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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJulian Assange requests asylum at Ecuador embassy - live coverage
The second option is greek tragedy: a world in which Assange has spent so long conflating allegations centred around his private life on a few days in Sweden with WikiLeaks' wider battles he's come to believe his own spin.
Instead of seeing a Swedish prosecution, Assange's belief it comes wider has led him to breach his bail, lose his supporters their bail money, and cause an diplomatic ruckus.
The third is soap opera: time and again during his Swedish sex case, Assange has escalated the situation refusing to take an STD test, leading to the prosecution. Leaving the country and refusing to attend a face-to-face interview (offering only Skype or through the embassy), leading to extradition ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/20/julian-assange-asylum-ecuador-embassy-live
clang1
(884 posts)Eight BIG PROBLEMS with the case against Assange (MUST-READ by Naomi Wolf)
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/02/eight-big-problems-with-the-case-against-assange-must-read-by-naomi-wolf/
7) A rape victim is never encouraged to make any kind of contact with her assailant and she may never use police to compel her alleged assailant to take medical tests.
The two women went to police to ask if they could get Assange to take an HIV test.
Sources close to the investigation confirm that indeed Assange was asked by police to take an HIV test, which came back negative. This is utterly unheard of and against standard sex crime policy. The Police do not act as medical mediators for STD testing, since rapists are dangerous and vindictive. A victim is NEVER advised to manage, even with police guidance, any further communication with her assailant that is not through formal judicial channels. Under ordinary procedures, the womens wishes for the alleged assailant to take medical tests would be discouraged by rape victim advocates and deterred and disregarded by police.
First, the State normally has no power to compel a man who has not been convicted, let alone formally charged, to take any medical tests whatsoever. Secondly, rape victims usually fear STDs or AIDS infection, naturally enough, and the normal police and prosecutorial guidance is for them to take their own battery of tests you dont need the mans test results to know if you have contracted a disease. Normal rape kit processingin Sweden as elsewhereincludes such tests for the alleged victim as a matter of course, partly to help prevent any contact between the victim and the assailant outside legal channels.
There is a familiar stench associated with the Assange case that isn't coming from him either.