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Delivery for Mr. Assange

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Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#51

Post by objclxt »

w1ntermute wrote: post #39
derrida wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The diplomatic fallout in the event of a raid would be huge. There was a meeting of all foreign ministers of South America who issued a joint statement to condemn the UK for threatening to raid the embassy.

Would it be that big of a deal? South America (with the possible exception of Brazil) isn't exactly that economically or politically influential.

...because when you have Argentina grandstanding over the Falkland Islands the best thing to do is piss off everyone else in South America. The UK needs all the goodwill it can get in the region.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#52

Post by rhizome »

w1ntermute wrote: post #39
derrida wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The diplomatic fallout in the event of a raid would be huge. There was a meeting of all foreign ministers of South America who issued a joint statement to condemn the UK for threatening to raid the embassy.

Would it be that big of a deal? South America (with the possible exception of Brazil) isn't exactly that economically or politically influential.

If you attack someone's embassy, suddenly all of your own embassies are vulnerable to people who want to attack you. MAD.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#53

Post by [deleted] »

w1ntermute wrote: post #39
derrida wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The diplomatic fallout in the event of a raid would be huge. There was a meeting of all foreign ministers of South America who issued a joint statement to condemn the UK for threatening to raid the embassy.

Would it be that big of a deal? South America (with the possible exception of Brazil) isn't exactly that economically or politically influential.

[deleted]

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#54

Post by state »

rapind wrote: post #37

You may want to follow this on twitter instead of using the IP Address given in the link. I only say this in case it's just one server behind this IP address, and the camera / phone is posting it's images to it as well. Viral traffic could potentially ruin the entire experiment.

I can no longer edit the post, but if a mod wants to switch it to a Twitter link I agree that would be a good idea. I didn't expect this to be so popular.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#55

Post by objclxt »

clauretano wrote: post #35
dmix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible it won't be detected. Parcels sent locally don't go through nearly the level of security as customs puts foreign packages through.

It'd be surprising if a high profile place such as an embassy didn't have its own off-site mail sorting facility. Many high profile non-government places already do this. It's fairly easy to evacuate a mail facility full of contractors (from Pitney-Bowes or other) every time you receive a suspicious package or your systems detect harmful chemicals; to do the same with your corporate HQ would be far more disruptive.

For the US Embassy yes, but there can't be more than a dozen people working at the Ecuadorian embassy (I believe it's physically located inside a block of flats). Diplomatic missions for poorer, or smaller, countries tend to be relatively mundane affairs.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#56

Post by marshray »

nikcub wrote: post #38
w1ntermute wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised that Her Majesty's government hasn't already raided the Ecuadorian embassy, taken Assange into custody, and handed him over to the Swedes. Ecuador is a pretty insignificant country, and it's not like they'd catch any flak from the American government for such a move.

There is precedent: "Thatcher—who was kept apprised of the situation by Whitelaw—determined that British law would be applied to the embassy, despite the Vienna Convention, under which the embassy is considered Iranian soil." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege

That building had been completely taken over by non-Iranians. Even still, the British didn't enter it until the hostage-takers began executing the Iranians.

"Three further shots were fired during the course of the imam's conversation with Oan. Oan announced that a hostage had been killed, and the rest would die in 30 minutes unless his demands were met. A few minutes later, Lavasani's body was dumped out of the front door."

Considering they were at the time holding 52 American hostages in the US embassy in Tehran, the Iranians couldn't credibly complain about the British rescue operation representing a violation of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

I guess I don't think that precedent is going to generalize to many other situations.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#57

Post by eriksank »

nikcub wrote: post #38
w1ntermute wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised that Her Majesty's government hasn't already raided the Ecuadorian embassy, taken Assange into custody, and handed him over to the Swedes. Ecuador is a pretty insignificant country, and it's not like they'd catch any flak from the American government for such a move.

There is precedent: "Thatcher—who was kept apprised of the situation by Whitelaw—determined that British law would be applied to the embassy, despite the Vienna Convention, under which the embassy is considered Iranian soil." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege

In all practical terms, the Ecuadorian authorities expect their embassy to be inviolable. It is this expectation and their insistence on this expectation that complicates this matter to no end. It is simply not in British interests to be seen dismissing this expectation as unimportant. My personal view is that a deal should be possible that is acceptable to both Assange and Ecuador, to end this stalemate. Her Majesty's diplomatic representation in Ecuador should be able to make a compelling proposal that saves the day and the face of everyone involved.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#58

Post by objclxt »

eriksank wrote: post #50
w1ntermute wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised that Her Majesty's government hasn't already raided the Ecuadorian embassy, taken Assange into custody, and handed him over to the Swedes. Ecuador is a pretty insignificant country, and it's not like they'd catch any flak from the American government for such a move.

What an excessively bad idea as well as a diplomatic gaffe! I am pretty surprised that Her Majesty's government has not been able to negotiate a deal that is acceptable to both Assange and the Ecuador final authority on their involvement in this matter. Assange may want to close the case too. There are offers possible that he will accept.

The British government has no authority to negotiate. It is not up to them to talk to Assange. The UK has legally binding treaty obligations to enforce the European Arrest Warrant that Sweden issued.

It is up to Sweden, not the UK, to decide whether it wants to negotiate or not.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#59

Post by nvr219 »

jayzalowitz wrote: post #36

Anyone else want to see assange giving a thumbs up and rapping at the end of this?

I want Assange to open the package while doing the gangnam style elevator guy dance and then closing the package and sending it off to its next adventure.

Re: Delivery for Mr. Assange

#60

Post by sturmeh »

cbr wrote: post #43
geuis wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a URL". One doesn't say "an uniform resource locator".

People who pronounce "URL" as "earl" say "an URL". (One of my coworkers does this, Australian if it helps.)

Although it's not correctly pronounced as earl. (You sound each letter separately.)

So using "an" would be yet another mistake.

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