Julian Assange Rape Allegations

If it's just talks, then why the hell doesn't he just go and talk to them? Transparency, and all that.

I think we can both agree that nobody usually gives a shit about rape cases to the extent the Swedish government are right now. It stinks. If he's innocent, he'll prevail. If he isn't, Wikileaks will prevail anyway. His hiding just doesn't make any fucking sense.

ZoZ, if you're a paranoid anti-government zealot, and some government's going over-the-top to try to get you into its clutches, would you step into that trap? Your worry isn't being killed, it's being paraded around in a show trial, convicted (one way or another -- remember, you're paranoid enough to believe governments do that), and forever stuck with the "sex offender" label, which would do a whole lot more to damage your credibility than martyrdom ever could.

Drabbler wrote:

ZoZ, if you're a paranoid anti-government zealot, and some government's going over-the-top to try to get you into its clutches, would you step into that trap? Your worry isn't being killed, it's being paraded around in a show trial, convicted (one way or another -- remember, you're paranoid enough to believe governments do that)

Ruh-roh.

I was just making a hypothetical, to get you into the mindset of someone who may or may not actually believe such things, not necessarily saying someone does (or does not). Nope, I name no names.

I'm watching you.

ZoZo wrote:

If it's just talks, then why the hell doesn't he just go and talk to them? Transparency, and all that.

I think we can both agree that nobody usually gives a shit about rape cases to the extent the Swedish government are right now. It stinks. If he's innocent, he'll prevail. If he isn't, Wikileaks will prevail anyway. His hiding just doesn't make any fucking sense.

The thing that he doesn't want to do is leave the (relative) protection of the UK. His lawyer said that they had offered to meet at the Swedish embassy in London, with Scotland Yard or via video link to be questioned, but were turned down.

Psy-4 wrote:

If you think about it for a second, the best way to keep yourself safe is to be extremely public. As opposed to going dark and then never coming back.

Being public won't protect you from a nice, hot cup of polonium.

OK so we've got three reasons Assange could be on the run now:
1. He's guilty.
2. He's paranoid.
3. He loves the drama.

Or a mix of the above.

Julian Assange, has been arrested by the Metropolitan Police.

Apparently, he surrendered himself into custody.

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He is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later.

According to the BBC the official charges are:

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one count of rape, one of unlawful coercion and two counts of sexual molestation, alleged to have been committed in August 2010.

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[Assange 's lawyer said] "Julian Assange has been the one in hot pursuit to vindicate himself to clear his good name."

WD40 wrote:

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[Assange 's lawyer said] "Julian Assange has been the one in hot pursuit to vindicate himself to clear his good name."

Really? By running away? Vindication?

Anyway, here's a linkdump to a blogpost that summarises my opinion on the matter far far better than I could.

Hay guys, I found a great blog post that...

ZoZo wrote:

Anyway, here's a linkdump to a blogpost that summarises my opinion on the matter far far better than I could.

Oh. nvm.

WD40 wrote:

Hay guys, I found a great blog post that...

ZoZo wrote:

Anyway, here's a linkdump to a blogpost that summarises my opinion on the matter far far better than I could.

Oh. nvm.

IT HAPPENS AGAIN! We move in the same Twitter circles (twircles?). Have you seen this yet?

ZoZo wrote:

WD40 wrote:

Hay guys, I found a great blog post that...

ZoZo wrote:

Anyway, here's a linkdump to a blogpost that summarises my opinion on the matter far far better than I could.

Oh. nvm.

IT HAPPENS AGAIN! We move in the same Twitter circles (twircles?). Have you seen this yet?

I have now, and I giggled a lot!

Wow, he was refused bail. Apparently, because he's likely to run off again.

ETA: [url=What Assange has been charged with. No mention of broken condoms: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] he's been charged with[/url].

I think this could be a pretty bad move on the judge's part. Whatever your view on these things, you have to admit that refusing a person who's voluntarily surrendered for questioning over rape charges bail (especially when multiple people have offered surety) is a little excessive...

Seule wrote:

I think this could be a pretty bad move on the judge's part. Whatever your view on these things, you have to admit that refusing a person who's voluntarily surrendered for questioning over rape charges bail (especially when multiple people have offered surety) is a little excessive...

Of course it's excessive. The whole pursuit has been excessive. I mean, FFS, they wouldn't do it for Roman Polanski, would they?

This doesn't mean Assange didn't do it, of course. Nobody knows, except Assange and the two women.

ETA: Good article explaining the charges.

On a related topic, this is why I don't believe conspiracy theories: because "they" (the CIA, the Illuminati, the Learned Elders of Zion) are never as good as the conspiracy theorists purport them to be. the best part of the world government have come out with egg on their face and this is the best they can come up with - mounting a disproportionate manhunt (how many other rapists are wanted by Interpol?) over a case that had been prosecuted half-heartedly until now.
I mean, "they" can mount a remote control that will make a military airplane mow down a crowd in front of the cameras, but they can't frame an average Joe for anything more heinous than not being bothered with a rubber? I expected "them" to reveal that Assange was planning to hijack an airliner full of orphans and deliver them into the hands of pedophile Taliban organ smugglers...
I'm so underwhelmed.

Guardian article explaining the charges

Hey, can someone who's crying conspiracy (e.g. Psy-4) explain why they went to the bother of getting a couple of women to lie about a crime most people don't believe to be a crime, when they could have planted some kiddy porn?

ZoZo wrote:

Hey, can someone who's crying conspiracy (e.g. Psy-4) explain why they went to the bother of getting a couple of women to lie about a crime most people don't believe to be a crime, when they could have planted some kiddy porn?

I'm not entirely sure about that myself, considering yes, they could have simply done the kiddy porn thing. Maybe they didn't want to deal with anything that involved computers... I dunno.

If anything, I feel as though it's the reverse. It's just as easy to say that these two women made up the charges first and then whoever else wanted their hands on Assange just jumped on the bandwagon afterwards.

Whatever is going on though, you just know this is going to blow out to even more epic proportions. Assange may even wind up dead in his jail cell. =/

I seriously believe that the government are using a legitimate case as an excuse to react this way.

This does not make the allegations untrue, simply that the reaction of the government is absolutely ridiculous, considering nobody's bothered extraditing Roman Polanski, the child rapist.

ZoZo wrote:

Hey, can someone who's crying conspiracy (e.g. Psy-4) explain why they went to the bother of getting a couple of women to lie about a crime most people don't believe to be a crime, when they could have planted some kiddy porn?

Possibly because the great time-travelling machine designed by the Jewis-Mason technarchy (or the Large Hadron Collider for those of you who don't know any better) broke down, and those rape accusations were all they could find predating the big Wikileak scandal.

But what I really wanted to say was that I'm surprised

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sex by surprise

still hasn't spurred any jokes. Here goes nothing...

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"SURPRISE!" yelled Assange, boning young Western diplomats up the ass with a rolled-up folder .

Nope, still unfunny...

^Oddly enough, that was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the sex by surprise guff. Then I got angry about the rape apologism.

Then I remembered I saw a T-shirt that said "IT'S NOT RAPE, IT'S SURPRISE SEX YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU WANTED", and I thought, "hipster t-shirts are a bad inspiration for constructing a legal defence".

If you read the OP, you would see that I'm NOT crying conspiracy.

Psy-4 wrote:

If you read the OP, you would see that I'm NOT crying conspiracy.

I did read the OP.

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Not a big surprise considering he made enemies of governments and media, but his allegations, at least, at first, were not the result of government conspiracy.

So, where does the big government conspiracy begin, love?