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Swedish News Sites Cower Before 'Media Elite Mafia'

They'd rather expose one of their own than stand up for the truth.

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DUCKPOND (Rixstep) — Anyone needing more proof Swedish media don't dare speak the truth need look no further. A daring op-ed about the Assange case, published at two news sites, was met with a storm of hysterical criticism, causing the publications to expose the author.

The op-ed in question was nothing remarkable in the broader global perspective and certainly couldn't be considered a major opus, but in the intellectually impoverished duckpond it caused quite a storm. Published simultaneously at Skånska Dagbladet and Laholms Tidning and without attribution, it was so divergent from the 'approved' propaganda path that the country's 'brown shirts' immediately reacted.

The article discussed the predicament of Julian Assange. Originally published minutes before midnight as an unsigned editorial, the article was made to represent the opinion of the two publications. But as observers of the Duckpond have long since learned, truth doesn't have much of a chance there.

Dangerous for Assange in Sweden?

A book certainly read by many this summer is Anders Jallai's The NATO Agent. The book, like the first two parts of Jallai's trilogy, gives us much to reflect upon. All three books are based on Jallai's personal experience as a former coast guard and fighter pilot. That Jallai, the one who in the 1950s found the DC 3 that had been shot down, should have a unique perspective, cannot be refuted. Yet it's simultaneously difficult to separate truth from fiction in his books.

It's clear he's writing fiction, but the theme running through the book isn't: that Sweden already in the 1950s has been intimately and intensively involved with NATO and the CIA. The Swedish people have been kept in the dark by their leaders for seventy years - a staggering realisation for what's supposed to be a democracy. A lot of different actors have contributed to this coverup: politicians, the military, the world of commerce, and of course the media.

The CIA have had and likely still have been able to influence and even directly control Sweden as they're capable of doing for the rest of the world. They take great liberties such as executing 'uncomfortable' people without trial - and not just terrorists but also politicians who don't want to fall in line. Jallai is of the opinion this is what happened to Olof Palme.

So it's with this in mind one just assess the risks for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. How tangible is the likelihood, given Swedish dependence on NATO, that the Swedish powers that be would deny a request for the rendition of Assange by the US, a country where many high ranking politicians have called for his assassination? Not very big, I'd guess.

It's also worth noting that in early June of this year Sweden welcomed a US secretary of state for the first time in 36 years. It's not improbable Hillary Clinton and Carl Bildt discussed WikiLeaks, which has its own CIA task force with over 100 staff.

It's also worth noting that on the day after the British extradition ruling, the day before Hillary's arrival, the Swedish tabloid Expressen published a six-page supplement with a markedly negative tone towards the paper's former source Julian Assange, and for safety's sake complemented with an insulting op-ed where Assange is accused of publicist irresponsibility by releasing details of US war crimes in Iran.

One knows what Expressen would have done if they'd received those details themselves.

And in the same paper, the country's foremost publishers representative Ulrika Knutsson says she thinks it's 'wearisome' that Julian Assange wants to avoid extradition to Sweden - but not a word from her about Sweden protecting freedom of the press and stopping the US from extraditing him.

Swedish publicists show exemplary zeal when it comes to fighting for imprisoned journalists like Isaak Dawit, Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson. But acting cocky with lilliput Eritrea doesn't risk much. Standing up to the mighty US, on the other hand, can be quite dangerous.

Assange can't count on support from the media in Sweden. The opposite is much more likely.

Given the threats of the media elite, the publications decided to 'out' the author to protect themselves. A more cowardly act in Sweden hasn't been seen - at least for today.