What should Julian Assange be charged with?

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Truth-telling. It's illegal in the U.S. now, isn't it?

Only if the intent is to injure the U.S.......

Sure, the emperor doesn't like being told he's got no clothes.

[Joe Republic]

LOL, "espionage", "treason", "foreign spy".  Good luck getting him extradited to a country that still has a federal death penalty for such offenses, guys.

Who said anything about extradition?  There are plenty of ways governments deal with foreign spies, many times not by hauling them into court.

So you're advocating assassination?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

LOL, "espionage", "treason", "foreign spy".  Good luck getting him extradited to a country that still has a federal death penalty for such offenses, guys.

Who said anything about extradition?  There are plenty of ways governments deal with foreign spies, many times not by hauling them into court.

So you're advocating assassination?

Uh, that or GITMOesque living quarters...

[Joe Republic]

LOL, "espionage", "treason", "foreign spy".  Good luck getting him extradited to a country that still has a federal death penalty for such offenses, guys.

Who said anything about extradition?  There are plenty of ways governments deal with foreign spies, many times not by hauling them into court.

So you're advocating assassination?

Uh, that or GITMOesque living quarters...

It'd be pretty funny to see the U.S. invade Sweden to capture one of its residents and drag him to Gitmo...

Well, funny for crazy right-wing "patriots", of course.

[Landslide Lyndon]

LOL, "espionage", "treason", "foreign spy".  Good luck getting him extradited to a country that still has a federal death penalty for such offenses, guys.

Who said anything about extradition?  There are plenty of ways governments deal with foreign spies, many times not by hauling them into court.

So you're advocating assassination?

70's are back baby!

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

[...]what Mr Assange is doing counts as Freedom of Speech. The crime is commited  by the people who leak the information to him.

This.

Instead of whining on a guy who just spread what he has been given, only speaks, of things about which he didn't give any pledge to keep it secret, only do some kind of journalism then, people should focus on how come the 'secret' of the 1st power in the world is so leaky...

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The guy who leaked this information should be charged... I've always said that, and I continue to say it now.

What he and Assange did here does not rise to the level where the intent was clearly to damage the U.S.  I've never said that proof of intent was there.

But, there are times when the intent is clear (during the 30s, if a German spy was caught, for instance).

Has he ever been to the U.S.?

How is that relevant?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Truth-telling. It's illegal in the U.S. now, isn't it?

Robert Hanssen was just telling the truth... would you defend what he did?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Truth-telling. It's illegal in the U.S. now, isn't it?

Only if the intent is to injure the U.S.......

Again, Gramps, intent does not matter under the law.

I'd like you to answer this... he's been charged under 18 U.S.C. § 793 (e) and you're on the jury.  Where is the reasonable doubt for you to find him not guilty?

[Ban my account ffs!]

Nothing.

The government is responsible for keeping its classified documents leak-proof... not citizens who want to know what the documents say.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Patrick made a good point. Who's actually been hurt by this? Not the American diplomatic service; we already knew it was an arrogant institution (it would be amazing if it weren't) and it seems that that's the worst thing revealed about the American government in any form. If anyone has been damaged it's the government's of certain Arab countries, who's fundamental hypocrisy has long been suspected and has now been confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt. Don't dress up a fetish for secrecy as the essence of security.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Nothing.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Nothing.

The government is responsible for keeping its classified documents leak-proof... not citizens who want to know what the documents say.

1. He's not a citizen.

2. In that case, if somebody hacked into government computers, you're saying they shouldn't be charged with a crime?

[cinyc]

LOL, "espionage", "treason", "foreign spy".  Good luck getting him extradited to a country that still has a federal death penalty for such offenses, guys.

Who said anything about extradition?  There are plenty of ways governments deal with foreign spies, many times not by hauling them into court.

So you're advocating assassination?

Uh, that or GITMOesque living quarters...

It'd be pretty funny to see the U.S. invade Sweden to capture one of its residents and drag him to Gitmo...

Well, funny for crazy right-wing "patriots", of course.

Who said anything about assassination or invading Sweden?  There are ways to deal with foreign spies without assassinating them or "invading" foreign countries.  Letting the Swedes or Australians deal with him would be one.   Counterspying on him - perhaps publicly to make him know it and think twice before doing it again - would be another.  The guy is a foreign spy and should be treated as such.

Though if Assange did something like this to Russia or China, he would have eaten some polonium soup by now.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Truth-telling. It's illegal in the U.S. now, isn't it?

Robert Hanssen was just telling the truth... would you defend what he did?

The two cases aren't comparable. Hanssen was feeding secrets to a supposed enemy nation for money and personal again. Assange and WikiLeaks are simply releasing information that all of the world has the right to know.

Of course I don't really care about the espionage games the two evil empires liked to play during the Cold War anyway. It just serves to illustrate what a joke the State is as an institution, Russian or American, capitalist or socialist.

[Хahar 🤔]

Though if Assange did something like this to Russia or China, he would have eaten some polonium soup by now.

But, you know, we don't want to be like those countries.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Truth-telling. It's illegal in the U.S. now, isn't it?

Robert Hanssen was just telling the truth... would you defend what he did?

The two cases aren't comparable. Hanssen was feeding secrets to a supposed enemy nation for money and personal again. Assange and WikiLeaks are simply releasing information that all of the world has the right to know.

Of course I don't really care about the espionage games the two evil empires liked to play during the Cold War anyway. It just serves to illustrate what a joke the State is as an institution, Russian or American, capitalist or socialist.

You simplified this to "truth-telling", or, telling something that is true.  That's all Robert Hanssen did... he just did "truth-telling" in secret.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Nothing.

Assange is a major FF.

You should be grateful for this lesson.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Truth-telling. It's illegal in the U.S. now, isn't it?

Robert Hanssen was just telling the truth... would you defend what he did?

The two cases aren't comparable. Hanssen was feeding secrets to a supposed enemy nation for money and personal again. Assange and WikiLeaks are simply releasing information that all of the world has the right to know.

Of course I don't really care about the espionage games the two evil empires liked to play during the Cold War anyway. It just serves to illustrate what a joke the State is as an institution, Russian or American, capitalist or socialist.

You simplified this to "truth-telling", or, telling something that is true.  That's all Robert Hanssen did... he just did "truth-telling" in secret.

And? I don't believe the State should have secrets (or exist, but that's another issue).

Hanssen does not deserve praise for funneling secrets to the Soviets in order to procure wealth for himself. Assange, on the other hand, is commendable for revealing truth to the world.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The state shouldn't exist?  Pure anarchy doesn't work.

[Linus Van Pelt]

I'm not sure Assange is a criminal, but why people would consider this admirable is beyond me. It's basically just f***cking with the system for its own sake. There's always going to be a distinction between public and private diplomacy, and if the risk of leaks increases, staff will just go even more off the record and phone each other rather than writing things down, and things will become even less accountable.

The phrase "real-life troll" is overused, but Assange is basically a paradigm case.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

The state shouldn't exist?  Pure anarchy doesn't work.

Well it does, but that's not the pertinent issue here. Let's focus on why the State is addicted to committing crimes and then arresting people for exposing said crimes.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I'm not sure Assange is a criminal, but why people would consider this admirable is beyond me. It's basically just f***cking with the system for its own sake. There's always going to be a distinction between public and private diplomacy, and if the risk of leaks increases, staff will just go even more off the record and phone each other rather than writing things down, and things will become even less accountable.

The phrase "real-life troll" is overused, but Assange is basically a paradigm case.

This sort of stuff wasn't like Wikileaks was started though.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The state shouldn't exist?  Pure anarchy doesn't work.

Well it does, but that's not the pertinent issue here. Let's focus on why the State is addicted to committing crimes and then arresting people for exposing said crimes.

What crimes were committed as evidenced by this release of documents?

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

The state shouldn't exist?  Pure anarchy doesn't work.

Well it does, but that's not the pertinent issue here. Let's focus on why the State is addicted to committing crimes and then arresting people for exposing said crimes.

What crimes were committed as evidenced by this release of documents?

Well if they didn't do anything wrong, then what is there to hide?

Isn't that the excuse the government itself constantly uses to justify invading the privacy of its citizens?