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This is much more complex than a lone hacker being persecuted by an oppressive US government. There is suspicion that Wikileaks is one arm of Russian propaganda

This is much more complex than a lone hacker being persecuted by an oppressive US government. There is suspicion that Wikileaks is one arm of Russian propaganda, and while I do not know if this is true or not, it does turn the entire Assange story into an intricate mess of international politics and power plays.

achileas 9y ago
While circumstantial, the timeline of WL threatening to release leaked Putin documents (~2010, IIRC), never releasing those docs, then getting spots on RT is fairly damning, as well as the Russian bot amplification of WL document drops, especially during the 2016 election.
- cryoshon 9y ago
  counterpoint: putin is willing to befriend enemies for pragmatic reasons, as is WL. i believe that this is actually the case rather than longstanding collaboration based on WL originating as a russian intelligence program. anything is possible, of course.
sschueller 9y ago
This one arm of Russian propaganda is US propaganda. Just another current "enemy" that the US is trying to link with Wikileaks because it's convenient. Watch this shift to China or NK when Russia is no longer a "current enemy".
jacquesm 9y ago
> There is suspicion that Wikileaks is one arm of Russian propaganda You can sufficiently explain all WL actions by simply assuming that they will do whatever it takes to hurt US interests.
- wernercd 9y ago
  As a US Veteran and a US Citizen... if exposing truth hurts US interests - maybe US interests deserve to be hurt? All politics aside (as if that's possible), we should always strive to learn and expose truth...
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    > All politics aside (as if that's possible), we should always strive to learn and expose truth... Agreed, but selectively exposing the truth requires that if the net effect is a positive one that enough parties are exposing truths to ensure some kind of balance. If not then it becomes a political force in its own right rather than there is an overall gain in transparency. I'm pretty conflicted about this, on the one hand I applaud WL for the degree to which they have exposed various wrongs, on the other I am disappointed in how they decided to become a political player rather than to just be a conduit.
    - Shivetya 9y ago
      selectively should be stated as, protecting your own ass. Releasing negative information about the US is far less likely for you to end up dead that releasing about countries who have little interest in human rights other than lip service. not saying the information should not be out there, just saying that there are far too many nations who would as soon kill the messenger
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        No, 'selectively' can just be to help one side rather than to expose all you have on a country. So it is about selective releasing information about parties in the US rather than about differences in approach from one country to another.
        lolc 9y ago
        You're implying that Wikileaks did not release everything they have. Is this an assumption or is there evidence of this?
        jacquesm 9y ago
        https://www.wired.com/2016/07/wikileaks-officially-lost-moral-high-ground/ https://www.wired.com/2016/07/wikileaks-officially-lost-mora... Stating that Assange hoped that the leaks of the DNC emails would hurt the Clinton campaign clearly shifts WL from being 'just a conduit' for leaked material to being a political operator in its own right. An organization devoted to transparency should not have an agenda of its own, this in contrast to Assange's previous claims that he did not have a favorite side.
- cuckcuckspruce 9y ago
  Wouldn't you be a little salty if the runner up for President of the United States once asked if she could order your extrajudicial killing because she didn't like what you were saying about her?
wu-ikkyu 9y ago
>There is suspicion that Wikileaks is one arm of Russian propaganda They also said Snowden and MLK were working for the Russians/Soviets
pas 9y ago
This is much older though, started (as in WikiLeaks become a sort of household name) with the release of US military fuckup videos in Iraq, and the US handling it like dumbasses, then the diplomatic cables. Though they also published climate scientists' emails, which was not a sign of great rationality on behalf of Assagne.

achileas 9y ago

While circumstantial, the timeline of WL threatening to release leaked Putin documents (~2010, IIRC), never releasing those docs, then getting spots on RT is fairly damning, as well as the Russian bot amplification of WL document drops, especially during the 2016 election.

cryoshon 9y ago
counterpoint: putin is willing to befriend enemies for pragmatic reasons, as is WL. i believe that this is actually the case rather than longstanding collaboration based on WL originating as a russian intelligence program. anything is possible, of course.

sschueller 9y ago

This one arm of Russian propaganda is US propaganda. Just another current "enemy" that the US is trying to link with Wikileaks because it's convenient. Watch this shift to China or NK when Russia is no longer a "current enemy".

jacquesm 9y ago

> There is suspicion that Wikileaks is one arm of Russian propaganda You can sufficiently explain all WL actions by simply assuming that they will do whatever it takes to hurt US interests.

wernercd 9y ago
As a US Veteran and a US Citizen... if exposing truth hurts US interests - maybe US interests deserve to be hurt? All politics aside (as if that's possible), we should always strive to learn and expose truth...
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > All politics aside (as if that's possible), we should always strive to learn and expose truth... Agreed, but selectively exposing the truth requires that if the net effect is a positive one that enough parties are exposing truths to ensure some kind of balance. If not then it becomes a political force in its own right rather than there is an overall gain in transparency. I'm pretty conflicted about this, on the one hand I applaud WL for the degree to which they have exposed various wrongs, on the other I am disappointed in how they decided to become a political player rather than to just be a conduit.
  - Shivetya 9y ago
    selectively should be stated as, protecting your own ass. Releasing negative information about the US is far less likely for you to end up dead that releasing about countries who have little interest in human rights other than lip service. not saying the information should not be out there, just saying that there are far too many nations who would as soon kill the messenger
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      No, 'selectively' can just be to help one side rather than to expose all you have on a country. So it is about selective releasing information about parties in the US rather than about differences in approach from one country to another.
      - lolc 9y ago
        You're implying that Wikileaks did not release everything they have. Is this an assumption or is there evidence of this?
        jacquesm 9y ago
        https://www.wired.com/2016/07/wikileaks-officially-lost-moral-high-ground/ https://www.wired.com/2016/07/wikileaks-officially-lost-mora... Stating that Assange hoped that the leaks of the DNC emails would hurt the Clinton campaign clearly shifts WL from being 'just a conduit' for leaked material to being a political operator in its own right. An organization devoted to transparency should not have an agenda of its own, this in contrast to Assange's previous claims that he did not have a favorite side.
cuckcuckspruce 9y ago
Wouldn't you be a little salty if the runner up for President of the United States once asked if she could order your extrajudicial killing because she didn't like what you were saying about her?

wu-ikkyu 9y ago

>There is suspicion that Wikileaks is one arm of Russian propaganda They also said Snowden and MLK were working for the Russians/Soviets

pas 9y ago

This is much older though, started (as in WikiLeaks become a sort of household name) with the release of US military fuckup videos in Iraq, and the US handling it like dumbasses, then the diplomatic cables. Though they also published climate scientists' emails, which was not a sign of great rationality on behalf of Assagne.