Saturday, August 25, 2012
Hypocrisy Alert: Is Julian Assange's Protector, Equador's President Rafael Correa, really a champion of free speech and an open society? Or, perhaps, another in a long line of Latin American quasi-"maximum leaders" who are eager to clamp down on their own home-grown media? From The Guardian: "Days before the Ecuadorean government granted asylum to the WikiLeaks founder and promoted itself as a guardian of freedom of expression, riot police in Quito raided the offices of one of the country's leading magazines, Vanguardia." More here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/24/rafael-correa-assange-ecuador-press
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More than likely
ReplyDeleteThey just want to do a one up man ship on England
I believe your right, Heidi. And for Correa to get some international credibility.
ReplyDeletePersonally i think it would be a hollow victory indeed if somehow Assange wound up in American custody, AA.
ReplyDeleteFirst, he is an internationally celebrated figure and a living martyrdom serves no purpose. The USA would gain nothing and hand to media services like RT and many other international and alt-American services a literally endless negative story to drum home.
It's all a matter of appeareance and bluster now.
My guess is he will be allowed to leave for Equador when things calm down after the first of the year...why should the British police waste money trying to "smoke him out"? For the US-UK "Special Relationship"? Cameron would be a fool. For Sweden? I'm not sure about the evidence in the Swedish case.
The Syrian conflict and the Israel-Iran square off are what most people I think are losing sleep about over here regarding foreign affairs. The US Fear Machine in the right-leaning media has moved onto Iranian nuclear plans and our real "special relationship" with "protecting" Israel from its enemies, with the exception of their own Likud Party.
Assange on that balcony looks about as frightening as a school principal at a graduation ceremony.
I agree Doug, I have always been a bit suspicious of Assange, I'm always suspicious of meteoric rises to fame in the world of leaks and espionage, but what he is accused of may not be against British law, although these allegations have never been tested in a court of law anywhere. Innocent until proven guilty of possible offences not unlawful in the UK, somebody must be spurring the Met on Doug, they seem terribly keen to get him.
ReplyDeleteIf it's the CIA spurring the Met then it's like the old story about the dog chasing a moving car, I'm afraid; it's always better that the canine not catch his vehicle.
ReplyDeleteIt's all more than a bit insidious though. We have Julian Assange and Wikileaks being pursued by the American Admin with (at the moment) UK as the puppets dangling from their strings and here in NZ, a similar situation with Kim Dotcom. Freedom has its limits it seems. More and more.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like the democratization of information transfer caused by the Internet especially is testing the cause of freedom of expression, Iri Ani. I suppose their are legitimate reasons to see what some groups with violent pasts might be up to, but it also seems we have groups like the NSA in America that will be watching everything.
ReplyDeleteWell I think Aaran's post today covers all this really well.
ReplyDeleteOn this we stand in agreement, Iri Ani.
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