6 ms·

The one thing spy agencies are still really good at is getting people into compromising situations. It's not hard to get someone drunk and find attractive peopl

by staunch 12y ago

The one thing spy agencies are still really good at is getting people into compromising situations. It's not hard to get someone drunk and find attractive people to hook them up with. If they're married that's all you have to do. That's how they've recruited, blackmailed, and discredited people for 60+ years. The guy lived 40 years with no sex charges and then immediately after pissing off the most powerful agencies in the world he's got two strange ones. It's possible he made criminal mistakes but even if so it's likely he was being manipulated. He easily could have been drugged without his knowledge.

jacquesm 12y ago
There has been no suggestion whatsoever that Assange had been drugged either with or without his knowledge.
- dualogy 12y ago
  > There has been no suggestion whatsoever Well, until now.
Xylakant 12y ago
He could also just have used his fame to end up in bed with two women and maybe, Swedish women are not as easily intimidated by exterior circumstances (the public shame associated with a rape case etc.) as others. It has been reported before that Assange is not exactly an easy character. It's possible that it's a set up, it's also possible that he's at the same time a person that made an important move with wikileaks and an asshole that coerced two women to have sex with him. It's just something that the courts will have to clear up. On a related note: It don't believe punishment for the charges brought against him is not severe enough to really warrant such a move from the side of the spy agencies. The damage had already been done, bringing the allegations against him in a public court in Sweden might retroactively damage Assanges credentials a little, but the documents stood quite well on their own and the expected punishment is somewhere between a couple of years on parol and a low prison sentence in a Swedish prison. I just don't buy that. It's not worth the effort.
- eyko 12y ago
  A lot of maybes and no proof. If the women had been sexually assaulted, and if these assumptions are to be taken seriously (e.g. that they are not easily intimidated by exterior circumstances) then much of what happened after the alleged rape would make no sense whatsoever (their friendly behaviour, their tweets, their comments with other friends/witnesses). In fact, there is so much that has been put into question that it's ridiculous how the swedish government even took the case seriously. And let's all remember that he hasn't been charged with rape and he's only wanted for questioning. I believe that this is what they are saying because it's impossible to justify any other stance based on the lack of evidence...
  - cmdkeen 12y ago
    Except the case went to the UK Supreme Court and the extradition was found to be justified. The English legal system has a very good track record of standing up to the government so unless you're suggesting that they too have somehow "been got at" as well... Given Wikileaks et al have recently shown quite how poor governments are at keeping secrets I do love the blind belief that Assange is the victim of a highly successful multi-government conspiracy over a number of years.
    - atlantic 12y ago
      > Given Wikileaks et al have recently shown quite how poor governments are at keeping secrets How do you come to the conclusion that governments are poor at keeping secrets? There have been relatively few leaks of consequence, and governments have done a great job of making an example of the people doing the leaking. Manning is in prison, Snowden is in exile, Assange is locked up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Serious journalists like Greenwald have to base themselves in third-world countries. So while governments are perhaps mediocre at protecting data, they can certainly go after anybody who places it in the public domain, and this fear effect is a much stronger deterrent than anything else they could do.
      - cmdkeen 12y ago
Cyph0n 12y ago
That's why it could be good to avoid drinking alcohol altogether.
- rjaco31 12y ago
  You should avoid sex too, just in case.
  - Cyph0n 12y ago
    You mean threesomes.
mseebach 12y ago
> The guy lived 40 years with no sex charges He also lived 40 years without being a major international celebrity. He wouldn't exactly be the first person in history to be corrupted by fame and the (oftentimes imagined) power that comes with it. Correlation != causation.

by staunch 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

There has been no suggestion whatsoever that Assange had been drugged either with or without his knowledge.

dualogy 12y ago
> There has been no suggestion whatsoever Well, until now.

Xylakant 12y ago

He could also just have used his fame to end up in bed with two women and maybe, Swedish women are not as easily intimidated by exterior circumstances (the public shame associated with a rape case etc.) as others. It has been reported before that Assange is not exactly an easy character. It's possible that it's a set up, it's also possible that he's at the same time a person that made an important move with wikileaks and an asshole that coerced two women to have sex with him. It's just something that the courts will have to clear up. On a related note: It don't believe punishment for the charges brought against him is not severe enough to really warrant such a move from the side of the spy agencies. The damage had already been done, bringing the allegations against him in a public court in Sweden might retroactively damage Assanges credentials a little, but the documents stood quite well on their own and the expected punishment is somewhere between a couple of years on parol and a low prison sentence in a Swedish prison. I just don't buy that. It's not worth the effort.

eyko 12y ago
A lot of maybes and no proof. If the women had been sexually assaulted, and if these assumptions are to be taken seriously (e.g. that they are not easily intimidated by exterior circumstances) then much of what happened after the alleged rape would make no sense whatsoever (their friendly behaviour, their tweets, their comments with other friends/witnesses). In fact, there is so much that has been put into question that it's ridiculous how the swedish government even took the case seriously. And let's all remember that he hasn't been charged with rape and he's only wanted for questioning. I believe that this is what they are saying because it's impossible to justify any other stance based on the lack of evidence...
- cmdkeen 12y ago
  Except the case went to the UK Supreme Court and the extradition was found to be justified. The English legal system has a very good track record of standing up to the government so unless you're suggesting that they too have somehow "been got at" as well... Given Wikileaks et al have recently shown quite how poor governments are at keeping secrets I do love the blind belief that Assange is the victim of a highly successful multi-government conspiracy over a number of years.
  - atlantic 12y ago
    > Given Wikileaks et al have recently shown quite how poor governments are at keeping secrets How do you come to the conclusion that governments are poor at keeping secrets? There have been relatively few leaks of consequence, and governments have done a great job of making an example of the people doing the leaking. Manning is in prison, Snowden is in exile, Assange is locked up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Serious journalists like Greenwald have to base themselves in third-world countries. So while governments are perhaps mediocre at protecting data, they can certainly go after anybody who places it in the public domain, and this fear effect is a much stronger deterrent than anything else they could do.
    - cmdkeen 12y ago

Cyph0n 12y ago

That's why it could be good to avoid drinking alcohol altogether.

rjaco31 12y ago
You should avoid sex too, just in case.
- Cyph0n 12y ago
  You mean threesomes.

mseebach 12y ago

> The guy lived 40 years with no sex charges He also lived 40 years without being a major international celebrity. He wouldn't exactly be the first person in history to be corrupted by fame and the (oftentimes imagined) power that comes with it. Correlation != causation.