There's nothing to prevent someone who has not been charged with anything from winding up in an American gulag for the rest of their lives, as Manning's case and many others testify to with the passage of years; a situation that an un-nuanced approach will find difficult to avoid implicating itself with. With all of the extra juridical assassinations of enemies that have occurred over the last decade, by now Assange has to rank fairly close to enemy #1 in the calculations of the secret empire with its dungeons. If we figure that the main points of emphasis where it concerns the application of justice against rapists should consist of protection of the public from further violence, deterrence, validation of the allegations and its potential for healing, and as an ancillary measure, punishment for such crimes; as far as protection goes; there doesn’t appear to be much difference in being holed up for years behind the walls of an embassy or a prison, with the likely exception of there being a few more amenities at the embassy. On the other hand, validation of the alleged victim’s accusations is undoubtedly a vital concern as well. If he is made available to be nabbed and carted off to some undisclosed location at the earliest opportunity, an event we could suggest as having better than average odds of occurring, then we’d have every reason to suspect in this era of secret renditions, as a result of there being no guarantees on offer that this would not occur, that validation at least will necessarily have to be put off until they’re done with punishing him for entirely unrelated transgressions. But I think we’d have to begin to wonder if what he’d be punished for and deterred from really matters to a lot of people at this point.
WikiLeaks' Assange in Ecuador embassy London: Seeks political asylum
Just because your paranoid doesnt mean their not after you
Assange is on Bill Maher's show on HBO by satellite hookup now.
Talking about why the American public should be on his side.
About the threat posed by American secrecy with government, agencies, etc....
Assange is committed to keeping governments honest.
Closed with Bradley Manning's case - longest military person held without trial in US history.
I wonder if Assange continues to believe 9/11 was not an inside job? I wonder if he still believes in the whole "Al Qa'eda did 9/11" myth?
If Assange knows that he is wrongly accused of the heinous crime of rape and for ulterior political reasons, then why would he not extend the same benefit of doubt to alleged 9/11 masterminds detained illegally at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo where he could just as easily be renditioned off to if he wasn't careful in evading the Gladio mafia himself?
"Committed to keeping governments honest"? That is a good one. Western governments are not honest by design since at least WW II.
The glasnost is still half full I'm afraid.
Wikileaks.org: 'People for Comment'
http://wikileaks.org/Press.html#pfc
"Alan Dersowitz: Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, interested in press inquiries relating to litigation/Trials/Criminal Process and freedom of speech.."
Julian Assange and the Tilted Scales of Justice - by Nozomi Hayase
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/15/julian-assange-and-the-tilted-sca...
"...As a result of massive exposure of government wrong-doing, Julian Assange was officially declared an enemy of the State by the US. From financial blockades to the secret grand jury, WikiLeaks has been the focus of intense attacks and legal machinations.
As mentioned earlier, Assange has become a target of possibly the most severe character assassination in history, much of it spearheaded by mainstream news outlets like The Guardian with tactics of cheap smear that writer Simon Wood carefully dissected in his recent article.."
It is unfortunate that someone quoted the despicable Naomi Wolf. She was never much more than the most conformist kind of bourgeois feminist, and has evolved far to the right; her feminist credentials sullied by strange infatuations for such things as the place of women in ultraorthodox Judaism. Her strange piece on the case is more of an attack on the complainants, and on the Swedish approach to sexual assault, won by feminists when Sweden was still social-democratic, than anything else.
Progressive, nay lefty feminist Laurie Penny on Naomi Wolf:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2012/09/problem-naomi-wol...
The new book by Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth, seems positioned to provoke endless genital wordplay, so it's best to get all of that out the way before we move on. Vagina, as has been observed across the mainstream reviewing press this week, is a very silly book. It is, not incidentally, a very silly book whose author is currently engaged in a one-woman campaign to deny anonymity to rape victims and persuade the world that the charges of rape and sexual assault of two women currently facing Julian Assange are contemptible. The fact that Wolf's highly publicised new work claims to offer a thrilling new feminist take on - among other serious issues - rape, means that we cannot help but address the two together.
Naomi Wolf has done great damage by using her platform as one of the world’s most famous feminists to dismiss these women’s allegations. In one throat-closing 2010 article, Wolf placed her name, picture and reputation behind a title dismissing the serious charges against the Wikileaks founder as mere persecution by 'the world's dating police'. In an excruciating performance last week on Newsnight, the author managed to shoehorn a plug for her book into a discussion of whether or not “no always means no”. The fact that that question is seriously being raised on Britain's pre-eminent current affairs show, by no less a media presence than Jeremy Paxman, should be a signal that this is no time for fannying about, much less for having spectacular breakdowns all over the limited space the mainstream press affords so-called women’s issues.
That said, there is no question but that the US "military-industrial complex" is out to get Assange's hide for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to to with mistreatment of women. A no-extradition to the US campaign is essential. If Sweden hadn't become practically as much a lapdog as Canada to military madness, there would be no problem, as it would have refused extradition to a country with the death penalty.
Assange has to be defended against that. But no, he doesn't get a pass as a white knight for Internet freedom and denunciation of the war machine against accusations of sexual assault. I've known quite a few tireless and selfless campaigners who have treated women like shit. Should he be found guilty, he wouldn't be the first one, or the last.
A detailed, sourced, response to the 2 articles by David Allen Green, the anti-Assange lawyer who was "highly recomended" by Babble blogger Michael Laxer:
I'm still trying to figure out why he has the despicable Zionist Alan Dersowitz on his legal team.
One can only speculate why Assange, or one of his lawyers, thought it useful to retain Dersowitz as a consultant at the beginning of 2011.
I'm sure it contributes to conspiracy theorists such as Tarpley that Assange is a "CIA asset".
Interestingly, Norman Finklestein, one of Dersowitz's most damaged victims, doesn't let it colour his support for Assanges case.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2013/on-assange-2/
Assange's lawyer in the US is actually Michael Ratner.
A description of his main lawyers, as of 2012, is here:
The Death of Truth - by Chris Hedges
http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/369-wikileaks/17...
"...The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), or Scotland Yard, said the estimated cost of surrounding the Ecuadorean Embassy from June 19, 2012, when Assange entered the building, until Jan. 31, 2013 is the equivalent of $4.5 million. Britain has rejected an Ecuadorean request that Assange be granted safe passage to an airport. He is in limbo. It is, he said like living in a 'space station'."
Pay particular attention to Canada's dishonourable mention for leading a masscre of Afghans in Operation Medusa. Disgusting country ours disgusting too the wilful blindess to it.
The Yellow Press and Assange's Political Ambitions (and vid)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35259.htm
Julian Assange Lateline Interview 06/10/2013
On the first anniversary of his refuge:
[url=http://mua.org.au/news-story/3640/]Maritime Union of Australia National Secretary Paddy Crumlin calls for Julian Assange to be given safe passage[/url]
The MUA supports the call for Mr Assange to be granted safe passage to Ecuador as a matter of adhering to the rule of law. As the Foreign Minister of Ecuador has said: “By not granting him safe passage they are violating the human rights of a citizen, and every day that passes the effects of that violation hurt the person more and more.”
More recently, the Foreign Minister, following a visit with Assange, made clear that Ecuador’s granting of asylum was done to protect Assange’s life so that: “he not be extradited to a third country where the death penalty is an option and as such his life could be endangered.” That third country is the United States. [...]
Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are all part of a movement of citizens who are demanding that leaders all across the globe hear the clear call for moral governance where secrecy, duplicity and aggressive foreign policy are replaced by openness, transparency and cooperation.
The Death of Truth - by Chris Hedges
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_death_of_truth_20130505/
"The status quo, for them, is a loss,' Assange said of the US-led campaign against him.."
Assange: 'Snowden Safe But Journalists Dealing With Him At Risk' (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/assange-interview-snowden-journalists-079/
Eva Golinger interviews Julian Assange
'Going to be one hell of a decade' - Manning to Wikileaks in Private Online Chat in 2010
http://rt.com/news/manning-wikileaks-assange-leaks-us-826/
"Buried deep inside a bulging US Army dossier relating to Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning's court material are 13 pages of online chat between Manning and a Wikileaks contact believed to be Julian Assange..."
Mediastan: WikiLeaks 'Road Movie' (and vid)
The Siege of Julian Assange Is A Farce - A Special Investigation - by John Pilger
http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-siege-of-julian-assange-is-a-farce-a-...
"The persecution of Julian Assange must end..."
UK Paved Way For Sweden's New Demand For Assange's Extradition - by Robert Stevens
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/11/22/assa-n22.html
"The decision of the Stockholm Appeals Court to uphold the arrest warrant issued against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange over 4 years ago is the product of high-level collusion against the Swedish, British and US authorities..."
Four Years Since the Arrest of Julian Assange - by Robert Stevens
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/12/assa-d12.html
"December 7 marked four years since WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange was arrested in London and detained without charge. Workers and young people must demand the freedom of Assange, Snowden and Manning and fight for an end to their persecution."
Swedish Supreme Court agrees to hear WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's appeal against rape arrest warrant
Sweden's highest court will hear an appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he seeks to quash an arrest warrant arising from rape and sexual molestation allegations.
On Tuesday the Swedish Supreme Court agreed to consider Mr Assange's appeal against the decisions of lower courts to uphold an arrest warrant issued in November 2010.
The Supreme Court has decreed that the Swedish "Attorney-General [Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson] expeditiously submit its reply to the case, especially on the issue of the conduct of investigations and the principle of proportionality"....
http://www.smh.com.au/world/swedish-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-wikilea...
Somewhat late this...
..txs ndpp. the latest news is that swedish prosecutors are going to question assange in london.
The Injustice Handed Out to Julian Assange Must End - by John Pilger
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/06/the-injustice-handed-out-to-julian-ass...
"Julian Assange, founder and editor of WikiLeaks, has now been a refugee in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for three years. The key issue in his extraordinary incarceration is justice. He has been charged with no crime.
It is a farce, but one with grim consequences for Assange should he dare step outside the Ecuadorean embassy..."
Justice For Assange: 3 Years in Embassy
https://justice4assange.com/3-Years-in-Embassy.html
1687 Days Under House Arrest. No Access to Fresh Air or Sunlight. And this is well known to all. Yet still he sits. Draw your own conclusions.
Uh, is he "under house arrest"? Or is he seeking and being granted asylum?
And if it's actually asylum, who is preventing him from going outside for "Fresh Air or Sunlight"?
Good questions. I'll bet you can find the answers you seek upthread.
No worries. Your link answered my question. He's seeking and receiving asylum. No government is imprisoning him, nor denying him "Fresh Air or Sunlight".
Britain To Protest to Ecuador Over Whistleblower Asylum
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/08/13/424588/UKEcuador-row-over-Assange
"Britain says it will lodge a formal protest to Ecuador over the WikiLeaks founder who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for nearly three years. It is believed that Assange's extradition is a cover for sending him to the US where he is wanted over the release of thousands of classified US documents.."
2 Allegations Dropped But US Won't Rest Trying to Prosecute Assange
RT speaks to a member of the Assange legal team, Carey Shenkman
Assange on 'US Empire' - Assad Government Overthrow Plans (and vid)
http://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/314808-assange-corbyn-us-wikil...
"Afshin Rattansi goes underground with the world's most-wanted publisher - the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. He just co-authored a book called 'The WikiLeaks Files' which paints a picture of systemic US torture and killing as well as the destruction of the livelihoods of billions of people right around the world."