Pepe Escobar: Hell hath no fury like an empire mocked

[unhappycamper]

Hell hath no fury like an empire mocked
By Pepe Escobar
Dec 16, 2010

No episode of Law and Order or The Good Wife can top this.

It all seemed to boil down to the not-insignificant detail of finding, n a rush, a mere US$315,000 in cash.

By 3:25 pm GMT on Tuesday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been granted bail by a London court. Sure, the conditions were more suitable to someone accused of being an al-Qaeda mole: bail to the amount of said $315,000 in cash only; curfew from 10am-2pm and 10pm-2am; reporting to a police station at 6pm every day; surrendering his passport; and carrying an electronic ankle bracelet. But at least he would be free.

Well, not really. Two hours later, Assange was rerouted back to the slammer; the Swedish prosecution had appealed the ruling. For another 48 hours at least, Assange would remain in Wandsworth prison, under conditions his lawyer Mark Stephens described as "Orwellian", "Dickensian", "Victorian" or all of the above.

The cliffhanger unraveled as in a wild and wacky Cannes Film Festival red carpet extravaganza - complete with media scrum, flash bulbs exploding, frantic straight-from-court twittering and supporting celebs from Jemima Goldsmith to Ken Loach and Benazir Bhutto's niece. And all this engendered by accusations of rape brought by erstwhile Assange groupies Anna Ardin and Miss W, the twin Scandinavian version of Congreve's "a woman scorned". That wouldn't even be considered rape under English law, according to Assange lawyer Geoffrey Robertson. Thus, if this is no rape, there's no reason for extraditing Assange to Sweden - and from Sweden to the US, as selected "patriotic" American pitchfork mobs are clamoring for.

[Fumesucker]

1. K&R

[eShirl]

2. ""Orwellian", "Dickensian", "Victorian" or all of the above." How about Ordicktorian?

[Bosso 63]

3. A Truth "bomb"is more frighting to the empire than anything

al-Qaeda has ever come up with.

[chimpymustgo]

4. Insanity. I so fear for this man's life. He might be safer in prison.