One of the champions of free speech and transparency - founder of Wikileaks.org Julian Assange - famous for creating a portal for whistleblowers - was accussed by the Swedish government of rape and other charges. The charges were reversed in just two days of their becoming public. Is this the dirty work of the Swedish intelligence agencies?
If you have read the Stieg Larsson's trilogy (a bestseller crime fiction writer's Millenium series), particularly the last one (which I just finished reading), you would believe the Swedish intelligence agencies were more than capable of delusional and mad attempts to curtail free speech and implicate innocents in wrongful charges in the 'larger interests of society'. The protagonist is kept in a mental asylum and solitary confinement for years - on the grounds that she would have revealed the truth about her abusive father - a soviet spy who defected to Sweden and was thus Sweden's friend in the cold war era. The novels though fictional are full of real stories of intelligence intrigue, self dealing and subversion of the political system (the PM is not kept informed of these developments).
1 comment:
I think WikiLeaks faces a lot of threats once even really mundane information (which might tarnish some influential person's image) starts becoming public (with audio and video links to the perpetrator's acts). Just like the attacks against Mikael Blomkvist's career and life in the millennium trilogy.
It would be great to read, if some pissed off Indian civil servant leaks a major chunk of underground govt files to wikileaks. I would love to see this approach of right to information.
This news item is surprising since I have read that Sweden is one of the most leading proponents of freedom of media.
I think you'll also love to watch the three films adapted from those novels.
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