13-12-2010, 08:37 PM (This post was last modified: 14-12-2010, 08:02 AM by Peter Lemkin.)
Assange Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group
By xxxevilgrinxxx | Published: December 6, 2010
firedoglake/Kirk James Murphy, M.D., Saturday December 4, 2010 9:20 pm
Yesterday Alexander Cockburn reminded us of the news Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett broke at Counterpunch in September. Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of which is US funded and openly supported by a former CIA agent convicted in the mass murder of seventy three Cubans on an airliner he was involved in blowing up.
Anna Ardin (the official complainant) is often described by the media as a “leftist”. She has ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups. She published her anti-Castro diatribes (see here and here) in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba. From Oslo, Professor Michael Seltzer points out that this periodical is the product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. He further notes that the group is connected with Union Liberal Cubana led by Carlos Alberto Montaner whose CIA ties were exposed here.
Quelle surprise, no? Shamir and Bennett went on to write about Ardin’s history in Cuba with a US funded group openly supported by a real terrorist: Luis Posada Carriles.
In Cuba she interacted with the feminist anti-Castro group Las damas de blanco (the Ladies in White). This group receives US government funds and the convicted anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is a friend and supporter. Wikipedia quotes Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo as saying that “the so-called Ladies in White defend the terrorism of the United States.”
Who is Luis Posada Carriles? He’s a mass murderer, and former CIA agent. . . .
Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles (born February 15, 1928) (nicknamed Bambi by some Cuban exiles)[1] is a Cuban-born Venezuelan anti-communist extremist. A former Central Intelligence Agency agent,[2] Posada has been convicted in absentia of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the Americas, including: involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed seventy-three people;[3][4] admitted involvement in a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots;[5][6][7] involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion; [and] involvement in the Iran-Contra affair…
Luis Posada Carriles is so evil that even the Bush administration wanted him behind bars:
In 2005, Posada was held by U.S. authorities in Texas on the charge of illegal presence on national territory before the charges were dismissed on May 8, 2007. On September 28, 2005 a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Posada cannot be deported, finding that he faces the threat of torture in Venezuela.[11] His release on bail on April 19, 2007 had elicited angry reactions from the Cuban and Venezuelan governments.[12] The U.S. Justice Department had urged the court to keep him in jail because he was “an admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks”, a flight risk and a danger to the community.[7]
Who is Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden? She’s a gender equity officer at Uppsula University – who chose to associate with a US funded group openly supported by a convicted terrorist and mass murderer. She just happens to have her work published by a very well funded group connected with Union Liberal Cubana – whose leader, Carlos Alberto Montaner, in turn just happened to pop up on right wing Colombian TV a few hours after the right-wing coup in Honduras. Where he joined the leader of the failed coup in Ecuador to savage Correa, the target of the coup. Montnaner also just happened to vociferously support the violent coup in Honduras, and chose to show up to sing the praises of the Honduran junta. Jean-Guy Allard, a retired Canadian journalist who now writes for Cuba’s Gramma, captured the moment
A strange pair appeared on NTN 24, the right-wing Colombian television channel aligned to the Fox Broadcasting Company the U.S. A few hours after the coup attempt in Quito, Ecuador, CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner, a fugitive from Cuban justice for acts of terrorism, joined with one of the leaders of the failed Ecuadorian coup, ex-Lieutenant Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, to attack President Rafael Correa…
On the margin of his media news shows, Montaner’s is known for his fanatic support of the most extreme elements of the Cuban-American mafia.
Last year, in the wake of the coup d’état against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, June 28, he became an fervent supporter of the dictator Roberto Micheletti, along with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and another Cuban-American terrorist and CIA collaborator, Armando Valladares.
Montaner showed up repeatedly in Tegucigalpa to “defend human rights,” and at the same time to applaud the fascist Honduran regime when it unleashed its police on demonstrations by the National Resistance Front.
Oh…and the “rape” charge that’s smeared Julian Assange’s name around the world? On Thursday James D. Catlin, the Melbourne barrister who represented Assange in London, wrote:
Apparently having consensual sex in Sweden without a condom is punishable by a term of imprisonment of a minimum of two years for rape. That is the basis for a reinstitution of rape charges against WikiLeaks figurehead Julian Assange that is destined to make Sweden and its justice system the laughing stock of the world and dramatically damage its reputation as a model of modernity.
Sweden’s Public Prosecutor’s Office was embarrassed in August this year when it leaked to the media that it was seeking to arrest Assange for rape, then on the same day withdrew the arrest warrant because in its own words there was “no evidence”. The damage to Assange’s reputation is incalculable. More than three quarters of internet references to his name refer to rape. Now, three months on and three prosecutors later, the Swedes seem to be clear on their basis to proceed. Consensual sex that started out with a condom ended up without one, ergo, the sex was not consensual.
I’ve spent much of my professional life as a psychiatrist helping women (and men) who are survivors of sexual violence. Rape is a hideous crime. Yet in Assange’s case his alleged victim – the gender equity officer at Uppsala University – chose to throw a party for her alleged assailant – after they’d had the sex that even Swedish prosecutors concede was consensual. Barrister Caitlin again:
[The] phenomena of social networking through the internet and mobile phones constrains Swedish authorities from augmenting the evidence against Assange because it would look even less credible in the face of tweets by Anna Ardin and SMS texts by Sofia Wilén boasting of their respective conquests after the “crimes”.
In the case of Ardin it is clear that she has thrown a party in Assange’s honour at her flat after the “crime” and tweeted to her followers that she is with the “the world’s coolest smartest people, it’s amazing!”. Go on the internet and see for yourself. That Ardin has sought unsuccessfully to delete these exculpatory tweets from the public record should be a matter of grave concern. That she has published on the internet a guide on how to get revenge on cheating boyfriends ever graver. The exact content of Wilén’s mobile phone texts is not yet known but their bragging and exculpatory character has been confirmed by Swedish prosecutors. Neither Wilén’s nor Ardin’s texts complain of rape.
Small world, isn’t it? Julian Assange is the human face of Wikileaks – the organization that’s enabled whistle-blowers to reveal hideous war crimes and expose much of America’s foreign policy to the world.
He just happens to meet a Swedish woman who just happens to have been publishing her work in a well-funded anti-Castro group that just happens to have links with a group led by a man at least one journalist describes as an agent of the CIA: the violent secret arm of America’s foreign policy.
And she just happens to have been expelled from Cuba, which just happens to be the global symbol of successful defiance of American foreign policy.
And – despite her work in Sweden upholding the human right of gender equity – in Cuba she just happens to end up associating with a group openly supported by an admitted CIA agent who himself committed mass murder when he actively participated in the terrorist bombing of a jetliner carrying a Cuban sports team…an act that was of a piece with America’s secret foreign policy of violent attacks against Cuban state interests.
And now she just happens – after admittedly consensual sex – to have gone to Swedish authorities to report the sex ended without a condom…which just happens to be the pretext for Interpol to issue a “Red Notice” informing the world’s police forces of charges against Julian Assange.
Who just happens to be the man America’s political class – the people who run America’s foreign policy – have been trying to silence. And who happens to be the man some of them have been calling to have murdered.
With a lust for vengeance like that, one could be forgiven for concluding they’ve just happened to have taken a page from Anna’s revenge manual.
- The news is always stranger than the best fiction lately!mokin:
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Assange's lawyers are saying he has been treated unfairly because the same judge that denied him bail did give bail to a British man wanted for extradition on much more serious offense of conspiracy to murder. They are tossing up whether to bring in his Swedish lawyer to address the extradition hearing.
Quote:Julian Assange's team is planning to fly in Swedish lawyer
JULIAN Assange's legal team is considering flying his Swedish lawyer to London in an unusual bid to convince a British extradition hearing early tomorrow (AEDT) that the sex allegations against him in Sweden are flimsy.
The Swedish lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, says he has police documents from Stockholm that show there is little substance to the claims the internet activist has committed four sexual offences against two women in the country.
The tactic of flying in a foreign lawyer to discuss the Swedish case came amid complaints by Mr Assange's advisers that he had been treated unfairly because the judge who denied him bail last week granted bail the next day to a British man facing extradition on the much more serious charge of conspiracy to murder.
Evidence about foreign cases such as the Swedish sex allegations is not usually heard in extradition hearings based on European arrest warrants, such as the one that led to Mr Assange's arrest in London last week.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
But Mr Hurtig claims that the two women's police interviews in Stockholm show they were motivated by jealousy and disappointment after they compared notes and discovered they had each had sex with the 39-year-old Australian more than once within the same four-day period.
Such evidence would be unlikely to stop Mr Assange being extradited from Britain to face trial in Sweden, but it could increase his chances of being released on bail while contesting the extradition, which could take more than a year if he pursues various avenues of appeal.
With Mr Assange's WikiLeaks website still busy publishing leaked US diplomatic cables, the website team is desperate to win his freedom so he can help to continue the publications and respond to criticism from the US government and many of its allies around the world, including Julia Gillard.
Lawyer Jennifer Robinson told The Australian yesterday the Assange legal team was weighing up whether it should produce Mr Hurtig and his evidence when a British judge holds an extradition hearing at 1am (AEDT) tomorrow.
Read more about Assange team prepares to fly in Swedish lawyer at The Australian.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
14-12-2010, 07:41 AM (This post was last modified: 14-12-2010, 07:54 AM by Peter Lemkin.)
Magda Hassan Wrote:Assange's lawyers are saying he has been treated unfairly because the same judge that denied him bail did give bail to a British man wanted for extradition on much more serious offense of conspiracy to murder. They are tossing up whether to bring in his Swedish lawyer to address the extradition hearing.
No politics at play here.....:banghead: :tee: :joyman: only judicial impartiality..... :dancing2: [ unless making love to two seductresses in overlapping days is a crime greater than conspiracy to murder - the world has gone mad and this Judge should be exposed for what he is!!!! ]:flowers:
I hadn't figured-in the fact that a prolonged extradition battle could take a year.....i.e. the Swedes and the USA will have a long wait, at best and lots of leaks leaking in a year.
What is worrying now, is the imminent attempt to shut-down all sites on the internet not to the favor of TPTB. That is really going to be the battle royal!!! Fasten your server's seatbelts!
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
14-12-2010, 08:08 AM (This post was last modified: 14-12-2010, 08:28 AM by Peter Lemkin.)
:heeeelllllooooo: Anna Ardin was the center of headlines once again since she alleged rape allegations of Wikileaks founder Assange. Anna Ardin is the political secretary and press officer of the Swedish "Brotherhood Movement," a group of Christians from the Social Democratic Party controversial for inviting anti-Semitic speakers to the country.
If you want to know more about Anna Ardin, she has social media profile. Anna Ardin frequently tweets on her Twitter. She has also set up a Facebook “tribute” page to herself called “Anna Ardin är coolast i stan (Translation: Anna Ardin is the coolest in town/Anna Ardin as role model”). The profile description reads: “Ardin is a political scientist, communicator, entrepreneur and freelance writer with profound knowledge in faith & politics, equality, feminism and Latin America. She specializes in combining politics with humor and wits. We likes.”
Anna Ardin wrote on her blog about 7 steps how to take legal revenge and punish a cheating lover. Since the incident, some of her blogs were deleted but this article was reposted in the source blogger nicholasmead.com. The original text for each step is in Swedish with the English translation in bold:
7 Steps to Legal Revenge
January 19, 2010
I’ve been thinking about some revenge over the last few days and came across a very good side who inspired me to this seven-point revenge instruction in Swedish.
Steg 1 / Step 1
Tänk igenom väldigt noga om du verkligen ska hämnas. Consider very carefully if you really must take revenge. Det är nästan alltid bättre att förlåta än att hämnas
It is almost always better to forgive than to avenge
Steg 2 / Step 2
Tänk igenom varför du ska hämnas. Think about why you want revenge. Du behöver alltså inte bara vara på det klara med vem du ska hämnas på utan också varför. Hämnd ska aldrig riktas mot bara en person, utan även möta en viss handling.
You need to be clear about who to take revenge on, as well as why. Revenge is never directed against only one person, but also the actions of the person.
Steg 3 / Step 3
Proportionalitetsprincipen.
The principle of proportionality.
Kom ihåg att hämnden inte bara ska matcha dådet i storlek utan även i art.
Remember that revenge will not only match the deed in size but also in nature.
En bra hämnd är kopplad till det som gjorts mot dig.
A good revenge is linked to what has been done against you.
Om du till exempel vill hämnas på någon som varit otrogen eller som dumpat dig, så bör straffet ha något med dejting/sex/trohet att göra.
For example if you want revenge on someone who cheated or who dumped you, you should use a punishment with dating/sex/fidelity involved.
Steg 4 / Step 4
Gör en brainstorm kring lämpliga åtgärder för kategorin av hämnd du är ute efter. För att fortsätta exemplet ovan så kan du paja ditt offers nuvarande relation, fixa så att dennes nye partner är otrogen eller se till att han får en galning efter sig.
Do a brainstorm of appropriate measures for the category of revenge you’re after. To continue the example above, you can sabotage your victim’s current relationship, such as getting his new partner to be unfaithful or ensure that he gets a madman after him.
Använd din fantasi!
Use your imagination!
Steg 5 / Step 5
Tänk ut hur du kan hämnas systematiskt.
Figure out how you can systematically take revenge.
Kanske kan en serie brev och foton som får den nya att tro att ni ännu ses bättre än bara en stor lögn vid ett enstaka tillfälle?
Send your victim a series of letters and photographs that make your victim’s new partner believe that you are still together which is better than to tell just one big lie on one single occasion
Steg 6 / Step 6
Ranka dina systematiska hämndscheman från låg till hög i termer av troligt lyckat genomförande, krävd insats från dig samt grad av tillfredsställelse om du lyckas.
Rank your systematic revenge schemes from low to high in terms of likely success, required input from you, and degree of satisfaction when you succeed.
Den ideala hämnden ligger givetvis så högt som möjligt i dessa staplar, men ofta kan en ökad insats av arbete och kapital ge säkrare output för de andra två, egentligen viktigare parametrarna.
The ideal, of course, is a revenge as strong as possible but this requires a lot of hard work and effort for it to turn out exactly as you want it to.
Step 7 / Step 7
Skrid till verket. Get to work. Och kom ihåg vilket ditt mål är medan du opererar, se till att ditt offer får lida på samma sätt som han fick dig att lida.
And remember what your goals are while you are operating, ensure that your victim will suffer the same way as he made you suffer.
------------------------------
While apparently hiding out now in the Middle East, I predict this pretty evil young thing will have an easy time being famous and making money off of 'all this'.....even a lucrative book contract, if not a movie contract et al.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
THE Sunshine Coast mother of jailed WikiLeaks mastermind Julian Assange has just one mission in mind: to hug her son.
Christine Assange, who has never before left her home in Australia, has landed in London to visit her son in jail.
She told the Sunshine Coast Daily that she needed to see her son and know he was well.
After a 24-hour flight to London, Mrs Assange was exhausted but not distressed.
If she was nervous it did not show as she pulled the hood of a black jumper over her head and walked out of the airport into the 4C winter night.
“I came here to be with my son. I want to see him, I want to see how he is,” she said.
Mrs Assange said the Australian government needed to do more to help her son.
“There’s Julia Gillard opening for Oprah … and my Julian is sitting here in prison,” she said.
“Is it more important to suck up to the Yanks than to look after your own people?”
Mr Assange is being held in an isolated cell at Wandsworth Prison ahead of his court appearance today.
He faces allegations of sexual assault on two women in Sweden.
Supporters of WikiLeaks have accused authorities of acting on political pressure to silence Mr Assange and the whistleblower website, which has started leaking more than 250,000 confidential US government cables.
Mr Assange will apply for bail as prosecutors push to extradite him to Sweden.
His mum said her son had a strong will but would be struggling while being held in a jail cell.
“It would be depressing for him. He likes his freedom and wide open spaces,” she said.
“He’s now in a cramped, cold, forbidding place.”
Mrs Assange said she was angry with Prime Minister Julia Gillard for suggesting her son was a criminal.
The Daily revealed on Sunday that Mr Assange had demanded Ms Gillard stop implying his guilt for fears it would encourage his assassination.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has defended Mr Assange’s legal rights.
Mr Rudd emphasised that it was his decision as to whether Mr Assange’s passport would be revoked or not.
He said that decision would be made on advice from the Australian Federal Police and other authorities.
At the weekend, Mr Rudd said he had received no such advice.
Mrs Assange said she believed there was political pressure on Swedish authorities to charge her son.
“This hearing is a forerunner for the US to extradite him. If the US get their hands on him he will be jailed forever or he will be killed … that’s how serious this is,” she said.
Mrs Assange does not believe the sexual allegations against her son are true.
“The only reason it’s happening is because it’s Julian from WikiLeaks,” she said.
————————————————————————————————
exclusive: Assange releases statement from jail
Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has spoken out for the first time from his London jail cell, saying his determination has not been affected by his incarceration.
In a world exclusive statement provided to reporter Mike Duffy, Mr Assange said the charges have only increased his purpose.
7News reports the mother of the WikiLeaks mastermind, Christine, has flown to London to be near her son, who is in solitary confinement inside Wandsworth Prison while he awaits an extradition hearing on Tuesday tonight.
“I told him how people from all over the world were standing up with placards and screaming out for his freedom and justice, and he was very heartened by that,” she said.
In a ten-minute telephone conversation from inside the prison, 7News reports Christine asked the chief of one of the most controversial websites ever created “was it worth it?”
In a written statement, Mr Assange responded: “My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed. This circumstance shall not shake them.
“If anything this process has increased my determination that they are true and correct.”
American and other authorities have cracked down on WikiLeaks and Mr Assange since the site started publishing thousands of confidential US diplomatic cables that have embarrassed the United States and other parties around the world.
Despite this, Mr Assange’s biggest blast was saved for the world’s major finance companies who suspended payments to the not-for-profit site.
“We now know that Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and others are instruments of US foreign policy,” he said.
“It’s not something we knew before.
“I am calling for the world to protect my work and my people from these illegal and immoral attacks.”
39-year-old Mr Assange, who created WikiLeaks in 2006, is in police custody in Britain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Sweden, which wants to question him about allegations of sexual crimes. He denies the allegations and will fight extradition.
He is also facing possible charges in the US over the embarrassing publication of the confidential cables, with Mr Assange’s British lawyer, Mark Stephens, claiming a secret US grand jury has been set up to work on charges that could be filed against the WikiLeaks founder in relation to the leaks.
Mr Assange’s mother Christine told 7News her support lies wholly behind her son and his cause.
“As a mother, I’m asking the world to stand up for my brave son.”
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe told a U.S. diplomatic mission that the threat posed by his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in Latin America was comparable to that of Hitler in Europe in the 1930s, leaked diplomatic cables released Friday showed.
In the cable, dated December 6, 2007, Uribe explained to a delegation of U.S. congressmen why he had suspended Chavez and then-Senator Piedad Cordoba as mediators to seek the release of hostages held by the FARC.
Uribe said Chavez was trying to create a "personal empire," and had
expansionist plans in the region for his model of "new socialism."
Chavez' model violated democratic values such as freedom of the press,
local elections, and independence of the Central Bank. He likened the
threat Chavez poses to Latin America to that posed by Hitler in Europe.
In a cable sent from Bogota a month and a half later, then-Ambassador William Brownfield wrote that Uribe feared that Chavez could use Colombian guerrilla groups as "a militia inside Colombia to combat its democratic government."
Asked by the Chairman how much help Chavez gave the FARC, Uribe replied
that Chavez has a five to seven year plan to advance his Bolivarian
agenda in Colombia. He has created popular militias inside Venezuela
(apart from the Armed Forces) to sustain his revolution. The GOC
believes Chavez thinks he could use the FARC as his militia inside
Colombia to combat its democratic government. Chavez remains committed
to bring down both Uribe and his government, as the primary obstacles to
his Bolivarian expansionist dreams. With no clear Colombian presidential
successor, a well financed candidate favoring Chavez might find space in
2010. The best counter to Chavez, in Uribe's view, remains action --
including use of the military.
The right-wing Uribe and leftist Chavez clashed frequently during the administrations of the Colombian President between 2002 and 2010. Venezuela broke all diplomatic relations with its neighbors weeks before Uribe left office, after the Colombian government accused Venezuela of harboring terrorists.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
14-12-2010, 04:26 PM (This post was last modified: 14-12-2010, 05:40 PM by Peter Lemkin.)
Bail was just granted Assange less than a few minutes ago. Micheal Moore and many others posted bond. There are [as yet unknown] conditions on his bail. Next hearing January 11th. He's out...or will be walking out with his mother and lawyers shortly! :rock: :rock:
There is very worrying word that there is some evidence Manning is being tortured. a somewhat cryptic tweet from Glenn Greenwald states “A major story brewing is the cruel, inhumane treatment - torture - to which Bradley Manning is being subjected:
Breaking...he might have to stay in jail another 48 hours. Sweden has two hours to file an appeal...go figure....conditions are a radio beacon ankle bracelet and surrender of his passport - plus home by 22:00 PM - so only daytime sex.
Sweden to appeal lack of bail...how nice of you Sweden - you haven't even filed charges against him, dropped the charges before, and gave him permission to leave and have refused to interview him at your U.K embassy via video-link. Sweden is really loosing prestige in this whole matter......and will be known as a land where a broken condom during consentual sex can land one in peril of the American Prison Gulag and torture/death. I lived in Sverige many years and know it well. I know only one member here is Svensk, but I appeal to Sverige [the political entity] to wake up and realize the damage this is doing to your prestige worldwide. You can get your fucking information about Assange's fucking via internet. Any claims this is not political, but due to Sverige's stringent laws to protect women are now lost to all......the recent explosion in Sverige, IMO, is part of the psyops being done by someone to force Sverige to extradite Assange to the USA, when that comes. Shame on Sverige!!!!! :vroam:
------------------------------------- Michael Moore offers his servers to host Wikileaks docs, posts $20,000 bail
If Amazon.com won't host leaked diplomatic cables posted by the website WikiLeaks, Michael Moore will.
The liberal filmmaker and author announced in a web posting Tuesday that he had donated $20,000 to the cause of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' embattled chief who is being held in the United Kingdom on sexual offense charges and is seeking to be released on bail.
"I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies," Moore wrote in a web posting Tuesday.
"Some aren't just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities -- and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the "authorities" -- that a crime has been committed?" he added. "Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism.
Assange should be lauded and not maligned, the filmmaker argues.
"He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed," he writes. "It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time -- and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude."
Moore points to incidents in recent US history where he feels WikiLeaks could have made a significant difference. For example, he mentions an August 2001 briefing document provided to President George W. Bush whose heading read, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US."
WikiLeaks deserves our thanks for shining a huge spotlight on all this. But some in the corporate-owned press have dismissed the importance of WikiLeaks ("they've released little that's new!") or have painted them as simple anarchists ("WikiLeaks just releases everything without any editorial control!"). WikiLeaks exists, in part, because the mainstream media has failed to live up to its responsibility. The corporate owners have decimated newsrooms, making it impossible for good journalists to do their job. There's no time or money anymore for investigative journalism. Simply put, investors don't want those stories exposed. They like their secrets kept ... as secrets.
I ask you to imagine how much different our world would be if WikiLeaks had existed 10 years ago. Take a look at this photo. That's Mr. Bush about to be handed a "secret" document on August 6th, 2001. Its heading read: "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." And on those pages it said the FBI had discovered "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings." Mr. Bush decided to ignore it and went fishing for the next four weeks.
But if that document had been leaked, how would you or I have reacted? What would Congress or the FAA have done? Was there not a greater chance that someone, somewhere would have done something if all of us knew about bin Laden's impending attack using hijacked planes?
But back then only a few people had access to that document. Because the secret was kept, a flight school instructor in San Diego who noticed that two Saudi students took no interest in takeoffs or landings, did nothing. Had he read about the bin Laden threat in the paper, might he have called the FBI? (Please read this essay by former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley, Time's 2002 co-Person of the Year, about her belief that had WikiLeaks been around in 2001, 9/11 might have been prevented.)
Or what if the public in 2003 had been able to read "secret" memos from Dick Cheney as he pressured the CIA to give him the "facts" he wanted in order to build his false case for war? If a WikiLeaks had revealed at that time that there were, in fact, no weapons of mass destruction, do you think that the war would have been launched -- or rather, wouldn't there have been calls for Cheney's arrest?
The magazine Foreign Policy, writing on their blog, mocked Moore's contribution to the WikiLeaks cause.
"Oh, goody," wrote the magazine's blogger Blake Hounshell. "Perhaps upset that his last film, Capitalism, was a dud and he hasn't been in the news for a while, filmmaker Michael Moore is now offering to post bail for WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange, who is currently languishing in a British prison while the Brits work out his extradition to Sweden, where he's wanted for questioning."
The following statement was entered by Moore into the London court on Tuesday, in connection with his decision to help post Assange's bail.
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL MOORE
Aged: Over 18
Occupation: FILM MAKER AND AUTHOR
________________________________________
This statement (consisting of 2 pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.
I, MICHAEL MOORE, care of Finers Stephens Innocent, 179 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 5LS make this statement and say as follows:
1. I am a filmmaker, author and political commentator and I produce as my exhibit [MM/1] evidence of my identity in the form of a photocopy of my passport/driving licence. I am an American citizen.
2. I am aware of the various allegations Julian Assange faces in Sweden. I am willing to act as security for Julian in the sum of twenty thousand dollars USD$20,000.
3. I am the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story, four of the top nine highest-grossing documentaries of all time. In September 2008, I released my first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting my personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections. These experiences underpinned my conviction that it is the duty of a free press to probe, and hold government and the powerful to account – and that citizens must be properly informed and have access to information in order to exercise their democratic rights.
4. Governments have always been discomfited by a probing press. With the hollowing out of newsrooms, in large part as a consequence of the new digital world, old media have largely abandoned the territory of investigative journalism.
5. I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies. Some aren't just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities -- and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the "authorities" -- that a crime has been committed? Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism. He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed. It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time -- and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.:driver:
6. I believe that Julian takes pride in his reputation and as any journalist would understands that if he were to abscond he would ruin his reputation in the media and journalism industries.
7. I regret that I am out of the country and therefore I am unable to attend court and explain in person that I expect Julian to observe his bail conditions. I am offering to stand and provide security for him abiding by his bail conditions to the value of USD$20,000.
8. I understand that by acting as security for Julian I risk forfeiture of the aforementioned sum to the crown if he breaches his bail conditions by absconding or by not attending Court as and when required.
9. The money which I will pay to the Court, to be held as security, is my own. As I am abroad I am unable to produce any statement as evidence of these funds. However I have already transferred the sum of USD$20,000 into the client account of FSI.
10. I have not been indemnified against the loss of this money in the event of Julian breaching his bail conditions, and understand that if I were to be so indemnified it would amount to a separate criminal offence for which I could be imprisoned.
11. I have been advised by Julian’s solicitors that it would be prudent to obtain independent legal advice in relation to my liabilities as security.
12. I have no previous convictions.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Is it only me that notices and is alarmed by the warp-speed acceleration of events and news. What used to transpire in a week or month, now changes [often many times in different directions] in a few hours. This is certainly due to the internet, but, IMO, also due to an increased intensity of the neo-fascist element s in the World to consolidate their power very soon....very soon....:thumpdown:
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
14-12-2010, 06:09 PM (This post was last modified: 14-12-2010, 07:29 PM by Peter Lemkin.)
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Bail was just granted Assange less than a few minutes ago. Micheal Moore and many others posted bond. There are [as yet unknown] conditions on his bail. Next hearing January 11th. He's out...or will be walking out with his mother and lawyers shortly! :rock: :rock:
There is very worrying word that there is some evidence Manning is being tortured. a somewhat cryptic tweet from Glenn Greenwald states “A major story brewing is the cruel, inhumane treatment - torture - to which Bradley Manning is being subjected:
Breaking...he might have to stay in jail another 48 hours. Sweden has two hours to file an appeal...go figure....conditions are a radio beacon ankle bracelet and surrender of his passport - plus home by 22:00 PM - so only daytime sex.
Sweden to appeal lack of bail...how nice of you Sweden - you haven't even filed charges against him, dropped the charges before, and gave him permission to leave and have refused to interview him at your U.K embassy via video-link. Sweden is really loosing prestige in this whole matter......and will be known as a land where a broken condom during consentual sex can land one in peril of the American Prison Gulag and torture/death. I lived in Sverige many years and know it well. I know only one member here is Svensk, but I appeal to Sverige [the political entity] to wake up and realize the damage this is doing to your prestige worldwide. You can get your fucking information about Assange's fucking via internet. Any claims this is not political, but due to Sverige's stringent laws to protect women are now lost to all......the recent explosion in Sverige, IMO, is part of the psyops being done by someone to force Sverige to extradite Assange to the USA, when that comes. Shame on Sverige!!!!! :vroam:
------------------------------------- Michael Moore offers his servers to host Wikileaks docs, posts $20,000 bail
If Amazon.com won't host leaked diplomatic cables posted by the website WikiLeaks, Michael Moore will.
The liberal filmmaker and author announced in a web posting Tuesday that he had donated $20,000 to the cause of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' embattled chief who is being held in the United Kingdom on sexual offense charges and is seeking to be released on bail.
"I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies," Moore wrote in a web posting Tuesday.
"Some aren't just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities -- and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the "authorities" -- that a crime has been committed?" he added. "Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism.
Assange should be lauded and not maligned, the filmmaker argues.
"He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed," he writes. "It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time -- and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude."
Moore points to incidents in recent US history where he feels WikiLeaks could have made a significant difference. For example, he mentions an August 2001 briefing document provided to President George W. Bush whose heading read, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US."
WikiLeaks deserves our thanks for shining a huge spotlight on all this. But some in the corporate-owned press have dismissed the importance of WikiLeaks ("they've released little that's new!") or have painted them as simple anarchists ("WikiLeaks just releases everything without any editorial control!"). WikiLeaks exists, in part, because the mainstream media has failed to live up to its responsibility. The corporate owners have decimated newsrooms, making it impossible for good journalists to do their job. There's no time or money anymore for investigative journalism. Simply put, investors don't want those stories exposed. They like their secrets kept ... as secrets.
I ask you to imagine how much different our world would be if WikiLeaks had existed 10 years ago. Take a look at this photo. That's Mr. Bush about to be handed a "secret" document on August 6th, 2001. Its heading read: "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." And on those pages it said the FBI had discovered "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings." Mr. Bush decided to ignore it and went fishing for the next four weeks.
But if that document had been leaked, how would you or I have reacted? What would Congress or the FAA have done? Was there not a greater chance that someone, somewhere would have done something if all of us knew about bin Laden's impending attack using hijacked planes?
But back then only a few people had access to that document. Because the secret was kept, a flight school instructor in San Diego who noticed that two Saudi students took no interest in takeoffs or landings, did nothing. Had he read about the bin Laden threat in the paper, might he have called the FBI? (Please read this essay by former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley, Time's 2002 co-Person of the Year, about her belief that had WikiLeaks been around in 2001, 9/11 might have been prevented.)
Or what if the public in 2003 had been able to read "secret" memos from Dick Cheney as he pressured the CIA to give him the "facts" he wanted in order to build his false case for war? If a WikiLeaks had revealed at that time that there were, in fact, no weapons of mass destruction, do you think that the war would have been launched -- or rather, wouldn't there have been calls for Cheney's arrest?
The magazine Foreign Policy, writing on their blog, mocked Moore's contribution to the WikiLeaks cause.
"Oh, goody," wrote the magazine's blogger Blake Hounshell. "Perhaps upset that his last film, Capitalism, was a dud and he hasn't been in the news for a while, filmmaker Michael Moore is now offering to post bail for WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange, who is currently languishing in a British prison while the Brits work out his extradition to Sweden, where he's wanted for questioning."
The following statement was entered by Moore into the London court on Tuesday, in connection with his decision to help post Assange's bail.
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL MOORE
Aged: Over 18
Occupation: FILM MAKER AND AUTHOR
________________________________________
This statement (consisting of 2 pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.
I, MICHAEL MOORE, care of Finers Stephens Innocent, 179 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 5LS make this statement and say as follows:
1. I am a filmmaker, author and political commentator and I produce as my exhibit [MM/1] evidence of my identity in the form of a photocopy of my passport/driving licence. I am an American citizen.
2. I am aware of the various allegations Julian Assange faces in Sweden. I am willing to act as security for Julian in the sum of twenty thousand dollars USD$20,000.
3. I am the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story, four of the top nine highest-grossing documentaries of all time. In September 2008, I released my first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting my personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections. These experiences underpinned my conviction that it is the duty of a free press to probe, and hold government and the powerful to account – and that citizens must be properly informed and have access to information in order to exercise their democratic rights.
4. Governments have always been discomfited by a probing press. With the hollowing out of newsrooms, in large part as a consequence of the new digital world, old media have largely abandoned the territory of investigative journalism.
5. I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies. Some aren't just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities -- and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the "authorities" -- that a crime has been committed? Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism. He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed. It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time -- and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.:driver:
6. I believe that Julian takes pride in his reputation and as any journalist would understands that if he were to abscond he would ruin his reputation in the media and journalism industries.
7. I regret that I am out of the country and therefore I am unable to attend court and explain in person that I expect Julian to observe his bail conditions. I am offering to stand and provide security for him abiding by his bail conditions to the value of USD$20,000.
8. I understand that by acting as security for Julian I risk forfeiture of the aforementioned sum to the crown if he breaches his bail conditions by absconding or by not attending Court as and when required.
9. The money which I will pay to the Court, to be held as security, is my own. As I am abroad I am unable to produce any statement as evidence of these funds. However I have already transferred the sum of USD$20,000 into the client account of FSI.
10. I have not been indemnified against the loss of this money in the event of Julian breaching his bail conditions, and understand that if I were to be so indemnified it would amount to a separate criminal offence for which I could be imprisoned.
11. I have been advised by Julian’s solicitors that it would be prudent to obtain independent legal advice in relation to my liabilities as security.
12. I have no previous convictions.
Sweden will NOT challenge bail decision. So, guess Assange will be home tonight.
Jack, Yes that 'notion' of Assange about 9-11 bothers me too. What we don't know is if he is knowledgeable about the events and posing as a foil for the Big Lie, or naive. I could conceive either, but give him the benefit of the doubt at this point. I'm sure the CIA, DIA, MI5/6 and other similar slime are involved, but I'm not convinced Assange is more than a used and abused 'patsy' at this point....much like Lee/Harvey 'Oswald'.
This is a complex matter, at best, and fully being spun by the largest and most powerful intel agencies that exist. :bandit:
UPDATE II or III: Sweden [Sverige] has appealed the lack of bail, even though they have not filed charges and are making a mockery of Interpol. They must be under either heavy US pressure and/or under heavy neo-fascist Swedish pressure [small difference, only passport, IMO]/ So, Assange must stay again in solitary at least 48 hours to fight once again for his freedom. If granted, he has been invited and accepted to stay in one of the largest mansion in the UK......I don't know who owns it, but it won't be secret long.
It was announced that bail would be granted under the following conditions:
Surety in the amount of £ 240,000 or €284,444 must be posted.
Assange must abide by a standing Curfew from 10am-2pm and 10pm-2am.
Assange must register at the local police station, daily by 6pm.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
14-12-2010, 06:15 PM (This post was last modified: 14-12-2010, 06:45 PM by Peter Lemkin.)
The U.K. [United Kondom] will allow Assange to go free when it get 240.000 pounds bail [total]!....so keep this in mind next time you 'two-time' or break a condom!....it could be a very expensive enterprise, not equal to the orgasms.:motz:
According to the BBC, Assange was granted bail with the condition of providing cash guarantees of 240,000 British pounds (about $378,840.00). The money was paid by a group of celebrities, although Bianca Jagger, who was in the courtroom, denied having contributed any funds, according to the Daily Mail. American filmmaker Michael Moore said that he had contributed $20,000 to a fund for Assange's bail.:bandit:
Guiness Book Of World Records for most expensive broken condom>!>>!>!>!>?????????
---------------------------------
How do I know that Interpol, Britain and Sweden's treatment of Julian Assange is a form of theater? Because I know what happens in rape accusations against men that don't involve the embarrassing of powerful governments.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is in solitary confinement in Wandsworth prison in advance of questioning on state charges of sexual molestation. Lots of people have opinions about the charges. But I increasingly believe that only those of us who have spent years working with rape and sexual assault survivors worldwide, and know the standard legal response to sex crime accusations, fully understand what a travesty this situation is against those who have to live through how sex crime charges are ordinarily handled -- and what a deep, even nauseating insult this situation is to survivors of rape and sexual assault worldwide.
Here is what I mean: men are pretty much never treated the way Assange is being treated in the face of sex crime charges.
I started working as a counselor in a UK center for victims of sexual assault in my mid-twenties. I also worked as a counselor in a battered women's shelter in the US, where sexual violence was often part of the pattern of abuse. I have since spent two decades traveling the world reporting on and interviewing survivors of sexual assault, and their advocates, in countries as diverse as Sierra Leone and Morocco, Norway and Holland, Israel and Jordan and the Occupied Territories, Bosnia and Croatia, Britain, Ireland and the united States.
I tell you this as a recorder of firsthand accounts. Tens of thousand of teenage girls were kidnapped at gunpoint and held as sex slaves in Sierra Leone during that country's civil war. They were tied to trees and to stakes in the ground and raped by dozens of soldiers at a time. Many of them were as young as twelve or thirteen. Their rapists are free.
I met a fifteen-year-old girl who risked her life to escape from her captor in the middle of the night, taking the baby that resulted from her rape by hundreds of men. She walked from Liberia to a refugee camp in Sierra Leone, barefoot and bleeding, living on roots in the bush. Her rapist, whose name she knows, is free.
Generals at every level instigated this country-wide sexual assault of a generation of girls. Their names are known. They are free. In Sierra Leone and Congo, rapists often used blunt or sharp objects to penetrate the vagina. Vaginal tears and injuries, called vaginal fistulas, are rampant, as any health worker in that region can attest, but medical care is often unavailable. So women who have been raped in this way often suffer from foul-smelling constant discharges from infections that could be treated with a low-cost antibiotic -- were one available. Because of their injuries, they are shunned by their communities and rejected by their husbands. Their rapists are free.
Women -- and girls -- are drugged, kidnapped and trafficked by the tens of thousands for the sex industry in Thailand and across Eastern Europe. They are held as virtual prisoners by pimps. If you interview the women who spend their lives trying to rescue and rehabilitate them, they attest to the fact that these women's kidnappers and rapists are well known to local and even national authorities -- but these men never face charges. These rapists are free.
In the Bosnian conflict, rape was a weapon of war. Women were imprisoned in barracks utilized for this purpose, and raped, again at gunpoint, for weeks at a time. They could not escape. Minimalist hearings after the conflict resulted in slap-on-the-wrist sentences for a handful of perpetrators. The vast majority of rapists, whose names are known, did not face charges. The military who condoned these assaults, whose names are known, are free.
Women who testify to having been raped in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Morocco face imprisonment and beatings, and being abandoned by their families. Their rapists almost never face charges and are free. Women who testify to rape in India and Pakistan have been subjected to honor killings and acid attacks. Their rapists almost never face charges, are almost never convicted. They are free. A well-known case of a high-born playboy in India who was accused of violently raping a waitress -- who was willing to testify against him -- resulted in a cover-up at the highest levels of the police inquiry. He is free.
What about more typical cases closer to home? In the Western countries such as Britain and Sweden, who are uniting to hold Assange without bail, if you actually interviewed women working in rape crisis centers, you will hear this: it is desperately hard to get a conviction for a sex crime, or even a serious hearing. Workers in rape crisis centers in the UK and Sweden will tell you that they have deep backlogs of women raped for years by fathers or stepfathers -- who can't get justice. Women raped by groups of young men who have been drinking, and thrown out of the backs of cars, or abandoned after a gang-rape in an alley -- who can't get justice. Women raped by acquaintances who can't get a serious hearing.
In the US I have heard from dozens of young women who have been drugged and raped in college campuses across the nation. There is almost inevitably a cover-up by the university -- guaranteed if their assailants are prominent athletes on campus, or affluent -- and their rapists are free. If it gets to police inquiry, it seldom gets very far. Date rape? Forget it. If a woman has been drinking, or has previously had consensual sex with her attacker, or if their is any ambiguity about the issue of consent, she almost never gets a serious hearing or real investigation.
If the rare middle-class woman who charges rape against a stranger -- for those inevitably are the few and rare cases that the state bothers to hear -- actually gets treated seriously by the legal system, she will nonetheless find inevitable hurdles to any kind of real hearing let alone real conviction: either a 'lack of witnesses' or problems with evidence, or else a discourse that even a clear assault is racked with ambiguity. If, even more rare, a man is actually convicted -- it will almost inevitably be a minimal sentence, insulting in its triviality, because no one wants to 'ruin the life' of a man, often a young man, who has 'made a mistake'. (The few exceptions tend to regard a predictable disparity of races -- black men do get convicted for assault on higher-status white women whom they do not know.)
In other words: Never in twenty-three years of reporting on and supporting victims of sexual assault around the world have I ever heard of a case of a man sought by two nations, and held in solitary confinement without bail in advance of being questioned -- for any alleged rape, even the most brutal or easily proven. In terms of a case involving the kinds of ambiguities and complexities of the alleged victims' complaints -- sex that began consensually that allegedly became non-consensual when dispute arose around a condom -- please find me, anywhere in the world, another man in prison today without bail on charges of anything comparable.
Of course 'No means No', even after consent has been given, whether you are male or female; and of course condoms should always be used if agreed upon. As my fifteen-year-old would say: Duh.
But for all the tens of thousands of women who have been kidnapped and raped, raped at gunpoint, gang-raped, raped with sharp objects, beaten and raped, raped as children, raped by acquaintances -- who are still awaiting the least whisper of justice -- the highly unusual reaction of Sweden and Britain to this situation is a slap in the face. It seems to send the message to women in the UK and Sweden that if you ever want anyone to take sex crime against you seriously, you had better be sure the man you accuse of wrongdoing has also happened to embarrass the most powerful government on earth.
Keep Assange in prison without bail until he is questioned, by all means, if we are suddenly in a real feminist worldwide epiphany about the seriousness of the issue of sex crime: but Interpol, Britain and Sweden must, if they are not to be guilty of hateful manipulation of a serious women's issue for cynical political purposes, imprison as well -- at once -- the hundreds of thousands of men in Britain, Sweden and around the world world who are accused in far less ambiguous terms of far graver forms of assault.
Anyone who works in supporting women who have been raped knows from this grossly disproportionate response that Britain and Sweden, surely under pressure from the US, are cynically using the serious issue of rape as a fig leaf to cover the shameful issue of mafioso-like global collusion in silencing dissent. That is not the State embracing feminism. That is the State pimping feminism.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
mokin:
