2011

Borderless

And this is the raw data ranking

1 Denmark 157
2 Finland 156
2 Ireland 156
2 Portugal 156
3 Belgium 155
3 Germany 155
3 Sweden 155
3 United States 155
4 Canada 154
4 Italy 154
4 Japan 154
4 Luxembourg 154
4 Netherlands 154
4 Spain 154
5 Austria 153
5 Norway 153
6 France 152
6 United Kingdom 152
7 Australia 151
8 New Zealand 150
8 Singapore 150
9 Greece 149
9 Switzerland 149
10 Iceland 146
11 Malaysia 145
12 Korea, Republic of 144
13 Liechtenstein 140
14 Cyprus 139
14 Malta 139
24 Israel 118
17 Hungary 131
20 Argentina 127
23 Brazil 122
26 Romania 115
27 Mexico 114
29 Croatia 108
35 South Africa 88
38 St. Kitts & Nevis 84
42 Turkey 75
44 Dominica 71
53 Russian Federation 60
54 Taiwan 59
61 Thailand 52
61 United Arab Emirates 52
70 Saudi Arabia 42
72 Bosnia and Herzegowina 40
75 India 37
78 Egypt 34
79 China 33
82 Jordan 30
83 Korea, Dem People's Republic 29
87 Pakistan 25
87 Iran 25
88 Iraq 23
89 Afghanistan 22

And it looks like that my country's passport, Indonesia, has even less privilege that Afghanistan and we are the 4th largest country in the world and largely peaceful and becoming increasingly prosperous.

The squeeze

"Officials in India and Iran scrambled Thursday to keep the $11 billion in oil and gas trade between them going after India’s central bank declared last week that a regional clearinghouse could no longer be used to settle such transactions.


The move, which was long sought by the United States as a way to tighten sanctions against Iran, makes it tougher for Indian companies to buy Iranian oil and gas because they can no longer use the Asian Clearing Union, which was set up by the United Nations in the 1970s to ease commerce between Asian countries, to handle payments."

NY Times

Merle Haggard -- Mama Tried

Watching Separation Process

Sat Sentinel

Will there be violence ahead of the expected separation of South Sudan from Sudan? This new initiative pays private satellites company to targets certain critical Sudan/South Sudan region to monitor mass movement of people and troops to ensure that the world is alert to any shenanigans happening.

Hello South Sudan

"Sudan’s productive oilfields are right on the border between north and south, and many have assumed that this fact of geography ensures conflict. Yet the opposite is true: oil has smoothed the road to peace. It was only after the Khartoum government became oil-rich enough to equip its army properly that it realised it had to make terms with the south: no matter how much was thrown at defence, the oilfields were never going to be controllable by force of arms." Economist

The Israel Dilemma

"As I wrote last week, there's very little Israel's right-wing government has done in the past year or so to suggest that it is willing to wean itself from its addiction to West Bank settlements, and the expansion of settlements bodes ill for the creation of a Palestinian state -- and the absence of Palestinian statehood means that Israel will one day soon confront this crucial question concerning its democratic nature: Will it grant West Bank Arabs the right to vote, or will it deny them the vote? If it grants them the vote, this will be the end of Israel as a Jewish state; if it denies them the vote in perpetuity, it will cease to be a democratic state.

I will admit here that my assumption has usually been that Israelis, when they finally realize the choice before them (many have already, of course, but many more haven't, it seems), will choose democracy, and somehow extract themselves from the management of the lives of West Bank Palestinians. But I've had a couple of conversations this week with people, in Jerusalem and out of Jerusalem, that suggest to me that democracy is something less than a religious value for wide swaths of Israeli Jewish society. I'm speaking here of four groups, each ascendant to varying degrees:The haredim, the ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose community continues to grow at a rapid clip; the working-class religious Sephardim -- Jews from Arab countries, mainly -- whose interests are represented in the Knesset by the obscurantist rabbis of the Shas Party; the settler movement, which still seems to get whatever it needs in order to grow; and the million or so recent immigrants from Russia, who support, in distressing numbers, the Putin-like Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister and leader of the "Israel is Our Home" party." Golderg

I trust Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic's take on Israel more than other writers on the web due to his background and track record of excellent writings on Israel and other topics. His politics can be too right wringer sometimes to my taste but he has more clear view on the state of Israel than most people I read.

Anyone can be a CEO

Scott Berkun

If all you have to do is racking up losses.

It's called teamwork, trevor

http://i.imgur.com/etVKV.jpg

What's the next bubble?

"So what happens if the housing bubble bursts? It will be the same thing all over again, unless the Fed can find something to take its place. And it's hard to imagine what that might be. After all, the Fed's ability to manage the economy mainly comes from its ability to create booms and busts in the housing market. If housing enters a post-bubble slump, what's left?" Krugman in 2005

The great housing bubble popped up in 2008 and destroyed a lot of wealth. What is the next bubble that will take us out of the current severe recession. Is China the next bubble? or is it green?

How to stay young

Hugh, 84 with his fiancee, 24.

A boxing day tragedy

Unidentified Egyptian men observe the remains of a tour bus that crashed into a truck on the 115 mile (185 kilometer) journey from Aswan to the ancient temples of Abu Simbel, near Aswan in Egypt Sunday, Dec. 26, 2010. The tour bus slammed into a truck in southern Egypt on Sunday, killing eight American tourists and injuring 21 others in the latest fatal crash involving tourists, according to the state news agency.

Daylife

A part of a tour bus with seats attached is seen near the truck it crashed into in Abu Simbel, Aswan, about 879 km (546 miles) south of Cairo December 26, 2010. Eight U.S. tourists were killed and 21 injured when their coach hit a stationary truck in southern Egypt, the state news agency MENA said on Sunday

Daylife

How the fuck can one hit a stationary truck on the side of the road in an empty highway.

Cute

Air Force Lt. Col. David Hanson takes a phone call from a Florida child Friday at NORAD's Santa Tracking Operations Center near Colorado Springs, Colo., where operators take as many as 80,000 phone calls each year. The exercise began in 1955 when a Colorado Springs newspaper ad invited kids to talk to Santa on a hotline. The phone number had a typo, and dozens of kids wound up dialing the Continental Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, the predecessor to NORAD. The officers on duty played along and began passing along reports on Santa's progress. It's now a cherished and elaborate ritual, staffed by volunteers and supported by some of the nation's largest technology companies Salon

I did not know it was started because of a typo.

Take a minute

Go Bears!!!

"Johnny Knox's touchdown in the first quarter put the Bears ahead, 10-7."

Chicago Bears trashed the Vikings 40-14 to clinch their N.F.C North title.

anselm kiefer

a series of four works by german artist Anselm Kiefer are shown in the NYTimes "seasons" series.

i remember that i saw his painting "lot's wife" at the cleveland museum of art in 1999. it is huge and mesmerizing if you see the real thing.

Hacking Retailer

Wired has the full story on how consumers nowadays organize and share tips on how to get the best deal out of their purchases.

civil war anniversary

I can testify about the South under oath. I was born and raised there, and 12 men in my family fought for the Confederacy; two of them were killed. And since I was a boy, the answer I’ve heard to this question, from Virginia to Louisiana (from whites, never from blacks), is this: “The War Between the States was about states’ rights. It was not about slavery.” (NYTimes)

This is from the series of articles appearing in the Times about the US Civil War. I remember my 8th grade history teacher told us the state's rights story and warned us not to answer slavery on our essay test, or we'd get it wrong. aside from the declarations of secession that the author cites, there is Abraham Lincoln's statement, in his second inaugural address: "These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war."

Not knowing when to fold - a typical African story of power

"UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has rejected a call for UN troops to leave Ivory Coast as tensions escalate after last month's presidential election.

Incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo had earlier demanded that all foreign peacekeepers leave the country.

His spokesperson accused UN and French troops of colluding with former rebels.

The UN and major powers have recognised Mr Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara, as the winner of the 28 November poll. Mr Gbagbo insists he has won.

Mr Ouattara is currently under UN protection at a hotel in Abidjan."

BBC

The incumbent President of Ivory Coast lost a fair election last month. He disagree and did not accept the result. Now they are in a country wide drama.

Legally Incest

"According to a 2007 report by the Max Planck Institute (via WRS), China, France, Israel, the Ivory Coast, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Turkey do not have any prohibitions on consensual incest between adults." via Andrew Sullivan

Now that's a mind bender.

Desert Ambition

"An artist's impression of Al-Khor stadium: Frankfurt architecture firm Albert Speer & Partners has designed eight of the nine new stadiums."Spiegel

When a comedian had to turn serious

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
9/11 First Responders React to the Senate Filibuster
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Jon Stewart interviewed four 9/11 first responders about their reactions for health care funds law that failed in the US senate. He had to do it because no other news network in the US (except Al Jazeera International) covered about the defeated bill.

today's mystery

there is a boring explanation for the following trend of appearances of the word "fuck" in print in English, according to google's ngram corpus.  can you guess it?

 

Blue

"Santa Claus and his elves are seeing more heartbreaking letters this year as children cite their parents' economic troubles in their wish lists.

U.S. Postal Service workers who handle letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole say more letters ask for basics — coats, socks and shoes — rather than Barbie dolls, video games and computers." USA Today

Grow a snowflake in a bottle

disunion series

In other words, at the precise moment that a compromise to rescue the country seemed at hand, the incoming president worked aggressively to block it. Lincoln, whom historians often portray as being more interested in saving the Union than opposing slavery, chose to do the opposite. (from NYTimes Disunion series)

The Indonesian Idiots

"In September, they disrupted Asia’s largest gay film festival, Q!, which has been held in Jakarta nine years running. And perhaps their best-known attack went down in 2008 at Indonesia’s National Monument. The Front descended on a group that, while celebrating Indonesia’s religious plurality, condoned one of their most-hated targets: a Muslim sect called Ahmadiyah that believes Muhammed might not be the final prophet. Dozens were left badly wounded from an onslaught with wooden sticks, including some of the country’s most high-profile pluralist leaders.

That is only the abridged list of the Front’s prey. Outside of an 18-month jail sentence for Rizieq and another key leader, both stemming from the National Monument attack, the Front has received little punishment.

“This is why most people have become more critical of them,” Jahroni said. “They’re troublemakers.”

The criticism appears to have peaked after police failed to prevent a reverend’s near-fatal stabbing in September." Global Post

I loath these fuckers, a bunch of self aggrandizing moralizer thugs who have been creating disturbances around  Java in trying to impose their morality to a diverse populace.

He is pissed

"It’s all a fraud. America must get out of the way so Israelis and Palestinians can see clearly, without any obstructions, what reckless choices their leaders are making. Make no mistake, I am for the most active U.S. mediation effort possible to promote peace, but the initiative has to come from them. The Middle East only puts a smile on your face when it starts with them."

Tom Friedman

You won't like him when he is angry.

A suicide bomber attack in Sweden

"The police said that a car parked near the busy shopping street of Drottninggatan exploded first, shortly before 5 p.m. Stockholm time, and that the wreckage of the vehicle included gas canisters. A second blast followed minutes later, and about 200 yards from the first. A man’s body, with blast injuries to his abdomen, was discovered after the second explosion.

Swedish newspapers portrayed the dead man as a suicide bomber, and the newspaper Aftonbladet said on its Web site that he had been carrying pipe bombs and a backpack full of nails. But the police declined to confirm this. “We are in the middle of a technical investigation, and we are working methodically to find out what happened,” said a police spokeswoman, Petra Sjolander, who refused to speculate about whether the blasts were a terrorist attack." NY Times

Sweden, really? A country more known for its humanitarian work and success in creating a much more equal society among advanced nations in the world? This is like an attack to a Teddy Bear.

The Mermaid Theory

Barney

This is just brilliant.

Google Zeitgeist 2010

Justin Bieber is the third fastest rising query in 2010. The horror.

Franco Corelli -- Non Piangere Liu

this song goes out to the somali pirates

Oldie but Goodie - Ass Kicking

Bullshit Bingo - Don't go to a meeting without it

Get it here.

Facebook founder joins the "Giving Pledge"

http://givingpledge.org/#enter (It's a public pledge for billionaires to give away most, if not all, of their fortunes) - it's organized by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Cancun Cop 16 Climate Conference

It's been going on since December 1st. It will end on December 10. This is a useful site to keep track of the shenanigans going on at the conference.

Commercial Space Exploration - the next frontier

"SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on December 8, 2010 from launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX on Wednesday successfully launched the Dragon space capsule into orbit, marking the first such attempt by a private enterprise that could pave the way for the future of space travel. The spacecraft was to circle the Earth twice before attempting a re-entry from low orbit and a splash landing into the Pacific Ocean, a risky operation that even the company said carried about a 70 percent likelihood of success." Daylife

Vegan no more

"After that, I soldiered on in silence for many months. I lied to myself, to my readers, to the world saying I felt healthy and fine, when in reality I felt worse than ever. During this time I saw doctor after doctor and tried every suggestion and recommendation, desperately hoping for a cure. I was determined to make veganism work; I was always convinced that just around the next corner I would find the solution. I tried to skirt the issue of my health problems with fellow vegans, cringing as they insisted that anyone who couldn’t be healthy on a vegan diet obviously ‘wasn’t doing it right’. I wanted to scream, but instead I kept my mouth shut, and listened to their arrogant and ignorant opinions on why so many people ‘failed’ at veganism. Some people even suggested that those of us who couldn’t remain healthy as vegans should willingly sacrifice our health for the cause. As a feminist, this body-hating rhetoric infuriated me. The willing participation in the denial and degradation of my bodily needs smacked of misogyny, patriarchal control and violence against the female body, and everything that I fight against. But still, I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know what else to do."

Voracious Eats

NY Times in HTML 5

It's awesome

TSA Chief Interview

"Oh yes. They're not all in the sterile side. They're out in the area where people are congregating, and if there's someone who comes in that looks out of sorts or whatever, then the goal is for the air protection officers to see that person and do something. But look, we're doing a whole review, from the curbside to the cockpit. What is the best technology, what does the checkpoint of the future look like? So that's all underway. The TSA of the future, what should that look like? And I'd be open to your opinions. Ten years from now, in the year 2020, how should we be doing it, and what technology should we be using to accomplish that?

I've asked a number of people that, for their ideas, and we've asked internally, what should the transportation security officer, the TSO, the one that most people deal with- what should that position look like? What should the educational requirements, what should the professional requirements be? So there's a whole number of issues that I've undertaken a review of, looking to the future, recognizing that we have to protect as well as we can today. But I want to build a different TSA for the future, frankly. I want to see a different organization that can do a lot of things that I know worked, worked other places. But I need the support of Congress and the American people to do that."The Atlantic

The transcript is well worth reading in full to understand the mind of the new TSA chief.

Jaws of the Red Sea

"The second dive of the day was much less placid. Treadwell was down about 14 metres when his instructor noticed a stray piece of equipment below them and dived for it, before flinching in shock on his way back up. Above the scuba divers, and below the snorkellers, a large shark, more than two metres long, was slowly circling the group. When it was brought to Treadwell's attention, he says he went calm – very calm – as he watched the instructor free dive down a few metres and then start corkscrewing to the surface, blowing bubbles, to try to scare the shark away. "He went to the top and shouted, 'Shark, shark, shark – everyone get to the reef.' Everyone started swimming as fast as they could, because the reef was too shallow for the shark, so it would be a safe place. But there was an older lady, probably in her late 60s, who was slightly hard of hearing, and she was delayed. The shark started coming towards her, and she ended up kicking it in the face a couple of times, and using her underwater camera to whack it over the head. She got away, but she had cuts all over her legs. I don't know whether the shark had actually bitten her, but they looked like lacerations – almost like injuries from where she'd kicked the shark in the teeth." The Guardian

There have been 4 shark attacks (or 3 depending on your sources) in Sharm el Sheikh resort area of Sinai, Egypt in the past 8 days. One tourist died and four badly injured in these separate attacks. Apparently there was one close call as described above.


"Warning: This file image taken during a dive tour in Sharm el-Sheikh shows a female swimmer relaxing in the water - seemingly unaware that an Oceanic white tip shark is swimming near by. Tourists have been advised to avoid cheap dive tour operators after violent shark attacks at the popular resort"
Daily Mail

Shark attacks are extremely rare. Right now people are puzzling about about this series of events terrorizing the Red Sea.

Shanghai students kick ass

NY Times

Caveat Emptor: We might see a selection bias here. Shanghai probably is overrepresented in the top 2% of students in the whole of China while other countries's students are picked from around their respective countries, which makes the distribution of average/poor student much higher. They should do a test for a particular city in the US such as San Francisco.

Snooping is a two way street

"Formerly, back in the days of Orwell, every power could be conceived of as a Big Brother watching over its subjects' every move. The Orwellian prophecy came completely true once the powers that be could monitor every phone call made by the citizen, every hotel he stayed in, every toll road he took and so on and so forth. The citizen became the total victim of the watchful eye of the state. But when it transpires, as it has now, that even the crypts of state secrets are not beyond the hacker's grasp, the surveillance ceases to work only one-way and becomes circular. The state has its eye on every citizen, but every citizen, or at least every hacker - the citizens' self-appointed avenger - can pry into the state's every secret.

" Umberto Ecco

Wikileaks mirrors

Wikileaks content can be found in the following sites. Right now there are 208 sites. More are being added as we speaks.

Vote Julian Assange as Time Person of the Year

I think releasing the US State Department cables is a douche act, but the actions being taken against him right now are even worse. For the reason of digital freedom, please vote for him here.

Digital Battlefront

Signed by Anonymous.

A leak to far, ctd

The definition of US national security revealed by the cable is broad and all embracing.

There are obvious pieces of strategic infrastructure like communications hubs, gas pipelines and so on. However, other facilities on the list include:

• Cobalt mine in Congo 

• Anti-snake venom factory in Australia 

• Insulin plant in Denmark

The US missions were asked to list all installations whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security or national security of the United States.

BBC

These facilities are obvious and common sense. The value in this cable however lies in the compilation of the list in the first place. This cable should not have been leaked.

Dateline on South Sudan

Referendum is coming up next month. This is an important coverage.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Florence and the Machine - Cosmic Love (Live on KEXP)

Narco Submarines

Superiority complex

"Many good points in this thread. One interesting comment-theme is in regard to arrogance from the United States, or that the US has a sense of being THE best. Would like to note that I've seen this in four other countries: Canada, France, India, China. While many Americans think they/we are THE best in the world (whatever THE best might be to the thinkers of those thoughts), significant numbers of Canadians and French will let you know they are superior to Americans (and to Germans and Brits), while Indians and Chinese are superior to all of us. Just a thought. ;) Oh, and don't forget Israelis who have a tendency to burst out saying they have the "Most moral country in the world!" (They say that with exclamation mark.) Israelis also say, "We have the most moral Army in the world!" Wasn't so long ago that the Germans were convinced of same. Today the Germans are convinced they are superior to Turks, while Polish are superior to Russians who are superior to all their neighbors. Czechs are superior to Slovaks. Romanians have told me they are the best in the world and would not waste time visiting America. Many people accuse Koreans of a superiority complex. Goes on -- in fact this thought could go on for hours. There are many Thais who feel superior to hill tribesmen, and Chinese who are superior to Tibetans (but that's redundant because Chinese are superior to everyone). And let's not get started on religion -- because the Hindus are convinced they are superior to all, and of course Jews have their own thoughts, as do Yezidis, Christians, and let's not forget Muslims. Arabs are superior to Persians (but what exactly is an Arab?), while Persians are superior to Arabs, and Afghans. Afghans are superior to Pakistanis who in turn are superior to Indians (apparently not realizing that Indians are superior to everyone), while Nepalese are superior to Indians, but again, the Nepalese apparently don't realize the Indians don't care because they will soon surpass China in population! (Which Indians will also say with an exclamation mark.) Northern Europe is superior to the whole of Southern Europe. Marines are superior to soldiers. Oh Lord, I travel too much. Could go on for hours about who all the arrogance out there. (Aussies are superior to Kiwis, and Kiwis are upset when we don't know where they are.) Gators are superior to Seminoles (because they really are in inferior to Gators).

Assange is superior to us all."(Michael Yon)

Dogs' story

"Dog shelter: Chinese volunteers keep order in a bus transferring dogs to a new asylum in Houwei village of Pukou district in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province Saturday. More than 200 volunteers and dozens of vehicles were used to relocate 1,500 stray dogs kept by a local dog shelter"

Economist's books of the year

Get the list here.

Airplane (1980) - Don´t Call me Shirley (Apertem os Cintos... O Piloto S...

Lorne Greene — a historical precondition for Leslie Nielsen — was Canadian. So is Lorne Michaels, the godfather of “Saturday Night Live,” who helped pave the runway for “Airplane.” So are most people named Lorne and most people who manage to be funny on television or in movies without also being black or Jewish.(from Leslie Nielsen's obituary)

Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov (R) and FIFA President Sepp Blatter hold a copy of the World Cup after the announcements that Russia and Qatar are going to be host nations for the FIFA World Cup 2018 and 2022 respectively, in Zurich December 2, 2010.
Daylife

These are the two best choices in term of spreading the world cup fever around the world. It's about time the Middle East gets the opportunity to host its own world cup. This region is football crazy.

Closer call that what it seemed

"In the end, the pilots — who had a combined 72,000 hours of flight experience — removed some variables from the landing calculations. The computer indicated a safe landing would be possible, but the pilots, nonetheless, instructed flight attendants to prepare for an emergency evacuation if the plane ended up in the water beyond the runway’s end.

An hour and a half after the explosion, the plane stopped with just 150 yards of concrete to spare, its brakes heated to 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit, and four of its 22 tires blown."

NY Times

Stuxnet, the peace virus

"In the 20th century, this would have been a job for James Bond.

The mission: Infiltrate the highly advanced, securely guarded enemy headquarters where scientists in the clutches of an evil master are secretly building a weapon that can destroy the world. Then render that weapon harmless and escape undetected.

But in the 21st century, Bond doesn't get the call. Instead, the job is handled by a suave and very sophisticated secret computer worm, a jumble of code called Stuxnet, which in the last year has not only crippled Iran's nuclear program but has caused a major rethinking of computer security around the globe." Fox News

Other than diplomacy, sabotage is another valid way to slow down or stop the Iranian nuclear weaponization effort. Better than war, much better. The written article is a must read for technophile. What an amazing piece of technology - kudos..

imaginary cable leak from chinese embassy

Most of the Republicans just elected to Congress do not believe what their scientists tell them about man-made climate change. America’s politicians are mostly lawyers — not engineers or scientists like ours — so they’ll just say crazy things about science and nobody calls them on it. It’s good. It means they will not support any bill to spur clean energy innovation, which is central to our next five-year plan. And this ensures that our efforts to dominate the wind, solar, nuclear and electric car industries will not be challenged by America.
Finally, record numbers of U.S. high school students are now studying Chinese, which should guarantee us a steady supply of cheap labor that speaks our language here, as we use our $2.3 trillion in reserves to quietly buy up U.S. factories. In sum, things are going well for China in America.
Thank goodness the Americans can’t read our diplomatic cables.(ThomasFriedman)

World AIDS day is today

Official Website

13 movies to see before the Oscar

TRUE GRITThe last time the Coen Brothers wrote and directed a western thriller, it won four Oscars, including Best Picture. True Grit, an update of a 1969 film that won John Wayne his only statue, could be on the same track: Jeff Bridges is stepping in for Wayne and Matt Damon co-stars.

Oscar Odds: As a boozed-up U.S. Marshall avenging the murder of young girl’s father, Bridges looks to repeat his Best Actor win last year for Crazy Heart. Hailee Steinfeld as that girl could win a Supporting Actress nod in her feature film debut, and with the Coen Bros. at the helm, the film should get in too.

The Atlantic

Interpol is trying to lock up Julian Assange

"Assange's details were also added to Interpol's worldwide wanted list. Dated 30 November, the entry reads: "sex crimes" and says the warrant has been issued by the international public prosecution office in Gothenburg, Sweden. "If you have any information contact your national or local police." It reads: "Wanted: Assange, Julian Paul," and gives his birthplace as Townsville, Australia." Guardian.

He was accused of sex crime back a couple of months ago and the charges was dropped and rescinded in a day. It was a smear campaign and now they try to do it again. It's a hit job.

"Note also that the Interpol notice is apparently not an international arrest warrant - it is just a request for information: "The Interpol notice is not an international arrest warrant but the public is asked to contact police with any information about Mr Assange's whereabouts." [bbc.co.uk]. Putting out such a notice is bizarre, given that the Prosecutor is in contact with Assange's legal counsel in London, and that Assange has agreed to meet at either the Swedish Embassy or Scotland Yard. The prosecutor wants "more information" about him, but is already in contact, and can arrange a meeting in person or via video conference at the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in London, but instead chooses the Interpol route? This is not normal for a sex crimes case with only alleged victim testimony and no other evidence. If you or I had unprotected sex with a girl, and she subsequently said her consent had been predicated on use of a condom, the case would never go to court. Certainly it would never become an international police issue. There is the issue of there maybe being two alleged victims, but apparently only one actually complained to the police? I guess we will find out what really happened - if the case ever makes it to court." Slashdot