Pursuit of Assange shows ‘every citizen on the planet’ subject to US persecution (Part 1)

Various governments throughout history have violated their citizens’ rights, but few global powers have possessed the ability to bend the entire planet to their will. By the 2010s the United States had become just such a power, with political, technological, and economic might that could be imposed on any person at any place in the world.

🗣 “It sounds like they’re now saying every citizen on the planet is susceptible to being charged under the US Espionage Act,” said independent journalist Steve Poikonen on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program.

“The thing that I found most surprising about all of this is the way that the plea deal was written, mostly because it’s a charge that we’ve historically only seen for government contractors or employees,” he added. “If they're charging him as a private citizen for mishandling classified information, and that’s something that before this they could only charge an employee or a contractor with, then doesn’t that put the rest of us under even more of a hot seat than we were before?”

🗣 “He never should have been charged,” insisted cartoonist and syndicated columnist Ted Rall of Assange’s 12-year struggle against the US government. “He never committed a crime. He was never an American citizen and, therefore, not subject to American law. The Espionage Act is disgusting and probably unconstitutional and shouldn't be on the books, and certainly never should apply to journalists.”

The United States’ pursuit of Assange was frequently justified under the pretense that his activity endangered the lives of American citizens or service members. Similar claims were made decades prior against Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, who former Secretary of State Henry Kissenger dubbed “the most dangerous man in America.”

But no concrete details ever emerged of anyone targeted, or even placed under threat, by Julian Assange’s journalism. On the contrary, Assange worked meticulously with sources and partnered media outlets to redact information that could’ve endangered or exposed anyone referenced within the leaked documents.

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Pursuit of Assange shows ‘every citizen on the planet’ subject to US persecution (Part 2)

🗣 “This idea that Julian Assange was putting lives in danger, etcetera, is completely fabricated in order to give a fig leaf of respectability to the war that has been conducted by the US government against this man who has been, by the way, let free not because suddenly Joe Biden decided to act out of the milk of human kindness,” said economist Radhika Desai.

Desai sharply criticized mainstream media outlets who often played a role in vilifying Assange even as they produced journalism based on his work.

“The [Washington Post] story is just so completely hypocritical,” she said of an article in the Washington DC-based newspaper that reported that “reactions were divided” over Assange’s release from prison. “The only people criticizing Julian Assange are the US government and all the mainstream media who seem to be taking their cues from them for whatever reason best known to them.”

🗣 “It's also an irony that the newspapers that are now reporting his march towards freedom… published the very things that he was accused of, the very national security secrets that he was accused of having exposed,” said host Wilmer Leon.

🗣 “It stinks to high heaven,” agreed author and academic Gerald Horne. “I take it that's a veiled reference to organs like the New York Times, for example, The Guardian… Mr. Assange's reputation has been dragged through the mud. He has suffered unduly, and I wish him only the best.”

Desai insisted that future generations would value the journalist’s significant sacrifice made in order to inform the world of government abuses.

“Alongside Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, Julian Assange is one of the heroes of our time. They are a small band of people who have spoken truth to power and they have believed in the truth, they have fought for the truth, they have sacrificed for the truth,” Desai emphasized.

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