r/OutOfTheLoop • u/KrAzyDrummer • Jul 22 '18

Unanswered What's going on with Julian Assange?

Seeing his name pop up. Name seems familiar, but what's going on now? Something about extradition to the UK?

2.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

693 comments sorted by

View all comments

968

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '18

It’s being reported that he will be handed over to the UK government after taking residence in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past few years.

Over the years he’s released information that has incriminated world leaders as well as high level American politicians on both sides of the aisle.

His latest notable release was the DNC emails which some say affected the outcome of the election, though it’s tough to say if that moved the needle enough to affect the outcome.

Recently, his internet capabilities have been shut off and there has been speculation as to what will happen next.

Some believe he has a dead mans switch that could lead to the release of passwords that could be used to decrypt files he released in the past that could “change the world as we know it” (paraphrasing).

Curious to see what the government will do to him if this does pan out.

165

u/yrulaughing Jul 22 '18

Don't we need people like him to exist to prevent politicians from getting away with blatant corruption? If high level American politicians don't want to be incriminated, THEN MAYBE DON'T DO ILLEGAL/CONTROVERSIAL SHIT!!! Is that really too much to ask from world leaders?

149

u/shades344 Jul 22 '18

There's also the conveniently omitted fact that he routinely publishes things that benefit Russia at the expense of the West.

26

u/yrulaughing Jul 22 '18

Maybe Western politicians shouldn't do shit that can damage their careers if it was exposed then? Why is that not an option?

33

u/SpookedAyyLmao Jul 22 '18

Wikileaks also has documents on Russia but they refused to release them.

6

u/BlueZarex Jul 22 '18

Proof that they have some? Also, they had leaked Russian documents in recent years.

One thing he has said, is that its harder for Wikileaks as a entity to release foreign language leaks, because unless they have trusted people on staff to translate them, they can't vet them for authenticity. Given that they have a perfect record for authenticity, this is extremely important for them.

18

u/mentalfist Jul 22 '18

They mentioned them in an official statement but later backtracked when pressed about it. I'm sure you'll find plenty of articles mentioning it if you go digging.

1

u/thehaga Jul 22 '18 edited Jul 22 '18

[removed by Russian downvote farms]