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Justice Department Is Preparing To Prosecute WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (wsj.com)
According to the Wall Street Journal, "the Justice Department is preparing to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) and is increasingly optimistic it will be able to get him into a U.S. courtroom." From the report: Over the past year, U.S. prosecutors have discussed several types of charges they could potentially bring against Mr. Assange, the people said. Mr. Assange has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since receiving political asylum from the South American country in 2012. The people familiar with the case wouldn't describe whether discussions were under way with the U.K. or Ecuador about Mr. Assange, but said they were encouraged by recent developments.
Prosecutors have considered publicly indicting Mr. Assange to try to trigger his removal from the embassy, the people said, because a detailed explanation of the evidence against Mr. Assange could give Ecuadorean authorities a reason to turn him over. The exact charges Justice Department might pursue remain unclear, but they may involve the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the disclosure of national defense-related information.
Prosecutors have considered publicly indicting Mr. Assange to try to trigger his removal from the embassy, the people said, because a detailed explanation of the evidence against Mr. Assange could give Ecuadorean authorities a reason to turn him over. The exact charges Justice Department might pursue remain unclear, but they may involve the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the disclosure of national defense-related information.
Julian Assange was right to not to go to Sweden.
Being both an asshole and paranoid didn't mean he was wrong.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
What? Telling the Truth? Out loud? Without a Permit? I love how the people he EXPOSED are still FREE AS BIRDS, but this guy just HAS To be "Prosecuted"
How do we get the right to prosecute a foreign national doing things in a foreign country that are protected by our own first amendment? Really don't understand this.
It's not a crime if it's done outside the country, right? I mean.... it's a crime in many countries to depict the Prophet Mohammed, and some of those countries are international treaty signatories, but that doesn't mean they get to extradite Charlie Hebdo artists.
Was he in the US during any of his espionage activities?
It's not paranoia when they're actually out to get you.
It seems PopeCrapso has forgotten that Assange is the evil man who, before the Russians-stole-the-election meme was the one accused of leaking information inn hillary and causing her loss to Trump.
But yknow - whatever gets your Orange Man Bad oats going today.
I believe that sunlight disinfects. The fewer secrets countries and corporations are able to keep, the better off the world is. Snowden, Assange, and Manning are all heroes.
The villains in the US are the officials that squandered $6 trillion (6 trillion dollars!) on military homicide sprees since 9/11. Money that could have been used better within the US. Want to put America first -- do it, don't give it lip service while dumping money into futile wars abroad.
And like all federal laws, it applies to anyone within US jurisdiction. That's what "jurisdiction" fucking means. Assange isn't, and wasn't when he did - whatever it's alleged he did.
At a time when Trump is apparently arguing that foreign nationals in the US aren't "subject to its jurisdiction", it seems even more than ordinarily hypocritical for his own justice department to be simultaneously arguing that foreign nationals outside it are.
What they will be trying to prosecute, is that it is illegal for a foreign citizen in a foreign nation to report the criminal espionage activity of the United States government in those and other nations, interesting idea. So here I am in Australia, if I see an CIA agent murder an Australian in Australia, the US government wants to be able to prosecute me for the crime of espionage if I publicly report their crime, keeping in mind it is a crime to fail to report a crime, accessory after the fact. So the US government is attempting to demand that citizens all over the world, betray their own countries laws, to keep secret the criminal activities of the US government, in those countries.
Perhaps some of you can grasp why this would be an extremely hard sell, for anything but an entirely corrupt third world nation, a puppet state of the US deep state. He was reporting on US criminal activities outside of the US, as a foreign citizen, in a foreign land. Now the US wants to make it illegal and global law, that the US is able to break any countries laws for any reason and that no citizen of any country, NO CITIZEN, is allowed to report those crimes and should they do so, be subject to prosecution and obviously illegal detention and probably torture. Go fuck yourself USA. So will the UK buckle, probably not, not matter how much the US extorts them with the bullshit white helmets and the theft of 200 million US dollars, even after the poms were forced to buy more crappy F35 Flying Pigs as a result.
It would also be extremely poorly received in Australia and possibly result in a boycott of US goods, expect Breaker Morant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... messaging. Want to extradite Assange, do it from Australia, else face a major backlash and many Australians doing much worse than Julian Assange.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Exactly. It's tough to think of someone who comes off as more slimy and repulsive than Julian Assange. The man has a demeanor of a reptile. But Wikileaks and his work are the real reason he is being persecuted and no free thinking person who believes in democracy and rule by the people support that persecution.
You realize we are talking about the US right? Basically the only country in the world that still thinks it is okay to torture people?
It was the fear of being extradited to the US, either legally or by rendition, that had him worried.
Remember this was happening around the time when the US was grabbing people off the streets of Europe and sending them to black sites in 3rd countries for torture.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
So this particular conspiracy theory was right all along.
It's not a conspiracy theory if the only people who think it's *not* true are idiots like AmiJoJo.
Anyone who thinks the UK was spending millions of pounds a year surveilling Assnage around the clock just to return him for questioning on some vague sexual assault case in Sweden were deluded morons to begin with. It was pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain that the intent all along was to extradite him to the U.S., and that the whole Sweden case was just a honeypot operation. They just wanted to get him on a plane before he could find asylum in some country that isn't a U.S. lapdog. And if it weren't for Ecuador having an embassy in London, he'd already be rotting in a U.S. prison (or worse, being held indefinitely in Guantanamo).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Assange quit exposing things for the sake of truth years ago. He used Wikileaks to pursue a personal agenda, and he made it very clear that he hoped to throw the US election.
He was so eager to pillory his target that he sold himself out, not only to their domestic opponents, but to a not-exactly-friendly foreign nation as well.
If there was ever anything to admire or respect about the man, there's precious little left of it now.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Snowden and Manning did their civic duty. If the government is so corrupt, civic duty is heroic then government needs to be overhauled.
Nonetheless, they did a significant national service.
Assange has tried to play puppet master, controlling what information is given, selecting what you can and cannot know. I see no difference between him and the Pentagon, selective manipulation for personal gain.
If they should be prosecuted, so should he.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
The reason why he wanted to expose the truth is completely irrelevant. The only thing relevant is that you want to crucify him only for exposing the truth. Again, it makes me sad that people like you consider exposing the truth is an atrocious crime. I can understand you may be nationalistic (although your signature in French makes me doubt that), but then you should have the honesty to say your goal is only to increase the power of the US by all means necessary. Do not try pretend to have the moral high-ground, because you really don't, at least not in my eyes.
BTW, I'm not American. I live in Canada, and I certainly consider the US as a "not-exactly-friendly foreign nation".
The reason why he wanted to expose the truth is completely irrelevant.
You can claim that all you want, but that doesn't make it true.
The only thing relevant is that you want to crucify him only for exposing the truth.
No, the other poster clearly indicated he wants to crucify Assange for using Wikileaks for personal gain and/or vendettas.
Again, it makes me sad that people like you consider exposing the truth is an atrocious crime.
The problem is he didn't really expose the truth, he exposed half a truth and mislead many people. We all know that he allowed Wikileaks to be used a vehicle for propaganda and helped the Russian intelligence agencies interfere in the U.S. election. He did so because he wanted to pursue a personal vendetta against Hillary Clinton. The amusing part is that he hated Clinton because she wanted to do what the Trump administration is trying to do to him now.
This looks like a case of being hoisted by your own petard, and I have little sympathy for someone who deliberately helped Trump get elected when they are facing the consequences of Trump having been elected.
Do not try pretend to have the moral high-ground, because you really don't, at least not in my eyes.
That's ok. Sometimes people just want to enjoy a little schaedenfreude.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
The problem is he didn't really expose the truth, he exposed half a truth and mislead many people. We all know that he allowed Wikileaks to be used a vehicle for propaganda and helped the Russian intelligence agencies interfere in the U.S. election. He did so because he wanted to pursue a personal vendetta against Hillary Clinton. The amusing part is that he hated Clinton because she wanted to do what the Trump administration is trying to do to him now.
This looks like a case of being hoisted by your own petard, and I have little sympathy for someone who deliberately helped Trump get elected when they are facing the consequences of Trump having been elected.
He tried to manipulate an election by exposing evidence that indicated that Hillary Clinton was manipulating an election?
THE CAD!! TO THE GALLOWS WITH HIM!!
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Here's a better though....stop buying the transparent pretext for arrest. If Sweden was serious about investigating an alleged rape (really the women only went to the state to ask for an STD test, not to press charges) then they could have sent investigators to question Assange in the UK or remotely via Skype other other video conferencing, as Assange has offered to do. As they've done dozens of other times in other cases since Assange has sought asylum.
Assange has also promised to return to Sweden if they promise not to hand him over to the United States. A promise Sweden could have easily made, given Obama's prolonged torture of Chelsea Manning, and Sweden being a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture. Which forbids prisoners being handed over to regimes that engage in it.
The reason why he wanted to expose the truth is completely irrelevant.
False. Intent matters. Assange's intent on getting his ego stroked, and this has rather obviously coloured his actions.
I also do not at all appreciate your blatant attempts at projection, miscategorisation, and to put words in my mouth. I never said anything remotely like I wanted to "crucify" Assange. So stop claiming that I did, or KGFY.
You also continue to ignore—even though I've made myself pretty clear on this point—that I don't object to uncovering facts. What I object to is Assange's highly selective use of selected information as a weapon to further a very self-interested agenda, one that takes no consideration of its effects on the well-being of countless ordinary Americans (and others) who've done no-one any harm, least of all Assange.
And just so you know, I'm a US-Swedish dual national and, yes, I do consider myself a loyal citizen of both of my countries, and, no, I see nothing wrong with that.
When you're ready to respond to things I've actually said, get back to me.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.