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Assange Requests Asylum In Ecuador
david.emery writes "Julian Assange, his appeals in the United Kingdom having run out, today went to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to request asylum from his pending extradition to Sweden to face questioning for 'unlawful coercion and sexual misconduct including rape.'"
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa is a friend of Venezuela and Cuba--and NO FRIEND of the U.S.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
the cops can't touch the embassy or their cars but once he steps out in the airport he is fair game
Is he really that afraid that he won't get a fair trial - in Sweden?!?
Is there something about the Swedish judicial system that I don't know about? Is it a kangaroo court or something?
What is Assange afraid of?
That sounds like two positives. Everybody else should be judged fairly on their actions, and if their actions are bad, they should be ashamed.
How do you kill that which has no life?
Stop beating your meat to your masochistic prison torture fantasies. Wikileaks mismanged itself into death, while Assange had burned bridges with everyone. He'll spend a couple years in a nice comfy swedish reformatory dormitory and everyone will forget about him except his groupies.
a half baked democracy on a third-world country (hey, I live on one of these, I know what I'm talking)
Greetings fellow USA resident
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
It makes him look guilty of the "not wearing a condom" charge. He should just go face the trial, especially since there's no way they can prove he's guilty (it's just her word vs. his).
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
He is truly this paranoid? Can someone get this man to a psychiatrist? He is only wanted for questioning. Sweden wont extradite him to USA. If you believe that you have been sucked in to the conspiracy nuts world.
This is so far from reality
If the asylum request is granted, he can just stay at the embassy until they find some way to fly him to Ecuador.
Palm trees and 8
Seems a bit random, i don't know of anything that special about Ecuador, well except... oh wait, he's going to wait for a space elevator to be built there so he can escape to space!
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Way to drink the kool-aid. That or you are astro turfing.
He's not even being charged by the women involved anymore. The women suddenly wanted to charge him AFTER they were approached by a swedish prosecutor. They later attempted to drop the charges, were told they couldn't, eventually succeeded in dropping the charges, only to have the charges somehow re-instituted by a swedish prosecutor with known high up US ties under pressure from the swedish government.
This is all as reported by the SWEDISH Press. Stop fucking astro-turfing to attempt to cover this shit up. This is the most blatant abuse of power by the US over its allies I've ever seen.
>>>He is in trouble for obtaining a sex act that the other partner did not consent to
Som she claims. Several days later. AFTER she found-out the Assange was two-timing her. If you believe this woman you're really gullible, and I have a 6 GHZ laptop you might be interested in.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
But I wonder if the next time someone in Sweden (but, for the sake of argument, someone who hasn't angered our rulers as Assange has) has sex with a sleeping partner and skips the country, there will again be a European arrest order and a worldwide Interpol hunt?
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
You just cant go around asking everybody if they'll grant you asylum. Word might get out with this violating his curent house arrest.
He's going to find out martinis and baccarat in Monte Carlo are not the same as beer and cockfights in Quito.......
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Oh, no.
You are moving fast, and the direction is correct. But you are still far, far away from a third world country.
Rethinking email
I'm already imagining a helicopter picking him from the embassy to rendezvous with an Ecuadoran ship in international waters. Somehow that seems like a better bet than attempting egress via any airport in the UK.
Write failed: Broken pipe
Stop getting your retarded monkey to type for you.
Are you saying that anything he just said isn't true?
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Some points to notice, in case you care amidst your ad hominems and strawmen.
1. He didn't break the law. The women who he supposedly "raped" only got pissed because they found out Assange had sex with both of them. The other even tweeted how cool it was to meet Assange and how she couldn't "wait to meet the cool people [incl. Assange] again this evening" (this was following the "rape"). If you were really raped, would you be tweeting like that? No.
2. Assange did not flee. He was not told to stay. There was ample time to collect Assange, but nothing was done, so Assange left after several days. Once Assange went out of the country the Swedish prosecutor went apeshit. Assange become an Interpol wanted persona. Of course, this was according to plan.
The saddest part of Wikileaks is that even after they show irrefutable proof of war crimes and other nasty dealings, what is the reaction - people just chant their national anthem louder. That is sad and disgusting.
It's almost as disgusting as people fervently defending that massive system which conducts those kind of abuses on a daily basis.
Sweden is not a lap dog of the United States.
Assange should show up in Sweden, get the case resolved, then go home. End of paranoid story.
How, pray tell did Wikileaks mismanage anything? Seems to me that they got an awful lot of important information to press where it belonged. Like what our elected representatives actually think of the war in Afghanistan, or the fact that there was a certain senator in the Australian parliament passing information to the US embassy. Information we, the people who elect the senate didn't know but should have, by rights. Or that a US defence contractor was buying Afghan boys to be raped by war lords. Kind of critical information if that defence contractor is also buying US congressman.
Oh, no.
You are moving fast, and the direction is correct. But you are still far, far away from a third world country.
Two more generation of "teaching the controversy" with the first generation growing in high unemployment conditions; by the second generation, they might switch to "resolving the controversy" (a.k.a "sectarian violence" or "gang violence" in today's parlance). I hear certain areas of Chicago make good progress.
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Incredible how ideological patrolling is taking place here at Slashdot.
No one can say anything a bit harsh and/or contrary to the political correctness - no matter being true or not - and is gifted by a nice "troll" label.
As a matter of fact, this is becoming something to be proud of.
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
USA can be a harsh capitalism country, but it's still a Lawful State.
(perhaps too lawful - but this is another argument).
I just can't see a former USA President making public arrangements with people charged with some felony and wanted by the Interpol.
http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/politica/2012-06-18/apoio-de-maluf-a-haddad-e-assunto-mais-comentado-no-twitter.html
http://www.interpol.int/Wanted-Persons/(wanted_id)/2009-13608
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
No but if you have consensual sex, then have the two women get together then report it have it throw out then reinstated by a higher authority maybe while being in the cross hairs for pissing off a world power sure. Remember neither of them said it was not consensual sex Miss A says he tampered with the condom and that is why it broke, Miss W says they had unprotected sex earlier that night she left the bed and came back to fall asleep again, waking to him having sex with her without a condom as they had earlier. At no point did anybody say they told him no stop or made any other action to say they did not want to have sex with him, by these standards most people in the world are serial rapists. The guy sounds sleazy for sure.
No sir I dont like it.
Yes, because using American terms to describe the Swedish legal system makes total sense!
They don't charge you until they talk to you. Period. You get a chance to tell your side of the story before they even charge you, as such, when they think you did it, they have to be able to drag your guilty, running from the cops ass back to sweden so they can legally charge you.
If you want to get it over with quickly and you actually aren't guilty of anything, you go in for questioning and then its over.
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Dumb asses. They were lucky to get together with their money in the first place.
I'd be pissed. We should send in Dog.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
If there is an objective by the CIA or whoever else I doubt it is to get him in there hands. I think it is to make him go away by whatever means possible (while maintaining plausible deniability). Didn't he release a massive torrent with password protected unedited version of all of the leaks with a threat to release the key?
Sweden is not a lap dog of the United States.
Assange should show up in Sweden, get the case resolved, then go home. End of paranoid story.
I'm certain you are correct. What could possibly go wrong?
The Admin and the Engineer
... only to have the charges somehow re-instituted by a swedish prosecutor ...
Got a newsflash for you stupid.
Whether criminal charges are filed or not isn't always up to the victims of crime.
The woman that he is alleged to have raped has tried to drop the case that she was persuaded to bring.
In most of the world, if a woman does not want to bring a case, the suspect has nothing to answer. What he may have done does not seem to have offended her sufficiently for her to want a court case.
The prosecutor that has managed to bring this case is alleged to be a shill for the USA.
Assange has performed a huge service for the USA, Australia, the UK and loads of other places by bringing to light the crimes of those who see themselves as our betters. That is his real "crime"
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Assange has powerful friends. Are they powerful enough to help him avoid justice on a RAPE charge?
Julian Assange has not been charged with any crime in Sweden. There is a request for extradition to question him in relation to allegations of having sex without wearing a condom, which is in itself dubious as extraditions have in the past only been granted for convicted criminals. To extradite someone for questioning is a world first. And top pretend that a country like the USA has nothing to do with it is naive to say the least. The USA uses financial and political pressure to force countries that cannot invade to strip down and bend over. They even kill people arbitrarily without due process! If I were Julian Assange, I would have been running long ago.
Easy to say, and you may be completely right.
Would you be willing to bet your life on it though? I know I wouldn't. And seems Assange would prefer not to as well.
But the fact is they reported it to begin with. Why can we just ignore that?
If it's really so simple the judge will find him innocent and then he can go to Ecuador.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You don't have your facts correct.
That is, of course, if America doesn't label him a terrorist and have him extradited to spend the rest of his life in a rather uncomfortable military prison with no trial.
But the US government would NEVER do that. They handle embarrassment with GREAT HUMILITY.
In the Government we trust.
So pointing out that a case is he said/she said is now 'flamebait'? Stay awesome slashdot, stay awesome.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Assange is scheduled to be extradited to Sweden for a violent crime.
This is the first time I've heard anyone to describe ejaculation as "violent". A 13-year old female writer of fanfic, aren't we?
No. Larry Niven.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
It took me about three months before I was comfortable using the word "rape" for what happened to me. It takes time to get past blaming yourself and trying to convince yourself it was nothing because there exist others who had it worse than you. I met a girl who actually started dating the guy who raped her just so that it wouldn't seem so much like rape. You just don't want to see yourself as a victim. Not only because it feels demeaning to yourself, to have become victimized, but because whether consciously or subconsciously you don't want the perpetrator to have "succeeded". You count your victories, whether large or small, whether it's stopping them from kissing you on the mouth or even something like managing to keep your shoes on.
Musk needs a safer hobby than Twitter. Fire juggling? Cage fighting? Solo hot air balloon trips?
This is all as reported by the SWEDISH Press.
You sound like a tin foil hat wearing nut.
Because he can read Swedish?
They did not immediately report it, at this point nobody is going to get a fair anything unfortunately.
No sir I dont like it.
But the fact is they reported it to begin with. Why can we just ignore that?
Because they dropped the charges.
Im seriously sick of hearing about this idiot.
Don't worry, once he runs out of options and gets on plane to Sweden, you'll never, ever hear of him again.
Don't forget too the position of leadership this guy had. It's not going to be easy for the victims to speak out in such a situation, and risk being immediately ostracised from all their friends. It makes perfect sense that the women only decided to come forward when they met and realised that they weren't alone in their situation.
And pointing out what the substance of the allegation is is now 'trolling'.
And now you're just making shit up. And idiots are upvoting you. Amazing.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
You sound like a complete and utter fucking retard.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
...says the dumb cunt who posts anonymously.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Sweden is not a lap dog of the United States.
Probably not, but would you be willing to Literally bet your life on it?
why was this modded troll?
just because Assange has the World's Most Fragile Ego, doesn't mean his supporters should too.
right now, he's not in a position to claim "political asylum". until he answers to the charges against him, any asylum he claims would be "criminal asylum", which most countries aren't really into granting.
NOW
if he goes to Sweden, and finds the USA trying to get their hooks into him regardless of the proceedings of the case against him in Sweden, he might find many countries willing to grant him asylum.
right now he looks like he's just trying to escape Sweden, not the USA. this is only losing him support. wikileaks was a nice stunt, but sadly it didn't change the world.
cross that bridge when you come to it, dude.
because Assange just looks like a criminal on the run. he should face the music, and if the USA go after him, he can get asylum then. right now he's not able to prove they're going to get him.
he's just gotta make sure than when he does face Sweden, he has a plan if the USA come for him. but not answering to a legit (or not... that's what courts are for after all) case against him just turns him into a regular douchebag who treats women like shit.
Jesus wasn't the messiah until they nailed him up, after all.
Way to drink the kool-aid. That or you are astro turfing.
He's not even being charged by the women involved anymore. The women suddenly wanted to charge him AFTER they were approached by a swedish prosecutor. They later attempted to drop the charges, were told they couldn't, eventually succeeded in dropping the charges, only to have the charges somehow re-instituted by a swedish prosecutor with known high up US ties under pressure from the swedish government.
This is all as reported by the SWEDISH Press. Stop fucking astro-turfing to attempt to cover this shit up. This is the most blatant abuse of power by the US over its allies I've ever seen.
This may be a newsflash to you, but victims don't charge defendants. They're even usually referred to as "complaining witnesses". Prosecutors charge defendants, and only prosecutors can bring charges or drop them. Even if what you said was true about women, which it isn't, they would lack any power to "charge" him or "drop the charges". Hence, why should we believe your frothing rantings about astro-turfing and abuses of power?
I think you may have forgotten the TPB case.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
In general stuff that if it really supprised you, then you are an idiot.
Strawman. Whether or not a person is suprised is not even in question. Like all right thinking people I was repulsed, angered, but not surprised that boys were being raped and the US was complicit in these horrific acts.
yes we all know our respective countries feed us a degree of propaganda. Because there are some voter disapproved things that need to be done to keep alies, or some representatives who can't keep their mouth shut or use the information to mess up a plan. Nothing leaked from Wikileaks was that big deal if you think a little more big picture.
I see. And what of the murdered and raped people in question? Was it a big deal for them? Should they have focused on the bigger picture? If I bombed your daughters wedding and slaughtered your family and then stole your son and raped him, would you just accept that I did that for the greater good? Or do you imagine that the US is somehow exceptional and it's citizens treated better than everyone else? If so, you are grievously wrong.
It ain't a perfect world, and your side isn't always the good side.
I choose a side based on the actions of that side. So, after the revelations obtained by Wikileaks, will many others. And there is nothing that you, or your pederast buddies can do about that.
Saw that on Fox News?
It's important to point out there that Assange did stay in Sweden for a while after the alleged incident, but wasn't called for questioning.
He then asked for permission to leave the country and got it approved. Probably since, well, he wasn't charged with anything.
Now, he still isn't charged with anything, but he is wanted for questioning. The problem is seemingly that while the questioning is fine,
there is also an arrest warrant out for him, for said questioning. We usually don't arrest people in Sweden that aren't even charged with anything,
so it does smell a bit bad.
There are no charges!!
It is all about "questioning" that this unprecedented amount of work has been done to get him back after letting him go because there was no case and no charges and no questions until AFTER some politician wanted to suck up to the USA.
They can't even convict him of ANYTHING because the only charge being alluded to but not formally applied in anyway is some kind of "involuntary rape" law which their court basically threw out long ago because it was ridiculous. But they can try to bring that up to their supreme court again... not likely. we know what is really going on and yet it continues anyway!
If it was to get a blood test for STDs, that is pointless because the women would have had those already (likely for free too.) So they would know if he gave them something by now. That "question" is moot. One could make many cases if he had a STD at the time and knew about it; but proving he knew is quite difficult. The women involved were not pressing charges; it does not matter what they do because this political fight will go on with or without victims. Blood tests and questions can be handled WITHOUT a perp walk and prison photos - especially when they refuse to charge him with any crimes.
It is not just about trying to get him into gitmo, its about making an EXAMPLE so nobody dares mess with the USA.
One should never trust women who are suddenly interested after a big force has declared war on you. Remember, General Motors hired prostitutes for Ralf Nader to try to get him in trouble (and he wasn't married either) and that was just the biggest car maker.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Assange is a guy who, along with a few other people, had this great idea of leveraging the Streisand effect into a tool for revealing things governments do not want publicly known. Public outrage at things that governments didnt want known ensued and Assanges ego eventually reached critical mass and imploded into a singularity. As with all singularitys one cannot see the singularity itself, but the accretion disc made up from paranoia, bullshit and general delusions of personal grandure is quite visible even at astronomical distances.
Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.
Troll alert...
It has EVERYTHING to do with both USA and Wikileaks. The charges are bogus and Sweden has already proved that they are willing to bend over backwards for the USA in the matter of the illegal and unconstitutional raid on The Pirate Bay's servers. It is obvious that the USA will file for extradition the second Assange is in Swedish custody, charged with espionage. As this is an offense both in Sweden and in The USA, and Assange not being a Swedish citizen, the extradition should be a simple matter of stamping some papers.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
You have forgotten!
The Swedish attorney general (justitsminister) first went on a 2-week vacation in the USA, paid for by the MPAA/RIAA. Just days after returning home she signed a search warrant (thus violating both the Swedish constitution and the separation of powers) for TPB. This warrant was then exceed more than 10-fold as they removed countless servers not related to TPB, and again when the many unrelated servers wasn't returned in a timely manner. They also vandalized the datacenter by disabling/destroying surveillance cameras.
Interesting enough, nothing illegal was found on any of the servers, and of course the raid only caused 48 hours of downtime for TPB.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
Sweden is not a lap dog of the United States.
In this particular case, yes it is. Sweden has a weird agreement with the USA to "temporarily" transfer people in their custody to the USA.
See here: http://justice4assange.com/US-Extradition.html
(Read the part headed "Temporary surrender")
No sig today...
He's in trouble for RAPE. RAPE. RAPE. Stop spreading ridiculous lies.
Saying that is an insult to every woman who's ever been genuinely raped.
The girls who accused Assange held special parties for him next day and tweeted about how cool he was and how everybody should come over an meet him.
No sig today...
The real sadness here is that he provided evidence of war crimes and mass douchebaggery by the USA and their only response was to call him a traitor and ruin his life.
No sig today...
the fact is that the ONLY reason he's being brought back to Sweden is to answer sexual assault charges.
How do you know he won't be extradited to the US with minimal process? How do you know that's not the reason for a pretext?
I don't know either way, but I'm making no claims as to the veracity of the charges.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The guy has pretty much painted himself into a corner by now. He stayed in the UK for 18 months on the grounds that Sweden would be much more US-friendly than even the UK, and would immediately extradite him. So now, after 18 months, he must do everything to ensure that nobody can ever falsify that theory. It would be terrible for him if the Swedish authorities just released him after two hours of questioning.
Don't know where you are from but that isn't the way it works here or, from what I understand, in sweden.
The prosecutor brings the charges in court, and the victim is then referred to as a witness, however the person/victim is the one pressing the charges. Without the cooperation of the victim charges cannot be brought, but they've found some wierd loophole to try to get around it in sweden.
The reason there is a seperation in the court room is that there is the situation where the victim(in the case of a murder, or violence resulting in an incapacity to either press charges or testify on the part of the victim) cannot press charges themselves and thus the government or a family member presses charges on their behalf. In cases of violating certain government laws the government itself is registered as the complainant/victim and charges are pressed that way. In this case the government has had no crime committed against it so those cases would not apply, and without the victims to press charges it should not be possible for the government to press charges unless they have the victims declared mentally unsound and rendered into the care of either family or the government who then press charges on their behalf.
The victim DOES have the power to drop charges but in countries like the US and Canada can then be threatened with perjury etc if things have gone too far before they try to drop the charges or rather "get the charges dropped". Also by "too far" means that a prosecutor has been assigned to "bring" the charges to the court to be heard. Pressing Charges is done by the victim initially. I believe the loophole in sweden is one that would possibly allow the same thing to happen in Canada whereby the case has gone far enough that if they either a) think they can win without victim testimony or b) have enough other reason to want to push the case whether or not they win(the case here) then the prosecutor that has been assigned can choose to continue the case without the victims who are at that point just key witnesses.
As you can see, you are partly right, but mostly wrong. This is a case that would entirely hinge on Victim testimony and as such there is no point for a prosecutor to continue it without victim testimony. This is where the power of the victim to get the charges dropped comes in. They do NOT have the legal and direct power to drop the charges, however they do entirely have the indirect and substantial power to make the charges entirely frivolous and a waste of time by refusing to testify. Which, as I mentioned, unless there is an ulterior motive, will cause the prosecutor to exercise their right to drop the charges. Which is exactly what happened. What extra loophole exists to allow another prosecutor to resurrect the charges based on nothing I have no idea.
That was a good joke. This is why he gets mod up.
And that's the reason I didn't replied to that - I give it a good laugh, and then I did some thinking about.
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
Not to mention that at no other time in the history of Interpol has an arrest warrant been issued internationally for someone not actually being charged with a crime.
Julian is *absolutely* smart to stay the hell away from anything having to do with this "issue".. because it's a total setup by the fascists in the US govt who are really pissed about the egg on their faces.
Don't know where you are from but that isn't the way it works here or, from what I understand, in sweden.
The prosecutor brings the charges in court, and the victim is then referred to as a witness, however the person/victim is the one pressing the charges. Without the cooperation of the victim charges cannot be brought, but they've found some wierd loophole to try to get around it in sweden.
The reason there is a seperation in the court room is that there is the situation where the victim(in the case of a murder, or violence resulting in an incapacity to either press charges or testify on the part of the victim) cannot press charges themselves and thus the government or a family member presses charges on their behalf. In cases of violating certain government laws the government itself is registered as the complainant/victim and charges are pressed that way. In this case the government has had no crime committed against it so those cases would not apply, and without the victims to press charges it should not be possible for the government to press charges unless they have the victims declared mentally unsound and rendered into the care of either family or the government who then press charges on their behalf.
Well, I will concede that your jurisdiction may be different, but here in the US, all prosecutions are performed by the state, which is why all criminal cases are "State of ____ v. Defendant" or "Commonwealth of ____ v. Defendant" or (for Federal crimes) "United States v. Defendant". None are "Victim v. Defendant". Maybe you're thinking of a civil suit?
Anyway, as a result, it is solely the prosecutor who can bring or drop charges. The victim is, at most, a witness. And no, they cannot be charged or threatened with perjury for refusing to testify. They could potentially be charged with obstruction of justice, but that's very rare, and would require extreme circumstances where the "victim" is likely a co-conspirator in insurance fraud or the like.
I'm not a Swedish attorney, but I don't believe the system is any different there.
In Canada it is, sort of.
Basically you're focusing on the portion of the proceedings that follow the initial pressing of charges. The actual _court_ proceedings do always go in the way that you are saying. The problem I think is you're getting confused in two different terms. In criminal cases pressing charges is carried forward by the victim(be it a person or non-person entity). The state(crown in my case) then receives the request to press charges and either follows through or does not with "bringing" the charges before a court. The perjury thing only applies if the person has given sworn testimony/statements that they later change their minds on. It isn't done often, but to the letter of the law, can be.
There is another charge that I didn't get time to find out about just this second, its close to perjury but not perjury, has to do with wasting crown resources on frivolous charges(at least thats why the law was put into place, don't think it actually reads that way) and usually involves fines or in severe cases small amounts of jail time... that one probably isn't applicable everywhere.
For what its worth, I Am Not A Lawyer, but I did just vet this with a friend of mine who is a practicing defense attorney.
I should mention he didn't vet the second part because as it is written there I can't remember enough about it to point to a specific law.
The rest I did.
Honestly, how could the US possibly extradite him at this point? Can you imagine how that would look? Assange has been saying since the whole thing began that this is an attempt to get him to the US, and the public debate and media coverage has made him a household name. If, after all this, he finally gets sent to Sweden, and then the US extradites him, can you imagine the public outcry that this would cause on an international level? Could the US deal with that? I mean, it makes several countries governments look like they've been played for fools.
But I understand Assanges position: If I were him, I wouldn't be waiting for any public outcry: I wouldn't want to land in the US hands in the first place, so go asylum papers!
But this is all assuming that he isn't guilty of course. And I personally believe that at this stage it's goddamn impossible to assert whether he's guilty or being setup. But he _may really believe_ that he is being setup, and that _may_ be a complete fallacy!
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