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The thing has been so deeply politicized that assuming things will end up as they should, Assange should fear for his life as a free man anyway; I'm sure he cou

The thing has been so deeply politicized that assuming things will end up as they should, Assange should fear for his life as a free man anyway; I'm sure he couldn't even think of visiting the US then fly away alive. After all that propaganda depicting him as enemy of the US, chances are that some thugs, whether because batshit crazy, or following orders, could attempt to kill him anyway. Possibly also at home in Australia. The same applies to Edward Snowden: should he get the pardon one day, he'd still be a target for someone. No matter how it ends, these guys have been already punished enough, and by forcing them to live in fear, some of that punishment will last forever.

toyg 5y ago
> Possibly also at home in Australia. Considering how much the government of Australia washed their hands of him, I don't expect Assange will ever call it "home" again (if he ever did).
mach1ne 5y ago
I don't think the risk is that high. It's a surprisingly high threshold to plan and kill another person if you aren't already used to it. There is more than sufficient reason for madmen to kill every world leader, yet this happens extremely rarely.
- hbrav 5y ago
  World leaders have some level of police protection. Which also has a second order effect - if you're serious about an attack, you need to do some planning. And that planning often comes to the attention of the police.
- ostenning 5y ago
  Unless you're a machine
boomboomsubban 5y ago
Sadly, if Assange does end up free the safest place for him will be somewhere like Russia, which will only further intensify the propaganda against him.
- pmarreck 5y ago
  I'd love to see how he survives amidst the merchants of mistruth over there https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-disinformation-campaign-aims-to-undermine-confidence-in-pfizer-other-covid-19-vaccines-u-s-officials-say-11615129200 https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-disinformation-campaign...
  - guiriduro 5y ago
    Pot calling the kettle black doesn't make the pot less so, and is more than a little ironic.
    - pmarreck 5y ago
      Uh, how's that, exactly? (I mean, Assange DID basically get Trump elected based on his personal beef with the Clintons... sigh)
      - boomboomsubban 5y ago
        Though I think you're also unfairly blaming Assange for the Democrat's own failures, Assange's "personal beef" was not wanting someone who suggested he be drone striked to become president. I would also favor the person who hasn't called for my death.
- the_only_law 5y ago
  Agreed. See: Snowden
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    The difference there is that Snowden ended up in Russia unintentionally. There's a decent change he'd also be in custody now if he had made it to Ecuador though.
    - GordonS 5y ago
the-dude 5y ago
In The Netherlands we have had our own "enemy of the state" Volkert van der Graaf. He killed upcoming right-of-center politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002, some feared he might pull it off to become our prime minister. Plenty of death threats were written as comments to news articles and on forums. "We'll eventually get him", "If he ever gets out of prison I am out to get him". Etc. Nothing has come of it so far ( he is out of prison for some years ).
- wyldfire 5y ago
  Never underestimate the US crackpot population, we have cornered the market on nuts.
  - nobody9999 5y ago
    >Never underestimate the US crackpot population, we have cornered the market on nuts. For the most part, it's hard to underestimate individual crackpots. Take them as a whole, and it's a different story however. That said, Peter Medawar had it right[0]: "The USA is so enormous, and so numerous are its schools, colleges and religious seminaries, many devoted to special religious beliefs ranging from the unorthodox to the dotty, that we can hardly wonder at its yielding a more bounteous harvest of gobbledygook than the rest of the world put together." N.B.: I am an American. [0] https://www.quotetab.com/quote/by-peter-medawar/the-usa-is-so-enormous-and-so-numerous-are-its-schools-colleges-and-religious-s https://www.quotetab.com/quote/by-peter-medawar/the-usa-is-s...
  - mbg721 5y ago
    We Americans always think that we're unique, and thinking that we're unique in having crackpots is yet one more manifestation of that.
- beckman466 5y ago
  > upcoming right-of-center politician Pim Fortuyn Fortuyn was far-right. "Fortuyn's beliefs began to shift to the right in the 1990s, especially related to the immigration policies of the Netherlands. Fortuyn criticised multiculturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. He called Islam "a backward culture", and was quoted as saying that if it were legally possible, he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn
afavour 5y ago
I’m not so sure about that. There’s always the danger of making someone a martyr: I’d argue that both Snowden and Assange have passed their “impact peak” for want of a better term. They aren’t going to be able to repeat previous acts because they’re simply too well known now. If they were freed they would probably make public statements that antagonise folks but not much more. On the other hand, if they were killed they’d become a rallying cry. I’m not exactly tuned into batshit crazy circles but I can’t imagine there being all that much focus on Assange these days. You’re not wrong about the general danger of this hyper-politicised era, though. To my mind the biggest danger is if a Supreme Court justice gets targeted. Feels entirely plausible, I have to assume (hope?) there are extensive security precautions taken behind the scenes.
- andruby 5y ago
  Someone once explained to me the strategy of the US (and other govs). They want to discourage future dissidents by making an example of people who oppose the status quo. They want the prospect of being a whistleblower to be as unpleasant as possible, without creating a martyr for people to rally around. So they typically don't just kill the person. They might use poison to maim an adversary (Yushchenko, Litvinenko, ..). Make the person disappear. Discredit them. Shape the public opinion. Paint them as traitors. Countries have their own flavor, but it's basically the same playbook. Making life hard for Snowden and Assange has a chilling effect for all people thinking about turning against their governments.
  - jollybean 5y ago
    This is not true. The Abu Garib whistleblower was not punished, he was protected. Some of the actions of Manning and Assage fell way outside the prospect of 'Whiste blowing'. Assange is being put to trial because preliminary evidence indicates that he was active participant in helping Manning in his activities and not just an agent of the press. (You'll notice that the 'New York Times' Editors are not going to trial for things that they published). The trial will result in either his acquittal or not. That's it. The US doesn't poison people for 'leaking revenge'.
paulcole 5y ago
Do you think it would be private citizens or the government that would kill him in the US? Honestly I think it’s too obvious for the government to kill him while he’s in the US and they’d be much more likely to do it overseas. Plus some rando crackpot probably couldn’t even recognize him on the street. He could live a rich person’s life in Manhattan for years and barely be noticed once the initial media frenzy died down.

toyg 5y ago

> Possibly also at home in Australia. Considering how much the government of Australia washed their hands of him, I don't expect Assange will ever call it "home" again (if he ever did).

mach1ne 5y ago

I don't think the risk is that high. It's a surprisingly high threshold to plan and kill another person if you aren't already used to it. There is more than sufficient reason for madmen to kill every world leader, yet this happens extremely rarely.

hbrav 5y ago
World leaders have some level of police protection. Which also has a second order effect - if you're serious about an attack, you need to do some planning. And that planning often comes to the attention of the police.
ostenning 5y ago
Unless you're a machine

boomboomsubban 5y ago

Sadly, if Assange does end up free the safest place for him will be somewhere like Russia, which will only further intensify the propaganda against him.

pmarreck 5y ago
I'd love to see how he survives amidst the merchants of mistruth over there https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-disinformation-campaign-aims-to-undermine-confidence-in-pfizer-other-covid-19-vaccines-u-s-officials-say-11615129200 https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-disinformation-campaign...
- guiriduro 5y ago
  Pot calling the kettle black doesn't make the pot less so, and is more than a little ironic.
  - pmarreck 5y ago
    Uh, how's that, exactly? (I mean, Assange DID basically get Trump elected based on his personal beef with the Clintons... sigh)
    - boomboomsubban 5y ago
      Though I think you're also unfairly blaming Assange for the Democrat's own failures, Assange's "personal beef" was not wanting someone who suggested he be drone striked to become president. I would also favor the person who hasn't called for my death.
the_only_law 5y ago
Agreed. See: Snowden
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  The difference there is that Snowden ended up in Russia unintentionally. There's a decent change he'd also be in custody now if he had made it to Ecuador though.
  - GordonS 5y ago

the-dude 5y ago

In The Netherlands we have had our own "enemy of the state" Volkert van der Graaf. He killed upcoming right-of-center politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002, some feared he might pull it off to become our prime minister. Plenty of death threats were written as comments to news articles and on forums. "We'll eventually get him", "If he ever gets out of prison I am out to get him". Etc. Nothing has come of it so far ( he is out of prison for some years ).

wyldfire 5y ago
Never underestimate the US crackpot population, we have cornered the market on nuts.
- nobody9999 5y ago
  >Never underestimate the US crackpot population, we have cornered the market on nuts. For the most part, it's hard to underestimate individual crackpots. Take them as a whole, and it's a different story however. That said, Peter Medawar had it right[0]: "The USA is so enormous, and so numerous are its schools, colleges and religious seminaries, many devoted to special religious beliefs ranging from the unorthodox to the dotty, that we can hardly wonder at its yielding a more bounteous harvest of gobbledygook than the rest of the world put together." N.B.: I am an American. [0] https://www.quotetab.com/quote/by-peter-medawar/the-usa-is-so-enormous-and-so-numerous-are-its-schools-colleges-and-religious-s https://www.quotetab.com/quote/by-peter-medawar/the-usa-is-s...
- mbg721 5y ago
  We Americans always think that we're unique, and thinking that we're unique in having crackpots is yet one more manifestation of that.
beckman466 5y ago
> upcoming right-of-center politician Pim Fortuyn Fortuyn was far-right. "Fortuyn's beliefs began to shift to the right in the 1990s, especially related to the immigration policies of the Netherlands. Fortuyn criticised multiculturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. He called Islam "a backward culture", and was quoted as saying that if it were legally possible, he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn

afavour 5y ago

I’m not so sure about that. There’s always the danger of making someone a martyr: I’d argue that both Snowden and Assange have passed their “impact peak” for want of a better term. They aren’t going to be able to repeat previous acts because they’re simply too well known now. If they were freed they would probably make public statements that antagonise folks but not much more. On the other hand, if they were killed they’d become a rallying cry. I’m not exactly tuned into batshit crazy circles but I can’t imagine there being all that much focus on Assange these days. You’re not wrong about the general danger of this hyper-politicised era, though. To my mind the biggest danger is if a Supreme Court justice gets targeted. Feels entirely plausible, I have to assume (hope?) there are extensive security precautions taken behind the scenes.

andruby 5y ago
Someone once explained to me the strategy of the US (and other govs). They want to discourage future dissidents by making an example of people who oppose the status quo. They want the prospect of being a whistleblower to be as unpleasant as possible, without creating a martyr for people to rally around. So they typically don't just kill the person. They might use poison to maim an adversary (Yushchenko, Litvinenko, ..). Make the person disappear. Discredit them. Shape the public opinion. Paint them as traitors. Countries have their own flavor, but it's basically the same playbook. Making life hard for Snowden and Assange has a chilling effect for all people thinking about turning against their governments.
- jollybean 5y ago
  This is not true. The Abu Garib whistleblower was not punished, he was protected. Some of the actions of Manning and Assage fell way outside the prospect of 'Whiste blowing'. Assange is being put to trial because preliminary evidence indicates that he was active participant in helping Manning in his activities and not just an agent of the press. (You'll notice that the 'New York Times' Editors are not going to trial for things that they published). The trial will result in either his acquittal or not. That's it. The US doesn't poison people for 'leaking revenge'.

paulcole 5y ago

Do you think it would be private citizens or the government that would kill him in the US? Honestly I think it’s too obvious for the government to kill him while he’s in the US and they’d be much more likely to do it overseas. Plus some rando crackpot probably couldn’t even recognize him on the street. He could live a rich person’s life in Manhattan for years and barely be noticed once the initial media frenzy died down.