My answer on Quora.
My reaction is mixed.
As much as I appreciate access to information and the freedom to challenge existing political infrastructures, I cannot count myself as a true fan of Julian Assange. While I understand his willingness to expose the lack of transparency in the establishment and his unmasking of various deep state actors, I am not convinced that he is a person of integrity.
He does not appear to take responsibility for his malicious actions (many of which have life threatening consequences) and I do not see him as acing in the best interests of the US (partisan politics aside) when the dust clears.
Although the case is far from settled I am still concerned by his connections with various Russian sources and the fact that he personally seems to see himself as being above the law. There is a giant ego component to his actions.
WikiLeaks and Israel Shamir | Andrew Brown
Having said that though there is a definite positive side to Assange. Organizations such as Wikileaks provide a vital function. They force governments to be more sincere with their actions, expose various double dealing by the powers that be and provide for a more comprehensive understanding of the political dynamic. As a student of history I welcome their input.
Now I realize that conservatives are divided on this issue. Tucker Carlson for one has thrown his support behind Assange while Ben Shapiro is vocal in his criticism of the man. Libertarians tend to give Assange the benefit of the doubt while traditional conservatives often view him through a less enthusiastic lens. He is nothing if not complex.
So let us step back for a moment and look at the reason why Julian Assange rose to ‘fame’ in the first place.
Background
Australian-born Assange is the director and founder of the information disseminating platform Wikileaks. By his own admission he describes himself as a market libertarian but has historically skirted around conventional political labels. Prior to 2016 he was regularly regarded as a man of the left. Assange has a well documented history as a hacker that goes back to his teen years. Wikileaks notoriety is partly a function of its ability to acquire information from various hacked (or leaked) sources.
In 2010 Wikileaks started publishing a series of leaks illegally provided to him by intelligence analyst Bradley Manning (later Chelsea Manning). Included in the leaks were the war logs on Afghanistan, Iraq and various US diplomatic papers that collectively fall under the category of Cablegate. All in all it is believed that Manning passed on to Wikileaks close to 750,000 documents. They were largely published between April 2010 and April 1011. (You probably meant 2011 instead of 1011 here. I doubt he helped shape the military career of William of Orange. ;-))Many of these documents were designated as containing classified and very sensitive information.
The US government launched a criminal investigation of Wikileaks and has worked with various allies to bring him to justice. In November 2010 Sweden issued an arrest warrant against Assange over rape and sexual assault allegations, that he has of course denied. He did surrender to the British police in December 2010 but failed to defeat the motion for extradition and then after breaching bail fled and was offered asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. This was his home until April 11th 2019 when his asylum was withdrawn.
While the Swedish rape charges were dropped in 2017 he could see the rape charges against him reopened.
Swedish prosecutors considering request to reopen Julian Assange rape case. At present the British authorities are holding him in custody for skipping bail. The US government is going after him for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and are seeking extradition.
Wikileaks in the past have actually played a role in releasing information pertaining to human rights abuse and government irregularities. These include extrajudicial executions by the police in Kenya, numerous cases of corruption in the Arab World, the Petrogate scandal in Peru and Chinese government clampdown on unrest in Tibet.
When the 2010 document dumps were released Assange was applauded by a host of characters on the left that included Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay , Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Jeremy Corbyn (then a Labour back-bencher). Predictably the fellow travelers in the media - Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Tariq Ali, Michael Moore and Daniel Ellsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) - came to his defense as well.
Assange also had his fans on the Libertarian right and became somewhat of a celebrity, winning awards from the Economist, Le Monde, Amnesty International and the Sydney Peace Foundation for his endeavors.
Then in July 2016 Assange went one further and won over a new subset fans with his exposure of leaked documents on corruption in the DNC that showed how the party acted to quash the aspiration of Bernie Sanders’ campaign, to benefit Hillary Clinton. The release forced the resignation of DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Assange added to this with the so-called October 2016 surprise where 2,000 e-mails were published by Wikileaks detailing the relationship between the Clinton Campaign and various power brokers. These are believed to have been obtained from the John Podesta hack. The Clinton campaign accused Assange of being in the service of Russia. He fired back by claiming that they were resorting to ‘a kind of neo-McCarthy hysteria’.
DNC circa 2016 Source: Ben Garrison
Assange’s animosity to the Clintons is clear. He fell afoul of the Obama Administration in 2010 but is not on board with Trump either. Some have accused him of being Anti-American to the core. The jury is out on that one.
Now for the tough part. Why do I have a mixed reaction?
The problem is that Assange seems answerable to only one person. Himself. He appears to take no responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Some of his leaks included details of Afghans who informed on the Taliban, the methodology of how the CIA sustains its undercover operations, not to mention classified documents on terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. He has also exposed personal detail on various ICE agents.
There is no doubt a fine line here that he is walking as he confronts the critical divide between private and personal spheres. Those concerned by national security have a strong case against Assange.
Clearly his arrest at this time is being motivated by several factors. The Ecuadorian government cut the legs off his support structure (which of course they are entitled to do) but the motivation for such action is not that simple. Some have suggested that they did so in response to am IMF loan.
IMF Executive Board Approves US$4.2 Billion Extended Fund Facility for Ecuador. Others argue that there was more direct pressure by various American sources. A Human rights challenge is likely to follow. The issue over freedom of the press is front and central.
Is Julian Assange’s arrest a threat to freedom of the press? Depends on whom you ask.
The saga will hopefully unravel with time but if he does pay the price, which could be severe, a vital question will remain.
How will future whistleblowers be protected from the reach of the state for legitimately exposing those in power who abuse and misuse their platform of operation?
With the scandals around the Obama era FBI and the NSA this question is as pertinent as ever.
Sources:
- WikiLeaks
- WikiLeaks' 'cablegate' dump: 10 biggest revelations
- The 4 Most Damaging Emails From the DNC WikiLeaks Dump
- Free-Speech Groups Support WikiLeaks Move to Dismiss DNC Lawsuit - BNN Bloomberg
- UN privacy expert says Julian Assange's privacy 'may have been breached' in embassy
