INTERPOL Seeks Wikileaks founder on Rape Charges

[Shroom Man 777]

Thats cause your agency is tiny and only has 50,000 people in it and the budget can be spread out to less people than, say, a the largest and most advanced military in the world that has countless personnel located all over the world that, aside from requiring computers (and IT support/security shit) also need bombs and guns and food and shoddily-contracted showers that spew sewage on the soldiers, etc. It's a bigger organization, which means more mistakes and oversights can happen.

[open_sketchbook]

I...am wondering why people think there's a need for the US to kidnap the guy if he's ever incarcerated in Sweden.

He's being charged with rape. Just convict him with a media circus before the actual conviction/acquital, and he'll be nicely discredited.

Except for the part with the prosecutorial misconduct thus far and repeated laying and raising of the charges. The media circus is more than likely to play in his favour.

Besides, once you can nail down his location, it's easy to get rid of him. The goal is just to get him in trial so you know where he is. The charges don't stick, you follow him out of the courtroom, abduct him, bag him, throw him in the back of an official looking car, go someplace out of the way, maybe torture him till you have all his passwords so you can steal his identity, slit his throat, back over his head with the car so there is nothing reconizable left, ditch the body, and then make plausible sounding noises over his channels for a bit until he's no longer in the news and everyone who cares figures he's laying low somewhere. I would be surprised if stuff like that didn't happen on a regular basis.

Trying to rely on fickle media can backfire. But killing people is a proven and reliable way of getting rid of problems. No man, no problem, as they say.

[Alyeska]

I keep laughing when I see Republicans blasting Wikileaks. I think they forgot that Wikileaks is the ones who leaked the climate emails. Something they rather supported.

[Broomstick]

I do question Assange's wisdom on ducking out on the the rape charges, to the point that interpol are handing him a red notice is not doing him any favours. Of course there is the danger that the americans might try to get him extradited somehow but I can't see any nation handing him over to the USA because of the possibility of a death penalty.

Uh... no US state imposes the death penalty for simple rape - that is, rape involving adult women that doesn't involve kidnapping or other aggravating circumstances. The circumstances involved - from what I've read - were likely not enough to convict in US courts.

I was not on about the rape charge but that he would likely be charged under the US Espionage Act if extradited to america as that does carry the maximum death penalty as i understand, because of that it would be unlikely that any nation would extradite Assange if he was found and charged with rape.

Well, sure, but there is no basis for US extradition on Swedish rape charges - if the US wants to extradite him they need some US-based charges on which to do it. That's extradition, of course - doing it on the sly, extra-legally, is an entirely different matter. There's no legal basis on which to extradite him to the US. I don't get where people are somehow thinking that transporting him to Sweden to answer these Swedish charges is going to somehow result in an extradition to the US. It won't. The US might apply other pressures, but it won't be that.

If Assange was fleeing US charges he could probably seek and get asylum in a number of different countries. Actually, he might even be able to get that now, even without being charged. While US citizens are guaranteed their day in court and there is precedent for publishing stuff like the recent WikiLeaks offerings, the fact he's not an American citizen means there will be people who maintain the constitutional guarantees don't apply to him, including the right to freedom of the press. He would have no guarantee of a fair trial in the US.

[Xon]

So, why is it a agency of maybe 50,000 people that deals with Tax records, has higher apparent security then the largest, most advanced military in the world?

Because you are outside the airlock, and these leaks are coming from inside.

Really, once you are given out the keys to the kingdom don't be suprised if someone lets themselves out.

[Shroom Man 777]

I keep laughing when I see Republicans blasting Wikileaks. I think they forgot that Wikileaks is the ones who leaked the climate emails. Something they rather supported.

I was thinking about this. Not the climate emails. But I was thinking if Wikileaks leaked shit out about, say, China or Russia or the Democrats or some shit, the Republicans and your stereotypical right-wing cryptofascist would be jumping with joy. If they found dirt about their enemies like Obama, or those climate scientists, or whatever, they would be hailed as heroes. Imagine the joy of these shitpieces if it was discovered that Obama was born on the Moon Landing Hoax soundstage on Mars' non-American territories, these guys would be praising Assange.

But hilariously, he ended up publishing records on America's hypocrisies and all its shit, from guncamera footage of Americans blowing kids and journos and innocent civilians away, to Hillery Clitnone ordering Americans to steal DNA and bodily fluids. And now they're going "hurf hurf!" and wishfully thinking that the Russians or whoever kill this Assange guy in pornographic ways. Man, what a bunch of cunts.

[Siege]

It was posted a bit back but I gotta say I'm amazed by the clip Aerius posted. Some supposedly knowledgeable professor proves himself an utter imbecile by calling for a guy who published a bunch of sensitive documents on the Internet to be assassinated and what is the reaction of the anchor? He guffaws for a bit and then calls that reaction "pretty strong stuff". Really? That's the level of discourse? "Pretty strong stuff" is what passes for North American journalism? Jesus Christ, why is no-one calling this Flanagan wanker a raving lunatic on air?

[Phantasee]

The anchor was laughing at the absurd joke, and then offered him a chance to retract his statement. When he didn't, everyone smiled uncomfortably. They were too polite to call him a fucking loon, because canadiens are polite.

[Shroom Man 777]

If the journalist actually protested, or pointed out that assassinating Assange is illegal, viewers might get alienated and might perceive that the journalist - and by extension the media company - isn't being bipartisan and is in fact being not only partisan, but also liberal and weak on terror. It would put that American media company in the same league as Al-Jazeera or the BBC, or some other disreputable news source. They cannot risk this, man.

[General Zod]

Thats cause your agency is tiny and only has 50,000 people in it and the budget can be spread out to less people than, say, a the largest and most advanced military in the world that has countless personnel located all over the world that, aside from requiring computers (and IT support/security shit) also need bombs and guns and food and shoddily-contracted showers that spew sewage on the soldiers, etc. It's a bigger organization, which means more mistakes and oversights can happen.

The size doesn't really matter, it's impossible to completely prevent a leak if you have something interesting. The best you can do is perform due diligence, try to make sure you put people in place who won't screw you over and have an effective damage control plan in case shit hits the fan. Just look at Apple and their iPhone 4 fiasco.

[Siege]

The anchor was laughing at the absurd joke, and then offered him a chance to retract his statement. When he didn't, everyone smiled uncomfortably. They were too polite to call him a fucking loon, because canadiens are polite.

It doesn't matter why it happened the way it did. "Too polite to call Flanagan on his insane bullshit" is still crap journalism. What d'ya think woulda happened if Woodward and Bernstein had been too polite to beat Nixon over the head with the Watergate scandal? If you're too polite to ask hard questions, get the fuck out of the profession!

[Thanas]

Indeed. An interview is not supposed to be "let him use it as free advertising", it is supposed to be hard-hitting questions.

However, this is typical for North American journalism. The one asking the hardest questions is Jon Stewart, and he is a comedian. Go figure.

[PeZook]

I'm...not really sure if viewers would be all that alienated, either. There's a journalist in Poland who's famous and respected for dragging politicians - of both parties - over hot coals on air. It's awesome: she throws all the little embarassing details and statements they'd rather forget at them during prime time, and doesn't let them weasel out with evasive statements.

Her program has excellent ratings. I think people in the US would appreciate something like that instead of the wishy-washy "we must be fair and balanced and let people lie and spout lunacy on air", provided it was sold right.

[Siege]

It seems to me that the "the viewers would never buy it!" excuse is bandied about most often by the lazy makers of shitty-ass shows who'll latch onto any convenient explanation that'll let them wave away the stench of the excrement they produce. These people work for multimillion dollar mass media corporations -- the concept that they're nothing but powerless slaves to the big bad audience just doesn't fly with me. They get to shape and refine their message in ways unparalleled in the history of media; for God's sake, the least they should be able to do with that ability is sell a proper interview to the audience.

[Phantasee]

That's the CBC, the Canadian equivalent of the BBC. It is in no way similar to CNN or Fox, as it is a network of local stations that broadcast the news at 6pm and Canadian programming the rest of the day. The CBC does have a channel dedicated to news broadcasts during the day, but they air documentaries and other programs in the off-hours, unlike cable news networks that dedicate 24 hours to inane commentary. And it appears that they're not interviewing him, they're just getting opinions from a group of "experts" like a political scientist (Flanagan) and the three others who were in the studio. And the video cuts off after he finishes speaking. From what we do see, it seems the host is saying Flanagan's opinion is pretty out there, and I imagine he then talked to one of the other three "experts" in the studio to get a less fantastic opinion.

I'm just saying that your criticisms of the media are fair, but they don't really apply in this case since we have a short video clip that doesn't tell the whole story.

[SirNitram]

Hang on a second. Pull over the crazy train. Reuters has data. Link

Assange, the 39-year-old Australian whose WikiLeaks website this week created an international furor by leaking a mass of U.S. diplomatic cables, is facing prosecution in Sweden over the allegations, which he has denied.

His London lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Thursday Assange is willing to talk to Swedish authorities but would not say where he currently is.

Tuesday, international police agency Interpol said it had issued a "red notice" which allows arrest warrants issued by national police authorities to be circulated to other countries to facilitate arrests and help possible extradition.

"There is no arrest warrant against him. There was an Interpol red notice, which is not a warrant, alerting authorities to monitor his movements," Stephens told Reuters.

"The arrest warrant was sent back by Scotland Yard (London police) because it did not comply with the law and was defective."

Assange spends much of his time in Sweden, and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two Swedish women. Swedish prosecutors opened, then dropped, then re-opened an investigation into the allegations.

Sweden has authorized a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion." But Assange has not been formally charged with any crime in Sweden.

Stephens would not reveal Assange's location because of death threats made against him and told Reuters his client had not been informed of the allegations against him.

"We are in this position where we have never been told what the allegations are against him, we do know that he hasn't been charged, we do know that he has only been asked for as a witness," he said.

"We know that ... the offence is one of 'sex by surprise', which is not an offence known in England. He has not been given the evidence against him."

Stephens said Assange was willing to meet Swedish prosecutors but they did not want to meet him.

"We are in a very, very surreal situation at the moment it's like a Swedish fairytale."

Sex... By... Surprise. But seperate from rape. Do we have any Swedes who knows what that is?

[Tribun]

That makes the whole thing look even more bogus. I thinks its an combination of the so-called "victims" trying to milk a sex contact for all it is worth and someone in Sweden trying to please the US government.

[General Zod]

Whoa whoa whoa, what the shit? Ron Paul is the voice of reason in this?

Ron Paul backs WikiLeaks
Writing to his followers on Twitter, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas appeared to back the release of the secret diplomatic cables.

"Re: Wikileaks - In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble."

He made similar comments in an interview with Fox Business on Thursday, saying the WikiLeaks founder should receive the same protections as mainstream media when releasing information.

[loomer]

Well, he is a libertarian. Maybe he's actually holding to the principles of libertarianism for once.

[weemadando]

Insert comedy here.

[Keevan_Colton]

From what I can tell the accusation isn't that the sex was non-consensual, but has to do with the use or lack of a condom.

[Dooey Jo]

Sex... By... Surprise. But seperate from rape. Do we have any Swedes who knows what that is?

Firstly, there are two offences, and secondly, no one knows what they are. Any speculation you hear about broken condoms or whatnot is actually gossip from the most extreme-right corners of the internet, apparently with a bone to pick with at least one of the accusers (don't worry though, they hate Assange too, that Islam hugging traitor), and with sources as reliable as supposed police reports from the Daily Mail of all places. The actual texts of these reports are of course non-existent.

[someone_else]

Insert comedy here.

Well, It's not like Obama asked for the nobel prize.
He did nothing in that regard too.

[Jim Raynor]

Too much love for Assange here. Exposing corruption and illegal coverups is one thing. Leaking names of Afghan informants complete with locations and their fathers' names to everyone including the Taliban makes you negligent, an asshole, or both. I don't know the details of his alleged sex crime, but he should face the law. I don't think the US should put a bag over this guy's head and make him disappear (and I don't think the US government will do that either, if only because he's too prominent and well-known), but I wouldn't be bothered if they found something to legitimately charge him with.

[D.Turtle]

Except that the Pentagon concluded that nothing of that type of information was leaked and that no repercussions were taken against informers in Afghanistan.