Reflections on Julian Assange
Looking at the before and after photos of Julian Assange—just before his troubles with the state began in 2010, and after he was finally released from confinement on June 25, 2024—reminded me of Muhammed Ali’s remark about his 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” fight against Joe Frazier:
We came to the fight in Manila as kings of the world; we left it as old men.
Starting with the dubious rape allegations in Sweden and going all the way up to the U.S. government’s equally dubious allegation that he violated the Espionage Act, it’s crystal clear that Julian Assange has not been treated as a legal person, but as a man who dared to challenge U.S. government/military mobster rule.
To be sure, by the year 2010, it was clear that Mr. Assange could have and should have expected this, because by then, it was clear that the U.S. Executive Branch and its intelligence and military goons had come unmoored from the U.S. Constitution. As our Founding Fathers frequently observed, the State has always been inclined to tyranny.
The total disgrace in this sorry episode has been the Western mainstream press, which revealed itself to consist entirely of craven flunkies.
Thoughts and prayers for Assange and his family as they pick up the pieces after this--and for any other western journalists who still have integrity, who are doubtless now debating the high cost to them of telling the truth when whistleblowers approach them.
Unfortunately, the US won BIG. They have terrorized any would be whistle blower or journalist. Who would risk what they did to him?