The Anonymous Widower

Assange Isn’t A Dreamer He’s A Destroyer

The title of this post is the same as that of an article in yesterday’s Times, by David Aaronovitch.

It is subtitled.

Don”t be fooled by the Wikileaks e founder’s supposed idealism; he is in the same destructive club as Putin and Trump.

It is thoughtful and well worth a read.

November 17, 2017 Posted by | World | , , , | Leave a comment

The View Of Assange In The Press

This article on the BBC, gives a summary of what the world’s press has said about Julian Assange’s press conference yesterday. The Guardian, which would have been considered to be a likely supporter, said this.

“At around 2.30pm Assange emerged on to the balcony, a pallid figure dressed in a business-blue shirt and maroon tie. There was an enormous roar. Assange managed a thumbs-up, then tapped the microphone and inquired: “Can you hear me?” This, perhaps, was the moment for someone to shout: “‘E’s not the Messiah! ‘E’s a very naughty boy!”

The Independent, another possible supporter, was in a similar mood.

“A competent image consultant could have warned him not to emerge into the public eye looking as he did. Far from giving him a Churchillian look, his blue shirt, crimson tie and cropped hair created – as one wag pointed out on Twitter – a curious resemblance to John Inman, from the 1970s’ sitcom Are you Being Served?

“But what was much more serious – the elephant in the room, so to speak – was Assange’s wilful failure to say anything about the actual reason that the Swedish police want to question him.”

But The Sun, which seems to be an increasingly serious paper these days, was similar in tone to The Independent, without the theatrical references was quite matter of fact.

“Odious Julian Assange loved every second of his pompous balcony rant. His speech was long on egotistical claptrap, but oddly failed to mention what this extradition case is actually about — the rape of one woman and sexual molestation of another.

“If Mr Assange really does believe in the importance of transparent justice in a democratic state, he should subject HIMSELF to it now and get on the first plane to Sweden.”

Moving to Assange’s home country of Australia, the Australian takes a more practical approach.

“Assange is an Australian and Australia is a staunch US ally. If Assange’s legal future became a major talking point in this country, you could probably expect a bit of nationalism to intrude. It’s likely, though not certain, that Assange would be seen as wearing the white jersey and the US perceived as wearing a black one. In other words, it probably wouldn’t transpire as a US public relations triumph.”

It’s a mess and the sooner it’s cleaned up, the better.

 

August 20, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , | 2 Comments

The Real Assange Problem

I don’t really know, where I stand on WikiLeaks. I think that the content that has been disclosed shows how ill-advised so much of the United States and our, excursions into the Middle East have been.  But we knew that anyway!

Whether Julian Assange did sexually assault the two Swedish women, for which that country is seeking extradition, is up to the Swedish courts to decide. I think that even if he is found guilty, he has nothing much to fear. Even in the UK, he’d probably not face a sentence of more than a few years, if found guilty for a similar offence.

His problem though is the United States, its courts and punishment system. They are so out of line with other countries like his own; Australia, Canada and most of Europe.  He would probably get a total life sentence for disclosing the US diplomatic cables. Even in this country, I suspect he would get a sentence, but it wouldn’t be that long, as no-one is actually accusing him of stealing the information in the first place. In fact, it could be argued that he did the same as the Daily Telegraph did with MPs expenses. Was anybody prosecuted for their part in that affair? Only a few MPs, who had done wrong.

But then the United States is vindictive with a vengeance rather than a justice system in many instances.

So the Assange case is a bit like trying to make a reasoned decision in a room with a vicious bully outside. Remember too, that Obama has a difficult election coming up, and he would not want to appear soft.  Ask Mormon Mitt on the right day and he would say that US troops should invade the embassy, if the British won’t do it.

As it stands at the moment, whilst he is in the Ecuadorian embassy, it’s all a bit difficult.  Let’s face it, if Assange had been a citizen of that country and had published some of their secrets, he’d at least be in jail by now. Ecuador doesn’t come across to me, as a beacon of democracy

The only thing we can do, is persuade Assange to go to Sweden and face trial there.  If we use force, then we’ll put all our diplomats around the world in danger.

I think there’s a fair chance, that when we have the next General Election, Assange will still be where he is now!

August 19, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , , , , | 6 Comments