Much as I hate to provide any further publicity 'oxygen' to the latest potential addition to Ecuador's population, I do think that I have a solution to the problem.
The UK (surely immediately followed by Sweden) should cut all diplomatic ties with Ecuador. Close our embassy there and oblige them to close theirs in the UK. At that point, all of their diplomats and anyone else inside their UK embassy will need to leave and Assange can be nabbed before he leaves the country. He does not, as far as has been reported, have any diplomatic status or protection outside of the embassy.
There is the risk that the Ecuadoreans will try to smuggle him out in a box or some other kind of diplomatic bag. Really, can you see this self-publicist being gagged and man-handled and not getting the chance to fulfill his martyr's destiny? No, neither can I.
We can expect sabre rattling and faux outrage from the usual suspects in Latin America but do we really care? If Mrs Kirchner makes another speech denouncing the colonialist UK, will we pay it any heed or will we just see it for the pandering that it is? Mr Chavez will no doubt show 'solidarity' with his Ecuadorean cousins and if he (and Mrs Kirchner, come to that) decided they wanted to close their respective embassies in the UK, would we care?
It would probably seem mischievous, to say nothing of downright over-optimistic, to suggest that our EU partners might follow suit and also close their embassies, wouldn't it? The silence from European capitals and the EU Foreign Affairs High Priestess (Catherine Ashton, in case you have forgotten!) has been truly deafening! I wonder if the lure of anti-Americanism is just to hard to resist?
So cut-off relations, show Ecuador that having the very dubious pleasure of Assange's company actually has a price and make them pay it.
On the upside, the UK Treasury will have been boosted by £250K from that forfeited bail money and it just might make the fools that paid it, think twice before they jump on the next band-wagon that comes along.
The UK (surely immediately followed by Sweden) should cut all diplomatic ties with Ecuador. Close our embassy there and oblige them to close theirs in the UK. At that point, all of their diplomats and anyone else inside their UK embassy will need to leave and Assange can be nabbed before he leaves the country. He does not, as far as has been reported, have any diplomatic status or protection outside of the embassy.
There is the risk that the Ecuadoreans will try to smuggle him out in a box or some other kind of diplomatic bag. Really, can you see this self-publicist being gagged and man-handled and not getting the chance to fulfill his martyr's destiny? No, neither can I.
We can expect sabre rattling and faux outrage from the usual suspects in Latin America but do we really care? If Mrs Kirchner makes another speech denouncing the colonialist UK, will we pay it any heed or will we just see it for the pandering that it is? Mr Chavez will no doubt show 'solidarity' with his Ecuadorean cousins and if he (and Mrs Kirchner, come to that) decided they wanted to close their respective embassies in the UK, would we care?
It would probably seem mischievous, to say nothing of downright over-optimistic, to suggest that our EU partners might follow suit and also close their embassies, wouldn't it? The silence from European capitals and the EU Foreign Affairs High Priestess (Catherine Ashton, in case you have forgotten!) has been truly deafening! I wonder if the lure of anti-Americanism is just to hard to resist?
So cut-off relations, show Ecuador that having the very dubious pleasure of Assange's company actually has a price and make them pay it.
On the upside, the UK Treasury will have been boosted by £250K from that forfeited bail money and it just might make the fools that paid it, think twice before they jump on the next band-wagon that comes along.
