The self-centred world of Julian Assange
Marianne Taylor / Sunday 7 February 2016
... Over the years there has been a horribly mysogynistic bent to much of the rhetoric of Mr Assange’s supporters. The Australian has admitted having sex with the woman who made the allegation, but claims it was consensual. And in Assangeland denial is obviously enough. Why should the great man have to explain himself to anyone else? The allegation must be politically motivated, right? Why should he have to even speak to the authorities about this pesky rape stuff when he’s got much more important stuff to worry about?
We, of course, should be asking another question altogether: what right has the UN to deny a woman who claims to be the victim of a serious sex crime the chance of justice? Does the UN really view Mr Assange’s right to walk the streets as more important than a woman’s right to see her accusation of rape legally investigated? Shockingly, if Friday’s report is to be believed, the answer is yes on both counts, though the UK Government does not agree.
Mr Assange could walk quietly out of the embassy any day of the week. In doing so, he would, of course, have to face the serious sexual accusations against him. But doing so would give him the opportunity not only to clear his name, but also see the children he claims to be denied access to. After all, Sweden is known to have a fair and transparent legal system. So what is he afraid of? He has claimed all along that Sweden will extradite him to the US, but there is not a shred of evidence to support this.
Make no mistake, Mr Assange is holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy because he chooses to be. Because it gives him the oxygen of publicity and makes him feel important. Because it prevents him having to face up to an allegation that could potentially undo anything positive his WikiLeaks work has achieved. His pompous bearing on Friday in front of the cameras made that abundantly clear ...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14259969.Marianne_Taylor__The_self_centred_world_of_Julian_Assange/
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Then he removed it and jumped bail
