When he actively coached and encouraged Manning to steal top secret data from US government databases, and then released it wholesale without regard for its newsworthiness, he ceased being any definition of a journalist. Not sure what he is now, but the word choice I'd use for him is going to be heavily influenced by his later collaboration with Russian intelligence.
The guy that released evidence of torture in Russian jails to western media is fighting back against tyranny, but when the shoe is on the other foot the language changes
The 'patriotically' minded folks in Russia and US are surprisingly alike, and patriotic ideology is invariably full of hypocrisy.
I think if they were to run a country, it would look very much like Russia of today.
"She provided WikiLeaks with the video Collateral Murder, which showed the US army killing a dozen unarmed civilians, including two Reuters employees."
Steal documentation that showed in no uncertain terms that the security apparatus of the US government had abandoned any remaining respect they had for civil rights and the law.
Assange literally contacted the state department warning them that an ex employee who was angry was going to release the files without redacting names and the state department ignored that warning. This phone call was released last year but didn't get reported by the corporate media.
Your Russian intelligence allegations has absolutely zero proof behind it and simply a political Twitter talking point.
>The key witness against Assange is a convicted pedophile and sociopath who was being paid by the US government.
That's not all that unusual. In many cases, folks are brought to trial and convicted on the testimony of unsavory characters.
An excellent example of this is the conviction of John Gotti[0], who was convicted of (among other things) the murder of Paul Castellano[1].
The evidence against Gotti was largely based on information provided by Sammy "The Bull" Gravano[2].
All three of those guys are/were thoroughly disreputable people and stone killers. Gravano, despite his long and violent criminal career, was given a very short prison sentence and was then placed into the US' Witness Protection Program[3], giving him protection and financial support from the US Government.
Despite this, Gravano continued to be the gangster he always was and was convicted of additional crimes and sentenced to prison again (20 years in New York and 19 years on Arizona, served concurrently).
Just because someone is a scumbag, doesn't mean they can't play a part in prosecutions.
There are many other examples of this sort of thing as well.
>He has since admitted that his testimony was false.
Assuming that can be verified, it's a great point in Assange's defense. Which, I'm sure, won't be lost on his lawyers.
Of course not. They are always just innocent tourists, passing by on their way to marvel at cathedral spires. The mere suggestion otherwise is known as Russophobia.
