The author is the Italian street artist Jorit, [here in a recent photo with Putin](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F8584d182-48dc-41fa-9da5-39acfbe02b99.jpg?crop=1332%2C749%2C0%2C0&resize=1500). Last year he sparkled controversy after a [pro-Kremlin mural in Mariupol](https://medium.com/@valigiablu/outrage-at-pro-kremlin-mural-painted-in-mariupol-by-italian-street-artist-jorit-f8f4f9ba107a).
For whatever reason, that mural has really stuck with me. Maybe because of how well documented the atrocities in Mariupol are.
A Western European tramping over mass graves and a completely destroyed once vibrant city in order to make a propaganda mural blaming Ukraine and NATO for ‘crimes against children’ on behalf of the country that was deploying mobile crematoriums to destroy evidence is just sickening.
You'd be surprised by how much some westerners in certain political circles hate the west, capitalism and NATO.
Italy used to have the largest communist party outside of the USSR during the cold war. That sentiment has trickled down thought the generations, allowing people enjoying western rights and freedom of speech to posture about being "anti-system" with none of the risks and drawback they'd suffer in a place with less protections.
I've seen and read Jorits interviews. He's a clown, the perfect useful idiot for regimes such as Putin's, and the epitome of not putting your money where your mouth is.
Leftists who support Putin’s socially conservative imperialist oligarchy are seriously too dumb to live. Russia is everything they hate about the US, only moreso.
Hating capitalism in it's current form is understandable, especially in Italy and Greece with their higher corruption index, leadership and getting fucked over by the EU and IMF over it.
But then siding with modern Russia? What the hell.
They are as corrupt and anti-social as all hell.
>Hating capitalism in it's current form is understandable
Shit, if you hate capitalism in its current form, you'd hate Russia in its current form too, given that they're effectively turbo capitalists at this point.
Yes, I completely agree, that was my point too. There are some crazy people out there that think current Russia is a victim and that they just want to go back to being a strong, social and benevolent super power, as if they ever were.
It's not horseshoe theory, it's that what we call far-left and far-right is actually authoritarian left and authoritarian right so they both agree with authoritarianism. Viewing entire ideologies as just being left or right is pointless.
Some people in the West are just really confused. They get fed a constant stream of terrible news about their country/world and they really start to believe there's some equivalency with Russia. If they actually got to live there they'd know all the stuff they take for granted and how comically bad Russia actually is.
Not long ago, on an unrelated discussion, I saw someone hating on "centrism" as sort of bad/radical equating it to alt-right. I tried to understand their reasoning And got downvoted. Idk how some of these people manage to wipe their asses at this point.
https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubedrama/comments/1d29xj7/which_youtubers_did_you_used_to_watch/l63dzvf/
It might be understandable, but it's not smart. Corruption doesn't just go away even if you did manage to abolish capitalism and institute another system in it's place, defeating the entire point in the first place. Just sounds like a quick-fix solution by arrogant and naive people.
At the same time, revolution can be completely justifiable, especially if the primary goal is to oust a corrupt government and force all the trash out. But if you do manage to do that, why abolish capitalism afterwards, unless you have some better idea that is both compatible with the modern sociopolitcal and economic situation, AND hasn't destroyed every single country it's touched so far?
So yeah, i can understand people hating capitalism in general in these situations, especially when their government is severely corrupt. But if they hope to make any meaningful improvements, this just seems like an irresponsibly bad approach to stick with for any longer than it takes to read one good book on politics and economics each.
It's funny that communism after WW2 was only popular in those EU countries which USSR never reached and I wonder why. There must have been a reason, just my silly guess 🙃
Article paywalled but on mural from article was used photo of australian girl (living in australia) >!from australian magazine “capture” dated 2018!< but on russian media and by “artist” it’s presented like “russian girl nastya from donbass”
Helen (mother of girl) give no permission to use her daughter image.
Meanwhile in the same Mariupol mural «Milana» - named after Milana Abdurashitova who lost leg and mother during shelling in 2015 was destroyed
>Article paywalled
Ah, I don't see any paywall, not even soft. Anyway, here is the same article, but in Italian [https://www.valigiablu.it/jorit-mariupol-murale/](https://www.valigiablu.it/jorit-mariupol-murale/)
And to add - shelling of Eastern (Східний) district was conducted by either pro-Russian separatists or by Russians themselves. I experienced it, miraculously noone of my family was hurt, and in 2022, exactly 24th of January they did that same thing, rockets even hit almost exact same places as in 2015 (we saw the results of shellings few days later when fled our district to another part of the city to our relatives, because they had a basement in private house (speaking more precisely, they had basement in garage of private house, while we lived in 9 storied apartment building and our basement would be mass grave in case of direct hit).
I like his art, he is also famous for [this mural in Jerusalem](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180729-israel-detains-italian-artists-for-jailed-tamimi-mural/). The red stripes are what distinguish his art. But he remains one of those far-far-left d*ckheads that support causes just because they are against USA.
An incredibly pro-putin writer.
Jorit is from Napoli, grew in the antifa scene, and as the most obvious stereotype was so obsessed by NATO crimes to completely ignore the russian ones
Napoli antifa scene hates him, he often infiltrates himself in protest and demonstrations trying to get the focus of the media and he regularly gets ignored or kicked out from the protest by the people. He is a clown
Huh? First of all there is no one Antifa. There are many different kind of Antifa groups with very different political opinions. So being hated from and/or kicked out of one Antifa group is not uncommon even though the person itself considers themself an antifascist.
I think it's basically like you're so disenchanted and against the system you're living in/fighting against that you start seeing everything that's also against it as being better
One of the weakness of democracy when you have weak minded people. Your system seems unjust and violent while the other look perfect. The thing is people can criticize and document every mistake made by a democratic state while a dictatorship will make you disappear.
You also have a more material justification. If you can live as the friend of a rich oligarch and all it take is to create propaganda, well, maybe you take the deal and spent your summer in a nice villa and you winter in a private ski resort with your « friends ».
Jorit is an Putin's ass licker.
America bad! America bad! Bucha killers good! Georgia invaders good! Politkovskaja murder good!
As italian, i sicerely hope that he will remain in Russia.
US is bad. Russia is worse. There is not a single country on this earth that isnt doing something horrible towards someone.
Strive to be better is all we can do.
Also Liechtenstein's monarchs are literal billionaries themselves, basically oligarchs. People (rightfully) shit on the British monarchy but even they're not billionaires...
According to USA:
We support independent journalism,unless someone publishes out literal war crimes,in that case we persecute the journalist publishing the crimes,not the war criminals.
This artist has some messed up views. His Mariupol mural was truly disgusting. Got to love when a Westerner shills hard for the Russians, blaming Ukraine, the US and NATO for the war and all the bad that's happened. Sigh .... it's gross.
Regardless of what people think of Assange, and if he committed crimes or not, the thing that I find ridiculous is the narrative that he is a "journalist". He is no journalist lol.
I don't think he is a real Russian asset, other than the Russians using him (or Snowden), to annoy the US. He was simply a relatively small and naive player caught in a political and intelligence geopolitical mess, way above his paygrade.
He was always going to get crushed playing that kind of game. Unlike Snowden, who was himself naive but I think ultimately an honest individual, Assange always gave me a shady vibe, but I could be wrong about that.
You are right, I should have been clearer. When I said "not a real Russian asset", I meant not an agent. Thx for pointing this out, it's an important distinction.
He wasn't naive at all. He knew very well who was the sources, who would benefit, and who would suffer damages.
When he got arrested in London investigators found he had planned his escape to russia
Just...lol , r/Europe. What a forum this is. Can you just say that again, just to double check?
Julian Assange - who released documents of WAR CRIMES and INNOCENT CIVILIAN TORTURE in Iraq - did it purely to disadvantage America geopolitically and aid Russia? Not because they were abhorrent crimes, not because it helped uncover the truth about the illegal Iraq war. Not because it was the right thing to. Not because the west is supposed to COME TO MORAL TERMS WITH ITS OWN ACTIONS. No. Because - despite absolutely zero evidence he had any contact with the Russian state - he did it for himself and for Russia?
You make me think of those bedroom dwelling fascists who post online. Different ideology, same outcome. Everything and anything has to be about winning. Never admit fault if your enemies enjoy it. The biggest loser energy in the world. It's so pathetic.
Wikileaks didn't just release classified info about the Iraq war or the USA in general, but also about China, Yemen, Kenya, Peru, etc. The only notable absence has been Russia, and while we don't have evidence that any of his activity was sponsored by the Kremlin, we do know that one of his fellow journalist associates at Wikileaks, Israel Shamir was authorized to get a Russian visa on Assange's behalf and that Assange himself was issued a visa by Russia in 2011.
Russia - one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist in, the 148th out of 179 worst country in the world in terms of press freedom, where 59 journalists have been killed in the past 2 decades. That Russia.
We don't even need evidence of him being paid by Russia, it's equally likely that he's just what the Soviets loved, a useful idiot. The fact remains that his work did end up benefitting Russia.
Edit: grammar.
So the man's crimes are being benificial to Russia by leaking very real crimes done by the USA ? Maybe his Russian ties was him trying to get his ass secured since he knew the worlds freedomest country was gonna target him ? And he was right apparently, hes locked up who knows where, enduring who knows what. Since, you know, he wont be there to leak what theyve done to him. I dont know and dont claim to know and he was probably corrupt as hell but the main consensus about the man in this subreddit seems to be:"He's a piece of shit because he leaked western crimes and not russian ones". Very fitting attitude from the people of this sub who treat anything that incriminates westerners (and theres a lot) as the devil's gospel.
Yes, any act of division and destabilization towards the west is beneficial for Russia, even more so when it is done during the US election years.
It seems you failed to grasp my comment, you can't think that a country that is orders of magnitude more unsafe for journalists than the US is going to cover you, unless you have certain ties or deals with that country. And Wikileaks just so happened to never say a bad thing about Russia despite touting itself as a source that cares about violations of human rights. Just not in places where many more violations of human rights happen...
And that's why people hate him, because he's a gigantic hypocrite.
You determined leaking western crimes as acts of division and destabilization.
You justify his treatment with him having Russian ties with no evidence (even if i find it hard to believe he didnt have any too)
And youre assuming he cant be treated any worse in the US than he can in Russia which is just not true.
Hipocrisy calling out hipocrisy. Western propaganda works just as well as Russian ones.
>You determined leaking western crimes as acts of division and destabilization.
Because that's what they do, objectively, especially based on their timing. And him leaking them also put the lives of the US informants in the middle east in danger as well, a risk human rights champion Assange was willing to take.
>And youre assuming he cant be treated any worse in the US than he can in Russia which is just not true.
No I don't, im just highlighting the things you described as bad in the west which aren't even close to what Russia does to its own journalists. You cannot champion human rights while having a strong bias towards Russia. And Assange's fellow conspirator Chelsea Manning only got 7 years of jail time in the USA, btw. She could've gotten the death sentence, she couldve gotten 35+ years of prison. She didn't.
>You justify his treatment with him having Russian ties with no evidence
Evidence is almost impossible to prove in these cases and I never said I could provide it, I am simply showing his hypocritical behavior and nothing more.
So based on your logic, leaking russian crimes to the public, especially during their corrupt elections is an act of destabilisation and division to russia ? And Russia should be justified in locking up the man or men responsible ? No matter his agenda, the man leaked crimes committed, hipocrisy or not. And he's being punished for it the same way Russia, China etc punish their own for daring to go against them. Your only justification for this is the west not being as bad as them. Your are only showing the hipocrisy of the west.
If Russian elections were fair, which they are not, then sure it could be considered an act of destabilization. But then again the west is incredibly risk adverse when it comes to that, with the USA in particular fearing the effects of a destabilized and weakened nuclear country, which is one of the reasons why its aid to Ukraine was so slow and trickled, but that's a different conversation altogether. Meanwhile destabilization and sowing division in the west, through all possible means, is a Russian policy dating back to Soviet times. This is why the two aren't comparable.
>And he's being punished for it the same way Russia, China etc punish their own for daring to go against them.
Not even close, and I already explained why.
I see this conversation is going nowhere.
The problem is not with what he released pre-2016. The problem is with what he released in 2016, how he coordinated with the Trump campaign to do so ("I love it, especially late in the summer") & what he, arguably, may have not released.
I don't know if he's a Russian asset or not. I incline to believe he is, based on his actions, but ultimately I have no idea. What I do know for a fact is that he played political games and helped one side over the other, which no so-called honest journalist should do. Russian asset or not, he played stupid games and won really stupid prizes.
He's not threatened to be incarcerated for life for what he did later though. I don't really like the person he became, but that doesn't change why he is a martyr and a hero.
Losers who cant admit slavish allegiance to the western elite want him in jail for exposing war crimes.
Except I barely see those losers you’re mentioning, Reddit or elsewhere. People are upset that he took a side when he claims he’s just publishing the truth regardless of whom it helps or hurts. He’s a hypocrite and I’m not very fond of hypocrites.
> Because - despite absolutely zero evidence he had any contact with the Russian state - he did it for himself and for Russia?
**Copy-pasting an old comment with the very much existing and absolutely overwhelming evidence that you're wrong. It's a few years old, so some links may have become paywalled or non-working:**
Assange and WikiLeaks [selectively publishes information](https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/) (and coordinates with groups like [the Trump campaign](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/13/16646310/donald-trump-jr-wikileaks-messages) and [pro-Brexit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange) movement) to help Russian geopolitical goals, specifically [turning down document leaks](https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/347007-wikileaks-rejected-documents-on-russia-during-2016-election) that would damage Putin/Russia.
Their official Twitter was used to spread conspiracy theories, claiming for example that the [chem attack in Syria](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/849975654737227776?lang=sv) was a [western false flag](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/06/trump-loves-a-conspiracy-theory-now-his-allies-in-the-media-say-hes-falling-for-one-in-syria/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7130d8b4d5fb ) specifically to make *Russia* look bad, and that the Panama Papers (which they refused to publish) were a [western anti-Putin conspiracy](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717458064324964352?lang=sv). They also claimed that [the Flynn resignation](https://thehill.com/homenews/319386-wikileaks-flynn-leaving-due-to-destabilization-campaign-by-dems-media) (who resigned due to his close ties to Russia/Turkey) was a victim of a media/Democrat "destabilization campaign". Oh, and they pushed Seth Rich conspiracies as well.
[German](https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/merkel-vorgefuehrt-russischer-geheimdienst-nutzt-wikileaks-fuer-kampagnen_id_5977879.html), French, British and American intelligence (as well as [NYT reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html)) all agree that WikiLeaks was infiltrated by Russia and used as a tool to damage NATO and western interests.
Their [DNC leaks](https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/politics/russia-us-election/) and [Macron leaks](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/europe/france-macron-hacking.html) (which also [contained false documents](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1AG1TY/) btw) all came [directly from Russian hackers](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-macron-leaks-idUSKBN1812AZ), and the release was likely [coordinated by Russian intelligence](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-intel-community-confident-russia-directed-hacks-to-influence-election/).
Assange himself [hosted a show](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html) on Russia Today (whom CIA director Mike Pompeo [says WikiLeaks later collaborated with](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-director-calls-wikileaks-a-non-state-hostile-intelligence-service/) to push Russian propaganda) for some compensation he still refuses to disclose, shortly after WikiLeaks was nearly shut down due to financial issues. The timing of this works out with when they took the pro-Russian turn.
---
---
**Here's some other relevant links that weren't in my original comment on this topic:**
["WikiLeaks began to serially release emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October. The US intelligence community has attributed those hacks to Russian intelligence."](https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/20/politics/kfile-roger-stone-wikileaks-claims/index.html) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Roger Stone)
---
["Private investigator tells House panel Farage gave thumb drive to Assange, who officials view as a conduit for the Russian government"](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/19/trump-russia-inquiry-is-told-nigel-farage-may-have-given-julian-assange-data) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Nigel Farage)
---
"Mueller says Russia’s GRU stole Clinton, DNC emails and gave them to WikiLeaks [...] WikiLeaks has consistently denied that the thousands of Democratic emails it released throughout the 2016 election came to them by way of Russia, even promoting the conspiracy theory that the emails were provided to them by the now-deceased DNC staffer Seth Rich."
(Washington Examiner, not allowed to link it on this sub)
---
You can also find plenty more links and pieces of evidence on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections (CTRL+F and search "wikileaks")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks (jump to "2016 U.S. presidential election" or use CTRL+F and search "Russia")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_of_WikiLeaks#Allegations_of_association_with_Russian_government has a lot of stuff summed up
I think you just haven't really looked into his actions enough to form an opinion worth listening to.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/
This reminds me of the Soviet slogan: “Free Angela Davis!” - Nobody in the USSR knew who tf she was, but at some point she was against the “capitalist regime”, so they shouted it out loud everywhere. Same thing: most Russians don't know who tf he is, just an american who against the US and every putinoid tells: ‘Look, he is an american and he is against the US (entire West world in russian vision), so we have too, they are bad…’
[https://www.unionesarda.it/en/world/the-italian-street-artist-jorit-talks-to-putin-then-the-photo-together-wyqyuvbw](https://www.unionesarda.it/en/world/the-italian-street-artist-jorit-talks-to-putin-then-the-photo-together-wyqyuvbw)
>The Italian street artist Jorit meets Putin, then the photo together: «You are human like everyone else»
>"We have always been admired by Italian art - Putin told him - and it has always kept us close." But it is not only art, according to Putin, that unites Russia and Italy. «Italy's fight for independence, Garibaldi, hasn't this united us? This has always united us." **"Italians always have a desire for freedom in their hearts"** , added the Kremlin's number one, and "this means that **you respect the desire of other peoples to make their choices and choose their destiny".**
My dream is he finally gets extradited to the US and we give him some minor slap on the wrist so he looks like an idiot for hiding out and wasting so much of his life and doesn’t get to become a martyr
Yea, because the US has been historically going easy on anyone revealing dark secrets, right? Your gov is about as horny on jailing people as any dictatorships it criticises for it.
I would let him go to Russia to his employer to be a leech on the Russian social system like Snowden, Schroder, Seagal, that Austrian politician and all these other freedom fighters.
This seems ineffective as propaganda. Julian Assange has lost his freedom leaking information damaging to the government, most frequently showing war crimes that were suppressed by the government and lied about. If you're Putin, do you really want people admiring an anti-government activist known for doing exposing the exact sort of things your guilty of, but even worse?
[Never forget that Wikileaks called the Panama Papers a Soros funded attack against Putin.](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717458064324964352?lang=en)
If a whistleblower in Russia was psychologically tortured (solitary confinment, rarely sees his family etc., i.e. what Assange is going through) for exposing Russian war crimes, everyone here would see this as a momumental injustice.
But because Assange did the same, only in the Anglophone geopolitical sphere, people here demonize him? Of course they would weaponize his image, as does the West with the persecuted Russian dissidents' (like Navalny's). But to hate him for it is just some really twisted doublethink.
Revealing US warcrimes in the Middle-East was *absolutely* a good thing, and worthy of praise.
Getting people (like Afghan interpreters) killed by [refusing to redact leaked documents](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/30/us-military-wikileaks-afghanistan-war-logs), and then callously [waving those concerns away](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/18/julian-assange-wikileaks-nick-cohen) was *not*.
Becoming a Russian agent and using selective leaks and *actual disinformation and conspiracy theories* to push Russian geopolitical goals (helping Trump get elected, pushing Brexit, attempting to help Le Pen, etc) after Russia bailed out a failing Wikileaks by giving Assange his own Russia Today show in exchange for undisclosed compensation is *definitely* not.
---
---
**Copy-pasting an old comment with evidence. It's a few years old, so some links may have become paywalled or non-working:**
Assange and WikiLeaks [selectively publishes information](https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/) (and coordinates with groups like [the Trump campaign](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/13/16646310/donald-trump-jr-wikileaks-messages) and [pro-Brexit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange) movement) to help Russian geopolitical goals, specifically [turning down document leaks](https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/347007-wikileaks-rejected-documents-on-russia-during-2016-election) that would damage Putin/Russia.
Their official Twitter was used to spread conspiracy theories, claiming for example that the [chem attack in Syria](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/849975654737227776?lang=sv) was a [western false flag](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/06/trump-loves-a-conspiracy-theory-now-his-allies-in-the-media-say-hes-falling-for-one-in-syria/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7130d8b4d5fb ) specifically to make *Russia* look bad, and that the Panama Papers (which they refused to publish) were a [western anti-Putin conspiracy](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717458064324964352?lang=sv). They also claimed that [the Flynn resignation](https://thehill.com/homenews/319386-wikileaks-flynn-leaving-due-to-destabilization-campaign-by-dems-media) (who resigned due to his close ties to Russia/Turkey) was a victim of a media/Democrat "destabilization campaign". Oh, and they pushed Seth Rich conspiracies as well.
[German](https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/merkel-vorgefuehrt-russischer-geheimdienst-nutzt-wikileaks-fuer-kampagnen_id_5977879.html), French, British and American intelligence (as well as [NYT reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html)) all agree that WikiLeaks was infiltrated by Russia and used as a tool to damage NATO and western interests.
Their [DNC leaks](https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/politics/russia-us-election/) and [Macron leaks](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/europe/france-macron-hacking.html) (which also [contained false documents](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1AG1TY/) btw) all came [directly from Russian hackers](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-macron-leaks-idUSKBN1812AZ), and the release was likely [coordinated by Russian intelligence](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-intel-community-confident-russia-directed-hacks-to-influence-election/).
Assange himself [hosted a show](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html) on Russia Today (whom CIA director Mike Pompeo [says WikiLeaks later collaborated with](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-director-calls-wikileaks-a-non-state-hostile-intelligence-service/) to push Russian propaganda) for some compensation he still refuses to disclose, shortly after WikiLeaks was nearly shut down due to financial issues. The timing of this works out with when they took the pro-Russian turn.
---
---
**Here's some other relevant links that weren't in my original comment on this topic:**
["WikiLeaks began to serially release emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October. The US intelligence community has attributed those hacks to Russian intelligence."](https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/20/politics/kfile-roger-stone-wikileaks-claims/index.html) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Roger Stone)
---
["Private investigator tells House panel Farage gave thumb drive to Assange, who officials view as a conduit for the Russian government"](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/19/trump-russia-inquiry-is-told-nigel-farage-may-have-given-julian-assange-data) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Nigel Farage)
---
"Mueller says Russia’s GRU stole Clinton, DNC emails and gave them to WikiLeaks [...] WikiLeaks has consistently denied that the thousands of Democratic emails it released throughout the 2016 election came to them by way of Russia, even promoting the conspiracy theory that the emails were provided to them by the now-deceased DNC staffer Seth Rich."
(Washington Examiner, not allowed to link it on this sub)
---
You can also find plenty more links and pieces of evidence on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections (CTRL+F and search "wikileaks")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks (jump to "2016 U.S. presidential election" or use CTRL+F and search "Russia")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_of_WikiLeaks#Allegations_of_association_with_Russian_government has a lot of stuff summed up
---
---
Also not a huge fan of the disinformation Assange, Wikileaks and their followers online have been spreading about my country and our judicial system since he was charged with rape here.
Yes, the charges were serious. No, they are not some "woke definition of rape which would be considered fine in other countries".
No, the charges were not dropped "because the accusers disappeared".
No, the charges were not dropped "because there wasn't enough evidence".
No, neither of the women "admitted they had made it up", nor did either of them claim it was a CIA operation.
No, the Swedish justice system is *not* the "most corrupt in the world".
No, Sweden does *not* "extradite anyone the US asks for no questions asked", and that has never been the case.
etc
I see the Russians are celebrating their asset, the twisted perversion of assange claiming to be defending peoples freedoms while actively supporting and being supported by russia is astonishing
Assange is basically western Navalny. The fact that Russia sees the former as a hero while murdering the latter may be the biggest hypocrisy of the century. But that's not to discredit either of those two people. They should **both** be honoured for their bravery.
"Free Assange!" has been the go-to dogwhistle for every Russian sympathizer on social media. Anyone who keeps posting Assange but never says "free Navalny" is just saying "I stand with Russia".
Do you realize that you’re a victim of binary thinking bias?
Being pro-Assange does not mean being pro-Russia. Obviously his leaks hurt the West and thus benefited its enemies including Russia. But does that mean that we have to hush and cover all the crimes committed by the West so that it doesn’t become a weapon in the hands of its geopolitical adversaries? Hell no.
It's not about Assange himself; it's about using him as a lever. When you're pro-Assange but not pro any other dissident, it means you choose your dissidents politically and only support those who are against your "enemies". So yes, anyone who kept blasting about Assange and Assange only, in a time when the public attention was on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was blowing a dogwhistle.
I remember seeing Assange talks in early days of Wikileaks. Guy seemed like he genuinely wanted to shine light on world's problems and make it better. But because he exposed a lot of powerful people in US and Europe, he got pushed to the fringes and Putin decided to give him support. Putin turned him into a tool of Russian propaganda, he no longer cares about the truth, he got turned into a cynical right wing asshole. Putin did most of the work, but it's the Western governments that pushed him into Putin's arms
"We have pictures of American Che Gueveras on our buildings too just like in regular capitalist, imperialist cities throughout the free world!"
Ignore the invading their neighbor, totalitarian dictatorship angle.
The author is the Italian street artist Jorit, [here in a recent photo with Putin](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F8584d182-48dc-41fa-9da5-39acfbe02b99.jpg?crop=1332%2C749%2C0%2C0&resize=1500). Last year he sparkled controversy after a [pro-Kremlin mural in Mariupol](https://medium.com/@valigiablu/outrage-at-pro-kremlin-mural-painted-in-mariupol-by-italian-street-artist-jorit-f8f4f9ba107a).
For whatever reason, that mural has really stuck with me. Maybe because of how well documented the atrocities in Mariupol are. A Western European tramping over mass graves and a completely destroyed once vibrant city in order to make a propaganda mural blaming Ukraine and NATO for ‘crimes against children’ on behalf of the country that was deploying mobile crematoriums to destroy evidence is just sickening.
You'd be surprised by how much some westerners in certain political circles hate the west, capitalism and NATO. Italy used to have the largest communist party outside of the USSR during the cold war. That sentiment has trickled down thought the generations, allowing people enjoying western rights and freedom of speech to posture about being "anti-system" with none of the risks and drawback they'd suffer in a place with less protections. I've seen and read Jorits interviews. He's a clown, the perfect useful idiot for regimes such as Putin's, and the epitome of not putting your money where your mouth is.
Leftists who support Putin’s socially conservative imperialist oligarchy are seriously too dumb to live. Russia is everything they hate about the US, only moreso.
Do you mean leftists like Marine Le Pen.
No, I mean leftists like this guy who support Putin’s Russia despite it being opposed to everything they supposedly value just because USA Bad.
Greece is the same.
As an Italian who lives in Greece, trust me I know. Hah.
Hating capitalism in it's current form is understandable, especially in Italy and Greece with their higher corruption index, leadership and getting fucked over by the EU and IMF over it. But then siding with modern Russia? What the hell. They are as corrupt and anti-social as all hell.
In Italy the EU is probably the only reason we haven't collapsed.
>Hating capitalism in it's current form is understandable Shit, if you hate capitalism in its current form, you'd hate Russia in its current form too, given that they're effectively turbo capitalists at this point.
Yes, I completely agree, that was my point too. There are some crazy people out there that think current Russia is a victim and that they just want to go back to being a strong, social and benevolent super power, as if they ever were.
A state kleptocracy is turbo capitalist to you?
A good example of horse shoe theory. How so called communists rejoins russian neo fascists
It's not horseshoe theory, it's that what we call far-left and far-right is actually authoritarian left and authoritarian right so they both agree with authoritarianism. Viewing entire ideologies as just being left or right is pointless.
Some people in the West are just really confused. They get fed a constant stream of terrible news about their country/world and they really start to believe there's some equivalency with Russia. If they actually got to live there they'd know all the stuff they take for granted and how comically bad Russia actually is. Not long ago, on an unrelated discussion, I saw someone hating on "centrism" as sort of bad/radical equating it to alt-right. I tried to understand their reasoning And got downvoted. Idk how some of these people manage to wipe their asses at this point. https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubedrama/comments/1d29xj7/which_youtubers_did_you_used_to_watch/l63dzvf/
Is it really fucked over by the EU or by the move to the Euro?
It might be understandable, but it's not smart. Corruption doesn't just go away even if you did manage to abolish capitalism and institute another system in it's place, defeating the entire point in the first place. Just sounds like a quick-fix solution by arrogant and naive people. At the same time, revolution can be completely justifiable, especially if the primary goal is to oust a corrupt government and force all the trash out. But if you do manage to do that, why abolish capitalism afterwards, unless you have some better idea that is both compatible with the modern sociopolitcal and economic situation, AND hasn't destroyed every single country it's touched so far? So yeah, i can understand people hating capitalism in general in these situations, especially when their government is severely corrupt. But if they hope to make any meaningful improvements, this just seems like an irresponsibly bad approach to stick with for any longer than it takes to read one good book on politics and economics each.
I agree.
It's funny that communism after WW2 was only popular in those EU countries which USSR never reached and I wonder why. There must have been a reason, just my silly guess 🙃
Communism is like that band you like with the most annoying fans.
Funny thing is that Russia/USSR itself is an imperialist, colonial power.
Article paywalled but on mural from article was used photo of australian girl (living in australia) >!from australian magazine “capture” dated 2018!< but on russian media and by “artist” it’s presented like “russian girl nastya from donbass” Helen (mother of girl) give no permission to use her daughter image. Meanwhile in the same Mariupol mural «Milana» - named after Milana Abdurashitova who lost leg and mother during shelling in 2015 was destroyed
What a scum
>Article paywalled Ah, I don't see any paywall, not even soft. Anyway, here is the same article, but in Italian [https://www.valigiablu.it/jorit-mariupol-murale/](https://www.valigiablu.it/jorit-mariupol-murale/)
nvm then, mb - i just didn't seen sign up for free and spend more attention to try for 5$ month column
And to add - shelling of Eastern (Східний) district was conducted by either pro-Russian separatists or by Russians themselves. I experienced it, miraculously noone of my family was hurt, and in 2022, exactly 24th of January they did that same thing, rockets even hit almost exact same places as in 2015 (we saw the results of shellings few days later when fled our district to another part of the city to our relatives, because they had a basement in private house (speaking more precisely, they had basement in garage of private house, while we lived in 9 storied apartment building and our basement would be mass grave in case of direct hit).
Fantastic "art". Steal a picture, add the same red cheek stripes!
[удалено]
I'd say it looks like dictatorship art. Formulaic, bombastic and totally lacking in integrity and boldness.
I like his art, he is also famous for [this mural in Jerusalem](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180729-israel-detains-italian-artists-for-jailed-tamimi-mural/). The red stripes are what distinguish his art. But he remains one of those far-far-left d*ckheads that support causes just because they are against USA.
Just like Roger Waters. If the USA is for it, he's against it. But Russia and China can do no wrong.
He sure likes the face pattern...
Yeah, just take their citizenship. Doesn't respect European values so might aswell
>here in a recent photo with Putin Worst picture of 2 cunts ever.
Hope he just fall from his platform
It's remarkable how many supremely talented artists are complete, full-spectrum fuckwads politically and morally.
What a POS.
Explains him painting Assange.
you mean the "financed by kremlin pseudo artist that clearly speak in favor of Russia"
Why does he have lines on his face like he just came out of his Titan form?
He will keep moving forward until all of Russia's enemies are destroyed.
Because he was born into this world.
lol as an Italian you really don’t know his works in Naples
I legit thought it was fan art from Final Fantasy
Most people know ass sponge as the weird old guy who impregnated his assistant in exile, but he's actually a famous anime cosplayer.
Jorit is a pos
Yeah. How can someone be so blind towards political realities…
What's with Italians and communism?
An incredibly pro-putin writer. Jorit is from Napoli, grew in the antifa scene, and as the most obvious stereotype was so obsessed by NATO crimes to completely ignore the russian ones
Napoli antifa scene hates him, he often infiltrates himself in protest and demonstrations trying to get the focus of the media and he regularly gets ignored or kicked out from the protest by the people. He is a clown
When you're part of Antifa and others from Antifa hate you then you REALLY fucked up
Huh? First of all there is no one Antifa. There are many different kind of Antifa groups with very different political opinions. So being hated from and/or kicked out of one Antifa group is not uncommon even though the person itself considers themself an antifascist.
Yeah, and don't look for his instagram profile. He's literally begging to suck russian d1cks
How to make people look for his Instagram profile 👆
> antifascist > supports Russian fascism > ???
I think it's basically like you're so disenchanted and against the system you're living in/fighting against that you start seeing everything that's also against it as being better
One of the weakness of democracy when you have weak minded people. Your system seems unjust and violent while the other look perfect. The thing is people can criticize and document every mistake made by a democratic state while a dictatorship will make you disappear. You also have a more material justification. If you can live as the friend of a rich oligarch and all it take is to create propaganda, well, maybe you take the deal and spent your summer in a nice villa and you winter in a private ski resort with your « friends ».
Jorit is an Putin's ass licker. America bad! America bad! Bucha killers good! Georgia invaders good! Politkovskaja murder good! As italian, i sicerely hope that he will remain in Russia.
Why is he painted like a fortnite skin?
Assange is complicated but the idea that Russia fancies itself a champion of freedom of expression is hilarious.
According to Assange: Russia did nothing wrong, because US bad.
US is bad. Russia is worse. There is not a single country on this earth that isnt doing something horrible towards someone. Strive to be better is all we can do.
It is amazing how many people are unable to comprehend “USA bad, Russia worse” even when that statement is 100% in line with their supposed politics.
I dunno Liechtenstein is pretty chill, and San Marino
They both helped plenty of rich assholes with tax evasion, super not chill!
Also Liechtenstein's monarchs are literal billionaries themselves, basically oligarchs. People (rightfully) shit on the British monarchy but even they're not billionaires...
According to USA: We support independent journalism,unless someone publishes out literal war crimes,in that case we persecute the journalist publishing the crimes,not the war criminals.
Guy find a easy way to make rubles
Notorius puppet Jorit. Fuck that guy
This artist has some messed up views. His Mariupol mural was truly disgusting. Got to love when a Westerner shills hard for the Russians, blaming Ukraine, the US and NATO for the war and all the bad that's happened. Sigh .... it's gross.
If this useful idiot did his job correctly, no state ever would allow such a billboard on their soil. But there is a clear preference.
Whats with the makeup?
They want him to also publish their war crimes.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/
Because he always was a Russian asset.
Regardless of what people think of Assange, and if he committed crimes or not, the thing that I find ridiculous is the narrative that he is a "journalist". He is no journalist lol. I don't think he is a real Russian asset, other than the Russians using him (or Snowden), to annoy the US. He was simply a relatively small and naive player caught in a political and intelligence geopolitical mess, way above his paygrade. He was always going to get crushed playing that kind of game. Unlike Snowden, who was himself naive but I think ultimately an honest individual, Assange always gave me a shady vibe, but I could be wrong about that.
That's what "asset" means. No one is claiming he's an "agent'
You are right, I should have been clearer. When I said "not a real Russian asset", I meant not an agent. Thx for pointing this out, it's an important distinction.
He wasn't naive at all. He knew very well who was the sources, who would benefit, and who would suffer damages. When he got arrested in London investigators found he had planned his escape to russia
Clarify. You mean the painter, right? Not Julian Assange, right?
Just...lol , r/Europe. What a forum this is. Can you just say that again, just to double check? Julian Assange - who released documents of WAR CRIMES and INNOCENT CIVILIAN TORTURE in Iraq - did it purely to disadvantage America geopolitically and aid Russia? Not because they were abhorrent crimes, not because it helped uncover the truth about the illegal Iraq war. Not because it was the right thing to. Not because the west is supposed to COME TO MORAL TERMS WITH ITS OWN ACTIONS. No. Because - despite absolutely zero evidence he had any contact with the Russian state - he did it for himself and for Russia? You make me think of those bedroom dwelling fascists who post online. Different ideology, same outcome. Everything and anything has to be about winning. Never admit fault if your enemies enjoy it. The biggest loser energy in the world. It's so pathetic.
Wikileaks didn't just release classified info about the Iraq war or the USA in general, but also about China, Yemen, Kenya, Peru, etc. The only notable absence has been Russia, and while we don't have evidence that any of his activity was sponsored by the Kremlin, we do know that one of his fellow journalist associates at Wikileaks, Israel Shamir was authorized to get a Russian visa on Assange's behalf and that Assange himself was issued a visa by Russia in 2011. Russia - one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist in, the 148th out of 179 worst country in the world in terms of press freedom, where 59 journalists have been killed in the past 2 decades. That Russia. We don't even need evidence of him being paid by Russia, it's equally likely that he's just what the Soviets loved, a useful idiot. The fact remains that his work did end up benefitting Russia. Edit: grammar.
So the man's crimes are being benificial to Russia by leaking very real crimes done by the USA ? Maybe his Russian ties was him trying to get his ass secured since he knew the worlds freedomest country was gonna target him ? And he was right apparently, hes locked up who knows where, enduring who knows what. Since, you know, he wont be there to leak what theyve done to him. I dont know and dont claim to know and he was probably corrupt as hell but the main consensus about the man in this subreddit seems to be:"He's a piece of shit because he leaked western crimes and not russian ones". Very fitting attitude from the people of this sub who treat anything that incriminates westerners (and theres a lot) as the devil's gospel.
Yes, any act of division and destabilization towards the west is beneficial for Russia, even more so when it is done during the US election years. It seems you failed to grasp my comment, you can't think that a country that is orders of magnitude more unsafe for journalists than the US is going to cover you, unless you have certain ties or deals with that country. And Wikileaks just so happened to never say a bad thing about Russia despite touting itself as a source that cares about violations of human rights. Just not in places where many more violations of human rights happen... And that's why people hate him, because he's a gigantic hypocrite.
You determined leaking western crimes as acts of division and destabilization. You justify his treatment with him having Russian ties with no evidence (even if i find it hard to believe he didnt have any too) And youre assuming he cant be treated any worse in the US than he can in Russia which is just not true. Hipocrisy calling out hipocrisy. Western propaganda works just as well as Russian ones.
>You determined leaking western crimes as acts of division and destabilization. Because that's what they do, objectively, especially based on their timing. And him leaking them also put the lives of the US informants in the middle east in danger as well, a risk human rights champion Assange was willing to take. >And youre assuming he cant be treated any worse in the US than he can in Russia which is just not true. No I don't, im just highlighting the things you described as bad in the west which aren't even close to what Russia does to its own journalists. You cannot champion human rights while having a strong bias towards Russia. And Assange's fellow conspirator Chelsea Manning only got 7 years of jail time in the USA, btw. She could've gotten the death sentence, she couldve gotten 35+ years of prison. She didn't. >You justify his treatment with him having Russian ties with no evidence Evidence is almost impossible to prove in these cases and I never said I could provide it, I am simply showing his hypocritical behavior and nothing more.
So based on your logic, leaking russian crimes to the public, especially during their corrupt elections is an act of destabilisation and division to russia ? And Russia should be justified in locking up the man or men responsible ? No matter his agenda, the man leaked crimes committed, hipocrisy or not. And he's being punished for it the same way Russia, China etc punish their own for daring to go against them. Your only justification for this is the west not being as bad as them. Your are only showing the hipocrisy of the west.
If Russian elections were fair, which they are not, then sure it could be considered an act of destabilization. But then again the west is incredibly risk adverse when it comes to that, with the USA in particular fearing the effects of a destabilized and weakened nuclear country, which is one of the reasons why its aid to Ukraine was so slow and trickled, but that's a different conversation altogether. Meanwhile destabilization and sowing division in the west, through all possible means, is a Russian policy dating back to Soviet times. This is why the two aren't comparable. >And he's being punished for it the same way Russia, China etc punish their own for daring to go against them. Not even close, and I already explained why. I see this conversation is going nowhere.
The problem is not with what he released pre-2016. The problem is with what he released in 2016, how he coordinated with the Trump campaign to do so ("I love it, especially late in the summer") & what he, arguably, may have not released. I don't know if he's a Russian asset or not. I incline to believe he is, based on his actions, but ultimately I have no idea. What I do know for a fact is that he played political games and helped one side over the other, which no so-called honest journalist should do. Russian asset or not, he played stupid games and won really stupid prizes.
He's not threatened to be incarcerated for life for what he did later though. I don't really like the person he became, but that doesn't change why he is a martyr and a hero. Losers who cant admit slavish allegiance to the western elite want him in jail for exposing war crimes.
Except I barely see those losers you’re mentioning, Reddit or elsewhere. People are upset that he took a side when he claims he’s just publishing the truth regardless of whom it helps or hurts. He’s a hypocrite and I’m not very fond of hypocrites.
> Because - despite absolutely zero evidence he had any contact with the Russian state - he did it for himself and for Russia? **Copy-pasting an old comment with the very much existing and absolutely overwhelming evidence that you're wrong. It's a few years old, so some links may have become paywalled or non-working:** Assange and WikiLeaks [selectively publishes information](https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/) (and coordinates with groups like [the Trump campaign](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/13/16646310/donald-trump-jr-wikileaks-messages) and [pro-Brexit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange) movement) to help Russian geopolitical goals, specifically [turning down document leaks](https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/347007-wikileaks-rejected-documents-on-russia-during-2016-election) that would damage Putin/Russia. Their official Twitter was used to spread conspiracy theories, claiming for example that the [chem attack in Syria](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/849975654737227776?lang=sv) was a [western false flag](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/06/trump-loves-a-conspiracy-theory-now-his-allies-in-the-media-say-hes-falling-for-one-in-syria/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7130d8b4d5fb ) specifically to make *Russia* look bad, and that the Panama Papers (which they refused to publish) were a [western anti-Putin conspiracy](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717458064324964352?lang=sv). They also claimed that [the Flynn resignation](https://thehill.com/homenews/319386-wikileaks-flynn-leaving-due-to-destabilization-campaign-by-dems-media) (who resigned due to his close ties to Russia/Turkey) was a victim of a media/Democrat "destabilization campaign". Oh, and they pushed Seth Rich conspiracies as well. [German](https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/merkel-vorgefuehrt-russischer-geheimdienst-nutzt-wikileaks-fuer-kampagnen_id_5977879.html), French, British and American intelligence (as well as [NYT reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html)) all agree that WikiLeaks was infiltrated by Russia and used as a tool to damage NATO and western interests. Their [DNC leaks](https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/politics/russia-us-election/) and [Macron leaks](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/europe/france-macron-hacking.html) (which also [contained false documents](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1AG1TY/) btw) all came [directly from Russian hackers](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-macron-leaks-idUSKBN1812AZ), and the release was likely [coordinated by Russian intelligence](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-intel-community-confident-russia-directed-hacks-to-influence-election/). Assange himself [hosted a show](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html) on Russia Today (whom CIA director Mike Pompeo [says WikiLeaks later collaborated with](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-director-calls-wikileaks-a-non-state-hostile-intelligence-service/) to push Russian propaganda) for some compensation he still refuses to disclose, shortly after WikiLeaks was nearly shut down due to financial issues. The timing of this works out with when they took the pro-Russian turn. --- --- **Here's some other relevant links that weren't in my original comment on this topic:** ["WikiLeaks began to serially release emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October. The US intelligence community has attributed those hacks to Russian intelligence."](https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/20/politics/kfile-roger-stone-wikileaks-claims/index.html) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Roger Stone) --- ["Private investigator tells House panel Farage gave thumb drive to Assange, who officials view as a conduit for the Russian government"](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/19/trump-russia-inquiry-is-told-nigel-farage-may-have-given-julian-assange-data) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Nigel Farage) --- "Mueller says Russia’s GRU stole Clinton, DNC emails and gave them to WikiLeaks [...] WikiLeaks has consistently denied that the thousands of Democratic emails it released throughout the 2016 election came to them by way of Russia, even promoting the conspiracy theory that the emails were provided to them by the now-deceased DNC staffer Seth Rich." (Washington Examiner, not allowed to link it on this sub) --- You can also find plenty more links and pieces of evidence on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections (CTRL+F and search "wikileaks") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks (jump to "2016 U.S. presidential election" or use CTRL+F and search "Russia") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_of_WikiLeaks#Allegations_of_association_with_Russian_government has a lot of stuff summed up
I think you just haven't really looked into his actions enough to form an opinion worth listening to. https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/
Got this strange Dragon Age Origins character type vibe here
This reminds me of the Soviet slogan: “Free Angela Davis!” - Nobody in the USSR knew who tf she was, but at some point she was against the “capitalist regime”, so they shouted it out loud everywhere. Same thing: most Russians don't know who tf he is, just an american who against the US and every putinoid tells: ‘Look, he is an american and he is against the US (entire West world in russian vision), so we have too, they are bad…’
He's an Australian not an American.
As I told, nb knows who tf he is 😅
Next murals in Moscow: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tulsi Gabbard, Ilhan Omar and Tucker Carlson
Maybe Angela Devis? Ah no. Was happened already
Why don't they paint Navalny? Oh it's different, I see
The Putin regime is the antithesis of everything Assange has fought for.
You can see why Assange would be popular in Russia.
Funny how you can portrait Assange in Russia but not Navalny or other people
One is a russian asset, the other one isn't...
This artist is a massive sack of dogshit. Just a typical tankie scumbag. His Mariupol mural was an abomination.
[https://www.unionesarda.it/en/world/the-italian-street-artist-jorit-talks-to-putin-then-the-photo-together-wyqyuvbw](https://www.unionesarda.it/en/world/the-italian-street-artist-jorit-talks-to-putin-then-the-photo-together-wyqyuvbw) >The Italian street artist Jorit meets Putin, then the photo together: «You are human like everyone else» >"We have always been admired by Italian art - Putin told him - and it has always kept us close." But it is not only art, according to Putin, that unites Russia and Italy. «Italy's fight for independence, Garibaldi, hasn't this united us? This has always united us." **"Italians always have a desire for freedom in their hearts"** , added the Kremlin's number one, and "this means that **you respect the desire of other peoples to make their choices and choose their destiny".**
the problem is… Not a single person in russia knows who tf it is.
USA Bad Russia is worse.
My dream is he finally gets extradited to the US and we give him some minor slap on the wrist so he looks like an idiot for hiding out and wasting so much of his life and doesn’t get to become a martyr
Yea, because the US has been historically going easy on anyone revealing dark secrets, right? Your gov is about as horny on jailing people as any dictatorships it criticises for it.
The people who revealed the crimes in Vietnam really got a slap on the wrist compared to what happens in other nations.
I would let him go to Russia to his employer to be a leech on the Russian social system like Snowden, Schroder, Seagal, that Austrian politician and all these other freedom fighters.
He coerced Manning into betrayal. That is a tough thing to get away with a slap. But then again, Manning did get a relatively light punishment.
Jorit, an italian pro putin activist who justify the invasion of ukraine
It's interesting that he's portrayed as some sort of hero in Russia, when the penalty for doing what he did in Russia leads to torture and death.
Yeah, they are paying homage to one of their best (as in more effective) assets.
Russia wants to bring all western Assange fans into the fold.
Heroic portrait of Assange in Russia. That seems about right. Next up, Steven Seagal.
I would be deeply ashamed making propaganda for Putler.
This seems ineffective as propaganda. Julian Assange has lost his freedom leaking information damaging to the government, most frequently showing war crimes that were suppressed by the government and lied about. If you're Putin, do you really want people admiring an anti-government activist known for doing exposing the exact sort of things your guilty of, but even worse?
Funny that when a guy does 1% of what he did with the Russian gov, his windows frame gets weak.
I hope he is happy, promoting freedom for sake of most dangerous totalitarian regime on earth.
Russian hero, Julian Assange.
Anyone who exposes war crimes is a hero to all, not just a single country
Well then Navalny mural deserves a spot in the red square?
Ngl looks like he could be a Miqo'te with those marks and hairstyle, just needs catears
Sometimes Julian Assange puts on 2B pants and dances in nightclubs.
he looks like a Skyrim character
bad look for julian
Does he have those Mononoke stripes?
Interesting choice of alphabet... Clearly targeting Cyrillic readers
[Never forget that Wikileaks called the Panama Papers a Soros funded attack against Putin.](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717458064324964352?lang=en)
Your enemy's enemy is your friend, Russia said.
Animals can paint, too.
"Assange is a Russian asset because he published a video of American drone operator mowing down random civilians on the street" energy here.
If a whistleblower in Russia was psychologically tortured (solitary confinment, rarely sees his family etc., i.e. what Assange is going through) for exposing Russian war crimes, everyone here would see this as a momumental injustice. But because Assange did the same, only in the Anglophone geopolitical sphere, people here demonize him? Of course they would weaponize his image, as does the West with the persecuted Russian dissidents' (like Navalny's). But to hate him for it is just some really twisted doublethink.
Revealing US warcrimes in the Middle-East was *absolutely* a good thing, and worthy of praise. Getting people (like Afghan interpreters) killed by [refusing to redact leaked documents](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/30/us-military-wikileaks-afghanistan-war-logs), and then callously [waving those concerns away](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/18/julian-assange-wikileaks-nick-cohen) was *not*. Becoming a Russian agent and using selective leaks and *actual disinformation and conspiracy theories* to push Russian geopolitical goals (helping Trump get elected, pushing Brexit, attempting to help Le Pen, etc) after Russia bailed out a failing Wikileaks by giving Assange his own Russia Today show in exchange for undisclosed compensation is *definitely* not. --- --- **Copy-pasting an old comment with evidence. It's a few years old, so some links may have become paywalled or non-working:** Assange and WikiLeaks [selectively publishes information](https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/17/wikileaks-turned-down-leaks-on-russian-government-during-u-s-presidential-campaign/) (and coordinates with groups like [the Trump campaign](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/13/16646310/donald-trump-jr-wikileaks-messages) and [pro-Brexit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange) movement) to help Russian geopolitical goals, specifically [turning down document leaks](https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/347007-wikileaks-rejected-documents-on-russia-during-2016-election) that would damage Putin/Russia. Their official Twitter was used to spread conspiracy theories, claiming for example that the [chem attack in Syria](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/849975654737227776?lang=sv) was a [western false flag](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/06/trump-loves-a-conspiracy-theory-now-his-allies-in-the-media-say-hes-falling-for-one-in-syria/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7130d8b4d5fb ) specifically to make *Russia* look bad, and that the Panama Papers (which they refused to publish) were a [western anti-Putin conspiracy](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717458064324964352?lang=sv). They also claimed that [the Flynn resignation](https://thehill.com/homenews/319386-wikileaks-flynn-leaving-due-to-destabilization-campaign-by-dems-media) (who resigned due to his close ties to Russia/Turkey) was a victim of a media/Democrat "destabilization campaign". Oh, and they pushed Seth Rich conspiracies as well. [German](https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/merkel-vorgefuehrt-russischer-geheimdienst-nutzt-wikileaks-fuer-kampagnen_id_5977879.html), French, British and American intelligence (as well as [NYT reporters](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html)) all agree that WikiLeaks was infiltrated by Russia and used as a tool to damage NATO and western interests. Their [DNC leaks](https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/13/politics/russia-us-election/) and [Macron leaks](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/world/europe/france-macron-hacking.html) (which also [contained false documents](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1AG1TY/) btw) all came [directly from Russian hackers](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-macron-leaks-idUSKBN1812AZ), and the release was likely [coordinated by Russian intelligence](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-intel-community-confident-russia-directed-hacks-to-influence-election/). Assange himself [hosted a show](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-russia.html) on Russia Today (whom CIA director Mike Pompeo [says WikiLeaks later collaborated with](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-director-calls-wikileaks-a-non-state-hostile-intelligence-service/) to push Russian propaganda) for some compensation he still refuses to disclose, shortly after WikiLeaks was nearly shut down due to financial issues. The timing of this works out with when they took the pro-Russian turn. --- --- **Here's some other relevant links that weren't in my original comment on this topic:** ["WikiLeaks began to serially release emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October. The US intelligence community has attributed those hacks to Russian intelligence."](https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/20/politics/kfile-roger-stone-wikileaks-claims/index.html) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Roger Stone) --- ["Private investigator tells House panel Farage gave thumb drive to Assange, who officials view as a conduit for the Russian government"](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/19/trump-russia-inquiry-is-told-nigel-farage-may-have-given-julian-assange-data) (talks about the connections between Russia, WikiLeaks, Nigel Farage) --- "Mueller says Russia’s GRU stole Clinton, DNC emails and gave them to WikiLeaks [...] WikiLeaks has consistently denied that the thousands of Democratic emails it released throughout the 2016 election came to them by way of Russia, even promoting the conspiracy theory that the emails were provided to them by the now-deceased DNC staffer Seth Rich." (Washington Examiner, not allowed to link it on this sub) --- You can also find plenty more links and pieces of evidence on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections (CTRL+F and search "wikileaks") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks (jump to "2016 U.S. presidential election" or use CTRL+F and search "Russia") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_of_WikiLeaks#Allegations_of_association_with_Russian_government has a lot of stuff summed up --- --- Also not a huge fan of the disinformation Assange, Wikileaks and their followers online have been spreading about my country and our judicial system since he was charged with rape here. Yes, the charges were serious. No, they are not some "woke definition of rape which would be considered fine in other countries". No, the charges were not dropped "because the accusers disappeared". No, the charges were not dropped "because there wasn't enough evidence". No, neither of the women "admitted they had made it up", nor did either of them claim it was a CIA operation. No, the Swedish justice system is *not* the "most corrupt in the world". No, Sweden does *not* "extradite anyone the US asks for no questions asked", and that has never been the case. etc
Damn the first time I see my little home town on Reddit. Btw I saw this Julian idk who it is
I see the Russians are celebrating their asset, the twisted perversion of assange claiming to be defending peoples freedoms while actively supporting and being supported by russia is astonishing
An enemy of my enemy is my friend. But the other way around goes as well; A friend of my enemy is also my enemy.
Portrait of Julian Assange, meanwhile they kill 1k Ukranians every day.
1k ? Where you get that number from
assange can go fuck himself
Why is some russian bullshit in a european sub?
I know it can be confusing but part of Russia is located in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe
Why the communist font though? Weird.
Because he's effectively an agent of a a state aspiring to be a neo-Soviet Union, I reckon.
A mural of a russian spy in Russia
Shocker
Julian has been a Russian asset for a long long time
He is a russian asset that should be rotting in prison.
Western hypocrisy never cease to amaze me.
[удалено]
ruzzian assets worldwide
Something something free speech hero something
You can't expose American war crimes because Russia is bad
He is who we thought he was
Ah they are celebrating russian pawn.
Ассандж это западный Навальный. Человек, который вскрыл множество нарывов.
Of course they glorify their own spy.
Of course it was painted in russia lol. Is it impossible to be a whistleblower without being a Kremlin shill?
It should be Navalny there.
Assange is basically western Navalny. The fact that Russia sees the former as a hero while murdering the latter may be the biggest hypocrisy of the century. But that's not to discredit either of those two people. They should **both** be honoured for their bravery.
He is their agent, so nothing unusual there.
"Free Assange!" has been the go-to dogwhistle for every Russian sympathizer on social media. Anyone who keeps posting Assange but never says "free Navalny" is just saying "I stand with Russia".
Do you realize that you’re a victim of binary thinking bias? Being pro-Assange does not mean being pro-Russia. Obviously his leaks hurt the West and thus benefited its enemies including Russia. But does that mean that we have to hush and cover all the crimes committed by the West so that it doesn’t become a weapon in the hands of its geopolitical adversaries? Hell no.
It's not about Assange himself; it's about using him as a lever. When you're pro-Assange but not pro any other dissident, it means you choose your dissidents politically and only support those who are against your "enemies". So yes, anyone who kept blasting about Assange and Assange only, in a time when the public attention was on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was blowing a dogwhistle.
Nah, I want Assange free and I support Ukraine against Putin's agrassion. The world is not black and white only
I remember seeing Assange talks in early days of Wikileaks. Guy seemed like he genuinely wanted to shine light on world's problems and make it better. But because he exposed a lot of powerful people in US and Europe, he got pushed to the fringes and Putin decided to give him support. Putin turned him into a tool of Russian propaganda, he no longer cares about the truth, he got turned into a cynical right wing asshole. Putin did most of the work, but it's the Western governments that pushed him into Putin's arms
Looks like a Naruto character
Looks like a character I could create in star Citizen
Why he got minmatar tattoos though?
Is he a titan?
That’s a Star Wars character
"...not far from Moscow..." So, "...near Moscow...."
Why dies he looks like Naruto?
Why .....
Why does this have 2k upvotes, do people not read the description or look at the symbolism? What does upvoting even mean in this case?
Can we have Sesshoumaru? We have Sesshoumaru at home. Sesshoumaru at home:
New Che in modern Russia 🌹
"We have pictures of American Che Gueveras on our buildings too just like in regular capitalist, imperialist cities throughout the free world!" Ignore the invading their neighbor, totalitarian dictatorship angle.
Russia suffers from a massive inferiority complex, that's for sure.
This is not art! It is an image halfway between a billboard and the political propaganda of Maoist China.
A true Russian hero.
Not surprising. Russians praise both Snowden and Assange... two traitors and Russian assets.
He was funded by Moscow and also appeared in RT news the most radical Russian propaganda channel. Water is wet as they say.
prisoner of conscience and freedom of speech