ONCE MORE A British government has managed to make a mountain out of a mole hill, in the way they have reacted to that egomaniacal self-publicist Julian Assange, currently holed up in the Ecuador Embassy in London.
All they had to do was leave him there to stew without the oxygen of publicity, until he eventually stepped outside the embassy and made himself available to the authorities. Instead; what happened? The British government had an emotional spasm and issued threats about entering the embassy and arresting Assange[1]: all grist to the Assange mill.
Accounts I have read regarding his living conditions in the embassy suggest they fell well short of what Assange is used to, and would have eventually convinced him that a Swedish prison was preferable. It seems to me that Assange is well used to his comforts as well as addicted to publicity; both of which will be in short supply in his current exile.
Which means that all the British government needed to do was give him enough rope to hang himself; and such a goal would have been best achieved through silence and a degree of patience on behalf of the UK government.
NOW WE HAVE a diplomatic farce on our hands, with the Organisation of American States (OAS)[2] calling a meeting in Washington to discuss the diplomatic dispute between the UK and Ecuador. The meeting however, was not called over Julian Assange but over the “inviolability” of the Ecuador embassy.
So the government’s original knee jerk reaction of threatening to enter the embassy to retrieve their “stolen goods” so to speak, has turned this whole wretched business into an international theatre, where the main performer, is no longer able to perform, but knows that the show is all about himself.
The idiocy of our politicians, and their civil service advisors, it appears, have no boundaries regarding their capacity for doing the wrong thing. It was once observed that the main function of Russia in the world was to teach the rest of the world how not to do things.
I now wonder, after the performance of our political class since 1997, whether it has now become the UK’s main function.
Julian Assange can now relieve the boredom that would have once been guaranteed to drive him from the embassy, by enjoying his performance on the world stage without even opening his mouth. The British government has, since its original idle threat, remained silent, but will be drawn into a contest by the OAS. They have now put themselves on the back foot, and will have to respond to the OAS findings after they meet in Washington – a response which will no doubt be responded to by Ecuador.
Ecuador likes Assange because, as a chippy South American country they will support any one who upsets the mighty West – and the UK government has certainly proven its value to Ecuador in this regard.
As we have witnessed with the behaviour of Argentina; we are not exactly popular in many parts of South America. Our past colonialism is still, pitifully, used as a custard pie aimed at our face by countries, who were once the victims of Spanish colonialism; which put to the sword many an indigenous people – something the British never had a hand in.
But many of those South American politicians who now confront us with our past, are the direct decedents of the Spanish conquistadors, who have the bare-faced cheek to now accuse us of colonialism, after the genocide of the indigenous peoples orchestrated by Spanish colonialism.
WE HAVE ENOUGH ON our plate with Argentina without inflaming the passions of the rest of South America.
Julian Assange knows he has the power to raise the hackles of Western politicians. He adds such a bait to his line, knowing it will haul in further converts. Assange sees himself as a kind of messiah persecuted by Western governments. Whether it be the UK, USA, or Sweden, he orchestrates the natural animosity there is in the world for such states to his own advantage.
Assange cares little about those he has used to his advantage. Probably seeing them as his means to an end – that end being his “priestly” ordination as saviour, and all that he has calculated it will bring him.
ONE SUCH “MEANS” came in the form of the journalist Vaughn Smith,[3] who provided him with an address that allowed him to stay in Britain. Mr Smith[4] agreed to stand Assange’s bail and provided him with accommodation at Ellingham Hall. Assange lived there for a year before, in 2011, moving to a lodge on Lord Abergavenny’s Eridge Park estate neat Tunbridge Wells.
When this second messiah left Lord Abergavenny’s estate and took up residence within the Ecuador Embassy, poor old Smith lost thousands in bail surety.
But it seems that such a betrayal mattered little to his godliness. He looked only to himself and his vain ambitions.
Yet Assange is not short of supporters within the liberal community, or those rushing to crown him with various awards. Awards like Amnesty International Media Award, Readers' Choice for TIME magazine's 2010 Person of the Year, the 2011 Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal and the 2011 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism .
Yes, the liberal tribes have truly helped elevate the Assange Ego. They celebrated Wikileaks as a true, and in the new digital age, a positive contribution to democracy. Julian now entered liberal Rome (London) in a chariot, to be given his triumphrate; but lacked the advice whispered in many a Roman conquerors ears on such occasions…remember, you are human.
The more popularity Assange harvests, the less he will feel himself of human flesh and blood. He will use the Ecuador embassy as freely for his own purpose as he did Ellingham Hall. Unluckily, the UK has no number of wealthy people willing to support this mountebank.
JULIAN ASSANGE IS NO Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He is a fraud of the first degree who only sees himself as the prime celebrity in this celebrity age. He truly believes that the charges levelled against him are political rather than criminal. He is wanted in Sweden to face charges of rape and sexual abuse. Sweden is a pioneer social democratic nation which exemplifies the “European ideal”, and as such offers Assange, if found guilty, far better conditions in their prisons than does the Ecuador embassy.
What Assange fears is being sent to America. He fears that the American system of justice will deliver him, if found guilty, to a more regimented and efficient system of justice which he would never escape until the full measure of his sentence was completed.
This basic and mundane consideration is Assange’s sole concern. He fears more than anything else being delivered into the hands of the USA. He would sooner abandon those who have stood surety for him, than be deported to the USA. Assange is the kind of articulate fraud whose primary use of the English language is for keeping himself solvent and out of prison.
[1] Well Mr Hague
[2] The USA is not a member
[3] According to Wikipedia: Henry Vaughan Lockhart Smith (born 22 July 1963) is an English restaurateur, sustainable farmer, news pioneer and independent video journalist. He ran the freelance agency Frontline News TV and founded the Frontline Club in London. The Guardian has described him as "a former army officer, journalist adventurer and rightwing libertarian."
[4] Jemima Khan is also out of pocket
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