What would have happened if the Australian Government had offered Julian Assange sanctuary?
Would Australia have been diplomatically isolated?
Would sanctions have been imposed, keeping in mind our strategic importance and our equally important role as a mineral quarry?
Would it have been possible to allow the transparency to continue (which may be the case anyway, as Assange recognised that he was first and foremost "a lightning rod" for his cause).
Has the digital age changed forever the dynamics of international diplomacy and is Julian Assange an expendable martyr dragged under by those in power in a desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable and preserve the status quo?

times have changed..the news reveals that denial of service attacks...on those deneying service to julian..has begun...the fruit julias lies in part begat

sanctrury..is an interesting hypothesis...
but not ever likely to have been a reality

[we have long been the puppet of usa..and briton before it]

look at mark habbribe..in todays revealations...he told usa
julia..was to be the new king in 6 mths..[and lo..it was so]

julia and julian
one the tarbaby...and the other just...going to get in a stickey mess
[i have grown weary of julia]...cant even listen to her..on the radio

and when i see her holding children..i just feel sick
at least today i found out why...the ultimate usa sockpuppet

its bad enough she fully attacks julian...and would not hesitate to do..ANYTHING USA DESIRED..her speach i paliment..re the 'debate'?..on the war was sickening...clearly this person is no respecter of life living..[couldnt even be botherd passing on her own gift of life]

she claims to be a lawyer...yet clearly has a duel set of rules[one for her own..the others for the peons...[no she is no santury...more like a snake in the grass]...she thinks not of others...but only of her and her mates

im sorry to rebut the proposition..
but sancury...that isnt what usa wants
and with julia..mate she gives what she gives[nuthing]

unless your from usa

so that..sactimonious hope..for sancturay..from the julia
is something no julian cant have

im with the tar baby on this one
watch humperty dumbty fall...

how goes the song
ten green humpties...sitting on the wall
if one greenie bubble..should accidentally fall

there will be nine green humpty dumies..still sitting on the fence

im smelling rotten eggs...
but..there can be no sanctimonious sanctury..for any of them*

Hey pairot Can you explain what is the inevitable means.

Ah Poirot, you are assuming that DFAT, and the brave Kevin (let's attack China) Rudd, would lift a finger to assist a fellow Australian.

We all know that DFAT are regular abandoners of Australian citizens though, don't we?

And not just DFAT either.

Remember how the Commonwealth cops did the bidding of the Howard government and handed the drug smuggling ring over to the Indonesian cops to be shot?

Let's be honest, our government is more interested in appeasing its (although maybe not ours) interests in the world of trade than they are in protecting our fellow citizens

I think M. Poirot is mistaking Australia for
an independent nation that is proud to exhibit
its commitment to truth, freedom and democracy
in the way that it treats its citizens.

Poirot:”What would have happened if the Australian Government had offered Julian Assange sanctuary?
Would Australia have been diplomatically isolated?”

http://newmatilda.com/2010/12/08/what-has-really-been-disclosed
“Upon his return to Germany El-Masri complained to the German authorities who instituted criminal proceedings against, among others, the CIA officers responsible for his kidnapping, torture and unlawful imprisonment. According to the Wikileaks cables John Koenig of the US embassy in Berlin pressed the German government to block the investigations as the outcome could have "a negative impact on bilateral arrangements". The German government, to its great discredit, acceded to the request.”

And

‘The Wikileaks cables record an extraordinary, large scale and co-ordinated effort by the US State Department, senior politicians, and the US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to obstruct the criminal investigation. The Spanish authorities were warned by the Americans that the investigations would "be misunderstood" and would harm bilateral relations. US diplomats sought out and communicated directly with Spanish judges and prosecutors in an attempt to steer the investigation into "friendlier hands." “

I think Aussie would have been “handled”. Shame we didn't even test it though eh.

Did I just make Graham a wikileaks publisher?