@msolga,
msolga wrote:
Quote:If they opt for #3, I doubt Assange will go back to Australia where the government has already announced they are investigating whether or not he has violated Australian law.
Could I add, Finn, that the Australian government has rather gone quiet on its initial sabre rattling stance, in support of the US.
The Australian public didn't like it at all.
There's been quite a backlash.
If Julian Assange wanted to return to Australia, eventually, my understanding is that he would be legally entitled to do so. And if the federal police were going to find something to pin on him, I think they would have found something by now.
I've spent some time searching on-line Australian newspapers and news sources:
news.com.au
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age
Canberra Times
West Australian
I've found only a few articles describing several rallys in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. The rallys were described as involving from "one hundred" to "hundreds of" protestors.
I appreciate that Australia is smaller in population than the US, but devoid of all the competing propoganda associated with politcal rallys, a demonstration that draws a few hundred people is not considered a definitive sign of massive unrest among the US people. Perhaps its different in Australia.
In the US it is typical for the organizers and strong supporters of a rally to greatly exaggerate attendance, and I suspect it is the same in Australia. I don't mean to suggest that you have been dishonest in your reporting of the Australian people's response to the governments statements about Assange, but you clearly hold a position that can be described as Pro-Assange and your sources may be biased.
That the Australian government has "gone quiet" since it's initial comments may have everything or nothing to do with the several relatively small rallys I found reports on.
There is no need for your government to issue public statements concerning Assange and WikiLeaks on a periodic basis. The US government is more impacted than yours and it is not issuing reguar statements.
The proof will be in the pudding.
Iwouldn't assume that because your government has yet to announce charges against Assange that they are not forthcoming. We're talking about a bureaucracy which even in times of national crisis can be slow, and this is hardly a national crisis for your country.
Assuming you are correct that the US is exerting considerable pressure on its allies to deal with Assange, there will not be a need for Australia to take any action unless the Swedish legal matter falls apart or results in an acquittal. Even then, the US might be in a position to issue its own indictment and have no need for Australia to become involved...unless extradition from there is eventually required. Given that there has been any negative reaction to your government's initial statements, there is nothing to be gained by staying out in front of or even beside the US while the Swedish matter unfolds.
This is not to say that I believe that there is an international conspiracy at work to get Assange behind bars, but if there is, I think you need to appreciate that it is more complex and less binary than you might suspect, and it almost certainly does not involve a pack of lapdog states awaiting and complying with every command its US master gives.
