So how are they going to get Julian Assange out of England?

[MADem]

79. Again, you are just not understanding--"skype" is not "physically present in Sweden" and this is an

element of THEIR law, like it or not. It's like saying "Well, I don't like the idea of being arraigned for the crime I committed in the USA, I'm going to skip that appearance in court and I demand that you understand my point of view. What do you mean you don't see things my way? It's MY perspective, after all--US law doesn't matter, because it's all about MEEEE."

We don't do things the same way as Sweden, but we don't do things the same way as Jordan, Italy and a host of other countries. He is accused (the equivalent of 'charged' in English law, as noted above) in Sweden, and it is in accordance with Swedish law that he has to get correct. He doesn't get to play Let's Make a Deal.

Further, he has no right to DEMAND anything--he's the frigging accused. That said, the Swedes have made a number of statements that suggest his dramatic fears are unfounded. Some people choose not to believe them, and there's nothing anyone can say to convince them otherwise.

What I think is funny as hell is that while Assange's supporters are crowing and cheering about "victory," what is actually happening here is a public imprisonment of the guy in a circumstance that makes it difficult if not impossible for him to do ANYTHING. He's OUT OF CIRCULATION, in essence. He won't be running his Wiki-empire from the front room on the first floor of the Ecuadoran Embassy, you can count on that--if he even tries it, the Brits have a law on their side that was a consequence of the Libyan thing back in the eighties, and they WILL exercise their perogative (that, I suspect, is what that "warning" to Ecuador was really all about--only they were too thick to see it coming). He's STUCK.

And he's safe only so long as Correa rules, and not a day longer, which is another thing he'll have to worry about, eventually. All he's doing is delaying his situation, unless the Ecuadorans can find a way to smuggle him out of the country (and that might be a difficult trick). Even if he is smuggled away, he'll be transported to delightful Quito, a crime-ridden hellhole where you can't even get into a taxi on the street without being robbed, raped and beaten, if not murdered. They've got such a lovely organization going that they use the American dollar as their OFFICIAL currency. Bribery and corruption are rife, and freedom of the press is just not happening, either. It's not a fun place to be stuck, forever and ever and ever, even as it might be an interesting place to visit with interesting culture and nice people and some historical/tourist sites of interest. In essence, he'd exchange one cage (a room with a view of Muhamad al Fayed's little shop) for another (the crime-soaked streets of Quito).

If only he'd kept his dirty business in his trousers when he went to Sweden, instead of behaving like a perverse and entitled pig at a minimum, and a rapist at worst case, he would be running his Wiki empire OUT OF SWEDEN--that's why he went there in the first place, because he PREFERRED their laws about whistleblowing over all others--he actually shopped around to find the best country for this sort of thing. But he cannot go back there now because he knows his DNA matches the sample they have, and he could do up to four years in Swedish prison--not because he's afraid of the Americans.

It does make for a good tale, though--rife with drama and portent! The bottom line here, though, that most are not seeing, is this--the Ecuadorans have been gamed into imprisoning Assange, paying for his food and shelter, having to deal with his wants and needs, while purporting to offer him protection from imprisonment. His cage is slightly more gilded than the average cell, and has a lovely view of Harrod's just across the road, but he's in a cell of sorts, make no mistake.

He'd better hope he doesn't ever need surgery--I don't know if the Embassy will want a doctor coming in to cut on the guy on the Embassy's dining room table or the prep table in the kitchen!

I suppose he might as well settle in, and work on perfecting his Spanish...! Gotta occupy oneself one way or another...