Plugging Leaks by Putting
Assange in the Can
December 16, 2010 by Izzy Moskovitz
Julian Assange is now in custody. According to the authorities, he is suspected of having committed some kind of sexual crime involving two women. The circumstances surrounding that supposed crime are rather murky, to say the least. The whole thing is being channeled through Sweden's legal system, and one can only imagine the kind of international pressure that is being brought to bear upon the hapless Swedes by political leaders hell-bent upon finding any way possible to stop this man from leaking any more damning information taken from what they had supposed to be confidential diplomatic correspondence.
Failing to discover a clear and unambiguous international legal standard for arresting him for his whistle-blower activities, they most probably engaged two women to have sex with him, and instructed them to press false charges of sexual misconduct against him afterwards.
The timing of the arrest, coming as it does right when he has unleashed his most damaging cache of leaked information ever, is too perfect to be mere coincidence, and practically everyone knows it, most of all those who are clamoring for his head upon a platter for what they consider to be his traitorous behavior. We've seen their comments on the Internet under articles about him, where they make telling remarks such as "you don't mess with the USA," or "that slime ball got what he deserved, the CIA set the trap and he fell for it," or "he should consider himself lucky to have been set up by government hookers instead of getting a sniper's bullet in the back of his head."
I do not mean to condone Assange for seeking out and obtaining classified government correspondence and for having released it to the public. I personally would not engage in such activities, but then again, I am not him. He has a long history of challenging authority, beginning many years ago when he was hacking into government computers and causing mischief. He is a wanderer who has travelled constantly from one country to another over the last several years. He established a unique non-profit organization, Wiki Leaks, whose sole objective seems to be to lay bare the secret agenda of powerful governments and the elite class of individuals that support them.
His notoriety does not appear to have made him a rich man or to have brought him any particular comfort or peace of mind. On the contrary, the more notoriety that he has gained, the more he has become a wanted man and the target of the machinations, loathing, and ill-will of powerful individuals and organizations that are prepared to destroy him with any and all measures at their disposal. With his recent arrest, they seem to have him under their thumb and are even now seeking ways to snuff out his influence forever.
However, much to the dismay and extreme discomfort of government leadership, the arrest of Julian Assange is gradually but inevitably building up into a kind of populist martyrdom. It is not so much that one man has been arrested, but that the right of the people to clear and transparent government has been ruthlessly suppressed.
What has really come to light with the latest leakage of shocking and disturbing diplomatic correspondence, is not so much that governments can be two-faced, dishonest, mean-spirited, fraudulent, greedy, brutal, treacherous, and petty -- most people already knew that anyway -- but rather that an era of smug and complacent government secrecy has come to an end.
Despite the many protective measures that were in place to keep that correspondence secure, in the end, it was only safe as long as those with potential access to it were willing to keep it secret from the public. It only took one young man with a CD to burn and a desire to expose some really nasty worms and bugs under a very big rock to expose to the entire world the malfeasance, hypocrisy, double-dealings, and naked self-interest of the leadership of the world's most powerful nations.
From now on, no diplomat can electronically send any information without knowing that somehow and someday, someone just might release it for the world to see. In my view, that is a good thing, because we've had government secrecy for millennia, and up to now it has only seemed to have led to assassinations, wars, death on a massive scale, and the exploitation of the weak by the powerful. So much for the virtues and benefits of keeping things under wraps.
Incarcerating or even putting to death Julian Assange will not bring an end to the leaking of confidential information. The more governments try to plug leaks by punishing and intimidating those who would bring to light everything that governments wish to hide, the more a certain class of dedicated individuals will sacrifice themselves for the sake of making such information public.
If we can never taste the wealth and power of those who rule us, we can at least partake of the undying glory and splendor that we win for ourselves by fearlessly confronting their wrath and cruelty for the sake of advancing the cause of truth.
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