WikiLeaks' Julian Assange issues threat and complains about ... leaks

[cali]

By Dan Murphy, Staff writer / December 21, 2010

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder compared to terrorists by Vice President Joe Biden, to Thomas Jefferson by the activist-journalist John Pilger, and to Martin Luther King by himself, went on the offensive today against, well, everyone.
Skip to next paragraph

In a series of interviews, he lashed out at the Guardian newspaper, one of his closest collaborators in the controlled release of the trove of US diplomatic cables that has infuriated Mr. Biden and many others in the US government. The Guardian and a few other news outlets were given the full data dump, while the number of cables provided to the public so far remains below 2,000.

<snip>

Assange's falling out with former allies may come as little surprise to many who have worked closely with him. Former WikiLeaks No. 2 Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who formerly went by the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt until breaking with the group earlier this year, has described Assange as "dictatorial" and has said he's creating a rival group dedicated to releasing government secrets in a more open and transparent manner.

While plumbing Assange's motivations has become a cottage industry for journalists and pundits, perhaps his most interesting comments published today were aimed at the Guardian. In an interview with the rival paper The Times, his primary complaint seemed to be that the paper had published a leak. About him.

<snip>

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/1221/WikiLeaks-Julian-Assange-issues-threat-and-complains-about-leaks

[BeFree]

1. heh

There is a great big ol' "Shoot the messenger" scheme going down. It's funny. And stupid as hell.

[cali]

5. look, I appreciate wikileaks. I think Assange doesn 't know when to keep his

freakin' mouth shut, and he does no good for wikileaks when he goes off like this.

[BeFree]

8. Does it matter?

No. The leaks are all that matters. And all this rises from the fact that his personal situation is in the political realm now. I'll give him the freedom to do as he sees fit. Because it doesn't matter to me, or to the facts from wikileaks.

[cali]

9. yes, I think it may well matter.

you're right it shouldn't be about him- but he exacerbates that by constantly making it about himself.

[BeFree]

12. He is fighting a bogus charge?

Ya think?

[Cali_Democrat]

2. It appears that Assange can dish it, but he can't take it

Interesting to say the least...

[Warren Stupidity]

3. It appears that Assange is an individual not a government or large institution.

Or perhaps indeed, as you imply, 'Assange' and 'The Government of the United States' are equivalent.

[Cali_Democrat]

10. I never meant to imply that Assange and the US govt are equivalent

They are definitely not equivalent.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. well then what exactly does 'dish it but not take it' mean?

If 'Assange' and 'USA' are not equivalent then there is no equivalency between what Assange is 'dishing' at whom, and what the USA is dishing at Assange. A government leaking its own confidential documents about an individual is simply NOT EQUIVALENT AT ALL to an individual or small group of individuals leaking confidential government documents.

[Luminous Animal]

19. U.S. politicians have called for his assassination. Joe Biden, the VP of the most powerful,

country in the world, brands him a terrorist and by implication, a successful campaign of convicting him of such, would rob him of his liberty for the rest of his life.

I'd say that he is fighting for his life.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. The government stooges continue the onslaught.

I guess wikileaks has managed to really piss off The Powers That Be.

[cali]

6. he either said this stuff or every newspaper around is putting words in his mouth

and that would include the Guardian. This guy may not be his own worst enemy but he's on the list.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Luminous Animal]

20. I find nothing wrong with what he said.

[reorg]

23. The Christian Science Monitor used to be a good newspaper

just like The Guardian many years ago. But I guess every news outlet needs a little slime thrower to make nice with those powers at least occasionally ...

[treestar]

7. It's all about Julian

Not a single leaked item has ever gotten more attention than Julian has.

He doesn't like info leaked about him? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Maybe he's trying for comedy rather than drama?

[Luminous Animal]

18. Actually, leaked items are getting quite a bit of attention outside of the U.S.

Read El Pais, or Le Monde, or Al Jazeera.

And, by the way, it is child's play to attack the powerless. It is an adult's labor to attack the powerful. Enjoy your sandbox.

[treestar]

22. Attacking the powerful

Sounds like something you think must be done regardless.

If it is not getting attention here, then there is nothing serious in them.

It's just about Julian and his alleged hero-ness. What has he uncovered? There's no there there. It's not like the Pentagon papers. Just a bunch of stuff to get Julian attention.

[RZM]

11. I think he's already 'crested'

in terms of his popularity. The more he opens his mouth and plays the victim card, the less people like him. He would do well to keep quiet in the near future.

Doesn't he have PR people?

[MineralMan]

15. Assange is over. He's had his 15 minutes of fame. Now, he's

not longer in the spotlight so much. A year from now, he'll be on Dancing with The Stars, and everyone will be trying to remember who he is.

"Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance."

:rofl:

[Better Believe It]

16. Just another in a long series of mud slinging pieces against Julian Assange.

Now we shouldn't encourage, assist or lend credibility to this massive character assassination campaign .... isn't that right "cali"?

And that's because we don't support government attacks on a free press and speech .... isn't that right "cali"?

[Luminous Animal]

21. If MLK had allies like DUers, he would have spent his days preaching in a small church.

And progressives claim that they are immune to propaganda. Hah!

[HEyHEY]

17. Obviously the man is frustrated.

If you were being attacked like him, you'd probably blow a gasket too. I personally think the guy is a douchebag, though I like the leaks. Even then, I'll certainly grant him some mercy on his tantrum, god knows I probably would have taken a swing at someone by now.

[TorchTheWitch]

25. that's why you STFU and let your attorney be your mouthpiece

Why his attorneys have even let him speak publically at all is a mystery. The first rule of legal defense is to make your client Shut. The. Fuck. Up. in order to avoid foot in mouth syndrome that WILL come back to haunt your client/you.

Either they're unbelievably stupid or they can't control him. I won't be at all surprised if they hand him over to some other firm to defend him.

[reorg]

24. Assange's former ally

the German with the pseudonym, was shitting his pants when the open attacks on Wikileaks began. He criticized the "focus" on the big USG leaks while they were making Wikileaks a common household name, and when the sex smear stories broke, he publicly stated that Assange should resign. That, and his refusal to discuss his actions, was what led to his suspension as a spokesperson. Then he absconded, together with a small number of colleagues in charge of some of the infrastructure, with the result that all the already published leaks at wikileaks.org were inaccessible for several months - as he admitted in an interview he gave in Germany a few weeks after the fact.

As to Assange's "lashing out" against "his closest collaborators", the writers of the Guardian, hm, doesn't appear to be true either. Assange very specifically criticized a single article and pointed out that the Guardian writer to whom the information in this article had been made available was NOT one of the collaborators on the Cablegate stories.