Well, well, the establishment strikes back. Or tries to and misses.
Early this morning, (well, early by California time), your favorite beady-eyed varmint, still sipping on that first cup of tea, was greeted with the news that Swedish police had issued an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. And the first thought that popped into my narrow little skull was, "It's a setup".
Lo and behold, by the time I leave Al Jazeera's site and move along to news.com.au for Oz election news, AP has posted a story saying that the warrant has been withdrawn because the accusation was obviously false. Do tell.
SWEDISH prosecutors have withdrawn an arrest warrant for the founder of WikiLeaks, saying less than a day after the document was issued that it was based on an unfounded accusation of rape.
The accusation had been labelled a dirty trick by Julian Assange and his group, who are preparing to release a fresh batch of classified US documents from the Afghan war.
Swedish prosecutors had urged Mr Assange - a nomadic 39-year-old Australian whose whereabouts were unclear - to turn himself in to police to face questioning in one case involving suspicions of rape and another based on an accusation of molestation.
"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape," chief prosecutor Eva Finne said, in announcing the withdrawal of the warrant. She did not address the status of the molestation case, a less serious charge that would not lead to an arrest warrant.
Obviously, the powers-that-be are getting truly desperate to silence Wikileaks. Knowing that any charges they could bring would be proven false, they went for the maximum mud value, accusing Assange of crimes which provoke a gut-level revulsion which transcends logic, and hoping that some of the stigma would cling to Wikileaks and its founder.
If this incident means anything at all, it means that Wikileaks and Assange, (not to mention all the nameless staffers and whistleblowers who contribute so bravely to Wikileaks), are truly on the side of Humanity, Freedom and Truth.
When the corrupt, evil old men who rule this fallen world are so afraid of a news source that they will stoop to anything to discredit that source, that is the best credential that anyone or anything could possibly have.
It's actually kind of encouraging in a way. The very fact that they ARE this concerned about the internet's ability to bring the truth to light that they'd stoop to such a tactic means that their positions aren't as secure as it would seem.
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