Factual Question: Assange and Swedish "Smear"

[taffygirl]

I've been trying to find an answer for this and can't. Julian Assange claims the Swedish warrant to question him about possible sexual assault are "smear tactics" by the Swedish government. Does anybody know why, according to Assange, the Swedish government would be trying to smear his reputation? I'm not asking if his reasoning is sound or whether he's right. I'm just trying to find out why he believes this. I haven't read anything that indicates Sweden was the subject of any Wikileaks. Has Assange offered any explanation?

Thanks, Millions!

[lazybratsche]

As far as I know you're correct and Sweden hasn't been the subject of any leaked documents. Sweden might be afraid of some future potential leak though. It's also entirely plausible that other governments are asking/pressuring Sweden to do something against Assange. Requests like that will happen via diplomats, and Assange has probably made a lot of enemies in the US diplomatic corps...

[Tom Tildrum]

ISTR reading that Assange's lawyer has speculated that the Swedish warrant is the result of US pressure. I do not think he has suggested why Sweden would succumb to any such pressure.

[Diceman]

From what I've read, Assange is rather paranoid. Given how many enemies he's made, that's probably not an unreasonable mindset, but still, paranoid people tend to see conspiracies everywhere.

[Wakinyan]

Assange has been accused of rape in Sweden, and said still while in Sweden that he had been told that such things might happen to him, as far as I understood implying that it was a tactic US intelligence or the like might use against him. According to Assange and his lawyer they stayed in Sweden and made themself available for any interrogation about the accusation, but there was no demand from Swedish court to turn up. So he went to England, assuming the the charges were dropped. *Then* the Swedish court asked him to turn up, even though -- still from his and his lawyer's point of view, from what I've read -- the case was rather thin. They found this upsetting and menat that the only reason for this was to "smear" him, and are now reluctant to turn up.

It has nothing to do with Swedish "goverment", naturally it is the prosecutor who makes these demands.

One should note that there are several more or less sensitive information in the latest leak that affects Sweden; regarding selling JAS 29 Gripen to Norway, how Sweden stopped US aircraft landing in Sweden with "illegal" combatants (or whatever it is called), and so forth. However, nothing which would make Swedish goverment take actions against Assange, however that would happen. As a matter of fact, on the whole, the leakage has been more approving of Sweden in the eyes of Swedes, than the opposite, with one exception I haven't the time to dwell upon right now.

PS. Wakinyan is Swedish, so all this is from Swedish sources, except my own points of view of course.

[sqweels]

His crime is that the condom broke. And that he had sex with 2 different women within a short period of time.
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/sex-by-surprise-at-heart-of-assange-criminal-probe/19741444
The woman and Assange also reportedly had sex. According to the Daily Mail account, Assange did not use a condom at least one time during their sexual activity. The New York Times today quoted accounts given by the women to police and friends as saying Assange "did not comply with her appeals to stop when (the condom) was no longer in use."

According to the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, the photographer contacted the other woman two days after her assignation with Assange, and the two apparently had a conversation in which it became clear they had both had sex with Assange. The photographer was worried about having had unprotected sex and decided she wanted to go to the police.

[Floater]

I have written about my view (also Swedish) in this thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13227521&postcount=2).