We haven't had anything fresh to report this week on the biggest story of the world, the latest WikiLeaks document dump, this time of U.S. State Department cables, that has dominated worldwide coverage.
It does seem like the vise is tightening on the controversial leader of that organization, Julian Assange,with the news that Interpol, the international anti-crime organization, has now issued a high-priority "red notice" asking member countries to arrest him.
But he is not a wanted man for violating U.S. Secrecy laws or espionage. No, it's because authorities with the Swedish government want help in bringing him into custody for questioning on accusations of rape and sexual harassment. Earlier today, Sweden's Supreme Court upheld the court order seeking to detain him.
Meanwhile, yesterday on Gandy Boulevard in Tampa, syndicated Clear Channel talk show host Todd Schnitt was demonstrating that he too, can aspire to the heights of a Glenn Beck or a Rush Limbaugh, by declaring that he was offering a $50,000 reward for the arrest of Assange.
Mission accomplished for Schnitt this morning, as the number one website where he does his show prep, the Drudge Report, is providing a link to his latest grandstanding act. Now like minded conservative talk show hosts from across the country can use this as fodder for a couple of minutes on their Morning Zoo programs.
Back to Assange, you may recall that the charges against him came from two Sweden women back in August after an earlier document dump. The women both said that their consensual sexual encounters with Assange turned into something that was unwanted and possibly illegal. Assange denied that they were anything but consensual affairs, and infamously walked off the set on a CNN interview when he was asked about the charges.
Nobody knows where he is, but it does seem like the net is growing larger around him.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.