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Julian Assange And Winston Smith
It is good that Julian Assange has been released from the super-high security prison in which he has been held in solitary confinement for the last five years. But do not confuse his release for a good deed. If they kept your grandmother imprisoned unjustifiably for that long, you wouldn’t have warm fuzzy feelings for them or slap them on the back for finally letting her out. Only a fool would feel that they’d seen the light and will behave better from here on out.
An apology would be the first step towards reconciliation with Mr. Assange, his family, and all of the people who he sought to reveal the truth to. A condemnation of the people who — even jokingly — discussed drone bombing him or finding other ways to murder him would be next. Until such time as we get such apologies and condemnations, it is manifestly apparent that freedom of speech and the rule of international law only exists at the whim of our government.
We can only hope that Julian Assange has not been broken by his five years of solitary confinement and a further seven years stuck in the Ecuadorian Embassy. Prior to that, he had been persecuted and harassed for two years on unrelated charges that were dropped in 2017. All because he released video of U.S. Helicopters firing on Iraqi citizens. The time between Assange releasing the video and him being charged in Sweden on two separate rape…