The saga of Julian Assange seems to be drawing to a climax – one that will
decide the fate of this historic whistleblower who, for years, has been a giant
thorn in the side of governments everywhere.
His role in exposing the machinations of the US government over the years earned
him the plaudits of liberals – until the Bush era ended, and he started exposing
the crimes of the Obama administration and – most pointedly – the hypocrisy
and venality of Hillary Clinton and her journalistic camarilla. Now we see right-wing
figures like Sean
Hannity and – yes! – Donald Trump praising
and defending him, while the ostensible liberals take up the cry of the Clinton
campaign that he’s a “pawn of the Kremlin” and a “rapist.” Even Glenn Greenwald,
formerly a comrade-in-arms, who together with Assange helped Edward Snowden
evade the not-so-loving arms of Uncle Sam, has lately sought to distance himself
from the founder of WikiLeaks (over the value of “curation”). Nice timing, Glenn!
Funny how that works.
Now we see that the Ecuadorian government, which has provided sanctuary for
Assange ever since the frame-up “rape” charges by the Swedes were brought, is
succumbing to pressure from Washington to silence him. As Assange released the
now famous Podesta emails, that – among other things – exposed the collusion
of the media and the Clinton campaign in delicious detail, John
Kerry demanded that the Ecuadorians cut off Assange’s Internet access –
and they meekly complied.
Of course, since leftist Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has openly endorsed
Mrs. Clinton, and openly abhors Trump, this is hardly surprising: this is
how the left operates internationally, as well as in this country – if you stray
from the party line it doesn’t take long before the knives come out, aimed directly
at one’s back.
In any case, Correa’s betrayal seems to have been short-circuited by the ever-resourceful
Assange, who is still releasing incriminating emails. This is someone with a
Plan!
Coincident with all this is the culmination of the long “legal” process initiated
by the Swedish government, which is falsely accusing Assange of “rape.” He was
supposed to have met with Swedish prosecutors on Monday, but has put off the
meeting until November 14 – after the US elections.
Given Sweden’s bizarre laws on the subject, and the provenance of his accusers,
the smear campaign aimed at Assange has zero credibility. No one believes these
charges (and remember, he has never been formally charged) aren’t motivated
by Washington’s stated desire to get him extradited to the US on “espionage”
charges – and there isn’t anyone who thinks that the British government (which
has spent millions making sure he stays holed up in Ecuador’s embassy) wouldn’t
do so…