The rape of Julian Assange

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Last week, I thought I had turned up a breaking news article about Julian Assange which might clear his name. It was in the Swedish newspaper, Expressen, and claimed that one of the women accusing Assange of rape, Anna Ardin, was previously friends with the gay activist police interrogator, Irmeli Krans. This was some months before going with Sofia Wilen to the police station where Krans worked (not the one near to where these women reside) to make a complaint concerning Assange and condoms. Much to my chagrin the article turned out to have been published in March 2011 yet tomorrow the date will read 1 September 2012. Expressen, like other annoying newspapers, has the habit of superimposing the current date over old articles. There should be a law against this practice because it makes seekers after the truth look like idiots. At least it would do if anybody in this country had heard of this story. What is most disturbing about this story is that it has been around for almost eighteen months, and the UK media have totally ignored it. I had not heard about it or I would not have called it breaking news. You had not heard about it. But there is a lot more you have not heard.

There has been plenty of coverage of the name of Julian Assange, usually mentioned in the same sentence as the word ‘rape’, yet nothing of those who have made it their business to entrap him. Even my M.P. Steve McCabe tweeted how he thought Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face rape charges. Why have the media made no mention of the other story, the one that could clear Assange? Yesterday I watched Sophia Smallstorm’s video questioning the official version of what really happened to the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. It finishes with the following:

"This film was made to present possibilities and raise questions. We do not control our airwaves. We have consigned them to large corporations who create scripted soundbites serving as news." 

And this is what we are getting regarding Julian Assange, a brave man who has had to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid extradition to the United States where he would be imprisoned indefinitely for leaking the shocking footage of US military personnel shooting innocent civilians and boasting about their conquests. It is true, we are getting scripted soundbites from the Zionist/Neocon media for nearly every news item published or broadcast today. This makes me ask if it is Julian Assange in need of rehabilitation, or is it the United States of America and its puppet the United Kingdom?

Let us look at the police statement taken by Irmeli Krans who now describes herself as a politician on Facebook. I suspect you did not know that much of this statement is available. I suspect you did not know that the original interrogation conducted by Irmeli Krans was in the public domain. This says more about who owns the media than the journalists themselves. They are not allowed to mention the names of Anna Ardin, Sofia Wilen or Irmeli Krans. Why not? Because if they did you might stumble across Sofia Wilen’s police statement  - which is quite graphic, and one which it might be added Sofia Wilen would not sign.

The interrogator, Anna Ardin’s friend, Irmeli Krans, has a politician’s way with making words say what is required at the time rather than making any serious attempt to tell the truth. The three belong to the same political party but Krans’ fabrication of the truth may be the reason why Sofia Wilen did not sign the original statement. Later it got even further embellished. There was an attempt to destroy the original statement but they found this was not possible. A week after Wilen's statement was taken Irmeli Krans made the following additions (in bold and underlined).

“When they went back in the bedroom Julian stood in front of Sofia and grabbed her hips and pushed her demonstratively down on the bed, as if he were a real man.”

“She lay awake a long time wondering what had happened and exchanged SMS messages with her friends. He lay beside her snoring.” 

“At one point when he mounted her from behind, she turned to look at him and smiled and he asked her why she was smiling, what she had to smile about. She didn't like the tone in his voice.”

I advise people to read the full statement to get the full context. Excuse me, but if Sofia is smiling while they are making love it does not seem like Julian Assange is raping her, or am I missing something? Wake up world. You are tools of the media!

Breaking News on Julian Assange

Follow @JohnPlatinumG I can’t see it being long now before Julian Assange is walking free. Today a Swedish newspaper, Expressen, has published an article which claims that Anna Ardin (though she is not mentioned by name) was friends with a police interrogator on the Assange case. Expressen was the newspaper that first broke the story of Assange’s arrest, so it can hardly be considered pro-Assange.

This is a big turning point in my opinion. Especially since the two women who went to the police station together, appear to have gone at the beginning of this interrogator’s shift. You can almost smell the sweet aromas of a woman to woman phone call before the Anna and Sofia arrived at the police station to be interviewed by a friend of one of them. Only somebody with a passing interest in this case, someone who has been catching all the endless snippets of the words ‘rape’ and ‘Assange’ in the same sentence, can be naive enough to believe there is any credibility to this concocted sex scandal. They are all in the same Social Democratic Party, and this brings us to what chance of a fair trial would Assange have in Sweden? I quote from one of the best accounts of the Assange case regarding secret trials in Sweden.

 “Even in this relatively enlightened country, human sexuality is a subject fraught with deep and often subconscious feelings of guilt and shame. “Prosecution witnesses need not worry about other witnesses coming forward to refute their evidence, because their evidence will not be heard in public.” Most of those stories involve the treatment of men accused of sex crimes. It is one of the dark corners of Swedish society that seldom sees the light — most likely because, even in this relatively enlightened country, human sexuality is a subject fraught with deep and often subconscious feelings of guilt and shame.

 But jurists and other interested parties with direct experience of sex-related cases have become increasingly alarmed by what appears to be a systematic bias that often leads to bizarre and tragic judgements. There are several reasons for this, one being that trials for sex crimes are almost invariably held behind closed doors. “This tradition grew up a long time ago, before the [Second World] war, to prevent the press reporting ‘immoral’ evidence, and was later advanced to protect the privacy of complainants and defendants,” notes one of Assange’s Swedish lawyers, who further explains that his client, “… notwithstanding the avalanche of publicity damaging to him about the prosecution case, will be tried in secret and the public will not be aware of any exposure in the courtroom of the weakness of that case.

Prosecution witnesses need not worry about other witnesses coming forward to refute their evidence, because their evidence will not be heard in public.” Further, “The trial will be heard by a judge and three laypersons who sit with him or her. The three laypersons, appointed by political parties, are often members of the parties that appoint them.… I should add that the danger caused by media prejudice is also present at the court of appeal level, where the hearings will again be in secret.”

 Last night Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler and Independent on Sunday columnist Joan Smith almost jumped down Craig Murray’s throat for mentioning Anna Ardin, one of the two women who sought to expose Julian Assange as a sexual deviant. But the truth is her name, and that of her co-conspirator, Sofia Wilén, have been in the public domain for two years. What the media do not want is people searching the internet to find out the truth. The truth is becoming something alien to the media. That is why they want to gag Julian Assange. It is why they want to gag Craig Murray. Ironically it is two years today since Assange was set free on the same charges of which they say he needs to answer questions now.

The Ghost of Dr David Kelly

Follow @JohnPlatinumG After years of theatricals I have gone into the film industry. This 2 minute visitation is a serious satire which questions what kind of a government intercedes to prevent, as the law requires, an inquest into an unexplained death. In this case it concerns the death of Dr David Kelly. 1 in 4 people do not believe his death was suicide. Click here to see 'The Ghost of Dr David Kelly'

Patriotism

Follow @JohnPlatinumG Team GB won seven of the ten gold medals available in the velodrome at this year's London Olympics. What an outstanding achievement! Well done the men's team sprint, Jason Kenny, Sir Chris Hoy, Vicky Pendleton, women's team pursuit and Laura Trott (Trotty). It is not all about winning. I spare a thought for Jess Varnish who will not be getting her gold for four years, but whose day will come. What an incredible indoor team. Add this to the great sporting success of Bradley Wiggins in the time trial and British cycling is truly on the map. And again spare a thought for Mark Cavendish, who, partly because of gamesmanship from the German and Australian teams, failed to get an expected gold in the road race.

My crest rose with pride to see these superb athletes raise the profile of British cycling. When my country succeeds in anything but waging war it makes me so happy I search diligently for the right superlative. As Sir Walter Scott wrote 'Breathes there a man with soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, this is my own, my native land'.

But patriotism can be taken to extreme, and when it comes to waging war Horace was so wrong in what Wilfred Owen referred to as that 'old lie'. It is not good and honourable to die for your country. It is foolish. Nobody should take any pride when their country wages war, especially when it is to steal oil. We should steep ourselves in shame. I know I do.

Governments should take a look at the spirit of the Olympic games and the way people of all nationalities embrace the competitiveness without wanting to kill one another or steal their possessions. Look at the way Mo Farah has excelled in talented events formerly the domain of those who possess the African long-distance running gene. Again it has made me proud to be British. Well done Mo!

There is something not quite right however when athletes are encouraged to mime to an eighteenth century dirge which contains the line 'send her victorious'. I would dearly love a new national anthem in the spirit of the Olympics the words of which embrace all cultures and nationalities. The cyclists did us proud as a nation. They competed at the highest level and got the highest results. They spoke with their legs and legged it with their spokes. They did not have to mouth to this patriotic nonsense, and they did not. That kind of business is more what you expect from the horse-people and Eton rowers. Our cyclists did not make an issue of not miming. But Piers Morgan did. Texting Bradley Wiggins he got one of the most classic rebuffs I have ever seen.

Piers Morgan, who as editor of the Daily Mirror did a fine job in opposing the Iraq war, and though he was unable to prevent this catastrophic blight on Britain's reputation for honesty and fair-play, at least he tried. So what happened to Piers over the years? Now he spends much of his life in the US, the country that got us into those disastrous and expensive wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. On twitter Morgan wrote:

'I was very disappointed @bradwiggins didn't sing the anthem either. Show some respect to our monarch please!'

Bradley Wiggins replied:

'@piersmorgan I was disappointed when you did not go to jail for insider dealing and phone-hacking, but you know, each to his own'. How classic! Brad Wiggins (Wiggo) I have no idea who could surpass you as sports personality of the year. You'll be getting my vote for sure.

Rural and poverty-trapped Romanians

Follow @JohnPlatinumG A picture is circulating on Facebook comparing the needs and requirements of the latest generation of city and town-dwellers in Romania to the needs of a Romanian peasant-woman. It contains a request to distribute the photograph which is the purpose of this short post. A rough translation is that the latest generation cries if a telephone cannot be afforded, whereas the old lady cries because she does not have enough money to buy a loaf of bread. I have already blogged on changes in Romanian society since the west created an environment to execute the Ceausescus. And yes, in the towns and cities, many people are much wealthier than they were. Not everybody is so lucky. In the villages, where everybody had employment under Nikolai Ceausescu, poverty is now rife.

The old lady in the photograph most likely does not have the skills necessary to find employment in the cities. This is the domain of younger people. It shows, I think, the downside that capitalism and greed bring to the poor. We are all guilty in this unequal distribution and there is a similar disparity between developed countries and less developed countries, and also between bankers, who plunder a nation's wealth, and those who create it.