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Bolivia Demands Assange Apologize For Deliberately False Leaks To the US

Posted by timothy on from the well-it's-not-swatting-if-it's-the-usaf dept.

Rei writes In 2013, during Edward Snowden's brief and chaotic search for asylum that ultimately landed him in Russia, the US faced criticism for handing information to various European nations that Bolivian president Evo Morales was smuggling him out of Russia, leading to the grounding of his flight. In a new twist, in the documentary Terminal F about this time period, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange admitted that he was the one who deliberately leaked the fake information to the US government. Bolivia has been none too pleased with this news and is now demanding that Assange apologize for putting their president's life at risk.

9 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Huh? by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's been asked by the Bolivian ambassador to call their president to apologize. This is certainly not a bad thing, and certainly not uncalled for.

    It could be a good opportunity to repair relations with an ally.

  2. hes not the one to blame. by nimbius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Blame Austria for their baseless breech of the immunity and inviolability of a president and their aircraft. Diplomatic protocol is widely known and respected across Europe.

    Blame Spain, Portugal, and France for falling lock-step in line with Washingtons witch hunt, instead of championing their own sovreignity and autonomy.

    Blame the United States for violating diplomatic protocol, strong-arming foreign nations, and once again doing it all without so much as a shred of concrete evidence.

    but dont blame Snowden. If anything he simply exposed the cowardice of European member states and the desparate measures to which a broken superpower would go to readily secure their latest antihero in preparation for kangaroo court.

    If we were to analyze the situation another way, Imagine Bolivia were so desperate to bring George Bush to trial for Iraqi warcrimes that it forced the presidents jet to land in Lithuania and be forcibly searched for 9/11 documents.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:hes not the one to blame. by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yup, Assange may have thrown out some false information.

      But diverting a presidential plane against diplomatic immunity, forcing it to land, and searching it?

      That is entirely to be owned by the countries who did it and the country who asked for it.

      Even if he was on a presidential plane, they had no legal right to divert it or search it.

      Assange is an ass, and he may have lied, but the stuff that was done to divert the Bolivian presidents plane was flat out illegal according to diplomatic rules. And that has nothing to do with Assange.

      He could apologize in case he needs another place to hole up. But he sure isn't responsible for what was actually done with that information.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:hes not the one to blame. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      By the way, has Bolivia asked for (and gotten) an apology from any of those countries?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  3. Apologies from more than just Assange? by xanthines-R-yummy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think Assange SHOULD apologise. After all, he was risking the life of a head of state (admittedly, the risk was probably fairly minimal). That said, it seems like Morales deserves an apology from a lot of countries, including the U.S. Right or wrong, it would be the diplomatic thing to do. Not apologizing just reinforces the perception of the U.S. as imperialist/bullying. It seems like France is the only one to have issued an apology so far...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

  4. heh... by hitmark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Something of a dick move. But it highlighted the kinds of crap USA can pull with virtual impunity.

    --
    comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
  5. Shows just how far the U.S. will go to get him by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If they'll forcibly ground the Presidential plane from a sizable country, do you really think they wouldn't stoop to trumping up some rape charges and put a little pressure on Sweden too?

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  6. Apologies already offered by tomhath · · Score: 4, Informative

    Morales has already gotten apologies from the countries involved. The new information here is that Assange lied in an effort to precipitate an incident like this.

  7. Re:What. The. Hell. by pla · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is that Assange guy doing?

    Masterfully trolling the US government?

    I mean, c'mon... Getting us to take down a plane carrying the president of a sovereign nation? Fucking beautiful!.

    And can you deny that we deserve it, for listening to intelligence from someone actively resisting extradition not because he fears because he fears a cushy Swedish prison, but because he fears subsequent rendition to the US?