If ever evidence was needed that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have lost their bearings, it was their recent action in releasing a free download of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury that should have made their state plain to everyone. There was nothing noble or principled about this action: it was petty and vindictive, done to reduce paid sales of the book, and therefore to deny the author and his publisher some income from it.
It spoke of Assange’s continuing alignment with Donald Trump and his administration, and of his hostility to the Democrats. It may even have been an attempt to curry further favour with Trump, given that Assange is still desperately trying to avoid the risk of being shipped by a third country to America, where he faces serious legal proceedings.
In the process, Assange has demonstrated that he’s now not interested in the idea of copyright or even the notion of intellectual property. He used to be, when he signed a contract several years ago with UK publisher Canongate to have his memoirs ghost-written; but that was then, when he needed the money, and this is now, when he’s trying to protect his own skin and has partisan political interests to pursue.
For years, Assange traded on WikiLeaks’ original mission of speaking truth to power by being an international disseminator of important secrets revealed by whistleblowers. However, Assange was never a journalist (despite attempts by his supporters to designate him as one, to give him the moral protection afforded to real journalists), and in fact he quickly revealed that he was not interested in the collateral damage that his actions might cause. Chelsea Manning, was burned infamously by Assange. Nor has Assange ever been prepared to tolerate criticism or dissent.
These traits, among other things, were what led to his former right-hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, splitting from him and his organisation in 2010. We published Domscheit-Berg’s memoir, Inside WikiLeaks, in 2011, and I would still recommend it today as a searing insight into Assange’s character.
His collaboration with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in the 2016 US elections, in favour of Donald Trump and against Hillary Clinton, should have alerted everybody that Wikileaks has become Assange’s private vehicle for conducting vendettas and campaigns. He used to be an anti-Western anarchist; now he’s just a rebel with a grudge who helps monstrous political leaders when it suits him.
Henry Rosenbloom is founder and publisher of Scribe Publications and did not receive payment for this article.
It is a long time since I have had any regard whatsoever for this narcissistic prat. He is very similar to Trump in that he is a spoiled brat who treats women badly. The nonsensical notion that he would be an ambassador for anywhere that has been circulating recently. Apparently, Wikileaks attacks Clinton, Trump puts in a good word and gets him off the hook. Another scumbag when all is said and done and those lawyers who are supporting him need to consider their reputations.
A reply that is just about as balanced as the preceding article.
Vicariously throwing in a comment about how he treats women (he is not noted for ‘pussy grabbing’ and the character assassination behind the rape libel is well known) shows how thin is the response.
Amen, Richard. Being an Old Greybreaded One myself, I’d also like to point out Assange is on exactly the same “hook” he’s been for over 5 years, and the chances Donnie might get him off that hook are a gazillion to one.
It’s sadly ironic that so many decide to argue for perpetual punishments for people whose ‘identity’ they don’t much fancy, based on evidence of abuse never presented, let alone substantiated, all while ignoring substantiated evidence that those they don’t much fancy have been abused under the law.
I don’t much fancy the thinking of those who reckon human rights should be applied selectively, and only to those whose characters they deem worthy.
Unfortunately, I am coming to a similar conclusion about Assange.
Nevertheless our governments’ ongoing lack of interest in him (formerly ALP, now the Coalition) doesn’t give much comfort to other Australians who may find themselves in a tight spot while overseas. Especially if there’s a whiff of activism about them.
What you, or anyone else, ‘concludes’ about Assange’s character is irrelevant. The man has been “arbitrarily detained” (so said the UN Panel) for over 5 years.
As things currently stand, and considering what international law says (again, as noted by the UN Panel), Julian Assange is Western Europe’s sole political prisoner.
I don’t think Assange gives a shit what you or anyone else might think about him personally, you don’t know him from a bar of soap but the main media hate him for getting so many scoops and exposing so much filth.
Last night I watched the Post where Katharine Graham as editor had the balls to publish the Pentagon papers even while the government and Nixon administration were trying to shut it down and while the handwringing men in the room dithered about the price of the Post on the stock exchange.
Assange and WikiLeaks, along with Chelsea Manning and Snowden are heroes, that’s why the mainstream media label them as traitors and narcissicists.
You’re working well, Marilyn, and nice to see you are.
Ever heard of Dr Paul Craig Roberts? Old style Conservative, former 2IC at the Fed, Editor of the Wall St Journal. He’s been on a path to very irascible octogenerian, and tracked neo-liberalism along the journey. He has written frequently on Assange, and did so again recently. Rather than provide a link (a little searching will get you there), I’ll just quote 1 paragraph of his piece, headed “The Persecution of Julian Assange”:
“That tells you all you need to know. Julian Assange has lost seven years of his life because stinking dirty Washington wanted revenge on Assange for exercising the US Constitution-protected right of a free press, and the stinking dirty governments of Sweden and Britain did Washington’s dirty work. What we know for certain is that Assange is totally innocent and that there is no honor and no integrity in the US, Swedish, and British governments. Law means nothing to the scum that misrule these countries.”
Unfortunately, he missed Assange’s country of origin.
You may also like to try looking for the work of the Italian investigative journo Roberts mentions in the abovementioned article, Stefania Maurizi. Because, as Robert’s notes;
“….smelling the stench of fraud that covers the entire case, has been trying for two years to get her hands on the correspondence between the UK, US, and Swedish governments pertaining to the case in order to pull back the shroud of the Washington-orchestrated propaganda that colors the case. A British tribunal refused to release any documents on the grounds that it had to protect the British Prosecution Service’s relationship with foreign authorities.”
Now, why does that seem so very familiar?
Has any evidence been produced that Assange collaborated with Putin? As a free agent and not an Amrican citizen, if he had done so would it have been a crime? Did the world really need “We came, we saw, he died, ha ha ha” with her finger on the metaphorical red button?
The answers are, Rais, 1) nup, not a jot, 2) nup, and 3) most definitely nup. Methinks Henry spends too many hours glued to CNN. Obviously missed “Vault 7” along the way, too.
Henry should watch the Post and the movie Mark Felt, the man who brought down the Whitehouse
I recently paid for, and downloaded from Apple books, Fire and Fury. I’m glad I did. Being a journalist, I am happy to support the author of this very compelling read with some dollars. Meanwhile having second thoughts about Assange. All those years cooped up in the embassy would not be good for anyone’s thought processes.
Was that “second thoughts about” or “second thoughts for”…
His de-facto incarceration, even if more pleasant than being in Gitmo, is punishment for embarrassing the US by revealing murders and other war-crimes in invaded countries, amongst other things. What he did was not even illegal in the US, thus the huge amount of time spent trying to find out what they can skewer him with … thus the involvement of a complicit Swedish prosecutor and UK government who really do not have to do what they are doing.
What a load of tripe, the US is trying to put Assange in a frigging dungeon for life for daring to tell the truth. Your own partisan Democrat party hackery is showing. And WikiLeaks is not just Assange, there are many who upload stuff all over the world.