The rush to smear Assange's rape accuser.

[MacCruiskeen]

Has anyone seen a first hand look at the Swedish charges?

I have no idea whether they're even available online, nor where to find them. If someone can find the Swedish original online, then I can try to struggle through it myself or else I can get a fluent Swedish speaker to take a close look at it and translate it properly.

FWIW, here's a page in English from the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (pdf original):

2006
Have you been the victim of gross violation against woman’s integrity?

Contact the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority. You may be entitled to economic compensation, so called criminal injuries compensation.

Gross violation of a woman’s integrity is a new crime which refers to
a number of criminal acts, for example assault or sexual exploitation,
committed by a man against a woman to whom he is or has been
married or with whom he is or has been cohabiting. If the acts were
part of a repeated violation of the woman’s integrity and thus seriously
damage her self-confidence, the crime is called gross violation
of a woman’s peace. Gross violation of a woman’s integrity is a more
serious offence than ”ordinary” assault while gross assault or rape is
even more serious.

Another form of violation of peace is to breach a restraining order. This
is a crime that often entitles the victim to criminal injuries compensation.
If the man who has subjected you to crime is unable to pay damages
and if you have no insurance policy covering the injuries, you may have
the right to financial compensation from the State, so called criminal
injuries compensation.

This right can in principle also apply when the offender is unknown.
Concerning violence or threats in close relations, the suspicion is directed
towards a certain person.For this reason, there must be a sentence
establishing a crime, before the Crime Victim Compensation and
Support Authority can make a decision on payment of criminal injuries
compensation.

Note ! As from November 15, 2006 there is a special form of criminal injuries compensation for children who have witnessed violence within the family.

Injuries to your person

Physical as well as psychological injuries caused by the crime might
be compensated. These injuries might include:

• costs for hospital care, counselling, therapy and other expenses
related to the injury,
• loss of income,
• pain and suffering, for example experience of pain or discomfort
experienced during the period of illness,
• disability or other permanent physical damage, for example scars,
loss of teeth, impaired vision or hearing,
• inconveniences resulting from the injury, for example significant
difficulties at work.

If you have been subjected to a personal injury, you may receive
compensation for damaged clothes, glasses, denture or similar things
that you wore at the time of the crime.

Ways of receiving support and help

Being the victim of crime often gives rise to many feelings and may
also create other problems. The Social Services Department in your
municipality is responsible for seeing to that you and your closest
relatives receive support and help if you have been the victim of a
crime. This may include both economic, practical and psychological
support.

A number of non-governmental organisations provide help and
support to victims of crime. This includes counselling and help in
getting in touch with authorities and insurance companies. Some
of these organisations are listed below. They can also help you to
get in touch with their local branches (or they may be listed in your
local telephone directory).

Violation of the personal integrity

In order to receive compensation for violation of the personal integrity
(in Swedish ”kränkning”), the crime must have implied a serious
violation of your personal integrity, your privacy and human dignity.
This is the case when gross violation of a woman’s integrity has occured
and often when someone has been assaulted or when some-one has
breached a restraining order. The amount of the compensation is
related to the seriousness of the violation. The lowest amount which
may be paid for violation of the personal integrity is 5 000 SEK (approx.
500 €) but much higher amounts can be paid, in particular if you have
been subjected to frequent and serious assaults for a longer period of
time.

Application

In order to receive criminal injuries compensation, you must submit a
written application. The Crime Victim Compensation and Support
Authority provide a form for this purpose. The application must
be received no later than two years after the crime or after the legal
pro-ceedings have been completed. The authority may accept late
applications in special circumstances.
Non-governmental organisations
Brottsofferjourernas Riksförbund, BOJ
The National Association for Victim Support
E-mail: boj.riks@boj.se Website: http://www.boj.se
Tel: 0200-21 20 19
Riksorganisationen för Kvinnojourer och Tjejjourer
i Sverige, ROKS
The National Organisation for Women´s Shelters and Young Women´s
Shelters in Sweden
E-mail: info@roks.se Website: http://www.roks.se
Tel: 08-442 99 30
Sveriges Kvinnojourers Riksförbund, SKR
The Swedish Association of Women´s Shelters
E-mail: info@kvinnojour.com Website: http://www.kvinnojour.com
Tel: 08-642 64 01
Terrafem
(On call for immigrant women and girls in a number of languages)
E-mail: info@terrafem.org Website: http://www.terrafem.org
Tel: 020-52 10 10
In addition there is a national body set up by the Government to help
women who have been battered or raped.
Rikskvinnocentrum, RKC
The National Center for Battered and Raped Women
Akademiska sjukhuset, 751 85 UPPSALA
Tel: 018-611 40 00 (day or night)
E-mail: see website/personal Website: http://www.akademiska.se/rkc
Information to crime victims subjected to
gross violation of woman’s integrity

http://www.brottsoffermyndigheten.se/Si ... gelska.pdf

Before "ray" bursts in cackling and foaming at the mouth, I want to say that I see absolutely nothing wrong with the desire to protect women from sexual mistreatment that falls short of rape (as normally defined); but this public-information announcement, at least, is so vague as to be practically meaningless.

In order to receive compensation for violation of the personal integrity (in Swedish ”kränkning”),

I think this is practically the same as the German Kränkung, which can translate as trivially as "hurting someone's feelings" or as seriously as "causing someone severe psychological pain". (Krank = "sick" or "ill", so "Kränkung" = "making ill".) If Swedish law is criminalising Kränkung, then it is hard to see how anyone can have failed to be guilty of it or have managed to avoid suffering it. And it's hard to see how such a law can be applied equably or universally.

Again: I don't think such a law is necessarily wrong, and I don't support any Daily-Mail-style crowing about "those loony Swedes". In fact I've argued elsewhere that the emotional abuse of children is the next huge thing to be overcome after sexual and physical abuse have been criminalised. I'm just saying it's a hard thing to prove, and that such a law appears wide open to misuse and manipulation, especially by adults, and most especially by adults who have something to gain from misusing it.

PS I also now realise (again), after trying, that I currently have no hope of understanding complicated texts in the original Swedish.

[seemslikeadream]

Sex accusers boasted about their 'conquest' of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange


Read more: Sex accusers boasted about their 'conquest' of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... z17Z27JbAz

[jlaw172364]

I haven't posted here in ages, though I frequently read items of interest on the board.

I tried leaving a comment in a boingboing.net thread that was sympathetic to the supposed victims, which paradoxically and ironically, came right before a post about the Dyncorp dancing boys scandal that's not nearing stoking enough outrage for people who have it in spades for Assange; of course, said comment never made the cut.

I have a number of issues with these allegations:

The main issue is: Why are the absolutely NO details about the facts that would lead one to believe the charges have merit?

All I've been able to piece together is apparently consensual sex with a broken condom with Woman A and consensual sex without a condom with Woman B. All the facts initially reported appeared to indicate consent. They were on good terms with him immediately afterward. There was no indication that he drugged them. There was no violence except for some vague mention of using body weight to hold one of the women in place; but were they in missionary? Did they say "Stop! No! or Don't!"? Nothing I've read ever quotes them as saying this, although their lawyer says that they did. Did they violently struggle? Again, nothing. Why were they on good terms with him after? I've also read that he sex with one woman while she was asleep, but this came up later in the news cycle. [I just read another story where he allegedly pinned down Woman B, but is alleged to have had sex with her FIRST, and not Woman A. Now I'm really confused. The midnight sex with Woman A got downgraded to molestation. But he stayed at her apartment for a week after the molestation . . . .]

One would think that rape victims would give out a lurid description of what happened to them. I mean, if you're going to go to the police and claim you were raped or molested, you have explain in detail, and face the consequences of the possible publicity of your explanation, especially when the alleged rapist is a public figure.

Instead, all we get is stuff that is so vague, it leaves the reader scratching his head wondering where the actual crime occurred. And this is by the victim's own statements and allegations. I would really like to see a copy of that police report translated into English, because the references to it are vague and confusing. Why hasn't one been leaked yet? And I'm not talking about a press regurgitation, I want to see the actual report. These women apparently had advanced education, and were over 25, yet they can't keep their stories straight.

It sounds to me like they had unsafe sex with Assange, had mixed feelings about it, but ultimately consented to it, then had second thoughts, compared notes, and became angry at Assange and themselves, then redirected the anger at themselves towards Assange. Opportunists within the police departments, secret and otherwise did the rest.

Anyway, the whole thing is probably bullshit.

-JL

[MacCruiskeen]

It looks more and more like a holding operation and an intimidation attempt. Assange will eventually (though not soon) be released, like nearly all of the "terrorists" since 9/11, because there is no real charge to answer. The ongoing legal wrangle will be enough to sow doubts among the faithful and make him look pretty seedy among the less-than-faithful. In the meantime, those Wikileaks will have been "leaked" extreeeeeeemely selectively by the NYT, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, so that everyone will be bored to death with them within a month, not least because they're struggling to pay the bills and because Christmas is coming up.

If absolutely necessary, there can then be "another 9/11", which will concentrate people's minds wonderfully.

Either that, or the whole damn thing is a truly brilliant psyop.

[JackRiddler]

.

Global context:
- Rape is a common and serious crime, extremely traumatic to the victims.
- Victims of rape are often falsely accused of inventing or exaggerating the charges. This is a common and intimidating defense for the accused, contributes generally to the stigma that discourages many victims from coming forward, and thus creates a social atmosphere that facilitates the commission of rape.
- So it's understandable why well-intentioned people would come up with laws as vague as Sweden's.
- False accusations of rape are very uncommon but have been documented and destroyed lives.
- Besides that sex smears of all kinds are a staple of politics, there have been cases of troublesome whistleblowers and journalists who have been framed for sex crimes.

History of this case:
- Arrest warrant issued for Assange by Stockholm on-call prosecutor after receiving a call on Friday, August 20th. Case hits the press immediately.
- Swedish Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne revoked the warrant one day later "because she did not consider it possible to suspect him of rape," the statement said. "The amount of information available to her was more extensive than what the on-call prosecutor had on Friday evening. Exactly what that information was cannot be disclosed at this point, since the investigation is ongoing."
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-23/worl ... s=PM:WORLD
- Assange is allowed to leave Sweden with that government's full knowledge. Former chief prosecutor of Sweden and rights groups demand an investigation of the current justice department for what they see as a political harrassment. Many details are released about the encounters, including that the two women considered them consensual and became angry that they were deceived after finding out from each other that they'd both had sex with him.
- Case revived via Gothenburg prosecutor Marianne Ny in November. Interpol warrant follows. Rape is now among the charges. Series of strange technicalities delay arrest. He turns himself in yesterday.

Let's just say that whatever happened between Assange and the women, which may be serious, it's near impossible to believe a criminal case would still exist or be leading to international action if not for Wikileaks.

Here's how Assange's defense presents it:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/02/whe ... -go-along/

Thursday, 2 December 2010 / 105 comments
When it comes to Assange rape case, the Swedes are making it up as they go along
by Melbourne barrister James D. Catlin, who acted for Julian Assange in London in October.
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.

For three months Assange had been waiting in vain to hear whether media statements by and for the two female “victims” that there was no fear or violence were going to be embellished so the charges might be carried forward due to greater seriousness. Such statements would stop a rape charge in any Western country dead in its tracks. Rape is a crime of violence, duress or deception. You can rape someone by deluding them into thinking you are someone else or by drugging them or by reason of their young age but essentially it’s a crime of violence.

The women here are near to and over 30 and have international experience, some of it working in Swedish government embassies. There is no suggestion of drugs nor identity concealment. Far from it. Both women boasted of their celebrity connection to Assange after the events that they would now see him destroyed for.

That further evidence hasn’t been confected to make the charges less absurd does Sweden no credit because it has no choice in the matter. 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. Niether Wilén’s nor Ardin’s texts complain of rape.

But then neither Arden nor Wilén complained to the police but rather “sought advice”, a technique in Sweden enabling citizens to avoid just punishment for making false complaints. They sought advice together, having collaborated and irrevocably tainted each other’s evidence beforehand. Their SMS texts to each other show a plan to contact the Swedish newspaper Expressen beforehand in order to maximise the damage to Assange. They belong to the same political group and attended a public lecture given by Assange and organised by them. You can see Wilén on the YouTube video of the event even now.

Of course, their celebrity lawyer Claes Borgström was questioned as to how the women themselves could be essentially contradicting the legal characterisation of Swedish prosecutors; a crime of non-consent by consent. Borgström’s answer is emblematic of how divorced from reality this matter is. “They (the women) are not jurists”. You need a law degree to know whether you have been r-ped or not in Sweden. In the context of such double think, the question of how the Swedish authorities propose to deal with victims who neither saw themselves as such nor acted as such is easily answered: You’re not a Swedish lawyer so you wouldn’t understand anyway. The consent of both women to sex with Assange has been confirmed by prosecutors.

Proposed reforms of Swedish rape laws would introduce a test of whether the unequal power relations between the parties might void the sincerely expressed consent of one party. In this case, presumably, the politically active Ardin, with experience fielding gender equity complaints as a gender equity officer at Uppsala University, had her will suborned by Assange’s celebrity. The prosecutor coming as she does from a prosecution “Development Unit” could achieve this broadening of the law during Assange’s trial so he can be convicted of a crime that didn’t exist at the time he allegedly committed it. She would need to. There is no precedent for it. The Swedes are making it up as they go along.

A great deal more damning evidence is yet to be revealed about what passes for legal process in Sweden, such as Assange’s lawyers having not received a single official document until November 18, 2010 (and then in Swedish language contrary to European Law) and having to learn about the status of investigations through prosecution media announcements but make no mistake: it is not Julian Assange that is on trial here but Sweden and its reputation as a modern and model country with rules of law.

*James D. Catlin is a Melbourne barrister who acted for Julian Assange in London during October.
Thursday, 2 December 2010 / 105 comments

When it comes to Assange rape case, the Swedes are making it up as they go along
by Melbourne barrister James D. Catlin, who acted for Julian Assange in London in October.
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.

For three months Assange had been waiting in vain to hear whether media statements by and for the two female “victims” that there was no fear or violence were going to be embellished so the charges might be carried forward due to greater seriousness. Such statements would stop a rape charge in any Western country dead in its tracks. Rape is a crime of violence, duress or deception. You can rape someone by deluding them into thinking you are someone else or by drugging them or by reason of their young age but essentially it’s a crime of violence.

The women here are near to and over 30 and have international experience, some of it working in Swedish government embassies. There is no suggestion of drugs nor identity concealment. Far from it. Both women boasted of their celebrity connection to Assange after the events that they would now see him destroyed for.

That further evidence hasn’t been confected to make the charges less absurd does Sweden no credit because it has no choice in the matter. 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. Niether Wilén’s nor Ardin’s texts complain of rape.

But then neither Arden nor Wilén complained to the police but rather “sought advice”, a technique in Sweden enabling citizens to avoid just punishment for making false complaints. They sought advice together, having collaborated and irrevocably tainted each other’s evidence beforehand. Their SMS texts to each other show a plan to contact the Swedish newspaper Expressen beforehand in order to maximise the damage to Assange. They belong to the same political group and attended a public lecture given by Assange and organised by them. You can see Wilén on the YouTube video of the event even now.

Of course, their celebrity lawyer Claes Borgström was questioned as to how the women themselves could be essentially contradicting the legal characterisation of Swedish prosecutors; a crime of non-consent by consent. Borgström’s answer is emblematic of how divorced from reality this matter is. “They (the women) are not jurists”. You need a law degree to know whether you have been r-ped or not in Sweden. In the context of such double think, the question of how the Swedish authorities propose to deal with victims who neither saw themselves as such nor acted as such is easily answered: You’re not a Swedish lawyer so you wouldn’t understand anyway. The consent of both women to sex with Assange has been confirmed by prosecutors.

Proposed reforms of Swedish rape laws would introduce a test of whether the unequal power relations between the parties might void the sincerely expressed consent of one party. In this case, presumably, the politically active Ardin, with experience fielding gender equity complaints as a gender equity officer at Uppsala University, had her will suborned by Assange’s celebrity. The prosecutor coming as she does from a prosecution “Development Unit” could achieve this broadening of the law during Assange’s trial so he can be convicted of a crime that didn’t exist at the time he allegedly committed it. She would need to. There is no precedent for it. The Swedes are making it up as they go along.

A great deal more damning evidence is yet to be revealed about what passes for legal process in Sweden, such as Assange’s lawyers having not received a single official document until November 18, 2010 (and then in Swedish language contrary to European Law) and having to learn about the status of investigations through prosecution media announcements but make no mistake: it is not Julian Assange that is on trial here but Sweden and its reputation as a modern and model country with rules of law.

*James D. Catlin is a Melbourne barrister who acted for Julian Assange in London during October.

[Plutonia]

Hmmm... what's this then? Sweden a covert member of NATO?:

Cable 07STOCKHOLM506

VZCZCXRO5915
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV
DE RUEHSM #0506/01 1241526
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 041526Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2093
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 STOCKHOLM 000506

[snip]

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV SW
SUBJECT: SWEDEN: SCENE-SETTER FOR PRIME MINISTER
REINFELDT'S MAY 15 VISIT TO WASHINGTON

Classified By: Ambassador Wood, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
-------
¶1. (c) The May 15 visit of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
provides an opportunity to strengthen ties in key areas with
a Swedish government that is relatively new to office and
better-disposed toward working with the U.S. than its
predecessor. Reinfeldt comes from a new political generation
and is not bound by the same U.S.-critical traditions. At
the Embassy, we have successfully emphasized cooperation with
Sweden on alternative energy. Reinfeldt has put energy and
climate issues at the top of his domestic agenda, and told
the Ambassador May 4 that he hoped that his trip would help
change perceptions in Sweden about the U.S. on this subject.
Reinfeldt said he will raise with President Bush climate
change and energy issues, Turkey, Russia and Sweden's Eastern
neighbors, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iran. While Sweden's
official foreign policy doctrine emphasizes non-alignment, in
practice Sweden is a pragmatic and strong partner with NATO,
having troops under NATO command in Kosovo and Afghanistan,
where it leads a Provincial Reconstruction Team. In addition
to the meeting with President Bush, Reinfeldt will meet May
14 with SGY Ban Ki-moon and other UN officials in New York,
will meet in Washington with Speaker Pelosi and address the
House Select Committee on Energy, and will visit May 16 the
National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado. End Summary.

[snip]

Sweden as a Partner
-------------------
¶4. (u) The new government retains Sweden's commitment to
multilateralism, with an emphasis on the roles of the UN and
EU, and values continued cooperation with NATO. Sweden has
troops under NATO command in Kosovo (300 troops) and
Afghanistan (250 troops), where it leads the Provincial
Reconstruction Team at Mazar-e-Sharif. The government
recently introduced legislation to raise the number of troops
authorized for deployment in Afghanistan to 600, with the
proviso that they will be deployed only if circumstances
require.

¶5. (c) Sweden's official security policy is
non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and
neutrality during wartime. Its active participation in the
NATO Partnership for Peace and its role in leading the
European Union's 1,500 troops-strong Nordic Battle group give
the lie to the official policy. Sweden has opted out of
buying two C-17s and has subsequently joined and made the
second-highest contribution to the NATO-sponsored Strategic
Airlift Capability. This will, in the long run, support of
the Nordic Battle group and other strategic lift
requirements. Sweden also plays an important role in Darfur,
where former Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson is the UN
Special Envoy and Sweden supports democratization and
humanitarian relief. Within the EU, Sweden often takes
positions that coincide with our own on issues as diverse as
the DOHA round, EU enlargement and Turkey, Swift banking data
privacy, and the EU's relationship with Cuba.

¶6. (s) Swedish military and civilian intelligence
organizations are strong and reliable partners on a range of
key issues, particularly making a significant contribution to
our understanding of events inside the Russian military and

STOCKHOLM 00000506 002 OF 003


in Iran's nuclear ambitions. The good cooperation on
counterterrorism, both domestically and internationally, has
helped Swedish authorities carry out their mandate to protect
Swedish citizens and national interests. Due to domestic
political considerations, the extent of this cooperation in
not widely known within the Swedish government and it would
be useful to acknowledge this cooperation privately, as
public mention of the cooperation would open up the
government to domestic criticism.

[snip]
Topics the Prime Minister will Raise
------------------------------------
¶11. (s) Prime Minister Reinfeldt has informed us he plans to
raise with President Bush:

[snip]

-- Afghanistan, where Sweden leads a PRT. Reinfeldt
underscored to the Ambassador that Sweden is firm in its
long-term commitment to the PRT and will authorize additional
troops (going from 350 to 600 authorized) to go there if
needed. He did not raise or react to reports from DOD
channels that U.S. defense channels had raised the
possibility of a Sweden hosting a second PRT. Sweden has
previously raised concerns regarding its lack of access, as a
non-member of NATO, to intelligence, particularly in
connection with force protection;
[snip]

Yeah, officially, Sweden is not a partner, just a friend with benefits: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/51288dothtm

"Swedish cooperation with NATO is based on a longstanding policy of military non-alignment and a firm national consensus. From this basis, the Sweden selects areas of cooperation with NATO that match joint objectives."

Sneaky, sneaky.

[annie aronburg]

Hmmm... what's this then? Sweden a covert member of NATO?
...
Sneaky, sneaky.

Look, they're just rilly private, OK?

Nice to see you hereabouts, Plutonia.

[Plutonia]

Couldn't help myself with all these goings on. I really tried. Thx for your welcome, AA.

Have you dipped into the cable cache yerself yet? There's something compelling about perusing them - non-periodic reinforcement schedule's my guess - wading thru lots of mind-numbing drek punctuated by shining moments of revelation.

Drip, drip, drip...

[vanlose kid]

been looking around for more on this, and here's some of what i've come across:

1) progressive alaska blogspot:

MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2010

The Strangest Blog Thread Yet on the Swedish Charges, uh - Not Charges - Against Julian Assange
Freelance journalist Nicholas John Meade posted a blog diary on the Swedish charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange early this past weekend. Soon afterward, the comments thread exploded, much of it in Swedish. The comments seem to have outpaced even Glenn Greenwald's and Justin Raimando's abilities to keep up on emerging information.


Essentially, what has emerged in the thread comments, especially on Sunday, is that the probable first complainant, Anna Ardin, posted a blog entry in January about the stages of revenge, and may have worked for a time, in an intern-like job, for the Swedish government in Washington DC and possibly elsewhere. Although the second of these is still up in the air she is an utterly fascinating and extremely complex person, to say the least.


Here's her recipe for revenge:


7 Steps to Legal Revenge by Anna Ardin

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.


Entry Filed under: politik . Entry Filed under: politics . Taggar: hämnd , revenge , laglig hämnd , hämnas , återgälda , straffa .


Tags: revenge , revenge , revenge lawful , avenge , reciprocate , punish.


Apparently, Ardin was either one of the people or the person who invited Assange to Sweden:


The politics of Ardin are bizarre to me, but Sweden is different from Wasilla. I think.


And here is information on her internship/employment with the Swedish government. It is found on pages three through five (PDF).


From the comment thread, it appears that this story is going to get very complex, very strange this coming week. Even though Ardin's possibly having been put up to making her tentative complaint to the authorities by some agency representing the U.S. government appears to be unlikely, we may be about to learn a lot about how complex underground politics in Sweden have become in the early 21st century.


image - Anna Ardin, from her blog

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2 ... edish.html

--[from a comment to this post:]--

Anonymous said...
"Ardin's possibly having been put up to making her tentative complaint to the authorities by some agency representing the U.S. government appears to be unlikely"

Or maybe not:

"Anna Ardins cousin and near friend is Lieutenant Colonel Mattias Ardin, Deputy Head of Operations, Swedish Joint Forces Land Component Command, who works with Nato Operations ... in Afghanistan. There´s a possible CIA connection."

http://www.skandinaviflorida.com/web/si ... EIE-88LLB7

a Lieutenant Colonel Mattias Ardin certainly is Deputy Head of Operations, Swedish Joint Forces Land Component Command.

http://www.rusi.org/events/past/ref:E46DFE0753B9E5/

But really her cousin, as the commenter says? Who knows?
August 24, 2010 12:26 AM

which linked to

2) the source of the seven step revenge translation, a blog by journalist nicholas john mead –– who's been following this for quite some time, and who seems to know swedish. and has had comments and translations and links supplied in the long, long, comments section by people in sweden. not all of it good, but there's quite an amount of background info there.

How to smear a hero
August 21, 2010 by admin

How do you discredit someone who undermines systems of power? In the old days, the CIA would just assassinate and murder them (they’ve tried 638 times to get Castro), even topple entire governments if need be. However, since the world is now much more aware of the dirty tricks or “Black Ops” that they use, powerful interests have had to find other ways of “subtly” smearing them in the public eye. Calling them a rapist is one way of doing it which is what has happened today to Julian Assange founder of WikiLeaks.

Firstly, let’s get the rather flimsy circumstances straight. Assange is accused of prancing around the Greater Stockholm area like a crazed animal between 15th to 17th August. According to center-right wing newspaper Expressen, last weekend, he sexually harassed a woman in Södermalm, Stockholm. Two or three days later, he traveled 20km to the quiet nearby town of Enköping where he supposedly raped another woman. The two women – aged “between 20-30″ according to Expressen and by an astonishing coincidence, friends also – decided a week later to go to a police station and said that “Julian Assange has raped and harassed us” and that they “didn’t want to press charges but just wanted some advice”. The first Assange knew of these allegations were when he saw the front on Expressen this morning. He denied it in an e-mail to Dagens Nyheter newspaper saying:

Why these accusations are coming at this point in time is an interesting question. I haven’t been contacted by the police. The allegations are false.

Assange is now understood to be making his way to a police station.

Secondly, let’s get the context clear to recent events in Assange’s life. The Pirate Party – a political party in Sweden dedicated to freedom of information – have this week agreed to host WikiLeaks documents on their servers since the organization is banned from publishing in many other countries. Assange has been in Sweden to arrange this deal and also agreed to write a column for centre-left Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet (the main rival to Expressen who “broke” this “story”), the first of which was due to be released today. Incidentally, Aftonbladet have decided to postpone publication in the light of the rape allegations.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, let’s get the wider context clear. Assange and his team at WikiLeaks are on the verge of publishing 15,000 more Afghan war documents which the US Government and Pentagon are desperate to suppress. Whether orchestrating a smear campaign against Assange would even stop that, I very much doubt it. And even if Assange were a rapist – or even worshiped Beelzebub and Hitler – it takes nothing away from the incriminating Collateral Murder video and Afghan war documents that WikiLeaks have already released.

Whether this is an orchestrated smear campaign, just two very silly girls, or a genuine case of rape and harassment, the fact is that WikiLeaks is bigger than Assange as he I’m sure would be the first to admit. It, and other projects like it, cannot be stopped. It’s like Chavez in Venezuela – even if the CIA assassinated him now, it’s too late to stop the popular revolution he’s unleashed and the same goes for the spirit of exposing abuses of power that WikiLeaks has ushered in since the corporate mainstream media are utterly impotent and unwilling to do so.

Unfortunately for the powerful, dirty tricks, black-ops and even assassinations simply can’t stop the tide of change and revolutions once they’ve begun in an inter-connected globalized age.

http://nicholasmead.com/2010/08/21/how- ... /#comments

*

[seemslikeadream]

Anna Ardin, Jullian Assange Rape Accuser, May Have Ceased Pursuing Claims
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/0 ... 94285.html

[nathan28]

Anna Ardin, Jullian Assange Rape Accuser, May Have Ceased Pursuing Claims
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/0 ... 94285.html

Under Swedish law, does Ardin have to pursue the claims for prosecution to occur?

[nathan28]

Is this the worst case of cyberbullying of all time? A known unknown? an unknown unknown?

The rape accusations against Julian Assange may be falling apart as one of his accusers leaves Sweden. Anna Ardin, one of two women behind the rape charges against the WIkiLeaks founder, may no longer be cooperating with prosecutors, the Australian website Crikey reports.

Julian Assange has been fighting sex charges from Sweden and is now in British custody. According to Crikey:

Ardin, who also goes by the name Bernardin, has moved to the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories, as part of a Christian outreach group, aimed at bringing reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. She has moved to the small town of Yanoun, which sits close to Israel's security/sequestration wall. Yanoun is constantly besieged by fundamentalist Jewish settlers, and international groups have frequently stationed themselves there.
Attempts by Crikey to contact Ardin by phone, fax, email and twitter were unsuccessful today.

Business Insider is reporting that you can follow Anna Ardin on Twitter, @annaardin. Crikey says that her last tweet translates as:

"CIA agent, rabid feminist / Muslim lover, a Christian fundamentalist, frigid & fatally in love with a man, can you be all that at the same time ..."

The "sex crimes" at the heart of the Assange case are reportedly related to unprotected sex under a Swedish law.

From HuffPo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/anna-ardin-jullian-assange_n_794285.html

[justdrew]

sounds like he got himself thrown into the brier patch at a perfect moment. Well played JA and AA.

[anothershamus]

Report: Assange accuser flees to Middle East, may not be cooperating with police

from: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assange-accuser-stops-cooperating-police/

Is this the worst case of cyberbullying of all time? A known unknown? an unknown unknown?

The rape accusations against Julian Assange may be falling apart as one of his accusers leaves Sweden. Anna Ardin, one of two women behind the rape charges against the WIkiLeaks founder, may no longer be cooperating with prosecutors, the Australian website Crikey reports.

Julian Assange has been fighting sex charges from Sweden and is now in British custody. According to Crikey:

Ardin, who also goes by the name Bernardin, has moved to the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories, as part of a Christian outreach group, aimed at bringing reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. She has moved to the small town of Yanoun, which sits close to Israel's security/sequestration wall. Yanoun is constantly besieged by fundamentalist Jewish settlers, and international groups have frequently stationed themselves there.
Attempts by Crikey to contact Ardin by phone, fax, email and twitter were unsuccessful today.

Business Insider is reporting that you can follow Anna Ardin on Twitter, @annaardin. Crikey says that her last tweet translates as:

"CIA agent, rabid feminist / Muslim lover, a Christian fundamentalist, frigid & fatally in love with a man, can you be all that at the same time ..."

The "sex crimes" at the heart of the Assange case are reportedly related to unprotected sex under a Swedish law.

From HuffPo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/anna-ardin-jullian-assange_n_794285.html

[Project Willow]

in the radical feminist utopia of Sweden under Queen Lisbeth Salander, if a woman doesn't have multiple orgasms during hetero sex, the man can be charged with rape