61–70 of 225 posts
Given that the US is not a signatory to several international treaties and regularly employs solitary confinement, which is internationally considered as a form of torture, there is a humanitarian argument against the extradition. The desire to comply with the extradition request seems to be more about politics (i.e. maintaining good relationships with the US) than the rule of law. The treatment of Manning should be…
Totally unenforceable assurances from the USA mean nothing. Assange should be brought back to Australia.
It shows how much Australian politicians and politics kowtow to the US.
It's shameful.
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That's kind of the point. Assange wasn't acting on behalf of his country. If he was, there'd be much less of an issue. I think it's a miscarriage of justice that Assange is just sitting in jail. At the same time, his defenders don't admit that he solicited and provided technical assistance to Americans who expressed interest in stealing secrets. Plus he's almost certainly a creep. The condom-removal allegations are v…
Condom removal? Edit: I see the law is catching up there: https://apnews.com/article/health-crime-california-gavin-new...
Totally unenforceable assurances from the USA mean nothing. Assange should be brought back to Australia.
Successive Australian governments have been remiss in their, sometimes total, lack of involvement in Assange's plight. It shows how much Australian politicians and politics kowtow to the US. It's shameful.
https://www.reuters.com/world/australia-pm-backs-parliament-...
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Well that's unlikely to happen, US have enough leverage to extradite anyone they want
Yeah, once you start kidnapping your allies citizens openly, a lot less goodwill will be returned. And the US isn't powerful enough to just bully the rest of the world without repercussions.
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What an utterly absurd judgment, that should have no place on a free society. They have a literal kidnapping/assassination plot, and yet the Judge considers it all above board and that it doesn't show any prejudice.
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For the crime of reporting information that embarrassed the US government.
I still don't understand how a country can grant extradition of a non US citizen to the USA for "espionage". Every country is potentially spying on every other country and it doesn't even matter if they are supposed to be allies or enemies. The only limits are resources.
This gives the spy protection as both sides are spying on each other so usually what happens is some snarky comment/strongly worded letter and expulsion of a few spies back to their home country from both sides.
In the worst case someone goes to prison but usually in response the other side also finds some spies to put into prison too as "revenge".
Also whatever information the spies manage to get in general is not released to the public.
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Then the US would not be able to extradite anyone from a country that requires assurances ever again. Given that the US still has the death penalty for many crimes this would cripple its ability to extradite.
Well that's unlikely to happen, US have enough leverage to extradite anyone they want
I thought that was the case but I think Assange proves that's not as strong as many expected. I think it was reasonable to expect him being extradited 10 years ago, it's surprising he hasn't been yet.
What I do think the US achieved was pressuring the UK into not extraditing him to Sweden. He was charged with crimes there that seemed much more clear cut – not espionage, just a regular case that anyone else would be extradited for. Whether you think that was a conspiracy or not, in isolation it was a justified extradition with no safety concerns, so the US clearly has some sway in preventing it.
I still don't understand how a country can grant extradition of a non US citizen to the USA for "espionage". Every country is potentially spying on every other country and it doesn't even matter if they are supposed to be allies or enemies. The only limits are resources.
Arguably, the rest of the "free world" can be seen as provinces of an American Empire with their independence. From that perspective, the Assange extradition makes perfect sense. This isn't as crazy as it sounds because the Roman Empire had provinces which were technically "independent" monarchies aligned with Rome. Most famously, Egypt under Cleopatra and Judea under Herod.
You're going to have to write a book or two of argumentation, because you seem like you're drawing parallels between intersecting lines
It's becoming increasingly pointless for the US and UK to litigate this as the time Assange spends in formal custody accrues, mooting any likely potential sentence he'd receive in the US. The WSJ has Assange close to a plea deal that would avoid US custody altogether.