Julian Assange: what a fuss

The on going case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, which has been dragging on for more then a year, does not seem to be ending, because after taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past few months, Assange has finally been granted political asylum by the Ecuadorian government. What this means is that Assange could escape from being extradited to Sweden to answer alligations of rape by Swedish prosecutors if he is granted permission to leave the Ecuadorian embassy and travel to Ecuador. The catch is, the British authorities will not allow Assange to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, saying that waiting police will arrest him if he tries to leave.

Outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London

This case goes back to 2011, when Swedish prosecutors filed extradition proceedings in Britain. After months of High court deliberation, Sweden was given permission to extradite Assange; but before they could take him into custody, he entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London claiming asylum. Assange is seeking political asylum in Ecuador, because he claims that the United States (U.S) will try to extradite him to America once he is sent to Sweden, as he claims the case against him is politically motivated, although the U.S government deny there is a case against him or want to extradite him to America. Law experts in Sweden also say that under the current law, they can not extradite anyone if they either face the death penalty or a case is politically motivated.

In my opinion, if Assange is not guilty of rape, which he has been accused of by two Swedish women, he should go to Stockholm and fight against the charges. All this fuss over the last few months seems to me that he could perhaps be guilty of the charges. On the claims by Assange and his supports, that U.S authorities will try to extradite him to America after he arrives in Sweden, to be some what strange, as I would have thought, the U.S would have as much chance of  extraditing him from Britain, as in Sweden.

It's possible, that the case against Assange in this context, has nothing to do with Wikileaks, after all. If he is not guilty, then go and prove it himself that he is indeed a decent human being just trying to do the world good.

Another Bad Asylum Seeker Policy by the Australian Government

Last week, the Gillard government, in my opinion, came up with a terrible asylum seeker policy, which is to  reinstate some of the former Liberal government’s ‘Pacific solution’ policies by reopening immigration detention centers on Nauru and Manus Island. Julia Gillard contacted Nauru with a formal request to resume asylum-seeker processing, on the advice from the expert panel on asylum seeker policies. 

I think that opting for a return to offshore detention is not sound policy by the government, but rather very desperate way to curtail to opposition pressure and a need for voting approval by the public. Sending asylum seekers to Nauru and Manus Island, out of view of the media and the public would not necessarily stop asylum seekers paying people smugglers for a passage to Australia. If people are that desperate to come to Australia in search for a better life, a few months or years on Nauru or Manus Island would probably not deter them, as last time an Australian government went to this much expense and effort to stop the boats, around 70 percent of Asylum seekers detained on Nauru and Manus Islands were eventually allowed to settle in Australia and New Zealand any way.         

Former PrimeMinister Malcolm Fraser offered a submission to the expert panel on asylumseeker policies, arguing that reopening centres on Nauru and Manus island in PNG, is a short term way of dealing with such an issue. He further stated in his that sending asylum seekers to these centres is costly in the long run and also no long term evidence that it stops the arrival of boats. He also argued that the Australian government should invest in joint cooperation with Malaysia and Indonesia to open more United Nations (UN) operated centres in these two countries. 

This would be a better solution as most asylum seekers use both Malaysia and Indonesia as a stepping stone to come to Australia. So investing in a joint UN and regional solution could prevent people paying smugglers lots of money to risk their lives and their families to travel to Australia, instead their claims could be processed even before leaving either Malaysia or Indonesia.

Politics at the Olympics games (PRC vs ROC)

I am amazed by the amount of politics there is in sport, especially in the Olympic Games. The matter of Taiwan’s or Republic of China (ROC) participation at any Olympic Games and other international sporting events has and still till this day been politicised.  Until the 1980’s, the ROC’s National Olympic Committee was the sole representative of China in the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and competed under the name Republic of China. But when the majority of the international community and organisations changed diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, the Olympics became a political tool for the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) to put pressure on the IOC to ban Taiwan from competing. After many years of negotiating between Taiwan, PRC and the IOC, Taiwan was forced to change its name to Chinese Taipei, and use a different flag, rather then their national flag.

Since the change in name and status of Taiwan Olympic Participation, Chinese authorities have on a number of occasions in the past and more recently at the London games have prevented any symbols of Taiwan to be present in public viewing. An example of this was when British authorities, under the discretion of the Chinese government replaced a Taiwan flag with the Olympic flag.

And it's not just the Olympics. A similar flag has to be used for all Taiwan's international related competition/committee involvement.

In all, it seem to me very petty on the part of the PRC to go to this length to present to the rest of the world that Taiwan is a renegade province of mainland China, that they think will one day repatriate with them. Even though most of the world knows that Chinese Taipei is a separate country, with its own democratically elected government, and a population proud of who they are. 

Related articles:
CNN: How flags and anthems have been bungled before
The Guardian: London 2012: Taiwan compete under flag of convenience