Julian Assange

Julian Assange is an Australian transparency activist who has gained worldwide recognition as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. He founded the site in 2006, and has since been the focus of a never-seen-before international controversy. His involvement with WikiLeaks has earned him praise from civil liberties organizations and criticism from others. From 2012 to 2019, he was forced to reside in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid an arrest warrant, fearing that he would be extradited to the U.S. where he is wanted for leaking classified information. In 2019, the Ecuadorian government removed his diplomatic protection after he was accused by President Lenín Moreno of trying to use the embassy as a "centre for spying" and of aggressively campaigning against Ecuador and of going so far as threatening to sue those who were helping him.Assange tried to use embassy as 'centre for spying', says Ecuador's Moreno. Exclusive: President says he has it in writing from UK that WikiLeaks cofounder’s rights will be respected by Patrick Wintour (14 Apr 2019 14.33 EDT) The Guardian. After leaving the embassy and spending five years in a UK jail fighting extradition to the US to face 18 felony charges, a plea deal was finally negotiated for Assange to plead guilty to a single felony charge, be sentenced to time served, and return to his natal Australia.Julian Assange, free after pleading guilty, set to return to Australia by Kelly Kasulis Cho & Ellen Nakashima (June 25, 2024 at 9:56 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
As one of the founders of WikiLeaks, his contribution to whistle-blowing and online journalism can only be described as revolutionary. Some of the awards Assange received include Amnesty International UK Media Awards, the Sam Adams Award, the Sydney Peace Prize, and the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. However, his seeming tendency to target only very specific angles with his leaks, and continually making promises he has failed to uphold, has led major news outlets (and some of his most ardent supporters)Matthews, Daniel, "Why I resigned from the WikiLeaks party", Guardian (21 August 2013, 10:43 PM EDT).Mackey, Robert, "What Julian Assange’s War on Hillary Clinton Says About WikiLeaks", The Intercept (4/6/16 at 12:04 p.m). to accuse him of having a political bias which disincentivizes leakers with opposite viewpoints.
==Political views==
While his politics has been described by some as techno-anarchic, his actual views are much more intricate than that. His admiration and support for Ron Paul and Rand PaulNews, ABC. "Assange 'Big Admirer' of Ron, Rand Paul". along with comments about a "Jewish conspiracy" against himQuinn, Ben (1 March 2011). "Julian Assange 'Jewish conspiracy' comments spark row". The Guardian. may make one believe he is on the far-right. This is further supported by the fact that his leaks were helpful to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.Jordan, Elise. "Trump Campaign May Have Interfered With Russia Policy".
However, Assange has gained support and high praise from prominent figures, such as academic Noam ChomskyRosenmann, Alexandra. "Noam Chomsky defends Julian Assange: “He should be given a medal”". and journalist Communications, BrandFour Design. "Assange: the untold story of an epic struggle for justice". Assange also supported the Green Party's 2016 U.S. presidential nominee Jill Stein, appearing via video stream to the Green Party 2016 convention in Texas."WikiLeaks' Julian Assange: Attacks Against Jill Stein Are 'Going to Go Through the Roof'", Democracy Now! 8.8.16. It's simple, Jules: the more Jill Stein calls Clinton a criminal, the more Jill Stein gets attacked. Don't step in the arena if you can't stand your opponent's offense.
WikiLeaks has gained support from the likes of ex-finance minister for the libertarian-socialist Syriza party."Yanis Varoufakis backs Wikileaks bounty to crack TTIP". The Daily Telegraph.
Assange formed his free speech ideals running a free speech ISP, suburbia.net (still extant) in the 1990s.Suburbia has hosted one RationalWikian's anti-Scientology site since 1995, fending off countless frivolous legal threats. He published a document in 2002, State and Terrorist Conspiracies,Precis and analysis; full PDF. setting out his aims in detail: to increase the friction in the mechanisms by which authoritarian governments conspire against their citizens, thus changing the lay of the land and forcing them to more open communication mechanisms. It's the inchoate hacker free speech ideal of the 1980s developed into a coherent philosophy.
==WikiLeaks==
Assange is still the Editor In Chief of WikiLeaks;WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Wants To Spill Your Corporate Secrets (Andy Greenberg, Forbes, 2010-11-29) the only other acknowledged staff member is Kristinn Hrafnsson.Press: Who Speaks for WikiLeaks?
Assange is remarkably disliked by many governments and some newspaper journalists. Sarah Palin has called for him to be "hunted down" and Canadian Tom Flanagan has called for him to be executed.Flanagan regrets WikiLeaks assassination remarkNever mind the fact that Canada ditched the death penalty several years ago.Btw, Flanagan is a libertarian himself. Mike Huckabee has called for the execution of the individual who leaked the 250,000 US diplomatic cables.American right calls for blood —literally
==Sex crime allegations==
Two women accused Assange of rape in Sweden. As a result of those accusations, Sweden attempted to get Assange extradited from the United Kingdom so he could be put on trial. There were concerns that if Assange were extradited to Sweden, he could be removed from there to the United States and speculation that he might face the death penalty in the USA.Julian Assange’s legal limbo
British courts agreed to extradite Assange to Sweden, but in June 2012 he fled to the London embassy of Ecuador, which later granted him asylum. Sweden gave assurances that Assange would not be extradited to the US if he faced the death penalty, which supporters of Assange feared.Sweden: If Assange faces death row in US we won’t extradite him The Swedes refused to rule out extradition entirely, though.Ecuador will care for Julian Assange in embassy if WikiLeaks founder falls ill Amnesty International was one of many organisations wanting such an assurance,Sweden should issue assurance it won't extradite Assange to USA which in any case would be hard to enforce.Not to mention such a carte blanche would be an unheard of thing, since it would cover not only what he is accused of, but also further acts. 
After being granted asylum by Ecuador, a standoff ensued. Assange could not leave the embassy to take up asylum in Ecuador without being arrested. However, UK law enforcers could not enter the embassy without serious diplomatic repercussions. The UK showed it had the legal option of entering the embassy by force and arresting Assange, but chose not to do so.Julian Assange asylum offer leads Ecuador and UK into diplomatic row In the third week of August 2012, an intimidating police presence appeared outside the embassy, including one police officer outside a toilet window and there were complaints about excessive police presence.Julian Assange can stay in embassy for 'centuries', says Ecuador It was reported that the cost of keeping police outside the embassy, awaiting the opportunity to arrest Assange, was £2.9 million ($4.4 million) by January 2013Julian Assange police guard cost nears £3m and had risen to £6.4m by August 2014.
At the same time, response to the UK government's posturing by President Correa of Ecuador may have helped get him reelected in 2013. Renard Sexton suspects that could possibly have been Correa's motive in granting asylum.Rafael Correa's domestic agenda behind Ecuador's Assange asylum 
By April 2013, Assange had settled into a work routine in a confined space in the Ecuadorian embassy. Oliver Stone wrote:
Meanwhile, a Swedish woman believed to be one of Assange’s accusers claimed she was the victim of wild guesses and speculation over her motives for the accusations. Harassment made it extremely hard for her to work.'Julian Assange Sex Assault Accuser' Speaks
In August 2014, Assange said he might soon leave the embassy for unspecified reasons; he confirmed his health suffered while he was confined in the embassy.Julian Assange 'to leave' Ecuador embassy In October 2015, Assange was in chronic pain and a heart condition was suspected, requiring hospital diagnosis.Press release: UK refuses hospital visit for MRI and diagnosis In early 2016, Assange was still in the embassy and Swedish authorities agreed to question him there.Julian Assange to be questioned by Swedish prosecutors in London A United Nations panel decided Assange was being detained illegally, but the ruling was not binding; Sweden and the UK rejected the finding.UN panel Assange detained arbitrarily, should be freed It was unclear how much had changed.Julian Assange being arbitrarily held — UN legal panel
In October 2016, it was reported that Assange was under investigation by the Bahamas police regarding sexually propositioning an 8-year-old online. The story was later retracted due to fabricated evidence. The Royal Bahama Police Force said in a statement that it did receive an anonymous phone call but was not investigating due to a lack of evidence.Julian Assange investigated for online grooming of 8-year-old girl by Salicylic (2016/10/17) Daily Kos.United Nations GC Member: T&C Network Solutions ("ToddandClare.com") October 4, 2016 (Archived on 16 Oct 2016)Did Ecuador Cut Off Julian Assange's Internet Access Over a Pedophilia Investigation? October 19, 2016 Snopes Soon after, his internet connection was cut by Ecuador over fears he was using it to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Ecuador says it cut WikiLeaks founder's internet over interference in US election October 19, 2016 The Guardian 
The charges against Assange in Sweden were dropped in May 2017 but he remained inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
In April 2019 Assange was removed from the embassy and faced possible extradition to the United States.Julian Assange: US justice department says he faces five years in jail – live updatesThe Guardian
In June 2024, Assange returned home to Australia after a US judge signed off on his plea deal.
==Guccifer 2.0==
During the Bill Clinton presidency, Julian Assange was living in the US, working on a Ph.D. According to Assange, the US government cut his funding without providing an explanation. Assange also blames Hillary for indicting him after the initial State Department cable dump, and has also accused her of pushing to indict him for publishing the Chelsea Manning leaks.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9wXq6oRBnI He believes that if Obama and Clinton had their way, he would live in a metal box for the rest of his life. This belief may not actually be unfounded. (Assange has said he prefers Trump's chaos to Hillary, whom he dislikes.)Savage, Charlie, "Assange, Avowed Foe of Clinton, Timed Email Release for Democratic Convention", NYT 7.26.16. On the other hand, Trump has stated a desire to punish Edward Snowden and has also made comments that appear to show a desire to restrict free speech.
The timing of WikiLeaks' DNC E-mail dump (aka the "Guccifer 2.0" hack) were released only after Clinton had all but secured her party's nomination, and not during the primaries, or before Bernie Sanders dropped out. This timing appears to be intended to hurt Clinton's chances against Trump in the general election. The DNC took the unusual step of preemptively and publicly announcing the hack and implicating Russia as the source just over a month before the release of the emails and internal communications.Yuhas, Alan, "Hillary Clinton campaign blames leaked DNC emails about Sanders on Russia", Guardian (7/24/16 at 3:24 EDT).
The e-mails were never intended to be released to the public and thus aren't especially PC. The Sanders campaign was using the DNC and the committee chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as a punching bag, knowing that their hands were tied publicly. It's not really surprising that a politician would blow off some steam in private (privately call a critic an "ass", or acknowledging the apparent primary winner without waiting for a concession). Guccifer took private conversations and put them in a different context against the will of the people involved. Once removed from that context and placed in a completely different one, it became "evidence" of voter fraud.Hollande, Joshua, "What the Leaked E-mails Do and Don’t Tell Us About the DNC and Bernie Sanders", The Nation 7.29.16. The email dump reignited a lot of Sanders supporters' belief that the primary was rigged, that the DNC is in bed with the media, and that Hillary didn't really earn her spot on the ticket.Stuart, Tessa, "Bernie or Bust: Meet the Emotional Sanders Supporters Booing the DNC", Rolling Stone 7.26.16. The dump also included plain text Social Security and credit card numbers. Per Gizmodo, Assange is the kind of "dickhead" who happily publishes that kind of stuff without question to maintain his eCeleb status.Nunez, Michael, "WikiLeaks Just Published Tons of Credit Card and Social Security Numbers", Gizmodo (7/22/16 at 1:55pm). 
Unfortunately, Wikileaks always over-promises and under-delivers. Much of the information came out as recently as May, and there was way too much going on (post-RNC discussion, Trump's daily news creation, the VP announcement and then the convention the following week) for Democrats to care about Inside Baseball crap at the DNC, or which delegates are mad at which people in the media. If these e-mails had come out during the primaries, it would have mattered to Sanders (and we might all be better off today).
However, the GE might have gone the other way without those email leaks. It was covered for months, and even Assange stated that the way they were releasing them was in order to maximize coverage. And he was promising other email bombshellsSingal, Jessie, "Does Julian Assange Really Have an Email That Will Get Hillary Clinton Tossed in Prison? (Updated)", New York Magazine' 7.29.16. ("just around the corner")Eddy, Melissa, "Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Founder, Promises Raft of Revelations", NYT 10.4.16. that never materialized, but were widely talked about. Overall, it was all about creating a narrative of massive corruption: World Tomorrow has never tweeted anything bad about Trump, yet they have posted hundreds of anti-Clinton tweets since April 2016: World Tomorrow used the hashtags #TrumpTrain and #Trump2016, retweeted Breitbart articles, as well as obligatory #NeverHillary tweets.Here's a tweetstorm summary from them.
Sergei Lavrov, the current Foreign Minister of Russia, brazenly admitted they were behind the DNC leaks.Shaun Walker and Luke Harding, "Putin applauds Trump win and hails new era of positive ties with US", Guardian (11/9/16 at 9:39 AM EST). Julian Assange alluded that Seth Rich, a DC staffer who was murdered in 2016, gave him the E-mails.Assange Interview on Nieuwsuur, 9 August 2016. On 16 May 2017, new evidence surfaced on WikiLeaks that the Democratic National Committee was behind his killing.WikiLeaks, 11 August 2016 tweet, 2:38 PM. The evidence, of course, is the word of a PI who freely admits to not having seen the laptop, nor any E-mails between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks, or even spoken with a source who confirms they have. The family denies hiring a private investigator; he is in fact a paid Fox contributor.Hermann, Peter, "Family of slain Seth Rich says reports that he fed DNC info to WikiLeaks are untrue", WaPo 16 May 2017, 1:32pm).Tani, Maxwell, "Family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich criticizes right-wing media's role in igniting new conspiracy in murder case", Business Insider 16 May 2017. The "crime analyst" who broke this story is the same one who went on Bill O'Reilly's show in 2007 to warn us of roving lesbian gangs.Susan Buchanan and David Holthouse, "Pink pistol-packing lesbian gangs are terrorizing the nation", SPLC 1 October 2007.Archived courtesy of Reason.Not exactly a recipe for credibility. Or at least it shouldn't be. They flooded social media with this to deflect from the "Twittergate" story, in which Trump undermined his legal defense (and those of some of his closest aides) with ill-considered and ill-timed tweets.
==The Julian Assange Show==
In 2012, Assange started producing and hosting a talk show, World Tomorrow. In theory, World Tomorrow is independently produced and can be syndicated by any TV company that wants it. In practice, the only channel that saw fit to broadcast World Tomorrow is RT,The Prisoner as Talk Show Host Julian Assange Starts Talk Show on Russian TV who never miss a chance to provide a platform to any critic of the US. The list of guests in the first few episodes is… interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZtcn6HC0FA 
Assange got his show after he threatened to publish embarrassing documents on Russia’s political elite in 2010,Weir, Fred, "WikiLeaks ready to drop a bombshell on Russia. But will Russians get to read about it?", CSMonitor 26 October 2010. but relented after an FSB official hinted at reprisal against Wikileaks.Shuster, Simon, "WikiLeaks: Is Russia the Next Target?", TIME 1 November 2010. These documents were never published.
When Assange was first exiled, he requested the FSB, of all things, to handle his security detail.Nemtsova, Anna, "The No-Show", Foreign Policy (26 June 2013, 8:56 pm). There's also the fact that RT scooped Assange on some of his leaks, since they reported on them before they were dumped.Aravosis, John, October 2016 Tweet, 6:36 PM.Eichenwald, Kurt, 10 Oct 2016, 4:59 PM..
The largest sponsor of WikiLeaks today is the Russian government.Caitlin Dickson and Eliza Shapiro, "WikiLeaks’ Money Trail: How It’s Raising Money for Snowden & Assange", Daily Beast (9 July 2013, 1:45 AM ET). They keep their sources of funding secretJeanne Whalen and David Crawford, "How WikiLeaks Keeps Its Funding Secret", WSJ (Updated 8/23/.10 at 12:01 a.m. ET ). (which is… somewhat ironic), but it's funny how no major leaks from Russia have appeared on the site since 2010. Case in point: when a whistleblower leaked the Panama Papers to German journalist Bastian Obermayer from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, exposing widespread corruption among Russia’s political and business elite, Assange immediately went to Twitter to denounce these documents:5 Apr 2016 Tweet, 2:05 PM.
WikiLeaks declined to publish those, as well. Their whole angle of the leaks is that it's a US false flag to discredit President Putin. Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which released the Panama Papers, is indeed funded by USAID and George Soros, but several major American companies were also named in the leaks.
==High on his own supply==
Assange has a habit of releasing documents that had actual legitimate reasons for being concealed — and, in doing so, endangered groups of already-vulnerable people in the name of "transparency":
*For some unknowable reason, he decided to release a document containing highly sensitive information on the last Jews living in Baghdad, where they are living in perpetual fear for their lives.Fung, Bryan, "Iraq: Jews In Baghdad Live In Fear After WikiLeaks Disclosure", by Paul Vale (November 28, 2011 at 7:21 AM GMT) The Huffington Post UK.
*After a Turkish writer called them out for dumping private conversations of Turkish citizens, WL called her a "Erdoğan apologist" and said that she was fabricating her story.Tufecki, Zeynep, 7/25/16 Tweet, 1:38 PM
*Assange has proposed using WikiLeaks to track down and "verify" the home address, family members, and banking information of Twitter users — to authenticate them. What better way to hand power to the people than by doxing your enemies?Fung, Bryan, "WikiLeaks proposes tracking verified Twitter users’ homes, families and finances", by Brian Fung (January 6, 2017 at 3:41 PM EST) The Washington Post.
WikiLeaks accused Snowden of trying to curry favors from Clinton when Snowden criticized them for not sanitizing their leaks.7.28.16 Tweet, 2:48 PM. "Opportunism won't earn you a pardon from Clinton & curation is not censorship of ruling party cash flows" During an interview on Real Time, Assange's response was, "Edward Snowden hasn’t published anything in three years. He did one thing. It was a very important thing, and it was in fact so important that I and this organization saved his ass by rescuing him from Hong Kong...I think he should remember that."Stern Daniel, "Julian Assange to Bill Maher: WikiLeaks ‘Working On’ Hacking Trump’s Tax Returns", Daily Beast (08.06.16 1:07 AM ET). So he needs to be your submissive lackey? (Assange also accused Bill Maher of donating a million dollars to HRC's campaign on live television, and had to walk it back because he made it up on the spot.)
On January 18, 2017, Assange tweeted: "If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case." Obama granted Manning clemency; most of her lengthy sentence was commuted and she went free on May 17, 2017. Oh, what's that? Assange went and changed the terms of the offer after the original terms were satisfied? It's clear the offer wasn't serious.Murdock, Jason, "WikiLeaks lawyer indicates Julian Assange will not leave Ecuadorian embassy", International Business Times (1/18/17 at 6:12 PM GMT). If Obama had given Manning the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Assange still wouldn't stick his neck out that embassy.
==See also==
* Forum:Assange and Ecuador
* Christopher Hitchens — Years of leftist engagement led him to perfect the art of denunciation. In his later years, he used his talent for evil. 
==External links==
*World Tomorrow The show's page at RT's website with all the episodes so far
*Profile: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
*Deleting a tweet? Not very transparent.
*Assange: Chelsea Manning clemency is going to make life hard for me — You're so vain, you probably think this pardon's about you 🎶
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Anti-Western
Category:Australians
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Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Convicted felons
Category:Doxers
Category:Internet kooks
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Category:Living people
Category:Political activists
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Category:Shysters
Category:Whistleblowers
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