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Julian Assange: "Hero or Helmet?"

edited February 2016 in Not Sports Related
A bit of a polarising subject, but Julian Assange - is he a hero, or is he a helmet?

So the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have officially decided that he should be released and receive compensation from both the UK and Swedish governments due to his "arbitrary detention"; the detention that is, which involves him skipping bail and hiding in an embassy whilst there's a European Arrest Warrant out in his name for rape.

It's quite clear that the man himself is a narcissist - not that this should detract from his achievements, which actually seem to be limited to being the self imposed "Editor In Chief" of Wikileaks. That is, he enabled other people to put their necks on the line by breaching things like the Official Secrets Act but, as an individual, actually didn't do anything that dangerous himself.

There's also a very interesting site - https://govwaste.co.uk/ - which looks at how the £13,700,000+ that's been spent on securing the Ecuadorian embassy could've been used elsewhere.

My vote? Helmet. After wasting £13.7 million pounds on this debacle I think there should be some form of direct consultation with Ecuador and the situation of him residing in their embassy should be resolved once and for all. Preferably this would involve his arrest, facing the rape investigation in Sweden and (perhaps after any subsequent sentences out there) coming back and doing some time for his bail breaches in the UK.

If the best we could get was safe passage to Ecuador I'd take that though; ultimately, the sooner we can forget that this guy even exists the better.
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Comments

  • Helmet should walk out the door get nicked be shipped to Sweden, or shut up and stay in doors
  • Target practice on Salisbury Plain.
  • I'm not sure why he's blamed for the £13.7m spent on watching the Ecuadorian embassy. That was a government decision.

    He should go to Sweden to face charges for rape.

    My gut says that Sweden/UK/Ecuador should not extradite him to the US, which I believe is ultimately the reason why he's hiding in South America.
  • Helmet should walk out the door get nicked be shipped to Sweden.... exactly right
  • Mostly a helmet
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  • Disgusting Treacherous helmet. Hope he gets what’s coming to him!
  • he shouold go back to sewden to answer the charges against him. Instead he abuses the asylum system to escape the law.
  • For those of you calling him a helmet, if you believed that policitally motivated charges had been invented with the intention of getting you shipped off to the US, would you abide by your bail conditions? I suspect not.

    If it was just my money at stake, I might agree with you, but you forgot to mention "in the process screwing over all those supporters who put forward their hard-earned money to get you out on bail in the first place". But he doesn't give a shit, cos it's all about him.
  • For those of you calling him a helmet, if you believed that policitally motivated charges had been invented with the intention of getting you shipped off to the US, would you abide by your bail conditions? I suspect not. The acid test is whether those rape allegations are genuine or not. I suspect we may never know.

    I suspect you are right. It is very difficult indeed to believe that a nation like Sweden would involve itself in some concocted set up put in train by the CIA. (Sadly not quite so unbelievable that the so-called Land of the Free would set something up though.) So who knows what the complainants, Miss A and Miss W are up to?

    As to the police costs, totally ridiculous. We should have just suspended all diplomatic relations with Ecuador, shut their embassy, sent their diplomats home and then arrested Assange and deported him to Sweden. So soon as he got on the plane, the diplomats could have been invited back while losing no sleep over whether they accepted the invitation or carried out a tit-for-tat expulsion.
  • edited February 2016

    For those of you calling him a helmet, if you believed that policitally motivated charges had been invented with the intention of getting you shipped off to the US, would you abide by your bail conditions? I suspect not. The acid test is whether those rape allegations are genuine or not. I suspect we may never know.

    His lawyer has pretty much confessed on his behalf though.

    Quote 1, courtesy of his lawyer:
    Emmerson said earlier that he was not challenging the fact that they "found Mr Assange's sexual behaviour in these encounters disreputable, discourteous, disturbing or even pushing towards the boundaries of what they were comfortable with". But the sexual activities that occurred had taken place with consent, he argued, and, unlike in Sweden, could not be criminalised in the English jurisdiction.
    If it were false and entirely politically motivated then getting your lawyer to claim "Yeah, it could be illegal in Sweden but it isn't here!" is probably a bit of a dumb move..

    Not nearly as dumb as openly admitting that the incident did occur though. In fact, it would also be considered rape in this country.

    Quote 2, courtesy of his lawyer:
    They fell asleep and she woke up by his penetrating her. She immediately asked if he was wearing anything. He answered: "You." She said: "You better not have HIV." He said: "Of course not." She may have been upset, but she clearly consented to its [the sexual encounter's] continuation and that is a central consideration.
    So, the facts as per his own lawyer:

    -> She expressed a desire not to have sexual intercourse without protection;
    -> Assange had sexual intercourse with her, using protection;
    -> Later on, she was woken up to Assange having sex with her again - but without protection, explicitly against the wishes that she expressed earlier on.

    The lawyer's defence actually seems to revolve around the suggestion that he gained implied permission from her, during the act, and she was only capable of giving that implied consent because he had accidentally woken her up.

    Considering this version of events is actually part of his defence, but still relies on him violating her permission - I would consider it pretty clear that he is guilty.

    Here's the source for the quotes: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jul/12/julian-assange-extradition-live-coverage

  • Pasty faced wimp.
    The kid who couldn't pull a girl when he was at school.
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  • Total helmet. Sweden is not a 3rd world country after all so he will get a fair hearing. He might even be acquitted. It's got to be better than skulking in an embassy toilet for the past 3 years.
  • For those of you calling him a helmet, if you believed that policitally motivated charges had been invented with the intention of getting you shipped off to the US, would you abide by your bail conditions? I suspect not. The acid test is whether those rape allegations are genuine or not. I suspect we may never know.

    I wouldn't have endangered people's lives by whistleblowing in the first place.
  • Curate's egg for me. Good in parts.
    Totally support the wikileaks effort but can't condone what appears to be unsavoury behaviour of the worst kind.
  • edited February 2016
    After reading this a cowardly no good rapist helmet scum ched Evans supporting nonce helmet
  • Looks like Noel Edmunds
  • NLA so no real thought on him then .
  • After reading this a cowardly no good rapist helmet scum ched Evans supporting nonce helmet

    I hope I never get on the wrong side of you NLA! :)
  • Helmet ...and a dangerous one at that.
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