Julian Assange Phenomenon

The WikiLeaks Phenomenon

Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks, and the man most people in power hate, awaits in a London jail while the rest of us try to figure out what all the fuss is about.

Not in a long time has someone come along who believes in transparency and truth as much as this Swede and his associates. Julian Assange first released cables and notes, with some stuff blacked out, on Iraq last Spring. Pundits knew it would cause America’s work in the Middle East to crumble. Nothing happened. Just a little insight of how much our government lies and works in the dark.

The stuff Assange released on the world wide web this summer and fall really go under the skin of the Pentagon, embarrassed ambassadors, war hawks, friends and foes alike. Still the release did not set off World War III in Afghanistan. Our deadly drones, directed from Florida, keep flying raids over “neutral” Pakistan and our soldiers continue looking for the evil enemy. From sand dune to mud brick villages, rugged mountain and dangerous valleys, our volunteer military and mercenary soldiers the government calls “civilian contractors,” continue looking for Osama bin Laden---the reason we went to Afghanistan in the first place.

The Pope employs hundreds of mercenary soldiers, but calls them Swiss Guards. The French and the British did the same in their colonies. Americans call them “contractors.” Through the ages, many mercenaries have been ex-soldiers.

And it is extremely difficult to tell who is who. Like the old slur about another races: “they all look alike.” Who is the enemy? Maybe a body guard for President Hamid Karzai; a Pakistani soldier or peasant; a Taliban or just a simple goat herder; or an Afghan policeman or trainee? It is a scary place. It is a corrupt place that corrupts all involved.

Add to our soldiers dilemma, the vast majority of people in the Middle East loathe our military presence. The more devoted the war hawks are for what George W. Bush started, the more at odds they’ll be with any kind of democracy.

President Obama’s offensive of understanding each other instead of making them the enemy of the world has been successful. Before any right-wingers blow a gasket over that sentence. Read on. It was President Obama that convinced the Russians into the START treaty and for them to put more pressure on Iran. The proposed treaty is having a hard time in the Senate.

I am on record of not understanding several members of the GOP – the party of “NO”. Men in congress like Mitt Romney and Jon Kyl only enrage the Russians by doing their dead level best to sink the START treaty.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came out last week in favor of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia. She joined other Republican ex-Secretaries of State -- including Colin Powell, George Shultz, and Henry Kissinger -- in endorsing the proposed treaty.
Getting back to the uproar of Wickileaks bringing some truth out of the closet it has only begun. Julian Assange is doing what the American press has quit doing: Investigating and keeping our leaders honest.

Apparently he is threatening to out an American mega bank. Today our branches of government are controlled by the mega Banks. (Called “bankesters” by some disenchanted citizens.)

As someone said Assange is a hero of the people and for that reason alone the powerful want him stopped. A blogger wrote, “I wish George Carlin and George Orwell were alive to see this!” It was Orwell who said: “In time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

The government of Sweden called for his arrest. Two women are claiming rape. One of the women is tied to the CIA. As of this writing he was safe in a British jail, from women, offended power-brokers and some hit men.

Government goes after the whistleblower rather than the crooks.

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