THE ROVING EYE Naked emperor hails sex by surprise
By Pepe Escobar
Information has never been so free. Even in authoritarian countries information
networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more
accountable.
- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, January 21, 2010
Julian Assange, unfortunately, got it wrong. He should have tried to make it to
the Tora Bora - the rugged mountains in Afghanistan and the best place to
escape the emperor's fury, as former al-Qaeda icons Osama bin Laden and Ayman
al-Zawahiri can abundantly attest. OK, no broadband; but at least no danger of
sex tricks, apart from a brush-off with a rock face.
World public opinion has not failed to notice the spectacular crossover between
WikiLeaks founder Assange's bizarre Swedish sex saga charges and the emperor's
(and his minion's) fury. This
is stuff to blow Monty Python's Life of Brian out of the park. To the
delight of those "democrats" who want to take him down - or out - Assange, now
firmly established as a global underground icon, will spend his next days at
London's Wandsworth prison, which The Guardian has quaintly depicted as "a
beautiful example of Victorian prison architecture". Pentagon supremo Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said this is "good news". What is good for the Pentagon
simply can't be good for the rest of the world.
The plot thickens. The post-arrest Assange thriller will clarify everything one
needs to know about the state of Western democracy as embodied by three of its
supposed icons - Britain, Sweden and the United States. Imagine if the
roller-coaster narrative so far - including a manhunt merging into a Burn the
Witch! (pirate) hysterics among the establishment - was taking place in China,
Russia or, ayatollahs forbid, Iran.
The emperor - and his minions - can hardly wait to return to business as usual,
as in an ocean of hypocrisy never contaminated by the hardcore mud-wrestling
match which WikiLeaks reveals to be the real "making of diplomacy". The moment
the self-satisfied Democratic West - this happy-ever-after end of history -
faces a totally new, and radical, transgression, its response is to try to turn
the concept of freedom of information upside down. The emperor is disgusted:
Who are these "criminals" - WikiLeaks - who dare to steal what we say we are?
Sex, lies and no videotape
As Mark Stephens, Assange's London attorney, had told AOL News this past
weekend, Swedish prosecutors want Assange "not for allegations of rape, as
previously reported", but for something called "sex by surprise", which
Stephens said "involves a fine of 5,000 kronor or about $715". Stephens added,
"We don't even know what 'sex by surprise' even means, and they haven't told
us."
"Sex by surprise" is legally considered an offense only in Sweden. Anywhere
else - including the US and the United Kingdom - quite a few women are rushing
to clarify that if it really means what the definition implies, they more than
welcome it.
Four charges are involved in the Assange thriller; one "Miss A", 31, a blonde,
feminist, social democrat whom once wrote a treatise on how to take revenge
against men, poses as victim of "unlawful coercion"; then sex with a
malfunctioning condom; then "deliberate molestation"; and finally there's "sex
by surprise" with one "Miss W", 27, an art photographer and avowed Assange
groupie.
"Miss A" must have enjoyed the mess around, because even after the broken
condom the first time, they were seen together the day after. And it was "Miss
W" herself who invited Assange to her apartment - even paying for his train
ticket. During the trip, Assange seems to have preferred his computer to her
company - as the dejected groupie told police. Sex ensued, anyway - with no
condom.
Supposing this is the real story, Assange too could have grounds for
prosecuting; the resourceful groupie should have handed him both the train
ticket and the condom. One thing at least is quite clear; gone are the days of
free, independent and much-envied Swedish girls, now obviously replaced by
guided-missile prudes.
It gets "girlish". The two women eventually get together to gossip - and
realize they had something in common; sharing a bed with Assange. That's when
"Miss W" suddenly became supremely troubled regarding her "unprotected sex" and
decided to go to the police with "Miss A". The first prosecutor - a woman -
issued an arrest warrant for "rape and molestation". She was overruled the day
after by another female prosecutor. Then the current prosecutor - also a woman
- reopened the investigation, claiming she had "new information".
Top journalist John Pilger, who along with legendary filmmaker Ken Loach and
others offered to stand surety for Assange in the London court for over
$280,000 (bail was denied), went straight to the point; "The charges against
him in Sweden are absurd and were judged as absurd by the chief prosecutor
there when she threw the whole thing out until a senior political figure
intervened." Outside the Westminster court, Pilger summed it all up; "Sweden
should be ashamed."
Whether this "senior political figure" has some shady Central Intelligence
Agency-style designs is open to speculation. But the most absurd thing is that
"Miss A" herself told a Swedish tabloid that she never wanted Assange to be
charged with rape. Maybe she should tell that to the new prosecutor. Moreover,
Assange's lawyer Stephens has said many times that his client remained in
Sweden for 40 days offering to meet the accusing prosecutor to tell his version
of the events.
European-wide laws list 32 violations - rape is one of them - that authorize
extradition. Britain is just executing a request from Sweden. European lawyers
stress Assange's best chance is now to accept extradition and face whatever
justice rolls on in Sweden.
Freedom riders
The "sex by surprise" gambit could not be more convenient for a "Western
democratic" system viciously attempting to shut down WikiLeaks at all costs.
Assange begins the op-ed he penned for The Australian this Tuesday with a bang:
"In 1958, a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's the News,
wrote: 'In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth
will always win'."
Now compare with what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a Foreign
Policy article in early 2010:
On their own, new technologies do not
take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress. But the United States
does. We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to
knowledge and ideas. And we recognize that the world's information
infrastructure will become what we and others make of it. This challenge may be
new, but our responsibility to help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back
to the birth of our republic. The words of the first amendment to the
constitution [guaranteeing freedom of speech] are carved in 50 tons of
Tennessee marble on the front of this building. And every generation of
Americans has worked to protect the values etched in that stone.
What the record is actually showing is that Clinton - unlike Assange and the
young Murdoch - is being buried by 50 tons of Tennessee marble. "Free exchange
of ideas?" By now, the military dictatorship in Myanmar, the Uzbekistan's
President Islam Karimov, the array of US-friendly autocrats/dictators in the
Middle East, and the leadership in Beijing are all saying to themselves that
it's cool to go after a website, their provider, their donation mechanism - and
target foreigners without a warrant - simply because they don't like what the
site is saying. The emperor has proclaimed: it's my way or the
(non-information) highway.
WikiLeaks cables suggest - once again - that Saudi Arabians are the ATMs for
everyone from al-Qaeda to Taliban factions. But from Amazon and eBay to PayPal,
Visa and Mastercard, everyone bends over to the furious emperor who wants to
shut down a website for good.
The US government doesn't even register that Spain may want to extradite George
"Dubya" Bush for war crimes; but all stops will be pulled, and maybe even laws
bent, to get an Assange extradition (for the record: that's impossible under
current US espionage laws). And this from a government that in nine years was
incapable of finding the "terrorists" who, according to the official
narrative, actually killed over 3,000 people.
"Sex by surprise" and its derived dodgy charges may eventually keep Assange in
jail. Yet this won't kill the messenger - not to mention the message. It's all
over the net, via BitTorrent - and it's totally viral (mirrored in 748 sites
already, and counting). Moreover, two, three, a million Assanges will spring
up. And they will have learned their lesson: if you want to show the emperor is
naked, you've got to be as careful with your sex partners as you are with your
sources.
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