Assange voluntarily goes to British court on extradition

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, December 8th, 2010 - 50 comments
Categories: australian politics, interweb, Media, Spying - Tags: , , , ,

Now that the Swedish prosecutors have finally given the British police a document that they can work with, Assange turned himself in, and has gone before a British court on the extradition request from Sweden. The court has remanded him without bail. I have already commented on exactly what I think of the charges – politically motivated (probably after pressure from the US), unlikely to be sustained, and making an arse of Swedish law.

There is a article in The Australian by Julian Assange this morning that is worth reading. He quite rightly points out that the other publishers of the leaked information, The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais, and Der Spiegel have not been targeted by the USA using its extra-legal means in trying to punish them for publishing leaked information. He also has unkind words about Australian prime minister Gillard, which is hardly surprising bearing in mind her gaffe a few days ago equating the publishing of leaked information with the illegal act of actually leaking the information.

One claim that Assange makes is that

Sweden is a covert member of NATO and US intelligence sharing is kept from parliament.

If this is substantiated then it could go a long way to explaining the political interference in resurrecting the ‘unrelated’ charges against him. I won’t bother going into some of the links between at least one of the complainants against Assange in the Swedish case and both the Swedish military and the alleged CIA backed anti-cuban fronts. But I’d anticipate a ripe field for conspiracy theorists.

The hysterical over reaction by US politicians reminds me of the similar political over reactions by the muslim world on Salman Rushdies book. It appears that rather than look at the issue of trying to maintain secrecy in a wired world, which is going to be steadily less possible over the coming decades, they’d prefer to just attack the messenger.  Their ostensible rationale is that publishing such raw information is likely to cost lives. To date on previous leaks from WikiLeaks, by the US’s own admissions, this has not proved to be the case. As Assange points out

US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure. The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan. NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn’t find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published.

Of course if you want to look at hysterics in America, you don’t have to go past the fools at Fox ‘News’. When you read through all of their blustering which looks increasingly like publicity statements for the ravings of Sarah Palin, you find that they only point to two consequences of the current round of leaks via WikiLeaks. That there are some US diplomats will have to be moved and the sources to those diplomats are becoming less free in what they are telling them. The latter is hardly surprising. For instance, a prominent German political staffer has resigned because amongst other things he’d been telling US diplomats about the proceedings of closed coalition meetings while forming a new government in Germany. I’d say that he shouldn’t have been reporting those sensitive talks to a foreign government. Now that has been exposed he is facing the consequences of the risk that he took.

But what is becoming quite clear is that US politicians across the political divides are frustrated with the limitations of rulings on freedom of the press and the first amendment. They have been taking extra-legal action against the publishers. For instance Joe Leiberman has been actively involved in pressuring organisations like Amazon and other suppliers of services to the Internet to drop services to WikiLeaks. This is less worrying than his recent call to trump up some charges against the New York Times for publishing parts of the leaked information.

In this context it becomes quite ironic that there was an announcement by the US State Department “The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011 in Washington, D.C.“. As Joe Lieberman and his other fellow McCarthyism cronies attempt to shut down the freedom on the press in the US, they will follow the great traditions of Stalin and pretend that it never happened.

Like many, I am skeptical about what WikiLeaks is attempting to achieve as it is difficult to see how negotiation can operate completely in the open. But that is a subject for dialogue and the rules of law across international boundaries, very little of which has happened.

However the rogue elements in the US political system and elsewhere have made this a direct attack on the freedom of the net. As a consequence these terrorists need to be treated as the obstructions that they are to the dialogue of the net. WikiLeaks gets my support.

I couldn’t get the unanimity required for us to set up a WikiLeaks mirror server. However I’d note that in the 500 odd mirror sites set up in the 3 days (as of 2am yesterday) there are two .nz sites.

50 comments on “Assange voluntarily goes to British court on extradition ”

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  1. ianmac 1
    8 December 2010 at 9:31 am

    The British lawyer for Assange said this morning that so far they have no information on the specifics of the charges against him and welcome the Court ruling that next week there will be a proper hearing so that the judge and Assange can find out! The Brit prosecutors said that he should be held in remand for his own safety as there are “some unbalanced people out there who want to harm him”

    I imagine if one was negotiating to gain an engagement to be married, the details of that negotiation being made public would be unhelpful, especially if she said No!

    • lprent 1.1
      8 December 2010 at 10:44 am

      One of the issues that didn’t show up in the news reports is that the swedish request to Interpol (the red notice) specified that Assange should be held incommunicado including specifically from his lawyers. I haven’t seen if the judge enforced that requirement because (to say the least) it sounds very unusual and more like a political arrest by secret police than a normal remand.

    • Vicky32 1.2
      8 December 2010 at 3:54 pm

      “The Brit prosecutors said that he should be held in remand for his own safety as there are “some unbalanced people out there who want to harm him”
      I have not heard that, which is a pity… all the Beeb has been saying all day (night for them) is that he Assange has been ‘denied bail, because he is a flight risk and has many rich supporters who could help him escape’. WTF?
      Deb

      • ianmac 1.2.1
        8 December 2010 at 8:03 pm

        I heard that this morning on Morning Report but cannot remember the timing of the item as there were several between 7 and 9. Was from one of the Brit lawyers for Assange. I haven’t seen it in print sorry.

  2. Colonial Viper 2
    8 December 2010 at 10:24 am

    he should be held in remand for his own safety as there are “some unbalanced people out there who want to harm him”

    Hmmmm that’s no way to refer to the US Government!

    Wikileaks is pretty screwed now. Not only have paypal cut him off, but the Swiss have closed his bank account and confiscated all his money, and wikileaks has lost its domain name which means it is far harder for ordinary surfers to find now.

    The “Bourne Identity” has nothing on real life. Watch and learn peeps, watch and learn.

    http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=20337

    Now the DNS Company, the web listing organization which provided Wikileaks with the right to use the domain name “wikileaks.org”, has terminated its affiliation with the site. That means that attempts to reach the site by domain name no longer succeed.

    The site also lost another hosting service — EveryDNS.net — and has jumped to a mix of Swiss and French hosting at the present. But France’s government is already moving to ban the site from its nations servers.

    I hope Assange has robust contingency plans in place, for his site and for himself.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      8 December 2010 at 2:45 pm

      Hmmmm that’s no way to refer to the US Government!

      If the shoe fits…

      Sounds more and more like the governments working to de-power everyone else.

  3. john 3
    8 December 2010 at 10:25 am

    The Arrest of Julian Assange
    Truth in Chains

    Reminds me of the arrest of Jesus by the powerbrokers of the day: The Jewish priesthood and their Roman allies. The Swedish thing could well have been a Venus Fly Trap sprung on him. Shame on Sweden and the United States of War Crimes!
    http://www.chris-floyd.com/

    Refer link:
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27021.htm

    • john 3.1
      8 December 2010 at 10:36 am

      “And so Julian Assange is now being hounded — perhaps to his eventual death — not for revealing war crimes and atrocities, but for showing us a glimpse of our leaders as they really are: stupid, vain, petty and savage.”

      Chris Floyd

    • john 3.2
      8 December 2010 at 11:20 am

      Re: Venus Fly Trap
      ” It’s a complete fit up. The original prosecuter dismissed the allegations. Suddenly one in Gothenberg decided to take up the case. Both women pursued Assange, slept with him and spent the next day with him perfectly amicably. The trouble only seems to have started when they found out about each other. Then 6 days later they filed their allegations TOGETHER????? Sound like rape? Don’t think so.

      And don’t forget this happened days after the Iraq/Afghan leaks which infuriated the yanks.”

      • john 3.2.1
        8 December 2010 at 2:34 pm

        One of the accusers of Julian Assanger has CIA connections: As I thought a sticky beak trap, shame on Sweden.Now he’s accused of sex by surprise not rape for god’s sake what a farce and stitch up.How can you have sex by surprise when chemistry must happen first?:Ludicrous!!!

        Refer link

        http://www.countercurrents.org/edward071210.htm

        • john 3.2.1.1
          8 December 2010 at 2:41 pm

          ” Assage, you should have used a condom. You can’t scew a CIA operative and get away clean, my boy!”

    • john 3.3
      8 December 2010 at 3:00 pm

      View this video John Pilger perhaps the greatest truth teller, on par with Chomsky, defends Julian Assange. Refer link:

      http://maxkeiser.com/2010/12/07/john-pilger-slams-the-lies-about-war-calls-on-australians-to-defend-julian-assange/

  4. freedom 4
    8 December 2010 at 10:31 am

    http://wikileaks.ch/
    still works

    i liked how the judge said that he had “substantial grounds” to believe that the 39-year-old would disappear and not attend any further legal hearings.

    who would do the dissapearing is the question?

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    8 December 2010 at 10:50 am

    I disagree with wikileaks choosing to publish a list of critical infrastructure targets crucial to the US. No justification for it IMO – looks like wikileaks is being pushed into a desperate corner and is not staying cool. Not good for anyone.

    Pollies and officials doing underhanded deals and then telling the public fairy tales – fine, that needs to be exposed. But this is not needed and wikileaks has hurt its own credibility now.

    • Pascal's bookie 5.1
      8 December 2010 at 11:09 am

      There is nothing particulalry surprising in that list.

      If I were a terrorist I could think of any number of targets, most would not be on that list, because terrorists don’t go after those sort of targets. Any government inclined to go after those sorts of targets would already know what they want to hit.

      The point of that cable was that the host governments, and by extension the citizens of those host nations, were not to be let in on the fact that the US deemed certain things in their territory to be vital to the US.

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1
        8 December 2010 at 11:37 am

        Ah yes I see. Clever move by wikileaks then, to let govts around the world know that wikileaks can help them.

        Interesting the intense media spin and how I was caught out by it momentarily. Scary stuff.

  6. A 6
    8 December 2010 at 10:52 am

    [Deleted at A’s request — r0b]

  7. A 7
    8 December 2010 at 10:54 am

    The mask is falling at pace.

    edit: The press release for World Press Freedom Day reads:

    “The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information.”

    Ha ha.

  8. joe90 8
    8 December 2010 at 11:00 am

    He’s in custody now and I hope I’m wrong but I reckon he’ll be the 21st centuries Rudolf Hess.

  9. lprent 9
    8 December 2010 at 12:35 pm

    My weekends post on Marianne Ny is suddenly getting a lot of traffic. This morning there was nothing, but now it has suddenly gotten 1400 odd international page views and a lot of twitter links.

    I’ve been watching googles realtime feed on wikileaks and there is a lot of interesting info flowing by (much of it repetitious).

  10. Pascal's bookie 10
    8 December 2010 at 12:38 pm

    daily mash sez:

    “Sir Paul dismissed claims that the arrest was political but admitted international warrants were controversial and that it would have been more efficient to use the British system of pretending Mr Assange is a Brazilian electrician.

    Meanwhile governments across the world were celebrating Mr Assange’s arrest and imminent escape, stressing that history proves if you focus all your efforts on stopping one man then the thing you don’t like will just go away”

  11. A Nonny Moose 11
    8 December 2010 at 3:05 pm

    Disappointed LPrent. Others around the blogosphere have expressed this sentiment, but I’ll reiterate it again: it is possible that a guy who has done good things for democracy is also a rapist, AND the charges are being made politically expedient.

    I will not tolerate people the “Good Guy (TM)” defence as rape apology. If he is innocent of the charges, let justice discover that.

    • Vicky32 11.1
      8 December 2010 at 4:05 pm

      “If he is innocent of the charges, let justice discover that.”
      Do you really think “justice” has a snowball’s chance? Whatever he is, he’s not a rapist – as someone said on the Ny thread – at most, a selfish lover.
      Deb

    • lprent 11.2
      8 December 2010 at 5:27 pm

      I’ll reiterate for your benefit.

      The charges are not for rape in any legal sense. That particular charge was put up by the prosecutor and thrown out in favor of a much lesser charge in September by an appeal court in Sweden.

      The worst charge is a strange one of “sex by surprise” which carries maximum penalty of USD700 odd and no jail time. My question is why was this very low charge deemed to be worthy of a Interpol red notice that is used for the worst offenses – which always carry at least some jail time.

      I’m very disappointed in you not actually reading the post. My evidence for this is that you do not appear to know the actual charges and their penalties. If you’d read the post then you’d know that.

      • ianmac 11.2.1
        8 December 2010 at 8:17 pm

        Well said Iprent!

      • john 11.2.2
        8 December 2010 at 8:32 pm

        Some further comments from the British public:

        It is obviously the case that the British legal authorities are being lent upon by the United States and that the plan is to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden, who have probably already agreed at a political level to extradite him to America, where he will face political charges totally unconnected to the the alleged sexual offence that he is currently being held under. Once in the United States he can expect to receive the same level of justice and treatment that Alexandr Solzhenitsyn received in the Soviet Union.
        How amusing that the supposedly free judiciary in two Western countries is being so openly manipulated by political forces over what is essentially an issue of press freedom. Assange’s case in Sweden is about a condom breaking during sex, hardly the stuff of international arrest warrants and refusal of bail. I am shocked that Sweden has allowed itself to be mused in this manner. So much for the moral high ground that the West claims to have when dealing with the rest of the world. First it was the War on Terror that allowed governments to stamp on human rights and torture at will. Now it’s the War on the Press.Is this the end of free conversation? Lord help us all.

        ———————————
        Could this really be any more transparent?

        He is accused of a sexual crime, where, guess what, the victims, essentially the accusers, have anonymity. How convenient. So they can accept whatever money the USA is giving them and nobody will ever be any the wiser.

        Oh, you think that’s too far fetched? America is a country whose idea of interrogation during the Vietnam war was to throw Vietcong soldiers out of helicopters to encourage the others to talk.

        That crowd over the other side of the Atlantic, and I daresay this one here too, will do absolutely whatever they need to to keep in power with all the benefits that brings.

        For those of you in the UK, remember that we knew nothing of the milking of taxpayers by MPs in their expenses claims until the details were leaked.

        Julian Assange and the whole Wikileaks organisation are heroes.

        ———————————

        Compare Assange’s treatment to that of Agusto Pinochet.

        Pinochet was only wanted by Spain for the murder of some of it’s citizens, not important enought for a British judge to remand him though.

        As for the flight risk, Assange had assurances from three leading Brtitish people and hadn’t tried to run anyway, but Pinochet who was guaranteed to run and only had help to pull off his ‘flight’ from the UK with the aid of the British home secretary with the entire home office and foreign and commonwealth office to make sure it went smoothly for him.

        The last time I remember being even remotely proud to be British was during the Pinochet arrest warrant saga. Only because we had detained him and it looked like it was air tight that he’d be sent to Spain, as usual the pride turned to shame soon enough, today it’s simply turned to a mixture of dispair and disgust.
        ———————————
        The story appears to proceed as follows: Miss A, having invited Assange to speak to a leftwing campaign group in the town of Enkoping, suggested he stay in her flat, although the two had not met. Both agree that they slept together on the night before the event, during which the condom split.

        The following day, the woman attended and helped facilitate the event, at which Miss W was also present. According to her police interview, Miss W accompanied the Australian and some male guests to lunch at which he flirted with her; afterwards the pair went to the cinema, where she told police she had performed oral sex on him. They slept together that night, using a condom, and again the following morning, when both parties appear to agree that a condom was not used, after which Assange left.

        This is what the rape allegation is about. Not sex with an unconscious woman, not anything any sane person would refer to as rape.

        You’re going to post on here that this is worth an Interpol red alert? That this is worth extradition? That this is the same as any other western European country?

        Take the bullshit back to your CIA paymasters .

      • A Nonny Moose 11.2.3
        12 December 2010 at 6:49 pm

        I read your post, and your subsequent comments and you are a) factually incorrect b) using common rape apologist myths. I have also read a lot of other articles about this issue around the internet, but I hesitate to post them because you’d probably throw out accusations of “hysterical woman” at me.

        If you are incapable of looking beyond victim blaming and common rape myths into the layers of this mess, you may come across as a bit more than an enemy of women, especially women arguing rape. As I said, the charges have been made politically expedient, and it’s disappointing that a woman’s rights issue which has been argued for generations is being made politically expedient when it suits men to make a point.

        Just how important does rape have to be for it to be a “real” problem? If one women does not matter to you, how many raped women do? How many women have to be raped by one man before he’s brought to justice.

        Rape vicitms are not numbers. They are real people who deserve justice.

        But carry on the bullshit apologist bingo, because we know how very very hard it is for “nice guys ™” to see one of their own taken down. In fighting for him (Assange) you are fighting for the good name of good men every where, right? And nice guys don’t rape, right?

        • RedLogix 11.2.3.1
          12 December 2010 at 6:58 pm

          The charges bought by the Swedish prosecutor are not rape, they are something quite different.

          So why do you keep calling them that?

  12. Pascal's bookie 12
    8 December 2010 at 8:24 pm

    DoJ seems to have realised that bringing charges under the Espionage Act could be more trouble than it would be worth, starts fishing in other Acts…

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/world/08leak.html?hp

    …while the inde has some unnamed ‘diplomatic sources’ saying that the US is talking to Sweden re extradition…

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/assange-could-face-espionage-trial-in-us-2154107.html

    I dunno how much weight to give that though. I’m leaning toward ‘not much’.

  13. Bill 13
    8 December 2010 at 8:45 pm

    “I am skeptical about what WikiLeaks is attempting to achieve as it is difficult to see how negotiation can operate completely in the open”

    It’s not about negotiations per se though. It’s about governments telling their populace lies and cloaking everything in veils of secrecy so that they can engage in illegal behaviours.

    If the US is in negotiations with x, y or z, then that’s fine. And all wikileaks would be releasing would be a fairly straight forward historical record of those negotiations.

    But if the US is supplying arms to x, y or z and denying that’s the case, then that’s another matter. And if the US is engaging in illegal activities, all the while denying that’s the case, then that is also another matter.

  14. Me 14
    8 December 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Does anyone know how the media and public and politicians in Sweden are reacting to all of this?

  15. john 15
    9 December 2010 at 8:52 am

    Assange Case: Evidence Destroyed Over And Over Again
    By Göran Rudling
    This article by a Swede shows convincing evidence as to Assange’s innocence.
    Refer link:

    http://www.countercurrents.org/rudling081210.htm

    • john 15.1
      9 December 2010 at 10:15 am

      Very good 12 minute audio interview with John Pilger who offered $32000 as surety if Assange was given bail.

      “Mr Pilger goes further, describing the case against Mr Assange as a ‘political stunt’, noting, “the chief prosecutor in Sweden abandoned this case, threw it away, saw no worth in it.”
      He mentions the case was only resurrected at the instigation of a right wing politician.

      http://www.zcommunications.org/support-for-julian-assange-by-john-pilger

  16. john 16
    9 December 2010 at 10:35 am

    WikiLeaks founder jailed in London on bogus charges
    By Patrick Martin

    US officials applauded the arrest and noted that Washington has had an extradition treaty with Sweden for the past 50 years, a signal that once in Swedish custody Assange would face the danger of being shipped off to an American detention facility like Guantanamo Bay or a CIA “black site” prison.

    Such comments underscore the basic political reality in the Assange case: the WikiLeaks leader has been targeted, not because of his private conduct in Sweden, but in retaliation for the devastating worldwide impact of the WikiLeaks exposures of US military atrocities and diplomatic skullduggery.Refer link:

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/assa-d08.shtml

    American establishment clown,but very well paid clown, Jon Stewart makes fun of Wikileaks

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/stew-d07.shtml

  17. LizR 17
    9 December 2010 at 4:41 pm

    They came first for the Communists,
    and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists,
    and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews,
    and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

    Then they came for me
    and by that time no one was left to speak up.

    Pastor Martin Niemöller

    PS I trust the inference doesn’t need to be spelled out!

  18. Craig Ranapia 18
    9 December 2010 at 7:24 pm

    LPrent: Thanks for displaying your utter ignorance of Swedish law and standard practice. Also particularly charming seeing an allegedly “progressive”blog let stand a string of comments trashing two complainants who’ve alleged that Julian Assange did sexually assault then in Sweeden, as defined under the progressive woman-friendly laws you denegrate as an “ass”. Disturbingly similar to the character assassination dealt out to Louise Nicholas by the Kiwibog sewer.

    A good day’s work, mate. Buy yourself a drink,

    • Colonial Viper 18.1
      9 December 2010 at 7:32 pm

      Thanks for displaying your utter ignorance of Swedish law and standard practice.

      Ah, you’ve got me wondering now how many Interpol high alerts Sweden has sent out for similar charges in the last 12 months? I’d be interested in whether or not this is indeed standard practice.

      IMO nothing about this ‘feels’ like it is standard practice – but then I am not a Swedish trained lawyer.

    • lprent 18.2
      10 December 2010 at 7:36 am

      The question in the post was why Interpol received and acted on a request for a red notice on what appears to be a minor charge under Swedish law. I guess that you didn’t read the post… Too much work? Or was it that you might have to think?

      But if you want to get hung up on instinctive ideological bigotry and don’t want to look at that question – then that is your problem.

      However I notice you did not bother to bring any further information to the discussion. At a guess that is because you don’t have any? That IMHO is your trope. Being good at sarcastic bullshit but without having the ability to contribute any substance to a debate. Of course it goes with your other trope, that of being critical but incapable of working on solutions.

  19. LizR 19
    9 December 2010 at 9:08 pm

    After seeing governments reacting to these leaks in ways that could well do them more damage than the leaks themselves, I am now wondering whether Stieg Larsson really died of natural causes…

  20. john 20
    9 December 2010 at 9:12 pm

    Good link discussing the current Arrest of Assange as part of a much bigger picture
    http://www.counterpunch.org/walberg12082010.html

    Julian Quixote
    The trumped-up cases involve consensual relations, one an obvious “honey trap” by a CIA plant and the other a spurned Lewinsky-like groupie.

    Assange is nothing short of a legend after a year of leaks, especially an April video taken from a US helicopter in Iraq in 2007 showing GIs shooting at least 12 innocent Iraqis like rabbits.

    The 39-year-old Assange is an Australian citizen, though his Prime Minister Julia Gillard has threatened to cancel his passport.

    There is no doubt that Gillard, the Swedish prosecutor, PayPal, etc are all being pressured by the US government to help snuff out this ray of light exposing its many crimes. Only French Internet service provider OVH said it had no plans to end the service it provides to Wikileaks, and a judge threw out Industry Minister Eric Besson’s case to force it to.

    • ianmac 20.1
      9 December 2010 at 9:38 pm

      I think that Gillard has retracted some of her rhetoric in the face of public disapproval. Heard that on National Radio today Thursday, but not sure what time.

      • lprent 20.1.1
        10 December 2010 at 7:29 am

        Yeah, has been showing up in the media all of yesterday. Rapid change from wikileaks being ‘illegal’ to her being uncomfortable. Rudd as FM asking questions about how the US leaked the info.

  21. john 21
    9 December 2010 at 9:44 pm

    An open letter to Gillard to respect and protect Assange’s rights as an Australian citizen :refer link:
    http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46371

    Open letter to Julia Gillard re: Julian Assange
    Dear Prime Minister,

    We note with concern the increasingly violent rhetoric directed towards Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.

    “We should treat Mr Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him,” writes conservative columnist Jeffrey T Kuhner in the Washington Times.

    William Kristol, former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, asks, “Why can’t we use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are?”

    “Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” writes the prominent US pundit Jonah Goldberg.

    “The CIA should have already killed Julian Assange,” says John Hawkins on the Right Wing News site.

    Sarah Palin, a likely presidential candidate, compares Assange to an Al Qaeda leader; Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential contender, accuses Assange of “terrorism”.

    And so on and so forth.

    • john 21.1
      9 December 2010 at 10:27 pm

      More comments from round the World on this situation!

      Is there a precedent in Swedish law for prosecuting someone for having sex without a condom? If so the girls should be charged also, since they obviously consented and then changed their minds, and if this is the standard for rape in Sweden, then half the world are rapists, There is definitely skulduggery going on here. I wonder how the Swedes feel about their taxes being spent in this way? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

      It seems that Zweden has gone totally bonkers. How can a man be accused for rape for the simple fact of having unprotected sex?? In most European countries rape is a very serious allegation but is seems not in Zweden. It seems that any woman who has regret about sex ‘the day after’ can file allegations for rape. This has nothing to do with justice!

      SASHA NZ wrote:
      Shame on you Sweden for this witch hunt and Travesty of Justice on a man who´s only crime was to print the truth. SHAME SHAME SHAME.

      So what is rape in your stupid country a condom breaks and that´s rape you´ve lost Your minds. He has sex with the other girl Without a condom and that´s rape your all nuts. Both woman agreed to it. Consenual means consent. So woman in your country know what there doing but when sex is involved there all of a sudden stupid and victims? Preposterous I´ll never visit.

      Wow, what an embarrassment for Sweden. So much for the UK being the USA´s number 1 lapdog. Sweden is rapidly taking that job as its own

      It is being reported in the American press that one of the women has a brother who is employed in Swedish Intelligence and has connections with the CIA. Furthermore it is alleged that she worked as an intern for Swedish Intelligence and later worked with an anti-Cuban CIA front group. This does not bode well for the integrity of the charges she has made.

      Do you Swedes have any idea how embarrassing this is for your country. These women are viewed as pawns in a dirty political game your government is playing at the behest of the United Corporations of America.

      My point of view is Assange doesn’t look strong enough to rape any woman, If you like he comes across as wimpish.Personally I am sure these able and capable women could easily have told him where to get off, but they didn’t! and only complained later,that can’t be right to my mind!

  22. john 22
    9 December 2010 at 10:51 pm

    Swedish State revealed as willing participants in the criminal rendition of suspects for torturous interrogation by the USA. Will Assange suffer a similar fate?

    London – The founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks will fight charges of sexual offences, with his lawyer saying Sunday that the
    accusations are a “political stunt” being orchestrated by officials in Sweden, possibly at the behest of Washington.

    “It doesn’t escape my attention that Sweden was one of those lickspittle states which used its resources and its facilities for rendition flights,” the lawyer, Mark Stephens, told BBC television.

    He was referring to the rendition of terrorism suspects who were flown to other countries where they were tortured.

    Stephen says the charges against Assange were dropped in September, but were brought back “after the intervention of a Swedish politician.”

    “It does seem to be a political stunt,” Stephen said, adding later that “I’m really rather worried by the political motivations that appear to be behind this.”
    “We have seen a number of suggestions that he should be assassinated, again from credible sources around the world,” said Stephen.

    “People as high up the American tree as Sarah Palin have called for him to be hunted down by American special forces and assassinated.”

  23. john 23
    9 December 2010 at 11:08 pm

    Reference to Sarah Palin above : God help you if you’re the Moose!

    However Russian Establishment believe Assange should be nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be nominated for a Nobel prize, a source in the Kremlin told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

    “Non-governmental and governmental organizations should think of ways to help him. Perhaps he could be awarded a Nobel prize,” the source said.

    The founder of the controversial whistleblowing website was arrested in London on Tuesday. He was wanted by Sweden on sex assault charges.

    An arrest warrant for Assange was issued by Swedish prosecutors last week just days after his website published the first batch of over 250,000 confidential U.S. diplomatic cables.

    World leaders and diplomats have downplayed the impact of the information leak on international relations but many have questioned the benefit of the project, alleging that some of the leaks could “threaten lives.”

    The 39-year-old Australian currently tops an online poll for Time Person of the Year. The choice will be made by the editors next Wednesday.

    BRUSSELS, December 8 (RIA Novosti)

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  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
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  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
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  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
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  • Judicial appointments announced
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  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
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  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
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  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
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  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
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  • Taupō takes pole position
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  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
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  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
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  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
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  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
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  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
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  • Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
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  • Navigating an unstable global environment
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  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
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  • NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
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  • Joint US and NZ declaration
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  • NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
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