[meepmorp]

>I accuse you of being a pedo! >Please report yourself to the authorities. I would like you to reflect the next 5 years on the logical flaw of the argument.

I realize you're being hyperbolic, but there's a big difference between some random person slinging around accusations on the internet, and a police force in a sovereign nation deciding that a criminal complaint lodged by one of its citizens warrants the arrest and questioning of a suspect in the case.

[thufry]

The problem is that Sweden has thousands, or tens of thousands outstanding rape cases, but has only pursued Assange with this level of detail. If they vigorously extradited every accused rapist who had fled Sweden, that would be highly respected, and Assange would have had far fewer sympathizers for holing up in an embassy.

[meepmorp]

> The problem is that Sweden has thousands, or tens of thousands outstanding rape cases

That phrasing makes it sound like these numbers come from your ass; feel free to correct my impression.

> but has only pursued Assange with this level of detail.

What level of detail? They happen to know exactly who their suspect is and exactly where he has run off to, and thus far what they've done is ask that he be returned.

>If they vigorously extradited every accused rapist who had fled Sweden, that would be highly respected, and Assange would have had far fewer sympathizers for holing up in an embassy.

What does this even mean? How many accused rapists flee Sweden every year? I have no idea, and I bet you don't either. Maybe Assange is the one guy who's fled the country in the last year and this is what they do. Maybe they do vigorously attempt to extradite every single accused rapist that flees abroad. Maybe the Swedish authorities are working harder on this case because it's high profile and they're trying to avoid a PR mess domestically.

You're assuming skulduggery where there's perfectly reasonable explanations, and - this is me guessing here, so if you can reasonably show me to be wrong, I'll happily admit that - you're pulling assertions from your ass to back that assumption up. Stop that.

[lysium]

According to http://www.thelocal.se/19102/20090427/ Sweden has ~5k reported rape cases per year.

I don't know how many of these cases are closed per year, but I think it's fair to assume that not all of them are closed within year.

(I'm not arguing for/against the Assange case here.)

[philwelch]

> Sweden has thousands, or tens of thousands outstanding rape cases

And just how many of the suspects in those cases go hiding in embassies to avoid a European arrest warrant?

[revscat]

Keep beating that dead horse. Most reasonable people recognize that the changer are disturbingly high that the charges are trumped up, and to distract attention away from larger, more important issues.

[anigbrowl]

That may be your opinion, but I see nothing to back up you r assertion that 'most reasonable people' believe the charges to be trumped up. Why bother trumping up charges through an intermediary instead of just issuing a warrant for Assange's arrest on espionage grounds?

[philwelch]

That's a conspiracy theory, and not one that stands up to much scrutiny.

[Ygg2]

Really? I've heard the charges. He held one plaintiff with his body weight and had rough, condom-less sex and he had sex with other plaintiff while she was asleep. In both cases the sexual encounters were consentual. He was originally charged by plaintiff one to take an STD test, rather than jail.

Not to mention that the translation (and gravity ) of the crime is closer to "sexual misdemeanor"/"sexual misconduct" rather than "rape".

[philwelch]

Aside from your misleading assertion the encounters were "consensual" (you can't consent when asleep, and consenting on the condition that your partner wears a condom doesn't mean consenting to having sex without the condom) both seem like clear cut allegations of sexual assault to me. If you really think his alleged behavior is no big deal, well there's no civil way of saying this but that makes you an apologist for rape.

And that's without even getting into how little sense the conspiracy theory itself makes.

[gadders]

No, most reasonable people would like to see Assange stand trial and have the matter decided on its merits.

No-one apart from tinfoil hat loonies thinks the charges are trumped up.

[meepmorp]

> Most reasonable people recognize that the changer are disturbingly high that the charges are trumped up, and to distract attention away from larger, more important issues.

There's a fairly high standard you have to meet to make a claim like that, and just stating that "most reasonable people recognize" your claims of an anti-Assange conspiracy don't suffice to carry the point.