Skip to content

Assange asylumed

I really do wonder what it is with this Julian Assange bloke:

In a separate statement, WikiLeaks condemned the “menacing show of force” by police and said any transgression against the “sanctity” of the embassy would be a “shameful act”.

Mr Assange himself said: “I am grateful to the Ecuadorean people, President Rafael Correa and his government. It was not Britain or my home country, Australia, that stood up to protect me from persecution, but a courageous, independent Latin American nation.

“While today is a historic victory, our struggles have just begun. The unprecedented US investigation against WikiLeaks must be stopped.”

Vaughan Smith, who posted bail for Assange and previously offered him sanctuary at his home, Ellingham Hall, in Norfolk, said he was \”delighted\” with Ecuador\’s decision \”I think it\’s fantastic,\” he said. \”I can\’t believe we\’re really going to enter the embassy (and arrest him). I think that would be disproportionate.

\”Maybe now is a good time to reflect and get used to the idea that someone has got political asylum in London.”

The usual line ups seem to have been reversed. Bloke wanted for questioning on sexual assault charges (as well as rape, no?) is the hero of the stupid left.

Is the ability to thumb one\’s nose at the US really such a powerful motivator to produce that result?

I assume it is because I can\’t see any other reason for what so many people are doing.

24 thoughts on “Assange asylumed”

  1. Aha, but the “rape allegations” are merely a ruse to spring him to where they CAN get hold of him.
    Or something.

    Alan Douglas

  2. I’ve heard people using the “but it wasn’t RAPE rape” line normally reserved for unrepentant misogynists and famous film directors.

  3. It’s the clearest illustration yet of Maslov’s (lesser known) hierarchy of Leftist needs.

    Hatred of the US trumps everything, including women’s rights, persecution of minorities or trade unionists, and anti-semitism.

    Julian hates US therefore he is a good guy.

  4. I say leave him there. Quite happy to see him rot away in the embassy, while the playtime left desperately try to airbrush every nutty pronouncement he comes up in the meantime. By the time he finally gives up and turns himself in, he’ll be wishing he really was being sent to Gitmo 🙂

  5. Ugh. I ended up in a debate with colleagues at work yesterday in which I was called ‘naive’ when I expressed doubts over the conspiracy theory that the US was orchestrating the whole saga. If he had any balls he’d go to Sweden and if he’s picked up by the US, then he can say “I told you so” and probably become a ‘martyr’ like Bradley Manning.

    The hypocrisy of this bid for asylum in Ecuador is shocking though, clearly chosen because he’s become chummy with the President, himself a man with a reputation for silencing journalists and political opponents.

  6. Matt,

    I tend to find anyone who accuses their opponent in a debate of being naive, they are usually trying to get you to believe some batshit crazy conspiracy theory.

  7. Any sympathy I had for Assange is long gone.

    I do not understand his fear of Sweden. The UK seems quite happy to allow the US to extradite British citizens to the US for crimes involving computers. Why was he so fearful of Sweden if the UK is just as extradition happy.

  8. Part of the issue is that the definition of rape in Sweden and the in the UK is different.

    The sex was consensual in both cases, and both women were happy to brag about it after wards.

    However the problem occurred when the women ran into each other and discovered he had banged both of them.

    At this point the rape charges were laid, but they aren’t that the sex was none consensual they were about aspects of the sex. In one case that a condom broke.

    Swedish law comes very close to allowing you to withdraw consent after the fact.

    What happened wouldn’t be considered a crime in the UK.

  9. Looking forward to the Left’s wriggling trying to portray Ecuador as a shining beacon and Sweden as a despotic hell hole where good men fear to tread. Should be fun.

  10. Steve T, are you saying that the rape wasn’t rape as we would understand it?

    Can anyone tell me why The Left (including for these purposes Swedish feminists) are so keen to devalue rape? Real rape is a hideous crime, after all.

    It reminds me a little of all those people keen to devalue slavery by referring to any disagreeable sort of employment conditions as “slavery”.

  11. Doesn’t matter one iota that the reason he is wanted by the Swedes would not be a crime in the UK , this is not a request by the Swedes for extradition. They are merely using the provisions of the European Arrest Warrant to which all 27 statelets of the EU are bound by treaty. ANY of these can request the handing over of a British citizen without having to provide any evidence that a crime has been committed the mere request is sufficient.

    Can we leave yet?

  12. ……But, why does Ecuador want to offer him asylum? They don’t have to. They’re annoying the UK a lot, and presumably the US and the Swedes a bit, in exchange for what?….

    Ecuador’s president belongs to the “Anti USA Trumps Everything” brigade.

    As for their commitment to human rights…..

    Ecuador’s laws restrict freedom of expression, and government officials, including Correa, use these laws against his critics. Those involved in protests marred by violence may be prosecuted on inflated and inappropriate ‘terrorism’ charges.

    Impunity for police abuses is widespread and perpetrators of murders often attributed to a “settling of accounts” between criminal gangs are rarely prosecuted and convicted.

    http://www.hrw.org/americas/ecuador

  13. dearime, hint, if you’re concern trolling about an alleged rape, you really shouldn’t use the phrase “Real rape”. It implies there are kinds of rape that somehow don’t count.

  14. Steve T, while I know the Swedish justice system has its share of controversy when it comes to rape cases, the case against Assange includes allegations that he held a woman down during sex and that he had unprotected sex while the woman was asleep. Some of these claims are not as frivolous as his supporters are making out.

  15. But Richard, there kinds of “rape” that somehow don’t count….like false accusations of same. Traumatic, sure, mostly for those accused though.

    And just a little pointer, using the word “hint” like that rather screams “troll” does it not ?

  16. Just to sum up the actual facts of the matter, which have been obscured greatly by Assange’s activist army:

    Assange does not deny the facts as stated by his two victims. He disputes that what occurred was rape, but he is just plain wrong. It would be rape in (almost) any country in the world. In one case he held a woman down whilst she struggled to get free and forced himself between her legs. He has stated under oath to the English courts that he accepts the facts as stated there.

    The claims about extradition to the US are ludicrous. The US could have extradited him far more easily from the UK than from Sweden. Bizarrely enough, they can even extradite him to try him for the Swedish sex crimes, if they want – but they evidently don’t give a hoot, since they have made no attempt to extradite him at all.

  17. @Richard Allen: Read what I said again – it was premised on SteveT’s comment. If you disagree with what he said, argue with him. And take reading comprehension lessons too, I suggest.

  18. The claims about extradition to the US are ludicrous. The US could have extradited him far more easily from the UK than from Sweden. Bizarrely enough, they can even extradite him to try him for the Swedish sex crimes, if they want – but they evidently don’t give a hoot, since they have made no attempt to extradite him at all.

    Quite.

  19. His fan club of leftie acolytes desperately need him to dodge the Swedish warrant. If, after jumping bail, and losing them their bail money, he goes through a normal criminal investigation/ trial process in Sweden, with no interventions from the USA, they are all going to be made to look utterly stupid.

  20. Sweden says they will not send anyone to a country where they might get the death sentence. Though they sent an egyptian back to Egypt where his reception might have been problematic.
    They usually sent the person back to their place of birth -Australian. Which does have a treaty with the USA.

  21. I see nothing improper in the charges laid against Assange in Sweden, nor any reason to doubt that he would get a fair trial there.

    On the other hand, spending the rest of his life effectively under house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy would seem to be a proportionate punishment for his alleged crimes in Sweden.

  22. The Pedant-General

    The irony of a man who has done enormous damage to the ability of (one particular set of) embassies to operate who is now relying on the ability of an embassy to operate properly should not be lost on anyone either.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *