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Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#391

Post by dragonwriter »

toyg wrote: post #390
dragonwriter wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No declaration of war was made on Iraq. Yes, it was; no special language is needed in a declaration of war; the "Authorization for the Use of Military Force" was plainly and unmistakeably a conditional declaration of war, the conditions for which were fulfilled.

If you declare war, you have to follow Geneva rules, so you can't do Guantanamo detentions; if you do Guantanamo detentions, you're not legally at war. Pick one.

> If you declare war, you have to follow Geneva rules,

The applicability of the Geneva Conventions is affected by the fact of war, but independent of whether there is a declaration. And even if it wasn't, violations of the Conventions would not reach back in time and change whether a declaration had occurred.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#392

Post by rmc »

Sunset wrote: post #325
panglott wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was Assange's claim, but there are two women in Sweden who say that he sexually victimized them. The details of their claims have been out for a while: IIRC they had consensual sex with him, and later that night he had nonconsensual sex with them. It seems Sweden (rightly) takes sexual assault much more seriously than some other jurisdictions.

He had consensual sex with them. The sex only became nonconsensual retroactively when they learned about one another. Which is frankly, bullshit.

No, one of the charges is that he started having sex with someone who was asleep.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#393

Post by rmc »

vidarh wrote: post #205
rmc wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also very strange that, if he was really afraid of the US & NATO, he'd flee to the UK . Sweden is not in NATO, and the UK co-founded it. The UK and the US have a long standing "special relationship", with the UK being the main other country involved in invading Iraq. If you're afraid of the US, why you'd go to the UK is beyond me.

First of all where does NATO come from here? Why would he fear NATO? It sounds to me like you just added that in because it's something that puts the UK in the same group as the US. Where would you suggest he should go? UK courts have a long history of letting extradition cases take years and/or denying extradition, and UK courts have a history of reacting to political pressure by standing firm rather than yielding.…

> where does NATO come from here?

I have heard people say things like "Sweden has co-operated with NATO in [....]". Maybe Sweden does co-operate with NATO, but it's not a member and the UK is.

The UK courts might seem wonderful in merry old England, but just look at what happened in Northern Ireland, and you'll see a different face of the British legal system. Interment without trial, torture, extrajudicial killing, all of UK citizens on UK soil.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#394

Post by panglott »

allover wrote: post #360
panglott wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that he had consensual sex with them, they went to sleep, then he had nonconsensual sex with them while they were sleeping. They were individually disturbed by these events, but did not decide to file charges until they compared stories. That's very different from "the sex became nonconsensual retroactively". And I don't think it's uncommon for women brave the consequences of speaking out about se…

> My understanding is that he had consensual sex with them, they went to sleep, then he had nonconsensual sex with them while they were sleeping. Source? Seems to differ from: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange...

Thanks. I must have been thinking of Miss W's story there. Miss A's account is even more serious: clear sexual assault.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#395

Post by micheljones »

youngtaff wrote: post #387
micheljones wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the time, Sweden was a better candidate for extradition because it has less limitations on extradition than UK in Assange's case (because he is a Commonwealth citizen). As for the 'if he was innocent', I see this argument quite often, and I have only this to say: his self-imposed punishment of being locked up in a closet for 5 years is worse than any possible punishment he would have received for the crime he was…

Because he's a narcissist and martyrdom suits his ego (and perhaps he figured it would come to exile in an embassy, or for so long)

So, for negative conclusions about Assange we need to apply Occam's razor (if he's innocent why didn't he turn himself in), but for positive conclusions about him we need to avoid that and invent more and more complex, evasive answers?

Thank you for your help in getting president Donald Trump elected.

Sincerely,

A Russian Bot

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#396

Post by varjag »

appleflaxen wrote: post #353
varjag wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assange agenda was always anti-Americanism at expense of everyone else, so he just stayed true to himself. Many of his then liberal supporters were turning a blind eye to this, until it spectacularly bit them in the ass.

when WL policy is "publish everything in the public interest we possibly can" and it looks "unamerican" to the american public, it's a clue that your government is doing some really ugly things.

This is not WL policy. It is "publish everything that harms America or its liberal allies in any way". They published jack on Russia, Belarus, Syria or whatever dictatorship. (Using 'they' charitably here, as we all understand WL is really Assange). They dissed Panama papers (!) because corruption schemes uncovered implicated their now bedfellows.

(Also I am not an American).

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