Julian Assange: Sweden drops rape investigation -

kylemore said:

I suppose it depends on your world view EM2.

If you think that the US Security State plays by the rules and is only interested in justice then yes Assange should have played by the rules.

If however you believe that the aforesaid US Security State lies, cheats and kills with impunity and is essentially evil incarnate, then perhaps you might think differently and do everything possible to keep yourself from their wicked clutches.

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fowler9 said:

Why would you turn yourself in to the Swedes (Who have dropped the rape charges) who would have turned you over to the Americans. I guess the Embassy of Equador is nicer than Guantanamo.

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EM2 said:

They only dropped the charges last week. He's been at the embassy for five years.
Shaker Aamer didn't turn himself in, he was seized by bounty hunters and turned over to the US authorities.

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fowler9 said:

Shaker Aamer.

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HSTEd said:

Leaving aside that he didn't actually turn himself in.
The big thing is that people already knew who Julian Assange was.

If the Security State can really do whatever it wants why didn't they just arrange for him to commit suicide or somesuch?

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fowler9 said:

He didn't tun himself in to the Swedes because he may have been shipped off to the States. Just a theory. There is a difference between Shaker Aamer being handed over by bounty hunters and Julian Assange possibly being handed over by the British or Swedish government, only difference is who hands him over though

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furnessvale said:

Without doing any research, is Sweden really that much in the pocket of the USA?

I could follow the argument that the UK may extradite Assange to "help" the US but I thought Sweden prided itself on its liberal values and neutrality?

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BestWestern said:

Because he was holed up inside somebody else's embassy! He's shown up the 'machine' of US power by putting himself beyond it's reach. How long he'll live if he ever emerges is another thing entirely of course!

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furnessvale said:

Without doing any research, is Sweden really that much in the pocket of the USA?

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...Is Assange’s conspiracy theory correct? And would Sweden extradite him?

Highly doubtful. Sweden’s extradition agreement with the United States, signed in 1961 and updated in 1983, prohibits extradition on the basis of "a political offense" or "an offense connected with a political offense." The agreement does not specify what constitutes a "political offense." Whether the Swedish supreme court would rule to extradite Assange largely depends on what charges the secret U.S. grand jury brings against him.

If Assange is accused of espionage, Sweden most certainly would not comply, as its courts have consistently determined that espionage constitutes a political offense. For example, in 1992 Sweden refused to extradite Edward Lee Howard, the only CIA agent to defect to the Soviet Union, to the United States. Charged with espionage, Swedish courts ruled that those accusations amounted to the kind of "political offense" specified in the extradition agreement.

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