Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador embassy, London

[TopCat]

If he really is ill, his bargaining position will be getting weaker. As always, so hard to tell with Assange. There'll be rational calculation and strategy going on here, but everything has to be processed through his Messiah Complex.

You could write for the tabloids yourself.

 

[Wilf]

You could write for the tabloids yourself.

I'd be fucking hopeless - don't even know how to sort the pin code on my own phone.

 

[MAD-T-REX]

You could write for the tabloids yourself.

A tabloid would have phrased it as 'Wikileaks nutter's new scam to dodge clink'.

I've no idea what Assange could be thinking. Leaving the embassy means going to Sweden and facing the trial that he has worked so hard to avoid (or having a black bag put over his head and sent to Area 51, according to some).

 

[kebabking]

They have been solidly supportive.

err... no, the Ecuadorian Foreign ministry, seperated from the dubious charms of Mr Assange by 5,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean have been fully supportive, the people at the Embassy however, having had to live with him for years and see his socks drying on the radiator every morning probably want to see him handcuffed to the floor of a C-17 on its way to Stokholm....

 

[MAD-T-REX]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28834849

Mr Hrafnsson later said the plan "as always" was for Mr Assange to depart when the UK "calls off the siege".

"The world is not coming to an end," Mr Hrafnsson told reporters inside the embassy.

"The plan, as always, is to leave as soon as the UK government decides to honour its obligations in relation to international agreements."

So he isn't leaving. Just wanted to get back in the news.

 

[elbows]

Poking around to learn more about the media rumours that most of us only heard this morning as the media tried to fill in gaps before the press conference began.

Looks to me like it was actually an interview with the Mail that was published at the weekend that was the source of the specific health rumours, former SAS trainer etc. However despite numerous quotes from him in the article, the health info is only described as coming from 'a wikileaks source'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ant-unrepentant-interview-Julian-Assange.html

He does manage to remind me of my original beef with him, when he says:

I remain the CEO of a small multinational publishing house which goes toe to toe with the White House, the Pentagon and the national security services,’ he says with pride.

But I suppose there is little appetite for debating the 'I own the information leaked to me, I control it' side of things so long as the current legal stuff dominates the picture. All I've really learnt in the last 2 years is that I don't think he expected to be there for this long, with no end in sight. I don't know why, the current situation was quite predictable.

 

[weltweit]

Wonder how much the policing operation has cost this far.

 

[weltweit]

Wonder how much the policing operation has cost this far.

 

[butchersapron]

6 million quid.

 

[kebabking]

6 million quid.

one rozzer at the front, one out the back in case he does a runner, 3 shifts a day - i'm in the wrong line of work!

 

[Pickman's model]

one rozzer at the front, one out the back in case he does a runner, 3 shifts a day - i'm in the wrong line of work!

yeh but you've still got a soul

 

[laptop]

one rozzer at the front, one out the back in case he does a runner, 3 shifts a day - i'm in the wrong line of work!

But how much of a mark-up does the Met charge? Eh?

 

[DaveCinzano]

But how much of a mark-up does the Met charge? Eh?

Rising cost of pork. Not that long ago you could police 13 Premiership clubs for a year for a mere £7.5m.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7553875.stm#table

 

[butchersapron]

Is this the account assange runs?

 

[el-ahrairah]

not the Jews again. they get everywhere.

 

[elbows]

Not sure, but when attempting to find out I discovered that a kickstarter campaign to cast Assange, Snowden and Manning in bronze failed to reach its target. Just 322 backers and £68k short, bet that hasn't done Assanges ego any good

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1856732911/anything-to-say-a-public-art-project-for-freedom

 

[laptop]

Not sure, but when attempting to find out I discovered that a kickstarter campaign to cast Assange, Snowden and Manning in bronze failed to reach its target. Just 322 backers and £68k short, bet that hasn't done Assanges ego any good

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1856732911/anything-to-say-a-public-art-project-for-freedom

Can someone rub salt in the wound by trying again with just Edward and Chelsea?

 

[Pickman's model]

i hear prince andrew was thinking of seeking asylum in the ecuadorian embassy because it seems he and assange have something in common.

 

[elbows]

Can someone rub salt in the wound by trying again with just Edward and Chelsea?

Sadly it seems they are trying again on indygogo, with a lower target of £50k. Also what an ugly piece of art it is, certainly not helped by the height differential on display between the characters. I'm not sure showing Manning as a man is appropriate either really, although I suppose thats a tricky area due to the relative lack of public familiarity with images of her as a woman.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/anything-to-say-a-public-art-project-for-freedom

 

[elbows]

Mind you if it came to my location I suppose I could stand on the empty chair whilst wearing a v for vendetta mask and shitting into a bucket, then slap myself on the back for being so wadical.

 

[Citizen66]

Isn't Indiegogo the one where they can keep the cash anyway if it doesn't reach the target and are under no obligation to deliver?

 

[elbows]

Isn't Indiegogo the one where they can keep the cash anyway if it doesn't reach the target and are under no obligation to deliver?

All of the crowdfunding platforms have severe holes when it comes to obligation to deliver.

Indiegogo does have the 'keep the cash even if you don't reach the target' option you mention, but they also allow the other approach - the user decides which to go for when they setup the project on the site. But projects that go for that option will have the words 'Flexible Funding' shown clearly in the funding box on the right of the project page, and this project doesn't have that.

 

[weltweit]

So I suppose Julian is still in the embassy, I suppose he may have to pop out one of these days if only to see a dentist or something

 

[butchersapron]

So I suppose Julian is still in the embassy, I suppose he may have to pop out one of these days if only to see a dentist or something

Why are you calling him julian?

 

[weltweit]

Why are you calling him julian?

It's his name !!

 

[butchersapron]

It's his name !!

Julian suggests a little familiarity, a little sympathy. Why not his surname or both?

 

[Orang Utan]

It's his name !!

do you know him?

 

[weltweit]

I find the use of someone's surname on its own a little odd ..

 

[JimW]

I find the use of someone's surname on its own a little odd ..

Churchill felt the same.

 

[butchersapron]

I find the use of someone's surname on its own a little odd ..

So use both.Would you call the yorkshire ripper 'peter'?