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Julian Assange has said in an interview that he persuaded Edward Snowden to avoid seeking asylum in Latin America due to the CIA's reach, and that he fears assassination himself:
Julian Assange has said he advised the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden against seeking asylum in Latin America because there he could have been kidnapped and possibly killed. The WikiLeaks editor-in-chief said he told Snowden to ignore concerns about the "negative PR consequences" of sheltering in Russia because it was one of the few places in the world where the CIA's influence did not reach.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Times, Assange also said he feared he would be assassinated if he was ever able to leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he sought asylum in 2012 to avoid extradition.
[...] WikiLeaks was intimately involved in the operation to help Snowden evade the US authorities in 2013 after he leaked his cache of intelligence documents to Glenn Greenwald, then a journalist with the Guardian. Assange sent one of his most senior staff members, Sarah Harrison, to be at Snowden's side in Hong Kong, and helped to engineer his escape to Russia – despite his discomfort with the idea of fleeing to one of the US's most powerful enemies.
"Snowden was well aware of the spin that would be put on it if he took asylum in Russia," Assange told the Times. "He preferred Latin America, but my advice was that he should take asylum in Russia despite the negative PR consequences, because my assessment is that he had a significant risk he could be kidnapped from Latin America on CIA orders. Kidnapped or possibly killed."
Assange also outlined his own fears of being targeted. He said that even venturing out on to the balcony of Ecuador's embassy in Knightsbridge posed security risks in the light of bomb and assassination threats by what he called "unstable people". He said he thought it was unlikely he would be shot, but that he worried that if he was freed he could be kidnapped by the CIA. "I'm a white guy," Assange said. "Unless I convert to Islam it's not that likely that I'll be droned, but we have seen things creeping towards that."
Here's an example of the CIA's alleged influence in Latin America.
Original Submission
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @05:19PM
The absolute WORST thing that could happen to Assange is for the US to pick him up. That's because NOTHING would happen to him. IF they wanted to try to try him in court, there's nothing he'll get convicted of. They try to push reporters around for publishing stuff like this, but when it comes down to brass tacks, the law is on their side. EVERY news outlet, and that would include the CNBC's and the Fox News', come out of the woodwork to support his "reporters" rights. He didn't steal any info. If he aided and abetted Snowden, maybe there is a charge there, but frankly I doubt the US would want to put up with the inevitable circus he'd create.
The reason this is the worst case for Assange is that he would realize that he's not as important as he thinks he is. Assassination? Are you fucking kidding me? He'd be killed by someone who's fucking sick of his self-promotion and histrionics, not by the CIA. I wouldn't put it past Assange to shoot himself in the foot so that he can claim that the CIA tried to kill him.
As for Snowden, sure the US wants him back because he stole classified material and gave it away? Assassination? Again, are you kidding me? For what purpose? He's given away the info, it isn't like killing him would prevent its release. He's got a hell of a lot more to worry about from "enemies" of the US. If he really does have a deadman's switch on the release of the info (which he first claimed in a TV interview, but quickly recanted the next day for the following reason), it is in the interest of the rest of the world to kill him to have it released.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Sunday August 30 2015, @05:56PM
Intelligence officials can become irrational murderers too, and there's certainly been calls from spies [businessinsider.com] and pundits to assassinate Snowden:
As for this part:
He said as much:
Assange may be an aggrandizing opportunist, but he is still a thorn in the side of the U.S., coordinating Snowden's escape to Russia from the embassy, and continuing to "facilitate" high-profile leaks. I use "facilitate" lightly because it's unclear how much WikiLeaks needs Assange to continue operating. As long as Assange continues releasing documents, the self-promotion can be forgiven.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @06:18PM
> bomb and assassination threats by what he called "unstable people"
The most plausible conspiracy theory of the JFK assassination is that the CIA 'groomed' Lee Harvey Oswald. Nowadays the FBI spends billions 'grooming' muslim terrorists just to arrest them. It would not be a stretch for them to send a few patsies in Assange's direction.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @06:06PM
Where is the -1 NSA agent mod when you need it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @06:15PM
The absolute WORST thing that could happen to Assange is for the US to pick him up.
Countless people in the media called for his death. Maybe that means nothing, but I wouldn't be too keen on taking that chance. There are also things worse than death.
IF they wanted to try to try him in court, there's nothing he'll get convicted of.
You vastly underestimate the United State's reach. It has bullied and forced laws upon other countries for a long time now.
EVERY news outlet, and that would include the CNBC's and the Fox News', come out of the woodwork to support his "reporters" rights.
The media is generally biased against Assange and Snowden, and biased in favor of the mass surveillance and other unconstitutional practices. The media tends to promote draconian copyright laws too, so you can't claim they're big supporters of freedom of speech.
As for Snowden, sure the US wants him back because he stole classified material and gave it away?
He copied it, not stole. He gave us more evidence and details about the crimes the US government was committing.
And I'd say assassination is the least of his worries. Any trial he would receive is likely to be heavily biased against him, with the prosecutors tossing out any jurors who understand anything about jury nullification or know anything in general, and the government would of course use as many tricks to stop him from mounting a defense as possible. He would probably end up like Manning.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Monday August 31 2015, @12:51PM
IF they wanted to try to try him in court, there's nothing he'll get convicted of.
You have a far greater faith in the general population than I do. Most people already see him as a traitor and yes he did leak classified information which isn't in dispute. The only question is will the jury decide that while he violate the law he deserves whistle blower protections, practice jury nullification, or will the convict him in which case he will be found dead from suicide about 3 days later in his cell. Most people in the US are closer to my mother than they are to myself. My mother is the kind of person who you receive 100 status updates and invites about stupid facebook games a day from, believes the line "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear" and has stated "At least they are trying to do something" in regards to the TSA. To quote George Carlin:
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
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