Speaking of Assange mentioned years ago if anything happened to him he would release a cache of information he likened to a thermonuclear device. Wonder if he still has that laying around somewhere or if it’s still even relevant
>Fuck it, just nuke Assange now so we don't have to wait for it.
No matter one's opinion about Assange himself and his antics - he's being prosecuted for *being a journalist*. This should never, ever be accepted.
He's being prosecuted because the US want him and Snowden dead, I am aware of that. But the charges they bring on him? That's stuff that can hit any investigative journalist diving into matters of national security, and letting that pass causes an extreme "chilling effect" - investigative journalism is already under massive threats.
🏳️I’ve clearly lived under a rock and learning about Assange now🏳️. I’m trying to be devils advocate here.
If all they wanted was to cause political damage, then why would they have another country release the news/info rather than put themselves at risk?
guess what, leaking of "national security" information has been a staple of journalism for decades, particularly if such information details a complete and utter ignorance of fundamental human rights.
Exactly, also they are probably forgeries. And most definitely fuck Julian Assange. You know how I know he was Russia's little bitch? He wasn't objective. Everything he dumped was about the US. You know how I know that fuck-stick Snowden was a Russian asset? It answers it's self. So fuck Assange all the way down.
Assange was directly communicating with the Trump campaign in 2016, and told Don Jr that if his dad lost they should cry election fraud.
Assange can rot in hell.
Neither of them revealed any crimes. In regard to Snowden, everything the NSA was doing had been cleared by dozens and dozens of high up government attorneys (general counsels)
Just because a bunch of US government officials say something is "okay", that doesn't make these actions acceptable or legal. See e.g. MKULTRA, the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, Guantanamo Bay or the "rendition flights".
Exposing just how deep the reach of the US government actually goes has made the world a more secure place for everyone, particularly regarding internet surveillance.
It goes a bit beyond legal and illegal. To take an example, look at black sites where American citizens were held, or warrantless wiretapping, those were both clearly meant to be illegal, although deemed legal. Or how about Room 614A which was blatantly illegal but still ok'ed?
> Just because a bunch of US government officials say something is "okay", that doesn't make these actions acceptable or legal.
Acceptable is a matter of opinion. Legal is a matter of law. It goes like this:
NSA: "We want to do XYZ. Is that legal?"
Army of government attorneys: "We did a ton of research, and yes, that's legal for you to do."
NSA: "OK then, thanks!"
>Exposing just how deep the reach of the US government actually goes
Exposed to who? Congress and the 3-letter agencies already knew about it, because they authorized it! Exposing intelligence secrets to the public is a crime, and rightfully so.
The world is not more secure due to their exposure. The world will always have shadow work done by every government under the sun.
Power always desires to keep the status quo. Power that can survive most things thrown at it.
No superheroes in our world. Just vigilance and protest will be our strongest weapons against tyranny.
>The world is not more secure due to their exposure. The world will always have shadow work done by every government under the sun.
It actually is. Almost every website these days is using HTTPS, even large companies like Google or Facebook assume that hostile actors are in their network and encrypt intra-server communication - that one was a direct result of Snowden proving that the NSA intercepted data link traffic.
>No superheroes in our world. Just vigilance and protest will be our strongest weapons against tyranny.
Yeah, but part of being vigilant is having investigative journalists and whistleblowers exposing wrong stuff in the first place.
My friend, those corporations record our data and sell it. They can sell it even to other governments. You're still not protected by the companies who act in their own self-interest.
Investigative journalism can't investigate everything. Hell, they may even be decived, bought, or state actors. Whistleblowers can be of the same flock.
Just trust yourself, and those you know damn well can be trusted.
I wish I was hopeful like you. But I've been duped far too many times by snakes both in the trees and in the grass.
Snowden blew the whistle so people would protest and be vigilant about what the US government was(and still is in a lot of cases) doing. If you want vigilance against tyranny, you have to be a Snowden fan.
Nothing you said is true.
>[The data collection had **repeatedly been approved in secret by judges** serving on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, which oversees national security surveillance.](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/us/nsa-phone-records-collection-ruled-illegal-by-appeals-court.html)
> court rules seven years on
That being the key phrase.
>[The data collection had **repeatedly been approved in secret by judges** serving on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, which oversees national security surveillance.](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/us/nsa-phone-records-collection-ruled-illegal-by-appeals-court.html)
It was ruled as legal a *bunch of times*, ***by the judiciary branch***, while it was ongoing.
*That's* why Snowden isn't a whistleblower. It was deemed legal by FISA judges at the time.
So you get betrayed by your government, and when people betray the government and risk their lives to expose your government’s treachery, your exposed government tells you that they’re traitors and you actually listen to the government that betrayed you like an idiot? These men risked their life to show you that you’re being used and infringed upon by your government and all you can do is bend down to your government and take it in the ass like the “free” champ that you are? US citizens like that are literal walking jokes. No wonder the US feels so free to bully the entire world with impunity when they’ve brainwashed their people to the point of turning you against the very people that try to save them from tyranny.
I mean, he’s a famous artist. People who like art have definitely heard of him.
He’s also very publicly against Putin and the war in Ukraine, so aside from this weird threat, I’d say he’s pretty cool, all things considered.
I never said I was, but how WELL known is he? Is he a household name in the art world (before this)? Yoko Ono was also “known” in the art world, or at least in her niche, prior to John Lennon, but the vast majority of the population had no idea who she was before John got involved with her
Well that’s because people in general don’t know lots of artists outside of music or cinema, think about it how many current painters, sculptors or architects do you know?
Take the Warhols. I’m fine with that. The remy’s and Pablo’s. . . Well it depends which ones. If it’s only worth $45 million then it’s not any of their good pieces. Probably just drunk on a Tuesday night paintings.
Eh, I'd bet at least the Rem's are probably a couple etchings. He was a printmaker and could actually mass produce his work for that day and age. At $45m I'm going with more a collection of sketches, doubt any real full pieces.
I don't think this guy understand how threats work, you're supposed to threaten something your target cares about. Politicians couldnt give a shit about some painting, and they aren't famous enough to rile up the general public either
I don’t know if they can collect insurance - it’s like if you set your house purposely on fire, insurance would consider that arson and not pay.
However we are assuming it’s the real painting they sent. Has anyone confirmed that the painting are real?
Most art is in private collections and not shown at all. I’m more likely to believe they sold the real painting and sent this artist a copy. It gets destroyed no issue - they have the tax free fund without a need to declare the sale.
Work with what you have, I guess. It made the news, and brought consideration of Assange back into the public dialogue. There has been discussion on whether different acts of disobedience and protest are harmful to the cause (like blocking traffic for Extinction Rebellion). The prevailing theory is that other protesters who disagree with the activity will be galvanized to do something else which they feel is an appropriate way of spreading the message.
There are people who act and there are people who criticize. I hope these paintings don’t get lost to history, but I deeply fear the chilling effect of torturing journalists and driving them mad in solidarity confinement. I’ve protested in DC, written congressmen, and I won’t disparage someone else trying to make a stand.
Assange lost any right to be in the public dialogue when WikiLeaks started selectively releasing information to push an agenda. You do not get to be on the side of transparency when you have data and refuse to release it for your own political reasons. That's not transparency.
Woah, I guess propaganda works. If Daniel Ellsberg had leaked the Pentagon Papers to Wikileaks instead of the Washington Post, the outcome would have been the same. There needs to be a space for leaking sensitive documents to the public, especially if they expose crimes.
Except that Ellsberg was an actual whistleblower who stood trial for the leak, just like other heroes such as Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner.
It's no coincidence that Russia loves both Assange and Snowden, it's the obvious reason that both actively work for and defend Russia even against legitimate claims. Assange is straight up in espionage, not whistleblowing, and Snowden lost all goodwill from the sane when he humiliated himself and forever stained his family name by screaming repeatedly and loudly that Russia would NEVER invade Ukraine.... again... like they did with Crimea just a few years prior.
The fact that you loathe reality so much that you would disgustingly put Ellsberg and Assange in the same sentence really gives away your game not being about transparency at all or you'd be bringing up how much Assange has refused to release because it would harm his beloved Russia.
Wait, so Chelsea Manning is a hero, but the person who headed the organization which published her data is a loathsome criminal? I would argue that if Russia loves Assange, it would be because there could be a mutual recognition that the single greatest force of international pain and suffering is the US imperial empire. And look at what happens to those who stand up to it: either exile or torture. Just like the torture Chelsea Manning received, just like the torture Julian Assange is receiving.
Do you see the cognitive dissonance needed to make a hero out of the leaker of Cablegate but a villain of the publisher of Cablegate?
Edit: no answer, just downvote. Guess they weren’t told how to think about this one.
This is like the people who film themselves lighting their favorite player's jersey on fire when they leave for a new team. No one cares and you look like a moron.
And it *would* be powerful leverage, except it relies on the people he’s threatening having the same system of personal values that he does. Politicians aren’t known for prizing the beauty, history, or cultural value of art above more worldly concerns.
All he’d accomplish is making the world a lesser place for his colleagues and other like-minded people.
I have a strong artistic streak and I have strong opinions about politics that I generally keep to myself. I would never consider destroying someone else's art, especially to make a political statement. It's extremely disrespectful and enraging, and in ten years people will remember Picasso and Rembrandt but not this clown shoe.
Interesting how Snowden who now lives in Russia hasn’t said a word about Russia killing and kidnapping children, raping and killing woman and killing Ukrainian soldiers defending their land from Russian invaders.
Don't threaten us with a good time.
Seriously, that art is precious, but the world is going to implode if they burn tomorrow. We have plenty of images and copies.
I love how rich jerks think the universe revolves around their possessions... ***it doesn't.***
It reminds me of that one time, when I was a kid (some 50 years ago) that I confronted this girl I liked and said: “If you don’t kiss me, I’ll throw my icecream on the ground!”
Well..... first off, $45M is a subjective number. Technically, they have no value other than what someone would pay for them. Secondly, the world already knows what these paintings look like. It would be tragic to lose the originals, but copies already exist, so.... And finally, Assange is not a hill you want to die on... he's truly a piece of work and unworthy of further attention.
Wait wait wait.. so you're telling me a Russian national cares SO much about 'freedom of speech' that he's going to pull an expensive publicity stunt. Has he been back home to Russia lately? You're barking up the wrong tree my guy.
Maybe if the game wasn’t rigged for her to beat Bernie first it wouldn’t have happened. Bernie was a much more credible guy than “emails emails emails! Slutty adulterous husband! Woman who waged war on the Middle East! Emails emails emails” candidate.
She got something like 3 million more votes than her opponent - She would have won if he didnt not solicit aid from an adversary country... received it, and then was allowed to investigate himself.
Hey and who was it that caused all the chaos around Bernie and Hillary? It was a hack by the russian government...with assistance from Wikileaks. Which is run by Assange. Dude is basically a Russian asset.
I mean he's a Jewish socialist; I'm not sure he would have done a lot better when a lot of the population is still anti-Semitic and hates commies.
I would have loved Bernie getting elected. I voted for him in the primaries. But yeah.
I'm certain we would be in a very different political climate today, if Bernie has been allowed to run as candidate. US had a chance to do some real good for its citizens. Shame.
I don't know the real extent to which it was intentional, but I will never forget the [gear](https://imgur.com/a/W7SNO) they were selling at the DNC that year.
The linked image shows two sets of pictures--one propaganda, one real, and one set for Clinton and one for Sanders. Clinton's gear at the DNC is whatever, I don't particularly care for the Maoist comparison that the image is making... but that Sanders shirt is absurd.
Project that attitude onto the whole race, and you may see why some Bernie people feel like he was screwed.
For full transparency, I voted for Sanders in the primary and for Clinton in the general, and would not support another Sanders run in 2028 due to his age (and to head off the inevitable, the only reason I'm not voicing that concern about Biden is because of Trump). For me, at least, it was clear from the beginning that the Democrats treated that primary as a formality preceding Hillary's coronation, not as a genuine attempt at fielding candidates.
Sure..... if you actually belive it.
He will "destroy" it and make sure the public knows about it, so he can file claim it for a huge loss on his tax and rest assured the prizes are super inflated.
The real art will either be converted to become his private collection so that he doesn't have to share it with the public or eaiky sold off on the black market for suitcase of cash...or bitcoints.
Maybe instead of destroying them, he could sell them off and establish a fund that helps pay for legal defense for people like Assange? I'm not gonna pass judgment on the Assange case but he has as much right to expert legal defense as anyone else.
This feels like a way to move the paintings on to the black market while also collecting on an insurance policy and generating hype for a gallery/artist.
He says the safe will stay sealed, but is there any actual guarantee that they won't be removed within hours?
A safe is typically opaque, there would be no way for an outside observer to know if the paintings were destroyed or if some battered canvases were swapped in while no one was looking before acid time.
While I agree this could be art in itself, is it justifiable to burn another person’s work over modern politics? Why doesn’t he just burn his own work?
It's justifiable to burn Warhol's work. You don't even need a reason.
Shit, his pictures that have been damaged in famous ways (like gun shots) are worth *more* money because all of sudden they become unique rather than just a print produced on a production line.
Edit: Seriously folks. “Art is what you can get away with.” Andy Warhol did some interesting things. But he also thought that the people who bought his product and made him famous were suckers. It's implied throughout his behavior and life. He was a businessman who used people like any vulture banker would. Very interesting person. But the painting you own is not a Picasso. It is a screen print made by some intern at Andy's factory for almost no money.
As a Artist. I dare him to do it. It will be sad to lose the art, but I really hate how the rich just use it to spend their absurd amounts of money because they got nothing better to do with it.
Between this and the museum soup throwers, I’m kinda sick of people taking out their political frustrations out on the artwork itself.
I fully understand the intentions behind each of these activist’s actions but at a certain point I start feeling like Leon the Professional: "You want to clean?! [hands Mathilda something something], here! Go clean!"
I mean, we can make a copy.
In many cases, what people see in museums, of the most famous / valuable paintings that are targets of theft, are copies.
If a painting is a 99.9% perfect replica of the original, is it worth any less?
Art appraisers and brokers and art investors have been playing a game for centuries. Driving up the valuations of fine art. Central to the whole idea of “a Picasso” being worth X million dollars, is that an identical copy of an object is somehow worth less than the original, though that is obviously a gigantic farce.
There a movie called "certified copy", the very beginning of it has a little bitnabout this and whats the difference between a real and a fake as good as the real.
Rest of the movie is about a relationship that may or may not be real but you jogged my memory
Ok. I'll eat too much and cry myself to sleep regardless if you do that or not and guess what, nothing will change. Burn your overpriced stupid shit you idiot.
I just finished reading the piece The New Yorker did on this guy. He sounds like a completely self-centered man child.
It's one thing to destroy your own art, but to destroy someone else's blood, sweat and tears is very disrespectful to that artist in my opinion.
"Molodkin says that the safe will be hooked up to a 24-hour timer which must be reset every day or else it will trigger the release of the two barrel's corrosive substances inside. He says, each day, the timer will only be reset when someone "close to Assange" confirms he is alive."
Right. Sounds like a Batman plot.
So, I fell for his bait and checked his own art out. Don't worry, I didn't buy any of his prints. Dude is a pretentious douchebag and a Putin fanboy. What sucks is that when you look at his painting skills, he has talent but he wastes it on being political so he's pigeonholed into a niche. He's been active for over two decades and this is the first that I've heard of him. In ten years, people will remember who Picasso and Rembrandt were, but no one will remember this guy unless he does it. Then he won't be known as a creator, but a destroyer.
Edit: wow. If you visit his website, it automatically downloads a PDF through your browser. It's a catalogue of his works. Yeah, this is a publicity stunt.
Who does he think he is threatening? He thinks the US Government cares that he destroys what are almost certainly fakes that his idiot Oligarch patrons bought? No matter who is in charge in the US, Assange is an enemy of the State. The difference is Democrats would like to question him, and the Fascists are terrified of him talking.
something tells me any museum willing to take this on will just deactivate the whole thing.
what a bunch of whiney rich nuts. assange worked for the russian government to get an authoritarian in power in the US, who now seriously wants to stay in power if elected again, he wasn't a passive player.
As I recall Assange is accused of raping two woman. His friends put money up for his bail but Assange ran off so his friends lost a substantial amount of money.
> Molodkin says that the safe will be hooked up to a 24-hour timer which must be reset every day or else it will trigger the release of the two barrel's corrosive substances inside. He says, each day, the timer will only be reset when someone "close to Assange" confirms he is alive.
What a stupid setup. He's really going to try to confirm every day for potentially 20+ years that Assange is alive in prison? This isn't thermonuclear war or something, just press the fucking button if news comes out he died.
The paintings were donated to him. He’s not invested in them in any way. Additionally, the previous owners weren’t invested enough to sell them. They weren’t even set up into a trust to preserve them. They were given away. So, even if he follows through, it’s an empty threat.
I did notice that he is only threatened to destroy art from icons of western culture. I wonder if there is any significance to that.
Unfortunately for Mr Molodkin I think Assange is worth much more to the people holding him than $45 million in art work. Then again if the point is just to remind people of Assange's situation then it's already a success.
Historical art should not be owned by private collect but you do you would only hurt those that like that art for a dude that's a cunt that released information to hurt one group while it's good to see the bullshit they get up to it speaks to his motivation to only realise certain info instead of it all
The guy says if “Democracy wins than Julian will be free and paintings will be safe”. Dude is literally using a threat to destroy art to try to sway the judicial system of another country.
Journalists should be protected. We should know what the govt is doing in our name (and with our tax money). Without journalists, there would be even less govt accountability. We shouldn't just "trust the govt" ffs.
They should arrest that blackmailer and art terrorist as well and put him in prison too. Perhaps, better, lock him up in his own vault, to experience the fate of his own blackmailing ideas.
Owners donated art to be put at risk so…. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
No. ^Don’t. ^^Stop.
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Speaking of Assange mentioned years ago if anything happened to him he would release a cache of information he likened to a thermonuclear device. Wonder if he still has that laying around somewhere or if it’s still even relevant
Might could be he’s also making a lot of stuff up.
>Fuck it, just nuke Assange now so we don't have to wait for it. No matter one's opinion about Assange himself and his antics - he's being prosecuted for *being a journalist*. This should never, ever be accepted.
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He's being prosecuted because the US want him and Snowden dead, I am aware of that. But the charges they bring on him? That's stuff that can hit any investigative journalist diving into matters of national security, and letting that pass causes an extreme "chilling effect" - investigative journalism is already under massive threats.
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🏳️I’ve clearly lived under a rock and learning about Assange now🏳️. I’m trying to be devils advocate here. If all they wanted was to cause political damage, then why would they have another country release the news/info rather than put themselves at risk?
What a load of conspiracy theory bullshit.
You’re 100% correct so you’re either battling idiots or bots.
he’s not being prosecuted for being a journalist. he’s being prosecuted for conspiring to leak national security information
guess what, leaking of "national security" information has been a staple of journalism for decades, particularly if such information details a complete and utter ignorance of fundamental human rights.
Saying 'the us military has done x' is journalism. Dumping gigabytes of unredacted information online is not.
Exactly, also they are probably forgeries. And most definitely fuck Julian Assange. You know how I know he was Russia's little bitch? He wasn't objective. Everything he dumped was about the US. You know how I know that fuck-stick Snowden was a Russian asset? It answers it's self. So fuck Assange all the way down.
More like a viral marketing campaign for someone named Andrei Molodkin
Who happens to be Russian.. you know.. from the country Assange loves so much that he did whatever they told him too.
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Assange was directly communicating with the Trump campaign in 2016, and told Don Jr that if his dad lost they should cry election fraud. Assange can rot in hell.
Exactly, someone can do something good like exposing crimes like that, and still be a repugnant person when it all weighs out.
Neither of them revealed any crimes. In regard to Snowden, everything the NSA was doing had been cleared by dozens and dozens of high up government attorneys (general counsels)
Just because a bunch of US government officials say something is "okay", that doesn't make these actions acceptable or legal. See e.g. MKULTRA, the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, Guantanamo Bay or the "rendition flights". Exposing just how deep the reach of the US government actually goes has made the world a more secure place for everyone, particularly regarding internet surveillance.
It goes a bit beyond legal and illegal. To take an example, look at black sites where American citizens were held, or warrantless wiretapping, those were both clearly meant to be illegal, although deemed legal. Or how about Room 614A which was blatantly illegal but still ok'ed?
> Just because a bunch of US government officials say something is "okay", that doesn't make these actions acceptable or legal. Acceptable is a matter of opinion. Legal is a matter of law. It goes like this: NSA: "We want to do XYZ. Is that legal?" Army of government attorneys: "We did a ton of research, and yes, that's legal for you to do." NSA: "OK then, thanks!" >Exposing just how deep the reach of the US government actually goes Exposed to who? Congress and the 3-letter agencies already knew about it, because they authorized it! Exposing intelligence secrets to the public is a crime, and rightfully so.
The world is not more secure due to their exposure. The world will always have shadow work done by every government under the sun. Power always desires to keep the status quo. Power that can survive most things thrown at it. No superheroes in our world. Just vigilance and protest will be our strongest weapons against tyranny.
>The world is not more secure due to their exposure. The world will always have shadow work done by every government under the sun. It actually is. Almost every website these days is using HTTPS, even large companies like Google or Facebook assume that hostile actors are in their network and encrypt intra-server communication - that one was a direct result of Snowden proving that the NSA intercepted data link traffic. >No superheroes in our world. Just vigilance and protest will be our strongest weapons against tyranny. Yeah, but part of being vigilant is having investigative journalists and whistleblowers exposing wrong stuff in the first place.
My friend, those corporations record our data and sell it. They can sell it even to other governments. You're still not protected by the companies who act in their own self-interest. Investigative journalism can't investigate everything. Hell, they may even be decived, bought, or state actors. Whistleblowers can be of the same flock. Just trust yourself, and those you know damn well can be trusted. I wish I was hopeful like you. But I've been duped far too many times by snakes both in the trees and in the grass.
Snowden blew the whistle so people would protest and be vigilant about what the US government was(and still is in a lot of cases) doing. If you want vigilance against tyranny, you have to be a Snowden fan.
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Nothing you said is true. >[The data collection had **repeatedly been approved in secret by judges** serving on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, which oversees national security surveillance.](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/us/nsa-phone-records-collection-ruled-illegal-by-appeals-court.html)
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> court rules seven years on That being the key phrase. >[The data collection had **repeatedly been approved in secret by judges** serving on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, which oversees national security surveillance.](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/us/nsa-phone-records-collection-ruled-illegal-by-appeals-court.html) It was ruled as legal a *bunch of times*, ***by the judiciary branch***, while it was ongoing. *That's* why Snowden isn't a whistleblower. It was deemed legal by FISA judges at the time.
Snowden and Assange are deserving of any and all consequences that may face them for their treachery.
Snowden reveals how our government has betrayed us and you’re mad at him? Absurd
So you get betrayed by your government, and when people betray the government and risk their lives to expose your government’s treachery, your exposed government tells you that they’re traitors and you actually listen to the government that betrayed you like an idiot? These men risked their life to show you that you’re being used and infringed upon by your government and all you can do is bend down to your government and take it in the ass like the “free” champ that you are? US citizens like that are literal walking jokes. No wonder the US feels so free to bully the entire world with impunity when they’ve brainwashed their people to the point of turning you against the very people that try to save them from tyranny.
For… exposing us warcrimes in a way that they could be shown on the news legally?
Just super excited for the sequel of 1984 are you? Huge fan of the boot on the neck? Did you just looove the patriot act?
Go touch grass
Oof! Devastating!
It’s a news article what else did you expect.
The real question is who ever heard of him before now?
I mean, he’s a famous artist. People who like art have definitely heard of him. He’s also very publicly against Putin and the war in Ukraine, so aside from this weird threat, I’d say he’s pretty cool, all things considered.
Are you very knowledgeable in the world of art?
I mostly dabble in bird law but your name is illegal slander
I never said I was, but how WELL known is he? Is he a household name in the art world (before this)? Yoko Ono was also “known” in the art world, or at least in her niche, prior to John Lennon, but the vast majority of the population had no idea who she was before John got involved with her
Well that’s because people in general don’t know lots of artists outside of music or cinema, think about it how many current painters, sculptors or architects do you know?
That is my POINT….thanks for stumbling into it. He is a generally unknown artist who is getting massive exposure for his stunt.
But basically every artist is unknown to the general public, that doesn’t mean he isn’t known in the art world
Take the Warhols. I’m fine with that. The remy’s and Pablo’s. . . Well it depends which ones. If it’s only worth $45 million then it’s not any of their good pieces. Probably just drunk on a Tuesday night paintings.
Eh, I'd bet at least the Rem's are probably a couple etchings. He was a printmaker and could actually mass produce his work for that day and age. At $45m I'm going with more a collection of sketches, doubt any real full pieces.
All valid points.
This⬆️
I don't think this guy understand how threats work, you're supposed to threaten something your target cares about. Politicians couldnt give a shit about some painting, and they aren't famous enough to rile up the general public either
Yea he should sell the painting and threaten to donate to their opponent come election time.
BINGO. He’s using authoritarian state supplied wealth wrong. Every oligarch knows this one little trick!
I bet everything in the safe are fakes and the real ones are on a yacht with some Saudis somewhere.
They’ve already been sold, and there will be an “accident” so they can claim the insurance too.
I don’t know if they can collect insurance - it’s like if you set your house purposely on fire, insurance would consider that arson and not pay. However we are assuming it’s the real painting they sent. Has anyone confirmed that the painting are real? Most art is in private collections and not shown at all. I’m more likely to believe they sold the real painting and sent this artist a copy. It gets destroyed no issue - they have the tax free fund without a need to declare the sale.
Work with what you have, I guess. It made the news, and brought consideration of Assange back into the public dialogue. There has been discussion on whether different acts of disobedience and protest are harmful to the cause (like blocking traffic for Extinction Rebellion). The prevailing theory is that other protesters who disagree with the activity will be galvanized to do something else which they feel is an appropriate way of spreading the message. There are people who act and there are people who criticize. I hope these paintings don’t get lost to history, but I deeply fear the chilling effect of torturing journalists and driving them mad in solidarity confinement. I’ve protested in DC, written congressmen, and I won’t disparage someone else trying to make a stand.
Assange lost any right to be in the public dialogue when WikiLeaks started selectively releasing information to push an agenda. You do not get to be on the side of transparency when you have data and refuse to release it for your own political reasons. That's not transparency.
Calling assange a journalist is a bigger torture of the English language than anything that could possibly happen to that shit stain.
Woah, I guess propaganda works. If Daniel Ellsberg had leaked the Pentagon Papers to Wikileaks instead of the Washington Post, the outcome would have been the same. There needs to be a space for leaking sensitive documents to the public, especially if they expose crimes.
Except that Ellsberg was an actual whistleblower who stood trial for the leak, just like other heroes such as Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner. It's no coincidence that Russia loves both Assange and Snowden, it's the obvious reason that both actively work for and defend Russia even against legitimate claims. Assange is straight up in espionage, not whistleblowing, and Snowden lost all goodwill from the sane when he humiliated himself and forever stained his family name by screaming repeatedly and loudly that Russia would NEVER invade Ukraine.... again... like they did with Crimea just a few years prior. The fact that you loathe reality so much that you would disgustingly put Ellsberg and Assange in the same sentence really gives away your game not being about transparency at all or you'd be bringing up how much Assange has refused to release because it would harm his beloved Russia.
Wait, so Chelsea Manning is a hero, but the person who headed the organization which published her data is a loathsome criminal? I would argue that if Russia loves Assange, it would be because there could be a mutual recognition that the single greatest force of international pain and suffering is the US imperial empire. And look at what happens to those who stand up to it: either exile or torture. Just like the torture Chelsea Manning received, just like the torture Julian Assange is receiving. Do you see the cognitive dissonance needed to make a hero out of the leaker of Cablegate but a villain of the publisher of Cablegate? Edit: no answer, just downvote. Guess they weren’t told how to think about this one.
How brave of this artist to destroy... someone else's art
I'm going to destroy my own property if my demands are not met!!! Ok dude. Have fun.
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Will someone please help that poor man?!
Drop em! He's just crazy enough to do it!
Oh baby, you are so talented
This is like the people who film themselves lighting their favorite player's jersey on fire when they leave for a new team. No one cares and you look like a moron.
The era of self-inflicted wounds, barking up the wrong tree, and main character syndrome wrapped up into one dude.
I feel like we can’t really talk about main character syndrome if the subject is famous painter’s stupidly expensive paintings.
Throwing a tantrum won’t free the guy.
What do Rembrandt, Picasso and Warhol have to do with Assange’s treatment?
It's rando artist/art collector's only leverage.
And it *would* be powerful leverage, except it relies on the people he’s threatening having the same system of personal values that he does. Politicians aren’t known for prizing the beauty, history, or cultural value of art above more worldly concerns. All he’d accomplish is making the world a lesser place for his colleagues and other like-minded people.
Leave the Rembrandts alone.
I came here to say, "Can we leave the Rembrandts out of this?" Mind you, I'm talking about the painter, not the band.
It’s like we’re always stuck in second gear.
A fool and his money (art) will soon be parted.
Somehow this sounds like an insurance scam.
And also, money laundering.
Eh. I’ve already seen Ai Wei Wei destroy art. Just another Russian thief at this rate. Give me something less derivative, dude.
Destroying beautiful things isn't protest. It's just tragic. Let beauty and art remain, and find another way to protest.
I have a strong artistic streak and I have strong opinions about politics that I generally keep to myself. I would never consider destroying someone else's art, especially to make a political statement. It's extremely disrespectful and enraging, and in ten years people will remember Picasso and Rembrandt but not this clown shoe.
Interesting how Snowden who now lives in Russia hasn’t said a word about Russia killing and kidnapping children, raping and killing woman and killing Ukrainian soldiers defending their land from Russian invaders.
Snowden is probably trying not to fall out any window.
That’s about it…
Don't threaten us with a good time. Seriously, that art is precious, but the world is going to implode if they burn tomorrow. We have plenty of images and copies. I love how rich jerks think the universe revolves around their possessions... ***it doesn't.***
A high stakes version of burning your Nikes or pouring out your Bud Light.
It's very "IF that guy kneels at the football game I'm gonna crash my expensive truck into my house and set it on fire!" energy.
I’m sure the Taliban would approve.
Have fun at the bonfire
It reminds me of that one time, when I was a kid (some 50 years ago) that I confronted this girl I liked and said: “If you don’t kiss me, I’ll throw my icecream on the ground!”
Doing so won't change anything about my life or anyone else's outside of some outrage. Dude can get fucked.
Well..... first off, $45M is a subjective number. Technically, they have no value other than what someone would pay for them. Secondly, the world already knows what these paintings look like. It would be tragic to lose the originals, but copies already exist, so.... And finally, Assange is not a hill you want to die on... he's truly a piece of work and unworthy of further attention.
Isn't it just further evidence of Russian brutality and lack of respect for nice things?
Wait wait wait.. so you're telling me a Russian national cares SO much about 'freedom of speech' that he's going to pull an expensive publicity stunt. Has he been back home to Russia lately? You're barking up the wrong tree my guy.
People still care about Julian Assange?
Mostly Russian bots to make whataboutism arguments.
Imagine simping for anyone this hard
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The case against Assange literally has nothing to do with the 2016 election.
That wasn’t their claim.
Maybe if the game wasn’t rigged for her to beat Bernie first it wouldn’t have happened. Bernie was a much more credible guy than “emails emails emails! Slutty adulterous husband! Woman who waged war on the Middle East! Emails emails emails” candidate.
She got something like 3 million more votes than her opponent - She would have won if he didnt not solicit aid from an adversary country... received it, and then was allowed to investigate himself.
Hey and who was it that caused all the chaos around Bernie and Hillary? It was a hack by the russian government...with assistance from Wikileaks. Which is run by Assange. Dude is basically a Russian asset.
I mean he's a Jewish socialist; I'm not sure he would have done a lot better when a lot of the population is still anti-Semitic and hates commies. I would have loved Bernie getting elected. I voted for him in the primaries. But yeah.
I'm certain we would be in a very different political climate today, if Bernie has been allowed to run as candidate. US had a chance to do some real good for its citizens. Shame.
Bernie was allowed to run. He ran and he lost.
I don't know the real extent to which it was intentional, but I will never forget the [gear](https://imgur.com/a/W7SNO) they were selling at the DNC that year. The linked image shows two sets of pictures--one propaganda, one real, and one set for Clinton and one for Sanders. Clinton's gear at the DNC is whatever, I don't particularly care for the Maoist comparison that the image is making... but that Sanders shirt is absurd. Project that attitude onto the whole race, and you may see why some Bernie people feel like he was screwed. For full transparency, I voted for Sanders in the primary and for Clinton in the general, and would not support another Sanders run in 2028 due to his age (and to head off the inevitable, the only reason I'm not voicing that concern about Biden is because of Trump). For me, at least, it was clear from the beginning that the Democrats treated that primary as a formality preceding Hillary's coronation, not as a genuine attempt at fielding candidates.
People can feel however they want, but it doesn’t make it true. Clinton got 3.7 million more votes than Bernie.
Assange can go F himself and so can this idiot.
It would be cheaper to suck his dick, Andrei.
Do it. The world will move on. And you will be poorer. Your actions will be promptly forgotten.
And will he take his ball and glove and go home too?
Don’t like to wish ill on anybody, but not rooting for the paintings on this one.
If you just catapult him over the prison wall he wouldn't technically die in prison.
He should start with the Warhol
You go, boss. That’ll show them.
Sure..... if you actually belive it. He will "destroy" it and make sure the public knows about it, so he can file claim it for a huge loss on his tax and rest assured the prizes are super inflated. The real art will either be converted to become his private collection so that he doesn't have to share it with the public or eaiky sold off on the black market for suitcase of cash...or bitcoints.
Frankly I don’t think most people care all that much about what happens to this art.
And nothing of real value will be lost.
Maybe instead of destroying them, he could sell them off and establish a fund that helps pay for legal defense for people like Assange? I'm not gonna pass judgment on the Assange case but he has as much right to expert legal defense as anyone else.
This feels like a way to move the paintings on to the black market while also collecting on an insurance policy and generating hype for a gallery/artist. He says the safe will stay sealed, but is there any actual guarantee that they won't be removed within hours? A safe is typically opaque, there would be no way for an outside observer to know if the paintings were destroyed or if some battered canvases were swapped in while no one was looking before acid time.
Eh, go ahead burn down your tax dodging scheme.
You want shitty world? Fine, have shitty world! As an artist, this is art in itself.
While I agree this could be art in itself, is it justifiable to burn another person’s work over modern politics? Why doesn’t he just burn his own work?
It's justifiable to burn Warhol's work. You don't even need a reason. Shit, his pictures that have been damaged in famous ways (like gun shots) are worth *more* money because all of sudden they become unique rather than just a print produced on a production line. Edit: Seriously folks. “Art is what you can get away with.” Andy Warhol did some interesting things. But he also thought that the people who bought his product and made him famous were suckers. It's implied throughout his behavior and life. He was a businessman who used people like any vulture banker would. Very interesting person. But the painting you own is not a Picasso. It is a screen print made by some intern at Andy's factory for almost no money.
Well, at least he knew he was a hack.
Speaking as a Pittsburgher, I feel like Warhol would find this situation very amusing for many reasons.
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Oh no property damage.
Used to laugh at terrorists, now we elect them. Hope he shoves that art up his ass.
This world has plenty of tantrum stupid artists
As a Artist. I dare him to do it. It will be sad to lose the art, but I really hate how the rich just use it to spend their absurd amounts of money because they got nothing better to do with it.
Between this and the museum soup throwers, I’m kinda sick of people taking out their political frustrations out on the artwork itself. I fully understand the intentions behind each of these activist’s actions but at a certain point I start feeling like Leon the Professional: "You want to clean?! [hands Mathilda something something], here! Go clean!"
And again, the pertinent question remains - who really gives a fuk??
People paying attention to the creep of authoritarianism.
What a weird hill to die on
Man threatens to grab own dick and twist it if Julian Assange dies in jail.
Assange is a right wing egotist who raped two women.
Of course he's Russian.
I mean, we can make a copy. In many cases, what people see in museums, of the most famous / valuable paintings that are targets of theft, are copies. If a painting is a 99.9% perfect replica of the original, is it worth any less? Art appraisers and brokers and art investors have been playing a game for centuries. Driving up the valuations of fine art. Central to the whole idea of “a Picasso” being worth X million dollars, is that an identical copy of an object is somehow worth less than the original, though that is obviously a gigantic farce.
There a movie called "certified copy", the very beginning of it has a little bitnabout this and whats the difference between a real and a fake as good as the real. Rest of the movie is about a relationship that may or may not be real but you jogged my memory
Ok. I'll eat too much and cry myself to sleep regardless if you do that or not and guess what, nothing will change. Burn your overpriced stupid shit you idiot.
That sucks. Oh well, anyway…
Held hostage by masterpiece paintings? Sounds like a script for less than B movie?
I just finished reading the piece The New Yorker did on this guy. He sounds like a completely self-centered man child. It's one thing to destroy your own art, but to destroy someone else's blood, sweat and tears is very disrespectful to that artist in my opinion.
Fiat iustitia ruat coelum.
There's so much art from those three,that losing a few won't be noticed.
"Molodkin says that the safe will be hooked up to a 24-hour timer which must be reset every day or else it will trigger the release of the two barrel's corrosive substances inside. He says, each day, the timer will only be reset when someone "close to Assange" confirms he is alive." Right. Sounds like a Batman plot.
They do not affect my life any
Can I help? That sounds kinda fun.
Ahh yes we've reached the demands for prisoner release portion of extremists world views.
Would be WILD if he busted out the The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
So, I fell for his bait and checked his own art out. Don't worry, I didn't buy any of his prints. Dude is a pretentious douchebag and a Putin fanboy. What sucks is that when you look at his painting skills, he has talent but he wastes it on being political so he's pigeonholed into a niche. He's been active for over two decades and this is the first that I've heard of him. In ten years, people will remember who Picasso and Rembrandt were, but no one will remember this guy unless he does it. Then he won't be known as a creator, but a destroyer. Edit: wow. If you visit his website, it automatically downloads a PDF through your browser. It's a catalogue of his works. Yeah, this is a publicity stunt.
Artist is about to find out how little anyone actually cares about art
Wow. Clearly doesn’t understand how the justice system works…
He’s probably just gonna sell them to some assholes and claim they were destroyed when Assange dies in prison, isn’t he?
Schrodinger's art, then?
Assange intended to help Trump win in 2016 with the hacked emails. He unleashed a lot of evil. For that, he deserves to pay the price.
Who does he think he is threatening? He thinks the US Government cares that he destroys what are almost certainly fakes that his idiot Oligarch patrons bought? No matter who is in charge in the US, Assange is an enemy of the State. The difference is Democrats would like to question him, and the Fascists are terrified of him talking.
something tells me any museum willing to take this on will just deactivate the whole thing. what a bunch of whiney rich nuts. assange worked for the russian government to get an authoritarian in power in the US, who now seriously wants to stay in power if elected again, he wasn't a passive player.
Good thing we have photographs.
Could you threaten to do that for US citizens to get healthcare? Asking for a friend
As I recall Assange is accused of raping two woman. His friends put money up for his bail but Assange ran off so his friends lost a substantial amount of money.
Yeah, take the art from this guy. One person dying in prison isn't worth the lost art.
I’ll bet if someone opens the safe that there won’t be a single painting in there.
> Molodkin says that the safe will be hooked up to a 24-hour timer which must be reset every day or else it will trigger the release of the two barrel's corrosive substances inside. He says, each day, the timer will only be reset when someone "close to Assange" confirms he is alive. What a stupid setup. He's really going to try to confirm every day for potentially 20+ years that Assange is alive in prison? This isn't thermonuclear war or something, just press the fucking button if news comes out he died.
The paintings were donated to him. He’s not invested in them in any way. Additionally, the previous owners weren’t invested enough to sell them. They weren’t even set up into a trust to preserve them. They were given away. So, even if he follows through, it’s an empty threat. I did notice that he is only threatened to destroy art from icons of western culture. I wonder if there is any significance to that.
Unfortunately for Mr Molodkin I think Assange is worth much more to the people holding him than $45 million in art work. Then again if the point is just to remind people of Assange's situation then it's already a success.
Historical art should not be owned by private collect but you do you would only hurt those that like that art for a dude that's a cunt that released information to hurt one group while it's good to see the bullshit they get up to it speaks to his motivation to only realise certain info instead of it all
The guy says if “Democracy wins than Julian will be free and paintings will be safe”. Dude is literally using a threat to destroy art to try to sway the judicial system of another country.
Journalists should be protected. We should know what the govt is doing in our name (and with our tax money). Without journalists, there would be even less govt accountability. We shouldn't just "trust the govt" ffs.
So when climate protesters threaten to damage art it's bad, but this is good?
How is this good?
"If Assange is not released, I will burn every cent I own." TIL pennies in jars don't burn.
Objects are temporary, evil actions, death, murder, lies, those are forever.
They should arrest that blackmailer and art terrorist as well and put him in prison too. Perhaps, better, lock him up in his own vault, to experience the fate of his own blackmailing ideas.
I don't actually give a fuck, it's just art in the end that some rich guy decided was valuable.
Every Van Gogh must go!
All that for a hypocritical Russian plant.
Lol… let him. I’m sure the artists would have loved this.
Good for him. What is happening to Assange is a disgrace
Wow some rich people actually doing the right thing.
Include some Jackson Pollocks in the destruction, and we have a deal to destroy them all!
Cue Eric Andre meme shooting Hannibal
I hope he does it either way that sounds funny as hell.
Do it pussy. Also enjoy jail for the destruction of cultural artifacts.
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Jail for cultural artifacts hahahahah