Gotta Admit... I'm Pretty Baffled By The Split And Depth Of Feeling Re:The Assange/WikiLeaks Story

[struggle4progress]

252. Sweden is a functioning democracy, where the courts are shielded from political pressure, and

where corruption is not widespread; moreover, a Swedish court issued the arrest order for Assange; so the most likely interpretation of the warrant is that Swedish authorities believe violations of Swedish law may have occurred.

The UK is bound by the extradition treaties it has signed; the UK courts have upheld the warrant; so the most likely interpretation of the UK's action is that the UK is complying with its international obligations

Ecuador was never involved in this matter; Assange is an Australian citizen, not an Ecuadorian citizen; Ecuador, if it wished to address the UK courts on the matter of the Swedish warrant, could have petitioned to do so, but it did not do that. In the Bush II era, there seems to have been some US effort to destabilize Ecuador, which the Ecuadorians naturally resent. Correa refused to renew permission for a US military base in the country and (on the basis of a Wikileaks cable) expelled a US ambassador. Likely interpretations of Ecuador's behavior are that Correa thinks he is schmecking the US in the schnozz by sheltering Assange, or that Correa's political base believes he is schmecking the US in the schnozz by sheltering Assange