Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

He was already effectively a political prisoner. The US made enough of an example of him I guess. Expose US war crimes and this will happen to you.



Much like Snowden, people attach to whatever the highest-profile thing they released was, and act like that's the only thing they released. It's not, it's just what got the most attention. It's maybe 0.5% of the portfolio if you're being generous.

Both Snowden and Assange went far beyond "blowing the whistle" in what they leaked and/or solicited.


Yes and they are great for releasing all that extra information. Its a fantastic public service they have provided.


The details matter because most people don't think everything their governments do should be public knowledge, but also don't think everything they do should be a secret. So most people will judge something like this based on how close they think the leaker got to hitting the right mark with what they released.


OK, so Snowden ann Assange deserve punishment.

Where is the punishment for the people commiting the crimes and treason that Snowden and Assange exposed?


> Where is the punishment for the people commiting the crimes and treason that Snowden and Assange exposed?

Other funny things have been exposed too and nothing ever happens.

Like for example $12 billion, in hundred dollars bills, being send by a military cargo plane to Iraq, after the Iraq war. Of these $12 billion, $9bn are totally unaccounted for: it's not even clear if they ever made it to the plane. That is well documented.

Just imagine the number of crooked politicians and military officials involved in such a highway robbery: robbing the people, to enrich themselves.

"Which fraud are we going to commit today, we didn't steal enough money: we need to choke on more money, what's our plan?" "I know, I know, let's make $10 bn in hundred dollar bills disappear!"

It is also very likely, but probably too soon to be exposed/revealed, that such similar shenanigans happened with SBF/FTX and the funding of the war in Ukraine, where monkey business happened with US donations that probably never made it to Ukraine.

To me it's no coincidence that all the charges against SBF concerning the bribing of politicians have been dropped: that's quite the can of worms for it's certainly related to money which disappeared while supposedly going to Ukraine.

Another really funny one too is the government refusing the audit of the (missing) gold in Fort Knox (yeah, no, if out of $12 bn we know that $9bn vanished, I guarantee you there's no way all the gold supposed to be in Fort Knox is there). "It's too complicated to do an audit". I read: "a sizeable amount of that gold indeed vanished, like those $10 bn in $100 bills".

That's my main reason for wanting to pay as little taxes as possible: it makes me puke to know I encourage crime.

Now although these traitors and petty thieves shall never ever be send to jail, at the end of the day there are more important things, like having a clear conscience and being able to look your kid in the eyes.

So let these traitors choke on their ill-acquired wealth, they deserve to be the miserable cockroaches they are.


1e13 dollars is not that much money, it's just 10 Instagrams, or a quarter of WhatsApp.

It's not enough to move the needle on the dollar value, it's barely more than a buck per person om earth.


They deserve punishment too.


He worked as a conduit for Russian interests.


Bad faith.

He acted in the interests of everyone who doesn't like the US, you could justifiably say the same thing about him acting in China's best interest, or Iran.

Absolute codswallop that you can't hold a government to account else you are criticised for aiding their enemies. Does that mean we should just sit down and take it because it makes us look bad?

I'm the first in line to criticise my government (UK) but that doesn't mean I'm intentionally working in the interests of it's enemies.

Sod off with these bad faith attacks espousing an opinion that no reasonable person could possibly hold.


I mean, he literally had a show on, and was paid to do so by, the Russian state media. And then later on failed to publish a set of Russian documents that were leaked to him, and also coordinated with (not just received leaks from) someone who turned out to be GRU.

Reasonable minds can differ here, I don't think it's bad faith to suggest he might have been acting specifically towards Russian interests - if not originally, then later on.


He released public interest information during an election.

It has never been proven he had some killer stuff on trump and failed to leak it.

Its not his job to selectively withhold information during an election to make demo voters happy.

And trump is basically immune to bad press anyway. What more could you say about him that hasnt been said.

This claim never held water and still fails to.


and stole classified documents.

Wait, Assange or Trump?




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: