I remain true to my ideals, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says from a London cell

[Swagman]

Source: # # From: The Australian

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has declared from his London cell that his convictions have not been shaken by his incarceration.

And he has accused global giants Visa, MasterCard and PayPal of being “instruments of US foreign policy” after they severed links with WikiLeaks since it began publishing its trove of about 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables.

The accusation came in a statement passed on by Mr Assange's mother Christine ahead of the Australian's appearance at an extradition hearing in London tonight.

It also coincided with a claim by Mr Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, that a secret US grand jury had been set up to work on charges that could be filed against the WikiLeaks founder over the embarrassing leaking of US diplomatic documents.

Mr Assange is wanted by authorities in Sweden for questioning over two sex crime allegations. Lawyers have said he denies the allegations and is fighting extradition.

Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/i-remain-true-to-my-ideals-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-says-from-a-london-cell/story-fn775xjq-1225970989931

[boppers]

1. Does he drop the key or not?

He only has one.


This was a mistake.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Pharaoh]

3. The decrypt key is his ace in the hole

I don't think this will happen unless he is extradited to the US

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. I certainly hope he doesn't re-reveal the true identity of Valerie

Plame, that would be the end of him.

[Kolesar]

13. No Kidding! eom

[Delphinus]

5. You said it all when you

reminded me about Holder passing on bringing torturers to justice while going after Assange.

[molly77]

7. NYTimes has slowed down on covering WikiLeaks

HuffPo giving it minimal coverage. Go to the Guardian for great coverage and updates.We don't have free press here in the states.

[tomm2thumbs]

10. exactly - but having trouble getting their home page as of late

wonder if the 'powers that be' in the govt are going to try to block American internet viewers from reaching their site, claiming it is dispensing national secrets.

talk about starting a protest within this country - everyone ELSE can see our secrets but the citizens who own them outright.

[Pavulon]

25. Click through revenue must have been falling off..(nt)

[truth2power]

17. Well, yes. Thank you. My post got deleted. I don't know what I'm allowed to say..

I would like to ask this question, though. And I've asked this time and again, here, and never gotten an answer:

Back during the Bush reign of terror, we ridiculed Republicans for following in lock step with Dubya, no matter what he did. Yet we are supposed to support this administration no matter what they do.

My only question is, how are these things different?

[molly77]

8. Michael Moore offering 20,000

dollars for bail or surety and his website to Julian Assange. Julian is to make an appearance this afternoon.Guess he will be charged. Somebody needs to manufacture Julian Assange masks. People have already started wearing them.

[tomm2thumbs]

11. Michael Moore is a good guy

he'll probably be charged with aiding and abetting now - shameful govt of ours playing with American's right to Freedom of the Press unless they don't like the news for the day

[BonnieJW]

14. I find it amazing

that some in this country are calling for Assange to be treated as a terrorist. Is the memory of this country so short that it has forgotten the heroics of a certain Woodward and Bernstein? No one except Nixon and his entourage called for this team's incarceration. They were hailed as heroes. Assange is doing the same thing, nothing less. This country's crimes must be exposed and stopped.

[Demeter]

6. He Is the Most Dangerous Man in the World

to criminal governments. Be safe, prevail, Mr. Assange.

[stray cat]

9. And his ideals are?

[Cherchez la Femme]

12. Are you even trying to contend

that if these governmental missives/emails/whatever were leaked and we had a Republican president,
you would be just as upset & outraged?

[24601]

16. Without a shred of reservation,my judgment of Assange is

absolutely unrelated to partisan politics.

How do you think FDR would have dealt with him if the plans to invade Normandy had been stolen and passed to him? (declared war in effect)

How do you think President Truman would have dealt with him if the stolen A-bomb secrets had been passed to him? (no declared war)

How do you think General Washington would have dealt with him if he had received the West Point fortifications plans? This one isn't that hard to infer since Major Andre was hanged. (no declared war)

How do you think Lincoln would have dealt with him if he had received and threatened to publish the plans for the defense of Washington? (no declared war)

Shit, how would the Recording Industry Association of America deal with him for publishing stolen material? Again not too tough to figure out since there are contemporary examples of consequences for trafficking in stolen IP and a profit motive is irrelevant. (no declared war)

If you make publishing stolen material your life's avocation, be prepared to face consequences.

[bemildred]

18. Indeed, how would Stalin have dealt with him?

How would Idi Amin have dealt with him?
How would Al Capone have dealt with him?
How would the Cali Cartel have dealt with him?

A government that chooses to put itself outside the law, as ours most certainly does, can expect nothing better from anyone else.

[24601]

19. They certainly wouldn't have DoJ look into possible charges and

there would be no talk of extradition. He would just go away and never be heard from again. Good point, noting the 180 degree differences between those regimes and the US, even if you made the point inadvertently.

[bemildred]

20. So our methodology is different, our intentions and goals the same.

I am pointing out that our intentions and goals are exactly the same, just some differences in methodology.

[24601]

21. "some differences"?! Like Al Gore & George Bush both want a

strong America but just might go about it differently.

Sure.

[bemildred]

22. We assassinate political enemies, we have secret military trials, we have a gulag.

We have the highest incarceration rate in the world of our own citizens. Our infant mortality rate is rising, our education system is falling apart, our average longevity is declining. Our press lies. These are facts.

Who is supposed to be "transparent" if not governments, and about what if not the stuff they want to keep secret? It is true we are not "as bad" as Stalin, but that seems faint praise to me. We ought to be the best, never kill without fair legal process, never secret trials, never disappearing people into prison, the lowest incarceration rate in the world, then we'd have something to be proud of.

[24601]

26. The incarceration rate needs to be a dependent function of the

crime rate - not just some target number based on the rest of the world. What's to be proud of is the accurate/appropriate rate, not the lowest one, unless it follows the lowest crime rate. Releasing the likes of Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Ted Kazensky, Susan Smith, James Earl ray & Tim McVeigh were they alive, would reduce your incarceration rate but would be national shame, not pride.

Trials should be closed when classified information would be revealed. There is no proof that closing a trial invalidates the result. When testimony would reveal how to make and detonate IEDs for example, there is no compelling reason to broadcast that to the world. Same rationale applies when informants testify and retaliation against them nd their families likely would result.

Education will continue to fail as long as it's about the AFT & NEA rather than about the kids. You really want to make a step in the right direction? Then require that kids of elected public officials must attend public schools.

[bemildred]

28. Are you suggesting we have the highest crime rate in the world?

"There is no proof that closing a trial invalidates the result." Is that the criteria? It might be fair once in a while?

I am quite OK with your suggestion for education.

[galileoreloaded]

15. Nice job idiots, make a folk hero out of the guy. That will make him play nice...

:crazy:

[Fool Count]

24. A true idiot is the one who between a lying criminal government and the truth

sides with the lying criminal government. The fact that such idiots seem to be in the majority
in the US, pretty much seals the slide of this formerly great country into irrelevance.

[24601]

27. Your regard for the Obama administration is touching, truly

touching, lumping it in there with Mao's China, Stalin's USSR, Hitler's Germany and Pol Pot's Cambodia. Because if you can't tell the difference, shall we put you down as a Ralph Nader supporter/voter in 2012?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

29. why are you trying to pencil-in Nader voters?

do you suffer some delusion that you're the arbiter of things around here? I somehow managed without you from 2001 to 2009, not sure how I made it without the help of the Les Mis groupie.

[Fool Count]

30. Yeah, sure, being slightly better than Hitler's Germany gives the US

government all the right to lie, commit war crimes and prosecute their critics all over the World. It also gives its delusional supporters a mightily great
reason to be proud of their masters. Nader-shmader my ass. Put me down as someone who demands from his leaders a bit more than being better
than Pol Pot.

[glinda]

23. I stand with Assange. Obvious glaring set ups all over. Excuses, new laws

being made to get rid of him. I say the world leaders, not all, are corrupt. The people have suffered enough.