Julian Assange seeking asylum in Ecuadorian embassy in London | Media | guardian.co.uk

I am following this for a while now.

What are your opinions on it? Is he a s***bag, trying to avoid answering to these rape allegations, or is he a hero, who is basically trying to avoid a death sentence for publishing the truth?

Or is it somewhere inbetween?

Is there any doubt that his extradition to Sweden is an an obvious attempt to get him to the states?

Wikileaks is a great website, or was. I can't remember the last time I was there, or when they published anything newsworthy.

I feel quite conflicted about this. Rationally, I think that one thing doesn't negate the other: being an accused rapist doesn't mean that his work with Wikileaks is not important, brave or valuable. By the same token, being this fighter for accountability and truth at international government level doesn't mean that if he raped those women we can brush over that and let him off because of his 'good work'.

I guess I have no real insight, I just feel that working in the public interest and having an immoral personal life are not mutually exclusive. Ideally, imo, Sweden would refuse to extradite him, and would make him stand trial on the sex charges.

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It seems very fishy though, the whole thing. Also, I remember when the guy was kind of on the run, and was keeping his wereabouts unknown because he was scared of being assassinated. People were actively discussing if it was justifiable to kill him without trail such a risk he was to us national security.

If he went to Sweden I'm pretty sure he would end up in the US.

I have just about nothing to say that ella didn't say already. That.

A powerful guy who thinks he's above the rules thinking he can get away with jamming it in to a girl who's sleeping doesn't sound fishy to me, sadly.

Yep, it's plausible, and as one of the allegations consists of the charge that he had consensual sex with a woman while not wearing a condom as requested... and outside of the Swedish legal system, that seems to me something that you don't need to be a rapist to do.

It's really tricky though. I understand people believing that the charges are a ploy to discredit him and get him shipped to the US - sadly that's very plausible too. But the proportion of rape cases that are ever progressed and result in conviction is so small compared to those assaults that are alleged or reported makes me angry about victim-blaming, and I am personally inclined to take those women seriously and give them the benefit of the doubt, at least until we hear Assange answering those charges.

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