Assange stiffs his bail-posting 'friends'

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 20 Jun 2012 7:05 pm

Julian Assange, days away from being extradited to Sweden has sought asylum in Ecuador. He is currently holed up in their embassy in London. Oh how they must be loving having him to stay and all the world attention (not). But it is their own fault, as no doubt in a fit of politically expedient this week PR they offered him asylum back in 2010.

He's broken his bail conditions so if he re-emerges he'll be arrested. All the 'luminaries of the loaded loony leftie luvvies' who helped post his bail, like Jemima Khan, Ken Loach, John Pilger etc (where is Vanessa Redgrave?), get to take it up the wazoo. What a nice guy.

Post by **Strong Eagle** » Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:58 pm

Go Julian!

Vaucluse · Post by **Vaucluse** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:31 am

JR8 wrote:. All the 'luminaries of the loaded loony leftie luvvies' who helped post his bail, like Jemima Khan, Ken Loach, John Pilger etc (where is Vanessa Redgrave?), get to take it up the wazoo. What a nice guy.

I'm sure they were informed and agree with his actions. The guy is being stitched up like nobody's business. Pissing off Uncle Sam is never a good idea, irrespective of the cause

I echo SE's sentiment: Go Julian!

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 1:10 pm

I've been following this, and have been hoping he'd have been poked in a leg by an umbrella by now...

What I don't get though, wouldn't it be much easier for the US to extradite him from UK than from Sweden? I'm constantly reading articles online about the US "trampling the rights" of British Citizens getting extradited for things that wouldn't be crimes in the UK. I can't imagine it being even easier from Sweden, especially since the tinfoil hats think he's up for the death penalty?

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 3:33 pm

Agreed Z. The UK gives up anybody to the US on request. Sweden are uber-liberals/rights, he'd be harder to extradite from there. Oh, and Ecuador has an extradition treaty with the US too.

The conspiracy theories don't seem to hold water.

p.s. if all his bailers knew, it's a surprise the story didn't leak out eh hehehe...

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 7:53 pm

I just read a story how one of his bailers (the guy who owns the country estate he was staying in) is shocked and outraged that Assange did this.

Ecuador may have a treaty, but their current president/despot is trying to position himself as the next Anti-USA champion in South America once Chavez keels over.

I should state I'm actually not very opposed to what Assange claims to stand for, and his release through Wikileaks; I don't think *he* did anything wrong in that case. (I have no problem with Bradley Manning getting the chair though, since he did do something wrong). What I'm opposed to is Assange being such a huge twat and hypocrite, so much that his hypocrisy is only outsized by his ego. He claims to stand for human rights and freedoms, and against tyranny, but instead his actions are solely anti-US+Allies. He cozies up to the Russians (hosts a TV show on RT, really?) and other two-bit oppressive regimes that are the anti-thesis of the values he claims to champion. The best was when he wanted to sue to Guardian over them "leaking" information about him from the Swedish police reports. The height of irony?

Post by **nakatago** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 7:57 pm

zzm9980 wrote: What I'm opposed to is Assange being such a huge twat and hypocrite, so much that his hypocrisy is only outsized by his ego. He claims to stand for human rights and freedoms, and against tyranny, but instead his actions are solely anti-US+Allies.

This.

zzm9980 · Post by **zzm9980** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 7:57 pm

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2012-06- ... lum-claim/

Vaughan Smith, who allowed the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to stay at his home in Norfolk, Ellingham Hall, for over a year has told Anglia News he is "shocked" his friend has sought political asylum in Ecuador. Mr Smith also stands to lose the £20,000 he put up for Mr Assange's bail.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:11 pm

zzm9980 wrote:I just read a story how one of his bailers (the guy who owns the country estate he was staying in) is shocked and outraged that Assange did this.

Ecuador may have a treaty, but their current president/despot is trying to position himself as the next Anti-USA champion in South America once Chavez keels over.

I should state I'm actually not very opposed to what Assange claims to stand for, and his release through Wikileaks; I don't think *he* did anything wrong in that case. (I have no problem with Bradley Manning getting the chair though, since he did do something wrong). What I'm opposed to is Assange being such a huge twat and hypocrite, so much that his hypocrisy is only outsized by his ego. He claims to stand for human rights and freedoms, and against tyranny, but instead his actions are solely anti-US+Allies. He cozies up to the Russians (hosts a TV show on RT, really?) and other two-bit oppressive regimes that are the anti-thesis of the values he claims to champion. The best was when he wanted to sue to Guardian over them "leaking" information about him from the Swedish police reports. The height of irony?

Oh it gets even more circular. Jemima Khan, a bailer, claims to simply believe in freedom of speech. Funny that, since she and her brother Ben Goldsmith MP are probably amongst the greatest users of super-injunctions (court issued grotesquely broad media gagging orders) that the land has ever known. So on one hand they're 'radical advocates of freedom of speech' (by supporting Assange), whilst on the other having their $10k/hr lawyers ready to close down any discussion of their own private lives. Hypocrisy anyone?

p.s. +1 on your other comments...

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Fri, 22 Jun 2012 5:31 pm

Jemima Khan tweets:

'“I personally would like to see Assange confront the rape allegations in Sweden and the two women at the centre have a right to a response.”

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sun, 24 Jun 2012 9:30 am

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... thing.html
------------
...'The Assange Supporters Club, a motley collection of socialites, movie-makers and human rights bores, offers a poignant illustration of the collective liberal conscience battling the establishment by coshing itself over the head.'...

...Over lunch at a London restaurant, one reporter asked if he wasn’t worried that Afghan civilians who had co-operated with the coalition forces could be exposed to danger by WikiLeaks’ revelations, Assange replied: “So, if they get killed they’ve got it coming to them. They deserve it.”

Vaucluse · Post by **Vaucluse** » Mon, 25 Jun 2012 9:46 am

The Torygraph . . . how quaint

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Mon, 25 Jun 2012 3:46 pm

Attempting to shoot the messenger, was that your best shot?

Post by **Strong Eagle** » Mon, 25 Jun 2012 6:07 pm

I think the women in Sweden deserve to have their day in court. However, given the timing of the accusations, and the obvious interest of the US to have him buried so far underground they have to pump light to him, I'd be in no rush to have him prosecuted until I can fully understand the role of shadow government in the US in seeing these charges raised... I'd bet money there was significant US back channel pressure to make this happen.

As for an anti-US bias... maybe... then again, the US seems to be the easiest place to obtain documents... and in terms of foreign policy and military interests, the US is very active everywhere.

While Assange has over stepped his bounds (my opinion) in a role that clearly defies all sorts of boundaries, on the whole, he has been an asset.

The US should drop extradition demands with a right to re-instate. The world court should review the charges against Assange in Sweden, andif not politically motivated, he should stand trial. Then, we can begin to look at the alleged damage caused to the US.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Mon, 25 Jun 2012 6:31 pm

I don’t understand the suggestion that the US is trying to have him buried in Sweden, when if they wished they could have applied to have him extradited directly from the UK. Also, you would have thought given how uber-liberal Sweden is, that I wouldn’t be surprised if even if he were jailed there, he’d still be fairly free to carry on his affairs as usual. That would not seem an ideal outcome from a US perspective.

I wasn’t aware that the US have made extradition demands. Sure a few politicians have suggested he should be extradited bit that is not the same thing. The path he is on with the European Arrest Warrant is the one used for everybody. I can’t see the process can (or should) be changed just because of what he is accused of.

p.s. Me, I'm still wondering what kind of visa he's been on in the UK since he first arrived

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Assange stiffs his bail-posting 'friends'

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