I've begun to like Julian Assange, but have a problem with him. I can't exactly describe him. I've thought various labels for him: messiah of speech freedom, anarchist who relishes the discomfort of the powers that be, poster-boy of web-journalism seeking transparency in behavours of super-powers. Assange is practically each of these things separately, and all of these put together.
It's an astounding feat for any individual to take on a state, and US at that. I don't see anything wrong in his exposure of US military's atrocities on civilians in Iraq. Nor is there morally any wrong-doing in the revelation that the rulers of Saudi Arab like to drink and party hard. Assange's exposure wakes us up to the truths around us. And who but the badass politicians and rulers would not like it?
It was a foretold assumption that Assange would ultimately be gagged.So he's in jail now for some absurd crime (having sex with a broken condom!)
Is Assange doomed? No, never. He's actually going to be a winner. He has already quite successfully demonstrated how the powerful behaves when it confronts a true whistle-blower. He has more things to offer to the human corpus.
