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tamarack wrote (edited )

Sweden has also been trying for ... Gods, six or seven years now? ... to have Julian Assange arrested on fabricated rape charges so that the enemy country can then seize and kill him, with or without a show trial.

Why in the fuck would Snowden trust one word they say?

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libre_dev wrote

Fabricated? Is it so hard to believe Assange is a huge turd? I'll also point out that the people originally spouting the "it's made up!", "honey trap!" are denizens of flashback.org ("Sweden's asshole" so to say)

What's actually been happening is the old prosecutor in the case has been unwilling to travel to London to question Assange for some reason, possibly stubbornness. Now the case is close to being closed due to statute of limitation. We'll likely never know what actually happened. Beside that, Assange is still wanted for contempt of court in the U.K.

The London police nearly storming Ecuador's embassy is curious however. My guess is that's connected to the U.S and U.K's special relationship. But with how helpful Assange's organization has been to the current U.S. presidency the "they want me dead!" spiel doesn't really hold water any more

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tamarack wrote (edited )

Come to think of it, you're right, I do remember the Swedes saying they were dropping the charges. Lot of information in my brain pan. Sometimes things get misplaced.

As for Julian Assange not being a nice person ... whatever, yo. Being a huge turd isn't a reason to keep someone under house arrest for seven years. Regardless of what he may or may not have done in his personal life--as you noted, we will probably never know what actually happened--Assange is still the literal fucking definition of a political prisoner. He doesn't remotely deserve what's been done to him.

Setting Assange aside, though, my point still stands. When someone accepts an offer of asylum from a country, what typically happens is that the offering country gives them citizenship. Sweden has an extradition treaty with the enemy country, which means Swedish citizens can be extradited to the enemy country, and you can bet your bottom lütefisk that they'd hand Snowden over in a fucking nanosecond if the enemy country told them to.

Snowden's right not to trust them.

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libre_dev wrote

I had typed a long reply here but accidentally closed my browser. Grrr! But I can summarize it:

It's illegal to extradite people in Sweden if they risk execution. That and being a high profile case means I think Snowden is safer than that. But Sweden is also incredibly spineless, unfortunately.

As for Assange, I still think his entire thing is just meant to save face. We'll know for sure at the end of 2020. Has anyone else involved in WikiLeaks, especially the 2010 cable leaks, been extradited to the US? Why would only Assange be wanted?

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