World
Arrest of Wikileaks leader indicates lack of democracy - Putin
Topic: Revelation by WikiLeaks
Vladimir Putin
© RIA Novosti. Aleksei Druzhinin22:25 09/12/2010
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The arrest of enigmatic Wikileaks founder Julian Assange indicates a problem with democracy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"If they have full democracy, why have they hidden Mister Assange away in prison? Is that what democracy is?" the premier said at a briefing with his French counterpart Francois Fillon.
"In Russian villages they say 'some people's cows can moo, but yours should keep quiet.' So I would like to shoot the puck back at our American colleagues," Putin added.
Assange was arrested in London on December 7. His extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted on sex assault charges, is pending.
World leaders and diplomats have downplayed the impact of the leak of more than 250,000 confidential U.S. diplomatic cables by the Wikileaks site, but many have questioned the benefit of the project, alleging that some of the leaks could "threaten lives."
The 39-year-old Australian currently tops an online poll for Time Person of the Year. The choice will be made by the editors of the magazine next Wednesday.
On Wednesday, a source in the Kremlin told RIA Novosti Assange should be nominated for a Nobel Prize.
MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti)
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- sunil2300(no title)23:25, 09/12/2010if anyone say truth which is against US interest,that person is terrorist !if Julian is punishable for exposing truth what sud be done with US who has committed such a crimes,killed millions of Irqis and other innocent people world wide ! i appeal to every one to do their best to realese Julian Assange
- ruypenalvaDemocracy is...00:28, 10/12/2010Democracy is something made in our interest. Julian only exposed the total scorn with which the USA power treat everyone abroad. The President Lula also criticize that arrest.
- vusi(no title)07:16, 10/12/2010Indeed the arrest of wikileaks leader indicate lack of democracy, in 1960 when Africans Americans were under savage racist oppression and destruction which is the same time they killed Martin Luther king the USA claimed to be the civilized world and most advanced democracy in the world, these barbarians will say anything with their mouth when in reality they are like the devil on this planet.
- DaveCRape is not rape in Russia?11:26, 10/12/2010Assange is under arrest for rape. Is it not illegal in Russia to rape women?
Perhaps Mr. Putin does not know that in Sweden and most other countries rape is considered to be a criminal offence?
Though Assange should be considered a terrorist in my view, his arrest had nothing to do with WikiLeaks.
Perhaps Mr. Putin does not understand what "democracy" really means.- caleb(no title)11:45, 10/12/2010Then Assange must be the most wanted rapist ever
BTW he 's not actually accused of rape , but for refusal to use condoms, when his partners insisted
That is considered rape in Sweden, LOL - dgl(no title)04:21, 11/12/2010Come on, rape was only the pretext to bring him unto custody just as WMD was to invade Iraq. Everyone knows what the real reason is, but arresting Assage for revealing dirty US secrets will cause hurt image of the state and of the current government, just look what recently happened to MasterCard and PayPal.
- c.dd@hotmail.deanother famous case of 'democracy' was...13:43, 10/12/2010... Hamas election, one could like or dislike Hamas but fact is that they had regularly won a democratic election - I think root cause was not love of fundamentalism but being tired of corruption - what they did not consider is that in the West it is considered democratic if the side preferred by the West wins, other options should not be considered. The rest is History. Same applies to Assange: basically one is free to protest (and as a bonus get a Nobel Prize for peace) as long as one says something which is an advantage of the West, one could only imagine what happen to an "Assange-chan" exposing the secret cable of China, "oh what a hero! oh how bad are the chinese! oh here it is Nobel Prize for Peace" etc.. etc.. The sad truth is that the Key Value of the Western World is The Double Standard.
- Spinwiz(no title)16:38, 10/12/2010I think many are missing the point. It's not about any documents released, sure they are a catalist to
open our awareness, it's about the ability of the public, which news groups represent, to offer their
INFORMED opinion of the world that THEY(The people) are the major suporting party of. Without the
people, there is NO government, without our OPINION there is no government, meaning a government
representing its people..
When government begins to act in a way that represents its own interests, rather than that of the people
who place them there, the people whom PAY for them to be there on their behalf, then truely the people
are no longer the power of their sovernty.
Stop, take notice and listen to what the few are trying to say to you..
The shepard takes good care of his sheep, green fields and vitamins to keep them well.. Not for the
long term interest of the sheep, but rather the long term interest of his own gain... - NovickDemocracy is not what it was~but05:13, 17/12/2010the truth is if Assange had taken e-mails from Russian SVR, FSS, they would definitely arrested him too.
- blue-jayWikiLeaks: RUSSIAN SECRETS LEAKED !!15:33, 18/12/2010Indeed democracy requires transparency and Freedom of Speech. Many Americans are hippocrates! Democracy is not perfect, at times it is messy, but I would not want to live in a dictatorship or a police state.
Would President Putin allow Julian Assange to leak Russian Government secrets based on the idealism of Free Speech?? If Assange had leaked Russian secrets he would have been butchered and murdered long ago.
Hippocracy is alive and flourishing in Russia. :-) Have we already forgotten Alexander Litvinenko and Anna Politkovskaya ?
