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Ecuador Grants Citizenship To WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (cbsnews.com)

hcs_$reboot writes: Ecuador has granted citizenship to Julian Assange, who has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over five years. Quito, Ecuador, has said naturalization should provide Assange with another layer of protection. However, naturalization appeared to do little to help the Australian-born WikiLeaks founder's case, with the British foreign ministry stressing that the only way to resolve the issue was for "Assange to leave the embassy to face justice." Earlier on Thursday, Britain said that it had refused a request by Ecuador to grant Assange diplomatic status, which would have granted him special legal immunity and the right to safe passage under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

252 comments

  1. What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Mal-2 · · Score: 2

    Couldn't Ecuador officially employ him as an ambassador, now that he is a citizen? If the UK doesn't like his role as an ambassador, they can always kick him out of the country.

    --
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    1. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      They already asked for him to be recognised as an ambassador, and the UK rejected their request.

      --
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    2. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suspect some people Britain is also looking for an elegant way out fo this situation. Though not hardliners siding with US on matters of espionage. Remove those from power (elect someone else) and Assange might get free passage to Ecuador.

    3. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try reading?

      "Britain said that it had refused a request by Ecuador to grant Assange diplomatic status"

    4. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Rei · · Score: 5, Informative

      Where does this notion come from that a nation can "force" another nation to grant a particular individual diplomatic status? Diplomatic status is requested by the sending state, and then the nation in question either approves or denies their request.

      The exact same thing applies to asylum. You can say whatever you want about a person "having asylum". Nobody else has to listen to your declaration. Some states have treaties mutually recognizing each other's asylum cases, but the vast majority do not.

      And it's a damn good thing that international law works like this.

      --
      The chloride owes the sodium money.
    5. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      You can be an ambassador if you want. Granting diplomatic status to an ambassador is still up to the other country. They could kick out the resulting Ecuadorian ambassador, but they could also arrest him. The only thing that will prevent this is a desire not to increase diplomatic tensions between countries.

    6. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 0

      He's a fugitive from justice.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

      The United Nations was ridiculed on Friday after its experts ruled Julian Assange is "detained" in the Ecuadorian embassy and suggested Britain should pay compensation to the Wikileaks founder.

      The findings were described as "ridiculous" by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, as it emerged the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was deeply divided over its conclusions.

      One member of the panel refused to support the final report, saying Mr Assange was a fugitive who "fled bail" over a rape allegation in Sweden and was using political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy to "evade arrest".

      Mr Cameron's official spokesman said: "It's ridiculous. There's a European Arrest Warrant out for him. He has never been arbitrarily detained in this country. It's entirely his choice to remain in the Ecuadorian embassy and he is avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain there."

      Echoing the Prime Minister's comments, Phillip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said: "I reject the decision of this working group. Julian Assange is a fugitive from justice. He is hiding from justice in the Ecuadorian embassy. He can come out any time he chooses. But he will have to face justice in Sweden if he chooses to do so."

      He's been in there for five years. The ridiculous thing is that if he'd actually gone back to Sweden and been convicted of rape he'd probably have spent less than five years in a very comfy Swedish jail.

      Then again he's effectively got free board and lodging in the centre of London and he can claim to be a political prisoner. And a load of celebs can do his shopping runs to Harrods for him - he doesn't actually need to go out. He certainly seems to be gaining weight. I guess a diet of Harrods food hall stuff agrees with him.

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      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    7. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Though not hardliners siding with US on matters of espionage.

      The US alliance is absolutely vital to the UK - without it we'd need to build our own Trident missiles. And we'd need to build our own listening centres to replace the NSA ones which cooperate with GCHQ.

      It's doable for sure - the UK did have programs like this when the US suspended nuclear cooperation after WWII. And the UK could work with Canada, Australia, Singapore and so on - and in fact UK cooperation with these countries was folded into the Five Eyes. However it would cost significantly more than the UK currently spends on intelligence and defence.

      And in a sense people like Assange are just as much enemies of GCHQ as they are of the NSA. Even if the NSA/GCHQ cooperation ceased the UK would still be out to get him.

      Or maybe I should say "the UK would clearly still want to cooperate with our European friends and allies on law enforcement. Particularly on odious sexual crimes like rape".

      And before anyone quibbles about what he was accused of and whether he has been charged, read this. From the New Statesman, a far left magazine that was initially very sympathetic to Assange.

      https://www.newstatesman.com/b...

      The Guardian, another far left paper which published the Wikileaks stuff also thinks he should not be able to evade justice

      https://www.theguardian.com/co...

      Mr Assange, who invited the UN panel to examine his case in 2014, knew the outcome in advance. That may account for his offer to give himself up to the British authorities if its opinion went against him. He will hope that its findings allow him to claim some kind of moral victory, and strengthen his call that the Swedish authorities drop their investigations. But he would still face arrest in the UK: he was granted bail while he fought extradition to Sweden and he broke his bail conditions, at great expense to those friends and supporters who had backed him financially, by fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy. No doubt the conditions of his self-imprisonment are unpleasant; they are certainly severely limiting. But it is possible to sympathise with his circumstances, and to applaud his role in the WikiLeaks revelations that exposed embarassing and sometimes illegal US activity that were published in the Guardian (while deploring his later decision to dump many more, unmediated, on the web) without accepting his right to evade prosecutorsâ(TM) questions about the allegation that he committed a serious criminal offence.

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    8. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wishful thinking by the leftist Anonymous Coward Assange stormtroopers.

      He played international spy, published the leaks of others while risking his own welfare as little as possible, thumbed his nose at the U.S., screwed a couple of swedish groupies the way HE knows they deserved to be fucked and then ran away to a hidey hole.

      What's not to love for the basement dwelling geeks who still idolise him?

      Posted AC to conserve mods.

    9. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      So you're saying because of his valuable political work he may have been falsely accused, and those false accusations may be used to extradite him to the US - despite the fact the US hasn't requested this - and when in the US he may be killed?

      That's a lot of 'may's. Essentially it's an argument that he should be immune to accusations of sexual misconduct. Even the scummiest US or UK politician - the people Wikileaks was set up to expose - wouldn't claim they should be allowed to rape people and not be prosecuted.

      So there's a certain amount of irony that Assange is. It's also an argument that clearly failed to convince either the New Statesman or the Guardian, two publications that were initially very sympathetic to Wikileaks.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    10. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Your first comment seemed more reasonable, then in your second comment you had to fat-shame the dude. Now in your third you've used a few comments by the New Statesman and the Guardian as ratchets to hurl him into purgatory.

      I think you would find that opinion at journals like NS and the Guardian are more mixed than you are asserting.

      The guy wasn't nice to Hillary. So a whole bank of the partisan political are now bound to side against him. It feels good after decades of the political left-center being accused of being 'commies' by the right to have something 'patriotic' to rally around.

      And here you are centering your whole argument around the trumped up rape charges. Your transition from reasonable commentator to attack agent are clear.

    11. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pfft leftist? Julian Asange is the puppet of the right wing nutjobs with some dream of a anarcho-techno-libertarian utopia

    12. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I, King of Dumbfuckistan, also grant him Citizenship.

    13. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by dwillden · · Score: 1

      False, the US has no extradition request, nor have we even filed charges against him. The fear of extradition to the US is based on a misunderstanding of who is responsible for leaked secrets. Manning was legally responsible for violating the trust he was given when authorized to access our secure systems. He bears full liability for stealing and leaking those secrets.

      Assange, a foreign national not subject to US law was under no legal obligation to protect the information given him. The US has no legal claim on him. Any extradition request would be instantly denied because of this.

      Nor can we just disappear him, he's too high profile. He is not an enemy of the state, he's no friend but he's not an enemy. And I doubt we would try to just eliminate him, again he;s too high profile and too many would instantly assume anything that happened to him was a CIA action or plot. In fact if he ever does leave that embassy, I hope he lives a very safe and long life. Otherwise anything does happen to him is going to be blamed on the CIA. Even if they have nothing to do with it, the conspiracy nuts will insist he was eliminated.

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    14. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 0

      Who are you to say the charges are trumped up? The Swedes and the Guardian certainly don't think they are. Multiple courts in both Sweden and the UK ruled Assange should go back to face trial. The only reason he avoided it was that he fled to the Ecuadorian embassy after he lost he UK Supreme Court case.

      https://www.supremecourt.uk/ne...

      14 June 2012

      The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has dismissed the application made by Ms Dinah Rose QC, counsel for Mr Julian Assange, seeking to re-open their appeal.

      The seven Justices who heard the appeal on 1-2 February 2012 and gave judgment on 30 May 2012 have considered the appellant's written application, and the reasons for their decision are set out below. These reasons have been agreed unanimously by the seven Justices.

      In addition, the Court has ordered that, with the agreement of the respondent and pursuant to section 36(3)(b) of the Extradition Act 2003, the required period for extradition shall not commence until the 14th day after today.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      In November 2010, a request was made for Assangeâ(TM)s extradition to Sweden, where he had been questioned months earlier over allegations of sexual assault and rape.[6] Assange continued to deny the allegations, and expressed concern that he would be extradited from Sweden to the United States because of his perceived role in publishing secret American documents.[7][8] Assange surrendered himself to UK police on 7 December 2010, and was held for ten days before being released on bail. Having been unsuccessful in his challenge to the extradition proceedings, he breached his bail and absconded. He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 and has remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London since then.

      Breaching bail and absconding is definitely not a trivial thing in the UK - you'd probably get more for that than raping someone in Sweden.

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      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    15. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Grauniad is "far left"? Loooool

      Rabid neoliberal rag. Nothing left wing about it.

      I assume you are USAian from your clear inability to understand what "left wing" means.

    16. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is what's great about Assange. Two establishment bootlickers on opposite sides of the false dialectic can't even agree which "radical" side of their bullshit spectrum he falls on.

    17. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Strange thing is, they used to know what left wing is.

      They just had their own word for it.

      The word was "commie". Social democrat, socialist, communist, didn't matter. Everything on the left was called "commie".

    18. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The UK could declare a diplomat Persona non grata. That person keeps all their diplomatic protection on the way out of the UK.
      Arresting any other nations embassy staff after been declared Persona non grata as they are leaving is not something the UK would want to.
      A legal precedent for arresting any diplomat is not acceptable within the diplomatic community.
      The Persona non grata allows a person to exit the nation with diplomatic protection as they are been recalled.
      If not the prisons in the UK, USA and Soviet Union would have been full of each others embassy staff during the cold war.
      They did not and many embassy staff got to be recalled to their own nations in a very normal way.
      So that "but they could also arrest" is not a good path for any nation to attempt with another nations diplomats.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    19. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by blahplusplus · · Score: 2

      Where does this notion come from that a nation can "force" another nation to grant a particular individual diplomatic status?

      Perhaps you're unaware of the history of the untied states? The charges issued by sweden authorities was because of the strong arming of the US to punish economically or otherwise sweden so the swedes said yes master to washington and we got total propaganda hit piece against assange via false charges. Anyone who has any understanding of american history understood exactly what was going on, Assange stuck his neck out against the empire, that's a big no no the american upper class.

      Anyone who has any understanding of american history and foreign policy knows exactly the kind of influence american upper class has on other states.

      Overthrowing other peoples governments the master list

    20. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the part I don't get. Ecuador declares him an ambassador, UK arrests him, and, if Ecuador is serious, they arrest the UK ambassador in Ecuador, or any other British citizen who happens to be caught within their borders that amuse them. And sure, UK could wipe Ecuador off the map, but how far down the lane of a shooting war are they willing to go over a fugitive from justice that Sweden is no longer interested in. Heck, the guy who really wanted him arrested (Obama) isn't even a player anymore. Trump probably can't spell Assange, and has gone on the record as saying he loves WikiLeaks (which I realize he could declare fake news in a heartbeat, but the tape remains out there).

    21. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're saying because of his valuable political work he may have been falsely accused, and those false accusations may be used to extradite him to the US - despite the fact the US hasn't requested this - and when in the US he may be killed?

      That's a lot of 'may's. Essentially it's an argument that he should be immune to accusations of sexual misconduct. Even the scummiest US or UK politician - the people Wikileaks was set up to expose - wouldn't claim they should be allowed to rape people and not be prosecuted.

      You think people in power care about rape?

      The powers that be have already decided that it's not real child-rape if you're a muslim.

      Those people in power... we know what their attitude towards rape perps are (see link above), so clearly they are after him for other things.

      If you disagree then you have some difficult questions to answer about why they care about rape when the perp is white but not when the perp is not. Or why they care about rape when it's an adult who revoked consent vs a child who never gave it.

    22. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      The charges issued by sweden authorities was because of the strong arming of the US to punish economically or otherwise sweden so the swedes said yes master to washington

      Just to be clear, this is 100% speculation, and is probably mostly incorrect. There's no advantage at all to the US in involving Sweden in this. The extradition treaty the UK has (not to mention the political relationship between the two) is far stronger, and if the same allegations had been made by people in Britain against Assange (ie if the aim is to convict Assange of an imprisonable offense to get him out of the way) it would be just as likely to be successful. British prisons are probably worse than Sweden's too.

      --
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    23. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, in the spirit of accuracy, they asked for him to be recognized as a diplomat. There's a difference between having diplomatic protection under international law, and being the actual ambassador for a particular country.

      The UK told them to shove it on those diplomatic protections, and that he still has an outstanding flight warrant. Which he does, regardless of if Sweden dropped their case. You don't just get to jump bail.

      Captcha: settled

    24. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Type44Q · · Score: 0

      Who are you to say the charges are trumped up?

      This isn't the first time you've exhibited the behavior of a shill, albeit a rather unintelligent one:

      Assange wasn't that long ago; it's still a little early to be trying to change the narrative.

    25. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by BlueStrat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just to be clear, this is 100% speculation, and is probably mostly incorrect.

      That's curious, because that's how an informed person would describe the legal attacks against Assange since Wikileaks dared publish evidence that the US Government routinely, knowingly, and blatantly violates the US Constitution, their Oaths of Office, the civil rights of it's own citizens while literally stopping and robbing them at gunpoint of any substantial money or property they may happen to have legally acquired and own in their possession as they travel our roads like the "highwaymen" of old..

      It's almost like the Mafia didn't die, they just moved house. It's not strictly a (D) or (R) problem, it's both.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    26. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Actually I think it's more to do with the fact that anyone a Trump supporter hates is now called a "leftist".

      Case in point, Hillary and her supporters were deemed leftists by Trump supporters even though ones of the reasons they professed to hate her was that she was a warhawk and was putting corporate interests above the average joe which are the classic tenets that sit a politician about as firmly right wing as you can.

      Assange is firmly a hard right libertarian. The term leftist nowadays is bandied about much less because someone is actually a supporter or believer in left wing politics and much more as a "You're not far right, therefore you're left" kind of position of profound ignorance. When you're so far right then yes, it's true that everyone else is left of you, but that doesn't mean they lean left despite this being what the current vocal far right failures at life are saying.

    27. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The CIA often likes to make retribution obvious while unprovable. Or do you honestly believe in all those depressed multiple suicides of previous actors that crossed the CIA? If he were let go he would either commit suicide or be robbed and killed (with nothing taken) a couple of years after the fact.

    28. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      All they need is a really big Diplomatic Pouch with some air holes poked in it...
      stick a letter in Julian's pocket and he's official mail.

      --
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    29. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

      Just to be clear, this is 100% speculation, and is probably mostly incorrect.

      Sorry to tell you your brain doesn't see nor live in reality, your brain does not literally reason the way you think it does, see the science:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

    30. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Swedish prosecutor wishes to interview him, that is what the warrant is about. He hasn't been charged with anything he is simply under suspicion. Everyone including UK promoted the idea that he would be interviewed in the embassy so that everyone can stop wasting their money, the swedish prosecutor refused. Police rutinely do these interviews when necessary where the subject is. If anything, this situation with Assange more than qualifies that for the sake of victims and everyone else this issue can move forward and he can be charged if anything.

    31. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      USA is known for legal back bending to fit their objectives. Need to protect civilians and prisoners of war? No problem, simpyl call them enemy combatants and do whatever you please with them, That is just one example of legal wrangling.

    32. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Couldn't Ecuador officially employ him as an ambassador, now that he is a citizen? If the UK doesn't like his role as an ambassador, they can always kick him out of the country.

      Diplomatic immunity requires PRIOR agreements between the two countries which includes entry permission and provisions for exiting the agreement that specify the conditions and time frames for notice by the host country wishing to end the agreement. One country cannot unalterably make someone an ambassador and demand they be afforded immunity by a host country any more than the host country can exit the diplomatic immunity agreement without giving the required notice.

      So Ecuador can make this guy a diplomat, but they cannot force the UK into letting him into the country. So, this idea really doesn't change anything.

      --
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    33. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually I think it's more to do with the fact that political ideologies consist of greater than a single dimension and a figure like Julian Assange confuses people brainwashed to conform their beliefs to Euclidean geometry.

      Case in point, you think he's a "far right winger" with a record of leaking material against the US military industrial complex and corporate polluters in Africa.

      There is no "left wing" and "right wing" when you learn to think for yourself. Just a bunch of people limiting their options.

    34. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If changes much, as being a naturalized citizen of Ecuador activates all kinds of provisions previously not applicable.

    35. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only an American would call the Guardian far left. Your whole political system is shifted to the right so much, I hate to see the reaction to an actual far left newspaper.

    36. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      I'm a Brit. And the Guardian is notorious for being far left. It's also notorious for misprints - note the spelling of embarrassing as 'embarassing' in the article I quoted. In the UK it's know as the Grauniad to mock both the fake news and lack of proofreading.

      Another funny reference to the Guardian is the doctor's slang GROLIES - Guardian Reader, Of Low Intelligence, In Ethnic Skirt. Which sums up their readership. The Swedish term Batikhäxen refers to the same type of person - like GROLIES they work as 'social worker, preschool teacher, at the municipal social office or cultural worker'.

      http://sv.metapedia.org/wiki/B...

      Batik Witch

      Batik witch , is a political term that, with a sarcastic undertones, describes a person with mostly politically correct statements and behaviors. Does not rarely work in the state or municipal sector. The person is fictitious and does not exist in actual sense, but rather is regarded as visualization of particular characteristics. Nobody can surely describe exactly what a batik witch is, but there are some attempts at definition:

      " A" batik witch "can work as a . She sees all problems as socioeconomic, the individual never has any responsibility but if you get into society, it's always someone else's fault and cause. The batik witch is living at a nice address, but the hostess for the suburb. She wants to be generous, with someone else's money. The bikini witch is happy to use the "racist card" when not having the same views. "

      1. Female.
      2. At least 40 years old.
      3. Strong in its appearance.
      4. Extremely politically correct opinions in the subjects Feminism and Integration.
      5. "Steamed" and generally grubby in political debates, insensitive to the view not on immigrants, low-income and women's side. Considered in discussions like "Elephant in Greenhouse".
      6. Bad / no idea how system and reality work because she mentally lives in the 60's and 70's. Think often with the heart rather than the brain.
      7. Has had a safe and trouble-free upbringing, but believes it has been very difficult.
      8. The address should be in a well-prosperous neighborhood, but the heart should be in the suburb.
      9. Weak for poems, syllables, theater and sculptures in organic clay depicting women's abdomen.
      10. Unaware that she is a Batik witch.

      The definition thus corresponds to certain points with a multi-cultural refugee that often uses the concept of socioeconomic reasons as a model of explanation for most problems in society. The term Batik witches are commonly found on blogs and forums with a usually critical attitude towards political correctness . Information about when the word coined is unreliable, but probably the word originated in the early 2000s. The word batik is a dyeing technique originating from the Indonesian island of Java. Fabrics and garments are bonded with strings in some places to prevent the color that the material should be stained with when all surfaces make a certain pattern. Batik-colored clothes are often associated with the hippie movement.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    37. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by plague911 · · Score: 1

      Nonsense.

      There are clear and well defined policies that differ between left and right wing. Yes there are multiple dimensions that can lead to lead to individuals and policies to have a "complicated" position, but that not remove the terms "left and right wing" from conveying accurate information when used in a clear and definitive way.

      your statement is just nihilist hippy "labels are useless mannnnnn"

    38. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by plague911 · · Score: 0

      your statement = lol

    39. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by plague911 · · Score: 1

      Willing to go to war for Assange. No. Willing to launch an attack to rescue any wrongfully imprisoned UK nations? Yes. Either way it results in Ecuador having bodies to have funerals for.

    40. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by plague911 · · Score: 1

      Do you think that an Ecuadorian embassy would be safe from the CIA if they really wanted him? lol

    41. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am afraid you have not understood what happened at the Guardian. It started when those laptops were cerimoniously destroyed in their basement. From this point on the influence of GCHQ and its allies went from ocassionally influencing editorial content to full on you run what we tell you.

    42. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      You haven't understood what is going on. Making them destroy a bunch of stuff from the IT room junkbox was Cameron letting them off.

      https://www.theregister.co.uk/...

      The picture certainly shows the remains of a MacBook: its casing - said separately by Rusbridger to be a MacBook Pro, but which might actually be an Air; it looks too thin to be a Pro - and its motherboard. But Guardian snapper Roger Tooth's photo also contains what is clearly a second MacBook mobo, along with an old graphics card - an AMD job, we'd say; you can see the three output connectors on the backplane - and another motherboard, possibly a small desktop computer or maybe another device, given the large areas empty of circuitry.

      Destroying the graphics card shows they know nothing about computers. Or maybe they're being disingenuous.

      https://www.headoflegal.com/20...

      A little over two months ago I was contacted by a very senior government official claiming to represent the views of the prime minister. There followed two meetings in which he demanded the return or destruction of all the material we were working on ...

      There followed further meetings with shadowy Whitehall figures. The demand was the same: hand the Snowden material back or destroy it. ...

      During one of these meetings I asked directly whether the government would move to close down the Guardian's reporting through a legal route - by going to court to force the surrender of the material on which we were working. The official confirmed that, in the absence of handover or destruction, this was indeed the government's intention. Prior restraint, near impossible in the US, was now explicitly and imminently on the table in the UK. ...

      And so one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardian's long history occurred - with two GCHQ security experts overseeing the destruction of hard drives in the Guardian's basement

      So they destroyed an old Macbook and old graphics card and thus met the destruction part of the Snowden material rather than handing it back.

      As the site points out

      By taking the less dramatic of the options open to him, Rusbridger has preserved his paper's ability to publish without immediate constraint - and it may well end up being able to publish more than if he'd taken the other route. His decision seems to me fully justified.

      I.e. the Guardian still had copies of the Snowden stuff in the US and so long as the published from there, the angle grinding old IT scrap performance meant they were legally in the clear and didn't need to handover what they had.

      https://www.theguardian.com/co...

      During one of these meetings I asked directly whether the government would move to close down the Guardian's reporting through a legal route - by going to court to force the surrender of the material on which we were working. The official confirmed that, in the absence of handover or destruction, this was indeed the government's intention. Prior restraint, near impossible in the US, was now explicitly and imminently on the table in the UK. But my experience over WikiLeaks - the thumb drive and the first amendment - had already prepared me for this moment. I explained to the man from Whitehall about the nature of international collaborations and the way in which, these days, media organisations could take advantage of the most permissive legal environments. Bluntly, we did not have to do our reporting from London. Already most of the NSA stories were being reported and edited out of New York. And had it occurred to him t

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    43. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That there are difference between the "left" and the "right" wings is only due to the fact that idiots self-limit their ideals according to what's an acceptable belief to their team.

      What exactly is "right wing" if a guy against needless military interventionism, environmental damage and crony-capitalism is "far right"? I'm guessing it's anyone more liberal than Trotsky. Or more likely, anyone not lock-step with your establishment overlords.

    44. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People also forget that he had committed no crime in the UK, nor had he been charged with anything in the UK. He was granted bail, because the high court in the UK had no reason to believe he would try to abscond. ... until he skipped bail and fled to the embassy.

      At that point, he broke UK law and now faces arrest by the UK police as soon as he leaves. This is in addition to anything else he may or may not be charged with in the future, although the suspected rape cases are either lapsing or being dropped, with the main allegation open until something like 2020. Who'd have thought a celebrity white guy could use his privilege to escape possible charges of rape?

    45. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      Just to be clear, this is 100% speculation, and is probably mostly incorrect. There's no advantage at all to the US in involving Sweden in this. The extradition treaty the UK has (not to mention the political relationship between the two) is far stronger,

      True, but to extradite him from the UK he'd have to be accused of an actual crime.

      To extradite him from Sweden he only has to be in custody for "questioning".

      --
      No sig today...
    46. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Was Julian Assange also "far right wing" when he was leaking information about Bush Administration abuses in Iraq? That crazy "far right" zealot who somehow earned the ire of every self-declared "right wing" figure in American politics?

      I swear it's like you tools have your memories erased every 8 years.

    47. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by plague911 · · Score: 1
      Again this is the same nonsensical over simplification, you list three different issues and then only one dimension. Sheesh did you not have high-school geometry? You need more a equal number of coordinates to position a point on a multidimensional realm

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    48. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Yeah, he's the poster boy for white privilege. Or at least celebrity privilege. If a normal person had been accused of rape their life would be fucked. As it would if they skipped bail.

      Assange gets free board and lodging next to Harrods and the press on speed dial. Though it looks like the press are getting bored with him.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    49. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you retarded or are you just this invested in the idea that Julian Assange only has it out for Democrats and not the entire military industrial complex?

      Like, seriously, Julian Assange was an enemy of the GOP from 2006-2008. He didn't become an enemy of the Democrats until 2011 under the Obama administration. In that time he made the Bush Administration look like complete idiots.

      So rather than ask me to list in excess of three positions in which he isn't the "far right radical" you make him out to be, how about you just give me a few positions that qualify him for the label? What "far right" beliefs does Julian Assange espouse with his actions? Decentralization of power? National sovereignty? Not voting for Hillary Clinton?

    50. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, the CIA only hires retards.

    51. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it was theatre but that does not invalidate my point.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
      http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php
      https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/05/germ-m19.html

      and of course the rather eye opening
      https://gosint.wordpress.com/2017/05/06/journalists-for-hire-how-the-cia-buys-the-news/

      I could go on but i won't. If you think this kinda stuff is not going on in the UK I will be informing the ghost of George Orwell.

    52. Re: What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 1

      Yes, someone referring to the UK as "we" is certainly an American (USAian is not the correct term). Good reading comprehension there.

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    53. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 2

      Being a warhawk is certainly not limited to the right.

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    54. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is factually wrong.
      Diplomatic status is notified for another nation. The receiving nation can then give the persona non grata status and kick out the diplomat.
      The ambassador is requested for and approved by the receiving nation.

    55. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Local+ID10T · · Score: 1

      The UK could declare a diplomat Persona non grata. That person keeps all their diplomatic protection on the way out of the UK.

      This presupposes that diplomatic immunity has been extended to the person in the first place.

      In Assange's case, this has not been done. The request to grant him such status was denied.

      You cannot keep what you never had.

      --
      "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
    56. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      Omit the air holes, and he can fill the pouch with hot air and float himself out.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    57. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by plague911 · · Score: 1

      No but I am guessing you may be a little touched. The chain had stopped being about Assange in particular about 8 responses back.

    58. Re:What if he actually WAS an ambassador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are several separate statements in the OP you replied to. Did you have one particular statement in mind, or were you referencing the entire OP as a single statement?

  2. Now he needs to be circumcised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But first they need to locate an Ecuadoran bris kit.

  3. Good by Macthorpe · · Score: 1, Troll

    Glad to see it. This would have set an uncomfortable precedent of granting a wanted criminal the freedom to roam around the country he is wanted in. Diplomatic immunity status shouldn't be able to be granted after a crime has been committed.

    --
    "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    1. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Glad to see it. This would have set an uncomfortable precedent of granting a wanted criminal the freedom to roam around the country he is wanted in. Diplomatic immunity status shouldn't be able to be granted after a crime has been committed.

      Wanted criminal? Sweden wanted him for questioning. They no longer do. The only reason for Britain to wait for Assange leaving the embassy now is to send him to the U.S. which they denied wanting to do.

      In other words, the question is not one of Assange needing to face justice, but one of Assange needing to face injustice.

    2. Re:Good by John.Banister · · Score: 4, Informative

      I believe Britain wants him for jumping bail.

    3. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      I don't think justice is reasonable when there is very good reason to suspect that the motives behind it are politically driven. Rightly or wrongly, he skipped justice because he was fearful for his life. Similarly, should we reject refugees and let their country deal with them because they know better? Who is to say that justice is not reasonable in their country but reasonable in ours?

    4. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting way of insinuating things: Which crime has been committed?
      You, Sir, deserve this year's fake news medal. Congrats.

    5. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He breached bail. That's a crime.

      So is jaywalking. How much taxpayer money do you want pissed away on this? Speaking of criminal activity...

    6. Re:Good by gravewax · · Score: 1

      He still breached bail which in itself is a crime. Regardless it would be a fucked up precedent to allow it. I understand the Ecuadorians want him out because he has bad hygiene but living with him is the price they pay for hiding him.

    7. Re:Good by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      We do reject refugees if we determine that their fears are unwarranted.

    8. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but one could be considered more serious than the other. Breaching the terms of bail is a attack on the judicial system.

      As for the taxpayers money, what would you have them do. If they didn't know where he was, they most likely would only have him put on the wanted list. But now they KNEW where he was, everyone did, just that they couldn't get him directly. If he managed to run away from there it would have been a big hit for the police, knowing where a wanted man was but letting him go.

      There are some things the police and courts just cannot ignore, otherwise it undermines the trust in them. And just because someone has a lot of fans doesn't mean that they should be treated differently.

    9. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      Well the European tribunal of human rights thought his fears aren't unwarranted. Sounds pretty legitimate to me.

    10. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In recent months, we've seen women finally start forward to confront powerful men who sexually assaulted them. For far too long, these men were able to sexually assaulted women and use their positions to avoid facing consequences for their actions. Julian Assange is the founder of a website dedicated to posting secret and potentially compromising information that wouldn't otherwise be made known to the public. I can see why confronting a powerful man like Assange would be intimidating for women. There are multiple accusers who have come forward. We've seen plenty of powerful men face serious consequences for sexually assaulting women. Assange should be no different. It would send a terrible message if Assange was able to dodge the consequences of his alleged sexual assaults. If the #metoo movement is going to make a substantial change in society, we can't let powerful men like Assange just walk away from these allegations.

    11. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know where you live, but I would put more trust into the justice system of any western country than that of say Syria, Afghanistan or any other country where there is a huge number of refugees coming from. I don't see many other australian citizens applying for asylum in ANY other country.

      I don't think he trusts the justice system anywhere. He just went to Ecuador because they were ones that might "stick it" to the big guys. And in the short run he was right. In the long run, we might see what happens.

    12. Re:Good by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Diplomatic immunity status shouldn't be able to be granted after a crime has been committed.

      Diplomatic immunity is just as you said: "granted". Whether it should or shouldn't, or whether the government simply arrests them after it has been granted is entirely up to country granting it.

    13. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      Fortunately our legal systems are good, but there's always an exception where justice is not carried out, and can be politically motivated. I can think of one particular case that happened in the state I lived in, where a famous novel where I am from called "nothing to do with justice", where a magistrate was jailed for a difference of opinion. Maybe go have a read of that and similar books.. politically motivated abuse of the legal system does happen. https://www.goodreads.com/book...

    14. Re:Good by Macthorpe · · Score: 1

      He skipped bail. That's a crime, whether you think the bail conditions are warranted or not.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    15. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The crime committed is jumping bail. Or do you have proof that it is ok with the law to ignore the terms of bail in the UK? Please show them to us. Or do you conveniently ignore that he did that?

      The allegations from Sweden are so far just allegations, but that was up to the courts to decide if they are true or not. They are not something, you, me, Assange or anyone else can decide themselves.

      But using the term "fake news" shows that you haven't gotten a clue what you are talking about.

    16. Re:Good by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Does anybody remember when he was a hero? For exposing the corrupt US government to the whole world? Did that go down the memory hole? Benedict Cumberbatch played him in the movie, for fucks sake. And he does what he always does, expose the corrupt US government to the whole world, and he suddenly became the worst criminal in the world? How does this even work?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    17. Re:Good by Macthorpe · · Score: 1

      I'm just going to copy paste this to everyone who doesn't understand the issues around Assange's continued evasion of justice:

      He skipped bail. That's a crime. You don't get to ignore every law just because you think that another country's attempt to prosecute is without merit.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    18. Re:Good by Macthorpe · · Score: 1

      He skipped bail. That's a crime. You don't get to ignore every law just because you think that another country's attempt to prosecute is without merit.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    19. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But whatâ(TM)s your own viewpoint?

      The U.K. is a democracy; âoeyou shouldnâ(TM)t have an opinion because the government decidesâ makes no sense.

    20. Re: Good by cyber-vandal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because it was fine when he was doing it to the Republicans. Once he showed the Democrats to be no better and as a result prevented the coronation of Queen Hillary he became public enemy number one.

    21. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      Yeah exactly.. then all the fox news, cnn and bbc drones start rampantly parroting the what they read. That's gotta cover at least 80% of all opinions or something, right?

    22. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh, the smell of simplistic binary logic on Slashdot. There are more choices in the real world than just 'hero' and 'criminal'.

      Some of the things Wikileaks exposed needed to be exposed, and Assange was in the right there. Lately, he and Wikileaks seem to have decided to follow the Fox News model, and accept everything coming out of the Trump administration at face value. He is acting more like a partisan than anything else.

    23. Re:Good by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      AFAIK not really, they only concluded that he was treated unfairly, not that there where any legitimacy for his fears of this being a political black ops sting operation.

    24. Re:Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This would have set an uncomfortable precedent of granting a wanted criminal the freedom to roam around the country he is wanted in.

      Assange is only wanted for avoiding prosecution for an alleged crime for which the charges have been withdrawn.

      Diplomatic immunity status shouldn't be able to be granted after a crime has been committed.

      Former, withdrawn charges shouldn't be grounds for arrest. The British Empire is quite upset that Assange didn't respect their authority, and would like to make an example of him even though there are currently no other charges filed against him.

      The supposed victims of his alleged crimes did not believe that he should be charged. The charges filed have been dropped, and the prosecutors who filed them passed up numerous opportunities to question him before doing so. But keep calling him a criminal. That's exactly what three governments want, and you wouldn't want to let them down, would you?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    25. Re:Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Informative

      He still breached bail which in itself is a crime.

      Yes, and the charges he breached bail on have been withdrawn by prosecutors who passed up multiple opportunities to question him, on the basis that they could not question him. How it is just to punish someone for skipping bail when the charges have been withdrawn? If the charges were legitimate, why did the prosecutors pass up multiple opportunities to question him?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    26. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So is jaywalking.

      And the UK spends how much on pedestrians walking? And how much on injuries from crossing the road?

      How much taxpayer money do you want pissed away on this?

      None, but you'd get upset if they went the cheap route, and things get bad when private money is allowed to post bounties.

      Speaking of criminal activity...

      Unfortunately, the principles of treating holding somebody sanctuary in an embassy are worth respecting over the more effective route, it isn't like he's some sort of super-villain.

      Now if he'd gone to the Outlands instead, then there'd be no concern.

    27. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The moral case for that he should face the charges against him is weakened by the fact that there is reason to believe that governments has committed crimes against him and that he would not receive a fair trial. His right to security of person is for example already violated.

      Rule of law is a corner stone in our society and I can sympathize with JA, precisely because I don't think rule of law is upheld in this case.

      He has put the strength of western democracy to the test by exposing severe wrongdoing perpetrated by people in the very upper levels of government, and their response show that western democracy sadly has failed this test.

      Can you think of another case where the government has spent tens of millions of pounds to apprehend someone for jumping bail? It should be obvious that jumping bail is not the reason why they want him in their custody.

    28. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the problem wasn't who he did it too, all sides in US politics are corrupt. It was his selective targeting to meet his own political agenda/beliefs that turned everyone against him. If he had just stuck to openly and honestly releasing info as it came to him then I and many others would still support him. As it stands he is as bad or worse than both the democrats and Republicans, at least they don't try to claim they are anything but what they are.

    29. Re:Good by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1
      Reminds of one old theatre play joke:

      A [talking to B]: "Do you realize who you're talking to? He's a heinous criminal! [referring to C]"

      C: "I beg your pardon?!"

      A: "All right, a heinous suspect."

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    30. Re:Good by shilly · · Score: 0

      Um, because he wanted them to come to the UK to question him. And that's not how things work.

    31. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      USA waged terror war with mass murder in 1945 when attacking Hiroshima with a nuclear bomb, but somehow one can't expect anyone to be punished for it, ever. Not to mention all the shitty things the US government keeps doing.

      This notion of pretending that law and order is to be this cherished thing as if it were to try show some utmost respect to ideas of morality and dignity is freaking obscene.

    32. Re:Good by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Former, withdrawn charges shouldn't be grounds for arrest.

      I think you're wrong, secondary crimes related to your arrest and incarceration should not automatically be expunged simply because the arrest or conviction was in error, invalid or dropped. Resisting arrest, causing a car chase, jail break, contempt of court, parole violation, skipping bail... attempting to evade the justice system should be a crime, even if you are innocent. If you try to escape jail and kill a prison guard it's still murder even if the rape case you originally served time for is later cleared by DNA evidence, it doesn't magically turn into a kidnapping where killing the kidnappers to escape is okay. It's just not how it works or how it should work.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    33. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      killing the kidnapper to escape is not illegal

    34. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      They wrote about his fear as a premise for the reasonability of the finding. "The Republic of Ecuador granted asylum because of Mr. Assange’s fear that if he was extradited to Sweden, he would be further extradited to the United States where he would face serious criminal charges for the peaceful exercise of his freedoms. Since August 2012, Mr. Assange has not been able to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy and is subject to extensive surveillance by the British police." http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEv... As far as I can tell, that reads to me like it's a major reason why they found he was being treated unfairly.

    35. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Does anybody remember when he was a hero?

      A hero? Nope, sorry. There are heroes in this world, but Assange was never one of them.

      For exposing the corrupt US government to the whole world? Did that go down the memory hole? Benedict Cumberbatch played him in the movie, for fucks sake.

      Here's a hint about movies: You can use them to tell stories.

      Stories aren't always true. You'd think you'd know about propaganda. Maybe you should learn to recognize a work of fiction concocted to spin a message.

      And he does what he always does, expose the corrupt US government to the whole world, and he suddenly became the worst criminal in the world? How does this even work?

      Well, it turns out, DUMB-and-DUMBER, he isn't the worst criminal in the world. If he was, then he'd have been caught selling oil to North Korea or something. He's just a self-serving hack who gets in the news from time to time, isn't doing anything meaningful, and accomplishing little except burning up some attention from time to time.

      Notice how he didn't actually do anything about the corruption in the US government, in state government, or even a city. Nothing he did accomplished one bit of constructive, actual, meaningful, accomplishment. Nobody impeached. Nobody significant prosecuted. Nobody significant resigned. Even lying fraudsters Andrew Breitbart and James O'Keefe managed to get a resignation and a prosecution.

      And besides, he's shown his true colors. What did Wikileaks do about the Panama Papers? Oh. What did Wikileaks do about Trump? Worked with his campaign.

      Sorry man, Assange bonered himself. Worse than the time Sherlock Holmes got caught fucking the Hound of the Baskervilles.

    36. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      killing the kidnapper to escape is not illegal

      That's lovely. Now try reading his post more carefully. He was saying that if you are wrongfully imprisoned and later cleared, that doesn't make your wrongful imprisonment a kidnapping, and it thus it doesn't turn your killing of a guard while escaping your wrongful imprisonment into killing of a kidnapper. You weren't kidnappend, you were wrongfully imprisoned. And you didn't kill a kidnapper, you killed a prison guard.

    37. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gee. You really expect a tribunal to investigate the difference in motivations of the abusing government agents? The abuse itself is the problem. The abuse can be determined by whether the acting government agents acted according to proper form. These things can be objectively observed and evidence can be obtained. Looking into the minds of the abusers is not really a realistic expectation and is unnecessary. Once abuse is determined then we know that there is some sort of motivation for that abuse.
          So now after being deeply disingenuous you can argue that the abuse was motivated by something other than the obvious.

    38. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is how things work in the EU, so if Sweden ever wants to secede from the USA and join the EU, they will have to do it the EU way.

    39. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it was fine when he was doing it to the Republicans. Once he showed the Democrats to be no better and as a result prevented the coronation of Queen Hillary he became public enemy number one.

      Well, if so, that's some fine plotting he did, he replaced one bad seed with a whole rotten barrel.

      But actually, my problem was that he did ZERO to actually address substantive and actual problems, he might as well have been as bad as the Birther-in-Chief himself, or Breitbart, or O'Keefe, engaging in self-promoting pettiness that actually showed himself to be no better, and to have an agenda of his own that he promoted by willful lies, and as a result, discredited himself, he's not public enemy number one, he's a joke.

    40. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      Deeply disingenuous? Are you calling me a liar for not believing what I am saying? It seems kind of obvious to me he's a high value political target, and has been for some time. After all, they couldn't "just drone the guy".

    41. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because he still committed a crime. How do people get so dumb?

    42. Re:Good by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Assange is only wanted for avoiding prosecution for an alleged crime for which the charges have been withdrawn.

      Which is normal. You can commit offenses against law enforcement regardless of whether law enforcement ultimately was justified in being interested in you. Otherwise it'd be a free for all and everyone would be resisting arrest or going into hiding all the time, because they'll only be convicted of anything related to those if they're convicted of whatever crime they're accused of, at which point a small fine for slipping out of your handcuffs isn't going to make much difference.

      Also, bear in mind the charges were withdrawn because of the political situation, not because there was no evidence. Assange's behavior made it impossible to interview him in terms the Swedish legal system would recognize as legitimate, so it was impossible to proceed with the case. That's a far cry from them being withdrawn because there wasn't a case or the witnesses recanted or were proven lying.

      He absolutely should be prosecuted for those offenses related to going into hiding. He knew there would be consequences in doing so.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    43. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Total false equivalency. Stop pretending you know what the hell you are talking about.

      His neck will be stretched.

    44. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He skipped bail. That's a crime.

      It's a crime like resisting arrest.

      "You are under arrest"
      "What for?"
      "Resisting arrest"
      "Resisting arrest for what?"
      "Resisting arrest".

    45. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you're saying it's different when I keep people locked in the basement?

    46. Re:Good by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0
      Assange was certainly a hero. Do we seriously not remember 2011? It's so bizarre that people pretend not to remember this. This happened.

      "First Facebook and now Wikileaks as the Guardian reports that studio executives have picked up the screen rights to the forthcoming Julian Assange biography 'The Most Dangerous Man in the World' by award-winning Australian writer Andrew Fowler. The book details Assange's life from his childhood on Magnetic Island in Queensland, Australia, all the way through to his founding of the whistleblower website in 2006 to publish classified material. Producers Barry Josephson and Michelle Krumm, who have optioned The Most Dangerous Man in the World, say they are planning a 'suspenseful drama' in the vein of All the President's Men and with the thrill of a Tom Clancy novel. 'As soon as I met Andrew and read a few chapters of his profound book, I knew that â" with his incredibly extensive depth of knowledge â" it would enable us to bring a thought-provoking thriller to the screen,' says Krumm."

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/film...

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    47. Re:Good by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      No, it's not. Other people put up his bail, a total of 93,500 pounds, to secure his bail. He promised to appear in court. Every level went against him. He realized he was almost certainly going to be extradited, and fled. Those people are out the bail money, and he's actively committed an offense.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    48. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nope -because he is a criminal. just because you, and his fanbois, disagree....well...that's different.

    49. Re:Good by will_die · · Score: 1

      They did go to the UK to question him, the requirement to do so was that the question be printed in spanish and given to him, no additional questions or follow up could be asked(I guess presented would be the correct term since they could not ask him).
      The first couple of charges were dropped because of statue of limitations, in other words he evaded the law long enough.
      The rape charges were dropped because under Swedish law they can only hold charges over you if it is expected that you can be charged, with him have protection by Equator it was not expected that they could deliver the charges so it had to be dropped. However if he were to show up in Sweden in the next couple of years they can still re-request the charges.
      So yes he is still a criminal. Also learn a little about what you are actually talking about.

    50. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quit regurgitating propaganda you useful idiot.

    51. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      disingenuous
      disnjenyoos
      adjective
      not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does.

      No just that your obfuscating fact because they go counter to your internal narrative. Namely you are pretending to know less then you do in the hopes of convincing others who know nothing of the situation to believe there is nothing else to know.

      But we can go with "liar" if you like, shoe fits and all of that.

    52. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Im sorry if your wrongfully imprisoned, and the people holding you there KNOW THAT. Then you are perfectly within your rights to escape and defend yourself by any means necessary.

    53. Re:Good by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Thing is even if convicted now he likely wouldn't face much punishment. Any custodial sentence would likely be accounted for by time stuck in the embassy. The sentence would probably be light anyway because his reason for doing it is genuine fear of rendition and torture.

      The only thing really keeping him there is that fear, warranted or not.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    54. Re:Good by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      He still breached bail which in itself is a crime.

      Yes, and the charges he breached bail on have been withdrawn by prosecutors who passed up multiple opportunities to question him, on the basis that they could not question him. How it is just to punish someone for skipping bail when the charges have been withdrawn? If the charges were legitimate, why did the prosecutors pass up multiple opportunities to question him?

      Umm, he's charged with jumping bail in the UK, the UK prosecutors have not withdrawn those charges, and you're confusing Sweden's requirement that Assange be questioned in connection with the Swedish issues before he is charged with the UK situation. In the UK Assange has been charged with bail jumping and there is an arrest warrant for him -- no questioning required.

      How it is just to punish someone for skipping bail when the charges have been withdrawn?

      I deny the premise of the question.

    55. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So basically, you are admitting that your parent's post was correct.

    56. Re:Good by DRJlaw · · Score: 2

      How it is just to punish someone for skipping bail when the charges have been withdrawn?

      The end of the previous post was too abrupt, so let me clarify:

      1. The charges for jumping bail have not been withdrawn, so I deny the stated premise of your question ("the charges have been withdrawn").

      2. The Swedish "charges" were not withdrawn when Assange jumped bail, so I deny the intended premise ofyour question as well. Sweden's withdraw from their process cannot retroactively justify jumping bail years earlier.

      Jumping bail is an independent crime and is independently wrong -- living under the rule of law also means that citizens must follow the process of the law, not simply take the law into their own hands by jumping bail, escaping, resisting arrest, or some more severe action. Assange only did the first action in that continuum, but if you're going to permit self help, where do you draw the line? Can I knock out an arresting officer so long as the charges that the officer attempts to arrest me on are eventually withdrawn?

    57. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I deny the premise of the question.

      See - that's the problem, since that question SHOULD be at the very core of the JUSTice system.
      Without "justice", laws are just arbitrary rules, written by senile old men in congress. Laws allowing slavery are the same as laws banning murder.
      If one is not allowed to question "does this law make sense", then there is no need for things like juries. The reason we have juries of your peers, are not only to determine whether a law was broken, but also if the law is being applied fairly, and even whether the law makes sense. It's why prosecutors and police have wide discretion.

      In the Julian Assange case, a VERY compelling argument can be made that the law is being used as a weapon specifically targeting him. Worse yet, it has US fingerprints all over it (the only reason he's still at that embassy is because the US wants to extradite him). The only reason the bail jumping charges have not been dropped, because the US wants to extradite him, and the UK wants to oblige, but can't do that without arresting him first - and anyone with half a brain knows that.

      So ask yourself: Is being extradited to a foreign country on capital charges for violating laws of a country you've never been in, justice? To me personally, it looks more like an act of war on Australia by abusing one of its citizens, than justice.

    58. Re:Good by Macthorpe · · Score: 1

      In addition to what Martin Blank said, Assange's bail conditions were incredibly lenient. He was put up in a comfortable house in Norfolk by one of his supporters who acted as guarantor for his bail. This isn't a case of him accidentally doing something that was a crime, he had to go out of his way to violate the bail conditions.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    59. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Different international law applies during declared wars.

      The US didn't just attack Hiroshima, but also Nagasaki. Three days apart. The second was to make it clear that there wasn't just one bomb. These attacks were also preceded by carpet bombing of over 60 Japanese cities. The devastation in Tokyo was worse than in Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

      Learn your history before you start making poorly-founded assertions.

    60. Re:Good by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      The only reason the bail jumping charges have not been dropped, because the US wants to extradite him, and the UK wants to oblige, but can't do that without arresting him first - and anyone with half a brain knows that.

      Anyone with the other half of a brain knows that jumping bail is intrinsically wrong, so that bail jumping charges probably have not been dropped because the UK court system does not want the accused to self-help by jumping bail so long as they merely feel that the charges are unjust.

    61. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Jumping bail is an independent crime and is independently wrong"

      You've used the word wrong which implies a moral code, is it wrong to not want to face charges you believe have been made up against you to improperly extradite you to another country?

      That depends on the facts, say Assange gives himself up (in your parlance the "right") thing to do, then the charges by Sweden are dropped (and therefore free for the US to ask for extradition).

      I'm assuming he decided to come to the UK because our judiciary is well separated from the government, or maybe it just has the larges Ecuadorian embassy.

    62. Re:Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 0

      Um, because he wanted them to come to the UK to question him. And that's not how things work.

      It's how things should work when you ask if you can leave the country, or if they will want you for questioning and they say you can leave, and then you leave and they say "whoops, we want to talk to you after all, come back"... even if the nation in question doesn't have a history of handing over political prisoners to the USA, which it does.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    63. Re:Good by Megol · · Score: 1

      Now _that's_ a weak troll!

    64. Re:Good by plague911 · · Score: 2

      You know you can be arrested for resisting arrest....

    65. Re:Good by plague911 · · Score: 0

      "How it is just to punish someone for skipping bail when the charges have been withdrawn?" Because it is. This is a crime in every single civilized country.

    66. Re:Good by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      How it is just to punish someone for skipping bail when the charges have been withdrawn?

      Because they are two distinctly different crimes perpetrated against two distinctly different people.

      If the charges were legitimate, why did the prosecutors pass up multiple opportunities to question him?

      The didn't. They have been trying to interview him under the normal Swedish protocol for fear that whatever Assange was offering was a worthless facade that served only to be gobbled up by his fans.

      And guess what, they were right. When they eventually conceded to interview him in 2016, Assange dicked them around with lawyers not being available, then the embassy insisted that an Equadorian prosecutor will ask only a set of prepared questions and that the Swedish prosecutor wasn't allowed to talk while "questioning" him, effectively turning the entire farce into nothing more than a statement which the prosecutor was pissed about.

      But hey it made for good headlines. I especially like that formal bit about him being available and doing everything Sweden has asked of him since 2010, to say nothing of the fact that he was extradited to the very people who he apparently was complying with only to run off and hide in an embassy. I'm he's almost invoking Trump level of bullshit every time he makes a statement.

    67. Re:Good by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Assange is only wanted for avoiding prosecution for an alleged crime for which the charges have been withdrawn.

      No he's not. He's wanted for breaching bail conditions which is a crime in its own right. For a long time he was wanted for 2 charges, only one of those have been withdrawn. Having charges of the initial crime dropped doesn't make every subsequent crime just go away.

    68. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Macthorpe is repeatedly spamming that post. What is his personal interest in the subject? This shitspam, instead of posts about, i don't know, tech shit, is annoying.

    69. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Again - "intrinsically wrong". What leads you to this determination? Because the law says so? Was slavery "intrinsically wrong" dependent on which side of the mason-dixon line you were on? Was being gay "intrinsically wrong" in the UK dependent on what year it happened in? Would the value of PI not being 3.2 in Indiana be "intrinsically wrong" if the Indiana PI bill had passed in 1897? Or does "intrinsically wrong" have deeper moral connotations?

      If you believe in the concepts behind why laws exist, it's silly to brand someone "intrinsically wrong" for someone not rolling over and walking into the gas chamber. After all, self preservation is a natural instinct.

      The prosecutors in the UK, like all prosecutors, have wide discretion, and can drop this if they want to. In fact, it's their responsibility to do so.
      The already must have confiscated his bail guarantee, and achieved years and years of house arrest. If he was to go to court on the bail skipping charge he'd be sentenced to time served, while at the same time the prosecutors are risking having to return the bail guarantee if somehow he was found "not guilty". Hence continuing this process is a needless tax payer expense that achieves nothing. That is, nothing unless they extradite him to the US, thus proving Assange right and this being an abuse of power, rather than justice. And I for one at least, don't believe victims of abuse of power should ever be punished before their abusers.

    70. Re:Good by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      you are pretending to know less then... it's less than, you uneducated dickhead.

    71. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does anybody remember when he was a hero?

      A hero? Nope, sorry. There are heroes in this world, but Assange was never one of them.

      Seminal to a well-warranted pain in the ass. That does not make him a hero, but the world would still have been worse off without him.

    72. Re:Good by DRJlaw · · Score: 2

      Again - "intrinsically wrong". What leads you to this determination?

      Ignoring the argument because you dislike it does not mean that the argument was not made. "The UK court system does not want the accused to self-help by jumping bail so long as they merely feel that the charges are unjust."

      It's silly to brand someone "intrinsically wrong" for someone not rolling over and walking into the gas chamber.

      Hyperbole. Try "I'm so innocent, I need not even permit a trial."

      The already must have confiscated his bail guarantee, and achieved years and years of house arrest

      The suckers who put up his bail have been been punished, while he resides at a place of his own choosing at liberty to do as he pleases. That is not house arrest, it's at most self-imposed exile.

      If he was to go to court on the bail skipping charge he'd be sentenced to time served, while at the same time the prosecutors are risking having to return the bail guarantee if somehow he was found "not guilty."

      No. That's over with. There's no possibility that his is found "not guilty" of failing to appear at court hearings that were to be held years ago, especially since there would be no jury involved.

      Hence continuing this process is a needless tax payer expense that achieves nothing.

      Says you. The UK courts and prosecutors probably hold a different opinion because otherwise you may as well throw out the concept of bail and bail jumping -- you need simply buy your freedom and never appear for trial.

      That is, nothing unless they extradite him to the US, thus proving Assange right and this being an abuse of power, rather than justice.

      Don't forget the secret warrant issued by the Illuminati. Assange should just shoot his way out of the embassy, carjack a ride to the shore, and steal a board to head for international waters. It'd all be obviously defensible because "they're out to get him."

      And I for one at least, don't believe victims of abuse of power should ever be punished before their abusers.

      I don't agree with your implied premise here either.

    73. Re:Good by DRJlaw · · Score: 0

      Tired of debating with ACs. It's not moral to jump bail in a liberal democracy. Deal with it.

    74. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      m sorry if your wrongfully imprisoned, and the people holding you there KNOW THAT. Then you are perfectly within your rights to escape and defend yourself by any means necessary.

      I'm sorry, but "within your rights"? You have no rights without government. Rights are granted by the government. Government is law and so anything government does is by definition legal. Any individual "rights" including life and liberty only exist by the grace of government.

      Sure, they tell a pretty story and get the populace to buy into the idea that they are somehow actually in charge of government, when that has never been the case anywhere ever. It just makes it cheaper and easier for governments to not need to post domestic pacification troops to maintain order. Much better to let the populace oppress themselves willingly and at their own expense.

    75. Re: Good by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      Selective targeting? Did he release a whole trove of Democrat documents when he was making Bush look bad? Was the release of the NSA tools a partisan action? What agenda was Assange pursuing? To get Trump elected?

    76. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He hasn't even been charged with a crime, they wanted to question him to so that they can decide whether to charge or drop the case.

    77. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > It's not moral to jump bail in a liberal democracy.
      Maybe but the UK is not one of those.

    78. Re:Good by shilly · · Score: 0

      What the fuck are you on about? States don't send police officers to foreign countries to question suspects, and you are possibly one of five idiots in the entire world who thinks it would be good if they did. States request that suspects be extradited instead. Which is what has happened. And this is between Sweden and the UK, not the USA, you muppet.

    79. Re:Good by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      Maybe but the UK is not one of those.

      Wow, downmodding and replying with unsupportable bullshit. A perfect example of why dealing ACs is a complete waste of time.

    80. Re:Good by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      That says nothing about weather his fears are warranted or unwarranted though.

    81. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just feel like time and circumstances have passed Assange by. Some of his more recent actions have been less than noble and more like self-promotion.

      His situation isn't resolved but frankly, I've moved on.

  4. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They were SJW's who wanted to destroy America and Sweden.

    No crimes were committed by Assange.

    He should get a bravery medal.

  5. The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship for Assange. If people accused of crimes in a foreign countries could be granted diplomatic immunity once they've been accused, it would be a massive loophole. Anyone charged with a crime in a foreign country could be granted ambassadorship and given a get out of jail free card. If you believe the charges are unjust, then argue they ought to be dropped. Don't use loopholes to try to escape facing justice, because this can easily be abused.

    1. Re:The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      AC any diplomatic missions would be under constant threat if nations could make up a "crime" and swap out an entire nations embassy.
      So thats why Persona non grata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... exists.
      That person with diplomatic immunity is then recalled but do not lose their diplomatic immunity while been recalled from another nation.
      They get to leave the nation with full diplomatic immunity and do back to their own nation.
      AC diplomatic immunity is not a get out of jail free card. It protects members of a diplomatic staff.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      They don't have to make up a crime and they don't have to make that shithead an ambassador. See my comment about diplomatic vessels.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    3. Re:The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship by Khyber · · Score: 1

      You're an idiot. The UK does not control who Ecuador appoints as an ambassador or diplomat.

      Go the fuck back to school and learn about these things called 'jurisdictions.'

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    4. Re:The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The UK is 100% responsible for whom the UK accepts as an ambassador or diplomat.
      And without the UK agreeing, Ecuador cannot do a damned thing. They can say anything, but without the ability to enforce their will, they're just running their mouths.

      Please, go the fuck back to school and learn about these things called 'jurisdictions.' Then think about whose laws run the UK.

    5. Re:The UK is right to refuse ambassadorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody asked him to be an ambassador. Can't you figure different titles? How stupid are you?

  6. Re: Assange is a traitor by mSparks43 · · Score: 1

    Pretty sure americans did that all on their own. Assange just helped us see through the Hollywood veil of fantasy.

  7. Re:Unfair by Calydor · · Score: 0

    Assaulted, right.

    They changed their mind about giving consent after the act, in at least one case also after cooking him breakfast.

    --
    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  8. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can we vote on where it gets pinned on him?

  9. Re:Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except for the one that he raped in her sleep, after she'd told him she was done.
    And the one he lied to about using a condom, putting her at risk of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.

    That's what the sexual assault charges are about - sexual assault.

  10. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So what if he's anti-American? He's not American, wants to stay away from America, and wants to expose war crimes and other illegal activity. Trump is completely anti-non-American and wants to annihilate a country. Who's really the real threat here?

  11. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who are you to say that? He may care deeply for America. You weren't there and you aren't him, so you don't know shit except for the trash you read in the media. These people are used like political footballs. They may have good or bad intentions, but you don't know either way.

  12. Re:Unfair by John.Banister · · Score: 1

    The description of what he did sounds a lot like stealthing to me. The woman made consent conditional on condom use, and found out later that a condom wasn't used. It's not forcing sex on someone who's trying to get away, but it's not acceptable behavior.

  13. No, he's party to it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Releasing leaks handed to him is what Wikileaks does, that's one thing. But he then added a lot of fake stuff himself, and became party to the game.

    Remember his denials that the leaks came from Russia? Yet we even know how and who the Russians did the hack and CIA identified the specific order from Putin. Yet he repeated the Seth Rich claim, he repeated the fake Pizzagate claims too, which in turn led to this: Assange's Internet link was severed by 'state party' as he put it. Except the state party in question turned out to be the Equador Embassy, who cut his connection because they agree the non-interference in elections rule, and Assange was pumping out a mass of fake news from the Russian fake news factory and clearly trying to influence the election.

    IMHO, this is the best time Assange will ever have to walk out of the Embassy. The UK charge is minor, and Trump can pardon him for any US crime planned. There's a bunch of potential pardons for Trump, Jared has lied about the Trump Tower meeting with Russian intelligence, and he will be pardoned no doubt, James Alex Fields, Manasfort etc. what's one more. But first he has to push the matter to get charged first and he has to do it within a fairly short timespace.

    1. Re:No, he's party to it by cheesyweasel · · Score: 1

      I don't think wikileaks was the only problem here. Half the US media was a parrot for Putin. What about all that infowars alt-right bullshit? You can't tell me there wasn't plenty of that. For fuck sake.. they had interviews with Aleksandr Dugin on their show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... That guy has a large influence on how the Russians view the world and global order and idiotic ideas about Eurasianism. Go read his books (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics). This is documented in Rand Corporation's research, though they downplay the crazy.. but the crazy has a big influence on Russia's sense of itself. https://www.rand.org/content/d... And wikileaks was a parrot for Russia? Are you fucking dreaming? What about facebook? What did they do to stop any of this? They're more than happy to let people post their opinions, because that gets them hooked on facebook, so they get more ad revenue! It's very simple. Putin didn't like Hillary because she's a globalist (go read the credits in Kissinger's World Order book - https://www.washingtonpost.com..., or watch Bernie's attack on her over it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?...). Putin wants to end Pax Americana, and he achieved it pretty well by fanning the flames of dividing western society by manipulating through agenda setting content. We've been using facebook and all this social media bullshit to re-enforce the echo chambers that's leading to our demise to divide us politically. Once again, go read the foundations of geopolitics. Quote from the wikipedia article on the Foundations of Geopolitics: "Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics." Then you get trump and his slime bucket PR master, Roger Stone, orchestrate the biggest campaign of hate the US has ever seen. Well surely the crazies on the left aren't gonna put up with this.. so their cognitive dissonance goes ballistic because they can't believe that Trump got into power, so now they're in battle stations, pushing their radical left agendas by shaming the public, virtue dropping that basically quells descent from moderate views. Is it not simple enough? It's a mess of our own making, fanned by Russia, political opportunists, opportunistic social networks and our self-interested "It's all about me", materialistic, narcissistic, uncivil society.

    2. Re:No, he's party to it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You actually believe the US government is telling the truth, because the CIA says the same things? What are you, the US secretary of propaganda?

    3. Re:No, he's party to it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assange has never stated that Seth Rich was the source for the DNC leaks, although I think he mentioned it wasn't Russia.

      It is a fair question though, at what point does the editorial decision process become the source of news? If the GOP had leaked evidence of wrong-doing would Assange have published it? (I assume yes, but others disagree).

      I think about this in the tech world too. Everywhere I go people are talking about the amazon echo, as if an interface to sharing information with amazon's "datacenter" (read spy HQ) is a valuable consumer product. There isn't any logical case being made as to why this is or should be a thing, they're just overloading the public with so much chatter about it that the logical argument goes out the window, and instead we're meant to assume that a ridiculous idea of a consumer product is actually a thing. I'm personally waiting until they explain how the echo can handle my body thetans before jumping on board myself.

  14. It means that they can tax him ... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

    and so maybe recoup cost of the free bed & board that they have been giving him for a few years.

    1. Re:It means that they can tax him ... by symes · · Score: 1

      He only eats nothing burgers with salty fries

    2. Re:It means that they can tax him ... by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

      Wikileaks has to have money somewhere. Ecuador can tap into that to recoup the money.

  15. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't think much of Assange, but how can he be a traitor? he isn't American and most of the world are anti-American now (justifiably so). So now we call any foreigner that doesn't agree with the US a traitor?

  16. Re: Unfair by ledow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Breach of bail conditions is a crime.

    I think it comes under contempt of court.

    Are you suggesting that contempt of court be allowed?

    Just because YOU don't think that he should stand trial for the original accusation, doesn't mean that the UK court weren't obliged to make that happen (by international agreement) or that in skipping bail he hasn't committed a crime against a UK court on UK soil.

    And, I don't know if you understand this bit:

    arrest != charge != conviction.

    You can be convicted for resisting arrest, however. Arrest is literally "let's stop him so we can investigate if a crime has occurred". A charge is "We have reasonable belief he did something illegal, which a court will now judge and we may have to detain him until such time as the court can do so". A conviction is "the court has determined beyond reasonable doubt that they have broken the law".

    He was wanted for arrest, to answer potential rape charges. As part of this, he was arrested in the UK. A court ordered him to stay within bail conditions (which is a concession, so he's not under arrest for months on end). By breaching those court conditions, he is now automatically CHARGED with contempt of court which will - without some seriously extraordinary circumstance proven to a court - result in a conviction. The contempt charge is now based on the prima-facie evidence of failing to abide by the conditions of the UK court. It doesn't matter WHY. Or what the history is. Or what else is going on. He is now required to stand trial for that if nothing else.

    As such, the UK police has a duty to arrest him, to face trial for the charge of contempt of court, which - whether or not he is convicted - will also make him available to stand trial and answer charges from the original arrest.

    Not one bit of the that entire last paragraph is optional. Only the potential outcome of it (the courts could in theory side with him and let him go, or they could jsut convict him for the bail offence and let him go, or they could convict him for the bail offence and hand him over as per a valid international arrest warrant).

  17. Re:So is jaywalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not in the UK.

  18. Re:Unfair by ledow · · Score: 1

    Gosh you have it all wrapped up.

    It's almost like we don't need to bother to go through hearing actual evidence, sworn under oath, cross-examined, including expert testimony and witness and victim statements, including potentially highly sensitive personal statements about an incredibly intimate event which people may or may not want all the details in the press but which would be examined by a court.

    Nah, let's just judge him on what got into the news and let him go / not based on our personal interpretation of such.

    P.S. if you're ever in doubt about the sanity, stability, mental health, trustworthiness, or capability of later lying of someone you're about to sleep with - probably best not to sleep with them, consensually or not. Just saying.

  19. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He can be enemy, but can't be a traitor because he never was, nor sided with USA.

    Now he is American, though, through the Ecuadorian citizenship.

  20. Interesting by cshark · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What they need to do, I think, is sneak him out with some sort of large diplomatic package, which would grant him safe passage to Ecuador.

    --

    This signature has Super Cow Powers

    1. Re:Interesting by johnsie · · Score: 1

      UK military intelligence aren't that stupid. They would know about the package and they would intercept the package. We're talking about some of the best intelligence services in the world, not some third world police force.

    2. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Uh, they grounded President Evo Morales' plane in Austria because they thought maybe he'd have Snowden in his baggage. International law means nothing to the U.S. and its lapdogs.

    3. Re:Interesting by superwiz · · Score: 1

      They can't open diplomatic mail. Or they risk having all of their diplomatic mail becoming subject to inspection by host countries. But there are almost certainly restrictions on how large a package may be and continue to be recognized as mail.

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    4. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      UK military has nothing to do with this.

    5. Re:Interesting by UberVegeta · · Score: 1

      They can't open diplomatic mail. Or they risk having all of their diplomatic mail becoming subject to inspection by host countries. But there are almost certainly restrictions on how large a package may be and continue to be recognized as mail.

      It just needs to be correctly marked. There isn't a requirement for it to be an actual parcel or envelope. This method has been used with varying levels of success to smuggle people. I suppose us plebs are not likely to hear about most of the times it has been used successfully, but there have been some high-profile failures of this method, including one in the UK where customs stopped and searched a crate containing a former Nigerian government official.

      --
      I knew I needed to stop reading Slashdot and finish my PhD when I started to miss articles by Bennett Haselton.
    6. Re:Interesting by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Diplomatic vehicles are considered part of the embassy and thus part of that country. An embassy car can take him straight to the tarmac, park right next to the steps to the plane where he can step out on to the steps and then enter the plane and never leave embassy ground.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    7. Re:Interesting by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Yes but there's no such thing as a diplomatic plane. As soon as he steps out of the car he is subject to UK law even if he steps directly onto the plane.

    8. Re:Interesting by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      As pointed out a few years ago in the news a diplomatic package is not allowed to be opened without suspicion but it is not free from scanning. If they thermally image the package, sniff him out or otherwise they would have grounds for inspection.

      To say nothing of putting it through an Xray machine VERY SLOWLY.

    9. Re:Interesting by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      As pointed out a few years ago in the news a diplomatic package is not allowed to be opened without suspicion but it is not free from scanning. If they thermally image the package, sniff him out or otherwise they would have grounds for inspection.

      To say nothing of putting it through an Xray machine VERY SLOWLY.

      There's also the "without suspicion" part. If Ecuador sends a diplomatic package that is suspiciously Assange-sized with suspicious air holes and a suspicious "Fragile, do not break Assange" label, the UK can still stop it and open it. They'd be risking a diplomatic incident if they're wrong, but if they're right, then Ecuador has caused the incident, and could see their diplomats get kicked out of the country or other penalties.

    10. Re: Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "We're talking about some of the best intelligence services in the world, not some third world police force."

      You're joking I hope.

    11. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does this mean he could go to a drive-in movie?

    12. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they could drive him through tunnel to france and through europe to russia tho

  21. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Assange is about nothing except being an SJW, destroying America, etc. You know that right? It is the purpose of WikiLeaks. It is why he thinks the law should not be applied to him. It is all he tweets about.

  22. Re: Unfair by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 1

    P.S. if you're ever in doubt about the sanity, stability, mental health, trustworthiness, or capability of later lying of someone you're about to sleep with - probably best not to sleep with them, consensually or not. Just saying.

    My god, your life must be dull. What's the point of living if you don't live a little?

  23. UK is fucked up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    UK is a totally fucked up country !

    A lot of other people who committed a lot more sinister crimes, and are wanted in other countries, are roaming freely inside UK

    Those people have been accused of committing murder, terrorism, running criminal gangs, human trafficking, corruption, et cetera, et cetera, and yet, UK grants them total freedom

    Assange? He has been accused of 'rape', of a woman who served him the morning after the 'rape' supposed to occur

    The accusation has been proven to be a trumped up charge, made by the sinister regime of Sweden

    Even the woman who supposed to accuse Assange of raping her has publicly stated that she does not think Assange is guilty

    UK is a totally fucked up country

    1. Re: UK is fucked up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which people have been accused of committing murder, terrorism, running criminal gangs, human trafficking, corruption, et cetera, et cetera, and yet, UK grants them total freedom?

      Name names.

  24. Re:Unfair by Visarga · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That doesn't matter, it's a political case, and US is a dangerous country with a vendetta.

  25. Re:So is jaywalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neither is what Assange was wanted for "questioning over" in Sweden.

  26. Face justice... for what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The women in Sweden have repeatedly said that no rape was commited, and that they were shocked when people higher up in the police turned it into a manhunt and rape case.

    1. Re:Face justice... for what? by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Please support your claim.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    2. Re:Face justice... for what? by higuita · · Score: 1

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...

      Actually in sweden sex without a condom without direct agreement between the two is "rape" and they all agree that there was no condom was used... even better, "rape" charged are public, even if the girls do not want to file charges, the police can still file the charge anyway... so the police used that as the rape charge. The girls clearly said several times it was not a rape (in the common meaning of the word), both agreed in the sex. what parts disagree is if they requested the condom used and Assange lied about using one or if they simply assumed what the other partner intentions where the ones they wanted (he may have think that no condom was fine, the girls thinking that he would of course use a condom). Even when the girls talk in public, there was really no much info on what happen... probably they were all drunks and they mix all the facts

      I think if she really reported that she was raped, people would not support Assange, but all this "condom rape" charges and the pressure to take him to personally to "inquiry", not allowing video inquiry, makes everyone suspect the real motives.

      --
      Higuita
    3. Re:Face justice... for what? by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      That does not support his claim and instead shows he is wrong. Thank you.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    4. Re:Face justice... for what? by higuita · · Score: 1

      Notice that when the case started, Assange and the 2 girls did went to the police for questioning and the case was closed and he was clear to leave the country... some week later it was reopen and they tried to capture him instead of call him again to questioning. Even the girls where surprised about the case reopen. That was what trigger the alarm about something strange with the sudden case reopen

      --
      Higuita
    5. Re:Face justice... for what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a fucking gov shill. This claim have been supported a lot. People wanting to deny it would have to support their bs.

  27. Re:Unfair by superwiz · · Score: 0

    He didn't assault any women. He is not accused of assaulting any women. He is accused of tricking a woman into getting pregnant during consensual sex. The accusation does not assert any physical coercion. The worst he could have done was poke a hole in a condom. The women did have safe passage because the sex was consensual. And they never claimed otherwise.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  28. Re:So is jaywalking by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

    He's not wanted for questioning. There's a warrant out for his arrest - the interrogation is the last stage before he is charged.

    https://www.newstatesman.com/b...

    What has become clear is that the Swedish approach to criminal proceedings is different from that of England or other common law jurisdictions. The interrogation requested takes place at a late stage, just before prosecution. Assange is thereby not required for mere questioning - indeed, he was questioned on 31 August 2010.

    And he's accused of rape - UK courts have ruled that what he is accused of doing in Sweden would be rape if he did it in the UK. Which is a key part of extradition being granted.

    4. Rape

    On 17 August 2010, in the home of the injured party [SW] in Enkoping, Assange deliberately consummated sexual intercourse with her by improperly exploiting that she, due to sleep. was in a helpless state.

    It is an aggravating circumstance that Assange. who was aware that it was the expressed wish of the injured party and a prerequisite of sexual intercourse that a condom be used. still consummated unprotected sexual intercourse with her. The sexual act was designed to violate the injured party's sexual integrity."

    The High Court held that the test of "dual criminality" was met in respect of each of these offences: they were offences in both England and Sweden.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  29. Re: Unfair by superwiz · · Score: 1

    Well, that's not clear. He didn't assault any women, but he may have solicited illegal procurement of classified information. As long as that remains unproven, he remains in legal jeopardy (which is not the same as being guilty).

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  30. Re:Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "Consensual" "tricked"
    See, he lied to get the sex HE wanted, but she had not agreed to. She gave him consent - with limitations, like using a condom. He BROKE that agreement to go outside of what she had consented to.

    What do you call someone that has sex with a woman outside of her consenting terms?

    A rapist.

  31. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am sure that "America" doesn't really exist. Unless, you are simply using "America" as a nick name for United States of America, which I think looks far from being in a state of having been destroyed in any way.

  32. Re:Assange is a traitor by dwillden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How is he a traitor? At no point did he ever have any allegiance to the US, nor any obligation to not publish the secrets Bradley Manning gave him? Funny how you leftists used to love him, until he published the proof of how corrupt your Designated Queen really is.

    Just over a year ago and Assange was still a hero of the Left. The Moment Hillary conceded he became enemy #1 to the left.

    But the political aspects aside, even if I agreed with you that Hillary should be President, Assange is still not a traitor/ Under no definition of the word does he qualify as such. He is not a US citizen and has no loyalty to it nor any obligation to keep anything he finds out about it secret.

    --
    I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
  33. Re: Unfair by TheReaperD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hi lawyer has said multiple times that he'd be willing to face these charges if both countries would guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to the US (something they claim they have no intention of doing) and both countries have flat refused to make this guarantee, leading to the belief that that is exactly what they plan to do. And the moment he hits US soil, he'll be Gitmod, whether it's in Guantanamo or a US prison. Everyone involved knows it and so much money and many man hours spent on this shows that there is no other likely reasoning for this. Remember, officially this is over a non-consensual act during consensual sex that the girls went to the police to track him down, soley to get an STD test. The police, upon finding the importance of the individual accused, pressured the girls into pressing charges, which they have since withdrawn, and sent out an interpol alert reserved for the world's most dangerous and most wanted. Sound like your standard everyday secondary rape case, yes? (/sarcasm)

    --
    "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
  34. Re:So is jaywalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And he's accused of rape - UK courts have ruled that what he is accused of doing in Sweden would be rape if he did it in the UK.

    So, the UK doesn't respect women. No surprise there. The Swedish police said there was no case. The woman in question stopped talking to the police after a different police department decided to prosecute a rape case. She didn't report a rape, she wanted help forcing him to get an STD test.

  35. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Each and every human being on Earth owes allegiance to Eternal President Barack Hussein Obama (hail!) and to the only legitimate Leader of the World, Hillary Clinton. Anyone who does not is a traitor to be hunted down and killed without mercy.

  36. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And suffocating an uncharged detainee is an occurrence that actually happens in real life.

    Where the actions of the various governments is not proper as has been determined by the EU. Where the motives of the governments is obviously in conflict with the interests of a lawful and civil society. Where the support of the government in a matter is to support abusive and farcical behavior, then an appeal to lawfulness is completely without merit. Law is too important to allow it to be the fully morally owned tool of only government. And governments that have been determined to be acting in an abusive fashion at that. Your position is not lawful at all. It is a mockery of justice.

    A prosecutorial reassignment and reversal of position in a political matter is very suspicious. It requires explanation to even appear legitimate on its face. The Swedish shoulder shrug is VERY convincing. It convinces an objective observer that law is not the motivation of the governments involved.

    I do not like Assange. It really does appear that he has a grudge against the US and has used his organization to attack the US. But supporting incompetent buffoons who possess government positions is not the answer. I choose to deny that Assange is a clean actor, but I choose to recognize that the governments involved have been overtly abusive of the form of law. Both are dangerous.

  37. Re:Assange is a {political football} by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there's an interesting take on the Assange being SUCCESSFULLY granted diplomatic immunity 'as a diplomatic member of the Ecuador embassy staff',
    it seems that Chess is being played with this particular political football

    at least according to British ambassador Murray:

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/01/ecuador-and-assange/ {blog website} / {beware of many sock-puppets}

    "It is for the government of Ecuador, not the UK, to determine who is an Ecuadorian citizen. It is for the government of Ecuador, not the UK, to determine who is an Ecuadorian diplomat.

    It is not in the least unusual for Julian Assange to become an Ecuadorian citizen. Having been granted political asylum, and having lived for over five years under Ecuadorian jurisdiction, naturalisation is a perfectly normal step. There are a great many refugees in this country who are now naturalised UK citizens. Julian appears suitably proud of his new citizenship, and rightly so.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office appears to be putting out a story that it has refused to accredit Assange as an Ecuadorian diplomat. As the Guardian reports:
    “Earlier this week the UK’s Foreign Office revealed that Ecuador had asked for Assange, who was born in Australia, to be accredited as a diplomat. The request was dismissed.”

    I have no knowledge that the Ecuadorian government ever notified Assange as a member of diplomatic staff of its mission. But it has every right to appoint Assange, now an Ecuadorian citizen, as an Ecuadorian diplomat if it so chooses. Ecuador cannot tell the UK who may or may not be a British diplomat, and the converse applies."

  38. Time to follow the Legal Process by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's just time Assange did the honourable thing and have his day in court.

    Our democracies and legal systems are built on the principle of innocent until proven guilty and everyone is entitled to fair fair trial by their peers. If he is innocent then have your day in court and the prosecution will fail to prove it's case.

    The real difficulty is that he's not afraid of the crime with which he's been charged and is being extradited for. He is afraid of the crime he is yet to be charged with of publishing stolen classified documents.

    I struggle to have sympathy for him on this, He knew what he was doing and he knew he was breaking the law when doing it. He's hidden behind the guise of wikileaks which was effectively created to allow people to blow the whistle on public interest issues & crimes that would otherwise remain hidden. Unfortunately Assange failed to see the difference between things that are interesting to the public and in the public interest. Whilst those releases contained interesting and embarrassing things to read, there was no smoking gun of uncovered crimes or other illegal activities. Had those leaks contained something like watergate tapes or the bay of pigs invasion details etc then I doubt that a prosecution would be likely. Instead he chose to publish a trove of classified but otherwise non public interest information, and thought to hell with the law they can't touch me. It was simply reckless and ultimately pointless, and has unfortunately harmed the wikileaks idea that actually should've been really useful and a force against corruption.

    1. Re:Time to follow the Legal Process by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Our democracies and legal systems are built on the principle of innocent until proven guilty and everyone is entitled to fair fair trial by their peers."

      Mm... HHhaa.. Mhaaaa..

      MHaaahahahaha...

      Mwahahahhhahaa

      BWWEAAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

      Are you fucking stupid or something?

    2. Re:Time to follow the Legal Process by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is legal to publish about foreign crimes. He is not in the US (where the first amendment in being court reviewed for him) and the US doesn't have universal jurisdiction.

  39. Re:Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a south park parody for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  40. Don't kid yourself by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    none of the ruling class liked him. Yeah, there's plenty of corporatist sellouts on both sides. And Hilary is, well, just awful. Vote in your primary. If you and everyone else had done that we'd be saying Mr President to Bernie instead of a guy that confuses Call of Duty with the real world .

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  41. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    he's still a rapist.

  42. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure seems like everyone wants to take out handout money. We pay 1/3 of the UN budget, and gave foreign aid to something like 100 countries last year. Now I know it is only about 1% of the budget and when we have a disaster we get some help too.

    I actually agree with you, Assange is not a traitor, he is technically a terrorist. He conspired with traitors.

  43. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hi lawyer has said multiple times that he'd be willing to face these charges if both countries would guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to the US (something they claim they have no intention of doing) and both countries have flat refused to make this guarantee, leading to the belief that that is exactly what they plan to do.

    Actually, it's lead to the hysteria that that fabricated excuse is a reason for Assange to claim he was persecuted. There's no reason for either country to make such a guarantee, and plenty of reason for them not to do so, including simply not bending the knee to yet another demand from an illegitimate actor who will just keep coming up with reasons to protest without actually having a substantial complaint.

    And the moment he hits US soil, he'll be Gitmod, whether it's in Guantanamo or a US prison. Everyone involved knows it and so much money and many man hours spent on this shows that there is no other likely reasoning for this.

    The massive amounts of protests, legal process, and other actions for the prisoners held by the US do not lend credence to this idea either. There was so much money and so many man hours spent on them, that using them as your excuse is willfully demented. They weren't buried, and they're nobodies.

    What magic is the US going to enable them to do to that Assange?

    Remember, officially this is over a non-consensual act during consensual sex that the girls went to the police to track him down, soley to get an STD test. The police, upon finding the importance of the individual accused, pressured the girls into pressing charges, which they have since withdrawn, and sent out an interpol alert reserved for the world's most dangerous and most wanted. Sound like your standard everyday secondary rape case, yes? (/sarcasm)

    No, I'm actually surprised that they continued after finding out it was somebody important. I would have expected it to be buried instead.

    Beyond that, actually, it does not seem abnormal. People get raped. They feel ashamed, and exploited, victims. If they have the strength to go to help, they just want to be sure they're safe, then forget about it, and reluctantly seek medical help, let alone prosecutions, and then the police practically have to bend over backwards getting anything in the way of prosecutions to happen. It's a rather difficult process.

  44. Ecuador welcomes rapist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder how long before he rapes an Ecuadoran then steals any secrets he can find and tries to flee to Russia.

  45. Sneak through sewers? by acidradio · · Score: 1

    There has to be a legion (a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) who has the London sewers mapped out like the back of their hand who could sneak him away.

  46. Re:So is jaywalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He was wanted for questioning, nothing else,

    From the actual complaint: the woman who accused him of rape stated that first they both had sex, then later she awoke from him entering her again, she asked him if he was wearing any protection, and he said 'only you', and she stated she was too tired to argue, so they had sex again.

    Next morning they joked about him paying her student loans in case she became pregnant, and that they would call the baby Afghanistan. She then gave him a lift on her bike down to the train station since he was running late for an interview, and also gave him money for a ticket since he had no swedish currency. When she came home she discussed what had happened with a friend and then she realized she had been raped.

    This case was first dismissed by the district attourney because there was no case, then it was picked up (very unusual) by another attourney Marianne Ny...

    This is purely political, like when the UK spent millions having fucking guards outside the embassy for these insanely poor accusations which would never hold up in court.

    Here are the actual protocols from the questioning of the accuser (in swedish of course): http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assan...

  47. How is this different from prison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Strange world we live in

  48. Re:Unfair by ph1ll · · Score: 2

    "What do you call someone that has sex with a woman outside of her consenting terms?

    A rapist."

    So, a man who cheats on his wife is a rapist?

    --
    --- "We've always been at war with Eastasia."
  49. simple...Human DoS! by higuita · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just ask only for everyone to dress exactly the same way, cut the air the same way and look as much as possible as him... then everyone goes to the Ecuador embassy and leave all at same time. Do this several times, but only once of then Assange MAY really leave the embassy

    The police could not track so many people and after several attempts, they will give up or agree in a valid solution... or he MAY leave in one of the attempts

    Better yet, ask everyone to use a burka, that will be easier to hide as everyone is the same, be either men, women, white, ginger, black, asian, etc ... it may also requires women police (i do not really know how someone with burka is identified by a police)

    --
    Higuita
    1. Re:simple...Human DoS! by hankwang · · Score: 1

      All of them wearing bowler hats?

        https://youtu.be/RtA_vNrqrCI

  50. Re: Unfair by ph1ll · · Score: 2

    "Breach of bail conditions is a crime."

    Not necessarily. If I have good reason to believe that my right to life, my right to a fair trial etc will be violated, human rights law can potentially override criminal law.

    (IANAL but I have chatted to an English lawyer about this).

    --
    --- "We've always been at war with Eastasia."
  51. Re:So is jaywalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is bullshit. Questioning can happen whenever, if you don't believe it, use simple logic to deduce why. It's not allowed in Sweden not to come when asked to be questioned, but you need not to reply to questions. If you refuse to come to questioning a warrant will be made for you arrest to force you compliance. Still you don't need to answer any questions, just be there. This is what the arrest is for.

  52. Re:Assange is a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you mean, Assange is not an American? Every noteworthy person is an American. Well, except for Hitler.

  53. Re:So is jaywalking by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

    RTFNSA - read the fine New Statesman article

    As the English High Court held (paragraphs 152 and 153):

    Plainly this is a case which has moved from suspicion to accusation supported by proof. [...]

    In England and Wales, a decision to charge is taken at a very early stage; there can be no doubt that if what Mr Assange had done had been done in England and Wales, he would have been charged and thus criminal proceedings would have been commenced.

    Some commentators have made the point that the prosecutors should come to the UK to question Assange. However, this appears to misunderstand the procedural stage of the investigation. Assange is not required for mere questioning; he is required to surrender for interrogation before any charges can be made and prosecution brought.

    Assange has already been questioned. The prosecutor has also told the English courts that the need to deal with the other witnesses and expert evidence means that the interrogation stage needs to take place in Sweden. That is a matter for a prosecutor to decide. The allegations are about incident in Sweden, and in respect of Swedish complainants on the basis of witness and expert evidence in Sweden.

    And, of course, it is not for the accused in a serious crime investigation to determine how any investigation should proceed.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  54. Not That Difficult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Britain CANNOT, under diplomatic law, intercept diplomatic cargo and inspect it. They could easily work on a panel truck to hide him in it, or put him in a special box, take him to the airport and whisk him away.

    Another thing to do is to say they are going to do a "live" interview in the Ecuadorian embassy, but actually have it prerecorded. "Televise" the "live" interview whilst whisking him away in a diplomatic vehicle that is not subject to search. This is possible should the Ecuadorians really want to make it happen.

    1. Re:Not That Difficult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alternatively, if it's that big a deal, they could always alter his appearance with surgery, tan him, change his hair colour and hide him in a vehicle until they could get to the airport. There are myriad ways to get him out of the country should they truly be interested.

  55. Just as an FYI... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lots of 'liberals' were calling Assange a traitor or at least a shitbag we should've hit, since the whole Manning thing, especially onces who had family in the military. For them, releasing military secrets is taboo no matter who you are.

    The people who have become *VOCAL* about it since Hillary are the libtards, which I would say replicate the frothing mass of screamers on the conservative side of things. As far as percentages go, I cannot provide hard values since I stopped caring about either side after the whammies of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama without anything important to me changing politically, while people ranted and raved about shit that didn't matter while both sides were fundamentally dismantling what it meant to have liberty in America.

    I hope the 4th Reich is in America, and chooses to purge the stupid and the partisan in the same way the Nazis purged the Jews, Homosexuals, and Mentally Retarded. Because America seems to be mostly the Partisanly Retarded today.

  56. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    English not your first language or just not very bright?

  57. Re:Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Probably also getting a rather large payment from a three letter agency.

  58. The need look a likes to visit the embasy by BlueCoder · · Score: 1

    Say for six months to a couple years. Could even have the people be volunteers. They could play it up and down as to make them look like they are in disguise and then leave the country. Then at sometime randomly chosen by Julian in the two years he could sneak out as one of them. Not even the embassy staff would know. He could try for a plane, boat or a cargo container.

    No matter what I truly hope he make it somewhere he will not be persecuted.

  59. UK needs to lose sovereignty by Quzak · · Score: 0

    The UK is no longer fit to have their own sovereignty

    --
    Support your local school shooter, give them your firearms.
  60. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Assange also said that he would go to the US if Manning was granted clemency. Well, I think history has shown that Assange is not to be trusted.

  61. Does Assange have dirt on Ecuador? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps Assange's conversation with Ecuador went something like this:

    "Hey, would you like me to release embarrasing information about your country or would you grant me asylum and receive some tasty information about the USA that we have collected over the years?"

    If Assange is as narcissistic as he seems to be, it would not surprise me at all if he used Wikileak's information for his own personal gain in this way.

  62. Re: Unfair by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    and both countries have flat refused to make this guarantee

    And both countries are unlikely to be allowed to do so given international agreements with the USA, not without negatively impacting diplomatic relations in the process.

  63. Re: Unfair by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    And if that were the case he'd have made a claim to the international court of justice when he sought refuge. But nope.

    He'd probably have a good case too given the UN's opinions of his state. Given they concluded he's being held in arbitrary detention even though it was his own decision to skip the bail conditions and he isn't being detained, and if he were detained he'd quickly go through the process of prosecution and therefore not be in arbitrary detection there's just enough doogooders in the UN to probably make the human rights claim stick.

    But the fact that they didn't even attempt to go this way, combined by the fact that despite his assertion that the charges against him in Sweden are arbitrary due to strange Swedish law and the UK courts concluded that what he did was a crime in the UK, I will go with that he probably thinks he has no chance in hell of making that claim stick.

    Just because you're wanted in another country doesn't mean you can evade justice from not one but two other countries, both of which agreed you committed a crime. Remember no charges have been laid on him by the USA, and the opinion that they may should not mean he is automatically beyond the power of the courts.

  64. Re: Unfair by Theaetetus · · Score: 2

    Hi lawyer has said multiple times that he'd be willing to face these charges if both countries would guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to the US (something they claim they have no intention of doing) and both countries have flat refused to make this guarantee, leading to the belief that that is exactly what they plan to do.

    ... or leading to the belief that low level prosecutors lack the ability to make a guarantee regarding extradition. Which they do.

    And the moment he hits US soil, he'll be Gitmod, whether it's in Guantanamo or a US prison. Everyone involved knows it and so much money and many man hours spent on this shows that there is no other likely reasoning for this. Remember, officially this is over a non-consensual act during consensual sex

    A non-consensual sexual act is sexual assault, and you appear to be admitting he did that.
    As for "during consensual sex", that may apply to the incident in which he slipped the condom off, but it doesn't apply to the sleeping woman he raped. Unconscious people cannot consent.

    ... that the girls went to the police to track him down, soley to get an STD test. The police, upon finding the importance of the individual accused, pressured the girls into pressing charges, which they have since withdrawn

    Neither charges were withdrawn by the girls involved. The sexual assault charges have expired, because Assange was a fugitive for long enough that the statute of limitation tolled. The rape charges are still pending.

    ... and sent out an interpol alert reserved for the world's most dangerous and most wanted. Sound like your standard everyday secondary rape case, yes? (/sarcasm)

    Yes, actually. You admit he committed sexual assault, he's also a rapist and bail jumper. Pursuing him via an INTERPOL alert - which are not only reserved for the most dangerous and most wanted, but any fugitive fleeing internationally - is entirely expected.

  65. Right for a walk outdoors by Max_W · · Score: 1

    Is it the problem to add a fenced patch of land to the embassy? Even prisoners have got the right to walk at the fresh air.

  66. Re:Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ALEGEDLY

  67. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The case have been analyzed by an international panel of human rights experts and they say that his detention is arbitrary. The panel is part of the UN and considered the whole case.
    Yet, somehow, your bigoted opinion about how one law of one country, about skipping bail, should be above international diplomatic laws and human rights laws got upvoted as "insightful".
    It's hard to believe this kind of BS comes from people in a website where people perceive themselves as smart.

  68. Re: Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember no charges have been laid on him by the USA

    This proves you are a hypocrite. If in an argument you pretend there are is no extraordinary rendition, US-UK extradition treaties, US secret grand juries and that the US understands itself as having global jurisdiction, your "good faith" in the argument is proven non existent.

    You are pretending to ignore everything about the case except the parts that make up your "opinion", but the US secret grand jury against Assange has been so publicized that people who still pretend it is not a thing are nothing but pieces of garbage serving the torture country.

  69. AssWage gets his by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess international traitor and spy AssWage will be hiding out in Ecuador soon. I dare him to venture out of Ecuador for a bit. Perhaps he'll get what he deserves.

  70. Newsflash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Quite a few people don't know this, but the goodly majority of the Nazi Brownshirts were homosexuals. Ernst Roehm was as queer as a football bat. Yes, they wen't after homosexuals, but only those who opposed the Nazis. The first homosexual "acceptance" push was from Roehm and his ilk. Modern day acceptance of homosexual deviancy stems largely from the very people who went on to become Nazis.

  71. Re:Unfair by superwiz · · Score: 1

    What do you call someone that has sex with a woman outside of her consenting terms?

    Nothing. There is no word for it.

    A rapist.

    That's a word for someone who forced himself on someone else. At no point did Assange force himself. The women were free to leave the encounter (according to what's alleged). Anyone who is free to leave is, by definition, provided free passage. If you want to argue statutory rape exceptions to the "forced" sex, you would be wrong as well because the women in question were legally capable of consent.

    Lying to a women to get sex is not rape. Otherwise, you'd have to start judging what kind of lies are rape and what kind are not. According to your logic someone lying to a woman about being rich (to impress her) would be a rapist. So would someone lying about their name.

    This is a very dangerous and, in fact, harmful types of thinking because they diminish (dilute really) the severity of an actual criminal rape envolving force.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  72. Re: Unfair by superwiz · · Score: 1

    Those who point out the foolishness of your arguments are not less bright than you. They don't misunderstand you. In this particular case, they underline why you are streching the truth.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
  73. Re:Unfair by superwiz · · Score: 1

    Here's a simpler argument why your argument is dumb:

    What if a woman brings her own condom and she pokes a hole in (because she wants to have a child with a man who doesn't want one)? Did she commit rape? This is dumb. Trickery is not rape.

    --
    Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.