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struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
Tue Aug 28, 2012, 10:24 PM Aug 2012

Conspiracy theories from Assange supporters do his case no favours (Irish Examiner)

By Colette Browne
Wednesday, August 29, 2012

... They spin a convoluted tale the details of which, it has to be said, would make an excellent summer blockbuster. Hang onto your tin-foil hats, the story goes something like this.

Assange, in Sweden in 2010 to deliver a lecture, had the misfortune to sleep with two vindictive harpies who later filed complaints against him with the police, alleging a number of serious offences, including sexual molestation and rape.

Absolutely no credence should be given to these fanciful claims as the women are clearly nothing more than scorned groupies and the allegations, even if true, amount to, in the words of noted feminist George Galloway, "bad sexual etiquette" on the part of suave ladykiller Assange.

Enter stage right, in incontrovertible evidence of a high-level conspiracy, none other than Karl Rove, George Bush’s former chief of staff and evil empire spin doctor, who is now acting as an advisor to Sweden’s governing Moderate Party and demanding that country deliver Assange’s head on a plate to the Obama administration ...


http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/colette-browne/conspiracy-theories-from-assange-supporters-do-his-case-no-favours-205632.html
14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Conspiracy theories from Assange supporters do his case no favours (Irish Examiner) (Original Post) struggle4progress Aug 2012 OP
Sex, Lies and Julian Assange - not a conspiracy theory after all WillYourVoteBCounted Aug 2012 #1
It's entirely inappropriate to try such allegations on an internet board or in the media struggle4progress Aug 2012 #4
the US secretly makes tough demands on Sweden WillYourVoteBCounted Aug 2012 #2
Fact-checking for that article could have been been better: the US Ambassador under discussion struggle4progress Aug 2012 #6
cables revealed Swedish govt asked US to hide relationship WillYourVoteBCounted Aug 2012 #3
Wow, this editorial is full of misinformation... AntiFascist Aug 2012 #5
Anyone, who is interested in what the editorial actually says, should read it, rather than relying struggle4progress Aug 2012 #7
Any post saying "all they have to do" treestar Aug 2012 #12
Ha! I've often said the same thing about software. randome Aug 2012 #13
Negotiations continue... AntiFascist Aug 2012 #14
Here we go again. hobbit709 Aug 2012 #8
Yeah, rape is so tedious. Why won't they just shut up and let us get back to bashing Akin. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2012 #11
Well, when you say it like that. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2012 #9
I agree, it makes an interesting movie script treestar Aug 2012 #10

WillYourVoteBCounted

(14,622 posts)
1. Sex, Lies and Julian Assange - not a conspiracy theory after all
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:02 AM
Aug 2012

video at the link

Sex, Lies and Julian Assange
By Andrew Fowler and Wayne Harley

Updated July 26, 2012 When Julian Assange arrived in Sweden in August 2010 he was greeted like a conquering hero. But within weeks there was a warrant out for his arrest and he was being investigated for rape and sexual molestation. Today he is taking sanctuary in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, arguing he won't receive justice if he's taken to Sweden and that US authorities are building a case for his extradition.

Next, Four Corners reporter Andrew Fowler examines in detail what happened in those crucial weeks while Julian Assange was in Sweden. What was the nature of his relationship with the two women who claim he assaulted them? And what did they tell police that led the authorities to seek his arrest?
....
Four Corners looks at claims the United States is working hard to unearth evidence that would lead to a charge of "conspiracy to commit espionage" being made against Assange - which in turn would be used in his extradition from Sweden. The program also documents the harassment experienced by Assange's supporters across the globe - including his Australian lawyer - and the FBI's attempts to convince some to give evidence against him.


http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/07/19/3549280.htm

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
4. It's entirely inappropriate to try such allegations on an internet board or in the media
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:51 AM
Aug 2012

That was certainly a basic tenet of feminist theory about rape cases when I was younger, and I'm frankly shocked to see it abandoned nowadays

We should hold no opinion on the Swedish allegations, except that they are best dealt with by the Swedish criminal justice system, who are capable of assessing the various witnesses and whether the evidence does (or does not) support the allegations

Trial by public opinion is always erratic: the popular skate scot-free and the unpopular swing from lampposts, regardless of the merits of the cases

Assange may be innocent for all I know, though his own behavior seems erratic and peculiar. Assange left Sweden while authorities were negotiating with his lawyer to schedule a second interview. The authorities later believed they had negotiated his return the following month but he didn't show for that. An arrest order for Assange was issued by a Swedish court, and it was upheld by a higher Swedish court when Assange's lawyers appealed; finally the Swedes took out a European warrant which Assange contested in the UK, with an appeal to the High Court and two appeals to the Supreme Court. He lost at every level. In the end, he jumped bail to hide in the Ecuadorian embassy

WillYourVoteBCounted

(14,622 posts)
2. the US secretly makes tough demands on Sweden
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:06 AM
Aug 2012

From DN.SE via google translation:

"Therefore, the United States secretly make tough demands on Sweden"
Updated 2010-12-09 09:23.

There are no foreign policy reason for Sweden's double game with the U.S. and the necessity that the Justice Department experience to go behind people's backs. The only reason is the domestic foreign policy as social democracy conducted throughout the postwar period with the hypocrisy surrounding the neutrality policy. It is degrading to Sweden, writes Peter Bratt.

http://www.dn.se/debatt/darfor-kan-usa-i-hemlighet-stalla-harda-krav-pa-sverige

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
6. Fact-checking for that article could have been been better: the US Ambassador under discussion
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:13 PM
Aug 2012

must have been "Michael Wood" rather than "Michael Woods," a sloppy mistake which might call into question other details

Still, it's an interesting article, and seems to me quite plausible, though it is unclear what matters are allegedly known from the cables and what from other sources

It's not the kind of article one would find in a US paper, and it speaks well of the level of discourse in Sweden

But I'm not sure that it shows anything particularly surprising

And it's completely unclear to me why you think it might have any relationship to the sexual assault allegation, since those predate (by some months) the release of the alleged telegrams

WillYourVoteBCounted

(14,622 posts)
3. cables revealed Swedish govt asked US to hide relationship
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:08 AM
Aug 2012

WikiLeaks: Swedish government 'hid' anti-terror operations with America from Parliament

The Swedish government asked American officials to keep intelligence-gathering “informal” to help avoid Parliamentary scrutiny, American diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks show.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8202745/WikiLeaks-Swedish-government-hid-anti-terror-operations-with-America-from-Parliament.html

I could keep going, but you get the picture.

Sometimes it isn't conspiracy, the truth is really that awful.

AntiFascist

(12,792 posts)
5. Wow, this editorial is full of misinformation...
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 02:24 AM
Aug 2012

Not only can the Swedish government (including its judicial branch) preemptively provide certain assurances to Assange and his legal team, officials from the Justice Ministry already have done so in an interview:

http://rt.com/news/sweden-us-assange-extradition-209/

The Swedish government will not extradite Assange to the US should he face the death penalty there, as any possible extradition request from Washington is then subject to strict conditions, an official from the country’s Justice Ministry declared.

­“We will never surrender a person to the death penalty,” the deputy director of the Service for Criminal Cases and International Cooperation of Sweden’s Justice Ministry said in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper on Tuesday.

This means there should be strict guarantees from the US government that “the prisoner will not be executed in any case,”


This is actually the beginning of a diplomatic solution. All they have to do is extend this promise to cover prosecution for political or military crimes, as dictated by Swedish law, and this might be satisfactory to the Assange team.

Also, the editorial in the OP refers to anyone supporting Assange as misogynistic and believing that he is "an honorable and innocent patsy". This has been proven wrong in numerous posts on DU. Now, who is the conspiracy theorist?

struggle4progress

(117,949 posts)
7. Anyone, who is interested in what the editorial actually says, should read it, rather than relying
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:14 PM
Aug 2012

on your summary

treestar

(82,383 posts)
12. Any post saying "all they have to do"
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:28 PM
Aug 2012

IMO indicates an unfamiliarity with legal procedures anywhere in the modern world.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
13. Ha! I've often said the same thing about software.
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:31 PM
Aug 2012

If you're told by Support anything that starts with, "All you have to do..." then you already know the software is shit.

AntiFascist

(12,792 posts)
14. Negotiations continue...
Fri Aug 31, 2012, 06:04 PM
Aug 2012

Ecuador is confident that Britain (together with Sweden) can provide the assurances they will need to release Assange to Sweden. Britain is interested in continuing negotiations. It doesn't sound like there any major legal stumbling blocks, just that diplomacy takes time.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
10. I agree, it makes an interesting movie script
Wed Aug 29, 2012, 01:21 PM
Aug 2012

Right down to the helicopters lifting him out of the Embassy and the British army giving chase.

Despite Assange’s plaintive pleas, it’s not possibly to rewrite international treaties, or a nation’s criminal justice system, to suit individual cases and the rule of law must be applied evenly to everyone.


No kidding.

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