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The Forum > Article Comments > Brave and principled Ecuador: protection of an Australian citizen > Comments

Brave and principled Ecuador: protection of an Australian citizen : Comments

By Stuart Rees, published 20/8/2012

Will Australia find the courage to insist that the human rights of vulnerable people should override the potentially bullying power of large governments.

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The enemy of my enemy is my friend would sum up our trusty professors little rant. Highlights much of what's wrong in our higher education sector as well.

Any one who thinks Assanges motive for publishing this pile of rubbish is altruistic has rocks in their head. His behaviour all through this sorry saga should tell you he is interested in No1 first, foremost & only.

As far those who think the US want to prosecute him, they must be fools. All the yanks want is him, & the bit of bumph he "exposed", to disappear & be forgotten. The last thing they would want to do is give him a platform for more grandstanding, where he can attract all the US haters to him.

I reckon they would be happy to buy him a nice little potato farm in Ecuador, where he could grow fat, having unprotected sex to his hearts content.

I wonder why this means it is only the far left, & academia that support the smarty.
Posted by Hasbeen, Monday, 20 August 2012 2:19:25 PM
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deadly, why should only those you agree with have their human rights protected? What about the journalists of Ecuador who have been threatened with jail and fined millions of dollars for the offence of criticising the President of Ecuador and his brother? Are they not worthy?

This was my complaint about this silly article. The author carrying on about how brave and principled the President of Ecuador was, without a hint of irony. The President of Ecuador has consistently cracked down on media organisations and journalists who criticise him or his brother, closing down media outlets and suing journalists. Any mention of his bother’s shady business dealings with the government is ruthlessly crushed. He has changed the constitution to allow himself an extended period in office. These are clearly not the actions of a brave and principled leader. Yet his nearly useless offer of asylum to Assange is lauded as a defender of human rights. Shadow Minister is correct. It is bollocks.

anti-green, it is not for America alone to decide about extradition. The country receiving the extradition request also has a say. They should assess the request based on whether the request is proper, legal and constitutes a crime in both countries. It may be difficult for the US to come up with a set of charges that would meet these criteria in Sweden.
Posted by Agronomist, Monday, 20 August 2012 2:37:19 PM
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All those pro-American stooges, neo-liberals all of them, can go on about "....the journalists of Ecuador who have been threatened with jail and fined millions of dollars for the offence of criticising the President of Ecuador and his brother ..." or about Pussy Riot getting jailed for years for insulting Putin, but they don't protest about the US harassing Assange, do they ?

Um .... when the US gets around to it. But they're such b@stards that they are bound to, sooner or later. And probably once he is in Sweden, that well-known US puppet state. And that will prove that yes, they are b@stards.

Nyah. They probably voted for Howard.

Look, he's one of ours, he can r00t who he likes, how he likes, when he likes. And anyway, from all those Swedish movies, it's obvious that they're all gagging for it. Anyway he's earned it, sticking it up the Yanks like that.

Yeah, right.

Seriously, I also hope that he can find asylum in Ecuador. For ever. For the rest of his life. Yes, a potato farm would do. I just hope that they watch over their women in Ecuadorian potato-farming areas.

Now, back to more serious matters ....
Posted by Loudmouth, Monday, 20 August 2012 3:02:36 PM
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“refused to give assurances about Assange's safety.”

What do you mean by that, Stuart?

There has been no threat to Assange’s safety.

Do you mean a threat that he may have to face the consequences of illegal actions?

On what basis should Assange have immunity from prosecution for criminal actions?

We will never see the basis upon which he has pulled off this deal for immunity with Ecuador. We will see only the mendacious spin of the Ecuadorians concealing the true motivation for the granting of this unwarranted interference, which will encourage "useful idiots" to back Assange.

What confused bias would enable anyone to view Ecuador as “brave and principled”?

Perhaps someone with a mindset which enables them to defend lies in Australian history.
Posted by Leo Lane, Monday, 20 August 2012 3:15:26 PM
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The tone and dismissive content of most of these comments fills me with despair.

An Australian exposes America as an Evil Empire and Australian citizens pour excrement all over him.

I can only think that the Americanization of Australians is almost complete, that we have lost our identity in the flood of U.S. indoctrination shown on television and demonstrated in our Parliament.

What happened to our Aussie spirit, the idea of the fair go, the pride we used to have in ourselves? We might as well become another American State, forget about individuality and become as brain-dead and greedy and power-crazed as most Americans are.

I can understand why Assange went to Ecuador rather than come back here.
Posted by David G, Monday, 20 August 2012 4:04:35 PM
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Hi David,

Well, he hasn't actually got there yet :)

Mind you, if I were the British govt, or the Australian, or even the Swedish, i would close my eyes to his 'escaping' from the Ecuadorian Embassy to the airport and thence to some backwoods, potato-growing region of Ecuador, for life. That way, he would forever be subject to extradition from whatever country Britain or Sweden has the appropriate treaties with. As long as he had a ready supply of useful virgins, I guess.

On the other hand, if he is innocent of rape, he could risk going to Sweden and copping whatever its justice system deals out. After all, if the Yanks are ever going to lay charges before a British court of whatever Assange's supporters think he is guilty of, then why haven't they done so already ?

And surely the legal situation would be that, no matter what the verdict in Sweden, he would have to be brought back to Britain or to some other country of his choice, from which the US would have to initiate proceedings against him ? And surely any decent lawyer would know that, one who wasn't playing to the gallery of fools ?

And isn't there something obscene, or maybe even proto-fascist, about Chavez trying to whip up populist anger against the British and the US for something they haven't actually done yet ?

Cheers,

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Monday, 20 August 2012 4:22:54 PM
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