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Interpol Issues Wanted Notice For Julian Assange
chrb writes "Interpol have issued a wanted notice for Julian Paul Assange for alleged sex crimes. The Guardian and Wired both have commentary."
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EOM
This seems to be blatant character assassination and should be beneath an international political body.
Hey buddy, can i bum a karma? ~}CinderellaManson{~
I doubt these charges are legit. You'd have to be a really big idiot to advocate a glass house policy if you had skeletons like that hiding in your closet.
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
Just in case some reads the comments and not the article..
The women themselves said they were not afraid of him, and he did not force them.
How often does Interpol get involved in sex crimes cases? Specifically, I'm wondering if this is common practice, or if it's only common practice when the suspect is as famous/meddling/troublesome-to-xyz-government as Julian Assange.
Fabricating a sexual assault case is a whole lot harder than a bunch of much more effective ways to make him go away forever. People get killed in automobile accidents all the damn time.
One thing I respect that dude for, is his ambition. Not even the 'strongest' nation on earth could derail him. Think about that for a second.
A quote I remember in one interview he had with the BBC...
"I get personal satisfaction when I expose what governments have denied the citizens they represent and will continue to do so till the very end."
This dude is one hell of a dude. I wonder what governments really fear if all they are doing is 'doing good' as they say.
One thing for sure: We now know what many governments were thinking despite the public rhetoric. I personally cannot wait for the financial documents to be exposed. My hunch...BoA.
Interpol has no authority to compel a subject’s arrest. It issued 5,020 Red Notice last year for a variety of crimes.
Most telling line of the articles, imo.
I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
If he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth it would just create a martyr out of him, something you cant fight. If he gets smeared into oblivion as a sick pervo that doesn't care about anyone else but himself its much less risky
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I don't think the goal is to make him go away. I think the goal is to publicly discredit him so Ma and Pa Amerkin will never listen to the information he releases that paints the U.S. government in a negative light. Given the stigma attached to sex crimes in the U.S., I think it is the perfect vehicle to try to discredit somebody. You never have to be charged or convicted to be considered guilty of sex crimes here. It is enough to be accused.
You cant stop the flow of data... unless you get stabbed with a sword. A freakin' sword, can you believe that Mel?
Of course it is common practice. We just never get to hear about it, usually.
This is bull*hit power-abuse of the worst sort, and should be exposed for what it truly is. The criminals are now trying to cover their tracks, however, truth will prevail and bring them to justice.
*cough* Hillary *cough* Clinton *cough*
The sad thing is that if Wikileaks had published it all in one go, we've probably never would've heard a percentile of what is now coming out. Yes, journalism has really sunk to new lows all-around, and now people like Julian have to do their work for them.
Finally some real news to read.. The continuation will be interesting..
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
If he ends up with a couple bullets in his head like Gerald Bull did, he won't be a martyr, he will be a footnote that there will be investigative documentaries about.
"Julian Assange...oh yea, that dude that pissed off the wrong people and ended up dead in London...I think he had a website."
Citation please... Or is that your opinion because of what he does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcTP7YWPayU
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Spreading rumors of sexual crime (predator, pedo, deviancy, etc.) is standard policy against street people and homeless people. Any question about a new homeless person, asked of any ten other homeless people, will usually attract one to four respondants,"Don't know who that person is. I heard they might be a sex offender. $So_and_so said they heard that there are some new pedophiles around." It is nearly standard policy to run the pedo/predator line against any new people on the street and, if they so much as bat an eye, run them down with it.
Julian Assange is free to have a beer with me on the sidewalk any day! I'll even buy.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
If he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth it would just create a martyr out of him
You mean except for the fact that especially in the US that most people despise him and Wikileaks and would be happy if he was killed?
Talk about bad cover blaming the Wanted Notice on the alleged sex crimes. If he wasn't running Wikileaks this wouldn't have happend.
Yeah, if I were him I'd avoid going anywhere right now. Homes aren't safe either, but they beat traveling. In fact, he probably is doing exactly that, considering he's cautious bordering on paranoid.
Still, even if it were easier to murder Assange than to make charges stick, it would very much add to Wikileaks' credibility, moral high ground and popularity. Assange is already a popular hero; making him a martyr as well would be a stupid move.
I'll bet even money that if they throw him in a cell that he unexpectedly and mysteriously hangs himself when nobody is looking. ;D
Got modded Troll for saying this which I'm not sure why.
Anyway I think the chances of these accusations against Assange being completely unrelated to the leak and the timing being coincidental are pretty slim. It's kinda obvious that higher powers have targetted him. It's even more scary because it seems that these days the easiest way to hurt someone is by accusations of sexual assault. Who would dare hint that it might be untrue? I mean even on Slashdot one gets modded down -1 as Troll for raising this option...
Here's a quote from the article:
According to local news reports, the women told investigators the sexual encounters began as consensual, but turned non-consensual. One woman said Assange ignored her appeals to stop when the condom broke.
I don't understand - the condom broke in the middle so she asked him to stop, he didn't - and that's rape?
Does anybody remember that time some guy hid a camera in the gym that Princess Di was going to, and recorded her doing thigh contraction exercises?
Some news show got revenge on him by inviting the guy over for an interview, while secretly hiding a camera in his hotel room, where they recorded him wanking off to a porn video offered on the hotel TV.
So the moral of the story is that if you like to pry open the secrets of others, then others can pry open your secrets too. Turnabout is fairplay. Just because you're a crusader with a camera, pen, laptop, or website, doesn't mean you're above being reported on. Comes with the territory - you gotta be able to take it, if you wanna dish it out.
I don't mind reading about Julian Assange's sex life. Enquiring minds wanna know.
In a statement earlier this month, Assange’s British counsel said that his client repeatedly offered to cooperate with local investigators while he was in Sweden, and has offered to answer questions remotely from Britain since then.
“All of these offers have been flatly refused by a prosecutor who is abusing her powers by insisting that he return to Sweden at his own expense to be subjected to another media circus that she will orchestrate,” wrote attorney Mark Stephens. “Pursuing a warrant in this circumstance is entirely unnecessary and disproportionate.
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Like the US under Bush?
Why is this story filled with assinine comments like this?
Did you miss the part where Assange offered, through his lawyer, several times, to be interviewed by these prosecutors before he had left Sweden? And they weren't interested?
There's no reason for them to go after him now, other than this:
Wikileaks is releasing lots of shit that makes governments around the world look bad, and they apparently feel the need to DISTRACT PEOPLE with these trumped-up "sex" crime accusations, and try to smear Assange any way they can.
He has invited the various governments to give file numbers that could potentially put people at risk and they've flat out refused. So far, I haven't seen a single part of the leak that puts anyone in danger. It names names, but they are generally all high up government types, not anyone on the front lines or whatever.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
The way I see it, governments kill all kinds of people directly and indirectly in secret--and the U.S. has a particularly rich history of this. As such, I want every government's secrets to be plastered everywhere. The number of people that may conceivably die as a result of these leaks is absolutely nothing compared to what has been done in secret for decades. Of course, I'm a pacifist and an anarchist, so I consider the idea of having to balance secrecy and disclosure so that the state can continue to exist in its preferred form (I believe it's called "national security") kind of moot. YMMV.
That wouldn't work at all. Wikileaks is not Julian Assange and will continue to work just fine without him.
That is what the claim is with all this stuff. The claim is that he at the very least coerced sex from a couple of women. More or less the claim is it started consensual, but then turned non-consensual. That would be an egotistical thing to do, thinking more about yourself than the other person, and also on that is illegal.
Of course we've no idea if it is true yet, but if it is that would be a case where being an egotistical assbag IS a crime. You can think whatever you like, but when your ego causes you to infringe on the right of others, you are generally entering illegal territory.
If Interpol is cooperating with the US in assassinating Assange's credibility because of Wikki leaks activities this is the least of his worries. He had better hire an army. Conspiracy much?
In that case, a dead hooker and some drug charges would be easier than some vague Swedish coercion charge, and is definitely in the CIA's wheelhouse.
This would be a good moment to release it! http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5723136/WikiLeaks_insurance
There is some kind of study going on at the federal level here in Australia about that. If they can charge him for releasing Australian information in the cables they can revoke his passport.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Should they charge all those who are seeding the documents torrent?
Neh, the 'good' thing about these cases is that they are hard to proof. Surely they don't have spermsamples. But if there are more than 1 'victim' then it must be true! I don't believe it for 1 moment btw. The guy is being set up.
so you say they have a jack ruby setup for him?
Yet another indicator of where the power really lies.
If you're going to go through the efforts.. it's 'Mal'.
Not Mel. Otherwise, good job.
Well, that answers the question of Sweden being the US stooge.
I was gonna write "our stooge", but I'm ambivalent on this one, as I am ambivalent about the disclosure of secret diplomatic cables.
Assange might be an asshole, but I want this guy protected.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
And we're entitled to think you're a prejudiced handy idiot for the powerful.
Have you read his statements? What do you agree or disagree with?
Why these ad-hominem attacks on someone you've never met or just heard rumors about?
Handy idiot for the powerful indeed.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
Yeah like this one:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11860928
But in this particular case, it's not plausible -at least right now- because he's too public. Hence, they are trying to defame him.
Yeah let’s be honest after the atrocities that America has committed in Iraq alone, a little bribery and the punishing of an innocent man would be a tiny drop in the ocean. I'm just supprised they didn't get the cia to say he had a wmd in his pocket then take him out via drone.
Rocket Surgeon.
he will be dead by next year. till now he has just been crushing people's egos. now he is threatening people's bank accounts, powerful people, people with connections with his latest announcement. sure the dirty laundry they are hiding needs to be taken out but he has to expect that by now wanting him alive is not a option anymore. sure it will be murder but they will make it look like a suicide or accident, especially if it's the cia. 50 years of practice of doing this sort of thing makes me think he won't last long.
Are you paranoid if everyone knows they really are after you?
If he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth it would just create a martyr out of him
You mean except for the fact that especially in the US that most people despise him and Wikileaks and would be happy if he was killed?
I live in the U.S. and I can't imagine that's the common sentiment. On the one side you have people cheering him on, in the middle you have people that are morbidly curious and on the other side you have people that may indeed loathe him. U.S. sentiment may seem to be on the "loathe him" side because that side happens to be the very vocal minority that he is damaging with his leaks.
It's one thing to poke at governments. No one is ever happy with their government. In fact, it's pretty standard to have something bad to say about government and it all gets washed away and forgotten in a short time because there's always a fresh new stink pile being created to distract us from the previous stink pile we all got pissed off about. It's almost fun at times. But when Wikileaks says it is releasing secret data from banks? Well, THOSE are the people who run this planet. There are no election turn-overs or parties to choose from. It's just a bunch of men in dark suits controlling the money supply for the whole world. I think it's about time Assange seeks asylum in China. The bankers are a LOT more serious than governments and politics.
Oh so that was you was it?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I can understand if he's not willing to talk to the police, that is a good rule to live by when you are innocent. However the "I can't talk to you in person or I'll be shot?" Oh shut up and get over yourself. The man has appeared in public (at TED in July 2010 for example) a number of times. If someone with the resources of a governmetn wanted to kill him, he'd be dead. It is either bluster, ego, or both.
Remember the start of dear old Interpol. It was founded as an organized escape aid for upper echelon Nazis during WWII. Funny how they just could not find Nazis but seem to be able to want to arrest Julian. Who ya gonna believe?
You can tell someone's a sex offender from his looks?
Tell me, how does a hero look? And do you believe everything you see in the idiot-box?
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
The more vague, the better, IMO. It leaves plenty of room for people's uninformed imaginations to run rampant, it's more plausible, and people aren't really going to ask for evidence before they consider him guilty. Murder, though, still requires a certain amount of evidence in people's minds (means, motive, opportunity), so a baseless accusation would not be nearly as effective. It's easy to imagine a guy like Assange as a perv, since he doesn't "look normal" to the average idiot.
Remember all Interpol is is an agency for police cooperation. It is mostly a European thing because of the closeness of the countries and the generally open borders. Realize that they are backed in like US states and while not quite as easy to travel between (at least by ground), they are close. So if someone commits a crime but then can just run to another country, that is a problem. Hence, Interpol. That way a police force can issue a request for help for the others and if any of them find the person in question, they can be detained and gotten back to the country they committed a crime in.
It is only for more serious stuff, as the list someone else provided shows, but sex crimes are taken quite seriously in every developed country I've ever looked at.
There's only one way to describe a guy who deposits his semen in a woman against her will...
Is it stud?
He's a menace..... He thinks he's opening up communications and transparency. He's wrong, he'll just drive it deeper and encourage tighter controls and less information sharing across all industries and in government. He's also encouraged a number of people to co-opt their values for his child-like vision of a utopian society of no private information.
TimeOut
The only thing in danger because of these leaks are a lot of careers. So while I don't think anyone's actual life is in danger, quite a few livelihoods are probably at risk.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Another leak, another sexual harassment charge. What are the odds?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
"Where in the world is Julian Assange"
this should be amusing. i think the guy likes the notoriety, but he's really going to have to address this issue.
or maybe he can move in with Roman Polanski?
Then why is it such a foregone conclusion that the US is behind any charges in Sweden?
With all the resources of this planet available, and this is the best law enforcement can come up with? Ah, the good old days when the justice department could rationalise the rhetoric of, "it's for the children", or my personal favorite, "doing ... helps terrorists."
Naw, this is blown out of proportion. He might disappear though, to be on the safe side. It's rather ridiculous, like a book, like "1984" by George Orwell, or something like that, but there you have it.
In 20 years, we will hear he's died from natural causes and went mad in the last years, like Fischer.
In the meanwhile, he can serve as our society's Enemy. It's convenient for authorities to create such Enemies, like Obama Bin Laden. They don't really exist, because in reality they are not that powerful as our Overlords, but they're very convenient for them to divert our attention to something that is not really important.
Oh look, someone's alleged of sex-abuse. They've not charged him, since both the girls rather enjoyed it, but they still wanna question him, just not when he agrees to it.
Something is very very rotten here..
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
Brazil could be a good place for him to hide out at the moment - they have currently have a Federal Congressman who is wanted by Interpol for financial crimes.
Often you find people who scream the loudest about something are themselves one who do not do as they say. Look at the crazy evangelical preachers that hate on gays, and then turn out to be gay. Hell Ted Haggard called down fire and brimstone on gays and then went to fundie camp to get cured of t3h gay... Twice (really says how well that works). Elliot Spitzer ran on a platform of no corruption, anti-prostitution and so on and then got caught spending public money on $3000 hookers.
That Assanage loves to spill the secrets of others doesn't mean he is the same way. You'll notice that Wikileaks has no part devoted to him. He hasn't released things like childhood photos/essays, financial information, and so on about himself. He is actually a fairly secretive individual, even before this whole blow up. While you can perhaps argue he needs some personal secrecy because governments are after him (personally I believe that is silly, they'd kill him anyhow if they wanted to) you can't argue he needs secrecy over most details of his life (like financial information) other than that most people simply like that to be secret, it isn't the public's business.
He very well may have skeletons in his closet he doesn't want to see the light of day, all while wanting to reveal everyone else's. That such a position is hypocritical would be lost on someone who held it, people rarely if ever can see their own hypocrisy.
So don't assume that he couldn't have done this because he advocated for the transparency of others any more than you should assume he has done it because the Swedish government says he might.
You are right that his actions would be in line with someone who really doesn't have anything to hide, and believes in transparency all the time, but just doesn't think he is that relevant, or perhaps hasn't ever even consider the idea of opening his life up. They would be in line with someone who was falsely accused, and is a bit scared about it because they can't believe it. Well they would equally well be in line with someone with a gigantic ego who has as "Do as I say not as I do," attitude as many people with big egos do. Also committing a sexual crime is very much in line with that as it is an act of your ego saying only you matter, nobody else does.
Either situation could be true, or a combination thereof (he could have a massive ego, not want transparency in his own life, but be perfectly innocent). Don't presume his public platform, his crusade, has anything to do with how he conducts himself personally. We've seen far too many examples of that not matching up in history.
especially in the US that most people despise him
I assume you don't live in the US. Our government isn't very popular at present. Sunshine is being cautiously welcomed, although the release of military information spooks a lot of us.
The government can't save you.
Exactly, where the hell did this meme that Assange is a "media whore" come from? I'd never heard it brought up at all until the "collateral murder" video was released, and then suddenly it seemed to be everywhere. Hell, the first articles I read about Assange all mentioned that he was reclusive and/or secretive.
What gives? Why has this weird meme stuck? Who came up with it?
All men have consciences. Some apply them inconsistently. That may be a personal failing of Assange, I don't know. What's important is the data not the man.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
To fuck the US government?
If you can have sex with two women who will later regret it, can I kill a few hundred thousand Muslims and take a big hairy shit on the Constitution and International Law? Awesome!
Oh, wait, those two things are probably not on par, are they? Tell you what... I'll throw in the complete destruction of your civil liberties, and you can have some self righteous celebrity gossip egged on by the establishment.
It's a deal? Awesome!
It's time for the gloves to come off... These people don't care how many people die as a result of their rampages.
Soldiers kill thousands of innocent civilians and you say "oh, it doesn't matter, it's just collateral damage". An organisation leaks some heavily redacted information, putting maybe a handful of informants in possible danger (although no deaths have been attributed), and suddenly you care about responsibility towards human life?!?
Should they charge all those who are seeding the documents torrent?
No, better charge the people who make it possible to share the torrents. That's how it's done here in Sweden ..
I wonder what the charges for the guy behind the printing press, the web, IP, Cisco, .. would be.
Heck, Cisco makes lots of money on this Internet thing! They do it for profit! Teh horrorz! Clearly they are assisting crime!
Now that all the shameful things they did are public thanks to wikileaks, they started to do that kind of things in the open, starting with Assange.
They caught Al Capone for tax evasion.
It was obviously not the charge that he was really being arrested for, but it did provide a way to get a very dangerous person off the streets.
He released the names of informants currently IN Iran right now... well unless Iran read the documents and killed them.
We all get that you are happy to see the government brought low... oh wait... they're not changing at all. Just some guy is getting his rocks off on the fame and nothing is changing. Nothing at all.
We're old hands at this shit. Last I checked, the US was on pretty good terms with Sweden, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Sex_scandals_of_the_United_States
Maybe he should move to Switzerland. If the example set by Roman Polanski.is anything to go by, the country's a haven for accused sex offenders.
I think the trilateral commission, the Rand corporation, black helicopters and the Freemasons are usually involved in things like that.
All men have consciences. Some apply them inconsistently. That may be a personal failing of Assange, I don't know. What's important is the data not the man.
Well, that is what this is all about. Find something taboo to stick to him so he becomes a pariah. Never mind what the leaked information is. So long as they can get people to think he is some kind of deviant, enough people can be distracted.
Similar to the upcoming US election results
From: CIA
To: Woman dating Assange
We will pay out $xxx,xxx for the successful arrest of Assange in Sweeden.
From: Woman dating Assange
To: Swedish Authorities
I was raped.
What? Of course there's a reason for conspiracy. This guy is one of the US Government's least favourite people.
The US has an organization called the CIA. They f**k over people whenever it serves the cause.
They use all kinds of tactics, up to assassination. This guy is comparatively lucky so far.
I don't know the particulars of the case, but a major discrediting of this guy (and thus his organization)
is consistent with an expected multi-pronged response to attempt to prevent/minimize impact of the leaks.
Do you know these women were not paid to lie?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
I've seen shit like, say, Russia killing a former spy who was not at all in the public eye. If the government wanted to kill him, they'd do it. This "Oh but they'd get me while walking to the courthouse, but not while I'm attending TED," is rather stupid.
They only were able to take down Al Capone after charging him with tax evasion.
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
I'm in the US.
I'm enthralled by the leaks - they are fascinating, and I await the next batch each day.
That said, treason has occurred and Wikileaks is an enemy of my country.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
How about the funds raised by Assange to the tune of about $5 million, to start WikiLeaks and then complains about running out of money. WTF?!?! Where did all the money go? Good grief I could run WikiLeaks on less than $500 a month. Why in the world they thought they needed $5 million I will never know. You start asking people for $5 million and you end up selling your soul to get it. Anyone who would give him anything close to $5 million put serious strings on it. The question is what strings and how many people put up what with serious strings on it.
Assange climbed in to bed with George Soros. Whatever he gets he deserves. When you play with nasty people and power hungry people you get burned and they will destroy you if they don't get what you promised them, or what they want. You join forces with radicals, don't be surprised when they turn on you.
I assume everyone here will assume hes innocent just because he is their favorite superhero. Sure they went all out using this as an excuse to issue an Interpol warrant when they likely wouldn't have for some lower profile shmuck, but I don't know why people find it so hard to believe he might have sexually coerced two women. He's a vain, self-absorbed megalomaniac with a messiah complex who seems to think the world revolves around him. My karma went from excellent that was built up for years to nothing due to people using orthodoxy points (you know, the things that started as mod points before it became fashionable to enforce groupthink through censorship) to silence me earlier today. For, of all things, simply pointing out he seems only to target the US lately. This is my attempt to see if my karma can go negative before I leave the hivemind that /. has become. Mod away.
Sig double bonus!
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
glwt
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
At Slashdot, one gets "Troll" mods for saying you like your iPhone, or don't like the iPhone, or you think libertarians are demonstrations of education failure, or you like some random bit of Microsoft technology, or you don't like the GPL. It's certainly possible to get a Troll mod for other reasons, but those are the most common ones.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
You can tell someone's a sex offender from his looks?
Tell me, how does a hero look?
You can have sex with women at work by following a few simple rules: 1. Be handsome 2. Be attractive 3. Don't be unattractive
I fail to see why this guy is being hailed as a courageous hero or sorts. 1. Going against the US is actually safer than going against many other countries. 2. Unlike newspaper editors/journalists who incur some/lot effort in gathering info and exposing stuff. this guy has done *nothing*. Some *coward* who atleast in theory is on the side he agreed to is supplying Assange with raw information that he is simply exposing. No effort unlesss you count an ftp as *effort*. 3. All Assange's info is supposed to be true? More importantly, the recent leak, what is it supposed to be other than just embarrassing US diplomats? Do people really think international relations are all black & white boyscout deals? Tell me *one* country which does not say one thing nd act another. Come on, How many times have you people told your *spouse* what you *really* thought ? That's called diplomacy, dears. As for the gulf war stuff, yeah, as if anyone did not know hat the Pakis were playing both sides. US voter does not care and US defence contractors care too much. I will consider Assange brave etc if he does the following: 1. Expose something that embarrasses China, and is seen free for one more week. 2. Say anything that's even mildly embarrassing about Mohammed/Islam/any-Islamic-country, and lives for a month without a fatwa on his head. 3. Expose some low level corruption of a mafia don in India, and live for a week without getting beaten up. or some such. See, compared to all that, US is easy, if you have money for lawyers.
Is this Slashdot: Special Victims Unit now?
One might be deeply suspect of people who attempt to deflect the rational discourse of such charged topics, but for some reason the converse tends to be the general response.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
If he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth it would just create a martyr out of him, something you cant fight. If he gets smeared into oblivion as a sick pervo that doesn't care about anyone else but himself its much less risky
"WikiLeaks added a 1.4 GB "Insurance File" to the Afghan War Diary page. The file is AES encrypted and has been speculated to serve as insurance in case the WikiLeaks website or its spokesman Julian Assange are incapacitated, upon which the passphrase could be published." wikipedia
That could help explain why the US appears to be taking this all so carefully.
Not only would he be a martyr, he'd potentially take a good bit more with him.
I'm not buying into any conspiracy theories, and I'm going to watch this develop with interest - at the moment I think there are many possibilities here, and this is something of uncharted territory in govt affairs.
That said, I think there is a motive for the US to be pulling the strings here. This is from the article::
Maybe it's just a way of preventing Assange from getting Swedish citizenship and the protection that this would afford? The Swedish govt can't give him this while charges hang over his head - whether they're true or not. Doesn't explain how they govt would get these particular girls on board or anything, but it is a somewhat plausible motive.
They will possibly delay and/or undermine future leaks.
If he doesn't have anything to hide, then he should be willing to have a trial....what? Doesn't anyone else expect him to have the same attitude to his own life that he expects others to have?
Of course I fully expect to be modded down because of the insane hero worship of this guy.
in a most basic sense, in a room of numerous people including a known criminal, with no other leads, the individual who speaks first is your first everything, including suspect.
such scrutiny is brought on one's self by choice.
is an anagram for
Iguanas Anal Juleps
and
Japans Sealing Luau
Which means a couple of things: the Japanese need to learn that the harming of marine wildlife is NOT a party. And iguanas should not be given anything rectally. But most importantly, the anagrams show that Julian Paul Assange is obviously a CIA agent.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
It's only treason if Mr. Assange is a US citizen. Because he's not, it's just bad luck.
"In the absence of the ability to establish the attribute of truth they tried to establish the noble attributes."
Mmm, no. The CIA ran brothels during the 1950s and 1960s to recruit johns for mind control experiments, and they were particularly fond of LSD. This was explored at length in the late 1970s when the US Senate took an interest. Time Magazine seems like a decent source.
He was in Sweden and prosecution waited until he left Sweden to start making demands. Probably specifically to get Interpol involved and limit his movements. You knew this guy was going to get nailed for what he was doing. This is the beginning. Paint him as a child molester because nobody feels bad for one of those. A classic first step. Limit his movements, deny him places to be. Eventually he'll wind up somewhere with an extradition treaty and that will be that.
Also, if there are any Interpol people who happen to read this - I know of an actual child molester you could go pick up pretty easy if this is the sort of thing that actually interests you.
No? Not interested? Hypocrisy. Imagine that.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Really? You guys are as brainwashed as the Chinese or North Koreans. I bet they are pissed someone is offending their masters.
Yes, journalism has really sunk to new lows all-around, and now people like Julian have to do their work for them.
Who is "them"? Journalists? That's what I thought Assange was. Perhaps you mean the papers. We're already witnessing the death of traditional media in other forms; here's just one more. NYT goes paywall, journalism goes "illegal" (or so the powers-that-be tell us.) Welcome to the new fascism.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The way I see it, governments kill all kinds of people directly and indirectly in secret--and the U.S. has a particularly rich history of this. As such, I want every government's secrets to be plastered everywhere. The number of people that may conceivably die as a result of these leaks is absolutely nothing compared to what has been done in secret for decades. Of course, I'm a pacifist and an anarchist, so I consider the idea of having to balance secrecy and disclosure so that the state can continue to exist in its preferred form (I believe it's called "national security") kind of moot. YMMV.
So you already know this to be true, and what, nobody believes you, or what's the goal of plastering these "secrets" everywhere? No, I get it.. then we'd all be really, really, really, sure we weren't just imagine these things happen, and others would take us seriously, and future assassinations will be never carried out in secrecy. Wait, or no assassinations? Should we openly do what we're accusing them of doing or should they not do what we openly think they're doing anyway. fuck me I'm lost.
No, I get you though, if we blow this thing wide open, then we'll be _certain_ what we think is happening really is. Then.. we'll well, we'll be sure of it, that's for sure.
The reason I think the elimination of these secrets will be a good thing is that there are a lot of people who earnestly believe that "we" are the "good guys" who don't do things like that. The government maintains its apple pie home-baked goodness image, insisting that it's always the other guys that are the bad-people-du-jour who are out to kill us because they hate our freedom or something like that. When you reveal the kinds of evil the government does to other people, then folks can start to see why (or even if) "they" are actually fighting "us" instead of what the propaganda machine spouts all the time. The more people get to see reality, the more they will no longer be able to hide in their fantasy worlds that help them sleep soundly at night. But I'm confused. Are you trying to say that you don't know all the crap the U.S. government has done (if this is the case, read a history book; no wacky conspiracy theories necessary), or are you simply trying to say that you don't care, or that you think it is pointless to publicize it regardless of if it's right or wrong? (Honest question. I really don't know exactly what you were trying to get at in your comment.)
You probably know far more about this than I do, but I suspect that gathering these documents, then running a website dedicated to releasing these documents isn't such an easy task. Of course, I'm probably wrong to think they have to deal with government harrassments and DoS attacks. The information is probably all given to them for free as well.
So I'm not the only one that sees a link to Blake's 7 on this.
*It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
http://post.cloudfront.goodinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/oadqwwrabm98xg3mzqg8jbv2o1_500.jpg
Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
I believe is very possible that the secret services may send someone specially to have sex with Asange so that they may blackmail or discredit him. This happened in a lot of cases and with a lot of important people throughout the history. So why not now? In this case who can say what happened during the sexual act? Maybe they had a web cam recording :P ? The only difference will be made by their statements, so a very good chance to discredit him (a spy can very easily convince some random prosecutors, otherwise they won't be spies)
I'm not saying that it is true nor false but it's clear that the whole situation stinks.
Anyway I think the chances of these accusations against Assange being completely unrelated to the leak and the timing being coincidental are pretty slim.
Except that the accusations were first floated weeks ago, at around the time of the Reuters correspondent murder leak. Anyway, it would be unfortunate timing, but being a politically interesting person doesn't give you a free pass. Other posters have called for great scrutiny and impartial judges, but that only works if it's a planted accusation and not a real one.
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
Case in point:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Ritter#Arrests
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
No, it's not unreasonable. They turned down doing an interview by video camera, because if the questioning should warrant an arrest, there would no way to arrest him over video conferencing. This is entirely reasonable.
This is unreasonable and inconsistent. First if there is no way to arrest him if they decide it is needed after interviewing him then what is this international arrest warrant? They seem to think it is possible to arrest him BEFORE they have even interviewed him.
Secondly how is it reasonable to expect someone to attend police questioning at considerable expense to themselves? He has not yet been found guilty of a crime or even charged with a crime. If they offer to cover his travel expenses then fine but to expect him to pay them himself is not reasonable just to satisfy their curiosity during an investigation, especially after they have already interviewed him and told him that he was free to leave the country.
Finally why don't the Swedish police send the interviewer to the UK (assuming that is where he is)? There is a good deal of cooperation between EU police and I've heard of many cases on the news where UK police have visited other European countries to interview and collect evidence for cases based back in the UK. If he is willing to cooperate, as he claims, then what is the problem?
I have no idea whether or not he is guilty of what he is accused but the Swedish authorities seem to be behaving in a completely unreasonable manner.
Any money shes a CIA asset.
Theres 100000s of em, very likely.
They should rename the CIA to the MAFCIA.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
I leave near DC, and I get the impression from people that:
1) Like what he is doing (In terms of reducing 'secrets' and 'corruption' in institution's we expect/are supposed to trust)
2) Don't really like the methods (at least in terms of possibly putting soldier's lives at risk--But media in the US is a horrible gauge to tell if/how much they actually did)
Thus far I have not heard anyone caring about politicians getting smeared...
Still, even if it were easier to murder Assange than to make charges stick, it would very much add to Wikileaks' credibility, moral high ground and popularity. Assange is already a popular hero; making him a martyr as well would be a stupid move.
You're assuming governments will not do something because it is a stupid move. In what world does that happen exactly? Assange must be expecting an attempt on his life as an inevitability.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Explanation 1) Assange is clearly damaged goods. It looks like the girls he's been having sex with are also damaged goods, it's hardly surprising for a couple of them to get together and start boiling his bunny. And I'm sure the CIA will be happy to lend them a few kroner to hire a top lawyer. Hilary Clinton has $100k she made "trading commodities", perhaps she could lend them some money.
Explanation 2) He did actually rape them, the lawyer is doing it for free or they are rich.
Explanation 3) The CIA persuaded them to lie and raise a case, or they are CIA operatives.
Are you implying that the war with south america is over?
The news reached me just after I finished reading an enlightening (for me) essay on the motivation behind WikiLeaks. In short, it explains, quoting from Assange's previous writings (pdf), that his goal is no less than creating a worldwide environment in which the costs of securing information exchange in a conspiracy, governmental, corporational or any other, are driven so high as to render it uncompetitive as an information processing entity. The increased transparency will have the effect of raising the government accountability and lowering the competitiveness of unethical companies (by raising the reputational costs, see also this Forbes interview). And, as the author of the essay writes: if the diplomats quoted by Le Monde are right that “we will never again be able to practice diplomacy like before,” he's already succeeding.
So in other words it's turned into a Republican vs. Democrat split that you americans love to do all the time...
It's only treason if Mr. Assange is a US citizen. Because he's not, it's just bad luck.
The treason would probably be on the part of the army officer who leaked the documents to Wikileaks.
It is 1988. Salmun Rushdie just published his book and pissed of Hezbollah. Salmun Rushdie goes into hiding. A Lebanon woman claims Salmun has raped her but her claim is dismissed by the court. However, Britain now sends out a Interpol for Salmun's arrest for this rape. "Well, if he is innocent he should come out of hiding and stand trial right?" "What... could... possibly... go... wrong?" USA, Guantanamo bay, CIA Flights, Home Land Security. Seems like a reasonable country.
The leak was treason, Mr. Assange's actions just make him an enemy of the state.
Either way, they get a nice trial if they ever slip up and get into police custody somewhere that has an extradition treaty with the US for such things.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I've read through all of the comments on here, and I'm really sad. I don't visit here for up to date news, I can get that elsewhere; I come here for the discussions. But so many of the commenters here are scarily uninformed. And where they're not informed, many of them seem poisoned.
This is a geek site - we're supposed to be able to view information objectively and without being tainted by unrelated information. This reads more like a political forum :(
Firstly, these accusations stem from months ago, so this has nothing to do with the most leak. Sweden have been pursuing the interviews and warrants for a number of weeks now.
Secondly, what's with all of the conspiracy nuts here ? Why is everyone second guessing his reasons for not wanting to go in and talk to the police ?
He offered to go in repeatedly when he was still in the country. When his residence claim was denied, he asked if there was any reason he had to stay in the country and he was told that he was free to leave. So he did. Now he's in another country, and he's _still_ offering to talk to them but he's not prepared to schlepp back there - that's not unreasonable, is it?
if she regrets it in the morning she can then claim it was rape, on the grounds that you had sex while her judgement was too impaired by the alcohol to consent.
OTOH, she cannot tell the judge she was too drunk to know what she was doing if she picks the car keys and drives it.
WTF? Drinking is supposed to require judgement for one act and not for another? If she's afraid of rape, then she should have a non-drinking designated chaperone with her, who will take her home when she's too drunk to use her judgement.
In that case, a dead hooker and some drug charges would be easier than some vague Swedish coercion charge, and is definitely in the CIA's wheelhouse.
Probably, but that's both far too blatent and carries the risk that evidence will be found that doesn't match up with the story the fabricators want. The date rape charges would be a clever choice - it's something commonplace enough to be believable, nasty enough that even if he's acquitted most people will still believe he did it, and almost impossible to disprove.
And by the sheer sound that you make I can tell you're a stinking asshole.
for much less of what Assange did.
In Guantanamo and other illegal detention centers around the world, without trial and elementary human rights guarantee, persons abducted by the US and other countries governments are incarcerated for much less that this journalist is doing.
The most foolish thing he could ever do is to go to the authorities of any country; if he do so, he will be in jail for a long time.
Mr. Assange learned very hard lesson in publicity: No matter how benevolent you or others think your actions may be, the moment you do something incredibly stupid (like commit a sex crime), your world will effectively implode. In this case, his world imploded to dimensions of about 6x8 feet. Undoubtedly, there will be some hard-core conspiracy theorists who will say this is the work of the U.S. Government, and that is a very satisfying belief, but it doesn't take into account the following facts: 1) The claimant is not an American, and does not have any interest in silencing Assange (aside from the crimes he is accused of), 2) The investigation was conducted by the neutral Swedish government, 3) The evidence collected in the criminal investigation of the victim's claims has nothing to do with Assange's release of classified documents. Regardless of the evidence collected, Assange and his supporters will claim that he did not get a fair trial if convicted. However, evidence does not change when the verdict is issued, and for there to be enough compelling evidence for an arrest warrant to be issued, there has to be a substantial amount. Julian Assange has demonstrated the type of personality that is Self-Righteous and accepts benevolence based on what *he* thinks is right. Someone ought to give Mr. Assange a dose of his own medicine: LEAK ALL OF HIS PERSONAL INFORMATION!
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Via wikileaks twitter: Canadian Harper advisor calls for the assassination of Julian Assange http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqtIafdoH_g
1. No, he is not. Releasing documetns you have not obtained yoursel is not espionage
2. Even if it were, he has not signed up to covenants prohibiting him from taking those actions. Unlike Hilaary Clinton.
"Interpol's constitution forbids its involvement in crimes that do not overlap several member countries..."
How the hell did "maybe had rough sex in Sweden" get elevated to the Interpol level?
No sig today...
Minute 12:30-13:20. Assange: "...This is why we called it Collatoral Murder"
a person is being sought by interpol for exposing filthy doings of governments which the citizens should be knowing in the first place. not to mention that, those things should not have been actually done.
this should show what kind of charade, storefront, lie, water vapor our modern western 'democracy' is. a lie.
Read radical news here
those two women have declared that the affair was VOLUNTARY. both of them. not to mention that, they have never filed any rape charges, they just went to seek counsel from police after finding out that he slept with BOTH of them. both word stressed here, and should make you understand what's going on.
even still, the women had filed no charges. but, for some reason, despite initial prosecutor had closed the case. another, irrelevant prosecutor's office had decided that it should again open the case.
you get what's going on now ?
Read radical news here
Why is everyone behind Julian. I see news reporters and people after him but he's just the messenger of the mistakes and careless actions of other beings/institutions. I've even saw articles telling that FBI and other bureaus will tighten their security. It's not about hiding that you are a bastard, it should be about not being a bastard in the first place.
BTW, this is not off-topic, because this type of articles seems to be part of a de-prestige campaign to a man with it's website.
Did he personally break into US government buildings at 2am to steal these...?
If anybody's guilty of espionage it's whoever got hold of the documents and sent them to Wikileaks. This whole thing is just a case of pissed off governments sitting down with their law books open and saying "what can we get him for?"
No sig today...
and it would instantly manufacture 100+ wannabees who all would be wanting to be next julian assanges.
Read radical news here
you are an idiot moron which doesnt have enough cognitive power to realize that that guy is exposing innumerable filthy dealings and BETRAYAL to citizens by their government, something which all the journalists of the world failed to do up until now.
and, you are getting your fix from shitty right wing news organizations, which especially dont like what that guy is exposing being coming out. hence, you are not only stupid, but also, gullible too.
good for you !!!
how's that for an entitled opinion ? it is as valid as yours.
Read radical news here
He raped dozens of governments which has been raping their people behind their backs and lying to them.
good for him !! we need more rapists like him on this planet !!
Read radical news here
When there are 1 TB flash drives, WiFi webcams, microphones smaller than a coin, communication lines of 1 GB/s, the secrets are just not possible anymore. It is the global village where everybody knows everything.
Why not to write cables in a respective tone in the first place? The great English language allows to express any thought without being insulting or rude. Why not let diplomats be diplomats, follow the Geneva convention, etc. It is not that difficult.
I am not sure which Slashdot you have been reading, but like every other public forum on the internet it is full of conspiracy nutjobs. Any story that involves the US, politics or the military draws them like flies from both sides. Why consider simple coincidence as an explanation when a complex conspiracy theory will do instead? Just think of all the time and brainpower wasted coming up with a lot of this crap. The internet has turned into an international soapbox for nutcases, little more than a rumor mill.
But, that's enough of my yackin' --- let's boogie!
This is a pointless debate on /.
No, enemy of my country. We aren't in a brutal dictatorship - we are responsible for our leaders in the US, depressing as that may be. I'm not going to shirk my responsibility for them.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
People, you need to realized that Assange still hasn't been charged with anything.
This type of INTERPOL thing is apparently for suspicious people who have disappeared and if the police see them, they should notify Sweden where they are. That's it. he is 'wanted', but not in the sense of 'arrest him'. He's wanted for questioning.
Assanage has not disappeared. Everyone knows exactly where he is. He's offered to participate in questioning.
This is a nonsensical INTERPOL request, and it was issued so Sweden could repeat the 'Assange is a rapist' claim, despite the fact that, so far, they still haven't put up any actual charges he could actually go before a judge and fight.
This is the plan, do this for months, and then stop. Without any resolution at all. No charges, no verdict, no nothing. Just months of Sweden repeating that he's a rapist.
And it will forever be 'Accused rapist Assange today release more information...'.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Actually, it looks like N. Korea is backing down because the leaks show that China's won't back NK, contrary to what China has been saying.
At this point there doesn't seem to be ANYTHING that could cause a war.
Contrary to what some people have been screaming, these leaks in no way can be defined as espionage. It's,like saying Woodward and Bernstein committed espionage. Ridiculous.
What do you mean "better charges"?
oh, I see you have the incorrect world view that large governments quash the press. Here is the answer to yuor questions:
You world view is wrong.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Alleged fascist and suspected CIA asset
Tom Flanagan,
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Office: Social Sciences 706
Email: tflanaga AT ucalgary.ca
Phone: (403) 220-8225
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
And the day you realize you are an assbag, are you going to do you in?
Reporters (at least in the US) enjoy a certain protection for the release of information. Not just protection their sources but the information they leak. But Assange is blurring the line between leaker (not protected) vs. publisher (protected).
Assange "has gone a long way down the road of talking himself into a possible violation of the Espionage Act," First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams said on National Public Radio, noting that Assange has said leaks could bring down a U.S. administration.
Washington lawyer Bob Bittman expressed surprise the Justice Department has not already charged Assange under the Espionage Act and with theft of government property over his earlier release of classified documents about U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bittman said it was widely believed those disclosures harmed U.S. national security, in particular U.S. intelligence sources and methods, meeting the requirement in several sections of the act that there be either intent or reason to believe disclosure could injure the United States.
Even Reporters without Borders condemned Assange's "incredible irresponsibility" for putting lives in danger through his previous release last August.
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
Good grief I could run WikiLeaks on less than $500 a month.
Seriously? That'll buy you an hour of lawyer face time, assuming you speak to only one lawyer and he doesn't work for you other than that one meeting. Now, about your servers and bandwidth charges this month ...
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
Maybe he knows the Powerpuff Girls?
bah.
Maybe you should be fascinated by the law of your country, and actually look up treason:
"Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
Hint #1: the "owing allegiance to the United States" part is the important bit
Hint #2: Julian Assange is not a US citizen
Assange climbed in to bed with George Soros.
Call me a whore, but for $5m I'd be tempted too.
They only liked him when he was telling them what they wanted to hear about how evil china is.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
Why so snarky? I can be snarky, too:
Hint #3: I wasn't talking about Julian Assange, but the person who gave the data to Wikileaks.
So treason has occurred (presumably by the army private that leaked the other documents) and Wikileaks (and by extension Julian Assange) is the enemy of my country.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I accuse you of being a rapist! And if you don't have anything to hide, you should be willing to go to trial... what? You don't want your life ruined by scurrilous allegations? Shut up and fly (at your own expense) to whatever country I designate so we can interrogate you.
Get the picture?
If you like that you'll love Brought To Light by Alan Moore which he wrote after Iran Contra. Cue the black helicopters and x-files music
Just a shot in the dark, but when you have a site like WikiLieaks, there's going to be some greasing of the palms I'd imagine. If I were him, a good portion of that capital immediately went into a "Plan B" or even a "Dead Man's Trigger" scenario for the very reasons you point out in your second paragraph.
You're missing the obvious here. If he disappears, the real story would be leaked ... via Wikileaks. ;)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
There is no freedom of speech in China at all. Someone got jailed because of a tweet.
life is short, learn more.
Dude: Chicks can TELL when you're wearing a "Jimmy Hat" or not. I asked many (of 1000's I have been with sexually in my lifetime, which is why I am posting as anonymous here) if they liked sex better with condoms or not, and they all told me "it feels much better when men do not wear one" so, in other words? They know!
Starting out without a condom is one thing, but breaking it in the middle is entirely different.
If she's having any fun at all, no way she will notice.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
I just happened to stumble upon this article on the topic, which notes that in the United States, the legal implications of the particular alleged events vary, significantly, by state. (The legal implications, of course, may differ from the moral implications. Nonetheless the article seems interesting and relevant.)
Is _sex by surprise_ illegal in the United States?
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.