Assange has the key A fb post made by Adrian Wyllie. Interesting if true.  “It wasn't random Julian Assange was arrested clutching a book.  He didn't just happen to be reading Gore Vidal when the police arrived.  It's no coincidence he made sure the cover of the book was visible for all the world's journalists to see and photograph.  Immediately after they loaded Assange into a van, a handful of people in places around the world headed to their various local bookstores and libraries, each clutching a piece of paper with a series of numbers which they received from Assange long ago. They had the ciphers all along, but were waiting on the key.  I can't wait to learn what Assange's next surprise will be.” Edited to add the following: Sian Cain  The book Assange was pictured holding during his removal from the embassy this morning – and later read in the dock at Westminster Magistrates Court – was Gore Vidal: History of The National Security State.  It’s a strange little book – not written by Vidal as much of the media have reported – but a series of interviews with Vidal conducted over two years by Paul Jay, editor of non-profit news organisation The Real News Network, who self-published the book on Amazon. It sees Vidal, then in his eighties and keeping a beady eye on the US from his Italian villa, in a ponderous mood as he considers his imminent return stateside. (Hewould die in the Hollywood Hills in 2012 at the age of 86). Considering his future, he tells Jay: “I’m a battleship ... I’m meant for war. But I don’t know if I can do it any more.” Vidal was a vocal critic of American society and politics, particularly the monopoly of wealth poured into its military and its history of foreign policy. Jay describes Vidal as “a genuine class traitor. [He] could have lived an easier and more celebrated life if he just kept his mouth shut.” In conversation with Jay, Vidal pulls apart US foreign policy, vote-rigging and corruption in the media. “I think everybody should take a sober look at the world about us, remember that practically everything that you’re told about other countries is untrue, what we’re told about ourselves and our great strength and how much loved we are – forget it. Our strength is there, but it’s the kind of strength that blows off your hand while you hold up the grenade; it’s a suicidal strength as well as a murderous one.” Then