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He was in Sweden at the time. The UK couldn't have extradited him from Sweden to the US. Not saying that the Swedish charges were all manufactured, just follow

He was in Sweden at the time. The UK couldn't have extradited him from Sweden to the US. Not saying that the Swedish charges were all manufactured, just following your hypothesis.

foldr 8y ago
Ok, you'll have to explain the plan to me. How does having Assange accused of rape in Sweden help the US to extradite him? Assange was traveling between lots of countries at the time. It's not as if he was permanently based in Sweden. And Assange being accused of a crime in Sweden does not in any way make it easier for the US to extradite him from Sweden on other charges. edit: Also, the usual conspiracy story was that the CIA/the Illuminati/whoever had directed Sweden to reopen the rape case after Assange had arrived in the UK. (The case was dropped before he left Sweden, then reopened shortly after he arrived in the UK.)
- rndgermandude 8y ago
  Jailing him undermines him directly by restricting his freedom. A charge of sexual misconduct will discredit him particular in the mostly-left-at-the-time circles that supported him. Having him in jail in a "friendly" nation also gives you time to prepare your proper, "iron-clad" extradition warrant... because if he is free who knows where he will be once you get your stuff ready. PS: the "timeline issue"... asked and answered: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19633178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19633178
  - foldr 8y ago
    I think you might benefit from looking at the following timeline: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/julian-assange-key-dates-in-wikileaks-founders-case https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/julian-assange... Note that Assange was in the UK, in full reach of the authorities, for over a year before he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. The story you're cooking up simply makes no sense in that context.
    - beat 8y ago
      What does "makes sense" have to do with a conspiracy theory?
  - ben509 8y ago
    > A charge of sexual misconduct will discredit him particular in the mostly-left-at-the-time circles that supported him. That was all pre #metoo when the left was happy to give their people a pass for sexual misconduct.
    - _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
      Pre-#metoo, I saw many people turn against Assange because of the accusation.
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  > How does having Assange accused of rape in Sweden help the US to extradite him? Simple, character assassination is a very effective tool to silence public outrage.
  - foldr 8y ago
    That's classic conspiracy theory reasoning. "I can think of a reason the CIA might have done it; therefore, the CIA did it." There are far simpler ways of assassinating someone's character than manufacturing rape allegations in a foreign country.
    - rndgermandude 8y ago
      Like? Genuinely curious.
      - komali2 8y ago
        Planting child pornography on a computer they own.
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
        bellerose 8y ago
        Code that would modify the browser history to do such a thing was posted on hackernews a couple years ago. I just thought you would find that interesting. I'm undecided on what to think when it comes to julian.
        pbhjpbhj 8y ago
        Well if it's just creating disapproval you want then you only need to plant the story in the press. [Fake] "Wikileaks computer IPs associated with child porn ring: was Assange using Wikileaks as cover for child porn, CIA revealed they found evidence of several Wikileaks computers uploading to child porn sites" That would probably be enough.
chisleu 8y ago
I don't know the truth of what happened either, but only 2 days after he applied for a residency two girls he slept with went to the police to try to "contact him to get him to get tested for STDs" and this turned into "rape and molestation" charges claiming his condom fell off and he didn't stop having sex with them. I can not tell if a condom falls off either unless I look, and I generally don't have sex with the light on. I'm not sure if I'm weird or not, but the investigation was closed. This is months after some of the biggest wikileaks releases including "collateral murder" and heading into the release of the Iraq War Logs and State Department Cables. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_material_published_by_WikiLeaks#2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_material_published_by_... Then a couple months later, based on no additional information, they reopened the investigation. He ended up going into the Ecuadorian Embassy soon after the release of "Global Intelligence Files" because the USA and private intelligence agencies were after him. None of this has anything to do with the rape charges though. He is being sent to the USA over the 2010 Manning releases because he was communicating with Manning while she was stealing the docs. If she wasn't such an attention whore, she wouldn't have even been arrested. She bragged about it on IRC...
- Tomte 8y ago
  How do you reconcile your "only to tell him to get tested for STDs" with today's announcement by one victim's layer that she wants the rape case re-opened?
  - chisleu 8y ago
    I don't need to reconcile the two. It's fact what they went to the police for originally. What they want now, is very different.
- tdcbfdct3 8y ago
  > claiming his condom fell off and he didn't stop having sex with them. One woman claims he intentionally tore a condom. That was a lesser charge whose statute of limitations expired a while ago. The other claims that, after insisting reportedly they use a condom, he waited for her to fall asleep and then started having unprotected see with her -- something he knew she would not consent to. That's the rape charge. > Then a couple months later, based on no additional information, they reopened the investigation. The alleged rape victim was initially overwhelmed (not uncommon for a rape victim) and didn't want to press charges. A few days (not months) later, she hired an attorney to represent her who got the case reopened. Almost all the information the public knows about the case has come directly from Assange (and thus supports his conspiracy theory explanation), since the Swedish protecting authority doesn't comment on pending cases.

He was in Sweden at the time. The UK couldn't have extradited him from Sweden to the US. Not saying that the Swedish charges were all manufactured, just following your hypothesis.

foldr 8y ago

Ok, you'll have to explain the plan to me. How does having Assange accused of rape in Sweden help the US to extradite him? Assange was traveling between lots of countries at the time. It's not as if he was permanently based in Sweden. And Assange being accused of a crime in Sweden does not in any way make it easier for the US to extradite him from Sweden on other charges. edit: Also, the usual conspiracy story was that the CIA/the Illuminati/whoever had directed Sweden to reopen the rape case after Assange had arrived in the UK. (The case was dropped before he left Sweden, then reopened shortly after he arrived in the UK.)

rndgermandude 8y ago
Jailing him undermines him directly by restricting his freedom. A charge of sexual misconduct will discredit him particular in the mostly-left-at-the-time circles that supported him. Having him in jail in a "friendly" nation also gives you time to prepare your proper, "iron-clad" extradition warrant... because if he is free who knows where he will be once you get your stuff ready. PS: the "timeline issue"... asked and answered: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19633178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19633178
- foldr 8y ago
  I think you might benefit from looking at the following timeline: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/julian-assange-key-dates-in-wikileaks-founders-case https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/julian-assange... Note that Assange was in the UK, in full reach of the authorities, for over a year before he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. The story you're cooking up simply makes no sense in that context.
  - beat 8y ago
    What does "makes sense" have to do with a conspiracy theory?
- ben509 8y ago
  > A charge of sexual misconduct will discredit him particular in the mostly-left-at-the-time circles that supported him. That was all pre #metoo when the left was happy to give their people a pass for sexual misconduct.
  - _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
    Pre-#metoo, I saw many people turn against Assange because of the accusation.
AsyncAwait 8y ago
> How does having Assange accused of rape in Sweden help the US to extradite him? Simple, character assassination is a very effective tool to silence public outrage.
- foldr 8y ago
  That's classic conspiracy theory reasoning. "I can think of a reason the CIA might have done it; therefore, the CIA did it." There are far simpler ways of assassinating someone's character than manufacturing rape allegations in a foreign country.
  - rndgermandude 8y ago
    Like? Genuinely curious.
    - komali2 8y ago
      Planting child pornography on a computer they own.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - bellerose 8y ago
        Code that would modify the browser history to do such a thing was posted on hackernews a couple years ago. I just thought you would find that interesting. I'm undecided on what to think when it comes to julian.
      - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
        Well if it's just creating disapproval you want then you only need to plant the story in the press. [Fake] "Wikileaks computer IPs associated with child porn ring: was Assange using Wikileaks as cover for child porn, CIA revealed they found evidence of several Wikileaks computers uploading to child porn sites" That would probably be enough.

chisleu 8y ago

I don't know the truth of what happened either, but only 2 days after he applied for a residency two girls he slept with went to the police to try to "contact him to get him to get tested for STDs" and this turned into "rape and molestation" charges claiming his condom fell off and he didn't stop having sex with them. I can not tell if a condom falls off either unless I look, and I generally don't have sex with the light on. I'm not sure if I'm weird or not, but the investigation was closed. This is months after some of the biggest wikileaks releases including "collateral murder" and heading into the release of the Iraq War Logs and State Department Cables. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_material_published_by_WikiLeaks#2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_material_published_by_... Then a couple months later, based on no additional information, they reopened the investigation. He ended up going into the Ecuadorian Embassy soon after the release of "Global Intelligence Files" because the USA and private intelligence agencies were after him. None of this has anything to do with the rape charges though. He is being sent to the USA over the 2010 Manning releases because he was communicating with Manning while she was stealing the docs. If she wasn't such an attention whore, she wouldn't have even been arrested. She bragged about it on IRC...

Tomte 8y ago
How do you reconcile your "only to tell him to get tested for STDs" with today's announcement by one victim's layer that she wants the rape case re-opened?
- chisleu 8y ago
  I don't need to reconcile the two. It's fact what they went to the police for originally. What they want now, is very different.
tdcbfdct3 8y ago
> claiming his condom fell off and he didn't stop having sex with them. One woman claims he intentionally tore a condom. That was a lesser charge whose statute of limitations expired a while ago. The other claims that, after insisting reportedly they use a condom, he waited for her to fall asleep and then started having unprotected see with her -- something he knew she would not consent to. That's the rape charge. > Then a couple months later, based on no additional information, they reopened the investigation. The alleged rape victim was initially overwhelmed (not uncommon for a rape victim) and didn't want to press charges. A few days (not months) later, she hired an attorney to represent her who got the case reopened. Almost all the information the public knows about the case has come directly from Assange (and thus supports his conspiracy theory explanation), since the Swedish protecting authority doesn't comment on pending cases.