This is rather a broader problem in the UK: the country is run by an extremely small group of people who all know each other and who have the capacity to appoint each other to positions of power, all the while getting sympathetic coverage from the press, who they also crossover with.<p>(I wonder why Dame Cressida Rose Dick DBE QPM won't investigate the House of Lords cash-for-peerages scandal? <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/met-police-urged-to-launch-cash-for-honours-investigation-amid-fresh-scrutiny-of-conservative-peerages-12462906" rel="nofollow">https://news.sky.com/story/met-police-urged-to-launch-cash-f...</a> - but why do we have a permanent unelected legislature anyway? That has to be a corruption magnet)<p>I do find the hyperfocus on Assange rather weird though.
When are we going to get the diplomat's wife that murdered the kid near Mildenhall? UK should reject <i>all</i> extraditions to the US until that piece of work is in a UK prison.<p>// Edit<p>Further, we should stop all extraditions to the US until they stop the barbaric practice of capital punishment.
> <i>Duncan then flew to Ecuador to meet President Lenín Moreno in order to “say thank you” for handing over Assange. Duncan reported he gave Moreno “a beautiful porcelain plate from the Buckingham Palace gift shop.”</i><p>Guess I should stock up on gift shop trinkets more often, if they are so useful for securing favors.
Most voices in support of Assange seem to come from people with strong conviction that he is clearly a good guy (unsurprisingly). I don’t really have an opinion.<p>Could someone provide a more impassioned / balanced list of pros and cons?<p>From my vague point of view, I get that he is sort of a journalist (so should be protected), but also the stuff he leaked did go quite far, like borderline-espionage scale (or is that unfair?). States have a reasonable need to keep things secret, even against the immediate best interest of the citizens (but not long term, clearly). Is much known about his associates, funding sources? If I were an enemy of the USA I’d probably quite like Assange (not that this on its own makes Assange himself a bad guy).<p>Could someone fill in the gaps ELI5?
If he does end up getting extradited to the US, he should hope he ends up in Kalifornia or NuYork and gets released with no bail like all the thieves and lunatics.
Obviously the judge will be “impartial” and not recuse himself. Only bad countries don’t have justice like China and Russia according to the main stream media.