o sung wu, I doubt that Assange is someone I'd relate to easily. He does come across as strange but in balance I like the fact that there are those willing to stand up to dishonest and or corrupt politicians and others exercising the power of Government in an unethical manner.

Legal processes rarely seem to touch them for the big wrongs. For example there seems to be plenty of evidence that the claims used to justify the war in Iraq were fabricated and or massively overstated yet none of the main players in that are facing criminal sanction. I don't know if that a matter of those responsible for enforcing the law failing to do so when it comes to political bosses or laws which do not adequately cover their actions.

Either way if I have to choose between the law and ethics I know which I prefer.

R0bert

Good evening, SUSEONLINE and ROBERT...

I must tell you both, of a strange event an hour or so ago ? Catching up with some of my Emails, I sent you both a relatively short piece each, amounting to no more than 200+- words. They were in response to your previous 'threads'. Both were despatched after I'd completed them one after another ? Yet there's no evidence of them being received ?

This peculiar phenomenon, has happened more than half a dozen times in the preceding four or five weeks. Is it me, or something wrong with my trusty computer ? I'm over seventy years of age now, and I (more like the 'Department of Veterans' Affairs'), probably support our local pharmacy, in a lifestyle of luxury and affluence. A curious event I'm sure you'd agree ?

Anyway, to the topic at hand, sorry...

I agree with both of your summations, relating to Julian's character.
In fact I'd go as far to say, there's probably no one person really 'close' to him ? Do either of you think, he sees himself as a crusader ? And ROBERT, I do understand when you say that very important, evocative word, a word that most of our Pollies don't know, or if they know, don't understand...'ethics' !

And I agree with you absolutely, I too would like to remove the 'rooves', and let in fresh air and light, to permit entry of vast quantities of 'honesty' and 'integrity' into these large public buildings. Buildings that, ostensibly house men of great power and influence, but also shelter men of doubtful integrity and often bereft of any ethical standards. It is then, when these 'trusted' men furtively, apply official secrecy, or confidentiality, to conceal their public malfeasance, or worse, engage in wholesale criminal corruption of the worst kind. Crimes against those lamentable souls, who originally entrusted and endowed them with the power to defend and preserve their rights. Then 'be it so' !

But should it not occur within the law, is all I'm saying ?

Pilger's, schadenfreude kerfuffle over defiant Assange - holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy for 6 months, and rapidly taxing his beleaguered host's patience, is another frivolous attempt to exonerate, a guilty verdict ? This contemporary article first appeared in the New Statesman & Guardian before OLO.

Evidently, Assange's once staunch supporters grow tired of his ( spoiled child )obtrusive antics and disparage his mental state in confinement. Activist - cultist, Jimima Khan having paid bail money up front, is disillusioned he will forfeit, and make a run for a Victorian Senate seat. His host recently described him as an " insufferable narcissist " !

His supporters are waning. Oxford students protested a planned visit. Ecuador didn't achieve the kudos and notoriety it sought. Slut-Walk ditched it's protest march. Khan went ballistic. Gibney's " 5th Estate " documentary floundered and flopped.

Whether you regard his incarceration as a perversion of truth & justice ; a vendetta by the CIA, to imprison him at Gitmo ( Hick's saga )DFAT Minister Carr's dubious naivety, offering unsolicited protection for Oz citizen's abroad ? Our introverted perception of our self importance, and status in the World ?

The case underscores WikiLeaks propaganda.Scape goat & fall guy Bradley Manning, and others leaked sensitive Military info, which conceivably risked people's lives, resources,etc. In effect embarrassing and undermining the Pentagon & US Foreign Office. Both leaked like a sieve.

At the end of the Day, one would have to ask : Holistic self abnegation ? self aggrandizement ? Notoriety ? Hero worship ? Abuse of People's rights ?

Is this the end of Assange, or just the beginning ?

This is the usual hippy rubbish that Pilger dishes out.

Julian is a spoilt brat, he wouldn't know hardship if
it walked up and bit him, because he has sucked off
the teat of the very Western countries
he seeks to denigrate, all his life.

He'd wet his pants if ever he had to go and fight
the Taliban or Al Qaeda. They'd kill him as soon
as look at him. Then he'd wonder why he didn't
support his own country instead of them. It would
be too late by the time he woke up though.