Mercury Rising 鳯女

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We Tweak Russia Over Pussy Riot, Russia Tweaks Us Over Julian Assange

Posted by Phoenix Woman on August 18, 2012

Tit-for-tat, anyone?

This will never make it into the establishment US media’s radar screens, but even as we tweak Russia over Pussy Riot, Russia is tweaking our ally, Britain (and by extension, us) about Assange:

AFP- Russia on Friday warned Britain against violating fundamental diplomatic principles after London suggested it could arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador’s embassy.

“What is happening gives grounds to contemplate the observance of the spirit and the letter of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and in particular the Article 22 spelling out the inviolability of diplomatic premises,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

And, in what in addition to a chastisement for harboring Boris Berezovsky and other fugitives from Putin’s dubious justice was probably also a shot at the UK for harboring Augusto Pinochet, he who ordered the raping of women via trained dogs, the Russians added this:

At the same time, Moscow warned Britain against interpreting the law selectively, stressing that London has given refuge to “dozens of people suspected of committing grave crimes” who are wanted in other countries.

“What to do with a right to refuge for Julian Assange when London turns the observance of this right for this category of people into an absolute principle?” the Russian foreign ministry asked, referring to a number of high-profile figures granted asylum in Britain.

Heh.

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This entry was posted on August 18, 2012 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “We Tweak Russia Over Pussy Riot, Russia Tweaks Us Over Julian Assange”

  1. Charles II said

    August 18, 2012 at 10:30 pm

    The British have really, really screwed this up. Unfortunately, even what passes for the liberal left in the UK are standing with the government:

    Thursday’s events do not change the realities of the Assange extradition case. Mr Assange remains in this country. He is the subject of an extradition order that has been issued under due process. He cannot leave the embassy without being arrested – an embassy car is not diplomatically protected. Ecuador has found a way to tweak the tail of the imperialist lion, but the law is not on Ecuador’s side and, in the end, the law should be upheld. Mr Assange should be extradited to answer Sweden’s criminal allegations. In the meantime, Britain should concentrate on being patient and doing the right thing.

    • jo6pac said

      August 19, 2012 at 3:27 pm

      No kidding and I love this. (an embassy car is not diplomatically protected) I wonder if the Russians sent a few cars to pick him up if the brits would get in the way. If understand the agreement among nations Embassy, car, diplomatic pouch, and planes are protected. Then there’s Amerika saying they don’t and haven’t signed onto that diplomatic thingy except when it’s good for them. Amazing Sad and over at yahoo news I would venture that it ran 10 to 1 for his head even though most haven’t clue of what’s this is really all about.

    • Phoenix Woman said

      August 20, 2012 at 10:01 am

      Ironically, the Guardian’s Mark Weisbrot has provided information that totally shoots down his own editorial staff — who are pissed at Assange and have sought revenge on him ever since their WikiLeaks collaboration went pear-shaped.

      From his latest:

      …Assange clearly has a well-founded fear of persecution if he were to be extradited to Sweden. It is pretty much acknowledged that he would be immediately thrown in jail. Since he is not charged with any crime, and the Swedish government has no legitimate reason to bring him to Sweden, this by itself is a form of persecution.

      We can infer that the Swedes have no legitimate reason for the extradition, since they were repeatedly offered the opportunity to question him in the UK, but rejected it, and have also refused to even put forth a reason for this refusal. A few weeks ago the Ecuadorian government offered to allow Assange to be questioned in its London embassy, where Assange has been residing since 19 June, but the Swedish government refused – again without offering a reason. This was an act of bad faith in the negotiating process that has taken place between governments to resolve the situation.

      Former Stockholm chief district prosecutor Sven-Erik Alhem also made it clear that the Swedish government had no legitimate reason to seek Assange’s extradition when he testified that the decision of the Swedish government to extradite Assange is “unreasonable and unprofessional, as well as unfair and disproportionate“, because he could be easily questioned in the UK.

      But, most importantly, the government of Ecuador agreed with Assange that he had a reasonable fear of a second extradition to the United States, and persecution here for his activities as a journalist. The evidence for this was strong. Some examples: an ongoing investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks in the US; evidence that an indictment had already been prepared; statements by important public officials such as Democratic senator Diane Feinstein that he should be prosecuted for espionage, which carries a potential death penalty or life imprisonment.

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