Im surprised there isnt a thread here about the interesting predicament he finds himself in!

Is in the UK, residing in the Ecuadorian embassy with political asylum with a potential extradition to Sweden for rape charges.

I have no idea about the rape charges. From what ive read about the phone messages from the women after the alleged rape(s?) they said they "had a wild weekend with Assange". I havnt seen any proof but that doesnt sound like someone who has been raped. Why was he allowed to leave Sweden after the charges where set forward? I read somewhere that he was interviewed in Sweden but the case was put down or something. All seems pretty strange!

Think the Swedes will send him over to the US? I can understand Assange´s reluctance to go over to Sweden considering they violated the Convention against Torture by illegally expelling two Egyptians seeking asylum in Sweden to Egypt where they where tortured (http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition). Even if the US promises to not kill / torture Assange to the Swedes, whats stopping them doing what they did to Bradley Manning? Just ship him to Guantanamo or some sick place like that and claim hes not in their jurisdiction anymore or find some loophole in the system. Powerful people in the US seems pretty good at finding loopholes in the system and exploiting them (bank crisis being a huge example).

Isnt he wanted for espionage in the US? I can imagine that being a very serious crime in the US with the possibility of a very heavy sentence (possible death penalty? Cant say I know much about US law). Also wasnt the biggest thing he leaked a video of US soldiers shooting civilians? Doesnt seem like espionage from my point of view, just showing the public what kind of shit is going on in Iraq / Afganistan. Funnily enough when something like that happens and the shooter is white (this case, Breivik, loads of other cases) then its an insane lone gunman but when its an arab he is an Islamic terrorist. Crazy times eh

What do you guys think? Im not saying he didnt rape those women or anything like that but with Swedens track record and being a wanted man in the US, I would be scared shitless if I was Assange.

Rape charges aside its bs that he is portrayed as a villain, wiki-leaks was bold, but it just showed how much bs and propaganda the media portrays. This is an ethic-less world.

He should be charged for alleged rape regardless of what else happens.

Ari @ 21/8/2012 8:41

Also wasnt the biggest thing he leaked a video of US soldiers shooting civilians? Doesnt seem like espionage from my point of view, just showing the public what kind of shit is going on in Iraq / Afganistan.

He did do that, but the main thing the US wants him for is the leaking of 250,000+ diplomatic cables (which is what Manning played a part in)

OFFICIALLY, though, the US hasn't said that UK extraditing Assange to Sweden has anything to do with subsequently extraditing him to the US ( http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/us-denies-wild-assange-witch-hunt-claims/story-fnd134gw-1226454565612 ) . But meh, I dunno if I believe that

It's a very complicated case in which certain parties have interfered to dig through his past and leap on anything possible they can find to charge him with. Rape is a good one because the second that word gets dropped in a conviction, fair trial goes out the window.

Kanakiri @ 21/8/2012 15:26

He should be charged for alleged rape regardless of what else happens.

Alleged that is.

I love all the trouble he has caused.

i never knew what to make of that guy. if there was some good fighting the bad, some evil shadow government which is fighting a couple of heroes that steadily try to pierce through the agenda that is spread by the media and so on, the war you dont see etc, then assange was being pushed around by those two forces. he's like a third party. maybe he really is what they made him out to be. some hacker dude who just loves to bash people in power who play with other people's lives. a real truther who leaked shit, big time. but then i thought he was a tool, an inside men of the shadow government made up to be THE truther, freedom to information and all that. he is being made an example here. he and that soldier dude who allegedly was the source of the video. you talk the truth and show what rly happens to the mass - you'll be getting jail time and shit-talk for it, also big time. you know, like a scare tactic by those running the shadow business, those who actually made that war happen, those who encourage such behaviour as shown on that collateral damage video assange and co leaked. to show anyone else who wanna try doing such a stupid thing (leaking the truth), that he better thinks twice. etc.
that's paranoid twisted reality black is white and white is black- henry thinking

now for some really legit things. those rape allegations, lol. a textbook character assasination. you should see some interviews where the journalist is forced by the editor's questions to ask on and on about the rape thing, even though ALMOST everyone knows that it's bullshit and only some political cheap shot to draw the attention away from the issue. have you ever seen the women? have they ever made a statement? why didnt they report their rape when they were raped? why wait until the dude gets famous by releasing a pretty ugly piece of killing from overseas to the world? obviously i can't say for sure as i don't know, but i can make a well educated guess and some thinking. and that tells me that rape thing was and is bullshit. i know character assasination on tv when i see it. shoot the messenger is the name of the game.

all in all, i just dont know what to make of it. in the end assange might just be a guy who hates those war mongers, was in a position to deal some damage and tried to do something about it, and hoped other people with courage would support him. didn't rly pan out that way i guess.

i was keeping track of him for some time, then got distracted of course. and now he was on tv a couple of days ago, guess because of that trial thing. seemingly some parties cooked something up. only question: are we gonna eat it up, or queston it and maybe put down the fork there for a minute? metaphor ...ugh not the best i have ever come up with...but yeah....that rape thing. not guilty, obviously. unless they pulled some CSI semen sweap. hey, they could have drugged him while in custody, taken semen and then give it to the women..."here wipe that all over your you know what, and then make the test and give us the result stripes back or whatever". case closed. "rape, double rape, getting LIFE..and castration, DOUBLE castration". not impossible...at all
or they just falsify the test results or whatever to begin with and spare everyone the trouble. the legal system is corrupted man. supreme court justice my ass whatever. uk isn't any better i guess. don't know about sweden, but i guess it's the same almost everywhere. you approach that justice chief whatever guy and threaten his family, or offer him lotsa moneyz, doggy's gonna play ball. i know that i could never be smeared like that, so they'd have to kill me and make it look like an accident (poisoning is an option too). but i guess a plane crash or some explosion in the house is more likely). so uh, yeah, assange's trial is garantueed to be influenced by other people's power. who was the highest bidder? did the good side pay the chief justice? the evil side certainly paid the girls, the media, some of the "jury" (if there is one) - maybe the goood ones didnt even try to make any bets there cause they know there's no point to it. the evil guys' machinery is smeared and running again. i don't see the case going in his favor.

or whatever

i'll have an eye on it...

exactly, assange's motive with wiki-leaks is not even that relevant imo (maybe he did do this just to piss of some power figures, or maybe he really does believe in the open governance etc), it's come to the point where governments and people in power are basically trying to make an example out of the guy...

Hai, yeah freedom of speech, suree, just dont piss us off or your gonna get got!

I wonder if the UK would be considering storming another nations embacy (which is NOT good for any parties) if this was just a random person with speculated allegations (that is to say, by no means is he a certain perpetrator). But yeah sure, this has nothing to do with his profile or extradition to US.

In this sense he is an important figure for human rights and democracy on a whole. In some ways this is a bit of a game changer, especially in regards to freedom of speech.

*cough*

he has a beard now, and a baby....and he's still not free. poor chap

According to rumor, Assange raped someone here in Sweden. They dropped the charges for some reason though, so I guess it remains a rumor.

I thought this was an Assassin's Creed thread