So Assange has fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, in scenes reminiscent of what happens to dissidents in truly authoritarian countries. (The parallels keep adding up don’t they).
Let’s recap. His site kept releasing classified documents, from secretive and typically nasty organizations. Too bad that some of them belonged to the Pentagon and the State Department; otherwise, no doubt Assange would still be feted as a heroic whistleblower in the West. Instead, he got an extradition request to Sweden for a rape at about the same time as Cablegate; a “rape” in which the purported victim tweeted about what a great guy he was the morning after (the tweet has since been deleted, of course). One of the supposed victims had posted online tips for girls on filing false rape reports on men who dumped them (this too has since been wiped).
Now Sweden is in Assange’s words “the Saudi Arabia of feminism” and indeed that much is undeniable to any reasonable person who doesn’t derive pleasure from slavishly kowtowing to women. See their recent attempts to ban men from pissing upright because apparently it is an assertion of patriarchy. And which other country could have produced a bestseller like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which would have instantly been condemned as misogynist claptrap had the slurs against men in it been instead been directed towards women? So even in the best possible interpretation it is Swedish feminists running amok in Europe, much like their Viking forefathers did a millennium ago. The alternative explanation is that this is politically motivated.
The balance of probabilities indicates that it probably is, with Swedish rape laws being used as a cover to repress Western dissidents. (Much like NATO uses leashed Islamist radicals to promote crusader hegemony in the Middle East). Although Sweden is considered to be a shining liberal democracy, the reality falls far short of that ideal as explained by Glenn Greenwald:
In general, small countries are more easily coerced and bullied by the U.S., and Sweden in particular has a demonstrated history of aceeding to U.S. demands when it comes to individuals accused of harming American national security. In December, 2001, Sweden handed over two asylum-seekers to the CIA, which then rendered them to be tortured in Egypt. A ruling from the U.N. Human Rights Committee found Sweden in violation of the global ban on torture for its role in that rendition (the two individuals later received a substantial settlement from the Swedish government). The fact that Sweden has unusually oppressive pre-trial procedures — allowing for extreme levels of secrecy in its judicial proceedings — only heightens Assange’s concern about what will happen to him vis-a-vis the U.S. if he ends up in Swedish custody.
These concerns are entirely rational because there has been an accumulating body of evidence indicating that the US has a sealed indictment against Assange. For instance, according to a Fred Burton (VP of Stratfor) email from this January, exposed in an Anonymous hack of the organization:
“Not for Pub – We have a sealed indictment on Assange. Pls protect.”
One can only imagine what Hillary Clinton discussed in her recent weekling visit to Sweden, the first such high-ranking American visit since 1976, to meet the Swedish neocon Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and other important Swedish functionaries.
And with only two weeks left at most since his extradition to Sweden, with all legal channels exhausted after the UK’s supreme court ruled 5-2 against his petition, it is of course understandable why Assange would want to claim political asylum in a country that is outside the Western imperial orbit (if still susceptible to its pressure). It’s basic self-preservation, not – as many blowhards argue – some perverted desire to escape “justice” for his sexual crimes.
Whither now? It is hard to tell. The US has a lot of clout and may well force Ecuador to surrender Assange to Scotland Yard. To some extent it seems like a dead end. Is it really possible for him to spent years within the Ecuadorian Embassy? The British police can’t legally enter it, but nor can Assange move anywhere, not even by helicopter or something (since that would require crossing British airspace). An “understanding” will have to be reached between Britain and Ecuador, as happened between Britain’s return of the Lockerbie Bomber to Libya in exchange for greater access to Libyan oilfields on the part of British oil corporations. Needless to say Ecuador has no such clout.
As usual, what I found most interesting was the media reaction to all this.
* The Guardian’s loathsome effort was Ecuador’s free speech record at odds with Julian Assange’s bid for openness. I.e., the Guardianista bastards pretend to give a fuck about Assange after their writers David Leigh and Luke Harding backstabbed Assange in one of the lowest ways possible, accusing Assange of revealing the passcodes to the unedited cables when it was they themselves who did it. At the same time they use the opportunity to crap all over Ecuador, only now deciding to notice some issues with freedom of speech rights even just a half year ago they’d written that Ecuador could be “the most radical and exciting place on earth”. Obviously, the Guardianista hate for Assange takes precedence over a brief fling with Ecuadorian policies on nature rights and tree-hugging.
* Western commentators are divided into two camps: One, and a majority I’d say, has swallowed the Kool Aid and rails for Assange to be arrested (even though that’s against international law), to “face the music”, to be assassinated, for Ecuador and his “buddies” in Bolivia and Venezuela to be bombed, etc. They also rant that if Assange had done this to Russia or China he’d have long since gone for an extended swim with the fishes, which they use to “prove” that Assange is an anti-Western fanatic; however, their frustration that the US doesn’t do something similar to what they imagine Russia or China would do is palpable. The other half sees it as the politically motivated issue that it almost certainly is.
* Russian commentary on this is far more cynical, even on liberal sites. About 80% believe it is politically motivated, and that the West too – like Russia – prosecutes dissent when it overreaches certain boundaries. Some even argue that it demonstrates Russia is more democratic than the West – after all, has anything happened to Navalny? Another 20% or so, that is liberals, buy wholly into the Establishment version that Assange is a sex predator who hates Western civilization and should be extradited to America ASAP. No doubt these folks are also the ones dreaming of “lustrations” once the Putin regime falls.
Assange deserves jail and torture for that lame show he did for RT.
What news programs do you watch?
He is an adversarial but polite and respectful interviewer. This is journalism as it should be in other words.
From your blog I see you suggest that he should be more vitriolic towards the USG / the “Cathedral” (what is that?). I disagree. He’d just come off as a wingnut if he followed your advice.
RT has become the most popular foreign TV channel in the US and the UK mostly because for the most part they are NOT viewed as foaming at the mouth Americanophobes. Otherwise, they’d lose credibility.
The Cathedral is a term from Mencius Moldbug, it means the liberal power structure organised around the media, the universities and the civil service.
I enjoy RT well enough, in fact it’s all the TV I watch regularly. But e.g. Max Keiser is a foaming at the mouth Americanophobe. That’s what RT does.
I didn’t want Assange to be Max Keiser, but the USG is trying to kill him, and all he can do with his time is interview the president of Tunisia about democracy? He’s had months to prepare an escape and know he depends in the noble and trustworthy government of Ecuador? Please. Assange has no time to be a respectful journalist. He’s gotta get the crap out and keep hacking. Alas he just loves TV and getting attention.
I don’t think he is an Americanophobe as Keiser worked on Wall Street and has seen what America has become a globalist banking/military oligarchy like the British Empire and I don’t think USG is trying to kill Assange if anything they have been a fantastic promoter of Wikileaks that in of itself has not revealed anything of any real significance.
Sibel Edmonds disclosures are far revealing than anything released by Wikileaks that has been totally ignored by the mass media and partial coverage in the alternative media (RT, Alex Jones, American Conservative and antiwar.com).
Even of those AC and antiwar.com focused on the nuclear smuggling ring in Turkey not the protected Islamic terrorist networks operating in the Balkans and North Caucasus that is the real 9/11 smoking gun through which the 9/11 hijackers operate, something that Mr Karlin or any other Russian commentator or blogger wont touch.
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/defense/792.pdf
(Sakka’s) story is also one of a globetrotting terrorist in an organisation that is truly multinational.
The Chechens needed trained fighters. Sakka was telephoned by Ibn al-Khattab, the late militia leader controlling the foreign fighters against the Russians. Khattab requested that Sakka’s trainees should be sent on to Afghanistan for military training because “conditions are tough”.
One of Sakka’s chief roles was to organise passports and visas for the volunteers to make their way to Afghanistan through Pakistan. His ability to keep providing high-quality forged papers made Turkey a main hub for Al-Qaeda movements, his lawyer says. The young men came to Turkey pretending to be on holiday and Sakka’s false papers allowed them to “disappear” overseas.
Turkish intelligence were aware of unusual militant Islamic activity in the Yalova mountains, where Sakka had set up his camps.
Some of Sakka’s account is corroborated by the US government’s 9/11 Commission. It found evidence that four of the hijackers – whom Sakka says he trained – had initially intended to go to Chechnya from Turkey but the border into Georgia was closed.
Sakka’s lawyer said: “Just like there is money laundering, there is also terrorist laundering and Turkey was the centre of this.”
http://911blogger.com/node/12655
Not a fan of the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo then? I liked it – it was refreshing to have Sweden portrayed as a place like any other where nasty things happend behind closed doors as opposed to oasis of civilised democracy.
As for Assange asylum bid – I was surprised (although on second thoughts I shouldn’t have been) to see scorn poured on him in buckets on twitter by various democratic journalists.
For all I know Assange might be a compleate asshole but he certainbly has some style!
Various reasons:
* Institutionalized girl with tattoos who uses Apple products is apparently a computer whizkid.
* Numerous constructions like these: “She looked like an ageing vampire — still strikingly beautiful but venomous as a snake.”
* Swedish title: “Men who hate women”. (25% of the male population are rapists apparently IIRC)
* Bizarre, totally unbelievable plot; forgettable characters; virtually all Blomkvist’s successes down to Salander’s implausible computer wizardry.
* It’s real point being leftist-liberal feminist propaganda. (Much like Crichton’s State of Fear book is a polemic for AGW-denial propaganda).
I didn’t think Julian Assange’s “The World Tomorrow” interview with Rafael Correa was that bad but what people would have seen on RT or Youtube is a half-hour truncation of a 90-minute discussion. Much of this was about the nature of Ecuador’s mainstream news media before Correa came to power, and what his government has tried to do to curb the power of the corporations and banks that Correa says own Ecuador’s print and broadcast news media, and to expand public broadcasting to allow government agencies, local councils and community groups to set up their own broadcasting media. That’s probably one reason why the Anglosphere media dislike Correa so much.
The transcript of the full Assange / Correa interview in English, literal English translation and Spanish can be accessed here: http://worldtomorrow.wikileaks.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/CORREA-FULL.pdf
I noticed in other news that Tunisia has offered asylum to Assange. Assange interviewed Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki for his series as well.
Assange isn’t the most exciting interviewer to watch and I’m sure he could have prodded some of his subjects more and not taken so much at face value. He doesn’t pretend to be a know-all, smarmy interviewer trying to trip up his subjects with questions of the “Are you still beating your wife?” type and perhaps his passive and respectful approach gets more information out of interviewees than a more adversarial style does.
I thought Julian’s interview show with RT was pretty good. He is not a polished interviewer, but he is a good listener, and he allows his guests to express their opinions. However, to continue in show business, eventually he would need to do something about his hair.
I personally liked “The Girl with Dragon Tattoo”, Anatoly, I thought you liked cyber-punk novels!
You think the girl-hacker is unrealistic? Maybe. I know a few people who can do that sort of thing, they are mostly boys, but there are some girl hackers too. Having Aspberger helps to be a good hacker. The only unrealistic part is that the girl also kicks butt physically, although she only weighs 80 pounds. (Super skinny/anorexic girl — just your type – ha!)
🙂
P.S. didn’t you read the sequel? It turns out there is a right-wing super-anti-communist group within the bowels of the Swedish government (led by a kind of a G. Gordon Liddy type) which plots against their own government and constitution, in order to protect a Soviet defector. Sounds realistic to me.
Returning to Julian: He is screwed, the Empire is out to get him, realistically he only has one option now, which is to defect to Russia.
If I was serious about the defection thing I’d have tried to liaison with the RT people sympathetic to his cause, who’d in turn get the intelligence types involved. Maybe arrange to be taken to Moscow on a private plane, etc.
Even if he gets asylum in Ecuador he is still not going to be able to leave their Embassy without getting immediately arrested. Is he planning to live the rest of his life within the confines of a small building in London?
Russian SpetsNaz need to sneak Julian out of the Ecuadorian embassy somehow, and get him out of London. I won’t tell them how to do their job. They know how to do their job. (I hope.)
P.S. Returning to “girl with dragon tattoo”, I asked some of my programmer friends (I’m a programmer too, but I don’t do hardware or network stuff, and I CERTAINLY don’t engage in hacking), and they totally concur that everything this Swedish girl does, hacker-wise, is realistic. There is no magical “Oh, I’ll just press this button and find out everything”, like on the silly TV shows. The author specifically details how she attaches a virus add-on to Internet explorer, acquires adminstrator rights on a foreign network, uses a combination of algorithms and social engineering to hack passwords, etc. It’s all pretty standard stuff for hackers.
The unrealistic part is that she somehow acquired these skills while confined in an institution and not attending computer science classes. However, the author also makes it clear that she is a member of an international elite hacker club, and they all help each other out. The other hackers do stuff like attach wireless devices to their targets’ residential phone lines, and stuff like that. It’s all described fairly realistically.
Speaking of which (off-topic, I am deeply sorry!), check out today’s Google animation, there is a tribute to Alan Turing’s 100th birthday. Alan Turing is a God to all computer scientists everywhere, and Google has a cute animation of his “Turing machine” concept, with the bilaterally moving tape. The mathematics of this silly-looking machine are the foundation of all modern digital computing.
Yalensis,
I agree with you and AK that Assange should have sought help from Russia. The British reaction would have been less harsh. That Assange has taken this move to apply for asylum with Ecuador indicates the depth of his despair on hearing that the Australian government has abandoned him after he lost his final court appeal and at this time you definitely don’t want your enemies to know how weak and vulnerable you are.
Perhaps he and Correa are counting on Bolivia, Venezuela and some other South American countries to rally to their side? Hugo Chavez has his health problems but seeing V is famous for its beauty queens, many of them prepped by plastic surgeons hired by the country’s beauty queen schools, I have an idea: V could send one of those eminent medics to London secretly and get him or her to change Assange’s face and hair (see, I fixed that problem for ya!) so that Assange can walk out of the embassy, mingle with the Knightsbridge crowds and buy some time so he can arrange to fly out of the UK forever without anyone suspecting anything.
The Guardian will have further reason to hate Assange as he will be so beautiful (like that other famous Australian guy, Andre Pejic, who also has white-blonde hair – most likely bleached, I know, but I bet few people notice) that he too can have a modelling / showbiz career. Anyone here ever looked at the photos of Guardian journos on its online home page? Assange is miles prettier than any of them so he wouldn’t need much work.
@Jennifer: Julian Assange as a Venezuelan beauty queen?? Thanks for that image — ROFLMAO!
He does have a pretty-boy face, I grant you that. That, plus the bleached-white hair makes him look like some weird vampire dreamed up in a nightmare by Andy Warhol!
To my eternal shame, I admit that, until the sex scandal broke, I always just assumed that Julian was gay. I am a big fan of his (politically), so when I heard something on the radio about a sex scandal, my heart sank, and I was muttering to myself, “please god, don’t let it turn out that he molested little boys!” Hence, I was “pleasantly” surprised to learn that he was “only” a rapist, with a preference for adult ladies of legal age… (And not even a real rapist, at that. More like a smooth-talking Australian cad.)
So yeah, let him get the sex-change operation and move to Venezuela. Any place where he can resume his show-biz career and continue his crusade against the world’s evil-doers.
Cheers!
Oooh, the sex change operation is a bit extreme. I was really only thinking about work on his face and changing the colour of his hair.
Another option for V might be to create clones of Assange and send them to all corners of the globe. The US will have its work cut out sending expensive drones and risk losing them in Iran and other places (where annoying Third World scientists and engineers can look inside them and learn all about drone technology by reverse engineering) to hunt down all the clones.
“Let’s recap. His site kept releasing classified documents, from secretive and typically nasty organizations. Too bad that some of them belonged to the Pentagon and the State Department; otherwise, no doubt Assange would still be feted as a heroic whistleblower in the West.”
Not that it did much good as he mentioned in his interview with Correa the western media outlets applied their own censorship and picked what wikileaks cables would and would not be published.
Reblogged this on NonviolentConflict.