9 ms·

Am I the only one tired over how TorrentFreak will say anything, related or not, to try to confirm their bias? This aid was decided on for over 5 months ago, in

by Peer 14y ago

Am I the only one tired over how TorrentFreak will say anything, related or not, to try to confirm their bias? This aid was decided on for over 5 months ago, in march 2012 (http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/574/a/94013 http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/574/a/94013), and it is obviously not the result of Sweden trying to get at Svartholm. But if you want to be believe it then please do...

cpach 14y ago
Thanks for the reference! See page 8, section 3: »The funds available for the period covered by the strategy amount to approximately SEK 400 million«. Can we end the speculation now, please?
- mongol 14y ago
  Yes, but before that maybe we should throw the ball back in Torrentfreak's court. They tried to mislead us?
  - cpach 14y ago
    Well, their bias is quite obvious, isn't it? IMO their articles get far too many upvotes around here. I actually flagged this article. Didn't seem to help much though.
- cpach 14y ago
  Oh, and by the way: If Torrentfreak would like to be considered a venue of serious journalism, they ought to learn how to find sources like the one Peer linked to. It's not even written in Swedish, for the love of ${DEITY}, so I do think it can be considered low-hanging fruit.
wccrawford 14y ago
I'm not saying they did, but it's possible that they threatened to withhold this aid if they didn't get him. We currently don't know, and saying either way at this point doesn't mean much. We need some actual proof.
- itcmcgrath 14y ago
  I'm not saying they did, but it is possible thay they threatened to bomb them with buckets of blue paint if they didn't get him. We currently don't know, and saying either way at this point doesn't mean much. We need some actual proof. Or, in other words, you can pretty much make up anything and flag it as a possible reason. A common ploy in propaganda which causes the same affect, if you if add a disclaimer that 'we just don't know'
  - itcmcgrath 14y ago
    s/affect/effect/ Proof-reading fail.
- adgar 14y ago
  You're right. We're just asking questions. There's nothing wrong about asking questions when there's no proof one way or the other. That's why I think Barack Obama is from Kenya and Karl Rove personally blew up the twin towers.
DigitalSea 14y ago
Svartholm has been in Cambodia for more than 5 months, hasn't he? Not to mention it's a known fact he's been there many times before. So wouldn't it make sense that the Swedish government made this look like it wasn't related by pre-planning in advance the all of a sudden generous and higher than usual aide payment in exchange for Svartholm being deported?
guelo 14y ago
I didn't know Sweeden gave money to Cambodia and I am glad that TorrentFreak informed me of this. Foreign aid from rich to poor countries is used in general to keep diplomatic cooperation flowing smoothly in matters of interest to the giver country.
- nixy 14y ago
  It's "Sweden," not "Sweeden." I see a lot of people making that mistake on HN[1]. [1] http://www.google.com/search?q=site:news.ycombinator.com+sweeden http://www.google.com/search?q=site:news.ycombinator.com+swe...
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - jesseendahl 14y ago
    Looks like HN strips out the quotes needed to make this query work. Here: http://goo.gl/zMUQY http://goo.gl/zMUQY
- Zirro 14y ago
  Sweden is one of few countries that reach the United Nations goal stating that countries should give one percent of their GNP as foreign aid. According to the reports I could find it is currently the largest giver of foreign aid in the world, with regards to it's economy and population. This wasn't spontaneous. It happens every year although the amounts changes as we see here.
  - naturalethic 14y ago
    Poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
    - nl 14y ago
      Sweden's foreign aid program is one of the best in the world[1], and doesn't fund rich people as you are implying here. If you have proof otherwise I'd like to see it. Otherwise - it's is way to easy to smear something in an off-hand way like that. [1] http://www.thelocal.se/16158/20081205/ http://www.thelocal.se/16158/20081205/
reinhardt 14y ago
Nobody is claiming that Svartholm alone was worth $60M to Sweden. Still, is it equally "obvious" to you that not even a tiny fraction of the lump amount was allocated to "strengthen the relationships between the immigration departments" of the two countries? If you want to believe it then please do...
- Peer 14y ago
  I thought that was exactly what the article tried to imply. From the article: "But today, in another one of those unusual political coincidences, Cambodian officials announced the “strengthening of bilateral ties” with Sweden – along with a $59 million aid package sweetener."
  - reinhardt 14y ago
    The implication is that the package helped (in part or in whole, that's not implied) sweeten the deal. How does the fact that it was decided half a year go make it obvious that the implication is wrong? Wasn't Svartholm wanted back then?
kmfrk 14y ago
Oh yeah. It's basically only good for learning about when a tracker gets shut down.
sandstrom 14y ago
Here is a historical breakdown of previous Swedish aid to Cambodia (data from 1975 and onwards): http://www.openaid.se/en/countries/kambodja?year=2011 http://www.openaid.se/en/countries/kambodja?year=2011

by Peer 14y ago

cpach 14y ago

Thanks for the reference! See page 8, section 3: »The funds available for the period covered by the strategy amount to approximately SEK 400 million«. Can we end the speculation now, please?

mongol 14y ago
Yes, but before that maybe we should throw the ball back in Torrentfreak's court. They tried to mislead us?
- cpach 14y ago
  Well, their bias is quite obvious, isn't it? IMO their articles get far too many upvotes around here. I actually flagged this article. Didn't seem to help much though.
cpach 14y ago
Oh, and by the way: If Torrentfreak would like to be considered a venue of serious journalism, they ought to learn how to find sources like the one Peer linked to. It's not even written in Swedish, for the love of ${DEITY}, so I do think it can be considered low-hanging fruit.

wccrawford 14y ago

I'm not saying they did, but it's possible that they threatened to withhold this aid if they didn't get him. We currently don't know, and saying either way at this point doesn't mean much. We need some actual proof.

itcmcgrath 14y ago
I'm not saying they did, but it is possible thay they threatened to bomb them with buckets of blue paint if they didn't get him. We currently don't know, and saying either way at this point doesn't mean much. We need some actual proof. Or, in other words, you can pretty much make up anything and flag it as a possible reason. A common ploy in propaganda which causes the same affect, if you if add a disclaimer that 'we just don't know'
- itcmcgrath 14y ago
  s/affect/effect/ Proof-reading fail.
adgar 14y ago
You're right. We're just asking questions. There's nothing wrong about asking questions when there's no proof one way or the other. That's why I think Barack Obama is from Kenya and Karl Rove personally blew up the twin towers.

DigitalSea 14y ago

Svartholm has been in Cambodia for more than 5 months, hasn't he? Not to mention it's a known fact he's been there many times before. So wouldn't it make sense that the Swedish government made this look like it wasn't related by pre-planning in advance the all of a sudden generous and higher than usual aide payment in exchange for Svartholm being deported?

guelo 14y ago

I didn't know Sweeden gave money to Cambodia and I am glad that TorrentFreak informed me of this. Foreign aid from rich to poor countries is used in general to keep diplomatic cooperation flowing smoothly in matters of interest to the giver country.

nixy 14y ago
It's "Sweden," not "Sweeden." I see a lot of people making that mistake on HN[1]. [1] http://www.google.com/search?q=site:news.ycombinator.com+sweeden http://www.google.com/search?q=site:news.ycombinator.com+swe...
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- jesseendahl 14y ago
  Looks like HN strips out the quotes needed to make this query work. Here: http://goo.gl/zMUQY http://goo.gl/zMUQY
Zirro 14y ago
Sweden is one of few countries that reach the United Nations goal stating that countries should give one percent of their GNP as foreign aid. According to the reports I could find it is currently the largest giver of foreign aid in the world, with regards to it's economy and population. This wasn't spontaneous. It happens every year although the amounts changes as we see here.
- naturalethic 14y ago
  Poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
  - nl 14y ago
    Sweden's foreign aid program is one of the best in the world[1], and doesn't fund rich people as you are implying here. If you have proof otherwise I'd like to see it. Otherwise - it's is way to easy to smear something in an off-hand way like that. [1] http://www.thelocal.se/16158/20081205/ http://www.thelocal.se/16158/20081205/

reinhardt 14y ago

Nobody is claiming that Svartholm alone was worth $60M to Sweden. Still, is it equally "obvious" to you that not even a tiny fraction of the lump amount was allocated to "strengthen the relationships between the immigration departments" of the two countries? If you want to believe it then please do...

Peer 14y ago
I thought that was exactly what the article tried to imply. From the article: "But today, in another one of those unusual political coincidences, Cambodian officials announced the “strengthening of bilateral ties” with Sweden – along with a $59 million aid package sweetener."
- reinhardt 14y ago
  The implication is that the package helped (in part or in whole, that's not implied) sweeten the deal. How does the fact that it was decided half a year go make it obvious that the implication is wrong? Wasn't Svartholm wanted back then?

kmfrk 14y ago

Oh yeah. It's basically only good for learning about when a tracker gets shut down.

sandstrom 14y ago

Here is a historical breakdown of previous Swedish aid to Cambodia (data from 1975 and onwards): http://www.openaid.se/en/countries/kambodja?year=2011 http://www.openaid.se/en/countries/kambodja?year=2011