What’s a good summary of the Julian Assange situation?

by philg

It seems that Julian Assange, who was never a political prisoner (only Russia and China hold political prisoners), is finally free after 14 years of prosecution by various nations (Wikipedia). During these 14 years, I’ve lost the thread. What did he do that was bad/illegal? I found this summary of Judaism in a Belmonte, Portugal museum:

It would be good to have something of about the same length explaining the Julian Assange situation.

I remember that he published a lot of stuff that the U.S. government did not want published. That’s not supposed to be a crime, though, right? Various American newspapers have done that. The government employee who leaks the information is a criminal, but the Washington Post and New York Times aren’t criminals even if the information could be considered helpful to one of our enemies.

Then I’ve heard that Assange encouraged (or helped?) a U.S. Government employee to obtain information that was later published. That would have been a criminal act if he’d been in the U.S. when he did it, but he wasn’t in the U.S. so what law did he break? CNN says “pleading guilty to conspiring unlawfully to obtain and disseminate classified information over his alleged role in one of the largest breaches of classified material in US military history.” But I still can’t figure out how a conspiracy is against U.S. law if it doesn’t happen in the U.S. It’s against U.S. law to kidnap Americans and hold them hostage, but Joe Biden isn’t seeking to prosecute anyone in Gaza for having done these very things in Israel. In fact, Joe Biden has actually rewarded the Gazans who continue to hold Americans hostage by sending them all of the cash, food, water, etc. that they need to keep their war going.

Finally, what did Assange publish that actually was harmful to the U.S.?

Related:

16 thoughts on “What’s a good summary of the Julian Assange situation?”

  1. Julian Assange helped Trump and Russia hack the 2016 election (allegedly):
    In suing Russia, the Trump campaign, and others over the hack of its systems in 2016, the Democratic National Committee has also filled in important timeline details.
    https://www.wired.com/story/dnc-lawsuit-reveals-key-details-2016-hack/

    Remember, there were also 51 intelligence officials who went on the record claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.

    Here’s a good summary of Assange’s other alleged crimes, including helping Russia elect the Orange Menace:
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/11/julian-assange-six-wikileaks-most-memorable-revelations/3434371002/

  2. Assange was hardly unbiased, or even a decent human being, but if the whole sorry saga shows one thing, it’s that asking for accountability is the one unforgivable sin for people in power.

  5. Surely it’s not a coincidence that the US authorities effectively caved just as US journalist Evan Gershkovich was put on trial in Moscow for “spying”?

    How embarrassing to be prosecuting an Aussie “journalist” for spying whilst protesting the same thing abroad!

  6. Related joke:

    [ An English and an Irish farmer are arguing at their fence over Politics when along comes a chicken and lays an egg right on the fence boundary.

    The English farmer exclaims “It’s my egg, because it’s my Chicken”, and the Irish farmer replies with “Well, the egg is mostly on my side of the fence, so it’s mine”. They argue back and forth about an hour, until the Irish farmer comes up with a solution.

    “To see who the strongest farmer is, we’ll have a competition. The winner keeps the egg”. The English farmer – convinced he’s the strongest – wants to know more. The Irish farmer says “We’ll kick each other in the balls as hard as we can, and whoever is standing at the end gets to keep the egg”. The English farmer is a bit perplexed, but accepts – because he knows he’s absolutely going to win. The Irish farmer says “I’ll go first”.

    He takes 5 steps back, gets a running start and kicks the English farmer so hard he falls to the ground screaming in agony for 5 minutes. When he gets back up, the English farmer with tears in his eyes says “My turn, I’ll show you what a REAL kick in the balls feels like”.

    And the Irish farmer smiles, winks, and says “You’re alright, it’s only an egg. Keep it”.]

    Assange and the English farmer won!

  7. “What are the differences between Mark Zuckerberg and me? I give private information on corporations to you for free, and I’m a villain. Zuckerberg gives your private information to corporations for money and he’s Man of the Year.” – Julian Assange

  8. I have similar vague knowledge but two things …

    1. He refuse to redact names from the Afghanistan leaks, which meant that many Afghani friends of the USA were exposed and probably were killed / ostracised / targeted.

    2. He had/has a big (68gb?) leak of Russian info which has not been released.

  10. 30 sec video with Julian Assange on War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) , made in 2011.
    transcript:
    Because the goal is not to completely subjugate Afghanistan. The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the United States, out of the tax bases of European countries through Afghanistan and back into the hands of a transnational security elite. That is the goal i.e the goal is to have an endless war not a successful war.

  11. From Wikipedia page on Opium production in Afghanistan :

    As of 2021, Afghanistan’s harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply.

    In November 2023, a U.N report showed that in the entirety of Afghanistan, poppy cultivation dropped by over 95%, removing it from its place as being the world’s largest opium producer.

    (remark: US and NATO army in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, all in accord with what J. Assange said in above video)

  12. Assangeism:
    “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”
    [ Proverbs 12:22 ]
    Julian Assange, an Australian journalist and activist, founded WikiLeaks in 2006 to champion transparency and hold powerful entities accountable. WikiLeaks, a non-profit organization, publishes classified, censored, or otherwise restricted information from anonymous sources. In 2010, Assange gained international attention when WikiLeaks released documents provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. These leaks included the “Collateral Murder” video, the Iraq War Logs, the Afghan War Diary, and U.S. diplomatic cables.
    The “Collateral Murder” video revealed U.S. military personnel firing on unarmed journalists and civilians in Baghdad, highlighting the brutal realities of war. The Iraq and Afghan war logs exposed civilian casualties and other incidents previously hidden from the public. The diplomatic cables revealed candid assessments of foreign leaders and situations, fostering greater transparency in global diplomacy.
    In 2016, WikiLeaks published a series of emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta. These emails exposed bias within the DNC against Bernie Sanders and controversial excerpts from Clinton’s paid speeches to Wall Street, providing crucial insights into the inner workings of political campaigns and party dynamics. These releases were vital for democratic accountability and informed voting.
    Assange is a courageous journalist and whistleblower who exposed government misconduct, war crimes, and political corruption, advocating for the public’s right to know. The U.S. government’s charges against Assange, including 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, are politically motivated and aimed at silencing a fearless advocate for truth. Assange’s work has sparked vital debates on press freedom, government accountability, and the right to information. His prosecution sets a dangerous precedent for journalists worldwide.

  13. Questions for ChatGPT:

    1.) Can you make me summary of Julian Assange and Wikileaks, what happened, what was he accused for by US Government, and all in less then 1600 characters with space. Do not explain what happened after his arrest in England. I am most interested in the part what did he and Wilileaks do, and what was he accused for by US government.

    2.) Can you do the same thing, but make me two versions, each version with less then 1700 characters with spaces. One version from the perspective of Assange supporters, as supportive as you can get. Other version from the perspective of Assange critics, as critical as you can get.

    3.) I would like another supportive version, but add info about leaked info from Democratic Party DNC, and Hillary Clinton emails, as far they appeared on Wikileaks.

    Above is the third version, slightly edited to make it even more supportive. And if critics are interested in their version, they should spend their own 25 $ 🙂

  14. Sorry, I started using payed version of ChatGPT today, and I feel like a boy with a hammer: everything looks like a nail.

  15. This man is responsible for many deaths. He revealed the identities of agents and informants working for the US and our allies in hostile regimes. We will never know who or how many were imprisoned or killed, because no government would ever divulge that information. The hilarious thing is he was initially imprisoned for sexual assault in Sweden – one of those cases of after-the-fact regret. As a progressive leftist he was all for that kind of law, and was hoist on his own petard.

    • Randall: Why wouldn’t we know about people killed? If a person named on Wikileaks was later killed by a government somewhere, why wouldn’t a relative or friend get out a text message to a journalist using a burner phone? Or an email via a VPN? State-sponsored NPR in 2019 couldn’t find even a single example of a person physically harmed as a result of Wikileaks, much less killed.

      https://www.npr.org/2019/04/12/712659290/how-much-did-wikileaks-damage-u-s-national-security

      “A number of people went into hiding, a number of people had to move, particularly those civilians in war zones who had told U.S. soldiers about movements of the Taliban and al-Qaida,” he said. “No doubt some of those people were harmed when their identities were compromised.”

      Given that the government that sponsors NPR is the same government that sought to imprison Assange, you’d think that NPR would have been fed at least a few names of people killed because of Assange’s activities.

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