Meanwhile, Ecuador prepares to extradite a blogger it offered asylum in 2008.

[MADem]

38. I didn't "make it" about money. I opined as to motivation, is all.

And my suppositions were based ENTIRELY on the conduct of Ecuador on the 28th and 29th of June of this very year. By their actions, THEY made it clear they are all about the Benjamins.

I mean, come on--based on their conduct with Belarus, we know exactly what Ecuador is, the only question might be a bit of a quibble about the price. And if they ARE--as you say-- just like every other country on the planet, they should be careful about playing the "champion of freedom and justice" card while throwing a guy who really WILL get killed if he gets sent home under the bus. It's called blatant hypocrisy when they do it so cavalierly like that, and expect people to not notice.

Australian diplomats can say the sky is green when it is, in fact, blue--so long as they are not named, they can't be called to account for their suppositions.

It is characteristic of most First World nations to engage in contingency planning. Every nation worth its salt is chock a block full of them, covering every conceivable possibility, even the most remote ones. Just because people sketch out plans doesn't mean they have any intention of executing them.

A labor leader in AU made a CONTINGENCY request, a foreign affairs minister said the supposition is horseshit.


Labor leader Kim Beazley, has made high level representations to the US government asking for advance warning of any moves to prosecute Assange.


He hasn't gotten any response back, though, has he?

Read the very link you provided--not the headline, the stuff below the headline--they don't name any names when they're dishing gossip about what COULD happen, only when it's being refuted:

Senator Carr has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that the US has any interest in prosecuting and extraditing Assange. In June, Senator Carr also told the ABC Insiders program: “I've received no hint that they've got a plan to extradite him . . . I would expect that the US would not want to touch this."

At the end of the day, the Australians don't seem to care very much either way what happens to their citizen. Could this be, perhaps, because they know he's not in any grave danger? I don't know the answer to that, but it's certainly a valid question:

Briefings for both Senator Carr and Ms Gillard suggest that the Australian government has no in-principle objection to Assange's extradition to the US.....Senator Carr's office yesterday continued to insist Ecuador's asylum decision and Assange's circumstances remained a matter for Britain, Ecuador and Sweden.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-intends-to-chase-assange-cables-show-20120817-24e1l.html#ixzz241fScXJP

As I've said elsewhere, anyone (Sweden, USA, any other government that is pissed off at his embarrassing cable-leaks tattling) who wants Julian Assange imprisoned, silenced, stopped from doing what he is doing, well, they got their wish--wittingly or unwittingly courtesy of a loudmouth named Correa who is continuing to be bellicose to Great Britain about this matter (it plays well at home). The "double-dog dare ya" nature of his comments makes me wonder if he HOPES the Brits will break down the door and take the guy off his hands, so he has something to really cry about and use to whip up the masses at home. As time passes, though, it looks more and more like the Ecuadorans of Knightsbridge are stuck with Julian, at least for the near term: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2190442/Rafael-Correa-Ecuador-President-warns-Britain-grotesque-threat-storm-embassy-Julian-Assange.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

It would not surprise me in the slightest if UK, Sweden, USA, Australia and a few players to remain unnamed are absolutely DELIGHTED to leave Assange right where he is, at least for now.

I mean, really--they don't even have to break down any doors to get the guy, if they actually WANTED him. All they need to do is revoke the diplomatic papers of the Ecuadorans and kick the entire delegation out of the country. Once they're gone, in they go to nab Julian--but why bother to go through that drama? Let the Ecuadorans act as his jailers! The governments who want to talk to the guy gain 'face' for showing restraint, and they don't have to pay a penny for his incarceration!