Slashdot Mirror
One Year Since Assange Took Refuge in Ecuadorian Embassy
Daniel_Stuckey writes with an article marking the one year anniversary of Julian Assange seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy. From the article: "Uninterested in facing U.S. justice, Assange said he's prepared to spend five years living there. If he goes out for a walk, he'll be extradited to Sweden to answer rape accusations —after which he has no promise from Sweden to deny further extradition efforts to America, where a grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks awaits. This also means that London's Metropolitan Police have been devoting their resources to keeping tabs on Assange for a year. Yesterday, a spokesperson explained the updated costs of guarding the embassy over the phone: 'From July 2012 through May 2013, the full cost has been £3.8 million ($5,963,340),' he said. '£700,000 ($1,099,560) of which are additional, or overtime costs.'
Julian has a treadmill, a SAD lamp, and a connection to the Internet, through which he's been publishing small leaks and conducting interviews. The indoor lifestyle has taken its toll on Julian, and it led to his contracting a chronic lung condition last fall."
Why bother guarding the embassy?
Google could house him in one of their data centers and provide him with a fast internet connection. Why doesn't Google do this? Don't they care about how good the world is?
Julian has..... a SAD lamp,
A SAD lamp for a sad lump.
I thought they'd be able to fly him to Ecuador by now. The inside of their limo's are also considered part of their embassy aren't they?
nobody cares
Lots of people turn to raping after making speeches criticizing the primacy of the U.S. dollar, or revealing U.S. top secret documents. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Edward Snowden weren't considering raping some poor women right now, or molesting kids, or selling secrets to the Chinese, or kicking puppies.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Without the option of moving out to breathe some air without a carbon content higher than some school pencils, it's more likely his condition is caused by being stuck in London's air.
People hide in Embassies because they don't want to face charges; he's a fugitive from justice.
The indoor lifestyle has taken its toll on Julian, and it led to his contracting a chronic lung condition last fall
Is he really the geek we all assumed? A year in an embassy should be a cakewalk after 18 years in your mom's basement..
We know you read Slashdot. You're a geek who can't go outside, so you've gotta be here. Come on and say hi to us already.
"Uninterested in facing U.S. justice..."
I do want to point out that Assange is not facing U.S. justice. What he is "uninterested in facing" is a return to Sweden to be questioned on rape charges.
He says that if he's sent to Sweden, Sweden will extradite him to the U.S.. There's no actual evidence for that, and no real reason to believe it.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
They are the tax payer, what are they doing about it? Nothing, so that basically shows that they support the police wasting their money.
Just like the yanks, lazy and dumb.
Even if you were paying 8 policemen (which seems like an awful lot of policemen) to do nothing but take turns guarding the embassy 24/7, those policemen would be making nearly 800,000/yr for the 6,000,000 total to work out. In reality those policemen are probably making closer to 30-40k a year. I would love to see the break down in expenditures and how they justify spending it on a man who isn't even wanted for anything in their country and who is wanted on only the most tenuous of charges in Sweden.
Hopefully they are invoicing the US Government monthly for doing their dirty work for them. I would love to hear the justification put forth when the London police force asks for more money from their government to patrol the streets because all their manpower is tied up guarding a guy in an embassy.
Even in prison you are actually allowed to go outside. Presumably he prefers an internet connection to being able to see the sun? What he's got now is hardly better than it he was extradited to the USA and thrown in jail, except he doesn't get to be a martyr or fight a decent trial this way.
...is he better off continuing to get publicity to keep him in the mind of people or better off trying to fade into obscurity so people don't remember him and he's less of a target?
Disgusting how couple politicians treat Police as private force and we, tax payers pay for their inflated egos.
At the same time, outside of London you can wait couple hours for Police to show up if crime is reported.
There is no accountability anymore and those going overboard with guarding the embassy are laughing in our faces.
Eventually the self aggrandising narcissist will find that all his teenage and early 20 something fanboys and conspiracy theorists have either grown up or found a new "messiah" with whom they vicariously stick it to the man. Then he'll just be a sad little man stuck in a building which he can't leave. A bit like prison really.
Ironically , by the time he does eventually leave he'll have probably spent more time in self imposed prison that he ever would have done in sweden for rape.
sounds like an allergy or sensitivity to mold or the like.
If Assange comes out, he'll be arrested and jailed. He won't be in general population, so the cost of guarding him will not be $28k per year. He'll be isolated and placed on suicide watch, increasing the cost considerably. His lung condition will have to be treated.
The current situation suits "The Government" very well: he's isolated, he's got little access to specialized medical treatment and the cost of keeping him in there is equal, if not smaller that having him go to jail and on trial.
Can he still order hookers to service him in the embassy?
That would be admitting that they are criminal and in the wrong, therefore going to open assasination to gain their ends.
The reason why they are still guarding the embassy is because they want everyone to know that they WILL get you and it is hopeless to resist the pre-eminent force of our time.
Handing that force out to some random civilian shows that they are NOT the pre-eminent force of our time, but need "our" help.
One of two bad things will happen:
1. The US's influence over the world will implode
2. The US's influence over the world will be "something something something 'DarkSide' something something something 'Complete!'"
What happens next should be obvious. Personally, I hope US influence implodes -- we need freedom and democracy again.
"chronic lung condition"
From being indoors? Yep. totally believable.. for sure.
They killed him. Just gotta wait for him to drop. Take another year or two.
hes lived in a room in an embassy for an entire year, but its just questioning
hes prepared to live 5 more years in the embassy, but its just questioning
£200,000 bail was required to get him out of the klink, where he was awaiting extradition for questioning
swedish prosecutors have been given access to assange in jail, in the embassy, and during his house arrest on bail to which they declined
the british government has committed £3.8 million to playing what amounts to a very childish game of whack-a-mole with no end in sight...just to process an extradition for questioning about a possible rape.
The case is hillariously frought with inconsistency. There are more consistent rape and assault allegations on an episode of Jerry Springer, but for some reason the swedish criminal justice system cant seem to get this one even remotely credible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Allegations_of_sexual_assault_and_political_refugee
the US denies any "witch-hunt" is being undertaken but this is coming from a country that practices rendition, operates torture camps, and executes its own citizens without trial. So its safe to say the opinion of the government targeted by Assanges leaks is wholly unqualified to comment upon their response.
Assange knows what we all refuse to admit: Sweden might be his country of extradition, but his final destination is the cuban resort with the lemon-pepper fish and waterboard wednesdays.
Good people go to bed earlier.
I basically never go outside and my lungs are just fine, lol. I don't see the cause and effect there. When I do go outside (summer at least) boom, allergy meltdown. Now that's a lung condition.
How much is this costing Ecuador and how long are they willing to host Assange?
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
I've read that during the cold war embassies smuggled interesting things in/out of countries in creative ways. For example, putting a person in a diplomatic mail bag. I wonder what the British would do if Assange was shipped out of the country in a manner that tested diplomatic protocol?
Extradition has to be OK'd by the foreign minister (in the case of foreign nationals in the country). And they have questioned putative murderers by going there and asking them questions. Yet in this case, they say they can't ask him questions unless they have him on their soverein ground.
Why the sudden inability?
THAT is why his worries are NOT paranoia: they are blatantly out to get him, by hook or by crook.
However I look at these numbers, it appears that UK cops have got to be the highest-paid in the world.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
The rule is that you stand trial when you're accused of a crime. He can afford the best blood-sucking lawyers on earth. This whole politically technicality crap just has to stop. It's up there with the "I'm not touching you" game we played as a kid.
Maybe he's digging a tunnel to the nearest tube station.
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
We do not want him to swing across the channel to the Principality of Sealand, do we?
They could be arresting coloreds for smoking marijuana.
Congress after being cornered by this dangerous death cult, will simply pass a bill to have all the members of the Executive Branch (who did bad things like treason, oath breaking) have all their HAIR forcefully removed in the most painful way.
Whereas, sometimes when the wax builds up on a scalp and the whole of the skin of the face might be accidentally torn off, that the hotwaxer's doing to the hotwaxee's (bad government) shall not be held liable. In otherwords, just like that vaccine that made you flop around on the floor like a fish and turn into a vegetable for the next 37 years, so to if someone accidentally bleeds out in the "Enhanced Brazillian Hot Wax." Also to those hot wax control freaks, no enhanced hot wax technique will ever be outlawed, it's a god given right to hot wax treasonous oath breaking scumbags, so no outlawing the wax or the ingredients, the manufacturer, the elements, the genes, the software, the herbs, the container, especially no outlawing 55 GALLON HOT WAX, or 2K HOT WAX, but also all the way down to 22 saturday night specials hot wax with raw milk, No outlawing guitars or guitar wax either, and if some fool complains about the flavor of EAR WAX, they will only be fed maggot wax for 30 days,
whereas, the big for profit prison WACKENHUT, shall be renamed WAXEMHUT, and no more drug cases shall be allowed, but only WAX TORTURE FOR CLASSIFIED EXECUTABLE FILES.
We identify things by both their characteristics and their context.
For example, if something looks like a duck we are tempted to say that it's a duck, and without regard to context that's the most likely explanation.
But then consider the context: If the context doesn't match, we change our assessment accordingly. If it's on top of a mountain, we think it's a rock that resembles a duck. In a store window, we think it's a stuffed-doll resembling a duck. If it's in the MIT swimming pool, we think it's a robot resembling a duck.
Absent any context, Sweden's request for extradition is innocent and benign - how could he possibly refuse such a simple legal request?
But the context surrounding the extradition does not match. There's a number of contextual inconsistencies with the situation, all of which indicate that this is not an extradition, it's something different.
It is abundantly clear that we're not seeing an actual duck. You can argue the probability in various ways, but it's not 100%.
You might next consider "so what?" What's so bad about being extradited to the US?
Consider the risk/reward equation. Julian probably carries around in his head contact information for informants and associates which the US does not know about, and activities of various people which the US would consider evidence of espionage. Once on US soil, it would be nigh impossible to keep this information from the US authorities. He would be forced(*) to give up not only his own freedom, but the freedom of people who put their trust in him. (Not to mention the chilling effect this would have on future whistle-blowers.)
It's likely that the value of this information is so high that even a tiny risk of extradition multiplied by the value potentially lost results in a negative payout. Taking the chance is too risky, it's not a good bet.
... There's no actual evidence for that, and no real reason to believe it.
See previous link, or google for yourself. Plenty of evidence, you are stating an untruth.
(*)Ref: Bradley Manning's treatment
It never ceases to amaze me how a government can blatantly waste money on something and there's absolutely no way for the citizenry to do anything about it.
Here were have:
1) a situation where a police force has put almost $6 million into surveillance of someone
2) the person they're watching is under surveillance so they can be extradited to another country because they've been accused of rape. This person has not been convicted of any crimes yet. Typically, this level of resources is not put into even the average murder case, even with solid evidence
3) It's expected that the extradition is a smokescreen that will lead to another extradition to the US where he'll be "questioned" regarding a website the accused has been involved in
The average American doesn't want to see Assange extradited here. The British don't want to foot the bill for watching him in the Embassy. And the Ecuadorians probably aren't thrilled with having all eyes on them.
So how exactly does something like this happen?
Further, what he's "wanted for questioning" about isn't a crime in the United Kingdom (no, he's not been accused of "rape" in the traditional sense, he's been accused of continuing consensual intercourse after a condom broke after having agreeing to use one,) nor the US, nor most other countries on earth.
Sorry, that's simply not true. Regardless of whether you believe Assange is innocent or guilty, he has been accused of: (i) forcefully holding down a woman and spreading her legs in order to penetrate her against her will; and (ii) non-consensual sex with a sleeping person who had explicitly told him no.
Now, you're free to disagree with both those allegations, free to accuse the entire justice department of Sweden of slander or whatnot, but you're not free to lie about what the accusations are or whether they're considered crimes.
If the Swedish prosecutors had just agreed to interview him in Britain in the first place a large part of that cost may have been saved. Regardless of whether he is guilty of the accusations, or whether Sweden had planned to extradite him to the US, the whole situation cheapens rape by showing that someone accused of a serious sex crime can avoid the process of lawful trial by having the right political contacts. Blame is to be shared by all parties(Assange, EC, UK, SE, US) for this waste of time, money and justice.
Is there a statute of limitation for whatever the UK wants to seize Assange for?
"The hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs" - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Since all they have to do is "officially" lie.
Officially, he's not even a suspect. Officially he is not under arrest. But the prosecutor signed an European ARREST Warrant anyway.
Wikileaks he is a member of. He's wanted in the USA because of it leaking information which is not a crime for Julian to do. He isn't employed by the US government to keep their secrets and is not a signatory to any of their laws.
So the ONLY reason he is wanted by the USA, if they asked for him (and if they do not, there is no harm in guaranteeing they will not deport him to the USA), is because of Wikileaks.
And therefore my post stands.
In communist China, if you are wanted for political reason but manage to flee into a foreign embassy, the government will let you go to that country.
In democratic Great Briton, no?
Fugitive implies guilt.
No it does not. Buy a dictionary.
He posted 240,000 pounds as bail, and as conditions of his release, agreed to turn over his passport, wear a GPS tracking device, visit police once daily, and agreed to a 10 p.m curfew.
He skipped out on the bail (and in doing so, forfeitting about half a million dollars put up on his behalf by people who trusted him). He's a fugitive, by definition.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Assange exposed wrongdoing by democratic governments. Bush and Obama responded by brazenly persecuting him for having done so. This is the way we expect countries like North Korea or Cuba to behave, but a democracy? Seriously?
unless they have a contraindication like sarcoidosis: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/
Humans are adapted to live in the sunshine. The US RDA for vitamin D is way too low for most adults, especially ones who spend most of their time indoors these days (which is most everyone in the USA): http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
It's not surprise Assange has lung issues if he has become vitamin D deficient: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/pneumonia/
If you have allergies, look into adding more phytonutrients to your diet along with the vitamin D.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Other.aspx
"If allergies are the problem, have you ever thought why your immune system is so sensitive and reactive to normal environmental substances?
Patients often state, “I struggled for years with pain and fatigue, until I finally found out fibromyalgia was my problem.” Does giving it a name establish a cause? Of course not. If you give the problem a name, patients may feel a little relieved that they now know what is wrong, but it usually does not help or solve their condition. The accuracy of the diagnosis is not as important when compared to the accuracy and effectiveness of the therapeutic recommendations for the problem.
On a practical level, the name of a disease doesn’t even matter that much. It is uncovering the cause of the disease that matters. When most of the causes are uncovered and removed, the body can manifest a recovery, all by itself. Most people are not taught, and they fail to realize that the vast majority of diseases occur because they are earned. They are earned by the causes of disease that stress their body to the point where their genetic weaknesses have a chance to be expressed."
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
The USA has never been one to care the least bit about sovereignty when it comes to the political and monetary interests of those in power.
I'm shocked they have not sent in Seal Team Six to raid the embassy, kick in the door and arrest Assange right there, and then transport him away by helicopter where he'll "disappear".
And seriously, Ecuador? What kind of a fight do you think that country could put up against the might of the USA, even if raiding your embassy was an act of war? What American would even care for more than 1 second if Ecuador declared war on the USA? They'd go right back to munching on deep fried pork rinds while watching Dancing with the Stars. It wouldn't even make the news on CNN.
Hell, America has forgotten they are still at war with Afghanistan. It never even makes the news.
Frankly, if they "drone striked" the entire embassy, it would make the news for maybe a week, and then fade away in comparison to all the other government scandals, and it certainly wouldn't be the worst thing on the news. I think Americans would be more upset if Kim Kardashian got married again.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Sweden refused to have the workings of their legal system dictated to them by a fugitive? I can't thing of many countries where that would wash.
"Wanted for questioning" and "fugitive" are not the same thing.
True. He is both wanted for questioning and a fugitive.
Further, what he's "wanted for questioning" about isn't a crime in the United Kingdom
Actually, it is. More particularly, though, he agreed to present himself to British Justice system on request-- that was a condition of his bail-- and, instead, he skipped out. So now he is a fugitive from justice in both Britain and Sweden.
That Sweden won't guarantee him safe passage (i.e. "We won't extradite you to the USA") you can surmise that extradition to the United States is the sole purpose of getting him to Sweden in the first place.
You can assume no such thing. In general, legal systems don't do negotiations with people wanted for questioning. Assange has come up with a continuously changing list of excuses why he doesn't want to go to Sweden to answer questions about rape charges, and the excuses evolve to fit whatever he seems to think will best please the audience. Since he could end up facing rape charges, one can see why he might want to not visit the police in Sweden. Possibly he should go to Switzerland, where he could join Roman Polanski, also fugitive from rape charges.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Lots of people turn to raping after making speeches criticizing the primacy of the U.S. dollar, or revealing U.S. top secret documents. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Edward Snowden weren't considering raping some poor women right now, or molesting kids, or selling secrets to the Chinese, or kicking puppies.
In politics that if you can't attack the message, you attack the messenger. The United States has several organizations dedicated to discrediting people who come forward with allegations of impropriety against the government. It is a standard tactic used by many governments; Distributing disinformation is a time-honored military and political strategy.
And it is very effective. Just look at this thread: Some people have been completely taken in by it and the discussion now revolves not around the correctness of whistle blowing, or whether society benefits from an organization like wikileaks, or if what the government was exposed in having done was right or wrong... the entire discussion now centers largely on Julian.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
If (as has been claimed by a number of sources) the people who were allegedly raped by Assange no longer want the prosecution to go ahead), why are the Swedish (cops/state prosecutors etc) still interested in continuing with the prosecution?
Maybe the law is different in Sweden but from where I sit, if someone commits an act of rape against someone else, it should be up to the victim to make the decision on whether they want to make a complaint and proceed with prosecution.
but if larry flint has is rights violated then your next. People don't even care about the message of Wikileaks and how their lives could be better if the US government was reigned in and spent all that money pursing power on US Citizens.
Of course YOU would say that, you commie terrorist bastard!
The EAW was not written by a judge, it was written BEFORE the trial by the prosecution. There was thought to be no need for any evidence for the EAW claims because it was supposed to be an ARREST WARRANT, I.e. NOT "we want to question you", "We arrest you under suspicion of..." therefore had gone through at least enough judicial review to have SOME evidence for it.
So the claim by the prosecutor "He committed rape!!" *IS* a charge for which he can be extradited, nowhere in that document did it say that the claim had to be valid. Because it wasn't.
The Crown Court review was NOT about whether he had committed the act, it was whether the forms had been filled in correctly.
You REALLY need to read them if you want to assert someone else needs to read them. They don't say what the Daily Mail and Fox News say they do.
He and the Ecuadorians need to place a tote board on the side of the embassy with a debt clock-like running total to show how much UK taxpayer money is being wasted on this US-led smear campaign.
But, in keeping with the times, the actual cost is probably a fucking state secret.
Lots of people turn to raping after making speeches criticizing the primacy of the U.S. dollar, or revealing U.S. top secret documents. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Edward Snowden weren't considering raping some poor women right now, or molesting kids, or selling secrets to the Chinese, or kicking puppies.
In politics that if you can't attack the message, you attack the messenger. The United States has several organizations dedicated to discrediting people who come forward with allegations of impropriety against the government. It is a standard tactic used by many governments; Distributing disinformation is a time-honored military and political strategy.
Joe Wilson aka the Valerie Plame affair.
I wonder how long Equador will keep this douche bag around, hogging space in their embassy, because they decide that he's more trouble than he's worth?
Harbouring a rapist and a convicted computer criminal will not endear Equador to anybody. And last time I checked -- beggars can't be choosers.
There never was a free, democratic 'West', but at least once the governments of the West worked to a certain degree to make this lie seem plausible to ordinary people. Now we have a full blown police-state concept sweeping the West, with every effort made to ensure that daily, the sheep have their face shoved into exactly what this implies.
The French power-player who had the fake rape charge used to take him out in New York, so he couldn't run for major office during the next French elections. He was held in a notorious US torture facility, and the world's press told to tell the sheep he was on constant 'suicide watch'. Given the choice of being suicided or giving in, he chose to give in and resigned his position.
The fake rape charges against Assange by CIA operatives in Sweden are 100% more transparent than the plot used to take down Strauss-Kahn. They aren't even rape charges in the true sense of the word, but are a consequence of feminist dogma (the same dogma that also legalised child pornography for a significant period of time in Scandinavia). The feminist dogma states that any woman can withdraw consent for a consensual sexual encounter AFTER that encounter has concluded, retro-actively converting consensual sexual activity into 'rape'. The dogma is based on the theory that a 'happy' woman would have no reason to do this, so a woman who DOES choose to retro-actively withdraw consent must have just cause.
Tony Blair personally over-saw the creation of EU wide warrants where a person could be arrested in a country that did NOT recognise the action as criminal in any sense, and ship person back to the land where the action was seen as criminal. For instance, if Blair gets Turkey into the EU, a woman that refuses a forced virginity examination in Turkey and runs away to Britain can, and will be arrested in Britain and extradited back to Turkey to stand trial. This stands all concept of natural justice on its head. This depraved crap is what feminists in Sweden demand.
If Assange's acts are NOT seen as criminal in any form in the UK (and they are not), Assange should have sanctuary in the UK. This is how decent Humanity has worked forever. But this has NOTHING to do with his sex life. This is about the psychopathic war-monger, Obama, saying that his 'enemies' have no place to hide on this planet. Hitler and Stalin also made the same declaration, and were also notorious for murdering their targets anywhere they managed to run to. Israel boasts the same. We can identify true evil by simply looking at the stated desires and actions of truly evil people and regimes.
Every true monster in Human history had his legions of supporters. You'll see similar followers of evil flood this thread with support of Obama's actions against Assange.
The true irony is, at every stage, Assange has been Tony Blair's unknowing puppet, leaking information to aid Blair's agendas across the planet. Tony Blair in print, otherwise known as The Guardian newspaper, has been and is at the forefront of the whole 'leaks' psy-op.
PS I hope you idiot Yanks have noticed that Obama has begun the process to officially hand over Afghanistan to the rule of the Taliban. What was it you brain-dead sheeple were told you were fighting for over there? A massive increase in the heroin trade? Trillions wasted? A vastly improved training ground for extremist terrorists? Empowering a regime that eliminates every Human Right for women? A vast expansion of extremist Islamic rule across the Middle-east, Asia and North Africa? You Yanks must be so proud of yourselves.
Neither woman got pregnant. QED.
We're not talking about the US here.
Seriously, $6 million to watch ONE building (or compound, I don't know how extensive the embassy is) for a year?
WTF?
Let's say you put 4 cops on the job (one to watch each corner).
3 shifts = 24 hours. Call it 14 cops, so you have relief, weekend coverage, and overlap.
London cops get paid $400,000+/year?
I'm in the wrong business. I'll sit and watch a building for a single guy for a year for $400k.
Oh wait, see, I forgot that this is absurdly inflated so that every department/administrator can justify his/her 'piece' of the largesse. Good thing taxpayers apparently don't give a shit how their money is wasted.
-Styopa
Use some sort of manacle device to secure Assange to an Ecuadorian diplomat. Something the authorities could not easily remove. A large steel box 2 feet long with two arm holes, for example. Open the box, one arm of the diplomat in, one arm of Assange in, close the box, lock it, keep the key(s) in the embassy.
They cannot force the embassy to produce the key(s).
They cannot detain the diplomat long enough for them to pick the lock(s).
They cannot try to break the device with cutting or burning tools due to risk of injury to the diplomat.
GTFO to Ecuador, then GTFO to the safest place (for Assange) where Ecuador has a diplomatic presence.
Send the keys over (or reproduce them, or have a second set waiting, etc.) and separate them.
How much would it cost to arrange a skyhook?
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
This is a very crazy idea, but what if a Julian Assange body double exited the embassy?
I think that would be very interesting to see.
Assange is a douchebag.
--
Downey, Network Security Asshole
and the IRS will come after your Roth IRA to "balance the budget".
New Economic Perspectives
. . .the real facts of the matter:
http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assange/suspicious.pdf
Exactly!
http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assange/suspicious.pdf
. . .but many simply can't deal with the facts, or the truth!
http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assange/suspicious.pdf
And it is very effective. Just look at this thread: Some people have been completely taken in by it and the discussion now revolves not around the correctness of whistle blowing, or whether society benefits from an organization like wikileaks, or if what the government was exposed in having done was right or wrong... the entire discussion now centers largely on Julian.
Well, maybe because TFA is about Julian, and not about Wikileaks, or whistle blowing or government wrong-doing. I'd say it is you who are the one conflating the person with the deed right now. But then again, I guess that proves your point as well, in a way.
How can he be accused of rape, exactly, when both women have been quoted in interviews, stating that they were NOT raped?
"Oh, no officer, he didn't rape me."
"Your honor, I'm asking that you sign a warrant of arrest for rape, because the witness states that she has not been raped."
That's a pretty shallow observation. Not all victims of domestic violence want to confront their accusers and sometime recant under pressure. That's why there should always be an investigation.
The only facts that apparently are not in dispute is that there was an official complaint field with the Stockholm police by two women 2010-Aug-20 against Mr Assange and that on 2010-Aug-30, he admitted under questioning by the Stockholm police that he actually had sex with both of these two accusers and that there is a physical evidence of this (a condom), but it was consensual. To me that is tantemount of an accusation (maybe true or not, but still an accusation), so I don't know where you get your information.
Also, your assertion that the women have recanted is not exactly true. One of the presumed women (Ms. Arden), has actually posted on her blog that it actually happen and that she has been horrified by the threats made against her by presumed Assange sympathisers have pretty much ruined her life. The reported recanting/exonerating quote was published a unconfirmed tabloid report Aftonbladet by an anoymous person that claimed she was one of the two women. Hard to say if this was an actual quote of the person involved or not.
You're right, this isn't about questioning him, it's about getting him on Swedish soil where their law and agreement with the USA allow Sweden to send Assange over to the USA because he is
a) accused (not charged) of a crime in Sweden, hence can be forcibly removed from territorial land
b) asked for by the USA
But if he isn't on Swedish soil, they cannot send him to the USA.
MOREOVER, if they ACTUALLY charge him, he HAS to, if convicted, spend time in Sweden's jail system for that crime before he can be given over to the USA and, if not convicted, cannot be extradited since he cannot be forced out of Sweden.
Hence "wanted for questioning, not charged, but he MUST be on Swedish Soil!".
Not because they DO want to question him, but because the USA want him.
Well, maybe because TFA is about Julian, and not about Wikileaks, or whistle blowing or government wrong-doing. I'd say it is you who are the one conflating the person with the deed right now. But then again, I guess that proves your point as well, in a way.
An irony not lost on me, I assure you.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
According to the Daily Mail there are 3 police officers on duty in and around the embassy 24 hours a day. In addition there is some sort of rapid response vehicle available to them. This is central London, where there are always rapid response vehicles available 24 hours a day. Even taking into account making an extra vehicle and crew being made available I can't see how this can cost more than $2,500 a day, not the $17,000 quoted in the article. This figure is purely fictional, so Hague can grab a headline and manipulate public opinion on Assange.
His exile is self-imposed, on a wild (paranoid?) theory that the charges in Sweden (Sweden!) are trumped up in order to get him extradited there so that he can then be extradited to the US on a non-existent extradition demand. I suppose the Swedes can be grateful that he has imprisoned himself under conditions that are likely worse than a Swedish prison and that don't cost the Swedish tax payer a dime.
If I was Ecuador, I'd have every person who entered and left the embassy dye their hair the same color as Julian, dress like Julian, and wear hats and dark glasses. Every single person. Eventually it'd be trivial to sneak Julian out of there.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
as long as he is in the enbassy he has 24/7 security supplied by teh britich gov. Is this benefitial for him? Probably. Is it like being in prison? yes and no. He doesn't have to deal with prosion life but his freedom is compromised non the less. IS what he does in communication with teh outside of the Embassy being monitored? Of course it is!
Why bother spending that much money trying to send him away to Sweden while we all know an easy solution to catch him is by torch the embassy up by a mi5 agent, no I mean a drunk kid. All the people from the embassy has to be evacuated while firefighter putting out the fire. HINT HINT.
Drones, Badley Manning, Assange, Gitmo.... The US is a selective dictatorship.
He is not accused by the court system.
He is not accused by the women.
The prosecutor has accused him.
But if that is all that is needed as proof of guilt, why the need for anyone other than the prosecutor?
If they haven't arrested him, he's not being accused by the system. If they aren't charging him, he DOES NOT have to answer questions.
Last I checked he was willing to go to sweden for the questioning (no charges have been put forward at all to my knowledge yet) so long as he had a guarantee to not be extradited to the US while there.
If Sweden agreed to those terms, of course, he would just come up with some other excuse not to appear.
There doesn't seem to be any end to the list of plausible-sounding reasons he can come up with to avoid being sent back to Sweden to face questioning on the rape charges.
Can't say I blame him-- he wants the spotlight to stay firmly focused on making him look like a hero, not the stuff that-- at best-- makes him look like a sleazebag.
That allegation, as I understand it,...
I am troubled by the phrase "As I understand it." That means "according to unsubstantiated rumors", which is basically hearsay. So far, everything seems to be third-hand stories; I don't think we've heard any actual testimony. And, of course, the Swedish prosecutor really can't give the newspapers the evidence they have; their job is to tell it to a judge, not conduct a trial in the court of public opinion.
It's hard to judge a case when you haven't heard both sides, and even harder when we haven't heard either side. However, the allegations revealed in the extradition papers filed in Britain sure sound serious enough that I would say it seems fair to ask him to tell his side of the story to the prosecutors.
(Posting as anonymous coward, since things posted that are even slightly critical of Assange somehow get rated "troll".)
Hes a coward and should answer the charges or whatever it takes to clear his name. Hes acting guilty IMO as will be given the respect of a zip on a whales ass :}
Jack of all trades,master of none
There is no need to question on Swedish soil and they've questioned people about murder without demanding that the one wanted for questioning have to come back to Sweden first.
If he's not being arrested, they can ask him to come to Sweden, but he has no requirement to do so: he is not being arrested.
How the hell can you idiots get it so consistently and PROUDLY wrong?
There is more character and honor in Ecuador's little embassy than all of Washington DC and London combined.
Yes, that's true, folks: if you don't turn up to your trial, you don't get to present any evidence. Therefore if the evidence is convincing, you cannot counter it and will lose.
Courts will NOT decide they cannot have a trial because the one on trial isn't there: they can try in absentia.
Assange is a big-mouth real coward, celebrated by big-mouth virtual heroes.
You are correct, and the correct counter to that would have been to go to Sweden and face his day in court and to undermine his accusers. What Assange is doing is playing right into their hands, he makes himself seem as nothing more than someone trying to avoid being prosecuted for rape.
And trying to avoid being persecuted for rape makes him seem guilty. And people tend to have very little respect for rapists.
Yes he hasn't been convicted yet and ought to be considered innocent until proven otherwise but since when has the media ever cared about that?
If you would like to learn more about the Julian Assange sex allegations please view, "Sex, Lies and Julian Assauge" by Four Corners; flagship Australian investigative journalism. Four Corners have been screening for 50 years on the ABC, the government funded channel.
Here's the link to "Sex, Lies and Julian Assauge", enjoy: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/07/23/3549280.htm
If you would like to learn more about why Julian Assange is "hunted" watch "Wikirebels", on SBS Australia.
Here's the link to "Wikirebels", enjoy: http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/31404099779/WikiRebels
If you watch these with an open mind and can accept that they are valid unbiased journalism you may come away more informed.
Where's the Open Source Julian Assange lookalike kit? 500 Julian Assanges periodically showing up at the Ecuadorian embassy and then all independently making their way elsewhere sounds like fun.
> 'From July 2012 through May 2013, the full cost has been £3.8 million ($5,963,340),'
The Six Million Dollar Man, then...
...at least he has his freedom, right?
They already focused on his (former?) girl friend. They are not fully coherent whether they want to picture her as a kicked puppy or a prostitute, but either way, Snowden is a lowlife. What's to be expected from a traitor who is sworn in to the constitution and thinks that entitles him from exposing people wiping their ass with the constitution and whining about how it is their task rather than its authors and the public to figure out the balance between freedom and security?
Prepared to spend five years living there? If he goes out for a walk, he'll be extradited to Sweden? So... to avoid "possible" prison, he has most definitely imprisoned himself right now?
Prepared to spend five years living there? If he goes out for a walk, he'll be extradited to Sweden? So... to avoid "possible" prison, he has effectively and most definitely imprisoned himself right now?!