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SlateWhy his arrest and jailing in the United Kingdom is good news for him.
By Jack Shafer
A U.K. magistrates' court denied Julian Assange bail and jailed him this morning over charges filed in Sweden that he had violated sex laws in that country last summer. The Swedes want Assange extradited, a matter that the court could take weeks or longer to decide. Although notables appeared in court pledging to post bail for the Australian secrets-leaker, the judge ruled that he didn't trust Assange not to run.
Although a stay in stir and the prospect of Swedish prosecution might not sound appealing or even advantageous, it's actually a lucky break for Assange. I don't expect him to express his gratitude publicly, but I'll bet he's gamed out how to turn the Swedish arrest warrant, the extradition hearing, and beyond to his benefit.
From his jail cell, Assange becomes something he wasn't yesterday: a martyr. As martyrs go, he's not very appealing. He looks like an alien, talks more insane trash than an NBA point guard (he says he's practicing "scientific journalism"), believes that the ends justify the means, and possesses such an ego-swollen head it's a miracle that he can walk without toppling over.
But throw a nonappealing guy with a cause into jail, and suddenly he becomes a hero. Assange already has a core group of supporters. (I count myself one.) The arrest and jailing will recruit new supporters from their sitting places on the fence; they'll now say, "I don't agree with everything he's done or how he has done it, but these sex charges seem a little trumped up!" Assange's opponents—the honest ones, at least—will rise to say that they'd love to see the pasty-faced bastard dumped into the Supermax prison in Florence, Colo., and become acquainted with the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, FBI traitor Robert Hanssen*, shoe bomber Richard Reid, abortion-clinic bomber Eric Rudolph, and Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. But, they'll add, not on Swedish sex charges.
more:
http://www.slate.com/id/2277096/