The comments here disgust me. People here used to have some principles, now there's so many people just repeating establishment talking points.
1. He was wanted for questioning for rape and sexual misconduct in Sweden. According to police records, he had sex with a woman who demanded that he wore a condom, which he did at first. Then next morning she wakes up by him penetrating her without consent. She then asks "are you wearing anything", to which he replies "I'm wearing you". The sexual misconduct charges are dropped due to statutes of limitations, and the rape case is dormant due to low probablility of resolving it. Maybe they will open it up again.
2. Assange fought the extraditions through several UK courts. He had multiple chances do defend himself, and lost every one. He lost a high court appeal, then when the supreme court upheld that decision he fled to Ecuador.
3. He claimed that his reason to do so was to avoid extradition to the US, but Sweden wasn't allowed to extradite him without UK's permission first [0]. He could've gone to Sweden and face the charges, and avoided this whole thing. But he had to make himself look like a victim of a conspiracy instead, and his followers eats it up.
He's been in self imposed custody because he refused to accept the lawful rulings of two democracies, and Wikileaks has promoted conspiracies like Pizza gate and Qanon, they are not a poor organization to fight for freedom of speech.
[0] https://www.aklagare.se/en/nyheter--press/media/the-assange-...
"Julian Assange, 47, (03.07.71) has today, Thursday 11 April, been further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities" http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-arrest-of-julian-assan...
Sounds like Assange wasn't that wrong?
Second, the US has had seven more years to build a case now, and a new Republican government.
It's not "unrelated". It shows the US wants him, as he claimed.
You write that the UK would have had to authorize a further extradition from Sweden to the US, but does that authorization depend on the same level of judicial review?
That's typical CIA character assassination 101. Pay a prostitute to sleep with the perpetrator and bring up false charges.
Do you think it's a coincidence this happened right after the leaks?!
>2. Assange fought the extraditions through several UK courts. He had multiple chances do defend himself, and lost every one. He lost a high court appeal, then when the supreme court upheld that decision he fled to Ecuador.
UK is a pseudo puppet state of the US at this point. Fun fact - the UK government paid $300 million to the US government to spy on its own citizens.
What conclusions people draw from those leaks is on them, not wikileaks.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5c8u9l/we_are_the_wik...
> CBS Reality Check covers Pizzagate. https://www.facebook.com/BenSwannRealityCheck/videos/1330641...
> More: https://file.wikileaks.org/file/FBI-pedophile-symbols.pdf
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/821595404500430848
Also: https://our.wikileaks.org/Pizzagate https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1000795757983780865
So not really the victim of a conspiracy, he feared it and he was right to fear it.
Or how many will, when given a choice between:
(a) a wild conspiracies theories about a totally-average Swedish woman being paid by the CIA to make up some not even that damning rape charges, then asks him for an $20/5min STD test in exchange for dropping the charges, knowing too well that Assange will be stupid enough to refuse, so as to enable execution of a convoluted three-country extradition plan when they could just as well wait for Assange to travel to whatever country has the extradition treaty they liked best
or (b): guy with a history of being egotistical, who rarely managed to work with anybody, and who has a history of ignoring the house rules on hygiene (cf cat) thought nothing of discreetly trying again without a condom
...choose the former for no reason but political or personal sympathy.
You think his self-imposed exile is an egotistical act instead of what it really is: Step outside and you're gone. I would really like to see what your actions would be in this situation. But you don't seem the type to risk your own life for the sake of others knowing the truth.
But if you think your option (b) of him being creepy is the one that makes more sense even after the fact that the woman has proven ties with the CIA than I feel sorry for you and our society because that represents the death of what I think is one of the most important pillars of modern civilization: freedom of press.
According to a now-deleted article by some third-rate conspiracy theorist, she at some point during a foreign exchange in Cuba worked with (not for) a feminist organisation there, the leader of which was alleged to have ties to the CIA.
Yes, except for the troubles he brought on his own head, which don't relate to Iraq but do relate to his extremely asocial narcissistic behaviours.
His original hacking was done because he believed NASA was hiding war work (he hacked the Australian academic network seeking a path into NASA via DECnet) and predates the war in Iraq by a decade or more.
edit: Any yes, Iraq was a crime.
Assange didn't have to be perfect but the trail of wreckage behind him of past collaborators and friends speaks volumes.
I don't like Assanges personality and I think it has many, many flaws. But that isn't of interest. The documents are actually public now, I would suggest to give them a read.
>...the woman has proven ties with the CIA...
Pot, meet kettle.
This guy colluded with racist sleeze-bags like Sean Hannity and Donald Trump Jr. to bring fascism back to the mainstream. Whatever fate awaits him is more than he deserves.
What happens now is very sad. He is facing a pretty dire state of affairs.
(c) he did actually sexually abuse women, and that's being used to get him into custody and facilitate his illegal extradition to the US.
Well, makes one wonder what kind of thing he was trying to delay.
"He skipped bail so he should be arrested". No one can seriously be this dead in the brain... Staying in the UK which is a bitch state of the US who wants him gone was equal to life in prison or worse which he of course knew.
Actually we should all know by what happens when the US has a target, laws no longer apply and the media will make it look like some heroic action, as you can see by some reactions on this site...
After Lusitania, Gulf of Tonkin, babies out of incubators, WMDs, Russiagate, they still wonder why no one takes them seriously, and why are people looking for alternatives.
Pieces of shit like you responsible for this.