The Assange case will probably continue to raise arguments
for some time depending on how things are viewed.

Critics say that
his actions were irresponsible and Assange to them remains a
villain. The belief that a country's right to keep military
national security information secret - is necessary.

Others see the public's right to know what is being
done by a supposedly accountable government as equally
necessary.

Assange to many as Michelle Grattan says - is a beacon
for the free flow of information
that sheds light on dark places. Many don't agree.

Yet many Australian politicians from all sides have
gone to bat for Assange.

Many have agreed - that enough is enough.

Chelsea Manning had her sentence commuted in 2017 by
Barack Obama after a number of years in jail.
Media outlets which published the documents did not suffer
any penalties.

With an American election just around the corner - this was
a good time for the Assange case to be dealt with. And for
that Assange, his family, friends and supporters should
be grateful. Better now than later. Had they waited longer, the
results may have been very different.

Apparently, the Assange case has been with the Biden
administration for some time. It's finally being dealt with.

.

The release of Julian Assange may or may not be the end of the story.

The prime cause of the case was the revelation by Assange’s Wikileaks non-profit media of war crimes purportedly committed by the US and the UK in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specific details attesting to those operations have been released into the public sphere for all to see – and surely not forgotten by some.

Perhaps, there may be more to the negotiations resulting in Assange’s release than meets the eye.

We shall have to wait and see. See his reaction following his release. See his future attitude and activity.

And see what fate has in store for him.

.

Hi Fester,
I'd tell you its the same Camp David doctors who will perform medical miracles on Joe Biden with cocktails of who knows what drugs to help him stay in the real world for 90 mins in the Trump debate instead of off with the faries..

But Assange didn't make it to the US proper.

I dont even care if he gave up intelligence assets and released 250,000 diplomatic cables, released Poesda emails, and CIA Vault 7 hacking tools.
The US is a nation built on war for profit and the entire Iraq war was built on lies. Afghanistan was about poppy fields and oil pipeline right of way.

Aussies died in these stupid wars for nothing.
Are Australias gutless politicians going to explain why 41 Aussies died in Afghanistan just to give it back to the Taliban.

Stuff America and their wars built on lies.
They cost Aussie lives, Assange didn't get anyone killed.

Assange is a hero.
The US deserved to be exposed.

Hi AC,

You find separating good and evil much easier than I do. I'm sure there were many warning against the futility of sending the military into Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone loses in such conflicts.

For whatever good he has done I find Assange a highly flawed character who hid in an embassy until a statute of limitations forced Swedish prosecutors to abandon sexual assault charges against him. The fate of the many collaborators he named will never be known, but I'd imagine that the legal processes they faced were far less protracted.

Well St Julian will plead guilty to espionage. That is, he admits he was involved in the theft of classified information.

That's what this was about. That's what it was always about. None of this BS about press freedoms and freedom of speech. That was all a side show to distract the terminally gullible into ignoring the main issue. Just like his alleged health issues which seem to have been miraculously resolved virtually overnight, the truth was very different to the publicity.

It is perfectly possible and even admirable to argue that the Espionage Act is wrong, that its noble to break the law to release secrets that the government would prefer not released. But that's not what the Assange innocence industry did. They instead distracted with freedom of speech claims that had nothing to do with the charges against him and the usual suspects fell for it.