Julian Assange didn't do anything a dozen nations haven't done. He just doesn't have an an army to back him.
He is a spy, and like any spy, he is took a risk of being caught by those he is spying against. When that happens the result is typically either death or prison for the spy.
I'm on the fence. Leaking classified information is a no no, but exposing government fraud and corruption I support. Guess we'll let the lawyers sort this one out. I at least hope he gets a fair trial and it gets covered fairly. I think he's anti-American establishment, not anti-American, but I don't know enough about him to confirm that.
I've been having the same issue. He broke the law, but it was for the purpose of exposing corruption/crime. How does one balance that? I guess I classify him as a white collar vigilante?
Is he a spy or a “journalist”? I truly haven’t bothered to follow his case enough to know, but didn’t he just publish what was sent to him? Or did he actually hack into the servers to find the info?
He's a sniveling albino pussy. He knew what he was doing and he knew the risks. Be a man, stand up and proudly tell the world just how fucking evil these government actors are, take your blindfold and cigarette and attain martyrdom. Gotta be a fuck ton better than rotting to death inside a fucking Ecuadorian embassy.
White Collar Vigilante is a good assessment from what little I know about him. I guess my real dilemma is I will forever be appreciative of his exposing the Clinton campaign and helping Trump gain a little ground against her. The problem becomes, did he break the law in doing so? If he simply published emails that were given to him, he likely didn't. If he or his associates hacked DNC computers, he did. Again, I hope he gets a fair trial and justice is served, whatever that turns out to be. For the record, I feel the same about all the Spygate players, I'm just more sure they committed crimes.
If everything he put out there was just exposing government fraud and corruption, he would have a little sympathy from me. He put out a plenty of stuff beyond that. Stuff that put American lives at risk. Even if he didn't personally hack into the systems doesn't mean that he could / should publish everything. I believe he was part of some of the hacking and provided incentives to those that gave him classified info. He crossed the line and not by a little. The DNC emails are nothing, but that part might keep the left from defending him. The classified information he put out there is the issue.
Who’s law did he break and does it apply to him? He’s not American, he’s from Australia. They don’t seem to want him. Is he a spy, and if so for who? Lots of questions...
Corrupt gov'ts (redundant?) write laws for the plebes to abide by just don't expect them to be held to the same standard
But what about Manning? its seems from what i'm reading most are ok with what Assange did but want to burn him (Manning) at the stake
I wanted see how many people had a response to my comment, cause im sure they haven't read it, the first line/ word of the indictment names Manning https://www.scribd.com/document/405891241/Assange-Indictment#from_embed
He thinks hes smart - if he was, he would have hopped over to a zero extradition country prior to leaking all this. End of the day what he did I feel needed to be done to some degree but hes a spy and anyone who leaks classified information needs to be held accountable and face the firing squad. No room for that nonsense.
Firing squad? He’s not an American citizen, so he can’t be a traitor. And again, if he broke espionage laws, do they apply to him. Spy? What country is he spying for?