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Interpol Issues Wanted Notice For Julian Assange
chrb writes "Interpol have issued a wanted notice for Julian Paul Assange for alleged sex crimes. The Guardian and Wired both have commentary."
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This seems to be blatant character assassination and should be beneath an international political body.
Hey buddy, can i bum a karma? ~}CinderellaManson{~
You can tell from the progress against human trafficking ... rare to never.
One thing I respect that dude for, is his ambition. Not even the 'strongest' nation on earth could derail him. Think about that for a second.
A quote I remember in one interview he had with the BBC...
"I get personal satisfaction when I expose what governments have denied the citizens they represent and will continue to do so till the very end."
This dude is one hell of a dude. I wonder what governments really fear if all they are doing is 'doing good' as they say.
One thing for sure: We now know what many governments were thinking despite the public rhetoric. I personally cannot wait for the financial documents to be exposed. My hunch...BoA.
If he suddenly dropped off the face of the earth it would just create a martyr out of him, something you cant fight. If he gets smeared into oblivion as a sick pervo that doesn't care about anyone else but himself its much less risky
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yeah, if I were him I'd avoid going anywhere right now. Homes aren't safe either, but they beat traveling. In fact, he probably is doing exactly that, considering he's cautious bordering on paranoid.
Still, even if it were easier to murder Assange than to make charges stick, it would very much add to Wikileaks' credibility, moral high ground and popularity. Assange is already a popular hero; making him a martyr as well would be a stupid move.
Well for one thing, when one considers some recent judgments relating to copyright law in Sweden they can have the impression that it has become the lap dog of the United States.
Assange seems entirely willing to be interviewed, just not in person for fear of getting a bullet in the head on his way to the courthouse.
The funny thing is how the U.S. and other countries think smearing Assange like this is going to do anything other than make him out to be a martyr... he'll be replaced just as quickly as he disappears.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Why is this story filled with assinine comments like this?
Did you miss the part where Assange offered, through his lawyer, several times, to be interviewed by these prosecutors before he had left Sweden? And they weren't interested?
There's no reason for them to go after him now, other than this:
Wikileaks is releasing lots of shit that makes governments around the world look bad, and they apparently feel the need to DISTRACT PEOPLE with these trumped-up "sex" crime accusations, and try to smear Assange any way they can.
If he really was innocent why wouldn't he talk to the authorities?
I'm not saying he is innocent - I don't think we have enough information to decide in either direction, although the manner in which the initial warrant was produced, then voided, then reproduced does seem a little sketchy - but he has perfectly good reason to be wary of hopping on a plane and putting himself in the hands of the police. It's by no means unreasonable for him to believe he'd find himself thrown in a cell somewhere in the custody of someone he's pissed off. The US, for instance, want him on espionage charges - apparently they're unlikely to stick, but for someone who's caused as much embarrassment as Assange I can quite easily see this resulting in two or three years in a cell while they come to a conclusion one way or another.
All that said, though, he's courted publicity and then gone into hiding, which I'd say is a bad move. Either rely on anonymity or on your high profile - you can't have it both ways. As the Guardian article mentions, there are many (myself included) who think that on balance he'd be better off facing his accusation in as public a forum as he can make.
The way I see it, governments kill all kinds of people directly and indirectly in secret--and the U.S. has a particularly rich history of this. As such, I want every government's secrets to be plastered everywhere. The number of people that may conceivably die as a result of these leaks is absolutely nothing compared to what has been done in secret for decades. Of course, I'm a pacifist and an anarchist, so I consider the idea of having to balance secrecy and disclosure so that the state can continue to exist in its preferred form (I believe it's called "national security") kind of moot. YMMV.
Yes. If anyone in the middle of sexual intercourse says stop, you have to stop. If you choose to disregard this direct request, it's rape or at the very least sexual assault - no matter what point during intercourse it happens.
Anyway, I have no clue whether these things happened or not, all I know is that Assange is in a world of trouble regardless. He has chosen one dangerous road.
Well, that answers the question of Sweden being the US stooge.
I was gonna write "our stooge", but I'm ambivalent on this one, as I am ambivalent about the disclosure of secret diplomatic cables.
Assange might be an asshole, but I want this guy protected.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Of course it's rape; is that a serious question?
Le français vous intéresse?
If he wanted a long, heathy and happy life, he could've remained in obscurity like all of us. I doubt that's his goal.
There's a lot of ways to look at these leaks, and one of them is a wake up call to the people of the world of what goes on and how things are run (it's a lot more "high school" than I ever would have guessed).
Things need to change.
Naw, this is blown out of proportion. He might disappear though, to be on the safe side. It's rather ridiculous, like a book, like "1984" by George Orwell, or something like that, but there you have it.
In 20 years, we will hear he's died from natural causes and went mad in the last years, like Fischer.
In the meanwhile, he can serve as our society's Enemy. It's convenient for authorities to create such Enemies, like Obama Bin Laden. They don't really exist, because in reality they are not that powerful as our Overlords, but they're very convenient for them to divert our attention to something that is not really important.
Oh look, someone's alleged of sex-abuse. They've not charged him, since both the girls rather enjoyed it, but they still wanna question him, just not when he agrees to it.
Something is very very rotten here..
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
If you can have sex with two women who will later regret it, can I kill a few hundred thousand Muslims and take a big hairy shit on the Constitution and International Law? Awesome!
Oh, wait, those two things are probably not on par, are they? Tell you what... I'll throw in the complete destruction of your civil liberties, and you can have some self righteous celebrity gossip egged on by the establishment.
It's a deal? Awesome!
That was before he released the volume of data that has been released this year and PO'd said governments to the degree he has now. You think for a second that if the US was willing to take out Saddam for never found WMDs over something that started in Afghanistan costing more lives on both sides than lost on 9/11, they wouldn't be willing to take out this blond guy that exposes their misdeeds? So, the question is, are you gullible, or astro-turfing, or both?
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.
It's time for the gloves to come off... These people don't care how many people die as a result of their rampages.
Soldiers kill thousands of innocent civilians and you say "oh, it doesn't matter, it's just collateral damage". An organisation leaks some heavily redacted information, putting maybe a handful of informants in possible danger (although no deaths have been attributed), and suddenly you care about responsibility towards human life?!?
No, it's not unreasonable. They turned down doing an interview by video camera, because if the questioning should warrant an arrest, there would no way to arrest him over video conferencing. This is entirely reasonable.
As for why he's wanted, the two women in question seem to have no connections to those who oppose Wikileaks -- at least one of them is associated with a group that's highly critical of the US, and the other is or was part of the Swedish Wikileaks support organization (and is definitely not a plant).
But if the accusations should turn out to be correct, and the leaks also correct, it doesn't appear to be rape as in forcing the women to have sex, but turning consensual sex into a "rougher" and "degrading" sex. The point is, it needs to be investigated, and Julian Assange was on Swedish ground and had consented to be governed by Swedish law during his stay.
Which is why there's not an Interpol arrest record for him either, but a request for apprehension and extradition. Along with thousands of other suspects and witnesses.
No, it's not unreasonable. They turned down doing an interview by video camera, because if the questioning should warrant an arrest, there would no way to arrest him over video conferencing. This is entirely reasonable.
In civilized societies there is a right against self-incrimination, and a right not to answer any questions that could lead to self incrimination.
If they want to question him, a video conference should be fine. It is sufficient to question him, which he has no obligation to assist with anyways
If they want to arrest him, they should get a warrant. They are independent actions. questioning someone is not related to arrest.
Julian Assange was on Swedish ground and had consented to be governed by Swedish law during his stay.
Yes. During his stay. Once his stay is over, however, and he is out of the country, he is no longer subject to Swedish law, including requirements to report for questioning.
Accusing someone of a crime is different from seeking to question someone about a subject they might know something about
Wait what? This happened TWICE while he was in Sweden? Was it 2 women in a single encounter? Or 2 women at separate times? How huge is this mans penis that he's breaking condoms left and right? And how on earth is this even remotely provable? "Hey, we were having consensual sex and half way through I changed my mind. Throw that guy in jail!" Finally, they charge him 2 DAYS AFTER HE RELEASES THE LARGEST GOVERNMENT LEAK IN HISTORY?!?!? Is that not even remotely fishy?
I HATE Conspiracy theories, but this is just a little to ridiculous for even me to fall for.
Are you kidding me? One of them is a right-wing feminist (yeah, weird) who has been outspoken about how woman should use rape accusations to destroy man.
This is the US trying to bring him down with its usual tactics. Next is a bullet in the head, like they used to do in the good old days before the media become their best weapon.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
And in today's world, "yes" means "sure, but I might change my mind later and there's fuck all you can do about it!"
A few things you're missing (or ignoring) here...
First, swedish police had lots of opportunities and offers to interview him while he was still in Sweden. For some reason they didn't do it, probably mostly cause the accusations were vapid.
Second, what he is under investigation of is not 'rape' and is very unlikely to give any prison time at all even if convicted afaik. Well, that is unless they want to throw the book at him to cause as much damage as possible instead of giving out blind justice.
Not unreasonable? Depends on what you really are after.
- These characters were randomly selected.
He was in Sweden and prosecution waited until he left Sweden to start making demands. Probably specifically to get Interpol involved and limit his movements. You knew this guy was going to get nailed for what he was doing. This is the beginning. Paint him as a child molester because nobody feels bad for one of those. A classic first step. Limit his movements, deny him places to be. Eventually he'll wind up somewhere with an extradition treaty and that will be that.
Also, if there are any Interpol people who happen to read this - I know of an actual child molester you could go pick up pretty easy if this is the sort of thing that actually interests you.
No? Not interested? Hypocrisy. Imagine that.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
But if the accusations should turn out to be correct, and the leaks also correct, it doesn't appear to be rape as in forcing the women to have sex, but turning consensual sex into a "rougher" and "degrading" sex.
So, lets say this is worse case scenario and he had rough sex with a girl - where the fuck is the crime there? Is doggy style going to be criminalized next? What about anal, is that still cool or do we need to revive the anti-sodomy laws?
Nothing screams "bullshit charge" than trying to arrest someone for having rough sex.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
Oh, I bet Julian Assange fully expects to be martyred "for the cause" at some point. He probably has some interesting "dead man's switch" set up to do something amusing after he goes... if it could make some point about how the world isn't ready for transparency then so much the better.
If these things don't go through WikiLeaks, they'd just go through something else. Hey, maybe his dead man's switch unleashes some sort of decentralized P2P leak site :P