Results From The Guardian's Q&A: Julian Assange Answers Your Questions

[Turborama]

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, answers readers' questions about the release of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables.

I'm not sure about the copyright scene on this so I'll just post the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/dec/03/julian-assange-wikileaks

[Catherina]

1. Very interesting. Thank you for posting this

Fwoggie
I'll start the ball rolling with a question. You're an Australian passport holder - would you want return to your own country or is this now out of the question due to potentially being arrested on arrival for releasing cables relating to Australian diplomats and polices?

Julian Assange:
I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal. However, during the last weeks the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the attorney general, Robert McClelland, have made it clear that not only is my return is impossible but that they are actively working to assist the United States government in its attacks on myself and our people. This brings into question what does it mean to be an Australian citizen - does that mean anything at all? Or are we all to be treated like David Hicks at the first possible opportunity merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties.

...

rszopa
Annoying as it may be, the DDoS seems to be good publicity (if anything, it adds to your credibility). So is getting kicked out of AWS. Do you agree with this statement? Were you planning for it?
Thank you for doing what you are doing.

Julian Assange:
Since 2007 we have been deliberately placing some of our servers in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit inorder to separate rhetoric from reality. Amazon was one of these cases.

...

people1st
Tom Flanagan, a senior adviser to Canadian Prime Minister recently stated "I think Assange should be assassinated ... I think Obama should put out a contract ... I wouldn't feel unhappy if Assange does disappear."
How do you feel about this?

Julian Assange:
It is correct that Mr. Flanagan and the others seriously making these statements should be charged with incitement to commit murder.


...

rajiv1857
Hi,
Is the game that you are caught up in winnable? Technically, can you keep playing hide and seek with the powers that be when services and service providers are directly or indirectly under government control or vulnerable to pressure - like Amazon?
Also, if you get "taken out" - and that could be technical, not necessarily physical - what are the alternatives for your cache of material?
Is there a 'second line' of activists in place that would continue the campaign?
Is your material 'dispersed' so that taking out one cache would not necessarily mean the end of the game?

Julian Assange:
The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the US and other countries to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically. Further, the Cable Gate archives is in the hands of multiple news organisations. History will win. The world will be elevated to a better place. Will we survive? That depends on you.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/dec/03/julian-assange-wikileaks

[jaxx]

2. I think he's an egotistical nut.

Playing politics with the world and not giving a hoot what he stirs up. But don't forget what a powerful man he is....so he tells us.

[Catherina]

3. I'm sure you do. Don't worry. Obama gave himself the right to have Assange assassinated

without due process or having to explain himself.

[jaxx]

6. Really? Give us the proof of that anti-American statement.

[riderinthestorm]

8. I believe this stems from Obama's extraordinary order to assassinate Al Awlaki

an American citizen without due process or any kind of hearing.

Here's a link to the NY Times about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html

If Obama believes he can do this to an American, I do believe it's fair to assume foreign born nationals are targeted. We already do it by drones in "war" (cough) areas. Assange has put a very large target on his back imho. He's in a pretty damn dangerous spot altogether.

[jaxx]

9. If? That's not proof. It's a slam.

[robinlynne]

4. I disagree with you 100%. he is doing us all a great sevice. Walter Cronkite would be

proud. Had we had someone like him around in 2000, we might not have had to go through the BUsh years. much less the wars. secrecy promotes corruption.

[jaxx]

7. I doubt Cronkite would approve of someone using US intel

and dripping it out to play the political guru of the world.

[robinlynne]

11. political guru are your words. What did you think of the watergate story?

What did you think of Joe Wilson telling the truth about the yellowcake in Niger?

[jaxx]

13. Both were crimes.

And Joe Wilson and the WaPo reporters were on the story, not the document dump. There is a huge difference. Assange has hundreds of thousands of US classified documents that he is putting out there with no knowledge.

[robinlynne]

18. Both were crimes? BOth were the truth. As is this.

[krabigirl]

10. Of course..anyone who challenges entrenched power and exposes corruption is ridiculed.

[Hissyspit]

12. "Not giving a hoot."

That's not true and you can find that out by actually reading interviews with the man, but why bother, right? I mean, the guy only received an award from Amnesty International for his WikiLeaks work supporting human rights:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9681036&mesg_id=9681036

"Assange may or may not be grandiose, paranoid and delusional - terms that might be fairly applied at one time or another to most prominent investigative reporters of my acquaintance. But the fact that so many prominent old school journalists are attacking him with such unbridled force is a symptom of the failure of traditional reporting methods to penetrate a culture of official secrecy that has grown by leaps and bounds since 9/11, and threatens the functioning of a free press as a cornerstone of democracy."

But we get it. Anyone and everything that can even any little bit possibly be seen as even remotely somehow or another casting negative aspersion or light on President Obama must be marginalized and/or belittled no matter who it is and whatever the real facts in the case may be and however little may be known about it.

[Matariki]

16. Such vitriol.

[Turborama]

5. Thanks for posting those excerpts...

Re people1st's question: There's a lunatic blog out there calling for his son to be used as bait. I thought about posting it as an OP but I'm not sure I want to give him the publicity. Here's a dead link to it if you want to see what I mean...

http: //blog. jonolan.net /politics/ green-lighting-assange/

[Catherina]

15. That was terrrible.

The former advisor and campaign manager to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for Julian Assange to be killed. He told Obama to do it. Just assassinate him.

What kind of a world is this? Are there not laws against inciting violence?

“I think Assange should be assassinated, actually. I think Obama should put out a contract on him, or use a drone or something …. I’m feeling very manly today … I wouldn’t be unhappy if he disappeared.”

Tom Flanagan uttered these disturbing words Tuesday on CBC’s Power and Politics with Evan Solomon.


http://ipolitics.ca/2010/12/01/flanagans-glib-assassination-comments-have-no-place-in-our-democracy/

[Kalyke]

19. Hey Tom Flanagan - you'd be VERY unhappy

if he disappeared - the encryption key would be released and all the un-redacted parts of our countries' charades would come tumbling out.

[Greyhound]

14. K&R.

[Lucinda]

17. TY for posting this! n/t