There is a clear parallel here, @ggreenwald is being accused of roughly the same thing as Assange, that they "directly assisted, encouraged and guided" getting the leaks they published.
@ggreenwald When it's them, it's obvious that Brazil is a corrupt government prosecuting leaks showing their corruption.
When it's us, the situation is more nuanced and complex.
When it's us, the situation is more nuanced and complex.
@ggreenwald I think there's objective evidence that it really is more nuanced. That Assange's prosecution happens under both Obama and Trump show that our prosecutors really are acting independently rather than pressured from the top.
@ggreenwald Also, we have at least some evidence that Assange tried to encourage and aid Manning.
@ggreenwald On the other hand, is this just fooling ourselves that there's a difference? The chatlogs with Assange are actually pretty darn weak: he claimed to try to crack a password but did he really?? As an expert password cracker, it looks like nonsense.
@ggreenwald Sure, it's not Dems v. Repubs here, but it's still a system of authority that jealously defends its power against those who would challenge it. We call the prosecutors non-partisan, but they are partisan in defense of U.S. authority.
@ggreenwald My point is that when it's them, we have simple moral clarity that it's an attack against the free press, but when it's us, we have nuance and complexity in our arguments explaining why it's not an attack against the free press. I don't trust this.
