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Comment by rimantas | Hacker News Reader

Disclaimer: I never liked Assange, and I think his he is most concerned about self-promotions. That said my cynical view is that the only reason for this statement is that Edward Snowden stole his show (and I have huge respect for Snowden) so Assange felt the need to remind about himself.

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I think this is the exact image of Assange that US authorities tried to build, as if his concern about himself is relevant for anything at all.

Why does it matter if he did something for self promotion ? What he did was courageous.

Since his involvement in the initial act that thrust him into the spotlight I see nothimg that warrants the accolade of courageous.

That it shouldn't matter (with which I agree) doesn't change the fact that it does matter to people. Taking the teeth out of a threat that's largely posed by public opinion is vastly easier when you can convince said public that the source of the threat is of impeachable character or distract them with some flaw or misdeed; people will happily fill in "well, he's kind of a sleazeball, so to hell with him" from there.

If his self-promotion weren't necessary to produce results, we'd all be reading news stories about Cryptome and how John Young, Architect, was seeking asylum.

I also have no time for him as a personality - however you can't tell me that you disregard his arguments on that basis? I know I certainly don't.

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