A reasonable way to save Assange now would be to ask Max Von Sydow to visit the Ecuadorean Embassy and in a videotaped interview seek Julian’s version of the events he is accused of. Broadcast the interview world wide, and defy the Swedes to charge him. And if they do not charge him ask Britain to let him go. This will bring the Liberal Democrats to crisis, and their vote to a new low. They will then pressure Cameron to let him go. And he will.
Or it could be Sir Ken Branagh, the well-known Scandinavian inspector. Or Mads Mikkelsen. Or Scarlett Johanssen.
Pretty soon he would be laughed out of there.
Or perhaps you disagree.
Name:
Kurt Wallander?
Has possibilities though not much would be said if the usual script was followed.
As President Rafael Correa said, ‘we are not a colony’.
Perhaps he might make a visit to London and depart taking Assange with him.
By stopping him en route to the airport the Brits could really put their foot in it.
Whoever heard of anyone being extradited for questioning anyway?
JA hasn’t been charged with anything.
Assange could sit on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy and answer questions, right there in the street, from Swedish interrogators with a public forum, televise it (Assange behind a bullet proof glass shield). Geoffrey Robertson could even tack on a “Hypotheticals” episode, just to explore all possibilities.
Vote 1 ScarJo doing her beside UN style Jolie
Sorry, her best UN>…
Once again, Bob…if only Palme was still Prime Minister of Sweden. He probably would have granted Assange sanctuary before the Ecuadorians did.
Agreed.
Kurt Wallander is too tired to go to the Equadorian Embassy…
Ecuadorian
The Swedes will capitulate in some face saving way
We better not send Scarlett to muddy the waters…
Max von Sydow, on the other hand might be a wise move…
Perhaps we can send Rudd over there; he’s certainly no use here.
It is staggering to compare the attitude of the British government towards the mysterious offences known in Sweden as “sex by surprise”, alleged against Assange, and its attitude to the offences of torture and assassination alleged in the late nineties against General Augusto Pinochet the dictator of Chile.
In 1998, Pinochet travelled to the United Kingdom for medical treatment. While there, he was arrested under an international arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge and was placed under house arrest: the charges included 94 counts of torture of Spanish citizens and the 1975 assassination of Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria.
The House of Lords decided in March 1999 that Pinochet could be extradited to Spain. In April, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher called upon the British government to release Pinochet. She urged that Pinochet be allowed to return to his homeland rather than be forced to go to Spain. The Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled in January 2000 that he should not be extradited.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Thanks for the comparison Dali. It is truly appalling.
In 2006, Robin Harris (a member of Thatcher’s No 10 Policy Unit) defended her ex-bosses’ support for the Chilean dictator, saying “Margaret Thatcher would not have spoken up for him if she had believed him a monster. She could not judge the merits of every allegation. But, clearly, the legal case against him was weak and the motivation of those involved suspect.”
The case against Assange is as flimsy as they get, and the motivation of those involved are as suspicious as they get.
So, why the different approach? Was it that the USA loved Pinochet (George Bush was his other supporter besides Thatcher)? Or did Pinochet wear a condom throughout the torture?
It’s not a question of whether Pinochet wore durex or not. As you say, he enjoyed the support of America, remember the CIA’s critical role in Allende’s overthrow.
He was an old-school dictator, crusty and bemedalled, and Thatcher was enthralled by the bastard.
Assange on the other hand is a sharp stick in the eye of the international powermongers and keepers of the spoils of war. He’s on the nose, and expendable to those who would occupy high office.
It all has me thinking of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer undergoes trial by media for alleged sexual harrassment. He becomes the topic of a talk show called “Gentle Ben”, where members of the public get to discuss their views on how Homer’s character and alleged actions have impacted on them emotionally with the show host, a sympathetic looking bear with a microphone strapped to its head. This sort of idea could work here. Throw in Geoffrey Robertson armed with a tranquiliser gun, Kenneth Brannagh and an internet hook up to Sweden and I imagine even the CIA would be satisfied. I’m sure all they want is closure on this issue. To feel they have been heard and to feel they have been emotionally validated.
Unpossible.
Assange may become the ‘József Mindszenty’ of the 21st century.
Mindszenty was a catholic priest who sought and was granted asylum in the US embassy in Budapest. And he lived there for 15 long years until a compromise was reached between the Hungarian Communists and Pope Paul VI.
Who knows if Ecuador will extend the hand of hospitality for that long.
From today’s Sydney Morning Herald, a small cast of key players in the Assange ‘stitch-up’: “AUSTRALIAN diplomats have no doubt the United States is intent on pursuing Julian Assange, Foreign Affairs and Trade Department documents obtained by the Herald show.This is at odds with comments by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, who has dismissed suggestions the US plans to eventually extradite Assange on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.
The Australian embassy in Washington has been tracking a US espionage investigation targeting the WikiLeaks publisher for more than 18 months. The declassified diplomatic cables, released under freedom of information legislation, show Australia’s ambassador, the former Labor leader Kim Beazley, has made high level representations to the US government asking for advance warning of any moves to prosecute Assange. Advertisement Briefings for the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Senator Carr also suggest the Australian government has no in-principle objection to extradition. Senator Carr has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that the US has any interest in prosecuting and extraditing Assange. In June, Senator Carr also told the ABC Insiders
program: “I’ve received no hint that they’ve got a plan to extradite him . . . I would expect that the US would not want to touch this.”
So, self-evidently, Carr is lying.
Perhaps Max Von Sydow could meet Assange in his role from Three Days of the Condor and save all the expense.
For saving Assange I propose Doctor Frasier Crane and Dr Sidney Freedman.
If you want to see how preposterous this whole charade is (20 police are now indefinitely stationed on the steps of the Ecuadorian embassy)read a bit about Assange’s two accusers (ummm.. rape victims??) 31-year-old Anna Ardin
26-year-old Sofia Wilen. There is plenty on the web. The two Swedish women boasted about their relationship with him days before going to police. After the sexual encounters, neither woman seemed to harbour any resentment against Assange. The day following her “rape”, Ardin was in attendance when Assange delivered a 90-minute speech about how the first casualty of war is truth. She showed no signs of the previous night’s “trauma”. At 2 o’clock that night, she hosted a party in Assange’s honour at her flat, and tweeted: “Sitting outside; nearly freezing; with the world’s coolest people; it’s pretty amazing.” After going to police on August 20, she deleted the tweet. And after she was “raped” by Assange on the morning of August 17, Wilen went out, and bought, then cooked breakfast – oatmeal and juice.
What’s wrong with this picture??
What’s wrong with this picture?
She’s naïve and a klutz in the kitchen? I mean, who cooks juice?
You mean you’ve never heard of ‘hot’ blackcurrant?
You are so right Lassa. You wouldn’t believe the corruption Carr was involved in and for that matter Griener and Carr and Co. as well. These F–KS deserve to be dropped into boiling oil. And for that matter the Labor Party which is imploding thanks to the likes of the lefties i.e. Bob Ellis and his literary intellectual elitist assholes, They will take the whole party down the gurgler because .they don’t like Rudd who is our only hope. Bob, you and your mates who are stupid enough to invest their hard earned money are total fuckwits. If you lot don’t put Rudd in the drivers seat we are all F__KED TIME WILL TELL. Am I right or am I right ! Wake up you intellectual morons
Reply
shad August 18, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Sorry to be so blunt but Bob your hero is not on the same planet. Tine to get real before it is too late,
Still doesn’t make any sense that if the USA wanted him extradited they would wait on some flimsy rape allegations in Sweden. Wouldn’t they just try and extradite him from the UK. Much simpler and the Brits would probably fall over helping the yanks out. This conspiracy theory is shit.
Why not US - UK extradition, I’ll offer a few possible reasons. A the UK and EU nation has primary obligations to the EU. If the US is after revenge, then maximize his punishment. Soften him up in a Swedish jail for a few years, wikileaks with a convicted criminal as founder, is derogatory. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and possibly the USA could give Assange the Manning treatment without anybody raising a fuss. Keep in mind it is not certain that the US will be able to pin a charge on Assange.
Hmm, doesn’t make much sense to me either, Terry. Most conspiracy theories have their basis in the theory that where there is smoke there is fire. Necessarily, they work backwards; unless a major player turns on his fellow conspirators, the evidence is only available after the fact.
The problem for Assange, like most potential victims over the centuries, is that an epitaph on his gravestone reading :
“I told you I was a target!”
is no great consolation.
Yeah, Ellis, that would be the way to go.
I’ve never understood why apparently sensible people, sometimes, too often, don’t get the Assange case. Probably he is lucky to have been entangled in Sweden’s police feminism through his own carelessness. Otherwise something worse would have been cooked up for him, kiddie porn on his computer or
whatever.
He will be remembered as a hero of course, and many will be ashamed. As for Carr, I don’t know. He referred to Oscar Wilde as a Fabian socialist on Lateline recently; and so surely must be dead to shame……
“He referred to Oscar Wilde as a Fabian socialist”
That’s just Bob Carr winging it yet again. Wilde would have him for breakfast assigning political motives to him. Levelling was anathema to Wilde. Reminds me of the time Christopher Hitchens pricked Carr’s pompous balloon when he showed up this “American History Expert” and his ignorance of the Dred Scott case (which Carr thought was a good one).
Wilde was a Fabian Socialist. One of his books was called ‘The Soul Of Man Under Socialism’.
Yes, it was, and it is a text still held in high esteem….by Anarchists. He was a socialist but not a _Fabian_ socialist. There were then perhaps even more than now many currents of socialism. Bob Carr should know the difference and so should you Ellis.
Yes, they should Jeremy.
Well spotted.
Mind you, Terry Jones was worse. He asked Bob Carr how come Gore Vidal distorted history and profaned an American icon (not quoting word for word here) by making Lincoln say in Vidal’s novel that if he could save the union with out freeing a single slave he would do so. Lincoln of course did famously say exactly that as a rather taken aback Carr had to explain…..So wearisome, all of it.
David Hicks could mount a rescue mission - disguising himself in his fluffy jumper, then whip out the trusty old rocket launcher… blowing the Bobbies clear off the embassy steps with a stunning display of his Lashkar-e-Taiba training.
They could then make their way to Moscow, liberate Pussy Riot, and storm the Kremlin where Julian can make use of the broadcast facilities to beam out his TV chat show.
Сегодняшняя специальных гостей, Джон Пилджер и Майк Carlton
But if the yanks want him for wiki leaks they don’t need some trumped up charges,they don’t need a change of venue. They have to go through the same process where ever he is and the UK would be compliant as anyone else, you would think.
Good one M Ryutan. You nailed Carr to the mast. Very well done
Assange leave? Why he is to busy reading the Styant-Browne files.
He doesn’t want to change his address in case some renovation receipts come in from ex-AWU official once Ludwig gives Lil Bill the thumbs up.