was EMBEDDED in an enemy unit. If/when one of our own reporters is killed during combat, we don't call it murder. It's a risk the reporter accepted when he decided to be embedded into a combat unit. We don't even call it murder when our medical personnel are killed during combat. There was no crime on that film. None.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
will soon have both of the weapons removed ... the button he can push and especially ... his penus ... without anesthesia ... without a scalpel.
Since our government has been completely overrun by special interests and is no longer in a position to serve and protect its own people The "protect and defend" oath has lost all of its meaning. The same thing goes with US LAW. if its made not in the interest of its own people that who is the law for? Im not interested in protecting a country that has shown time and time again that its only out for a select few. When we destroy ourselves by our own greed hopefully we will all be in a position to have laws and morals that serve the great good of its people.
One the women involved in the sexual misconduct allegation (not rape) against Assange is a member of a pro-Muslim/pro-Arab Social Democrat grouping. A left-wing pro-Arab group is a damn strange source of conspiracy if the intent is to discredit Assange. Wouldn't think such a mob would be supporting an Amercian intelligence community agenda. Sounds more like a prosaic version of "he said, she said". Maybe he does have a case to answer?! (Or not, as it plays out.)
You keep repeating that shit in every comment you've written. Read the whole report, look at the whole video.
Do you work for the US military industrial complex?
There were no enemy units in the video. Iraq isn't in a state of war with the US, Iraq is not even an occupied country anymore.
The institutions that were "enemies" of the US were disbanded by the occupational authority established by the US in 2003 - ages ago.
When your occupation force is running around on a rampage shooting civilians without provocation it is both murder and a war crime, even if you have it rubber-stamped by the puppet government you established for the purpose.
The fact that US is not allowing prosecution doesn't change the reality, just like the fact that a large number of US soldiers in overseas bases from Japan to Germany got away with rape and murder doesn't change the reality that they are rapists and murderers.
And btw US hung people after WWII for lesser crimes than those in the video.
However, if Manning exposed real fraud and abuses then he is a patriot exposing bad people hiding behind the law (the most dangerous sort).
I'm a libertarian. I don't think like that. In fact, i would call people you describe as Psuedo-anarchist Socialists.
They want to do what they want to do, then have everyone else clean up their mess. And yes, they are spoiled brats, because the responsible people tend to clean up after such brats as these.
At some point, we have to stop coddling the brats and start holding them accountable. Cutting Socialist "safety nets" would work, but some how I doubt you'd be up for that.
If you climb Mt Shasta, get caught in a snow storm and die of hypothermia, sucks to be you. We'll get your body next spring, or your next of kin can pay someone to get it now if they can afford it.
The cost of cutting safety nets is higher crime. So unless you get rid of the authoritarian laws first cutting the safety net will simply fill the prisons and create more jobs for police, judges and lawyers, and it costs more to keep a person in prison each year $30,000, than to give them welfare, or give them a job.
When did Iraq attack the US?
Considering the ultra-right gained?
What is this "we are coming out of recession" crap?
The "indicators" that they use are garbage. "Interest rates are down". So what - that means there's no demand to borrow. People are either too broke or too insecure to borrow any more.
Credit card debt down? It's because (and the credit card companies admit this) it's been written off. These people no longer are part of that sector of the economy. Job losses continue. People who do find jobs are taking home less money - often a LOT less. Long-term unemployment is UP, not down.
House repossessions are going to more than double - the average wait time between stopping payments and getting foreclosed on is a year and a half.
Look at this joke of a "the recession is almost over" from april
Since then, the housing market tanked.
Or:
Now look what happened last month:
The recession is a recession in name only. It's a depression, and we're nowhere near the bottom.