Are they about to grab Assange today?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-21/wikileaks-reveals-heavily-armed...

Guantanamo next? A Clinton-affiliated group apparently just tried to frame him as a pedophile, but that didn't work and the Podesta emails just keep coming. Maybe they decided it wouldn't be good optics to "drone him." I wonder if they think this will stop the leaks, or if they just want revenge.

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Older and Wiser Now's picture

Now I'm suddenly thinking of that lone Chinese student in Beijing standing in front of the tank.

Are we all just going to sit back and watch Assange get taken down?

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~OaWN

Anja Geitz's picture

I'll be all over it. I just can't think of what that could be if they are taking down the Internet as well. Weird that those two things are happening together.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Sandino's picture

published and served from the Ecuadorian embassy, or even the UK. Surely they don't think taking Assange will stop publication of things that are already in the pipe.

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if he doesn't stop. threat has to be credible.

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kharma's picture

Assange has quite a few 'insurance' packages scattered throughout the web.

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There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams

sojourns's picture

Assange has set up a dead man's switch that will release all of the emails and whatever else that is pertinent from several remote servers in an unencrypted format. How they would be further distributed is unknown to me.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

[deleted]

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sojourns's picture

how could anyone be certain they were all deactivated until after he's dead?

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

[deleted]

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deactivated.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

lunachickie's picture

still lives and breathes today...

a well-designed dead-man's switch cannot be deactivated.

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bondibox's picture

It's not served from the embassy, it has a half dozen servers in three countries.

Name: wikileaks.org
Address: 141.105.65.113 - RUSSIA
Address: 141.105.69.239 - RUSSIA
Address: 195.35.109.44 - NORWAY
Address: 195.35.109.53 - NORWAY
Address: 95.211.113.131 - NETHERLANDS
Address: 95.211.113.154 - NETHERLANDS

and their DNS servers are in Zurich, Netherlands, and Russia

And just to temper the issue a bit, the tweet from Wikileaks was on Tuesday, so I don't think a police action is imminent.

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F the F'n D's

bondibox's picture

I got to thinking about ways a website could avoid a government shutdown. Wikileaks does a good job at spreading the vulnerable points across boundaries, but maybe there could be something better.

What sites like wikileaks really need is a cloud based solution that combines torrent / distributed computing with html delivery. So imagine an app that lets countless people share a file set among themselves, and offer a web-facing public access to the files. For the public wanting to visit the website the page loads like any other, but behind the scenes it's not one computer delivering the page, it's one of thousands. The owner of the file set can update it via encryption key and the updates would propagate through the network.

Haven't worked out a similar deal with DNS.

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F the F'n D's

at this point.
but we ought not let them get away with it, if we can help it.

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Anja Geitz's picture

I will possibly lose what tenuous hold I have on remaining calm.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

It will be over. Trump will win.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

Older and Wiser Now's picture

but not at the cost of Assange being killed. Sad

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~OaWN

Cachola's picture

I wish what you say is true but I was just on Facebook where thousands of people were commenting and they are convinced he's a rapist pedophile. And I read the same reactions in almost every article that mentions him.

As for real life, all my friends in the US who are supposefly liberals (Hillary Clinton liberals, that is) they either believe he is a rapist or that he deserves anything coming to him for interfering with US elections. Of course, they don't see the hypocrisy of their statements as I haven't seen them outraged or even informed of US interventionism all over the planet.

Most of the people I now are closing in on 70 and the young ones I know are in their 40s. I don't have much hope left but whatever there is it is hinging on millenials.

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Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

remember that not all the people online exist, and of those that do, many are not sincere actors expressing their views for themselves alone.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cachola's picture

But they say the same things that people I know in real life are parroting. One thing does make me proud: the "Americans" are buying Hillary's bullshit wholesale but my friends in Puerto Rico are very discerning.

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Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

boriscleto's picture

A bunch of sites have been offline all day. Including my local newspaper...

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/10/21/massive-ddos-attack-dyn-dns-cau...

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

From Wikipedia:

József Mindszenty [jo:ʒɛf mindsɛnti] (29 March 1892 – 6 May 1975) was the Prince Primate, Archbishop of Esztergom, cardinal, and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 2 October 1945 to 18 December 1973. For five decades, he personified uncompromising opposition to fascism and communism in Hungary in support of religious freedom. ["József Mindszenty". Encyclopedia Britannica">. Retrieved 12 March 2013.]

During World War II, he was imprisoned by the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party. [Last, Alex (5 September 2012). "Fifteen years holed up in an embassy". BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2013.]

After the war, he opposed communism and the communist persecution in his country. As a result, he was tortured and given a life sentence in a 1949 show trial that generated worldwide condemnation, including a United Nations resolution. After eight years in prison, he was freed in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and granted political asylum by the United States embassy in Budapest, where Mindszenty lived for the next fifteen years. [Last, Alex (5 September 2012). "Fifteen years holed up in an embassy". BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2013.] He was finally allowed to leave the country in 1971. He died in exile in 1975 in Vienna, Austria.

Mindszenty was deemed a hero in the American media for his stand against Communism in Hungary, but how would they have acted during his opposition to the Arrow Cross Party? Especially now? Certainly the Arrow Cross Party would have loved them some global corporations! And, such a principled man as Mindszenty would have found much to oppose in the US actions in the neighboring Balkan nations during the late 1990s. Would the US have gone after him for that?

That aside, what would the US have done if the Soviet Union -in order to win custody of Mindszenty- had applied the kind of pressure Kerry is clearly using to get Ecuador to hand Assange over? While I doubt it would have led to war, there would have been repercussions.

American Exceptionalism includes the right of the Corporatist Empire of America to ignore international law when its patience is used up?

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

the Wikileaks organization is dependent on Julian Assange's leadership. If he were to be, let us say, somehow incapacitated... how well would his project be able to continue functioning. And have provisions been made for this eventuality.

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native

I read an article written by a former NSA agent. He said that the leaks were leaks, not hacks. He says it is another whistleblower at work.

I sure hope Assange doesn't end up next door to Manning. I'd hate to see these fascists get their hands on him.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

OLinda's picture

WikiLeaks has more than one hundred other staff accross the Americas, Africa, Eurasia and the Asia Pacific.

Sounds hopeful.

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Older and Wiser Now's picture

It depresses me to go there, but they MUST have thought about this possibility and planned for it.

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~OaWN

featheredsprite's picture

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

zett's picture

If they are smart

and they seem to be, Wikileaks would not really dependent on Assange. He serves as the "face" of the organization, almost like a decoy, while the rest of them get on with the work.

That said, I certainly don't want anything to happen to him.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

moneysmith's picture

and possibly "devastating," as he's promised. Unfortunately, I'm usually wrong ;-), so who knows?

This is so utterly terrifying, though. I hope Assange is safe. But I'm worried that no one is "safe" any longer.

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Hell is empty and all the devils are here. William Shakespeare

reflectionsv37's picture

The devastating "thing" became real the moment Kerry intervened, on behalf of Hillary and the US government. The appearances that they have been worried were clear when they started introducing the Russian interference story. I think they actually thought that might make everyone just not pay any attention to any new leaks because the Russians are coming. Now they think they can stop the releases by cutting off Assange's internet access? They're not only stupid, they're stupid on a number of different levels.

Maybe next, they'll hold a press conference to tell us all the reasons why the devastating information that is about to be released by Wikileaks isn't true. Along with a list of reasons why it doesn't matter any way be cause of Russia. And they'll do this without ever revealing what that devastating information is in hopes that there still might be some way to stop. They're trying as hard as they can to get out in front of a train wreck. Not a real smart place to be!!

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“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Assange and freedom of information, is that the sacredness of embassies has only very rarely been challenged or questioned. Invading a country's embassy is, legally and culturally, the same as invading that country. *If this breaks down, a fundamental building block of civilization itself will be smashed to dust.*

This danger is similar to the danger flirted with when the Bolivian president's plane was prevented from entering European airspace, grounded, and searched.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Alex Ocana's picture

And we couldn't do anything about it Bolivia except march in the streets.

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From the Light House.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Neither could we. I was just sitting here watching, going, dear God, I can't believe they're doing this, please don't let that plane crash/run out of fuel, please let no unforeseen accident or god forbid, attack, escalate this situation. It was reminding me, weirdly, of the incident that precipitated WWI.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

featheredsprite's picture

I'm sure some of the Anonymous crew took him up on it. And they can insert it just about anywhere.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

ZimInSeattle's picture

about 85GB if I remember correctly. Think the deal was they would release a decryption key if Assange is taken out.

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"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020

Alex Ocana's picture

As do a number of friends in different countries. And I would guess most of us know how to use encryption, VPN, torrentz, Tor and so on.

The problem is that its a stand-off.

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From the Light House.

WindDancer13's picture

become the uppermost consideration in people's heads over war, senseless killings and the abandonment of rights, then civilization is truly lost.

Hopefully, someone is digging a tunnel out of the embassy so they can spirit Assange out. Not sure where he could go though. Argentina was a good place for Nazi war criminals to hide for 50 years or so.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

I'm an equal-opportunity deplorer. I can easily deplore Trump's misogyny and recorded advocacy of sexual assault (grabbing a person's genitals is sexual assault) while having enormous capacity left to deplore and detest Clinton's war-mongering and history of enacting it along with the horrendous and tragic consequences on people all over the world and right here at home. These consequences also tend to hit the hardest those "innocent women and children" Clinton likes to pretend to care about in all her vasty hypocrisy due to their relative powerlessness.

It's not an either / or proposition. Meanwhile, I reiterate that the timing and focus of the release of the tape itself is clearly being used for political propaganda as is the parading of those who claim Trump has assaulted them in one form or another. The individuals have every right to come forward with their claims against him, but political opportunists and media hacks are using them to distract from WikiLeaks revelations, etc. It's the same disgusting pandering as when Clinton dropped by Flint, MI for five minutes for a photo-op. during the "Democratic" primaries to pretend she cares about them too. As has been said repeatedly by many here, the choice we have in this election as to the duopoly candidates is no choice at all. I would agree that if one is forced to create a "scale of horror", then by virtue of Clinton's past positions of power, then the results of her actions and views are more horrible than Trump's. Given the same amount of power, I'm not sure we'd be any too thrilled to see what Trump would do with it either, but he might confine more of his evil to the U.S., since he seems to be something of an isolationist. I'm not exactly looking forward to finding out either way.

Meanwhile, I agree with those who've said that the DDOS attack today will be spun to cast further aspersions on Assange and WikiLeaks, but why would they want to harm their own means of disseminating information? It makes a lot more sense that there are other forces behind this including the possibility of some kind of false flag action. Overall, I am very worried about the personal safety of Assange and the precedent of any incursion on the Embassy as signs that the Big Wheels would be showing us another sign that they are tired of wearing the mask. Of course, they'll justify any movement against Assange using the Orwellian language of the "War on Terror," since they've managed to slander him into the "enemy noncombatant" level of non-humanity with a fair number of their compliant useful idiot supporters ("I'm with Hurr-Durrs.") I'm pretty terrified about that possibility.

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WindDancer13's picture

about Assange, not Trump. Highlighting unproven charges against Assange (as well as for Trump) is meant to shift our focus away from the real issues.

As for Trump, the right made it clear they did not want him as the nominee, so why didn't these tapes and women come out during the primaries, especially if they were intent on "winning"?

I consider sexual assault not paying me as a woman the same amount as a man is paid for the same work. It lessens my power and some people will try to take advantage of those they consider weak with untoward physical advances. I do not consider words about sexual behavior to be the same weapon as equal pay or restrictions on my choices for my own body or the lack of presence in leadership roles or the freedom from being bombed. Note: The actions of the Clintons have in no way improved the lot of women, sexually, physically or mentally.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Bisbonian's picture

the Clinton camp was promoting "Pied Piper" Republican candidates (Trump, Cruz, and Carson) in order to lock the others out of the running. For a time, they played up Trump even further to make him appear a strong enough threat to Hillary that all of your friends will insist you must vote for her. But now he's pretty much expendable.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Citizen Of Earth's picture

to a comment on the zero hedge article. and nothing is trending on twitter. This is sounding like a hoax unless there are other reports.

Edit: also the wikileaks tweet itself says the Police Presence pic was from tuesday.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Although it says the photo was from Tuesday.

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OLinda's picture

"supporters" hmmm. Sounds like they are suggesting Assange supporters did the Denial of Service attack as payback for Assange being disconnected.

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I wonder what basis they have for making that tweet? Has anybody claimed responsibility? If it actually was supporters of Assange and WikiLeaks , then they might not do so as it might help and motivate the "authorities" to try harder to find them. As a show of power, then it might make sense to try to get the imperial forces to back off a little. Alternatively, by WikiLeaks making this suggestion, it pre-empts a bit those who want to use the situation to further demonize Assange and WikiLeaks in the mainstream press. As a big fan of Mr. Robot, I'm really feeling one of the main themes of the show, which is a huge emphasis on the subjectivity of reality.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

I assume they are making a funny. Hahahaha

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Yes, even as a joke it would have the effect of saying, "We're taking the blame first before your media hacks get a good steam going to paint us as evil-doers taking down the internet." Things are so dire nowadays that my first reaction was to take the tweet seriously. Blush

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OLinda's picture

Of course it sure could be a joke. Assange has a good sense of humor.

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Obviously, I really don't know either. What I like about the tweet is that it works either way. Now, if any of the usual comedians (media hacks) does take that tweet and try to spin it into a *scary music* "Hey look, everybody! Let's be even more afraid! Oh, and we'll be right back after these commercials for baby diapers and adult diapers." kind of thing, then it'll be interesting to see if anybody buys it. More likely, they'll blame it on Putin and try to add it to the pile of guilt-by-no-clear-evidence-of-association with Assange and WikiLeaks. No matter what, the DDOS attack kind of undermines the saber-rattling efforts to gin up the pre-war Russia hate on Hillary's behalf, since it was a "successful" attack, because blaming Putin would also inflate his and Russia's cyber-abilities to the public. We have to fear the scary Bear but also believe in our "righteous" efforts to stand up to it and that the "good" will prevail because we have "God" on our side, the usual baloney. Oh well, logical consistency isn't a requirement for politics or bloviating on the TV.

Have a good evening.

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