[QUOTE=chalsall;308349]Article 22, paragraph 3: "The premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon [B][I][U]and the means of transport[/U][/I][/B] of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution.[/QUOTE]

It seems that the Brits are flirting with defiance. What I've heard suggested is that even if they could get Assange into an immune car, there's still the problem of getting from the car to a plane. I don't know if there would be a difference if Ecuador sent a government plane. If he could step from the car to a stair which was part of the plane he would not set foot on UK soil (or tarmac.)

[QUOTE=kladner;308355]It seems that the Brits are flirting with defiance. What I've heard suggested is that even if they could get Assange into an immune car, there's still the problem of getting from the car to a plane. I don't know if there would be a difference if Ecuador sent a government plane. If he could step from the car to a stair which was part of the plane he would not set foot on UK soil (or tarmac.)[/QUOTE]

It would not matter if it was an Ecuador government plane, or simply one sanctioned by them for the job at hand -- even if it was only one seat of that plane.

And if the Brits really wanted to get anal, it can be argued that one's own (or another's) feet (or a wheelchair) are forms of transport.

[QUOTE=kladner;308355]It seems that the Brits are flirting with defiance. What I've heard suggested is that even if they could get Assange into an immune car, there's still the problem of getting from the car to a plane. I don't know if there would be a difference if Ecuador sent a government plane. If he could step from the car to a stair which was part of the plane he would not set foot on UK soil (or tarmac.)[/QUOTE]There are many ways around that. For instance, a car could be driven directly onto a cargo plane. A car could be driven outside UK jurisdiction, either by Eurostar or ferry. It could be driven onto a Ecuadorean ship.

Does the embassy have an internal carpark, or would he have to walk on to the sidewalk to a car waiting at the kerb?

[QUOTE=xilman;308403]There are many ways around that. For instance, a car could be driven directly onto a cargo plane. A car could be driven outside UK jurisdiction, either by Eurostar or ferry. It could be driven onto a Ecuadorean ship.[/QUOTE]

Interesting ideas, all!

Might this all inspire something in a future James Bond film?

[QUOTE=cheesehead;308460]Might this all inspire something in a future James Bond film?[/QUOTE]

James Bond leaking state never-should-have-been-secrets?

It isn't much of a life that Assange has now. Living out his time in the Embassy is hardly a life worth living at all. And even if he does get to Ecuador by some magic teleportation he would still be unable to travel from there without the threat of [strike]the US[/strike] Sweden grabbing him from another country.

[QUOTE=retina;310948]It isn't much of a life that Assange has now. Living out his time in the Embassy is hardly a life worth living at all. And even if he does get to Ecuador by some magic teleportation he would still be unable to travel from there without the threat of [strike]the US[/strike] Sweden grabbing him from another country.[/QUOTE]
You could have said the same thing about Burmese activist/political-prisoner [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi]Aung San Suu Kyee for most of the past 2 decades[/url]. Even the most thuggish regimes don't last forever.

(I realize this comparison is setting the bar really, really low for such "champions of democracy and human rights" as the UK and US, but that is what defenders of their political thuggery like to do, so let's go with that.)