Julian Assange of WikiLeaks Under Arrest!

Julian Assange of WikiLeaks has been arrested on a Swedish warrant, according to the article from Bloomberg.com below. This arrest has nothing to do with the previous release of massive numbers of classified U.S. Military and State Department documents, but rather about rape allegations from August 2010. Many people appear to be very happy to see Assange out of commission, which makes one wonder whether there are ulterior motives behind this arrest.
    . . . June.

WikiLeaks’ Founder Assange Appears in U.K. Court on Rape Charge
Bloomberg: By James Lumley and Erik Larson - Dec 7, 2010 9:13 AM ET

Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website that leaked thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents, appeared in a London court after being arrested on a Swedish warrant.

Assange, 39, appeared at City of Westminster Magistrate’s Court today before Judge Howard Riddle. Assange was arrested “by appointment” today at 9:30 a.m. after Swedish police requested the Australian’s detention.

WikiLeaks, created in 2006, has been the subject of a U.S. criminal probe since it posted thousands of classified documents on its website, including U.S. embassy communications and a military video of a July 2007 helicopter attack in Iraq that killed a Reuters television cameraman and his driver.

The arrest follows a European warrant on one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape allegedly committed in August 2010, the police’s extradition unit said today in an e-mailed statement. Mark Stephens, Assange’s U.K. lawyer, has said his client had consensual sex with the women.
The alleged crimes took place in Stockholm and Enkoeping while Assange was in Sweden lecturing about publishing classified U.S. military documents related to the war in Afghanistan.
Stephens, of the firm Finers Stephens Innocent LLP in London, who regularly represents several media organizations including Bloomberg News, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the arrest.
WikiLeaks receives confidential material and posts the information on the Internet “so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth,” the organization says on its website.



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WIKILEAKS FUNDING Blocked After Government Blacklisting?

 According to the article below, the whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government. Moneybookers emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist. This came a few days after the Pentagon publicly expressed its anger at WikiLeaks and its founder for obtaining thousands of classified military documents. Retaliation?
     . . . June

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WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting
Media | The Guardian:

The whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government.

Moneybookers, a British-registered internet payment company that collects WikiLeaks donations, emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist.

The apparent blacklisting came a few days after the Pentagon publicly expressed its anger at WikiLeaks and its founder, Australian citizen Julian Assange, for obtaining thousands of classified military documents about the war in Afghanistan, in one of the US army's biggest leaks of information. The documents caused a sensation when they were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and German magazine Der Spiegel, revealing hitherto unreported civilian casualties.

WikiLeaks defied Pentagon calls to return the war logs and destroy all copies. Instead, it has been reported that it intends to release an even larger cache of military documents, disclosing other abuses in Iraq.

Moneybookers moved against WikiLeaks on 13 August, according to the correspondence, less than a week after the Pentagon made public threats of reprisals against the organisation. Moneybookers wrote to Assange: "Following an audit of your account by our security department, we must advise that your account has been closed … to comply with money laundering or other investigations conducted by government authorities."

When Assange emailed to ask what the problem was, he says he was told in response by Daniel Stromberg, the Moneybookers e-commerce manager for the Nordic region: "When I did my regular overview of my customers, I noticed that something was wrong with your account and I emailed our risk and legal department to solve this issue.

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