[World on Fire] Tastes like...mouthwash

[Crafty_Alex]

And hear comes the smear:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks

Man, this'd be funny if it didn't read like a bad conspiracy story  

[Crafty_Pat]

And hear comes the smear:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks

Man, this'd be funny if it didn't read like a bad conspiracy story 

Yeah, that seems awfully convenient to me.

...and in other related news, retaliations have already commenced and service providers are playing hot potato.

[Mister Andersen]

And hear comes the smear:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks

Man, this'd be funny if it didn't read like a bad conspiracy story  

Ah, fond memories of Blake's 7

[Nepenthe]

And hear comes the smear:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks

Man, this'd be funny if it didn't read like a bad conspiracy story  

Yeah, it's odd, the original rape charge came out after the other leak a couple of months ago, and now this, again in concert...

Apparently the international law dept at the uni has a pool going on how long it will take before Assange has an accident. 

[MilitiaJim]

Apparently the international law dept at the uni has a pool going on how long it will take before Assange has an accident. 

My money is on a middle eastern assailant, it is the dictatorships that are taking a bigger hit on this one.

(We will ignore the fact that I've yet to see anything in the leaks that is actually new.  Some confirmation maybe, but no revelations.)

[glimmerrat]

Ok, i'll step up now and predict that he'll be killed by an 'arab' or a 'north korean' some time after the main hubbub from this crap has died down.

I like how they hand wave the fact that he hasn't been served formal notice of the charges, even via e-mail. Apparently his lawyer 'claims' that it is part of european law. Claims? Someone needs to go and read the EU charter.

[Mister Andersen]

How many countries ignored the stipulations about their economies in the charter?

[Nepenthe]

Ok, i'll step up now and predict that he'll be killed by an 'arab' or a 'north korean' some time after the main hubbub from this crap has died down.

I like how they hand wave the fact that he hasn't been served formal notice of the charges, even via e-mail. Apparently his lawyer 'claims' that it is part of european law. Claims? Someone needs to go and read the EU charter.

I'm not exactly as clear on it, due to some differences in the system. In Scandinavia, it's (generally) perfectly ok to slap an "arrest for interrogation" order on somebody just based on an accusation, if the person is not cooperating with the popos. The train of thought being that if you don't show up to say "no comment" or "not me" or "liar!", there's usually something worth investigating. Of course, when you have an aide of the Canadian prime minister saying on air people should "rub off" your suspect, things tend to get a little bit more complicated...

Also, ince we have these things called human rights here, people can be held for a max of 3 days on an arrest warrant or 14 if the court has agreed that there's probably cause (as it apparently has been, in this case).

My recollections on the European arrest warrant are kind of spotty, but nothing from what I remember disagrees with the above functions - you don't have to charge people before you figure out what happened, and it's my understanding that they are still at the phase where it's a matter of the police trying to sort out what happened for an initial go/no go decision by the prosecution (prosecutors also serve as principal investigators in Sweden, having overall authority over the police).

[starwarsphil]

How many countries ignored the stipulations about their economies in the charter?

That's the monetary union, it's not the same thing.

[MilitiaJim]

Through someone on Twitter I was pointed to a site that is poking into some of Mr. Assange's writings.

Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government”

I'm leaning towards backing WikiLeaks just to spite most governments.

[MilitiaJim]

[Crafty_Alex]

The noose tightens:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101202/ap_on_bi_ge/wikileaks

Interesting to see more coverage of the egg being thrown on everyone's face, now - "Meanwhile, cables published to WikiLeaks' website detailed alleged financial support for North Korea and terrorist affiliates by Austrian banks; an allegation by a Pakistani official that Russia "fully supports" Iran's nuclear program; and a deeply unflattering assessment of Turkmenistan's president"  as well as treaty violations by the British gov't.

My money is this guy will "vanish" by year's end.

[Nepenthe]

My money is this guy will "vanish" by year's end.

They've been marching out a lot of other Wikileaks people in the news today. I think the message is that it's not a one-man operation, and the "2nd rank" is just as determined. Honestly, "accidenting" Assange at this point might just be the dumbest thing they could do. Not that it makes it much less likely.

[SammyF]

Yeah, at this point if he were to slip on a patch of ice at the top of his front steps the morning after a snow-storm, broke his neck by the time he hit his walk and the whole thing was captured on camera by two separate TV news film crews camped out across the street, fifty million people around the world would still be certain that MI6 or the CIA was somehow behind it.  Look at the various people who believe Princess Diana was assassinated even without an obvious motive.  He's now too high-profile to go after.

No good angle on doing anything to him at this point.

[Crafty_Pat]

Through someone on Twitter I was pointed to a site that is poking into some of Mr. Assange's writings.

Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government”

I'm leaning towards backing WikiLeaks just to spite most governments.

Great find! Thanks much for this. It's interesting to see where Assange's vision for anarchist government deconstruction mirrors that of the Banshees, and where it diverges. They're very similar at their core, in the belief that governments are conspiratorial by nature, and a perversion of natural, even rational freedoms. Where they differ most is in application. Where Assange seems to want to force governmental transparency, Sparks and his crew want to raze the system, even if they don't entirely know what will replace it.

It would be highly entertaining to see those two have a brass tacks conversation over coffee.

Yeah, at this point if he were to slip on a patch of ice at the top of his front steps the morning after a snow-storm, broke his neck by the time he hit his walk and the whole thing was captured on camera by two separate TV news film crews camped out across the street, fifty million people around the world would still be certain that MI6 or the CIA was somehow behind it.  Look at the various people who believe Princess Diana was assassinated even without an obvious motive.  He's now too high-profile to go after.

No good angle on doing anything to him at this point.

Hm.... A lover claims she's raped and it conveniently raises the stakes for vindictive action against a man who clearly thinks many steps ahead at all times... A lover who can later recant when and if he's brought in for the charges... I'm not sayin'. Just sayin.