Assange’s defense team has argued that the warrant is invalid under English law because it was issued by a public prosecutor and not a judicial authority. The prosecution insists that is legal under the current European Arrest Warrant system.

Indeed, the prosecution warns, Sweden is not the only country that routinely issues extradition warrants this way. Others, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands, do so as well, and a ruling in Assange’s favor could threaten extradition deals with them in the future.

The extradition to Sweden would normally be straightforward, but there have been major concerns surrounding the Swedish government’s comments, as well as concerns that Sweden might ignore prosecution and simply ship Assange to the US, where he would disappear into a legal black hole for his role in leaking embarrassing US classified data.

The British government normally extradites people to Sweden as a matter of course, but would not send someone to the US for likely torture and open-ended detention. These circumstances make the Assange case an extremely complex and unique one, meaning that any ruling is unlikely to set a major precedent.

The goal now is for the French to have all their troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2013. The plan was previously for France, along with the rest of NATO, to complete their “handover” by the end of 2014.

Sarkozy and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed the announcement and now say they are pushing for the entire NATO “handover” to be sped up to the end of 2013. Sarkozy is presenting this as a faster end to the war. Karzai, who has in the past confirmed negotiations to keep US troops in the nation through 2024, is likely just in the market for the “handover” part, and the influence on the ground that might confer. Karzai’s government has been mostly sidelined in the US-Taliban talks due to its comparative lack of influence, particularly across the nation’s south.

The sudden interest in an exit plan by the French government is the result of an incident last week, in which four French soldiers were killed and a dozen others wounded in an attack by an Afghan soldier. The Afghan soldier was reportedly motivated by anger at a video of US Marines urinating on the corpses of several slain Afghans.

Security officials quoted in the Agence France Press (AFP) today have a simpler explanation, saying that the soldier was motivated by anger over the video of US Marines desecrating Afghan corpses.

The video, which was released earlier this month, has fueled considerable anti-US sentiment, and apparently some of that sentiment is extending to other nations’ soldiers aiding in the US-led occupation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai downplayed this notion, insisting the killings were an “isolated incident” and not indicative of anything. But with plenty of reasons to dislike the occupation forces coming around all the time, such blowback attacks seem unsurprising and NATO troops remain in danger.

The official, who was not named, said that the military option has been virtually ruled out despite the number of US and Israeli hawks who continue to present it as a possibility.

But if threats don’t work, what’s left? “We have no other tools,” he warned, adding that “the only alternative would be to make concessions, and we’re not ready to do that.” The situation indeed appears to be stalemated, with Western officials demanding Iran abandon its civilian enrichment program entirely, and Iran insisting that they won’t do that.

New nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 are expected soon, with Iran saying they favor holding the meeting in Istanbul. But once again, the point of these talks must be questioned, since they seem certain to end with the US reiterated demands and threats and Iran rejecting both, a process which has played out regularly.

The speculation came from French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who claimed the deal was virtually finalized and would be announced by the end of the month. EU diplomats familiar with the deal are denying that.

The diplomats, quoted anonymously by the German press, say that the deal is not close and that a number of key details surrounding the potential ban are still being discussed.

Rumors of the ban come as oil is near an eight-month high, with analysts projecting at least a 10 percent increase in the spot price of Brent North Sea Crude if Iran is cut off from the European market. Though the effort is aimed at harming Iran, it is expected they will be able to offload the addition supply to eastern Asian nations with little trouble.

The Assad government even released some 755 political prisoners captured during the course of months of protests, saying that those released did not include anyone with “blood on their hands.”

The French government was quick to condemn the Arab League mission, with the Foreign Ministry demanding that the Arab League return to Homs, an odd demand since reports have at least 20 of the teams 50 observers there and planning to stay for the foreseeable future.

The US was somewhat more measured, claiming “confidence in the mission” while warning Syria to provide the Arab League will full access to the nation, another demand odd in that there have been no allegations that the monitors, who have only been in the country for a couple of days, have been restricted from going anywhere.

“This is something of a cheap stunt to divert attention from other issues and to obscure the success of NATO,” insisted Rice. NATO officials have maintained that there were no civilian casualties in their multi-month bombing campaign.

Russia urged the probe on the grounds of that claim and a New York Times article from last weekend in which the newspaper investigated allegations and confirmed a minimum of 40 civilians killed by NATO’s bombings, and likely many more.

NATO launched the bombing campaign after a UN Resolution authorized a no-fly zone to “protect civilians” and the revelation that large numbers of civilians were killed when NATO bombed them in the middle of the night is particularly inconvenient for Western officials looking to tout it as an epic military triumph.

French officials accused Russia of seeking the probe to distract attention from the death toll in Syria. Indeed while Russia has opposed UN action against Syria the probe seems particularly on-topic for the Syria issue with a number of Western nations, notably France, pushing for Libyan-style war in Syria as well.

At issue are the roadblocks in northern Kosovo, set up by Kosovar Serbs to protest the ethnic Albanian dominated government’s efforts (with NATO help) to crush dissent in the north and close the border to all outside trade.

After a bit of haranguing from NATO, Serbian President Boris Tadic has called on the Kosovar Serbs to remove the roadblocks and let NATO close them off from all outside trade. The Kosovar Serbs, who don’t really have any special reason to listen to the president of Serbia, haven’t reacted so far, prompting “deep concern” from NATO officials.

And even though Tadic played ball, his inability to dictate the behavior of other people of the same ethnicity as him has several in the EU, including Germany, looking to impose various punishments on Serbia, including eliminating them as a candidate for EU membership.

France opposed, but not on the grounds that there isn’t collective racial guilt, let alone on the grounds that the protest in Kosovo is mostly a reaction to harsh crackdowns by the Kosovar regime. Instead, their argument is that they want Tadic’s party to win the next election, and they’re worried that the sanctions will hurt his chances.

But whose ship was it? We still don’t know for sure and the two nations who have warships in the region and had been firing missiles against targets in southern Somalia recent, the United States and France, are both denying involvement.

Indeed, they’re not just denying involvement, but both US and French spokesmen suggested that the other country was probably responsible for the attack, which didn’t actually appear to have killed anybody but caused considerable panic.

The US said it was likely France, citing French warships near the site of the attack. France, for its part, insisted that there were no warships in the area and the strike “appeared to be a US operation.” Kenya insisted that it wasn’t them (and indeed the Kenyan military isn’t believed to have the sort of precision needed to launch such strikes), but declined to speculate who it might be.

Israel greenlighted a military invasion of Gaza at the start of the month, but the prospect of such an attack seemed to be slowing with a lull in Israeli attacks and missile firings.

But recently things are looking to escalate again, with Israeli warplanes pounding the Strip on Sunday night, wounding the French consul and causing his wife to have a miscarriage. The French government said they are “all for Israeli security” but weren’t pleased that it meant attacking their consul.

The last full-fledged invasion of Gaza came in early 2009, an invasion which left over 1,400 Palestinians slain and over 5,000 wounded, the vast majority civilians. Whether or not a new one is actually in the offing is unclear, however, as Gantz comments were in the context of railing against budget cuts and he might just be trying to squeeze a little extra funding out of the Knesset instead of making a serious policy recommendation.