Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd’s answers about the Julian Assange extradition case suggest a distinct lack of curiosity about what the Americans plan for the WikiLeaks founder.
Sweden
Guy Rundle: The madness of Assange’s third extradition hearing
Two justices, representing the near-pinnacle of English law have spent a more than a day considering the details of two one-night stands and a tackle rub undertaken nearly a year ago in a faraway city.
No ‘boys’ or ‘girls’: pre-school abandons gender norms
A pre-school in Sweden abandoned the use of male and female pronouns and doesn’t read traditional fairytales with strict gender stereotypes, in a bid to be completely gender-neutral.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Crikey‘s coverage of Assange
Crikey readers have their say.
Rundle: Assange’s defence team losing the PR war by winning it
Assange’s defenders need to talk about a process of control, exception and rendition that is using not abnormal state processes, but normal ones to achieve their ends, turning the world into one huge airport security scanner.
How politically pure are those Swedes?
We lefties have a predisposition to believe in those Swedes. We tend to see them as showing the way towards capitalism with a social conscience. Yet we shouldn’t be so surprised at the fears of Julian Assange’s Swedish lawyer coming true, says Richard Farmer.
When it comes to Assange rape case, the Swedes are making it up as they go along
It is not Julian Assange that is on trial here but Sweden and its reputation as a modern and model country with rules of law, writes Melbourne barrister James D. Catlin who acted for Julian Assange in London in October.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: limited refuge options left for Assange. Try Cuba.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig has described his warrant request as “exaggerated” and “out of proportion”.
Sweden’s cliffhanger general election
The general election held in Sweden over the weekend has prompted a rash of “too close to call” cliches from media commentators, with the most recent polling suggesting a “nail-biting” clash between the country’s centre-right and far-right political parties.
Rundle: Assange rape charges reopened — this is deadly serious
With the re-opening of investigations into rape charges levelled at Julian Assange, the enigmatic and all-too-fascinating public face of Wikileaks, the event has now officially entered the territory of farce but the consequences for Assange may well be deadly serious.
Pirate Party pledges to host WikiLeaks
Infamous whistleblower website WikiLeaks has found ideological and technical support in The Pirate Party, a Swedish pro-privacy anti-copyright group that also hosts the contentious BitTorrent website The Pirate Bay.
Steig Larsson: deconstructing the Swedish utopia
Stieg Larsson’s book trilogy depicts a different side to the Swedish utopia of functional furniture and a broad welfare system. But is Larsson’s world of corrupt police, violent drug dealers and amoral wealth that far from the truth?
Why we make our jeans in North Korea
Swedish jean maker Noko Jeans made big headlines by deciding to manufacture its denims in North Korea. In an interview with Vice, the designers explain themselves: “We didn’t know shit.”
IKEA product or Swedish Olympian?
If there’s two things Sweden is great at, it’s functional-yet-affordable DIY furniture and sports involving beanies and subzero temperatures. But can you tell their lounge suites from their luge competitors?
Guy Rundle: Friday book review: Fishing in Utopia
Andrew Brown’s account of the most successful social democracy in his book Fishing In Utopia - Sweden and the Future That Disappeared serves as a prism for the political questions we face.
When robots attack
A Swedish factory has been fined after a worker was attacked by one of its manufacturing robots which “suddenly came to life” and grabbed hold of his head.
Sweden’s strawberry flavoured sex ed classes angers immigrants
Mandatory sex education classes for 14-year-olds has angered Muslim immigrants in Sweden.
Court rules Pirate Bay trial not biased
An appeal for a retrial of the Pirate Bay trial on the grounds that the original judge was too biased has been quashed by the Swedish Appeal Court.
Pirate Party enters European Parliament
Argh! The Swedish Pirate Party — formed around the issue of file sharing on the Internet — has won at least one seat in the European Parliament.
The search for an unbiased Pirate Bay judge
Finding a judge in Sweden who isn’t aligned with the Swedish Copyright Association is proving difficult for those involved in the Pirate Bay trial.
50 cars or 1 bus? An exercise in green advertising
How a Swedish ad agency got a green message to go viral.
Media briefs: Murdoch Twitter rumours… Swedes tattoo magazines to save trees…
Today’s headlines about the headline makers.
Rundle: we are all Swedes now
The global elite don’t have a clue what to do about this economic crisis, writes Guy Rundle.
