Assasinate or Not Assasinate?

[charlou]

He... said... Belg... ... The "B" word!!1!!!!!

/injoke

[Trolldor]

*snip*

No, it's not a red herring. They are, in fact, directly linked. The 'free information' culture of the internet is absurd, uneducated and unthinking.

That you think any organisation should have 'free reign' is absurd and ridiculous. Without checks and balances you have no control.

And if Wikileaks is not objective then it shouldn't be in the position it is.
Any whistle-blower, and any organisation built around the release of confidential information, must be objective. It must operate on the facts, it must assess each situation accordingly, not masturbate to some political ideology.

And no, assange hasn't done shit for the release of information.
He's actually made it worse.
Contributing to the release of information would have been changing laws, such as the changes made in NSW parliament earlier, which legislated greater transparency. If you make it a legal statute then your Government has no choice but to obey.
All Assange has done has made them nervous, tighter, and now more resistant to any move that would have obligated Governments to be more transparent.

[llanyb]

You're right, it's not a red herring - it's a smear.

[Trolldor]

lol.

So tell me, then, why the push for 'greater transparency' across the board? Why on facebook profiles as well? What is that if not unthinking?

[Meekychuppet]

It's fascinating how some people fear openness to the point where they will kill.

Face it, Assange has exposed the rich and powerful who would prefer that we didn't know what what they are doing.

[Trolldor]

But he didn't.

The rich and powerful have already been exposed - a number of times. They've been brought down a number of times as well. The rich and powerful have been fought and exposed for decades.
Legitimate whistle-blowers who raise legitimate, serious and relevant concerns need greater protection. Assholes like Assange do nothing for that cause. It's these foolhardy, empty acts of self-pleasure that make the "rich and powerful" so desperate. Anything could be released, whether it pertains to the public interest or not. There is no gain, no great move for freedom or democracy, just subversion of the law.

The entire phenomena surrounding Wikileaks is the immaturity of a population not ready for the internet combined with an arbitrary sense of entitlement to information which is not only useless but largely indecipherable to most of that population.

[Meekychuppet]

But he didn't.

The rich and powerful have already been exposed - a number of times. They've been brought down a number of times as well. The rich and powerful have been fought and exposed for decades.
Legitimate whistle-blowers who raise legitimate, serious and relevant concerns need greater protection. Assholes like Assange do nothing for that cause. It's these foolhardy, empty acts of self-pleasure that make the "rich and powerful" so desperate. Anything could be released, whether it pertains to the public interest or not. There is no gain, no great move for freedom or democracy, just subversion of the law.

The entire phenomena surrounding Wikileaks is the immaturity of a population not ready for the internet combined with an arbitrary sense of entitlement to information which is not only useless but largely indecipherable to most of that population.

It appears that you're saying that this information is pointless, in which case what is the problem?

[Boyle]

The radio media reports I heard on what was most recently leaked seemed mainly focussed on the fact that the leaked information revealed that some unkind things had been said about world leaders. pffft.

Yeah. Big news! America doesn't like every country in the world and thinks that some of their leaders are less than perfect!

Personally, I think it might be more enlightening if Assange managed to get his hands on, and publish, similar documents from a few other countries; say, Iran, Israel, China, Russia, North Korea. Fucking hell - North Korea! Just think what their diplomats might be saying!

I thought Wikileaks has already stated that after the bank thing they are gonna do a release of Russia.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

He... said... Belg... ... The "B" word!!1!!!!!

/injoke

Flirting with the wank fnoglet crisis again?

[charlou]

I thought Wikileaks has already stated that after the bank thing they are gonna do a release of Russia.

Bring it.

[Trolldor]

But he didn't.

The rich and powerful have already been exposed - a number of times. They've been brought down a number of times as well. The rich and powerful have been fought and exposed for decades.
Legitimate whistle-blowers who raise legitimate, serious and relevant concerns need greater protection. Assholes like Assange do nothing for that cause. It's these foolhardy, empty acts of self-pleasure that make the "rich and powerful" so desperate. Anything could be released, whether it pertains to the public interest or not. There is no gain, no great move for freedom or democracy, just subversion of the law.

The entire phenomena surrounding Wikileaks is the immaturity of a population not ready for the internet combined with an arbitrary sense of entitlement to information which is not only useless but largely indecipherable to most of that population.

It appears that you're saying that this information is pointless, in which case what is the problem?

It's pointless to the people clamouring very loudly that they need to see it. The information may be very valuable to another party which is going to remain very quiet about the information it needs.

[Azathoth]

The radio media reports I heard on what was most recently leaked seemed mainly focussed on the fact that the leaked information revealed that some unkind things had been said about world leaders. pffft.

Yeah. Big news! America doesn't like every country in the world and thinks that some of their leaders are less than perfect!

Personally, I think it might be more enlightening if Assange managed to get his hands on, and publish, similar documents from a few other countries; say, Iran, Israel, China, Russia, North Korea. Fucking hell - North Korea! Just think what their diplomats might be saying!

I thought Wikileaks has already stated that after the bank thing they are gonna do a release of Russia.

That would be silly. I'm sure there a quite a lot of very unpleasant people who would be rather offended if he did that.

[Trolldor]

Ohh Russia, are they going to tell us that... *gasp* Russia kills Journalists? Or maybe how they use their oil supply to manipulate dependant countries?

You know, secret stuff.

[Chinaski]

Btw, those "rape allegations" in Sweden are utter bullshit. What he basically shagged some girl, then another one 4 days later. The first one took offense and decided to charge for sex crimes. The prosecutor agreed. Both girls agreed to it being consensual, albeit unprotected. Sweden's laws on sexual assault allow for the lack of condoms to be a potential factor, as in charging someone for slipping it off without the partner's knowledge, but there is no way in hell this is rape. The case was closed, and only reopened after this latest blowout.
Assange is entirely innocent, and the release of this information is a positive thing. International politics needs more transparency, not less. It's not the damn cold war anymore.

[Atheist-Lite]

Btw, those "rape allegations" in Sweden are utter bullshit. What he basically shagged some girl, then another one 4 days later. The first one took offense and decided to charge for sex crimes. The prosecutor agreed. Both girls agreed to it being consensual, albeit unprotected. Sweden's laws on sexual assault allow for the lack of condoms to be a potential factor, as in charging someone for slipping it off without the partner's knowledge, but there is no way in hell this is rape. The case was closed, and only reopened after this latest blowout.
Assange is entirely innocent, and the release of this information is a positive thing. International politics needs more transparency, not less. It's not the damn cold war anymore.

Wikileaks by name Wikileaks by nature. If you buy the product you can't expect protection?