Blinken tells Australia that WikiLeaks founder is accused of 'very serious' crime

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News/AP

CANBERRA, Australia -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday pushed back against Australian demands for an end to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s prosecution, saying the Australian citizen was accused of “very serious criminal conduct” in publishing a trove of classified documents more than a decade ago.

Australia’s center-left Labor Party government has been arguing since winning the elections last year that the United States should end its pursuit of the 52-year-old, who has spent four years in a British prison fighting extradition to the United States.

Assange’s freedom is widely seen as a test of Australia’s leverage with President Joe Biden’s administration. Blinken confirmed on Saturday that Assange had been discussed in annual talks with Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Brisbane, Australia.

“I understand the concerns and views of Australians. I think it’s very important that our friends here understand our concerns about this matter,” Blinken told reporters. “Mr. Assange was charged with very serious criminal conduct in the United States in connection with his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of our country,” he added

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-secretary-state-tells-australia-wikileaks-founder-accused-101815275

[leftstreet]

1. Free Assange n/t

[Magoo48]

6. Yes, free this man now.

[FarPoint]

9. Why????

I tend to believe the Obama Administration and the Biden Administration regarding this fella....

[Magoo48]

10. I think he embarrassed American colonialism, nation building, and militarism

while bringing to light much about “our” war which was kept from us, a war conducted on behalf of those of us paying for the entire horrid fucking mess.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

25. You all seem to be forgetting the damage that ASSange did to thousands of innocent people.

When he published that avalanche of materials, he intentionally did not redact the names of ordinary people, simply living their lives, doing their jobs, thereby exposing them to the crazies out there. He purposely printed personal information, like addresses, phone numbers, the places where they worked and their children attended school. He damaged lives, ruined people, exposed innocent people to death threats, some hounded into hiding, and he did this for MONEY. There is nothing noble or respectable about this ego-driven, smug little sh*t. He didn't care who he harmed or the ramifications of what his actions played out in innocent peoples' lives.

Even those closest to him and knew him well, disputed his assertions that he was all about transparency and public need to know. He didn't give a whit about who he hurt or destroyed. I don't know what affronts me the most - his ignorance or his arrogance.

Let him rot. He got exatly what he deserved and I hope the US government smothers him in the filth that he created.

Let us also not forget how he treated the people in the Ecuadorean Embassy during his stay. He was a filthy, vile, rude pig, who demanded that he be treated like he was royalty.

[Happy Hoosier]

33. Hey, don't forget helping Trump win!!

Don;t forget the hack of the DNC emails by Russian agents that Assange not only fully supported, but published.

Assange was not a journalist. He was an agent seeking to damage the US under the guidse of journalism. Pretty much like how the whole RT channel thing was beloved by some on the left here. The "America Bad" narrative blinded them to what was truly going on.

[speak easy]

38. Oh, I will NEVER forget that.

A Russian asset, like TFG himself.

[leftstreet]

35. +1

[Major Nikon]

8. You misspelled Fuck

[Happy Hoosier]

42. HA! Perfect! NT

[Cha]

44. Lol.. Sure did!

[msfiddlestix]

12. WTF? Oh Hell NO!

[Elessar Zappa]

21. Not gonna happen.

[Happy Hoosier]

31. What nonsense.

The man was collaborating with agents of the Russian government.

He needs to spend the rest of his miserable life in jail.

[Tommy Carcetti]

39. No thanks.

Wouldn't pay for his ass, either.

[xocetaceans]

2. Hypocrisy regarding press freedom by the US is not appealing.

Collateral Murder
Overview

5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/

The Invasion of Iraq was wrong and remains wrong. Journalism is not a crime. The persecution & attempted prosecution of Assange should have ended long ago.

[EX500rider]

17. Collateral Murder?

If you are going to embed with insurgents while they attack US troops and don't even bother to wear any PRESS ID on a vest don't be surprised when bad things happen to you.


"...at least two members of the group which were first fired on were armed, that two RPGs and one AKM or AK-47 rifle could be seen in the helicopter video, as well as that these weapons were picked up by the follow-up U.S. ground troops. The report concludes that the Reuters employees were in the company of armed insurgents. It also states that "The cameras could easily be mistaken for slung AK-47 or AKM rifles, especially since neither cameraman is wearing anything that identifies him as media or press".[17] The report recommends encouraging journalists in Iraq to wear special vests to identify themselves, as well as to keep the U.S. military updated about their whereabouts. It claimed reporters' "furtive attempts to photograph the Coalition Ground Forces made them appear as hostile combatants"

[TiberiusB]

22. If you're going to illegaly invade a country...

On the pretext of fighting terrorism, you shouldn't be surprised when your very presence is justification for attack.
The hypocrisy is off the charts. The U.S. routinely supplies "freedom fighters" and "rebels" and "insurgents" to do it's dirty work, but should the U.S. be attacked during an explicitly illegal invasion of another sovereign nation, it's all tears and pearl clutching.

https://www.newsweek.com/i-am-assange-daniel-ellsberg-other-allies-demand-us-prosecute-them-too-1766616

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/05/25/us-says-julian-assange-is-no-journalist-heres-why-that-shouldnt-matter/

[EX500rider]

24. Which has nothing to do with whether embedding with insurgents while they attack US troops..

...while not wearing a PRESS vest is a smart idea or not. You certainly can't call "murder" after a US air strike hits the insurgents, US pilots are not omniscient.

[xocetaceans]

27. How about a citation? Or is that italicized paragraph your own composition? n/t

[EX500rider]

29. That's from the Wikipedia page about the event

[Happy Hoosier]

32. Assange is not a journalist.

He was collaborating with agents of Russia to do exqactly what he did.... damage the U.S. by exposing our agents and allies in a way that will make it very difficult to convince those in the future to help us. He was npot just reporting. He was actively working to damage the US.

Throw him in jail and lose the key.

And Ellsberg was all about appeasing Russia in Ukraine. Not interesting in his opinion either.

[okaawhatever]

41. Assange is not a journalist. He was a paid and willing tool of

the Russian government. A journalist would have included the bad info it had on all parties, Assange is such filth that he kept the money and hid all negative press on his comrades.

Pathetic that people would defend him.

[stopdiggin]

3. I find the defense of this 'case' under the banner of

free press or 'journalistic freedom' - to be a debasement of the honorable concept. It's a disservice - including to the people that are fighting the real, and honorable, battle. I wish the misguided would desist in championing this undeserving and ugly little man. That is all.

---------- ------------

[xocetaceans]

4. So, what you're saying is . . . . hmmm . . . .

It's a shame that you apparently can adduce no facts to support your position - seeing that groups that truly support freedom of the press would disagree with your "argument" and side with Julian Assange.

Prove me incorrect. Perhaps, the Supreme Council of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue with Relation to Correctness and Propriety in the Journalistic Arts in North Korea would agree with you, but you would have to show me their edict.

[Major Nikon]

7. How about this for facts

Assange not only allowed himself to be used as a tool for Russian military hackers, he released the DNC’s hacked emails specifically right before the DNC convention, timed to present the greatest damage to HRC because she had pledged to indict Assange.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_election_leaks

It’s an insult to journalism to call Assange a journalist.

[Mickju]

11. Agree

[msfiddlestix]

14. ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️

[PortTack]

20. Thank you! Espionage is not something one should just forget or forgive

If the guy is innocent then he should come prove it. Give him the best counsel and let the evidence be proven in the courts. Thing is, he not innocent, that’s why he fights extradition

[TiberiusB]

23. Okay, but where's the CRIME

You may not like it, but what's the crime? And what did the DNC emails say that was false? I'm not arguing in favor of the DNC email release, but if those emails are factually accurate, what, exactly, are you debating? That journalism should only affect those you disapprove of? It's exhausting, having to continually point out that you can hate Assange, but that doesn't make his actions criminal. Journalism doesn't mean playing patty cake with the U.S. government or its allies.

[Major Nikon]

26. First of all, I said nothing about "CRIME"

I was replying to the sub thread and answered a simple question. I'm not debating anything, but if you want to know what I'm referring to, perhaps you should have started with the sub-thread in which I replied. Had you actually bothered to read the post you replied to you'd know what I disapprove of, so I really see no need to repeat myself. The Assange fan club is not who I'd chose to debate the matter with even if I wanted to.

As far as "CRIME" goes, Assange is under multiple indictments in the US and it's a pretty safe bet the only reason why he wasn't convicted in Sweden for multiple charges, including sexual assault, is because he fled the country to avoid prosecution. So if you want to know where's the "CRIME" a simple google search will satisfy your answer. Now if you want to pretend he's innocent, go right ahead, but you don't really do your own credibility much good by doing so. Obviously Assange himself isn't as convinced as you are which is why he never chose to argue his case in court and fled instead.

[Cha]

45. Well Done, Major Nikon.

[msfiddlestix]

15. ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ n/t

Let him ROT in HELL.

[msfiddlestix]

13. AP has no copy editors? Can't even get basic Math accurately

It hasn't been MORE than a decade.


It may seem like a minor error, but if the writer is so sloppy about something so simple, how can I trust an accurate report given the complexity involving this situation? In a hurry to disparage current negotiations aimed to rebuild, and strengthen our alliance perhaps?





The amount of Damage Assange has caused our national security is frankly beyond unforgivable.


Let him ROT in HELL.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. "It hasn't been MORE than a decade. "

From the article link (further down) in relation to Chelsea Manning -

Assange faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents in 2010.

American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

That was before the DNC fiasco.

[msfiddlestix]

18. OH, right. I beg your pardon. Stand corrected forgot all about the Manning episode.

Assange;s role in the 2016 elections results remain painfully prominent in memory.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. I forgot when that happened myself

although I remember it happened around the time when she was transitioning so that seemed to get the media focus. Her sentence was eventually commuted by Pres. Obama.

[xocetaceans]

28. It's amazing how many confuse disliking Assange with any reason to persecute or prosecute him. n/t

[hunter]

30. One can do both.

What's "amazing" about that?

[xocetaceans]

36. You might want to try reading that again. It might help. n/t

[hunter]

40. You might want to parse what I said.

Fuck that guy and fuck all the fools who still believe in him.

If he lands in some minimum security prison, the sort of safe comfortable hotel prison every prisoner is worthy of, I won't cry.

I don't believe in harsh prison for anyone.

Sometime a narcissistic asshole will fall in with a crowd his or her interests coincide with, even crowds who are doing "the right thing" and "saving the world. Alas, these relationships often end in train wrecks of flaming toxic waste leaving a lot of innocent people injured or dead.

As a pacifist, my mom's dad was a Conscientious Objector in World War II, if you can imagine that. My mom was an antiwar activist protesting the Vietnam war. I crossed paths with Daniel Ellsberg twice, as in "so pleased to meet your kid" the first time, and recognition the second.

My mom was a greater fan of the Berrigan Brothers and Dorothy Day even as she'd fled the Catholic faith.

Where are you?

[xocetaceans]

43. That's a nice origin story, but it's irrelevant to your earlier statement and justifies nothing. nt

[Torchlight]

34. The corollary often appears just as amazing. nt

[Kid Berwyn]

37. Still nothing compared to what Trump did.

Assange did what journalists do: report what he learned. Their content was tame compared to what the Pentagon Papers contained.

OTOFH, Trump betrayed his country, sharing Top Secret defense information with whoever he wanted. And the traitor walks free.

[Cha]

46. trump offered to pardon the bloody snake..

Assange helped sabotage U.S. election, remember?

Apr 18, 2019 — Don't cast Julian Assange as some kind of hero when he played a key role in Russian interference in the 2016 election.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-assange-hero-letter-20190418-story.html

Fuck ASSange.