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Published: 19 Aug 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Regarding your Friday front page story, ''Govt war on drugs hailed a success'', the gloating over the "success" of the government's anti-drug efforts would be much more impressive if it also included some of the true drug kingpins and associated influential people who really make it happen here in Thailand as part of that arrest list.

Chase

I read with mounting incredulity the piece printed in the Friday Bangkok Post entitled ''Govt war on drugs hailed a success'' as it slavishly presented the government's line asserting that ''more than 330,000 suspects had been arrested''. It is only when one coldly thinks about that statement does its ridiculousness truly reveal itself. This means that 27,500 suspects were being arrested a month and 6,346 were being arrested a week. That's more than 900 a day and 35 an hour, around the clock, which really strains believability.

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domdunnn
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Discussion 16 : 20 Aug 2012 at 02.2216
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sunshine51

If you reread my post you will see that the words of mine that you quote are preceeded by the words,"I think.....", thus making them a statement of my opinion and not a statement of fact.

I am aware that Assange has not been charged with any crime as yet and did not suggest that he had been. I have a very sketchy knowledge of the Swedish judicial procedure but I believe that in Sweden the accused are usually charged late in the process just before prosecution.
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sunshine51
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Discussion 15 : 19 Aug 2012 at 21.1715
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Disc.12. May I remind you Mr Dunn that Assange has not been found guilty of any crime so your statement "Assange has played into their hands by committing a serious, extraditable crime". By the way, he has not been charged with anything, merely wanted for questioning!! Please folks get your facts straight!!
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kasper
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Discussion 14 : 19 Aug 2012 at 19.4314
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Nigel Woodward, I think we can agree that the CIA has proven many times that they will break any law of any country to get what they want. I think we can also agree that the CIA has enormous resources, and are very good at what they do.
Assuming that we agree on the above, then we should also agree that it is very likely that the CIA will manipulate or even fabricate evidence in the case, which makes it impossible for Sweden to give Mr. Assange a fair trial, even if Sweden has the best intentions to do so.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 13 : 19 Aug 2012 at 16.1213
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whatajoke D1.

It's ironic that you should allege the political prosecution of Assange and refer to "A ridiculous law that is not acknowledged anywhere else in the world", because this is exactly the description that Thaksin's supporters use to describe the alleged political prosecution of your nemesis, Thaksin.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 12 : 19 Aug 2012 at 15.0012
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This is not an either or situation, I am quite prepared to believe that the US/UK governments are colluding to get Assange to the US but at the same time I think Assange has played into their hands by committing a serious, extraditable crime.

There is a way for the UK to defuse this whole affair if it wants to. Under Section 58 of Britain's Extradition Act, extradition to Sweden would automatically be conditional on Sweden agreeing not to extradite Assange to a third country without the consent of the UK Government. The UK Government should state clearly that in Assange's case it would not give the required consent for third party extradition.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 11 : 19 Aug 2012 at 14.3311
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whatajoke D1

You are wrong to say that the crime is not recognised in the UK. The High Court has ruled, quote,

"It is clear that the allegation is that he had sexual intercourse with her when she was not in a position to consent and so he could not have had any reasonable belief that she did."

In other words he had intercourse without her consent which is rape.
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jck
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Discussion 10 : 19 Aug 2012 at 13.2810
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It is difficult to believe there are still people who believe that the pursuit of Julian Assange is not being driven by the US and UK governments due to Wikileaks exposing their atrocities and incompetence. Such people are beyond naive. The fact is that governments do not like their dirty little secrets being exposed to the public and will do almost anything to punish those who exposed their actions.
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lungstib
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Discussion 9 : 19 Aug 2012 at 13.179
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Yes Eric, same thoughts occurred to me. In the name of Christianity all sorts of atrocities were perpetrated on the Native Americans, Australians and Africans by Europeans and they still visit their warsights with no word of apology.
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bern1005
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Discussion 8 : 19 Aug 2012 at 12.188
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D1: I am sure that the CIA are more than capable of setting up Julian Assange. But the alleged crimes are one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation, and one count of rape. Certainly rape is not "a ridiculous law that is not acknowledged anywhere else in the world".

Is this a US trick to silence or discredit Assange?
Probably yes.
Should the UK reject an extradition request for rape from a liberal democracy like Sweden?
Absolutely no.
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dao
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Discussion 7 : 19 Aug 2012 at 11.467
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I support Wikileaks .The charges against Assange are trumped up to muzzle him and avoid any more embarrassing documents being leaked .I will always side with the one who exposes the truth .
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Big names stay unnamed | Bangkok Post: opinion