"Are human rights and freedom of press universal western values?"
No, they are not. They are both dusted off and held up as shinning lights on the hill when commenting on and planning regime change in those places of designated evil like Libya and now Syria, but neither has anything to do with how the game is played closer to home.
Consider the loud support we give to dissidents in China, for example, or Myanmar. But we turn on our own like rabid dogs.
Assange's only hope lies with the European Court. If he goes to Sweden all expectations are he will be extradited to the USA. If that happens, he can kiss the street good-by, probably forever.
Australia has seldom shown herself so pathetic, or such a lackey.

Assange claims Journalistic privilege?
Journalists are normally required to validate their info, and protect their sources! Assange's source is languishing in jail! Strike one.
His publish and be dammed don't ever validate the info, vigilante approach, needlessly exposed some very vulnerable people to violent criminal reprisals.
He's probably lucky he is a "western dissident"; given, if he were either a Russian or "eastern dissident" he would have simply disappeared? Or wound up deceased, lying in a pool of his/her own blood, as has been the largely reported outcome, for many Russian reporters, or very many Tibetan dissidents!
Why even someone as peaceful and non confrontational as the Dali Lama, would be arrested on sight, if he ever dared return to his annexed homeland.
Don't lecture us on human rights!
Our own reporters exposed Abu Grabe and other war crimes?
We still don't know their sources and probably never ever will.
This is why Assange is reviled amongst the very community he claims to be part of.
His claim of fear or extradition is a complete furphy; given, it is far easier for the US to extradite criminals from England, than a far more liberal Sweden!
If he is entirely innocent, the Swedish courts and almost any competent counsel, will prove it to be so!
He should simply allow due process to deal with current matters and stop trying to connect it with a claimed conspiracy. This, I believe, is patently not how a truly innocent man behaves?
Rhrosty.

Assange is the hero of our age, whom many of his entourage worship.

And to think Swedes are attempting to try this prophet for raping two women as though he were a normal person!

Assange expected our Prime Minister to represent his interests personally but she failed him. What WAS she thinking? http://www.thepowerindex.com.au/head-to-head/julian-assange-gillard-govt-unaccountable/20120109912

To top it off he is under mansion arrest:

"One of his lawyers, Mark Stephens, has repeatedly referred to his bail conditions as putting him under "mansion arrest."

Assange will be staying with Smith on his 650-acre estate in a Georgian Mansion, called Ellingham Hall. "Ellingham Hall is a superb venue for beautiful lakeside wedding receptions, within a traditional parkland and with the optional support of our own first-rate catering.""

see http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20025866-503543.html

I to wish I was under mansion arrest.

Planta

If you think Assange is getting a raw deal, then think of those who in our liberal western democracies are labelled: hater, Holocaust denier, antisemite, racist, Nazi!

In Germany Horst Mahler is spending 12 years for daring to challenge the official Holocaust narrative.

Years ago I warned individual journalists they would be next and at that time they gleefully bent to Jewish pressure and labelled me as Mahler is labelled.

Those who use the above six words to close down public discussions are the real haters of freedom of thought.

Assange is a hero and his detractors are fools and sheeple.

Assange, with great courage, showed the world a glimpse of how corrupt and immoral the U.S. is as it goes about its imperialist endeavors.

The Western Press, busy with promoting capitalism and endless war, did a job on him, turned him into a villain, a traitor. Our own Prime Minister, an American apologist, condemned him.

His crime? To show to the world some of the truth about America, the world's biggest warmonger and rogue nation.

Assange should be honored, not pilloried.

Hi David,

I might have missed some of the news today, but has Assange been charged by either the British or US governments of any offense ? Are they treating him like a criminal ? Yet ?

If he is to be charged with committing some offenses in Sweden, that it entirely up to the Swedish authorities: if two women have laid complaints against him alleging offenses committed in Sweden, then that is also their right. The Swedish system does not have a reputation for corruption or for being manipulated by the US, so let's put aside the hysteria for a more appropriate time.

Or, as been noted above, is he above the law ? Is that the point ?

That a Chinese writer should be so judgmental about western systems of justice is laughable: if someone in Chinese military intelligence had released hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the media, do you think he or she would ever be seen again ?

Get a grip.

Cheers,

Joe

Hi, Joe,
you may know that Assange has been under house arrest for many months, kept there by the British Government under instructions/pressure from the Swedish authorities.

You may know that Sweden and the U.S. have special legal arrangements. You may also know that many U.S. officials and parliamentarians have called for Assange, an Australian citizen, to be shot, hunted down, etc.

You use the analogy of a Chinese citizen revealing Chinese State secrets. Obviously, Assange is not an American citizen so your analogy is ridiculous and misleading.

Get a grip! The guilty party is the U.S., a nation which hates the ugly truth about itself to be revealed and wants to shoot the messenger.

Cheers.

I'm confused Fredrick

Are you saying Assange is an anti-Semite or something?

Planta

Assange has attempted to evade Swedish and international legal systems by escaping to the ECUADORIAN EMBASSY in London.

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18514726 Ecuador is studying and analysing the request.

"Swedish prosecutors want to question him over allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former Wikileaks volunteers in mid-2010 but have not filed any charges."

I think Assange (like German criminals of the past) should be permitted to escape to Latin America.

I'll tell those interested why later :)

Planta

Hi David,

Well, when the US shoots the messenger, I'll take some notice. So far, what ?

But yes, people don't seem to realise that Assange is entitled to do things that might get other people into trouble, after all he's a hero.

So this piddly charge of raping a couple of women, Swedish women probably (and who says they aren't used to it ? Gagging for it ?) is obviously just one way, with the connivance of their Swedish lickspittles, that the evil US will get to him.

When they get around to it :)

Cheers,

Joe

My personal feelings regarding Assange are rather negative. I think Wikileaks was a wonderful organization with a lot of potential, and I'd like to point out at this juncture that the original founders kept it anonymous. They were a group of dissidents - including Chinese dissidents - who wanted to expose classified information where it could do good.

A noble goal indeed. It's a shame Assange made it all about himself, to the point where he alienated all of the other staff.

Staff who managed to keep it about the issue, instead of all about them. This was as much for the organization's protection as anything else. Fortunately, they haven't given up.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8193127/WikiLeaks-ex-WikiLeaks-staff-to-launch-rival-site.html

David G, it would be great to have Assange as the true hero you make him out to be. It would fit into these narratives, nicely and neatly.

Unfortunately, our personal narratives or feelings have no bearing on this.

The fact of the matter is, he has been accused of rape by two women

Neither you nor I are in any position to say whether these claims are true or not. There has been no trial yet.

So there is no possible way we can logically say whether he's right or wrong here. We can only spout what we want to believe.

Get a grip.

I quite enjoyed reading this article by Wei Ling Chua

However, what is a “weapon smugger” (about ¾ of the way down)?

And two paragraphs later, it says that there will be “forces that determine his faith.” I didn’t realise that Assange’s religion had anything to do with this.

Loudmouth,
You say that Wei Ling Chua is Chinese. Are you sure about that? Is he/she perhaps an Australian with a Chinese name and you are just making unfounded assumptions? I am an Australian though having a foreign surname because my parents left their country of birth because of injustices and discrimination there.

You ask what crime has Assange being charged with. I understand that he is now being charged in the UK with breaking his bail requirements by not sleeping at a designated address.

Yes Assange broke bail laws but then again Assenge is above laws intended for normal people, like us.

The fact that Assange's bail jumping has cost his trusting supportes £240,000 in bail money is but collateral damage in Assange's skip to further fame and fortune.

see http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/4/201206222012062204494825357cf6134/Assange-backers-could-face-%C2%A3240K-bill-over-bail-breach.html

Planta

Planta,
Anyone, you or I, is allowed to apply for political asylum if we think we are being politically persecuted.

Hi Dan,

Yes, I'm sorry, we shouldn't stereotype, Mr/Ms Wei may be Australian, he/she could even be an Anglo who has taken a Chinese name.

But Assange has broken the conditions of his bail, and his supporters have just done their $300,000. Geoffrey Robertson will not be pleased.

But 'persecuted' ? Is he up on any other British or US charge yet ? The Swedes applied through the British court to have him extradited, the court decided that yes, he could be extradited and in the meantime he was out of jail, on bail, under certain conditions, which he has now breached. End of story.

But I'm sure the Ecuadorians are watching over their women closely :)

Cheers,

Joe

Dan

Can we conclude that Assange's bid to escape rape allegations can be excused by Assange's criminal leaking activities?

Although if he gets to Ecuador the US can organise his legal arrest more easily than if he were in Sweden or the UK. More details if you want them.

Though there is the risk that he is more likely to spend a short time in Ecuador but move on to Cuba or Venezuala.

Pete

Planta,
I'm not sure about that. Can we assume from what you say that the US has plans on getting Assange into their jurisdiction?

Hi Dan,

No, I don't think Pete was saying that - only that, if the Yanks ever wanted to get Assange into their jurisdiction, it may be easier for them to do it from some other country, maybe even from Ecuador, than from Sweden.

This all sounds like the kid who has rifled his dad's wallet, everybody is mystified about where the money might be, nobody is accusing anybody but the guilty party is getting in first by accusing his parents, especially his dad, of being about to accuse him. Sook.

If Assange is innocent of any charge of sexual assault, then legally (someone could correct me here) he must be allowed to either go back to Britain or to another country. And it would be from there that any US charges would proceed.

Of course, if he is NOT innocent, ......

But okay, he's one of ours, so stuff what he might have done with a couple of slags, they were foreigners anyway, so that's all just some excuse cooked up by the US. B@stards ! Why can't they just let him off ?

There's no justice in this world :(

Joe,

"...maybe even from Ecuador, than from Sweden..."

Well hee, hee, hee...I don't think so.

Hi Dan

Probably yes.

Plan A (to be tried first) would be voluntary Ecuadorian extradition based on a formulation (or reformulation) of Ecuador's existing laws.

Plan B would be more extended US political pressure prevailing on Ecuador to retrospectively change its extradition laws to speed Assange's passage to Quantico Virginia.

And then there's Plan C "extraordinary rendition" from Ecuador to Quantico. Plan C involves Obama or Romney after November(?) signing a Presidential "finding" - for a covert action the Seals are quite capable of.

Basically the US has overwhelming political and military power in the Americas, (a la Monroe Doctrine) much more so than in Europe.

Probably Assange's only hope in the Americas would be to end up in Cuba (eventually) where he may not feel quite at home in that unusual Latin-Communist totalitarian society.

Planta

Would what Bob Carr (as Foreign Minister) said today comfort Assange?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-24/carr-says-us-has-no-plans-to-extradite-assange/4088862

"They haven't said they have plans to extradite him. They haven't been able to rule out that one corner of the American administration might not be considering it, but I would expect that the US would not want to touch this."

If Bob talks to his appropriate opposite number, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his quoted response above may be accurate.

But there are other "corners" of the US Government, such as Special Operations Command (SOCOM), that are normally precluded by US law and political convention from sharing information on sensitive future options or plans with a foreign national - even the Foreign Minister of an ally.