The calm before the great storm

When Julian Assange was arrested beginning of this week, all newspapers were all over the story. Suddenly Norwegian and Swedish media erupted in yet another frenzy regarding Assange and Wikileaks. Unfortunately that excitement seems to have died of a bit. It actually seems that it has become completely forgotten by the media at this point. I have visited some of the biggest newspapers online in Norway and Sweden and I can't find any stories regarding Assange or Wikileaks -- unless I check their weekly archive.

Unless something really juicy will be published in the future by Wikileaks, I really don't see Norwegian or Swedish media writing anything new about Assange or Wikileaks. Maybe if Assange is charged or extradited, Wikileaks will be in the headlines again. At this point it is more likely to read about Swedish Idol contest and American celebrities at the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

It is also rather unsettling that Swedish media is not writing about this apparently botched case against Assange. Especially when it is rumoured that Anna Ardin, one of the girls claiming to have been raped by Assange, is now living in Palestine.

I just get this feeling that both Norwegian and Swedish media is taking the typical Scandinavian approach to all of this, avoiding confrontation (with the U.S.) because they don't want to be a bother. Especially Sweden where they are making a mockery of their own legal system and it is obvious they want to please the U.S. by maybe handing Assange over to them -- given that the UK lets Sweden have Assange on such weak legal grounds.

Maybe this is just the calm before the big storm? That next week the gloves will come off and both Norwegian and Swedish media will focus on uncovering the truth behind the allegations directed at Assange, and finally dare to let the U.S. know that if Assange will be accused of espionage then Hillary Clinton will also be accused of espionage. The only difference is that they have no evidence that show Assange can be accused of espionage, while thanks to Wikileaks we have it documented that Hillary Clinton actually ordered U.S. diplomats to spy on UN officials, foreign diplomats and foreign citizens.

Or maybe it has calmed down because it is business as usual? These cables were a great embarrassment when released, but now they are water under the bridge? If they were that harmless Assange would not still be in jail and U.S. would probably be in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately there are too few countries who has the balls to stand up against the U.S.

They should of course realise now that leaks like this is practically unstoppable, unless they plan to shutdown the whole Internet. This will only stop when governments stop lying to their citizens and when governments start listening to their citizens. Dong what they ask them to do and stop when their citizens say stop.