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The UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid has signed off on the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, reports El Reg.
Javid's certifying of the US extradition request lodged this week is the first formal step in having Assange sent across the pond. The next phase is tomorrow, when Belmarsh Magistrates' Court will set a date for a full extradition hearing. After that, assuming a district judge (full-time professional magistrate) OKs the extradition, Javid himself will make the final decision on whether or not to send the one-time chief WikiLeaker to America, as UK.gov's website explains. It is almost certain Assange will file an appeal to the High Court after the district judge's ruling, and again (as the law allows) after the Home Secretary's final decision.
In the US, Assange will face charges of violating espionage law.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SemperOSS on Thursday June 13 2019, @09:21PM (4 children)
All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others.
When it comes to espionage, the rule seems to be that big countries can spy on everyone (inside and outside own country) with impunity. Some countries can righteously spy on other countries, like USA spying on China, whereas other countries are bad and should not spy on anyone, especially not the righteous ones, like China spying on USA. But individuals can spy on no-one — even when it is not really espionage.
The United States of America apparently has jurisdiction across the world and can demand information stored in other countries [theguardian.com] from American companies, even when this demand would be illegal in the country where the information is stored. They can arrest people [theguardian.com] for running gambling websites abroad just because they are accessible from the US. And now they try to extradite Julian Assange because he has done something that may or may not be illegal in the US but not illegal in the UK where Mr Assange currently resides at Her Majesty's pleasure.
Unfortunately, I think that the UK will bend over backwards to placate the US — especially in these Brexit times.
I don't need a signature to draw attention to myself.
Maybe I should add a sarcasm warning now and again?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @09:45PM
Where to being picking apart your post ... fuck you, I can't. You see, you're not defending Assange's actions. You're denouncing the oppressive and at times tyrannical "do what we say, but not what we do" imperialism practiced by the US and other world powers. People can't play on their stage, because if they do they become collateral damage.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 13 2019, @10:05PM (1 child)
FTFY.
Like it or not (I don't), it even has a name: power politics [wikipedia.org]. The Americans prefer to call it realpolitik [wikipedia.org], but the term has different connotations in different cultures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @02:51PM
amerikan realpolitik is a bulldozer with a big rainbow colored sign in the front sayin' "we love frogs!" whilst bulldozing the pond ...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @10:14PM
Fairly certain that conspiracy to commit espionage is a crime in the UK. Wikipedia thinks so, anyway. [wikipedia.org]
And as above, repeat after me, "Jurisdiction is not geography. Geography is not jurisdiction. Jurisdiction may be limited by geography, but does not have to be."