Assange Mocks Obama Via Video At U.N. Event

[Purveyor]

By Brian Winter

UNITED NATIONS | Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:24pm EDT

(Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking via a choppy video feed from his virtual house arrest in London, lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday for supporting freedom of speech in the Middle East while simultaneously "persecuting" his organization for leaking diplomatic cables.

Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy since June to avoid extradition, made the comments at a packed event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Assange mocked Obama for defending free speech in the Arab world in an address to the United Nations on Tuesday, pointing to his own experience as evidence that Obama has "done more to criminalize free speech than any other U.S. president."

"It must have come as a surprise to the Egyptian teenagers who washed American teargas out of their eyes (during the Arab Spring) to hear that the U.S. supported change in the Middle East," Assange said.

"It's time for President Obama to keep his word ... and for the U.S. to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks," he said.

MORE...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/27/us-un-assembly-assange-ecuador-idUSBRE88Q03V20120927

[Bonobo]

1. Why should anyone listen to a condom-ripping egomaniac who initiates sex with sleeping people!!!?

He is such an egomaniac!

Look how he dresses!

He thinks he's so suave and anyone who defends him is a zombie worshipper of rapists!!!

[joshcryer]

40. Uh, yeah.

Derisive sarcastic crap like that is certainly dismissive of the two women who appealed the allegations of sexual misconduct (in one case actual rape) and remain to this day committed to their perspective cases.

[Bonobo]

45. No, I totally agree with you, Cryer.

I don't think anyone that is claimed to have entered a woman while she slept and only reluctantly put on a condom should have an international stage to air out the dirty laundry that is the confidential information of the the US army, the international banking cartel and the like.

When he was overly aggressive with those ladies he gave up any rights in my eyes to discuss matters with a little more import.

He has no sympathy from me and I, for one, intend to turn a blind eye to anything he has to say from this point on.

[joshcryer]

47. You get an international stage when you flee from your accusers for 2 years, imo.

Doesn't help doing this while running an organization that has helped foment revolution in a half dozen countries or more.

For what it's worth I try to stay out of the innumerable Assange threads... had an itching this time because I'm still annoyed he didn't release the Moscow files, getting a gig with Russia Today a year and a half later.

Just saw your post while participating and one thing that annoys me is that the two women are still pressing on and if, in the end, they declined to be witnesses in the case, it would blow over instantly (such cases would require the testimony of the accuser where there's almost no physical evidence and a he-said she-said; when Assange does wind up going to Sweden he will deny the allegations full stop and then that'll be that).

[SidDithers]

2. Assange, desperately trying to stay relevant...

he can feel his moderate notoriety slipping away.

Poor Julian.

Sid

[RobertEarl]

7. Yes, he is totally innocent

He is just making up all this so he can be a victim and raise money.

The US doesn't care that he made the US government look bad. Republicans have done worse and they are still in offices from sea to shining sea.

[BenzoDia]

3. He's trying too hard. Obama don't care about you, small fry.

[darkangel218]

4. lol!

[onehandle]

5. Good. I don't want any chance of this asshole to be perceived as having sympathy from the President.

Anyway, his fifteen minutes are up.

[dogknob]

43. His 15 minutes will be up the moment the US calls off their Britsh police dogs n/t

[Arctic Dave]

6. Release the flying monkeys.

Internet nobodies go on line to gnash teeth about someone who did something with their life.

[Purveyor]

14. Indeed. +1

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. The good news for all of us is that characters like Assange, Nader, Greenwald, Hamsher, et al....

have been successfully marginalized as somewhat "kooky", and their rapidly approaching irrelevance has caused these convulsions. It's kinda sad, really. The right never liked 'em, and now they alienated a good chunk of the left as well. But hey, there's always that vast braintrust of the country who call themselves Libertarian.

[sabrina 1]

20. Only in the dreams of the far right!

They truly hate all those lefties, and always have.

[girl gone mad]

23. Step out of your bubble for an hour or two.

Congress has an approval rating hovering around 10%. 1/2 the people in the country still dislike Obama, despite the tens of millions the campaign has spent promoting his image. The message which seems to be resonating most with voters is "the other guy is worse".

Your post epitomizes lofty Washington groupthink. So smug and self-congratulatory despite having accomplished absolutely nothing in the scheme of things.

[JDPriestly]

9. Assange has the courage to speak up and expose the truth.

Good for him. His speech was great. So was Obama's.

But we have a national security organization within our government that is extreme in its desire to hide the truth from us. It's downright pathological.

The lack of transparency actually helps terrorists because people who see the contrast between what our government says and what they see happening on the ground in their countries naturally feel contempt for our government.

It's like when parents tell their children something that isn't true. The child senses the truth and just distrusts the parents.

So Wikileaks has done a service in simply telling the truth about things that happened in the past. Better to get it out and be honest about some of the horrible things that our government has done in our names.

Obama argued strongly in favor of free speech. I hope he will leave Assange alone.

[Cha]

10. I think there's a difference between Free Speech

and publishing Classified Documents that Bradley Manning stole.

[99Forever]

12. Guess that depends on just...

.. how embarrassing the shit the jerks wrote on those '"classified" documents is, eh buddy?

[JDPriestly]

16. If the information had really been classified in its intrinsic nature, then I could understand

that it should not have been published. But the fact is, it wasn't really anything worth keeping secret in the first place.

[99Forever]

17. The ONLY reason most of it...

... is now being called "classfied" is because it exposes the true nature of some of the clowns in our government. It's all CYA, at all costs for this brand of PTB.

[JDPriestly]

44. Yes. That's my opinion too.

You only have to work in the real world a few years to recognize the syndrome "just don't let anybody know how stupid (or foolish) we really are. Don't let anybody know the extent of our failure."

[seabeyond]

26. damn embarrassing hearing them talk about putin being an alpha male. something i never needed to

hear.

[Kindly Refrain]

15. Most of the documents were unclassified.

[xiamiam]

18. or covering up war crimes and threatening journalists for exposing the truth

Panetta would have everything classified..we still have a right to know. We should demand to know. That is the role of the press.

[sabrina 1]

21. The duty of the press is to publish the truth. We have no real press in this country

Funny how when Wikileaks was doing its thing BEFORE the got material on the US, no one had a negative word to say about them. How great it was to have a news organization that finally told the truth, about the world most corrupt dictators, about Big Banks, such as the one in Iceland which provided that country with the evidence they needed to take over a corrupt institution that helped topple their economy. Wikileaks was heroic, UNTIL they released material that exposed Bush's war crimes.

But actually, even that was tolerable, it was when Assange announced that he had material on a Big Bank that could help close it down, that all hell broke loose against him, that he became a target of BOA, as we saw in the Anonymous leaks. It was one month later that he was accused in Sweden of sexual assault.

The lesson for the press is 'do not mess with Wall Street'. And it looks like they got it loud and clear.

[Purveyor]

13. +1

[bluestate10]

11. Step outside and down the street for a scone Julian. nt

[treestar]

19. What has Obama done to "criminalize free speech?"

We're talking batshit insane here.

[sabrina 1]

22. Maybe he's talking about Wikileaks being declared 'an enemy of the state'. That IS

ridiculous and embarrassing considering we are supposed to be a democracy here, that respects freedom of the press. That doesn't pick and choose what the press should publish and what they should not. The Fourth Estate, a necessary component of a democracy.

But now the US views an award-winning Internataional News Organization as 'an enemy of the state'??

We are in dire need of the restoration of our Constitutional rights in this country.

[treestar]

24. What has Obama done to "criminalize free speech?"

Signed a bill criminalizing free speech (as if the SCOTUS would not over turn it).

[seabeyond]

29. gosh treestar, i didnt know you were a rw. you always seemed to liberal to me. nt

[tama]

34. I can't tell

because Obama told me not to.

[treestar]

39. What has Obama done to "criminalize free speech?"

And even if imaginary Obama and the imaginary Congress passed such a law, why would it stand? Are the courts in their pocket too?

[tama]

48. OK, seriously

Government transparency, I believe, is major part of freedom of information. I'm not an expert on American politics but even I know that Obama administration have continued and extended the use of "national security" card against government transparency.

And as for the courts, latest I heard about NDAA was that the Hedges et alii case against Obama administration violation of US constitution was beaten by a single judge nominated by Obama: http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-lohier-ndaa-stay-414/

[treestar]

49. It doesn't matter who nominated a judge, they are to follow the law

That is why they have no term limits. Any parts of the NDAA that violate free speech can be challenged. The administration will defend and the challenger is free to challenge. The court will make a ruling in writing, with a rationale and case cites.

And stupid Julian probably is not referring to what you're referring to there at all. He's referring to his imaginary "persecution" at the hands of the US, which, whatever its problems, does run by the rule of law.

Further, the NDAA is something Congress passed too. Using the President's name for shorthand makes a person look uninformed. In fact, when ruling on federal statutes, the courts use "Congress" to refer to the author of the statute that passed. Presidents cannot just make laws - all they can decree is what happens in the Executive Branch.

[tama]

50. Whatever

Mental gymnastics and yada yada yada to defend the system you still feel attached to. I'm way past that and prefer the language of Declaration of Independence to lawyer talk .

[msanthrope]

51. The Declaration of Independence? What does that have to do with our laws? nt

[tama]

52. It overrides them. nt

[msanthrope]

53. No. The Declaration of Independence doesn't override laws. Are you from this country? nt

[tama]

57. No I'm not American

And it's sad that I know Declaration of Independence better than you.

[msanthrope]

58. Indeed. Perhaps you could tell us all just how the Declaration of Independence

overrides laws?

I'm sure that lesson in civics will prove interesting.

[tama]

61. Just like laws of Einstein override laws of Newton, in the process of continuous revolution.

whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government

[msanthrope]

63. Have you been watching Ron Paul videos on YouTube?

Why are you advocating for the overthrow of our democratically elected government?

[tama]

65. Why

are people in Spain and Greece in streets, telling their governments to step down and get the fuck out? Why did people in Iceland overthrow their government and crowd source new Constitution? Not because of watching Ron Paul videos, I can assure you.

[msanthrope]

66. You want us to tell Obama to "get the fuck out." nt

[tama]

67. Why

is that so important for you to keep repeating? Any better reason than looking for another enemy to hate?

[Ikonoklast]

54. Uhhh, no, it does no such thing.

Maybe you meant the Constitution?

And if you did mean the Constitution, any rules and regulations created under that scope of that document by the Federal Government pertaining to itself and the rest of the nation, unless ruled un-Constitutional by the SC, are the law of the land.

[tama]

56. No, what Jefferson wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

What people in Spain and Greece are doing. What people in Egypt, Tunisia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Iceland and many other places have done.

[msanthrope]

62. So you want an overthrow of Obama? nt

[tama]

64. That's a minor tactical issue and up to you people there.

I stand in solidarity with the global revolution and the local forms it takes, such as OWS etc.

[msanthrope]

68. Overthrowing our President is a minor tactical issue? nt

[tama]

69. Yep.

From the perspective of global revolution and turnaround of thousands of years of civilizations based on continuous growth, to remain evolutionally adaptive species, it is a minor local detail.

[treestar]

72. So you think the US should overthrow its government?

And replace it with what?

what's wrong with our system in your HO?

[tama]

75. A matter of strategy and tactic

and up to you people to decide how you proceed, but I stand in solidarity with all Americans that reject neoliberal globalization and join the global revolution against it, whether by voting lesser evil and/or by other means.

What is wrong with your system is that it is the main origin and pusher of neoliberal globalization that is hurting people everywhere and making this planet unlivable for our children.

[msanthrope]

59. Forget it, He's Rolling....

[seabeyond]

25. dweeb. nt

[leveymg]

27. Looks like the DU Right-wing has spoken. All 11 of them.

[seabeyond]

28. ya. right. dont agree with the hero worshipping, and you accuse of rw. geeez. sad. nt

[Robb]

30. "Obama didn't cause the Arab Spring! *I* did!!!"

[sabrina 1]

32. Actually he gave credit to the hero who was the spark in Tunisia that lit the fire

that started the Arab Spring. You must have missed it. Tunisians themselves have credited Wikileaks publication of leaks re the Dictatorship, with adding to the spark. So iow, he told the truth. Why is there so much horror on DU lately at anyone who speaks the truth?

And no, the Obama administration did not initially support the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. Biden eg, stated that Mubarak was a 'good friend and ally' of the US bemoaning the protests. Which was true. So was Ben Ali.

The administration and the MSM waited until it became clear that this was serious and could not be quashed, before finally coming around to supporting them.

I remember, as I was writing about it on DU from the beginning and wondering when the US MSM would realize what a big story was happening which they were not covering. And waiting for a statement from the US. It took a while.

[treestar]

73. What Tunisians?

If one of them glances at Wikileaks, that does not mean Wikileaks gets credit.

The Administration has to be careful of what it does. Wikileaks has the ability to be irresponsible.

[NCTraveler]

31. More and more unhinged every time he talks.

Assange please shut up and allow wikileaks to continue on with their good work.

[tama]

33. A computer geek

gets to talk to UN. All you get is to whine about that on DU. Ain't life tough...

[NCTraveler]

37. Not sure what your post is saying.

Life is not all that tough for me. I have freedom of movement. The computer geek I believe you are referencing, not so much. Life is also tough on many of my neighbors and friends. That is why I do my best to help them. Please elaborate.

[tama]

46. Just being snarky

against what I took as snark against Assange, you telling him to shut up. Sorry.

[slackmaster]

36. It won't be long before he's arrested for public masturbation in San Diego

Or something equally heinous.

[joshcryer]

35. Release the Moscow files Assange.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

38. How dare he!! He's such a rascal! It's..it's..BLASPHEMY!!

[Care Acutely]

41. Um yeah. Screw Julian.

[renie408]

42. Since the only place I ever hear about this guy is here...it doesn't really matter.

Julian Assange isn't exactly a household name.

[scheming daemons]

55. Is there anybody left who still gives a damn about this fugitive rapist and what he has to say?

[HipChick]

74. I would I could rec your post +1000...Assange is an arse

[wtmusic]

60. Assange is spot on, and I would be very surprised if anyone denouncing him here

has watched his speech.

[JI7]

70. If This Guy Came Face to Face with Obama he would be all "I Wand to Be Your Friend"

just like Hugo Chavez.

but in front of others theyw ill talk shit.

[wtmusic]

71. Yeah, because JA's whole schtick is about sucking up to world leaders

R-i-i-ight.