Julian Assange safe from extradition… for now

I had a post all ready to go to excoriate so-called British justice, expecting the decision of Vanessa Baraitser this morning regarding the extradition of Julian Assange to go the way of the US. And, by contrast, definitely not in the way of Julian Assange. My post was going to be angry. I was going to use lots of bad language. I was going to label the UK America’s favourite rent boy, for instance. The UK is now happy to bend over for any abuse of law and rights at the behest of the US government.

Then I heard the result.

Astonishing.

Then I read a full report. For all the welcome news that Julian Assange will not be extradited to the US — pending appeals by the craven forces of evil, of course — Dame Vanessa managed to make Assange once more the cause, claiming that it was only because he was likely to attempt suicide should he suffer extradition. She gave no sense that she had any sympathy for the man or even any sense of the injustice she had overseen in her court. You could almost hear the sighs and tuts. She was blaming Julian Assange for not taking his medicine like a man. Real men can handle 175 years in solitary for exposing war crimes.

More than that, she accepted that the US government had won its case. Perhaps the most chilling comment came from the US justice department, whose spokesperson said, “While we are extremely disappointed in the court’s ultimate decision, we are gratified that the United States prevailed on every point of law raised.”…