[HN Gopher] Julian Assange in Limbo
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       Julian Assange in Limbo
        
       Author : AndrewBissell
       Score  : 56 points
       Date   : 2020-06-13 22:03 UTC (56 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lrb.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lrb.co.uk)
        
       | dooglius wrote:
       | https://archive.is/haMuY
        
       | seesawtron wrote:
       | Check out Chomsky's support for Assange [0]. Sadly there's too
       | much going on to bring enough attention to this case.
       | 
       | [0] https://youtu.be/gxLa6jtF01g
        
       | us0r wrote:
       | > After long research, his team of 120 counterintelligence
       | officers hadn't been able to find a single person, among the
       | thousands of American agents and secret sources in Afghanistan
       | and Iraq, who could be shown to have died because of the
       | disclosures.
       | 
       | Sounds like the NSA who couldn't point to a single instance of
       | stopping any type of terrorist attack/operation despite
       | collecting anything they could get their hands on.
        
         | vkou wrote:
         | Is he being accused of disclosing information that got someone
         | killed?
         | 
         | Or of assisting a hacker?
         | 
         | If he's not accused of doing the first, then this is hardly
         | relevant to his case.
        
           | class4behavior wrote:
           | This is most certainly relevant. It may not be proof, but
           | it's notable evidence; and not the only one.
        
         | HenryKissinger wrote:
         | That's because the CIA and the Department of Defense worked
         | around the clock to prevent that from happening. Former
         | Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote in his
         | book, "Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in
         | Intelligence"
         | 
         | > After Manning's arrest, Assange seemed intent on dumping as
         | many classified documents onto the internet as he could, as
         | quickly as he could. In my last few months as USD(I) and my
         | first few months as the fourth DNI in five years, my time and
         | attention were also taken up by the efforts at DOD and CIA to
         | deal with these document dumps. Teams were on standby in both
         | places to sort quickly through whatever was exposed in an
         | effort to find names and identifying details for people in Iraq
         | and Afghanistan who were helping the US war effort, and then
         | try to rescue them before the Taliban or Iraqi insurgents could
         | find and kill them.
        
           | upofadown wrote:
           | Kind of missing the punch line there. Who did they save
           | through their efforts?
        
         | theferalrobot wrote:
         | > Sounds like the NSA who couldn't point to a single instance
         | of stopping any type of terrorist attack/operation despite
         | collecting anything they could get their hands on.
         | 
         | This can't be true - there are plenty of sources citing foiled
         | plots and we see similar publications from other governments
         | (EU and beyond) citing similar justifications. A quick google
         | yields:
         | 
         | https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nsa-director-50-potential-te...
         | 
         | https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/nsa-leak-keith-alexan...
         | 
         | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/gchq-foiled-terr...
        
       | barking wrote:
       | Stories like this are about the only reason to welcome the rise
       | of China as a counterweight to the USA. Pity it's not the EU
       | instead.
        
       | the_pwner224 wrote:
       | This seems like a good overview of the situation to me; I had
       | previously heard Assange mentioned but never really knew what
       | happened. Thanks.
        
       | jedberg wrote:
       | > But today Ellsberg is celebrated as the patron saint of
       | whistleblowers while Assange is locked in a cell in London's
       | Belmarsh maximum security prison for 23 and a half hours a day.
       | 
       | Ellsberg was charged with a bunch of crimes too, which would have
       | resulted in 100+ years of jail time. He's considered a good
       | person _now_ because he defended himself and won. It should also
       | be noted that he very much supports Wikileaks.
       | 
       | It should also be noted a big difference in the cases is that
       | Ellsberg leaked documents he already had legal access to, and was
       | therefore a whistleblower. Assange leaked documents that he had
       | to illegally acquire first (either with help or without, but
       | either way he was in possession of stolen goods). You can't get
       | whistleblower protection for leaking information you didn't have
       | legal access to.
       | 
       | I totally understand why Assange is fighting extradition -- it's
       | highly unlikely he would be treated fairly or get a fair trial.
       | But I doubt he'll ever be broadly considered a hero until he
       | defends himself in court.
        
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       (page generated 2020-06-13 23:00 UTC)