How is it possible, I wonder, that Julian was unable to escape for all those years. Surely with that much support from outside he should have been able to sneak out of the embassy on some foggy London night and reach safety.

Or is there safety at all for any of us anywhere who ever said anything bad about the United States of America?

Yes, America fights evil in other parts of the world for which we are indebted, but it is also evil itself. Currently, nothing but America prevents an invasion of Australia - but we pay dearly for it, so the way to stop being its hostages is for Australia to develop its own nuclear and biological weapons.

remember New Zealand's attempt at independence when they were cheeky enough to question whether ships coming into their ports were nuclear armed? The punishment they got was more than enough to ensure compliance later on.

Risible rubbish!
The only farce on display here, is Julian's endless escapologist excuses for refusing to man up and face the music of his own making in Sweden!
And if he thinks cowering in a embassy room chain smoking his life away is a better option, then he is likely creating a vastly worse outcome for himself; than just doing a few years in a Swedish prison!
Arguably he'd be no worse off than now, and all jail time; British or Swedish, has an end by date; as opposed to self inflicted, never ever ending exile!
Which unless dealt with by facing his accusers in Sweden, and where he would be subject to Swedish law and therefore, not able to once again traumatize or re-abuse the witnesses, [his probable motivation for wanting his day in court in Britain;] means, his self imposed exile, (prison sentence) has no end in sight!?
The only one preventing a chain smoking, (poor little ickle diddums) (smoking his life away) Julian from leaving the embassy, is Julian! No ifs buts or maybes!
THINK, he has thus far done more time than that he has successfully to date, avoided.
Such a clever "man" and well done! GENIUS!
Rhrosty.

Finally, a piece by Mr Pilger that I can agree with - anti-US polemic excluded, of course.

The Assange situation is beyond ludicrous. It defies any form of logic or constructive thought. It is almost impossible to see a way through, given the entrenched positions of the main protagonists - which, amusingly, include neither the British, upon whose (physical) soil the game is being played, nor the Ecuadoreans whose legal territory it is.

Wisdom of Solomon required. Sadly unavailable.

Is Julian Assange just another Mossad double agent? Webster Tarpley asks these questions about him in terms of "why is he the darling of the MSM" when people like Susan Lindaur ex CIA whistle blower and Sibel Edmonds ex FBI whistle blower are ignored by MSM. Both these people had far more important info on 911 and the consequent corruption it enabled.

'morning John,

As I understand it, hackers like Julian are thieves and traders/receivers of stolen property. If he has a case of mitigation for his alleged crimes he should stand before a judiciary to determine if his defence holds out.

Many don't really care just how he faces justice, but face it he must. If he has done nothing wrong he must test this before the democratically established institutions like everyone else on the planet. Otherwise his only case is that the laws he has allegedly abused are as corrupt as his own alleged actions. His choice.

Choices are a bitch, particularly if they are interpreted by John Pilger who just makes things very much worse.

But hey John, why break the habits and screw ups of a lifetime? Who cares about Julian when there is an ideological point to be made.

If Julian was confident of his position on both the allegations of rape in Sweden and the allegations theft of the sovereign data he stole, why not negotiate separation of the two charges and respond to these charges individually? Then we can all dismiss the concerns he holds of conspiracy theories related to the USA?

Shame on you and poor Julian! Your advocacy, as always, just makes things worse.

Pericles

'The Assange situation is beyond ludicrous. It defies any form of logic or constructive thought.'

Actually, no.

Once you get rid of the ideological blinkers of a lifetime of 'us = good/them = evil' brainwashing, the Assange scenario becomes perfectly logical and constructive.

As writers like Pilger and many others keep pointing out, the issue is not about the US or Sweden or the UK or Ecuador any other nation as such - in fact, it's not really even about Assange.

It's about how power functions. For at least 100 years, the US (and its minions) has been positioning itself as the undisputed leader of an eventual fully globalised world. It joins a long list of other nations throughout history that sought and gained world domination to a greater or lesser degree.

Obviously, it can't fight every country and every heretic individual that challenges its hegemony - so, it selects certain countries and certain individuals for cruel and unusual punishment, ensuring that the whole charade is turned into ('shock and awe') spectacle.

Psychological Warfare 101.

US foreign policy assumes itself to be above any concerns about being seen as logical. In fact, the more ILLOGICAL it appears and the more IRRATIONAL its behaviour, the more the global population will fear it

The person in question is a private citizen, not above British justice, skipped bail and should hand himself in.

Dear Plantagenet,

<<The person in question is a private citizen, not above British justice>>

Sure, nothing places him above British justice - but what under the heavens justifies placing him below it?!

Hi Yuyutsu

He's not "below" British justice. Instead of being locked up years ago he was allowed by a British court to stay in a friend's mansion while bail was agreed. Then he skipped bail because he belived he was entitled to a Head of State exemption from helping Swedish authorities with their enquiries.

The Swedes can only charge him, or not charge him, AFTER he helps them with their enquiries.

Dear Plantagenet,

<<Instead of being locked up years ago>>

But how could anyone lock another up unless they were below them?

Had Julian Assange not been placed below the British justice, then he wouldn't need to bail himself either to begin with. Skipping bail is not being above the law - but simply to stop being trampled below it.

Dear Pilger.

Assamge broke British law by jumping bail. You know it, I know it, everybody on planet Earth knows it. If you begin an article with an obvious and glaring lie, you shoot your credibility to hell. Nobody will take you seriously anymore because you are treating your readers as fools, who are so stupid that you can say anything and get away with it. Nobody likes being treated like fools, especially discerning readers who are the sort of people who are interested in social issues and who like to read differing opinions.

The rest of your article is inconsequential because your readers do not know when you are going to lie to them again.

So all your conspiracy claims about "secret deals" between Sweden and the USA has no credibility at all. Your readers can not confirm whether any "secret deals" exist, they rely upon your credibility to suppose that your claim is true. And you just shot that to pieces right from the beginning.