Julian Assange gives a thumbs up after his arrest. BBC/Reuters.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London after being kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy. BBC. Assange had taken refuge at the embassy after being charged with sexual assault in Sweden, a charge that was later dropped. Assange was found guilty by local authorities for failing to surrender to the court. However he was also extradited to the United States and charged with hacking for working with Bradly (Chelsea) Manning, an intel agent who leaked classified information to WikiLeaks. He could face up to five years in prison for that charge if convicted. He could also face 12 months in prison in the UK for the failure to surrender charge.
My Comment:
We all knew this was going to happen eventually. There was no way that Julian Assange was going to stay in the Ecuadorian embassy until he died. The situation was unsustainable and eventually Ecuador was going to give him the boot.
Of course Assange didn't do anything to help his situation. By all accounts he was a pretty bad tenant. His behavior likely forced Ecuador's hand, and even though they were under pressure from other governments, they had very little reason to help someone who was treating them like dirt.
Assange looks pretty rough, to say the least. Assange is 47 years old, but he looks several decades older and very stressed. He needs a shave and haircut because right now he looks like a hobo. Given the stress he's under, it's not surprising he isn't looking his best.
As for his arrest, I'm of two minds of it. I don't like the idea of jailing journalists. Especially ones like Assange who, at the very least, release primary sources and don't put as much spin on it. Assange was providing a critical check onto the power of governments and parties by releasing information that showed how the sausage was made. That's something that needs to continue but with Assange in handcuffs, I don't know that it will.
On the other hand, the specific charge was probably one of Wikileaks more embarrassing moments. Bradly (now Chelsea) Manning was and is a joke and the info released by them wasn't really in the public interest. They also didn't redact anything, which put people in the intelligence community at risk. When compared to the Snowden NSA leaks and the DNC leaks, they did a piss poor job of not putting people at risk.
Assange's arrest has major implications for the United States politically. Wikileaks was a huge part of the 2016 election and the DNC leaks and Podesta leaks had a major effect. Trump may have won without Wikileaks, but there was no guarantee that he would have without those leaks showing how bad Clinton and the Democrats actually are. The DNC leaks showed that they had screwed Bernie Sanders over. He may have lost anyways, but the e-mails showed that he had been treated unfairly. And the Podesta e-mails showed just how corrupt and dangerous the Clinton campaign was.
The biggest question that may be answered is who was the source for the DNC leaks. Thought the Podesta hack was due to a phishing e-mail, it is still unknown what happened with the DNC leaks. The Democrats and the intel communities claim that they were hacked but without the servers being examined, I consider that a conspiracy theory at best.
A deliberate leak by an inside is a lot more likely. And Julian Assange all but admitted that Seth Rich was the DNC leaker and may have been killed for it. Though that hasn't been proven, the reason that the Seth Rich theory continues is totally because of Assange. I mean, watch the video below and tell me that Assange isn't trying to say something without actually saying it.
I personally don't know if Rich was the DNC leaker or not. He's a plausible candidate as he would have access to the data that was released and seemed like the kind of guy that would have a problem with what the DNC did. But even if he was the source, that doesn't mean he was killed for it. Assassins usually don't leave their targets alive after shooting them and Rich died in the hospital. It's possible that he really was just a random victim of crime and someone else was the leaker.
Either way though, the DNC leak case would be the story of the century if Assange gives up his source. If it is Seth Rich and he was killed for it, then a lot of people are going to prison and the Democrats might break up as a party. And even if he isn't or wasn't killed for it, the truth coming out could be huge.
But will Assange give up his source? And could he cut a deal to avoid the Manning leak charges? I have no idea. He and Wikileaks have been very cagey about revealing sources and if Assange does now, they may have problems with getting new sources in the future. But if he were to give it up, he might avoid a lengthy prison sentence. We will just have to wait and see what happens.
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