
Activist demands the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
The US ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, rejected as "an invention" claims that Washington was preparing a warrant for the arrest of Julian Assange, an Australian national currently under house arrest in Britain, over WikiLeaks' role in publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables last year.
"There is no such thing as a secret warrant. Period. They don't exist," Bleich told the Australian national public broadcaster ABC on Thursday. "It's not something that the US cares about. It's not interested in it."
Meanwhile, the website "Justice for Assange" claims exactly the opposite.
"Stratfor [the global intelligence company] emails have revealed that a sealed indictment has been issued by a secret grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, for Julian Assange," says the message. "The email is dated 26 January 2011. This means that there has likely been a sealed extradition order for over a year, which will be activated (unsealed) against Assange in Sweden, Australia and the UK when the US Government gives the order."












Comment: Interesting. For the sake of argument, suppose for a moment that Panetta is telling the truth and this has nothing to do with China. That leaves the question about the real reason for the move unanswered.