The Australian government brokered the deal [0] after their parliament voted for him to be freed [1]

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/apr/10/biden-assange-...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/14/austr...

Interesting, I’m guessing he didn’t expose many Australian secrets? Their government is fresh off of jailing a whistleblower (David McBride) ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶f̶e̶ 5 years who exposed a so called war hero as someone who actually committed war crimes.

> who exposed a so-called war hero as someone who actually committed war crimes.

Worth mentioning that this wasn't David's intentions. He leaked the documents as he thought special forces soldiers were being "unfairly" restricted via tighter rules of engagement & defense oversight in order to protect civilians. He wanted the ABC to tell everyone that special forces were being kept on too tight of a leash, not report on war crimes.

What you're talking about is a smear campaign from ABC:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/a...

This story about McBride's motivations really only makes sense if you're motivated to come up with some kind of post facto reasoning for why McBride is a bad guy for leaking the documents, while ABC reporters are heroes for selectively publishing them. Never passed the pub test, thanks for the link.

I'm not splitting hairs about if he's a (accidental) whistleblower or not (which is what that article seems to be about). He's never denied that his initial intentions for the documents were completely different than what transpired.

"He told another media outlet at the time that it was a “different story to the one I wanted. They (ABC) published something about SAS soldiers shooting people by accident, which I found disappointing.”"

Wait, the actions of an activist had unforseen consequences? No, that can't be! Next time you tell me Greta Thunberg is now supporting terrorism.

The phrase used by the attorney general was “enough is enough”. He was found guilty today and sentenced to time served, which was 5 years 1 month. David McBride seems to have been sentenced to 5 years 8 months. Where did you read he was jailed for life?

I don’t agree with either sentence, but they do not appear at odds with one another.

Ok, before he was sentenced he was told he was looking at life, I didn’t actually know about the sentencing. Thanks for the correction.

I disagree on the lack of connection.

The lack of support and lack of agitation by the Australian Government on both sides of parliament is a testament to how bad Australian politics is.

He was an Australia citizen left out to dry.

Disgraceful.

Aus can hardly antagonize us/uk

Don't help our own citizens in trouble, in case we offend a foreign country?

Depends on the foreign country. It's the US, so yes.

Just go look up former prime minister Julia Gillard address US congress.

I cringe every time I rewatch.

(Then again thanks to Wikileaks we now know US were “assessing” whether Gillard would be a good replacement to Rudd a year before it all happened… so I guess that made her a fan!

It's not just a foreign country, it's their boss.

Our core military strategy is to suck up to naval superpowers in hopes they'll include us in their own defense strategy. It's sound policy, but it means that ultimately we can't afford to piss them off.

Why does Australia need help with defence though? I don't remember any country having conflict or issues with Australia, and it is a remote, hard to reach island anyway.

Anywhere in south east Asia is within China’s grasp, In Asia, which is Next Door and closer than New Zealand, strongly dislike Australia due to supporting East Timorese independence.

Part the Random Caps I use iOS voice dictation

> I don't remember any country having conflict or issues with Australia

During WW2 we were bombed by the Japanese.

Is this comment sarcastic or a joke or something? China...

Yup. It's a bit like the relationship between Belarus and Russia - perhaps even more supplicative.

Aus sent troops to the invasion of Vietnam too. You dont do that unless you badly want to suck up to the US. Even the UK who will do virtually anything else for the US didnt do that.

oh geez, youre right. cant stop shaking my head. i always knew we were terrible at being independent (we voted to keep the monarchy ffs).

How appropriate you have the same monarch as other countries with the same relationship with the US though. I am British and feel the same about our relationship with the US.

Australia is a long time critical ally of the US that has accumulated significant political and social capital and can expect any requests to be considered seriously.

He broke no laws in Australia.

But the fact he is pleading guilty to a serious crime will have further implications for his life e.g. preventing travel, not allowed to apply for certain jobs etc.

The fact his name is assange already makes him ineligible for a bunch of things, and his connections and popularity already open lots of doors for him that aren't open for you and I.

I think he'll be fine.

I doubt he'll ever be fine after what he's been through.

I think most likely his life is already over and he's being allowed to return to remaining years of psychological and physical ordeal following an experience most of us have no context to imagine.

I'm glad he's going home to his family, but this is a least-worst outcome to an awful miscarriage of justice that destroyed many lives.