Gordon Barlow

Here is the latest report I've been able to find in an English-language Swedish paper. Is the MSM in Oz keeping up with this story?
Assange 'is free to go' if Sweden does not charge him - The Local

Swerv-o

I imagine that most Aussies have long since forgotten who he is. Good to see that Sweden has finally taken the logical approach and decided to interview him within the confines of the Ecuadorian Consulate. I can't see why they didn't agree to do this in the first place - particularly as he was only wanted for questioning, rather than charging.

It will be interesting to see what happens after he is interviewed...


S

GarryP

The 'we want to interview him' was a formality, they wanted to charge him immediately after 'interviewing' him (apparently this is how swedish law works). Thus their lack of interest in any 'interview' where they couldn't charge him and drag him off.

However, three of the four counts they were looking to charge him under have now time expired and they look to consider the one remaining to be unlikely to get a conviction - so want shot of the whole thing.

As I think most people realise, the was really the US was after him, and probably still are. He'll not likely be safe from them, ever.

Gordon Barlow

Truly said. Even Ecuador will be safe for him only until the US gets its own stooge in there as President.

Swerv-o

Ecuador is right on the doorstep of the US - all very easy to organise some extreme rendition of him.

I still think he has problems in the UK though - He's still wanted on warrant for breaching his bail conditions. I really don't see how he can get to Heathrow, least of all anywhere near Ecuador.


S

Amazulu

Hopefully rendition to Guantanamo Bay and a lifetime of waterboarding and shock therapy

keel

His future lies in a dark cell in Sweden. Sharing it with one of the many Muslim rapists over there who aren't bother if it's a boy or a girl.
Happy days.

Gordon Barlow

New York Times Shames Itself by Attacking Wikileaks’ Assange
It was either revive this thread or start a new one, to post this article. Assange is one of my heroes - others include Snowden and Manning, and the murdered Rachel Corrie - and it bothers me that the Empire and its Airstrip One satrapy still insist on their right to torture him. We who disapprove of the war-makers and torturers should not forget him. And it's good to see that CounterPunch hasn't.

renth

Beaverstate

Quite predictable, the NYT loved him until he went after Clinton.

Gozit

+1

Although he released US docs, IMHO he shouldn't be prosecuted under US law as

a) He wasn't in the US when the "crime" was committed.
b) He isn't an American citizen
c) Under American law he could be given the death penalty, and all for what, ruining the US government's reputation some more ?

As soon as the Swedish were done prosecuting the sexual assault charges he was going to disappear to the US never to be heard of again.

Gordon Barlow

http://www.popularresistance.org/new...ulian-assange/
The article begins: The New York Times Thursday published an article entitled “How Russia Often Benefits When Julian Assange Reveals the West’s Secrets.” The 5,000-word piece, covering three columns of the top half of its front page, boasts three bylines. Presented as a major investigative news article, it is a piece of pro-government propaganda, whose style and outright character assassination against the WikiLeaks founder seems to have been cribbed from the vilest McCarthyite smear jobs of the 1950s.

The US government (or those who control it, at least) are as determined as ever to torture the life out of Assange - quite literally. Is there anybody who doubts it, anymore? What damage the US causes to its international standing by this vendetta! This, from the nation that invented the concept of "public relations".

astera

+1

These are all good people. Any harm Snowden has done has been a result of complete idiots handing the situation and bypassing all logic to drive him away rather than focusing on damage limitation.

Emotions and egos rarely come into play in such situations, but in this case they have been fully responsible for how this scenario has played out...

Gordon Barlow

There's been a sudden turn for the worse for Julian, since Wikileaks started pouring on the juice with Hillary's emails. Has the US government or its agencies simply lost patience, after all these years? They must be slavering at the mouth at the prospect of getting him into the Guantanamo torture-rooms. This (at the link) is what lies ahead for him.
Top Stories - Guantánamo Detainee Requires Rectal Surgery Following CIA Sodomy Torture - AllGov - News

It's a sad time for us who admire him and support his work.

Beoz

It says that many of the inmates are now suffer mental issues. If they were indeed sympathisers of Bin Laden, and his ideals then the mental issues were already in place before capture.