So the powers that be are circling like whitetip sharks at a Sharm el-Sheikh eat-all-u-can scuba feast, and are about to round up Julian Assange (thought to be hiding out in South East England — my bet’s Brighton) on an extraordinary charge of refusing to wear a condom during consensual sex.
There must be many blokes out there shuddering at the thought of their own irresponsible sex-lives and fearing the midnight knock at the door. Wimmin, ladies, gurls, if you really care about Julian and freedom of information, go to Sweden with a sweetie, have unprotected sex and then shop your beau to the authorities, yelling, “I am Spartacus. And so is he. We shall not rubber up.” Clog up the machinery, bruthas and sistahs.
China should give the Wikileaks dissident political asylum before he is arrested on trumped-up rape charges. (More about the charming Ms Anna Ardin and her unfortunate CIA connections here and here.) So what if he stirred it up between China and its spoilt child, North Korea? Offering asylum promises a few laughs and an embarrassment of riches — or a treasure trove of embarrassment.
Amazon and PayPal have played politics with their business, dumping their client, and now the Swiss Post Office has shut down one of Julian’s bank accounts (this is Switzerland, fer cryin’ out loud) — so much for market forces. Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin calls for him to be hunted down like a bear-shoot from a helicopter, and senior Republican Mick Huckabee demands his execution. Thank heavens I don’t live in China where they shut down internet dissidents and freedom of speech.
What’s the betting that the next Bond movie has a pussy-stroking villain eerily similar to our eccentric Antipodean idealist? (That pussy will get you into trouble every time!)
Talk about breaking a butterfly on a wheel.
UPDATE Tuesday 7th Dec 2010: Julian Assange has been arrested. It’ll take a couple of days for the UK courts to decide whether or not he has a case to answer and whether he’ll be extradited. Given the pressure from the US, it’ll be a brave judge who frees him.
No condom Assange sex smear.
UPDATE 2: An interesting comment by Harpy Marx with links to some strong counterarguments, such as at Feministe.
China should nominate Assange for Nobel Peace Prize.
Anna’s food blog here:
http://annacheneats.blogspot.com/
Still better to take seriously the accusation of rape, then just tell people they are after him for leaking files we all know about anyway.
Sorry, I'm half a day late. I'd like to say that there are bigger issues here than trumped up sexual charges.
The Australian Govnt is towing the usual line. PM Gillard last week suggested rescinding his passport and and denying reentry. Shades of David Hicks's pretrial statements by PM Howard?
The Swiss? I don't know. Has the US threatened to clamp down on the slush accounts? I don't know. I'm just a pleb.
All I can say about the latest releases, a few hundred, with hundreds of thousands to come, is that the US is reacting big time. They've been workin hard. The latest seems more of an embarressment, but they're obviously worried about what's to come. (what's that tell us?).
God forbid if there was some actual security threats amongst it….. I see no real security issues other than we've had a peek behind the scenes.
My country participated in an illegal invasion. It was later before we found out that it was a done deal the year before. (despite denials during the time).
We all have a right to know what our "representatives" are embarking upon. Who dies in war? (as well as the majority civillians?)
Wikileaks released the helicopter footage of 2 Reuters staff being gunned down (with others) without provocation. Reuters had been trying for months to get this from US freedom of information legislation.
We found out about the US Consulars spying on Koffi Annan.
We found out about the Arab states encouraging the US to attack Iran. Plus more, and more to come. This is what's at stake.
Whether Lassange is a creep or not is not as big an issue as whether people deserve to be engaged and informed.
I think this may be a turning point in time.
No angel worship here.
The US can't blow him away easily, he's too famous now, look at Suu Kyi. They're looking for dishonour and detention. They're as foolish as the Burmese Junta.
No-one here has called him an angel or a saint. I've acknowledged he probably acted like a creep. But that is not the same as rape and it's a bit worrying to see that some can't differentiate.
For god sake if the Yanks wanted to shut this bloke up he be lost for ever dead and buried and we hear nothing more about him.
I'll wait and see before i start calling him an angel you may well be right.
But I rather wait and see before asking the pope, to make him a saint.
That's right, there's no mention of rape. They're hoping shit sticks. The powers that be are obviously getting desperate. The tentacles are showing to spread far and wide. I'm Australian and I thought maybe we might be making up for launching Murdock upon the world.
Wikileaks has been getting cyber attacked too. I hope it doesn't get physical.
Robert, the point is that there is no rape. The women themselves are not saying this. Please read the links — the sex was consensual but there is some confusion as to the use of a condom, which was only raised after his two paramours found out about each other. Ardin even threw a party for Assange after their intimacy.
The fact that people are still throwing the word "rape" around shows that this poisonous charge has stuck to him regardless of what they themselves have claimed in the translations available to English speakers.
I find this going after Assange more embarrassing to the powers that be than the wiki-leaks themselves. Everyone can see see that they are not being sincere in their pressing these charges. It's just another extension of the sorry plot of saying things that you do not mean.
Of course it's nice to know these rapes are made up, just in the off chance they are not, it means a women has been forced raped.
OK he is doing a great job telling us all what we knew about Blair brown and Bush, but if he has raped a women then the law has to ensure justice or is it he can get away with it because he is telling us facts.
Sweet post MM – can't wait for the next BOnd film lol