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struggle4progress

(120,241 posts)
Thu Sep 13, 2012, 02:11 PM Sep 2012

I'm gonna go out onna limb here and suggest Julian Assange sent this here tweet

after attacks on US embassies in Egypt and Libya



The claim that Assange sent the tweet was first made, so far as I know, by Toby Manhire in the New Zealand Listener:

Assange: US has “given tacit approval for attacks on embassies”
WikiLeaks Twitter account links founder's treatment with attack on US consulate in Libya.

By Toby Manhire
Published on September 13, 2012
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/the-internaut/assange-us-has-given-tacit-approval-for-attacks-on-embassies/

Let me be clear that I cannot decisively prove Assange sent this tweet, but there is good reason to think he did. The Netherlands' BNO News says

... It is not known who manages the WikiLeaks Twitter account, although some reports have said its founder Julian Assange has recently assumed control of the feed ...

WikiLeaks: U.S. gov’t gave ‘tacit approval’ to attack embassies worldwide
http://wireupdate.com/wikileaks-u-s-govt-gave-tacit-approval-to-attack-embassies-worldwide.html

Similarly, The Guardian reports

... the official WikiLeaks Twitter feed ... is generally presumed to be operated by Assange ...

WikiLeaks criticised for linking Benghazi attack to Julian Assange case
Tweet says US 'gave tacit approval for attacks' by accepting 'UK siege on Ecuadorean embassy' where Assange is taking refuge

Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 September 2012 04.07 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/sep/13/wikileaks-benghazi-attack-julian-assange

Quite a number of people have quit Wikileaks because of Assange's iron grip on the organization:

... "I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier and all the rest. If you have a problem with me, piss off," Assange wrote to one of his Icelandic volunteers, Herbert Snorrason ...

How WikiLeaks Blew It
The sad downfall of Julian Assange and his empire of secrets.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING
AUGUST 16, 2012
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/16/how_wikileaks_blew_it?page=0,0

... "Julian Assange reacted to any criticism with the allegation that I was disobedient to him and disloyal to the project" ...

12/01/2010
Dissatisfaction with Assange Former WikiLeaks Activists to Launch New Whistleblowing Site
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/dissatisfaction-with-assange-former-wikileaks-activists-to-launch-new-whistleblowing-site-a-732212.html

... Several WikiLeaks members abandoned the site following perceived autocratic behaviour by Mr Assange. They said he failed to consult them on many decisions and put himself front and centre of everything WikiLeaks did ... "You are not anyone's king or god," Mr Domscheit-Berg told Mr Assange in an online chat, a transcript of which was obtained and published by Wired.com. "And you're not even fulfilling your role as a leader right now. A leader communicates and cultivates trust in himself. You are doing the exact opposite. You behave like some kind of emperor or slave trader."

Mr Assange shot back, saying he was suspending Mr Domscheit-Berg for a month and that if he wanted to appeal, "you will be heard on Tuesday" ...

Anger at 'slave trader' Assange: WikiLeaks loyalists decide to break away
December 10, 2010
Asher Moses
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/anger-at-slave-trader-assange-wikileaks-loyalists-decide-to-break-away-20101210-18s0w.html

Unpublished Iraq War Logs Trigger Internal WikiLeaks Revolt
By Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter
09.27.10 9:07 PM
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/wikileaks-revolt/


Note: I've put this in Creative Speculation because the suggestion that Assange wrote the tweet qualifies as "kooks and crackpots peddling paranoid fantasies" -- so articles like Manhire's cannot be posted in GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021330806
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1240143316
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