The US is either in a long hiatus of sanity, or a permanent state of insanity.

That view will depend on who and where you are, and what’s in it for you; but either way the view is the same!

And as that sentence implies, not much makes sense in the good o’l USofa.

Dan.

Get over Assange.

Do the crime, do the time! Alleged rapist Julian published stolen top secret documents. And all the excuses in the world won't change that.

Yes the CIA are active in the world, so are the Chinese and Russian counterparts, with even worse human rights records that in comparison make the CIA look like choir boys! We are all governed by laws and regulations and an official secrets act!

We have to drive on the left! Imagine if some of us decided we didn't like that and drove on the right!? Laws are inacted for good reasons, even if you disagree!

And if a Russian operated puppet breaks those laws, then he needs to answer for his willing involvement! We also now know that the Taliban carried out thousands of reprisals when they were reinstated as the government! So to claim that Julian's exposes didn't create harm are not only not proven, but unclaimable/even the likely outcome!?

The man spent 13 years in self imposed isolation trying to avoid standing up for rape crimes. This worm doesn't deserve pity given he's a grub who believes he is above the law as do those who continue to support him.

I say, let him be extradited to the USA and face the music and the outcome, whatever it is. As you and I would have to if we did as he did!
Alan B.

Nothing wrong with telling the truth.

Greed is a tremendous motivator: always follow the lucre. Some ancient wise guy made the observation that there's nothing nothing new under the sun. The twisted history of my country goes back further:
"I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."

Smedley Butler, USMC, Ret. 1881-1940
"War Is a Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

ttbn and Alan B.
I think you're both full of it on this issue.
Assange isn't a US citizen so he isn't party to their laws.

What about the East Timor fiasco, when our government was spying on them to make a land grab on maritime borders, did anyone here face the music?

But that's ok, the US spies on everyone.
They were spying on Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange didn't break laws, he didn't hack into the US, he was given information no different than if 'A Current Affair' received info that made for a good story to investigate and expose.
They tried to get him on conspiracy to hack via Bradley Manning, but he didn't do it.

The Obama administration wasn't going to prosecute him for anything, until he released Podesta emails and cost Hillary the Presidency, and made her look bad to the Wall St goons she made promises to.

But most of all, I'm fairly certain this is ALL about Seth Rich.
Who was the real leaker of the DNC server prior to the 2016 US Presidential election, it wasn't a Russian hackers.
(You know the one Trump was looking for, that they moved the Ukrainian US Embassy.)
Hillary had Seth Rich killed, Assange got the DNC server info from him and that's why they wanted to assassinate him too.

You can bet that any court where he's tried will be closed and we won't get to hear any of his defense.
They'll Epstein him before they allow that, 100% guaranteed.

What if Australia was bombing the crap out of a foreign country, unlawfully killing innocent civilians and journalists and someone from another country exposed it?
Would you want them dead too, or would you like to know what really happened?
- Based on the money spent on the court case of Ben Roberts Smith, I think wrongdoing is considered a matter of public interest, or are you both hypocrites?

But this is about the Podesta emails, Seth Rich, and Hillary losing the election in 2016, I'd bet on it.

- Great article Adam Henry.

Dear Alan.B,

You claimed: "The man spent 13 years in self imposed isolation trying to avoid standing up for rape crimes."

Rubbish.

The issue of him attending Sweden to face the charges was about the possible extradition to the US.

"Assange said he would go to Sweden if provided with a diplomatic guarantee that he would not be turned over to the United States,[80] to which the Swedish foreign ministry stated that Sweden's legislation does not allow any judicial decision like extradition to be predetermined.[81] However, the Swedish government is free to reject extradition requests from non-EU countries, independent of any court decision.[82]"
Wikipedia.

All true, but what can we do? The others are even worse!

Cowardly Jules has been hiding from justice for many years. Never a bad word for his Russian backers either. Time for him to face trial and argue his innocence, hopefully very soon.

He wont get a fair trial to argue his innocence.
If that was the case he would've faced up to it years ago.

The crux of the matter is that when he committed the (US) crime he
was in the UK. That should be the end of the matter.
I note that the US newspapers published the same information without
being charged by the US government.
I have seen the video of the machine gunning of the civilians from
a helicopter. No one charged the ABC or other TV channels.
Time for this to end.

The US is acting for the many people harmed, perhaps killed as a consequence of conduct by Julian Assange. Should these people be forgotten because some think he has suffered enough? After hiding from British and Swedish justice for many years, Jules was compelled to argue his case in court. He was not able to convince the British courts that he should not be extradited to the United States, and spent heaps of money donated by his fans and Russia/China trying to do so. Never gave a jot of help to Chelsea either. The most interesting thing to me about Jules is how much he polarises opinion. Having experienced a few psychopaths in my time, I do not have a good opinion of the fellow. I wish Priti Patel would make a decision.

But was a crime committed by Julian Assange ?
He did not remove the files from the restricted storage.
The person who did served a sentence for that.
The US newspapers received the files also, their editors have not
been prosecuted for publishing them.

Can't help but feel that the US authorities are so offended because
a foreigner published them.
The US editors have not been prosecuted because they are US citizens.
Call it freedom od speech.

That is what the courts will determine, Bazz. Thankfully Jules is going to find out after hiding from justice for so long. I hope the creep gets convicted and spends a long time in prison. I think it is what he deserves :-)