MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Lula da Silva supports Assange and asks what about freedom of expression?
Brazilian President Lula da Silva defended Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks.org website that published more than 250,000 of U.S. diplomatic cables sent to or from embassies around the world and asked where are those rabid defenders of freedom of expression. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesStupid man! Assange has been arrested following an allegation of rape ... a serious allegation in most civilised countries and is wanted for questioning.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 06:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0That is right and proper.
Please.... Do as Lula said in the last line of this article.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 06:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0” If you don’t have anything to write, don’t write silliness”.
Kill the messenger and hide the truth at all cost, that's what is all about.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 06:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0You two live in some kind of fantasy land where the conspiracy theory is king.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 07:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0If the Americans had wanted the British to arrest Assange and deport him to the US there is a treaty between the two that allows for exactly that. All they have to do is come up with some offence he's committed against the US and the Britsh would arrest him and start extradition proceedings.
That has not happened. Sweden is investigating a serious allegation and have asked for his arrest under an international warrant.
The conspiracy theorists live is some kind of cloud cuckoo land invested by the CIA. You lot are very weird.
(4) Hoyt
Dec 10th, 2010 - 08:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0Until now I was of the opinion that you where an intelligent humorous, well-informed, ironic and quite irritating conservative Englishman.....
But,………… if the above is your sincere opinion about the current Assange/Wikileaks issue, then….............................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
I have faith in the Swedish legal system so yes, that is my sincere opinion. Seem to recall that you were a bit pro-Nordic yourself?
Dec 10th, 2010 - 09:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0If the Americans want him it won't be via a rape investigation in Sweden and I think that the extradition treaty between the UK and the USA is overly favourable to US demands. What extradition treaty exists between Sweden and the USA I know not but I doubt its as favourable to the US.
You conspiracy theorists must lose a lot of sleep!
THIMC
Dec 10th, 2010 - 10:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0Subduing dissent either by accusations of paranoia or by dragging individuals during years through the legal system under fabricated accusations has always been an effective system ......
Internet is changing this.................freaking fast :-)
Ex-WikiLeakers to launch new Openleaks site
news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20025254-281.html
@Redhoyt
Dec 10th, 2010 - 11:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0US Defense Minister is fêting Assange's arrest - he has publicly called it 'good news'. I ask you again - I've already done so previously -: why is he doing that? Is it because Assange is dangerous toward women, or is it because Gates dislikes Assange's job and worries about its effects on US foreign policy? It is of course because of the latter. US doesn't want its behind-the-curtain maneuvering being publicly exposed, freedom of expression be damned.
How ironical is that some weeks ago it was Chavez that was being accused by the west of suppressing opposition media's freedom of expression!
I don't recall you asking me before! Memory playing up ... yours that is?
Dec 10th, 2010 - 11:57 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Swedes seem to be a pretty civilised bunch, maybe even a bit overly civilised, but their judicial system hasn't been called into doubt at any time that I'm aware. Correct me if I'm wrong.
You conspiracy theorists are verrrrrry strange people :-)
:)
Dec 10th, 2010 - 12:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A US Minister fêtes Assange's arrest, I draw the obvious conclusion that he does so because he dislikes wikileaks' exposures, and now I'm a conspiracy theorist! I don't think I am such thing. Rather you're the one who seem a bit too trusting, too naive.
No. Lula. “ rabid defenders of ”...... FreeDumb.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 12:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0(10) Hoyt
Dec 10th, 2010 - 12:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You say:
“The Swedes ... judicial system hasn't been called into doubt at any time that I'm aware. Correct me if I'm wrong.”
I'll “correct” you then.....
Normally things run pretty smooth in Sweden, but, when their judicial system messes up, it messes pretty big as for example:
Bofors arms scandal investigation and shifting conclusions….
Olof Palme assassination investigation and varying conclusions …..
Scandinavian Star disaster investigation and changing conclusions…….
Assange’s arrest order based primarily on a busted condom during the last seconds of the act…....
And all of those are authentic, sercheable “ Public Record”..........
“ ... And all of those are authentic, sercheable “ Public Record”..........”
Dec 10th, 2010 - 01:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Good ... give me something to do :-)
God think the list is endless, must give the Argies some comfort that sweden as a worst judicial system than them
Dec 10th, 2010 - 02:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Looks like pretty standard fare Think, for conspiracy theorists mostly! Nothing in those cases to suggest that Sweden is incapable of holding an impartial criminal investigation.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 03:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0(16) Hoyt
Dec 10th, 2010 - 03:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0On the contrary Lad,……… pretty sub-standard for Scandinavia.
Those three cases were badly marred by political interference and pragmatic interest groups interfering with an otherwise correct and independent judiciary system.
Assange’s “Leaky Condom” case seems to go the same way…………
Redhoyt isn't a conservative, it's just a kool aid drinker kid who tries hard to defend a ridiculous charge where mr assange was already proven not guilty. The problem with wiki leaks is that it's embarrassing the so called west, whatever that means. I do not agree with what mr assange is doing, but oh boy, doesn't just shows how ridiculous and bogus the leaders are who defend “free speech” and really try hard to show how “honest” they are. Only idiots believe them.
Dec 10th, 2010 - 08:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ Other Sudaca posters:
Dec 10th, 2010 - 09:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do any of you have heard of Iapa lately? You surely remember Iapa. It is that US-based self-righteous umbrella organization of right-wing newspapers in the Americas who warns about threats to media freedom whenever a leftist president in South America happens to merely complain about media denigration in his own country. Has Iapa said something, anything, about the US government's campaign against wikileaks and its efforts in forcing US websites such as Amazon.com cease hosting wikileaks? For that seems to many people a violation of media freedom, one much more serious than what has gotten Iapa worked up against some presidents in our region.
Well……..
Dec 10th, 2010 - 11:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0This Sudaca “thinks” that, in the future, we should get some hookers to accuse our political opponents of using faulty condoms if we want the acceptance and backing of the good, decent, hard-working and well informed people of the First World.
Fido - as Assange hasn't been to court on the charges, he can hardly have been found 'not guilty'. and for your information I'm on the anarchist wing of the Conservative party. I'm also a realist.
Dec 11th, 2010 - 12:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0I believe that it is this open ended concept of 'Free Speech' which is bogus. Such an approach not only approves freedom to give out information, but also the freedom to racially abuse others. Freedom is one of those things that require boundaries.
If the allegations are considered 'serious' then so should the investigation.
Do not forget that, in this world, there are “good” and “bad” trues, whistle blowers, media, rapists, countries, dictators, presidents, scientists, terrorists, grand mothers....., it all depends where they are WITH US, or AGAINST US. The rest is blah, blah !!
Dec 11th, 2010 - 01:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0“The US defines espionage towards itself as ”The act of obtaining, delivering, transmitting, communicating, or receiving information about the national defense with an intent, or reason to believe, that the information may be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. Black's Law Dictionary (1990) defines espionage as: “...gathering, transmitting, or losing...information related to the national defense”. ”
Dec 11th, 2010 - 10:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0Seems like the U.S. already has a prima facie case against Assange and his organisation. One of the penalties in the U.S. for espionage is death. I reckon Assange has cause to be scared. I wouldn't rate his chances in a U.S. jail. Lots of those cons are quite patriotic. Maybe Assange will find out what it's like to be on the wrong end of a rape. But then, he's always been a narcissistic anarchist.
Typhoon, that the information leaked by Assange works to damage the US or to advance the interests of a foreign nation enemy of the US is not established. There's a huge leap in your reasoning.
Dec 11th, 2010 - 01:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ Fudgeit. You can't read, can you? I made no mention of a “foreign nation enemy”. See whether you can keep up with the intelligent.
Dec 11th, 2010 - 05:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Did make mention of leaked information “be[ing] used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.” I suppose that a nation that might benefit from information that work against US interests are more often than not US enemies.
Dec 11th, 2010 - 11:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And you didn't say how wikileaks benefits US enemies or work against that country's interests. Do you believe that just because the US State Department says so? When are the British cease being poodles to the US?
Wait until Assange has a load of CFKs correspondence to publish for the world to read. Attitudes will soon change.
Dec 15th, 2010 - 10:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0Wikileaks started off as a whistleblower website but has changed into a tool for Assange to further his own agenda. Now he'll just publish anything if he thinks it will cause a row. Even other Wikileaks staff are fed up with him and want rid.
Wikileaks supporters will continue, The database has been copied thousands of times over.
Dec 16th, 2010 - 01:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0We respect the law. We hope that justice will respect Free Speech.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLcUVNee_UI&feature=related
We do not forgive. We do not forget.
@23
Dec 16th, 2010 - 12:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The USA does not have an espionage case against Assange and they know it. The courts there have consistently held that passive second party recipients of classified information cannot be prosecuted for espionage. What they are doing is trying to manufacture a legal excuse to seize him, a conspiracy charge.
The evidence for conspiracy is scant and even with adequate documentation, this is a crime that is seldom successfully prosecuted. Thus, the legal mechanism of the USA will be used to silence freedom of speech in the most convenient way. The classic trumped-up charge just like the one Swedish and British authorities are currently using to keep Assange in custody.
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