WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange Arrested in London on fake Swedish Rape charge, Denied Bail

Update 12/12/2010:

The Wikileaks press conference video - that linked from a quoted article below, and that shows the two accusers - was taken down by Youtube yesterday via a copyright claim by the Swedish network where several Wikileaks videos were posted via Youtube uploads.

Here's an image of the result when you go to the link, the address of which I pasted into the Youtube search box before I took the picture - the only public record of the take down.

Quote from CounterPunch article which I quoted from below - now with dead 'video' link:
"Here is a video of an Assange press conference where one can see the girls together."

I heard somewhere this week that in Swedish law the accuser in a sexual assault case are not to be shown in the media.

While a Swedish Court has issued a warrant for Assange, his lawyers in England are arguing that he was never served with a notice to appear in a language he could understand - which they are arguing is an international human right, so the warrant is mute - that's their first line of defence as they fight the Swedish extradition.

I don't think the image of the women is important to any point I've made below.

From "MoxNews - unfair and Biased".

"Julian Assange Walked Into Police Station And Turned Himself In"


On September 14, 2010, "Counter Punch" found the connection between the spurious Swedish rape charge and the Central Intelligence Agency. It appears Anna Ardin is a state undercover operative who be-friended co-accuser, Sofia Wilen in Sweden and was able to get close to Assange in the spring of this year.

Here are three key paragraphs from the CounterPunch piece, written by Israel Shamir and Paul Bennett (links are live); read the whole thing at the link.

From Part 2: "Assange Beseiged".

For a smear that really sticks, you need to get it from an ex-apostle. An accusation by a Caiaphas does not impress. If you are targeting a leftist, hire leftists. For example, Trotskyites were willing and useful tools against the Communists. Pseudo Anti-Zionists are currently being used to hamstring a genuine Pro-Palestinian movement. Who are the Judases of this campaign against our Julian?


[...]


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. Note that Ardin was deported from Cuba for subversive activities. 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.”


[...]


 The second accuser, Sofia Wilen, 26, is Anna’ friend. Here is a video of an Assange press conference where one can see the girls together. Those present at the conference marveled at her groupie-like behavior.  Though rock stars are used to girls dying to have sex with them, it is much less common in the harsh field of political journalism. Sofia worked hard to bed Assange, according to her own confession; she was also the first to complain to police. She is little known and her motives are vague. Why might a young woman (who shares her life with American artist Seth Benson) pursue such a sordid political adventure?

Source:

CounterPunch

Part 2 - September 14, 2010:
'Making a Mockery of the Real Crime of Rape'

Assange Beseiged

(http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir09142010.html)


Part 1 - August 27-29, 2010:

Assange: The Amazing Adventures of Captain Neo in Blonde Land...

(http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir08272010.html)

December 12, 2010: 

A note about the apparent sexism, or at least bravado I'm seeing around this and other news stories in this, the era of the 'Great Warrior', - but importantly for me in the CounterPunch pieces I quoted above...

The half jocular way the original article was written - blond jokes, the cavalier Julian - like rape and rape allegations are funny, for either party - now, after the charges were finally preferred, doesn't lend credibility to the story --- but the Research - which I followed through to all the original sources - seems legitimate.

There's no accounting for sexism, but since this story is about an operative working for the CIA, and considering the timing, and that Julian Assage has no history of this - together these things destroy Anna Ardin's credibility and make irrelevant the possible gender bias of the writers or their ill advised super hero metaphor - imho.



mh