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Dirty Tricks? Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange Dropped
WikiLeaks Julian Assange warns of "dirty tricks" campaign against him
UPDATED as of 11:49 AM/ET 8/21: Swedish prosecutors have cancelled an arrest warrant issued for Julian Assange, the founder of controversial whistleblower website Wikileaks.
Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing WikiLeaks The warrant was issued following a sexual assault complaint against him.
But on Saturday night, as international media outlets were beginning to pick up the story, Eva Finne, Sweden's chief prosecutor, announced that Assange was no longer wanted.
"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape," the chief prosecutor said, but declined to go into any more details.
Assange had denied the allegations, saying via Twitter that the charges were "without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing".
The prosecutor's office in Stockholm said an arrest warrant was issued for the 39-year-old Australian national late on Friday for suspicion of rape and molestation.
'Dirty tricks'
After Swedish tabloid Expressen, first published reports that the arrest warrant had been issued for Assange, Wikileaks responded on Twitter saying: "We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks.' Now we have the first one."
"No one here has been contacted by Swedish police. Needless to say this will prove hugely distracting."
Assange's organisation has caused much controversy recently with the release of 75,000 classified US military documents containing information surrounding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US government rejected the release of the documents, saying the website had "blood on its hands" for naming people who had helped its military in opposition to groups such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and ordered Wikileaks to return the files.
Wikileaks, meanwhile, has said that it is plans to reveal more of the remaining 15,000 classified documents it holds, possibly this month or next month.
Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan, in London, said: "The two alleged victims in this are in their twenties.
"One is supposed to have happened last weekend in Stockholm and another last Tuesday in Sweden but in a separate town."
Assange was in Sweden last week partly to apply for a publishing certificate to maintain the advantages it receives from the country's whistle-blowing protection laws. Wikileaks also has many of its servers in Sweden.
- Posted in
303 Comments so far
Show AllThe weight of a first comment on a thread causes me to refrain from noting, with "colorful" language, just what I think of these charges.....
Of course one never knows what celebrity status will do to a persons character, but the timing is so absolutely relevant, the location of the Wikileaks servers there important as well, and, of course, the long history of the CIA's dirty tricks must be considered as well.
Even if, and one must actually consider this, the charges prove truthful, it doesn't diminish the import of the truths that Assange has released to public scrutiny.
Wow. Common sense. Of course, everyone else is jumping to conspiracy theories.
"Even if, and one must actually consider this, the charges prove truthful..."
No, one need not actually consider this -- there is no basis for it, and that's what the prosecuter has determined. One might just as well consider whether Newt Gingrich was responsible -- for whatever might still be alleged. Or may Putin Did it. But again -- there is no reason to suspect any of that, or any of them.
Neither is there an reason to think that 'celebrity status' has had any affect at all on Assange's character. Such words are insideous innuendo, and nothing more.
I do not believe in many absolutes, and I do believe in the corrupting influence of "celebrity status". I also believe that my post conveyed my skepticism of the charges quite adequately while maintaining a balance. But thanks for the contribution.
It's breathtaking to watch the American Smear Machine crank up. This will be all over Fox early in the week and by Thursday will have migrated to the front page of the NY Times and Washington Post with CNN running chyrons that ask, "Did WikiLeaks Founder Rape Two Swedish Women?" followed by a lively and unbiased panel discussion of his alleged guilt hosted by Wolf Blitzer and featuring Ed Rollins, Erick Erickson, and some retired Pentagon general where they will unanimously conclude he must have done it because he leaked those papers embarrassing to the propaganda goals of the American Empire.
Spot on, except for that last part, "where they will unanimously conclude he must have done it because he leaked those papers embarrassing to the propaganda goals of the American Empire." That is better left unsaid. Just involve people in stupid side issues, like a recent NYTimes article psychoanalyzing Manning when the journalist should have been honestly writing about the central issue of the information he's revealed. Keep people from thinking about that kind of stuff. You can easily trick most people into ignoring the obvious evidence that they're being lied to and played by russling up a sex scandal. Manning is a homosexual. Assange is a rapist. Of course. Sex crimes are best.
ELIZABETH: Well-stated. As to the lure of sex crimes, this approach speaks to the "Inner Puritan" that resides inside every true-blue fundamentalist and/or American authoritarian. As Granny D understood (and related) it, these individuals are locked so tight into lives regimented around adherence to strict rules that they utterly resent anyone else having fun or God forbid, being free, or free-spirited!
Except, Siouxrose, the tightly-wrapped right-wing Christopublicans are a perfect example of this quote which I believe came from Mark Twain, "They go to church on Sunday to be forgiven for what they did on Saturday, and intend to do again on Monday."
David Vitter, John Ensign, Ted Haggard, and Jim Bakker are just four of the most obvious examples, but the list is long. See Dkosopedia "Republican Sex Scandals" here: http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex_Scandals
It already made the front page of the online edition of the NYTimes. From the UK Telegraph article:
"Making false accusations of rape or molestation is a criminal offence punishable by jail in Sweden. Some sources in the Swedish media claimed that the two women did not actually report the case to the police, but that the prosecutor had taken it up anyway. "
Nice way of bringing in the Swedish authorities to abet US DOD , while avoiding bringing charges of false accusations on anyone, should this gambit fail.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/7957665/Wikileaks-founder-Julian-Assange-facing-arrest-over-rape-claim.html
RSJ: You understand the mechanism well.
This is what happens to any pretense of an informed republic when the media is allowed to be owned by just a handful of corporations. The Fairness Doctrine is about as quaint as both The Bill of Rights & The Geneva Convention rulings.
The gods must be crying and laughing by turns as they witness the folly of the present human condition. Those most committed to peace, like Julian and the American military's version of "refuseniks," are hunted down, while the killing machine cannibalizes half of the funds that are desperately needed for those items that actually make for a secure homeland as opposed to a homeland security state! We are experiencing a comedy of errors on so vast a scale as to send reverberations throughout the entire cosmos. Maybe THAT explains the huge solar waves of late.
I never truly appreciated what the term 'mind-boggling' meant until Junior Bush took office. If it weren't actually happening and people weren't dying and damaged and suffering, it would be a black satirical farce along the lines of "Catch-22". It's like Milo Minderbinder took over America: "What's good for M & M Enterprises will be good for the country." And the politicians and pundits say this sort of thing with a straight face.
Embassy of Sweden
2900 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20007
Phone:+1-202-467 2600
Fax:+1-202-467 2699
Email Embassy:ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se
To not even honor such claims with a comment should speak volumes as to the absurdity and timing of such claims.
This is deeply disturbing. Assange should meet the authorities and face the charges. DNA testing will be required for a conviction, which would be impossible to plant should there be any subterfuge involved.
Wikileaks will continue to survive, with or without the face of Assange or the support of Swedish servers.
Notice the complaint is molestation. I am a life long feminist and fighter against rape. But your assumption that justice will be done in a case like this shows a very servile attitude towards authority (always patriarchal and male dominant). It is too fishy that at this time Assange is charged with molestation in which case DNA would prove nothing. And DNA testing can be tampered with.
In addition to being an attempt to discredit Assange, this may become a pretext for getting Assange to surface and possibly for seizing the servers. DNA would not prove consensual or non-consensual sex. It seems unlikely that someone who is almost a folk hero would have to resort to rape to have sex.
I believe that Assange should stay away from the authorities and send a lawyer to investigate the charges against him. This rape charge is very suspect, considering the context and the source.
Fortunately, there are some honest officials in Sweden. This may not get past the level of a Weekly World News story. Swedish officials could use our support in the form of letters and calls.
Bearing false witness is one of the top ten no-nos for good reason. It is a very vicious and destructive act. Anyone who does that should be held accountable under libel or slander laws.
Joe
"It seems unlikely that someone who is almost a folk hero would have to resort to rape to have sex."
Joe,
Rape has nothing to do with desire for sex or being horny - it is an act misogynistic dominance (or in the case of men in prison - just plain dominance).
SABO: This is not about rape! He's being framed! Why grant the charge credence?
WTF: DNA testing is not 100% reliable anymore because parts of a person's DNA can now be altered. We're talking the stuff of 21st century sci-fi made manifest through genetic-style intrigue. I think the Israelis came up with this technology, and I learned about it from an episode of "Law and Order." CD had a piece on it, too. Once again we see that every discovery becomes its own double-edged sword.
As you well know, Siouxrose, I am a mathematician (specializing in the wave-equation and high-energy physics) and know very little about the life sciences, so I do not question your word on this. I would suggest, however, that if the DNA sampling is handled and tested by Swedish authorities, that (assuming Swedish principles remain) they would handle it independent of any subterfuge by Wikileaks' enemies.
The Swedes are like that, and are not easily manipulated by external forces, certainly not on such short notice.
This now is all bye-the-bye, as the charges against Assange have been dropped.
Nevertheless, though a little late for 2010, I nominate Julian Assange/Wikileaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize!
WTF: My point was that DNA today is no longer a sure-fire basis for a legal argument.
As for being a mathematician, I don't keep track of posters, except the few that tailgate me, or the few that stand out on account of their luminous comments.
WTF sez: "... I nominate Julian Assange/Wikileaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize!"
***
I believe the name "Petraeus" has already been etched into next year's award plaque.
This is like something from a bad movie.
The Swedish police have an obligation to pursue this in the face of the accusation, so I don't blame them for this farce. I can only hope that the absurdity of the charges is as evident to *anyone* who reads about it as it is to me.
What have we (the US) come to as a country if this is what those in charge are willing to do? Was there no sense of decency, or shame, in the room when this course of action was decided? Did they grow up in the same country I did?
You do not have a "country", which is the basis of some of my previous comments.
Your so called "country" is a fake portioned out by the Doublespeak media. So are in fact all politically contrived nation states at this stage of our regressive development as a species.
The time is now, the tools are available, and the methods are well known. Those who continue to gasp and whine about the antics of our mutual enemy are wasting our time and energies that should be spent organizing locally and networking globally.
For those who intend to try to offset my statements such as those concerning the lunacy of focusing on "growing vegetables" while the entire planet is engulfed by the actions of mass murdering criminals, rest assured you won´t be taken seriously.
There are, to be sure, many avenues of approach when it comes to offseting the actions of the enemy. There is also such a thing as a sense of priorities. Such events as this small skirmish in a backwater state are commonplace and the only thing that gives them stature is the name/operations of the individual.
What about all the innocent Iraqis wasting in prisons of no name?
What about all the American "citizens" rotting in prisons of no name?
While I also am horrified, it comes as no surprise and needs action, not words.
The questions to be asked here are first, what adverse effects could Assange's activities have on Swedish governance, business, or politics, and second what power does the US (or China) have over Sweden to pull them into some kind of intrigue. This could be an opportunity for some good Swedish investigative reporter. I was once on my way to Oslo many years ago when confronted by a customs agent with a bag of white stuff supposedly hidden in the car of my train. I had long hair, a beard, and didn't smell particularly good. This guy had a badge with the word "Tull" on it, their word for customs. The guy was difinitely a tool. I got the once over and then continued on my way. Since then I avoided Sweden like the plague.
It sounds like in order to clear up his name Asssange could use the help of that popular Swedish fictional detective Kurt Wallander who was seen on PBS about a year or two ago by Kenneth Branagh.
"It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners"-Albert Camus
Or Lisbeth Salander
she's too busy tracking down zalachenko..........
Wanna bet the complainants are Israeli agents from Mossad posing as hookers in Sweden.
Another possibility is that US agents were following him every step of the way while he was in Sweden (quite likely) and approached any women he had any contact with to try to get them to make such charges.
Or even some chick in the employ of the CIA as a set-up. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
That's how they got Vanunu. It's called a honeytrap in all the best spy fiction.
Minor side story found, headline reads:
"United States wanted for rape of Congo, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Viet Nan, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, etc."
And of course additional charges to be levied will be "pillage, plunder and wholesale slaughter."
This is of course a less important story so look to the fine print for the details.
The mighty wurlitzer kicks into gear.
I totally agree.. I was raped by the US Customs just a few weeks after Bush #1's 'war on drugs' speech in 1989. Though 100% innocent, I had my car seized, everything in it, my money and credit cards, and then I was thrown in jail. Lost my job, blah blah blah.
Sounds like a set-up to me.
Wait, so the Swedish media didn't do a general press release on this issue, instead it came out via a tabloid (Swedish tabloid Expressen)??
Assange's response via Twitter: "Expressen is a tabloid; No one here has been contacted by Swedish police. Needless to say, this will prove hugely distracting.
"We were warned to expect 'dirty tricks'. Now we have the first one."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/21/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrest-warrant-sweden
As a victim of the Uinted Stazi of America 24/7 surveillance network and slander machine for 3 years and runing,,, I dont believe the charges.
They have spent millions harassing me, and all I am is a peace activist and I am broke, and all I was accused of doing is trying to date the wife of a high ranking Stazi torture prick.
I cant even imagine what they are planning to do against Julian.
Hire the best security and body guards money can buy Julian, stop talking , and release the rest of what you got.
I hope it contains documents detailing how the stazi are created and spread through America and the country's we want to control.
It is interesting to observe how useful "women" are to the United States for their particular purposes, whether "saving" the women of Afghanistan or attempting to destroy the credibility of a powerful male (e.g., clinton, Spitzer, Kerry, Gore, Assange). This is 1950s spy movie stuff. Please. Of course, the American harem must never be allowed to make independent decisions regarding their own bodies and reproductive health care. It is interesting also to observe the reaction to the Burka, for example. I would argue that "the West" is no less sexually obsessed with women than Islam, but Islam has the audacity to allow women to hide from male eyes, while Western men insist that women must be exposed.
True nellemason. Saving the flower of [white, US, Afghan, upperclass...] womanhood has always been part of the hypocritical playbook of dominant males. And the most right wing males get a pass and seem immune to accountability when they engage in non-sanctioned behavior, especially with lower status women. It is "The Handmaiden's Tale" or the "Cairo Trilogy" or "The Scarlet Letter" come to life.
Joe
Right wing females like Margaret Thatcher, Hillary, Condi Rice, Palin, Katherine Harris and countless others also get a pass and seem immune to accountability when they themselves engage in non-sanctioned behavior.
DELIA: If you are a woman, you certainly missed the part about consciousness-raising in the 70's.
I, for one, have spent a lot of time explaining a specific type of female that, much like the goddess Athena (who denies being born through a Mother, and instead asserts that she derived from the HEAD of her FATHER, Zeus) identifies with the power structure of the patriarchal world.
I always find it curious that a few women in this forum are quick to blame women, cast all women into a framework that completely misses the facts of the big picture. The logic of your post is analogous to the right wing mantra of "every man for himself," personal responsibility any and all of the time!
Just as some men find war repugnant (and overcome "their inner Mars"), some women seek naked power. The fact that a few women manage to climb to the top of the martial cuckoo's nest in no way speaks for all women; nor does it do much to address the core issues that have organized societies around largely macho expressions of power and privilege.
Your post reminds me of the few ding-dongs that always show up when the topic is rape or violence directed at women (a worldwide travesty) to argue how men experience violence, too.
Until the "playing field" is level, as per gender parity, these comparisons are ludicrous and in my view, cast suspicion upon those that make them. Do you not recognize the degree to which you are arguing for a status quo that is by design, sexist? Or is that libertarian, Ayn Rand supposition of PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY the mantra you subscribe to?
You missed my point, which was that while it's true men have done everything in the course of history to keep women uneducated, dominated and humiliated, when women do manage to get in positions of power, they become just as corrupt, ruthless and likely to commit the same war crimes.
Thatcher, Hillary, Condi Rice, Albright are a few examples. Britain committed the most heinous crimes against humanity under a woman, Queen Victoria. It's not about personal responsibility or about gender, it's about HUMAN NATURE.
And funny that you should mention a woman, Ayn Rand, as the originator of a despicable mantra I certainly do not subscribe to. So you see, women can be loathsome theorists and philosophers as well as gruesome leaders.
DELIA: I have made it my life work to broaden the equation beyond dual constructs such as male and female. The astro-logos looks at 12 universal archetypes, and that is what I lend credence to. It is the ATHENA female that tends to assume power and then act in complicity with it, that is, by embracing the tactics of patriarchy. The two most dominant male archetypes seen in America are the expressions of Mars (the warrior) and Saturn (the controlling father figure).
If you'd like to learn more about this broader way of examining human expression, I suggest either Jungian author Jean Shinoda Bolen's: "Gods in Everyman," and/or "Goddesses in Everywoman," added to my own published efforts on this subject matter.
Your world, as it would appear, is divided into rigid black-white assertions, and therefore lumps everything into categories that require broad strokes. In my view, this orthodoxy leads to gaping holes in your arguments. And you also betray your gender... and that makes me wonder if you are a female, or just poorly informed when it comes to the significant erudition of feminists like: Germaine Greer, Shulamith Firestone, Gloria Steinem, etc.
I am calling again for you to desist in your self-promotion on this website. You stated above: "added to my own published efforts on this subject matter." You are the only person on this site who's user name is the name of your enterprise and a commercial website selling "your services and books." You can eliminate this problem by posting under an anonymous name like the rest of do. You are free to push your numerology, shamanism, instant karma and various "spiritualities" as you wish; however, using CD for this purpose demeans CD and it's credibility and may be contrary to CD's terms of use. Furthermore, your use of your followers to defend you and attack people you oppose is unfair and dishonest. I suspect that you are communicating with your followers by using email found on your website. This has been confirmed with the congratulations found here for your Birthday - - who knows your Birthday? Just use another name and you can post any ridiculous thing you want.
To the contrary EKZILE, I have the courage to use my name and I contribute an incredible amount of FREE content to this site. Nor do I object to others promoting their works, or relating the work of other authors.
And this idea of followers is amusing. There are people who resonate with what I have to say; and some of them also realize, as I do, that there are a number of interlopers in the CD midst.
Your ignorance of the subject matter to which I have devoted my life and considerable time is commensurate with your closed heart. Anyone with a modicum of spiritual understanding would applaud, as opposed to tear down, the efforts of another person who held up ideals and expanded THE conversation.
And as for my "enterprise," were it not for a small inheritance, I would count my shillings under the poverty line. My work is so far ahead of its time that most agents, in a quest for what's practical or "what sells" will not touch it. That is why I have the free time to devote to this forum, because what motivates me most is a wish to spread what I know. And I know it because I have spent much of my life studying the teachings of very wise souls and enlightened mystics. I often quote them.
You, like the few detractors I must endure in these threads, are free to pass my posts right on by. You prefer instead to try to denigrate what I elect to share. You may not be physically ugly, but your spirit IS.
And by the way, more than 20 people were impressed enough with my postings (or otherwise moved by the messages) to seek me out. Some of these individuals write to me on a regular basis. Not one is a client, and I have sent out books to some of these individuals gratis. If that is your idea of promoting myself, then you are unfamiliar with a little thing called generosity.
You can solve this problem by posting under an anonymous name but since you refuse to do so I have no choice but to submit this matter to the management of CommonDreams.org. By your own admission you have people seek you out through your SiouxRose.com website - - I find this unacceptable. The content of your arrogant, egotistical, superficial, deceptive Wisdom is not an issue - - you can promote your superior attitude as you wish but it is not ethical to sell yourself, your ideas, your services and wares on this non-profit website. You are the only one who does this and it must come to an end. We will see if the management of CD has any position on this matter.
"you have people seek you out through your SiouxRose.com website"
thanks for the tip ekz!
all this time I thought the lady was using a siouxdonym.
vdb -
Very nice pun.
I too was unaware that Siouxrose had her own website in the same name until ekz stirred up this silly side issue tempest in a tea pot. What's the big deal? Many of the academics, journalists, pundits, progressive activists, bloggers, and political figures featured on Common Dreams have their own websites and publications too (Juan Cole, Arianna Huffington, Ralph Nader, Ray McGovern, Thom Hartmann, Tom Englehardt, Medea Benjamin, Dave Zirin, etc.) Occasionally, the authors apparently read the follow up comment threads, and actually post back replies to the posted comments, using their real names. How is that different from Siouxrose?
I just don't fathom the depth of ekz's outrage. I post in my real name, too. I'm certainly not a follower of Siouxrose or a disciple of all her philosophies, but I enjoy exchanging posted comments with her from time to time. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. But as a result of today's food fight, I'll probably pay a visit over to SiouxRose.com some day, just to see what all the fuss is about. I'm always more interested in the merits of the substantive commentary than trying to glean the identity behind the screen name used by a CD poster.
To shift back towards on topic, if any of you ever do happen to unfortunately be on the receiving end of a trumped up criminal charge like happened to Julian Assange was while you are here in the Great Lakes State, by all means feel free to contact my law firm for a free criminal defense consultation. Klimaszewski & Street, Attorneys at Law, 1500 East Genesee, Saginaw, Michigan 48607.
Ekz? Am I being impolitic, or breaking some unwritten internet Code of Conduct rules to say this?
Bill from Saginaw
The difference is that SiouxRose is using CD for advertising purposes. It appears that your promotion is also unethical. There are no rules on the internet but I think CD has some rules or guidelines. I don't know if you are being humourous by saying: "feel free to contact my law firm for a free criminal defense consultation" but it looks like a scam to me as SiouxRose seems like a scam to me. Her enterprise (astrology, numerology, guruism, spirituality for profit) is a scam. She is using CD for the scam. Her life is a scam.
Whoa there ekzile -- "Her life is a scam"? Just a tad harsh! How do you know that??? And who appointed you judge and jury anyway? Sioux Rose doesn't seem like a scam to me at all and I have never read any of her postings as solicitations for business. Something has pushed YOUR buttons. This is YOUR sh*t and it's stinking up the thread.
As I cited above she said: read her writings (which she sells). Using the name of a commercial, for profit website is solicitation of business. I repeat: why can't she use a different name - - what's the problem? The problem is Brand SiouxRose. Using all this pop mysticism to get followers, influence and business is a tragedy. It is no joke to destroy peoples minds with all kinds of crazy ideas, fantasies, beliefs - - and then make the sale. There are people who actually believe and follow this madness - - this includes all religions, all political ideas, all formulations of the good. I suppose there is little hope for those who are desparate for some answer, to accept some fantastical notions. The road of wishful thinking, of fantasy, of delusion leads to madness. This is what we see all around us.