The Rush to Smear Assange's Rape Accuser

[Vattel]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/07/julian_assange_rape_accuser_smeared/

"You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find the timing of Interpol's warrant for the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who turned himself in to British authorities today, curious. The charges -- "one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape," according to a statement from Scotland Yard -- were brought against him in Sweden last August, yet he suddenly graduated to "most wanted" status just after releasing over a thousand leaked diplomatic cables in late November? It would be irresponsible of journalists, bloggers and average citizens of countries most eager to plug the gushing WikiLeaks not to wonder if those dots connect.

Still, as the New York Times put it, "there is no public evidence to suggest a connection," which some members of the public seem to find unbearably frustrating. With no specific target for their suspicions and no easy way to find one, folks all over the blogosphere have been settling for the next best thing: making light of the sexual assault charges and smearing one of the alleged victims. . . .

The fact is, we just don't know anything right now. Assange may be a rapist, or he may not. His accuser may be a spy or a liar or the heir to Valerie Solanas, or she might be a sexual assault victim who now also gets to enjoy having her name dragged through the mud, or all of the above. The charges against Assange may be retaliation for Cablegate or (cough) they may not.

Public evidence, as the Times noted, is scarce. So, it's heartening to see that in the absence of same, my fellow liberal bloggers are so eager to abandon any pretense of healthy skepticism and rush to discredit an alleged rape victim based on some tabloid articles and a feverish post by someone who is perhaps not the most trustworthy source. Well done, friends! What a fantastic show of research, critical thinking and, as always, respect for women."

[stray cat]

1. Supposedly they are worried he exposed them to an STD and wanted him to get tested?

Maybe he will allow an STD test and get released?

[mike_c]

2. there is no rape accuser-- this is just more meme control....

Shame!

[Vattel]

4. There is a charge of rape.

Is that charge irresponsible or politically motivated? You don't know that it is.

[mike_c]

7. no, there is not-- the charge is "sex by surprise" and it was dismissed by the prosecutor initially

...as being baseless. The sex was consensual, but Assange did not wear a condom (in one case, and in the other his condom broke) and has declined to take an STD test. This is ONLY a crime under a rather obscure and rarely invoked Swedish law-- it would certainly not be cause for concern in the U.S. or in England, where Assange is currently held. Imagine being jailed without bail for having had consensual sex with a defective condom, or for having CONSENSUAL sex without one. It's utterly ludicrous.

[Vattel]

9. You are mistaken.

Everyone is now reporting that he is charged with rape. (Google "Assange rape charge" if you don't believe me.) The whole "sex by surprise" thing was a confusion.

[molly77]

19. Assange's lawyer was on democracy now.

She said that he had asked to go into the police dept. for questioning, but they were not interested in talking to him. Hardly sounds like a serious allegation. Seems more like a smear campaign to me. I think the women should be investigated for motives for smearing.

[katty]

30. yes heard J Robinson this morn on Dem Now, she was very

clear that the 'victims' saw JA even after they had sex with him and obviously before he was 'accused' - and they are concerned about any STD's from the sexual contact.

[mike_c]

25. this is entirely incorrect....

I too listened to the lawyers on Democracy Now this morning. In fact, although there is an international arrest warrant that alleges sexual misconduct, there are presently no actual charges pending. The charges, if any are ever forthcoming, will be under the Swedish "sex by surprise" statute. However, even the judge in the case has expressed frustration that neither actual charges nor any evidence have been submitted to the court. The Swedish chief prosecutor has already dismissed the allegations as baseless, and is the person who gave Assange permission to leave Sweden in the first place.

What you're seeing all over Google is the same process of meme creation-- patently dishonest meme creation-- that you yourself are engaging in. By repeating the accusations of "rape" and "sexual assault" over and over again, you help make them ubiquitous. There are no such charges. There never have been.

[Vattel]

31. Assange was not formally charged

you're correct about that.

[Michigan-Arizona]

6. +10000 n/t

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. The rush to paint with a very broad brush

Please feel free to continue lecturing all of us. Also, you seem to have left out any specifics in regard to those items that you deem an attempt to discredit these accusers.

Cheers!

[Vattel]

5. Did you read the article from which I quoted?

[bemildred]

8. Public evidence is scarce for a reason, because there isn't any. nt

[snagglepuss]

10. I am a woman and a feminist and they are pond scum. Neurotic at best.

Assange Case: Evidence Destroyed Over and Over Again


On Saturday 14 August at 14:00 she wrote the following on her Twitter account.

'Julian wants to go to a crayfish party, anyone have a couple of available seats tonight or tomorrow? #fb'

Early on the morning of Sunday 15 August (02:00) she writes again at Twitter.

'Sitting outdoors at 02:00 and hardly freezing with the world's coolest smartest people, it's amazing! #fb'

snip

When Anna Ardin files a police complaint against Julian Assange on 20 August these tweets are removed. Why? As far as I can tell, it's not common for victims of crime to delete blogs, clean up their cellphones, and try to get witnesses to attest to things that aren't true. Why is it so important to remove these particular tweets?

If you know that the 'reported molestation' takes place on the night towards 14 August, then it all becomes easier to understand. The tweets actually indicate that Anna really liked Julian and that there had been no molestation 24 hours earlier. You can't divine in the tweets that Anna Ardin thinks Julian has a 'warped view of womanhood and can't take no for an answer'. The tweets are more an attempt by Ardin to shine in the brilliance of Julian Assange. Why else would she publish them on the Internet? The tweets don't match Anna's story given to the police on 20 August. So she simply deletes them.


snip


Proof That Anna Ardin Is Hiding the Truth

In the beginning of September, I note that Anna Ardin has two identical 'miniblogs' - one at Twitter and the other at Bloggy.se. It looks as if Anna Ardin's tweets are posted to both blogs at the same time. The tweets that are deleted from Twitter are still visible at annaardin.bloggy.se. Anna missed the fact that she has to delete on each and every blog. Bad luck.


snip


As we can see, Anna Ardin is doing all she can to hide her tweets. Tweets that indicate Julian Assange is actually innocent of at least the charge of 'molestation' that he's been accused of. It looks like Anna Ardin is doing all she can to get Julian Assange convicted. By deleting and denying acquitting circumstances, she's perhaps making herself guilty of false accusation.


http://rixstep.com/1/20101001,01.shtml



Assange-The Inside Story of the rape charges

One of the best timelines of the events in August by a Swedish blogger.

http://www.daddys-sverige.com/3/post/2010/12/assange-the-inside-story-about-the-rape-charges.html

[Vattel]

11. You can't be serious

The timeline you cite was constructed by some wikileaks supporters. Its accuracy is completely unsubstantiated. As for the tweets, I hope they do indicate that the charges are false. But they could reflect the embarassment of someone who clearly was an admirer of Assange. Who knows? You certainly don't.

[snagglepuss]

14. I am serious. Destroying their tweets makes that patently evident that they are liars

and haven't once ounce of integrity. What they have done to Assange is disgusting. What is worse is that this isn't the first time Ardin leveled serious charges at a man. When she was teaching a class at Uppsala University she accused a male student of sexual harassment for looking at his notes rather than at her thereby using his male privilege to make her invisible. The university but found that the charges were unfounded much like the judgment of the first prosecutor who reviewed these recent sexual related charges.

As to the time line the fact he supports Assange is relevant. The blogger is simply laying out published facts with details I haven't seen elsewhere.

[mikehiggins]

12. How about the race to arrest Asssange for "rape"?

Suppose it was bank robbery, or grand theft auto? What kind of evidence would be needed to make a case? An actual robbery of a bank? Finding the stolen auto in Assange's garage? So instead two women initiate a case for "rape" because a man had unprotected consensual sex with them? This would be laughed out of court in almost every nation in the world, except Sweden.

In case the significance of the word evades the casual reader, consensual means both parties agree to have sex. Rape is a crime of violence. Certainly there are times when what sets out to be consensual becomes criminal when one of the parties goes too far. Having a broken condom and failing to get an STD test hardly qualifies as violence and, actually, sort of dilutes the real meaning of the crime.

[Vattel]

16. Those silly Swedes

They prosecute people for breaking their condoms. (sarcasm)

[bemildred]

13. Oh Good, another emotional airhead who wants to tell US to calm down. nt

[bemildred]

15. Naomi Wolfe: Julian Assange Captured by World's Dating Police

Dear Interpol:

As a longtime feminist activist, I have been overjoyed to discover your new commitment to engaging in global manhunts to arrest and prosecute men who behave like narcissistic jerks to women they are dating.

I see that Julian Assange is accused of having consensual sex with two women, in one case using a condom that broke. I understand, from the alleged victims' complaints to the media, that Assange is also accused of texting and tweeting in the taxi on the way to one of the women's apartments while on a date, and, disgustingly enough, 'reading stories about himself online' in the cab.

Both alleged victims are also upset that he began dating a second woman while still being in a relationship with the first. (Of course, as a feminist, I am also pleased that the alleged victims are using feminist-inspired rhetoric and law to assuage what appears to be personal injured feelings. That's what our brave suffragette foremothers intended!).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/interpol-the-worlds-datin_b_793033.html

[Vattel]

17. Wolfe is speculating.

She hasn't read the entire police report nor does she know why the charges were reinstated. I hope she is right because I am a big fan of Wikileaks. But I won't pretend that I know that the charges against Assange are unfounded.

[bemildred]

18. Yeah, what does she know? I should listen to you, right? nt

[Vattel]

20. Try thinking for yourself

[Rebubula]

21. LOL

You are the one that is running with the media's description of this so-called 'rape' (which is nothing more than spurned and unhappy lovers) and spouting it as truth.

Anyone with half a brain would find the timing suspect and then, after hearing the stories of unprotected sex with multiple women (dear god, I would have been an international fugitive in my younger days) would have dismissed this as US applied pressure to arrest a muckraker.

I advise you to use your own advice.

[Vattel]

22. Try reading

I don't pretend to know what happened, nor does the author of the piece that I posted. Maybe the two women are just spurned lovers, maybe they are the victims of rape, maybe the tryth lies somewhere in between. Who knows? You don't.

[Rebubula]

24. The reports that I read....

...all state what I wrote.

[bemildred]

23. Exactly. What I think for myself is that I agree with Ms Wolfe. nt

[northernlights]

26. bullshit

One is a known spy and had no grievance against him other than the condom broke -- in fact planned another date with him after the so-called "sex by surprise" -- until the other one came along. The other one was a groupie who sought his attention, chose to have casual sex with him and then decided to pursue charges *after* he 1. didn't show "the passion" any more 2. didn't call her back as promised, and 3. she called him and discovered female #1.

Neither of them went to the police until days later, *after* they put their pretty little heads together. And those are facts based on public info from the police reports.

Bottom-line girls -- you choose to have casual sex with strangers you *may* just find the date is less than what you dreamed of. Too goddam motherfucking bad. While I pity them for their bad upbringing, I have no pity for them suffering the results. I say this as somebody who was brought up badly, had casual sex once, paid the price and learned the lesson.

If they *all* end up with STDs, they got what they asked for.

But using a bad date to help catch a political prisoner is evil. I cannot even imagine the kind of ethics and morality that enable somebody to fuck a stranger in order to imprison them, which is what the CIA spy was doing. Disgusting.

[Vattel]

32. Known spy?

[Dokkie]

27. lame

The charge is NOT NOT NOT for rape. get your facts straight

[Sienna86]

28. My womanly instinct - they are tools

We shall see.

[fatbuckel]

29. Try this link...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11949771

[Vattel]

33. I realize now that he has not been formally charged. Thx.