Assange Arrested in London
Rodney 13 comments Poll
The cat and mouse game between Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange and the combined policing forces of the West has finally come to an end, with Assange being arrested in London, after turning him self in.
Assange is wanted on suspicion of sexual assault charges in Sweden, on the basis that two women claim he failed to use a condom with them (which is a crime in Sweden). However his fame largely stems from his website, wikileaks and their recent dual embarrassment of the US government via the leaking of sensitive information.
Earlier this year, wikileaks made substantial international headlines, after leaking information provided by an American intelligence officer, uncovering corruption within the Afghani government and allegations of serious doubts about the capabilities and reliability of non-US forces in that country.
Wikileaks recently obtained some 250,000 US diplomatic cables, however, causing the US serious embarrassment and making many US politicians irate. Republican Mike Huckabee state that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty" for Assange and Sarah Palin called him an "anti-American operative with blood on his hands".
Whatever people may think of Assange and what he does, there are several key issues raised by this entire story.
Firstly, there is the conspiracy theory that so many Western governments have been embarrassed by wikileaks and that the whole rape allegations are concocted to simply shut him up. Fuelling these theories are the very significant facts that the charges against him were originally dropped, after it came to light that the women who made the claims had originally blogged and tweeted their delight in their sexual encounters and only removed their blog entries after the claims were raised. The charges were only reinstated after the latest leak. Additionally, one of the women is reported to have family links to both US NATO and CIA personnel.
Secondly and significantly, there is the issue of the New York Times (US) and the Guardian (UK) newspapers. Both of these papers were sent the same 250,000 leaks and have actually been the prime suppliers of information to the media. Hence, most of the information in the public sphere has in fact come via them, not wikileaks. However the US government has not stormed the New York Times and arrested their CEO. On the contrary, they have "respected" the right of the media to "tell the story".
What this tells me is three things:
- The US government does not want to upset the media. The media forms public opinion and they know that if they shut down or attack a serious media outlet like the NYTimes, other media outlets will attack the US government.
- The media themselves have delighted in attacking their prime competitor - the free-to-use "blogosphere", while hypocritically doing the very same thing they are accusing wikileaks of.
- The NYTimes can afford a better legal team than wikileaks.
All in all, wikileaks has not actually broken any laws. They have done no more than the breaking of the Watergate scandal which brought down Richard Nixon or any other media story involving a government leak. They have in fact done nothing at all which the New York Times has not done - they have just simply not got the same legal backing. It is certain they have set back diplomatic relations between some nations and exposed some dimplomatic double speak but it's not the first time that has happened.
Furthermore, the leaks so far have simply shown us what we already know.
However for now, I would not expect Assange to get out of jail any time soon. It's very likely he will be extradited to the US where he will find a very, very hostile reception.
Whether it's fair or not is another story.
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Guy can't catch a break.
Henk V
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 09:19 AMre the Law in Sweden, I am under the impression that the original charges were dropped months ago, the re-ignition seems a bit odd. Extradition seems weird when there has been dialog.
Assange ran a risk, it paid off and now he has to hop in the toaster. Who knows, maybe his bread will be better afterwards.
Me, Assange is as reprehensible as a virus code writer, its costing us a lot more in arse kissing and greasing fees.
The Sydney total dental hospital is on hold again I guess.. fucking idealists..
At least, if this leaves just one more taint on the local labor government, Julia Augusta will go down the "out of control government gurgler". Pity, I am a bit of a socialist.
Hey Dumbo
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 05:40 PMAnd the spineless will inherit the Earth...according to Dumbos philosophy, nay should I say the toothless will inherit the Earth instead. Dumbo our very own Mr Welfare
Reprehensible like a virus? How do you figure that dumbo, surely the leaks that were leaked are reprehensible surely the Virus is the people who allow these issues to go unchecked or the individuals who wrote the Cables
Nope be a dope and blame the messenger
Costs! Yeah we are going to have to pay the piper thats for sure but better to pay now when the price is cheep rather than latter when it cant be paid for....unless its to late now
I am just waiting to see if the real storys get leaked. Assagne handed himself in, what more has he in store that he can hold over the worlds governments.
We should all be Dumbos and bury our heads in the sand, lets all sing "we are the world"
Henk V
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 06:09 PMWhy isnt jesus very good at all? Which biblical character of note emphasises this?
Why is jesus called messiah?
What ark animal did Ham eat?
How many buffalo did buffalo bill kill?
Henk V
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 06:12 PMstill waiting
Hey Dumbo
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 06:47 PMAfter your last ignorant stupid retarded question as to what Jewish tribe my family came from (Gentile you clown) I am somewhat reluctant to answer any more of your naive (at best) and petty questions
I am sure you have a plethora of answers for your own questions all based on your own personal stupid beliefs
whilst as I have stated before STOOPID, I dont have your answers... I dont have the answers Dumbo....GET IT .....
Somebody told Dumbo these so called answers and he has accepted them without any evidence and then tries to test me with these beliefs of his own
cept the bible states Christ is the messiah
all those other questions you have answers for are your beliefs
Get it DUMBO
Hey Dumbo
Why not prove me wrong and answer those questions and show me up for what I am
or
Carry on like a Dumbo without a real commitment
There Dumbo..You back it up...and proof please.
Toothless welfare fat boy
TVBIZ(BOB)
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 06:53 PMAttention seeking dumb ass.
Couldn't give a shit about anything or anyone other than himself.
He is lucky that he doesn't live in China because he would have been shot long ago.
If it happened 20 years ago in Russia or America the same would have happened.
Even though I find what has been released to be a load of horse manure I still think he needs to have charges brought against him and associates.
For some unknown reason people these days think that anyone can do anything they like.
They say it's thanks to democracy.
What good is democracy if you have a bullet piercing your heart - all because some so called democratic hero thinks it's ok to break all laws in regards to security.
Give me a f#$$ing break people and grow up. This is not a computer game or spy movie.
It' is really a big problem and if the material was sensitive enough - could even start a war.
Most security laws are put in place to protect people and countries from stupid acts and stupid comments like this.
There are also rules that journalist have to follow. It's not a free for all and being a journalist does not give you the right to put anyone's lives in danger.
The comment "Furthermore, the leaks so far have simply shown us what we already know."
Well I am sorry but I knew nothing of this information and that being said does not make it right.
There could be information in the future if this goes on that could start a conflict, put troops in battle in more danger, put individuals on a hit list and so on.
Only two words come to mind " WHAT IF"
dbi
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 09:27 PMAre you seriuosly telling me that there is so little security in the US Intelligence servers that a low ranking intellingence officer can download and copy 200,000 + documents and walk out the door without any alarms going off?
Argyle Diamonds has tighter security than this
Something isn't right
Intrigued
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 09:35 PM...in response to this comment by dbi. Well some of us dont appear to be as clever as we think or believe we are
Is that something you would care to elaborate on or even point a direction too, please
Cant argue with your logic dbi
G
dbi
Thursday 9th December 2010 | 09:56 PMAll is not what it seems...such a fuss over no real info....now he's declared a terrorist....no laws broken so new internet "free speech" laws will be written...how do we get the rest of the world to agree to these laws?
G
Friday 10th December 2010 | 07:23 AMI was hoping for something a little more intriguing
The internet laws will go ahead with or without Assagne, most would have resigned to that position sometime ago
I guess on a global scale people, like many around here will just accept these filters now
Be interesting what else is leaked
Henk V
Friday 10th December 2010 | 02:41 PM...in response to this comment by TVBIZ(BOB). Yep, I am sick of these Isaiah types meself.
One thing though.. On the face of it these "rape" charges seem super dodgy and we cant stand by anyone being extradited under those conditions. If the reports are true, he would be a prize idiot to voluntarily go to a court on rape charges. It would make a mockery of the heinous crime we call rape.
Of course there are logical absolutes, Ontological positions and morals to consider..I am missing Ju-Ju...sniff
DBI
Wednesday 8th December 2010 | 08:33 AMWikileaks adds credibility to the story, if it had just been NY times leaking this, no one would have believed it, and one phone call would have stopped any publication.
Obama is surprisngly very quiet on this, his silence tells me a lot more.
Is Assange all that he is saying he is?