Righteous hero of the people or self serving git?

What’s the STW massives opinion?

An oleagenous, self interested plonker in my view.

Both

Righteous hero that is an annoying twerp who you would never get tired of slapping

As above.

Who?

TJ does he rermind you of anyone 😉

He has annoying mannerisms but only a moron would let that prejudice the view that what he is doing is nothing but good. He is showing the people who pay for governments what they are paying for and its clear that those governments don’t like it.

or they very much do but don’t want you to know that they do 😉 tin foil hat, anyone?

interesting interview with him on Radio 4.
Attention seeking for sure , good job not 100% sure on that as very little of what he has said/revealed has changed the world – it more confirms gossip tbh.
As others noted there is nothing about Israel which is a very interesting omission.

oleagenous = Word of the day 😉

Nice house, . . . .

He’d be better off just settling down and using it as a wedding venue . . .

He’d be making people happy, be surrounded by happy people every weekend, . .what’s not to like?

Junkyard – Member
TJ does he rermind you of anyone

😆

For me he’s quite an odd character and stranger that he has started this up from what I consider as a safe, quiet politically sterile/incorrect place of Townsville.

Heard his interview this a.m. which really didn’t nail why he was doing all this, but missed out on the piece on what was happening about the Swedish Court Case – outside his assertion that he wouldn’t get a fair trial in Sweden (Sweden FFS! They’re more likely to jail themselves for wasting his time and throw in a sauna, jacuzzi and a SAAB for good measure!)

If we consider this constant gathering of leaks as subversive then so is the recent entrapment of Vince Cable – ‘politician says something in private shocker’

Still – as a country I think we have been fed enough rubbish for long enough about ‘successes’ in various ‘theatres of war’.

‘there is nothing about Israel’

apart from the assassination of the Syrian security chief by sniper?

Hero. 100%

Can’t believe some people would have more of an opinion about his character than what Wikileaks is doing.

annoying, vain git
whos just confirming what our politicians and press are too afraid to tell us about all the unpleasant things in the world, often done in our name
i think a lot of people would rather stick their head in the sand and ignore what wikileaks is doing

The public has a right to privacy correct?

All of you free speech liberals who champion him as a hero, tell me you subscribe to the right to privacy.

Yes?

Well then surely governments also have a right to privacy for some areas of their work; do you really expect the machinations of international diplomacy to work if the internal mechanics can be compromised so readily and made available for public consumption?

Christ next thing we know we’ll be expecting the Security Services to stop being secret.

Oh wait, hang on….

Even if he turns out to be a rigid singlespeeding 29er, anyone who tries to make the people that run our lives more transparent is a hero.

idave – that was what Syria thought not what Israel thought – big difference
Nothing on what USA said re Israel and Palestine , the invasion, the wall, the settlements etc nothing.
Interesting that dont you think

Separated at birth?

Oh and I agree with TJ.

Nothing on what USA said re Israel and Palestine , the invasion, the wall, the settlements etc nothing.
Interesting that dont you think

Maybe that’s what his ‘safety net’ file contains, now that would shut the Americans up i’d imagine…

anyone who tries to make the people that run our lives more transparent is a hero

So you’re saying you think we should be disclosing tactical military information about troop movements, or publishing the names and activities of MI5 agents and operatives?

Do you think that’s going to make the world a better place and keep you safe whenever you get on a tube or bus in London?

What was the point of releasing that list of sites which the US considered of strategic importance, other than to keep his name in the media? So the US has a list of sites which they’d rather not see targeted by terrorists. Wow. We really needed to know that didn’t we?
Attention seeking cretin.

Am I alone in thinking that the guy who really needs saving from the full weight of the legal system is Bradley Manning. Unlike Assange, they actually HAVE him in a military prison (in solitary since May) and are discussing whether a charge of treason (a capital offence) is something they can make stick.

All the talk about some hazy CIA plot to get Assange to Sweden so they can ship him to the US in an Ikea container isn’t particularly threatening when you consider Manning is facing most of his life in prison or, potentially, a firing squad.

Probably Manning would consider a firing squad to be something of a relief. His treatment in custody exposes the lie that the US is some sort of shining example to the world just as much as do the Wikileaks cables.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/no-naps-and-no-clothes-in-bed-mannings-cell-life-2164841.html

Sweden is looking pretty dark to me right now. What other country in the world has ever chased a rape suspect to this degree? It clearly has ulterior motives.

I think I read that in some of the released papers, it was revealed that some government sector in Sweden had done a deal with the USA, arranged so that they could avoid informing the Swedish Parliament of such co-operation, even though it was a legal requirement that the Parlement be informed.

They side stepped legalities as it was realised Parliament would strongly object to what was going on. This situation, if correct, leaves parts of the Swedish government open to any demands from the USA just to cover up their own illegitimate behaviour.

If they are happy to lie to their own parliament, what chance Assange? If he is extradited to Sweden, they may as well just hand him to the USA.

What bewilders me is why no politicians are being warned or arrested for incitement to murder given the very public calls by them for him to be illegally assassinated.

Whatever Assange has done or not done – to throw aside the neutrality and fairness of any justice system is utterly despicable and must be by default, a much worse crime.

Manning is accused of leaking classified information. They seem to have enough evidence to have arrested him and kept him held pending those charges being brought against him in a military court.

There is due process, which is being followed. Are you suggesting that they should ignore the evidence and just say, ‘OK well since it’s all in the public interest then to hell with anyone else’s safety’?

getee what would have made buses in london a lot safer would have been us never invading iraq that way a bunch of young british lads from leeds would never have become radicalised and decided to blow themselves and a lot of others up

yup manning is stuffed- in solitary denied blankets etc etc apparently suffering a breakdown

and the US governments harrassing of paypal, amazon, visa has exposed them as repressive and hipocritical, along with death threats from politicians making assange seem even more righteous

DrJ – According to what I read, his treatment is normal for someone in a military prison and on suicide watch. Certainly doesn’t sound like fun but by all accounts he’s not been singled out for special punishment. Having never been in a US military prison, I can’t comment on whether that’s true though.

Still, he’s heading for a legalised lynching. The net is full of blog posts of the type “Lets give him a fair trial, find him guilty then have him shot”.

@ Atlaz,

I don’t think Bradley Manning is having much fun right now:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/14/manning/

If he wasn’t a suicide risk when he was first locked up, I would imagine he might be by now.

Not saying it’s fun. Just saying nothing I’ve read indicates he’s been singled out for this sort of treatment, just that it’s standard for someone in his situation.

geetee I can’t see how wikileaks is more likely to make some nutter strap a bomb to his chest and walking onto a bus than say, bombing his country in an oil grab whilst lying about it. (On preview, what kimbers said)

That list of Oil Pipelines, Nuclear facilities, border crossings was originally sent to 2.5 million people in the US – a not very secret list of very obvious targets. It was published to point out that foreign diplomats are being asked to spy on certain sites of importance to the US.

The world will be a safer and better place if governments around the world are upfront about foreign policy, and stop hiding behind political rhetoric and grandstanding. This is what wikileaks and any good journalism should be exposing.

Finally, I agree with the general sentiment about Bradley Manning.

PeterPoddy:
Who?

🙄

geetee you seem to think that these cables are top secret military strategy – they’re not even classified secret, for the most part. Tens of thousands of personnel had access to them. I think you and others ares very eager to put down what Wikileaks is doing purely because you don’t take to Assange’s character – in other words the government character assassination is working just fine, and the propaganda is being lapped up by the masses.

Consider this: Wikileaks is distributing truths – it is not made up. In contrast we and the US went into Iraq on the basis of untruths – and over a million people are now dead. It’s pretty clear to me who the criminals are.

getee what would have made buses in london a lot safer would have been us never invading iraq that way a bunch of young british lads from leeds would never have become radicalised and decided to blow themselves and a lot of others up

That is the most jejune comment on this thread.

There have been radicalised Islamic terrorist attacks for about the past 50 years; pretty much since the establishment of Israel as a separate state and the ensuing political issues that arise from that. Invading Iraq is just a convenient excuse.

Witness (both) 9/11 attacks, which I think predates the invasion of Iraq.

I think I am going to invest in a website that sells tin foil hats, clearly some money to be made.

Interesting slant re Israel – the fact that none of the cables refer to chat between Israel and the USA proves that it must be happening and dodgy ?? There were no cables to Elvis or Aliens, which clearly proves that they are both alive and well and living in Tulsa.

I have to say tho, he is a creepy looking guy if one was judging a book by it’s cover.

we and the US went into Iraq on the basis of untruths

Er, not we didn’t. I clearly recall the following:
Sadam had at least had WMD
Had used WMD on the Kurds
Had already invaded Kuwait and Iran
Had obstructed UN inspectors ad infinitum

As it turns out, he was playing a poor game of brinkmanship bluff and double bluff and it cost him his life.

purely because you don’t take to Assange’s character

I’ve held the view that what he was doing was wrong since the story became main stream but until this morning, I never had any idea of his character. I listened to the interview on Radio 4 and frankly I think he comes apart at the seams with his arguments on why he shouldn’t be extradited.

100% Hero, anyone who sees it otherwise has been duped by the global Zionist conspiracy

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The lizard people made him say that dont believe him

There have been radicalised Islamic terrorist attacks for about the past 50 years

Yes but not here by UK born Muslims against us _ I am fairly confident they did not do this because of Israel what do you think?
Convenient excuse and you say others are naive

What he has done that some people seem to miss is to highlight the absolutely shoddy security systems that the US has in place. Sadly, rather than respond by tightening up their own security, the yanks are chucking their toys out of the pram and whinging about the damage being done. Remember, someone just copied all this stuff onto a disk and handed it over -if there is stuff of tactical/national importance, it could have gone somewhere far worse, and if not, what’s the problem?

Yes but not here by UK born Muslims against us _ I am fairly confident they did not do this because of Israel what do you think?

That is a fair point and I think that if you had been able to ask these men in detail about their motives, I’ve no doubt that they would cite the invasion of Iraq as a key motivator.

However I don’t think that the process of radicalisation in the UK is new or even confined to a post Iraq-invasion world. I think this process has been going on for much of this decade and the last.

I also don’t think there is much point in trying to understand the ‘logic’ of the reasoning behind someone prepared to strap a bomb to themselves and blow themselves up in the name of whatever god they pray to. Frankly, it’s the sign of a lack of logic not to mention conscience.

There is however a lot to be gained by studying the mechanism and process of radicalisation and in doing so, I don’t think you can gain much insight without referring to geo-political landscape including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK and US etc.