Check out 'coincidental' facts such as the family who controls Swedish media

[snagglepuss]

and the background of some of the other key players.


1. The original prosecutor in charge, Eva Finné, dropped the charges the same week they were made and stated they were groundless.

3. Eva Finné was removed from the case by Claes Borgström and a new prosecutor, Marianne Ny, was appointed. Her first act was to reinstate the charges.

4. Claes Borgström is a former politician. His law partner is Thomas Bodström. Thomas Bodström is Sweden’s former Minister of Justice.

5. Thomas Bodström is currently in the USA. One could assume he is communicating and coordinating things with his partner back in Sweden.

6. It is Swedish protocol not to release the names of people accused of rape until after a conviction. The Swedish prosecutors office claims they have “no idea” how Assange’s name was leaked.

7. Normally Swedish media will not publish an accused’s name until after a conviction. Swedish media is controlled by a single ruling class family named Bonnier who work closely with local politicians to protect their media monopoly.

8. Claes Borgström’s two sisters, Annette Kullenberg and Kerstin Vinterhed, both work for Bonnier family newspapers.

9. Anna Ardin and Thomas Bodström are high ranking members of the right wing Christian political organization “Socialdemokrat-Brödraskapet”.

10. Claes Borgström is a right wing politician whose push for larger big brother powers for the Swedish state were leaked by Wikileaks.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bodstr%C3%B6m

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claes_Borgstr%C3%B6m

http://www.aklagare.se/Media/Nyheter/Assange-arendet-fr ... /

(In Swedish – the Swedish justice department says they did not release Assange’s name and try to explain why Eva Finné was removed)

http://henrikalexandersson.blogspot.com/2010/08/assange ...

(In Swedish – a Swedish blogger traces the reasons for Ardin, Borgström, and Bodström’s apparent vendetta against Wikileaks and Assange)



List posted by Buster at
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2010/12/02/call-interpol-a ... /

[Catherina]

1. Thanks for bringing this to light. n/t

[snagglepuss]

5. What I find odd is that these facts haven't been reported. Unless I missed

it, I didn't see these details anywhere including the Guardian.

[Catherina]

9. Maybe the Guardian is unwilling to let the story be about Assange

which is a distraction the PTB would love. I think people who read the Guardian don't need a paper to tell them this is a set up. The NYT should be carrying these details but they never will. If I come across them in a major paper, I'll PM you.

[tabatha]

2. You really are doing a lot of research on wikileaks!

I hope the Swedes are now aware of the "larger big brother powers" plans.

[snagglepuss]

10. For me it is personal in an odd way. I grew up with a violent authoritarian

father who was very respected in the community. To see the person he was behind the mask was impossible. My father did not want anyone to see him in any way other than as a powerful figure. I have real issues with authority figures - I don't like or trust them but I find it extremely difficult to see beyond the mask they project. These cables are like airing out dirty laundry and corrode the mystique that surrounds powerful people.

I also feel for Assange because I am the black sheep of the family and reviled by relatives who think I didn't respect my father. I never revealed anything out of total fear but acted in ways that cast me in a bad light. So when people like Assange, reveal things that embarass the powerful, I feel it in the depth of my soul and am enabled to see the powerful as human. I am sure that many people living under authoritarian rule are as transfixed as I by Assange and his wikileaks.

[tabatha]

13. Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, I have had my encounters with authoritarian figures. I could write a book about that.

Did James Dean not write a book about that subject?

[snagglepuss]

14. I didn't know that. I'll have to look that up. I'd be interested reading it.

Thanks for the heads up.

[tabatha]

16. Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatives_without_Conscience

[Dawson Leery]

3. The image of Scandinavia being a paradise of justice is slowly fading.

[Lucinda]

4. Thank you!

Ive got Dinsey's "Its a Small World" mindlessly running thru my head all of a sudden O>O :)

[tekisui]

6. I sure seems like a hatchet job, make it up as you go, throw it all

against the wall until something sticks. I also thought that this was the third prosecutor to try, but I could be wrong on that.

[glinda]

7. Thanks! Kick this out of the park!

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Thanks for this info..

[somone]

11. Good work

Thanks.

[glinda]

12. Why is this not near or at the top?

[struggle4progress]

15. Forgive my ignorance of Swedish politics. I am under the impression

that the Social Democratic Party has often been very influential in Sweden, that the party has some Marxian orientation, that the Association of Christian Social Democrats is organized as a wing of the Social Democratic Party, and that the Association of Christian Social Democrats is affiliated with the Socialist International, through the International League of Religious Socialists, which seems to be part of the Christian left

So it is not immediately clear to me exactly why one should identify this as a "right wing Christian political organization"

The Association of Christian Social Democrats has reported taken some anti-Israel stands, which have led to some charges of anti-semitism. Discourse about Israel is complicated by the fact that there are a certain number of anti-semites who disguise their anti-semitism as opposition to Israel; it is further complicated by the fact that a substantial number of idiots cannot distinguish coherently between (1) people whose religious or cultural background is Judaic, (2) people who are political or religious Zionists, and (3) people who are Israelis, of various political complexions; and it is complicated further by the fact that a few people will insist on portraying any opposition to Israeli policy as evidence of anti-semitism. There are, of course, plenty of actual anti-semitic bigots about, across the political spectrum

As far as I can tell, from what has been clearly reported, Ardin is a member of the Association of Christian Social Democrats, and some people have accused the Association of Christian Social Democrats of anti-semitism. If Ardin actually turned out to be an anti-semite, then perhaps one must just sadly recognize that there are some anti-semitic nitwits on our side of the political spectrum, and recognize further that we need to deal with them appropriately. But I don't actually know anything about Ardin or her personal politics: in particular, I do not know whether or not I would regard her as an anti-semite, based on her theories about the problems in the Middle East

I am concerned that the OP may be self-indulgently wandering into a land of fantasies, supported by cherry-picked facts: I like Assange; Ardin accuses Assange; therefore I do not like Ardin; Ardin appears to be a Christian; Ardin is associated with a group that someone has called anti-semitic; therefore I conclude "Ardin belongs to a right wing Christian political organization"

It is very sloppy. We can and must do better than that

[snagglepuss]

17. If you are targetting a leftist, hire leftists.

Israel Shamir writing on the CounterPunch:

snip

For a smear that really sticks, you need to get it from an ex-apostle. An accusation by a Caiaphas does not impress. If you are targeting a leftist, hire leftists. For example, Trotskyites were willing and useful tools against the Communists. Pseudo Anti-Zionists are currently being used to hamstring a genuine Pro-Palestinian movement. Who are the Judases of this campaign against our Julian?


snip


Anna Ardin (the official complainant) is often described by the media as a “leftist”. She has ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups. She published her anti-Castro diatribes (see here and here) in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba. From Oslo, Professor Michael Seltzer points out that this periodical is the product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. He further notes that the group is connected with Union Liberal Cubana led by Carlos Alberto Montaner whose CIA ties were exposed here. Note that Ardin was deported from Cuba for subversive activities. In Cuba she interacted with the feminist anti-Castro group Las damas de blanco (the Ladies in White). This group receives US government funds and the convicted anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is a friend and supporter. Wikipedia quotes Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo as saying that “the so-called Ladies in White defend the terrorism of the United States.”




http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir09142010.html

[struggle4progress]

20. Could be. But you've suddenly changed your story: a moment ago,

Ardin was (in your view) a member of a "right wing Christian political organization." Now, instead, you advance the view that she's a leftist (or ex-leftist mole) hired to discredit other leftists

This sort of sudden sea-shift can be very costly to credibility in many public forums, (say) TV or radio interviews or public panel conversations

Now, I have no real idea who Ardin is. I do not know whether she consented to protected sex and unexpectedly had an undesired unprotected encounter; whether she is an infatuated control freak who decided Assange was a bit of a cad and decided to teach him a lesson; whether she is mentally unstable and living in a fantasy world; whether she is a rightwing mole who lured Assange into sweden and then carefully arranged to discredit him -- or whatever. The possibilities are not all entirely mutually exclusive. The truth may be (for example) simultaneously complicated and rather ordinary and uninteresting

I don't know. We may never know. But if we think the matter is important, then it is worth getting the details right

[snagglepuss]

22. As indicated in the OP that list is from a American Conservative post.

I posted it because it details coincidences that have not been reported elsewhere. I did not post my views although it might have been better if I had included the links to Counterpunch and FDL to shed more light on Ardin's contradictory affiliations.

[snagglepuss]

19. You accuse me of being sloppy- look in the mirror. If you recall Leiberman

was a Democrat - as if that meant anything.

snip

Ardin just happens to have her work published by a very well funded group connected with Union Liberal Cubana – whose leader, Carlos Alberto Montaner, in turn just happened to pop up on right wing Colombian TV a few hours after the right-wing coup in Honduras. Where he joined the leader of the failed coup in Ecuador to savage Correa, the target of the coup. Montnaner also just happened to vociferously support the violent coup in Honduras, and chose to show up to sing the praises of the Honduran junta. Jean-Guy Allard, a retired Canadian journalist who now writes for Cuba’s Gramma, captured the moment

A strange pair appeared on NTN 24, the right-wing Colombian television channel aligned to the Fox Broadcasting Company the U.S. A few hours after the coup attempt in Quito, Ecuador, CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner, a fugitive from Cuban justice for acts of terrorism, joined with one of the leaders of the failed Ecuadorian coup, ex-Lieutenant Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, to attack President Rafael Correa…

On the margin of his media news shows, Montaner’s is known for his fanatic support of the most extreme elements of the Cuban-American mafia.

Last year, in the wake of the coup d’état against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, June 28, he became an fervent supporter of the dictator Roberto Micheletti, along with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and another Cuban-American terrorist and CIA collaborator, Armando Valladares.

Montaner showed up repeatedly in Tegucigalpa to “defend human rights,” and at the same time to applaud the fascist Honduran regime when it unleashed its police on demonstrations by the National Resistance Front.





http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy/2010/12/04/assanges-chief-accuser-has-her-own-history-with-us-funded-anti-castro-groups-one-of-which-has-cia-ties/

[struggle4progress]

21. I merely questioned whether you had identified the politics of the party correctly

[alittlelark]

18. Stieg Larsson. The Girl who Played w/ Fire.. etc

His books seem to play on the same themes.

[Enthusiast]

25. Yup.

Almost too many parallels to be coincidental.

[defendandprotect]

23. Whole thing is beyond "coincidental" -- it's a joke .... except for Assange....

[cigsandcoffee]

24. "The Swedish prosecutors office claims they have “no idea” how Assange’s name was leaked."

The irony of it all...

[Enthusiast]

26. Apparently Fascists are at work

in their efforts to undermine every Western democracy.

[Hannah Bell]

27. interesting. most americans think of sweden as some socialist paradise

because it has a large welfare state.

but it was one of the first capitalist states, a rather powerful one, & has an old & global capitalist ruling class.

[snagglepuss]

30. That is an interesting point and it could apply to Canada as well.

I once watched a doc about Yucca Mountain which mentioned thatCanadian citizens don't have anywhere near the power as Americans have to stop projects like Yucca Mountain. I think many people would be surprised how powerless Canadian citizen are in terms of laws compared to their US counterparts.

[AzDar]

28. K & R

:kick:

[Celtic Raven]

29. K&R nt

[Mimosa]

31. Deep and dark.. (thanks for the facts, Snagglepuss)

Some day this will make a scary espionage/suspense movie.

[snagglepuss]

32. If you want to read some other interesting facts check out this investigative

work by Göran Rudling, a Swede done in Sept about the evidence that was destroyed, keeping in mind the blogs on FDL and Countpunch (I posted above) that shed light on Anna Ardin's affliations with the CIA.




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