General Election - 8thJune

[Terryhall]

Two different things.

Assange should face the sexual assault charges for sure but the USA want him because Wikileaks exposed a load of crap being done by their military and covered up i.e whistleblowing.
If the USA can grab anyone across the globe for such whistleblowing it'll be a blow for investigative reporting.

The sexual assault charges were dropped a few years ago.

The US charges are not for whistleblowing, they are alleging that he encouraged / assisted Chelsea Manning to release state secrets (which if true would be a criminal offence, whether ethically correct or not). The UK is seeking assurances that he would not face the death penalty as it does not extradite under those circumstances.

The (potentially very real) concern is that he will be extradited on these charges which do not carry a risk of the death penalty and then suddenly face more, heavier charges upon arrival in the US.

Its a bit far fetched but then so is a man being evicted from diplomatic immunity and having his citizenship revoked for not cleaning up after his cat.

I can't say I necessarily like Assange and personally think he probably is a bit of a tosser, but this does have the hallmarks of international pressure from the US on the Ecuadorian government.

 

[Terryhall]

7 years virtually locked up in a small room with no natural sunlight and limited access to the outside world plus the constant fear of ending up in some awful American prison for life must have had a serious impact on his physical and psychological state. Having said that, he didn't do himself many favours by being such an arrogant bloke.

He's been living in a furnished apartment in Knightsbridge. It's not exactly Wormwood Scrubbs.

 

[Hants_red]

Why did Farage visit Assange a while back? It's made be suspicious of Assange, and don't see him as any sort of hero.

 

[Jason H]

The sexual assault charges were dropped a few years ago.

The US charges are not for whistleblowing, they are alleging that he encouraged / assisted Chelsea Manning to release state secrets (which if true would be a criminal offence, whether ethically correct or not). The UK is seeking assurances that he would not face the death penalty as it does not extradite under those circumstances.

The (potentially very real) concern is that he will be extradited on these charges which do not carry a risk of the death penalty and then suddenly face more, heavier charges upon arrival in the US.

Its a bit far fetched but then so is a man being evicted from diplomatic immunity and having his citizenship revoked for not cleaning up after his cat.

I can't say I necessarily like Assange and personally think he probably is a bit of a tosser, but this does have the hallmarks of international pressure from the US on the Ecuadorian government.

I was going to say that my understanding is the charges the USA want him for carry a maximum of 5 years in clink, but I hadn't considered the potential for other charges to be dumped on him.

Assange is a very strange man indeed - seeks refuge with Ecuador, then goes rogue on them (including trying to sue them a while back). Biter bitten - his website is all about exposure of secrets, yet when Private Eye ran with stories about him he became *very* defensive.

 

[Jason H]

The only way we could have secured better terms from the EU would have been if we were more prepared to compromise.

Membership of the customs union, continuing to allow free movement of workers (perhaps including the stricter controls that all other EU member states have adopted, but which the UK has used its veto to avoid applying), all of these options were open to the UK but playing to the ERG meant all were abandoned on day one removing any and all negotiating room for either side.

To those who say this would stop the UK negotiating its own trade deals, it hasn't stopped Switzerland from doing so.

The Customs Union, tying us to disadvantageous FTAs (the FTA with Japan has been a disaster for the UK, for example) and not allowing us to strike our own, more nimble, trade deals unbeholden to dogmatic self-serving elements (Wallonia, FFS!) means that's a no from me.

We should also regain the right to recruit to need, IMO.

 

[Terryhall]

The Customs Union, tying us to disadvantageous FTAs (the FTA with Japan has been a disaster for the UK, for example) and not allowing us to strike our own, more nimble, trade deals unbeholden to dogmatic self-serving elements (Wallonia, FFS!) means that's a no from me.

We should also regain the right to recruit to need, IMO.

Japan has already stated that any trade deal with post-Brexit Britain would be on worse terms than the current EU trade deal.

You would be allowed to strike your own trade deals as a non EU member within the customs union. What do you think Switzerland does?

Recruit to need would be possible under the EU rules that the UK has opted out of, again membership of the customs union and freedom of movement of workers would not prevent this.

 

[arthur]

The Customs Union, tying us to disadvantageous FTAs (the FTA with Japan has been a disaster for the UK, for example) and not allowing us to strike our own, more nimble, trade deals unbeholden to dogmatic self-serving elements (Wallonia, FFS!) means that's a no from me.

We should also regain the right to recruit to need, IMO.

Hard Brexit then. Fair though - why don't you just say so?

This is a perfectly valid position , just not one that will get through the H of C

 

[Hants_red]

Should we trust a Switzerland government when they think that coffee is not essential? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-47898537

 

[Jason H]

Japan has already stated that any trade deal with post-Brexit Britain would be on worse terms than the current EU trade deal.

You would be allowed to strike your own trade deals as a non EU member within the customs union. What do you think Switzerland does?

Recruit to need would be possible under the EU rules that the UK has opted out of, again membership of the customs union and freedom of movement of workers would not prevent this.

You don't, of course, need a trade deal to trade.

Switzerland isn't part of the Customs Union.

We couldn't "recruit to need" under EU freedom of movement rules - we could have curtailed it slightly but thanks to Tony Blair we chose not to, but "recruit to need" is not possible. We can only boot people out under EU rules should they become a burden on the state.

 

[Mr Jinx]

He's been living in a furnished apartment in Knightsbridge. It's not exactly Wormwood Scrubbs.

Yes, but at least he'd get to stretch his legs outside once a day in the Scrubs.

I really don't get it. If, 8 years or so ago, he'd faced the music in Sweden, he could've done a quick stretch there in one of their comfy open air prisons (assuming he'd even been found guilty), and been able to move on with his life (US extraditions aside). Instead he did what he did.

I think he sits somewhere between martyr and idiot.