Drama!

[Quizmonster]

After his absurd 'balcony scene', are we going to have to call him Juliet Assange?

[Mosaic]

boom-boom Mr Derek!

[mightyWBA]

It's just a pantomime for the media..They love it.

should have got old Engelbert to sing "please release me" to add to the fun.

[ichkeria]

There was a nasty sting in the tale for Russia Today, also covering the soliloquy live, as he signed off by condemning the persecution of Pussy Riot. Bless him :-)
Why do we never have a proper debate about the claims he always makes about standing up for free speech? People seem to assume unauthorised publication of documents = striking a blow for freedom of expression, which of course is not necessarily the case

[BayBoy1]

Well done Mr Assange, Keep on blowing that whistle.

[ichkeria]

What's he blown the whistle on? If someone can explain that to me then I'll start supporting him. Many of the revelations published by wikipedia (but it's not a wiki so why the name btw)have been fascinating. But they are at the end of the day confidential diplomatic wires that should not be allowed to be stolen because if they were it would mean such diplomatic traffic would have to stop and that is not a good thing. If these had been say Russian or Ecuadorean diplomatic wires then perhaps those governments might not be such huge fans.
If anything the 'whistleblowing' had been Aldine inadvertently by the authors of the traffic.

[ichkeria]

Wikileaks not wikipedia- the latter is a wiki of course

[Gromit]

Why can"the be a man and just let himself be totured by the Yanks like Brdaly Mannings. Wuss.

[bibblebub]

Is this a digger I see before me?

[LazyGun]

LoL I think he is developing a martyr complex.

[emmie]

why was it absurd, it seems to me he did the right thing, America will put him on trial if he is extradited there and like as not give him a life sentence. time that we stopped and thought what it is all about, not just leaking sensitive documents, but America is flexing it's muscles and they say jump, we say how high. If he goes to Sweden to answer charges of sexual assault, and is found guilty then ok, but that doesn't mean to say the Swedes won't hand him over to the Americans.

[ichkeria]

I wish we would think for a moment about what it's 'all about'. Extradition to the US? There's been no extradition request from the US? Freedom of speech? How exactly has that benefitted by wikileaks' admittedly fascinating revelations? We rightly castigate the tabloid press for doing something similar on a smaller scale. Whistle-blowing? What nefarious acts have been uncovered by wikileaks? Always the same questions but no one ever attempts to answer them.

[Quizmonster]

You really answer your own question about the absurdity, Em, when you write (quote) "If he goes to Sweden to answer charges of sexual assault, and is found guilty then ok." That's precisely what he should do or - if not - be made to do. Anything else is absurd and a silly smokescreen of "glorious whistle-blowing" cannot conceal that. You no doubt noticed that he did not even mention the fact that he is in his current position in order specifically to avoid either of those outcomes!

America has not asked anyone for his extradition and Sweden are, of course, perfectly entitled to run their judicial system in their own way, just as any other independent state is. It is not for Assange or anyone else to lay down conditions in which he will respond to their lawful request for his extradition from the UK and the UK's lawful commitment to arrange that.

[Quizmonster]

Ichkeria, your response was not there when I started to type mine.

[Snafu03]

taxi for Mr Assange!