The UK has denied the extradition of Julian Assange on humanitarian grounds. Apparently, he is suicidal. Marcy Wheeler believes this is a just outcome:
This outcome was always the most likely way Assange would be able to avoid extradition, and in many ways it is the most just. It means that the good things that Assange has done — in helping expose American human rights abuses — were also the reason he avoided extradition.
I have been agnostic on the possible extradition and prosecution of Julian Assange, not because I don’t believe it would be dangerous to journalism, which it would, and I’m obviously against that. But Wheeler has also laid out a good argument as to why Assange went beyond his role as neutral publisher of secret information which complicates the question substantially.
With Trump’s pardon of the Blackwater thugs who murdered civilians, it has struck me as unforgivable that Assange would have helped the monster Trump the way he did in 2016 and I can’t get past that. I don’t need to see him in jail but I don’t care if I ever hear anything from him again.
I was reminded of all that by this
You do have to wonder who was the “we” to whom he referred.
In case you were wondering how Russian state TV has been looking at this, Julia Davis, who follows it for The Daily Beast had this a couple of weeks ago:
On Tuesday, the Kremlin finally acknowledged that U.S. President Donald J. Trump has been defeated by President-elect Joe Biden, by sending an official congratulatory message to the incoming American president. Russian state media immediately noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the last leader of the G20 to recognize Biden’s indisputable victory.
Russian state TV hosts, pundits and lawmakers were also quick to point out the unusually dry language of Putin’s greetings, noting that—unlike his prior telegrams to Trump and Obama—Putin didn’t express any hope that U.S.-Russia relations might improve in the near future. “There are no hopes expressed in Putin’s letter to Biden, none whatsoever,” noted Olga Skabeeva, the co-host of Russia’s state TV program 60 Minutes. She added: “We’re disappointed in Americans.”
Describing American president as “our candidate Trump,” “our friend Donald,” “our Grandpa” and “poor, poor Trump,” Kremlin-controlled state TV shows conceded that Trump’s days in the Oval Office are numbered. While the doom and gloom in Russian state media inevitably surrounded most discussions acknowledging Trump’s electoral defeat, pundits and experts celebrated the bright side of their favored candidate’s four-year reign. “Mission accomplished,” rejoiced Karen Shakhnazarov, CEO of Mosfilm Studio and an ever-present pundit on Russian state TV news talk shows.
Appearing on state TV program The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev, Shakhnazarov opined that Trump’s mission was to destroy the political system of the United States, and he successfully did exactly that.
In 2016, anticipating Trump’s loss in the presidential election, Russian state media toed the Kremlin’s line by laying the groundwork to assert that their favorite candidate lost solely because American elections are fraudulent and the entire system is rigged. These claims were cast aside, since Trump was elected—even after losing the popular vote. In 2020, Trump and the GOP provided the Kremlin with priceless agitprop by making and supporting the same baseless allegations, voiced from the highest podium in the world: the White House.
Political expert Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute of the Newly Established States, surmised during the broadcast of 60 Minutes: “They burned the reputation of U.S. institutions during these elections.” Political commentator Sergey Strokan concurred: “He [Trump] is discrediting the American electoral system.”
Evgeny Popov, the host of 60 Minutes, grinned like a Cheshire cat: “Let’s be glad about that.” Deputy of the Russian Duma Alexei Zhuravlyov agreed: “I certainly am.” He cheerfully concluded: “The worse for them, the better for us.” During the same broadcast, Popov pointed at the map of states supporting Trump’s desperate plight of overturning election results: “Just look at this map, this is a real beauty. Exactly half of the country, divided. America is divided!”
The Kremlin’s mouthpieces came to recognize the Republican party as their unusual bedfellows in helping to mar the crown jewel of the American democratic system and divide the society. Russian pundits inferred that they perceive the Republicans as fellow racists, who snapped into action to support Trump’s attempts to remain in power, motivated by Biden appointing “non-white people” to serve within his administration.
Dmitry Mikheev, a former Soviet political refugee who worked as a researcher at the Hudson Institute, but later returned to Russia, claimed to be well familiar with American conservatives and their values. Appearing on 60 Minutes, Mikheev alleged that the Republicans were unsettled and spurred into action by the inclusion of minorities as Biden’s top-level appointees: “The whites aren’t being allowed in there. They [the GOP] got scared.” The host, Popov, added: “And the head of the Department of Defense is Black. What is this? That must have been the red line.”
Continuing the theme of alleged oppression of white people in America during the following day’s broadcast of 60 Minutes, co-host Olga Skabeeva repeatedly used offensive terms to describe African-Americans and later acknowledged: “This is some sort of a racist show.” Stoking racial tensions has long been one of the Kremlin’s favored methods of sowing discord in American society, as confirmed in the Mueller report, noted by U.S. intelligence officials and concluded by the U.S. Senate.
The GOP’s silent approval, while President Trump insulted minorities and vilified immigrants, worked even better than the Kremlin’s most successful disinformation operations. The calls prompting further divisions and even violence were coming from inside the house—the White House.
Once the electoral votes came in and the Kremlin finally acknowledged the outcome, state media pundits predicted that the GOP would shortly follow suit. With all respect due to the party that abandoned its own values in favor of the cult of personality and the pursuit of power at the expense of democracy, Russian International Affairs Council expert Alexey Naumov described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “the owner of Donald Trump” and “the main Republican.”
Mocking the GOP, host Evgeny Popov, added: “Republicans, it’s time to give up. Your owner recognized the outcome.” Naumov added: “Your leader [Putin] already recognized Biden’s victory—what are you, dog, waiting for?” There is a grain of truth in every joke, since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally congratulated President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris—so late in the game that his belated acknowledgement came after the congratulations from Vladimir Putin.
This is just embarrassing. But perhaps we deserve it for electing a fool like Trump in the first place.
The US has many faults which are catalogued every second on social media by Americans of all political stripes. Many people apparently agree with the Russian media’s take on the election and are thrilled to see the US get taken down many pegs. That’s the privilege of living in a free society.
But I’m not willing to say that the authoritarian Russian government is better. Please. Vladimir Putin is a dictatorial thug and I will never understand how people who claim to be liberal or progressive can brush that off or compare him to American leaders, even Donald Trump, who is an amateur compared to him. I don’t like authoritarian thugs, no matter who they are.
And yes, I know there is a tradition of left authoritarianism just as there is on the right (although they never admit it…) I’m not an adherent of that tradition. So, if Julian Assange is allowed to go free, that’s fine with me. But the fact that he aligned himself with authoritarians Putin and Trump means that he no longer has any credibility and everything he says has to be judged through that lens.