Assange Granted Asylum

I don’t believe I’ve spent much time discussing WikiLeaks. In general it appears that WikiLeaks enjoys popular support on the Internet although there are a few statists who disagree with what the organization has done. WikiLeak’s critics usually cite the potential dangers that could be caused by the information they leak. It is my belief that any country willing to murder its own citizens without so much as a trail has forfeit any right to keep secrets. It’s obvious that the United States government cannot be trusted with secrets and thus I entirely support any attempt to leak confidential state information.

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julius Assange, has obviously pissed off the wrong people (or the right people, depending on how you look at it). To avoid being extradited Assange sought asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London, which was granted. The United Kingdom, apparently hellbent on arresting Assange, threatened to invade the Ecuadorian embassy:

“Today we received from the United Kingdom an express threat, in writing, that they might storm our embassy in London if we don’t hand over Julian Assange,” he said.

“Ecuador rejects in the most emphatic terms the explicit threat of the British official communication.”

He said such a threat was “improper of a democratic, civilised and rule-abiding country”.

He added: “If the measure announced in the British official communication is enacted, it will be interpreted by Ecuador as an unacceptable, unfriendly and hostile act and as an attempt against our sovereignty. It would force us to respond.

“We are not a British colony.”

Embassies are considered sovereign soil and an invasion of an embassy can be treated as an invasion of the embassy’s country. In essence the United Kingdom are willing to threaten war against Ecuador in order to arrest Assange. I think Nigel Farage’s tweet summed up the situation concisely:

The EU arrest warrant has made us so subservient to the EU we’re now storming the territory of another country in their name.

It’ll be interesting to see this story play out. Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuador embassy but the United Kingdom government has stated they won’t guarantee safe passage for Assange to leave the country:

Though the UK government says it wants to continue talks, it says flatly that it will not guarantee Mr Assange safe passage out of the country and will not compromise over its obligation to extradite him to Sweden.

This guy has obviously pissed off some higher ups, something that should be commended. I hope he survives but if things are this bad I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up with an assassin’s bullet in his head. The state doesn’t tolerate those who stand against it and will happily employ violence to silence them.