Freebrad!

Nearly a year ago, I criticized Ezra Klein for his silence and Matthew Yglesias for his late condemnation of Obama's claim of the right to assassinate an American citizen, but at least they are both stepping up with regard to Bradley Manning's detention (here, here, & here). This sort of behavior was not acceptable when Bush did it, and it's not acceptable when Obama is doing it.

Imagine if a foreign country was holding an American soldier in solitary confinement for nearly a year, without charges, and subjecting him to sleep deprivation and forced nudity. Americans would be outraged. The government would be appealing to the UN, imposing sanctions, and threatening military retaliation. In this case, it's not a foreign government. It is our government.

I guess it's a positive sign that more people are speaking out with regard to Manning, but it's sad that it took the detention of a white non-Muslim American soldier to get people fired up. Brown Muslim foreigners have been subjected to far worse for nearly a decade. Still, baby steps.

Hello, Sweden, Can You Hear Me?

Are there no phones in Sweden? According to the news on New Zealand's Radio Live, Julian Assange is fighting his extradition to Sweden to face charges of sexual assault. Of course, like most reporting on Assange and Wikileaks, it is flat out wrong. Assange has not been charged with anything--not in Sweden, not in the USA, nor anywhere else.

Swedish police want to question him about accusations of sexual assault. Fair enough, but do they really need to extradite him to answer questions? Have your people call his people. Exchange letters. Use email. You could even send your prosecutors to England. It's not that far. It would be easier and cheaper than fighting the extraditon case in court and transporting Assange to Sweden. It's weird. These are pretty simple solutions. It's almost as if Sweden has some ulterior motive that has nothing to do with the alleged sexual assault.