The fix is in

Julian Assange, Wikileaks, extradition, torture and the end of the road.

In just under two weeks, Julian Assange's last chance to enter a final appeal in the UK will lapse. After that he will be extradited to Sweden to face charges.

Although most of the mainstream media defines these as rape charges, they're not. That's simply the media being lazy. I am not a rape apologist, nor am I a blinkered apologist of Assange. Julian Assange has been charged with something that is not a crime in most countries around the world, especially his native Australia, the UK where he resides currently, nor the US who have made it clear they want him six kinds of dead. The charge translates to something like 'reckless sex' and as far as I know carries a fine, and no jail time.

I do not dispute that something may have happened between Assange and the two women involved. Neither do I dispute that Assange may be, personally, a complete bastard. All I know for certain is that the charges as reported have varied over time. I'm not claiming that the women who laid the charges are changing their story. I am claiming that forces beyond them may be skewing their stories for ulterior motives. It's an ethical dilemma certain to alienate almost everyone - do you side with the (allegedly) framed whistleblower and get painted as being pro-rape? or do you side with the (possibly justifiably) aggrieved women, knowing that this might be government's first strike back at silencing anyone who dares to reveal their bloody and corrupt secrets? Yeah, there's no real right answer. The unpredictable many vs the certain few or vice-versa.

Needless to say if all the charges are true, this makes Assange a complete bastard. If only partly true, then he's a jerk, and if not true at all, then it's a cheap beat-up.

So why all these many appeals, consternation and fighting hell for leather to avoid going back to Sweden, especially if he is found completely guilty, he may not even face jail time?

Well, the main reason is the complex web of treaties between the UK, Sweden and the US. If his appeal in the UK fails, he gets extradited to Sweden. If he is to face charges in Sweden, the US has a treaty where they can assume 'temporary control' of a person facing criminal charges in Sweden. Once the US has 'temporary control', they in turn may decide to charge him as a terrorist.

Once charged as a terrorist, then a veritable black menu of horror opens up - extraordinary rendition, assassination, Guantanamo, Manning-style naked solitary confinement, waterboarding, torture, lethal 'accident', the list goes on. The US as a champion of democracy my fat arse.

Many said that Assange looked calm coming out of his failed appeal yesterday. Maybe it was resignation. The fix is in for the boy from Magnetic Island, who despite being possibly quite a bastard, did us the favour of letting us know what cheating, lying evil criminals our governments are.

Still, he's an Australian citizen. That must count for something yeah? Australia and the US are allies. Any time an Australian citizen falls into the blackest hole of US 'justice', both governments would fall over themselves to hand the Australian over to us yes? I mean, don't we have an international obligation to expend all efforts to return an Australian citizen to our country where they can be tried under Australian law? Sure we do, but I have two words for you.

David. Hicks.

It's a black irony, but we now know from Wikileaks itself that former PM John Howard contacted then VP Dick Cheney, and asked him to ensure Hicks was held in Guantanamo - and subsequently tortured for 5 years - as a favour to Howard to make him look tough on terrorism and thus good in the upcoming election polls. Do any of us really think for a second that our government will fall back on principle now? Hell no. The machine is greased with the blood of the troublemaker. Laws are for the 'big people' to use and change only when it suits them, and for the 'little people' to suffer under.

Gillard and Rudd will shamelessly roll over and allow Assange to be handed over. Why wouldn't they? Australia has largely replaced the UK as the US's special ally - the partner that always stands by and backs US policy, no matter how heinous. ALP Right Mark Arbib is widely known now as a US intelligence asset, and the Australian government has gone from the measured, independent foreign policy under Rudd, to the shamelessly pro-US under Gillard (see any of our recent stances on Israel as a good example).

So yeah, the fix is in. Assange's mum appeared on the Channel 7 news last night (an 'exclusive' they crowed, probably one of their blackmail beat-up pieces). Buggered if I know why she chose Channel 7, but she did. Her fear was plain and palpable. She made no secret of the fact that she believes if Assange is extradited to the US, he'll get killed or tortured. She has called on the PM to intervene.

Sorry Mrs Assange, you're 'little people' and your son's got an impending date with a flat plank, a wet towel and a bucket of water. Why should Julia Gillard get in the way of that?