Loquacious Leaker Wants Leaks Licked; Assange Calls For Investigation Into

Julian Assange is a hypocrite among his other notable traits. His legal team is now trying to get prosecutors to launch an investigation and bring charges against the individual or individuals who has released salacious details relating to the rape allegations brought against him in Sweden.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is irked by government leaks . . . about Julian Assange.

British papers over the weekend printed bits of a police report accusing Assange of committing a variety of sex crimes during a 10-day trip to Sweden this past summer.

Now his lawyer wants the leaker unmasked -- plus a criminal investigation of the leak itself.

Imagine that.

Live by the leak, die by the leak -- isn't that fair, Julian?

Assange doesn't have a problem with obtaining and transmitting hundreds of thousands of classified documents about US foreign policy that can affect US national security, foreign policy, diplomacy, and international relations, but the moment someone releases salacious information about Assange's dirty little secrets and the ongoing investigation into the alleged rapes in Sweden, he gets righteous about confidentiality and the law.

Wikileaks Founder Freed On Bail Pending Extradition to Sweden On Rape Charges

Julian Assange will be allowed to stay out of prison while awaiting extradition, ruled a British court. The court will require him to remain at a country estate of a supporter and must wear an electronic bracelet on his ankle.



Assange will be released upon the showing of bail. The court wants the cash in hand, not merely having the pledge of the money:

The judge's decision came during a hearing in downtown London, drawing cheers from a group of Assange's supporters who had gathered outside the court building. As of early afternoon in London, the hearing was still ongoing, with the exact conditions of Assange's bail not yet known. But they are likely to be stringent. On Tuesday, a lower-court judge granted bail but demanded that Assange, an Australian, surrender his passport and submit to monitoring by electronic tag. He would be expected to stay at the country estate of a friend and report daily to the police.

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Also, Assange, 39, can walk out of the south London jail where he has been held since Dec. 7 only after the money for bail has been posted. On Tuesday, the lower court set the amount at $312,000, to be paid in cash.

Before the high-court hearing Thursday, Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, said the money was available.

"We believe that we will have the money today. It appears to be in the banking system," Stephens said, adding, "We certainly have pledges from the people who stood behind him on previous occasions."

UPDATE:
In case you were wondering upon the onerous conditions, it includes allowing Assange to stay at the country estate of one of his supporters:

Not too shabby. Indeed, it's a home that most folks would envy with all the amenities available.

Twin Terror Bombings Shatter Serenity In Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden was rocked by a pair of terror attacks. The pair of car bombs detonated within minutes of each other and the attacks were geared towards Sweden's involvement in fighting in Afghanistan and the cartoon jihad.



These attacks differ from other Islamic terror attacks in that warnings were emailed to local media outlets and law enforcement. That's a different modus operandi than the typical attack, and should signal to law enforcement that something else is perhaps going on here.

One man, who appears to have been a suicide bomber, was killed, and two people were injured. The explosions occurred about ten minutes after a Swedish news agency and police received a threatening e-mail that referred to Sweden’s troops in Afghanistan and a Swedish cartoonist's controversial 2007 depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

The attacks bring the struggle with terrorism to Sweden, which until now has avoided the violent attacks that have taken place in other European nations.

In the first explosion, a car filled with gas canisters burst into flames at about 4:50 p.m. local time on a street in a busy shopping center, reports The Guardian.

Another explosion occurred nearby 10-15 minutes later, and witnesses reported seeing a man lying on the ground afterward with wounds in his abdomen.

The Swedish newspaper Aftonblade reported the he was carrying pipe bombs and a backpack full of nails, according to the Guardian, but that news was not confirmed by authorities. Police did say it was “possible” that the man had blown himself up, and a police spokesman said Sunday the force was investigating “terror crimes.”

Wikileaks Controversy Continues With Cyberwar and Russian Calls To Give Assange Nobel Peace Prize

Hackers have gone after those who have severed ties with Wikileaks, including Visa and Mastercard, Paypal, and even ABC News.

People don't seem to understand that companies are free to contract with whatever parties them deem fit. They are not required to host companies that are antithetical to their own interests on servers, process payments, or advertise for them. If contracts were signed between the parties (or Assange and his cohorts clicked on assenting to the terms of service (TOS) for using PayPal, servers, etc.), then they are bound to those contracts.

Violations of TOS, which can include any number of criminal activities, or hate speech, incitement to violence, etc., can result in shutdown. Wikileaks is hosting illegally obtained information and classified information. Companies are not required to aid and abet Wikileaks criminal activities, which is the gist of those who are now hacking ABC News, Visa, and others who are apparently trying to extricate themselves from connections with Wikileaks over TOS violations (among other things).

If a company wants to sully its reputation by remaining connected with Wikileaks via hosting, payment services, etc., that's up to the individual company, but I'm sure that legal staff on more reputable organizations are going to shy away from those connections.

At the same time, the US is in talks with Sweden to extradite Assange to the US. That's not particularly surprising given the range of laws that Assange could be charged with, including possession and retransmission of classified documents.

Russian PM's office thinks Assange should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

In what appears to be a calculated dig at the US, the Kremlin urged non-governmental organisations to think seriously about "nominating Assange as a Nobel Prize laureate".

"Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him," the source from inside president Dmitry Medvedev's office told Russian news agencies. Speaking in Brussels, where Medvedev was attending a Russia-EU summit yesterday , the source went on: "Maybe, nominate him as a Nobel Prize laureate."

Russia's reflexively suspicious leadership appears to have come round to WikiLeaks, having decided that the ongoing torrent of disclosures are ultimately far more damaging and disastrous to America's long-term geopolitical interests than they are to Russia's.

The Kremlin's initial reaction to stories dubbing Russia a corrupt "mafia state" and kleptocracy was, predictably, negative. Last week Medvedev's spokesman dubbed the revelations "not worthy of comment" while Putin raged that a US diplomatic cable comparing him to Batman and Medvedev to Robin was "arrogant" and "unethical". State TV ignored the claims.

Are. You. Kidding. Me?

Would the Russian government be singing that tune had Wikileaks sprung all manner of leak about Russian foreign policy, diplomatic cables, and analysis? I don't think so. In fact, I think they'd be engaging in all manner of spycraft to go after those involved in the leaks as the Russians are far less constrained by notions of human rights and civil liberties than the US.

No, this is all about rubbing salt in the wound and it isn't exactly going to improve US-Russian relations either.

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested In Britain On Swedish Rape Charges: UPDATE: Bail Denied

British law enforcement has arrested Julian Assange, one of the founders of Wikileaks on rape stemming from a purported incident in Sweden. International arrest warrants were issued last week after the Swedish government got its investigation in order.

The arrest is not on any charges stemming from the group's release of hundreds of thousands of classified and sensitive US State Department and Pentagon memos/reports, though more than a few people will make the connection that had Wikileaks not released those documents, the Swedish government would not have come forward with these charges.

But his associates said his detention would not alter plans for further disclosures like those it has made in recent months relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and, over the past 9 days, disclosing confidential diplomatic messages between the State Department and American representatives abroad.

“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” a posting on the WikiLeaks Twitter account said.

Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, was arrested by officers from Scotland Yard’s extradition unit when he went to a central London police station by prior agreement with the authorities, the police said.

Hours later, he arrived at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court near the Houses of Parliament on the banks of the River Thames.

Travelling in an unmarked car with his lawyer, Mr. Assange used a rear entrance to the eight-story building to skirt the scrum of television cameras, satellite vans and international reporters. Officials said he would appear in court at around 9 a.m. Eastern time.

The court was likely to set the date for a further, more substantive hearing to consider whether Mr. Assange is granted bail, legal experts said.

In a statement earlier on Tuesday, the police said: “Officers from the Metropolitan Police extradition unit have this morning arrested Julian Assange on behalf of the Swedish authorities on suspicion of rape.”

Some people think that Assange is a hero for releasing all these documents and that such classified information should be freely available.

I'm not one of them. He and his cohorts violated US law and should be punished for their criminal acts. They undermine international relations and US diplomatic and security initiatives, but that was the point. Moreover, Assange threatens still more releases as a result of his arrest.

In the process, he's also unwittingly caused a reevaluation of what information will be made available through various channels that ended up being released in the cache of documents - and will likely result in fewer documents ending up in that status classification. It will result in less information being transmitted and may make diplomats and personnel less candid about their evaluations.

Assange is only the latest in a long line of anarchists who want to upend the international order. Assange thinks that he knows better than those in government about classified information and what should be available to the public. Christopher Hitchens thinks that he's a micro-megalomaniac, and he's on to something, but what exactly is Assange's endgame? Clearly, it's to upset the international order by the means at his disposal.

UPDATE:
British authorities have denied bail, meaning that Assange will remain in jail.

Swedish Paper Doubles Down On Blood Libel

A Swedish media outlet Aftonbladet published a blood libel last week, accusing Israel of killing Palestinians and harvesting their organs. It was an unmitigated blood libel without the slightest bit of proof, and now this paper has doubled down, claiming that it is up to Israel to prove that the libelous statements are untrue.

Sunday's article maintains that the matter "should be investigated, either to stop the relentless Palestinian rumors, or, if the rumors prove to be true, stop the trade in body parts."

The article Sunday also called Swedish Ambassador in Israel Elisabeth Borsiin Bonnier's condemnation of the article a "disgrace." The Swedish government later retracted the ambassador's condemnation.

Åsa Linder Borg, author of Sunday's article, titled "Dare to examine Israel," opines that no one is "sympathetic to the idea that Israel should be able to steer American public discourse," also stating that "not many deeply sympathize with [Prime Minister] Binyamin Netanyahu's policies."

Meanwhile, a grassroots online petition in Israel was calling to boycott IKEA, a global home furnishing giant also very popular in Israel.

Sorry, but this is backwards. It was up to the Swedish paper to first determine whether the accusations were even remotely plausible. They aren't; but that didn't stop this outlet from going ahead and spreading deadly lies.

The Palestinians are notorious in promoting blood libels, as are many in the Arab world, claiming the time-tested smear that Jews use Arab blood to make matzahs or Purim treats, and that Jews wantonly murder Palestinians, including the infamous al-Dura affair, which claimed Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian kid, Mohammad al-Dura, and yet video showed that only Palestinian terrorists could have fired a shot that could have killed him (but such information was purposefully buried by the French media outlet that had video footage of the incident.

Of course, blood libels aren't confined to the Arab world either, and include Russia (which also happened to produce the most infamous blood libel of all time - the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion). Even the UN pushes this nonsense, claiming that Israel purposefully targets civilians.

UPDATE:
Israellycool points out that the person responsible for writing this story (and I am loathe to call this guy a journalist) is now appearing on Iranian television to spread his hateful nonsense.

Carl In Jerusalem notes that the Swedish Foreign Ministry actually funded Donald Bostrom's prior work entitled Inshallah (Allah Willing).

The Swedish are incorrigibly anti-Semitic, and don't see what they're doing is not only disgraceful, but dangerous. It's one thing to question Israel's human rights record, but quite another to make baseless lies and state them as fact. These are completely unsubstantiated smears purposefully designed to inflame the public and sway public opinion against Israel.

Holy Mango!

A woman in Sweden cut into a mango and quickly realized that swirls and lines on the fruit spelled out the name Allah and Mohammed.

Rubina Sheikh, a Muslim woman residing in Sweden, sliced open a mango and noticed black lines in it that formed the Arabic words "Allah" and "Muhammad," which are holy to Muslims, a local newspaper reported.

"I sliced the fruit into two and noticed that the word 'Allah' was on one half while the word 'Muhammad' was on the other half," Sheikh told the newspaper. "It's a miracle, a sign from Allah."

Ever since word of this wonder got out, Muslims have been flocking to the woman's home in order to see it for themselves. However, a professor at a nearby university who is an expert on Islam says the discovery is not that dramatic.

Well, given that Muslims have seen Allah in ice cream swirls and footwear and boycotted those who produced those products, this is pretty innocent in comparison.