[arrrg]

Or he is someone who flees from serious charges and the British authorities don’t want to look like idiots in front of the whole world because they can’t do something simple like extradite him.

Why is there this willingness to believe everything this idiot says? He’s a pompous ass, pure and simple. No conspiracy required.

Meanwhile the idea of an anonymous leaks platform dies because everyone focuses on his stupid antics.

[naner]

He is a pompous ass and so is Kim Dotcom. The problem is that the charges against each of them appear to be completely exaggerated or made up[1].

1: http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=4280532

[mootothemax]

That's a biased source being discussed there, along with some wishful and imaginative thinking about what various interpol notices indicate.

[lrei]

Lets take into account that invading an embassy is a rare occurrence (happened once that I know of), that it's largely regarded as somewhat hostile towards the nation that owns that embassy and the whole "bad precedent" thing.

Being afraid of "looking like idiots" doesn't seem like a very plausible explanation for invading an embassy.

I doubt the rest of the world would think British authorities were incompetent for wanting to avoid an international incident. Nor is forcing an embassy to release an asylum seeker something "simple".

I doubt that Assange being a "pompous ass" is what's killing the anonymous leaks platform idea. Rather I would say that the relentless pursuit of everyone involved in such leaks and their infrastructure as well as lack of support from traditional media are probably to blame for it.

[abhimishra]

> He’s a pompous ass, pure and simple. No conspiracy required.

I don't get where this sentiment comes from - care to explain?

[jlgreco]

It is the old, "I do not know this person, but I intensely dislike them as a person. I feel this has great relevance to all legal matters concerning this person" routine. It it commonly seen in discussions about Assange and Dotcom.

[saraid216]

> the British authorities don’t want to look like idiots in front of the whole world

...they're looking like idiots right now.

[arrrg]

Maybe they are misguided. But the publicity of this whole thing makes their (possible?) overreaction completely explainable without any conspiracy theories.

[saraid216]

Calling them idiots is not a conspiracy theory.

[arrrg]

No, but it seemed to me you were suggesting my explanation didn’t make sense because they look like idiots.

[saraid216]

Saying that your explanation doesn't make sense is also not a conspiracy theory.

[waterlesscloud]

One thing going unsaid in all this is that it's quite likely British intelligence sources were put at risk but various wikileaks as well.

Which is probably key to their reaction.