British gov't threatens to storm Ecuadorian embassy

[Eraser]

Remember Julian Assange, of Wikileaks fame? I bet you do.
He's currently still residing in the United Kingdom, waiting to either be extradited to Sweden (who in turn will probably hand him over to the US, where he'll be facing charges that might end him up in jail for a long time) or he could find a safe haven in Ecuador. He has asked Ecuador for asylum, who are going do make a decision on that one of the coming days.

The UK, however, has now sent a letter to the Ecuadorian embassy in London that, if needs be, they'll revoke the embassy's diplomatic immunity and storm it if Ecuador decides to grant asylum to Assange and refuse to turn him over (Assange is currently residing inside the ambassy). That's a pretty nasty thing of the UK to say.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19259623

[Mat Linnett]

Oh for fuck's sake.
All of the international good-will generated by the recent Olympics is at risk here.
I think Assange is a pretty obnoxious character, but I also believe that he's correct in claiming that his extradition to Sweden is just a thinly veiled manner of getting him to the US for prosecution.
It's not just Ecuador who should be claiming sovereignty here. Since when did we become a colony of the US?

[Captain]

Sweden has already showed they're a US lackey with this whole situation, seems the UK is just hungry to prove "no we kiss ass the best."

I can't wait to see the UK declare war on Ecuador.

[feedback]

Yeah, fucking disgusting the way he's being persecuted.

[Eraser]

And let's not forget: Sweden allegedly wants him for rape, nothing more.

What's the last time an embassy was stormed to abduct a person charged with rape? What's that you say? Hasn't happened before? oh.

[Nightshade]

Ah, this explains the tweet I read last night: "Dear England, Storm the embassy and watch what happens. - Anonymous"

Pretty sad and also pretty obvious that Assange hit a large nerve given the way they're going after him.

[+JuggerNaut+]

What's the last time an embassy was stormed to abduct a person charged with rape? What's that you say? Hasn't happened before? oh.

This.

[Eraser]

So, the Ecuadorian embassy has accepted Assange's request for asylum. Lets see if the Brits put their money where their mouth is.

Some bits from The Guardian's live blogging page about the subject:

Sweden has summoned Ecuador's ambassador to Stockholm, calling the granting of asylum to Assange "unacceptable".

--

According to the New York Times, just before the announcement, President Rafael Correa [of Ecuador] declared:
"No one is going to terrorize us"

--

Patiño [Ecuadorian minister of foreign affairs] made it clear that Ecuador had asked Sweden for a guarantee that it would not extradite him to the US, were such a request made. But Sweden had said no, he said.

--

Britain will carry out its "binding obligation" to extradite Assange to Sweden in spite of Ecuador's decision, a spokesperson for the FCO has said.

"Binding obligation"? Pfff.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

Assange isn't even facing charges in Sweden. What a farce.

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol "human rights", etc

[seremtan]

The UK Foreign Office says it can lift the embassy's diplomatic status to fulfil a "legal obligation" to extradite the 41-year-old.

so they'll fuck relations with Ecuador (and by extension a lot of Latin America, who are already squaring up behind Argentina over the Falklands) for the sake of a guy who hasn't even been charged with a crime, let alone found guilty

methinks the Foreign Office protests too much

[Nightshade]

Did Wikileaks even release any of the UK's dirty laundry or is 10 Downing Street just polishing our knob?

[seremtan]

you you you you you

how is this about america exactly? has any US prosecutor filed formal charges against assange?

more likely they're calculating that it would be less of a pain to antagonise ecuador than another EU country

[plained]

oh u doen say?

[Nightshade]

you you you you you

how is this about america exactly? has any US prosecutor filed formal charges against assange?

more likely they're calculating that it would be less of a pain to antagonise ecuador than another EU country

FFS, calm down Randy, you'll have a stroke. From what I knew the leaks were all US-related, nothing to do with the UK. The fucktards that run my country have been up in arms about nailing Assange's hide to the barn door, so without having heard anything specific to the UK, I was just WONDERING if they were pulling a Tony Blair again.

Close your bumbershoot and extract it from your bum, you old sod.

[seremtan]

lol at you telling me to calm down, captain rageboy. lately you make randy look like little orphan annie with your nuclear antics

unfortunately i couldn't get through to my mole deep in the heart of the british government, so i have no idea what they're thinking. given that britain is run by faggots, they probably just want the whole issue to go away

happy now, chucklefuck?

[losCHUNK]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18625225

The High Court in London has blocked a US government attempt to extradite a man accused of child sex.

Shawn Sullivan, 43, won his appeal against extradition after US authorities refused to pledge he would not be placed on a controversial sex offender treatment programme.

I never liked the extradition laws set up during Blairs era, the traffic seems to be one way, but someone higher up must see the irony in this ?, #10's inside just looks like a circus

[mrd]

Quite a fiasco. I say keep the leaks coming. Also, what's this shit with the rape? Isn't it two girls who claimed they were both raped in the same room or some shit? Yeah, I'm pretty sure two women couldn't overpower that average looking middle-aged man enough to stop him from raping you.

[Tsakali]

he raped them on the tip.

[Eraser]

From what I understood it wasn't even real rape but consentual sex where Assange alledgedly refused to use a condom and then, when being insisted upon, him tearing the condom on purpose. Under Sweden's laws this constitutes as rape. But even so, there's lots of doubt it even happened this way.

[Eraser]

you you you you you

how is this about america exactly? has any US prosecutor filed formal charges against assange?

Like Nightshade said, it's obvious the US wants to nail Assange for the whole Wikileaks case. There is also no doubt that England making such threats to Ecuador isn't about a man on the roll for a doubtful rape charge. Thirdly, Ecuador invited Swedish officials to interrogate Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy yet Sweden has refused. Fourth: Ecuador asked Sweden if they could guarantee that Assange wouldn't be extradited to the US, which Sweden has said no to.

The actions and behavior of both Sweden and the UK reek of this being about more than just a rape case, most likely it's about Wikileaks, which brings us back to the US wanting him for that.

And no, the US hasn't officially put charges out yet, but I'm sure they'll do once hé steps foot on Swedish soil.

Oh, last interesting detail is that the women who claimed being raped had some kind of US government connection, although I'm not exactly sure what that was about again.

[DTS]

Thanks Memphis, just what this thread needs is some quotes from right-wing nutjobs

[Plan B]

To be honest, I don't even know what damning info wikileaks ever revealed.
Has it led to any shocking fallout or consequence?

Regardless, clearly a witch hunt going on here, where the Brits are again all too eager to kiss US ass. Extraordinary to what lengths they're threatening to go, making the whole thing all the more suspicious.

And I'd like to read the Swedish women's statements about those alleged rapes.
So easy to condemn a guy because the word rape was thrown out there, because where there's smoke there's fire etc.
It seems such a transparently set up pitfall.

[xer0s]

Remember Julian Assange, of Wikileaks fame? I bet you do.

lol wtf Eraser...don't be gay...

[GONNAFISTYA]

To be honest, I don't even know what damning info wikileaks ever revealed.
Has it led to any shocking fallout or consequence?

All he did was embarrass some self-indulgent assholes.