Vanity Fair profiles Julian Assange: Wikileaks threatened to sue Guardian over leaked cables

VF's feature on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is now available online

Vanity Fair profiles Julian Assange: Wikileaks threatened to sue Guardian over leaked cables

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Naomi Wolf on rape, justice and Julian Assange

For those of us who felt uncomfortable with the cavalier attitude evinced by some Assange supporters in the matter of the Swedish sex-assault charge, but also smelled a rat at the drop-everything hustle demonstrated by Her Majesty's filth in getting Mr Assange behind bars, Naomi Wolf offers this nuanced analysis:

In other words: Never in twenty-three years of reporting on and supporting victims of sexual assault around the world have I ever heard of a case of a man sought by two nations, and held in solitary confinement without bail in advance of being questioned -- for any alleged rape, even the most brutal or easily proven. In terms of a case involving the kinds of ambiguities and complexities of the alleged victims' complaints -- sex that began consensually that allegedly became non-consensual when dispute arose around a condom -- please find me, anywhere in the world, another man in prison today without bail on charges of anything comparable.

Of course 'No means No', even after consent has been given, whether you are male or female; and of course condoms should always be used if agreed upon. As my fifteen-year-old would say: Duh.

But for all the tens of thousands of women who have been kidnapped and raped, raped at gunpoint, gang-raped, raped with sharp objects, beaten and raped, raped as children, raped by acquaintances -- who are still awaiting the least whisper of justice -- the highly unusual reaction of Sweden and Britain to this situation is a slap in the face. It seems to send the message to women in the UK and Sweden that if you ever want anyone to take sex crime against you seriously, you had better be sure the man you accuse of wrongdoing has also happened to embarrass the most powerful government on earth.

J'Accuse: Sweden, Britain, and Interpol Insult Rape Victims Worldwide (via Reddit)

 

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Naomi Wolf on rape, justice and Julian Assange

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/SLM0vxKZB4g/naomi-wolf-on-rape-j.html

Julian Assange Album Cover

The long-awaited Collateral Murder (2010) was released soon after and benefited from authentic, muscular riffs and a tortured atonality which highlighted its more aggressive sound. And yet the production's energy, while benefiting from Sugarcubes-esque rhythm work, offers a starkness often at odds with haunting melodies that remain fastidiously progressive in their length and (some contend) lack of clarity. The most exciting moments are, indeed, easy to miss, though the dark melancholy of the album as a whole is unavoidable. A tour de force, it vanquished memories of earnest but anemic efforts such as 2009's Trafigura and 2008's The Secret Bibles, which recalls Sting at his most superfluous. Nevertheless, few predicted Assange's stunning follow-up later in 2010, which would unite him with legendary proto-punk axeman Ellsberg and return him to the heights of 2006's seminal Julius Baer's Cayman Islands Banking Adventure. His status as this generation's Astley would be secured; but at what cost?

Julian Assange Album Cover

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/VufrRy0yrTA/julian-assange-album.html

Interpol issues "Red Notice" for arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange over "sex crime"

Kevin Poulsen at Wired News: "The international police organization Interpol has issued a Red Notice for the arrest of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, in connection with a sex crime investigation in Sweden." Certainly sounds simpler than arresting him for the leaks.

Interpol issues "Red Notice" for arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange over "sex crime"

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HmMsnV71xdY/interpol-issues-red.html