getfiscal posted:

i would suggest that maybe most of us don't know shit about extradition law. except goatstein. sex tourism is not a crime, man, i agree.

in questions of international law there are right answers and wrong answers and it is in no way a transparent facade for the politics of power

Ironicwarcriminal posted:

How funny is it going to be when a dissident hides out at the UK embassy in Beijing and the Chinese use this precedent to knock down the wall with tanks and haul him out hahaha.

the dissidents leave the embassies "of their own will"

Tuesday, Aug. 14 2012, 6:30 PM EDT
Chevron Corp. wants an Ontario judge to dismiss an attempt to force the company to use its Canadian subsidiaries – and its assets in the oil sands – to cover a controversial $18.3-billion (U.S.) judgment levelled against the oil giant by an Ecuadorean court last year.

It’s the latest move in the world’s biggest environmental legal battle, a tangled 19-year fight that pits Chevron against lawyers for a group of Ecuadorean villagers who accuse the former Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001, of leaving open pits of contaminated oil waste in the Amazon rain forest.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/ecuador-assange-usa-trade-idINL2E8JEDOO20120814

Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:22am IST
An possible decision this week by Ecuador to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would put long-time U.S. trade benefits for the Andean country at risk, U.S. business leaders and analysts said.

"It's not a move destined to win many new friends in Washington," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Council of Americas, a group representing U.S. companies that do business in the Western Hemisphere.

Chevron Corp. and many U.S. business groups are already urging the White House to suspend Ecuador's trade benefits under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which dates back to the early 1990s.

US intends to chase Assange, cables show

EXCLUSIVE

AUSTRALIAN diplomats have no doubt the United States is intent on pursuing Julian Assange, Foreign Affairs and Trade Department documents obtained by the Herald show.

This is at odds with comments by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, who has dismissed suggestions the US plans to eventually extradite Assange on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.

The Australian embassy in Washington has been tracking a US espionage investigation targeting the WikiLeaks publisher for more than 18 months.

The declassified diplomatic cables, released under freedom of information legislation, show Australia's ambassador, the former Labor leader Kim Beazley, has made high level representations to the US government asking for advance warning of any moves to prosecute Assange.

Briefings for the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Senator Carr also suggest the Australian government has no in-principle objection to extradition.

On Thursday, Ecuador granted Assange political asylum at its London embassy on the grounds that, if extradited to Sweden to be questioned about sexual assault allegations, he would be at risk of further extradition to the US to face espionage or conspiracy charges.

Assange sought refuge at the embassy two months ago following the dismissal of his final legal appeal against extradition to Sweden.
Senator Carr has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that the US has any interest in prosecuting and extraditing Assange. In June, Senator Carr also told the ABC Insiders program: “I've received no hint that they've got a plan to extradite him . . . I would expect that the US would not want to touch this."

However, the Australian embassy in Washington reported in February that “the US investigation into possible criminal conduct by Mr Assange has been ongoing for more than a year”.

The embassy identified a wide range of criminal charges the US could bring against Assange, including espionage, conspiracy, unlawful access to classified information and computer fraud.

Australian diplomats expect that any charges against Assange would be carefully and narrowly drawn in an effort to avoid conflict with the First Amendment free speech provisions of the US Constitution.

The released diplomatic cables also show that the Australian government considers the prospect of extradition sufficiently likely that, on direction from Canberra, Mr Beazley sought high level US advice on “the direction and likely outcome of the investigation” and “reiterated our request for early advice of any decision to indict or seek extradition of Mr Assange”.

The question of advance warning of any prosecution or extradition moves was previously raised by Australian diplomats in December 2010 when they first confirmed that Assange was the target of what US Justice Department officials described as an "unprecedented'' investigation.

The Australians on that occasion explained that the advance warning would be appreciated ''so that ministers could respond appropriately''.
American responses to the embassy's representations have been withheld from release on the grounds that disclosure could "cause damage to the international relations of the Commonwealth".
Large sections of the released cables have been redacted on national security grounds, including parts of reports on the open pre-court martial proceedings of US Army Private Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have leaked a vast quantity of classified information to WikiLeaks.

Australian diplomats have highlighted the US military prosecution's reference to "several connections between Manning and WikiLeaks which would form the basis of a conspiracy charge" and evidence that the Justice Department's investigation has targeted the ''founders, owners, or managers of WikiLeaks'' for espionage.

However, the embassy was unable to confirm a claim in a leaked email from the US intelligence firm Stratfor that " have a sealed indictment against Assange''. "There is no way to confirm the veracity of the information through official sources," the embassy reported to Canberra in February.

Briefings for both Senator Carr and Ms Gillard suggest that the Australian government has no in-principle objection to Assange's extradition to the US.

In response to any question on whether the government will guarantee that if Assange were able to return to Australia he would not be extradited to the US, the ministers were to simply say that it is "not appropriate" to comment in advance of "a formal determination on the merits of the case".

Senator Carr's office yesterday continued to insist Ecuador's asylum decision and Assange's circumstances remained a matter for Britain, Ecuador and Sweden.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-intends-to-chase-assange-cables-show-20120817-24e1l.html#ixzz23oW3PyQD

discipline posted:

I'm here in hyde park, there are police choppers hovering over the american embassy and the ecuadorian embassy in knightsbridge. pro troll will go pro trolling if my friend doesn't show up soon

heres a good luck puppy

getfiscal posted:

please shout "hang the libertarian"

put a giant pair of cardboard DWI glasses on a stick to hang over his face as he walks out

tpaine posted:

Meursault posted:
Did wikileaks ever release anything cool

no, they were just another pitchfork darling of the week

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-16/man-fined-for-sitting-on-top-of-whale/4203732

A 24-year-old man has been fined $2,000 for sitting on top of a whale.

Jason Hugh Riseborough pleaded guilty to a charge of taking protected fauna without authority of a license after the incident at Bremer Bay last year.

The Albany Magistrates Court heard Riseborough swam out to the whale, which was about 100 metres off shore, and sat on top of it until he was flicked off.

Magistrate Tanya Watt described his actions as "inherently dangerous".

He was given a spent conviction and fined half of the maximum penalty.

babyfinland posted:

wikileaks probably caused more problems within the ruling class, between say elites and diplomats, than anything of substance regarding class conflict

ok by me