Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum

I am really looking forward to a week from now, when the Brits storm the embassy and drag this lawbreaker out, pissing his pants and crying.

Not gonna happen. GB is bluffing. They won't infringe on foreign sovereignty over this.

OTOH, they will grab him if he ever tries to leave the country.

Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum

Ecuador has granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The decision comes almost two months after the world-famous whistleblower came to the country’s embassy in London seeking protection.

Excellent! Great News...

The most substantive content in the file was previously reported by Britain’s Guardian in December, apparently from a subset of the same police documents.

Assange began seeing the two women during a 10-day trip to Stockholm last August. The first woman, referred to in court as “Miss A.”, told police that her consensual encounter with Assange became violent when Assange pinned her to the bed as she attempted to reach for a condom. He then allegedly released her and agreed to wear the condom, but did something to it that caused it to rip, and continued to have sex.

The second woman, Miss W., also initially had consensual relations with Assange using a condom. But later, as they shared a bed, Assange allegedly began having sex with her while she was asleep — the basis of the rape allegation.

According to her police statement, she woke up and asked, “Are you wearing anything?”

“You,” Assange replied.

“You’d better not have HIV,” she said.

“Of course not.”

According to the police report, “she felt it was too late” to halt the unprotected sex. “He [Assange] was already inside her and she let him continue. She couldn’t be bothered to tell him again. She had nagged about condoms all night. She had never had unprotected sex before. He said he wanted to come inside her, he didn’t say when he did, but he did it.”

Following the incidents, Miss A. and Miss W. met up and went to police, after failing to persuade Assange to take an HIV test.

Assange has not been charged, and he has denied any wrongdoing. He is currently on house arrest near London while he fights extradition to Sweden.

His lawyer, Stephens, has argued that Swedish prosecutors are abusing the Swedish and British legal process by attempting to extradite Assange without charging him with a crime, and for alleged offenses that are not subject to extradition. A two-day hearing is set for Feb. 7 and 8 in London.

will this strain us-ecuadorian relations?

An possible decision this week by Ecuador to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would put long-time U.S. trade benefits for the Andean country at risk, U.S. business leaders and analysts said.

In my view, (a decision to grant Assange asylum) would add to the growing weight of issues arguing against reauthorization next summer. The question is whether it would also create sufficient interest in suspending the benefits before they actually expire," Farnsworth said.

Last week, the U.S. Trade Representative's office announced the start of its annual review process for Ecuador and set a September 17 deadline for interested parties to file petitions asking Ecuador's trade benefits be terminated or reduced.

They already said they're absolutely going to do this. Operating an embassy is a conditional right, conditioned on NOT using the embassy to subvert the legitimate laws of the host country. Keeping Assange inside the embassy and refusing to turn him over for extradition pursuant to valid international law and the rulings of judges of competent jurisdiction is a violation of the conditions of operating the embassy. The protocol is that Ecuador gets 7 days advance notice of their violation, and that if it is not cured within those 7 days, their right to continue operations of the embassy will be revoked, diplomatic courtesies revoked, Assange removed by UK authorities from the grounds of what will then be the former Ecuadorian embassy. They provided the required notice, now all that's left is to see what Ecuador does in the next 7 days. I'll bet my next 10 paychecks they blink, and turn Assange over to the authorities.

Anybody remember Manuel Noriega? He got 'asylum' in the Vatican embassy in Panama. We deployed US Marines around the perimeter of the embassy, and blasted obnoxious music, day & night, until they turned him over. If the Brits decide to use that tactic, I have an old 'Wham!' cd I'd be happy to lend them.

will this strain us-ecuadorian relations?

Yep...

http://www.reuters.com/article/20...Z320120814

If the Brits decide to use that tactic,