Can I note that I've never been an Assange fan?
Yes you can. Not a fan either.
Total transparency is a utopian idea ill suited to the harsh and brutal realities of geo politics.
And these information dumps just create chaos and suffering in the guise of countering control and suffering.
I dislike the Clinton empire, I think they're just political animals, pure creatures of power.
but Wikileaks has a lot to answer for in the world now having to deal with a vain narcissistic ego maniac as president of the number one super power. And for what? Because Hillary told some rich bankers that what they did and thought was important? Or some backroom bickering or double talk... please. There was f**k all in those emails but they didn't need substance... just Assange's timing of his releases was enough.
I find it all quite juvenile.
Do governments misuse their power or do bad things... of course.
Do they sometimes conspire and keep secrets that may cause harm to themselves... of course.
Yet do some things need to be kept secret... of course.
Why on earth should Assange be the moral arbiter of what everyone should know - beyond our elected governments and those sworn to serve our own democracies and countries?? Who does he represent? Who elected him? Where does he stand on any number of incredibly important social issues so that I can best assess what I think his merits are? He picks and chooses a handful of topics only politically, and times what he releases. This is its own form of manipulation and censorship. But in an age where the ultimate currency is victimhood, sure, he gets a great big tick, because what could be worse than being persecuted by those great big evil governments responsible for all these living hells that we call modern, free, affluent, pluralistic, western societies.
Sure some bad people have been exposed because of what he's done. But good people have also died because of what he has done.
As to his disappearance...
You should contact Think Inc Middy, they still think he's speaking at their upcoming conference, and the below article might be worthwhile reading also. I bothered writing this because I like you.
Is Julian Assange dead? WikiLeaks begs followers to stop spreading conspiracies
Has Assange been taken by the CIA? Without evidence, conspiracies swirl.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attends a press conference at the Frontline club in London, on January 17, 2011BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
For months, rumours and conspiracy theories have swirled around the dark corners of the internet about the safety and whereabouts of Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks who currently lives in London under political asylum. Or does he?
Since late-October, when Assange's internet connection
was cut off by Ecuador – his host nation – for a slew of leaks that were perceived as influencing the US presidential election, the speculation has intensified. It has now reached the point where every WikiLeaks social media post is met with a barrage of demands for 'proof-of-life'.
WikiLeaks releases 500 files allegedly showing US 'arming and funding' Yemeni forces
According to the
unfounded theories – of which there are
many – Assange is missing, perhaps renditioned by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or another three-letter agency. Some claim he is in Russia. Others say he remains in the Ecuadorian embassy but is "compromised" in some way.
Hashtags #proofoflife and #whereisassange are littered by demands for video evidence that Assange is alive and well. Some conspiracy-minded followers have produced images appearing to show mysterious '
white vans' on routes around London. Others claim a
recent blackout in the city was related to WikiLeaks.
Is there any truth to the claims?
Well, while the speculation has reached fever pitch, WikiLeaks has continued to publish documents, Assange has given lengthy telephone interviews and close confidantes have visited him in person.
On 24 November, WikiLeaks' verified Twitter account
begged its four million-strong follower baseto stop spreading the false rumours. "Please stop asking us for 'proof of life'. We do not control Assange's physical environment or internet connection," it said.
Most recently, during a
telephone interview at the Free Connected Minds conference on 26 November, Assange directly addressed the rumours of his untimely demise and timestamped his appearance by referencing the recent death of former Cuban president Fidel Castro.
"I doubt anything I say here is going to put an end to the rumours," he said. "It's very natural that these have come about because of my high visibility in the last few months in the US [...] It's not an acceptable precedent to have to make an appearance when there are all sorts of security [risks]."
However, on Reddit – which has a section dedicated to sharing these conspiracy theories called
r/WhereIsAssange – the commenters were left unfazed by this direct evidence that the WikiLeaks founder was unharmed and still residing in London.
"Did you think that was him and maybe captured and being tortured? Or it was a voice-over?" one commenter wrote. "I felt like he stuttered at the PGP question like he didn't know how to answer. I'm really sad. I feel like he might be dead."
Another said: "At this point, anyone thinking about leaking to them should be worried if it's a honeypot waiting to catch them. If Assange isn't in trouble, he needs to clarify [via] PGP and make an effort to show he is okay."
Around the same, Alex Jones, famed conspiracy theorist who runs InfoWars,
posted a video onlinethat claimed: "We were talking to a lot of folks who are really smart and they said 'his group got infiltrated, they have taken it over' [...] this is beyond some spy thriller, folks, this is really happening."
View image on Twitter
However, Craig Murray, broadcaster and human rights activist who has visited Assange at the embassy published a
blog post on 28 November in an attempt to clear up any confusion.
He wrote: "I have been quite amused to receive some – well actually rather a lot of – rather aggressive tweets and other social media messages from people who believe Julian Assange is dead, and are therefore outraged I had supper with him on Friday.
"This seems to me the ultimate in concern trolling – to pretend to adore someone so much that you are angry and upset to find the object of your adoration has not been killed or kidnapped. It is a peculiar kind of cargo-cult.
"Best of all are the demands for photos with a sock on the head or a newspaper. To pander to these silly demands would be a never-ending task, and merely spark a new round of craziness – 'that sock on his head is photo-shopped', 'that was a double at the window'.
"I have been visiting Julian since before Jane from Idaho heard of him, and the purpose of visiting him is not to provide comfort to Jane from Idaho. If my word does that, fine. If she does not want to take my word, also fine."
Despite having published sensitive documents for over a decade, WikiLeaks grew in notoriety during the 2016 US election after leaking thousands of emails from the Democratic Party and John Podesta, a close aide to Hillary Clinton. Most recently, it released
The Yemen Files and more than half a million US diplomatic cables from 1979.
On its
latest post on Twitter, a link to diplomatic cables allegedly on the Iranian revolution from the 90s, the majority of comments are still asking for proof-of-life. Comments include "Show us Julian", "Where is Assange?" and "Why would you show us something 30 years old? You wouldn't. WikiLeaks is compromised."
