7 ms·

Julian Assange urges US to end Wikileaks 'witch-hunt'

99 points by gitarr 14y ago

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
hnolable 14y ago
I had 4 live feeds of this event going for an hour or two prior to it. I felt Julian's speech itself was rather boring. The preceding speeches in front of the embassy by some of his supporters were a bit more interesting. Here's a chronicle of some of the events: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/aug/19/julian-assange-statement-ecuadorean-embassy-live http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/aug/19/julian-assa... The most interesting thing I took away from the whole spectacle was: The Organisation of American States (OAS) has voted to hold a meeting next Friday following Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Assange, who is currently taking refuge in the country's embassy in London. The permanent council of the OAS decided that a meeting would be held in Washington DC after members voted on the issue. The US, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago opposed the resolution, but 23 members voted in favour of the meeting. There were five abstentions and three members were absent. The OAS secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, said the meeting would not be about Assange but the "the problem posed by the threat or warning made to Ecuador by the possibility of an intervention into its embassy in London. The issue that concerns us is the inviolability of diplomatic missions of all members of this organisation, something that is of interest to all of us." I have a feeling Assange will be holed up in that embassy for some good time to come.
- option_greek 14y ago
  He looked like a bird with clipped wings. All those days cooped up in one place must have had their effect.
TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
I don't think Julian jumping bail and fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy will do him any favours. Now the UK and Sweden are angry at him and Ecuador and Australia's embarrassed. Sure, the US does want to question him. But they haven't issued an extradition request, and by the looks of things getting him out of Sweden would be just as difficult as getting him out of the UK, if not more so. I highly suspect Assange is actually just trying to avoid jail time, if he's going to these lengths to avoid going to Sweden for questioning on unrelated accusations of sex crime. Assange is very attention-seeking and seems to care a lot about his image, which I suspect he is going to great lengths to avoid damaging. Edit: I hate to compare HN to reddit, but I worry that I'm being downvoted for having an unpopular opinion. (edit: this has changed.) Edit 2: I'm reconsidering my stance on this, my father's (conservative) opinions have too much influence on me.
- hnolable 14y ago
  please read this comment on a previous HN story: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4391500 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4391500 or this short post: http://www.ianwelsh.net/assange-and-wikileaks-the-basics/ http://www.ianwelsh.net/assange-and-wikileaks-the-basics/ or this documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu4WCskniEc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu4WCskniEc inform yourself
  - Kiro 14y ago
    Yes, I can tell you have a very unbiased view on the matter.
  - jusben1369 14y ago
    I'm not sure Hnolable if you did the down vote on TazeTSchnitzel but either way it seems very inappropriate. You're taking a complicated situation and assuming you know all the facts and the motivations. That's presumptuous because it is impossible for you to know. There's nothing in the comments by OP that isn't a fair assumption.
    - hnolable 14y ago
      I'm a new account. I have 13 pts. I can't downvote. His comment was very uninformed. So I pasted 3 links which are a quick way for him to get up to speed on the things that most people are not made aware of by the media covering the whole fiasco.
      - jusben1369 14y ago
        Yet it's hard to dispute that Assange does a) want to avoid going to jail and b) is a very attention seeking person. At least that comment is no longer down-voted. That ABC/4Corners article you site really isn't credible either if you know Australian media well.
- smokeyj 14y ago
  > I highly suspect Assange is actually just trying to avoid jail time, if he's going to these lengths to avoid going to Sweden for questioning on unrelated accusations of sex crime. He offered to be interviewed from the embassy. Isn't it suspicious that Sweden won't accept that, given that this man hasn't been charged with anything?
jusben1369 14y ago
I know it's very contrarian to not be 100% pro Assange on this board but all I ever see are the pro Assange interpretation of the facts. Some things to consider: - "Sometime during Wilen's questioning the police announced to Ardin and Wilen that Assange was to be arrested and questioned about possible rape and molestation." This was the initial questioning by local authorities. So unless every police station in every part of Sweden had been told to get Assange no matter what at any opportunity it's unlikely this was some conspiracy. Perhaps the local police station over reacted - but no conspiracy - "Within 24 hours, a more senior prosecutor dismissed the rape allegations, leaving only the lesser accusation of molestation. Assange willingly went to the police on August 30th and made a statement." Ok so the further up the chain it goes the initial charge is reduced. If there was a conspiracy at this point wouldn't it work the other way? - Can't avoid this piece of irony: "During the interview he expressed his fears that anything he said would end up in the tabloid newspaper Expressen. The interviewing police officer said: "I'm not going to leak anything." The interview was leaked." - "On September 15th, the prosecutor told Assange he was permitted to leave Sweden." More than two weeks after the initial report he's still allowed to leave Sweden. Surely if the US government wanted to use this case to trump up charges and have him arrested and deported via a proxy state (as is so often stated) wouldn't they have gotten the ball rolling within those two weeks? - JEFFREY L. BLEICH, US AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA (May 2012): "It's not something that the US cares about, it's not interested in it, it hasn't been involved in it - and frankly, if he's in Sweden, there's a less robust extradition relationship than there is between the US and the UK, so I think it's one of those narratives that has been made up - there's nothing to it." If this is a conspiracy to get Assange then it's a pretty poorly orchestrated one at this stage. Anyway, just wanted to highlight some counter points that won't sit well with many people here but that's probably even more reason to point them out.
- gasull 14y ago
  What Julian fears is that he will be extradited to the US from Sweden, because both countries have a special treaty. So the "conspiracy" is not about jailing him for rape, is about having him in a Swedish prison long enough so the US can formally charge him for espionage and request his extradition. Even if he is found innocent of the rape charges, that would take days, long enough for the US to request the extradition. But if this is done while Assange is in the UK, then he most probably would win the appeal against being extradited to Sweden in the first place. Also, this is very time-consuming and Wikileaks is hardly publishing as much as it used to. So in some way, the "conspiracy" is working out.
tome 14y ago
This is partisan politics, not Hacker News. Flagged.
- ForrestN 14y ago
  Julian Assange, love him or hate him, is certainly a hacker, and Wikileaks is potentially, depending on what turns out to be true, one of the most important technology stories this decade. It is a story about the Internet being told on the Internet, and has major implications for the future of the Internet. The fact that a technology story is also political, also has global ramifications, matters in other realms and daily life, makes it more important as a technology story.
  - philwelch 14y ago
    Quoth the guidelines: "Off-topic: Most stories about politics, or crime...unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. ... If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic." This is indeed off-topic.
    - ForrestN 14y ago
      The video is part of an ongoing story: the wide-ranging political and diplomatic implications of decentralized leaks that can't be kept from the public once they're out. This story is certainly evidence of an entirely new, technology-centric phenomenon that I personally find highly interesting.
      - philwelch 14y ago
        Wikileaks is interesting. Julian Assange's personal affairs are not.
        ForrestN 14y ago
        This is not his personal affairs; this is a public speech he's giving about Wikileaks, and an alleged international conspiracy to destroy the organization. Maybe it's trumped up, I'm agnostic on that point. But it's highly contentious whether or not this is about Assange's personal affairs, or if his personal affairs are being used as a weapon against Wikileaks.
cletus 14y ago
A lot of the questions and opinions about Assange came up when Ecuador granted him asylum (eg [1]) as I'm sure they come up every time Wikileaks or Assange makes the news. I just can't escape the opinion that something about Assange is just off. Don't get me wrong: something is very strange about the way Swedish prosecutors are acting. But think about this: if these charges were exactly what they appeared to be and there was no US involvement, claiming a US conspiracy sure could be an effective defence in the court of public opinion. Some commenters point out that there's no evidence the US government put the two women up to this so there's no US involvement. This is a false dichotomy. Personally I believe that the initial interview and prosecutorial involvement was innocent enough but probably what happened is that the US got wind of it and saw it as a way to get Assange to Sweden. I expect the reports are true that the US has a sealed indictment against Assange. I also find the idea that you can prosecute someone with espionage (most likely) for what is essentially journalism very disturbing. The question of why not extradite from the UK is also unresolved. It's clear that it is easier to extradite from the Sweden (ie "temporary surrender"). Perhaps the US doesn't want to give the UK the political headache of having to deal with this and having it drag out in the courts. It also seems like the Swedish government does't have the legal authority to guarantee non-extradition to the US. Overall it's very strange and very disturbing. EDIT: another possibility: the Swedish police and duty prosecutor misinterpreted and/or overreacteed, a more senior prosecutor acted more rationally but then it went further up and may not been at the behest of the US at all but simply could've been the government or even some lackey just being eager to please. If nothing else, Sweden really should have to come clean on who made the decisions regarding Assange's arrest warrant (after giving him clearance to leave) and the Interpol "Red Notice". [1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4390885 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4390885
- rmc 14y ago
  The one reason you know that something is weird is because courts/police/governments usually don't try to prosecute rapists this way. Usually rape victims are ignored. Seems the only way to get the state and police to really care, is if your rapist is an enemy of the state. Also the UK will not extradite murderous dictators if they don't want to. (e.g. Augusto Pinochet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_Augusto_Pinochet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_August... ). It's very fishy, but that doesn't mean Assange has immunity.
iuguy 14y ago
I'm surprised no-one's pointed out the irony of a man locked up in a building in order to stop him from being locked up in a building. Seriously though, lets try to look at this objectively. We have a man who is wanted for questioning relating to sexual offences and is actively trying to escape the charges. In any normal situation, we would all say that he should go and face the courts and if guilty do the time. Pro-Assange people claim that he should not face the courts on the grounds that this will be used to extradite him to the US. These same people are saying that someone who may be guilty of a crime in Sweden are saying that the law shouldn't apply to him. Additionally, this same man has done an awful lot of work to expose corruption and wrongdoing at a high level. In the process of this however and through an exchange with a journalist, the raw cable information, all unredacted has been compromised, in the process potentially jeopardizing the lives of many people named in the unredacted cables. The US is understandably livid and take the disclosure of classified material seriously. Again, pro-Assange people claim that the law should not apply to him, that he was doing a good thing by exposing the redacted information, but are strangely silent on the fact that he posted the whole thing online and put these lives in potential danger. Additionally we have the unprecedented act of the British government threatening the integrity of the Ecuadorian embassy (thanks for pointing this out Daishiman). This is indeed strange and unique. It's worth bearing in mind that the threat was made against the advice of legal counsel. It may be possible that the person responsible didn't understand the Vienna convention. The UK now has a legal obligation to extradite Assange to Sweden, as per their treaty with Sweden. I find it interesting that people can suspend their views of justice based on the allegations of political meddling. The fact is that he is wanted by the Swedish government, and he's admitted that he had sex with the two ladies in question, yet the arguments against him facing the Swedish judicial system fail to offer up any reasons why he should be exempt from the law beyond claims of a conspiracy (which may or may not be real, we don't know for sure and probably never will).
- Daishiman 14y ago
  Two points: Sweden has not charged Assange with anything. They want him for interrogation. There is nothing impeding the Swedish government from questioning Assange in the UK. The whole extradition is a farce as long as other alternatives remain, which do not affect the investigation in any way. It should be noted that the flagrant threats the UK has made to Ecuador's diplomatic integrity is something basically unheard of. Throughout the entirety of the Cold War no government has made a similar case for people of both much higher profile and admittedly far more dangerous to the public. Second, no one has proved or bothered to show to any degree that anyone has had their safety compromised. Lots of talking about Assange from the embarrassed governments in question, very little action towards showing that he was any danger to anyone.
Tycho 14y ago
Assange could probably fall out of a plane on his way to Sweden and there'd be people on here saying how they see no evidence that it was anything other than an accidental mechanical failure.
jakeonthemove 14y ago
You know what's more interesting? The fact that the Australian government is nowhere to be found when it comes to this - or at least, there's no mention of their involvement. I still can't decide whether I like that or not - on the one hand, it's nice to see that citizens of a country who are passport holders (passports are gov. property and can be easily revoked) are free to do what they want around the world, on the other hand, it's kind of sad to see that your government doesn't do anything to help you...
- petitmiam 14y ago
  Absolutely. After all the support they've given to their citizens acting very stupid in Indonesia, it's disappointing they are so quiet on this.
gumdad 14y ago
Well, at this stage Assange has become a pawn in the game of international relations. I wonder if he envisioned that, when he was dreaming of how "Wikileaks" would change the world. Countries that generally get a raw deal in their dealings with the US, like many in South America, can use him as a bargaining chip. And that's exactly what's happening here. Reading between the lines, seeing beyond the silly headlines the papers are feeding us, does not require you to be a foreign policy expert. As someone said in an earlier post, whether we like Assange as a person is less relevant than the fact his ill-considered actions have pushed the envelope and are forcing some issues about the internet to be addressed, the resolution of which hackers have been patiently waiting for many years. It's interesting to think about all the cables that were never released, i.e. the vast majority of them. How did the newspapers decide which ones to let the public see? Those decisions are having real effects. They were in essence policy decisions. Someone at the news corporation had to say, let's release these cables about Ecuador. And here we are. Pass the popcorn.
pitiburi 14y ago
Please note that yesterday the USA went public saying they DO NOT recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum. Here my post on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4401902 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4401902 Of course the story is huge, and of course it was immediately flagged to death, but I think that it says a lot about the intentions of the US government: they are willing to take that kind of embarrassing and dangerous step just to put pressure on UK and Assange.
pitiburi 14y ago
UK say they have no choice but to do everything possible to get Assange because there is a deportation request. Just one word to answer that and destroy any credibility that position could have: Pinochet.

99 points by gitarr 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

I had 4 live feeds of this event going for an hour or two prior to it. I felt Julian's speech itself was rather boring. The preceding speeches in front of the embassy by some of his supporters were a bit more interesting. Here's a chronicle of some of the events: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/aug/19/julian-assange-statement-ecuadorean-embassy-live http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/aug/19/julian-assa... The most interesting thing I took away from the whole spectacle was: The Organisation of American States (OAS) has voted to hold a meeting next Friday following Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Assange, who is currently taking refuge in the country's embassy in London. The permanent council of the OAS decided that a meeting would be held in Washington DC after members voted on the issue. The US, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago opposed the resolution, but 23 members voted in favour of the meeting. There were five abstentions and three members were absent. The OAS secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, said the meeting would not be about Assange but the "the problem posed by the threat or warning made to Ecuador by the possibility of an intervention into its embassy in London. The issue that concerns us is the inviolability of diplomatic missions of all members of this organisation, something that is of interest to all of us." I have a feeling Assange will be holed up in that embassy for some good time to come.

option_greek 14y ago
He looked like a bird with clipped wings. All those days cooped up in one place must have had their effect.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

I don't think Julian jumping bail and fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy will do him any favours. Now the UK and Sweden are angry at him and Ecuador and Australia's embarrassed. Sure, the US does want to question him. But they haven't issued an extradition request, and by the looks of things getting him out of Sweden would be just as difficult as getting him out of the UK, if not more so. I highly suspect Assange is actually just trying to avoid jail time, if he's going to these lengths to avoid going to Sweden for questioning on unrelated accusations of sex crime. Assange is very attention-seeking and seems to care a lot about his image, which I suspect he is going to great lengths to avoid damaging. Edit: I hate to compare HN to reddit, but I worry that I'm being downvoted for having an unpopular opinion. (edit: this has changed.) Edit 2: I'm reconsidering my stance on this, my father's (conservative) opinions have too much influence on me.

hnolable 14y ago
please read this comment on a previous HN story: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4391500 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4391500 or this short post: http://www.ianwelsh.net/assange-and-wikileaks-the-basics/ http://www.ianwelsh.net/assange-and-wikileaks-the-basics/ or this documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu4WCskniEc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu4WCskniEc inform yourself
- Kiro 14y ago
  Yes, I can tell you have a very unbiased view on the matter.
- jusben1369 14y ago
  I'm not sure Hnolable if you did the down vote on TazeTSchnitzel but either way it seems very inappropriate. You're taking a complicated situation and assuming you know all the facts and the motivations. That's presumptuous because it is impossible for you to know. There's nothing in the comments by OP that isn't a fair assumption.
  - hnolable 14y ago
    I'm a new account. I have 13 pts. I can't downvote. His comment was very uninformed. So I pasted 3 links which are a quick way for him to get up to speed on the things that most people are not made aware of by the media covering the whole fiasco.
    - jusben1369 14y ago
      Yet it's hard to dispute that Assange does a) want to avoid going to jail and b) is a very attention seeking person. At least that comment is no longer down-voted. That ABC/4Corners article you site really isn't credible either if you know Australian media well.
smokeyj 14y ago
> I highly suspect Assange is actually just trying to avoid jail time, if he's going to these lengths to avoid going to Sweden for questioning on unrelated accusations of sex crime. He offered to be interviewed from the embassy. Isn't it suspicious that Sweden won't accept that, given that this man hasn't been charged with anything?

jusben1369 14y ago

I know it's very contrarian to not be 100% pro Assange on this board but all I ever see are the pro Assange interpretation of the facts. Some things to consider: - "Sometime during Wilen's questioning the police announced to Ardin and Wilen that Assange was to be arrested and questioned about possible rape and molestation." This was the initial questioning by local authorities. So unless every police station in every part of Sweden had been told to get Assange no matter what at any opportunity it's unlikely this was some conspiracy. Perhaps the local police station over reacted - but no conspiracy - "Within 24 hours, a more senior prosecutor dismissed the rape allegations, leaving only the lesser accusation of molestation. Assange willingly went to the police on August 30th and made a statement." Ok so the further up the chain it goes the initial charge is reduced. If there was a conspiracy at this point wouldn't it work the other way? - Can't avoid this piece of irony: "During the interview he expressed his fears that anything he said would end up in the tabloid newspaper Expressen. The interviewing police officer said: "I'm not going to leak anything." The interview was leaked." - "On September 15th, the prosecutor told Assange he was permitted to leave Sweden." More than two weeks after the initial report he's still allowed to leave Sweden. Surely if the US government wanted to use this case to trump up charges and have him arrested and deported via a proxy state (as is so often stated) wouldn't they have gotten the ball rolling within those two weeks? - JEFFREY L. BLEICH, US AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA (May 2012): "It's not something that the US cares about, it's not interested in it, it hasn't been involved in it - and frankly, if he's in Sweden, there's a less robust extradition relationship than there is between the US and the UK, so I think it's one of those narratives that has been made up - there's nothing to it." If this is a conspiracy to get Assange then it's a pretty poorly orchestrated one at this stage. Anyway, just wanted to highlight some counter points that won't sit well with many people here but that's probably even more reason to point them out.

gasull 14y ago
What Julian fears is that he will be extradited to the US from Sweden, because both countries have a special treaty. So the "conspiracy" is not about jailing him for rape, is about having him in a Swedish prison long enough so the US can formally charge him for espionage and request his extradition. Even if he is found innocent of the rape charges, that would take days, long enough for the US to request the extradition. But if this is done while Assange is in the UK, then he most probably would win the appeal against being extradited to Sweden in the first place. Also, this is very time-consuming and Wikileaks is hardly publishing as much as it used to. So in some way, the "conspiracy" is working out.

tome 14y ago

This is partisan politics, not Hacker News. Flagged.

ForrestN 14y ago
Julian Assange, love him or hate him, is certainly a hacker, and Wikileaks is potentially, depending on what turns out to be true, one of the most important technology stories this decade. It is a story about the Internet being told on the Internet, and has major implications for the future of the Internet. The fact that a technology story is also political, also has global ramifications, matters in other realms and daily life, makes it more important as a technology story.
- philwelch 14y ago
  Quoth the guidelines: "Off-topic: Most stories about politics, or crime...unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. ... If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic." This is indeed off-topic.
  - ForrestN 14y ago
    The video is part of an ongoing story: the wide-ranging political and diplomatic implications of decentralized leaks that can't be kept from the public once they're out. This story is certainly evidence of an entirely new, technology-centric phenomenon that I personally find highly interesting.
    - philwelch 14y ago
      Wikileaks is interesting. Julian Assange's personal affairs are not.
      - ForrestN 14y ago
        This is not his personal affairs; this is a public speech he's giving about Wikileaks, and an alleged international conspiracy to destroy the organization. Maybe it's trumped up, I'm agnostic on that point. But it's highly contentious whether or not this is about Assange's personal affairs, or if his personal affairs are being used as a weapon against Wikileaks.

cletus 14y ago

A lot of the questions and opinions about Assange came up when Ecuador granted him asylum (eg [1]) as I'm sure they come up every time Wikileaks or Assange makes the news. I just can't escape the opinion that something about Assange is just off. Don't get me wrong: something is very strange about the way Swedish prosecutors are acting. But think about this: if these charges were exactly what they appeared to be and there was no US involvement, claiming a US conspiracy sure could be an effective defence in the court of public opinion. Some commenters point out that there's no evidence the US government put the two women up to this so there's no US involvement. This is a false dichotomy. Personally I believe that the initial interview and prosecutorial involvement was innocent enough but probably what happened is that the US got wind of it and saw it as a way to get Assange to Sweden. I expect the reports are true that the US has a sealed indictment against Assange. I also find the idea that you can prosecute someone with espionage (most likely) for what is essentially journalism very disturbing. The question of why not extradite from the UK is also unresolved. It's clear that it is easier to extradite from the Sweden (ie "temporary surrender"). Perhaps the US doesn't want to give the UK the political headache of having to deal with this and having it drag out in the courts. It also seems like the Swedish government does't have the legal authority to guarantee non-extradition to the US. Overall it's very strange and very disturbing. EDIT: another possibility: the Swedish police and duty prosecutor misinterpreted and/or overreacteed, a more senior prosecutor acted more rationally but then it went further up and may not been at the behest of the US at all but simply could've been the government or even some lackey just being eager to please. If nothing else, Sweden really should have to come clean on who made the decisions regarding Assange's arrest warrant (after giving him clearance to leave) and the Interpol "Red Notice". [1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4390885 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4390885

rmc 14y ago
The one reason you know that something is weird is because courts/police/governments usually don't try to prosecute rapists this way. Usually rape victims are ignored. Seems the only way to get the state and police to really care, is if your rapist is an enemy of the state. Also the UK will not extradite murderous dictators if they don't want to. (e.g. Augusto Pinochet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_Augusto_Pinochet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_August... ). It's very fishy, but that doesn't mean Assange has immunity.

iuguy 14y ago

I'm surprised no-one's pointed out the irony of a man locked up in a building in order to stop him from being locked up in a building. Seriously though, lets try to look at this objectively. We have a man who is wanted for questioning relating to sexual offences and is actively trying to escape the charges. In any normal situation, we would all say that he should go and face the courts and if guilty do the time. Pro-Assange people claim that he should not face the courts on the grounds that this will be used to extradite him to the US. These same people are saying that someone who may be guilty of a crime in Sweden are saying that the law shouldn't apply to him. Additionally, this same man has done an awful lot of work to expose corruption and wrongdoing at a high level. In the process of this however and through an exchange with a journalist, the raw cable information, all unredacted has been compromised, in the process potentially jeopardizing the lives of many people named in the unredacted cables. The US is understandably livid and take the disclosure of classified material seriously. Again, pro-Assange people claim that the law should not apply to him, that he was doing a good thing by exposing the redacted information, but are strangely silent on the fact that he posted the whole thing online and put these lives in potential danger. Additionally we have the unprecedented act of the British government threatening the integrity of the Ecuadorian embassy (thanks for pointing this out Daishiman). This is indeed strange and unique. It's worth bearing in mind that the threat was made against the advice of legal counsel. It may be possible that the person responsible didn't understand the Vienna convention. The UK now has a legal obligation to extradite Assange to Sweden, as per their treaty with Sweden. I find it interesting that people can suspend their views of justice based on the allegations of political meddling. The fact is that he is wanted by the Swedish government, and he's admitted that he had sex with the two ladies in question, yet the arguments against him facing the Swedish judicial system fail to offer up any reasons why he should be exempt from the law beyond claims of a conspiracy (which may or may not be real, we don't know for sure and probably never will).

Daishiman 14y ago
Two points: Sweden has not charged Assange with anything. They want him for interrogation. There is nothing impeding the Swedish government from questioning Assange in the UK. The whole extradition is a farce as long as other alternatives remain, which do not affect the investigation in any way. It should be noted that the flagrant threats the UK has made to Ecuador's diplomatic integrity is something basically unheard of. Throughout the entirety of the Cold War no government has made a similar case for people of both much higher profile and admittedly far more dangerous to the public. Second, no one has proved or bothered to show to any degree that anyone has had their safety compromised. Lots of talking about Assange from the embarrassed governments in question, very little action towards showing that he was any danger to anyone.

Tycho 14y ago

Assange could probably fall out of a plane on his way to Sweden and there'd be people on here saying how they see no evidence that it was anything other than an accidental mechanical failure.

jakeonthemove 14y ago

You know what's more interesting? The fact that the Australian government is nowhere to be found when it comes to this - or at least, there's no mention of their involvement. I still can't decide whether I like that or not - on the one hand, it's nice to see that citizens of a country who are passport holders (passports are gov. property and can be easily revoked) are free to do what they want around the world, on the other hand, it's kind of sad to see that your government doesn't do anything to help you...

petitmiam 14y ago
Absolutely. After all the support they've given to their citizens acting very stupid in Indonesia, it's disappointing they are so quiet on this.

gumdad 14y ago

Well, at this stage Assange has become a pawn in the game of international relations. I wonder if he envisioned that, when he was dreaming of how "Wikileaks" would change the world. Countries that generally get a raw deal in their dealings with the US, like many in South America, can use him as a bargaining chip. And that's exactly what's happening here. Reading between the lines, seeing beyond the silly headlines the papers are feeding us, does not require you to be a foreign policy expert. As someone said in an earlier post, whether we like Assange as a person is less relevant than the fact his ill-considered actions have pushed the envelope and are forcing some issues about the internet to be addressed, the resolution of which hackers have been patiently waiting for many years. It's interesting to think about all the cables that were never released, i.e. the vast majority of them. How did the newspapers decide which ones to let the public see? Those decisions are having real effects. They were in essence policy decisions. Someone at the news corporation had to say, let's release these cables about Ecuador. And here we are. Pass the popcorn.

pitiburi 14y ago

Please note that yesterday the USA went public saying they DO NOT recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum. Here my post on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4401902 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4401902 Of course the story is huge, and of course it was immediately flagged to death, but I think that it says a lot about the intentions of the US government: they are willing to take that kind of embarrassing and dangerous step just to put pressure on UK and Assange.

pitiburi 14y ago

UK say they have no choice but to do everything possible to get Assange because there is a deportation request. Just one word to answer that and destroy any credibility that position could have: Pinochet.