Of course, if you happen to be a highly controversial public figure then becoming the subject of a couple of rape allegations that you genuinely can't understand the basis of could legitimately make you fearful of a conspiracy against you; sufficiently fearful to run for the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean embassy even.

It would be a lot easier to believe that was actually the case if Assange and his campaign team hadn't subsequently spent the next few years fighting on "not really an extraditable crime" technicalities in the UK courts whilst simultaneously asserting he's quite happy to answer prosecutors so long as Sweden rewrite their legal procedures to his design. And, in the case of some of the more lurid blogs from some of his supporters, claiming the women involved are CIA agents.

Not to mention the Ockham's razor angle: if US interests wanted to nab Assange on trumped up charges one would assume they have the ingenuity to come up with something a bit less flimsy.