The Strangest Blog Thread Yet on the Swedish Charges, uh - Not Charges - Against Julian Assange

Freelance journalist Nicholas John Meade posted a blog diary on the Swedish charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange early this past weekend. Soon afterward, the comments thread exploded, much of it in Swedish. The comments seem to have outpaced even Glenn Greenwald's and Justin Raimando's abilities to keep up on emerging information.

Essentially, what has emerged in the thread comments, especially on Sunday, is that the probable first complainant, Anna Ardin, posted a blog entry in January about the stages of revenge, and may have worked for a time, in an intern-like job, for the Swedish government in Washington DC and possibly elsewhere. Although the second of these is still up in the air she is an utterly fascinating and extremely complex person, to say the least.

Here's her recipe for revenge:

7 Steps to Legal Revenge by Anna Ardin

January 19, 2010

I’ve been thinking about some revenge over the last few days and came across a very good side who inspired me to this seven-point revenge instruction in Swedish.

Steg 1 / Step 1

Tänk igenom väldigt noga om du verkligen ska hämnas. Consider very carefully if you really must take revenge. Det är nästan alltid bättre att förlåta än att hämnas

It is almost always better to forgive than to avenge

Steg 2 / Step 2

Tänk igenom varför du ska hämnas. Think about why you want revenge. Du behöver alltså inte bara vara på det klara med vem du ska hämnas på utan också varför. Hämnd ska aldrig riktas mot bara en person, utan även möta en viss handling.

You need to be clear about who to take revenge on, as well as why. Revenge is never directed against only one person, but also the actions of the person.

Steg 3 / Step 3

Proportionalitetsprincipen.

The principle of proportionality.

Kom ihåg att hämnden inte bara ska matcha dådet i storlek utan även i art.

Remember that revenge will not only match the deed in size but also in nature.

En bra hämnd är kopplad till det som gjorts mot dig.

A good revenge is linked to what has been done against you.

Om du till exempel vill hämnas på någon som varit otrogen eller som dumpat dig, så bör straffet ha något med dejting/sex/trohet att göra.

For example if you want revenge on someone who cheated or who dumped you, you should use a punishment with dating/sex/fidelity involved.

Steg 4 / Step 4

Gör en brainstorm kring lämpliga åtgärder för kategorin av hämnd du är ute efter. För att fortsätta exemplet ovan så kan du paja ditt offers nuvarande relation, fixa så att dennes nye partner är otrogen eller se till att han får en galning efter sig.

Do a brainstorm of appropriate measures for the category of revenge you’re after. To continue the example above, you can sabotage your victim’s current relationship, such as getting his new partner to be unfaithful or ensure that he gets a madman after him.

Använd din fantasi!

Use your imagination!

Steg 5 / Step 5

Tänk ut hur du kan hämnas systematiskt.

Figure out how you can systematically take revenge.

Kanske kan en serie brev och foton som får den nya att tro att ni ännu ses bättre än bara en stor lögn vid ett enstaka tillfälle?

Send your victim a series of letters and photographs that make your victim’s new partner believe that you are still together which is better than to tell just one big lie on one single occasion

Steg 6 / Step 6

Ranka dina systematiska hämndscheman från låg till hög i termer av troligt lyckat genomförande, krävd insats från dig samt grad av tillfredsställelse om du lyckas.

Rank your systematic revenge schemes from low to high in terms of likely success, required input from you, and degree of satisfaction when you succeed.

Den ideala hämnden ligger givetvis så högt som möjligt i dessa staplar, men ofta kan en ökad insats av arbete och kapital ge säkrare output för de andra två, egentligen viktigare parametrarna.

The ideal, of course, is a revenge as strong as possible but this requires a lot of hard work and effort for it to turn out exactly as you want it to.

Step 7 / Step 7

Skrid till verket. Get to work. Och kom ihåg vilket ditt mål är medan du opererar, se till att ditt offer får lida på samma sätt som han fick dig att lida.

And remember what your goals are while you are operating, ensure that your victim will suffer the same way as he made you suffer.

Entry Filed under: politik . Entry Filed under: politics . Taggar: hämnd , revenge , laglig hämnd , hämnas , återgälda , straffa .

Tags: revenge , revenge , revenge lawful , avenge , reciprocate , punish.

Apparently, Ardin was either one of the people or the person who invited Assange to Sweden:

The politics of Ardin are bizarre to me, but Sweden is different from Wasilla. I think.

And here is information on her internship/employment with the Swedish government. It is found on pages three through five (PDF).

From the comment thread, it appears that this story is going to get very complex, very strange this coming week. Even though Ardin's possibly having been put up to making her tentative complaint to the authorities by some agency representing the U.S. government appears to be unlikely, we may be about to learn a lot about how complex underground politics in Sweden have become in the early 21st century.

image - Anna Ardin, from her blog